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Quercus/MacLehose Press
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Elizabeth Moynihan, a young journalist, has hit the jackpot. It's 1992 and a chance remark has sent her to a small farm in the middle of nowhere in Colorado. There resides Russia's most notorious sniper-turned-spy, the one-time beautiful assassin, Tat'yana Levchenko, and she's ready to tell her story. During the Second World War, Tat'yana was Russia's secret weapon. After the Germans killed her daughter, aged four, she enlisted as a sniper for the Russian army. Having finally achieved her goal of killing three hundred Germans, she was badly injured in a siege and shipped back to Moscow. She was presented to Stalin, paraded among the ranks of high society and before the world's press. Her duty to her country not yet over, she was sent to America, to befriend Eleanor Roosevelt, touring the nation with her, securing support for the war. And all the while, she was to send vital information about American armament and troop plans back to her homeland. Before long, Tat'yana was ready to defect, putting her own life — and that of the man she loves — in more grave danger than ever before. |
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Dr Ruth Galloway is in her late 30s. When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, she lectures at a university in Norfolk. She lives, alone but happily so, in a bleak, marshy area called Saltmarsh overlooking the sea and Norfolk's vast skies with her cats and Radio 4 for company. She's a salty character — quirky. When a child's bones are found in the marshes, near a dig that Ruth and her former boyfriend Peter worked on ten years before, Ruth is called upon to date them. They turn out to be bronze-age bones and DCI Harry Nelson, who called on Ruth for help, is disappointed. He had hoped they would be the bones of a child called Lucy who's been missing, presumed dead, for ten years. He has been getting letters about her ever since — odd letters with references to ritual and sacrifice, and including quotes from the Bible and Shakespeare. Then a second girl goes missing and Nelson gets another letter — like the ones about Lucy. Is it the same killer? Is it a ritual murder, linked in some way to the site near Ruth's remote home? Then one of Ruth's cats is killed and clearly she's in danger from a killer who knows that her expert knowledge is being used to help the police with their enquiries. |
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One man saved the British Royal Family in the first decades of the 20th century — amazingly he was an almost unknown, and certainly unqualified, speech therapist called Lionel Logue, whom one newspaper in the 1930s famously dubbed 'The Quack who saved a King'. Logue wasn't a British aristocrat or even an Englishman — he was a commoner and an Australian to boot. Nevertheless it was the outgoing, amiable Logue who single-handedly turned the famously nervous, tongue-tied, Duke of York into the man who was capable of becoming King. Had Logue not saved Bertie (as the man who was to become King George VI was always known) from his debilitating stammer, and pathological nervousness in front of a crowd or microphone, then it is almost certain that the House of Windsor would have collapsed. The King's Speech is the previously untold story of the extraordinary relationship between Logue and the haunted young man who became King George VI, drawn from Logue's unpublished personal diaries. They throw extraordinary light on the intimacy of the two men — and the vital role the King's wife, the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, played in bringing them together to save her husband's reputation and his career as King. The King's Speech is an intimate portrait of the British monarchy at a time of its greatest crisis, seen through the eyes of an Australian commoner who was proud to serve, and save, his King. |
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Born as a Germanic tongue with the arrival in Britain of the Anglo-Saxons in the early medieval period, heavily influenced by Norman French from the 11th century, and finally emerging as modern English from the late Middle Ages, the English language has grown to become the linguistic equivalent of a superpower, and is now sometimes described as the world's lingua franca. Worldwide some 380 million people speak English as a first language and some 600 million as a second language. A staggering one billion people are believed to be learning it. English is the premier international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, and diplomacy and also on the Internet. It has been one of the official languages of the United Nations since its founding in 1945. It is considered by many good judges to be well on the way to becoming the world's first universal language. Author Philip Gooden tells the story of the English language in all its richness and variety. From the intriguing origins and changing definitions of common words such as 'OK', 'beserk', 'curfew', 'cabal' and 'pow-wow', to the massive transformations wrought in the vocabulary and structure of the language by Anglo-Saxon and Norman conquest, through to the literary triumphs of Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales and the works of Shakespeare. The Story of English is a fascinating tale of linguistic, social and cultural transformation, and one that is accessibly and authoritatively told by an author in perfect command of his material. |
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Sixteen-year-old Dru's worst fears have come true — Sergej, the deadly nosferat, has kidnapped her best friend Graves and she must now go on a suicidal rescue mission to bring him back in one piece. That is, if she can put all of Christophe's training to good use, defeat her mother's traitor, Anna, once and for all, and manage to survive another day... |
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Paha Sapa, 'Black Hills', is a Red Indian shaman who as a young boy at the Battle of Little Bighorn takes the ghost of the dying General Custer into his own body. Sixty years later as an old man working as a dynamiter on Mount Rushmore, he plots to blow it up. Meanwhile, Custer finds himself trapped in a strange, dark place and begins to write sensuous, heartbreaking missives to his beloved wife. Thus begins an intricate narrative that sweeps across decades of American history, building up a portrait of one country's relentless expansion and what was lost and destroyed in its path. Black Hills is historical fiction with Dan Simmons' trademark twist. He weaves in real places, events and people with his own uniquely weird take on reality to create a portrait of a world that is hilarious and tragic, spiritual and disturbing. |
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In the final days of the Second World War, Michael Rogan, an American intelligence officer, is tortured by a group of seven senior Gestapo officers who need to discover the secrets he alone can give them. Ten years later, when he has recovered from the appalling injuries he suffered, and determined to revenge the death of his wife at the hands of the same men, he begins a quest to track down and kill each one of his tormentors. Dark, violent, and graphic, this is an addictive thriller about how far one man will go to exact his own justice. Written a year before Puzo completed The Godfather, published under a pseudonym and only very recently brought to light, Six Graves to Munich bears all the hallmarks of a master storyteller. |
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In the last 100 years mankind has split the atom, walked on the moon and broken the sound barrier but... we haven't got any better at making biscuits. The nation's favourite biscuit, McVitie's Chocolate Digestive, was first baked in 1892. This is just one of the fascinating facts you will find in The Nation's Favourite. What is the UK's favourite karaoke song, or wedding first dance song? What is our favourite cereal, painkiller, pet or garden tool? The Nation's Favourite brings together 220 lists which provide the answers to these questions and many more. The result is amusing, surprising and reveals a fascinating picture of the tastes and habits of the UK population. |
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Tie-in edition to the major U.S. Columbia Pictures/Sony production starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, directed by David Fincher. The first volume in Stieg Larsson's phenomenal Millennium Trilogy, with combined sales of over 55 million worldwide. Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder — and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. |
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'I'm just saying that if you ever want, like, a boyfriend or anything — not that I think you should get one right now — but if you did want a boyfriend ever, you might have to start being a bit more like a girl than a boy.' Thirteen-year-old Gwynnie is just about to turn fourteen. While other girls in her year are all about boys and make-up, the closest she's got to a boy is in a tackle on the football field. But when the totally hot Charlie Notts starts at school, Gwynnie decides now might be the time to start being a girl. Gwynnie enlists the help of a gang of girls at school, headed by the super-confident Jenny. But is it really safe for Gwynnie to be let loose with lash curlers and strong eye-shadow? Has Jenny got a hidden agenda while giving Gwynnie her make-over? And will Charlie ever see her as more than a killer football player with skinny legs? When everything comes to a head at the school prom, Gwynnie will learn some truths about herself and her new found girly friends. Has she risked the firm friendships she has with boys for that first kiss? |
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The perfect guide to the most important ideas and concepts that underpin Western art: Romanesque; Byzantine; International Gothic; Early Renaissance; High Renaissance; Northern Renaissance; Mannerism; Baroque; Caravaggism; Dutch Golden Age; Rococo; Neoclassicism; Romanticism; Academic Art; Orientalism; Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; Realism; Impressionism; Symbolism; Post-Impressionism; Neo-Impressionism; Synthetism/Primitivism/Les Nabis; Fauvism; Expressionism; Art Nouveau and Secessionism; Cubism; Orphism; Futurism; Dadaism; Surrealism; Magic(al) Realism; Suprematism; Constructivism; Bauhaus; South American Muralism; Neo-plasticism; New Objectivity; American Scene Painting; Socialist Realism; Abstract Expressionism; Colour Field; Minimalism; Pop Art; Op Art; Conceptual Art; Performance Art including Fluxus; Installation Art; Land and Environmental Art; Hyperrealism; Pluralism. |
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From the Pyramids of Giza to the Guggenheim, this lively guide explains the key concepts and inventions in architecture clearly and concisely. Exploring the myriad ways in which the built environment is shaped and created, readers will gain a new and informed appreciation for architecture, from the classical orders of Vitruvius — Doric, Ionic and Corinthian — to the to the most recent contemporary trends. Philip Wilkinson offers expert introductions to the most important architectural movements and styles throughout history, as well as describing some of the greatest architects' most important and representative works. So, if you've ever wondered when a building is just a building or art, or want to know more about Gothic vaults, trusses and arches, this is the perfect introduction. Contents: The Orders, Prefabrication, Machine aesthetics, Roman engineering, Beaux Arts, Dymaxion, Romanesque, Arts and Crafts, Alternative architecture, Gothic, Conservation, Functionalism, Renaissance, Skyscraper, Plug-in city, Baroque, City Beautiful, Minimalism, Rococo, Art Nouveau, Brutalism, Palladianism, Secession, Townscape, Neo-Classicism, Art Deco, Postmodernism, Character, Garden city, Contextual design, Taste, Futurism, Hi Tech, The Picturesque, Constructivism, Deconstructivism, The Sublime, Bauhaus, Historicism, Landscape garden, De Stijl, Community architecture, Revivalism, International Style, Green architecture, Restoration, Expressionism, Urbanism, Industrial, Organic architecture, Eclecticism. |
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The Third Reich was the name Hitler and the Nazi Party gave to the dictatorship that began in 1933 and ended twelve years later with the utter destruction of Germany and Hitler's suicide. Defined by the messianic, iconic figure of the Fuhrer, the Third Reich was one of the pivotal periods of the modern age. From small beginnings in the 1920s, Hitler's movement came to dominate German society in the 1930s, bringing with it the militarization of German society, the apparatus of state terror and a policy of violent discrimination against political opponents, the so-called 'asocials': gypsies, homosexuals, and, above all, the Jews. The history of the Reich is bound up with territorial aggression, total war and genocide. The end result was the complete defeat of Germany and the annihilation of millions of Europeans, a historical drama without precedent that still lies as a shadow over modern-day Germany. Richard Overy charts the rise and fall of Nazi power in a compelling narrative of the period, amplified by extensive quotations from documents, letters, diaries and oral testimony, and accompanied by many original and striking images of the era. There are also fact boxes which explore many of the important aspects of the Third Reich in greater detail. Authoritative, informative and sumptuously illustrated, written by a scholar steeped in knowledge of the period, The Third Reich brings the bloody realities of war, conquest and genocide vividly to life. It is an ideal book for anyone fascinated by the stormy history of the twentieth century, World War II and the age of dictators. |
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People in London are being taken away in unmarked police vans, never to be seen again... While trying to keep up with his school studies and ensuring his football team stays top of the league, it's Johnny's job to safeguard planet Earth. Suspicious of the strange occurrences, Johnny investigates to find that alien enemies are feeding humans to their Queen on a nearby planet. He then discovers a more terrifying secret: the aliens are planning a devastating invasion of Earth. The battle for Earth will take all of Johnny's and his friends' strength and resolve. Can they win? If they do, what price will they pay to save the world? |
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The Daemon is now firmly in control and moving towards its endgame, using an expanding network of real-world, dispossessed darknet operatives to tear civilization apart and build it anew. As the global economy begins to fail, the world's most powerful organizations — monolithic corporations, complete with armies of their own — prepare to fight their unseen enemy. When a brutal civil war breaks out in the United States, former detective Pete Sebeck, now the Daemon's most powerful though reluctant operative, must lead a small band of enlightened humans to protect the new world order. Amid conflicting loyalties, rapidly diminishing human power and the possibility that anyone can be a daemon operative or a corporate spy, Sebeck knows that he embodies the last hope that freedom can survive the information revolution. |
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Beginning with Ramses III's dramatic defeat of the 'sea people' in 1176 BC — the world's earliest visual record of a naval battle — Fighting Ships tells the story of 3000 years of maritime history through 150 glorious images. From the Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans to the coming of the age of sail, here are breathtaking depictions of ancient triremes and Viking longships, the Santa Maria and the Spanish Armada, as well as Henry VIII's giant carracks and the majestic three-decked warships of Louis IV that patrolled the Mediterranean. Arranged chronologically, this sumptuous collection of grand-scale images brings together the earliest carvings on temple walls and the world-famous Bayeux tapestry, with exquisite depictions by the greatest artists, including Tintoretto's The Capture of Constantinople, Brueghel's The Fall of Icarus, Vasari's The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and Samuel Scott's The Capture of Puerto Bello. Here too are striking portraits of key historical figures, such as Columbus, Raleigh and Drake, alongside ship plans, drawings, engravings and artefacts rescued from the wrecks themselves. Maritime historian Sam Willis recounts famous battles, voyages of conquest and tales of triumph and defeat at sea. He not only reveals the secrets of naval strategy and ship design, but also sheds fascinating light on the lives of the great men that commanded their fleets, as well as on the heroism and hardship of life on board for the ordinary sailor. |
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By the author of Life and Fate, now a major Radio 4 drama starring Kenneth Branagh. Vasily Grossman is widely recognized as one of the outstanding literary figures of the twentieth century. The short fiction collected here — satire, comedy, tragedy and pure narrative — illustrate the remarkable breadth of his work, and demonstrate all the bold intelligence, delicate irony and extraordinary vividness for which he has become known. In addition to the eleven stories, this volume includes the complete text of 'The Hell of Treblinka', one of the first descriptions of a Nazi extermination camp; a powerful and harrowing piece of journalism written only weeks after the camp was dissolved. Beautifully illuminated by Robert Chandler's introductions and endnotes, with photographs from the family archive, and an Afterword by Grossman's stepson, Fyodor Guber. |
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'I Have a Dream' is an anthology of history's most inspiring words and thoughts from history's greatest leaders from all ages and nations. Each of the 370 quotations is accompanied by an extended annotation that tells the story of the speaker or explains the circumstances that gave rise to the quotation. Includes: 'Heroes have the whole earth for their tomb' — Pericles (431 BCE); 'I am confident in the justice of my cause' — Socrates (399 BCE); 'I stand here and can say no more. God help me. Amen' — Martin Luther (1520); 'I have the heart of a king, and a king of England, too' — Queen Elizabeth I (1588); 'Give me liberty or give me death!' — Patrick Henry (1775); 'We hold these truths to be self-evident' — Gen John Nixon (1776); 'This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom' — Abraham Lincoln (1863); 'Non — violence is the first article of my faith' — Mohandas Gandhi (1922); 'Blood, tears, toil and sweat' — Winston Churchill (1940); 'No easy walk to freedom' — Nelson Mandela (1953); 'Ask not what your country can do for you' — John F. Kennedy (1961); 'I have a dream' — Martin Luther King (1963); 'Yes we can!' — Barack Obama (2008). |
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Tie-in edition to the major U.S. Columbia Pictures/Sony production starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, directed by David Fincher. The first volume in Stieg Larsson's phenomenal Millennium Trilogy, with combined sales of over 55 million worldwide. Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder — and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves. |
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'Everything changed after Mama found Father lying on top of another woman.' Blessing and her brother Ezikiel adore their larger-than-life father, their glamorous mother and their comfortable life in Lagos. But all that changes when their father leaves them for another woman. Their mother is fired from her job at the Royal Imperial Hotel — only married women can work there — and soon they have to quit their air-conditioned apartment to go and live with their grandparents in a compound in the Niger Delta. Adapting to life with a poor countryside family is a shock beyond measure after their privileged upbringing in Lagos. Told in Blessing's own beguiling voice, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away shows how some families can survive almost anything. At times hilarious, always poignant, occasionally tragic, it is peopled with characters you will never forget. |
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