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Caught in the Act
Caught in the Act
Gemma Fox
¥54.25
A warm and sexy read about the fun and danger of meeting your first love, second time around – for all fans of Carole Matthews and Jill Mansell. Who could resist the chance to go to their old school reunion? To find out who got on? Who got fat? Who got famous and who got off with who? Carol French is lured by the promise of a get-together through oldschooltie.com, and it’s better than just old school friends – it’s the old sixth-form drama group that twenty years ago took ‘Macbeth’ on tour. A tour that was dramatic in more ways than one, and Carol has carried a torch for the leading actor ever since. Not that it has stopped her marrying, having kids, divorcing – but that memory just won’t go away. Now she is about to be brought face to face with the adolescent love god himself, except now he’s nearly forty… Old loves, lusts and rivalries are waiting in the wings in this marvellously warm tale from top talent Gemma Fox.
Daughter of Mine
Daughter of Mine
Anne Bennett
¥68.67
A heartrending and heartwarming saga of the Birmingham blitz, from the author of DANNY BOY. Lizzie is finding that life in the Birmingham blitz is hard. Her husband is away fighting in the Second World War and she has regretfully sent her two young children away to her parents in Galway, knowing that they will be safe there. She's grateful for her job in munitions but not so happy when that means getting home in the blackout, dodging the bomb damage. Then Lizzie is attacked on one such journey. She comes around battered and bruised, unable to remember the full extent of the attack – but she fears the worst, and is right to. Turning to her family in desperation, she is told she has brought them nothing but disgrace. Yet help is at hand, from the most unlikely place…
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 Alongside old favourites, this edition will contain a selection of new and hitherto unpublished poems.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.
Jimmy Coates: Sabotage
Jimmy Coates: Sabotage
Joe Craig
¥51.50
Jimmy Coates embarks on his fourth adventure in his ongoing mission to out-think / out-manouevre and outwit NJ7. If you think it’s over, think again… “Jimmy closed his eyes, searching for that power inside him. He had to forget that he was terrified – that was only the human part of him, the 38 per cent that was a normal, frightened boy. He willed the assassin to take him over. He knew that somewhere within him was enough strength, resilience and expert knowledge to survive this crisis.” The cold and calculating Miss Bennett has had enough of Jimmy Coates. NJ7’s greatest invention has turned into it’s greatest enemy, and it’s time someone put an end to him. But Jimmy’s next mission is to foil a secret plan – and who could be better at this than someone who officially doesn’t exist!
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.
The Geneva Deception
The Geneva Deception
James Twining
¥34.14
Mafia, a secret society and the world’s greatest treasures all converge in James Twining’s all new jaw–dropping thriller featuring reformed art thief Tom Kirk It begins with a young man hanging from the Ponte Sant' Angelo Rome, his pockets weighed down with lead whilst the current of the river below slowly tightens the noose around his neck. Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, retired art thief Tom Kirk is asked by an old friend to investigate a case involving the theft of a long lost Caravaggio painting. When tragedy strikes Tom is left holding a blood-soaked body. Back in Rome Art Protection Squad officer Allegra Damico has been called to the Parthenon where a second body has been found, It begins with a young man hanging from the Ponte Sant' Angelo Rome, his pockets weighed down with lead whilst the current of the river below slowly tightens the noose around his neck. Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, retired art thief Tom Kirk is asked by an old friend to investigate a case involving the theft of a long lost Caravaggio painting. When tragedy strikes Tom is left holding a blood-soaked body. Back in Rome police Lieutenant Allegra Damico has been called to the Parthenon where a second body has been found, but this time the body is surrounded by mannequins. When a third body is found crucified upside down in the middle of the ancient forum Allegra realises there is a sinister link between the murders. Someone is staging famous Caravaggio paintings. Suspecting the detective leading the case is corrupt Allegra begins her own investigation. Spurred on by grief and the desire to avenge the murder of his friend, Tom follows a trail to Rome where he finds Allegra piecing together a similar mystery. Before long they both find themselves submerged in a vast criminal conspiracy involving the police, politicians, the church and a secret society born of a pact between two Mafia families decades before.
Ship of Rome (Masters of the Sea)
Ship of Rome (Masters of the Sea)
John Stack
¥63.18
Against a backdrop of the clash of the Roman and Carthaginian empires, the battle for sovereignty takes place on the high seas Atticus, captain of one of the ships of Rome's small, coastal fleet, is from a Greek fishing family. Septimus, legionary commander, reluctantly ordered aboard ship, is from Rome, born into a traditionally army family. It could never be an easy alliance. But the arrival of a hostile fleet, larger, far more skilful and more powerful than any Atticus has encountered before, forces them to act together. So Atticus, one of Rome's few experienced sailors, finds himself propelled into the middle of a political struggle that is completely foreign to him. Rome need to build a navy fast but the obstacles are many; political animosities, legions adamant that they will only use their traditional methods; Roman prejudice even from friends, that all those not born in Rome are inferior citizens. The enemy are first class, experienced and determined to control the seas. Can Atticus, and the fledgling Roman navy, staffed with inexperienced sailors and unwilling legionaries, outwit and outfight his opponents. SHIP OF ROME, full of magnificent sea-battles, packed with strong characters, torn between two powerful empires, is the first book in a new series, MASTERS OF THE SEA, by a brilliant new author.
The Street Philosopher
The Street Philosopher
Matthew Plampin
¥58.86
An elegant, powerful novel, set in Victorian England, a time not so different from our own… perfect for fans of THE INTERPRETATION OF MURDER and THE SHADOW OF THE WIND Ambitious young journalist Thomas Kitson arrives at the battlefields of the Crimea as the London Courier’s man on the ground. It is a dangerous place, full of the worst horrors of war but Kitson is determined to make his mark. Under the tutelage of his hard-bitten Irish boss Cracknell, and assisted by artist Robert Styles, he sets about exposing the incompetence of the army generals. Two years later, as Sebastopol burns, Thomas returns to England under mysterious circumstances. Desperate to forget the atrocities of the Crimea, he takes a job as a ‘street philosopher’, a society writer reporting on the gossip of the day. But on the eve of the great Art Treasures Exhibition, as Manchester prepares to welcome Queen Victoria, Thomas’s past returns to haunt him in the most horrifying way…
Marley: A Dog Like No Other
Marley: A Dog Like No Other
John Grogan
¥44.15
A special film tie-in edition of the heart-warming story about the World’s Worst Dog, adapted from John Grogan’s phenomenally bestselling memoir, Marley and Me. Meet Marley, a yellow furball of a puppy who quickly grows into a large, rowdy Labrador retriever. Marley is always getting into trouble, whether he is stealing underwear, crashing through doors, or drooling on guests, some may say he’s the World’s Worst Dog! But those who know and love Marley accept him as a dog like no other. His heart is pure and his larger-than-life personality irresistible. He brings joy to his family, the Grogans, and teaches them what really matters in life.
Vitals
Vitals
Greg Bear
¥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
The Children of Húrin
J. R. R. Tolkien
¥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
The Information Officer
Mark Mills
¥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
Brothers in Arms
Iain Gale
¥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.
Work Your Wardrobe: Gok's Gorgeous Guide to Style that Lasts
Work Your Wardrobe: Gok's Gorgeous Guide to Style that Lasts
Gok Wan
¥80.25
Style supremo and every woman's best friend, Gok Wan knows how important it is for a woman to look and feel her best. In his fantastic new style bible Gok breathes new life into your existing wardrobe, showing you how to transform the basics we all have into a fabulous new look. You will love your look without breaking the bank balance. We all want to look and feel great, and clothes are a great way to give you that instant confidence boost. But how can you do this without spending a fortune? Simple! Throw open those closet doors, ransack those rails and let Gok turn your wardrobe war zone into a style sanctuary. In his next book Gok takes you back to basics, showing you how to create the perfect capsule wardrobe that you’ll use every day of your life and still look amazing. He’ll give you the confidence to create fresh new looks from the classics you already have, showing you the different outfit combinations you can create and how to wear those wardrobe heroes in a new fabulously stylish way. We all know that a crisp white shirt looks great at the office, but let Gok show you how to dress it down at the weekend for that casual-chic look. By guiding you through each basic in turn, from the little black dress to those comfy jeans, your wardrobe will instantly become more versatile and you'll be able to update your look every season without breaking the bank balance on a whole new set of clothes. Packed with Gok's trademark advice on shopping for your shape, his golden rules and hints on what to avoid, plus insider style tips from celebrities and those in the know, this book will be your very own one-to-one personal wardrobe-fixing session with Gok. No longer will you fret over what to wear in the morning, nor will you spend hours (and loads of cash) traipsing around the shops. Your wardrobe will work for you so you'll enjoy getting ready as much as going out
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún
J. R. R. Tolkien
¥58.47
The world first publication of a previously unknown work by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the epic story of the Norse hero, Sigurd, the dragon-slayer, the revenge of his wife, Gudrún, and the Fall of the Nibelungs. “Many years ago, J.R.R. Tolkien composed his own version, now published for the first time, of the great legend of Northern antiquity, in two closely related poems to which he gave the titles The New Lay of the V?lsungs and The New Lay of Gudrún. “In the Lay of the V?lsungs is told the ancestry of the great hero Sigurd, the slayer of Fáfnir most celebrated of dragons, whose treasure he took for his own; of his awakening of the Valkyrie Brynhild who slept surrounded by a wall of fire, and of their betrothal; and of his coming to the court of the great princes who were named the Niflungs (or Nibelungs), with whom he entered into blood-brotherhood. In that court there sprang great love but also great hate, brought about by the power of the enchantress, mother of the Niflungs, skilled in the arts of magic, of shape-changing and potions of forgetfulness. “In scenes of dramatic intensity, of confusion of identity, thwarted passion, jealousy and bitter strife, the tragedy of Sigurd and Brynhild, of Gunnar the Niflung and Gudrún his sister, mounts to its end in the murder of Sigurd at the hands of his blood-brothers, the suicide of Brynhild, and the despair of Gudrún. In the Lay of Gudrún her fate after the death of Sigurd is told, her marriage against her will to the mighty Atli, ruler of the Huns (the Attila of history), his murder of her brothers the Niflung lords, and her hideous revenge. “Deriving his version primarily from his close study of the ancient poetry of Norway and Iceland known as the Poetic Edda (and where no old poetry exists, from the later prose work the V?lsunga Saga), J.R.R. Tolkien employed a verse-form of short stanzas whose lines embody in English the exacting alliterative rhythms and the concentrated energy of the poems of the Edda.” — Christopher Tolkien
The Importance of Being Kennedy
The Importance of Being Kennedy
Laurie Graham
¥57.09
A brilliant novel by Laurie Graham set in wartime London, which follows Kick Kennedy, sister of future US President JFK, as she takes London society by storm. Nora Brennan is a country girl from Westmeath. When she lands herself a position as nursery maid to a family in Brookline, Massachusetts, she little thinks it will place her at the heart of American history. But it's the Kennedy family. In 1917 Joseph Kennedy is on his way to his first million and he has plans to found a dynasty and ensure that his baby son, Joe Junior, will be the first Catholic President of the United States. As nursemaid to all nine Kennedy children, Nora witnesses every moment, public and private. She sees the boys coached at their father's knee to believe everything they'll ever want in life can be bought. She sees the girls trained by their mother to be good Catholic wives. World War II changes everything. At the outbreak of war the Kennedys are living the high life in London, where Joseph Kennedy is the American ambassador. His reaction is to send the entire household back across the Atlantic to safety, but Nora, surprised by midlife love, chooses to stay in England and do her bit. Separated from her Kennedys by an ocean she nevertheless remains the warm, approachable sun around which the older children orbit: Joe, Jack, Rosemary, and in particular Kick, who throws the first spanner in the Kennedy works by marrying an English Protestant. Laurie Graham's poignant new novel views the Kennedys from below stairs, with the humour and candour that only an ex-nursemaid dare employ.
Crash
Crash
J. G. Ballard,Zadie Smith
¥66.22
The definitive cult, post-modern novel – a shocking blend of violence, transgression and eroticism. When Ballard, our narrator, smashes his car into another and watches a man die in front of him, his sense of sexual possibilities in the world around him becomes detached. As he begins an affair with the dead man's wife, he finds himself drawn with increasing intensity to the mangled impacts of car crashes. Then he encounters Robert Vaughan, a former TV scientist turned nightmare angel of the expressway, who has gathered around him a collection of alienated crash victims and experiments with a series of auto-erotic atrocities, each more sinister than the last. But Vaughan craves the ultimate crash – a head-on collision of blood, semen, engine coolant and iconic celebrity. First published in 1973 Crash remains one of the most shocking novels of the second half of the twentieth century and was made into an equally controversial film by David Cronenberg. Ballard’s autobiography Miracles of Life was published in 2008 and Extreme Metaphors, a collection of interviews with the author, is due out in 2012.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (The Chronicles of Narnia, Book 5)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (The Chronicles of Narnia, Book 5)
C. S. Lewis
¥44.15
Illustrations in this ebook appear in vibrant full colour on a full colour ebook device, and in rich black and white on all other devices. Narnia . . . where a dragon awakens . . . where stars walk the earth . . . where anything can happen. A king and some unexpected companions embark on a voyage that will take them beyond all known lands. As they sail farther and farther from charted waters, they discover that their quest is more than they imagined and that the world's end is only the beginning. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the fifth book in C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, a series that has become part of the canon of classic literature, drawing readers of all ages into a magical land with unforgettable characters for over fifty years. This is a novel that stands on its own, but if you would like to continue to the journey, read The Silver Chair, the sixth book in The Chronicles of Narnia.
Wilfred Thesiger in Africa
Wilfred Thesiger in Africa
Alexander Maitland
¥184.23
A unique collection of essays accompany Wilfred Thesiger’s own personal photographs of the Africa he experienced as one of the world’s most celebrated explorers. While Wilfred Thesiger’s own classic writings (including ‘The Marsh Arabs’, ‘Arabian Sands’, ‘Desert’, Marsh and Mountain’, ‘The Life of My Choice’ and ‘My Kenya Days’) comprehensively cover his classic journeys amongst the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq, or across the Empty Quarter in Arabia, they fail conspicuously to shed light on his character and motives, which have remained an enigma. Maitland’s biography had Thesiger’s support before he died in 2003, and has been written with full access, granted to no one else, to the rich Thesiger archive – vivid, intimate family correspondence, and his own letters, diaries and notebooks which are far more confiding than his scrupulously edited published accounts. Maitland investigates in depth Thesiger’s parents and family influences; his wartime experiences and the ethos of conflict; his philosophy as a hunter and conservationist; his development as a writer and photographer; his close friendships with the Arabs and Africans amongst whom he lived; and his sexuality. In all, this major biography of a great and unusual man will take its place on the shelf of outstanding lives of the great explorers.
The Ignorance of Blood
The Ignorance of Blood
Robert Wilson
¥72.30
A new psychological thriller in the Javier Falcon quartet, that includes THE HIDDEN ASSASSINS and The Blind Man of Seville. The sweltering city of Seville is still recovering from a shocking and unsolved terrorist attack but now a spectacular car crash brings to light another threat. A dead gangster and a suitcase filled with millions in cash means the prospect of a serious Russian mafia presence on Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón's beat. As a turf war erupts, Falcón finds himself and those closest to him personally targeted by the lethal forces suddenly unleashed. In the face of such a brutal attack, Falcón decides to retaliate with a ruthlessness that surprises him as much as his adversaries - but it will come at a tragic price.