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Penguin Group
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This is the second medieval mystery from Sharon Penman, following Justin de Quincy, knight in the service of Queen Eleanor. His duty is clear: to restrain his brother Prince John in his relentless quest for the throne, and his dangerous pacts with the French king. What does the murder of an innocent pedlar's daughter in a churchyard in Cripplegate have to do with him? But little by little, Justin is ensnared in the case until he comes to feel the force of the dead girl, and thirsts to find her killer. But can he defend the Queen and solve the murder? |
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What did happen to Miss Quested in the Marabar Caves? This tantalizing question provides the intense drama at the centre of Forster's last and greatest novel, of racial tension in colonial India. After a mysterious incident during their visit to the Marabar Caves, the charming Dr Aziz is accused of assaulting Adela Quested, a naïve young Englishwoman. As he is brought to trial the fragile structure of Anglo-Indian relations collapses and the racism inherent in colonialism is exposed — a theme which still has powerful, dangerous realities today. Yet the novel is also, in Forster's words, 'about something wider than politics ... about the universe as embodied in the Indian earth and the Indian sky'. |
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«The French Riviera: home to the Beautiful People. And none are more beautiful than Cécile, a precocious seventeen-year-old, and her father Raymond, a vivacious libertine. Charming, decadent and irresponsible, the golden-skinned duo are dedicated to a life of free love, fast cars and hedonistic pleasures. But then one long, hot summer Raymond decides to marry, and Cécile and her lover Cyril feel compelled to take a hand in his amours, with tragic consequences. «Bonjour Tristesse» scandalized 1950s France with its portrayal of teenager terrible Cécile, a heroine who rejects conventional notions of love, marriage and responsibility to choose her own sexual freedom.» |
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«Enjoy an irresistible feast of humour and discover the joys of French rural living with Peter Mayle's bestselling, much-loved account of «A Year In Provence». Peter Mayle and his wife did what most of us only imagine doing when they made their long-cherished dream of a life abroad a reality: throwing caution to the wind, they bought a glorious two hundred year-old farmhouse in the Luberon Valley and began a new life. In a year that begins with a marathon lunch and continues with a host of gastronomic delights, they also survive the unexpected and often hilarious curiosities of rural life. From mastering the local accent and enduring invasion by bumbling builders, to discovering the finer points of boules and goat-racing, all the earthy pleasures of Provencal life are conjured up in this enchanting portrait.» |
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This is Bulgakov's semi-autobiographical story of a writer who fails to sell his novel and fails to commit suicide. When his play is taken up by the theatre, literary success beckons, but he has reckoned without the grotesquely inflated egos of the actors, directors and theatre managers. |
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«Penguin Student Editions are complete unabridged texts of Penguin Classics, Modern Classics and some more recent titles, packaged with reading help for the student in the form of: — accessible yet authoritative introductions — glossary of cultural references and unfamiliar words — stimulating activities and discussion points, including activities needed to prepare for essays and examinations — chapter-by-chapter summaries — plot and character outlines — chronology of the historical events of the time — overview of the ways famous critics have read the books A student-friendly approach to literature — the way students want to read. «It is the history of a revolution that went wrong — and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine», wrote Orwell for the first edition of «Animal Farm» in 1945.» |
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On 20 January 1942, the most murderous meeting in history took place. Chaired by Reinhard Heydrich, one of the most feared men in Germany, it summoned top Nazi officials to a grand villa on the shore of Berlin’s Lake Wannsee in order to clarify ‘the Final Solution of the Jewish question’. They ate good food, drank cognac and smoked cigars – and in less than two hours had effectively sentenced six million people to death. Only one set of minutes from this secret meeting survived, and argument has raged over its contents. Now Mark Roseman brilliantly unravels the macabre mystery of what has been called ‘the most shameful document of modern history’. |
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The history of the Second World War, with its horrible twists and turns, is so well known that the major events and their outcomes have taken on a sort of inevitability. Ian Kershaw's extraordinarily though-provoking and gripping new book, Fateful Choices, demolishes any such sense of inevitability. It dramatises brilliantly and distressingly events that between them could have resulted in disaster or victory — either for the Allies or for the Axis. |
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«'The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself a gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin'. He has never married, never loved and never gone to bed with a woman he didn't pay. But on finding a young girl naked and asleep on the brothel owner's bed, a passion is ignited in his heart — and he feels, for the first time, the urgent pangs of love. Each night, exhausted by her factory work, 'Delgadina' sleeps peacefully whilst he watches her quietly. During these solitary early hours, his love for her deepens and he finds himself reflecting on his newly found passion and the loveless life he has led. By day, his columns in the local newspaper are read avidly by those who recognise in his outpourings the enlivening and transformative power of love. The publication of «Memories of My Melancholy Whores» spearheads «Penguin's» celebration of Marquez's 80th birthday in 2007.» |
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'I've always been a girls' girl. And I know from experience that making the very best of yourself is something any woman can do. I was never the six-foot-tall pin-up ...I've always been the girl-next-door who got lucky. I've come a long way in the last ten years, but this book isn't my attempt to tell you what or what not to do. It's just to share some of what I've learned'. Based on the phenomenal bestselling hardback, this handbag edition with exclusive new photography is updated with extra tips for where to find your must-have purchases. That Extra Half an Inch is a revealing and practical book on fashion, beauty and style. Victoria shares her secrets on dressing for special occasions, everyday wear, accessorizing, holiday tips and making the most of your wardrobe. Whether you're getting ready for work, a night out on the town or even doing the school run, this is Victoria's personal guide to feeling confident and looking great every time you step out of the front door. |
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1995, Scotland — The prison of Cornton Vale. Laura Brannigan is in jail for murder. For two years she's been battling for justic — insisting that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie. Yet with her spirits at their lowest ebb, she receives a letter that takes her back to a different time and memory of an old love ...Twenty years ago was a heady time for Laura: she'd escaped an abusive home and together with new best friend Jackie she'd made a fresh start. The pair had sworn to be sisters for ever. And Stuart had come into their lives — giving Laura a brilliant summer of love. So what went wrong in the intervening years? And why is Stuart writing to Laura now? Does he have faith in her innocence? And can he help free Laura from prison — and her past? |
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The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Reich in January 1945. Political instructors rammed home the message of Wehrmacht and SS brutality. The result was the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever known, with tanks crushing refugee columns under their tracks, mass rape, pillage and destruction. Hundreds of thousands of women and children froze to death or were massacred because Nazi Party chiefs, refusing to face defeat, had forbidden the evacuation of civilians. Over seven million fled westwards from the terror of the Red Army. Antony Beevor reconstructs the experiences of those millions caught up in the nightmare of the Third Reich's final collapse, telling a terrible story of pride, stupidity, fanatacism, revenge and savagery, but also one of astonishing endurance, self-sacrifice and survival against all odds. |
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In October 1942, a panzer officer wrote 'Stalingrad is no longer a town...Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure'. The battle for Stalingrad became the focus of Hitler and Stalin's determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand-to-hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe, and the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius, civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, Stalingrad will act as a testament to the vital role of the soviet war effort. |
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«Jonathan Coe’s previous novel, «The Rotters’ Club», was a novel of innocence: a nostalgic, humorous evocation of adolescent life in 1970s Britain. «The Closed Circle» is its mirror image: a novel of experience. On Millennium night, with Blair presiding over a superficially cool, sexed-up new version of the country, Benjamin Trotter finds himself watching the celebrations on his parents’ TV in the same Birmingham house in which he grew up. Watching, in fact, his younger brother, Paul, now a bright young New Labour MP who has bought wholeheartedly into the Blairite dream. Neither of them can know that their lives are about to implode. Set against the backdrop of Britain’s racial and social tensions and the country’s increasingly compromised role in America’s ‘war against terrorism’, «The Closed Circle» shuttles between London and Birmingham, taking in fat cats, media advisers and political protestors. As its characters struggle to make sense of the perennial problems of love, vocation and family in a changing world, it offers a bitter-sweet conclusion to the unfinished business of The Rotters’ Club.» |
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«Our world is changing. Globalization is not working. It is hurting those it was meant to help. And now, the tide is turning … Explosive and shocking, «Globalization and Its Discontents» is the bestselling exposé of the all-powerful organizations that control our lives – from the man who has seen them at work first hand. As Chief Economist at the World Bank, Nobel Prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz had a unique insider’s view into the management of globalization. Now he speaks out against it: how the IMF and WTO preach fair trade yet impose crippling economic policies on developing nations; how free market ‘shock therapy’ made millions in East Asia and Russia worse off than they were before; and how the West has driven the global agenda to further its own financial interests. Globalization can still be a force for good, Stiglitz argues. But the balance of power has to change. Here he offers real, tough solutions for the future.» |
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Drawing on a huge range of sources — letters, memoirs, conversations — Orlando Figes tells the story of how Russians tried to endure life under Stalin. Those who shaped the political system became, very frequently, its victims. Those who were its victims were frequently quite blameless. The Whisperers recreates the sort of maze in which Russians found themselves, where an unwitting wrong turn could either destroy a family or, perversely, later save it: a society in which everyone spoke in whispers — whether to protect themselves, their families, neighbours or friends — or to inform on them. |
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«This is William Boyd's third volume of short stories following his acclaimed collections «On the Yankee Station» (1981) and «The Destiny of Nathalie X» (1995). Described as «the finest storyteller of his generation», Boyd shows his mastery of the form as these stories range widely through time and space. In a brilliant array of styles and narratives we move from 1930s Germany to Los Angeles in the Second World War, from contemporary Oxford to 19th century Russia. Whether in London or Amsterdam. Eastbourne or a Normandy village these stories explore and expose the fraught, funny, absurd, poignant and lovelorn lives of their many and varied characters.» |
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«Masters and Commanders» describes how four titanic figures shaped the grand strategy of the West during the Second World War. Each was exceptionally tough-willed and strong minded, and each was certain that he knew best how to win the war. Yet each knew that he had to win at least two of the others over in order to get his strategy adopted. The book traces the mutual suspicion and admiration, the rebuffs and the charm, the often explosive disagreements and wary reconciliations which resulted.» |
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You remember an idyllic childhood. But your memory is deceitful. And possibly deadly... When a skeleton is unearthed in the Martellos' garden, Jane Martello is shocked to learn it's that of her childhood friend, Natalie, who went missing twenty-five years ago. Encouraged by a therapist to recover lost memories, Jane hopes to find out what really took place when she was a child — and what happened to Natalie. But in learning the truth about hers and Natalie's past, is Jane putting her own future at terrible risk? |
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«The publication of «The World According to Clarkson» in 2004 launched a multi-million-copy bestselling phenomenon. But to no avail. Jeremy's one-man war on crimes against common sense has not yet been won. And our hero's still scratching his head at the madness of it all. But it's not all bad. He's learned a little along the way, including: Why binge drinking is good for you The worst word in the English language The remarkable secret of eternal youth The pleasure and pain of middle-aged drumming The problem with America And how to dispose of a seal For anyone who's ever been driven to wonder just what is the matter with people these days, «For Crying Out Loud» is the perfect riposte. Surprising, fearless and always laugh-out-loud funny, Clarkson's back. And he's got a point...» |
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