万本电子书0元读

万本电子书0元读

The Wild Child
The Wild Child
Casey Watson
¥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
Scarlett’s Secret: A real-life short story by Casey Watson
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.
Jack Russell Terrier: An Owner’s Guide
Jack Russell Terrier: An Owner’s Guide
Robert Killick
¥57.00
A comprehensive guide to all aspects of owning a Jack Russell Terrier, this highly illustrated book is full of practical information and expert advice for pet owners and breeders. Jack Russell Terriers are very intelligent, high-energy dogs whose compact size and friendly nature make them great pets. If you are considering getting a Jack Russell, or are an existing owner who wants to learn more about the care of your dog, then this book will be an invaluable resource. Contents include: ? History of the breed ? Acquiring a puppy ? Behaviour and training ? Showing a Jack Russell ? Healthcare
Curtain Up: Agatha Christie: A Life in Theatre
Curtain Up: Agatha Christie: A Life in Theatre
Julius Green
¥125.18
A revealing and witty new examination of how Agatha Christie became the world’s most successful and popular female playwright, including details of never-before-published *s and stories. Published in celebration of Agatha Christie's 125th birthday, Curtain Up! is an essential purchase for Agatha Christie fans worldwide. Everyone knows that The Mousetrap is the world’s longest-running play, but this first ever book dedicated to Agatha Christie as a playwright tells how Christie prevailed against the male-dominated establishment to be the only woman to have three plays in the West End at the same time and became the most popular and successful female playwright in the world. Author and theatre producer Julius Green has been given unprecedented access to archives in the UK and USA and has uncovered unpublished and unperformed plays, as well as previously unknown facts and correspondence. Agatha Christie was a skilful and accomplished stage writer, and this long-awaited book is a fascinating, funny and revealing tale that theatregoers and Agatha Christie fans won't want to miss.
An Unconventional Love
An Unconventional Love
Adeline Harris
¥51.50
Adeline Harris grew up in surroundings steeped in religion, from the beloved ayah in India who told her stories of Jesus wrestling tigers, to the strict father in England who placed a stone under her knee when she said the Rosary. It was no wonder that she always wanted to be a nun and a saint. Brought up to respect the church’s authority, the parish priest was an important early influence in her life. And when she met the new charismatic priest, Father Kelly, her interest and amazement instantly deepened. She enjoyed spending time with him and rapidly began to spend every spare moment at the church, learning much from the principled man. Following her father’s death, Adeline’s mother struggled to cope and Adeline was sent to live with Father Kelly. As Adeline grew up, she found herself falling in love with her guardian and hoped he might return her feelings. Then, when she was 18, she met a young man, Andrew, at a local dance. Soon she was pregnant and turned to the one person she could always rely on for help. He offered to look after Adeline and her baby, but he couldn’t understand her affections for Andrew. And, as time passed, deep down she always knew it was a friendship that was destined to end in heartache.
In My Dreams I Dance
In My Dreams I Dance
Anne Wafula-Strike
¥58.86
Struck down with polio at the age of two and a half, Anne overcame the prejudice rife in her native village in Kenya, where neighbours believed she was cursed and called her a snake because of her disability, which left her paralysed below the waist. Losing her mother at a tender age, and sent to a school far away from home, she achieved fantastic academic results, amidst the challenges of a military coup. She went to university and qualified as a teacher, and fell in love with a British man who truly valued her defiant spirit. She moved from a world with no running water to make a life for herself in modern Britain. Where, against all odds, she bore a child, and went on to being the first East African to compete in her sport internationally. Anne is currently in further training, hoping to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Paralympics.
More Than Just Coincidence
More Than Just Coincidence
Julie Wassmer
¥51.50
Heartwarming, compelling and genuinely remarkable, More Than Just Coincidence is the true story of a mother who was reunited with her daughter, twenty years after she gave her up for adoption, in the most incredible of circumstances. One hot summer day in 1970, teenaged Julie dressed her 10-day-old baby daughter for the last time. Then she placed her newborn into a nurse's arms and walked away, taking with her only a tiny plastic bracelet on which were written two words - 'Baby Wassmer'. Over the next twenty years, the print on the bracelet began to fade, but the memory of Julie's lost child continued to run, like thread, through the fabric of her life. Julie travelled the world and led an adventurous life, but at the back of her mind always remained the daughter she had let go. On 5 November 1990, a struggling writer, aged 36, Julie stared at the reflection in a mirror on her bathroom wall as she prepared for her first meeting with a literary agent. All of sudden a thought came into her mind: now might be the perfect time for her daughter to re-enter her life. A few hours later, in the most astonishing way, two worlds were about to collide. Real life can be stranger than fiction.
Will You Love Me?: The story of my adopted daughter Lucy: Part 3 of 3
Will You Love Me?: The story of my adopted daughter Lucy: Part 3 of 3
Cathy Glass
¥47.48
Will You Love Me can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 3 of 3 (Chapters 17-27 of 27). You can read Part 3 on release of the full-length eBook and paperback. The eleventh memoir and latest title from the internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass. This book tells the true story of Cathy’s adopted daughter Lucy. Lucy was born to a single mother who had been abused and neglected for most of her own childhood. Right from the beginning Lucy’s mother couldn’t cope, but it wasn’t until Lucy reached eight years old that she was finally taken into permanent foster care. By the time Lucy is brought to live with Cathy she is eleven years old and severely distressed after being moved from one foster home to another. Withdrawn, refusing to eat and three years behind in her schooling, it is thought that the damage Lucy has suffered is irreversible. But Cathy and her two children bond with Lucy quickly, and break through to Lucy in a way no-one else has been able to, finally showing her the loving home she never believed existed. Cathy and Lucy believe they were always destined to be mother and daughter – it just took them a little while to find each other.
Hellfire
Hellfire
Ed Macy
¥70.44
The true story of one man's determination to master the world's deadliest helicopter and of a split-second decision that changed the face of modern warfare. May 2006. Pilot Ed Macy arrives in Afghanistan with a contingent of the Apache AH Mk1. It’s the first operational tour for the deadly machines and confidence in the cripplingly expensive attack helicopter is low. It doesn’t help that for their first month ‘in action’, Ed and his mates see little more than the back-end of a Chinook. But when the men of 3 Para get pinned down during Op Mutay, reservations about the fearsome new attack helicopters are thrown out the window. In the blistering firefight that follows, Ed unleashes the first ever Hellfire missile in combat and, with one squeeze of the trigger, changes the war in Afghanistan forever. What had been rumoured as a ?4.2 billion mistake quickly becomes the British Army’s greatest asset, as the awe-inspiring Apache is dramatically redirected to fight the enemy head-on. In this gripping account of war on the ground and in the skies above the dusty wastes of Helmand, Ed recounts the intense months that followed: the steep learning curve, the relentless missions, the evolving enemy and the changing Rules of Engagement. As he comes to grip with the Apache, his early career as a paratrooper stands him in good stead, as does his operational baptism as a pilot. Both shaped his ability to fly, fight and survive during that fateful first Afghanistan tour against a cunning and ruthless enemy. Ed will need every ounce of willpower and skill to succeed over the long, hot Helmand summer, as he and his colleagues find themselves on trial for their lives and for the reputation of a machine on which the British government has staked a fortune. The crucible of fire that awaited them would cement the fate of man and machine forever.
Aggers’ Ashes
Aggers’ Ashes
Jonathan Agnew
¥146.27
An inside account of England’s Ashes triumph in Australia 2010/11. England’s much celebrated Ashes win by two clear matches with three comprehensive innings victories must rank as one of the finest of any English cricket team from any era. It kept people at home glued to their televisions, computers and radios – often all three at the same time – long into the night as the bitter winter and a depressed economy were forced into the background by the sheer joy and exhilaration of giving the old enemy a trouncing. It had been twenty-two years since a touring side won three Tests in Australia and twenty-four since the Ashes were last won on Australian soil. The current England team bears worthy comparison with some of the legendary teams of the past, captained by greats like Brearley, Hutton and Jardine. Andrew Strauss with back-to-back Ashes wins can now sit amongst that illustrious company. From the first ball of the tour in Perth to a closing rendition of the infamous ‘Sprinkler Dance’ on the outfield in Sydney some two months later – a clip that received some 250,000 hits in just three days – one person was there throughout, BBC Cricket Correspondent Jonathan Agnew, better known to his legion of Test Match Special fans as ‘Aggers’. Following the success of his last book Thanks, Johnners, Agnew has written a highly personal diary of his experiences in Australia. Whether he is sharing late night conversations in the bar with England coach Andy Flower, exchanging banter with new TMS recruit Michael Vaughan or keeping cricket junkies around the world sated with his daily Twitter feed, Aggers brings his unique sense of theatre and excitement to every day’s proceedings. With additional contributions from the best BBC cricket bloggers and the resident TMS statistician, Aggers Ashes is the only companion you will need to relive those glorious days when history was made Down Under.
Collected Love Poems
Collected Love Poems
Brian Patten
¥80.25
Of all the poets writing today, Brian Patten is perhaps the most accessible and popular. Now his love poems, old and new, are collected together in his single volume. Widely acknowledged as one of Europe's foremost writers, Brian Patten's love poems have earned him recognition far and wide. Truthful and tender, profoundly aware of the possibility of magic and the miraculous, these poems are beautiful, informed and, even at their darkest moments, filled with courage and hope. Alongside old favourites, this edition will contain a selection of new and hitherto unpublished poems. A must for lovers and poetry lovers everywhere this February.
Will You Love Me?: The story of my adopted daughter Lucy: Part 1 of 3
Will You Love Me?: The story of my adopted daughter Lucy: Part 1 of 3
Cathy Glass
¥12.85
Will You Love Me can either be read as a full-length eBook or in 3 serialised eBook-only parts. This is PART 1 of 3 (Chapters 1-9 of 27). You can read Part 1 two weeks ahead of release of the full-length eBook and paperback. The eleventh memoir and latest title from the internationally bestselling author and foster carer Cathy Glass. This book tells the true story of Cathy’s adopted daughter Lucy. Lucy was born to a single mother who had been abused and neglected for most of her own childhood. Right from the beginning Lucy’s mother couldn’t cope, but it wasn’t until Lucy reached eight years old that she was finally taken into permanent foster care. By the time Lucy is brought to live with Cathy she is eleven years old and severely distressed after being moved from one foster home to another. Withdrawn, refusing to eat and three years behind in her schooling, it is thought that the damage Lucy has suffered is irreversible. But Cathy and her two children bond with Lucy quickly, and break through to Lucy in a way no-one else has been able to, finally showing her the loving home she never believed existed. Cathy and Lucy believe they were always destined to be mother and daughter – it just took them a little while to find each other.
The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War
The Pike: Gabriele d’Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War
Lucy Hughes-Hallett
¥88.39
WINNER OF THE 2013 SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION WINNER OF THE 2013 DUFF COOPER PRIZE WINNER OF THE POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR 2014 WINNER OF THE 2013 COSTA BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR The story of Gabriele D’Annunzio, poet, daredevil – and Fascist. In September 1919 Gabriele D’Annunzio, successful poet and occasional politician, declared himself Commandante of the city of Fiume in modern day Croatia. His intention – to establish a utopia based on his fascist and artistic ideals. It was the dramatic pinnacle to an outrageous career. Lucy Hughes-Hallett charts the controversial life of D’Annunzio, the debauched artist who became a national hero. His evolution from idealist Romantic to radical right-wing revolutionary is a political parable. Through his ideological journey, culminating in the failure of the Fiume endeavour, we witness the political turbulence of early 20th century Europe and the emergence of fascism. In ‘The Pike’, Hughes-Hallett addresses the cult of nationalism and the origins of political extremism – and at the centre of the book stands the charismatic D’Annunzio: a figure as deplorable as he is fascinating.
The Rest Is Noise Series: Beethoven Was Wrong
The Rest Is Noise Series: Beethoven Was Wrong
Alex Ross
¥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 Paul McCartney listened to the electronic layering and looping of Stockhausen, the Beatles used the same effects on Revolver’s ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and put an image of the composer on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. For a split second during ‘Revolution 9’ the final chords of Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony can be heard. Even the most jaded veteran of twentieth century music must have been startled by the influence of the post-war avant-garde on the psychedelic generation. 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.
Sven-Goran Eriksson
Sven-Goran Eriksson
Joe Lovejoy
¥82.01
A major in-depth biography of Sven-Goran Eriksson - the first foreign manager of the England football team - which chronicles his time in the hot seat, from taking over from Kevin Keegan, the story of the 2002 World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, through to the 2004 European Championships. Reserved - some would say introvert - by nature, he has so far dismissed as intrusive almost all questions about anything other than the England team. There is a fascinating story to be told about the moderate full-back who failed in his own country, retired from playing at 27, then went on to become one of the best coaches in the world. The son of a truck driver from a small provincial town in Sweden, Eriksson left school early and worked in a social security office. He went to college to study PE and played football as an amateur before being persuaded by an older teammate Tord Grip (now his assistant with England) that his career lay elsewhere in management. Modest success at Roma and Fiorentina was followed by a renewal of Sampdoria's fortunes. It wasn't long before Lazio came knocking - but not before an acrimonious fallout with Blackburn when his surprise about-turn left the Lancashire club without a new manager. He enjoyed phenomenal success in Rome, however, where he led Lazio to the scudetto, and this eventually paved the way to the England manager's job. Since then Eriksson has come under the microscope from the English press, as much for his private affairs as for his team's stuttering performances. Despite his achievements in leading England to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2002, his methods, formations and team selections are the subject of fierce debate up and down the country. Joe Lovejoy's book captures the essence of the man and goes some way to explaining his influence behind England. This paperback edition explores his thoughts about his captain playing his football in Spain and documents England's rocky road to the 2004 European Championship finals.
The Bad Mother
The Bad Mother
Esther Walker
¥22.66
A hilariously honest, and rather sweary, book about parenting from the author of The Bad Cook. From play dates to potty training, from weening to whining or whether to have two, or three, or more! Esther Walker focuses her unique humour on the art of parenting. Fans of Esther’s blog and journalism, or her bestselling Bad Cook book, will not be disappointed. This is every bit as funny, sweary and just plain honest as you would expect. Esther offers up her occasional successes and many failures as examples to parents everywhere: look, this is what happens, you’ll just have to deal with it! Harassed mums and dads will read this and smile, as well as sighing with ‘it isn’t just me’ relief.
The Military Wives: Wherever You Are – Claire’s Story
The Military Wives: Wherever You Are – Claire’s Story
The Military Wives
¥12.95
This is Claire’s story, one of four individual journeys taken from Wherever You Are by The Military Wives. Claire Balneaves never thought she’d end up as a military wife. But when she met a young medical assistant, Dave Balneaves, at a naval hospital, everything changed. Before long Claire and Dave had tied the knot and moved into married quarters – and Claire began to settle into the unique life of a military wife. Moving from house to house, from country to country, often solitary – in many ways Claire lived as a single mother. When family and medical difficulties cast a cloud over her personal life, Claire had no one to turn to. But from the moment she joined a nascent choir of military wives, that changed: wives with similar stories came together to sing, and there they found solace and strength. They found each other. Mere months later, the Military Wives choir would have met Gareth Malone, performed for the Queen, recorded a bestselling album and achieved a Christmas number 1. This is one woman’s true story of heartbreak and hope, and of how the choir changed the course of her life. Sales of this book will benefit the Military Wives Choirs Foundation, a network of choirs that reaches across the military community to provide support, guidance and funding for individual choirs, but first and foremost to bring women closer together through singing. The Foundation is a registered subsidiary charity of SSAFA Forces Help.
The Military Wives: Wherever You Are – Nicky’s Story
The Military Wives: Wherever You Are – Nicky’s Story
The Military Wives
¥12.95
This is Nicky’s story, one of four individual journeys taken from Wherever You Are by The Military Wives. At 33, Nicky Clarke had stopped thinking she would ever fall in love. But they say when you stop looking, love happens – and that was the year she was swept off her feet by Hugo Clarke, a major in the Scots Guards. A year later Hugo and Nicky were married. But life in the military is never calm for long, and the next few years saw Hugo leave for Iraq and Afghanistan for months at a time. In married quarters Nicky met other military wives quickly, but forging friendships proved difficult: the occasional coffee morning just wasn’t enough. Nicky decided that this community needed to be brought together. With the help of a friend and a local choirmistress, Nicky set a time for the local wives to gather and sing. Before she knew it, a family was growing and a support network was formed. The first Military Wives choir was born. Mere months later, the choir would become a nationwide phenomenon. The Wives would go on to perform for the Queen, record a bestselling album and achieve a Christmas number 1. This is one woman’s true story of heartbreak and hope; of how singing changed the course of her life. Sales of this ebook will benefit the Military Wives Choirs Foundation, a network of choirs that reaches across the military community to provide support, guidance and funding for individual choirs, but first and foremost to bring women closer together through singing. The Foundation is a registered subsidiary charity of SSAFA Forces Help.
Living with the Laird: A Love Affair with a Man and his Mansion
Living with the Laird: A Love Affair with a Man and his Mansion
Belinda Rathbone
¥72.99
A captivating memoir of one woman’s relationship with a man and his mansion. When Belinda Rathbone, a New York art historian, met eccentric Anglo-Scots bachelor John Ouchterlony it was the start of a story of clashing cultures and crumbling houses. After a whirlwind romance she married the man – and his 400 acre estate and decrepit mansion in Scotland. In her charming and moving account of their time together she reveals her many discoveries about this strange world – not just the persistence of lino, and family history ancient and recent, but the value of dead elms, the art of the Aga, yoga with the aristocracy, and the vitally important business of producing an heir…
London Born: A Memoir of a Forgotten City
London Born: A Memoir of a Forgotten City
Sidney Day
¥81.03
An extraordinary memoir from a man in his nineties who remembers everyday life in a North London now long gone: the hardships and deprivations of a life of poverty but also the resourcefulness and fortitude of a community determined to survive between the wars. 'When I look back, I can picture the old gels chinwagging on their steps in the Bay like it was yesterday. Little did they think that young Sid, passing by with his arse out of his trousers, would one way publish his memoirs!' 'Ordinary' people do not write their stories, believing their lives to be unremarkable. Some, like Sid, cannot write at all. But, with the aid of his granddaughter Helen Day, Sid has produced an extraordinary memoir of a city and a way of life now lost forever. 'London Born' is a book that has appeared against all the odds - as Sid says, 'When me granddaughter Helen Day said she wanted to record the story of the first half of me life and turn it into a book I was astonished. I thought to meself, Well, I've done a lot of things, but I never dreamt I'd get into the book game. You see, I can't write more than me own name.' In 'London Born', Sid remembers the city that emerged from the First World War and recreates the daily life of the people living in the notorious street known as 'Tiger Bay'. He describes the drinking and merrymaking, the poverty and unemployment - and the 'villainry'. With relish he relates how youthful high spirits and a refusal to accept the hardship of the times sometimes put him and his friends on the wrong side of the law. He goes on to tell of the wartime mayhem endured by Londoners and his determination to survive. His story closes with demobilisation when he returns to his wife and young family - 'the only thing that ever counted'. This is a memoir from a warm and cheeky voice; from someone who remembers, as if it were yesterday, parading down Archway in his fifty-bob suit, or running rings around Ernie Costen, the local policeman.
Helpless
Helpless
Marianne Marsh,Toni Maguire
¥45.62
Neglected by her careless parents, Marianne turned to her neighbour, the one person that she thought she could trust…. Eight year old Marianne, the eldest of five children, was neglected by her slovenly mother and her violent alcoholic father. Uncared for and unkempt she was rejected at school by her peers and scarcely tolerated by her teachers. Only one person gave her the affection she craved; a neighbour who seeing the vulnerable child knew she was easy prey for his perverted desires. ‘Little Lady’ he called her over the few months he groomed her. Less than twelve months later she was caught in a trap of fear - if she talked she would be punished. With no one to turn to she kept ‘their secret’. At thirteen she fell pregnant. Still too frightened to speak out she refused to tell the social workers who the father was. Without family support the teenager gave birth to a daughter in the unmarried mother's home. Six weeks later the baby she had already grown to love was taken away for adoption. Marianne returned home, but the neighbour's abuse continued and a year later she was pregnant again. This time her father literally tried to beat the baby out of her but she failed to miscarry. Scared for her life and that of her baby's she ran away from home carrying only a plastic bag stuffed with her few possessions. Marianne who still missed her first child desperately struggled to keep her second daughter. Two months after the birth she realized that for the baby's sake she would have to hand her over for adoption. Helpless is Marianne’s heartbreaking story as told the bestselling author of Don’t Tell Mummy.