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Advice from Dead Celebrities
by A. J. BarnesIf celebrities that have gone to a better place could come back and give us one piece of priceless advice, what would it be? Karen Carpenter: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. John F. Kennedy: Don't mess with Texas. Mama Cass: Chew your food thoroughly and carefully. James Dean: Click it or ticket! From presidents to pop stars,Advice from Dead Celebritiesimagines what pearls of wisdom the dearly (sometimes darkly) departed would impart to us. Complete with hilarious illustrations of our favorite dead celebs, this one-of-a-kind volume will make readers die laughing.
Advice from Dead Celebrities
by A. J. Barnes Aaron WaiteIf celebrities that have gone to a better place could come back and give us one piece of priceless advice, what would it be? Karen Carpenter: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. John F. Kennedy: Don't mess with Texas. Mama Cass: Chew your food thoroughly and carefully. James Dean: Click it or ticket! From presidents to pop stars, Advice from Dead Celebrities imagines what pearls of wisdom the dearly (sometimes darkly) departed would impart to us. Complete with hilarious illustrations of our favourite dead celebs, this one-of-a-kind volume will make readers die laughing.
Advice from Dead Celebrities
by A. J. BarnesIf celebrities that have gone to a better place could come back and give us one piece of priceless advice, what would it be? Karen Carpenter: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.John F. Kennedy: Don't mess with Texas.Mama Cass: Chew your food thoroughly and carefully.James Dean: Click it or ticket! From presidents to pop stars, Advice from Dead Celebrities imagines what pearls of wisdom the dearly (sometimes darkly) departed would impart to us. Complete with hilarious illustrations of our favorite dead celebs, this one-of-a-kind volume will make readers die laughing.
Advice from Strangers: Everything I know from people I don't know
by Rachel Parris'Warm witty and wise.' --RICHARD OSMAN'Hilarious, wise and heart breaking. Like an all-night over-share with your best friend.' --SARA PASCOE'Rachel is one of my favourite comedians. This book is warm, wise and hilarious. It is written in her comic voice - a voice she mainly has used to tell me off, so I am thrilled to see it deployed in this way.' --NISH KUMAR'The most joyful bursts of wisdom from a truly funny soul. I adore this book.' --CARIAD LLOYD'Hilarious, original and wise. This is essential reading.' --ELLIE TAYLOR'Rachel is one of the wisest, funniest people I know. Funny, sad, beautiful and ridiculous, Advice from Strangers has it all.' --PIPPA EVANS'A hilarious, fiery, reassuring hug of a book. Full of laughter, compassion and feminist wisdom.' --FRAN BUSHE'An essential, hilarious handbook for life.' --ATHENA KUGBLENUCOMEDIAN RACHEL PARRIS WAS ASKED TO GIVE AN INSPIRING GRADUATION SPEECH. WHO DID SHE ASK FOR ADVICE? TOTAL STRANGERS...Over the course of a year award-winning comedian Rachel Parris asked members of her live audience for advice. Here she takes those random bits of wisdom - such as 'Be Kind' or 'Never Pass Up the Opportunity for a Wee' - and explores them in ways that are funny and serious, hilarious and heart-breaking. This uplifting feminist manifesto of a book outlines the essentials of living in the modern world; dealing with everything from Tampons to Tories and from #hashtags to Staying Hydrated.
Advice from Strangers: Everything I know from people I don't know
by Rachel Parris'Warm witty and wise.' --RICHARD OSMAN'Hilarious, wise and heart breaking. Like an all-night over-share with your best friend.' --SARA PASCOE'Rachel is one of my favourite comedians. This book is warm, wise and hilarious. It is written in her comic voice - a voice she mainly has used to tell me off, so I am thrilled to see it deployed in this way.' --NISH KUMAR'The most joyful bursts of wisdom from a truly funny soul. I adore this book.' --CARIAD LLOYD'Hilarious, original and wise. This is essential reading.' --ELLIE TAYLOR'Rachel is one of the wisest, funniest people I know. Funny, sad, beautiful and ridiculous, Advice from Strangers has it all.' --PIPPA EVANS'A hilarious, fiery, reassuring hug of a book. Full of laughter, compassion and feminist wisdom.' --FRAN BUSHE'An essential, hilarious handbook for life.' --ATHENA KUGBLENUCOMEDIAN RACHEL PARRIS WAS ASKED TO GIVE AN INSPIRING GRADUATION SPEECH. WHO DID SHE ASK FOR ADVICE? TOTAL STRANGERS...Over the course of a year award-winning comedian Rachel Parris asked members of her live audience for advice. Here she takes those random bits of wisdom - such as 'Be Kind' or 'Never Pass Up the Opportunity for a Wee' - and explores them in ways that are funny and serious, hilarious and heart-breaking. This uplifting feminist manifesto of a book outlines the essentials of living in the modern world; dealing with everything from Tampons to Tories and from #hashtags to Staying Hydrated.
Advice from Strangers: Everything I know from people I don't know
by Rachel ParrisCOMEDIAN RACHEL PARRIS WAS ASKED TO GIVE AN INSPIRING GRADUATION SPEECH. WHO DID SHE ASK FOR ADVICE? TOTAL STRANGERS...Over the course of a year award-winning comedian Rachel Parris asked members of her live audience for advice. Here she takes those random bits of wisdom - such as 'Be Kind' or 'Never Pass Up the Opportunity for a Wee' - and explores them in ways that are funny and serious, hilarious and heart-breaking. This uplifting feminist manifesto of a book outlines the essentials of living in the modern world; dealing with everything from Tampons to Tories and from #hashtags to Staying Hydrated. (P) 2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Advice from a Blob: How to Find Peace in this Messy, Beautiful, Chaotic Existence
by LennnieFrom social media sensation Lennnie, a full-color, illustrated self-care book filled with all-new insights to boost our mental health—wisdom to help us combat the negativity and hate, find acceptance and peace, and embrace the miracle of ourselves and the wonder of life itself. “Hello humans, my name’s Lennnie, I’m a little Blob that was sent by the book Gods to come check on you. So, let’s get into it shall we? It really is a chaotic tornado sh*tstorm of debauchery out there . . . but I promise you’re gonna be okay. Really Truly Absolutely Positively Fine. Even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.” At a time when many of us yearn for a world filled with more kindness, compassion, and community, Lennnie—an adorable, sassy, loving animated blob—has become a social media star. A dose of Lennnie’s gentle, down-to-earth positivity gets us get through even the darkest days, because Lennnie keeps it real, avoiding empty platitudes and reminding of us of the most important thing: love. Lennnie encourages us to disregard the haters, especially those negative voices that can fill our heads, and brings joy and happiness into our daily lives.Advice from a Blob features exclusive, all-new material covering a range of issues that matter most, both to Lennnie's avid fanbase and to everyone just discovering this beautiful little Blob. Packed with 130 unique, full-color illustrations with extended captions, this charming keepsake book offers wisdom and insights on important themes central to our mental health, including grief, loneliness, thought demons, failure, coping with change, anxiety, feeling lost, and finding your people. As Lennnie reminds us, no matter where we are in life, we’ve got this. copyright Lennnie, LLC
Advice from a Country Farmer
by Roy EnglishThe author of Don&’t Whiz on an Electric Fence and When I Am an Old Coot spreads some down-home, hard-won, gut-busting facts. Dishing out witty one-liners and old-fashioned country logic the same way an old camp cook dishes out beans and biscuits, Roy English&’s Advice from a Country Farmer is simply this—no-nonsense humor and wisdom from a country gentleman schooled in common sense and kindness. &“Most farmers work only half a day; the other twelve hours they do other stuff.&”&“When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.&”&“Don&’t skinny dip with snapping turtles.&” &“Horsepower is no substitute for horse sense.&”&“The only farmers who sleep late are in the cemetery.&” &“Nobody works harder than a farmer, except maybe a farmer&’s wife.&”
Aetherial Worlds: Stories
by Tatyana TolstayaFrom one of modern Russia's finest writers, a spellbinding collection of eighteen stories, her first to be translated into English in more than twenty years.Ordinary realities and yearnings to transcend them lead to miraculous other worlds in this dazzling collection of stories. A woman's deceased father appears in her dreams with clues about the afterlife; a Russian professor in a small American town constructs elaborate fantasies during her cigarette break; a man falls in love with a marble statue as his marriage falls apart; a child glimpses heaven through a stained-glass window. With the emotional insight of Chekhov, the surreal satire of Gogol, and a unique blend of humor and poetry all her own, Tolstaya transmutes the quotidian into aetherial alternatives. These tales, about politics, identity, love, and loss, cut to the core of the Russian psyche, even as they lay bare human universals. Tolstaya's characters--seekers all--are daydreaming children, lonely adults, dislocated foreigners in unfamiliar lands. Whether contemplating the strategic complexities of delivering telegrams in Leningrad or the meditative melancholy of holiday aspic, vibrant inner lives and the grim elements of existence are registered in equally sharp detail in a starkly bleak but sympathetic vision of life on earth. A unique collection from one of the first women in years to rank among Russia's most important writers.
Affinities and Other Stories: and Other Stories
by Mary Roberts RinehartFive short stories dealing with the escapades of society women in America and England. CONTENTS: I AFFINITIES II THE FAMILY FRIEND III CLARA'S LITTLE ESCAPADE IV THE BORROWED HOUSE V SAUCE FOR THE GANDER
Affirmations
by Cathy GuisewiteLeave it to Cathy to get us in touch with those life-affirming interactions and activities that we all need to reach our perfect selfdom.
Afraid of the Light: A Story about Facing Your Fears
by Albert StrasserA delightfully fun and rhythmic story about overcoming our fears and learning to try something new.Ditter Von Dapp is a quirky rabbit who is painfully afraid of the light. Having confined himself to a cozily dark cave to avoid his biggest fear, he is one day forced to light a candle in order to find a lost left shoe. Despite being afraid that the light "might drive me crazy or turn me to goo," Von Dapp slowly discovers just how wonderful light can be. In his newly illuminated world, he finds that a wise mouse had stolen his shoe to teach him a valuable lesson. With playful rhymes and incredibly rich illustrations, children and parents will delight in reading Ditter Von Dapp's journey. His realization that the light isn't something to be afraid of will help children learn to face their own fears--they just might open themselves up to a new world they never would have imagined and find a new friend in the process!
African American Cinema through Black Lives Consciousness
by Mark A. Reid Gerald R. Butters Jr. Karen Bowdre African American Cinema Dan Flory African American Cinema Mark D Cunningham African American Cinema Patricia Hilliard-Nunn African American Cinema Kimberly Nichele Brown African American Cinema Chesya Burke African American Cinema Anne Cremieux African American Cinema James Smalls Charlene Regester Dr Jonathan Munby Dr Melba Joyce BoydAfrican American Cinema through Black Lives Consciousness uses critical race theory to discuss American films that embrace contemporary issues of race, sexuality, class, and gender. Its linear history chronicles black-oriented narrative film from post–World War II through the presidential administration of Barack Obama. Editor Mark A. Reid has assembled a stellar list of contributors who approach their film analyses as an intersectional practice that combines queer theory, feminism/womanism, and class analytical strategies alongside conventional film history and theory. Taken together, the essays invigorate a "Black Lives Consciousness," which speaks to the value of black bodies that might be traumatized and those bodies that are coming into being-ness through intersectional theoretical analysis and everyday activism. The volume includes essays such as Gerald R. Butters’s, "Blaxploitation Film," which charts the genre and its uses of violence, sex, and misogyny to provoke a realization of other philosophical and sociopolitical themes that concern intersectional praxis. Dan Flory’s "African-American Film Noir" explains the intertextual—fictional and socio-ecological—dynamics of black action films. Melba J. Boyd’s essay, "‘Who’s that Nigga on that Nag?’: Django Unchained and the Return of the Blaxploitation Hero," argues that the film provides cultural and historical insight, "signifies" on blackface stereotypes, and chastises Hollywood cinema’s misrepresentation of slavery. African American Cinema through Black Lives Consciousness embraces varied social experiences within a cinematic Black Lives Consciousness intersectionality. The interdisciplinary quality of the anthology makes it approachable to students and scholars of fields ranging from film to culture to African American studies alike.
After "Happily Ever After": Romantic Comedy in the Post-Romantic Age (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series)
by Maria San Filippo Deborah Jermyn Martha Shearer John Alberti James MacDowell Tom Cunliffe Beatriz Oria Betty Kaklamanidou Mary Harrod Maya Montañez Smukler Elizabeth Alsop Alice Guilluy Ash Kinney D'Harcourt Tamar Jeffers MacDonald Sueyoung Park-Primiano Manuela RuizIn defiance of the alleged "death of romantic comedy," After "Happily Ever After": Romantic Comedy in the Post-Romantic Age edited by Maria San Filippo attests to rom-com’s continuing vitality in new modes and forms that reimagine and rejuvenate the genre in ideologically, artistically, and commercially innovative ways. No longer the idyllic fairy tale, today’s romantic comedies ponder the realities and complexities of intimacy, fortifying the genre’s gift for imagining human connection through love and laughter. It has often been observed that the rom-com’s "happily ever after" trope enables the genre to avoid addressing the challenges of coupled life. This volume’s contributors confront how recent rom-coms contend with a "post-romantic age" of romantic disillusionment and seismically shifting emotional and relational bonds. Fifteen chapters contemplate the resurgence of the "radical romantic comedy" and uncoupling comedy, new approaches in genre hybridity and serial narrative, and how recent rom-coms deal with divisive topical issues and contemporary sexual mores from reproductive politics and marriage equality to hook-up culture and technology-enabled sex. Rom-coms remain underappreciated and underexamined—and still largely defined within Hollywood’s parameters of culturally normative coupling and its persistent marginalization of racial and sexual minorities. Making the case for taking romantic comedy seriously, this volume employs critical perspectives drawn from feminist, queer, postcolonial, and race studies to critique the genre’s homogeneity and social and sexual conservatism, recognizing innovative works inclusive of LGBTQ people, people of color, and the differently aged and abled. Encompassing a rich range of screen media from the last decade, After "Happily Ever After" celebrates works that disrupt and subvert rom-com fantasy and formula so as to open audience’s eyes along with our hearts. This volume is intended for all readers with an interest in film, media, and gender studies.
After Alice: A Novel
by Gregory MaguireFrom the multi-million-copy bestselling author of Wicked comes a magical new twist on Lewis Carroll’s beloved classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.When Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice’s disappearance?In After Alice, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings—and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll’s enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice’s mentioned briefly in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is off to visit her friend, but arrives a moment too late—and tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself.Ada brings to Wonderland her own imperfect apprehension of cause and effect as she embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home from this surreal world below the world. If Eurydice can ever be returned to the arms of Orpheus, or Lazarus can be raised from the tomb, perhaps Alice can be returned to life. Either way, everything that happens next is “After Alice.”
After All These Years (Hometown Memories #1)
by Kathleen Gilles SeidelCurry James knows how to cope with being left alone.Still living in the same white farmhouse where she grew up, Curry watched those closest to her leave--her parents by tragic death, her husband to war, and her best friend, Tom, who walked away because he couldn't deal with being left alive.Then one day, without warning, Tom returns. Curry appears as down-to-earth as she ever was, but her survival has come at a cost and now it's up to Tom to help Curry re-open her heart to life's joy.AWARDS:RITA winner, Best Single Title ContemporaryMaggie Award of Excellence, Best Mainstream Romance Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Contemporary RomanceREVIEWS:"This book abounds with characters that live and breathe and mesmerize the reader." ~Romantic Times"...well-crafted love story that transcends... extremely satisfying... literate, humorous, and insightful... refreshingly original." ~Christine Vogel, Chicago Sun-Times "....the sort of book which I will tout whenever the opportunity arises." Anne McCaffery, author of Dragonriders of PernHOMETOWN MEMORIES, in orderAfter All These YearsDon't Forget to SmileTill the Stars FallAgain
After Birth: A Novel
by Elisa AlbertA fierce novel about the postpartum experience filled with &“dark humor and brutal honesty&” (People). A year has passed since Ari gave birth to Walker, though it went so badly awry she has trouble calling it &“birth&” and she still can&’t locate herself in her altered universe. Amid the strange, disjointed rhythms of her days and nights, and another impending winter in upstate New York, Ari is a tree without roots, struggling to keep her branches aloft. When Mina, a one-time cult indie musician—older, self-contained, alone, and nine months pregnant—moves to town, Ari sees the possibility of a new friend. And despite her unfortunate habit of generally mistrusting other females, they soon become comrades-in-arms . . . With piercing insight about the isolation and unrealistic expectations suffered by new mothers in our society, After Birth is about pregnancy and childbirth that is &“vicious, hilarious, and above all real&” (The New York Times Book Review). &“[A] scaldingly and exhilaratingly honest account of new motherhood, emotional exile, and the complex romance of female friendship.&” —Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!
After Hours
by Claire KennedyScandals and hook-ups abound in a summertime restaurant drama where four teens are all willing to do whatever it takes to make it through the workday...and hopefully to win the money in the after-hours dare-based game of Tips.Isa, Xavi, Peter, and Finn know that a job at the high-end Waterside Café isn't just about waiting tables. It's about the gossip, the hook-ups, the after-hours parties, and, most of all, it's about Tips.Tips--the high-stakes game based on dares. Whoever completes the most dares wins the collected money. A sum that could change a wasted summer into a Summer to Remember.Isa is the new girl with an embarrassing secret, and as long as she stays on top of her game, she sees no reason why anyone could ever find out.Xavi will do anything for the money...absolutely anything.Peter, Xavi's stepbrother, has been in love with her for years, and he thinks the game is the perfect time to confess his feelings.Finn is in the game just for the thrill. He has enough tips coming in to keep him happy...even if those tips come with some conditions.From seduction to stealing to threats, the dares are a complete free-for-all, and only the best can win.
After Me, The Deluge
by David ForrestThis is the story of a young priest in the tiny French village of St. Pierre-des-Monts who receives a telephone call from God warning that he is about to destroy mankind with a second great flood. Only Father Benoir and his misfit flock will be saved, but they must hurry, said God, and build an ark like Noah's. AFTER ME, THE DELUGE is an outrageous, irreverent comedy which inspired one of Italy's longest running stage musicals which has been seen by over fifteen million people since it's debut in 1974.
After Me, The Deluge
by David ForrestThis is the story of a young priest in the tiny French village of St. Pierre-des-Monts who receives a telephone call from God warning that he is about to destroy mankind with a second great flood. Only Father Benoir and his misfit flock will be saved, but they must hurry, said God, and build an ark like Noah's. AFTER ME, THE DELUGE is an outrageous, irreverent comedy which inspired one of Italy's longest running stage musicals which has been seen by over fifteen million people since it's debut in 1974.
After Midnight (Holiday Heat Ser. #3)
by Katherine GarberaCountdown to a kiss... At the stroke of midnight, Lindsey Collins will finally kiss Carter Shaw. A former championship skier, Lindsey had a life of all training and no play until a devastating injury sidelined her. Now she's ready to put her good-girl ways behind her and kick off the New Year with a little fun...and the sexy snowboarder is the perfect distraction! Now that Carter has Lindsey in his arms for one mind-blowing night, he's not giving up. He'll do whatever it takes to break through her Ice Queen exterior and show her he's more than just a fun time. But how can she believe in him when she can't even believe in herself enough to return to skiing-and all that she's worked for?
After On: A Novel of Silicon Valley
by Rob ReidThe definitive novel of today’s Silicon Valley, After On flash-captures our cultural and technological moment with up-to-the-instant savvy. Matters of privacy and government intrusion, post-Tinder romance, nihilistic terrorism, artificial consciousness, synthetic biology, and much more are tackled with authority and brash playfulness by New York Times bestselling author Rob Reid. Meet Phluttr—a diabolically addictive new social network and a villainess, heroine, enemy, and/or bestie to millions. Phluttr has ingested every fact and message ever sent to, from, and about her innumerable users. Her capabilities astound her makers—and they don’t even know the tenth of it. But what’s the purpose of this stunning creation? Is it a front for something even darker and more powerful than the NSA? A bid to create a trillion-dollar market by becoming “The UberX of Sex”? Or a reckless experiment that could spawn the digital equivalent of a middle-school mean girl with enough charisma, dirt, and cunning to bend the entire planet to her will? Phluttr has it in her to become the greatest gossip, flirt, or matchmaker in history. Or she could cure cancer, bring back Seinfeld, then start a nuclear war. Whatever she does, it’s not up to us. But a motley band of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and engineers might be able to influence her. After On achieves the literary singularity—fusing speculative satire and astonishing reality into a sharp-witted, ferociously believable, IMAX-wide view of our digital age.Advance praise for After On “Enter a near-future Silicon Valley that is hilariously, creepily, mind-bogglingly fantastic, yet at the same time all too believable. It might turn out this way. No, really, it might! Along with After On’s diabolically ingenious plot, there are crazy-plausible web startups, delicious parodies of social media, and a surprisingly convincing theory of human consciousness.”—Chris Anderson, head of TED “Reading After On is like attending a master class in nearly every major issue haunting not only the tech industry but society itself. Only the professor is also a stand-up comic with a perfect ear for the foibles of Silicon Valley’s most sacred cows. Part AI thriller, part arch social commentary, and part rollicking farce, After On will leave you smarter about just about everything the human species needs to work on if we’re going to outlive our own creations—and our obsessions with them.”—John Battelle, co-founder, NewCo, Federated Media, and Wired “The future is already here—it’s just for those who read Reid!”—Steve Jurvetson, venture capitalist, Draper Fisher Jurvetson “Rob Reid doesn’t write science fiction; he writes future history. After On is the best account I’ve read of how superintelligence will arrive and what it will mean for all of us. Hilarious, frightening, believable, and marvelously constructed—After On has it all.”—Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool “After On is smart, hilarious, and properly cynical about our connected world. The story unfolds in surprising and fiendish ways, and while you’re laughing you’ll learn enough to confound a wily MBA, manipulate a board of directors, and maybe even outfox a superintelligence.”—Ken Fisher, founder and editor in chief, Ars Technica
After Squidnight
by Jonathan E. FenskeFrom the creator of the award-winning A Pig, a Fox, and a Box comes a sly, silly picture book about artistic squids that will get every reader giggling!Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor-winning author and illustrator Jonathan Fenske's appealing illustration style and clever text make this intriguing book a must-have for every young reader's shelf.When the clock strikes midnight, a squad of squids creeps out of the ocean--and over to your house! Their mission? To leave their inky mark by drawing on walls, the floor, and even your toys. This rhyming tale showcases a crew of creative creatures as they make art (or maybe just a mess) and leave you to deal with the consequences!
After Sylvia
by Alan CumynNominated for the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award and the TD Children's Literature Award As the new school year unfolds, the magic of the Skye brothers' antic adventures is replaced by a different kind of magic — of stillness, when Owen visits the haunted house in the dead of winter, and of insight, as he begins to see his father in a new light. Owen is growing up, but happily for readers, he never loses his most endearing qualities — his sweet vulnerability, his impulsive courage, and his imagination as big as the sky. The Secret Life of Owen Skye was a smash hit with readers, reviewers and award juries. In After Sylvia, Alan Cumyn has produced a captivating sequel that captures perfectly the bewilderment and joy of being a kid. A funny, poignant, magical book that will delight a broad range of readers.
After You with the Pistol: The Second Charlie Mortdecai Novel (Mortdecai)
by Kyril BonfiglioliAfter you with the Pistol - the second Charlie Mortdecai novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli, soon to be a major film starring Johnny Depp'Some of the nastiest, funniest and most enjoyable crime writing of the last fifty years' Guardian'Mr Mortdecai, why do you suppose I and my superiors have preserved you from death at very very great trouble and expense?'Charlie Mortdecai - degenerate aristocrat and victim of his own larceny and licentiousness - has no idea. Until it is made clear to him that he must marry the beautiful, sex-crazed and very, very rich Johanna Krampf. The fly in the ointment is that Johanna thinks nothing of involving poor Charlie in her life-threatening schemes such as monarch-assassination, heroin smuggling and - worst of all - survival training at a college for feminist spies. Perhaps, it's all in a good cause - if only Charlie can live long enough to find out.'A rare mixture of wit and imaginative unpleasantness' Julian Barnes'Splendidly enjoyable. The jokes are excellent, but the most horrible things keep happening' Sunday Telegraph'At least of Hammett-Chandler weight, and in many ways surpasses them' The Times Literary SupplementKyril Bonfiglioli was born on the south coast of England in 1928 of an English mother and Italo-Slovene father. After studying at Oxford and five years in the army, he took up a career as an art dealer, like his eccentric creation Charlie Mortdecai. He lived in Oxford, Lancashire, Ireland and Jersey, where he died in 1985. He wrote the three Mortdecai novels, a fourth historical Mortdecai novel (about a distinguished ancestor), and left a fifth unpublished at his death.