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Random House, Inc.
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Perfect Letters and Emails for All Occasions is an invaluable guide for anyone who wants to get the most out of their written communication. Covering everything from advice on how to write to your MP to tips about 'netiquette' and avoiding offensive blunders, it is a one-stop-shop for anyone who wants their writing to get results. Whether you're sending a reply to a formal invitation or a covering letter for a job application, Perfect Letters and Emails for All Occasions has all you need to make sure you get your message across elegantly and effectively. The Perfect series is a range of practical guides that give clear and straightforward advice on everything from getting your first job to choosing your baby's name. Written by experienced authors offering tried-and-tested tips, each book contains all you need to get it right first time. |
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Edwin Fisher is on holiday at the English seaside — but this revisiting of childhood haunts is no ordinary holiday. Edwin is seeking to understand the failure of his marriage to Meg, but it turns out that her parents are staying at the same resort — whether by accident or design — and are keen to patch up the relationship. As the past and his enigmatic wife loom larger, deeper truths emerge and the perspective shifts in unexpected ways. This is an extremely subtle story, a consummate portrait of English provincial life told with all Stanley Middleton's artistry and depth of feeling. It was joint winner of the Booker Prize in 1974. 'At first glance, or even at second, Stanley Middleton's world is easily recognizable... The excellence of art, for Middleton, is an exact vision of real things as they are. And because he is himself so exact an observer, his world at third glance can seem strange and disturbing or newly and brilliantly lit with colour.' A.S. Byatt. |
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Darkness falls… despair abounds… evil reigns… Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have just saved the rebel state from destruction by the mighty forces of King Galbatorix, cruel ruler of the Empire. Now Eragon must travel to Ellesmera, land of the elves, for further training in the skills of the Dragon Rider: magic and swordsmanship. Soon he is on the journey of a lifetime, his eyes open to awe-inspring new places and people, his days filled with fresh adventure. But chaos and betrayal plague him at every turn, and nothing is what it seems. Before long, Eragon doesn’t know whom he can trust. Meanwhile, his cousin Roran must fight a new battle–one that might put Eragon in even graver danger. Will the king’s dark hand strangle all resistance? Eragon may not escape with even his life... |
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Mark Renton has it all: he's good-looking, young, with a pretty girlfriend and a place at university. But there's no room for him in the 1980s. Thatcher's government is destroying working-class communities across Britain, and the post-war certainties of full employment, educational opportunity and a welfare state are gone. When his family starts to fracture, Mark's life swings out of control and he succumbs to the defeatism which has taken hold in Edinburgh's grimmer areas. The way out is heroin. It's no better for his friends. Spud Murphy is paid off from his job, Tommy Lawrence feels himself being sucked into a life of petty crime and violence — the worlds of the thieving Matty Connell and psychotic Franco Begbie. Only Sick Boy, the supreme manipulator of the opposite sex, seems to ride the current, scamming and hustling his way through it all. Skagboys charts their journey from likely lads to young men addicted to the heroin which has flooded their disintegrating community. This is the 1980s: a time of drugs, poverty, AIDS, violence, political strife and hatred — but a lot of laughs, and maybe just a little love; a decade which changed Britain for ever. The prequel to the world-renowned Trainspotting, this is an exhilarating and moving book, full of the scabrous humour, salty vernacular and appalling behaviour that has made Irvine Welsh a household name. |
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An angry and self-loathing veteran of the Korean War, Frank Money finds himself back in racist America after enduring trauma on the front lines that left him with more than just physical scars. His home — and himself in it — may no longer be as he remembers it, but Frank is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from, which he's hated all his life. As Frank revisits the memories from childhood and the war that leave him questioning his sense of self, he discovers a profound courage he thought he could never possess again. Toni Morrison's deeply moving novel reveals an apparently defeated man finding his manhood — and, finally, his home. This is a stunning new novel, by the author of Beloved. |
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The past will always find you. A woman is found brutally murdered in a sordid Atlanta apartment. Her blood-soaked body bears a chilling similarity to a woman found dead almsot 40 years earlier. Soon Special Agent Will Trent finds himself returning to the home he grew up in, and a past that could hold the clue to the killings... |
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Since former US Marine Jack Morgan started Private, it has become the world's most effective investigation firm — sought out by the famous and the powerful to discreetly handle their most intimate problems. Private's investigators are the smartest, the fastest, and the most technologically advanced in the world — and they always uncover the truth. When his former lover is found murdered in Jack's bed, he is instantly the number one suspect. While Jack is under police investigation and fighting to clear his name, the mob strong-arms him into recovering $30 million in stolen pharmaceuticals for them. And the beautiful owner of a chain of luxury hotels persuades him to quietly investigate a string of murders at her high-class establishments. With Jack and his team stretched to breaking point, one of his most trusted colleagues threatens to leave Private, and Jack realises he is facing his biggest challenge yet. With more action, more intrigue, and more twists than ever before, Private: No. 1 Suspect is James Patterson at his unstoppable best. |
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The murder has been solved. But has justice been done? Harry Hole is back in Oslo. He's been away for some time, but his ghosts have a way of catching up with him. The case that brings him back is already closed. There is no room for doubt: the young junkie was shot dead by a fellow addict. The police don't want him back... Denied permission to reopen the investigation, Harry strikes out on his own. Beneath the city's eerie tranquillity, he discovers a trail of violence and mysterious disappearances seemingly unnoticed by the police. At every turn Harry is faced with a conspiracy of silence. The criminals don't want him back... Harry is not the only one who is interested in the case. From the moment he steps off the plane, someone is watching his every move and tracing his every call. Someone wants him silenced. |
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Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a leather bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his gorgeous girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts — until he realises that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won't stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted maximum revenge. Trailing him is the Ghost, the world's greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile hit: killing Walter Zelvas, a top member of the international Diamond Syndicate. There's only one small problem: the diamonds he was supposed to retrieve from Zelvas are missing. Now, the Ghost is on Bannon's trail — but so is a rival assassin who would like nothing more than to make the Ghost disappear forever. |
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The greatest, wildest author of his generation. (Guardian). We could tell you the year is 1944, that the main character is called Tyrone Slothrop and that he has a problem because bombs are falling across Europe and crashing to earth at the exact locations of his sexual conquests. But that doesn't really begin to cover it. Reading this book is like falling down a rabbit hole into an outlandish, sinister, mysterious, absurd, compulsive netherworld. As the Financial Times said, you must forget earlier notions about life and letters and even the Novel. Forty years since publication, Gravity's Rainbow has lost none of its power to enthral. |
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The Doctor's old friend and fellow Time Lord Professor Chronotis has retired to Cambridge University — where nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. But now he needs help from the Doctor, Romana and K-9. When he left Gallifrey he took with him a few little souvenirs — most of them are harmless. But one of them is extremely dangerous. The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey isn't a book for Time Tots. It is one of the Artefacts, dating from the dark days of Rassilon. It must not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. And the sinister Skagra most definitely has the wrong hands. He wants the book. He wants to discover the truth behind Shada. And he wants the Doctor's mind... Based on the scripts for the original television series by the legendary Douglas Adams, Shada retells an adventure that never made it to the screen. |
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A lavish erotic historical set in 1875. The morals of Queen Victoria mean nothing to London's wayward and debauched elite. Young but naive Clarissa Longleigh is visiting London for the first time. She is eager to meet Lord Marldon — the man to whom she's been promised — knowing only that he's handsome, dark and sophisticated. In fact he is depraved, louche, and has a taste for sexual excess. Clarissa has also struck up a friendship with a young Italian artist, Gabriel. When Marldon hears of this he is incensed, and imprisons Clarissa in his opulent London mansion. When Gabriel tries to free her, he too is captured and the young lovers find themselves at the mercy of the debauched lord. |
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The apology and confession of a minor mid-19th century Russian official, Notes From Underground, is a half-desperate, half-mocking political critique and a powerful, at times absurdly comical, account of man's breakaway from society and descent underground. |
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From 1892, when he was eighteen, until 1949, when this book was first published, Somerset Maugham kept a notebook. It is without doubt one of his most important works. Part autobiographical, part confessional, packed with observations, confidences, experiments and jottings it is a rich and exhilarating admission into this great writer's workshop. |
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«An illustrated book discussing the basic technical considerations as they apply to outdoor close-up nature photography. Information covers exposure, equipment, composition and necessary equipment applications which include: extension with tubes and bellows, macro lenses, tele-converters, flash and lighting. The reasons are given for the impracticability of the studio situation for close-up nature photography. John Shaw is author of «The Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques».» |
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Hi! I'm Charlie (DON'T call me Charlotte — ever!). History is boring, right? Wrong! The Victorians weren't all deadly dull and drippy. Lottie certainly isn't. She's eleven — like me — but she's left school and has a job as a nursery maid. Her life is really hard, just work work work, but I bet she'd know what to do about my mum's awful boyfriend and his wimpy little son. I bet she wouldn't mess it all up like I do... |
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Fourteen-year-old Maximum Ride, better known as Max, knows what it's like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the 'Flock' — Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman and Angel — are just like ordinary kids — only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time — like when Angel, the youngest member of the 'Flock', is kidnapped and taken back to the 'School' where she and the others were genetically engineered by sinister scientists. Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot Death Valley, California, to save Angel, but soon enough, they find themselves in yet another nightmare — this one involving fighting off the half-human, half-wolf 'Erasers' in New York City. Whether in the treetops of Central Park or in the bowels of the Manhattan subway system, Max and her adopted family take the ride of their lives. Along the way Max discovers from her old friend and father-figure Jeb — now her betrayed and greatest enemy — that her purpose is save the world — but can she? |
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In The Power of Habit, award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. With penetrating intelligence and an ability to distill vast amounts of information into engrossing narratives, Duhigg brings to life a whole new understanding of human nature and its potential for transformation. Along the way we learn why some people and companies struggle to change, despite years of trying, while others seem to remake themselves overnight. We visit laboratories where neuroscientists explore how habits work and where, exactly, they reside in our brains. We discover how the right habits were crucial to the success of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and civil-rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. We go inside Procter & Gamble, Target superstores, Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, NFL locker rooms, and the nation's largest hospitals and see how implementing so-called keystone habits can earn billions and mean the difference between failure and success, life and death. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: the key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. Habits aren't destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives. |
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Take one aspiring cook, one judge, and a spoonful of romance... When Zoe Harper wins a coveted place in a televised cookery competition she's thrilled. It's a chance to cook her way to fame and fortune and the little delicatessen she's set her heart on. The first task has hardly begun when she finds herself with rather too much on her plate. Not only has she got to contend with the fiercely competitive and downright devious Cher, but she's fast developing an inconvenient crush on one of the judges — the truly delicious Gideon Irving. All too soon there's more than canapes, cupcakes and cordon bleu at stake. Will Zoe win the competition or is Gideon one temptation too far? And is Zoe really prepared to risk it all for love? |
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One freezing night in Oslo Christmas shoppers gather to listen to a Salvation Army street concert. An explosion cuts through the music, and a man in uniform falls to the ground, shot in the head at point-blank range. Harry Hole and his team have little to work with: no immediate suspect, no weapon and no motive. But when the assassin discovers he has shot the wrong man, Harry Hole's troubles have only just begun. After some exceptionally shrewd detective work, the team begins to close in on a suspected hit man, monitoring his credit card, false passport and the line to his employer. With no money, only six bullets and no place to stay in the bitter cold, the hit man becomes increasingly desperate. He will stop at nothing to eliminate his target. Moving at a breathless pace, The Redeemer is Jo Nesbo's most gripping thriller yet. |
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