My Father’s Watch: The Story of a Child Prisoner in 70s Britain
¥63.18
The intensely moving memoir of Patrick Maguire, one of the ‘Maguire Seven’ wrongly imprisoned as a teenager for making bombs for the IRA. On the night of October 5 1974, an IRA unit left bombs in two Guildford pubs: five people were killed. On the night of December 3 1974, on the strength of fabricated testimony extracted under duress from Paul Hill and Gerard Conlon (whom the police mistakenly believed had planted the Guildford bombs), Anne and Paddy Maguire, two of their four children, Vincent and Patrick, plus other family members and friends, a total of seven in all, were arrested at their home in West London. On 22 October 1975 the Guildford Four were wrongfully convicted of bombing the two pubs in Guildford. On the 4 March 1976 the Maguire Seven, as they had become known, were found guilty of possession of the nitro-glycerine used in those bombings. On 19 October 1989 the verdicts on the Guildford Four were quashed. On 26 June 1991 the convictions against the Maguire Seven of handling explosives were quashed and just over a year later, Sir John May, after producing a report on the Maguire Seven case, described it as the worst miscarriage of justice he had ever seen. Behind these dates lie human stories – ‘My Father's Watch’ tells that of Patrick, who was the youngest of the accused, at fourteen years old. He was sentenced to four years and when he came out he had no home and no family, as both parents were still in jail. This book takes us through Patrick's entire life, from his working-class childhood in West London to the difficult life he has led since prison, the roots of which go back to the wrongful convictions and the destruction of the family that followed. Patrick Maguire and the novelist Carlo Gébler have written ‘My Father's Watch’ jointly. It is not a ghosted work – told in Patrick's own voice, it is a lucid and inspiring account of one individual's experience of an appalling injustice, as well as a reminder, as the war against terror ratchets up, of just how much harm a state can do to its own innocent citizens in the name of security.
How Starbucks Saved My Life
¥72.30
A candid, moving and inspirational memoir about a high-flying business man who is forced to re-evaluate his life and values when he suddenly loses everything and goes to work in Starbucks. Michael Gill had it made. He was educated, wealthy and well-connected. He had a creative and lucrative advertising job, which he loved and which he was good at, and a model family and home life. Then he loses it all. He is fired by a young exec whom he had mentored. He has an extramarital affair that destroys his family and results in a newborn son. Then he is diagnosed with brain cancer. He has no insurance, no income. One day he wanders into Starbucks and by chance signs up for a job interview. His would-be boss is a young black woman who gives him a job, and sets about training him and mentoring him. What follows is an inspirational eye-opener as Gill experiences a whole new world compared to his former life – with people from completely different ethnic and social backgrounds. ‘How Starbucks Saved My Life’ follows Gill's journey of discovery as gradually he is forced to question his ingrained assumptions, prejudices and habits. Gill emerges from his fall from grace with humility and gratitude. His new-found empathy teaches him how anyone who has lost their way, or made a mistake, can start again.
The Rest Is Noise Series: “Grimes! Grimes!”
¥11.77
This is a chapter from Alex Ross’s groundbreaking history of twentieth-century classical music, ‘The Rest is Noise’. Further extracts are available as digital shorts, accompanying the London Southbank festival programme. Benjamin Britten lived for most of his life around the Suffolk coast, and is buried in the Aldeburgh churchyard. He once stated that all his music came from there. ‘Peter Grimes’ is an opera of staggering force that is soaked in Aldeburgh to its bones. Now a major festival running throughout 2013 at London’s Southbank, The Rest is Noise is an intricate commentary not just on the sounds that defined the century, but on art’s troublesome dance with politics, social and cultural change. Britten’s music features prominently in the festival; ‘Music from Across the Iron Curtain’ is on 27 September 2013, ‘Britten Centenary Celebrations’ are on 2 and 12 October and ‘The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ is performed on 3 November 2013. Alex Ross is the New Yorker’s music critic, and the winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Rest is Noise, which was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson and Pulitzer prizes for non-fiction.
The Rest Is Noise Series: Zion Park
¥11.77
This is a chapter from Alex Ross’s groundbreaking history of twentieth-century classical music, ‘The Rest is Noise’. Further extracts are available as digital shorts, accompanying the London Southbank festival programme. After the war, composers took up what might be called catastrophe style with a vengeance. The twentieth century was undoubtedly one of the most horrific periods of human history - but terror was not always the subject of its composers. For some, attempting to transcend or reject the despair that consumed other artists led to the creation of some of the century’s most beautiful music. Now a major festival running throughout 2013 at London’s Southbank, The Rest is Noise is an intricate commentary not just on the sounds that defined the century, but on art’s troublesome dance with politics, social and cultural change. Alex Ross is the New Yorker’s music critic, and the winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Rest is Noise, which was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson and Pulitzer prizes for non-fiction.
Fishing Flies
¥231.22
Anyone who has taken a class from a decent teacher will be able to make flies from the de*ions given here. -- Booklist A mind-boggling array of flies.... The volume brims with hard-won advice and entertaining anecdotes. -- Waterloo Record Fishing Flies is a complete guide that describes every conceivable type of freshwater and saltwater fly. It examines the entire range of fishing flies--more than 1,300 in all--many by some of the world's most famous fly-tiers. These flies have been selected not only for their worth as lures but for their contribution to the progress of fly-tying. This smaller paperback edition is more portable than the hardcover, making it easy for fly fishers to take it along on fishing trips. Every fly in the book can be tied using readily-obtained material. Specially taken color photographs show hundreds of fly styles and variations with as many as six flies per page. The author describes their history, including literary references and fishing folklore, points out special features and gives detailed tying instructions where needed. He recommends the most favorable conditions in which to use the fly and provides important information on how the flies correspond with the fishes' reproductive cycles. Fishing Flies covers: ?Introduction and the earliest flies ?Trout and grayling flies ?Streamers and bucktails ?Flies for salmon, sea trout and steelhead ?Flies for freshwater predators ?Saltwater flies. Useful tips, time-tested fishing advice, recommendations for environmental conditions and fishing style, historical images, entertaining anecdotes and an extensive bibliography round out this fascinating and complete resource.
The Pain and the Glory
¥114.48
A glorious, fully illustrated insider account from Team Sky of the greatest summer in British road cycling history, as team-mates Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome go head-to-head in the quest for glory The summer of 2013 will be the most significant moment yet in Team Sky’s short but wildly successful history and a landmark in the story of British cycling. After their glorious success in last year’s Tour de France, where Sir Bradley Wiggins reigned supreme and the team romped to glory, all eyes are on Team Sky as they vie to cement their position as the greatest force in road cycling. The Team Sky Diary of the Giro and Tour once more brings together first-hand accounts from team members including Wiggins, Froome, as well as the masterful Team Principle, Dave Brailsford, with the sumptuous award-winning photography of Scott Mitchell. As Wiggins and Froome lock horns, and the Team turn their formidable focus to the historic task of dominating both races, this is an essential book for all cycling fans.
At the Close of Play
¥95.75
Love him or loathe him, Ricky Ponting is one of the biggest names in cricket, having been at the heart of so many memorable Ashes and Test encounters over the years. Coinciding with the end of Ponting’s spectacular career, ‘At the Close of Play’ is a must-read for all cricket fans. For so long the scourge of English cricket, Ricky Ponting – unarguably one of cricket’s all-time greats – looks back on the story of his remarkable life and career. With his customary honesty and candour, Ponting reflects on a lifetime at the crease – from childhood prodigy to the highs and lows of his extraordinary international career. But beyond the triumphs, scandals and his own private struggle to maintain his later form, this remarkable autobiography will offer rare insights into an elite sporting career with Ricky’s reflections on leadership, captaincy, winning, defeat, competitiveness, teamwork, the greats of the game and the lessons learned at the helm of Australia’s cricket team. This autobiography, of a very private man, and one who the English public loved to hate, will resonate with lovers of cricket as well as anyone who strives to reach the top of their chosen field.
Those Wild Wyndhams: Three Sisters at the Heart of Power
¥76.91
Winner of the Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2014 A rich historical biography of ‘those wild Wyndhams’ – three cultured aristocratic sisters born into great privilege in late Victorian Britain. Mary, Madeline and Pamela – the three beautiful Wyndham sisters – were born into immense wealth. Cultured bohemian daughters of a maverick politician and an artistic mother, they became entangled with the scandalous and intellectual ‘Souls’ set, as well as the most celebrated figures of the day, including Oscar Wilde, Marie Stopes and the iconoclastic poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, lover both of Mary and her mother before her. Two sisters were intimate with great statesmen – Prime Minister Arthur Balfour and the Liberal politician Edward Grey – and only one of them would marry happily. This first ever biography of the sisters captures their dramatic lives from romantic beginnings through the passions and disappointments of womanhood to the tragedy and devastation of the First World War that brought a definitive end to their sons, their era and way of life.
Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes
¥125.18
‘Enthusiastic, pleasingly madcap’ Geographical Adventure – something that’s new and exhilarating, outside your comfort zone. Adventures change you and how you see the world, and all you need is an open mind, bags of enthusiasm and boundless curiosity. So what’s a microadventure? It’s close to home, cheap, simple, short and 100% guaranteed to refresh your life. A microadventure takes the spirit of a big adventure and squeezes it into a day or even a few hours. The point of a microadventure is that you don’t need lots of time and money to meet a new challenge. This practical guide is filled with ideas for microadventures – for you to experience on your own or with friends and family – and over 150 stunning photographs, plus tips and advice on safety and kit. Whether it’s sleeping on a hilltop or going for a wild swim, cycling a lap of the Isle of Wight or walking home for Christmas, it’s time you discovered something new about yourself and the world outside your window. Adventure is everywhere, every day and it is up to us to find it.
Kick
¥73.58
The remarkable life of the vivacious, clever – and forgotten – Kennedy sister, who charmed the English aristocracy and was almost erased from her family history. When Kathleen Kennedy sailed to England after her father had been appointed Ambassador to Great Britain in 1938, her wit, aloofness and sexual charisma at once became the source of endless fascination for the British public. ‘Kick’ became the star of the family and the press loved her, London magazine Queen headlining her as ‘America’s Most Important Debutante’. Her meeting at a summer garden party with a shy, tall, handsome man called ‘Billy’ who it transpired was the heir to the Duke of Devonshire and Chatsworth, the most eligible bachelor in England, became first an intrigue and soon a scandal for the Kennedys. She was Catholic and he an Anglican. But Kick had fallen in love with Billy, and with England. In 1944, they were married. In September Billy was killed in combat with the British Army. Widowed as Lady Hartington, Kathleen Kennedy remained in England after the loss of her husband until her own tragic death. In ‘Kick’, Paul Byrne tells the story of a woman who was more than simply the second sister of Jack, Bobby and Ted: a feisty and unique product of two countries, she was the force of personality the Kennedys rarely mentioned, a life long hidden from the legendary family history.
A Great Task of Happiness: The Life of Kathleen Scott
¥82.01
This is a biography of Kathleen Scott based on her diaries, and Bruce's brother and the Grand Postleniks of Wallachia. In Paris in 1901, she learnt to sculpt with Rodin and made friends with Isadora Duncan - whose illegitimate baby she later delivered - and enagaged in a long and silent flirtation with Edward Steichen and rebuffed Alistair Crowley. A formidable woman, Kathleen was a sculptor, a confidante of Asquith during his years as prime minster, and was loved and admired by men as diverse as Max Beerbohm, George Bernard Shaw, Lawrence of Arabia and the Norwegian explorer Nansen. In 1908 she married Robert Falcon Scott and after bearing Peter, the son she had longed for, helped Captain Scott to prepare for his ill-fated Antarctic expedition. She learnt of her husband's death 18 months after it had happened, in mid-ocean on her way to meet him. In 1910 she started to keep diaries for Scott to read on his return; after his death she continued writing them, covering politics, exploration, art and her friends and family. Eleven years after Captain Scott's death she married again, to Edward Hilton Young (later Lord Kennet), who was to become a cabinet minister, and had another son, Wayland. She was always independent, energetic and fond of men and babies, though her spirit was considered masculine - Shaw said that his friendship with her was the nearest he came to homosexuality.
The Big Fix
¥69.26
Timed to coincide with the World Cup in Brazil and told in the style of a page-turning thriller, this is the book that will blow the lid off international match fixing in football: a pandemic that has struck at the heart of the ‘beautiful game’ It began as a series of disparate reports coming in from the corners of the football world: referees, players and managers were deliberately fixing results at the behest of illegal bettors. But as the reports kept coming, bit by bit the scale of the problem began to emerge. These weren’t just footballing minnows but major teams and players, playing on the biggest possible stages. The money at stake ran into the billions. And the people pulling the strings were operating for some of the largest, most heinous criminal syndicates in the world. In THE BIG FIX, Brett Forrest uncovers the scarcely believable scale of a threat to the beautiful game that is only just now coming to light. Told in the style of a thriller, Forrest tracks down the criminals who occupy this murky world of billion-dollar transactions, as well as the people tasked with hunting them and saving football’s lifeblood. Published on the eve of the World Cup, this shocking expose reveals a criminal enterprise that threatens to rot football to its core.
The Lost Children
¥61.51
First published in 1974 as A Circle of Children this is the first of four books from learning disabilities specialist Mary MacCracken. This is a book about children so emotionally disturbed they cannot fit into society; it is also the story of a woman whose involvement with these children changed the shape of their lives forever. When Mary MacCracken joined a school for emotionally disturbed children as a volunteer, she quickly found herself rocked to the core by the strong, loving people who taught there, the hard-pressed and bewildered parents, and the damaged children. On the outside most of the children looked healthy. But the reality was far sadder. Locked away from love and any human contact, these children struggled with life every day. It soon became evident that Mary MacCracken was a natural, gifted teacher. Using her instincts, observations and common sense, Mary was able to establish a rapport with even the most difficult children. Over time, Mary taught her class to eat and to drink; she decoded their mutterings, and taught them to talk and to read. But most important of all she helped them to take the first steps towards feeling love and trust. There are no miracle-workers in this story, only a remarkable woman who refused to give up. Heartfelt, moving and incredibly inspiring, this is an amazing story about the astonishing human capacity for growth and change, even in those whom society regards as beyond help.
Lovey
¥62.59
This deeply moving memoir tells the story of Hannah: a child who has been beaten and abused; a girl full of loneliness and rage; a student no one but learning disabilities teacher Mary MacCracken could reach. Mary had reservations about eight-year-old Hannah joining her class. The three emotionally disturbed boys she was currently looking after had been making steady progress, and Hannah, who had a reputation for being a withdrawn and incredibly troubled child, would only be a disruptive influence. For the first fortnight Hannah retired to a cupboard and refused to come out. Howling almost non-stop she was displaying the worst symptoms that Mary had ever seen. How could Mary help a child who had been shut up in closets and treated like an animal? What could she say to a child who had been locked out of her own home, and beaten by both her brother and her father? How could she reach this lost girl? This is the remarkable story of Hannah and Mary’s journey together. Deep within Hannah, Mary recognises an amazing strength. And with love, skill and patience, she gradually starts to make a difference. It’s a long road to recovery, but Mary never gives up. As this moving true story unfolds, we feel Mary’s joy, we share her hope and, in time, her faith that Hannah will be okay.
Taylor Swift: The Whole Story FREE SAMPLER
¥9.71
INCLUDES EXCLUSIVE BONUS CHAPTER: The Wit and Wisdom of Taylor Swift The first 2 chapters from the full story of Taylor Swift’s stratospheric rise to fame; all any dedicated Swifty needs to know about the pop superstar who’s taking over the world. A small-town girl with an incredible talent, and the strength to realise her dream, Taylor has grown into an award-winning, chart-topping artist and worldwide star, as well as a strong and stylish woman. But how did she get there? And what lies in store for her in the future? From childhood dreams of a musical future in Pennsylvania, to determined and budding teen musician with a trademark she’s stayed faithful to ever since: honest lyrics about real-life events; her fight to be taken seriously in the music industry, through to the rewards of success and the intense pressure of expectation, Taylor Swift: The Whole Story is a full account of Taylor’s incredible journey, with everything you need to know about America’s Sweetheart. This compelling book is packed full of fascinating details revealing the true Taylor – what drives, motivates and moves her, how she overcame the challenges that loomed on the road to fame and how authentic her wholesome image is, plus the truth about her relationships with Harry Styles, Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor Kennedy and who she’s really talking about on her tracks. The full portrait of a girl who could so easily have faded into the background – but who blossomed in the spotlight into a grounded, graceful and inspiring young woman.
My Uncle Charlie - Part 2 of 3
¥18.93
My Uncle Charlie can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 2 of 3. You can read Part 2 two weeks ahead of release of the full-length eBook and paperback.
My Mam Shirley - Part 1 of 3
¥18.93
My Mam Shirley can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 1 of 3. You can read Part 1 three weeks ahead of release of the full-length eBook and paperback.
Ted Hughes: The Unauthorised Life
¥81.03
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2015 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE ‘Gripping and at times ineffably sad, this book would be poetic even without the poetry. It will be the standard biography of Hughes for a long time to come’Sunday Times ‘Captures the great poet in all his wild complexity. Powerful and clarifying, richly layered and compelling’ Melvyn Bragg, Observer Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate, was one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. He is one of Britain’s most important poets, a poet of claws and cages: Jaguar, Hawk and Crow. Event and animal are turned to myth in his work. Yet he is also a poet of deep tenderness, of restorative memory steeped in the English literary tradition. A poet of motion and force, of rivers, light and redemption, of beasts in brooding landscapes. With an equal gift for poetry and prose, and with a soul as capacious as any poet who has lived, he was also a prolific children’s writer and has been hailed as the greatest English letter-writer since John Keats. With his magnetic personality and an insatiable appetite for friendship, for love and for life, he also attracted more scandal than any poet since Lord Byron. At the centre of this book is Hughes’s lifelong quest to come to terms with the suicide of his first wife, Sylvia Plath, the saddest and most infamous moment in the public history of modern poetry. Ted Hughes left behind him a more complete archive of notes and journals than any other major poet, including thousands of pages of drafts, unpublished poems and memorandum books that make up an almost complete record of Hughes’s inner life, preserved by him for posterity. Renowned scholar Sir Jonathan Bate has spent five years in his archives, unearthing a wealth of new material. Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, his book offers for the first time the full story of Ted Hughes's life as it was lived, remembered and reshaped in his art. It is a book that honours, though not uncritically, Ted Hughes’s poetry and the art of life-writing, approached by his biographer with an honesty answerable to Hughes’s own.
Sixty Years a Nurse
¥66.22
When 18-year-old Mary Hazard touched down in post-war Putney to begin her nurse’s training, she could never have known that it was the beginning of a colourful career that would still be going 60 years later – one of the longest ever serving NHS nurses. For Mary, raised in a strict convent in rural south Ireland, working in her first London hospital was a shocking and life-changing experience. Against a backdrop of ongoing rationing and poverty, she saw for the first time the horrors of disease, the heart-breaking outcomes of failed abortions – and faced the genuine shock of seeing a man naked for the first time! 60 Years a Nurse follows the dramas and emotions as Mary found her feet during those early years. From the firm friends she made under the ever-watchful gaze of Matron and the sisters, to the eclectic mix of Londoners she strove to care for; the Teddy Boys she danced with and the freedom of living away from home; and her own burgeoning love story, as extraordinary as it was romantic – these are the funny and heartwarming moments that helped Mary to follow her dream.
A Stolen Childhood
¥58.86
Bestselling author and teacher Casey Watson shares the horrifying true story of Kiera Bentley, a 12-year-old girl with a deeply shocking secret she’s too young to even understand. When Casey first meets Kiera, a small slight girl who’s just lashed out at a fellow pupil in assembly, she immediately senses something’s wrong. Something in Kiera’s eyes alerts Casey that this is an “old head on young shoulders”, and with Kiera’s constant tiredness and self-soothing habit of pulling her hair out, she follows her instinct and takes Kiera under her wing. At first the answer seems simple enough; Kiera’s parents aren’t together and they don’t get on, which makes life hard for Kiera as she’s so close to her dad. But as the weeks roll on, Casey begins to understand that there’s something much darker going on behind closed doors. And when she finally learns the truth, she’s terrified she won’t be able to save Kiera from it.
Care for Your Rabbits (RSPCA Pet Guide)
¥31.59
Published in association with the RSPCA, the UK’s leading animal welfare charity, this practical family guide is full of expert advice on how to choose a puppy and how best to look after it. If you already own or are planning to buy a puppy this easy-to-use introductory guide is a must. Clearly illustrated with colour photographs throughout, it covers all aspects of daily care including housing, feeding, hygiene, grooming, exercise and first aid. Published in association with the experts at the RSPCA, this book will help you ensure that you are giving your puppy the best possible start in life.

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