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Against Nature: A Rebours
by Joris-Karl HuysmansThe hero of this curious novel is des Esseintes, a neurasthenic aristocrat who has turned his back on the vulgarity of modern life and retreated to an isolated country villa. Here, accompanied only by a couple of silent servants, he pursues his obsessions with exotic flowers, rare gems, and complex perfumes and embarks on a series of increasingly strange aesthetic experiments, starting with the decision to give his giant pet tortoise a jewel-encrusted shell...
Aga Cooking
by Amy WillcockThe Aga is both a timeless design classic and a sleek new style object, increasingly attractive to an affluent new audience who are looking for more contemporary recipe ideas. Aga Cooking will be the new bible for both existing Aga owners and new fans. The author Amy Willcock draws on her experience of running Aga cookery courses to share all the essential secrets for getting the best out of your machine, as well as trouble-shooting tips and hints. Fantastic recipes range from asparagus and mint frittata to Thai chicken curry and chicken baked in focaccia. With the Aga seal of approval, this is the book no Aga should be without.
Aga Bible
by Amy WillcockThe Aga is much more than an oven: it's an icon. It's a statement. It's a way of life. Aga cookers have never been more popular, and the queen of Aga cookery is undoubtably Amy Willcock. Here is her definitive Aga Bible, with 300 classic, timeless recipes and bags of advice and tips for Aga owners. Here are all the essential recipes that every Aga owner needs to know - from how to cook a full English breakfast on an Aga, making soups, cooking fish and roasting meats, through to baking pies, cakes and breads. The delicious family food includes Beef stroganoff, Steak, mushroom and horseradish pudding, and Bacon and egg pie, and there are stunning dinner-party recipes such as Rillettes of duck with toasted brioche, Chicken in Marsala with oranges and shallots and Parmigiano, thyme and rosemary risotto. Amy also tempts the tastebuds with a delectable range of desserts and cakes, including Raspberry souffles, Chocolate pecan tart and Lemon meringue cake. And there are 30 new and exclusive recipes, such as Moules marinieres, Crab and coconut soup and Apple and onion tart. All the recipes feature conventional cooking instructions, so even non-Aga owners can enjoy Amy's tasty dishes.
Aftermath: The Omagh Bombing and the Families' Pursuit of Justice
by Ruth Dudley EdwardsOn Saturday 15th August, 1998, a massive bomb placed by the so-called Real IRA ripped through the town of Omagh, killing twenty-nine people, including eleven children, and injuring over two hundred. It was the worst massacre in Northern Ireland's modern history- yet from it came a most extraordinary tale of human resilience, as the families of ten of the dead channelled their grief into action.Taking for their motto, 'For evil to triumph, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing', they decided to pursue the men whom the police believed responsible for the atrocity through the civil courts, where the burden of proof is lower. This is the remarkable account of how these families- who had no knowledge of the law and no money- became internationally recognised, formiddable campaigners and surmounted countless daunting obstacles to win a famous victory.Longlisted for the Orwell Prize 2010
Afterlife (Parallon Trilogy)
by Dee ShulmanTwo worlds. Two millennia. One love . . . Eva is on the brink of death. Ripped from her own world she's woken in another, only to discover the devastating truth about the lethal fever she's been fighting - and the enemy that's chased her and Seth through time. Now the reckless twenty-first century girl and the fearless Roman gladiator must face the final battle. But it's not just their love at stake; the fate of the universe is in their hands. Afterlife is the heart-stopping finale in the gripping trilogy that began with Feverwww.feverbook.co.ukPraise for the Parallon Trilogy:'Full of twists, immaculately researched, it is very exciting and unpredictable' Independent on Sunday 'It's a great ride with evocative settings and intense emotion' SFX (4 stars)'WOW ... that rare gem of a book that I can't stop thinking about and will read again and again...Outstanding! It's 10 times better than Twilight' Waterstones, Cardiff.'Vivid . . . captivating and passionate' London and South East Libraries'It's a page-turning intellectual teen read that ANY adult would enjoy. Open the page, open your mind and go with the flow. TIP TOP TERRIFIC!' Waterstones, Thanett'Completely addictive and if I could have read it in one sitting I would have done . . . an excellent and compulsive read which has left me wanting more **** ' goodreads.com (4 stars)'Oh my god! What a book . . . This is one of the best love stories I have read' Best Books (5 stars)About the author:Dee Shulman writes in a studio overlooking a school quadrangle that bears a striking resemblance to the one at St Magdalene's. She has a degree in English from York University and went on to study Illustration at Harrow School of Art.She has written and /or illustrated about 50 books, including the popular, highly original My Totally Secret Diary series. She has been translated into many languages, including Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Welsh, Dutch, and Finnish. Her books have frequently been highly recommended in the press and on radio and she's been shortlisted for numerous awards. The Parallon trilogy are her first books for teenagers.Dee is based in London and is available for school, bookshop, online and festival events in the UK.Also Available:Fever (Book 1)Delirium (Book 2)Afterlife (Book 3)
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.
After You Die (DI Zigic & DS Ferreira #3)
by Eva DolanCAN THEY UNPICK THE TRUTH AND BRING A KILLER TO JUSTICE? DS Ferreira is back on the force after being severely injured in the line of duty. The first case to land on her desk takes her and DI Zigic to a brutal crime scene where a woman has been stabbed to death and her disabled daughter left to starve upstairs. The murdered woman is Dawn Prentice – a woman who had come to Ferreira for help when she and her daughter were being subjected to harassment.As Ferreira battles her demons and Zigic clashes with another officer, the detectives realise that the Prentice case rests on one crucial question – who was the real target of the killer: mother or daughter?'Elegantly crafted, humane and thought-provoking. She’s top drawer'Ian Rankin'Hard-hitting, tragic, compelling and timely'Daily Express'A hard-boiled, fast-paced mystery with a tight ring of suspects'Irish Times'The authority of Dolan's writing grows from book to book'Financial Times
After the Crash
by Martin Spinelli'In the pit of my stomach, as I kissed my four-year-old son Lio and my darling wife Sasha goodbye, I knew something was up. By that evening, the police had told me about the crash.'Lio's bright and talented mother was killed that day, and he narrowly escaped the same fate. But instead of it being an ending for us, the crash was a beginning.'Lio's miraculous recovery from severe brain damage and a coma defied medical science. As I witnessed his astonishing journey - from intensive care bed to 10 Downing Street - and fought to pull him through horrific injuries and the loss of his mother, I found real purpose and meaning for the first time in my life.'After the Crash is much more than a moving personal story. It's a handbook for dealing with disaster, not just surviving it but mastering it and using it to transform your life for the better.
After Midnight: a moving and heart-warming novel of passion, loss, tragedy and new beginnings from bestselling author Susan Sallis
by Susan SallisFans of Maeve Binchy, Rosamunde Pilcher and Fiona Valpy will not be disappointed by this warm and compelling story where secrets from the past threaten the happiness of a small West Country community by multi-million copy seller and Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis. Perfect to settle down with!READERS ARE LOVING AFTER MIDNIGHT!"Wonderful""Susan Sallis has such an insight into characters""Susan Sallis ... never disappoints.""Always love Susan Sallis - brilliant writing."****************************************************************************WILL A SECRET FROM THE PAST THREATEN HER HAPPINESS?Nell knows that she shares a very special past with her cousins, Edmund and Perry. In their young days in Gloucestershire they used to play, quarrel... and perhaps fall in love a little.When a strange young man arrives in their midst, Nell discovers with a shock that he, too, shares some of their past - and that it is connected with the mysterious, magical old railway coach in the forest where Nell's parents first fell in love.But the forest still holds its secrets, and the uncertainties which Nell and her cousins come to experience can only be satisfied when the mystery is revealed...Will the revelation hold heartache and pain, or hope for a wonderful and fulfilled future?After Midnight continues the story which began in The Pumpkin Coach.
After Hours: Black Lace Classics
by Crystalle ValentinoIt’s getting steamy in the kitchen. . .Venetia Halliday, a go-getting entrepreneur, is trying to make it in London’s fiercely competitive restaurant scene. And her new chef – East End bad-boy Micky Quinn – has tricked his way into her business, and her bed.Cheeky, well-built and confident, Quinn embodies everything she loves in a man, but with wild sexual abandon on the menu, can Venetia keep her mind on the job? Black Lace Classics – our best erotic fiction ever from our leading authors.
An After-Dinner’s Sleep
by Stanley MiddletonFrom the Booker-Prize-winning author of Holiday. Rejacketed and reissued by Windmill to mark the 40th anniversary of Middleton's Booker Prize win.One winter evening Alistair Murray opens his door to Eleanor Franks, a woman he has not seen for decades. A man apparently content with his life, even his retirement and bereavement have come as part of the natural order of things. But just when he thinks he must get used to the slow, lonely decline into old age, Eleanor arrives to make him call into question everything he has taken for granted.'Middleton wrote books you remember decades on... He wrote a calm, whispering prose, full of unspoken suggestion between ordinary acts of daily living.' Jenny Diski'He shows us the way we age and die now, with real and graceful disstinction.' Sunday Times
After The Deafening
by Gerard WoodwardWith the publication of his first book, HOUSEHOLDER, Gerard Woodward emerged as one of the most talented and unusual new poets of the 1990s. In his forthcoming collection AFTER THE DEAFENING, Woodward's powerful imagination, and the details of everyday life take on an extraordinary and exotic significance. 'A kind of punk anthropologist, his unsettling imagination violates all the thresholds between inner and outer. ' LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS 'Vivid and rarely whimsical' OBSERVER 'There are enough poems in this collection which are both felt AND written to justify Woodward's claim on our attention. Where he exhibits emotional generosity, he is very good indeed. ' Carol Ann Duffy
After All These Years: Our Story
by Mick Foster Tony AllenThis is the combined life story of Mick Foster and Tony Allen, revealing how these most unlikely of stars toured the world and entered the record books. A charming narrative told with heaps of Celtic charm, it is filled with nostalgic reminiscences about growing up in rural Ireland in the 1950s and 60s, and spans the breadth of their long career, including appearing on Top of the Pops alongside Bob Geldof and being feted by Terry Wogan, and the extraordinary moment when they found themselves at the very top of the charts, beating Take That to the number-one slot.
The Road to Wigan Pier Revisited
by Stephen ArmstrongYou think that the recession isn't biting? Look again. You think that the riots in August 2011 were unpredicted? Think again. 75 years after George Orwell's classic expose on life in the North, Stephen Armstrong returns to find that many things have changed, but not always for the better. Here he finds how young girls go missing because of the intransigence of the benefits systems, how fragile hope can be in the face of poverty and why the government stands in the way of a community helping itself. In his journey, taking in Bradford, Sheffield, Liverpool and Wigan, Armstrong reveals a society at the end of its tether, abandoned by all those who speak in its name.
Afropean: Notes from Black Europe
by Johny PittsWinner of the Jhalak Prize'A revelation' Owen Jones'Afropean seizes the blur of contradictions that have obscured Europe's relationship with blackness and paints it into something new, confident and lyrical' Afua Hirsch A Guardian, New Statesman and BBC History Magazine Best Book of 2019 'Afropean. Here was a space where blackness was taking part in shaping European identity ... A continent of Algerian flea markets, Surinamese shamanism, German Reggae and Moorish castles. Yes, all this was part of Europe too ... With my brown skin and my British passport - still a ticket into mainland Europe at the time of writing - I set out in search of the Afropeans, on a cold October morning.'Afropean is an on-the-ground documentary of areas where Europeans of African descent are juggling their multiple allegiances and forging new identities. Here is an alternative map of the continent, taking the reader to places like Cova Da Moura, the Cape Verdean shantytown on the outskirts of Lisbon with its own underground economy, and Rinkeby, the area of Stockholm that is eighty per cent Muslim. Johny Pitts visits the former Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, where West African students are still making the most of Cold War ties with the USSR, and Clichy Sous Bois in Paris, which gave birth to the 2005 riots, all the while presenting Afropeans as lead actors in their own story.
African Myths of Origin
by Stephen BelcherGathering a wide range of traditional African myths, this compelling new collection offers tales of heroes battling mighty serpents and monstrous birds, brutal family conflict and vengeance, and desperate migrations across vast and alien lands. From impassioned descriptions of animal-creators to dramatic stories of communities forced to flee monstrous crocodiles, all the narratives found here concern origins - whether of the universe, peoples or families. Together, they create a kaleidoscopic picture of the rich and varied oral traditions that have shaped the culture and society of successive generations of Africans for thousands of years, throughout the long struggle to survive and explore this massive and environmentally diverse continent.
African and Caribbean People in Britain: A History
by Hakim AdiSHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE A major new history of Britain that transforms our understanding of this country's past'I've waited so long so read a comprehensively researched book about Black history on this island. This is it: a journey of discovery and a truly exciting and important work' Zainab Abbas Despite the best efforts of researchers and campaigners, there remains today a steadfast tendency to reduce the history of African and Caribbean people in Britain to a simple story: it is one that begins in 1948 with the arrival of a single ship, the Empire Windrush, and continues mostly apart from a distinct British history, overlapping only on occasion amid grotesque injustice or pioneering protest.Yet, as acclaimed historian Hakim Adi demonstrates, from the very beginning, from the moment humans first stood on this rainy isle, there have been African and Caribbean men and women set at Britain's heart. Libyan legionaries patrolled Hadrian's Wall while Rome's first 'African Emperor' died in York. In Elizabethan England, 'Black Tudors' served in the land's most eminent households while intrepid African explorers helped Sir Francis Drake to circumnavigate the globe. And, as Britain became a major colonial and commercial power, it was African and Caribbean people who led the radical struggle for freedom - a struggle which raged throughout the twentieth century and continues today in Black Lives Matter campaigns.Charting a course through British history with an unobscured view of the actions of African and Caribbean people, Adi reveals how much our greatest collective achievements - universal suffrage, our victory over fascism, the forging of the NHS - owe to these men and women, and how, in understanding our history in these terms, we are more able to fully understand our present moment.
Africa Solo: My World Record Race from Cairo to Cape Town
by Mark BeaumontSHORTLISTED FOR ADVENTURE TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEARIn the spring of 2015, Mark Beaumont set out from the bustling heart of Cairo on his latest world record attempt - solo, the length of Africa, intending to ride to Cape Town in under 50 days. Seven years since he smashed the world record for cycling round the world, this would be his toughest trip yet. And he would set a new mark that would simply break the limits of endurance.Despite illness, mechanical faults, attempted robbery and stone-throwing children, as well as dehydration in the deserts and unprecedented levels of exhaustion, Mark completed the journey in just 41 days, 10 hours and 22 minutes, after cycling 6,762 miles, spending 439 hours in the saddle (sometimes up to 16 hours a day) and climbing 190,355 feet through 8 countries. It was an astonishing journey, and one that will fascinate and grip the reader.From the obvious dangers of Egypt, Sudan and Kenya, over the unpaved, muddy, mountainous roads of Ethiopia, through the beautiful grasslands of Tanzania and Zambia, to riding at night in Botswana in the company of elephants and giraffes, Mark brings Africa to life in all its complex glory, friendship and curiosity, while inspiring us all to question the bounds of what is possible.
Afraid to Tell
by Heidi Harding Tom Harding Chloe HardingHe was our abusive father.We were just children.No one could know.Heidi was 18 when she read her little sister Chloe’s diary, and discovered that they shared a terrible secret: they had both been abused by their father. After years of fear and isolation, Heidi knew she had to go to the police. For a long time, Chloe resented Heidi for forcing her to disclose what had happened when she wasn’t ready, while their brother, Tom, couldn’t understand how he had so misjudged his father, and at first he didn’t believe their tale. The truth threatened to destroy them all. This is the very honest story of three siblings, and how a man they trusted threatened to tear their family apart.
Afghanistan: Agony of a Nation
by Sandy GallThis book is an account of Sandy Gall's last trip to Afghanistan in 1986 to report the war. It tells of his journey, with all its hardships and dangers, as well as explaining the background to the war including some dramatic pictures of the fighting. Sandy Gall chose to revisit the man he regards as the outstanding commander in Afghanistan, Ahmed Shah Masud, who is trying to organize resistance to the Russians on a regional and eventually national scale. The author views the war as Russia's Vietnam and believes it merits much wider attention. He believes it has been largely neglected because of the difficulties of the terrain and the length of time it takes to get to the remoter areas. For his work in Afghanistan, Sandy Gall - a Reuter correspondent for ten years and ITN "trouble shooter" since 1963 - was awarded the Lawrence of Arabia Memorial Medal in 1987.
Affirming: Letters 1975-1997
by Isaiah Berlin‘IB was one of the great affirmers of our time.’ John Banville, New York Review of BooksThe title of this final volume of Isaiah Berlin’s letters is echoed by John Banville’s verdict in his review of its predecessor, Building: Letters 1960–75, which saw Berlin publish some of his most important work, and create, in Oxford’s Wolfson College, an institutional and architectural legacy. In the period covered by this new volume (1975–97) he consolidates his intellectual legacy with a series of essay collections. These generate many requests for clarification from his readers, and stimulate him to reaffirm and sometimes refine his ideas, throwing substantive new light on his thought as he grapples with human issues of enduring importance.Berlin’s comments on world affairs, especially the continuing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and the collapse of Communism, are characteristically acute. This is also the era of the Northern Ireland Troubles, the Iranian revolution, the rise of Solidarity in Poland, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the spread of Islamic fundamentalism, and wars in the Falkland Islands, the Persian Gulf and the Balkans. Berlin scrutinises the leading politicians of the day, including Reagan, Thatcher and Gorbachev, and draws illuminating sketches of public figures, notably contrasting the personas of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Andrey Sakharov. He declines a peerage, is awarded the Agnelli Prize for ethics, campaigns against philistine architecture in London and Jerusalem, helps run the National Gallery and Covent Garden, and talks at length to his biographer. He reflects on the ideas for which he is famous – especially liberty and pluralism – and there is a generous leavening of the conversational brilliance for which he is also renowned, as he corresponds with friends about politics, the academic world, music and musicians, art and artists, and writers and their work, always displaying a Shakespearean fascination with the variety of humankind.Affirming is the crowning achievement both of Berlin’s epistolary life and of the widely acclaimed edition of his letters whose first volume appeared in 2004.
An Affair with My Mother: A Story of Adoption, Secrecy and Love
by Caitríona Palmer'Incredibly moving' --Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker PrizeAn Affair with My Mother by Caitriona Palmer: a moving and gripping story of love, denial and a daughter's quest for the truth.Caitriona Palmer had a happy childhood in Dublin, raised by loving adoptive parents. But when she was in her late twenties, she realized that she had a strong need to know the woman who had given birth to her. She was able to locate her birth mother, Sarah, and they developed a strong attachment. But Sarah set one painful condition to this joyous new relationship: she wished to keep it - to keep Caitriona - secret from her family, from her friends, from everyone. Who was Sarah, and why did she want to preserve a decades-old secret? An Affair with My Mother tells the story of Caitriona's quest to answer these questions, and of the intense, furtive 'affair' she and her mother conducted in carefully chosen locations around Dublin. By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, An Affair with My Mother is a searing portrait of the social and familial forces that left Sarah - and so many other unwed Irish mothers of her generation - frightened, traumatized and bereft. It is also a beautifully written account of a remarkable relationship.'Caitriona Palmer has called out the false shame of her origins, with a kind of anguished courage that is incredibly moving. An Affair With My Mother is a forensic account of how it feels to be - in the interests of Catholic "respectability" - excluded from the facts of your own life. In its commitment to family love, to joy and truth, it is a gift.' Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize
The Affair: Escape to Lake Como with this year’s most intoxicating and emotionally gripping read
by Hilary BoydEscape to the sun-drenched shores of Lake Como in the irresistible and gripping new novel from the million-copy bestselling author of Thursdays in the Park, The Anniversary and The Lie'Held me spellbound . . . This novel is unmissable' 5***** Reader Review'Magnificent! So refreshing, this left me on the edge of my seat' 5***** Reader Review'The tension builds up to a heart-stopping crescendo' 5***** Reader Review_______On the glamorous shores of Lake Como, Connie meets Jared.She's married. He's young. But that doesn't stop the heat rising between them.And so begins a long, hot, intoxicating summer where Connie succumbs to temptation - breaking her marriage vows.At the end of summer, Connie returns to her husband, ready to put the affair behind her.But Jared has other ideas . . ._______Praise for Hilary Boyd'Hilary Boyd nails family dynamics and misplaced loyalties with pin-sharp precision in an impressively well-written tale' Daily Express'I was ripping through this book . . . addictive' Evening Standard'Boyd is as canny as Joanna Trollope at observing family life' Daily Mail
The Affair: A Collection of Naughtiness from Black Lace
by VariousIndulgent and sensual, outrageous and taboo, but always highly erotic, this new collection of Black Lace stories takes the illicit and daring rendezvous with a lover (or lovers) as its theme. Popular Black Lace authors like Portia Da Costa and Janine Ashbless contribute saucy tales, as do a number of brand new passionate and edgy voices from the US. Packed with a broad and thrilling range of women's sexual fantasies.
Aethelred the Unready: The Failed King (Penguin Monarchs)
by Richard Abels'Æthelred's reign of nearly thirty-eight years was the longest of any Anglo-Saxon ruler. If he had died in AD 1000, history would have remembered him more kindly'Few monarchs of the Middle Ages have had a worse popular reputation than Æthelred II, 'the Unready', remembered as the king who lost England to Viking invaders. But, as Richard Abels shows, the failure to defend his realm was not entirely his alone. Æthelred was in many ways an innovative ruler but one whose challenges - a divided court, a fragile nascent kingdom, a voracious, hydra-headed enemy - were ultimately too great to overcome.