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Hodder and Stoughton
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Are you looking for a complete course in Mandarin Chinese which takes you effortlessly from beginner to confident speaker? Whether you are starting from scratch, or are just out of practice, Complete Mandarin Chinese will guarantee success! Now fully updated to make your language learning experience fun and interactive. You can still rely on the benefits of a top language teacher and our years of teaching experience, but now with added learning features within the course and online. The course is structured in thematic units and the emphasis is placed on communication, so that you effortlessly progress from introducing yourself and dealing with everyday situations, to using the phone and talking about work. By the end of this course, you will be at Level B2 of the Common European Framework for Languages: Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. |
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New wicked humour from the author of the bestselling Bunny Suicide books This Christmas you can finally let your bunnies out of their padded hutches, because Andy Riley doesn't want them anymore. He wants your children! From the creator of the bestselling Bunny books comes more wicked humour — GREAT LIES TO TELL SMALL KIDS. They range from merely bogus to truly cruel: 'Every ant you meet must be named' 'It takes the beaks of seven penguins to make a Penguin biscuit' 'All wind is made by wind farms' 'Wine makes mummy clever' 'Ronald McDonald is dead!' Each hilarious cartoon tells a tall tale to bamboozle kids and entertain wicked adults everywhere. |
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In a jazz bar on the last night of 1937, watching a quartet because she couldn't afford to see the whole ensemble, there were certain things Katey Kontent knew: the location of every old church in Manhattan how to sneak into the cinema how to type eighty words a minute, five thousand an hour, and nine million a year and that if you can still lose yourself in the first chapter of a Dickens novel then everything is probably going to be fine. By the end of the year she'd learned: how to launch a paper airplane high over Park Avenue how to live like a redhead how to insist upon the very best that the word 'yes' can be a poison and the Rules of Civility. That's how quickly New York City comes about — like a weathervane — or the head of a cobra. Time tells which. |
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How do you know he's The One? Are you getting butterflies just thinking about him? Have you dreamt of marrying him? Do you just know? When Lucy meets Nate in Venice, she knows instantly he's The One. And, caught up in the whirlwind of first love, they kiss under the Bridge of Sighs at sunset. Which — according to legend — will tie them together forever. But ten years later, they've completely lost contact. That is, until Lucy moves to New York and the legend brings them back together. Again. And again. And again. But what if Nate isn't The One? How is she going to get rid of him? Because forever could be a very long time... A funny, magical romantic comedy about how finding The One doesn't always have to mean happily ever after. |
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Thousands will die. It is not known where, or how, or who is behind the threat. 007 is given carte blanche to do anything necessary to protect his country, but there is no blank slate when innocent lives are at stake. The only suspects are career killers with no care for civilian victims. Bond must find out who is paying them, what they plan, and stop them. And he has five days to do it. |
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In Derry, Maine, four young boys once stood together and did a brave thing. Something that changed them in ways they hardly understand. A quarter of a century later, the boys are men who have gone their separate ways. Though they still get together once a year, to go hunting in the north woods of Maine. But this time is different. This time a man comes stumbling into their camp, lost, disoriented and muttering about lights in the sky. Before long, these old friends will be plunged into the most remarkable events of their lives as they struggle with a terrible creature from another world. Their only chance of survival is locked in their shared past — and in the Dreamcatcher. |
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The course of Frank Mackey's life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Frank never heard from her again. Twenty years on, Frank is still in Dublin, working as an undercover cop. He's cut all ties with his dysfunctional family. Until his sister calls to say that Rosie's suitcase has been found. Frank embarks on a journey into his past that demands he reevaluate everything he believes to be true. |
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With the great sword Caliburn in his hand and Merlin the enchanter at his side, Arthur comes out of hiding to claim the crown he was born to wear. Merlin, Arthur's protector, sees the glories and horrors that await the new king... and to save him Merlin musters all his power to weave one last enchantment. He is showing signs of age and he gradually realises he is losing his powers of prophecy and clairvoyance to a younger generation. But he is able to accept this because he knows that they will be at the service of his beloved monarch whose fabled victories, marriage and the building of Camelot shine through these pages. |
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Stephen Fry's secret wife speaks out at last... Enjoyed a nice cuppa this morning with a HobNob and Jeremy Kyle. There was a woman on there who'd been married 16 years without realising her husband was gay. Extraordinary! Which reminds me, it's our 16th anniversary in a few weeks. What a coincidence. Stephen Fry — actor, writer, raconteur and wit. Cerebral and sophisticated, a true Renaissance man. Or is he? Finally, his secret double life — the womanizing, the window-cleaning, the kebabs, the karaoke — is exclusively revealed by Edna, his devoted wife and mother of his five, six or possibly seven children. These diaries take us through a year in the life of an unwitting celebrity wife, and are rumoured to include: — scandalous nocturnal shenanigans — advice on childcare — 101 things to do with a tin of Spam. 'A good diary should be like a good husband — a constant companion, a source of inspiration and, ideally, bound in leather.' |
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1592. England and Spain are at war, yet there is peril at home, too. The death of her trusted spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham has left Queen Elizabeth vulnerable. Conspiracies multiply. The quiet life of John Shakespeare is shattered by a summons from Robert Cecil, the cold but deadly young statesman who dominated the last years of the Queen's long reign, insisting Shakespeare re-enter government service. His mission: to find vital papers, now in the possession of the Earl of Essex. Essex is the brightest star in the firmament, a man of ambition. He woos the Queen, thirty-three years his senior, as if she were a girl his age. She is flattered by him — despite her loathing for his mother, the beautiful, dangerous Lettice Knollys who presides over her own glittering court — a dazzling array of the mad, bad, dangerous and disaffected. When John Shakespeare infiltrates this dissolute world he discovers not only that the Queen herself is in danger — but that he and his family is also a target. With only his loyal footsoldier Boltfoot Cooper at his side, Shakespeare must face implacable forces who believe themselves above the law: men and women who kill without compunction. And in a world of shifting allegiances, just how far he can trust Robert Cecil, his devious new master? |
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In February 1943, German forces surrendered to the Red Army at Stalingrad and the tide of war turned. By May 1945 Soviet soldiers had stormed Berlin and brought down Hitler's regime. Total War follows the fortunes of these fighters as they liberated Russia and the Ukraine from the Nazi invader and fought their way into the heart of the Reich. It reveals the horrors they experienced — the Holocaust, genocide and the mass murder of Soviet POWs — and shows the Red Army, brutalized by war, taking its terrible revenge on the German civilian population. For the first time Russian veterans are candid about the terrible atrocities their own army committed. But they also describe their struggle to raise themselves from the abyss of hatred. Their war against the Nazis — which in large part brought the Second World War in Europe to an end — is a tarnished but deeply moving story of sacrifice and redemption. |
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The story continues in the ninth volume of Hiccup's How to Train Your Dragon memoirs. Bad times have come to the Archipelago. Ever since the woods of Berserk burned down, it is almost as if the world is cursed. Dragons are starting to revolt against their Masters. The waters have risen, flooding fields and washing whole villages away. But worse still, the wicked witch Excellinor has returned. Can Hiccup find the King's Things and win the sword-fighting contest to stop Alvin the Treacherous from becoming King of the Wilderwest? How to Train Your Dragon is a DreamWorks film starring Gerrard Butler, America Ferrera and Jonah Hill, out on DVD adapted from the best selling How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. Read the rest of Hiccup's exploits in How to Train Your Dragon, How to Be a Pirate, How to Speak Dragonese, How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse, How to Twist a Dragon's Tale, A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons, How to Ride a Dragon's Storm and How to Break a Dragon's Heart. Check out the website for games, downloads, activities and sneak peeks! Read all about Hiccup and all of your favourite characters, learn to speak Dragonese and train your own Dragon to do tricks! |
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In this delightful story collection, you will find the four classic Kipper picture books: Kipper, Kipper's Toybox, Kipper's Birthday and Kipper's Snowy Day. It is the perfect gift for old and new Kipper fans! |
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Join Class Two as they wander round the zoo. They see all sorts of animal antics, but they don't notice the anaconda slipping up behind that's determined to make a meal of them. But Class Two are a resourceful bunch and come up with a rescue plan. |
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You can count on Mr Pusskins to teach you all about numbers! Mr Pusskins is being pesky again! Join the him as he races and chases through the neighbourhood until — uh-oh! — he bumps into mischief! Learn all about numbers with the irresistible Mr Pusskins. Each of the Mr Pusskins board books are packed with Sam Lloyd's trademark wit and humour — perfect for even the very youngest Mr Pusskins fans. |
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A bonkers book of rib-tickling rhymes and loopy limericks. Warning: You'll laugh your socks off! |
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Twenty years have passed since Stefan Salvatore last saw his brother, Damon. Now, living in a remote town in England, Stefan is finally able to start over. But when news from London reaches Stefan of a brutal killer on the loose, who goes by Jack the Ripper, Stefan suspects that the murders are the work of a vampire... his brother. Full of dark shadows and surprising twists, the fourth book in the Stefan's Diaries series raises the stakes for the Salvatore brothers as they face new loves, old treacheries, and unimaginable threats. |
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Elena Gilbert and her friends saved Fell's Church from evil spirits bent on destroying it, but the town's freedom came at a price: Damon Salvatore's life. Damon's death changes everything. He and his vampire brother, Stefan, had been locked in a vicious battle for Elena's heart. Now that he's gone, Elena and Stefan can finally be together. So why can't Elena stop dreaming of Damon? As Elena's feelings for Damon grow, a new darkness is brewing in Fell's Church. Elena has been to hell and back, but this demon is like nothing she's ever seen. Its only goal is to kill Elena and everyone she loves. |
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Set in an international high school in Paris, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is told in three voices: that of Will, a charismatic young teacher who brings ideas alive in the classroom in a way that profoundly affects his students; Gilad, one of Will's students who has grown up behind compound walls in places like Dakar and Dubai, and for whom Paris and Will's senior seminar are the first heady tastes of freedom; and Marie, the beautiful, vulnerable senior with whom, unbeknowst to Gilad, Will is having an illicit affair. Utterly compelling, brilliantly written, YOU DESERVE NOTHING is a captivating tale about teachers and students, of moral uncertainties and the coming of adulthood. It heralds the arrival of a brilliant new voice in fiction. |
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A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of mummified corpses and chanting priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love... A year unlike any other he has lived. Deep in the heart of Paris, its oldest cemetery is, by 1785, overflowing, tainting the very breath of those who live nearby. Into their midst comes Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young, provincial engineer charged by the king with demolishing it. At first Baratte sees this as a chance to clear the burden of history, a fitting task for a modern man of reason. But before long, he begins to suspect that the destruction of the cemetery might be a prelude to his own. |
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