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Marco Pierre White: Making of Marco Pierre White,Sharpest Chef in History
by Charles HennessyMarco was born of working-class parents on a bleak council estate in Leeds, and his Italian mother died when he was six years old. Today he has become a star chef of international renown, a controversial media celebrity, a national icon of the 1980s and 1990s, and a multimillionaire entrepreneur - all before the age of 40. How has this staggering rise to fame and fortune been achieved? MPW (as he calls himself and many of his new restaurants) is today widely regarded as the best cook in the country, but his astonishing talents and understanding of food are only part of the explanation. As this fascinating book reveals, there are many sides to this complex man which the massive media coverage he has received over the years have never revealed. Charles Hennessy tells the story with insight: the unpromising early life, his first job as a kitchen porter in Harrogate, the epiphany at the age of 17 when he went to work at the Box Tree restaurant in Ilkley, his arrival in London, learning under the Roux brothers, Pierre Koffmann and Raymond Blanc, and the opening of his own first restaurant, Harvey's from whence his fame and fortune grew.
Meanwhile Street
by Miranda GloverIt's early morning and Meanwhile Street thinks it's waking to a regular Wednesday in May. Soon a disconcerting sound alerts Maggie and Gordon that something's not right. Throughout the day neighbours bear witness to a series of apparently unrelated incidents that, by midnight, leave a solitary fifteen-year-old running for his life and a Polish girl preparing to flee London for good. It is Thursday before anyone knows that events have culminated in a single, heart-wrenching tragedy. In the aftermath, kids and adults from all backgrounds are forced across their thresholds to confront one another and the community they share. Love and trust, courage and cowardice, hope and despair, are all challenged, with some extraordinary and surprising consequences.
The Last Vote: The Threats to Western Democracy
by Philip CogganThe Last Vote is a wake-up call showing why we cannot afford to take democracy for granted, from Philip Coggan, award-winning author of Paper Promises and The Money MachineCan we afford to take democracy for granted? It's now so much a part of our lives that we could be forgiven for thinking it mainly takes care of itself. Almost half the world's population now lives in a democratic state, while some Western democracies have now had universal suffrage for almost a century and have endured through even the most severe of global upheavals. In The Last Vote, Philip Coggan shows how democracy today faces threats that we ignore at our own risk. Amid the turmoil of the financial crisis, high debt levels, and an ever-growing gap between the richest and the rest, it is easy to forget that the ultimate victim could be our democracy itself. Tracing democracy's history and development, from the classical world through the revolution of the Enlightenment and on to its astounding success in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Coggan revisits the assumptions on which it is founded. What exactly is democracy? Why should we value it? What are its flaws? And could we do any better?The Last Vote is a wake-up call, and an illuminating defence of a system, which, in Churchill's words, is the worst possible form of government, except for all the others that have been tried. Reasoned, lucid and balanced, Coggan's argument parrots neither the agenda of left nor right, but calls for us all to work together to ensure we don't end up in an even greater mess than we're in today. Finally, he proposes ideas for change and improvement to the system itself so the next vote we cast will not be the last.Praise for Paper Promises:'This book stands way above anything written on the present economic crisis' Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan'Bold and confident... This book should be taken very seriously' John Authers, Financial Times'The most illuminating account of the financial crisis to appear to date ... written with a lucidity that conveys deep insights without a trace of jargon' John Gray, New StatesmanPhilip Coggan was a Financial Times journalist for over twenty years, and is now the Buttonwood columnist for the Economist. In 2009 he was named Senior Financial Journalist in the Harold Wincott awards and was voted Best Communicator at the Business Journalist of the Year Awards. He is the author of The Money Machine, and Paper Promises, winner of the Spears Business Book of the Year Award and longlisted for the Financial Times Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
The Magic Key to Charm
by Eileen AscroftYou may not be beautiful, clever and rich, buy you can still change your life by using the long-lost art of charm. This book holds the secrets to serenity and elegance. Miss Ascroft will teach you:how to banish graceless habitshow to dress to compliment your personality typehow to run for the bus like a young gazellehow to make friends and be the perfect hostesshow to appear well-educated and well-readhow to decorate your home to suit your complexionHer fourteen charm lessons build up a whole way of life for you so that you may become more attractive, more desirable, and at the same time a more complete and contented person. Her advice is proffered in a delightful fashion, accompanied by exquisite photographs, and no woman who reads this book can fail to gain something from its pages.
The Meaning of Cricket
by Jon HottenCricket is a strange game. It is a team sport that is almost entirely dependent on individual performance. Its combination of time, opportunity and the constant threat of disaster can drive its participants to despair. To survive a single delivery propelled at almost 100 miles an hour takes the body and brain to the edges of their capabilities, yet its abiding image is of the gentle village green, and the glorious absurdities of the amateur game.In The Meaning of Cricket, Jon Hotten attempts to understand this fascinating, frustrating and complex sport. Blending legendary players, from Vivian Richards to Mark Ramprakash, Kevin Pietersen to Ricky Ponting, with his own cricketing story, he explores the funny, moving and melancholic impact the game can have on an individual life.
Little Girl Lost: A Liverpool Family Saga
by Katie FlynnIt is a cold night and Sylvie Dugdale is weeping as she walks by the Mersey. A figure approaches and, dodging aside to avoid him, she falls into the river. Constable Brendan O'Hara, just coming off duty, sees the girl's plight and dives in to rescue her. He is dazzled by her beauty but Sylvie's husband is in prison and the closeness that Brendan soon longs for is impossible.Sylvie has to escape from Liverpool, so Brendan arranges for her to stay with his cousin Caitlin in Dublin until it is safe to return. There she meets Maeve, a crippled girl from the slums, who will change all their lives when a little girl is lost ...
Marc Marquez: Dreams Come True: My Story
by Freddie Spencer‘He has all the potential to become the greatest of all time’ Valentino Rossi, nine-time world championMarc Márquez is a phenomenon in the world of motorsports. In his first season in MotoGP, at the tender age of 20, he achieved the extraordinary by becoming the youngest world champion ever. He’s currently dominating in his second season, and is set to become the greatest the sport has ever seen. In his first official biography - fully-illustrated with many unseen photographs - Marc offers an exclusive insight into his first year racing in the premier class and his historic championship win. Through the words of his team, his family and his rivals for the title, we begin to understand the answer to his remarkable success. It’s the story of Marc’s greatest risks and challenges, from vision problems that put a halt on his career to the huge crash in May that saw him flying off his bike at a staggering speed of 175 mph. But Marc continues to rewrite history, earning titles with his fearless racing and winning fans with his boyish charm and famous smile – and smashing every record along the way.
The Last Train Home: A gorgeous will-they-won’t-they romance to curl up with this winter
by Elle Cook'Beautiful and compelling' Heidi Swain'Two sparkling leads who will steal your heart!' Holly Miller'One of the best books I have read this year' Emma Cooper________________On the last train home you expect to find...- Standing space only- Drunk people singing- The overpowering smell of McDonaldsYou never expect to find love.When Abbie and Tom cross paths traveling home after a night out, their eyes meet across a crowded carriage and their connection is unmistakable.What they don't know is that moments later they'll both be caught up in an event that will change them forever.It is one that will bring them together. But it will also tear them apart.A lot can happen in seven seconds. A lot can happen in seven years.Can they find their way back to each other?________________Don't miss THE LAST TRAIN HOME!‘This is an awesome book! It gripped me from start to finish. . . A wonderful, unconventional, captivating romance’ Sue Moorcroft'A right-person-wrong-time story that will stay with you' That's Life Magazine‘I absolutely devoured this funny, moving, unputdownable novel.’ Jenny Ashcroft‘A wonderful, heart-warming, different love story.’ Tracy Rees‘A beautiful, uplifting story from start to finish’ Virginia Heath'A compelling modern love story brimming with emotion and heart' Fiona Gibson'A heart-wrenching roller coaster full of missed opportunities and tenderness.' Caroline Khoury‘Romantic, warm and swoon-worthy’ Emily Stone'A gorgeous love story full of suspense, drama and tenderness.' Eleanor Ray'A touching story of love, fate and second chances.’ Fiona Lucas'Very easy reading’ Daily Mail‘...full of emotion and feels very real – we loved it’ Fabulous‘…these two characters feel believably flawed’ The Times
The Little Girl and the Tiny Doll (A Puffin Book)
by Aingelda Ardizzone Mr Edward ArdizzoneThe Little Girl and the Tiny Doll by Aingelda Ardizzone and illustrated by Edward Ardizzone has been delighting generations of children.There was once a tiny doll who belonged to a girl who did not care for dolls. One day when the little girl was shopping in the supermarket with her mother, she threw the tiny doll into a deep freeze. So the tiny doll had to stay there, cold and lonely, and frightened by people shuffling all the food round her. But someone came along who felt sorry for her, and thought of ways to make her happier, so the tiny doll began to smile again.
The Magic In Your Hands: How to See Auras and Use Them for Diagnosis and Healing
by Brian SnellgroveIn this book Brian Snellgrove will provide you with a method for seeing and tuning into other peoples' auras - their problems, their needs and understanding them, without a requirement for words.The author, who had an international practice in South Africa, Australia, Finland, Ireland and the UK, shares his experience of benign and non-invasive method of analysis.Of use to counsellors, therapists, healers, sensitives - in fact anyone having to do with human nature in all its aspects - this technique is a well-tested and accurate way of determining how clients can be most effectively helped to understand and face their circumstances.
The Map of Me: True Tales of Mixed-Heritage Experience
In today's Britain thousands of people have parents from different cultural backgrounds. In February 2008 we asked for people from any background to send us true stories which illuminate the complexities, challenges and joys of having a mixed heritage - those defining moments which seem to say it all. Then we asked six judges - including the novelist Kate Mosse and Shami Chakrabati from Liberty - to choose the best, most searching accounts to be included in this anthology. The resulting stories are as varied and colourful as they are true, honest and moving, but through all of them runs a universal theme: the desire to know and understand our own identity, and to forge a sense of self that surpasses the complex layers of places, parents and the past.
Me. You. Not a Diary: The No.1 Sunday Times Bestseller
by Dawn French'A mellow, gentle read with a lot of words of wisdom' IndependentMe You is a pocket diary without the diary part. Or the pocket. Me You: Not A Diary is everything you loved about the original but without the calendar pages. To keep a working diary alongside Dawn, we recommend the hardback edition of Me You: A Diary.Me You is a place for me and you to reflect on the patterns and changes of the year. It's full of my thoughts about the seasons, the months and what matters. It's your guide to reflecting on the year you've just had - or the one still to come.Dive in, the paper's lovely . . ._______'A witty outlook on life. This will have you laughing about your year' Prima'It's beautiful, like Dawn, and stuffed full of goodies' Jo Brand
Me & My Monsters: Monster School (Me & My Monsters)
by Rory GrowlerEddie can't believe it when he finds THREE FURRY MONSTERS living in his basement. Fiend, Haggis and Norman are the stinkiest, craziest friends he could wish for!Eddie's school report is due and he's determined to stop his mum and dad from reading it. Luckily, his parents are too busy teaching the monsters (who have suddenly decided to improve their minds) to notice. Will Eddie be able to intercept his school report? And can Fiend, Haggis and Norman really learn anything useful...
The Last Taboo
by Bali RaiSimran likes Tyrone from the moment she spots him in the crowd. He's gorgeous and he won't take no for an answer. There's just one problem. . . Tyrone is black and Simran's not sure how her family will react. Even though her parents were a 'love match' and married each other against the wishes of their families, Simran doesn't think they will approve of her having a black boyfriend, and her nightmare uncles and aunts certainly won't. Like her cousin Ruby says, it's the last taboo.But Simran likes Tyrone too much to walk away, so they face the problems their relationship causes together. But it becomes harder than either of them predicted and when the hatred they encounter escalates into violence, with families and friends turning against each other, Simran and Tyrone are forced to question whether they are strong enough to fight for what they believe in.
Little Dorrit
by Charles DickensThe Penguin English Library Edition of Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens'You talk very easily of hours, sir! How long do you suppose, sir, that an hour is to a man who is choking for want of air?'A masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens's maturity. When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy's father, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect many lives, from Mr Panks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.
The Magic Hour: an uplifting and moving tale of serendipity and fate from bestselling author Charlotte Bingham
by Charlotte BinghamExciting and dramatic but tender and heartfelt; this is a novel that you will return to again and again. From the million copy and Sunday Times bestselling author Charlotte Bingham, for fans of Louise Douglas and Dinah Jeffries.'An engaging, romantic and nostalgic read' -- DAILY MAIL'Compulsive reading... Bingham's prose is lively and vivid, making this a real page turner' -- GOOD BOOK GUIDE"These are characters you will really care about" -- ***** Reader review"Very enjoyable and hard to put down" -- ***** Reader review"Incredibly well written and engrossing" -- ***** Reader review**************************************************************************TWO PATHS, ONE DESTINATION...When Alexandra Stamford goes to stay with her cousins at Knighton Hall she is very much the poor relation. Shortly after her return home, her father re-marries. No longer wanted, Alexandra is forced to become a maid-of-all-work for a Mrs Smithers who lives in a grand Regency house in the seaside town of Deanford.It is here that handsome, funny Bob Atkins meets and falls in love with Alexandra...Meanwhile Tom O'Brien, erstwhile stable lad at Knighton Hall, meets and falls for the beautiful Lady Florazel Compton who introduces him to the sophistications of 1950s London.As Bob is conscripted for National Service, Alexandra plans her future, and in doing so discovers family secrets that have a devastating impact. Tragedy strikes, and it is only when Tom returns from New York to search out his old friend Bob Atkins' fiancée that Alexandra's life appears about to be truly transformed.But the past seems destined to wreck the happiness of the present, as the glamorous Lady Florazel Compton is determined to re-capture her former love, destroying the magic hour of Tom's and Alexandra's meeting.
Manx Murders: 150 Years of Island Madness, Mayhem and Manslaughter
by Keith WilkinsonA beautiful island lying in the northern part of the Irish Sea between England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, the Isle of Man was once a popular holiday destination. It is perhaps better known today for the TT motorcycle races held there, its tailless cats and Manx kippers. However, it also has its darker side.Manx Murders is a collection of gripping and mysterious murder cases committed on the Island over the last 150 years, from the brutal slaying of a spinster one dark night on a lonely track near Ramsey to the infamous 'Golden Egg Murder' in central Douglas.The cases that have caused shock and sensation throughout two centuries of the Island's history are recorded here as the author reveals the events behind the last hanging on the Island, a deathbead confession, the harrowing story of a murderous father and the cases that remain unsolved to this day. The Island's political importance as a wartime holding area for prisoners of war is also explored through the account of a bizarre, seemingly motiveless killing in 1916 and the stabbing of a Finnish prisoner during the Second World War.Using information obtained from newspapers, inquest records and trial transcripts whenever these were available, each murder is described against the backdrop of contemporary events to give the reader a distinct flavour of life at the time of the crime. While each case is unique, all share an overwhelming sadness and tragedy that will never be forgotten.
The Last Summer (The Adams Family #11)
by Mary Jane StaplesJob and Jemima Hardy weren't Londoners by birth. They had both lived in a Sussex village until lack of work had sent Job and the family to Walworth - to a house in Stead Street. They got it cheap because of the poltergiest but they were sensible folk and decided that eight shillings a week rent was a bargain and - well - if the floors and doors sometimes moved a bit, they could live with it. They settled quickly into London life - particularly Jonathan, the eldest. Jonathan got a job at Camberwell Green and it was there, in Lyons teashop, that he met Emma Somers, niece of Boots Adams. Over a long and hazy summer - the summer of 1939 - the two young people met, always at lunchtime, and never allowing their friendship to progress too far.Then, as the clouds of war gathered over Europe, Jonathan got his call-up papers. And the first alarms of conflict began to affect the Adams family in other ways. Boots, on the Officer's Reserve list, was called onto the staff of General Sir Henry Sims, and Polly Sims herself joined the Auxiliaries. Suddenly there was only a little time left for people to lead ordinary lives - and Jonathan Hardy and Emma Somers had to make decisions about their future.
Little Dorrit
by Charles DickensAmy Dorrit (known as Little Dorrit) was born in the Marshalsea debtors' prison in London. She has lived there with her father and two elder siblings for all of her twenty-two years, only leaving to work each day as a seamstress for the forbidding Mrs Clennam. But Amy's fortunes are about to change: the arrival of Mrs Clennam's son Arthur, back from working in China, heralds the beginning of stunning revelations not just about Amy but also about Arthur himself.
Magic and Desire
by Janine Ashbless Olivia Knight Portia Da CostaThree novellas of forbidden desire and otherworldly passions, from the leading names in erotic fiction, including the Sunday Times bestselling author Portia Da Costa.The House of Dust by Janine Ashbless: A young Queen who must descend into the Underworld to bring her lover back from the dead...Ill Met by Moonlight by Portia Da Costa: A handsome, yet enigmatic stranger who yearns to experience human love and desire...The Dragon Lord by Olivia Knight: And a Princess with a sizzling secret which is about to be unleashed...
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
by Jan PotockiAlphonse, a young Walloon officer, is travelling to join his regiment in Madrid in 1739. But he soon finds himself mysteriously detained at a highway inn in the strange and varied company of thieves, brigands, cabbalists, noblemen, coquettes and gypsies, whose stories he records over sixty-six days. The resulting manuscript is discovered some forty years later in a sealed casket, from which tales of characters transformed through disguise, magic and illusion, of honour and cowardice, of hauntings and seductions, leap forth to create a vibrant polyphony of human voices. Jan Potocki (1761-1812) used a range of literary styles - gothic, picaresque, adventure, pastoral, erotica - in his novel of stories-within-stories, which, like the Decameron and Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, provides entertainment on an epic scale.
Me & My Monsters: Monster Manners (Me & My Monsters)
by Rory GrowlerEddie can't believe it when he found THREE FURRY MONSTERS living in his basement. Fiend, Haggis and Norman are teh stinkiest and craziest friends he could wish for! When Eddie sees a chance for the monsters to live upstairs he decides to teach them human manners so they can stay for good. But when Fiend, Haggis and Norman start acting like serious grown-ups the whole family want things to go back to normal - QUICKLY!
Maestro
by Peter SlaterA young Spanish cello player, Ramon, journeys to the castle of master cellist Ernesto Cavello in the hope of private tuition from the great musician. Ramon's own music is technically perfect, but his playing lacks a certain essence - and so, Maestro Cavello arranges for Ramon to undergo a number of sexual trials.This is a modern day Gothic novel full of dark sensuality and eroticism - and distinctly Catholic decadence.
Me Moir - Volume One
by Vic ReevesVic Reeves' vivid, enchanting, and utterly hilarious childhood memoir is a comic masterpiece.Before there was Vic Reeves, there was a boy called James Moir who was much the same as any other lad.Obsessed with owning a pet crow, a master at writing his name and terrified of his father's immense moustache. Growing up in Yorkshire and then CountyDurham, the boy who would be Reeves somehow managed to escape the attentions of 'Randy Mandy' and get a crash course in pig castration, before having encounters with Jimi Hendrix and the Yorkshire Ripper.Peopled with weird and wonderful characters, Vic Reeves' memoir is authentic, witty and inventive, and as unique as you'd expect from one of Britain's most exceptional comedy talents.
The Last Straw
by Christina ShellyWhen Dennis Mann loses his job, his life hits a hiatus of junk food and daytime TV, much to the consternation of his wife Helen and her wealthy mother Samantha. Soon, the women realise that he would be more use to them as a feminised sissy maid, and set about enforcing their will with the aid of the mysterious Last Straw Society. It seems the women have found the way to mine the seams of Denis' dark perversity forever. Will his contempt for the aims of the Society prove a match for the waves of masochistic desire its members have awakened in him.