Mark Haddon has written a number of successful picture books with HarperCollins, including Sea of Tranquility, illustrated by Christian Birmingham, and is best known for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. He lives in Oxford with his wife and two sons.

The second story in a new series about dancing, friendship and following your dreams from best-loved author Jean Ure, whose books are described by Jacqueline Wilson as “funny, funky, feisty - and fantastic reads!” Maddy is delighted when she and her friends are accepted to the prestigious City Ballet School – it feels like one step closer to their dream of becoming professional dancers. But the school brings a whole new set of challenges – and soon Maddy finds herself tested like never before.

Michael Bond was born in Newbury, Berkshire on 13 January 1926 and educated at Presentation College, Reading. He served in the Royal Air Force and the British Army before working as a cameraman for BBC TV for 19 years. In 2015, Michael was awarded a CBE for his services to children’s literature, to add to the OBE he received in 1997. Michael died in 2017, leaving behind one of the great literary legacies of our time.

Jane O'Connor has always had a secret fondness for froufrou. An editor at a major publishing house, she has written more than thirty books for children. She lives with her family in the glamour capital of the world – New York City. Robin Preiss Glasser, who habitually sports glasses and jeans, discovered her "inner Nancy" while illustrating this book. "Wearing lace-trimmed socks helps me draw better," she says. She has illustrated many books and lives in Southern California with her family and tiara collection.

Oliver Jeffers graduated from The University of Ulster in 2001 with First Class honours. His outstanding talent has been recognised by several high-profile awards, including the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Gold Award. ‘Lost and Found’ animation was broadcast on Channel 4. Oliver lives and works in Brookyln, New York.

Meomi is Vicki (Vancouver, Canada) and Michael Murphy (Los Angeles, USA). Meomi's characters have appeared on clothing, toys, merchandise and magazines worldwide. They are the designers of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic mascots and create art and animation for numerous international clients. Meomi likes giant sea snails, ukuleles, afternoon tea and mud puppies. Visit them at www.meomi.com.

Rachel is a writer of words, drawer of pictures and thinker of happy thoughts. With a cacophony of quirky characters tumbling tirelessly from her imagination, she is one of the South West’s most prolific talents. Creating a growing portfolio of beautifully imagined children’s stories, an award-winning card and gift empire and a smorgasbord of delicate etchings, silk-screens and hand-printed poems, Rachel brings her own unique sunshine to the very young and the slightly older alike.

‘A beautiful read / a perfect primer for an explosive lesbian affair / an essential truth’ Lena Dunham ‘I have meditated repeatedly on what it was about Finn that had me so dismantled.' A young woman moves from the countryside to the city. Inexplicably, inexorably and immediately, she falls in love with another woman for the first time in her life. Finn is nineteen years older than her, wears men’s clothes, has a cocky smirk of a smile – and a long-term girlfriend. With precision, wit and tenderness, Women charts the frenzy and the fall out of love.

A charming, funny, poignant collection of twenty-three letters from Marcel Proust to his upstairs neighbour 102 Boulevard Haussmann, an elegant address in Paris’s eighth arrondissement. Upstairs lives Madame Williams, with her second husband and her harp. Downstairs lives Marcel Proust, trying to write In Search of Lost Time, but all too often distracted by the noise from upstairs. Written by Proust to Madame Williams between the years 1909 and 1919, this precious discovery of letters reveals the comings and goings of a Paris building, as seen through Proust’s eyes. You’ll read of the effort required to live peacefully with annoying neighbours; of the sadness of losing friends in the war; of concerts and music and writing; and, above all, of a growing, touching friendship between two lonely souls. ‘Delightful. Big news for Proustians’ Daily Telegraph ‘If you have suffered from noisy neighbours, you will sympathize with Marcel Proust’ Times Literary Supplement ‘A haunting portrait of a friendship between two people who lived within earshot of one another, separated only by a few inches of plaster and floorboard, but who scarcely ever met’ New Statesman

FOUR WOMEN AND THE MEN THEY ARE FORBIDDEN TO LOVE Four nuns find themselves suddenly thrust into a hostile world they long ago abandoned for the safety of the convent. Unwittingly they become pawns in a battle between the charismatic Jaime Miro, leader of the outlawed Basque nationalists, and the ruthless Colonel Ramon Acoca of the Spanish Army. Megan the orphan, who feels an overpowering attraction to Jaime Miro Lucia the fiery Sicilian beauty on the run for murder – and Rubio Arzano, the freedom fighter who risks his life to save her Teresa whose guilty conscience finally drives her to betray her friends Graciela who bears a terrible secret that almost destroys her – and the courageous Ricardo Mellado who loves her. 'The Sands of Time' is an unforgettable adventure and a heart-stopping romance, set against the timeless and dramatic landscape of Spain.

Strategy is about identifying why your business matters, not just analysing the competition. Cynthia Montgomery reveals how leaders can embrace the crucial role of The Strategist to really define and drive the objectives and advantages to power their companies forward. Cynthia Montgomery teaches the globally-renowned EOP (Entrepreneur, Owner, President) course at Harvard Business School, one of Harvard’s most oversubscribed executive courses. Participants are all seasoned executives, owners, CEOs, or COOs of privately held companies who pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend, with the goal of learning how to be more effective leaders and how to make their companies more successful. Montgomery’s course teaches them a totally new way to understand leadership, a way that fuses leadership with strategy. Her approach calls for a reset of current thinking about both. She shows that strategy is not just a tool for outwitting the competition – it is the most powerful means a leader has for shaping a firm itself. Montgomery takes the readers through the paces of her world-renowned course, teaching them how to develop the skills and sensibilities that living strategy and real leadership demand. No other book marries strategy and leadership in the same way – a way readers will find challenging, intriguing, and ultimately, inspiring.

NO.1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER When times are tough, confiding in friends can change your life. Cancer survivor Lydia’s business is thriving but her dream-man’s ex is threatening their relationship… Retired, self-contained Elise has lost everything and lives with her daughter, but still has disturbingly strong feelings for her gambling ex-husband. Nervous Bethanne is an unwilling divorcée whose husband left her and their children for a younger woman. She urgently needs a job, but has she the confidence to find one? Lonely teenager Courtney feels abandoned too. Grieving over her mother’s death, she has put on weight and dreads starting a new school. This uplifting, heart-warming story proves that however bleak the future may look, the importance of friendship should never be underestimated. Make time for friends. Make time for Debbie Macomber.

This revolutionary book reveals: ?Ten reasons why eating a low-fat, calorie controlled diet makes sustained weight loss virtually impossible. ?Why the less hungry you are, the more weight you’ll lose. ?How different types of calories have different fattening potential. ?Why weight is not just about calories, but the impact our diet has on key hormones including insulin and leptin. ?Why you should ignore foods labelled ‘low fat’ or ‘light’. ?Why aerobic exercise has little impact on weight, and the type of exercise that does. ?The simple and mental tricks to ensure permanent success.

A splendid and sumptuous historical novel from the internationally bestselling author, Philippa Gregory, telling of the early life of Katherine of Aragon. I was born a princess, destined to be queen, and I know my duty. 1491. Henry VII’s eldest son Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, has been betrothed since childhood to the Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon. Their marriage will cement the alliance Henry Tudor craves to secure his country. But when Arthur’s sudden death leaves an 11-year-old boy heir to the kingdom, Henry Tudor must choose whether to send Katherine back to Spain, or to marry her himself. Katherine has no son from her brief marriage to secure her future; her substantial dowry and his powerful contract are at stake. Henry has reckoned without the determination of a young woman set on fulfilling her own destiny to be a queen – and the ambition of Prince Harry, the future Henry VIII.

A stunning novel set in the Tudor court, from the Sunday Times No.1 bestseller Philippa Gregory. I would have been a fool indeed to tell the truth in this court of liars… 1553. King Edward is on his deathbed, and the future of the Tudor dynasty swings perilously. Forced out of Spain by the Inquisition, Hannah Green arrives in a volatile kingdom. She is identified as a seer and sworn into the service of Robert Dudley, the son of King Edward’s protector and a key player at court. Her task: to keep watch on Princess Mary, the forgotten heir. Mary’s grip on the Crown is fragile. Elizabeth, Mary’s half-sister, is ready to take England’s throne. Caught in the rivalry between the daughters of Henry VIII, Hannah must navigate her way through a treacherous court if she is to survive.

From the bestselling author of The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory, comes a wonderfully atmospheric evocation of the court of Henry VIII and his final queens.

A hilarious and moving story of old age, adventure, stolen jewels and swimming the Thames, from David Walliams, number one bestseller and fastest growing children’s author in the country.

The triumphant finale to the Riftwar Saga – Raymond E. Feist’s first classic, bestselling fantasy trilogy. As Prince Arutha and his companions rally their forces for the final battle with an ancient and mysterious evil, the dread necromancer Marcos the Black has once again unleashed his dark sorcerery. Now the fate of two worlds will be decided in a titanic struggle beneath the walls of Sethanon, as the link between Kelewan and Midkemia is revived.

Learn to leverage the power of PowerCLI to automate your VMware vSphere environment with ease About This Book This is first book on the market that will enlighten you on the latest version of PowerCLI and how to implement it Effectively manage virtual machines, networks, and reports with the latest features of PowerCLI A comprehensive and practical book on automating VMware vSphere Who This Book Is For This book is ideal for you if you want to learn how to automate your VMware vSphere or vCloud infrastructure by getting the most out of PowerCLI. It’s assumed that you have some experience in administrating a vSphere or vCloud environment. Knowledge of Microsoft’s Windows PowerShell is not a prerequisite. What You Will Learn Explore PowerShell and PowerCLI cmdlets and their output objects See how to manage virtual machines and work with virtual networks Manage vCloud Director from PowerCLI Use Site Recovery Manager from PowerCLI to create a disaster recovery solution Manage NSX and vRealize Automation using REST API with PowerCLI Create and configure vSphere HA and DRS clusters Use vSphere Update Manager with PowerCLI to create patch baselines and scan hosts Explore reporting techniques to retrieve log files In Detail VMware vSphere PowerCLI, a free extension to Microsoft Windows PowerShell, enables you to automate the management of a VMware vSphere or vCloud environment. This book will show you how to automate your tasks and make your job easier. Starting with an introduction to the basics of PowerCLI, the book will teach you how to manage your vSphere and vCloud infrastructure from the command line. To help you manage a vSphere host overall, you will learn how to manage vSphere ESXi hosts, host profiles, host services, host firewall, and deploy and upgrade ESXi hosts using Image Builder and Auto Deploy. The next chapter will not only teach you how to create datastore and datastore clusters, but you’ll also work with profile-driven and policy-based storage to manage your storage. To create a disaster recovery solution and retrieve information from vRealize Operations, you will learn how to use Site Recovery Manager and vRealize Operations respectively. Towards the end, you’ll see how to use the REST APIs from PowerShell to manage NSX and vRealize Automation and create patch baselines, scan hosts against the baselines for missing patches, and re-mediate hosts. By the end of the book, you will be capable of using the best tool to automate the management and configuration of VMware vSphere. Style and approach This comprehensive book will teach system administrators everything about PowerCLI 6 and how to utilize it to automate VMware vSphere.

Discover over 100 practical recipes to help you master the art of IT service management for your organization About This Book Unleash the capabilities of Microsoft System Center 2016 Service Manager Master the skills of configuring, deploying, managing, and troubleshooting your Service Manager 2016 This book contains practical recipes that leverage the key and newly added features and functionalities of Microsoft System Center 2016 Service Manager Who This Book Is For This book will be useful to IT professionals including SCSM administrators who want to configure and administer System Center Service Manager 2016 and understand how to solve specific problems and scenarios that arise. It will also be useful to users of Service Manager 2012 who want to learn about the new features and capabilities of the Service Manager 2016 release. It will be ideal if you have Service Manager experience as well as experience with other System Center products. What You Will Learn See a practical implementation of the ITSM framework and processes based on ITIL Deploy and configure the new Service Manager HTML5 Self-Service Portal along with Service Catalog design and configuration Get to know about Incident, Problem, and Change Management processes and configuration Get to grips with performing advanced personalization in Service Manager Discover how to set up and use automation with and within Service Manager 2016 Work with Service Manager Data Warehouse Find out what Security Roles are and how to implement them Learn how to upgrade from SCSM 2012 R2 to SCSM 2016 In Detail System Center Service Manager (SCSM) is an integrated platform that offers a simplified data center management experience by implementing best practices such as Incident Management, Service Request, and Change Control to achieve efficient service delivery across your organization. This book provides you with real-world recipes that can be used immediately and will show you how to configure and administer SCSM 2016. You’ll also find out how to solve particular problems and scenarios to take this tool further. You’ll start with recipes on implementing ITSM frameworks and processes and configuring Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Then, you'll work through deploying and configuring the HTML5 Self-Service Portal, configuring Incident and Problem Management, and designing and configuring Change and Release Management. You'll also learn about security roles and overall Microsoft SCSM 2016 administration. Toward the end of the book, we’ll look at advanced topics, such as presenting the wealth of information stored within the Service Manager Data Warehouse, standardizing SCSM deployments, and implementing automation. Style and approach This book will enlighten you on Microsoft System Center 2016 Service Manager through recipes that can be implemented directly in any enterprise. You can read the book from start to end if you’re a beginner, or just open up any chapter and start following the recipes as a reference for advanced users. This book consists of a pool of step-by-step recipes on how to perform activities in Service Manager.

Discover what it means to be an expert developer by exploring the latest features available to you in Alfresco One 5.x About This Book Create reliable and secure enterprise apps with the latest Alfresco One 5.x platform Explore all the latest Alfresco One 5.x APIs such as the CMIS API, Alfresco One API, and the integrated RESTful API to get more out of your enterprise apps Unleash the power of the latest JavaScript engine and the JavaScript API for Alfresco to customize your existing apps for the Alfresco 5 platform Who This Book Is For If you’re an enterprise app developer who wants to create custom applications with Alfresco, then this book is for you. Previous knowledge with Alfresco would be helpful but is not necessary. What You Will Learn Create and manage a custom content model Configure the Alfresco Share user interface Build a new AngularJS 2.0 application Create business process definitions using Activiti Designer Discover the most common extensions provided by Alfresco Configure Alfresco to authenticate against LDAP, including & chaining" LDAP with Alfresco authentication Get familiar with the latest features of Alfresco Mobile SDK, Smart Search, and the new Angular framework In Detail Do you want to create more reliable and secure solutions for enterprise appsAlfresco One 5.x is your gateway to developing the best industry-standard enterprise apps and this book will help you to become a pro with Alfresco One 5.x development. This book will help you create a complete fully featured app for your organization and while you create that perfect app, you will explore and implement the new and intriguing features of Alfresco. The book starts with an introduction to the Alfresco platform and you’ll see how to configure and customize it. You will learn how to work with the content in a content management system and how you can extend it to your own use case. Next, you will find out how to work with Alfresco Share, an all-purpose user interface for general document management, and customize it. Moving on, you write web *s that create, read, and delete data in the back-end repository. Further on from that, you’ll work with a set of tools that Alfresco provides; to generate a basic AnglularJS application supporting use cases, to name a few authentication, document list, document view. Finally, you’ll learn how to develop your own Alfresco Mobile app and understand how Smart Folders and Search manager work. By the end of the book, you’ll know how to configure Alfresco to authenticate against LDAP, be able to set up Single Sign-On (SSO), and work with Alfresco’s security services. Style and approach This book takes a step-by-step practical tutorial-style approach helping you create a complete enterprise app using Alfresco.