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Книги издательства «Macmillan Publishers»
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Between the end of the nineteenth century and the Second World War, Macmillan published a much-loved and extremely successful series of books under the title of Highways and Byways. In them, the authors took readers on a delightful guided tour of the country, county by county, pointing out places of interest, key historical events and local lore and legend. Now, Macmillan is reissuing — in one beautifully designed volume — a selection of those highways and byways, which affords contemporary readers both a charming period piece and a wonderful glimpse of the very best of Britain. |
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Detective Harry Mason has rejoined the South African Police Service after a two-year leave of absence, and moved over to the specialised Serious and Violent Crimes unit, headed by the tough and fiery veteran commander Superintendent Carl 'Blackie' Swarts. Soon afterwards, Harry is assigned to investigate the slaying of a minor politician and his family, in a township west of Johannesburg. The case, at first seemingly unsolvable, is abruptly saved by an enigmatic grassroots anarchist whom Harry befriended during the apartheid riots of the '80s, and soon the SVC is hot on the heels of one of the country's most secretive and violent vigilante groups, known as 'The Guardians', headed up by two brothers whose brutality is legendary amongst the poor inhabitants of Johannesburg's squatter camps.As the investigation slices away at the layers of secrecy surrounding this group, other secrets surface — truths that ultimately pose a threat to Harry's unit, and to the city at large. When Harry is abruptly gunned down by unseen assassins during a dawn raid on a remote village, and a bomb is detonated in the judicial heartland of Johannesburg, his former police partner and long-time friend, Detective Jacob Tshabalala, is forced to take matters into his own hands, and expose a splinter faction of vigilantes operating within the police service itself — a faction whose connections stretch all the way into parliament itself. |
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When Florrie Maltby defies her father by refusing to marry Gervase Richards, she sets off a chain of events that will alter her life. Instead she goes to London and becomes involved with the suffragette movement. She's imprisoned for her militant actions, and goes on hunger strike. With her health deteriorating, there is one person who can save her — Gervase. After a brief stay in the countryside to recuperate, Florrie returns to London to continue her fight for women's rights. Only the outbreak of the Great War puts a halt to her activities. It is when James, her younger brother, is shamed by their father into volunteering, that Florrie enlists as a nurse and is sent to the Front. Amidst the fear and horror of the hospital close to the trenches, she finds love. But when her beloved brother is accused of desertion, help comes from a very unexpected source. |
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Al Greenwood has decided to kill his wife, and he`s planned the perfect murder. But things don`t turn out quite the way he hoped, and Al finds himself committing more crimes to cover his tracks. |
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Why are Iraqi prisoners of war forced to listen to Barney the Purple Dinosaur's theme tune repeatedly, at top volume? Why have a hundred de-bleated goats been secretly placed inside the Special Forces command centre at Fort Bragg, North Carolina? Has the US Army really enlisted the help of Uri Geller? In The Men Who Stare at Goats, Jon Ronson searches for answers to these and many other questions, revealing some of the extraordinary beliefs at the core of the War on Terror. 'Not only a narcotic road trip through the wackier reaches of Bush's war effort, but also an unmissable account of some of the insanity that has lately been done in our names' — Observer. 'Funny and gravely serious, what emerges is a world shrouded in secrecy, mystery and wackiness... Mind-blowing stuff' — Metro. 'A funny and tragic story of how the hippie dream was enlisted by the military' — Daily Telegraph. |
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'The world will witness my despair...' In the heart of Beijing's business district, a man throws himself off the top of a building. Tied to an advertising hoarding on the roof, he leaves behind his dead and frozen child. Having earlier rejected the man's plea for help, Beijing private investigator Song has enough to deal with — Song's own father-in-law, soon to be tried on corruption charges, is found dead. Did he kill himself or was someone else involved? But Song cannot forget the man and his frozen child. When he starts to investigate, he and his team are drawn into a web of evil that extends from the scorching Beijing summer to the slums of London. And in a country where justice is often for sale, can Song discover the truth before it is buried for good? |
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In 1509, in the kingdom of the Burren, people lived according to the ancient customs and Brehon laws of their ancestors. The Michaelmas Fair: a time for trade and celebration. A chance for the people of the Burren to gather, buy and sell their wares and give tribute to the lord of their clans. When the steward of the MacNamara clan demands more, tempers run high. Then the steward's body is found in the local churchyard; he's been beaten to death. Was it revenge, greed or something more sinister that led to his murder? Mara tries to piece the puzzle together but, distracted by thoughts of the King's surprising offer of marriage, nothing seems to make sense. Is Mara prepared to give up her position as Brehon to become Queen? And will she be able to bring the killer to justice before they strike again... |
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When Chelsea Duke took a year out to travel round the world alone, she had no idea what she was letting herself in for. Never having described herself as the outdoorsy type or having stayed in a hostel before, life on the backpacker trail held some rather unpleasant surprises. But by the end of the year she had amassed a range of survival techniques to rival Ray Mears, all of which she is generously passing on here. From beauty treatments to do before you set off and how not to kill yourself in a South American shower, to the indispensable nature of the sparkly flip-flop, High Heels and a Head Torch will tell you everything you need to know to keep yourself looking and feeling glam when your wardrobe fits into a shoe box and those little home comforts are a million miles away. As well as lists of 'dos and don'ts' and tons of useful advice on every aspect of the travel experience, including personal safety, High Heels and a Head Torch is full of hilarious anecdotes and is the ultimate survival tool for any glamorous girl about to set off in search of adventure. |
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Offers an insight into the human story behind the money in our pockets, and reminds us that making a living is about exactly that — living. This title helps to discover the dark arts of haggling from the carpet merchants of Marrakech and learn what the ancient camel markets of Sudan can teach us about the current banking crisis. |
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Want to keep your man all to yourself? If so, you need to read this book. In Beat the Bitch, Tess Stimson, self-confessed scarlet woman and wronged wife delivers a self-help book with a difference. Written in short, snappy chapters and packed with unmissable advice, anecdotes, quizzes and humor, Beat the Bitch tells every woman things she won't want to hear — but needs to. From this book you will discover: how to put the spark back into your relationship? Whether your partner is vulnerable to attack from another woman? How to find out if he is really being unfaithful... and exactly what to do if he is. Beat the Bitch will be the must-read self-help title of 2009. As Tess herself says, should the worst come to the worst, Don't Get Mad — Get Diamonds. |
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This is the story of a man who loved two women, and one of them killed him. Some people have dreams that are so outrageous that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Percy Fawcett, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong are among such individuals. But what if one man had such a dream, and when he'd fulfilled it, there was no proof that he had achieved his ambition? Paths of Glory is the story of such a man. But not until you've turned the last page of this extraordinary novel, will you be able to decide if George Mallory should be added to this list of legends, because if he were, another name would have to be removed. 'Archer at the peak of his imaginative powers' — The Times. ' Paths of Glory will lead Archer to fans he has never before conquered' — The Independent. 'The plain storytelling is unimprovable. Few literary writers could do his job better' — Sunday Times. |
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Lottie Biggs is recovering from her mental disorder of a reasonably significant nature with the help of her counsellor, who rather helpfully looks like Johnny Depp. Things are looking up — her hair is an excellent shade of black, she has a saturday job in a hairdresser and Gareth Stingecombe and his manly thighs are still the love of her life. When Gareth undoes his trousers to show Lottie a fetching bruise on one of the aforementioned thighs, she comes to the realization that, unlike everyone else she knows, she is a total, utter virgin. But how can she get any sort of experience when her boyfriend is doggedly, stubbornly and infuriatingly determined to preserve his energies for the rugby field? |
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«'Fiennes has exceptional gifts, and he has written a small masterpiece, a tribute to the power of place, family and memory' — «Sunday Telegraph». William Fiennes' childhood was one of imagination and curiosity, bounded only by the horizon he saw from the roof-tiles of his ancient family home. His older brother Richard, known for his towering presence, his inventiveness, his great passion for Leeds United, and his suffering due to severe epilepsy, was an adored and charismatic figure in his life. Years later, eager to understand his brother's mind as fully as the ancient trees and secret haunts of his own journey towards adulthood, William Fiennes has written a profoundly moving account of his home, his family's care, and above all, of Richard. «The Music Room» is a luminous testament to the miracle of consciousness and to the permanence of love. 'On putting the book down I felt as if I had been hypnotised. It held me entranced, afraid and awed. All human grief and glory shimmers off the page' — Libby Purves, «The Times».» |
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The past is always there, shaping the future... Fen works in a bookshop and is devoted to her young son, Connor, but she keeps herself to herself. Haunted by guilt and a terrible secret, Fen lives a compromised life, isolated from her family, far from home and too afraid of the past to risk becoming close to anyone. She is constantly looking over her shoulder, waiting, watching, knowing that one day the truth will catch up with her. Sean, on the other hand, is enjoying a seemingly perfect life. He has a successful career, lives in his dream home and adores his beautiful wife, Belle, and their six-year-old daughter, Amy. That is until the day Belle announces she has found someone else and wants Sean to move out. As he realizes that everything he believed in was a lie, his life comes crashing down around him; he is losing everything that's important to him and he can see no way forward. Circumstance throws Fen and Sean together. Slowly their quiet friendship turns into something much deeper and the joy they find in one another eventually gives them the confidence to trust and love again. But will the past tear them apart just as they find happiness? Full of pathos, Missing You is a novel which perfectly encapsulates the nature of human frailty and is also a moving portrayal of the power of love. |
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Set in the darkest heart of Africa, in deepest Slovenia, in the melting pot of Chicago and in Hemon's native Sarajevo, this collection of linked stories crackles with humour, pathos and irrepressible energy. Recalling the surreal and salient experiences of a life — not least in the narrator's ill-fated expedition across Yugoslavia by night train to acquire a freezer chest and dispose of his virginity — each story confronts pain without blanching but finds delicious absurdity in experience. Hemon made his name writing stories, and this collection surpasses anything he has written to date. 'Hemon is a world-class writer or seismic depth, riptide humour, wine-dark language and unflinching candour' — Booklist. 'An original who owes no debts to anyone' — Patrick McGrath. |
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Zahra, aged 3, and Hawra, just a few months old were the only survivors of a missile strike in Baghdad in 2003. Their parents and their five siblings all died. Unable to have children herself, Hala Jaber, an award-winning foreign correspondent, was determined to do all she could to help them. Sent to Iraq by The Sunday Times to cover the war, the last thing she expected was to find herself trying to save two little girls who had lost everything. But what happened next tells us far more about that conflict than any news bulletin ever could. Being a Lebanese Muslim, as well as the employee of a London paper, Hala is in the privileged position of being able to straddle two very different worlds and explain one to the other, and her beautifully written and deeply moving account affords a genuinely fresh insight into the Iraq war and its terrible human cost. The praise for The Flying Carpet to Baghdad include: 'I read the book in one sitting and confess I cried more than once. Jaber's story doesn't tie it all up with a neat pink ribbon, but it is all the more telling and universal for that' — The Sunday Times. 'Nothing I have read compares to Hala Jaber's mesmerizing account of how her longing for a baby drew her into an intense, often agonizing, involvement with two little Iraqi sisters orphaned by a U.S missile strike' — The Daily Mail. 'Far from the usual gung-ho memoirs by war correspondents, this is a heart-rending and highly personal story by an incredibly brave woman' — Christina Lamb, author of The Africa House and The Sewing Circles of Herat. |
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Jimmy Luntz owes money to a man called Juarez. Trouble is, Juarez isn`t the most patient of men. And when he gets bored of waiting, he sends someone round to collect. Luntz doesn`t actually plan to shoot the guy, but the way he sees it, it`s shoot or be shot. Either way, though, Luntz is out of his league, and he knows it. |
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Lynda Graham has been fortunate in life. She is happily married, with two wonderful children, Ciaran and Katie. She has a beautiful home and garden in one of the most affluent suburbs of Dublin. Her world feels safe and uncomplicated, one she now takes for granted. That is until Jon, a friend of Ciaran's from university — handsome, charming and clever — inveigles his way into their lives. There's something about Jon that Lynda finds unnerving — he is almost too perfect. And her instinct is right: Jon's arrival sets in motion a spiral of events that contributes to the gradual disintegration of all she holds dear. When Jon leaves, his disappearance is even more destructive than his presence. Lynda's quest to track him down reveals unpalatable truths about his past and the reason for his existence in their lives. Lynda knows that Jon is out there somewhere — watching, waiting, malevolent. And she also knows that she must do whatever it takes to protect the most precious thing she has — her family. 'Dunne has a clever knack of turning ordinary lives into compelling fiction' — Irish Post. |
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The Day of the Dead. El Dia de los Muertos. That time of the year when Mexico celebrates its lost loved ones. But two people aren't celebrating. Nick Vargas, a disgraced newspaper reporter, now true crime writer, seeks the truth behind the slaughter of nuns in a house near the Texas border. And Hannah Freeman, a beautiful prosecuting attorney on holiday from Southern California has lost someone very precious to her — her younger sister, Jen, has disappeared without trace in Ensenada, Mexico. The realization that a sinister cult is at work and that they are behind Jen's disappearance leads them to a small town in Mexico full of dark secrets and deadly rituals, and a series of haunted caves, where something or someone lurks. Watching them. Waiting for the right moment to strike. |
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'It made me laugh so hard that I woke up my wife and had to give up reading the book in bed. If Bill Bryson had collaborated with W. G. Sebald to write a book about Germany, they might have wound up with something like this' Sunday Times. Germania is a very personal guide to the Germany that Simon Winder loves. Equally passionate about the region's history, folklore, cuisine, architecture and landscape, Winder describes Germany's past afresh — and in doing so sees a country much like our own: Protestant, aggressive and committed to eating some very strange food! This accessible, enthusiastic and startlingly vivid account is a brilliant introduction to the hidden wonders of Germany. 'A splendid offering' — Financial Times. 'Entertaining and informative... Delightful' — Philip Hensher, Independent. 'Beautifully written and insightful' — Irish Times. |
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