Search results for ""quercus publishing""

How often have you seen a label on a product proclaiming it to be made from 'recycled material', 'bioplastic' or similar, without it giving any details of the concrete environmental benefits? What do these terms really mean? A drive for greater transparency and demonstrable environmental benefits is happening in product design, through emerging legislation and standards, and consumer demand for more sustainable products and unambiguous marketing. In Better Things: Materials for Sustainable Product Design, Daniel Liden seeks to tackle the lazy 'greenwashing' terminology we see every day, providing a guide for product designers, manufacturers and consumers wishing to make better and more informed decisions about materials. The book comprises six chapters devoted to material categories - plastics, textiles, metals, ceramics and glass, wood and paper - and a seventh chapter covering emerging sustainable technologies. Each chapter includes intervie

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Summer 1944: the SAS were charged with the most crucial D-Day missions, taking on the might of the Nazi Reich deep behind enemy lines.Facing Hitler''s fearsome Panzer divisions with little more than raw courage and their nimble Willys jeeps, it would take maverick thinking and unconventional warfare to survive and overcome. Hunted at every turn, Blair ''Paddy'' Mayne''s SAS would face a bitter and bloody struggle to topple the enemy. Drawing on never-before-seen archive material, bestselling military historian Damien Lewis brings to life the incredible efforts of the SAS as they dared all to bring the war to its close. Praise for Damien Lewis'' books: ''A convincing insight into the terror and adrenaline rush of war'' - Mail on Sunday ''Damien Lewis is both a meticulous historian and a born storyteller'' - Lee Child''One of the most remarkable stories in the history of

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Welcome to Mexico City, an oasis in a sea of vampires. Domingo, a lonely garbage-collecting street kid, is just trying to survive its heavily policed streets when a jaded vampire on the run swoops into his life. Atl, the descendant of Aztec blood-drinkers, is smart and beautiful - and very dangerous. Domingo is mesmerised.Atl needs to escape the city quickly, to get far away from the rival narco-vampire clan relentlessly pursuing her. Her plan doesn't include Domingo, but little by little, she finds herself warming up to the scrappy young man and his undeniable charm. As the trail of corpses stretches behind her, local cops and crime bosses both start closing in.Vampires, humans, cops, and criminals collide in the dark streets of Mexico City. Atl and Domingo stand little chance at all of making it out alive before the city devours them all - but they are determined to try . . .The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, the new book from Silvia Moreno-Garcia, is available to pre-order now.

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This fast-moving story takes the reader rapidly along dark paths of sinister events in Le Sentier, the heart of Paris's rag trade. One spring morning a Thai girl is found dead in a fashion workshop. Another unlucky prostitute, or something more sinister? A club is uncovered where people secretly get filmed having sex - including some very distinguished men. This is the seedy underworld of Paris - the traffic in heroin, illegal immigrants without work permits, police officers' secret lives. A Turkish man - a police informer and leader of exploited immigrants rag-trader workers - is also Police Inspector Danquin's lover. This is a gripping morality tale of twentieth-century Paris. Dominique Manotti teaches nineteenth-century Economic History. "Rough Trade", her first novel, was awarded the top prize for the best thriller of the year by the French Crime Writers Association.

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Against all his expectations, Dr Siri Paiboun has rather enjoyed his first five months in office. Now, as hot-season nights close in, Siri is spirited away from Laos' steamy capital on a Matter of National Security. Arriving in Luang Prabang, he's a busy man, examining carbonized corpses, dining with the deposed king, attending a shamans' conference and being rescued by the ghost of an elephant. Not that Siri's complaining ...Luang Prabang is in mountains and a good fifteen degrees cooler. Meanwhile, back at Vientiane headquarters, it's hot. Bloody hot - savaged bodies are piling up in Siri's absence. Is it the missing black bear from the circus, or could it be a weretiger? Siri's trusty assistant Nurse Dtui goes snooping but, unlike her boss, the spirits aren't looking out for her...And just what creature, if any, has thirty-three teeth?

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In 1951 the Festival of Britain marks a new golden age of hope and prosperity for the country. Things are certainly looking up for the criminal elite who run the East End. For Jack, a draft-dodger with aspirations to be a champion boxer, there's easy money to be made for providing a bit of muscle. Meanwhile his sister Kath must keep secret the fact that she killed their father to protect her son, Brian, from the abuse she experienced as a child. Brian is so traumatised by witnessing this event that the complex union of violence and sexuality will shape his character for life. As the years go by and disillusion sets in, successive Labour and Tory governments aren't able to stop the rot. Younger, nastier criminals like the Kray twins and the Richardson brothers begin to carve out their own criminal empires and crush all resistance. Brutalised and embittered by years of failure and imprisonment, Jack decides to make a stand. The stage is set for one big war. Crime and Punishment is the first volume in a two-part epic, and follows the characters' lives up until the accession of Thatcher. The second volume will trace the dramatic changes in criminal society that reflected the wider social upheaval of the times, right up until the present day.

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When newlywed Penny turns her hand to some casual wedding planning she only wants to help other women afford the big day of their dreams. But taming bridezillas turns out to be a full-time occupation, and what began as a hobby becomes a personal and professional nightmare. Soon Penny is struggling to keep her day job and prevent her own marriage from collapsing under the strain: tired, stressed and knee-deep in ivory satin, is Penny's life and livelihood hanging by a thread?

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Ex-soldier Lee Arnold and his Muslim assistant Mumtaz Hakim run a detective agency in London's ethnically diverse, crime-ridden East End. Mumtaz is approached by an Egyptian woman, Salwa, whose husband is in Belmarsh on terrorism charges. Salwa convinces Mumtaz of her husband's innocence and persuades her to go undercover to prove it. But Salwa is not what she seems. Trapped in an old tunnel that leads to the London docks, will Mumtaz escape with her life?

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A dark collection from one of America's literary giants.A young wife is home alone when the phone rings in 'So Help Me God.' Is the strange voice flirting with her from the other end of the line her jealous husband laying a trap, or a stranger who knows entirely too much about her? In 'Madison at Guignol' an unhappy fashionista discovers a secret door inside her favourite clothing store and insists the staff let her enter. But even her fevered imagination cannot anticipate the horror they have been hiding from her. In these and other gripping and disturbing tales, women are confronted by the evil around them and surprised by the evil they find within themselves. With wicked insight, Joyce Carol Oates demonstrates why the females of the species - be they six-year-old girls, seemingly devoted wives, or aging mothers - are by nature more deadly than the males.

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'One of the greatest anti-heroes ever written' LEE CHILDBernie Gunther has learned the hard way that there's no way to distinguish 'the one from the other'. The cynical P.I. has the moral clarity to see through the deceit and hypocrisy of both friend and foe - a lifesaving skill in the dangerous years of postwar Germany.Munich, 1949: Amid the chaos of defeat, it's home to all the backstabbing intrigue that prospers in the aftermath of war. A place where a private eye can find a lot of not-quite-reputable work: cleaning up the Nazi past of well-to-do locals, abetting fugitives in the flight abroad, sorting out rival claims to stolen goods. It's work that fills Bernie with disgust - but it also fills his sorely depleted wallet. Then a woman seeks him out. Her husband has disappeared. She's not looking to get him back - he's a wanted man who ran one of the most vicious concentration camps in Poland. She just wants confirmation that he's dead. It's a simple enough job. But in post-war Germany, nothing is simple...

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A priest receives an unexpected visitor from his past.A triumphant celebration ends in murder.A doctor tells of an unrequited love that only ended with death.Maupassant's direct treatment of sex and sexuality, and his insistence that the artist's primary duty was faithfulness to his own perceptions, made his work a challenge to many of his nineteenth-century English readers, but in Henry James's view, his vision was, 'altogether of this life'. His stories may have mystified contemporary moralists, but he was championed by writers who admired his resistance to self-censorship and applauded the economy of his style. In this new selection of his best stories, the sensitive and faithful translations of Ada Galsworthy and Elsie Martindale Hueffer show why writers like Conrad (whose preface is included) and Ford Madox Ford revered Maupassant's work.

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A man and woman fall in love in a seaside town. The only trouble is, they're both married to other people. A schoolmaster is scandalized by his sweetheart riding a bicycle.A woman falls in love with a series of men, each of whom leave her in different ways. Chekhov's stories capture Russian provincial life in the late nineteenth century while Garnett's translations make these classic works feel as vivid as if they were written yesterday. This exclusive selection by New Yorker writer Janet Malcolm is unmissable for the enthusiast and a brilliant introduction for anyone interested in one of the nineteenth century's greatest writers.

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Can you explain Fermat's Last Theorem? What is the shape of the Universe? And how do you add up to infinity? Challenge yourself with Get Smart: Maths and learn to think and talk like the world's greatest mathematical geniuses. Taking you on a journey through the mathematical ideas that underpin our world - from imaginary numbers and Turing machines to chaos theory and mathematical paradoxes; from the search for primes and game theory to relativity and the arithmetic of altruism - Get Smart: Maths demystifies 50 key concepts and provides you with the tools to master the very biggest ideas. Includes: imaginary numbers; the riemann hypothesis; mathematical paradoxes; chaos theory; code breaking; Gödel's incompleteness theorem; topology; the Poincaré conjecture; game theory; the maths of symmetry; calculus; Turing machines; fractals; the prisoner's dilemma; primes; knot theory; probability and statistics; the Monty Hall problem . . . and many more.

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Genetics in Minutes is your compact and accessible guide to the central concepts of the science of genetics, revealing how our genes shape our bodies and our lives, and how in turn we are beginning to shape them. Covering the basics of DNA, inheritance and evolution in animals, plants and humans alike - from the origins and development of life to the Human Genome and designer babies - this is the fastest, fullest path to understanding genetics. Contents include Genes, DNA, Natural selection, Darwinism, Stem cell and gene therapies, Evo-devo, Epigenetics, Cloning, Genetic engineering and Artificial life, as well as biology basics such as the Processes of life, Cells, Sex, Classification and Ecology.

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Emotional, page-turning women's fiction from the author of #1 EBOOK BESTSELLER, THURSDAYS IN THE PARK. Beautiful storytelling for fans of Erica James, Veronica Henry and Harriet Evans. 'Boyd is as canny as Joanna Trollope at observing family life - and better than Trollope at jokes' Daily MailNancy de Freitas is the glue that holds her family together. Caught between her ageing, ailing mother Frances, and her struggling daughter Louise, frequent user of Nancy's babysitting services, it seems Nancy's fate is to quietly go on shouldering the burden of responsibility for all four generations. Her divorce four years ago put paid to any thoughts of a partner to share her later years with. Now it looks like her family is all she has. Then she meets Jim. Smoker, drinker, unsuccessful country singer and wearer of cowboy boots, he should be completely unsuited to the very together Nancy. And yet, there is a real spark. But Nancy's family don't trust Jim one bit. They're convinced he'll break her heart, maybe run off with her money - he certainly distracts her from her family responsibilities. Can she be brave enough to follow her heart? Or will she remain glued to her family's side and walk away from one last chance for love?

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'Wonderfully imaginative' Bernard Cornwell, author of The Last Kingdom. The thrilling second instalment in the series. Perfect for fans of Simon Scarrow and Bernard Cornwell.The Iberian Peninsula, 1809. French troops led by one of Napoleon's best generals are massing on the border. Wellington's outnumbered force needs to pick off the smaller French units if they are to stand their ground. For that they need information, which is where Captain James Keane and his company of reformed scouting officers come in. But it soon becomes apparent that someone high up in Wellington's headquarters is a spy for the French...and Keane's enemies within the army are quick to point the finger. Keane must defend his crew against their accusers - or root out the traitor himself.Keane's Challenge draws a fascinating picture of a disparate group of men brought together in a Peninsular War adventure that sees maverick hero Keane ride again.

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A blisteringly frank autobiographical novel by Sweden's great man of letters - for readers of K. O. Knausgaard's My Struggle."Some life. Some novel . . . Wonderful, brave, evocative . . . It is a remarkable story, and Enquist is remarkably frank in narrating every last detail" HeraldWhen everything began so well, how could it turn out so badly? What was it about Hjoggböle, a farming village in the northernmost part of Sweden, that created so many idiots - and writers? There was nothing to indicate that P.O. Enquist would be stricken by an addiction to writing. Nothing in his family - honest, hardworking people. Not a trace of poetry. And yet he worked his way, via journalism, novels and plays, to the centre of Swedish politics and cultural life. His books garnered prize after prize. His plays ran for decades and premiered on Broadway. Why then, living with a new wife in Paris, does he hole up in their palatial Champes-Élysées apartment, talking only to his cat? How is it that he wakes to find himself in an uncoupled carriage on a railway siding in Hamburg, two - or was it three? - days after the first-night party finished? And what is it that drives him to run shoeless through the deep January snow of an Icelandic plain, leaving the lights of the drying out clinic far behind? Narrating in the third person, as if he were merely a character in the eventful, perplexing and ultimately triumphantly redemptive drama of his own life, P.O. Enquist is as elliptical as Karl Ove Knausgaard is exhaustive. Clear-eyed, rueful, written with elegance and humour, this is the singular story of a remarkable man.

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''SUPER-SMART AND HIGHLY ORIGINAL'' - Doug Johnstone''BRILLIANT AND DEEPLY EVOCATIVE'' - Graham Bartlett''AN EXCITING START TO A NEW SERIES'' - Patricia Gibney''A WRITER AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME'' - Robert RutherfordThe first in a Newcastle-set police procedural series with a twist. DCI Jack Parker has a secret. He has Early Onset Dementia and he will do anything and everything to keep it hidden from his peers and the criminals he''s investigating.THE CLOCK IS TICKING. THERE''S NO ESCAPE.DCI Jack Parker has faced down hardened villains and raving, drug-addled lunatics. He''s disarmed a machete-wielding psychopath and broken devastating news of a loved one''s death more times than he can remember.With a serial killer stalking the Newcastle streets and one of his closest colleagues lying in the mortuary following a hit and run he thinks things are about as tough as they''ve ever been. But he should know that trouble always comes

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Master the fashion ideas that shape the world of style today.In a series of 50 accessible essays, Jessica Bumpus introduces and explains the central ideas, trends and inventions of fashion, from the genesis of style itself to the present day.From fast fashion and the invention of the high heel to streetwear and the impact of the ''influencer'', 50 Fashion Ideas You Really Need to Know is complete introduction to the most important fashion concepts in history.

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The Yeonnam-dong Smiley Laundromat is a place where the extraordinary stories of ordinary residents unfold. Situated at the heart of rapidly gentrifying district of Seoul, it''s a haven of peace and reflection for many locals.And when a notebook is left behind there, it becomes a place that brings people together. One by one, customers start jotting down candid diary entries, opening their hearts and inviting acts of kindness from neighbours who were once just faces in the crowd.But there is a darker story behind the notebook, and before long the laundromat''s regulars are teaming up to solve the mystery and put the world to rights.Instantly capturing the hearts of Korean readers, this is a novel about the preciousness of human relationships and the power of solidarity in a world that is increasingly cold, fast-paced, and virtual.Translated from the Shanna Tan

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Brilliant - funny, wise and completely addictive - a work of angry, outrageous and hilarious genius VICTORIA HISLOPFull of energy and blistering rationality LISA McINERNEYA must-read . . . While waiting for society to evolve, Virginie Despentes stays the same VogueDear Dickhead,I read the piece you posted on Insta. You''re like a pigeon shitting on my shoulder as you flap past. It''s shitty and unpleasant. Congratulations: you''ve had your fifteen minutes of fame! You want proof? Here I am writing to you.Rebecca Latté is a famous actress in her fifties, perhaps past the peak of her career.Oscar Jayack is a middle-aged, moderately successful author who, in the wake of the #MeToo movement, has been accused of sexual harassment by his former publicist-turned-feminist blogger Zoé Katana.When Oscar insults Rebecca''s appearance on Instagram, she sends a scorching reply and the pair fall i

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''An addicting read for anyone desiring a chance to escape on a journey of young love and finding out who you are in the process . . . If Dunbridge Academy is taking applications, let me know!'' ANNA TODDCharles Sinclair is Victoria Belhaven-Wynford''s best friend. Ever since primary school, he''s been the one Tori can confide in. The only thing she can''t tell him about is the pit in her stomach that just won''t fade since she started dating her crush, Valentine. Deep down, Tori suspects that whatever she has with Valentine, it''s nothing like what she feels for her best friend. But her classmate Eleanor has claimed Sinclair''s attention, the Juliet to his Romeo in Dunbridge Academy''s annual theatrical performance. Not that Tori would mind. If she weren''t the one who''s supposed to write the script for the love story between the star-crossed lovers . . .I don''t know who I''m kissing. Romeo or Sinclair. Sinclair or Charles. The boy I fell

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THE CHINESE LORD OF THE RINGS - NOW IN ENGLISH FOR THE FIRST TIME.THE SERIES EVERY CHINESE READER HAS BEEN ENJOYING FOR DECADES - 300 MILLION COPIES SOLD..ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE''S 100 BEST FANTASY NOVELS OF ALL TIME.Jin Yong''s work, in the Chinese-speaking world, has a cultural currency roughly equal to that of Harry Potter and Star Wars combined Nick Frisch, New YorkerLike every fairy tale you''re ever loved, imbued with jokes and epic grandeur. Prepare to be swept along. Jamie Buxton, Daily MailChina: 1200 A.D. The Song Empire has been invaded by its warlike Jurchen neighbours from the north. Half its territory and its historic capital lie in enemy hands; the peasants toil under the burden of the annual tribute demanded by the victors. Meanwhile, on the Mongolian steppe, a disparate nation of great warriors is about to be united by a warlord whose name will endure fo

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''Powerfully entertaining. A true thriller of resilience and defiance'' JANELLE MONÁEThe true story of how a middle-class Black girl from Minneapolis became one of the single biggest threats to the United States banking system.Tanya Smith fancied herself a folk hero, a kind of Robin Hood, using her powers of persuasion to buck the system and help the poor and needy.It started innocently enough, with calls to celebrities'' houses with her teenage twin sister. Soon, Tanya realised she could convince utility companies to amend the balances of her friends and neighbours, clearing their overdue electricity bills with a single phone call. Eventually, as she tested the limits and realized she could get past any gatekeeper, she began to understand the power of money and what it could do. Over the years, Tanya ''confiscated'' some $40 million in cash and commodities from US banks, using hacked wire transfers. It didn''t take long before th

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Outback noir has a new star Mark Sanderson, The TimesWith DS Manolis on leave in Greece, Senior Constable Sparrow receives a phone call from a man who wants to turn himself in.Bob is sixty-five years old, confined to a Perth nursing home. But thirty years ago, he killed a man in the remote northern Kimberley mining region. He offers to show Sparrow where the body is, but there''s a catch: Sparrow must travel north with him under the guise of being his carer. They are accompanied on the drive by another nursing home resident: Luke, thirty years old, paralysed in a motorbike accident. As they embark on their road trip through the guts of Western Australia, pursued by outback police and adrenaline-soaked miners, Sparrow begins to suspect that Bob''s desire to head north may have sinister motivations. Is Luke being held against his will? And what lies in store for them when they reach their goal?

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Seven interconnected stories orbit a central novella to create a collection of tales which resonate with the sound of women''s voices.A widower struggles to erase his wife''s voice from his answering machine. Two old friends meet after a period apart and find they can no longer fit into their habitual rhythm. A woman records herself reading a poem for two sisters who obsessively collect voice recordings.At the heart of Canoes is Mustang, in which a woman moves with her family to the suburbs of Denver, where her partner takes up a research post. As her husband and child fit seamlessly into their new lives, she remains aloof, consumed by a feeling of not belonging, and observing as her loved ones change and adapt to these alien surroundings.In this moving and deeply poetic collection, Maylis de Kerangal casts light on the balance between life and death, exploring the traces we leave upon each other''s lives and creating space for women of all age

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''Her work merits comparison with that of Edna O''Brien or Muriel Spark'' New York TimesStretching from war-torn 1940''s Liverpool to Oxford at the end of the century, this story explores the emotional landscape of the time and the impact tiny moments of betrayal can have on our relationships in the years that follow. Malcolm has held on to a secret for more than fifty years: a letter his sister Sophy gave him just before she died. He had promised to give it to the young doctor she met one night during the Liverpool Blitz: a night that altered the course of her life.But the letter was never delivered. Now, after so many years of uncertainty, Malcolm has decided to share Sophy''s secret with her daughter Agnes. It is the day of Agnes''s daughter''s wedding party. The ghosts of Agnes''s past and all the powerful emotions of the family reunion wrap around her thoughts. Until she is distracted by a hand on her arm as her uncle Mal

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From Andrew Caldecott, the bestselling author of ROTHERWEIRD, comes the jaw-dropping conclusion of the MOMENTICON duology - an epic adventure like no other!''Remember Simul'' - the last words of a dying man, and the key to mankind''s survival.Words which take Morag, Fogg and their friends on a wild ride through caverns and over mountains, into old paintings, to a university unlike any other and up the lethal Tower of No Return. A ride where mythical beasts, legendary monster-hunters and a corrupt establishment lie in wait . . . while the weather-watchers look on and bide their time.It''s a race against extinction too . . . for nature herself is bent on vengeance.-------------------------''Unpredictable, dramatic and always utterly enthralling'' - Reader review''Intelligent and also fun'' - Reader review''Caldecott once again delivers in spades'' - Reader review'

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What would you do to protect the ones you love?Single-mother Emma is at her limit, with two children to look after, a demanding job and an ex-husband who doesn''t pull his weight.Mostly she manages, but when her teenage son, Jack, calls her in the middle of the night saying that he needs help, her life is thrown into chaos. She finds him in a state of panic. His ex-girlfriend, Zoe, is lying on the floor, dead. They''d been at a party, drinking too much and taking drugs, and Jack has no memory of how they got there.Emma''s instinct is to protect her son at all costs, so she helps him hide Zoe''s body. But can she handle keeping their secret, or will it break her?******************************What readers are saying about Karen Cole''Absolutely amazing!'' 5* Reader Review''Great storyline and suspense'' 5* Reader Review''One of my go to authors'' 5* Reader Review

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'A delightful and engaging treasure trove of a book that brings the chemical elements to life and gives them personalities of their own. A wonderful read for young and old alike to get you inspired by chemistry.' Jim Al-Khalili 'The perfect book to escape our human-sized existence and take a tour of the atomic world instead.' Helen Arney, science comedian and broadcasterWhen we think of the periodic table we picture orderly rows of elements that conform to type and never break the rules. In this book Kathryn Harkup reveals that there are personalities, passions, quirks and historical oddities behind those ordered rows, and shows us that the periodic table is a sprawling family tree with its own black sheep, wayward cousins and odd uncles. The elements in the periodic table, like us, are an extended family - some old, some newborn, some shy and reticent, some exuberant or unreliable. Dr Harkup tells the weird and wonderful stories of just fifty two members of this family - remarkable tales of discovery, inspiration and revolution, from the everyday to the extraordinary. Some elements are relatively anonymous; others, already familiar, are seen in a new light; and old friends have surprising secrets to share. From our green-fingered friend magnesium to the devil incarnate polonium, this eclectic collection of engaging and informative stories will change the way you see the periodic table for ever.

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Summer, 1660. Cromwell is dead and Charles Stuart has been restored to the throne. Men who supported the Protectorate are being hunted down as traitors. ''S. G. MacLean can make any historical period sing with life'' Antonia HodgsonBy the summer of 1660 the last remnants of the Republic have been swept away and the Stuarts have been restored under their king, Charles II. A list of regicides believed to be involved in the death of Charles I is drawn up. Gruesome executions begin to take place and the hunt intensifies for those who have gone into hiding at home or abroad.Although not a regicide, staunch Republican Damian Seeker is on a list of traitors to the king. Royalist spy, Lady Anne Winter, is employed to find evidence of guilt or innocence among the names on this Winter List. Seeker has fled England but his beloved daughter Manon remains, married to Seeker''s friend, the lawyer Lawrence Ingolby, and living in York.As the conduit to

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THE MIND-BENDING NEW THRILLER FROM THE NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF DEAR CHILD'Hausmann's novel has the feel of a nightmare, unfolding at breakneck speed' SUNDAY TIMESIt's been years since Nadja Kulka was convicted of a cruel crime. After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven - free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss - kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to be able to refuse.The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer . . .Dark secrets past and present collide in this haunting novel of guilt and retribution from the internationally bestselling author of Dear Child.PRAISE FOR ROMY HAUSMANN:'Chilling' People Magazine'[A] tantalizingly disturbing debut . . . As enthralling as it is thought-provoking' New York Times'Hausmann is a force to be reckoned with. You can't stop reading' David Baldacci'Deliciously dark' Alice Feeney'Very compelling' Peter James'Disturbingly good' Lesley Kara

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1810. Palais des Tuileries, France. As a princess of the Holy Roman Empire, Marie-Louise Habsburg knows the importance of family loyalty. So when her father asks her to save his crown by marrying a foreign stranger twice her age she has no choice but to obey. But when she arrives in Paris, is becomes clear that Marie-Louise will have to fight for a place in her new husband's affections. Between a scorned first wife determined to hold on to her title and a fiendishly devious sister-in-law, will the young princess ever be able to win her rightful place at court? Meet Marie-Louise Bonaparte, youngest wife of Napoleon the Great and France's unwilling Second Empress.

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It is London 2012 and Stratford in the East End is at the centre of the world. But next to the Olympic Park are some of the poorest and most crime-ridden streets in the city. PI Lee Arnold and his assistant, Mumtaz Hakim, run a detective agency in a community fraught with conflict and tension. Approached by a frightened woman, they start to investigate her stalker. But soon their enquiries turn in a far more sinister direction.

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"A writer of great subtlety and intelligence . . . a beautifully written and compelling story of how families fall apart and what remains of the aftermath" Kamila Shamsie, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018 "The book everyone is talking about for the summer" Lorraine Candy, Sunday TimesIn my childhood, I was known as the boy whose mother had run off with an Englishman" - so begins the story of Myshkin and his mother, Gayatri, who is driven to rebel against tradition and follow her artist's instinct for freedom.Freedom of a different kind is in the air across India. The fight against British rule is reaching a critical turn. The Nazis have come to power in Germany. At this point of crisis, two strangers arrive in Gayatri's town, opening up for her the vision of other possible lives. What took Myshkin's mother from India to Dutch-held Bali in the 1930s, ripping a knife through his comfortingly familiar environment? Excavating the roots of the world in which he was abandoned, Myshkin comes to understand the connections between anguish at home and a war-torn universe overtaken by patriotism. Anuradha Roy's enthralling novel is a powerful parable for our times, telling the story of men and women trapped in a dangerous era uncannily similar to the present. Impassioned, elegiac, and gripping, it brims with the same genius that has brought Roy's earlier fiction international renown."One of India's greatest living authors" - O, The Oprah Magazine"Roy's writing is a joy" - Financial Times

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From April 1942 to March 1944, Hélène Berr, a recent graduate of the Sorbonne, kept a journal that is both an intensely moving, intimate, harrowing, appalling document and a text of astonishing literary maturity. With her colleagues, she plays the violin and she seeks refuge from the everyday in what she calls the "selfish magic" of English literature and poetry. But this is Paris under the occupation and her family is Jewish. Eventually, there comes the time when all Jews are required to wear a yellow star. She tries to remain calm and rational, keeping to what routine she can: studying, reading, enjoying the beauty of Paris. Yet always there is fear for the future, and eventually, in March 1944, Hélène and her family are arrested, taken to Drancy Transit Camp and soon sent to Auschwitz. She went - as is later discovered - on the death march to Bergen-Belsen and there she died in 1945, only five days before the liberation of the camp. The last words in the journal she had left behind in Paris were "Horror! Horror! Horror!", a hideous and poignant echo of her English studies.Hélène Berr's story is almost too painful to read, foreshadowing horror as it does amidst an enviable appetite for life, for beauty, for literature, for all that lasts.

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"Whenever I was asked: 'Why did you go to Santiago?', I had a hard time answering. How could I explain to those who had not done it that the way has the effect - if not the virtue - to make you forget all reasons that led you to become involved in it in the first place."Each year, tens of thousands of backpackers (Christian pilgrims and many others) set out from either their front doorstep or from popular starting points across Europe, to Santiago de Compostela. Most travel by foot, others ride a bicycle, and a few of them travel as did some of their medieval counterparts, on horseback or with a donkey. In addition to those who undertake a religious pilgrimage, the majority are hikers who walk the way for non-religious reasons: travel, sport, or simply the challenge of spending weeks walking in a foreign land. Also, many consider the experience as a spiritual adventure, with a view to removing themselves from the bustle of modern life. Jean-Christophe Rufin followed this "Northern Way" to Santiago de Compostela by foot, on over eight hundred kilometers. Much less crowded than the usual pilgrimage route, this one runs along the Basque and Cantabrian coasts in Spain and through the wild mountains of Asturias and Galicia.Translated from the French by Malcolm Imrie and Martina Dervis

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December, and the river is rising. The village of Ledwardine has never been flooded in living memory. Within days it will be an island. There's no electricity. The church is serving as a temporary mortuary for two people who drowned. Only one man feels safer. An aggressively-atheist author has been moved, for his own safety, Rushdie-style, into a secluded house just outside the village. Fundamentalist Christians have hated him for years. Now he's offended the Muslims. Bad move. Meanwhile, archaeologists, assisted by Merrily's teenage daughter, Jane, are at work in Coleman's Meadow, unearthing an ancient row of standing stones which some people would rather stay buried. The atheist's temporary home is close to the site. And his young wife is becoming conspicuously agitated. Is it the fear of discovery -- or the kind of fear that she, of all people, could never disclose? One thing is clear: the last person who's going to be welcome in that house is an exorcist. With the flood water washing up Church Lane towards the vicarage and the shop running out of cigarettes it looks like a cold and complex Christmas for Merrily Watkins in an ancient community forced to untangle its own history against the swirling uncertainty of the future.

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NOW A MAJOR ITV DRAMAMerrily Watkins, parish priest, single mum and Deliverance Consultant to the Diocese of Hereford, heads for the Malvern Hills to investigate an alleged paranormal dimension to a spate of road accidents in the sleepy village of Wychehill. Merrily is called in when two people are killed in a head-on crash that is also linked to the revamped local pub which, it seems, has injected the valley with a shattering, strobing surge of inner-city nightlife... and drugs. When a dealer is found savagely murdered below the great earthen hillfort of Herefordshire Beacon, police ask: is it a ritual killing, a gangland disposal or a cry of outrage? As Merrily and the police follow separate paths towards the truth, Merrily's teenage daughter, Jane, faces the consequences of her own obsession with a possibly prehistoric site in their home village of Ledwardine. Until, on a night of frenzied violence, in a place at the centre of an ancient, universal mystery, the final, shocking connections are made.

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Someone is murdering the Merry Men - and if Marian doesn't stop them, her children will be the next to die: a wonderful re-imagining of Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

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'THRILLS THE READER WITH AN ENJOYABLE, BREAKNECK PLOT' GUARDIANDeath is simple. Dreams are dangerous. Life is . . . unexpected.Outlaw wizard Corcoran Gray expected death to be final, but life, and his loved ones, had other plans. A year after being resurrected and flung into a new body, he's still trying to come to terms with his situation - and his self - when the all-powerful Mages' Guild demands his help to stop a deadly plague.He's inclined to refuse the organisation that still wants him dead, until his partner Brix starts showing symptoms - to save her, Gray will do anything, even if it means working with his greatest enemies.But it quickly becomes clear that this is no normal plague. The situation is more complicated, and more lethal, than anyone has realised. Ancient dangers are stirring, and thousands of lives are at stake . . .In the gripping sequel to Lord of Secrets, Corcoran Gray returns to save his new life and everything he holds dear - he'll just need to battle mysterious plagues, magical monsters, and hellish necromancy first.'TEINTZE SHOWS A RANGE OF SKILLS IN LADY OF SHADOWS BY MAKING A FANTASTICAL WHODUNIT, WITH TWISTS THAT KEEP YOU PULLING TOWARD THE FINALE' CHARLIE N. HOLMBERG, AUTHOR OF THE PAPER MAGICIAN'LADY OF SHADOWS SHOWS AN UPWARD TRAJECTORY NOT ONLY FOR THE CHARACTER, BUT FOR THE EMPTY GODS SERIES AS A WHOLE' SCIFINOW'GRAY IS THE KIND OF RELUCTANT HERO WIZARD WITH A HEART THAT I'D FOLLOW INTO THE APOCALYPSE AND LADY OF SHADOWS DELIVERS JUST THAT - AND MORE' KAI DOORE, AUTHOR OF THE PERFECT ASSASSIN

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Sex. Drugs. Danger. Death. FROM THE ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF BESTSELLERS HOTEL KEROBOKAN AND SNOWING IN BALIThis is the adrenaline-pumping story of the world's most audacious drug runners and the police hunt, 'Operation Playboy', to track them down.These drug-running playboys travel the globe: they ski in Europe, surf in Bali, hook up with celebrity models and live in five-star hotels. They are 24/7 party boys with brass balls, steely nerves and reckless ambitions. They pay for their high-risk, hedonistic lifestyle by trafficking cocaine, ecstasy and marijuana on international flights and through the world's biggest airports.But to ride the wave you have to roll the dice. And in this game a bust means prison - or even a firing squad. A Brazilian cop is watching closely, determined to close the net. With a small team, he battles corrupt colleagues and bent judges to learn the secrets of the playboys and bring about their downfall.Celebrated true-crime writer and journalist Kathryn Bonella has travelled the world to collect first-person testimony from an international network of mules and their bosses, as well as from the elite cops who are hot on their trail.The result is a page-turning, white-knuckle thriller - the true story of a manhunt codenamed OPERATION PLAYBOY.

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A wounded solider vanishes into notoriety.A nose is found in a loaf of bread.Places - like the Nevesky Prospect - are not what they seem. Nikolai Gogol was one of the nineteenth century's greatest and most influential Russian writers, a realist whose witty and acerbic observations and his taste for the absurd give his writing its strange, comic voice. Selected from the work of Constance Garnett, one of Gogol's earliest translators, this edition presents a new, exclusive collection of Gogol's short fiction, selected and lightly revised by Natasha Randall. Contextualized by Randall's preface, and full of the wit of Garenett's work, this edition is the perfect introduction to Gogol, and a must for the enthusiast.

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1877, Durham. After a traumatic and harrowing incident at the hands of a stranger, a woman gives birth to a child. However, she is persuaded by her husband to give him up to a local couple. On the same dark and stormy night, a local pit owner turns his wife out onto the bleak moors, telling her son she is evil. The woman is never seen again. 1895, Durham. Twenty years later, these seemingly unrelated events have shaped the characters of two unloved boys, who have now grown to be men. They, in turn, are about to change the lives of two innocent young women as the past reaches out and casts a shadow over the present. Praise for Elizabeth Gill'Original and evocative - a born storyteller' Trisha Ashley 'A wonderful book, full of passion, pain, sweetness, twists and turns. I couldn't put it down' Sheila Newberry 'Elizabeth Gill writes with a masterful grasp of conflicts and passions' Leah Fleming 'An enthralling and satisfying novel that will leave you wanting more' Catherine King'If you love Catherine Cookson then you will love Elizabeth Gill' Northern Echo

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The most heartwarming new wartime series of 2019.Hampshire, 1939, and three young women are about to get the break of a lifetime.Rainey Bird, Ivy Sparrow and Bea Herron all love to sing. For Rainey, music has been a solace during the upheaval of starting a new life with her mother, away from her abusive dad. Bea finds a confidence when she sings that she cannot get from anything else. Ivy sees it as her best chance of making a life away from Gosport and a dead-end job. The three of them sing in a choir run by the strict but kind Mrs Wilkes. The choir provides a couple of hours of stardust each week, away from school and work and family worries.When war breaks out, though, dreams must be put on hold. It seems that local pantomimes and charity shows are as far as the girls will be able to go, despite Mrs Wilkes's faith in their talent. That is, until a mysterious stranger arrives with a proposition that just might change their lives...

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A humorous and very personal guide written by Bill Bailey about his favourite British birds, complete with drawings, notes and cartoons by the comedian himself.'When herons are spooked they have a habit of vomiting as a defence. Half-digested pieces of eel and water vole skull on your head is not a good look. Just so you know.'Bill Bailey's wonderfully charming and informative book on the birds he loves is now available as a handy, easy-to-carry pocket paperback. Packed with the comedian's observations, illustrations and sketches, this edition is perfect for birdwatching expeditions, with new information for proper twitchers, including:· A 'British Birds' checklist · A list of the best birdwatching sites in the UK· Suggestions of bird spotting equipment· Information about joining a birdwatching clubBailey takes us on a journey around the British Isles, zooming in on those birds that enthuse him the most. Whether it's what they eat, where they fly to or how they communicate, these birds are always fascinating, and he introduces us to their weird and wonderful ways in a manner that is always entertaining. If you're a parent who'd like to appear a bit clever when your child asks you the name of a bird; if you want to find a new and healthy hobby that takes you outdoors; or whether, quite simply, you want to understand a bit more about our natural environment and have a laugh at the same time, this is the companion book to have.Funny and insightful, and positively crackling with energy, knowledge and wit, this beautiful paperback will delight Bailey's fans, birds as well as those who fancy a bit of armchair escapism.Alongside music and stand-up, one of Bailey's favourite pastimes is birdwatching, which he has been doing since he was a child in the West Country. His fondest memories are of family outings with parents, grandparents and cousins, ticking the birds off in his little Observer's Book of Birds. As he has said about those formative years, 'birdwatching gave a purpose to the day and a love of the natural world which has carried on into my adult life'.

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'Even better than Child 44. Akyl Borubaev is a terrific creation' Anthony Horowitz'Just keeps getting better . . . buy the whole series right away' Peter Robinson, No.1 bestselling author of Sleeping in the GroundIN THE BURNING HEAT OF THE SUN, MURDER IS DEADLY COLD.Having resigned from Bishkek Murder Squad, Akyl Borubaev is a lone wolf with blood on his hands. Then the Minister of State Security promises Akyl his old life back . . . if Akyl finds his vanished mistress. The beautiful Natasha Sulonbekova has disappeared in Dubai with information that could destroy the Minister's career.But when Borubaev arrives in Dubai - straight into a scene of horrific carnage - he learns that what Natasha is carrying is worth far more than a damaged reputation. Discovering the truth plunges him into a deadly game that means he might never return to Kyrgyzstan . . . at least, not alive.'Storytelling of the highest quality . . . Callaghan is a new voice to be welcomed' Daily Mail

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'A deeply satisfying read' Sunday TimesChristmas Day, and DCI Tom Reynolds receives an alarming call. A mass grave has been discovered on Oileán na Caillte, the island which housed the controversial psychiatric institution St. Christina's. The hospital has been closed for decades and onsite graves were tragically common. Reynolds thinks his adversarial boss is handing him a cold case to sideline him. But then it transpires another body has been discovered amongst the dead - one of the doctors who went missing from the hospital in mysterious circumstances forty years ago. He appears to have been brutally murdered.As events take a sudden turn, nothing can prepare Reynolds and his team for what they are about to discover once they arrive on the island . . .PRAISE FOR JO SPAIN'S TOM REYNOLDS SERIES'A stunning read' Woman's Way'Refreshing and full of twists' Express'Clever, pacey, compulsive' Sunday Mirror'Expertly crafted, deeply immersive and timely' Irish Independent

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