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Hodder and Stoughton
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«Communication is essential to our lives, but how often do we stop to think about where the words we use have come from? Have you ever thought about which words in English have been borrowed from Arabic, French or Dutch? Try admiral, landscape and marmalade just for starters. «The Secret Life of Words» is a wide-ranging account not only of the history of English, but also of how words witness history, reflect social change and remind us of our turbulent past. Henry Hitchings delves into our promiscuous language and reveals how and why it has absorbed words from more than 350 other languages many originating from the most unlikely of places, such as shampoo from Hindi and kiosk from Turkish. From the Norman Conquest to the present day, Hitchings narrates the story of English as an archive of our human experience and uncovers the secrets behind everyday words. This is a celebration of our language; after reading it, you will never again take the words we use for granted.» |
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During his year of exploration, Patrick meets a rich cast of characters. Among them is a young local wine-maker called Virgile, who offers to initiate Patrick into the mysteries of each season's work in the fields and in the cellar. Virgile is passionately committed to perfection, though he operates on a shoestring. At the other extreme is Manu, Patrick's dipsomaniac neighbour, a die-hard traditionalist producing a private wine lake of unspeakable rouge. With Manu as his self-appointed guide, Patrick embarks on a tour of the region's wine makers, a succession of lively encounters with growers as varied as the wines themselves. Interwoven are digressions into the history of the region and its wine-making, right back to the earliest plantings by the Greeks and Romans. Meanwhile, the author struggles to deal with his dilapidated inheritance – an unfamiliar and unpredictable world where the brambles have grown as tall as the olive trees, the water supply has just dried up and there is a ferocious animal under the roof tiles. |
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When the German High Command encircled Leningrad it was a deliberate policy to eradicate the city`s civilian population by starving them to death. As winter set in and food supplies dwindled, starvation and panic set in. A specialist in battle psychology and the vital role of morale in desperate circumstances, Michael Jones tells the human story of Leningrad. Drawing on newly available eyewitness accounts and diaries, he shows Leningrad in its every dimension including taboo truths, long-suppressed by the Soviets, such as looting, criminal gangs and cannibalism. But, for many ordinary citizens, Leningrad marked the triumph of the human spirit. They drew deeply on their inner resources to inspire, comfort and help one another. At the height of the siege an extraordinary live performance of Shostakovich`s Seventh Symphony profoundly strengthened the city`s will to resist. When German troops heard it in their trenches one remarked: `We began to understand we would never take Leningrad`. Yet, Leningrad`s self-defence came at a huge price. When the 900-day siege ended in 1944 almost a million people had died and those who survived would be permanently marked by what they had endured, as this superbly insightful and moving history shows. |
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This volume forms part two of the two-stage successor to Sigue!. It shares the same aim of providing a practical, motivating and lively progression to Advanced Level Spanish. It is the student's book, and features varied task formats, texts, and progression from a realistic starting point. The second edition also contains: a new unit on advanced study skills; regular development of study skills throughout; new units on the themes of modern Spain in the European context, education and career opportunities, work and technology, community relationships in the Hispanic societies, law and order, the environment, a dossier case study of Catalunya, and Spanish as a world language; factual background on aspects of Hispanic life and culture; practical guidance on pronunciation and intonation; emphasis on systematic grammar practice via listening as well as reading; and a new assessment unit, constructed to meet A Level requirements. |
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Ever wondered how some people seem to have an opinion on every book ever published? Nowadays, there are so many books: how can anyone be well read anymore? Well, help is at hand. Let Henry Hitchings educate you in the invaluable skill of literary bluffing in this survivor`s guide to talking about books you haven`t read. With tips on how to bluff with confidence using quotable insights and invaluable trivia, Henry Hitchings covers all the great books you ought to have read but haven`t got round to yet. If you want to be able to hold your own in a debate about Stephen Hawking or Philip Roth or perhaps you find Shakespeare or Dostoevsky intimidating, then look no further. Including literary heavyweights such as Ulysses, Bleak House and War and Peace this guide will equip you with all the bookish information you need to bluff your way through any scenario, be it a vital exam, an in-depth conversation at the pub or chatting up the potential love of your life. Contents includes, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, Henry James, James Joyce, Proust, Homer, Virgil, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Dickens, various contemporary writers, the Bible, the Koran, fairy tales, select bestsellers and some poetry. |
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Abby's memories are her most precious thing. Even though they're sometimes painful, she can't stop herself looking back, reliving the love of her life. Until a freak accident means that she could lose it all: every memory and experience she has ever had. Abby can't believe it's true. She feels fine. She is fine. How could she possibly forget all those moments that make her who she is? She's determined to fight it. With the help of her friends and family, Abby makes a list of things she's always wanted to do. She's going to save her memory by having the most unforgettable year of her life! |
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It is barely three months since the murder of his wife and Thomas Lynley takes to the South-West Coast Path in Cornwall, determined to walk its length in an attempt to distract himself from his loss. On the forty-third day of this walk, he sees a cliff climber fall to his death a death apparently witnessed by a surfer in a nearby cove. Shortly afterwards, Lynley encounters a young woman from Bristol whose personal history is a blank before her thirteenth year. These events propel him into a case that brings Barbara Havers from London and thrusts both detectives into a world where revenge is only one of the motives they must sift through to identify a killer. |
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Paris, 1903. Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald, one of the greatest heroes of the British Empire, is facing ruin in a shocking homosexual scandal when he meets the notorious occultist, Aleister Crowley. As they set out into the night on a wild journey through the sinful city, the story of Macdonald's tragedy begins to unfold — with startling revelations both for the General and the aspiring magician. In a tale that ranges from the battlefields of Sudan to the backstreets of Edinburgh, Jake Arnott brings alive a fascinating, forgotten figure of history, and a world trembling on the brink of a brutal new era. Black magic, Baden-Powell and Islamic revolution are just some of the ingredients in this bold and exhilarating novel, which explores imperialism, sexuality and the very nature of belief with an immediacy that resonates into the present. |
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What if the second world war had started in 1938? The two sides of the Spanish civil war are still locked in a blood-soaked stalemate. Stalin's purge of the Red Army is barely underway. And Neville Chamberlain — sickened by the arrogance and duplicity of the Germans — does not return from Munich waving the piece of paper that would give the Czech arms factories to Hitler and postpone the war until 1939. On October 1, German tanks cross the Czech frontier, touching off declarations of war from France, from England, from the USSR. Poland, fearing the Russians more than Hitler, declares war on the German side. Soon Fascist Spain attacks Gibraltar, the Japanese army crosses the Manchurian frontier into Siberia...and the British Army sets off for France, which has launched a pre-emptive attack on the Rhineland. The war we know as World War II has begun — a year early, in an entirely different way. |
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When Charlie Parker was still a boy, his father, a NYPD cop, killed a young couple, a boy and a girl barely older than his son, then took his own life. There was no explanation for his actions. Stripped of his private investigator's license, and watched by the police, Parker is working in a Portland bar, holding down a job and staying out of trouble. But in the background, he is working on his most personal case yet, an investigation into his own origins and the circumstances surrounding the death of his father, Will. It is an investigation that will reveal a life haunted by lies, by his mother's loss and his father's betrayal, by secrets kept and loyalties compromised. And by two figures in the shadows, a man and a woman, with only one purpose: to bring an end to Charlie Parker's existence... |
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'I can imagine you at forty', she said, with malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.' He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.' 15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows? Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY. From the author of the massive bestseller STARTER FOR TEN. |
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May, who is the doppelganger of a naiad (yes, really...) falls in love with a brooding, gorgeous man. Sparks fly — literally — when she discovers he's actually a dragon...But can fire and water mix? |
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Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was an awesome sword-fighter, a dragon-whisperer and the greatest Viking Hero who ever lived. But it wasn't always like that. Hiccup's memoirs look back to when Hiccup was just an ordinary boy, and finding it very hard to be a Hero. Fishlegs has been struck with deadly Vorpentitis. The only cure is rare and almost impossible to find...a potato. But where on Berk will Hiccup find such a thing? Hiccup will have to dodge Sharkworms, battle Doomfangs and outwit crazy Hooligans if he's going to be a Hero...again. |
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Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was an awesome sword-fighter, a dragon-whisperer and the greatest Viking Hero who ever lived. But it wasn't always like that. Hiccup's memoirs look back to when Hiccup was just an ordinary boy, and finding it very hard to be a Hero. What happens when someone says 'Do Not Open This Box'? Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, now in pirate training, finds out when the box is opened not once, not twice, but three times! |
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This text is part of the Superphonics series of graded readers which use a phonic approach developed by reading expert Ruth Miskin. There are four levels in this series; Blue (the easiest), Green, Purple and Turquoise (the hardest). Each level is linked to one of the core Superphonics books. Green storybooks practise the sounds taught in Supersonics Book 3. A Bull in a China Shop focuses on the following sounds: double consonants, for example ll as in bull; blended conconants, for example ng as in rang; and two or three consonants together, for example lp as in help and sm as in smash. |
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The English eccentric is under threat. In our increasingly homogenised society, these celebrated parts of our national identity are anomalies that may soon no longer fit. Or so it seems. On his entertaining and thought-provoking quest to discover the most eccentric English person alive today, Henry Hemming unearths a surprisingly large array of delightfully odd characters. He asks what it is to be an eccentric. Is it simply to thrive on creativity and non-conformity, and where does this incarnation of Englishness stem from? Hemming concludes that this tribe is, in fact, in rude health, as essential as ever to the English national identity, only they are no longer to be found where you'd expect them. |
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Lorna Martins life is in chaos. She is embroiled in a dysfunctional relationship and is close to quitting her job as a high-flying journalist. Having missed three flights in ten days, she finds herself seeking solace in the airport bar at 7am. On top of all that, shes the only woman she knows in her mid-thirties without a partner, a mortgage or even a cat. Egged on by her friends, she signs up for some intensive therapy. What follows is a glorious journey of self-discovery. For Lorna, therapy involves owning up to feeling jealous of her baby nephew and admitting that shes secretly expecting The One to come and save her. And she still cant stop herself from sabotaging her prospects with a certain Doctor McDreamy. But with support (and not a little exasperation) from her friends and long-suffering sister, some serious setting-the-world-to-rights sessions involving too many bottles of wine, and the help of her inscrutable shrink, Lorna feels she might be getting her life together. Revealing, intimate and highly entertaining, Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a must-read for any woman who loves the idea of being in love and worries about settling for second best. |
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Hiccup is lost in the Library Labyrinth and the Driller-Dragons and Madguts and Murderous are on the prowl. Hiccup's birthday is not going to be the quiet affair he might have hoped for... Also contains a comprehensive Dragonese Dictionary for those who'd like to dragon-whisper as well as the dragon-whisperer himself... |
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Jack's little sister, Susie, is so annoying! The Secret Seven are furious when they discover she's formed her own detective gang! Then some money is stolen, and Susie is a chief suspect. The Seven can't quite believe it — Susie wouldn't do anything that bad, would she? |
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