Combine the incredible powers of Spark, Mesos, Akka, Cassandra, and Kafka to build data processing platforms that can take on even the hardest of your data troubles! About This Book This highly practical guide shows you how to use the best of the big data technologies to solve your response-critical problems Learn the art of making cheap-yet-effective big data architecture without using complex Greek-letter architectures Use this easy-to-follow guide to build fast data processing systems for your organization Who This Book Is For If you are a developer, data architect, or a data scientist looking for information on how to integrate the Big Data stack architecture and how to choose the correct technology in every layer, this book is what you are looking for. What You Will Learn Design and implement a fast data Pipeline architecture Think and solve programming challenges in a functional way with Scala Learn to use Akka, the actors model implementation for the JVM Make on memory processing and data analysis with Spark to solve modern business demands Build a powerful and effective cluster infrastructure with Mesos and Docker Manage and consume unstructured and No-SQL data sources with Cassandra Consume and produce messages in a massive way with Kafka In Detail SMACK is an open source full stack for big data architecture. It is a combination of Spark, Mesos, Akka, Cassandra, and Kafka. This stack is the newest technique developers have begun to use to tackle critical real-time analytics for big data. This highly practical guide will teach you how to integrate these technologies to create a highly efficient data analysis system for fast data processing. We’ll start off with an introduction to SMACK and show you when to use it. First you’ll get to grips with functional thinking and problem solving using Scala. Next you’ll come to understand the Akka architecture. Then you’ll get to know how to improve the data structure architecture and optimize resources using Apache Spark. Moving forward, you’ll learn how to perform linear scalability in databases with Apache Cassandra. You’ll grasp the high throughput distributed messaging systems using Apache Kafka. We’ll show you how to build a cheap but effective cluster infrastructure with Apache Mesos. Finally, you will deep dive into the different aspect of SMACK using a few case studies. By the end of the book, you will be able to integrate all the components of the SMACK stack and use them together to achieve highly effective and fast data processing. Style and approach With the help of various industry examples, you will learn about the full stack of big data architecture, taking the important aspects in every technology. You will learn how to integrate the technologies to build effective systems rather than getting incomplete information on single technologies. You will learn how various open source technologies can be used to build cheap and fast data processing systems with the help of various industry examples

Create beautiful data visualizations and interactive dashboards with Tableau About This Book Delve into the features and functionalities of Tableau from the ground up with this step-by-step guide that has over 50 "follow-me" recipes Build rich visualizations to effectively highlight the underlying trends and patterns in your data Build beautiful interactive dashboards and storyboards to stitch your visualizations together and tell a story Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who wishes to use Tableau. It will be of use to both beginners who want to learn Tableau from scratch and to more seasoned users who simply want a quick reference guide. This book is a ready reckoner guide for you. The book will be such that both new & existing Tableau users who don’t know, or can’t recall how to perform different Tableau tasks can use the book and be benefited from it. What You Will Learn Get to grips with the Tableau workspace and terminologies and understand what data sources you can connect Learn to create basic charts like bar chart, stacked bar, pie chart, line chart, area chart, tree map & word cloud Go even further with more advanced visualizations such as scatter plot, box & whiskers plot, dual axis, bullet chart, Histograms, Maps, etc Use pre-defined calculation and change its scope and direction to affect outcome Learn to define Parameters and call them into parametric calculations that provide outcomes based on user inputs Build Dashboards and use Actions to link multiple sheets on the dashboard Connect to multiple data sources using Data Blending, Multiple Table Join within the same data source as well as across data sources, Custom SQL and learn to work with data Extracts Compute statistical trends, build forecasting models and use Reference lines for benchmarking In Detail Data is everywhere and everything is data! Visualization of data allows us to bring out the underlying trends and patterns inherent in the data and gain insights that enable faster and smarter decision making. Tableau is one of the fastest growing and industry leading Business Intelligence platforms that empowers business users to easily visualize their data and discover insights at the speed of thought. Tableau is a self-service BI platform designed to make data visualization and analysis as intuitive as possible. Creating visualizations with simple drag-and-drop, you can be up and running on Tableau in no time. Starting from the fundamentals such as getting familiarized with Tableau Desktop, connecting to common data sources and building standard charts; you will walk through the nitty gritty of Tableau such as creating dynamic analytics with parameters, blended data sources, and advanced calculations. You will also learn to group members into higher levels, sort the data in a specific order & filter out the unnecessary information. You will then create calculations in Tableau & understand the flexibility & power they have and go on to building story-boards and share your insights with others. Whether you are just getting started or whether you need a quick reference on a "how-to" question, This book is the perfect companion for you Style and approach This cookbook takes a step-by-step approach and the text systematically evolves to cover more involved functionalities. Every recipe includes illustrative screenshots which provide a detailed visual resource for each step.

Learn effective tools and techniques to separate big data into manageable and logical components for efficient data visualization About This Book This unique guide teaches you how to visualize your cluttered, huge amounts of big data with ease It is rich with ample options and solid use cases for big data visualization, and is a must-have book for your shelf Improve your decision-making by visualizing your big data the right way Who This Book Is For This book is for data analysts or those with a basic knowledge of big data analysis who want to learn big data visualization in order to make their analysis more useful. You need sufficient knowledge of big data platform tools such as Hadoop and also some experience with programming languages such as R. This book will be great for those who are familiar with conventional data visualizations and now want to widen their horizon by exploring big data visualizations. What You Will Learn Understand how basic analytics is affected by big data Deep dive into effective and efficient ways of visualizing big data Get to know various approaches (using various technologies) to address the challenges of visualizing big data Comprehend the concepts and models used to visualize big data Know how to visualize big data in real time and for different use cases Understand how to integrate popular dashboard visualization tools such as Splunk and Tableau Get to know the value and process of integrating visual big data with BI tools such as Tableau Make sense of the visualization options for big data, based upon the best suited visualization techniques for big data In Detail When it comes to big data, regular data visualization tools with basic features become insufficient. This book covers the concepts and models used to visualize big data, with a focus on efficient visualizations. This book works around big data visualizations and the challenges around visualizing big data and address characteristic challenges of visualizing like speed in accessing, understanding/adding context to, improving the quality of the data, displaying results, outliers, and so on. We focus on the most popular libraries to execute the tasks of big data visualization and explore "big data oriented" tools such as Hadoop and Tableau. We will show you how data changes with different variables and for different use cases with step-through topics such as: importing data to something like Hadoop, basic analytics. The choice of visualizations depends on the most suited techniques for big data, and we will show you the various options for big data visualizations based upon industry-proven techniques. You will then learn how to integrate popular visualization tools with graphing databases to see how huge amounts of certain data. Finally, you will find out how to display the integration of visual big data with BI using Cognos BI. Style and approach With the help of insightful real-world use cases, we’ll tackle data in the world of big data. The scalability and hugeness of the data makes big data visualizations different from normal data visualizations, and this book addresses all the difficulties encountered by professionals while visualizing their big data.

Over 50 practical and immediately applicable recipes to help you manage services in your enterprise environment efficiently About This Book Solve problems and challenges encountered while implementing or using ServiceNow in your organization Helps you build core administration, management, and maintenance skills to automate and orchestrate your IT environment Comes with recipes to improve the way you design and create automated workflows Who This Book Is For This book targets IT professionals and administrators who have some experience of working with ServiceNow already and are looking to solve regular or unique problems that surface when using ServiceNow. It’s advisable to have a basic level of administration experience with ServiceNow. Familiarity with JavaScript is assumed. What You Will Learn Grasp the basics, such as entering and navigation, required to implement ServiceNow Perform core configuration and management tasks Use the ServiceNow plugins to manage development Build and publish custom applications for service management Design data-driven apps to connect with outside worlds by getting into Client and server *ing Configure alerts and notifications and understand e-mail troubleshooting and watermarking Build and configure reports to set up your dashboard as per the requirement Create and configure workflow activities In Detail ServiceNow is the ideal platform for you to create enterprise-level applications, giving borh requesters and fulfillers better visibility and access to a process. With this title we’ll guide you through the world of ServiceNow, letting you take on the best the platform offers you with the least amount of hassle. Starting with the core configuration and management tasks, this book will help you build data-driven apps and it will also explore development best practices. You will learn to set up email notifications for users and work with the database view for reporting. Next, the book will guide you through creating various tasks from the workflow and show you how to make the most of the workflow utilities available in ServiceNow. Finally, the book will drive you through the auditing and diagnosing aspects of ServiceNow. By the end of this book, you will acquire immediately applicable skills to rectify everyday problems encountered on the ServiceNow platform. Style and approach This book follows a recipe-based problem-solution approach to address and dispel challenges faced when implementing and using ServiceNow on a regular basis. It will act as a quick solution when trying to solve specific problems without having to read an exhaustive tutorial.

Learn to solve challenging data science problems by building powerful machine learning models using Python About This Book Understand which algorithms to use in a given context with the help of this exciting recipe-based guide This practical tutorial tackles real-world computing problems through a rigorous and effective approach Build state-of-the-art models and develop personalized recommendations to perform machine learning at scale Who This Book Is For This Learning Path is for Python programmers who are looking to use machine learning algorithms to create real-world applications. It is ideal for Python professionals who want to work with large and complex datasets and Python developers and analysts or data scientists who are looking to add to their existing skills by accessing some of the most powerful recent trends in data science. Experience with Python, Jupyter Notebooks, and command-line execution together with a good level of mathematical knowledge to understand the concepts is expected. Machine learning basic knowledge is also expected. What You Will Learn Use predictive modeling and apply it to real-world problems Understand how to perform market segmentation using unsupervised learning Apply your new-found skills to solve real problems, through clearly-explained code for every technique and test Compete with top data scientists by gaining a practical and theoretical understanding of cutting-edge deep learning algorithms Increase predictive accuracy with deep learning and scalable data-handling techniques Work with modern state-of-the-art large-scale machine learning techniques Learn to use Python code to implement a range of machine learning algorithms and techniques In Detail Machine learning is increasingly spreading in the modern data-driven world. It is used extensively across many fields such as search engines, robotics, self-driving cars, and more. Machine learning is transforming the way we understand and interact with the world around us. In the first module, Python Machine Learning Cookbook, you will learn how to perform various machine learning tasks using a wide variety of machine learning algorithms to solve real-world problems and use Python to implement these algorithms. The second module, Advanced Machine Learning with Python, is designed to take you on a guided tour of the most relevant and powerful machine learning techniques and you’ll acquire a broad set of powerful skills in the area of feature selection and feature engineering. The third module in this learning path, Large Scale Machine Learning with Python, dives into scalable machine learning and the three forms of scalability. It covers the most effective machine learning techniques on a map reduce framework in Hadoop and Spark in Python. This Learning Path will teach you Python machine learning for the real world. The machine learning techniques covered in this Learning Path are at the forefront of commercial practice. This Learning Path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products: Python Machine Learning Cookbook by Prateek Joshi Advanced Machine Learning with Python by John Hearty Large Scale Machine Learning with Python by Bastiaan Sjardin, Alberto Boschetti, Luca Massaron Style and approach This course is a smooth learning path that will teach you how to get started with Python machine learning for the real world, and develop solutions to real-world problems. Through this comprehensive course, you’ll learn to create the most effective machine learning techniques from scratch and more!

Leverage the full potential of Entity Framework with this collection of powerful and easy-to-follow recipes About This Book Learn how to use the new features of Entity Framework Core 1 Improve your queries by leveraging some of the advanced features Avoid common pitfalls Make the best of your .NET APIs by integrating with Entity Framework Who This Book Is For This book is for .NET developers who work with relational databases on a daily basis and understand the basics of Entity Framework, but now want to use it in a more efficient manner. You are expected to have some prior knowledge of Entity Framework. What You Will Learn Master the technique of using sequence key generators Validate groups of entities that are to be saved / updated Improve MVC applications that cover applications developed using ASP.NET MVC Core 1 Retrieve database information (table, column names, and so on) for entities Discover optimistic concurrency control and pessimistic concurrency control. Implement Multilatency on the data side of things. Enhance the performance and/or scalability of Entity Framework Core Explore and overcome the pitfalls of Entity Framework Core In Detail Entity Framework is a highly recommended Object Relation Mapping tool used to build complex systems. In order to survive in this growing market, the knowledge of a framework that helps provide easy access to databases, that is, Entity Framework has become a necessity. This book will provide .NET developers with this knowledge and guide them through working efficiently with data using Entity Framework Core. You will start off by learning how to efficiently use Entity Framework in practical situations. You will gain a deep understanding of mapping properties and find out how to handle validation in Entity Framework. The book will then explain how to work with transactions and stored procedures along with improving Entity Framework using query libraries. Moving on, you will learn to improve complex query scenarios and implement transaction and concurrency control. You will then be taught to improve and develop Entity Framework in complex business scenarios. With the concluding chapter on performance and scalability, this book will get you ready to use Entity Framework proficiently. Style and approach Filled with rich code-based examples, this book takes a recipe-based approach that will teach .NET developers to improve their understanding of Entity Framework and help them effortlessly apply this knowledge in everyday situations.

Learn how to use the power of Xcode to turn your next great app idea into a reality About This Book Learn the theory and tools behind app development using Swift 3 and Xcode 8 Build a fully featured iOS app, including a companion app for the Apple Watch Optimize, debug, and ultimately release your app on Test Flight and the App Store Who This Book Is For This book is intended for programmers looking to get a jump-start into the world of iOS development. Whether you’re a young student who has only spent a few months with Java, or a seasoned developer who has spent their career developing for a different platform, all that is expected is a basic understanding of a programming language such as C++, C#, or Java. What You Will Learn Understand the most important features of the Xcode IDE Write Swift 3 code for application data models and view controllers Prepare visual layouts for an iOS application using storyboards, size classes, and auto-layout Integrate many common technologies into an app, such as multi-touch gestures, CoreData, and notifications Build companion applications for the Apple Watch with watchOS 3 Debug applications using Xcode’s suite of debugging tools, and prevent bugs with unit testing Optimize an application using Xcode 8’s profiling tools and asset catalogs Distribute a beta application through TestFlight, and a finished application through the App Store In Detail Over the last few years, we’ve seen a breakthrough in mobile computing and the birth of world-changing mobile apps. With a reputation as one of the most user-centric and developer-friendly platforms, iOS is the best place to launch your next great app idea. As the official tool to create iOS applications, Xcode is chock full of features aimed at making a developer’s job easier, faster, and more fun. This book will take you from complete novice to a published app developer, and covers every step in between. You’ll learn the basics of iOS application development by taking a guided tour through the Xcode software and Swift programming language, before putting that knowledge to use by building your first app called “Snippets.” Over the course of the book, you will continue to explore the many facets of iOS development in Xcode by adding new features to your app, integrating gestures and sensors, and even creating an Apple Watch companion app. You’ll also learn how to use the debugging tools, write unit tests, and optimize and distribute your app. By the time you make it to the end of this book, you will have successfully built and published your first iOS application. Style and approach This easy-to-follow guide presents topics in a hands-on lecture format where concepts are introduced and explained, then used in an example as reinforcement. The first third of the book covers the separate building blocks of development, while the second two thirds cover the development of an app from start to finish.

Learn to build expert NLP and machine learning projects using NLTK and other Python libraries About This Book Break text down into its component parts for spelling correction, feature extraction, and phrase transformation Work through NLP concepts with simple and easy-to-follow programming recipes Gain insights into the current and budding research topics of NLP Who This Book Is For If you are an NLP or machine learning enthusiast and an intermediate Python programmer who wants to quickly master NLTK for natural language processing, then this Learning Path will do you a lot of good. Students of linguistics and semantic/sentiment analysis professionals will find it invaluable. What You Will Learn The scope of natural language complexity and how they are processed by machines Clean and wrangle text using tokenization and chunking to help you process data better Tokenize text into sentences and sentences into words Classify text and perform sentiment analysis Implement string matching algorithms and normalization techniques Understand and implement the concepts of information retrieval and text summarization Find out how to implement various NLP tasks in Python In Detail Natural Language Processing is a field of computational linguistics and artificial intelligence that deals with human-computer interaction. It provides a seamless interaction between computers and human beings and gives computers the ability to understand human speech with the help of machine learning. The number of human-computer interaction instances are increasing so it’s becoming imperative that computers comprehend all major natural languages. The first NLTK Essentials module is an introduction on how to build systems around NLP, with a focus on how to create a customized tokenizer and parser from scratch. You will learn essential concepts of NLP, be given practical insight into open source tool and libraries available in Python, shown how to analyze social media sites, and be given tools to deal with large scale text. This module also provides a workaround using some of the amazing capabilities of Python libraries such as NLTK, scikit-learn, pandas, and NumPy. The second Python 3 Text Processing with NLTK 3 Cookbook module teaches you the essential techniques of text and language processing with simple, straightforward examples. This includes organizing text corpora, creating your own custom corpus, text classification with a focus on sentiment analysis, and distributed text processing methods. The third Mastering Natural Language Processing with Python module will help you become an expert and assist you in creating your own NLP projects using NLTK. You will be guided through model development with machine learning tools, shown how to create training data, and given insight into the best practices for designing and building NLP-based applications using Python. This Learning Path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package and is designed to help you quickly learn text processing with Python and NLTK. It includes content from the following Packt products: NTLK essentials by Nitin Hardeniya Python 3 Text Processing with NLTK 3 Cookbook by Jacob Perkins Mastering Natural Language Processing with Python by Deepti Chopra, Nisheeth Joshi, and Iti Mathur Style and approach This comprehensive course creates a smooth learning path that teaches you how to get started with Natural Language Processing using Python and NLTK. You’ll learn to create effective NLP and machine learning projects using Python and NLTK.

Sauté your way through more than 100 hands-on recipes designed to prepare any server administrator to work with Windows Server 2016 About This Book Get the first book on the market to unleash the power of Windows Server 2016, which improves the lives of thousands of enterprise users Be the first to leverage the advent of Containers and Nano Server on Windows Server 2016, which utilizes the resources efficiently and increases productivity. This practical, recipe-based approach helps you to delivering global-scale cloud services into your infrastructure using Windows Server 2016 Who This Book Is For This book is for system administrators and IT professionals with experience in Windows Server 2012 R2 environments who are looking to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to manage and maintain the core infrastructure required for a Windows Server 2016 environment. What You Will Learn Build the infrastructure required for a successful Windows network Navigate the new Server 2016 interface efficiently Implement solid networking and security practices into your Windows Server environment Design your own PKI and start issuing certificates today Explore the brand-new Nano Server functionality Enable nested virtualization on Hyper-V and Server Connect your remote laptops back to the corporate network using Microsoft's own remote access technologies, including DirectAccess Provide a centralized point for users to access applications and data by configuring Remote Desktop Services Compose optimal Group Policies Facilitate task automation with PowerShell 5.0 *ing In Detail This hands-on Cookbook is stuffed full of practical recipes that will help you handle the essential administrative tasks in Windows Server 2016. You’ll start by familiarizing yourself with the look and feel of Windows Server 2016, and will then learn how to navigate through some daily tasks using the graphical interface. You will see how to compose optimal Group Policies and facilitate task automation with PowerShell 5.0 *ing. We will also take a look at the functions available to provide remote network access to your traveling users, and explore the much anticipated Nano Server and Hyper-V built-in integration support that is brand new in Windows Server 2016. By the end of this book, you will know how to take your Windows Server 2016-powered server and turn it into any common infrastructure role that might be required in your company. Style and approach The book follows a recipe-based approach that starts with an introduction and the installation of Windows Server 2016, then dives into the powerful features, and then ends with the concept of security.

Gain the insights and techniques you need to give life to your own custom characters, machines, and scenes in Blender 3D About This Book Learn how to establish the basic shape of a character on the basis of templates, and take it to completion using the tools available in Blender Develop realistic and awesome machines for your 3D projects and animation films Discover advanced techniques by adding fur to a character, creating a grass field, and fine-tuning a shot with post-processing effects to enhance your creations Who This Book Is For This learning path is for those who know the basics of Blender and have hands-on experience with the software. We will directly dive into creating characters first. If you wish to use Blender to create games, animated films, and architecture simulations, this learning path will benefit you. What You Will Learn Use your sculpting skills to carve the character features from the mesh Find the best possible flow for your edge-loops to enhance the character features and to get the best possible range of deformation Mix both the Blender Internal and Cycles rendering engines in order to render materials as quickly as possible Know when and where to use various types of geometry—something that saves time in one instance will pose significant problems in another Create a 3D robot toy model from start to finish using the basic modeling tools of Blender Make a full alien character using the skin mesh modifier and the sculpting tools with an artistic approach Use re-topology techniques to create a clean 3D version of the previously sculpted alien Model a full haunted house and its environment using more advanced modeling tools and techniques such as the Array Modifier, Instance duplication, and Curves In Detail Blender 3D is one of the top 3D animation software available. As the Blender software grows more powerful and popular, there is a demand to take your modeling skills to the next level. This learning path is divided into three modules that will take you on this incredible journey of creating games. The first module will take you on a journey to understand the workflow normally used to create characters, from the modeling to the rendering stages, using the tools of the last official release of Blender exclusively. You will be making production-quality 3D models and characters quickly and efficiently, which will be ready to be added to your very own animated feature or game. The second module will help you develop a comprehensive skill set that covers the key aspects of mechanical modeling. You will create many types of projects, including a pistol, spacecraft, robot, and a racer. By the end of this module, you will have mastered a workflow that you will be able to apply to your own creations. The final module will help you to create many types of projects using a step-by-step approach. Each project in this module will give you more practice and increase your knowledge of the Blender tools and game engine. This learning path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products: Blender 3D Cookbook, Second Edition by Enrico Valenza Blender 3D Incredible Machines, Second Edition by Christopher Kuhn Blender 3D By Example by Romain Caudron and Pierre-Armand Nicq Style and approach This easy-to-follow course will teach you how to create complex 3D characters, create incredible machines, and put them together to create a 3D scene. Each topic is explained sequentially in the process of creating various models, and includes detailed explanations of the basic and advanced features.

Learn how to create mobile and full-stack web applications in JavaScript by getting a deeper insight into Meteor About This Book This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to build fast, complex web applications Over 65 hands-on recipes help you build and deploy elegant web applications Optimize your web application for production use Who This Book Is For If you are a web developer who is familiar with Meteor and has basic knowledge of web development, and you now want to explore new paradigms of single-page, real-time applications, this course is perfectly suited for you. What You Will Learn Secure your site with Meteor best practices Create reactive templates that update themselves when data changes Add routing to a single-page application and make it appear like a real website Make your own Meteor packages and see how to make them public Rapidly build robust, responsive user interfaces Publish your own reusable custom packages Optimize your site for load speed with advanced publishers and subscribers Master the intricacies of front-end development using Jeet, Bootstrap, CSS animations, and more Leverage the aggregation framework to produce results with big data Optimize your site for search engine visibility In Detail Meteor is best JavaScript development platform and is packed with collections of libraries and packages bound together in a tidy way to take care of everything from development to production, making your web development easier. This course follows a learning path divided into three modules. Each module is a mini course in its own right, taking your knowledge to a new level as you progress. The first module takes you from the installation of Meteor to building a fully working web blog (including back end) to create and edit posts. Your path will begin with the basic concepts and folder structure of a Meteor project, learning how Meteor templates work to test packages, and seeing the application itself. The second module is a cookbook that starts with simple recipes designed for quick reference, and culminating advanced recipes that walk you through building and deploying a complete application. The cookbook covers all the major areas of Meteor development, including lesser-known and undocumented features too. With all the important concepts covered in the previous modules, the third module will get you equipped with simple solutions to boost your development skills. You’ll learn about mapping of real-world data and optimizing it, how to optimize and secure web applications and how to deploy and maintain it without breaking its features. Throughout the module, you will put your skills into practice and build an online shop from scratch. This Learning Path combines some of the best that Packt has to offer in one complete, curated package. It includes content from the following Packt products: Building Single-page Web Apps with Meteor, Fabian Vogelsteller Meteor Cookbook, Isaac Strack Meteor Design Patterns, Marcelo Reyna Style and approach This practical handbook has a step-by-step approach to help you improve your developer skills and efficiently built web applications using Meteor.

The sweeping and compelling new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. ‘Dark, brutal, moving, powerful’ Jane Harris ‘A wonderful book; rich, evocative, original. I loved it’ Joanne Harris What happens when you can’t run any further from your past Ohio, 1838. James and Sadie Goodenough have settled in the Black Swamp, planting apple trees to claim the land as their own. Life is harsh in the swamp, and as fever picks off their children, husband and wife take solace in separate comforts. James patiently grows his sweet-tasting ‘eaters’ while Sadie gets drunk on applejack made fresh from ‘spitters’. Their fighting takes its toll on all of the Goodenoughs – a battle that will resonate over the years and across America. Fifteen years later their youngest son, Robert, is drifting through Gold Rush California and haunted by the broken family he fled years earlier. Memories stick to him where mud once did. When he finds steady work for a plant collector, peace seems finally to be within reach. But the past is never really past, and one day Robert is forced to confront the brutal reason he left behind everything he loved. In this rich, powerful story, Tracy Chevalier is at her imaginative best, bringing to life the urge to wrestle with our roots, however deep and tangled they may be.

No. 1 international bestseller and Swedish crime sensation Camilla Lackberg’s new psychological thriller featuring Detective Patrik Hedstrm and Erica Falck – irresistible for fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo. January, Fjllbacka. A semi-naked girl wanders through the woods in freezing cold weather. When she finally reaches the road, a car comes out of nowhere. It doesn’t manage to stop. By the time Detective Patrik Hedstrm receives word of the accident, the girl has already been identified. Four months ago she disappeared on her way home from the local riding school, and no one has seen her since. It quickly becomes clear that she has been subjected to unimaginably brutal treatment. And it’s likely she’s not the only one. Meanwhile, Patrik’s wife, crime writer Erica Falck, is looking into an old case – a family tragedy that led to a man’s death. His wife was convicted of murder, but Erica senses that something isn’t right. What is the woman hiding As Erica digs deeper, the past starts to cast a shadow over the present and Patrik is forced to see his investigation in a whole new light.

From the critically acclaimed author of THE BROKEN EMPIRE series comes a brilliant new epic fantasy series, THE RED QUEEN’S WAR.

WINNER OF THE 2015 PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTIONNATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALISTNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERWINNER OF THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR FICTION A beautiful, stunningly ambitious novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II

From the winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2012 for Best Thriller of the Year comes a gripping and suspenseful new spy novel. Perfect for fans of John le Carré, Charles Cumming is ‘the master of the modern spy thriller’ (Mail on Sunday) MI6's Head of Station in Turkey is killed in a mysterious plane crash. Amelia Levene, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, wants the incident investigated – quickly and quietly. The only man she can trust is Thomas Kell, a disgraced spy searching for redemption. Arriving in Istanbul, Kell discovers that MI6 operations in the region have been fatally compromised: a traitor inside Western Intelligence threatens not just the Special Relationship, but the security of the entire Middle East. Kell’s search for the mole takes him from London, to Greece, and into Eastern Europe. But when Kell is betrayed by those closest to him, the stakes become personal. He will do anything to see this operation through – including putting himself, and others, in the line of fire…

As a favour to an old friend, Hercule Poirot finds himself at a summer fete in Devon, taking part not in a Treasure Hunt, but a Murder Hunt, in this never-before-published novella version of Dead Man’s Folly. Now released for the first time in print in this illustrated collector’s edition. Sir George and Lady Stubbs, the hosts of a village fête, hit upon the novel idea of staging a mock murder mystery. In good faith, Ariadne Oliver, the well known crime writer, agrees to organise their murder hunt. But at the last minute Ariadne calls her friend Hercule Poirot for his expert assistance. Instinctively, she senses that something sinister is about to happen… In 1954, Agatha Christie wrote this novella with the intention of donating the proceeds to a fund set up to buy stained glass windows for her local church at Churston Ferrers, and she filled the story with references to local places, including her own home of Greenway. But having completed it, she decided instead to expand the story into a full-length novel, Dead Man’s Folly, which was published two years later, and donated a Miss Marple story (Greenshaw’s Folly) to the church fund instead. Unseen for sixty years, Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly is finally published in this collector’s hardback edition. The book includes a jacket painting, illustrations and exclusive introduction by Tom Adams, Agatha Christie’s most famous cover artist, who is back illustrating Agatha Christie for the first time in more than 30 years.

The seventh novel in Bernard Cornwell’s number one bestselling series on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg. BBC2’s major Autumn 2015 TV show THE LAST KINGDOM is based on the first two books in the series. Uhtred – sword of the Saxons, bane of the Vikings – has been declared outcast. Peace in Britain has given Uhtred time to cause trouble – for himself. Branded a pagan abomination by the church, he sails north. For, despite suspecting that Viking leader Cnut Longsword will attack the Saxons again, Uhtred is heading for Bebbanburg, fearing that if he does not act now he will never reclaim his stolen birthright. Yet Uhtred’s fate is bound to the Saxons. To Aethelflaed, bright lady of Mercia and to a dead king’s dream of England. For great battles must still be fought – and no man is better at that than Uhtred. Uhtred of Bebbanburg’s mind is as sharp as his sword. A thorn in the side of the priests and nobles who shape his fate, this Saxon raised by Vikings is torn between the life he loves and those he has sworn to serve.

The international bestseller from the master of suspense. A mafia conspiracy and one women against the world. Tracy Whitey is on top of the world. Young, beautiful, intelligent, she is about to marry into wealth and glamour – until, betrayed by her own innocence, she finds herself in prison, framed by a ruthless mafia gang and abandoned by the man she loves. Beaten and broken, but surviving with her dazzling ingenuity, Tracy emerges from her savage ordeal – determined to avenge those who have destroyed her life. Her thirst for revenge takes her from New Orleans to London, from Paris to Madrid and Amsterdam. Tracy is playing for the highest stakes in a deadly game. Only one man can challenge her – he’s handsome, persuasive and every bit as daring. Only one man can stop her – an evil genius whose only hope of salvation is in Tracy’s destruction…

FOUR WOMEN AND THE MEN THEY ARE FORBIDDEN TO LOVE Four nuns find themselves suddenly thrust into a hostile world they long ago abandoned for the safety of the convent. Unwittingly they become pawns in a battle between the charismatic Jaime Miro, leader of the outlawed Basque nationalists, and the ruthless Colonel Ramon Acoca of the Spanish Army. Megan the orphan, who feels an overpowering attraction to Jaime Miro Lucia the fiery Sicilian beauty on the run for murder – and Rubio Arzano, the freedom fighter who risks his life to save her Teresa whose guilty conscience finally drives her to betray her friends Graciela who bears a terrible secret that almost destroys her – and the courageous Ricardo Mellado who loves her. 'The Sands of Time' is an unforgettable adventure and a heart-stopping romance, set against the timeless and dramatic landscape of Spain.

Synopsis Details Reviews Fighting for survival in a shattered world! the truth is her only hope. The thrillingly dark sequel to New York Times bestseller, DIVERGENT. I have done bad things. I can't take them back, and they are part of who I am. Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future. Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever! because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead.