Search results for ""oldcastle books""

This no-nonsense guide to one of our most enduring mysteries presents a short history of the strangest encounters, looks carefully at explanations from the blunt to the truly bizarre, offers insights into the strongest evidence that we are being visited by beings from another world and sources the best sceptical arguments that it can all be explained rationally. Concise, balanced and - occasionally - hilarious this is a story that has as much to tell you about the human race as it does about aliens.

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Having conquered the world's taste buds and established itself as a staple in our daily lives, coffee has mirrored the moods and movements of society for centuries - yet, how much do we know about its history? In his riveting new book, A Short History of Coffee, Gordon Kerr investigates the fascinating history behind the global obsession with coffee, from its Ethiopian origins, the legends, myths, geographical locations and somewhat eccentric characters that have helped make it the staple that it is today. Proliferating in high streets, towns and cities across Europe, coffee has become increasingly popular in recent years, and has succeeded in creating new and exciting hubs of commerce, news and debate, where deals could be done and revolution could be incited. Yet, despite coffee's very modern role, its origins stretch back to the days of intrepid travellers and merchants, who told tales of this new and exotic beverage that uplifted and enlivened the drinker. Following the growth in popularity through to the 21st century explosion of coffee shop culture, A Short History of Coffee lifts the Vegware lid on both the business of coffee, as well as the pleasures that it brings its drinkers. Gordon Kerr masterfully balances an exploration of the history of this iconic beverage, whilst also delving into the frothy brew of business, politics, and money that accompanies it.

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The legendary Georges Simenon was the most successful and influential writer of crime fiction in a language other than English; André Gide called him 'the greatest French novelist of our times'. Celebrated crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw's informed and lively study draws together Simenon's extraordinary life and his work on both page and screen. By the time of Simenon's death in 1989, his French detective Maigret had become an institution, rivalled only by Sherlock Holmes. The pipe-smoking Inspector of Police is a quietly spoken observer of human nature who uses the techniques of psychology on those he encounters (both the guilty and the innocent) - with no rush to moral condemnation. Simenon's non-Maigret standalone books are among the most commanding in the genre, and, as a trenchant picture of French society, his concise novels collectively offer up a fascinating analysis. And his influence on an army of later crime writers is incalculable. Alongside his own considerable insights, Barry Forshaw has interviewed people who worked either with Simenon or on his books: publishers, editors, translators, and other specialist writers. He has created a literary prism through which to appreciate one of the most distinctive achievements in the whole of crime fiction.

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A recently-discovered, long-lost novel and short stories from the 90s featuring private eye Nick Sharman Follow Sharman as he patrols his seedily glamorous South London beat, with its cast of villains, eccentrics, misfits and losers. A magnet for trouble, even when he is on holiday in the country, he has a habit of inadvertently ending up on the wrong side of the law and at the wrong end of a shotgun. In this high-risk world, people are seldom what they seem and nothing can be taken for granted.

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Shanghai in 1935 is a 20th century Babylon, an expatriate playground where fortunes are made and lost, where East and West collide, and the stakes include life itself. Into this cultural melting pot, Rowland Sinclair arrives from Sydney to represent his brother at international wool negotiations. The black sheep of the family, Rowland is under strict instructions to commit to nothing - but a brutal murder makes that impossible. As suspicion falls on him, Rowland enters a desperate bid to find answers in a city ruled by taipans and tycoons, where politics and vice are entwined with commerce, and where the only people he can truly trust are his long-term friends, an artist, a poet and a free-spirited sculptresss.

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A recently-discovered, long-lost novel and short stories from the 90s featuring private eye Nick Sharman Follow Sharman as he patrols his seedily glamorous South London beat, with its cast of villains, eccentrics, misfits and losers. A magnet for trouble, even when he is on holiday in the country, he has a habit of inadvertently ending up on the wrong side of the law and at the wrong end of a shotgun. In this high-risk world, people are seldom what they seem and nothing can be taken for granted.

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When Rowland Sinclair is invited to take his yellow Mercedes onto the Marouba Speedway, popularly known as the Killer Track, he agrees without caution or reserve. But then people start to die... The body of a journalist covering the race is found in a House of Horrors, an English blueblood with Blackshirt affiliations is killed on the race track... and it seems that someone has Rowland in their sights... With danger presenting at every turn, and the brakes long since disengaged, Rowland Sinclair hurtles towards disaster with an artist, a poet and brazen sculptress along for the ride.

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After narrowly escaping the terror of Nazi Germany, Rowland Sinclair and his companions land in London, believing they are safe ... but they are wrong. A bizzare murder plunges the hapless Australian into a queer world of British aristocracy, fascist Blackshirts, illicit love, scandal and spies. A world where gentlemen are not always what they are dressed up to be ...

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Crowdfunding is a major source of funding for independent films and over $250 million has been raised for films just on Kickstarter alone. This book will guide you through every stage of planning, creating and running your film crowdfunding campaign. This book is based on extensive data research and interviews which include: Data research on over 50,000 film crowdfunding campaigns Interviews with over 50 filmmakers who have run crowdfunding campaigns Interviews with some of the top people at major crowdfunding platforms and services

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The enormously puzzling TV series The Prisoner has developed a rapt cult following, and has often been described as 'surreal' or 'Kafkaesque.' Alex Cox watched all the episodes of The Prisoner on their first broadcast, at the ripe old age of thirteen. In I Am (Not) a Number, Cox believes he provides the answers to all the questions which have engrossed and confounded viewers including: Who is Number 6? Who runs The Village? Who - or what - is Number 1? According to Cox, the key to understanding The Prisoner is to view the series in the order in which the episodes were made - and not in the re-arranged order of the UK or US television screenings. In this book he provides an innovative and controversial 'explanation' for what is perhaps the best, the most original, and certainly the most perplexing, TV series of all time.

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We're living in a time of unprecedented diversity in produced media content, with more characters appearing who are Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT), disabled, or from other religions or classes. What's more, these characters are appearing more and more in genre pieces, accessible to the mainstream, instead of being hidden away in so-called 'worthier' pieces, as in the past. How to Write Diverse Characters discusses issues of all identities with specific reference to characterisation, not only in movies and TV, but also novel writing. It explores: How character role function really works What is the difference between stereotype and archetype? Why 'trope' does not mean what Twitter and Tumblr think it means How the burden of casting affects both box office and audience perception Why diversity is not about agendas, buzzwords or being 'politically correct' What authenticity truly means and why research is so important Why variety is key in ensuring true diversity in characterisation Writers have to catch up. Knowing not only what makes a 'good' diverse character doesn't always cut it; they need to know what publishers, producers and filmmakers and other creatives are looking for - and why. This book gives writers the tools to create three dimensional, authentic characters... Who just happen to be diverse.

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Charles and Kate are summoned to Scotland on a mysterious errand for the Crown. Upon their arrival, they discover they will be staying at Glamis Castle, the most historic castle in Scotland, a place haunted by shadows and dark secrets. They learn that Prince Eddy, who had been heir to the throne until his supposed death in 1892, is still alive, ten years later. Only now the prince has gone missing - on the very morning that the body of one of his servants was found, her throat slashed. Now, Charles and his clever Kate must find Eddy and clear him from suspicion of murder, while keeping his true identity a secret.

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Lord and Lady Sheridan (Charles is now Baron of Somersworth) have taken a house for a few quiet weeks in the late summer of 1897, in the sea-coast village of Rottingdean. Long known as Smugglers' Village, the hamlet sits on a labyrinth of ancient tunnels. When the body of a coast guard is pulled out of the Channel, Kate and Charles suspect that the town is still plying the illicit trades of its past. With the help of Rudyard Kipling (who is just beginning his novel Kim), they discover that something is rotten in Rottingdean...

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Kathryn Ardleigh is becoming accustomed to the high-society circles of her husband, Lord Charles Sheridan. She has found a kindred spirit in Jennie Jerome Churchill, an American who married the second son of the Duke of Marlborough. But Jennie faces a serious scandal that threatens the political future of her 23-year-old son Winston. She is being blackmailed by someone who claims to have proof that Winston's father was the notorious Jack the Ripper...

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In Death at Bishop's Keep, Kathryn Ardleigh captured the interest of amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan as they solved their first case together. Now the death of a local constable and the disappearance of a child have Kate and Charles once again on the trail of deadly greed and criminal mischief. They team up with the shy, uncertain (but tactful and deeply perceptive) Miss Beatrix Potter to discover who killed the constable in Mr McGregor's garden and kidnapped the constable's daughter. Helping with this urgent task or blundering clumsily into the way are Miss Potter's animal companions, Mrs Tiggywinkle and Jemima Puddleduck, as well as the beastly Mr Tod and Mr Brock.

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The first title in The Victorian Mysteries series, sure to delight fans of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie Kathryn Ardleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not: outspoken, free-thinking, Irish-American, and a writer of penny-dreadfuls, sensational tales of adventure, romance, and crime-and-detection. When she takes possession of Bishop's Keep, the Ardleigh estate in Essex England that she has inherited, she shocks the household and captures the attention of amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan. Sir Charles is interested in the developing forensic sciences: toxicology, ballistics, fingerprints, X-ray, and crime scene photography. Soon there is something to interest both Kate and Sir Charles: a recently-dead body just uncovered at a nearby archaeological dig. The investigation provides the perfect research background for Kate's next novel. But the inquisitive writer may be digging too deep-especially when the trail leads her into a secret occult society known as the Order of the Golden Dawn.

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East End landlady Mrs Drabdump is alarmed when she cannot rouse her lodger Arthur Constant. She summons the assistance of her neighbour, retired Scotland Yard detective George Grodman. He breaks down the door to Constant's room, only to find the man lying dead on his bed, with a deep cut to his throat. No-one, it seems, could have got in or out of the locked room and there is no sign of the murder weapon. Who was the killer and how will he be identified? A man is condemned to death for the seemingly impossible crime but Grodman is unconvinced that he is guilty. With its sardonic style and vivid, Dickensian characters, Zangwill's short novel remains a cleverly plotted and ingenious murder mystery which will still appeal to readers today.

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Every award-winning short film begins life with a clever idea, a good story and a screenplay. Patrick Nash analyses the process of writing short film screenplays and gives advice on: Story and structure Ideas generation Plot and pace Screenplay format Dos and don'ts Eliciting emotion Dialogue and subtext Character design Protagonists and antagonists Character motivation and goals Conflict, obstacles and stakes Clichés and Stereotypes Beginnings, middles and ends Hooking the viewer Screenplay competitions Loglines, outlines and synopses Rewriting and length Practicalities and budgets The book also includes a number of award-winning scripts and interviews, advice and contributions from their award-winning screenwriters and a discussion of the benefits to writers of writing short screenplays.

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Jersey fishing captain, Jean Cotterell is rescued by a French frigate - The Hortense - off the Grand Banks of Nova Scotia in May 1794. His fishing vessel has foundered and he is the sole survivor. The Hortense is part of Republican Admiral Jan Van Stabel's great fleet of over 100 ships bringing corn to France. Lord Howe's Channel Fleet is off Brest, hoping to intercept them. Life on The Hortense is like France under the Terror; chaotic, ungovernable, obsessed with savage, radical political theories. Separated from the French fleet in the Western Approaches she is intercepted by two British frigates and battle is joined... The Antigallican is the first in a series of novels set at the end of the 18th century at sea, in Britain, in the Channel Islands and in Revolutionary France. In Jean Cotterell we find a character that bears comparison with Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe, in a narrative that will delight fans of Patrick O'Brian.

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The world of Freemasonry exerts a powerful influence on the modern imagination. In an age when perceived notions of history are being increasingly questioned and re-examined it is perhaps inevitable that secretive societies such as the Freemasons find themselves at the centre of considerable speculation and conjecture. To some they represent a powerful and shadowy elite who have manipulated world history throughout the ages, whilst to others they are an altogether more mundane and benign fraternal organisation. Giles Morgan begins by exploring the obscure and uncertain origins of Freemasonry. It has been variously argued that it derives from the practices of medieval stonemasons, that it dates to events surrounding the construction of the Temple of Solomon and that it is connected to ancient Mystery Cults. One of the major and often disputed claims made for Freemasonry is that it is directly attributable to the Knights Templar, generating a wealth of best-selling publications such as 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' and more recently Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code', linking Freemasonry to a supposed secret order known as the Priory of Sion who are the guardians of the true nature of the Holy Grail. Freemasonry today is a worldwide phenomenon that accepts membership from a diverse ethnic and religious range of backgrounds. Entry to Freemasonry requires a belief in a Supreme Being although it insists it does not constitute a religion in itself. The rituals and practices of Freemasonry have been viewed as variously obscure, pointless, baffling, sinister and frightening. An intensely stratified and hierarchical structure underpins most Masonic orders whose activities are focussed within meeting points usually termed as Lodges. Giles Morgan examines its historical significance (George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were both Masons) and its position and role in contemporary society.

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Robin Hood is England's greatest folk hero. Everyone knows the story of the outlaw who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Nick Rennison's highly entertaining book begins with the search for the historical Robin. Was there ever a real Robin Hood? Rennison looks at the candidates who have been proposed over the years, from petty thieves to Knights Templar, before moving on to examine the many ways in which Robin Hood has been portrayed in literature and on the screen. He began as the hero of dozens of late medieval ballads. He appeared in plays by contemporaries of Shakespeare. In the Romantic era Robin was reinvented by Walter Scott as a Saxon champion in the struggle against the Normans. During the nineteenth century, he emerged as a hero in children's literature. More recently he has been portrayed as everything from proto-socialist man of the people to anarchist thug. In the cinema he put in an appearance as early as 1908 and Douglas Fairbanks and then Errol Flynn turned him into the typical hero of Hollywood swashbucklers. In the last twenty years, Kevin Costner and Russell Crowe have provided their own very different interpretations of the character. On the small screen, Robin has been the hero of half-a-dozen TV shows from the 1950s series starring Richard Greene, which used many writers blacklisted by Hollywood, via the well-remembered Robin of Sherwood in the 1980s to the recent BBC series. As the twenty-first century nears the end of its second decade, Robin Hood is still very much with us. He is the subject of graphic novels and computer games and films, including the new Lionsgate release in November 2018.

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From popular fiction such as The Hobbit and Game of Thrones to the universality of the English language, the continuing influence of the Anglo-Saxons can be found throughout the world. But who were the Anglo-Saxons and where did they come from? A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons traces the fascinating 600 year history of the Anglo-Saxons, starting from the early European migrants in 410 A.D. and stretching through until the dramatic end at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. As well as their many victories, the Anglo-Saxons faced numerous attacks on the prosperity and the successes of its people, facing off challenges from the Danish and the Vikings, before meeting defeat at the hand of William the Conqueror. Remnants of these people can still be seen in modern day with hoards of Anglo-Saxon gold and silverwork being discovered throughout the country and popular fiction taking inspiration from this thrilling era. A Short History of the Anglo-Saxons provides an indispensable introduction to everything you need to know about the Anglo-Saxon period.

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The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont (1906) is a collection of lively, enjoyable stories about a French detective resident in London. Whether dealing with a gang of anarchists in 'The Siamese Twin of a Bomb-Thrower' or flirting with the supernatural in 'The Ghost with the Club-Foot', the resourceful M. Valmont rarely loses his sang-froid and self-confidence. He may not always catch the criminal but his sense of style and Poirot-like conceit remain intact.

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Nelson continues to fascinate academics as well as the general public. He is still considered one of Britain's greatest heroes and featured within the top ten of the BBC poll of such figures. But why does Nelson still remain such a prominent figure in the national imagination? With 2005 being the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar, Victoria Carolan embarks on a timely reappraisal of Nelson, the myth and the man. Beginning with Nelson's early life and an analysis of the condition and practice of the Navy at the time of Nelson's entry into service, Carolan goes on to examine Nelson's naval battles before Trafalgar, particularly the pivotal Battle of the Nile in which the then Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson, with a fleet of fourteen ships, captured six and destroyed seven French vessels out of a total of seventeen and in the process achieved one of the most decisive victories in the age of sail and re-established British command of the Mediterranean. Devoting a full section to the Battle of Trafalgar, Carolan looks in detail at the build-up to the battle, the events and progress of the battle, at the Admirals of the French and Spanish navies and explains why the battle was so decisive in the Napoleonic Wars. She goes on to look at the immediate aftermath of Nelson's death and his state funeral and then to his legacy, the building of monuments (particularly Trafalagar Square and Nelson's Column), the development of the Nelson myth, his depiction in film, his value for propaganda purposes during the two world wars and the current state of scholarship on Nelson.

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On 8 March, 1965, 3,500 United States Marines of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade made an amphibious landing at Da Nang on the south central coast of South Vietnam, marking the beginning of a conflict that would haunt American politics and society for many years, even after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973. For the people of North Vietnam it was just another in a long line of foreign invaders. For two thousand years they had struggled for self-determination, coming into conflict during that time with the Chinese, the Mongols, the European colonial powers, the Japanese and the French. Now it was the turn of the United States, a far-away nation reluctant to go to war but determined to prevent Vietnam from falling into Communist hands. A Short History of the Vietnam War explains how the United States became involved in its longest war, a conflict that, from the outset, many claimed it could never win. It details the escalation of American involvement from the provision of military advisors and equipment to the threatened South Vietnamese, to an all-out shooting war involving American soldiers, airmen and sailors, of whom around 58,000 would die and more than 300,000 would be wounded. Their struggle was against an indomitable enemy, able to absorb huge losses in terms of life and infrastructure. The politics of the war are examined and the decisions and ambitions of five US presidents are addressed in the light of what many have described as a defeat for American might. The book also explores the relationship of the Vietnam War to the Cold War politics of the time.

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The recorded history of Brazil is brief when compared to most European countries, having been discovered by Portuguese sailor and explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral just over five hundred years ago. Since then, however, its history has been turbulent, blighted by rebellion, cruelty, dictatorship and poverty. But, it is also a vibrant, exciting and ethnically diverse nation that has, in the face of great adversity, emerged as one of the world's fastest growing major economies. A Short History of Brazil examines the events that have led to Brazil's ascendancy, looking at the indigenous peoples who populated the territory until its discovery in 1500 and chronicling the tempestuous years since, leading to the economic miracle of recent years. It covers the three centuries of Portuguese colonial rule when sugar became the main export, produced with the help of around three million slaves who were forced to make the deadly crossing of the Atlantic from Africa. It describes how Brazil declared independence from Portugal as a monarchy in 1822, the monarchy being replaced by a republic in 1889, and details the pattern of boom and bust in the Brazilian economy since then, covering the lives of some of the authoritarian rulers that seized power along the way. Finally, A Short History of Brazil looks at the many difficulties Brazil faces in the 21st century - the devastating social problems resulting from its dramatic economic inequality and the often ruthless exploitation of the country's natural resources which is a topic of major concern for the entire world. With Brazil's success has come increased global awareness and in the next four years global attention will be focused on the country as it plays host to two of the world's biggest events - the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. With the eyes of the world on this immense South American country - the world's fifth largest - there could be no better time to examine the dramatic and fascinating history that has brought it to this point.

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Cannibals! Captives! Coconuts! Cannibals! Captives! Coconuts! One man's love of the sea leaves him stranded on a desert island with nothing but a few goats, a bible and a parrot for company. Will he ever escape? Will his new pal Friday learn to efficiently press a goatskin jerkin? Or will solitude send him totally barmy?

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One of the major icons of modern cinema, and hugely influential on pop-culture over the past three decades, Pixar Animation Studios has proved to be an endless source of imagination and delight for children and adults alike. From the Toy Story Trilogy to Brave, The Incredibles to Ratatouille, its films have played a vital role in reminding audiences around the globe of animation's capacity as both an entertainment and an art form. Every feature sits on the 'top 50 highest-grossing animated films of all-time' list, and with over 200 awards to their name, including numerous Oscars, they're as revered by critics as they are successful at the box-office. The Films of Pixar Animation Studio offers a one-stop guide to the studio's entire back catalogue, discussing in-depth the creative choices behind each film, and their place within the wider cinema landscape and animation history. It also offers an insight into their very particular way of working, and the role of the films' producers, writers, directors and animators on each project, examining their colourful and original use of a folk-tale sensibility, and their unique aesthetic.

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Is there anything left to say about the assassination of President John F Kennedy? Hell, yes! The subject of nearly 1000 books, half a dozen journals, two official inquiries, several million pages of declassified documents, dozens of TV documentaries and hundreds of Websites, the Kennedy assassination remains both the greatest whodunit of the post-World War Two era and the best route into recent American history. In Who Shot JFK? Robin Ramsay looks at the assassination through the work of the researchers who refused to buy the official cover-up story that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin. He explores; the major alternative theories produced by the critics of the official version, the major landmarks in the Kennedy assassination research and the disinformation produced on the subject since the event.

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Screenplays ... How to Write and Sell Them is an accessible yet comprehensive book aimed at those with a keen interest in writing feature film screenplays. Using case studies, creative exercises and interviews from the industry, the book will guide readers through the necessary stages of writing a screenplay, from finding and developing ideas to creating and executing characters to shaping structure and constructing scenes. It will also consider how a screenplay might be sold, or used to raise interest in the writer, looking at areas such as finding and working with an agent, networking, using competitions, and raising private production funds. The book's approach is both creative and reflective, giving readers the opportunity to learn a wealth of creative skills alongside skills that will encourage them to think about themselves as writers and the work that they are developing. As such, the book will empower readers in their own creative processes and allow them to successfully tell the stories they want to tell. Rich with analyses from classic and contemporary films, littered with practical models, paradigms and creative tasks, and enhanced by the views of key industry figures, the book is a must for any aspiring feature film screenwriter.

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'Europe was created by history.' Margaret Thatcher What is Europe? Firstly, of course, it is a continent made up of countless disparate peoples, races and nations, and governed by different ideas, philosophies, religions and attitudes. Nonetheless, it has a common thread of history running through it; welded together by the continent's great institutions, such as the Church of Rome, the Holy Roman Empire, the European Union. Europe, however, is also an idea. From almost the beginning of time, people have harboured aspirations to make this vast territory one. The Romans came close and a few centuries later, the foundations for a great European state were laid with the creation of the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon overreached himself in attempting to create a European-wide Empire - as did Adolf Hitler. The European Union is a club of which everyone in Europe wants to be a member; although, as the rejection of the European Constitution by the French and the Dutch, and the British situation demonstrates, we Europeans still cling to our national independence.

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The term 'New Wave' conjures up images of Paris in the early 1960s: Jean Seberg and Jean Paul Belmondo, the young Jean-Pierre Leaud, the three protagonists of Jules and Jim capering across a bridge, all from the films of French filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. The impact of the French New Wave continues to be felt, and its ethos of shooting in real places, with non-professional actors and small crews would influence filmmakers as diverse as John Cassavetes and Martin Scorsese to Lars von Trier's Dogme 95 movement, all of whom sought to challenge the dominance of traditional Hollywood methods of both filmmaking and storytelling. But the French were not the only new wave, and they were not even the first. In New Waves in Cinema, Sean Martin explores the history of the many New Waves that have appeared since the birth of cinema, including their great forebears the German Expressionists, the Soviet Formalists and the Italian Neorealists. In addition, Martin looks at the movements traditionally seen as the French New Wave's contemporaries and heirs, such as the Czech New Wave, the British New Wave, the New German Cinema, the Hollywood Movie Brats and Brazilian Cinema Novo. The book also covers other new waves, such as those of Greece, Hungary, documentary - Cinema Verité and Direct Cinema - animation, avant garde and the so-called No Wave filmmakers. New Waves in Cinema also explores the differences - and similarities - between the concept of a 'new wave' and a national cinema, citing, among others, the example of the new Iranian cinema, which has given us directors as important as Abbas Kiarostami and the Makhmalbaf family, examines resurgent trends in the national cinemas of Mexico, Japan, American independent cinema and concludes with an examination of the most celebrated movement of the 1990s and 2000s, Dogme 95. New Waves in Cinema makes a convincing case for the necessity for the continued existence of new waves and national cinemas in the face of Hollywood and American cultural imperialism.

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An alternative world where big curves are cool... Sad, lonely Sharon Plunkett is a plus-size girl. She's tried every fad, every diet and every cream, but like stains of grease on a pure silk blouse, her rolls of fat refuse to budge. The man of her dreams isn't interested, and her skinny best friend only uses her to look good. But all that changes when Sharon visits Dr. Marvel's Miracle weight clinic, and steps into a strange new world where bill boards and magazines spill over with pictures of gorgeous size 20 celebs! Suddenly life is fantastic for Sharon, her platinum hair and voluptuous figure make her the perfect choice for designers Z&Zak. Before she can scoff another doughnut, she finds herself a top model moving up the ladder of fame. Rung by rung, she nets a footballer, dates a rock god, and snares the ultimate Hollywood heartthrob. Sharon, now known as 'Shaz', becomes a trend-setting icon of fame, and her life is bliss until the time it all starts to go very wrong. ...Sharon starts to lose weight. A deliciously wicked satire, Making It Big bites back at the 'skinny insanity' currently gripping the western world. Size Zero, celebrity weight-obsessed magazines, the fashion and advertising industries, high society and Hollywood - all are hit by a giant, witty dollop of fun.

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Why is the rainbow getting shorter? Tillie discovers Hecatey the Hideous, King of the Hobgoblins is planning something no-one would ever think of doing, and the beautiful sprites who create the rainbows are counting on Tillie to stop him. Stealing the thread from the rainbow to create a dazzling magic cloak, Hecatey knows when he wears it, that it has the power to suck the colour from whatever he passes - turning everything around him dull and grey. This way, the wicked hobgoblin believes he'll become the most magnificent sight in all the land. He succeeds. But in a way he doesn't expect! The Rainbow Weaver is a unique picture book appealing to both children and grown-ups, reminding us that magic is for all ages, not just for little children.

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Six decades. Seven people. One unspeakable secret. 1957. A catastrophe occurs at the pharmaceutical lab in Coventry where sixteen-year-old Wilf is working for the summer. A catastrophe that needs to be covered up at all costs. 2017. Phiney is shocked by the death of her grandfather, Wilf, who has jumped from a railway bridge at a Coventry station. Journalist Mat Torrington is the only witness. Left with a swarm of unanswered questions, Phiney, Mat and Wilf's wife, Dora, begin their own enquiries into Wilf's death. It is soon clear that these two events, sixty years apart, are connected - and that Wilf is not the only casualty. But what is the link? And can they find out before any more lives are lost?

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The 'splendid genre-pushing' (People) Vera Kelly series returns in full force as our recently out-of-the-spy-game heroine finds herself traveling from Brooklyn to a sprawling countryside estate in the Caribbean in her first case as a private investigator. When ex-CIA agent Vera Kelly loses her job and her girlfriend in a single day, she reluctantly goes into business as a private detective. Heartbroken and cash-strapped, she takes a case that dredges up dark memories and attracts dangerous characters from across the Cold War landscape. Before it's over, she'll chase a lost child through foster care and follow a trail of Dominican exiles to the Caribbean. Forever looking over her shoulder, she nearly misses what's right in front of her: her own desire for home, connection, and a new romance at the local bar. In this exciting second installment of the Vera Kelly series, Rosalie Knecht challenges and deepens the Vera we love: a woman of sparkling wit, deep moral fiber, and martini-dry humor who knows how to follow a case even as she struggles to follow her heart.

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Bedi and Sushma''s marriage is arranged. When they first meet, they stumble through a faltering conversation about happiness and hope and agree to go in search of these things together. But even after their children Selena, Tara and Rohan are grown up and have their own families, Bedi and Sushma are still searching. Years later, the siblings attempt to navigate life without their parents. As they travel to the Ganges to unite their father''s ashes with the opaque water, it becomes clear that each of them has inherited the same desire to understand what makes a life happy, the same confusion about this question and the same enduring hope.

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Emily and Poppy are living happily in the quaint village of Ashton Mead, where every household is friendly - with one exception. Unlike the other villagers, Silas Strang and his mother have a bad reputation. Rude and aggressive, they terrorise their neighbours and no one stops them. That is until Silas sets his sights on Emily's beloved dog Poppy, which Emily won't stand for. After a public altercation, Silas is mysteriously murdered. To Emily's dismay, the police view her as their number one suspect. Assisted by her friends, Hannah and Toby, Emily sets out to establish the truth and clear her name... but her enquiries have frightening consequences.

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Since her debut in 1920 with The Mysterious Affair At Styles, Agatha Christie has become the chief proponent of the English village murder mystery. Although she created two enormously popular characters - the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and the inquisitive elderly spinster and amateur sleuth Miss Jane Marple of St Mary Mead - it is not generally acknowledged that she wrote in many different genres: comic mysteries (Why Didn't They Ask Evans?), atmospheric whodunnits (Murder On The Orient Express), espionage thrillers (N or M?), romances (under the pseudonym of Mary Westmacott), plays (The Mousetrap) and poetry. She was never afraid to break the rules either, and provoked a storm of controversy with the unorthodox resolution of The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd, now acclaimed as one of the classics of British crime fiction. Christie wrote complex whodunnits in a clear, readable style, which is why her books are as popular now as they were when she first wrote them. Exemplary film and TV adaptations (Kenneth Branagh, John Malkovich, Peter Ustinov and David Suchet as Poirot; Margaret Rutherford and Joan Hickson as Miss Marple), have also encouraged new readers to search out her work.

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1922 was a year of great turbulence and upheaval. Its events reverberated throughout the rest of the twentieth century and still affect us today, 100 years later. Empires fell. The Ottoman Empire collapsed after more than six centuries. The British Empire had reached its greatest extent but its heyday was over. The Irish Free State was declared and demands for independence in India grew. New nations and new politics came into existence. The Soviet Union was officially created and Mussolini's Italy became the first Fascist state. In the USA, Prohibition was at its height. The Hollywood film industry, although rocked by a series of scandals, continued to grow. A new mass medium - radio - was making its presence felt and, in Britain, the BBC was founded. In literature it was the year of peak modernism. Both T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land and James Joyce's Ulysses were first published in full. In society, already changed by the trauma of war and pandemic, the morals of the past seemed increasingly outmoded; new ways of behaving were making their appearance. The Roaring Twenties had begun to roar and the Jazz Age had arrived. In a sequence of vividly written sketches, Nick Rennison conjures up all the drama and diversity of an extraordinary year.

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Prostate cancer really is the little understood male killer. 1 in 8 UK males will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, more than 130 new cases are discovered each day and, on average, one man dies from the disease every 45 minutes. Despite these statistics, and the fact that there are getting on for half a million men living with, or in remission from, prostate cancer in the UK, the condition is rarely discussed publicly and most men ignore the warning signs. Graham Sharpe wants to help change that. Faced with a sudden and unexpected diagnosis, Graham managed - just - to overcome a desire to punch the medic charged with the task of telling him he had prostate cancer but who was keener to answer his mobile phone, and set about trying to catalogue what he went through en route to acquiring the condition and how he dealt with the grinding process of his treatment, despite having no idea of the ultimate outcome. Along the way he met and befriended many others undergoing the physical and mental stresses of treatment, emotional turmoil comparable with watching their favourite football team lose every game they play. In this intimate memoir charting his own personal experience of coming to terms with prostate cancer, Graham brings humour and a light touch to a serious subject. Combating the shortage of reading material written by anyone with direct personal experience of the disease, this book seeks to educate the ignorant, raise awareness of the risks and dispel myths - including the widely held belief that the name of the disease is in fact prostrate cancer. Here's one man's personal truth about getting, having and possibly surviving prostate cancer...

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Australian and New Zealand crime and thriller writing is booming globally, with antipodean authors regularly featuring on awards and bestseller lists across Europe and North America, and overseas readers and publishers looking more and more to tales from lands Down Under. Hailing from two sparsely populated nations on the far edge of the former Empire - neighbours that are siblings in spirit, vastly different in landscape - Australian and New Zealand crime writers offer readers a blend of exotic and familiar, seasoned by distinctive senses of place, outlook, and humour, and roots that trace to the earliest days of our genre. Southern Cross Crime is the first comprehensive guide to modern Australian and New Zealand crime writing. From coastal cities to the Outback, leading critic Craig Sisterson showcases key titles from more than 200 storytellers, plus screen dramas ranging from Mystery Road to Top of the Lake. Fascinating insights are added through in-depth interviews with some of the prime suspects who paved the way or instigated the global boom, including Jane Harper, Michael Robotham, Paul Cleave, Emma Viskic, Paul Thomas, and Candice Fox.

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A newly-discovered gun casts light on Rowland Sinclair's father's death some thirteen years earlier. The whole Sinclair family has ducked the issue, keeping secret the fact that Sinclair senior was murdered. A murder the family would prefer stayed unsolved. Rowland's nemesis, right-wing New Guard leader Eric Campbell, uses his influence to set the police to renew their inquiries into Henry Sinclair's death. As old wounds tear open, the dogged loyalty of Rowland's inappropriate companions is all that stands between him and the consequences of a brutal murder...

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It's 1933, and the political landscape of Europe is darkening. Eric Campbell, the man who would be Australia's Führer, is on a fascist tour of the Continent, meeting dictators over cocktails and seeking allegiances in a common cause. Yet the Australian way of life is not undefended. Old enemies have united to undermine Campbell's ambitions. The clandestine armies of the Establishment have once again mobilised to thwart any friendship with the Third Reich. But when their man in Munich is killed, desperate measures are necessary. Now Rowland Sinclair must travel to Germany to defend Australian democracy from the relentless march of Fascism. Amidst the goosestepping euphoria of a rising Nazi movement, Rowland encounters those who will change the course of history. In a world of spies, murderers and despotic madmen, he can trust no one but an artist, a poet and a brazen sculptress. Plots thicken, loyalties are tested and bedfellows become strange indeed...

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Psychogeography. In recent years this term has been used to illustrate a bewildering array of ideas from ley lines and the occult, to urban walking and political radicalism. But where does it come from and what exactly does it mean? This book examines the origins of psychogeography in the Paris of the 1950s, exploring the theoretical background and its political application in the work of Guy Debord and the Situationists. Psychogeography continues to find retrospective validation in much earlier traditions, from the visionary writing of William Blake and Thomas De Quincey to the rise of the flâneur and the avant-garde experimentation of the Surrealists. These precursors to psychogeography are discussed here alongside their modern counterparts, for today these ideas hold greater currency than ever through the popularity of writers and filmmakers such as Iain Sinclair, Will Self and Patrick Keiller. From the urban wanderer to the armchair traveller, psychogeography provides us with new ways of experiencing our environment, transforming the familiar streets of our everyday experience into something new and unexpected. Merlin Coverley conducts the reader through this process, providing an explanation of the terms involved and an analysis of the key figures and their works.

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During this time of conflict and suspicion, it is perhaps more important than ever to understand the beliefs and philosophies of other cultures. A Short Introduction to Religion provides a useful guide to the world's most popular religions - Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Hinduism - describing their origins and history, beliefs, worship and sacred writings, but also investigates many of the smaller and lesser known religions as well as newer movements such as Scientology, Wicca and Raëlism.

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Sir Charles Sheridan is many things - an amateur scientist, a renowned photographer, and a skilled detective. And due to Victorian customs, he will soon become a baron, making Irish-American penny-dreadful writer Kate Ardleigh an unsuitable candidate for a wife. But even as custom keeps them apart, murder seems to bring them together . . . The Countess of Warwick, Lady Frances Brooke (known to all as Daisy), is the subject of endless gossip about her fiery temperament, willful ways, and decidely unladylike behavior. But what happens during a weekend house party at her Easton estate is uglier than any rumor - especially because Bertie, the Prince of Wales and Daisy's current lover, has joined the party. First, a stableboy is killed. Then a nobleman is murdered at the Easton folly, the small, decorative garden building that is Daisy's well-known trysting spot. Anxious to avoid scandal, the Prince of Wales asks Sir Charles to identify the killer - and Charles finds himself in need of the talents of Miss Ardleigh.

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The Second in the Mr & Mrs Darcy Mystery Series Persuaded by Mrs. Bennet to sponsor a London social season for Elizabeth's sister Kitty, the Darcys reluctantly return to the glittering ballrooms and parlors of the fashionable world. There Kitty meets Harry Dashwood, the handsome young owner of Norland, and they quickly fall in love. But for the Bennet sisters, it seems the course of true love simply cannot run smooth. . . No sooner do Harry and Kitty announce their engagement than Harry begins to change. His disreputable behavior, unexplained absences, mysterious gatherings, questionable new companions, and sinister activities lead all to wonder: Who is the true Mr. Dashwood - the respectable gentleman Kitty thought she knew, or the dishonorable rogue now reflected in the mirror? A clue from Harry's family tree sends the Darcys once more on a quest to discover the truth before history can repeat itself. For if Harry and Kitty are to have a future, the past must first be put to rest...

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