Death is a Lonely Business
¥72.99
Ray Bradbury, the undisputed Dean of American storytelling, dips his accomplished pen into the cryptic inkwell of noir and creates a stylish and slightly fantastical tale of mayhem and murder set among the shadows and the murky canals of Venice, California, in the early 1950s. Toiling away amid the looming palm trees and decaying bungalows, a struggling young writer (who bears a resemblance to the author) spins fantastic stories from his fertile imagination upon his clacking typewriter. Trying not to miss his girlfriend (away studying in Mexico), the nameless writer steadily crafts his literary effort--until strange things begin happening around him. Starting with a series of peculiar phone calls, the writer then finds clumps of seaweed on his doorstep. But as the incidents escalate, his friends fall victim to a series of mysterious "accidents"--some of them fatal. Aided by Elmo Crumley, a savvy, street-smart detective, and a reclusive actress of yesteryear with an intense hunger for life, the wordsmith sets out to find the connection between the bizarre events, and in doing so, uncovers the truth about his own creative abilities.
Sue’s Story (Individual stories from WISH YOU WERE HERE!, Book 5)
¥11.77
One of seven touching true stories from Wish You Were Here!, the tale of Butlin’s holiday camps. ‘When I got to the camp I felt as if I’d suddenly walked into Utopia – it was so colourful, so warm, so friendly. There were lights across the roads, there were banners fluttering in the breeze… There seemed to be laughter coming from every building.’ With grey post-WWII skies hanging low over Britain, factories lining the streets and smoke stacks dotting the horizon, there was one way that ordinary families could escape: the ever-cheerful holiday camps of Butlin’s. When Billy Butlin founded his holiday camps in 1936, they were bastions of community spirit and havens of luxury. Here, for one week, wives and mothers were freed from the toil and drudgery of housework, children ran free through the grounds, fathers and husbands hung up their work clothes. Ever-helpful redcoats were on hand all hours of the day, dinner halls ready with plentiful food for old and young alike, bars stocked to quench any level of thirst, ballrooms waiting to be flooded with shiny shoes, rustling dresses and peals of laughter. And, as the sun went down on another exhausting, happy day, a chorus line was ready to sing holidaymakers back to their beds. Rich in period detail and highly evocative, Wish You Were Here! follows the lives of seven of the camps’ key figures through the highs and lows of the holiday season: from redcoats searching for stardom to young families who returned year after year, to pensioners who rediscovered an inner youth. The laughter and tears, the loves and losses, and the fun and friendships that have lasted a lifetime – it's all here. Funny, moving and heartwarming, they are tales of swimming pools and sing-a-longs, Glamorous Grannies and bicycle rides, and of a community spirit that burned brightly in a much-loved British institution.
The ZimZum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage
¥66.22
Sunday Times bestselling author Rob Bell is joined in this book by his wife of twenty years, Kristen, to present a new way to make marriage work. Marriage is complex because people are complicated. You think you’re one. But then there are moments when it’s shockingly obvious that you’re two, with two opinions – whether over politics, childrearing or what you’re going to watch on TV. So how do you stop yourself flaring up when you hit one of these relationship flashpoints and start seeing marriage as a chance for you to learn more about the person you want to know best of all? Early on in their marriage Rob and Kristen experienced the struggles and fights that come to all couples. They still do. But they quickly learned that a great marriage needs to be focused and nurtured – and that fights should be as productive as possible! In this inspiring and humorous insight into marriage, the popular husband and wife team explore communication, dealing with relatives, money, sex, petty fights, work and boundaries, as well as love, forgiveness, fidelity, faith and hope – because something special can happen when two people give themselves fully to each other. With extensive discussion points in the endnotes, this easy-to-read book is invaluable for anyone searching for a happy, fulfilling relationship.
Self Esteem: Simple Steps to Build Your Confidence
¥32.67
The new updated and fully revised edition of this bestselling title. Poor self-esteem can sabotage relationships and careers, cause self-destructive behaviour and can hold us back from achieving our full potential. In this new updated and fully revised edition of this bestselling title Lindenfield helps us to recover from a deep-seated hurt and cope with knocks to our pride. The beginnings of poor self-esteem usually lie far back in our childhood, but our confidence can easily be knocked in our adult life by criticism and trauma. A practical program that can make us feel more energized and self-reliant than ever before; and ultimately, overcome our doubts and fears to achieve self-fulfilment.
Vulgar Things
¥66.22
The second novel from Lee Rourke, author of the cult hit ‘The Canal’. Jon Michaels – a divorced, disaffected and fatigued editor living a nonde* life in North London – wakes one morning to a phone call informing him that his uncle has been found dead in his caravan on Canvey Island. Dismissed from his job only the day before and hung-over, Jon reluctantly agrees to sort through his uncle’s belongings and clear out the caravan. What follows is a quixotic week on Canvey as Jon, led on by desire and delusion, purposeful but increasingly disorientated, unfolds a disturbing secret, ever more enchanted by the island – its landscape and its atmosphere. Haunted and haunting, ‘Vulgar Things’ is part mystery, part romance, part odyssey: a novel in which the menial entrances and the banal compels.
The Holocaust: History in an Hour
¥22.76
Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. The Holocaust, in which 11 million people died, was the largest atrocity of the 20th century and perhaps the hardest to understand. Approximately 6 million Jews and 5 million others including Roma people, Poles, Russian prisoners of war, political prisoners, homosexuals, people of colour, Jehovah's Witnesses, and various other minorities were first persecuted and then murdered. How, both morally and logistically, had this came to happen? From received sentiments of anti-Semitism at the beginning of the 20th century, through the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party, to the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and finally Second World War, the victimisation of these minorities intensified beyond precedent. With the complicity of a nation hatred became policy. Under the control of sadists, bureaucrats and even ordinary soldiers, irrational acts were then enacted on an industrial scale, and with the use of concentration camps, Western Europe witnessed its most shocking treatment of humanity in modern history. Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…
Proud Man Walking
¥72.99
Betrayed by his club but beloved by the fans, former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri has been a constant headline-maker in 2004. Occasionally puzzling, often eccentric, but always fascinating and refreshing, the Italian describes the highs and lows of an extraordinary season at Stamford Bridge - and the dramatic end to his English journey. 'Hello, my sharks. Welcome to the funeral.' 'People have said I am a dead man walking - but I am still moving!' 'Tonight I am a crazy man and Roman Abramovich is also going mad like me!' We rejoiced with him. We laughed with him. And we cried with him. In what turned out to be a year for the Blues resembling more a soap opera than a season of football, Claudio Ranieri reveals the highlights and the hurt of his farewell twelve months in England. This collaboration between Italian journalist Massimo Marianella and Ranieri promises to reveal the inside story of a rollercoaster year at Stamford Bridge, with a first-hand account of coaching the most expensively assembled team in the Premiership, alongside the increasing pressures of satisfying his bosses as Chelsea's season threatened to turn into anticlimax. How did Ranieri keep all his players contented, when the value of his subs bench often exceeded that of most Premiership teams? What were the skills required to mould a group of exciting individuals into a team capable of challenging the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United at the top of the tree? With the media suggesting an uneasy alliance between Ranieri and Roman Abramovich, what was it that drove their complex relationship? What was the real truth behind the allegations that Ranieri's position was being undermined by his bosses? And when did the 'Tinkerman' discover his final denouement? Just some of the questions that will be answered in this book by arguably the most talked-about man in English football in 2004.
The Wild Child
¥11.77
Casey tells the harrowing story of Connor, an eight year old boy from a broken home who comes to stay with her family. It’s a Saturday morning when Casey and Mike are asked to take in eight year old Connor – an emergency placement, just for a couple of days, following a violent incident at his now former care home. And Casey’s instinct, as ever, is to say yes. With long term foster son Tyler off to football, and no particular plans for the weekend, even the fact that Connor arrives in what looks like a prison van doesn’t phase her – after all, challenging children are what she and Mike have trained for. And how much trouble can he really be? He’s eight. A lot, as it turns out. Connor is as streetwise as they come, and, hurt and angry, seems determined to cause trouble from the off. But despite the attitude, there’s something strangely endearing about their little visitor that makes Casey want to tease out the frightened child behind the swagger. So much so that, with Connor and Tyler getting on so well, she wonders – should they say they’ll keep him longer? It seems like the easiest decision in the world …
Scarlett’s Secret: A real-life short story by Casey Watson
¥14.81
Bestselling author and foster carer Casey Watson tells the shocking and deeply moving true story of two sisters who carry a terrible secret. This is a first taste of the ‘Unit’ series: several stories about ‘difficult’ children Casey helped during her time as a behaviour manager at her local comprehensive. Casey doesn’t know what to expect when seventeen-year-old twins Scarlett and Jade join her class. The girls seem grounded but they never leave each other’s side, although there seems to be an underlying tension between them that Casey can’t quite put her finger on. What’s more, Jade has a strong, unpleasant smell about her that further isolates her from the other teenagers. Eager to help the girls, Casey starts digging and finds out that Jade was pregnant and that the girls were taken into care when they were sixteen. But it’s not until a violent argument during class that Casey truly realises the anger the two girls harbour towards the rest of the world. And when Scarlett finally reveals the truth, it suddenly all makes sense. Can Casey find a way to bring Scarlett and Jade closer together? And can she break down Jade’s walls and get the girls the help they have craved since their childhood? Dark, disturbing and heartbreaking, this is a story of two sisters who just needed someone to believe in them.
The Dog
¥66.22
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2014 SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC FICTION The first novel from Joseph O’Neill since NETHERLAND. ‘O’Neill, in this book, has come of age as a novelist … a comic masterpiece … as mordantly funny as the best of stand-up comedy … Superb’ John Banville, New York Review of Books In 2007, a New York attorney bumps into an old college buddy – and accepts his friend’s offer of a job in Dubai, as the overseer of an enormous family fortune. Haunted by the collapse of his relationship and hoping for a fresh start, our strange hero begins to suspect that he has exchanged one inferno for another. A funny and wholly original work of international literature, ‘The Dog’ is led by a brilliantly entertaining anti-hero. Imprisoned by his endless powers of reasoning, hemmed in by the ethical demands of globalized life, he is fatefully drawn towards the only logical response to our confounding epoch.
Notes to my Mother-in-Law and How Many Camels Are There in Holland?
¥95.75
A single-volume edition of two hugely charming and funny memoirs of family life – ‘Notes to my Mother-in-Law’ and ‘How Many Camels Are There in Holland?’ – by the inimitable Phyllida Law. Phyllida Law’s treasured mother-in-law Annie was the lynchpin of the entire family, so when they realised she was growing ever more deaf the only solution was for Phyllida to note down all the day’s gossip for Annie to read. When her own mother Mego – always deliciously dotty – was diagnosed with dementia late in her life, Phyllida devoted herself to Mego’s care, on hand to keep the cottage tidy and prepare a medicinal G&T. And all the while Phyllida had to manage her busy acting career and bring up her own daughters, the actresses Emma and Sophie Thompson. Complete with wonderful new material from Phyllida, Emma and Sophie, this single-volume edition of Phyllida Laws’s two enchanting memoirs of family life – ‘Notes to my Mother-in-Law’ and ‘How Many Camels Are There in Holland?’ – is a tender and sweetly comic story of mothers, daughters, a malfunctioning hearing aid and a most peculiar question about camels …
D-Day: History in an Hour
¥18.05
Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. Midnight, Tuesday 6 June 1944: the beginning of D-Day, the operation to invade Nazi-occupied Western Europe and initiate the final phase of World War II. A vast undertaking, it involved 12,000 aircraft and an amphibious assault of almost 7,000 vessels. 160,000 troops would cross the English Channel during Operation Overlord, paving the way for more than three million allied troops to enter France by the end of August 1944. Forces from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Free French and Poland all heavily participated, alongside contingents from Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway, They capitalised on the element of surprise achieved due to bad weather and the success of Operation Bodyguard – a feat of massive deception to convince Hitler that the landings would hit Pas-de-Calais. In just over a year, the war would be won. ‘D-Day: History in an Hour’ is the story of how the largest military operation in history had been planned, practised and executed. Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…
The Affair at the Victory Ball: A Hercule Poirot Short Story
¥18.93
A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time as an ebook. A woman leaves a fancy dress ball early and is later found to have died from a drugs overdose. Hercule Poirot investigates in this, the first story written about him.
Problem at Sea: A Hercule Poirot Short Story
¥19.13
A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time as an ebook. A new bride is murdered in Cabin 66 on a cruise to Egypt, while her husband is ashore with other passengers. Their travelling companion Hercule Poirot finds that his holiday has become an investigation…
The Hound of Death: An Agatha Christie Short Story
¥23.25
A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time as an ebook. In this supernatural tale by the Queen of Crime, a nun has memories of a past-life in an ancient civilisation and believes she can harness natural psychic powers…
Vitals
¥45.42
Scientist Hal Cousins is close to discovering the key to immortality but someone has already found it and will kill him to keep it secret. Vitals is a tense technothriller in the best Michael Crichton tradition. A mile and a half below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, scientist Hal Cousins, frightened of the dark and no friend of God, is looking for the fountain of youth. The Nobel Prize doesn't interest him. Hal is in longevity research for the long haul, the really long haul. 'Angels' (rich businessmen keen to live a thousand years) fund him. Hal finds what he is searching for: xenos, the single-celled tramps of the sea floor, each one as big as a clenched fist. But then the pilot of his sub goes berserk. Hal barely survives; the xenos don't. The pilot kills himself. Five other scientists in related fields die violently in the space of a week. Hal discovers a trail of death stretching back over decades, from Stalin's Russia to present-day Manhattan. Another epidemic of murder by superbly trained killers has been triggered by what Hal nearly discovered… From the bottom of Russia’s Lake Baikal to a billionaire’s bionic house built into the cliffs of the Californian seashore, from the darkest days of the reign of Joseph Stalin in Russia to the capitalist free-for-all of modern America, the edge of immortality is the most dangerous place to be.
The Children of Húrin
¥66.22
Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manu*s and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, this illustrated paperback of the epic tale of The Children of Húrin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves, dragons, Dwarves and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien. It is a legendary time long before The Lord of the Rings, and Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwells in the vast fortress of Angband in the North; and within the shadow of the fear of Angband, and the war waged by Morgoth against the Elves, the fates of Túrin and his sister Ni?nor will be tragically entwined. Their brief and passionate lives are dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bears them as the children of Húrin, the man who dared to defy him to his face. Against them Morgoth sends his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire, in an attempt to fulfil the curse of Morgoth, and destroy the children of Húrin. Begun by J.R.R. Tolkien at the end of the First World War, The Children of Húrin became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manu*s, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.
The Information Officer
¥72.30
From the No. 1 bestseller and author of Richard & Judy pick The Savage Garden: an atmospheric world war two crime thriller for fans of Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Jed Rubenfeld "You want to know who I am? I'm the last living soul you'll ever set eyes on" Summer, 1942. For the people of Malta, suffering daily bombing raids, the British are the last line of defence against the Nazis. And it is Max Chadwick's job as the information officer to ensure the news the islanders receive maintains morale. So when Max is given proof suggesting a British officer is murdering local women, he knows the consequences of discovery are dire. With the violence on the war-ravaged island escalating daily, he embarks on a private investigation, hidden from the eyes of superiors, friends and the woman he loves. But Max finds himself torn between patriotic duty and personal honour in his efforts to track down the killer… an elusive figure always one step ahead of his hunter.
Brothers in Arms
¥66.22
Charismatic hero Jack Steel returns, in a new and perilous adventure. England 1708 and Jack Steel returns to Flanders from England a married man. But his wife Lady Henrietta Vaughan is proving expensive and Jack must look for a promotion. At the battle of Oudenarde Steel is sent in to stem off the French attack and wins a glorious victory for Marlborough.The allies eyes’ turn from Paris to Lille, where the Dutch have recommenced a siege. Unbeknownst to them, Marlborough sends Steel, his trusted envoy to Paris to broker a deal with a man who has the ear of the French King. Disguised, in danger of exposure and in fear of his life, Steel accomplishes his mission and makes it back to the bloody, mud-logged siege of Lille – a victory for the British in the end, but at huge cost of human life. As Steel desperately tries to open supply lines to his troops, he discovers that his wife has been unfaithful to him, though he has risked all to rescue her from the besiged town of Leffinghe. Jack returns to England covered in glory from Lille, and with the promotion that he desired. Although he has lost his reason for desiring money and honour he is now even more determined to win further military accolades in order outshine his wife’s new lover.
Forever Baby: Jenny’s Story - A Mother’s Diary
¥54.65
“I have a darling baby. A patient placid baby who nuzzles warmly into her sheepskin and gives me a sleepy smile when I come in. She sits up, bounces happily and reaches out for a cuddle …” “I’ve had my darling baby for nearly twenty years now and unless something happens, I guess I’ll have her for another twenty years.” Praise for Forever Baby – “Mary’s writing has the quality of being both a participant and an observer. As a participant in a life and death voyage, she writes with emotional force. As an observer, there are some great passages of acute observation and stark – sometimes black – humour. “But the dominant emotion is love: love given by Mary and the Burbidge Family to their daughter Jenny; love given by Jenny to Mary and family. A special love for a special child, which we are privileged, through this book, to share.” The Hon. Joan Kirner, former Premier of Victoria “Some people just burn with a brighter flame, and Mary Burbidge, doctor, mother and fierce diarist, is one of them. When Mary gave birth over twenty years ago to a disabled baby girl, she began writing from the heart to make sense and meaning of her life. “I have quoted Mary’s experience in one of my own books, but I could never have suspected the dramatic turn of events that would conclude this story. The gritty, heart-bursting world of parenting is captured in a way that I have rarely met elsewhere, but the drama, transcendence and tragedy of raising a child with a disability takes this to a deeper plane still. “Jenny’s story and Mary’s telling of it, will grip the reader and change how they see the world around them for a very long time.” Steve Biddulph, psychologist and author
The Islands of Chaldea
¥51.50
The brand new and final novel from the magical pen of ‘the Godmother of Fantasy’, Diana Wynne Jones; co-authored with her sister Ursula Jones. Now in paperback. How are you supposed to turn into a Wise Woman if your powers just won’t show up? Aileen is convinced she’ll never become as magical as her Aunt Beck. Then one day her aunt is set a seemingly impossible mission. She must go to the island of Logra and rescue the kidnapped High Prince from the enemy, and Aileen must go with her. They set off along with Ivar, Aileen’s spoilt cousin, and Ogo his clophopping servant, recruiting on their way a huge and elusive cat, a monk with an uncannily wise parrot, and a boy inventor who keeps a pet lizard up his sleeve. But this is no band of mighty warriors, and the evil Lograns and their wizards have blocked their way with an invisible barrier in the sea. Aileen doubts that even with all the magic in the Islands of Chaldea, including Aunt Beck’s, they will be able to penetrate it. But Aileen is about to discover that she could be more important to the mission than she realises. Perhaps it is her, above all, who is being drawn to Logra, and for a very special purpose…

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