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A carefully rendered portrait of a brilliant but troubled daughter of the Old South who struggled against the conventions of gender, class, family, and ultimately of sanity, yet survived to define a creative life of her own Sara Mayfield was born into Alabama’s governing elite in 1905 and grew up in a social circle that included Zelda Sayre, Sara Haardt, and Tallulah and Eugenia Bankhead. After winning a Goucher College short story contest judged by H. L. Mencken, Mayfield became friends with Mencken and his circle, then visited with Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and hobnobbed with the literati while traveling in Europe after a failed marriage. Returning to Alabama during the Depression, she briefly managed the family landholdings before departing for New York City where she became involved in the theater. Inventing a plastic compound while working on theatrical sets, she applied for a patent and set her sights on a livelihood as an inventor and businesswoman. With the advent of World War II, Mayfield returned to her family home in Tuscaloosa where she expanded her experiments, freelanced as a journalist, and doggedly pursued a bizarre series of military and intelligence schemes, prompting temporary hospitalization. In 1945, she mingled with a host of cultural figures, including Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, and even a young John F. Kennedy, while reporting on the creation of the United Nations from Mexico and California. Back in Tuscaloosa after the war, however, she struggled to find her way with both work and family, becoming increasingly paranoid about perceived conspiracies arrayed against her. Finally, her mother and brother committed her to Bryce Hospital for the Insane, where she remained for the next seventeen years. Throughout her life, Mayfield kept journals, wrote fiction, and produced thousands of letters while nursing the ambition that had driven her since childhood: to write and publish books. During her confinement, Mayfield assiduously recorded her experiences and her determined efforts—sometimes delusional, always savvy—to overturn her diagnosis and return to the world as a sane, independent adult. At 59, she was released from Bryce and later obtained a decree of “having been restored to sanity,” enabling her to manage her own financial affairs and to live how and where she pleased. She went on to publish noteworthy literary biographies of the Menckens and the Fitzgeralds plus a novel based on the life of Mona Lisa, finally achieving her quest to become the author of books and her own life. In Odyssey of a Wandering Mind, noted writer Jennifer Horne draws on years of research and an intimate understanding of the vast archive Sara Mayfield left behind to sensitively render Mayfield’s struggle to move through the world as the person she was—and her ultimate success in surviving to define the terms of her story.

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The life and influential career of neurologist Robert J. Joynt, MD, PhD., who in 1996 became the first chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Rochester. In this stirring collection of essays, author Nancy Bolger leads the reader through the extraordinary life of Robert J. Joynt, MD, PhD, one of the most influential neurologists of the last half century. The story begins on the small-town streets of Iowa and takes us through military service and medical school, down the wedding aisle, and ultimately to a long and successful career at the University of Rochester, where Dr. Joynt became the first chair of thenewly created Department of Neurology in 1966. Along the way, we accompany Dr. Joynt on his travels to India, Canada, Ireland, London and Cambridge in England, and many other places, including a much-loved lakeside retreat in Minnesota where the family vacationed year after year. These pages tell of not only Dr. Joynt's life but also of those who inspired him, and how he in turn became a remarkable inspiration to others. Nancy W. Bolger is a writer and editor for the University of Rochester Medical Center. In 1992 she received the Robert G. Fenley Award of Distinction for Medical Science Writing from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

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The first book ever written about FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover by a member of his personal staff—his former assistant, Paul Letersky—offers unprecedented, “clear-eyed and compelling” (Mark Olshaker, coauthor of Mindhunter) insight into an American legend.The 1960s and 1970s were arguably among America’s most turbulent post-Civil War decades. While the Vietnam War continued seemingly without end, protests and riots ravaged most cities, the Kennedys and MLK were assassinated, and corruption found its way to the highest levels of politics, culminating in Watergate. In 1965, at the beginning of the chaos, twenty-two-year-old Paul Letersky was assigned to assist the legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who’d just turned seventy and had, by then, led the Bureau for an incredible forty-one years. Hoover was a rare and complex man who walked confidently among the most powerful. His personal privacy was more tightly guarded than the secret “files” he carefully collected—and that were so feared by politicians and celebrities. Through Letersky’s close working relationship with Hoover, and the trust and confidence he gained from Hoover’s most loyal senior assistant, Helen Gandy, Paul became one of the few able to enter the Director’s secretive—and sometimes perilous—world. Since Hoover’s death half a century ago, millions of words have been written about the man and hundreds of hours of TV dramas and A-list Hollywood films produced. But until now, there has been virtually no account from someone who, for a period of years, spent hours with the Director on a daily basis. Balanced, honest, and keenly observed, this “vivid, foibles-and-all portrait of the fabled scourge of gangsters, Klansmen, and communists” (The Wall Street Journal) sheds new light on one of the most powerful law enforcement figures in American history.

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FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF RICHARD & JUDY THRILLER PICK NO ONE HOME HE SEARCHES FOR THE DISAPPEARED.Missing persons investigator David Raker specializes in finding the lost. Whether dead or alive, he brings the truth home to the families left behind. But there's one person he's never been able to save.NOW THEY MUST TRY TO FIND A KILLER.Colm Healy was one of the Met's best detectives - until the unsolved murders of a mother and her twin daughters consumed his career, his family and his life. Agreeing to work with Healy, Raker soon learns the hard way how this puzzle breeds obsession.IT WILL COST THEM EVERYTHING.Meanwhile, the killer watches, waits, and prepares to bury the truth forever. Because this was never just a murder. It was something far worse . . .'A luminous example of what a considerable talent Weaver is. Catch him at once' Daily Mail'David Raker has joined a select band of fictional characters whose return in a new book excites existing fans and collects new ones . . . one of the most vibrant and unusual protagonists in modern crime fiction' Crime Fiction Lover

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THE DARKLY ADDICTIVE THRILLER THAT READERS CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT. IF YOU LIKED WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, YOU'LL LOVE THIS ________________________________'Brilliantly chilling' Cara Hunter, author of Close to Home and In the Dark'You'll try to outguess the plot but always be one step behind' C J Tudor________________________________ One Room. Two Liars. No Way Out FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE HOUSE, COMES THE NEW SPINE-TINGLING THRILLER YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO PUT DOWNSusanna Fenton has a secret. Fourteen years ago she left her identity behind, reinventing herself as a counsellor and starting a new life. It was the only way to keep her daughter safe. But everything changes when Adam Geraghty walks into her office. She's never met this young man before - so why does she feel like she knows him?Then Adam starts to tell her about a girl. A girl he wants to hurt. And Susanna realises she was wrong. She doesn't know him. BUT HE KNOWS HER.________________________________ What authors are saying 'Had me in a headlock from the start and wouldn't loosen its grip till the last page' John Marrs 'Deliciously dark and clever' Mark Edwards'Taut, unsettling and brilliantly done' Tim Logan 'It will have you up all hours of the night!' Kathryn Croft 'Brilliant ... complex characters that draw you in and won't let you go' Amy Lloyd________________________________ What readers are saying ***** 'I read it in one session . . . a fabulous read' Alison, Netgalley***** 'Wow. Didn't want to put this down' Lucy, Netgalley***** 'I LOVED this . . . extraordinarily addictive' Liz, Netgalley***** 'Spine-chilling, creepy, riveting . . . The Liar's Room is a very, very good book' Nicki, Netgalley

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As a number of Professor Kantor's publications stand as models of their kind, elegant, precise, erudite and stimulating, it is a challenge to contribute to a volume in her honor. There are many who, though never formally taught by her, have been encouraged by the "limitless patience and an unswerving devotion to humane learning," noted in Janet H. Johnson's foreword, and inspired by the standards she sets. The twenty-five contributors to this volume are but a fraction of those indebted to her; but between them they pay appropriate tribute in a handsomely produced book, which includes a "bibliography of the publications and communications of Helene J. Kantor (through June 15th 1988)" compiled by Charles E. Jones. [From a review by P. R. S. Moorey in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 52 (1993) 49-51].

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"A stunning portrait of a woman blossoming into her full power…this is Alka Joshi's best book yet!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond EyeFrom the author of Reese's Book Club Pick The Henna Artist, the final chapter in Alka Joshi’s New York Times bestselling Jaipur trilogy takes readers to 1970s Paris, where Radha’s budding career as a perfumer must compete with the demands of her family and the secrets of her past.Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents.She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her.Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.The Jaipur TrilogyBook 1: The Henna ArtistBook 2: The Secret Keeper of JaipurBook 3: The Perfumist of Paris

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Qualifying as a doctor in 1815 at the tender age of nineteen, John Polidori was employed less than a year later by the poet, Lord Byron, as his travelling physician. The precocious medic was seemingly destined for a bright future that would enable him to combine his profession with a love of literature. In His Masters Reflection, the authors follow Polidoris footsteps as he accompanies Byron through Europe to Switzerland where they eventually meet the Shelleys and Claire Clairmont. Fulfilling his fathers prophecy, the fateful summer will prove to have a devastating impact on Polidoris life and legacy. Byrons keen wit and elevated status would leave the sensitive doctor feeling isolated and undervalued. Fuelled by acerbic comments from the poets friends, Byron finally releases Polidori from his contract, leaving the penniless medic to wander over the Alps on foot to Italy, his fathers homeland. Despite attempts at establishing himself as a doctor to the expatriate community, he has to admit defeat and return to England. Still harbouring literary ambitions, his one chance at fame is cruelly denied when The Vampyre, the story he had written in Geneva, is attributed to Byron. Gossip and retelling of events have cast Polidori in the role of a petulant plagiarist. Concussion from a riding accident deeply affected Polidoris temperament and behaviour, leaving questions surrounding his death, which history has recorded as suicide by prussic acid, despite the coroners verdict of visitation by God. The authors delve into his final years in an attempt to redress the balance. The handsome Polidori was more than just his masters reflection.

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J. P. Beaumont and Brandon Walker, two of New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance's most acclaimed series characters, join forces for the first time in one of the most suspenseful works of her career. Years ago, Amos Warren, a prospector, was gunned down out in the desert and Sheriff Brandon Walker made the arrest in the case. Now, the retired Walker is called in when the alleged killer, John Lassiter, refuses to accept a plea deal that would release him from prison with time served. Lassiter wants Brandon and The Last Chance to find Amos's "real" killer and clear his name. Sixteen hundred miles to the north in Seattle, J.P. Beaumont is at loose ends after the Special Homicide Investigation Team, affectionately known as S.H.I.T., has been unexpectedly and completely disbanded. When Brandon discovers that there are links between Lassiter's case and an unsolved case in Seattle, he comes to Beau for help. Those two cases suddenly become hot when two young boys from the reservation, one of them with close ties to the Walker family, go missing. Can two seasoned cops, working together, decipher the missing pieces in time to keep them alive?

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_"Dierk Hagedorn continues to solidify his reputation as one of today's most talented authorities on German Fechtbucher with another superlative volume Highly recommended for students of history, historical reenactors, and today's fighting practitioners."_ - Christian Henry Tobler Longsword instructor Dierk Hagedorn brings the work of one of the most prolific authors of 16th century fight books to a modern audience for the first time. Jorg Wilhalm's teachings feature fighting techniques with the long sword, in armour and on horseback and combines the teachings of the famous fighting master Johannes Liechtenauer with those of his successors. Vividly illustrated throughout, each technique is rendered in detail that even modern practitioners will be able to easily follow. This book will appeal to enthusiasts of historical European martial arts, re-enactors, jousters, as well as art historians - particularly those with an interest in the armour and clothing of the 16th century. Comprehensive in its scope, it is a striking and fascinating insight into the ancient art of swordplay.

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From the author of NOMAD comes an action-packed thriller perfect for fans of Lee Child's Jack Reacher and Mark Dawson. Two million in cash. Nowhere to run. Nothing left to lose. Would you risk it? Today is the worst day of your life.The deal you risked it all for has fallen apart at the last minute.You're stranded at a remote airport as a storm rages outside.Then you discover an unattended bag. Inside is two million euros in cash.WHAT WOULD YOU DO? ___________PRAISE FOR JAMES SWALLOW:'Unputdownable' WILBUR SMITH'Frighteningly credible' BEN AARONOVITCH'Britain's answer to Jason Bourne' DAILY MAIL'Explosive' IRISH EXAMINER'Terrifyingly real' CLOSER

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Athênai, In Search of Home expands Niko J. Kallianiotis’ first monograph America in a Trance, and the work produced in Pennsylvania, which for two decades became his second home. If America in a Trance was about his departure from Athens, Athênai, In Search of Home is about coming back to his roots, eager to assimilate within a place that over the years grew to be foreign but at the same time maintained its layers of familiarity. The photographs navigate through the metro areas of Athens within an utterly diverse setting, all the way to the periphery and within a more rural and industrial stage that is vital to the character and condition of Athens. Throughout the years the city and the surrounding territories have experienced their share of socio-economic struggles and topographic transformations that have altered its identity. Despite these facts the city still stands, at times proudly and at others solemn, but always fervent to maintain its uniqueness and its yearning for a new identity, in search of new home, within one that already exists. And the city of Athens in Kallianiotis’ photographs is elliptically delineated as a vibrant environment that binds together luxury and social inequality, through which a colourful language of images and symbols makes itself all the more present, a city unpredictable and saturated with history. Kallianiotis eloquently depicts in this series of photographs a city in which the temporal and the spatial elements often clash with each other, while conducting his research for a home that has changed over the years as much as he did.

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I'VE CREATED THIS BOOK TO HELP SHOW THAT IT'S OK TO FEEL ALL EMOTIONS...Get a pen, pencil and colouring pens at the ready, and prepare to become great friends with your emotions. After all, they are great! In fact, they're AWESOME. They make life one big adventure as you try new things, learn, grow and discover who you are.Love, FEARNE***Meet your moods in the brilliant new activity journal for children, by bestselling author and broadcaster Fearne Cotton.Have you ever felt...Sad... Happy... Angry... Lonely... Worried... Scared... Excited?Or several of these moods all at once? Emotions might seem big and complex - but the more we understand them, the better we can become at managing them.Say hello to all of these moods in YOUR MOOD JOURNAL, a customisable activity book divided into seven colourful and fully illustrated chapters and packed full of interactive exercises, practical tips and notes from Fearne herself that give children the tools to understand and articulate their emotions. The journal begins with an introduction from Fearne and includes stickers so that book can be personalised.This is the perfect toolkit for children looking to explore their emotions and build confidence in communicating their feelings. This big book of activities will help children learn about their different moods and how they make their mind and body feel, with lots of space to write, draw, learn, create and have fun along the way!In this empowering journal, Fearne Cotton, the bestselling author, broadcaster and founder of Happy Place, uses practical and engaging tools to guide children to a better understanding of themselves and their emotions.***'This fun, engaging journal is packed full of evidence-based activities to help children explore and understand their emotions. It is a wonderful introduction to emotional literacy, encouraging healthy coping and providing essential building blocks for future mental health.' Dr Jo Mueller, Clinical Psychologist

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'Astonishing . . . Genius . . . A masterpiece' EMMA WATSONChristopher Reese has been through a lot by the age of seven. He will go through much more before he turns eight.All his mother Kate Reese ever wanted to do is protect him. She will have to do that more than she ever imagined.Their new home, the town of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, is sleepy, ordinary, and isolated. In other words: perfect for what is about to happen.Something that will deeply mark everyone: from Christopher and his mother, to the local sheriff, the residents of the retirement home, and every student at the school.Something which no one can explain, but everyone can feel. Something that will change everything . . .'Haunting and thrilling' JOHN GREEN'Unputdownable. You'll fall in love with these characters.' R. J. PALACIO'Warms the heart, freezes the blood . . . First class' DAILY TELEGRAPH

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Seven strangers. One terrifying journey into the heart of darkness.'Full of action and suspense, Red River Seven is Apocalypse Now meets Resident Evil' RJ BarkerA man awakes on a boat at sea with no memory of who or where he is. He's not alone - there are six others, each with a unique set of skills. None of them can remember their names. All of them are armed. When a message appears on the onboard computer - Proceeding to Point A - the group agrees to work together to survive whatever is coming. But as the boat moves through the mist-shrouded waters, divisions begin to form. Who is directing them and to what purpose? Why can't they remember anything?And what are the screams they can hear beyond the mist?Internationally bestselling fantasy author Anthony Ryan - writing as A. J. Ryan - delivers a nerve-shredding thriller in which seven strangers must undertake a terrifying journey into the unknown.'Bursts onto the page like a riveting ride into a monstrous heart of darkness, starting out as a locked-room mystery and steadily stomping the gas to become an edge-of-your seat thriller' Craig DiLouie'A madly entertaining amalgam of locked-room mystery, heart-racing thriller, and terror-inducing horror show that will keep you up late into the night and darken your dreams long after you turn the last page' Philip Fracassi'Soaked in terror and shrouded in fog, this book demands to be gulped down in one sitting' Andy Merino'A frenetically paced, galvanizing read that will equally excite and terrify you' FanFiAddictBooks by Anthony RyanRaven's ShadowBlood SongTower LordQueen of FireRaven's BladeThe Wolf's CallThe Black SongDraconis MemoriaThe Waking FireThe Legion of FlameThe Empire of AshesThe Covenant of SteelThe PariahThe MartyrThe TraitorWriting as A. J. RyanRed River Seven

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***Shortlisted for the 2023 Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness******Winner of an RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction***'Part memoir, part howl of fury' GUARDIAN'Enrich[es] our impoverished sociological imagination' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT'Raw and compelling' FINANCIAL TIMES'Shows the human cost of a genuinely Kafka-esque bureaucratic system' NEW STATESMANAt once a powerful memoir, unflinching polemic and probing investigation into modern homelessness in the UK, by award-winning investigative journalist Daniel LavelleDaniel Lavelle left care at the age of nineteen, and experienced homelessness for the first time not long after. So began a life spent navigating social services that were not fit for purpose, leaving Daniel and many like him slipping through the cracks.In Down and Out, Daniel draws on his own experiences - as well as those of the witty, complex, hopeful individuals he has encountered who have been shunned or forgotten by the state that is supposed to provide for them - in order to shine a powerful light on this dire situation. Down and Out is a true state-of-the-nation examination of modern homelessness: assessing its significance, its precursors and causes, as well as the role played by government, austerity, charities, and other systems in perpetuating this crisis. Ultimately, it seeks to ask how we as a society might change our practices and attitudes so that, one day, we can bring this injustice to an end.More praise for Down and Out:'Ruthless and raw ' DAVID LAMMY, author of TRIBES'A vital voice . . . A book for every politician, policy maker and reader who wants a fairer and kinder country' FRANCES RYAN, author of CRIPPLED'Anyone interested in homelessness should read this book' SIMON HATTENSTONE, journalist'A valuable and damning personal tale of how the system fails our kids' EMILY KENWAY, author of THE TRUTH ABOUT MODERN SLAVERY

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'With echoes of David Nicholls's One Day, this romance has just the right mix of heart-melting moments and heart-rending near misses' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING'Intensely romantic' SUNDAY MIRROR'Wonderful, heart-tugging' PRIMA'Timeless and moving' HOLLY MILLERPerfect for fans of ONE DAY and ME BEFORE YOU, this is a heartbreaking love story spanning three decades that starts and ends on a bench, by the Richard & Judy Book Club bestselling author.__________________________________________It begins at the end.It begins on a bench, on a heath, where a woman waits for a man. Ten years ago, they made a pact: On this bench, on this day, they will end a love affair that's spanned three decades, or start again.They should never have met. They should never have fallen in love.But they did, until a lie separated them for a lifetime.Can they fix the mistake, forgive the lie, erase the years in-between?Can what was lost ever truly be found?__________________________________________Readers are falling in LOVE with The Bench . . . 'I loved this book from beginning to end' ***** Reader review'A raw, emotional book about love in all its guises' Sun'I cried at the end, they were happy tears!' ***** Reader review'Heartbreaking' Bella'What an epic love story, I loved this so much' ***** Reader review'Irresistible' Jemma Wayne'Beautiful, painful, heart-breaking' ***** Reader review 'Honest, tender' Emma Rous'Poignant and heart-wrenching' Mary Chamberlain'I absolutely loved it' ***** Reader review'Beautiful' Cecilia Ekbäck'I fell head over heels in love with it' Fiona Mitchell'Wonderful storytelling' ***** Reader review'Wonderful' Lisa Ballantyne*THE NEW LOVE STORY FROM SASKIA SARGINSON, SEVEN MONTHS OF SUMMER, IS OUT NOW*

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In 2003, South African writer J. M. Coetzee was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his riveting portrayals of racial repression, sexual politics, the guises of reason, and the hypocrisy of human beings toward animals and nature. Coetzee was credited with being "a scrupulous doubter, ruthless in his criticism of the cruel rationalism and cosmetic morality of western civilization." The film of his novel Disgrace, starring John Malkovich, brought his challenging ideas to a new audience. Anton Leist and Peter Singer have assembled an outstanding group of contributors who probe deeply into Coetzee's extensive and extraordinary corpus. They explore his approach to ethical theory and philosophy and pay particular attention to his representation of the human-animal relationship. They also confront Coetzee's depiction of the elementary conditions of life, the origins of morality, the recognition of value in others, the sexual dynamics between men and women, the normality of suppression, and the possibility of equality in postcolonial society. With its wide-ranging consideration of philosophical issues, especially in relation to fiction, this volume stands alone in its extraordinary exchange of ethical and literary inquiry.

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1916: Bella is working as a Voluntary Aid driving ambulances in England when she gets engaged to Philip, on leave from fighting in France. His family strongly disapprove of her but the two of them are happy together. Georgie, Philip's sister, is in trouble having broken her engagement and fled from her bullying family. Who can she turn to for help when she needs it most? When the worst happens, Bella must manage on her own, though there are shocks and dangers she did not foresee ahead. Thankfully, Philip's best friend Tez, injured in France, steps in to offer assistance. Can he also help Bella build a new life?

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An unexpected inheritance from her grandmother offers Libby Pulford the opportunity to escape her abusive marriage and return to her Lancashire roots with her young son Ned. But her domineering husband Steven won't let her go so easily. She turns to her new neighbour for help, former police detective Joss Atherton, to whom Libby feels a growing attraction. But Joss has troubles of his own. Emily Mattison is trying to make contact with the daughter she was forced to give up for adoption so many years before. People's lives are destined to intertwine in ways they could never have imagined.

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An hugely-interactive animal ABC guessing game with peep-through pages and amazing fold-out flaps, by the bestselling Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo, and visionary illustrator Sharon King-Chai. Animalphabet makes the gift with eye-catching artwork and an exotic array of animals to marvel over. Can you guess who has more legs than a butterfly? And who is wrinklier than a hedgehog?Each page draws you further into a beautifully vibrant world of huge elephants, slithery snakes and growling tigers, inviting you to compare one animal to another and learn comparison words and adjectives from the natural world.Sharon King-Chai's brightly colourful art and the cleverly designed shaped pages make Animalphabet a rich delight, while Julia Donaldson's rhythmic words are a pleasure to read aloud. Shortlisted for the D&AD Awards 2019 and the winner of the Chen Bochui International Children's Literature Award.

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In this exquisitely detailed book, a monk gives his own Christian take on the Harry Potter series. He traces the intricate pattern of J K Rowling’s surprisingly mystical tale with wit and insight. He brings out the wisdom of her understanding of good and evil and links her magical world, shown to be a rich mine of spiritual and Christian teaching, to spiritual reality. The author identifies the many symbols and illuminating connections both to the Christian tradition and among the books themselves and shows how they are ultimately rooted in the death and resurrection of Christ. Never didactic and always engaging, the author expounds on, among other things, the values that Harry learns at Hogwarts, which set the vulnerability of love and sacrifice against the ignorant and self-defeating power seeking of Voldemort. Packed with literary insight, richly referenced, and argued with fine literary acumen, this book will be a delight and an enlightenment for all lovers of the Harry Potter series. I †

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Manhattan, 1935. It was love at first sight the night J. Paul Getty walked into the exclusive club The New Yorker and saw Teddy onstage, a beautiful blue-blooded debutante, singing torch songs. In Alone Together, Teddy-now nearly 100 - tells the large-than-life true story of their three-decade long love affair and its aftermath, a sweeping saga of passion, adventure, danger, betrayal and tragedy. Moving from the glittering nightclubs of 1930s New York to Mussolini's Italy and California in the golden post-war years, Alone Together brings to life the dazzling time when the Algonquin and "Elmers" (EL Morocco) where the epicenters of New York's most fashionable and famous circles. Gaston recalls stories of hobnobbing with such legendary figures as Gypsy Rose Lee, Walter Winchell, and Dorothy Lamour. She recreates the drama of living in a fascist regime in the dark years of war in Mussolin's Italy where she was studying to become an opera singer - including her yearlong imprisonment with foreign journalists She shares the joy of new motherhood and the heartbreaking pain of loss-both the death of her twelve-year-old son, Timothy, and her husband's eventual abandonment - while living in sunny 1950s Malibu next to Marion Davies. With lively wit and tremendous compassion, Gaston offers a nuanced portrait of a difficult man - a skinflint who was richer than anyone in his time; a terrifically charismatic but neglectful companion; a driven businessman who refused to put his family first. Yet despite these vicissitudes, Teddy remained Getty's steadfast friend until his death in 1976. Fascinating and extraordinary, Alone Together is a remarkable look at the twentieth century through the lives of one of the century's most intriguing couples.

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A comprehensive study of the representations of disability and illness in the fiction of J. M. Coetzee

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E.J. Rudsdale’s role as a museum curator and air-raid shelter superintendent at Colchester Castle during the Second World War gave him the perfect opportunity to record life on the Home Front in his journals. Seventy years later, the selected extracts gathered here provide a remarkable insight into wartime life. Rudsdale’s writing is characterised throughout by his wry observations of wartime officialdom and his lack of conformity with the prevailing views of the time. He was a pacifist, which gives his journals an unusual perspective. However, even as a civilian he could not escape the conflict, living in a garrison town threatened by invasion and regular bombing raids. His journals, therefore, record anxious and tragic events, but throughout it all his sense of humour is never diminished.This absorbing collection demonstrates Rudsdale’s ability to bring a scene vividly to life and each account highlights the daily pressures that people endured as they valiantly tried to carry on with normal life in spite of the war.

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Leading historians provide perspective on Trump’s four turbulent years in the White HouseThe Presidency of Donald J. Trump presents a first draft of history by offering needed perspective on one of the nation’s most divisive presidencies. Acclaimed political historian Julian Zelizer brings together many of today’s top scholars to provide balanced and strikingly original assessments of the major issues that shaped the Trump presidency.When Trump took office in 2017, he quickly carved out a loyal base within an increasingly radicalized Republican Party, dominated the news cycle with an endless stream of controversies, and presided over one of the most contentious one-term presidencies in American history. These essays cover the crucial aspects of Trump’s time in office, including his administration’s close relationship with conservative media, his war on feminism, the solidification of a conservative women’s movement, his response to COVID-19, the border wall, growing tensions with China and NATO allies, white nationalism in an era of Black Lives Matter, and how the high-tech sector flourished.The Presidency of Donald J. Trump reveals how Trump was not the cause of the political divisions that defined his term in office but rather was a product of long-term trends in Republican politics and American polarization more broadly.With contributions by Kathleen Belew, Angus Burgin, Geraldo Cadava, Merlin Chowkwanyun, Bathsheba Demuth, Gregory Downs, Jeffrey Engel, Beverly Gage, Nicole Hemmer, Michael Kazin, Daniel C. Kurtzer, James Mann, Mae Ngai, Margaret O’Mara, Jason Scott Smith, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Leandra Zarnow.

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The Sunday Times No.1 BestsellerThe sequel to Jessie Burton’s million-copy bestseller The Miniaturist, The House of Fortune returns to Nella's mysterious family in historic 18th-century Amsterdam for a story of fate and fortune.‘Elegant, atmospheric, compelling. I absolutely loved it’ - Marian Keyes, author of Again, Rachel‘A book of beauty and insight . . . awe-inspiring. Burton is a master storyteller’ - Elizabeth Day, author of Magpie1705. In the golden city of Amsterdam Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and she is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At the city’s theatre, the love of her life awaits her, but at home all is not well – her father Otto and Aunt Nella argue endlessly, and the Brandt family are selling their furniture in order to eat. On Thea’s birthday, also the day that her mother died, the secrets of the past begin to overwhelm the present.Nella is desperate to save the family and maintain appearances, to find Thea a husband who will guarantee her future, and when they receive an invitation to Amsterdam’s most exclusive ball, she is overjoyed – perhaps this will set their fortunes straight.But, as Thea discovers new miniatures, Nella’s fears are realized. Eighteen years after she first entered the family’s life, the miniaturist may have plans of her own . . .The House of Fortune is a glorious, sweeping story of ambition, secrets and dreams, and one young woman’s determination to rule her own destiny.

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Writer Peter J. Tomasi's prolific Detective Comics run raised the stakes for the Dark Knight's adventures in Gotham City. Together with artists Doug Mahnke, Brad Walker, Kyle Hotz, and others, Tomasi crafted numerous iconic storylines--such as Mythology, Medieval, and Cold Dark World--that pushed Batman and his rogues to the edge, blurring the lines between heroes and villains. Who s hunting those closest to Batman? Commissioner Gordon calls in the Dark Knight Detective when there s a murder at the Gotham City Aquarium-staged to look exactly like Thomas and Martha Wayne s crime scene, right down to the playbill and pearls. How does this bizarre homicide tie into the shadowy monster that attacks Dr. Leslie Thompkins? This creature looks to wage a war on Batman and it s using Joker gas to do it! Don't miss a moment of this thrilling tale that includes Detective Comics #27, Detective Comics 994-1016, 1018-1033, Detective Comics Annual #2, Detective Comics Annual #3, Batman: Pennyworth R.I.P. #1.

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Esperanza risked her life fleeing the Dominican Republic for the glittering dream she saw on television but years later she is still stuck in a cramped tenement with her husband, Santo, and their two children, Bobby and Dallas. She works as a home help and, at night, hides unopened bills from the credit card company where Santo won't find them when he returns from driving his minicab. When Santo's mother dies and his father, Don Chan, comes to Nueva York to live out his twilight years with the Colóns, nothing will ever be the same. Don Chan remembers fighting together with Santo in the revolution against Trujillo's cruel regime, the promise of who his son might have been, had he not fallen under Esperanza's spell. Let it Rain Coffee is a sweeping novel about love, loss, family, and the elusive nature of memory and desire.

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A moving and thoughtful tribute, this book, originally published in 1979, offers fourteen essays dedicated to the memory of J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973). The contributors, a distinguished group of his friends, colleagues, and former students, address a wide and diverse range of subjects.The first part of the book contains material on Tolkien the man and the scholar. It includes his obituary notices from The Times of London and his valedictory address at Oxford in which he points out, eloquently and purposefully, the artificiality of the split between language and literary study. The second part consists of critical essays representing Tolkien's major scholarly interests—Old Norse, Old English, and Middle English literatures. The last part includes three pieces on Tolkien's popular writings, particularly The Lord of the Rings, and a bibliography of his published writings.Contributors: J. A. W. Bennett, A. J. Bliss, Derek S. Brewer, Humphrey Carpenter, S. T. R. O. d'Ardenne, William Dowie, Ursula Dronke, Robert T. Farrell, P. J. Frankis, Douglas Gray, Fred C. Robinson, Geoffrey T. Shepherd, T. A. Shippey, E. G. Stanley, J. R. R. Tolkien, Rosemary Woolf

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***Winner of the 2023 Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness******Winner of an RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction***'Part memoir, part howl of fury' GUARDIAN'Enrich[es] our impoverished sociological imagination' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT'Raw and compelling' FINANCIAL TIMES'Shows the human cost of a genuinely Kafka-esque bureaucratic system' NEW STATESMANAt once a powerful memoir, unflinching polemic and probing investigation into modern homelessness in the UK, by award-winning investigative journalist Daniel LavelleDaniel Lavelle left care at the age of nineteen, and experienced homelessness for the first time not long after. So began a life spent navigating social services that were not fit for purpose, leaving Daniel and many like him slipping through the cracks.In Down and Out, Daniel draws on his own experiences - as well as those of the witty, complex, hopeful individuals he has encountered who have been shunned or forgotten by the state that is supposed to provide for them - in order to shine a powerful light on this dire situation. Down and Out is a true state-of-the-nation examination of modern homelessness: assessing its significance, its precursors and causes, as well as the role played by government, austerity, charities, and other systems in perpetuating this crisis. Ultimately, it seeks to ask how we as a society might change our practices and attitudes so that, one day, we can bring this injustice to an end.More praise for Down and Out:'Ruthless and raw ' DAVID LAMMY, author of TRIBES'A vital voice . . . A book for every politician, policy maker and reader who wants a fairer and kinder country' FRANCES RYAN, author of CRIPPLED'Anyone interested in homelessness should read this book' SIMON HATTENSTONE, journalist'A valuable and damning personal tale of how the system fails our kids' EMILY KENWAY, author of THE TRUTH ABOUT MODERN SLAVERY

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Shocking, grim, frightening, Curt Gentry’s masterful portrait of America’s top policeman is a unique political biography. From more than 300 interviews and over 100,000 pages of previously classified documents, Gentry reveals exactly how a paranoid director created the fraudulent myth of an invincible, incorruptible FBI. For almost fifty years, Hoover held virtually unchecked public power, manipulating every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Richard Nixon. He kept extensive blackmail files and used illegal wiretaps and hidden microphones to destroy anyone who opposed him. The book reveals how Hoover helped create McCarthyism, blackmailed the Kennedy brothers, and influenced the Supreme Court; how he retarded the civil rights movement and forged connections with mobsters; as well as insight into the Watergate scandal and what part he played in the investigations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

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