Search results for ""Canongate Books""

Exceptional . Mark is writing at the top of his game - Publishers Weekly Starred ReviewWhen lightning strikes an ancient crypt, it exposes a devastating wartime secret in this compelling psychological thriller.1967. In a quiet village in the wild lands of the Scottish borders, disgraced academic Cordelia Hemlock is trying to put her life back together. Grieving the loss of her son, she seeks out the company of the dead, taking comfort amid the ancient headstones and crypts of the local churchyard. When lightning strikes a tumbledown tomb, she glimpses a corpse that doesn''t belong among the crumbling bones. But when the storm passes and the body vanishes, the authorities refuse to believe the claims of a hysterical ''outsider''. Teaming up with a reluctant witness, local woman Felicity Goose, Cordelia''s enquiries all lead back to a former POW camp that was set up in the village during the Second World

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A glimpse of a quickly melting corpse at the foot of a volcano has amateur sleuth and food enthusiast Valerie Corbin shocked. But how can she investigate a murder, when there''s no evidence the victim ever existed?The first Orchid Isle cozy mystery, set in tropical Hilo, Hawai''i, introduces a fun and feisty LGBTQ+ couple who swap surfing lessons for sleuthing sessions!Retired caterer Valerie Corbin and her wife Kristen have come to the Big Island of Hawai''i to treat themselves to a well-earned tropical vacation. After the recent loss of her brother, Valerie is in sore need of a distraction from her troubles and is looking forward to enjoying the delicious food and vibrant culture the state has to offer.Early one morning, the couple and their friend - tattooed local boy, Isaac - set out to see an active lava flow, and Valerie is mesmerized by the shape-shifting mass of orange and red creeping over the field of black rock. Spyi

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The kids (and canines) of Peanuts know a thing or two about how tough life can be. But with a philosophical approach to the trials and tribulations of growing up - from not being able to talk to the girl you like, to having an idiot brother who won't take your flawless advice - they're never short of the small comforts, and the great wisdom, that can help us get by.

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Why is it good to be grumpy if you want to avoid getting ripped off? Why do we think coins are bigger than they really are?Why is it a mistake to choose the same lottery numbers every week? Join award-winning psychologist and BBC Radio 4 presenter Claudia Hammond as she delves into big and small questions around the surprising psychology of money. Funny, insightful and eye-opening, Mind Over Money will change the way you think about the cash in your pocket and the figures in your bank account forever.

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Another day, another grand scheme! The thieving Fitzglen family are back in this second instalment of the spellbinding Theatre of Thieves gothic mystery series set in Victorian England.London, 1908. The Fitzglens, one of London''s leading theatre families and part-time thieves, are plotting their next scheme when they receive terrible news about Great Uncle Montague. He''s been killed in a tragic accident at his Notting Hill home. Montague will be much missed, not just for his talent in art forgery, but his death provides an unlooked-for opportunity: the chance to search for his infamous iron box. No one knows what it contains - if, that is, it even exists - but Jack Fitzglen is certain it has to be something highly valuable . . . or extremely dangerous. Why else would the grand master of storytelling have refused to even drop a hint?Jack is amazed when he finds the box - and even more amazed by its contents. An unknown play by one of Ire

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Nothing in life works without facts.A society that isn't sure what's true can't function. Without facts there can be no government or law. Science is ignored. Trust evaporates.People everywhere feel ever more alienated from - and mistrustful of - news and those who make it. We no longer seem to know who or what to believe. We are living through a crisis of 'information chaos'.News and How to Use It is a glossary for this bewildering age. From AI to Bots, from Climate Crisis to Fake News, from Clickbait to Trolls (and more), here is the definitive user's guide for how to stay informed, tell truth from fiction and hold those in power accountable in the modern age.

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In 1970 Jerry Della Femina wrote this gossip-filled, insider's account of working on Madison Avenueduring the golden age of advertising. It caused a sensation, became a bestseller and establisheditself as a cult classic. Years later, it inspired the multi-award-winning drama Mad Men.

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Following the death of her best friend, Erin has to get out of London. Returning home to Belfast, an au pair job provides a partial refuge from her grief and her volatile relationship with her mother. Erin spends late nights at the bar where her childhood friend Declan works. There Erin meets an American academic who is also looking to get lost. Parallel to this she reconnects with an old flame, Mikey. This brings its own web of complications. With a startlingly fresh and original voice - jarringly funny, cranky, often hungover - Lazy City depicts the strange, meandering aftermath that follows disaster.

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What secrets are hiding in your family tree?Great Aunt Oleander is dead. To each of her nearest and dearest she has left a seed pod. The seed pods might be deadly, but then again they might also contain the secret of enlightenment . . .A complex and fiercely contemporary tale of inheritance, enlightenment, life, death, desire and family trees, The Seed Collectors is the most important novel yet from one of the world's most daring and brilliant writers.

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Joanna Bannerman, capricious, selfish and warm-hearted, passionately seeks life and 'loveliness'. Certainly the bustling streets of Glasgow at the turn of the century promise much greater excitement than the solid evangelical background she has known hitherto. Her studies in the School of Art open up new horizons - of independence and love - and Joanna reaches for them all.First published in 1920, this novel powerfully evokes the image of a young woman ensnared yet ultimately released by her capacity for emotion. It contains a strong autobiographical element and is also a powerful evocation of the life and industry of the Second City of the Empire.

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A sensitive innocent, Hendrickje Stoffels escapes the harsh realities of her garrison home-town to take up a servant's role in Rembrandt's household. She soon becomes his lover and closest confidante, and plays witness to the highs and lows of the great artist's life. But Hendrickje is fated to discover the hypocrisy and greed of society in Amsterdam's Golden Age.In sensuous prose, Matton paints a powerful fictional portrait of this impassioned relationship through the eyes of a remarkable woman.

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Excellent . The surprising revelations that populate the book, mixed with a mood of regret and wistful longing for dead loves, imbue the story with a seductive power. Readers will eagerly anticipate the final volume in this trilogy - Publishers Weekly Starred ReviewA shocking revelation from an old friend leads Claire Clairmont on a dangerous quest in this second in a fascinating historical trilogy based on the ''summer of 1816'' Byron/Shelley group.1873, Florence. Claire Clairmont, the last survivor of the ''haunted summer of 1816'' Byron/Shelley circle, is reeling from the series of events triggered by the arrival of Michael Rossetti two weeks before, which culminated in a brutal murder and a shocking revelation from her old friend, Edward Trewlany.Stunned by her betrayal at the hands of those closest to her, Claire determines to travel to the convent at Bagnacavallo near Ravenna to learn the true fate of Allegra, her daug

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Among the ethnic gangs that rule America's inner cities, none has had the impact of the Jamaican posses. Spawned in the ghettos of Kingston as mercenary street-fighters for the island's politicians, the posses began migrating to the United States in the early 1980's, just in time to catch and ride the crack wave as it engulfed the country.Laurie Gunst's provocative exposé of the Jamaican politicians' role in creating this problem is also a moving and compelling tale of suffering and exploitation. Leone Ross' substantial afterword examines further the issues raised by the book from a British and Jamaican perspective

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Humans are the most inquisitive, emotional, imaginative, aggressive and baffling animals on the planet. But how well do we really know ourselves? How to Be Animal writes a remarkable story of what it means to be human and argues that at the heart of our psychology is a profound struggle with being animal. As well as piecing together the mystery of how this psychology evolved, this book examines its wide-reaching effects on our lives, from our politics to the ways we distance ourselves from other species. We travel from the origins of Homo sapiens through the agrarian and industrial revolutions, the age of the internet, and on to futures of AI and human-machine interface. We examine how technology influences our sense of our own animal nature and our relationship with the other species with whom we share this fragile planet.Drawing on new evidence from a wide range of disciplines, Challenger proposes that being an animal is a process, beautiful and unpredictable, and that we have a chance to tell ourselves a new story, to realise that if we matter, so does everything else.

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Shortlisted for Saltire Fiction Book of the Year 2016'A celebration of what it is to be human' SpectatorMurdo, a teenager obsessed with music, dreams of a life beyond home. His recently widowed dad, Tom, stumbles towards the future, terrified of losing what remains of his family. Both are in search of something as they set out from rural Scotland on a journey to the American South.

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Thomas Glover arrived in Nagasaki in 1859, just as Japan was opening to the West. Within a few years he had played a crucial part in the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate, providing the rebels with war-winning, Scottish-designed warships, and modern arms. Bankruptcy by the age of thirty was barely a setback and he went on to become a pivotal figure in the rapidly expanding Mitsubishi empire, founding shipyards and breweries.As energetic in his love-life as in business and politics, Glover had a string of Japanese mistresses, one of whom inspired Puccini's Madam Butterfly. This 'Scottish Samurai' was to become an adviser to the Japanese government; he also arranged for many Japanese to visit Britain and see the wonders of the industrial revolution, a lesson they enthusiastically absorbed. Today, Glover is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the Japanese economic miracle.

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Do even the best of men have a dark side? When several shots are fired into the bistro where husband and wife crime-fighting duo Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Langley, both of whom work for the Serious Organised Crime Agency, are meeting their boss, they discuss the shooting with their friend, Detective Chief Inspector James Carrick. Carrick was also personally attacked, several years previously, by Benny Cooper, who was eventually convicted of involvement in child pornography.Benny and his accomplice are now out of prison, and soon the intimidation of Carrick and his family returns. When Cooper is found murdered, Carrick''s bloodstained clothing, when he is found unconscious at the murder scene, makes him a prime suspect. Ingrid and Patrick take up the case, plunging themselves and their careers into grave danger. But how far is Patrick prepared to go in order to prove James'' innocence?

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Fans of Steven F. Havill''s Posadas County and Lisa Regan''s Josie Quinn series will enjoy this fascinating and complex story set in small-town Missouri.Balances well-developed characters and dry humor with a solid police procedural- Library Journal Starred Review of Dangerous ConsequencesBranson Sheriff Hank Worth is one of the first on the scene of a mass casualty incident - a local fireworks warehouse has exploded, killing everyone inside. As over a dozen victims are pulled from the smoldering ruins, the painstaking identification process begins. Chief Deputy Sheila Turley returns early from medical leave to assist in the office, while Hank delves deeper into the increasingly complicated situation at the morgue. He discovers that the previous forensic pathologist was hasty at best and negligent at worst. What starts as an offhand request to look into the errors turns into a discovery that shakes Hank''s world off i

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How Music Works is David Byrne's bestselling, buoyant celebration of a subject he has spent a lifetime thinking about. Drawing on his own work over the years with Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and his myriad collaborators - along with journeys to Wagnerian opera houses, African villages, and anywhere music exists - Byrne shows how music emerges from cultural circumstance as much as individual creativity. It is his magnum opus, and an impassioned argument about music's liberating, life-affirming power.

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When she receives a wedding invitation from a former patient, forensic psychiatrist Dr Claire Roget is seriously alarmed. She believes Jerome Barclay to be highly dangerous, responsible for at least three suspicious deaths. But with no proof, Claire's hands are tied. Can she prevent a tragedy unfolding - and is she herself at risk?

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Introducing radio talkshow host and amateur sleuth Kit Doyle in the first of this thoroughly entertaining mystery series.When Kit Doyle's near-perfect mother tells her about the letter she's written and locked away a letter to be read only if anything should happen' to her Kit thinks she's being melodramatic. But the next day Kit's mother is dead and what she reads in that letter will change Kit's life forever.Armed with nothing but the secret letter, a tight-lipped father, and some good friends at the radio station where she works, Kit sets out to learn the truth about the shady past her mother has kept hidden for so many years.But when a dead body turns up, Kit realizes that at least one person is determined to stop her finding out the truth whatever it takes.

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