Search results for ""canongate books""

Cambridge University master Sir Flyte Rascallian has little interest in the innocent-looking set of old paintings he inherits from his aunt Beatrice, until he takes a closer look . . . and ends up dead in this page-turning cozy.Something is bothering Sir Flyte Rascallian, renowned art expert and Master of Hardwick College at the University of Cambridge. Are the grimy paintings he recently inherited from his aunt as worthless as he claims?Curator Ambrose Nussknacker believes one of the paintings could be a genuine Rembrandt. Why is Sir Flyte so reluctant to get it authenticated, and so determined to avoid the tributes due to the discovery of one of the world''s great lost treasures?When Sir Flyte is found murdered in the Master''s Lodge, Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just must unravel his unusual actions to solve the death of the old master. College fellows, staff, and students all agree something was amiss. But as St. Just i

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When the sister of Maggy Thorsen''s coffeehouse business partner Sarah is hospitalised on the day of their mother''s funeral, Maggy is drawn into uncovering the family''s darkest secrets . . .The Kingston family has always been at odds, but Maggy Thorsen hopes that the passing of Edna Mayes Kingston, mother of Sarah Kingston, her Uncommon Grounds coffeehouse partner, might unite them. Alas, few tears are shed over the self-righteous Edna, and the wake is barely over when Edna''s body is shuffled off unceremoniously for burial and Sarah''s sister Ruth is found unconscious in the family home.Did Ruth suffer accidental carbon monoxide poisoning or something more sinister? And could there have been more to Ruth''s haste to bury Edna than meets the eye? Determined to find out, Maggy and Sarah join forces with Sarah''s niece, Arial. As questions mount and family tensions percolate, the presence of a mysterious stranger leads the trio into the past to uncover

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The third in the fabulous cozy mystery series with a vintage flair from USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award-winning author Ellen Byron.Welcome to the Bon Veeevil Festival of Fear! Prepare for the spookiest night of your life . . . It''s Halloween in New Orleans, and the staff of Bon Vee Culinary House Museum is setting up a fantastic haunted house tour for their visitors. But when flashy movie star Blaine Taggart and his entourage move into the mansion next door, gift shop proprietor Ricki James-Diaz gets a fright of her own. While Ricki is excited about the potential business the tours will bring to her vintage cookbook shop, she''s less thrilled by former friend Blaine''s arrival in town. Then Bon Vee''s prop tomb becomes a real tomb for Blaine''s nasty assistant, and suddenly everyone at Bon Vee is a murder suspect. There isn''t a ghost of a chance one of them committed the crime, but with NOPD busy tackling the mischief and mayhem

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Welcome to Hollywood of the 1920s: a world filled with glamour, fake names . . . and the occasional felony!July, 1924. After nine months of living in Hollywood and working as a companion to her beautiful silent-movie star sister-in-law, young British widow Emma Blackstone is settling into her new role: doctoring film scenarios whenever the regular scenarist is overwhelmed with work, which seems to be most of the time.Shoots for the Western movie Our Tiny Miracle are in full swing, with little seven-year-old Susy Sweetchild playing the lead and acting most professionally. Maybe too professionally, Emma thinks, shocked to the core when the child star is nearly killed in a stunt scene and her mother - former screen siren Selina Sutton - seems only to care that Susy gets the job done. But Emma''s concerns only worsen when news reaches her that Susy and her mother have been kidnapped. The ransom note says to keep the cops out of

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Ancient Crete, 1450 BC. Young bull leaper Martis finds Duzi, the newest member of the bull leaping team, dead in the bull pen early one morning. Made to look like he met his end on the horns of the bull, it''s clear to Martis that this was no accident . . . Martis once again finds herself thrown into a dangerous game of hunting down a murderer as the deaths start to mount. An old friend of Martis'' sister, and possible lover to Duzi, is the next person to be found dead, and Martis'' investigations lead her to believe love and jealousy are at the heart of these crimes against the Goddess.Is someone targeting the bull leaping community? Or is there something else at play? With only the Shade of her sister Arge to confide in, Martis struggles to untangle the growing web of secrets which stretches around her.

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It''s 1965, and cynical former private investigator Henry Gore just wants to drink his days away in corrupt, sun-soaked Santo Domingo - but life has other ideas in this novel of pitch-black noir, the sequel to the savage, gut-punch of a crime thriller, Havana Highwire.Thirty-five-year-old American expat Henry Gore used to be a private investigator, scratching a living in balmy, rum-soaked Havana. He might not have been someone, but he was something.Now, exiled from Cuba and with a target on his back, he''s nothing but a washed-up drifter, spending his days drinking with gringos he despises and his nights with women he doesn''t love.But one day he chooses the wrong bar to drink in - or maybe the wrong friends. Henry wakes up in hospital to find that someone blew up the building, and he''s seemingly the sole survivor.Who set the bomb, and why? Henry''s certain that whatever the answer, he''s better off not knowing. But with t

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Born in 1725 to Italian and Spanish parentage, Giacomo Casanova lived a long and exciting life. A scholar and an adventurer Casanova travelled widely throughout Europe and Russia associating with rulers and Kings. For a time he was in the service of the army and he became a great political stirrer. But he vacillated between fortune and misfortune and often resorted to gaming and fiddling too. Of course Casanova is most well-known for his womanizing and he reveals time after time how he just couldn't help falling in love! His eloquence and charm will not be lost on the listener either: the writing is remarkably modern, accessible and funny too. It took Casanova eighteen years to write his memoirs and a further one hundred for them to be classified as genuine. Available now for the first time on audio and brilliantly brought to life by the effervescent Benedict Cumberbatch, in this first volume of his memoirs Casanova charts his childhood and life as a young man in Venice and Italy.Benedict Cumberbatch is one of Britain's brightest young actors. He starred as Stephen Hawking in the BBC's celebrated Hawking and plays the lead role in Michael Apted's 2006 film Amazing Grace. As well as his screen credits, Benedict has worked extensively in theatre and radio drama and recently as Sherlock Holmes in the popular TV series.

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Free Fall tells the brutal engrossing story of the Second Chechen War, through the eyes of a young Russian Soldier. Nicolai Lilin was trained as a sniper in an unorthodox Russian Special Forces regiment called the Saboteurs. This hardened and close-knit band of brothers, operating beyond the control of military code, faced mercenary fighters, anti-personnel mines and torture of the most extreme kind.Free Fall offers a sniper's-eye view of one of the most controversial wars in living memory. It is unflinching, unforgiving and unputdownable.

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The Nigger Factory is a scornful statement on the way in which human beings are conditioned to think. On the campus of Sutton University, Virginia, the students are trying to carry forth the message of reconstruction to a university resistant to change. The failure of the Sutton to embrace the changing attitudes of the Sixties has necessitated extreme action and the revolution is nigh.

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NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES, featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Guillermo del ToroBefore the Second World War the Hollywood box office was booming, but the business was accused of being too foreign, too Jewish, too 'un-American'. Then the war changed everything. With Pearl Harbor came the opportunity for Hollywood to prove its critics wrong.America's most legendary directors played a huge role in the war effort: John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens. Between them they shaped the public perception of almost every major moment of the war. With characteristic insight and expert knowledge Harris tells the untold story of how Hollywood changed World War II, and how World War II changed Hollywood.

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In The Complete Peanuts 1965-66: We are now in the mid-1960s, one of Schulz's peak periods of creativity (and one third of the way through the strip's life!). Snoopy has become the strip's dominant personality, and this volume marks two milestones for the character: the first of many "dogfights" with the nefarious Red Baron, and the launch of his writing career ("It was a dark and stormy night..."). Two new characters-the first two from outside the strip's regular little neighborhood-make their bows. Roy (who befriends Charlie Brown and then Linus at summer camp) won't have a lasting impact, but upon his return from camp he regales a friend of his with tales of the strange kids he met, and she has to go check them out for herself. Her name? Peppermint Patty. The Complete Peanuts 1965-66 features a new introduction by Hal Hartley, writer/director of acclaimed independent films Trust, Henry Fool, Kimono, Simple Men, The Unbelievable Truth, and Fay Grim.

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All actions have consequences. This is how life goes. Patrick is a loner, an intelligent but disturbed young man struggling to find his place in the world. He ventures out on his own, and, as he begins to find happiness, he commits an act of violence that sends his life horribly and irreversibly out of control. But should a person's life be judged by a single bad act? This is How is a compelling and macabre journey into the dark side of human existence and a powerful meditation on the nature of guilt and redemption.

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Edited by his children, Giles and Victoria, Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks is an anthology of humorous writing from the former editor of Punch and Radio 4 national treasure Alan Coren, who died in October 2007. In a prolific forty-year career Alan Coren wrote for The Times, Observer, Tatler, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Listener, Punch and the New Yorker, and published over 20 books including The Sanity Inspector, Golfing for Cats and The Collected Bulletins of Idi Amin (he turned down an invitation from Amin to visit Uganda saying, 'I'll probably end up as a sandwich'). Even twenty years ago he estimated that he had published six million words, or ten copies of War and Peace.Coren was one of Britain's most prolific and now much-missed humourists, finding the comedy of life all around him and rendering it, hilariously and compellingly, in polished and witty prose which will be eagerly devoured by his loyal fanbase.

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Gwenni Morgan is not like any other girl in this small Welsh town. Inquisitive, bookish and full of spirit, she can fly in her sleep and loves playing detective. So when a neighbour mysteriously vanishes, and no one seems to be asking the right questions, Gwenni decides to conduct her own investigation. Mari Strachan's unforgettable novel was one of the most acclaimed and successful debuts of 2009. It is a heart-breaking and hugely enjoyable story.

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The setting for this magical fable is Eldorado, the Enchanted city that inhabited the fevered dreams of European navigators and conquistadors, but eluded all attempts to find it on the map. Some have linked it to Manaus in the Amazon Basin, and it is here that Arminto Cordovil lives with his father Amando in a white mansion.Theirs is a relationship full of passion and limitless ambition. Separating father and son is a remarkable cast of characters, from Angelina, the dead mother, to Denisio, the infernal boatman, and at the centre, Dinaura, a girl who betwitches Arminto and dreams of Eldorado...Orphans of Eldorado is a rich and magical fable that beautifully captures the atmosphere of the steamy, lush Amazonian world.

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When Theo Griepenkerl happens upon the fifth Gospel in a war-torn Iraqi museum, he can't believe his luck. Driven by greed and a lust for fame, he capitalises on his find by publishing it. His book is a sensation. But he can hardly imagine the incendiary consequences his discovery will have for Christians, Arabs, homicidal maniacs and Amazon customers alike.The Fire Gospel is a brilliant piece of storytelling, dazzlingly outrageous and utterly gripping.

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James Maskalyk set out for the contested border town of Abyei, Sudan, in 2007. The newest Médicins Sans Frontières' doctor in the field, he arrived with only his training, full of desire to understand this most desperate part of the world. He returned home six months later profoundly affected by the experience. Six Months in Sudan is an illuminating and affecting account of saving lives in one of the most harrowing and dangerous places on Earth.

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STILL FRIENDS A DECADE ON? WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?For a while, Ian, Lauren and Paul shared the same friends, the same university, the same dreams and the same potential. Ten years on they are worlds apart. Call centres, charity shops and bedrooms that smell like cabbage were never part of the plan. The real world doesn't look quite like any of them imagined. But when Lauren, in a moment of nostalgia, cracks open a long-forgotten Hotmail account, she comes face to face with the people these three friends used to be . . . For two of them it will mean a new beginning to an old love story.Hilarious and heart-breaking, In Real Life paints a searingly honest portrait of a generation and captures a world where human connection is easier than ever before but where relationships remain just as tricky.

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On the coldest night of 1975, a young man with shock-red hair tears though the snowbound streets of Warrington's toughest housing estate. He is Robbie Fitzgerald, and he is running for his life - and that of his young family. In his heart, Robbie knows the odds are stacked against them. In this unbending Northern town, he has married the beautiful brown nurse who once stitched up his wounds. Susheela is his Tamil Princess, but in the real world, the Fitzgeralds have to face up to prejudice, poverty and sheer naked hatred from their neighbours. Now Robbie has seen a way out, and he's sprinting to his date with destiny... Over thirteen years of struggle, aspiration, achievement, misunderstandings, near-misses and shattered dreams, Helen Walsh plunges us into the lives and loves of the young, doomed Fitzgerald family. She shows herself to be a brilliant chronicler of our people and our times. And in the Fitzgeralds, she has created a family who will stay in your heart, long after the final page. Once Upon A Time In England offers an unforgettable portrait of the world in which we live, and confirms Helen Walsh as a writer of searing power.

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Between 1965 and 1972, political activists around the globe prepared to mount a revolution, from the Black Panthers to the Gay Liberation Front, from the Yippies to the IRA. Rock and soul music supplied the revolutionary tide with anthems and iconic imagery; and renowned musicians such as John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Bob Dylan were particularly influential in the movement. This is the definitive account of this unique period in modern history; a compelling portrait of an era when revolutionaries turned into rock stars, and rock stars dressed up as revolutionaries.

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A battle is like lust. The frenzy passes. Consequence remains.Hannibal is an epic vision of one of history's greatest adventurers, the almost mythical man who most famously led his soldiers on elephants over the Alps. In Ross Leckie's unforgettable re-creation of the Punic wars, it is Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, who narrates the story, and who is carried by his all-consuming ambition through profoundly bloody battles against the great Roman armies of early empire.In this breathtaking chronicle of love and hate, heroism and cruelty, one of humanity's greatest adventurers is brought to life, who learns through suffering that man is but a shadow of a dream.

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I fought the Romans once. It no longer seems a prudent thing to do.Carthage concludes the internationally acclaimed trilogy that began with Hannibal and continued with Scipio. Here, Ross Leckie tells of the final Punic War: the story of a great city and a people's utter eradication under the relentless rise of Rome. But its chief characters, one the bastard son of Hannibal, the other of Scipio, would have wished it otherwise. Both seek peace, but are caught up in war. As they struggle between duty and belief, they stand to lose everything in the face of their fathers' devastating legacies.Written as a series of letters and entries, the multiple voices of the novel are woven into a masterful exploration of human drives, political intrigue and the process of history making itself.

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Peanuts is the most popular comic strip in the history of the world. Its characters - Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and so many more - have become dearly loved icons for generation after generation. Now Charles Schulz's classic, Peanuts, will be reprinted in its entirety for the first time. In these beautifully produced editions, the strip will be presented in full in chronological order. They will be the ultimate books for Peanuts' fans the world over. These first volumes will be of particular fascination to Peanuts aficionados. Many of the strips from the series' first two or three years have never been collected before, in large part because they showed a young Schulz working out the kinks in his new strip. They include some characterizations and designs that are quite different from the cast we all know, including Snoopy's debut as a puppy!

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Robin Smith was one of the most legendary climbers ever to have tackled a mountain. This definitive biography draws on contributions from people who knew this charismatic and complex young man, as well as diary extracts from Smith himself. As Smith was a friend and inspiration to many climbers worldwide, including fellow Scot Dougal Haston, High Endeavours is a fitting and long-overdue tribute to one of Britain's most revered mountaineers, and one of the finest books ever written on the allure of the mountainside.

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The Designated Successor was found dead in his bedroom at dawn on December 14.Did he kill himself or was he murdered? This question slices through Ismail Kadare's masterful psychological thriller. As the state insists that the future leader died by his own hand, the rest of the world begins to have doubts. As the tension builds and rumours escalate, Kadare draws us into a nightmarish world controlled by rules no one understands, blending dream and reality to produce a mystery and a thriller that seduces and surprises up to the last page.

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The Museum of Doubt is a new collection of surreal and unnerving short stories from award-winning writer James Meek. The array of characters who populate Meek's vague and elusive worlds are driven by paranoia and doubts, as well as hopes and fears of things only half-glimpsed.

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This pamphlet is for anyone alarmed by the present British government. It argues that the component nations of the United Kingdom can become true democracies only by declaring themselves republics. The authors are Alasdair Gray, writer of fiction and pamphlets such as Why Scots Should Rule Scotland, and Adam Tomkins, Professor of Public Law in the University of Glasgow and author of Public Law and Our Republican Constitution. Both are committed republicans.

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Meet Harry Pickles, aged nine and a bit. Harry is the fastest boy runner in the world (probably), first son of Mo and Pa (the best-looking parents in the school car park), big brother to Daniel (who runs like a girl but is, in his own twerpy way, a star). His life is good. He's premier league. At least, that's the way it was before the school trip . . .Clare Sambrook's unforgettable first novel captures with startling truth and clarity the perspective of a confused nine-year-old. Poignant and personal, Hide and Seek resonates with authenticity and a brutal honesty that manages to be harrowing, life-affirming and funny.

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Clear Light contains 150 haiku bursting with Alan Spence's characteristic verve and wit. Mythic and mesmerising, inspiring and hilarious, these poems shed clear light on the delights, hardships, breakthroughs and frustrations of the world of the momentary. Simple in form, these haiku request a fresh look at the familiar and leave us reeling at how much in the world, from the exotic to the everyday, we have yet to observe.

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The Man with the Golden Arm tells the story of Frankie Machine, the golden arm dealer at a back street Chicago gambling den. Frankie reckons he's a tough guy in the Chicago underworld but finds that he's not tough enough to kick his heroin addiction. With consummate skill and a finely-tuned ear for the authentic dialogue of the backstreets, Algren lays bare the tragedy and humour of Frankie's world.Features the first UK publication of a foreword by Kurt Vonnegut and an afterword by Studs Terkel.

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Madame tells the story of a self-absorbed Polish teenager as he pursues intellectual maturity, and the woman of his dreams, his French teacher 'Madame', in the communist-dominated Warsaw of the early 1970s.Libera paces his exuberant young hero's fulminations, fantasies and discoveries beautifully, building a remarkably subtle characterisation of a free mind in a repressive culture. This is one of those rare novels which reminds us why we love books. A consummate literary entertainment.

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For generations of adventurers, from Mallory to Hilary, Norgay to Krakauer, Mount Everest and the world's greatest peaks have provided the ultimate testing ground. But as the public's fascination with mountaineering reaches an all time high, the question remains - why climb?In High Exposure, legendary rock climber, mountaineer and film-maker David Breashears answers with a captivating and intimate look at his life, during which he has scaled many of the world's highest peaks, including two successful ascents of Everest.

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The untimely death of Dougal Haston in 1977 robbed climbing of one of its most charismatic, controversial and enigmatic figures. A man of extremes, who managed to combine a rock star's lifestyle with a career at the cutting edge of world mountaineering, Haston remains a cult figure whose deeds have inspired generations of climbers world-wide.Connor traces the career of a great climber from his native Scottish hills to his startling feats on Everest and the world's other great mountains.This definitive biography, which draws on never before seen diaries, explores the agonised development of Haston the man.

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This extraordinary work is at one and the same time an account of a personal spiritual crisis and a hilarious spoof on academic learning, early Victorian values and materialism. In Sartor Resartus ('the tailor retailored') a fictitious editor retells the theories of an equally fictitious German professor who has come to the conclusion that human institutions and morals are only clothes to shield us from nothingness, clothes that can be changed as the whims of the age or fashion dictate.This radically deconstructive vision reveals the very highest symbols of belief for what they are - merely symbols. How to believe in anything after such an insight is a question even more acute today than it was in Carlyle's time, when he first asked it in this masterpiece of invention, parody and profound laughter.This Canongate Classics edition incorporates illustrations by Edmund Sullivan, reproduced as they appeared in the 1898 edition of the text. Also included is the notable Emerson preface to the original American edition and an incisive, specially commissioned introduction from Alasdair Gray.

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Tunes of GloryHousehold GhostsSilenceThis volume collects three of the very best works by James Kennaway, the brilliant young novelist and screenwriter who tragically died in a car crash at the early age of forty.Memorably filmed with Alec Guinness and John Mills, Tunes of Glory is a grippingly dramatic exploration of the glamour and the brutality of post-war army life as the tensions and conflicts in the officers' mess of a Highland regiment lead to shame and tragedy.Household Ghosts is a claustrophobic tale of family tension, love triangles and the persistence of the past-one of Kennaway's favourite themes. Set in a country house in Scotland the book is haunted, like the privileged family it describes, by the ghosts of Scotland's own turbulent history.Taken from completed drafts on the author's desk, Silence tells of the accidental meeting and the complex union between a white man and a black woman in times of racial tension and sexual violence. Set in a North American city in midwinter Kennaway's last and brilliantly succinct novel expands into a universal allegory of suffering and death.

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My son''s death will never make sense to me. But it has taught me that it''s possible to find meaning, collectively and individually, in the loss of what we love. And in finding them, transform. Resilience is a seed that we all bear inside us. It germinates in emergencies. It sets down roots in astonishing and unexpected ways. And if we notice it, and tend to it, it blooms.Liz Jensen''s son, a zoologist, conservationist and ecological activist, was twenty-five when he collapsed and died unexpectedly. She fell apart. As she grieved, forest fires raged, coral reefs deteriorated, CO2 emissions rose and fossil fuels burned.Your Wild and Precious Life is the story of how a mother rebuilt herself, reoriented her life and rediscovered the enchantment of the living world. Set against the backdrop of climate and ecological catastrophe, it''s an argument for agency, legacy and the wild possibility of hope after devastation.

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Rookie lawyer Grace Zulu does not give up easily. She escaped an arranged marriage to put herself through university. Now she''s got her first case.Her client is young Willbess ''Bessy'' Mulenga, who has been arrested for offences ''against nature''. Bessy works in a men-only bar, loves to dance, to wear dresses and live freely. But in 1990s Zambia, following your own identity can get you beaten, jailed or even worse. Grace is determined to get Bessy out of custody. Then her terrified, bruised client goes missing without a trace. She knows something bad has happened and that someone is trying to cover it up. Along with the most unlikely group of allies, Grace must take on powerful enemies at the highest levels - even risk her own safety - to get to the truth. The whole truth. A debut novel that soars with passion and humanity, The Lions'' Den is a moving story of prejudice, corruption, injustice, courage and solidarity. It shows us that no cause is ever a los

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A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2022: HUMOURWant to be a rocket-riding tech titan? You've come to the right school. Elon Musk's Billionaire School makes it simple to follow in Elon's footsteps and accumulate the wealth and power of a medium-sized nation in just 30 days. Capitalise on these easy lessons drawn from the lives, philosophies and business practices of the alpha billionaires who are shaping humanity's future, including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and, of course, Elon himself. It's the complete, foolproof resource for your billionaire's journey - from founding your first startup through to becoming High-God-Emperor of Mars. Elon Musk's Billionaire School. Enrol today. Escape the planet tomorrow.

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The Sick Bag Song chronicles Cave's 22-city journey around North America in 2014. Racked by romantic longing and exhaustion, Cave teases out the significant moments - the people, the books and the music - that have influenced and inspired him, and drops them into his sick bag.The book began its life scribbled onto airline sick bags and later evolves into a restless contemporary epic, exploring love, loss, inspiration and memory.

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