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Cruel to Be Kind: Part 2 of 3: Saying no can save a child’s life
Cruel to Be Kind: Part 2 of 3: Saying no can save a child’s life
Cathy Glass
¥23.45
Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Fostering Max gets off to a bad start when his mother, Caz, complains and threatens Cathy even before Max has moved in. Cathy and her family are shocked when they first meet Max. But his social worker isn’t the only one in denial; his whole family are too.
Being Wagner: The Triumph of the Will
Being Wagner: The Triumph of the Will
Simon Callow
¥73.58
The perfect introduction to the Master. One hundred and thirty-five years after his death, Richard Wagner’s music dramas stand at the centre of the culture of classical music. They have never been more popular, nor so violently controversial and divisive. As a man, he was a walking contradiction: aggressive, flirtatious, disciplined, capricious, heroic, visionary and poisonously anti-Semitic. His ten great mature masterpieces constitute an unmatched body of work, created against a backdrop of poverty, revolution, violent controversy, critical contempt and hysterical hero-worship. His work often dealt with myth, but his own life had the character of a fable. At one point, in his early fifties, desperately poor after a life of heroic productivity, he had four lengthy operas written with no hope of seeing them done, when, as if in a fairy-tale, he was rescued by a beautiful young king with limitless wealth. When one of those works, Tristan and Isolde, was at last performed, it revolutionised classical music at a stroke. Wagner went on to create The Ring of the Nibelung: a vast epic in four massive segments, ushering gods and dwarves, heroes and thugs, dragons and rainbows onto the stage. This was the apotheosis of German art as he saw it, so extreme in its demands that he had to train a generation of singers and players to perform it, and erect a custom-built theatre to house it. Wagner died, exhausted, after creating one final piece – Parsifal – that seems to point to an even more radical new future for music. Simon Callow plunges the reader headlong into Wagner’s world, examining the intellectual and artistic climate in which Wagner, a composer like no other who ever lived, extreme in everything, creator of perhaps the most sublime and most troubling body of work in the history of music.
Prince Harry: The Inside Story
Prince Harry: The Inside Story
Duncan Larcombe
¥66.22
Prince Henry of Wales has emerged as the unexpected jewel in the crown of the modern British monarchy. Despite his unruly antics, for which he’s made headlines all over the world, Harry’s popularity rivals that of the Queen herself. Heartthrob and loveable rogue, he has won the public’s heart Duncan Larcombe’s insightful and highly entertaining biography of the rebellious royal recalls Harry’s Eton days, his military career and his tempestuous love life. Despite a string of exploits (not forgetting the notorious Nazi fancy dress incident), Harry has a mysterious gift. With a twinkle in his eye and natural charm in abundance, he can seemingly withstand even the most scandalous of media storms. Since his military career has ended, all eyes are on Harry wondering what life, career and love have in store for the maverick prince. This is the inside story of how the cheeky teenager has grown and matured into a respected soldier, charitable fundraiser and national figurehead who still retains his reputation as the most entertaining resident of Buckingham Palace.
Passage Across the Mersey
Passage Across the Mersey
Robert Bhatia
¥66.22
The remarkable story of Helen Forrester, author of Twopence to Cross the Mersey, and how she turned tragedy to triumph. When Helen Forrester’s father went bankrupt in the 1930’s, she and her six siblings fell from a comfortable middle-class existence into wretched poverty. Later in life, Helen wrote a ground-breaking series of memoirs, starting with Twopence to Cross the Mersey, which told the harrowing account of her family’s struggles in Depression-era Liverpool. It was a story filled with tragedy and small triumphs but many readers wondered what happened to Helen when she grew up; what became of the fragile young girl who had so much responsibility heaped on her shoulders? Now for the first time, her son Robert recounts the unexpected life that Helen went on to live; of the remarkable love story with a young man from a background a million miles away from everything a Lancashire Lass like Helen would have known and of the astonishing lengths she went to in order to achieve happiness. Full of new revelations and fascinating detail never before revealed, Passage Across the Mersey is a story of an extraordinary woman, and of the journey that took her thousands of miles from the place she called home…
Banco: The Further Adventures of Papillon
Banco: The Further Adventures of Papillon
Henri Charrière
¥57.09
Here at last is the sensational sequel to "Papillon" - the great story of escape and adventure that took the world by storm. "Banco" continues the adventures of Henri Charriere - nicknamed 'Papillon' - in Venezuela, where he has finally won his freedom after thirteen years of escape and imprisonment. Despite his resolve to become an honest man, Charriere is soon involved in hair-raising exploits with goldminers, gamblers, bank-robbers and revolutionaries - robbing and being robbed, his lust for life as strong as ever. He also runs night-clubs in Caracas until an earthquake ruins him in 1967 - when he decides to write the book that brings him international fame. Henri Charriere died in 1973 at the age of 66.
In the Days of Rain: WINNER OF THE 2017 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD
In the Days of Rain: WINNER OF THE 2017 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD
Rebecca Stott
¥73.58
WINNER OF THE 2017 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD In the vein of Bad Blood and Why be Happy when you can be Normal?: an enthralling, at times shocking, and deeply personal family memoir of growing up in, and breaking away from, a fundamentalist Christian cult. As heard on Jeremey Vine ‘At university when I made new friends and confidantes, I couldn’t explain how I’d become a teenage mother, or shoplifted books for years, or why I was afraid of the dark and had a compulsion to rescue people, without explaining about the Brethren or the God they made for us, and the Rapture they told us was coming. But then I couldn’t really begin to talk about the Brethren without explaining about my father…’ As Rebecca Stott’s father lay dying he begged her to help him write the memoir he had been struggling with for years. He wanted to tell the story of their family, who, for generations had all been members of a fundamentalist Christian sect. Yet, each time he reached a certain point, he became tangled in a thicket of painful memories and could not go on. The sect were a closed community who believed the world is ruled by Satan: non-sect books were banned, women were made to wear headscarves and those who disobeyed the rules were punished. Rebecca was born into the sect, yet, as an intelligent, inquiring child she was always asking dangerous questions. She would discover that her father, an influential preacher, had been asking them too, and that the fault-line between faith and doubt had almost engulfed him. In In the Days of Rain Rebecca gathers the broken threads of her father’s story, and her own, and follows him into the thicket to tell of her family’s experiences within the sect, and the decades-long aftermath of their breaking away.
The Baby Mind Reader: Amazing Psychic Stories from the Man Who Can Read Babies’
The Baby Mind Reader: Amazing Psychic Stories from the Man Who Can Read Babies’
Derek Ogilvie
¥61.51
Psychic Derek Ogilvie is the baby mind reader -- called in when parents have tried all else, Derek communicates with children to find the reasons behind their problem behaviour, tantrums and sleepless nights. This gripping memoir of his psychic adventures accompanies the Five TV series -- a fascinating cross between 'Supernanny' and 'Most Haunted'. Derek Ogilvie is one of Scotland's best-known and respected psychics. He can be seen on Five TV in 2006 with his new show 'The Baby Mind Reader', where he exhibits his rare ability of being able to communicate telepathically with babies and young children. In this, his fascinating first book published alongside his TV series, Derek shares the story of his rollercoaster life and how he rediscovered his psychic powers and his true calling in life. At the age of nine Derek realised he was psychic when his dead neighbour started visiting him every night while he was in bed. But as a young man, Derek's psychic abilities took a back seat as he concentrated on building a business empire and becoming a millionaire. However, five years ago, Derek's business went bust, his house was repossessed, his partner left him and his grandmother died. Only then did Derek take stock of his life and reconnect with his psychic gift to start helping other people. It was at this point that Derek realised he could also communicate with babies and young children, as well as animals. Funny and poignant, this is Derek's amazing story.
The Goldberg Variations
The Goldberg Variations
Mark Glanville
¥68.57
From football hooligan to opera singer, from the Cockney Reds to Catullus, from a hectic household to tranquility of spirit, Mark Glanville has travelled many paths, been many people – this is his remarkable story.
The Times Great Scottish Lives: Obituaries of Scotland’s Finest
The Times Great Scottish Lives: Obituaries of Scotland’s Finest
Magnus Linklater
¥110.46
Discover the fascinating lives of the iconic figures that have shaped Scotland from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Explore the rich history of Scotland’s cultural, social and political landscape, with more than 100 obituaries carefully curated from The Times archive. The Scots have contributed richly to the world, most notably in literature and science, but also in the arts, law, politics, religion, scholarship and sport. In this volume, The Times brings together a unique and fascinating collection of obituaries. The list includes people who have made the greatest impact in their fields, others who have led particularly interesting or influential lives, and a selection of notable Scottish figures in the history of The Times. This book features the major Scottish figures of influence from the last 200 years and includes a diverse range of people, including: Sir Walter Scott, Sir David Livingstone, Thomas Carlyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, Keir Hardie, Alexander Graham Bell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Phoebe Traquair, James Ramsay MacDonald, John Logie Baird, Mary Somerville, Jim Clark, John Smith, Donald Dewar, Eugenie Fraser, Robin Cook, Jock Stein, R. D. Laing, Margo MacDonald, William McIlvanney, Tam Dalyell and Ronnie Corbett.
Bones: A Story of Brothers, a Champion Horse and the Race to Stop America’s Most
Bones: A Story of Brothers, a Champion Horse and the Race to Stop America’s Most
Joe Tone
¥132.53
Two brothers live parallel lives on either side of the US–Mexico border. This is the dramatic true story of how their worlds collided in a major criminal conspiracy. A KIRKUS REVIEWS NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR’S PICK José Trevi?o was raised in Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican border town and major smuggling gateway. He grew up loving the sprawling countryside and its tough, fast quarter horses, but in search of opportunity he crossed the border into Texas. While José built a modest living laying bricks, his younger brother Miguel ascended to the top of the infamously bloody Los Zetas cartel. As José settled down with a wife and kids, his brother was said to be burning rivals alive, eating victims’ hearts and launching grenades at the US consulate. Then one day José showed up at a quarter-horse auction and bid close to a million dollars for a horse. The bricklayer suddenly became a major player on the scene, catching the attention of FBI agent Scott Lawson. Lawson enlisted Tyler Graham, the young American rancher breeding José’s champion horse – nicknamed Huesos, or Bones – to infiltrate what he suspected was a major money laundering operation.The goal: capture Miguel Trevi?o. Set against the high-stakes world of horseracing, Bones takes you deep into a violent drug cartel, the perilous lives of American ranchers and the Sisyphean work of drug cops, revealing how greed and fear mingle with race, class and violence along the vast Southwest border. At its heart, this riveting crime drama is a gripping story of brotherhood, family loyalty and the tragic cost of a failed drug war.
The True Story of the Novel (Text Only)
The True Story of the Novel (Text Only)
Margaret Anne Doody
¥76.91
Margaret Anne Doody is Andrew W Mellon Professor of Humanities at Vanderbilt University, USA. She is the author of several books, including the novel Aristotle Detective and a biography of Frances Burney.
Nobody’s Son: Part 3 of 3: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Nobody’s Son: Part 3 of 3: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Cathy Glass
¥20.60
Born in a prison and removed from his drug-dependent mother, rejection is all that 7-year-old Alex knows. When Cathy is asked to foster little Alex, aged 7, her immediate reaction is: Why can’t he stay with his present carers for the last month? He’s already had many moves since coming into care as a toddler and he’ll only be with her a short while before he goes to live with his permanent adoptive family. But the present carers are expecting a baby and the foster mother isn’t coping, so Alex goes to live with Cathy. He settles easily and is very much looking forward to having a forever family of his own. The introductions and move to his adoptive family go well. But Alex is only with them for a week when problems begin. What happens next is both shocking and upsetting, and calls into question the whole adoption process.
Nobody’s Son: Part 1 of 3: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Nobody’s Son: Part 1 of 3: All Alex ever wanted was a family of his own
Cathy Glass
¥21.97
Born in a prison and removed from his drug-dependent mother, rejection is all that 7-year-old Alex knows. When Cathy is asked to foster little Alex, aged 7, her immediate reaction is: Why can’t he stay with his present carers for the last month? He’s already had many moves since coming into care as a toddler and he’ll only be with her a short while before he goes to live with his permanent adoptive family. But the present carers are expecting a baby and the foster mother isn’t coping, so Alex goes to live with Cathy. He settles easily and is very much looking forward to having a forever family of his own. The introductions and move to his adoptive family go well. But Alex is only with them for a week when problems begin. What happens next is both shocking and upsetting, and calls into question the whole adoption process.
Taken: Part 2 of 3
Taken: Part 2 of 3
Rosie Lewis
¥24.33
Experienced foster carer, Rosie Lewis, takes on the heart-breaking case of Megan, a baby born with a drug addiction and a cleft palate. Addicted to drugs from birth because of her mother’s substance abuse during pregnancy, new-born Megan is taken into Rosie’s loving care. Rosie is supposed to help Megan find her new permanent home, but it turns out that Megan has already found her ‘forever mummy’ in Rosie. Rosie grows incredibly attached to Megan and applies to adopt her, but the system refuses her in favour of a young couple and Rosie is devastated. Against all her instincts, Rosie does her job and prepares Megan for her new ‘forever family’, but everything about Megan leaving feels wrong. When Rosie learns a few months later that Megan’s adoption has broken down, she is saddened but also filled with hope – will this little girl be allowed to return to her true ‘forever home’?
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama
Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama
David J. Garrow
¥110.46
The definitive account of Barack Obama’s life before he became the 44th president of the United States – the formative years, confluence of forces, and influential figures who helped shaped an extraordinary leader and his rise – from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the Cross. ‘Impressive … deeply reported’ New York Times Book Review ‘Engages, absorbs and mesmerises’ Library Journal Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted the little-known state senator from Illinois into the national spotlight. Three months later, Obama would win election to the U.S. Senate; four years after that he would make history as America’s first black president. Moving around the globe, from Hawaii to Indonesia to the American Northeast and Midwest, Rising Star meticulously unpacks Obama’s life, from his tumultuous upbringing in Honolulu and Jakarta, to his formative time as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side, working in some of the roughest neighborhoods, to Cambridge, where he excelled at Harvard Law School, and finally back to Chicago, where he pursued his political destiny. In voluminous detail, drawn from more than 1,000 interviews and encyclopedic documentary research, Garrow delivers the most authoritative account of the ambition, the dreams and the all-too-human struggles of an iconic president.
The Perfect Mile (Text Only)
The Perfect Mile (Text Only)
Neal Bascomb
¥76.22
There was a time when running the mile in four minutes was believed to be beyond the limits of human foot speed, and in all of sport it was the elusive holy grail. In 1952, after suffering defeat at the Helsinki Olympics, three world-class runners each set out to break this barrier. Roger Bannister was a young English medical student who epitomized the ideal of the amateur — still driven not just by winning but by the nobility of the pursuit. John Landy was the privileged son of a genteel Australian family, who as a boy preferred butterfly collecting to running but who trained relentlessly in an almost spiritual attempt to shape his body to this singular task. Then there was Wes Santee, the swaggering American, a Kansas farm boy and natural athlete who believed he was just plain better than everybody else. Spanning three continents and defying the odds, their collective quest captivated the world and stole headlines from the Korean War, the atomic race, and such legendary figures as Edmund Hillary, Willie Mays, Native Dancer, and Ben Hogan. In the tradition of Seabiscuit and Chariots of Fire, Neal Bascomb delivers a breathtaking story of unlikely heroes and leaves us with a lasting portrait of the twilight years of the golden age of sport.
The Poems of Catullus
The Poems of Catullus
Daisy Dunn
¥27.17
Gaius Valerius Catullus was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.Daisy Dunn was born in London in 1987 and read Classics at the University of Oxford, before winning a scholarship to the Courtauld and completing a doctorate in Classics and History of Art at University College London. She writes and reviews for many publications, including The Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, and Standpoint, and is editor of Argo, a Greek culture magazine. She was longlisted for the 2015 Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize. ‘Catullus’ Bedspread’ is her first book.
A Long Way from Home: Part 3 of 3
A Long Way from Home: Part 3 of 3
Cathy Glass
¥28.45
The true story of 2 year-old Anna, abandoned by her natural parents, left alone in a neglected orphanage. Elaine and Ian had travelled half way round the world to adopt little Anna. She couldn’t have been more wanted, loved and cherished. So why was she now in foster care and living with me? It didn’t make sense. Until I learned what had happened. … Dressed only in nappies and ragged T-shirts the children were incarcerated in their cots. Their large eyes stared out blankly from emaciated faces. Some were obviously disabled, others not, but all were badly undernourished. Flies circled around the broken ceiling fans and buzzed against the grids covering the windows. The only toys were a few balls and a handful of building bricks, but no child played with them. The silence was deafening and unnatural. Not one of the thirty or so infants cried, let alone spoke.
A Long Way from Home: Part 2 of 3
A Long Way from Home: Part 2 of 3
Cathy Glass
¥28.45
The true story of 2 year-old Anna, abandoned by her natural parents, left alone in a neglected orphanage. Elaine and Ian had travelled half way round the world to adopt little Anna. She couldn’t have been more wanted, loved and cherished. So why was she now in foster care and living with me? It didn’t make sense. Until I learned what had happened. … Dressed only in nappies and ragged T-shirts the children were incarcerated in their cots. Their large eyes stared out blankly from emaciated faces. Some were obviously disabled, others not, but all were badly undernourished. Flies circled around the broken ceiling fans and buzzed against the grids covering the windows. The only toys were a few balls and a handful of building bricks, but no child played with them. The silence was deafening and unnatural. Not one of the thirty or so infants cried, let alone spoke.
Green Races Red
Green Races Red
Eddie Irvine,Maurice Hamilton
¥46.11
Originally published in 1997 and now available as an ebook. This edition does not include illustrations. Eddie Irvine is a breath of fresh air in the serious world of Formula 1. Selected to drive for Ferrari alongside double world champion Michael Schumacher, the 1996 season proved to be a frustrating period for the Irishman as he struggled to get to grips with a temperamental car and live up to the high expectations of the media and the tifosi. But as he demonstrates in his fascinating insight into the world of Ferrari, Irvine's flamboyant personality and aggressive driving style meant he was never far from the action, both on and off the track. Irvine lifts the lid on his attempts to prove his worth at Ferrari and recalls all the crashes and crises, thrills and spills of the 1997 season.
Shadow in Tiger Country
Shadow in Tiger Country
Louise Arthur,Tim Arthur
¥46.11
The extraordinary diary and memoir of just under one year in a woman’s life. Louise Arthur was diagnosed in February 1999 as terminally ill with a malignant brain tumour. It was inoperable. She was then 28, had been married to Tim for 5 years: and they have a 4 year old daughter. After reading Ruth Picardie’s book, Louise decided to write her diary – named Shadow Diary – on the web. She started in April – it was frank, poignant, funny, brilliantly observed. Tim also contributed – occasionally – and showed what life was like for him, for their love together. By June 1999, the ‘hits’ to the web site were running at 1,000 a day: she started a column in the Daily Mail: and Channel 4 decided to do a documentary on her. On January 11, 2000, Louise Arthur died. Shadow in Tiger Country contains selections from both Louise’s and Tim’s contributions to the Shadow Diary, but has also been written by Tim since her death, and includes samples of both Louise’s earlier writing and her photographs.