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HarperCollins Publishers
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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. I see that a man cannot give himself up to drinking without being miserable one-half his days and mad the other. When Helen flees from her alcoholic husband in order to protect her son she defies societal convention. Earning a living as an artist, she becomes the mysterious tenant of Wildfell Hall as she hides herself away and uses her art to support her child. However, the beautiful and reclusive young woman soon begins to stir up malicious gossip and speculation. Captivated and drawn to Helen, Gilbert Markham becomes suspicious when he begins to hear these stories, however it is only when he reads Helen's diary that he learns the full cruelty that her husband subjected her to in her previous life. Rejecting the societal norms surrounding marriage in Victorian Society, Anne Bronte's novel, said to be based on the experiences of her own brother Branwell, shocked her readers at the time and still remains a scandalous read today. |
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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within as on the state of things without and around us. Considered one of her less well-known novels, Shirley is Charlotte Bronte's only historical work, set during the Napoleonic Wars. Wealthy and independent, Shirley is very different from her friend Caroline who has few prospects and is dependent on her uncle. Struggling Mill owner Robert Moore considers marriage to the monied Shirley in order to secure his financial future, however it is Caroline who he loves while Shirley has fallen for Robert's brother, an impoverished tutor who is deemed an unsuitable match for her. Unsentimental, yet unflinching in its honest portrayal of love, class conflict and identity, Bronte uses the backdrop of her beloved Yorkshire to play out the tensions and dramas of a society facing social and industrial upheaval. |
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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. I've worn that mask so long I don't feel safe without it. The Man in the Iron Mask sees D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis return to meet their destinies in their final adventure. D'Artagnan still remains in the service of King Louis XIV while Aramis is a priest at the Bastille prison. Upon listening to a confession from an iron-masked prisoner who tells him that he is the twin brother of the King of France, Aramis is convinced that he will be rewarded if he can help him become king and he devises a plan for his escape, pitching himself against his old comrade D'Artagnan. Far darker than Dumas' previous novels, The Man in the Iron Mask is a fast-paced and compelling historical romance of honour and loyalty. |
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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. We're their slaves as long as we can work; we pile up their fortunes with the sweat of our brows, and yet we are to live as separate as if we were in two worlds! Set in the industrial unrest of 1840s Manchester, Mary Barton is a factory-worker's daughter living a working-class life in Victorian England. She soon attracts the attentions of the mill-owner's son, Harry Carson, and in the hope that marrying him will improve her prospects and help her to transcend class boundaries, she rejects her former lover Jem Wilson. However, when Harry is shot the main suspect is Jem and Mary finds herself torn between the two men. At the same time, she discovers that her father, John Barton, who has been active in fighting for the rights of his fellow workers is implicated in the murder. Gaskell's exploration of the class division and the oppression of the working-class is demonstrated effectively through the character of Mary, highlighting how lack of communication and mistrust can arise through such vast differences in lifestyle and wealth. |
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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. Caution comes too late when we are in the midst of evils. Set just before the Jacobite Rising in 1715, Scott drew upon the political and economic struggles leading up to the rebellion and the tumultuous history of the Highlands in his classic adventure novel Rob Roy. Despite the book's title, Frank Osbaldistone is the protagonist, travelling through England and the Scottish Highlands to collect a debt owed to his father by his cousin Rashleigh. On his journey he comes across the mysterious and striking Rob Roy, the infamous yet hunted outlaw. A story about justice, love and the harsh realities of 18th-century Highland life, Scott's work is still viewed as the ultimate historical adventure novel. |
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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. Don't you sometimes feel that this is the kind of life we were meant to live on this earth? Everything we need, everything, right here, right at our fingertips. Said to be inspired by Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Wyss' tale of a family stranded at sea and washed up on a tropical island has become a much-loved classic. As the Swiss pastor, his wife and four sons struggle to create a life for themselves on the island, they soon learn to use their own ingenuity and rely upon the natural resources supplied by the nature that surrounds them. Daily challenges and struggles test the family, but each member discovers how to harness their own unique skills and qualities to overcome any obstacle. |
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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. I snapped the switch, but there was nobody there. Then I saw something in the far corner which made me drop my cigar and fall into a cold sweat. When Richard Hannay is warned of an assassination plot that has the potential to take Britain into a war, and then a few days later discovers the murdered body of the American that warned him in his flat, he becomes a prime suspect. He flees to the moors of Scotland and a spirited chase begins as he is pursued by the police and the German spies involved with stealing British plans. Buchan's tale unfolds into one of the seminal and most influential chase books, mimicked by many, yet unrivalled in the tension and mystery created by his writing. Buchan reveres Hannay as an ordinary man who puts his country's good before his own and the classic themes of the novel influenced many films and subsequent man-on-the-run novels. |
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HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Now seen as one of the great English comic novels, Tristram Shandy caused a stir on publication in polite 18th-century English society. The novel broke with conventions of form and structure, foreshadowing postmodern authors by 200 years, and scandalized with bawdy descriptions and rambling prose. Hugely influenced by Francis Bacon, Rabelais and Jonathan Swift, clergyman Lawrence Sterne manages to both eloquently champion the literary and scientific views of the day, and to satirize those same idols in the next outrageous breath. The questionable hero and narrator of the novel, the eponymous Tristram Shandy, attempts to tell the reader his life story, but as he digresses ever further on everything from sexual practices, the importance of a name, obstetrics, linguistics, weaponry and philosophy, the reader quickly learns that the path won't be a linear one, and gets wrapped up in the author's exuberance and wit — as Tristram's ill-fated conception and birth don't even enter the story until Volume III. Encompassing a humorously memorable cast of misfits, including his eccentric father Walter, obsessive Uncle Toby, accident-prone mother Susannah, pastor Yorick, and a gaggle of other characters, Tristram Shandy's restless energy and modern-seeming wit explain why Nietzsche, Karl Marx, Schopenhauer, Michael Winterbottom, and Michael Nyman count among its numerous fans. |
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This is Sidney Sheldon's fifth novel, repackaged to accompany his memoirs, The Other Side of Me. Jennifer Parker is brilliant, beautiful and bold. A lawyer, the most glamorous and successful in America, she dominates the court with her sparkling intelligence and persuasive charms. She seems unbeatable — but is she really? When Jennifer falls in love, she can hardly believe her luck. Adam Warner is handsome, smart, destined to be the next President of the United States — and married! Jennifer falls pregnant and yet is determined not to allow her broken heart to get in the way of her success. But she soon realises that being alone makes her more vulnerable to those who are determined to destroy her! Sidney Sheldon gives us his greatest character yet in this bestselling tale of power, love and intrigue. |
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«The Murder at the Vicarage» is the first novel in which appears the shrewd miss Marple. She masterfully unravels the mysterious murder of the Church warden, occurred in a quiet village in the house of the local vicar. People who are not used text in the original language has comments, and a Glossary.» |
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NEW AND UNREAD PAPERBACK, ONE OF A NUMBER OF JAMES PATTERSON TITLES I HAVE LISTED AND AVAILABLE. |
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A consuming tale of fame and passion from the internationally bestselling author of The Other Side of Midnight and If Tomorrow Comes. From humble beginnings, Toby Temple becomes a superstar. He knows what he wants – and he always makes sure he gets what he wants. He is the world's funniest comedian, loved by presidents, lusted after by women. But, deep down, he yearns for love and stability. Jill Castle has always been an outsider, desperate to be accepted. Despite her great beauty, she finds breaking into Hollywood as an actress impossible without auditioning on the Directors' infamous casting couches. But, with one glance, Toby falls for Jill's beauty and sweeps her out of obscurity to stardom by his side. Now, she can get the revenge she has always longed for… Glamour, glitz, sex and revenge combine in this classic Sidney Sheldon novel, one of his page-turning best. |
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From the author of Britain BC, Britain AD and 'Britain in the Middle Ages' comes the fourth and final part in a critically acclaimed series on Britain's hidden past It might be thought that in the modern world, where documentary evidence abounds, there is no place for archaeology. But nothing could be further from the truth. Documentary records alone are not sufficient to provide a balanced view of Britain's recent history. This is hardly surprising in the agricultural and industrial revolutions, when pioneers were too busy inventing to record what was happening around them. But the same could apply in much later times. In the Second World War the imminent threat of invasion and the sheer pressure of events made the keeping of records less important than the building of physical defences, such as concrete anti-tank cubes and pill-boxes. As a result, archaeological evidence still provides the most reliable guide to the extent of Britain's anti-invasion defences in the autumn of 1940. Covering the whole of the post-medieval period, from 1550 to the present day, Francis Pryor brings his customary wit and erudition to the study of modern historical archaeology, probably the fastest-growing branch of the subject. Ranging over topics as diverse as the birth of modern agriculture, the growth of towns and cities, and the development of roads, canals and railways, he brings to a gripping conclusion his illuminating journey into Britain's archaeological past. |
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The world's balance of power is about to shift dangerously as the ultimate weapon nears completion in a secret facility in the heart of the desert. Across the globe, operatives from the great nations set a deadly game in motion, covertly maneuvering pawns and kings to achieve a frightening advantage — while terrorists and their hunters prepare for the contest's final bloody moves. And one man — a razor-sharp master of disguise, deceit, and triple-cross — must somehow do the impossible: steal 200 tons of uranium without any of the other players discovering the theft. |
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Exotic, erotic — Lustbader is back. His first fantasy novel for sixteen years, and it’s well worth waiting for. He is the Dai-San, the Sunset Warrior: glorious and terrible to behold. Neither man nor god, yet the power he wields is beyond description. With it, he slayed the Dolman, the dark angel of Chaos. But the Dai-San is not invincible. He still has bitter lessons to learn. Along the darkest road of his struggles, the Dai-San was aided by his beloved bond-brother Moichi; and in his moments of relief he earned the love of Chiisai. They are his greatest allies, for they are unswerving in their loyalty: they are his greatest weakness, for each has seen inside his soul and knows how he can be defeated. Now, in a world where nothing is as it seems and dangerous ambitions are brutally realized, Chaos finds an agent through which it can return and once again challenge its deadliest enemy, the Dai-San. And whatever the prize, Chaos will have its revenge… |
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This first volume of Margaret Thatcher's memoirs, which encompasses the whole of her time as Prime Minister. Margaret Thatcher is the towering figure of late-twentieth-century British politics. No other prime minister of modern times has sought to change Britain and its place in the world as radically as she did. This is the story of her remarkable life in her own words. This first volume of her memoirs is a riveting first-hand portrait of the events and personalities of her eleven years in power. She recalls the triumphs and the critical moments of her premiership — the Falklands War, the miners' strike, the Brighton bomb, the Westland Affair and her unprecedented three election victories. Her judgements of the men and women she encountered, whether world statesmen or Cabinet colleagues, are astonishingly frank. She is lavish with praise where it is due; devastating with criticism when it is not. The book reaches a gripping climax with an hour-by-hour description from inside 10 Downing Street of her dramatic final days in office. Margaret Thatcher's compelling account stands as a powerful testament to her extraordinary legacy. |
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The ultimate celebration of the first Hobbit movie reveals the full creative vision of the art and design teams with more than 1,000 exclusive images and photos, including designs and concepts that never made it to the big screen. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles — Art & Design is packed with more than 1,000 images of concept artwork, photographs and development paintings by the artists working behind the scenes to bring Middle-earth to life, each of whom provides detailed and entertaining commentary that reveals the story behind the vision. As a bonus feature unique to this book, there is a special fold-out map printed in glow-in-the-dark ink and a three-page fold-out replica of Bilbo's contract. Compiled by Weta Workshop senior concept designer Daniel Falconer, this is the first in a series of lavish hardback books written and designed by the award-winning team at Weta, who are working closely with the production team to guarantee that these books will be bursting with insider information and stunning visual imagery. |
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Film tie-in edition of the best-selling classic work of fantasy of Bilbo Baggins' adventures in Middle-earth, featuring the complete story told in both films, with a striking cover image from Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY and drawings and maps by J.R.R. Tolkien. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey 'there and back again'. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon! The prelude to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies since its publication in 1937, establishing itself as one of the most beloved and influential books of the twentieth century. |
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The notious dating handbook which, though many of the tips it gives 'Never call a man first' etc. (designied to make Mr Right hungry for more) are old-fashioned have been found effective by millions of women worldwide. A New York Times No. 1 bestseller, the book's phenomenal success quickly spread. After 'Men Are From Mars' this is our bestselling relationships book and sales show no signs of abating. |
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