Search results for ""epic""

'Glorious! Glamorous, feisty women living through shifting times. Wonderful escapism' TRACY REESFrom the top ten bestselling author of The Glorious Guinness Girls, a stunning new novel of secrets, scandals and passions which follows the three enigmatic Guinness sisters, set in Ireland and London in the fascinating 1930s. 'An utterly captivating insight into these fascinating women and the times they lived in ... it's an absolute page-turner' Irish Independent 'Fans of Downton Abbey will adore this, and it would be surprising if the book weren't made into a luscious mini-series' The Sunday Times on The Glorious Guinness GirlsAs Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh - the three privileged Guinness sisters, darlings of society in Dublin and London - settle into becoming wives and mothers, they quickly discover that their gilded upbringing could not have prepared them for the realities of married life.For the eldest, Aileen, in Luttrellstown Castle outside Dublin, being married offers far less than she had expected;for outspoken Maureen, in the crumbling Clandeboye in Northern Ireland, marriage means intense passion, but fiercerows; while Oonagh's dream of romantic love in London is shattered by her husband's lies.And as 1930s Britain becomes increasingly politically polarised, the sisters' close friends, the Mitfords, find themselves under the media glare - causing the Guinness women to examine their own lives.Inspired by true-life events, The Guinness Girls: A Hint of Scandal is a sweeping, epic novel of Ireland and Britain in the grip of change, and a story of how three women who wanted for nothing were about to learn that they couldn't have everything.Praise for The Glorious Guinness Girls:'If, like me, you have binge-watched Bridgerton then this book is bound to be your cup of tea' Scribbles by Kat'A captivating and page-turning novel about a fascinating family. Fantastic' Sinéad Moriarty'The Glorious Guinness Girls has already been compared, and rightly so, to Downton Abbey. The two share a delicious comfort-blanket quality, only in the book's case, you do not need to wait until Sunday evenings before availing of its escapist properties. The story combines the intimacy of a family drama, set against the most opulent of backdrops, with sweeping historical themes. The tragic fragility of so many of the Guinness Girls' set - that ability to burn bright, but burn fast, is perfectly captured here' Irish Independent'A must for all Downton Abbey fans, The Glorious Guinness Girls is a gorgeous book, a captivating tale about a young girl caught up in the lifestyle of a family that continues to fascinate - the Guinness Family. A joy to read' Swirl and Thread

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⭐ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK⭐ CHOSEN BY BARACK OBAMA AS A FAVOURITE READ⭐ TOP TEN BOOKS OF THE YEAR, NEW YORK TIMES & WASHINGTON POST'Brilliantly imagined, larger than life, a tragicomedic epic of intertwined lives.' JOYCE CAROL OATES'Deeply felt, beautifully written and profoundly humane.' JUNOT DIAZ, New York Times Book ReviewThe year is 1969. In a housing project in south Brooklyn, a shambling old church deacon called Sportcoat shoots - for no apparent reason - the local drug-dealer who used to be part of the church's baseball team. The repercussions of that moment draw in the whole community, from Sportcoat's best friend - Hot Sausage - to the local Italian mobsters, the police (corrupt and otherwise), and the stalwart ladies of the Five Ends Baptist Church.DEACON KING KONG is a book about a community under threat, about the ways people pull together in an age when the old rules are being rewritten. It is very funny in places, and heartbreaking in others. From a prize-winning storyteller, this New York Times bestseller shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, and that the communities we build are fragile but vital.______________________From the winner of a National Book Award and author of the bestselling memoir,The Color of Water, and The Good Lord Bird, a TV series starring Ethan Hawke'A hilarious, pitch-perfect comedy set in the Brooklyn projects of the late 1960s. This alone may qualify it as one of the year's best novels.' The Washington PostWhat Goodreads readers are saying:***** 'Deacon King Kong is one of those novels whose brilliance sneaks up on you. I haven't been this pleasantly surprised by a book in a while.'***** 'I do believe I just finished one of my all time favorite books. I loved every minute spent with Sportcoat and his community. A good old fashioned yarn shot through with truth, spirit, and humor. I LOVED it!'***** 'This book was a balm for my soul, a portrait of a black church community circa 1969 with sweet characters (well, most of them), interconnections that stretch back decades, and a plot with more than one mystery at its heart.'***** '"Deacon" has the texture of folk lore and fable mixed with the unexpected rhythms of jazz and the noisy streets of late 1960s Brooklyn.'***** 'The ending was one of those where you clutch your heart and want to hug the book (or your Kindle).'

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Guardian 'literary highlights of 2020'Sunday Times 'books to watch out for in 2020'New Statesman 'books to read in 2020'Evening Standard 'thirteen titles to look for in 2020'As divisive as he is beguiling, as misunderstood as he is scrutinised, Boris Johnson is a singular figure. Many of us think we know his story well. His ruthless ambition was evident from his insistence, as a three-year-old, that he would one day be 'world king'. Eton and Oxford prepared him well for a frantic career straddling the dog-eat-dog worlds of journalism and politics. His transformation from bumbling stooge on Have I Got New for You to a triumphant Mayor of London was overshadowed only by his colourful personal life, brimming with affairs, scandals and transgressions. His ascent to Number 10 in the wake of the acrimonious, era-defining Brexit referendum would prove to be only the first act in an epic drama that saw him play both hero and villain - from proroguing parliament to his controversial leadership of the Covid-19 Crisis, all against the backdrop of divorce, marriage, the birth of his sixth child, revolts among Tory MPs and the countdown to Brexit.Yet despite his celebrity, decades of media scrutiny, the endless vitriol of his critics and the enduring adoration of his supporters, there is so much we've never understood about Boris - until now. Previous biographies have either dismissed him as a lazy, deceitful opportunist or been transfixed by his charm, wit and drive. Both approaches fall short, and so many questions about Boris remain unanswered. What seismic events of his childhood have evaded scrutiny? How has he so consistently defied the odds, proved his critics wrong, and got away with increasingly reckless gambles? What were his real achievements and failures as Mayor of London, what was really going on during his time as Foreign Secretary, and why did he write two articles for the Telegraph, one in favour of Leave and the other for Remain? How have the women in his life exerted more influence than any of us realise, and why is his story ultimately one overshadowed by family secrets?Based on a wealth of new interviews and research, this is the deepest, most rounded and most comprehensive portrait to date of the man, the mind, the politics, the affairs, the family - of a loner, a lover, a leader. Revelatory, unsettling and compulsively readable, it is the most timely and indispensable book yet from Britain's leading investigative biographer.

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Enchanting villages, forward-thinking design and epic heritage - welcome to Denmark. Whether you want to adventure like a Viking, sample cutting-edge cuisine or practise the art of hygge, your DK Eyewitness travelguide makes sure you experience all that Denmark has to offer.From the captivating cities to the far-flung corners, each region of Denmark exudes its own distinct personality. Breathe in the coastal air at Skagen's wild beaches, cycle the charming lanes of Copenhagen or marvel at the stunning selection of museums in Aarhus.Our updated guide brings Denmark to life, transporting you there like no other travel guide does with expert-led insights, trusted travel advice, detailed breakdowns of all the must-see sights, photographs on practically every page, and our hand-drawn illustrations which place you inside the country's iconic buildings and neighbourhoods. We've also worked hard to make sure our information is as up-to-date as possible following the COVID-19 outbreak. DK Eyewitness Denmark is your ticket to the trip of a lifetime. Inside DK Eyewitness Denmark you will find: - A fully-illustrated top experiences guide: our expert pick of Denmark's must-sees and hidden gems- Accessible itineraries to make the most out of each and every day- Expert advice: honest recommendations for getting around safely, when to visit each sight, what to do before you visit, and how to save time and money- Colour-coded chapters to every part of Denmark, from Copenhagen to Northwestern Zealand, Southern Zealand to Bornholm- Practical tips: the best places to eat, drink, shop and stay- Detailed maps and walks to help you navigate the city easily and confidently - Covers: Central Copenhagen North, Central Copenhagen South, Christianshavn and Holmen, Beyond the Centre, Northwestern Zealand, Southern Zealand and the Islands, Funen, Southern and Central Jutland, Northern Jutland, Bornholm, Greenland and the Faroe IslandsWant the best of Denmark in your pocket? Don't forget to try DK Eyewitness Top 10 Copenhagen. About DK Eyewitness: At DK Eyewitness, we believe in the power of discovery. We make it easy for you to explore your dream destinations. DK Eyewitness travel guides have been helping travellers to make the most of their breaks since 1993. Filled with expert advice, striking photography and detailed illustrations, our highly visual DK Eyewitness guides will get you closer to your next adventure. We publish guides to more than 200 destinations, from pocket-sized city guides to comprehensive country guides. Named Top Guidebook Series at the 2020 Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards, we know that wherever you go next, your DK Eyewitness travel guides are the perfect companion.

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See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with the Netflix series, Shadow and Bone -- Season 2 premiering March 16, 2023! Discover what comes next for the daring rogue Nikolai in the riveting sequel to King of Scars.The wolves are circling and a young king will face his greatest challenge in the explosive finale of the instant #1 New York Times-bestselling King of Scars Duology. The Demon King. As Fjerda's massive army prepares to invade, Nikolai Lantsov will summon every bit of his ingenuity and charm - and even the monster within - to win this fight. But a dark threat looms that cannot be defeated by a young king's gift for the impossible. The Stormwitch. Zoya Nazyalensky has lost too much to war. She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend. Now duty demands she embrace her powers to become the weapon her country needs. No matter the cost. The Queen of Mourning. Deep undercover, Nina Zenik risks discovery and death as she wages war on Fjerda from inside its capital. But her desire for revenge may cost her country its chance at freedom and Nina the chance to heal her grieving heart. King. General. Spy. Together they must find a way to forge a future in the darkness. Or watch a nation fall. Read all the books in the Grishaverse! The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom The King of Scars Duology King of Scars Rule of WolvesThe Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous MagicThe Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of MagicThe Lives of Saints Praise for the Grishaverse "A master of fantasy." -The Huffington Post "Utterly, extremely bewitching." -The Guardian "The best magic universe since Harry Potter." -Bustle "This is what fantasy is for." -The New York Times Book Review "[A] world that feels real enough to have its own passport stamp." -NPR "The darker it gets for the good guys, the better." -Entertainment Weekly "Sultry, sweeping and picturesque. . . . Impossible to put down." -USA Today "There's a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo's original epic fantasy that sets it apart." -Vanity Fair "Unlike anything I've ever read." -Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent "Bardugo crafts a first-rate adventure, a poignant romance, and an intriguing mystery!" -Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series

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'Another sizzling space epic to entice, excite and tease. 5 STARS' - StarburstDarrow was born a slave. He became a weapon.He ended centuries of Gold rule, broke the chains of an empire, and now he's the hero of a brave new republic. But at terrible cost.At the edge of the solar system, the grandson of the emperor he murdered dreams of revenge.In his hidden fortress in the oceans of Venus, the Ash Lord lies in wait, plotting to crush the newborn democracy. And, at home, a young Red girl who's lost everything to the Rising questions whether freedom was just another Gold lie.In a fearsome new world where Obsidian pirates roam the Belt, famine and genocide ravage Mars, and crime lords terrorise Luna, it's time for Darrow and a cast of new characters from across the solar system to face down the chaos that revolution has unleashed.**********Further praise for Iron Gold 'Fascinating . . . This is one you absolutely will have to read' - The BiblioSanctum '[Iron Gold] offers us both a continuation of the story Brown has been telling for years right alongside an eye-opening widening of his universe, as though we're watching it all through an exquisitely calibrated telescope that can slide on perfect bearings from one side of the solar system to the other without the slightest blur . . . Mature science fiction existing within the frame of blazing space opera' - NPR Books 'The books are an exhilarating fusion of The Hunger Games, Blade Runner and Dune. Amid a pulse-pounding narrative, they fearlessly tackle major issues like the fragility of democracy and the fallibility of human nature to betray its ideals even when freedom is attained' - Express '[A] thoughtful blend of action, intrigue, and prosaic human drama' - Publishers Weekly 'Iron Gold offers more of everything we loved about the first three books. Pierce Brown builds upon the foundations of the incredible universe and story he spun in the first trilogy, pivoting on his characters' flaws and fallibility to steer the narrative in unexpected directions. Suffice it to say, readers will be soon be dying to read the next one' - Barnes & Noble 'This book lives up to every expectation I have for Pierce Brown . . . you MUST read this, it will not disappoint!' - The Speculative Herald'Brown succeeds not only in writing a great book, but adding to the world and Red Rising's mythos . . . The mix of political intrigue, action and thematic journeys elevate this book from a simple sci-fi adventure into something more thought-provoking and rewarding. Fans of Brown and his series should really enjoy this latest addition to Red Rising' - FlickeringMyth.com

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THE POWERFUL AND MOVING NOVEL OF NEW BEGINNINGS AND OLD FAMILY SECRETS FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ASK AGAIN, YES'A fearless writer' LISA TADDEO'An epic story about immigration, identity and family' Guardian'Atmospheric, moving and brilliantly well-written' Daily Mail'Engrossing . . . the kind of novel you simply don't want to end' Daily Express'A beautifully crafted novel about love, loyalty, culture, family and identity' Irish Sunday Independent______1960s Rural Ireland. Greta Cahill must abandon her quiet village to follow her fearless sister Johanna onto a ship bound for New York . . .It's here that she steps out of her sister's shadow and into a life of her own, rich with love, work and family.As the years pass Greta longs to revisit the past - to see her mother, to show her what she has made of herself.But she must protect a family secret, decades old.So when her children conspire to unite the worlds she's kept so carefully apart, Greta fears she could lose it all . . .A profoundly moving, compassionate story of self-discovery, The Walking People is a powerful and compelling story about our connection to the past.______'A novel of great compassion and understanding . . . rich with story' JOHN BOYNE on Ask Again, Yes'Keane's previous novel Ask Again, Yes, was on my best Books of 2019, and this is just as good. Its slow, melodic pace proves we don't always need fast action and twists' Prima, 'Best Books of March''The characters are so well drawn and out of the ordinary that I was quickly drawn into their story and didn't want it to end' 5***** Reader Review'The story becomes so engrossing it grows on you with its real and engaging characters ... a very moving and original love story' Irish Examiner'A gorgeous nostalgic family drama with real characters. Loved it' 5***** Reader ReviewPraise for Mary Beth Keane:'A fearless writer' Lisa Taddeo, author of Three Women'A novel of great compassion and understanding . . . rich with story' John Boyne'I'll read everything she writes' Liane Moriarty, author of Big Little Lies'A writer of extraordinary depth, feeling and wit' Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion'Immersive and deeply moving' Anna Hope, author of Expectation 'It's an absolute stunner, an ode to family and forgiveness that has been crafted with compassion and insight' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton**THE HALF MOON, the new novel by Mary Beth Keane, is available to pre-order now!**

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'Unique and stunning. One of the most powerful novels you'll read this year'Stephen Booth on The FatherIn the second part of the highly acclaimed and internationally bestselling series Made in Sweden, one brother fictionalises the real crimes of his own family for a remarkable and epic novel.After six years in prison, Sweden's most notorious criminal Leo Dûvnjac is free, acquitted of all but two of the ten bank robberies he and his two younger brothers pulled off.While behind bars, he befriended Sam Larsen, who was convicted of murdering his own father - and also happens to be the brother of the cop who caught Leo, Detective John Broncks.With Sam at his side, Leo seeks out his now-law-abiding brothers for one last job and a chance at redemption - or revenge. But Bronks is on to him, and Leo's father has other plans for his sons . . .Now two sets of brothers will play out the tragic and thrilling destinies of childhoods built on heartbreaking betrayal.Praise for The Father and The Sons'A powerful real-life story'Guardian'The emotional centre of the story is truly compelling . . . the sweep and scope are epic'Herald'Superior. . . builds to a breathless climax'Sun'A deep, clean cut into the body of fathers, sons, loyalty and family'Sainsburys Magazine'Will delight fans of Nordic Noir'Crime Fiction Lover'Mind boggling and captivating'The Crime Warp'An incredible story'Crime Time'Incredibly efficient and easy to read . . . gripping and thrilling'Helsingborgs Dagblad, Sweden'An unbelievably exciting and authentic story. . . One of the year's best crime stories'Östran, Sweden'An insider story that beats any action film'Aftonbladet, Sweden'A remarkable blend of fact and fiction'Skånska Dagbladet, Sweden'Many of the scenes stick with you'Expressen, Sweden'A powerful and riveting reading experience'Deckarbloggen, Sweden'One of the summer's best thrillers'Café, Sweden'The action in The Father is captivating. It holds us in suspense from the first page to the last'LitteraturMagazinet, Sweden'I have a soft spot not only for suspense novels, but also for coming-of-age stories; here, I get both!'Bokbabbel, Sweden'The craftsmanship in this novel is first-class. It is both exciting and dramatic in an almost cinematic way'Gefle Dagblad, Sweden'It is hard to put The Father down for more than the briefest moment. It is an empathetic story that vividly portrays perpetrators, victims and police'Upsala Nya Tidning, Sweden'It is captivating to read about the inner workings of a gang of robbers'Borås Tidning, Sweden'A very clever suspense novel, a classic story of crime and punishment that is simultaneously a gripping family drama with a genuinely painful element'BTJ, Sweden'The Father is more than a traditional suspense novel. It is also a story of exclusion, a fractured family, an unfamiliar Sweden and a kind of honour culture. This is why it is so totally relevant to us'Mariestads-Tidningen, Sweden'The Father isn't just exciting - it also gives a sincere picture of a home that is a far cry from that of your average Joe'Ölandsbladet, Sweden'A thrilling novel that becomes something much more than a book you can't put down'Tara, Sweden'A flawlessly constructed thriller'Femina, Sweden'The Father is thoroughly exciting from the first line to the last. Seductively well-written'Kristianstadsbladet, Sweden'A gripping coming-of-age story, flush with exciting scenes and the psychological battle between father and son'Falu-Kuriren, Sweden'The Father is a novel where we know already from the beginning how it will all end, but the way there is worth our while'Aftonbladet, Sweden'A book that seems infallible: bring on the cartloads of stars, the stellar reviews and the millions of readers'de Volkskrant, Netherlands'The Father is a book that will elicit a lot of response, a must-read for every crime lover. Actually, a must for anyone who likes to read'Hebban, The Netherlands'An incredible crime novel'Brabants Dagblad, Netherlands'The meticulous preparation and execution of the robberies are depicted stunningly' NRC Handelsblad, Netherlands'It is amazing how much tension the authors create while merely describing the preparations for the robberies. Even more exciting are the robberies themselves'VN Thriller & Detective Guide, Netherlands'Never before have I read a book that so successfully explains how people can end up as criminals'Het Nieuwsblad, Netherlands'The Father provides an intriguing insight in the criminal life'De Telegraaf, Netherlands'The Father is a technically wonderful novel crafted with breathtaking cleverness' Corriere della Sera, Italy'Totally crazy, totally reckless and totally brilliant: a well-researched fictional reality of a book ... the best crime thriller of the year so far'Nordjyske Stiftstidende, Denmark'The structure is strictly cinematic: well-formed scenes with sharp dialogue and seamless progress, making reading a pleasure. Once you've started reading, it's hard to put the book down'Politiken, Denmark'It's extremely well written, thrilling, gripping, gruesome, cheerful, anguished, heartwarming, and ice cold - spectacular in all ways. The Father is a world-class piece of fiction'Fredericia Dagblad, Denmark'[An] action-packed page turner - not for the faint of heart'Elle, Germany

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SOMETHING IS PREYING ON THE GODS OF TAI-TASTIGON A crucial moment draws nigh leading to the ultimate showdown between Jame Knorth and Perimal Darkling, the supernatural entity that has pursued Jame’s people, the Kencyr, across multiple universes, destroying all in its wake. Can the Kencyr finally make an effective stand, or will another world fall into shadow? But now news arrives from Tai-tastigon, the vast city that formed Jame into the master thief, wily fighter, and godling-in-the-making that she has become. It seems something is preying on the gods of Tai-tastigon. The new Pantheon is falling, and the ancient city is in turmoil. The self-serving, beguiling demi-god leader of the Thieves Guild has coerced Jame into finding the soul of his missing brother by holding hostage people she loves. Jame She reluctantly returns to find a Tai-tastigon in turmoil, with citizen pitted against citizen, and day and night-time folk at one another’s throats. It seems many in the vast Lower Town have lost their shadows—not so funny when you realize that a shadow is cast by a soul. DISAPPEARING SOULS Some of the affected have gone mad. Some wander like ravening wraiths, attacking even family members by tooth and nail. Which means something is taking—or destroying—souls in the city. What’s more, in the city’s Temple District fearful gods are finding their very beings drained. Some have become so diminished they hide in the robes of their priests like mewling babes. Across the city, murder and mayhem have erupted. But whatever demon-wrought madness is afoot in Tai-tastigon will have to face the ultimate avatar of god That-Which-Destroys Itself. That would be one Jame Knorth. WHERE JAME KNORTH GOES, CHAOS WILL FOLLOW! About The Gates of Tagmeth: "The Kencyr live in one of the most deeply realized worlds in fantasy, a rich and complicated space that includes many cultures and riveting, three-dimensional characters. Full of dark wonder, wry humor, and the quirks of Jame’s inimitable personality, the newest installment in Hodgell’s life’s work demonstrates why it can be worthwhile for a writer to spend 40 years writing the same series."—Publishers Weekly About P.C. Hodgell’s Kyncyrath Series: "P.C. Hodgell writes the most strikingly weird and wonderful stories in epic fantasy today."—Charles Stross "Hodgell has crafted an…intricate fantasy with humor, tragedy, and a capable and charming female hero.”—Library Journal The Kencyrath Saga Seeker’s Bane Bound in Blood Honor's Paradox Sea of Time By Demons Possessed Omnibus Editions The Godstalker Chronicles Contains Kencyrath prequel novels God Stalk and Dark of the Moon

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When a young woman vanishes from an exclusive oceanfront community in the middle of the night, Detective Casey Wray’s takes on a case that leads her in chilling, unexpected directions … A twisty, breath-taking police procedural. First in a heart-pounding new series. ‘Urgent, thrilling and richly imagined. Without doubt his best yet' Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End ‘Reynolds captures the claustrophobic feel of a small town … a tense slice of American noir’ Vaseem Khan, author of Midnight at Malabar House 'If you were hooked on Mare of Easttown, this will be right up your street … I read this obsessively' Nina Pottell, Prima ‘Rod Reynolds makes the most of this desolate, windswept location … a thrillingly complex narrative develops at speed … his superior cop saga is just the first instalment of a projected series’ The Times ____________________ Don’t trust ANYONE… When a young woman makes a distressing middle-of-the-night call to 911, apparently running for her life in a quiet, exclusive beachside neighbourhood, miles from her home, everything suggests a domestic incident. Except no one has seen her since, and something doesn’t sit right with the officers at Hampstead County PD. With multiple suspects and witnesses throwing up startling inconsistencies, and interference from the top threatening the integrity of the investigation, lead detective Casey Wray is thrust into an increasingly puzzling case that looks like it’s going to have only one ending… And then the first body appears…For fans of Susie Steiner, Peter Swanson, M J Arlidge, James Lee Burke and Tana French ___________________**LONGLISTED for the CWA Steel Dagger for THRILLER of the YEAR** ‘Electrifying’ Crime Monthly ‘An awesome read. A turn of the screw in every chapter’ Oscar de Muriel ‘If you love Harlen Coben and Lee Child, you will love this … cinematic, epic, you will forget to breathe’ Miranda Dickinson ‘Compelling and stylish, with devious twists and a cleverly crafted ending. Very, very impressive’ G J Minnett ‘A twisty, high-stakes, high-voltage murder mystery’ Tim Baker ‘In Casey Wray he has created a series character with an engaging mix of guts and vulnerability ably supported by a strong supporting cast. His prose style is crisp with the occasional touch of the poetic that lifts noir writing out of the pulps’ Shots Magazine ‘Beautifully written, deeply atmospheric and cleverly plotted, with a brilliant new protagonist’ Andrea Carter ‘Utterly gripping and packs one hell of an emotional punch. Perfect for fans of Bosch’ Steph Broadribb ‘There’s something particularly special about Black Reed Bay and it’s Detective Casey Wray … I felt like I’d known her all my life’ Joy Kluver

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Rome – Urbs Roma: city of patricians and plebeians, emperors and gladiators, slaves and concubines – was the epicentre of a far-flung imperium whose cultural legacy is incalculable. How a tiny settlement, founded by desperate adventurers beside the banks of the River Tiber, came to rule vast tracts of territory across the face of the known world is one of the more improbable stories of antiquity. The epic scale of the Colosseum; majestically columned temples; formidable legionaries marching in burnished steel breastplates; and capricious Caesars clad in purple robes who thought themselves gods: all these images speak of a grandeur that continues to be associated with this most celebrated of ancient capitals. The glory of Rome is further underlined by enduring monuments like Hadrian’s Wall, holding the line as it did against ferocious Pictish barbarians thought to be from Hyperborea: the mythic Land Beyond the North Wind. This book vividly recounts the rags-to-riches story of Rome’s unlikely triumph. Perhaps the most famous example in history of modest beginnings rising to greatness, Rome’s empire was never static or uniform. Over the centuries, under the ‘boundless grandeur of the Roman peace’ (as the Elder Pliny put it), imperial law, civilisation and language vigorously interacted with and influenced local cultures across western and central Europe and North Africa. Provincial subjects were made Roman citizens, generals and senators. In AD 98 Trajan became the first of many Romans from outside Italy to assume supreme power as Emperor. Poets, philosophers, historians and legalists – and many others besides – all participated in the brilliant intellectual constellation secured by the pax Romana. However, as Dexter Hoyos reveals, the empire was not won cheaply or fast, and did not always succeed. The Carthaginian general Hannibal came close to destroying it. Arminius freed Germania by brutally annihilating three irreplaceable legions in the Teutoburg Forest – a disaster that broke Augustus’ heart. And the Romans themselves, in expanding their empire, were often ruthless. Caesar boasted of killing a million enemy fighters in his Gallic Wars, while the accusation of a Caledonian lord became proverbial: they make a desert and call it peace. Yet at the same time the Romans strove to impose moral and legal principles for directing their subjects as much as themselves, and laid down standards of government that are still valid today. Rome Victorious is a masterful new treatment of the rise of Rome – from the viewpoints both of the city itself and the people it came to rule and make its own.

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A suspense filled tale of murder on the American frontier—shedding new light on a family of serial killers in Kansas, whose horrifying crimes gripped the attention of a nation still reeling from war.'A carefully researched and horribly compelling examination of unimaginable evil intruding upon everyday life' The ObserverIn 1873 the people of Labette County, Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried by a trailside cabin beneath an orchard of young apple trees were the remains of countless bodies. Below the cabin itself was a cellar stained with blood. The Benders, the family of four who once resided on the property were nowhere to be found. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for decades, sparking an epic manhunt for the Benders. The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders—one among the thousands relocating farther west in search of land and opportunity after the Civil War—were capable of operating "a human slaughter pen" appalled and fascinated the nation. But who the Benders really were, why they committed such a vicious killing spree and whether justice ever caught up to them is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Set against the backdrop of postbellum America, Hell’s Half-Acre explores the environment capable of allowing such horrors to take place. Drawing on extensive original archival material, Susan Jonusas introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, many of whom have been previously missing from the story. Among them are the families of the victims, the hapless detectives who lost the trail, and the fugitives that helped the murderers escape. Hell’s Half-Acre is a journey into the turbulent heart of nineteenth century America, a place where modernity stalks across the landscape, violently displacing existing populations and building new ones. It is a world where folklore can quickly become fact and an entire family of criminals can slip through a community’s fingers, only to reappear in the most unexpected of places.“Dark and bloody, hard-nosed but lyrical, Hell’s Half-Acre is a true-crime mass-murder mystery from the Old West. Susan Jonusas has stripped down a notorious story, researched it to hell and back, and rebuilt in prose so immediate and immersive that it feels like she must have been there. Beware the Benders, but all hail Susan Jonusas. This is a stunning debut from a great and powerful new voice in narrative non-fiction.” Dan Jones, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Templars, The Plantagenets and Blood and Thrones

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Essential World Cup Reading | Featured in The New York Times’ “What to Read During the World Cup”Wall Street Journal reporters Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg offer a deeply reported account of the intertwined sagas and legacies of two of the greatest soccer players of all time—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo—examining how their rivalry has grown from a personal competition to a multi-billion-dollar industry, paralleling the stunning rise, overwhelming excesses, and uncertain future of modern international soccer.For over fifteen years, almost any conversation about international soccer has always come back to two players—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo—undoubtedly the greatest of their generation but with styles, attitudes, and fanbases that couldn’t be more different. For millions of people around the world “Messi or Ronaldo?” isn’t simply a barroom argument, or an affirmation of fandom, so much as a statement of philosophy, of values, of what global soccer is today and of what it will be tomorrow.Now Wall Street Journal reporters and co-authors of The Club, Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg, unite the stories of Messi and Ronaldo into a single modern epic of global sports, detailing how one rivalry changed both the game and the business of international soccer—forever. Based on dozens of firsthand accounts and years of original reporting, Messi vs. Ronaldo weaves together the stakes, color, and characters at the heart of each man’s story, going inside the locker rooms and boardrooms where their legends were forged and revealing off-field drama as gripping as anything that happened on it. From their contrasting origin stories to their divergent career arcs and their conflicting reputations, these players have built their successes on opposite paths, yet each, in his own way, offers a riveting tale of triumph and excess. Taken together, their story embodies the astronomical growth of international soccer, how social media has revolutionized the power of sports celebrity, and how the desire to capitalize on the billions of dollars these players represent electrified some of the most storied clubs in Europe—Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Manchester United among them—and cost them almost everything.Updated with a new epilogue detailing Messi and Argentina’s remarkable victory in the 2022 World Cup, Messi vs. Ronaldo offers a deeply researched look at their legacy and grapples with the impact that their talents have had on the game for better and for worse. Much more than a retelling of the dual accomplishments of these great players, this is truly a biography of a rivalry, one that has become a crucial lens for understanding the past, present, and future of global soccer.

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"Master storyteller Christina Baker Kline is at her best in this epic yet intimate tale of nineteenth-century Australia. I loved this book." -Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife and Love and Ruin The author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train returns with an ambitious, emotionally resonant historical novel that captures the hardship, oppression, opportunity and hope of a trio of women's lives-two English convicts and an orphaned Aboriginal girl - in nineteenth-century Australia.OPTIONED FOR TELEVISION BY BRUNA PAPANDREA, THE PRODUCER OF HBO'S BIG LITTLE LIESSeduced by her employer's son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen's Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land. During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the Medea, Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel-a skilled midwife and herbalist-is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for a variety of favors. Though Australia has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, the British government in the 1840s considers its fledgling colony uninhabited and unsettled, and views the natives as an unpleasant nuisance. By the time the Medea arrives, many of them have been forcibly relocated, their land seized by white colonists. One of these relocated people is Mathinna, the orphaned daughter of the Chief of the Lowreenne tribe, who has been adopted by the new governor of Van Diemen's Land. In this gorgeous novel, Christina Baker Kline brilliantly recreates the beginnings of a new society in a beautiful and challenging land, telling the story of Australia from a fresh perspective, through the experiences of Evangeline, Hazel, and Mathinna. While life in Australia is punishing and often brutally unfair, it is also, for some, an opportunity: for redemption, for a new way of life, for unimagined freedom. Told in exquisite detail and incisive prose, The Exiles is a story of grace born from hardship, the unbreakable bonds of female friendships, and the unfettering of legacy.

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The book from the creator of the wildly popular science YouTube channel, Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell, a gorgeously illustrated deep dive into the immune system that will change how you think about your body forever.__________'A truly brilliant introduction to the human body's vast system for fighting infections and other threats'JOHN GREEN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars'Reads as if it's a riveting sci-fi novel . . . a delightful treat for the curious'TIM URBAN, creator of Wait But Why__________You wake up and feel a tickle in your throat. Your head hurts. You're mildly annoyed as you get the kids ready for school and dress for work yourself. Meanwhile, an utterly epic war is being fought, just below your skin. Millions are fighting and dying for you to be able to complain as you drink your cup of tea and head out the door.So what, exactly, IS your immune system?Second only to the human brain in its complexity, it is one of the oldest and most critical facets of life on Earth. Without it, you would die within days. In Immune, Philipp Dettmer, the brains behind the most popular science channel on YouTube, takes readers on a journey through the fortress of the human body and its defences. There is a constant battle of staggering scale raging within us, full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice. In fact, in the time you've been reading this, your immune system has probably identified and eradicated a cancer cell that started to grow in your body.Each chapter delves deeply into an element of the immune system, including defences like antibodies and inflammation as well as threats like viruses, bacteria, allergies and cancer, as Dettmer reveals why boosting your immune system is actually nonsense, how parasites sneak their way past your body's defences, how viruses - including the coronavirus - work, and what goes on in your wounds when you cut yourself.Enlivened by engaging full-colour graphics and immersive descriptions, Immune turns one of the most intricate, interconnected, and confusing subjects - immunology - into a gripping adventure through an astonishing alien landscape.Challenging what you know and think about your own body and how it defends you against all sorts of maladies and how it might also eventually be your own downfall, Immune is a vital and remarkably fun crash course in what is arguably, and increasingly, the most important system in the body.__________

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This novel is one of the most ambitious and remarkable literary achievements of our time. It is a picaresque, psychological novel—a novel of the road, a journey or voyage of the human spirit in its search for reality in a world of illusion and nightmare. It is an epic of what might be called the Arabian Nights of American life. Marguerite Young’s method is poetic, imagistic, incantatory; in prose of extraordinary richness she tests the nature of her characters—and the nature of reality. Miss MacIntosh, My Darling is written with oceanic music moving at many levels of consciousness and perception; but the toughly fibred realistic fabric is always there, in the happenings of the narrative, the humor, the precise details, the definitions of the characters. Miss MacIntosh herself, who hails from What Cheer, Iowa, and seems downright and normal, with an incorruptible sense of humor and the desire to put an end to phantoms; Catherine Cartwheel, the opium lady, a recluse who is shut away in a great New England seaside house and entertains imaginary guests; Mr. Spitzer, the lawyer, musical composer and mystical space traveler, a gentle man, wholly unsure of himself and of reality; his twin brother Peron, the gay and raffish gambler and virtuoso in the world of sports; Cousin Hannah, the horsewoman, balloonist, mountain-climber and militant Boston feminist, known as Al Hamad through all the seraglios of the East; Titus Bonebreaker of Chicago, wild man of God dreaming of a heavenly crown; the very efficient Christian hangman, Mr. Weed of the Wabash River Valley; a featherweight champion who meets his equal in a graveyard—these are a few who live with phantasmagorical vividness in the pages of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling. The novel touches on many aspects of life—drug addiction, woman’s suffrage, murder, suicide, pregnancy both real and imaginary, schizophrenia, many strange loves, the psychology of gambling, perfectionism; but the profusion of this huge book serves always to intensify the force of the central question: “What shall we do when, fleeing from illusion, we are confronted by illusion?” What is real, what is dream? Is the calendar of the human heart the same as that kept by the earth? Is it possible that one may live a secondary life of which one does not know? In every aspect, Miss MacIntosh, My Darling stands by itself—in the lyric beauty of its prose, its imaginative vitality and cumulative emotional power. It is the work of a writer of genius.

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THE MOST POWERFUL STORY YOU'LL READ THIS YEAR. 'Fletcher's suspenseful, atmospheric tale imagines a near future in which our world is in ruins . . . an adventure saga punctured by a gut-punch twist'Entertainment Weekly'You'll remember A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World long after you finish reading'Peng Shepherd, author of The Book Of M 'Truly engrossing . . . brings hope and humanity to a cold and scary world'Keith Stuart, author of A Boy Made of Blocks 'I promise you're going to love it'Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches'Epic in scope, enthralling, and full of human warmth'M. R. Carey, author of The Girl with all the Gifts THE WORLD HAS ENDED. AT LEAST WE STILL HAVE DOGS.My name's Griz. I've never been to school, I've never had friends, in my whole life I've not met enough people to play a game of football. My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, before all the people went away, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs.Then the thief came. He told stories of the deserted towns and cities beyond our horizons. I liked him - until I woke to find he had stolen my dog. So I chased him out into the ruins of the world.I just want to get my dog back, but I found more than I ever imagined was possible. More about how the world ended. More about what my family's real story is. More about what really matters.'This un-put-down-able story has everything - a well-imagined post-apocalyptic world, great characters, incredible suspense, and, of course, the fierce love of some very good dogs'Kirkus (starred review)'A story that is as heart-warming as it is heart-breaking'Fantasy Hive 'A stunningly gorgeous read: masterful storytelling, searingly beautiful prose, and a world so meticulously rendered you'll forget there's a real one going on beyond the pages. A book of the year contender - in any year'Micah Yongo'Extraordinary and quite magnificent . . . 10/10'StarburstA Boy and his Dog at the End of the World is the most moving apocalypse story you'll ever read. Perfect for readers of Life of Pi, The Girl with all the Gifts or Station Eleven - Griz's tale mixes sadness and hope in one unforgettable character's quest amid the remnants of our fragile civilisation.

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"Riveting. ... Pattison's uncanny ability [is] to write evocatively about science. ... In this, he is every bit as good as the best scientist writers." —New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) "Brilliant. ... A work of staggering depth." —Minneapolis Star TribuneA decade in the making, Fossil Men is a scientific detective story played out in anatomy and the natural history of the human body: the first full-length account of the discovery of a startlingly unpredicted human ancestor more than a million years older than LucyIt is the ultimate mystery: where do we come from? In 1994, a team led by fossil-hunting legend Tim White uncovered a set of ancient bones in Ethiopia’s Afar region. Radiometric dating of nearby rocks indicated the resulting skeleton, classified as Ardipithecus ramidus—nicknamed “Ardi”—was an astounding 4.4 million years old, more than a million years older than the world-famous “Lucy.” The team spent the next 15 years studying the bones in strict secrecy, all while continuing to rack up landmark fossil discoveries in the field and becoming increasingly ensnared in bitter disputes with scientific peers and Ethiopian bureaucrats. When finally revealed to the public, Ardi stunned scientists around the world and challenged a half-century of orthodoxy about human evolution—how we started walking upright, how we evolved our nimble hands, and, most significantly, whether we were descended from an ancestor that resembled today’s chimpanzee. But the discovery of Ardi wasn’t just a leap forward in understanding the roots of humanity--it was an attack on scientific convention and the leading authorities of human origins, triggering an epic feud about the oldest family skeleton.In Fossil Men, acclaimed journalist Kermit Pattison brings us a cast of eccentric, obsessive scientists, including White, an uncompromising perfectionist whose virtuoso skills in the field were matched only by his propensity for making enemies; Gen Suwa, a Japanese savant whose deep expertise about teeth rivaled anyone on Earth; Owen Lovejoy, a onetime creationist-turned-paleoanthropologist with radical insights into human locomotion; Berhane Asfaw, who survived imprisonment and torture to become Ethiopia’s most senior paleoanthropologist; Don Johanson, the discoverer of Lucy, who had a rancorous falling out with the Ardi team; and the Leakeys, for decades the most famous family in paleoanthropology. Based on a half-decade of research in Africa, Europe and North America, Fossil Men is not only a brilliant investigation into the origins of the human lineage, but the oldest of human emotions: curiosity, jealousy, perseverance and wonder.

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This powerful and moving historical novel is inspired by the written recollections and the memories that haunted the author’s father, Nicias Aridjis,—a captain in the Greek army, who returned from the fields of battle to Smyrna, 50 miles northwest of his hometown of Tire, in 1922 just as Turkish forces captured this cosmopolitan port city. Smyrna in Flames , by the internationally acclaimed Mexican writer and poet Homero Aridjis, lays bare the unimaginable events and horrors that took place for nine days between September 13 and 22—known as the Smyrna Catastrophe. After capturing Smyrna, Turkish forces went on a rampage, torturing and massacring tens of thousands of Greeks and Armenians and devastating the city—in particular, the Greek and Armenian quarters—by deliberately setting disastrous fires. After years of fighting in World War I and the Greco-Turkish War, Nicias enters a Smyrna under siege. He desperately moves through the city in search of Eurydice, the love of his life whom he left behind. Wandering the streets, the sounds of hopelessness commingle in his mind with echoes of the ancient Greek poets who sang of the city’s past glories. Images and voices, suggestive of Homeric ghosts adrift in a catastrophic scenario, conjure up a mythological, historical, geographical quest that, in the manner of classical epic, hovers between the heroic and the horrible, illustrating the depths and depravity of the human soul. Making his way from district to district, evading capture, Nicias observes the last vestiges of normal life and witnesses unspeakable horrors committed by roaming Turkish forces and irregulars who are randomly abusing and raping Greek and Armenian women and torturing and murdering their men. What he experiences is literally a living hell unfolding before his eyes. As Nicias passes familiar buildings, cafes, and churches, his mind and soul fill with nostalgia for his earlier life and the promise of love. Fortunately for the reader, the brutal and bloodthirsty scenes of the Smyrna Catastrophe are leavened by the voice of this “visionary poet of lyrical bliss, crystalline concentrations and infinite spaces,” as Kenneth Rexroth has described Aridjis. His portrayal of a genocide-in-progress floods our senses, turning these chaotic scenes into a poignant drama. At the very end, aboard one of the last ships to take refugees out of Smyrna before its final fall, Nicias scours the throng of thousands of desperate Greeks and Armenians pressing forward to escape on already overcrowded ships. Suddenly Turkish forces move in to shoot and stab, and, overwhelmed by the all-pervasive tragedy, Nicias abandons Smyrna and Asia Minor forever.

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Ernie Coleman survived the worst open-sea defeat in US Navy history. But he paid a price and buried the horrific memories for decades.In the manner of Mitch Albom’s highly successful Tuesdays with Morrie, 22 Minutes is a searing account of a survivor coming to terms with an incident he had suppressed for sixty years and the writer who painstakingly put together the clues about what had happened.Author Jeff Spevak was confronted with a dilemma: How do you tell the story of a man who can’t bring himself to talk about the most epic moment of his life? A clever fellow who’d scrapped to survive in a fashion that seems quaint today, Coleman tested himself as a teenager by swimming across lakes, building homes from foraged lumber, running a Navy carpentry shop as though he were a member of the scamming crew of McHale’s Navy. He was a self-taught sailor who’d become a legend on Lake Ontario. At age 96, Ernie was still sailing.Ernie Coleman talked of his life frankly – his honest remembrances of brawls and regrets. But he refused to talk about the one thing that had haunted him for decades: the sinking of his ship the Vincennes and his nightmares of men screaming in the burning sea, of incinerated corpses still manning the anti-aircraft guns. Through interviews with Coleman's family and others who knew Coleman, and arduous research Spevak finally put together what had occurred the night of the horrendous loss of his ship, the USS Vincennes, a cruiser sunk during the World War II Battle of Savo Island off Guadalcanal. Four big ships and more than 1,000 sailors were lost that night in a 22-minute battle, the worst open-sea defeat in the history of the United States Navy.Gripping, moving, highly personal, 22 Minutes is Coleman’s story of the incident he had buried for more than 60 years. Did Ernie pursue sailing with such intensity, at a time when most men his age are sitting in front of the television, waiting for the end, so that he did not have to close his eyes and remember that night on the Vincennes?“I know why those kids come back from Afghanistan and shoot themselves,” he said sadly one morning, sitting on the shady patio at his home. “You lay awake at night, reacting, reacting, reacting. Because it’s so real.”22 Minutes has enormous potential to match some of the best-selling first-hand World War II memoirs published in recent years.

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"I love every aspect of this amazing book—a genderfluid hero, a deadly contest, and vicious courtly intrigue. Get! Read! Now!" —Tamora Pierce, #1 New York Times bestselling authorI needed to win. They needed to die.Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class—and the nobles who destroyed their home. When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand—the Queen's personal assassins, named after the rings she wears—Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge. But the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can have only if they survive.This heart-pounding YA story of magic, danger, and revenge is perfect for readers looking for: epic books for tweens and teens gay and lesbian fantasy and science fiction gripping stories with queer and gay magic and sorcery gender fluid representation and gender diversity dazzling world-building and relatable charactersPraise for Mask of Shadows:A Bustle Most Anticipated YA of 2017!"Compelling and relatable characters, a fascinating world with dangerous magic, and a dash of political intrigue: Mask of Shadows completely delivered. Fantasy fans will love this book."—Jodi Meadows, New York Times bestselling coauthor of My Lady Jane"An intriguing world and a fantastically compelling main character make for a can't-miss debut. Miller's Mask of Shadows will make you glad you're not an assassin—and even gladder Sal is."—Kiersten White, New York Times bestselling author of And I Darken and Now I Rise"It is fabulous. Go forth and read the Hunger Games-like craftiness and intensity, Kaz Brekker-ish determination and moral questionability, and utterly charming romance." — LGBTQ Reads"Uber bloody and action packed, Mask of Shadows is the book for anyone who loves a heavy dose of grit and gore with their fantasy." — TeenVogue.comDon't miss the highly anticipated second book in the Mask of Shadows duology, Ruin of Stars, and Linsey Miller's standalone YA fantasy Belle Révolte, both available now!

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See the Grishaverse come to life on screen with Shadow and Bone, now a Netflix original series.Read from the beginning with this deluxe hardback collector's edition of the first novel in the worldwide-bestselling Shadow and Bone Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo! This edition features: *Brand-new artwork**Intricate foil iconography from the world of the book**Beautiful endpapers**Sprayed edges* Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold-a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed. Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her country's magical military elite-and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation. Welcome to Ravka . . . a world of science and superstition where nothing is what it seems. Read all the books in the Grishaverse! The Shadow and Bone Trilogy (previously published as The Grisha Trilogy) Shadow and Bone Siege and Storm Ruin and Rising The Six of Crows Duology Six of Crows Crooked Kingdom The King of Scars Duology King of ScarsRule of WolvesThe Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous MagicThe Severed Moon: A Year-Long Journal of MagicThe Lives of Saints Praise for the Grishaverse "A master of fantasy." -The Huffington Post "Utterly, extremely bewitching." -The Guardian "The best magic universe since Harry Potter." -Bustle "This is what fantasy is for." -The New York Times Book Review "[A] world that feels real enough to have its own passport stamp." -NPR "The darker it gets for the good guys, the better." -Entertainment Weekly "Sultry, sweeping and picturesque. . . . Impossible to put down." -USA Today "There's a level of emotional and historical sophistication within Bardugo's original epic fantasy that sets it apart." -Vanity Fair "Unlike anything I've ever read." -Veronica Roth, bestselling author of Divergent "Bardugo crafts a first-rate adventure, a poignant romance, and an intriguing mystery!" -Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series

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What can long-dead dinosaurs teach us about our future? Plenty, according to world-renowned paleontologist and recent star of BBC show The Day the Dinosaurs Died Dr Kenneth Lacovara, who has discovered some of the largest creatures to ever walk the Earth, including the super-massive Dreadnoughtus. 'Majestic, awe-inspiring and deeply humbling. Kenneth Lacovara reveals how dinosaurs have changed how we understand time, the world and ourselves' DR ALICE ROBERTS, anatomist and anthropologist, television presenter, author and professor ‘This is a dinosaur book with a difference. In lyrical prose Kenneth Lacovara shows how an understanding of the past helps to understand the present. The dinosaurs played no role in the great extinction that ended their era: we, on the other hand, are playing a major part in the extinction that is taking place today. And unless we change our ways, if we continue destroying the natural world, this will lead inevitably to our own extinction. But unlike the dinosaurs we have the power to turn things around.’ DR JANE GOODALL, DBE, conservationist, founder of the Jane Goodaal Institute and UN Messenger of Peace ‘Kenneth Lacovara LOVES Dinosaurs, LOVES science and truly LOVES telling you about it. Few non-fiction writers wield words with more poetic and potent affection for their subject. Ken’s deep scholarship and clear enjoyment of his subject always makes ME feel smarter. A man obsessed not just with his subject matter, but with showing us how looking into our deep past can illuminate our future.’ ADAM SAVAGE of THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL By tapping into the wonder that dinosaurs inspire, Dr Lacovara weaves together the stories of our geological awakening, of humanity’s epic struggle to understand the nature of deep time, the meaning of fossils, and our own place on the vast and bountiful tree of life. Go on a journey, back to when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, to discover how dinosaurs achieved feats unparalleled by any other group of animals. Learn the secrets of how paleontologists find fossils, and explore quirky, but fascinating questions, such as: Is a penguin a dinosaur? How are the tiny arms of T. rex the key to its power and ferocity? In this revealing book, Dr Lacovara offers the latest ideas about the shocking and calamitous death of the dinosaurs and ties their vulnerabilities to our own.Why Dinosaurs Matter is compelling and engaging - a reminder that our place on this planet is both precarious and potentially fleeting. As we move into an uncertain environmental future, it has never been more important to understand the past.

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Brent Weeks returns to the New York Times bestselling world of the Night Angel in Night Angel Nemesis, following master assassin Kylar on a new adventure - as the High King Logan Gyre calls on him to save his kingdom and the hope of peace. After the war that cost him so much, Kylar Stern is broken and alone. He's determined not to kill again, but an impending amnesty will pardon the one murderer he can't let walk free. He promises himself this is the last time. One last hit to tie up the loose ends of his old, lost life. But Kylar's best - and maybe only - friend, the High King Logan Gyre, needs him. To protect a fragile peace, Logan's new kingdom, and the king's twin sons, he needs Kylar to secure a powerful magical artifact that was unearthed during the war. With rumors that a ka'kari may be found, adversaries both old and new are on the hunt. And if Kylar has learned anything, it's that ancient magics are better left in the hands of those he can trust. If he does the job right, he won't need to kill at all. This isn't an assassination - it's a heist. But some jobs are too hard for an easy conscience, and some enemies are so powerful the only answer lies in the shadows. Praise for Brent Weeks:'Brent Weeks has a style of immediacy and detail that pulls the reader relentlessly into his story. He doesn't allow you to look away' Robin Hobb'Weeks writes in an inescapably engaging style, and Night Angel Nemesis is no exception. Breathlessly high stakes, terrible missteps, and unexpected revelations keep the story humming along at a breakneck pace' Andrea Stewart'Weeks is a giant of the genre' Nicholas Eames'Nobody does break-neck pacing and amazingly-executed plot twists like Brent Weeks' Brian McClellan'Weeks creates a rich blend of politics, culture and character . . . then throws in magic-using assassins' Peter V. Brett'Unforgettable characters, a plot that kept me guessing, non-stop action and the kind of in-depth storytelling that makes me admire a writer's work' Terry Brooks'Weeks has truly cemented his place among the great epic fantasy writers of our time' British Fantasy SocietyFor more from Brent Weeks, check out:Night AngelThe Way of ShadowsShadow's EdgeBeyond the ShadowsThe Kylar Chronicles Night Angel NemesisPerfect Shadow: A Night Angel Novella The Way of Shadows: The Graphic NovelLightbringerThe Black PrismThe Blinding KnifeThe Broken EyeThe Blood MirrorThe Burning White

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Chosen as a BOOK OF THE YEAR in the Sunday Times, Stylist and Observer'A multifaceted novel that is funny, verbally inventive and moving' Sunday Times, Book of the Year'In Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra (John Murray) a young woman escapes from Italy to Hollywood, leaving her father behind. The story moves between the real war and the better version Hollywood is busy creating. Sometimes tragic, often hilarious' Karen Joy Fowler, Observer, Books of the Year'Its prose pulses with humour, wit and affection' Mail on SundayThe epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini's Italy to 1940s Los Angeles-a timeless story of love, deceit, and sacrifice from the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of A Constellation of Vital PhenomenaLike many before her, Maria Lagana has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. Born in Rome, where every Sunday her father took her to the cinema instead of church, Maria immigrates with her mother to Los Angeles after a childhood transgression leads to her father's arrest.Fifteen years later, on the eve of America's entry into World War II, Maria is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart. Her mother won't speak to her. Her boss, a man of many toupees, has been summoned to Washington by congressional investigators. Her boyfriend, a virtuoso Chinese American actor, can't escape the studio's narrow typecasting. And the studio itself, Maria's only home in exile, teeters on the verge of bankruptcy.Over the coming months, as the bright lights go dark across Los Angeles, Mercury Pictures becomes a nexus of European émigrés: modernist poets trying their luck as B-movie screenwriters, once-celebrated architects becoming scale-model miniaturists, and refugee actors finding work playing the very villains they fled. While the world descends into war, Maria rises through a maze of conflicting politics, divided loyalties, and jockeying ambitions. But when the arrival of a stranger from her father's past threatens Maria's carefully constructed facade, she must finally confront her father's fate-and her own.Written with intelligence, wit, and an exhilarating sense of possibility, Mercury Pictures Presents spans many moods and tones, from the heartbreaking to the ecstatic. It is a love letter to life's bit players, a panorama of an era that casts a long shadow over our own, and a tour de force by a novelist whose work The Washington Post calls 'a flash in the heavens that makes you look up and believe in miracles.'

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David Ortiz first won over the Fenway faithful in 2003 with his monstrous home runs, beaming smile, big hugs, and kind heart. The following fall, he proved heroic, belting walk-off hits in Games 4 and 5 of the ALCS in an epic series comeback over Jeter’s Yankees. His legendary feats helped the Red Sox end the 86-year-old “Curse of the Bambino” and deliver a World Series title to Boston. In the largest gathering in American history—of any kind—3 million fans cheered Ortiz & Co. in the World Series victory parade. “Big Papi” has walloped over 500 home runs and led Boston to two more world titles. In 2013, following the Boston Marathon bombings, he epitomized “Boston Strong” by crushing a series-turning grand slam in the ALCS and blasting .688 in the World Series, earning MVP honors.Authors David Fischer and David Aretha celebrate this David’s career in a fully illustrated, scrapbook-style album with prose as passionate as Big Papi himself. Included too are dozens of personal anecdotes and recollections about Ortiz from prominent members of the Red Sox organization and the Boston community. Supreme photography and treasures from the Baseball Hall of Fame—rarely seen photographs and artifacts—enhance the nostalgic experience. This unique collection captures the magic of David Ortiz, one of the greatest heroes the game has ever known.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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New York Times Bestselling Author. Boys and girls think that Minecraft is the most fun they can have. But it’s just playing a game. With Mark Cheverton’s books, they can enter the universe they love!Gameknight999’s best friend in Minecraft is dying, and only the User-that-is-not-a-user can save him!Herobrine, the artificially intelligent virus intent on escaping Minecraft and infecting the Internet with his evil, was captured after an epic showdown on the shores of Minecraft. Gameknight999, having trapped the virus in an unlikely prison, saved the lives of his friends in the game and was finally able to return to the physical world.Everyone thought the Last Battle was over and Minecraft was safe . . . but they were wrong. The powerful evil held within Herobrine’s prison is leaking out into the fabric of Minecraft and attacking Crafter, the most sensitive NPC on the server and Gameknight999’s best friend. With Crafter’s life in jeopardy, Gameknight999 and his father, a Minecraft noob, have no choice but to return to the game again. As they journey to The End to destroy Herobrine, Gameknight and his friends will face two of Herobrine’s most hated creations: the zombie-king, Xa-Tul, and the king of the endermen, Feyd. With Crafter’s life hanging by a thread, Gameknight999 must find a way to thwart Herobrine’s plans before the virus’s poison kills his best friend.Sky Pony Press, with our Good Books, Racehorse and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of books for young readers—picture books for small children, chapter books, books for middle grade readers, and novels for young adults. Our list includes bestsellers for children who love to play Minecraft; stories told with LEGO bricks; books that teach lessons about tolerance, patience, and the environment, and much more. In particular, this adventure series is created especially for readers who love the fight of good vs. evil, magical academies like Hogwarts in the Harry Potter saga, and games like Minecraft, Terraria, and Pokemon GO. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

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Justis Fearsson is a weremyste and a private detective. He wields potent magic, but every month, on the full moon, he loses his mind. His battles with insanity have already cost him his job as a cop; he can’t afford to let them interfere with his latest case. Phoenix has become ground zero in a magical war, and an army of werecreatures, blood sorcerers, and necromancers has made Jay its number one target. When he is hired to track down a woman who has gone missing with her two young children, he has a hunch that the dark ones are to blame. But then he’s also brought in by the police to help with a murder investigation, and all the evidence implicates this same woman. Soon he is caught up in a deadly race to find not only the young family, but also an ancient weapon that could prove decisive in the looming conflict. Can he keep himself alive long enough to reach the woman and her kids before his enemies do? And can he claim the weapon before the people he loves, and the world he knows, are lost in a storm of flame, blood, and darkest sorcery? The Case Files of Justis Fearsson Spell Blind His Father's Eyes Shadow's Blade About Shadow's Blade: "Coe balances wit and drama, gives his female characters plenty of agency, and even throws in a bit of The Maltese Falcon via a powerful object everyone desires. This noir-tinged urban fantasy with real-feeling magic and multiple moral quandaries is highly recommended."—Publishers Weekly About Spell Blind, Book One in the Case Files of Justis Fearsson: "Justis is on the streets and has never been so cool; I can't wait for his next adventure!"—Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times Best-Seller "Coe brings deep knowledge of both fantasy and mystery to his well-structured first urban fantasy novel. . . . He tells an entertaining story with a good mystery at its core."—Publishers Weekly About David B. Coe's Rules of Ascension: "War and politics, love and magic, all drawn in detail against a vividly imagined feudal background. A complex and excellent book." —David Drake, author of Lord of the Isles ". . . epic . . . a world of rival nobles, sinister mages, and a few men and women of courage and conviction. Well-developed characters and an intriguing political background . . ."—Library Journal

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Take to the skies and meet the world’s most amazing birds. Navigate your way across the continents using detailed maps and discover birds of prey, birds of paradise, aquatic birds and more. Fun lift-the-flaps offer kids an immersive experience, revealing surprises, wow-factor facts and a fascinating glimpse into the lives of our feathered friends.Stretch your wings for an epic journey around the globe and discover the many incredible birds that share our planet. Use the handy maps and diagrams to understand more about each bird’s natural habitat and track impressive migration routes for those that travel extraordinary distances. Learn about their spectacular courtship displays, mind-blowing nest-building techniques and the environmental changes that threaten their way of life. This is the ultimate book for children - and grown ups - who are wild about wildlife.Inside Bird Atlas:- Packed with original artwork, beautiful illustrations and stunning photography that make this vibrant and engaging book a must-read for kids aged 8+- Detailed and insightful maps and diagrams that guide readers from continent to continent, showing them where the birds live and how they spend their lives- Fun interactive elements and lift-the-flaps to entertain curious minds- Features popular and lesser-known birds including eagles, falcons, ostriches, penguins, hummingbirds, birds of paradise, seabirds, garden birds, flightless birds, aquatic birds and many more- Covers regions: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Arctic & AntarcticBird Atlas is the latest book in Lonely Planet Kids’ novelty atlas series following on from Dinosaur Atlas, Bug Atlas and Ocean Animal Atlas. Written by Camilla de la Bedovere and illustrated by Josy Bloggs, this is the perfect book for wildlife enthusiasts and fans of the series who have been anticipating this unmissable release.About Lonely Planet Kids: Lonely Planet Kids - an imprint of the world's leading travel authority Lonely Planet - published its first book in 2011. Over the past 45 years, Lonely Planet has grown a dedicated global community of travellers, many of whom are now sharing a passion for exploration with their children. Lonely Planet Kids educates and encourages young readers at home and in school to learn about the world with engaging books on culture, sociology, geography, nature, history, space and more. We want to inspire the next generation of global citizens and help kids and their parents to approach life in a way that makes every day an adventure. Come explore!

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Animals, trees, flowers, our city forbids them all... Juniper Greene lives in a walled city from which nature has been banished, following the outbreak of a deadly man-made disease many years earlier. While most people seem content to live in such a cage, she and her little brother Bear have always known about their resistance to the disease, and dream of escaping into the wild. To the one place humans have survived outside of cities. To where their mother is. When scientists discover that the siblings provide the key to fighting the disease, the pair must flee for their lives. As they journey into the unknown, they soon learn that there's cruelty in nature as well as beauty. Will they ever find the home they’re searching for? A thrilling and thought-provoking ecological adventure from a fresh new voice in children’s fiction. Perfect for fans of THE EXPLORER, THE LAST WILD and THE ISLAND AT THE END OF EVERYTHING. "Some books are excellent story-telling, and some books broaden your knowledge and mind, and some just ought to be written and this book is all three. I loved it." – Hilary McKay, author of THE SKYLARKS' WAR "WHERE THE WORLD TURNS WILD is a journey between extremes of grey and green, propelled by a bold and timely concept, and written with sharp, intelligent prose. A truly heartfelt and very striking novel." – Darren Simpson, author of SCAVENGERS "A beautiful, memorable story about all the important things – love, family, loyalty, and courage – contained inside a brilliant adventure, WHERE THE WORLD TURNS WILD can’t fail to enthrall any reader lucky enough to encounter it." – Sinéad O'Hart, author of THE EYE OF THE NORTH and THE STAR-SPUN WEB "Wondrous, warm-hearted, wildly exhilarating […] The world is familiar and frightening, the relationships between characters beautifully rendered – Nicola Penfold is an author to watch." – Nizrana Farook, author of THE GIRL WHO STOLE AN ELEPHANT "This novel packs a powerful punch. It calls on the 'wild' in all of us through the characters of these two brave children. We cannot help being drawn in by their epic struggle." – Cath Howe, author of ELLA ON THE OUTSIDE "It is extraordinary! This compelling book has future classic written all over it!" – Lindsay Galvin, author of THE SECRET DEEP

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Connecting Norse mythology, ecstatic trance, the Universal Mind and the dawn of a new age of peace and veneration for Mother Earth, Nicholas Brink reveals how we can use ecstatic and hypnotic trance to learn more directly and deeply from our distant ancestors, rediscover our extrasensory powers and reclaim the original magical nature of humanity. The imminent rebirth of a peaceful, balanced, connected world was predicted in Norse mythology as the return of Baldr, the gentle and compassionate Nordic god of truth, healing and rune work. Illustrating ecstatic trance postures to connect with the ancient Nordic people and their beliefs, to journey to exact points in time and to access specific powers, such as seeing into our future, Brink explores humanity's evolving cycle of consciousness from the era when the Great Mother goddess was the centre of life through the transition to the worship of power and physical strength in the Bronze Age and the world of the Vikings. He explores the coming return of Baldr and the imminent new age of peace and respect for the earth. Through hypnotic divination, the author expands the stories of the early Nordic gods and goddesses from the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, in particular the fertility deities of the Vanir, such as Freyr, Freyja and Idunn, who came before the warrior deities of the Æsir, such as Odin, Thor and Loki. He details the epic battle of Ragnar¸ok and the birth, life, death and rebirth of Baldr. Brink shows how these ancient stories happen outside of time, in the past, present and future, thus Baldr's return is replayed in our death-rebirth experiences of life, in each dawn, with each spring and now with the birth of a new age that we see happening all around us. Through the power of trance at this time of rebirth, we move full circle to reclaim the magic of the earliest times, the times of the Garden of Idunn. · illustrates ecstatic trance postures to connect with the ancient Nordic people, to journey to exact points in time and to access powers such as seeing into our future · explains how the coming new age of peace and veneration for Mother earth was predicted in Norse mythology as the rebirth of the compassionate god Baldr · expands on the stories of the early Nordic gods and goddesses from the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda

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The gripping biography of a man and his passion for art.In 1857, George A. Lucas, a young Baltimorean who was fluent in French and enamored of French art, arrived in Paris. There, he established an extensive personal network of celebrated artists and art dealers, becoming the quintessential French connection for American collectors. The most remarkable thing about Lucas was not the art that he acquired for his clients (who included William and Henry Walters, the founders of the Walters Art Museum, and John Taylor Johnston, the founding president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art) but the massive collection of 18,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, and etchings, as well as 1,500 books, journals, and other sources about French artists, that he acquired for himself. Paintings by Cabanel, Corot, and Daubigny, prints by Whistler, Manet, and Cassatt, and portfolios of information about hundreds of French artists filled his apartment and spilled into the adjacent flat of his mistress.Based primarily on Lucas’s notes and diaries, as well as thousands of other archival documents, Stanley Mazaroff’s A Paris Life, A Baltimore Treasure tells the fascinating story of how Lucas brought together the most celebrated French artists with the most prominent and wealthy American collectors of the time. It also details how, nearing the end of his life, Lucas struggled to find a future home for his collection, eventually giving it to Baltimore’s Maryland Institute. Without the means to care for the collection, the Institute loaned it to the Baltimore Museum of Art, where most of the art was placed in storage and disappeared from public view. But in 1990, when the Institute proposed to auction or otherwise sell the collection, it rose from obscurity, reached new glory as an irreplaceable cultural treasure, and became the subject of an epic battle fought in and out of court that captivated public attention and enflamed the passions of art lovers and museum officials across the nation.A Paris Life, A Baltimore Treasure is a richly illustrated portrayal of Lucas's fascinating life as an agent, connoisseur, and collector of French mid-nineteenth-century art. And, as revealed in the book, following Lucas's death, his enormous collection continued to have a vibrant life of its own, presenting new challenges to museum officials in studying, conserving, displaying, and ultimately saving the collection as an important and intrinsic part of the culture of our time.

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The world’s most renowned art forger reveals the secrets behind his decades of painting like the Masters—exposing an art world that is far more corrupt than we ever knew while providing an art history lesson wrapped in sex, drugs, and Caravaggio.The art world is a much dirtier, nastier business than you might expect. Tony Tetro, one of the most renowned art forgers in history, will make you question every masterpiece you’ve ever seen in a museum, gallery, or private collection. Tetro’s “Rembrandts,” “Caravaggios,” “Miros,” and hundreds of other works now hang on walls around the globe. In 2019, it was revealed that Prince Charles received into his collection a Picasso, Dali, Monet, and Chagall, insuring them for over 200 million pounds, only to later discover that they’re actually “Tetros.” And the kicker? In Tony’s words: “Even if some tycoon finds out his Rembrandt is a fake, what’s he going to do, turn it in? Now his Rembrandt just became motel art. Better to keep quiet and pass it on to the next guy. It’s the way things work for guys like me.” That scandal is the subject of a forthcoming feature documentary with Academy Award nominee Kief Davidson and co-author Giampiero Ambrosi, in cooperation with Tetro Throughout Tetro’s career of over forty-five years, his inimitable talent has been coupled with a reckless penchant for drugs, fast cars, and sleeping with other con artists. He was busted in 1989 and spent four years in court and a one in prison. His voice—rough, wry, deeply authentic—is nothing like the high society he swanned around in, driving his Lamborghini or Ferrari, hobnobbing with aristocrats by day, and diving into orgies when the lights went out. He’s a former furniture store clerk who can walk around in Caravaggio’s shoes, become Picasso or Monet, with an encyclopedic understanding of their paint, their canvases, their vision: and hide it all in a grubby California townhouse with a secret art room built into the bathroom. (Press #* on his phone and the mirror pops open.) Pairing up with one of the investigative journalists who uncovered the 2019 scandal, Tetro and coauthor Ambrosi unveil the fascinating truth of the art world in an epic, alluring, utterly believable, and all-true narrative.

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“Confessions of a Puppetmaster is a fast, funny, wild ride through some wild times. Plus, Charlie compares me to Harrison Ford, so I’m all in!” —Bill MaherRenowned producer, director, and “B movie” showman Charles Band takes readers on a wild romp through Hollywood’s decidedly un-Oscar-worthy underbelly, where mayhem and zombies reign supreme, and cheap thrills and entertainment are king"This book is a blast. It made me want to stay up all night and watch terrible movies." —Peter Sagal"One of the most entertaining film bios ever." —Larry Karaszewski"Reads like a Tarantino film written by Hunter S. Thompson." —BooklistZombies, aliens, a little skin, lots of gore—and even more laughs—the cinematic universe of Charles Band is legendary. From the toilet-invading creatures of Ghoulies to the time-travelling bounty hunter in Trancers to the pandemic-crashed Corona Zombies, Band has spent four decades giving B-movie lovers exactly what they love. In Confessions of a Puppetmaster, this congenial master of Grindhouse cinema tells his own story, uncut.Born into a family of artists, Band spent much of his childhood in Rome where his father worked in the film industry. Early visits to movie sets sealed young Charlie’s fate. By his twenties he had plunged into moviemaking himself and found his calling in exploitation movies—quick, low-budget efforts that exploit the zeitgeist and feed people’s desire for clever, low-brow entertainment. His films crossed genres, from vampire flicks to sci fi to erotic musical adaptations of fairy tales. As he came into his own as a director, he was the first to give starring roles to household names like Demi Moore, Helen Hunt, and Bill Maher.Off set, Band’s life has been equally epic. Returning to his beloved Italy, he bought both Dino De Laurentiis’s movie studio and a medieval castle. After Romania’s oppressive communist regime fell, he circumvented the U.S. State Department to shoot films in Dracula’s homeland. He made—and then lost—a moviemaking fortune. A visionary, Band was also at the vanguard of the transition to home video and streaming, making and distributing direct-to-video movies long before the major studios caught on.In this revealing tell-all, Band details the dizzying heights and catastrophic depths of his four decades in showbiz. A candid and engaging glimpse at Hollywood’s wild side, Confessions of a Puppetmaster is as entertaining as the movies that made this consummate schlockmeister famous.

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The wolves of Odin have been unleashed: the hunt has begun.Anno Domini 1040. Christianity has swept unstoppably across Scandinavia, leaving few enclaves of the old ways clinging on to their fading world as King Olof of Sweden works to convert his people.A young warrior, Halfdan, has witnessed the ‘mercy’ of the Christian lords, watched his people attacked, his village burned and the Odin stone toppled as heretical. Watched his father cut down by an ambitious Christian jarl and his zealous priest. Among the ashes of his world he vowed an oath of vengeance before all the gods. That oath will bring together an unlikely band of allies and carry them to the very edge of the world, fighting giants, dragons and wraiths, in pursuit of his father’s killer: Yngvar. The jarl is powerful, and the weaving of Fate difficult, but the blood price must be paid.A compelling and explosive novel of revenge, this is a major new series from S.J.A. Turney. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Giles Kristian and Angus Donald.Praise for Blood Feud 'Si Turney is a natural born storyteller, gifted, brilliant and utterly enthralling. Blood Feud tells the story of a young Norse warrior, Halfdan, who swears to avenge the murder of his father. The reader is almost immediately immersed into the action, swept away into the dragon-ship beside Halfdan and his tough, salty and occasionally hilarious crew of Vikings… An intelligent, fast-paced but finely crafted novel of battle, comradeship and bloody revenge – with some surprising twists along the way. Highly recommended to all those who enjoy a superior Viking adventure yarn!' Angus Donald, author of The Last Berserker'SJA Turney's new Viking epic is a bone-crunching good time! A resourceful young warrior on a quest for vengeance takes to the sea with a dragon long-ship and a motley band of new friends, fighting old enemies, foreign wars and the mysterious workings of fate at every new turn of the tide. Blood Feud is sure to thrill those mourning the end of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories' Kate Quinn, author of The Rose Code'A rich combination of saga and quest, religion and violence, with a satisfying conclusion that paves the way for further adventures' Ruth Downie, author of the Medicus series

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From majestic mountaintops to lush forests and untouched wilderness, experience the best of the Smokies with Moon Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Inside you'll find:* Flexible itineraries: Unique and adventure-packed ideas ranging from one day in the park to a week-long trip* The best hikes in the Great Smokies: Detailed hike descriptions with mileage, duration, elevation gains, and difficulty ratings, plus individual trail maps and options for backpackers* Experience the outdoors: Cruise along Newfound Gap Road for epic views from scenic overlooks and watch "smoky" mists rise up through the valleys. Spot local wildlife like 700-pound elk, black bears, and vast herds of white-tailed deer. Savor the refreshing solitude of a night camping under the stars or enjoy a twinkling light show from Elkmont's synchronous fireflies. Trek a segment of the Appalachian Trail, wander through remnants of the region's historic settlements, or try your hand at fly-fishing* Take a break: Unwind after a day of adventure at one of the trendy craft breweries that earned Asheville the title of "Beer City USA." Head to Dollywood for square-dancing, catching a show, or gliding down the lazy river at Splash Country. Soak in the sweet sounds of Tennessee's music scene, sample some fiery moonshine, or shop for Appalachian folk art* How to get there: Up-to-date information on gateway towns, park entrances, and tours* Where to stay: Campgrounds, resorts, and more, both inside and outside the park* Helpful resources on Covid-19 and traveling to Great Smoky Mountains National Park* Planning tips: When to go, what to pack, safety information, and how to avoid the crowds, with full-color photos and detailed maps throughout* Expertise and know-how: Explore the park with nature lover and Smoky Mountains expert Jason FryeFind your adventure in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with Moon.Hitting more of North America's national parks? Check out Moon USA National Parks. Road-tripping? Try Moon Drive & Hike Appalachian Trail or Moon Blue Ridge Parkway Road Trip.About Moon Travel Guides: Moon was founded in 1973 to empower independent, active, and conscious travel. We prioritize local businesses, outdoor recreation, and traveling strategically and sustainably. Moon Travel Guides are written by local, expert authors with great stories to tell-and they can't wait to share their favorite places with you.For more inspiration, follow @moonguides on social media.

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'A gorgeous epic . . . Wholly absorbing. I adored it' MARIAN KEYES'This sweeping, absorbing story is a treat' ADELE PARKS'A compelling story of female friendship, dark secrets and family bonds that pulls you in and won't let go' ROSANNA LEY'If you love atmospheric stories about old houses, families and secrets, this is for you' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING'A gorgeous story to get immersed in' PrimaBY SUMMER'S END, THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE . . . 'It's a funny old house. They have this ceremony every summer . . . There's an old chapel, in the grounds of the house. Half-derelict. The Hunters keep bees in there. Every year, on the same day, the family processes to the chapel. They open the combs, taste the honey. Take it back to the house. Half for them -' my father winced, as though he had bitten down on a sore tooth. 'And half for us.'Catherine, a successful barrister, vanishes from a train station on the eve of her anniversary. Is it because she saw a figure - someone she believed long dead? Or was it a shadow cast by her troubled, fractured mind?The answer lies buried in the past. It lies in the events of the hot, seismic summer of 1989, at Vanes - a mysterious West Country manor house - where a young girl, Jane Lestrange, arrives to stay with the gilded, grand Hunter family, and where a devastating tragedy will unfold. Over the summer, as an ancient family ritual looms closer, Janey falls for each member of the family in turn. And she and Kitty, the eldest daughter of the house, will forge a bond that decades later, is still shaping the present . . . 'We need the bees to survive, and they need us to survive. Once you understand that, you understand the history of Vanes, you understand our family.''Bewitching, beguiling and utterly beautiful, The Beloved Girls will pull you into their mysterious and enchanted world and never let you go. With a cast of compelling characters and a labyrinthine plot, it's a page-turner of the most luxurious kind - a real escape.' VERONICA HENRYCompelling, immersive and luxurious, THE BELOVED GIRLS is the outstanding new novel from the Sunday Times Top Ten bestselling author of The Garden of Lost and Found and your perfect summer escape.

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The Wives. You’re not the only one… ‘Will leave the most sure-footed reader uneasy until the last word is read’ Sunday Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover ‘I was hooked to the very last page’ Sunday Times bestselling author Adele Parks You’ve never met the other wives. None of you know each other, you see your husband only one day a week. Thursday. But you don’t care, you love him that much. Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself… And then, one day it all changes. You thought you were fine with this, with only having a fraction of a husband. But you can’t help yourself, you start to dig. You begin tracking them down, the other days… Who is Monday and why does she have bruises on her arms? Is she being abused? By who? Her husband? Your husband? What else is he keeping from you? And who is he, really? Readers LOVE The Wives: ‘A total mindf***, but I honestly could not put it down. From the first chapter until the last I was engrossed; this story took me on a roller coaster of emotions. A psychological thriller of the best kind… this book will stay with me for a long time to come.’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This book will blow your mind.’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Had me hooked right from the first page wanting to know more so I was constantly guessing at what would happen next… you NEED to read this book!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Every now and then a book comes along with a plot so twisted it blows you away… This is that book! From the get go I was hooked and this book just kept reeling me in… a psychological thriller of epic proportions, this will definitely be hard to beat.’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘This book was all consuming and had me completely hooked and I couldn't pay attention to anything else around me until I had finished it. It was full of twists and turns; as soon as you think you've worked out what is going on, the story is flipped on its head again! Even until the very last sentence was a shock and I'm still not quite sure what I just read!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Make your vacation memories last a lifetime with this awesome fill-in children’s travel journal that’s packed with brilliant activities and prompts to inspire kids to write and draw their adventures. Budding diarists can record precious moments from their trip in this pocket-sized book and create the ultimate holiday souvenir to cherish forever. Draw your own passport picture; make a cool flip-book animation of your experiences; describe the tastiest treat from your journey - this epic kids’ journal encourages readers to really engage with their travels and create a treasured keepsake that they can look back on years later with the whole family.Inside Create Your Own Travel Journal:- Fun fill-in activities including games, drawing challenges and prompts for stories to encourage children to observe and admire their surroundings- Handy pocket-sized hardback book with an elastic band so readers can take their precious jottings and doodles with them wherever they go- A super memento to remind kids - and grown ups - of the adventures they share together- Includes: create a postcard of your favourite vacation destination; make a playlist of the songs you’ve heard during your holiday; make a city skyline using your ticket stubs; draw the view from your room; write about your favourite experience so far; create a special souvenir of your trip; draw all the people you’ve met during your getaway - and moreCreate Your Own Travel Journal is the latest book in Lonely Planet Kids’ ‘Create Your Own’ series following on from Create Your Own Holiday Games and Create Your Own Camping Activities. This fun-packed fill-in journal provides the perfect space for creative kids to keep their travel thoughts and musings, so that they can enjoy and remember their vacation for many years to come.About Lonely Planet Kids: Lonely Planet Kids - an imprint of the world's leading travel authority Lonely Planet - published its first book in 2011. Over the past 45 years, Lonely Planet has grown a dedicated global community of travellers, many of whom are now sharing a passion for exploration with their children. Lonely Planet Kids educates and encourages young readers at home and in school to learn about the world with engaging books on culture, sociology, geography, nature, history, space and more. We want to inspire the next generation of global citizens and help kids and their parents to approach life in a way that makes every day an adventure. Come explore!

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As seen on Good Morning America A darkly humorous and inspiring first-person account of the larger-than-life exploits and ultimate redemption of an Irish gangster-turned-actor-turned-sober-storyteller—written in collaboration with the creators of Silicon Valley.Richie Stephens is an actor who often plays hardened gangsters and criminals. This is easy for him because he was a drug trafficker, kidnapper, drug addict, alcoholic, and all-around criminal himself. His life twisted and turned in harrowing self-destructive adventures that took him from his native Ireland to San Francisco, Australia, and finally, Los Angeles, coalescing into a classic tale of a man trying to run from his problems by moving to new and more exotic locations—a hard and painful realization that comes at a point in which he’s about to take his own life. The only reason there is a story to tell is because he did not. Instead, he found help, and in doing so, found himself. More than that, he found that help comes in different forms, and oftentimes it just takes the right thought to hit at the right time for it all to make sense. The Gangster’s Guide to Sobriety chronicles Richie’s descent into the abyss of crime and dependency, and how his personal understanding of freedom allowed him to become the functioning positive force he is today. Richie’s story is sprawling and epic, but the key to the book is the same key to his recovery: the 12 Steps. With his own flair and original understanding of life and the world, he followed the 12 Steps to find the clarity he needed to save his own life and evolve into a positive force for others. As Richie says, “Hopefully if people see that someone as fucked up as me could change their life, then there is hope for anyone.” The Gangster’s Guide to Sobriety is gripping in its honesty and openness. Even at its darkest moments, there is a keen understanding of the absurd nature of life as the author comes to grips with his failings and his faith, while also entering a place of self-acceptance. This is a story of redemption and the power of the human spirit, and how sometimes you have to turn to something greater than yourself.

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Journey to the dusty plains of Central Australia in The Pearl Sister, the fourth book in the number one bestselling Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. A spellbinding story of love and loss, inspired by the mythology of the famous star constellation.CeCe D’Aplièse, in her mid-twenties, has never felt she fitted in anywhere. Following the death of her father, the elusive billionaire Pa Salt – so-called by the six daughters he adopted from around the globe – she finds herself at breaking point. Dropping out of art college, CeCe watches as Star, her beloved sister, distances herself to follow her new love, leaving her completely alone.In desperation, CeCe decides to flee England and discover her past; the only clues she has are a black-and-white photograph and the name of a woman pioneer who lived in Australia over one hundred years ago. En-route to Sydney, CeCe heads to the one place she has ever felt close to being herself: the stunning beaches of Krabi, Thailand. There amongst the backpackers, she meets the mysterious Ace, a man as lonely as she is and whom she realizes has a secret to hide . . .A hundred years earlier Kitty McBride, daughter of an Edinburgh clergyman, is given the opportunity to travel to Australia as the companion of the wealthy Mrs McCrombie. In Adelaide, her fate becomes entwined with Mrs McCrombie’s family, including the identical, yet very different, twin brothers: impetuous Drummond, and ambitious Andrew, the heir to a pearling fortune.When CeCe finally reaches the searing heat of the Red Centre of Australia, she begins the search for her past. As something deep within her responds to the energy of the area and the ancient culture of the Aboriginal people, her creativity reawakens once more. With help from those she meets on her journey, CeCe begins to believe that this wild, vast continent could offer her something she never thought possible: a sense of belonging, and a home . . .The epic, multi-million selling series continues with The Moon Sister.'Delicious reading' - Daily MailPraise for the Seven Sisters:'A masterclass in beautiful writing' – The Sun'Heart-wrenching, uplifting and utterly enthralling' – Lucy Foley, author of The Hunting Party'A breathtaking adventure' – Lancashire Evening PostFive-Star Reader Reviews:'Absolutely incredible''Totally addictive''Ideal for when you need to escape'

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018 WINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR 2019 THE FULL STORY BEHIND THE RISE, FALL AND RISE AGAIN OF TIGER WOODS 'A rattling read... Superbly written' Daily Mail‘Arguably the most serious attempt ever made to get behind golf’s great enigma' Guardian'Exhilarating, depressing, tawdry and moving... perfectly pitched biography' New York Times Based on three years of extensive research and reporting, two of today’s most acclaimed investigative journalists, Jeff Benedict of Sports Illustrated and eleven-time Emmy Award winner Armen Keteyian, deliver the first major biography of Tiger Woods - sweeping in scope and packed with groundbreaking, behind-the-scenes details of the Shakespearean rise and epic fall of a global icon. In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life - married to a Swedish beauty and the father of two young children. Winner of fourteen major golf championships and seventy-nine PGA Tour events, Woods was the first billion-dollar athlete, earning more than $100 million a year in endorsements from the likes of Nike, Gillette, AT&T and Gatorade. But it was all a carefully crafted illusion. As it turned out, Woods had been living a double life for years - one that exploded in the aftermath of a late-night crash that exposed his serial infidelity and sent his personal and professional life off a cliff. In Tiger Woods, Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian dig deep behind the headlines to produce a richly reported answer to the question that has mystified millions of sports fans for nearly a decade: who is Tiger Woods? Drawing on more than four hundred interviews with people from every corner of Woods’s life - friends, family members, teachers, romantic partners, swing coaches, business associates, Tour pros and members of Woods’s inner circle - Benedict and Keteyian construct a captivating psychological profile of an African-American child programmed by an attention-grabbing father and the original Tiger Mom to be the 'chosen one', to change not just the game of golf, but the world as well. But at what cost?Benedict and Keteyian provide the startling answers in a biography, updated for this edition, destined to make headlines and linger in the minds of readers for years to come.

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THE FIRST ADULT NOVEL BY THE CARNEGIE PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR OF JUNK'A spirited retelling... witty and insightful.' i PAPER'His prose is electrical, crackling with a mischievous charge.' BUZZ MAGAZINE'Told with wit [and] verve... it's a book that exerts a curious charm.' MAIL ON SUNDAY'Burgess recounts Loki's genius . . . with great gusto, pulling together many tales into one sometimes beautifully lyrical masterwork.' SFX MAGAZINE'a mischievous, unpredictable and clever book that breathes new life into an already fascinating character and godly race.' CULTUREFLYStep into the ancient fir-tree forests of Scandinavia and bear witness to legends as epic as those of the Greeks and the Romans.Melvin Burgess revolutionised children's literature with the infamous cult novels Junk and Doing It. In his first adult novel, Loki, he breathes new life into Norse myths.Starting with the Norse creation myths, the trickster god Loki takes the reader on a wild ride through Norse mythology, from the time the gods - the founders of Asgard - defeated races of monsters, and hurtling through famous stories, including Odin hanging himself on the World Tree, the theft of the corrupting gold ring and the murder of Baldr, the god of love and the Sun. This narrative may seem familiar enough at first, but the reader should beware. Born within the heart of a fire in the hollow of a tree-trunk, Loki arrives in Asgard as an outsider. He is a trickster, an unreliable narrator, the god of intelligence and politics. In spite of his cleverness and sparkling wit (or, perhaps, because of this...) Loki struggles to find his place among the old patriarchal gods of supernatural power and is constantly at odds with the god of thunder - Thor. Alongside the politics of Asgard, it charts the course of Loki's many loves and families, from his mothering of Odin's famous horse to his intense, turbulent, and, eventually, fatal relationship with Baldr the Beautiful - a tender and moving story of love that goes wrong, jealousy and a transitioning that is forbidden by society. This is a retelling that is contemporary in tone, at once amusing and relatable. It is a heartfelt plea to overthrow the old gods of power and authority and instigate a new era ruled by love and intelligence.

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'CLAIRE NORTH BRINGS A POWERFUL, FRESH AND UNFLINCHING VOICE TO ANCIENT MYTH' Jennifer Saint, author of Sunday Times bestseller AriadneFrom the author of the critically acclaimed Ithaca - A Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Year - comes an exquisite and gripping new tale that breathes life into ancient myth. This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before.On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband, Odysseus, sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - but this is shattered by the arrival of Orestes, king of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra.Orestes's hands are stained with his mother's blood. Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra's life on Ithaca's sands. Now, racked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind.Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the Furies circle him. His uncle, Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes's throne - and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca's shores. Her only allies are Elektra and Helen of Troy, Menelaus's enigmatic wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own.Each woman has a secret. And their secrets will shape the world.Praise for the Songs of Penelope series:'Darkly fascinating, raw and breathtaking' Jennifer Saint, author of Sunday Times bestseller Ariadne'Richly poetic . . . This is an impassioned plea for the lost, disenfranchised queens of ancient Greece, a love letter to the silenced women of history' Booklist'Penelope is proving to be an outstanding epic hero in her own right. A sensational retelling' Elodie Harper, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf Den'Everything I've wanted in a retelling: a vibrant cast, full of suspense, told with a phenomenal narrative voice - this is an absolute masterpiece' Sarah Bonner, author of Her Perfect Twin'Conjures up a world in which women, abandoned by their men, must weave their own destinies' The Times'Claire North has set a new standard for Ancient Greek retellings. Absolutely sublime' Hannah Lynn, author of Athena's ChildThe Songs of Penelope series:Ithaca House of OdysseusThe Last Song of Penelope

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Design Your Organization for Maximum Agile Success at Scale "[A] unique view of organizational agility. Cesario and Ilia first describe the [foundational] tools and vocabulary to think about agile enterprise-level change. The second section is a practical approach to adoption. It marries the foundational elements into a people and customer centric approach to change. The book is epic in scope ... but it manages to present a cookbook for agile adoption and change." --From the Foreword by Dave West, CEO, Scrum.org "Cesario and Ilia ... understand that a key element of successful change to being adaptive at scale is Organizational Design (OD)--and that OD is something senior managers need to own, master, create, and lead, not delegate. ... [F]ast delivery and learning isn't enough at scale. Without other adaptive OD elements in place, there might not be any concrete change. ... [A] wonderful book from two passionate people with years in the trenches involved in large-scale adaptive development." --From the Foreword by Craig Larman, co-creator, Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) For Agile to succeed at scale, strategy, structures, processes, reward systems, and people practices must align with and reinforce each other across the entire organization. Creating Agile Organizations is about making that happen. Whether you're a leader, Scrum Master, or trainer, this book will help you use effective Organizational Design (OD) to achieve successful Agile transformation at the enterprise level. Drawing on years of experience scaling Scrum, renowned Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) experts Cesario Ramos and Ilia Pavlichenko present proven techniques for use with any technology, in any large environment. In the context of a true systems-thinking approach, they provide specific solutions for challenges such as preparing and facilitating large-scale Scrum meetings, honing newly relevant leadership skills, and addressing challenges that cut across the entire organization. This book includes a library of tested tools for effective Agile leadership, including Product Definition Guides for describing any new product and a Feature Heat Map for designing teams and entire organizations. Organizing for adaptability, making strategic optimization choices, and choosing informed tradeoffs Exploring and applying proven OD principles at the leadership level Taking a birds-eye view of the activities most crucial to large-scale adoption Coaching to make Agile transformation successful across your organization Planning, designing, and facilitating Agile workshops that work Preparing and launching highly effective, well-aligned Product Groups Coaching teams and guiding product ownership in large groups

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"Richly nuanced and beautiful. . . . An immersive and magical tale of loneliness, love, and finding hope.” (Buzzfeed)“A layered novel of many complex characters…To keep their worlds safe, Chava and Ahmad must access both their greatest supernatural powers and their deepest human impulses.” (Historical Novels Review) In this enthralling historical epic, set in New York City and the Middle East in the years leading to World War I— the long-awaited follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Golem and the Jinni—Helene Wecker revisits her beloved characters Chava and Ahmad as they confront unexpected new challenges in a rapidly changing human world.Chava is a golem, a woman made of clay, who can hear the thoughts and longings of those around her and feels compelled by her nature to help them. Ahmad is a jinni, a restless creature of fire, once free to roam the desert but now imprisoned in the shape of a man. Fearing they’ll be exposed as monsters, these magical beings hide their true selves and try to pass as human—just two more immigrants in the bustling world of 1900s Manhattan. Brought together under calamitous circumstances, their lives are now entwined—but they’re not yet certain of what they mean to each other.Both Chava and Ahmad have changed the lives of the people around them. Park Avenue heiress Sophia Winston, whose brief encounter with Ahmad left her with a strange illness that makes her shiver with cold, travels to the Middle East to seek a cure. There she meets Dima, a tempestuous female jinni who’s been banished from her tribe. Back in New York, in a tenement on the Lower East Side, a little girl named Kreindel helps her rabbi father build a golem they name Yossele—not knowing that she’s about to be sent to an orphanage uptown, where the hulking Yossele will become her only friend and protector.Spanning the tumultuous years from the turn of the twentieth century to the beginning of World War I, The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interleave. Can Chava and Ahmad find their places in the human world while remaining true to each other? Or will their opposing natures and desires eventually tear them apart—especially once they encounter, thrillingly, other beings like themselves?

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X-Men meets The Handmaid's Tale in the second instalment in an epic and romantic YA fantasy trilogy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Victoria Aveyard's The Red Queen, Netflix's Stranger Things and Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows. They want to find me. I will find them first. Juliette has escaped. She has found the headquarters of the rebel resistance – and people like her. People with gifts. She is free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch. Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible. In this heart-racing sequel to the New York Times bestselling Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heartand the life of those she loves. PRAISE FOR THE SHATTER ME SERIES: "Dangerous, sexy, romantic, and intense. I dare you to stop reading." – Kami Garcia, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures series "Addictive, intense, and oozing with romance. I'm envious. I couldn't put it down." – Lauren Kate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fallen series "Tahereh Mafi's bold, inventive prose crackles with raw emotion. A thrilling, high-stakes saga of self-discovery and forbidden love, the Shatter Me series is a must-read for fans of dystopian young adult literature – or any literature!" -Ransom Riggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children "IGNITE ME really does ignite all five of your senses. It blows your mind and makes you hungry for more of its amazing characters. It will completely blow your expectations; Tahereh Mafi truly knows how to deliver!" – Teenreads.com Tahereh Mafi is the New York Times bestselling author of the Shatter Me series which has been published in over 30 languages around the world. She was born in a small city somewhere in Connecticut and currently resides in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, Ransom Riggs, fellow bestselling author of Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, and their young daughter. She can usually be found overcaffeinated and stuck in a book. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @TaherehMafi

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'This co-authored book explores how advances in cell biology, CRISPR gene editing and bioengineering might be used to make a live dragon. The result is a gloriously tongue-in-check scientific epic … How to Build a Dragon or Die Trying is deliberately flamboyant and outrageous. It’s also funny and smart. Far from a how-to guide for ne’er-do-wells to weaponize reptiles, it is designed to spark healthy curiosity in anyone who enjoys a ripping good science read.'NatureWhat if you could have your own real dragon? While that might seem like just a fantasy, today cutting-edge science has brought us to the point where it might really be possible. This book looks into the possibilities of making living, fire-breathing dragons. The world has been fascinated with dragons for thousands of years. Fictional dragons still have a firm place in pop culture, such as Smaug from The Hobbit as well as the dragons in Game of Thrones and in the How to Train Your Dragon movies. This new book discusses using powerful technologies such as CRISPR gene editing, stem cells, and bioengineering to make real dragons. It also goes through what useful information we can learn from animals such as Pteranodons and amazing present-day creatures in our quest to build actual dragons. The book goes on to discuss the possibility of building other mythical creatures such as unicorns and mermaids. Overall, How to Build A Dragon is also meant as a satirical look at cutting-edge science, and it pokes fun at science hype. Anyone who is interested in dragons or cutting-edge science will enjoy this book! It is written in a humorous, approachable way making science fun and easy to understand, including for young adults.The author is well-known scientist Paul Knoepfler who is familiar to the public for his science, his blog The Niche, and his frequent contributions to lay stories on new science concepts such as stem cells and CRISPR. He also is known for his TED talk on designer babies with more than 1.3 million views, and his two books — . The co-author, his daughter Julie Knoepfler, is a high school student interested in science and writing. She has her own blog on literary and film analysis, and enjoys taking a humorous look at culture through writing.

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