When Isobel and Alex came home from school to find their abusive father had brutally murdered their mother, their world was thrown into chaos. Plunged into a care system that neglected them, Isobel and Alex were expected to come to nothing, and had only each other to rely on. Isobel and Alex’s mother used to do everything with them. A full-time teacher, she dedicated herself to her children, partly in order to give them every possible opportunity in life, and partly to keep them out of the way of their increasingly eccentric, erratic and unpleasant father. Their father, a violent and frightening man, spent most of his time locked in his bedroom, a room the rest of the family never ventured into. He became increasingly bitter and angry at the outside world in general, and at his wife and children in particular. The local community feared his outbursts as much as Isobel and Alex did, but the neighbours saw far less of him as he became increasingly housebound. No one came to the Kerr’s house to visit. When Isobel was 15 and Alex 13, they came home from school to find police everywhere. Their father had stabbed their mother between fifty and sixty times with a sharpened chisel. As far as anyone could tell the attack was unprovoked and of incredible savagery, but the children were given the minimum amount of information. No one wanted to upset them unnecessarily. Their mother had been an only child and they had never been in contact with their father's family. There was no one else for them to turn to - except each other. This is an inspiring story of a brother and sister who only had each other, and a powerful testament to what can be achieved through courage and love.

Fact collides with fiction in Will Adams second pulse-pounding adventure featuring the enigmatic Daniel Knox – hero of The Alexander Cipher Fact collides with fiction in Will Adams second pulse-pounding adventure featuring the enigmatic Daniel Knox. On the trail of a Dead Sea Scroll, Knox stumbles across an ancient temple being surreptitiously excavated by evangelical Christians outside Alexandria. A chase ends in tragedy with the death of Alexandria's senior archaeologist, and Knox the chief suspect. Meanwhile, Knox's partner Gaille Bonnard is baby-sitting a television crew around the ancient city of Amarna, home of the multiple mysteries of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Kidnapped by rogue soldiers, her time fast running out, she sends Knox a message hidden in a hostage video, pleading with him to come to her rescue. But Knox has problems of his own, under arrest on suspicion of murder, locked in a police cell half a country away. And the only way for him to find and save her is to crack one of the great unsolved mysteries of the ancient world.

Step into the magical world of Cecelia Ahern in this heartwarming bestseller. If you could wish for one gift this Christmas, what would it be? Lou Suffern wishes he could be in two places at once. His constant battle with the clock is a sensitive issue with his wife and family. Gabe wishes he was somewhere warm. When Lou invites Gabe, a homeless man who sits outside his office, into the building and into his life, Lou’s world is changed beyond all measure… An enchanting and thoughtful Christmas story that speaks to all of us abut the value of time and what is truly important in life.

The brilliantly funny Sunday Times top ten bestseller. Alan Carr tells his life story in his own words, from growing up in a football-mad family in Northampton to his rise as one of Britain’s best-loved comedians. ‘Puberty had been unkind. Whereas it had come in the night and left the other boys with chiselled, stubbly chins and deep masculine voices, I’d been left with a huge pair of knockers and the voice of a pensioner.’ Alan Carr Alan Carr grew up in one of the most boring towns in England – Northampton. A place known for making shoes. It was also known for its football club, Northampton Town FC. Alan’s dad as manager of the club was a local hero. A dream come true for most lads, but not Alan. Alan wore glasses and had man boobs at 14. He did not like P.E. In his very first book, Alan tells his life story, (‘oh and what a life’) with his unique twist of natural, observational humour – ‘I’m not saying I’m a fantasist but there have been times when things that I’ve seen on television when I was younger have tended to seep into my subconscious and blended into my own life. I remember telling my Mum about the time I stopped that woman from having a diamond encrusted necklace stolen and she’d say ‘No Alan, that was Poirot.’ With his tongue-in-cheek, end of pier humour that made him famous, Alan describes an ordinary life in bursts of technicolour. His journey from awkward schoolboy hiding his man-boobs on the pitch, drinking tea with the dinner ladies and working in a call centre, to becoming one of our best-loved comedians likened to the great Frankie Howerd, make his book a guaranteed tickler with a laugh-out-loud gag on every page.

With a new introduction by M. John Harrison and a striking new cover design from the artist Stanley Donwood, this acclaimed cult novel sees human existence threatened by devastating climate change. Water. Man’s most precious commodity is a luxury of the past. Radioactive waste from years of industrial dumping has caused the sea to form a protective skin strong enough to devastate the Earth it once sustained. And while the remorseless sun beats down on the dying land, civilization itself begins to crack. Violence erupts and insanity reigns as the remnants of mankind struggle for survival in a worldwide desert of despair. Remarkable for its prescience and the originality of its vision, The Drought is a work of major importance from the early career of one of Britain’s most acclaimed novelists. This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard’s works, featuring introductions from a number of his admirers (including Ned Beauman, Ali Smith, Neil Gaiman and Martin Amis) and brand-new cover designs.

"Accelerate and Automate Build, Deploy, and Management of applications to achieve High Availability. About This Book ?This guide highlights tools that offer development and deployment environments for application services ?Secure and continuously monitor your web application in order to make it highly available ?Use Visual Studio Team Services for Continuous Integration and Continuous Development to expedite your application life cycle management process ?Use Microsoft Azure App Services (Azure Web Apps / Azure Websites), PaaS offering from Microsoft to deploy web application Who This Book Is For This book is for DevOps engineers, system administrators, and developers (.net) who want to implement DevOps for their organization. You do not need to have any knowledge of VSTS or Azure App Services (Azure Web Apps / Azure Websites). What You Will Learn ?Explore the features of PaaS and aPaaS in DevOps ?Use Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) to manage versions of code and integrating VSTS with Eclipse IDE ?Understand and configure Continuous Integration in VSTS ?Review Unit Test Execution for Automated Testing ?Create different environments that can be used to continuous deploy a web application ?Configure Roll-based Access to enable secure access for Azure Web Apps ?Create and configure the App Service Environment to enhance security ?Understand the execution of the end-to-end automation process ?Conduct Performance Testing using JMeter ?Discover the different monitoring options available in Microsoft Azure Portal In Detail This book will teach you all about the Visual Studio Team Services and Microsoft Azure PaaS offerings that support Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, Continuous Deployment, and execution in the cloud with high availability, disaster recovery, and security. You will first be given a tour of all the concepts and tools that Microsoft Azure has to offer and how these can be used in situations to cultivate the DevOps culture. You'll be taught how to use and manage Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and about the structure of the sample application used throughout the book. You will become familiar with the nitty gritty of Continuous Integration and Continuous Development with VSTS and Microsoft Azure Apps. You will not only learn how to create App service environments, but also how to compare Azure Web Apps and App Service Environments to deploy web applications in a more secure environment. Once you have completed Continuous Integration and created the Platform for application deployment, you will learn more about the final stepping stone in achieving end-to-end automation using approval-based Continuous Delivery and Deployment. You will then learn about Continuous Monitoring, using the monitoring and notification options provided by Microsoft Azure and Visual Studio Team Services. Style and Approach This book is an easy-to-follow guide filled with examples and real-world applications for gaining an in-depth understanding of Microsoft Azure and Visual Studio. This book will help you leverage Microsoft Azure and Visual Studio using real-world examples. "

THREE SOULS. TWO THOUSAND YEARS. ONE TRUTH. A worldwide conspiracy thriller for the millions of fans of The Da Vinci Code who’ve been left thirsting for more… Just one man can crack the code to the greatest mystery the world has ever known – if he survives… 36AD: Micah – Jesus' friend, trusted confidant, and the *th Apostle – inscribes a message, upon which mankind's fate would one day be determined. Present day: Internet forensic specialist, Gil Pearson, is recruited to decipher an ancient diary and reveal Micah's hidden message, which may lead to the most mysterious of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Working with the enigmatic Sabbie Karaim, Gil becomes embroiled in an international mystery spanning two thousand years, and for which others would gladly give their lives – or, more willingly, take his.

From New York Times best-selling author, Kim Harrison, comes the first book in her brilliant Hollows series; packed with the perfect balance of wry humour and thrilling action, which will delight fans of thrillers and fantasy alike. Rachel Morgan lives in a world where a bioengineered virus wiped out most of the world's human population – exposing the existence of supernatural communities that had long lived alongside humanity. It’s her job as a white witch working for Inderland Security to protect the humans from things that go bump in the night. For the last five years Rachel has been tracking down lawbreaking Inderlanders in modern-day Cincinnati, but now she wants to leave and start her own agency. Her only problem: no one quits the I.S. Marked for death, Rachel will have to fend off fairy assassins and homicidal werewolves armed to the teeth with deadly curses. Unless she can appease her former employers by exposing the city's most prominent citizen as a drug lord, she might just be a dead witch walking.

A breathtaking novel of suspense from the co-author of five bestselling James Patterson novels, including ‘Judge and Jury’ and ‘Lifeguard’. THERE ARE NO RULES IN THE BLUE ZONE. They were the perfect family. And he was the perfect family man. One day changed it all. Arrested for racketeering, Ben Raab must take his family into America’s Witness Protection Programme. Only his eldest daughter, Kate, chooses to stay on the outside. But the Programme's perfect success rate is about to come to a shocking end. A case agent is tortured to death and Ben vanishes. The one person who might be able to find him is Kate. Pursued by killers, forced to question everything she knows about her life so far, Kate is plunged into a terrifying existence for which nothing has prepared her. Most people would call it certain death. The FBI calls it the Blue Zone.

Compo: I thought you'd be open. Sid: Well that's a natural assumption if you ignore the drawn blinds and the forty foot sign that says closed. Set and filmed in and around Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, Last of the Summer Wine follows the adventures of three quirky pensioners and their equally unusual neighbours. A true British classic that appeals to all generations, it is our nation's longest running comedy programme. The line-up of the comedy trio has changed numerous times over the years, but the calibre of the family-friendly humour Roy Clarke creates has remained the same, and it's as funny and eccentric now as it was in the first episodes he wrote over 25 years ago. Including the pilot, broadcast ten months before the first series, 29 series, made up of 279 episodes, have been screened to date, with the 30th series set to air this autumn. The sitcom has consistently been a favourite in the ratings, with viewing figures peaking at 18.8 million in the mid-eighties. Famous fans include Prince Charles, the Queen Mother and the Queen, who said it was her favourite TV show. The Best of British Comedy - Last of the Summer Wine includes: ”? The History: an overview of how Last of the Summer Wine was born and developed ”? Gags and Catchphrases: a collection of classic quotes ”? Did You Know?: snippets of info about the show, cast, etc. ”? Favourite scenes: the most memorable scenes in full ”? A LOSW quiz 'If God's omnipotent, what could he possibly want with my old woman?' Clegg Compo: Your old lady's dog is crapping all over the pavement. Blamire: That's funny. He usually sews it up in little bags and sends it by post.

A Richard Sharpe short story, featuring scenes of action and adventure at Christmas. ‘You’ll like Irati,’ Colonel Hogan said. ‘It’s a nothing place, Richard. Hovels and misery, that’s all it is and all it ever will be, but that’s where you’re going for Christmas.’ Sharpe was sent to Irati because maybe the French were going there. The garrison planned to march at Christmas in the hope that their enemies would be too bloated with beef and wine to fight, but Hogan had got wind of their plans and was now setting his snares on the only two routes that the escaping French could use. One, the eastern road, was by far the easier route, for it entered France through a low pass, and Hogan guessed it was that route that the French would choose. But there was a second road, a tight, hard, steep road, and that had to be blocked as well and so the Prince of Wales’s Own Volunteers, Sharpe’s regiment, would climb into the hills and spend their Christmas at a place of hovels and misery called Irati. Soldier, hero, rogue – Sharpe is the man you always want on your side. Born in poverty, he joined the army to escape jail and climbed the ranks by sheer brutal courage. He knows no other family than the regiment of the 95th Rifles whose green jacket he proudly wears.

Every woman needs a best friend… And Deena Munger needs one more than most. Faced with an almost empty nest, a marriage that's as stale as week-old bread, and hot flushes that are driving her mad, no wonder she feels running away. Despite her twenty extra pounds, Deena feels invisible and wonders when she started to disappear. And how come she never even noticed. Until the day Heloise enters her life. To the astonishment of her family, Deena volunteers to raise a Guide dog-and suddenly her world is turned upside down. Can this messy, boisterous, playful Labrador puppy show her the way out of the darkness? Seeing really is believing…

On the third day, there were PIRATES! Arthur Penhaligon finds himself on an adventure that will pit him against pirates, storms, explosions and a vast beast that eats everything it encounters. Will our unwitting hero be able to find the third part of the Will and claim the Third Key? No rest for poor Arthur Penhaligon. As Grim Tuesday ends, he discovers a square of stiff cardboard under his pillow, gilt-edged and inscribed with the following words: LADY WEDNESDAY Trustee of the Architect and Duchess of the Border Sea has great pleasure in inviting ARTHUR PENHALIGON to a Particular Luncheon of Seventeen Removes Transport has been arranged RSVP not required… It’s an invitation he cannot refuse. From hospital room to the high seas, Arthur finds himself on an adventure that will pit him against pirates, storms, explosions of Nothing-laced gunpowder, and a vast beast that eats everything it encounters. Through it all, he is drawn deeper into the central mystery of the House. Arthur must find the third part of the Will and claim the Third Key – not just for himself, but for the millions (if not trillions) who will suffer if he doesn't. The first step? Surviving life aboard ship on the Border Sea…

Second title in Garth Nix’s gripping new fantasy adventure series. Arthur Penhaligon didn't think he would ever have to return to the strange house that nearly killed him on Monday – the house that contains a fantastical and sinister realm inside. But the next day brings new challenges – in the form of an enemy named Grim Tuesday, who threatens the safety of both Arthur's family and his world. Arthur must retrieve the Second Key from Grim Tuesday in order to save everything – an adventure that will force him to steal a Sunship, survive a very weird work camp, befriend a bearlike spirit and fight the void Nithlings. Even after all that, he will still have to venture into the scary Far Reaches for an ultimate showdown.

Friday is here! The race is on to find the secret of the Middle House. The fifth eagerly awaited installment in Garth Nix’s best selling fantasy series,The Keys to the Kingdom. Arthur Penhaligon’s adventures in the House get ever more perilous as the week unfolds. On the fifth day, there was fear… Four of the seven Trustees have been defeated and their Keys taken, but for Arthur, the week is still getting worse. Suzy Blue and Fred Initial Numbers Gold have been captured by the Piper, and his New Nithling army still controls most of the Great Maze. Superior Saturday is causing trouble wherever she can, including turning off all the elevators in the House and blocking the Front Door. Arthur can't even find out what is happening back home. All he knows is that Leaf isn't on earth any more. She's missing and so are hundreds of other people who were transferred from regular hospitals to a private institution run by a 'Doctor Friday'. From there they have been taken somewhere else in the Secondary Realms, for Lady Friday's own horrible purposes. Amid all this trouble, Arthur’s mother is also missing, and he must weigh up an offer from Lady Friday that is either a cunning trap for the Rightful Heir or a golden opportunity he must seize – before Superior Saturday or the Piper beats him to it.

The second book in the brand new trilogy from the author of the Tawny Man trilogy, following on from the bestselling Shaman’s Crossing. The King's Cavalla Academy has been ravaged by the Speck plague. The disease has decimated the ranks of both cadets and instructors, and even the survivors remain sickly. Many have been forced to relinquish their military ambitions and return to their families to face lives of dependency and disappointment. As the Academy infirmary empties, Cadet Nevare Burvelle also prepares to journey home, to attend his brother Rosse's wedding. Far from being a broken man, Nevare is hale and hearty after his convalescence. He has defeated his nemesis, Tree Woman and freed himself of the Speck magic that infected him and attempted to turn him against his own people. A bright future awaits him as a commissioned officer betrothed to a beautiful young noblewoman. Yet his nights are still haunted by dreams of the voluptuous Tree Woman, dreams in which his Speck self betrays everything he holds dear in his waking life. Has the plague infected him in ways far more mysterious than the merely physical? Despite his fears, Nevare will journey back to Widevale in high spirits, in full expectation of a jubilant homecoming and a tender reunion with his beautiful fiancée, Carsina. But his life is about to take a shocking turn, as the magic in his blood roars to life and forces him to recognize that his most dangerous enemy, an enemy that seeks to destroy all he loves, might dwell within him.

The sparkling new novel from the bestselling author of ‘A Question of Love.’ It’s never easy putting down new roots… After the sudden death of her mother, Anna Temple realises she needs to live for the moment and pursue her dream of becoming a garden designer. Swapping hedge funds for herbaceous borders, and shares for scented stocks, she says goodbye to City life for a fresh start in the country. But on the eve of her sparkling new future she meets the gorgeous Xan and their chance encounter changes her world in more ways than she could ever imagined – enter baby Milly. Juggling her new business with the joys and fears of motherhood is a struggle, especially alone and when Anna unearths a long-buried family secret, skeletons tumble from the closet. Suddenly nothing is as it seems, past or present…

Following the hugely popular ‘An Angel Saved My Life’, comes another collection of powerful true stories of communication with those in the Afterlife. Includes real-life amazing rescues, mysterious dream visitations, near death experiences and miraculous recoveries. In the follow up to her first collection of stories entitled ‘An Angel Saved My Life’, Jacky Newcomb is back with more incredible, inspiring true life dramas and what happens when those from the afterlife intervene in our darkest hour of need. The book includes: ? Miraculous survival stories which defy explanation. ? Amazing rescues – mysterious strangers who proved to be angels in disguise. ? People who came back from the brink of death – what is it really like to die? ? Remarkable medical recoveries – spirit intervention to set the clock back on a person's 'time to go'. ? Dream visitations by spirits – angels and spirit friends entering or creating dreams to give important messages. ? The psychic power of children and their interaction with angels. ? Incredible psychic animals – pets who came back from the dead to protect their owners.

Ex-sugar addict Nicki Waterman, the face of GMTV fitness, describes how and why she beat her sugar habit – and how you can too. The Sugar Addict's Diet is a brand new nutrition plan that will help you lose weight and eliminate ailments by eliminating sugar entirely from your diet and increasing your levels of good fats to bust those cravings. Nicki Waterman's struggle with her own sugar addiction introduces this excellent and topical diet book. Refined sugar is the big baddie in our lives – food companies and marketing executives are making the ‘cocaine of the food industry’ enormously difficult to avoid. Hidden sugars are everywhere and Nicki helps you to negotiate your way around the pitfalls on supermarket shelves. ? Discover if you are a sugar addict by checking your symptoms – are you overweight, lacking energy, suffering headaches, irritable…? ? Learn how sugar contributes to major health issues, including obesity, diabetes, cancer, depression, candida, acne and a host of other problems. ? Understand the physical and emotional aspects of your addiction and what the real cost to your well being is. ? Cope with ‘sugar dealers’ – people and situations that could set you on the wrong track. ? Lose weight and stop cravings by increasing your intake of the right fats – follow Nicki and Martha’s easy-to follow 14 day plan with delicious recipes. ? Win the sugar war with your kids by helping them choose healthier options – and defeat the marketing industry’s ever-present and invasive temptations.

Summer, 1940: western Europe has been conquered, and all that stands between Hitler and the invasion of England is the matter of air supremacy. And the RAF… Hitler’s top-secret Directive No. 16, July 1940: ‘The English air force must be beaten down to such an extent, that it can no longer muster any power of attack worth mentioning against the German advance.’ ‘Fighter’ is Len Deighton’s thrilling history of the ensuing Battle of Britain – the aerial combat between the RAF and the Luftwaffe that was fought over the summer of 1940. Ex-RAF pilot Deighton has written a balanced study of strategies and tactics that also expertly recounts the development of the aeroplanes that fought each other in the skies – the Spitfires and Messerschmitts – and of radar. Behind the strategies and tactics, and in the cockpits of the aeroplanes, are the men brought vividly to life by Deighton’s skill as a novelist.

The complete four-volume collection of classic memoir recounting a poverty-stricken childhood in 1930s Liverpool that started with Twopence To Cross the Mersey. Twopence To Cross The Mersey – When Helen Forrester’s father went bankrupt in 1930 she and her six siblings were forced into dreadful poverty in Depression-ridden Liverpool. Managing the household and caring for the younger children all fell on twelve-year-old Helen. Written without self-pity, Forrester’s memoir of these grim days is as heart-warming as it is shocking. Liverpool Miss – Life remains extremely tough for fourteen-year-old Helen. Her continuing struggles against malnutrition, dirt and, above all, the selfish demands of her parents, are deeply shocking. But Helen’s fortitude in the most harrowing of situations makes this a story of amazing courage. By The Waters Of Liverpool – though her parents are as financially irresponsible as ever, wasting money while their children go without, for Helen the future is brightening. At seventeen, she has fought won some important battles with her parents and won, then she meets Harry… Lime Street At Two – It is 1940 and Helen, now twenty, is working at a welfare centre. Her wages are pitifully low and her mother claims the whole of them for housekeeping but she is still thrilled to be gaining some independence. As WWII rages, tragedy isn’t very far away, but Helen faces it with courage and determination.