What would you sacrifice for your children? Ballymor, Ireland, 1847 As famine grips the country Kitty McCarthy is left widowed and alone. Fighting to keep her two remaining children alive against all odds, Kitty must decide how far she will go to save her family. Present day Arriving in Ballymor, Maria is researching her ancestor, Victorian artist Michael McCarthy – and his beloved mother, the mysterious Kitty who disappeared without a trace. Running from her future, it’s not only answers about the past that Maria hopes to find in Ireland. As her search brings her closer to the truth about Kitty’s fate, Maria must make the biggest decision of her life.

South African born Elon Musk is the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla, and SolarCity. Musk wants to save our planet; he wants to send citizens into space, to form a colony on Mars; he wants to make money while doing these things; and he wants us all to know about it. He is the real-life inspiration for the Iron Man series of films starring Robert Downey Junior. The personal tale of Musk’s life comes with all the trappings one associates with a great, drama-filled story. He was a freakishly bright kid who was bullied brutally at school, and abused by his father. In the midst of these rough conditions, and the violence of apartheid South Africa, Musk still thrived academically and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he paid his own way through school by turning his house into a club and throwing massive parties. He started a pair of huge dot-com successes, including PayPal, which eBay acquired for $1.5 billion in 2002. Musk was forced out as CEO and so began his lost years in which he decided to go it alone and baffled friends by investing his fortune in rockets and electric cars. Meanwhile Musk’s marriage disintegrated as his technological obsessions took over his life ... Elon Musk is the Steve Jobs of the present and the future, and for the past twelve months, he has been shadowed by tech reporter, Ashlee Vance. Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of Spacex and Tesla is Shaping our Future is an important, exciting and intelligent account of the real-life Iron Man.

An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller. ‘A tremendous read’ - The Sun on The Good Girl Now optioned for a major movie by the company behind Winter’s Bone, Babel, Being John Malkovich and the TV series True Detective. A compulsive debut that reveals how, even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems… I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the colour of her eyes or what they look like when they're scared. But I will. Mia Dennett can't resist a one-night stand with the enigmatic stranger she meets in a bar. But going home with him might turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life… Don't miss Mary Kubica's next novel, Pretty Baby!

‘The bell tolls at midnight as death requires it.’ But will it finally toll for Sean Dillon & company in the explosive new thriller of murder, terrorism and revenge from the Sunday Times bestselling author. In Ulster, Northern Ireland, a petty criminal kills a woman in a drunken car crash. Her sons swear revenge. In London, Sean Dillon and his colleagues in the ‘Prime Minister’s private army’, fresh from defeating a deadly al-Qaeda operation, receive a warning: ‘You may think you have weakened us, but you have only made us stronger.’ In Washington, D.C., a special projects director with the CIA, frustrated at not getting permission from the President for his daring anti-terrorism plan, decides to put it in motion anyway. Soon, the ripples from these events will meet and overlap, creating havoc in their wake. Desperate men will act, secrets will be revealed – and the midnight bell will toll.

Mandy Stanley was born in Lowestoft, Suffolk. She attended Great Yarmouth College of Art and Design and then went on to do a fashion degree in Nottingham. Mandy has won awards for her soft toy designs and has also worked as a children’s clothes designer. She has now turned her attentions to children’s book illustration and previous titles include Tiny Trumpet and Bloomer.

Feather Tucker has two wishes: 1)To get her mum healthy again 2) To win the Junior UK swimming championships When Feather comes home on New Year’s Eve to find her mother – one of Britain’s most obese women- in a diabetic coma, she realises something has to be done to save her mum’s life. But when her Mum refuses to co-operate Feather realises that the problems run deeper than just her mum’s unhealthy appetite. Over time, Feather’s mission to help her Mum becomes an investigation. With the help of friends old and new, and the hindrance of runaway pet goat Houdini, Feather’s starting to uncover when her mum’s life began to spiral out of control and why. But can Feather fix it in time for her mum to watch her swim to victory? And can she save her family for good?

Sarah Gibb studied Graphic Design at St Martins and then did an MA in Sequential Illustration at the University of Brighton. She illustrates the incredibly popular children’s fiction series, The Tiara Club, and novels such as The Nanny Diaries. As well as illustrating books, Sarah works on greetings cards and packaging for clients including Crabtree and Evelyn, Marks and Spencer and Harrods. She lives in London with her husband and young son

‘A total white knuckle stay-up-all-night thrill ride’ (Harlan Coben) from the bestselling author of Reckless and Killing Hour. Fifteen seconds can tear a life apart.. OUT OF TOWN Dr Henry Steadman has it all: a booming business, a daughter he loves, and plenty of time to enjoy life. But while visiting upstate Florida, a police-stop ends in the shooting of a local cop – with Henry as the prime suspect. OUT OF LUCK Framed for a second murder, this time of a close friend, Henry goes on the run. His only lifeline is state-trooper Carrie Holmes, no stranger to tragedy herself, who can help prove his innocence. But they are in a dead-end – the police are closing in, the killer is getting away. OUT OF TIME This is not just a set-up, it’s far more personal. Henry’s nightmare is complete when his daughter is kidnapped. Suddenly, survival is not enough: he must save his daughter. Everything has been taken away from him – but now, Henry has nothing left to lose…

‘A feel-good story with oodles of charm’ Daily Mail For generations, the Stone family have been making wishes on the old willow tree in their garden. And this year they’re wishing harder than ever… In the small village of Noon Sun, Benedict and Estelle thought they’d found their happy ever after. But, unable to have the children they’ve longed for, their marriage has hit the rocks and Estelle has moved out. Devastated but unwilling to accept defeat, jeweller Benedict vows to win her back – he just doesn’t know how. The unexpected – and uninvited – arrival of his estranged sixteen-year-old niece, Gemma, is the last thing he needs. But when a decades old secret is brought to light, Benedict and Estelle realise they’re not the only ones in need of a second chance. And that maybe the family they wished for has been there all along… Praise for bestselling author Phaedra Patrick’s award-winning debut The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper: ‘Gorgeous’ Heat ‘A charming, unforgettable story’ Harper’s Bazaar

‘Witty, funny, warm and wise’ Marian Keyes Is it a break? Or is it a blip? ‘You’ve just had a holiday,’ I pointed out, trying not to yawn. ‘Wasn’t that enough of a break?’ ‘I don’t mean that kind of break.’ There’s nothing worse than the last day of holiday. Oh wait, there is. When what should have been a proposal turns into a break, Liv and Adam find themselves on opposite sides of the life they had mapped out. Friends and family all think they’re crazy; Liv throws herself into work – animals are so much simpler than humans – and Adam tries to get himself out of the hole he’s dug. But as the short break becomes a chasm, can they find a way back to each other? Most importantly, do they want to?

‘Marry me… …And you’ll have your freedom.’ Her father’s will dictates that Violet Harper must wed or be disinherited―but she’d rather face the wilderness of the wintry Yorkshire moors than be bound to cynical, damaged soldier Lance Amberton. Lance promises a marriage of convenience that will grant Violet her independence. In exchange she must put her faith in Lance, and see beyond his gruff exterior to the man beneath…

A trick of magic, a twist of fate. As the orphaned nephew of the king, trusted companion to his cousin, and second heir to the throne of Skala, Prince Tobin’s future is clear. But not as clear as the spring in which a hill witch shows him his true face--and his secret destiny.... Now Tobin carries a burden he cannot share with even his closest friend, Ki, his squire. He is to rule--not as he is but as he was born: a woman. Given the shape of a boy by dark magic, Tobin is the last hope of the people of Illior--those who desperately seek a return to the old ways, when Skala was ruled by a line of warrior queens. They still believe that only a woman can lift the war, famine, and pestilence that have run rampant through the land since the king usurped his half sister’s throne. It is these outlaw wizards and witches who protect Tobin--and it is for them that Tobin must accept his fate. With the unsuspecting yet fiercely loyal Ki at his side, Tobin must turn traitor against the only blood ties he has left. He must lift the masks of Skala’s rulers to show their true colors--before he can reveal the power of the woman within himself. From the Paperback edition.

‘I have just announced our betrothal’ Now there’s no going back… In this Brides for Bachelors story, the Marquess of Rawcliffe has always found his childhood friend Clare Cottam enthralling, but any relationship has been forbidden by her strict father. Now the couple are embroiled in a heated argument that puts Clare’s reputation in danger, and Rawcliffe is forced to declare her his fiancée. It will be his pleasure to tame his independent, innocent bride…

Set sail with the funniest pirate on the seven seas in this hilarious adventure for readers of 7+ with brilliant pictures throughout from ALIENS LOVE UNDERPANTS illustrator Ben Cort. Pirate Blunderbeard is on a voyage with his cousin Redruth and Grandpa Greybeard. Blunderbeard hopes it will be like a holiday cruise, ice-cream, deck chairs and maybe a bit of swimming. But Grandpa Greybeard is on a mission. He wants to get his favourite ship back from the Scariest Pirate on the high seas he wants Blunderbeard to help. What could possibly go wrong? Pirate Blunderbeard on might be on the worst mission ever but it’s also the funniest – laugh-out-loud fun for readers of 7+

Set sail with the funniest pirate on the seven seas in this hilarious adventure for readers of 7+ with brilliant pictures throughout from ALIENS LOVE UNDERPANTS illustrator Ben Cort. Pirate Blunderbeard is on a voyage with his cousin Redruth and Grandpa Greybeard. Blunderbeard hopes it will be like a holiday cruise, ice-cream, deck chairs and maybe a bit of swimming. But Grandpa Greybeard is on a mission. He wants to get his favourite ship back from the Scariest Pirate on the high seas he wants Blunderbeard to help. What could possibly go wrong? Pirate Blunderbeard on might be on the worst mission ever but it’s also the funniest – laugh-out-loud fun for readers of 7+

Set sail with the funniest pirate on the seven seas in this hilarious adventure for readers of 7+ with brilliant pictures throughout from ALIENS LOVE UNDERPANTS illustrator Ben Cort. Pirate Blunderbeard is on a voyage with his cousin Redruth and Grandpa Greybeard. Blunderbeard hopes it will be like a holiday cruise, ice-cream, deck chairs and maybe a bit of swimming. But Grandpa Greybeard is on a mission. He wants to get his favourite ship back from the Scariest Pirate on the high seas he wants Blunderbeard to help. What could possibly go wrong? Pirate Blunderbeard on might be on the worst mission ever but it’s also the funniest – laugh-out-loud fun for readers of 7+

Set sail with the funniest pirate on the seven seas in this hilarious adventure for readers of 7+ with brilliant pictures throughout from ALIENS LOVE UNDERPANTS illustrator Ben Cort. Pirate Blunderbeard is on a voyage with his cousin Redruth and Grandpa Greybeard. Blunderbeard hopes it will be like a holiday cruise, ice-cream, deck chairs and maybe a bit of swimming. But Grandpa Greybeard is on a mission. He wants to get his favourite ship back from the Scariest Pirate on the high seas he wants Blunderbeard to help. What could possibly go wrong? Pirate Blunderbeard on might be on the worst mission ever but it’s also the funniest – laugh-out-loud fun for readers of 7+

Get command of your organizational Big Data using the power of data science and analytics About This Book ? A perfect companion to boost your Big Data storing, processing, analyzing skills to help you take informed business decisions ? Work with the best tools such as Apache Hadoop, R, Python, and Spark for NoSQL platforms to perform massive online analyses ? Get expert tips on statistical inference, machine learning, mathematical modeling, and data visualization for Big Data Who This Book Is For The book is intended for existing and aspiring Big Data professionals who wish to become the go-to person in their organization when it comes to Big Data architecture, analytics, and governance. While no prior knowledge of Big Data or related technologies is assumed, it will be helpful to have some programming experience. What You Will Learn ? Get a 360-degree view into the world of Big Data, data science and machine learning ? Broad range of technical and business Big Data analytics topics that caters to the interests of the technical experts as well as corporate IT executives ? Get hands-on experience with industry-standard Big Data and machine learning tools such as Hadoop, Spark, MongoDB, KDB+ and R ? Create production-grade machine learning BI Dashboards using R and R Shiny with step-by-step instructions ? Learn how to combine open-source Big Data, machine learning and BI Tools to create low-cost business analytics applications ? Understand corporate strategies for successful Big Data and data science projects ? Go beyond general-purpose analytics to develop cutting-edge Big Data applications using emerging technologies In Detail Big Data analytics relates to the strategies used by organizations to collect, organize and analyze large amounts of data to uncover valuable business insights that otherwise cannot be analyzed through traditional systems. Crafting an enterprise-scale cost-efficient Big Data and machine learning solution to uncover insights and value from your organization's data is a challenge. Today, with hundreds of new Big Data systems, machine learning packages and BI Tools, selecting the right combination of technologies is an even greater challenge. This book will help you do that. With the help of this guide, you will be able to bridge the gap between the theoretical world of technology with the practical ground reality of building corporate Big Data and data science platforms. You will get hands-on exposure to Hadoop and Spark, build machine learning dashboards using R and R Shiny, create web-based apps using NoSQL databases such as MongoDB and even learn how to write R code for neural networks. By the end of the book, you will have a very clear and concrete understanding of what Big Data analytics means, how it drives revenues for organizations, and how you can develop your own Big Data analytics solution using different tools and methods articulated in this book. Style and approach This book equips you with a knowledge of various NoSQL tools, R, Python programming, cloud platforms, and techniques so you can use them to store, analyze, and deliver meaningful insights from your data.

Learn the techniques for object recognition, 3D reconstruction, stereo imaging, and other computer vision applications using examples on different functions of OpenCV. About This Book ? Learn how to apply complex visual effects to images with OpenCV 3.x and Python ? Extract features from an image and use them to develop advanced applications ? Build algorithms to help you understand image content and perform visual searches ? Get to grips with advanced techniques in OpenCV such as machine learning, artificial neural network, 3D reconstruction, and augmented reality Who This Book Is For This book is intended for Python developers who are new to OpenCV and want to develop computer vision applications with OpenCV and Python. This book is also useful for generic software developers who want to deploy computer vision applications on the cloud. It would be helpful to have some familiarity with basic mathematical concepts such as vectors, matrices, and so on. What You Will Learn ? Detect shapes and edges from images and videos ? How to apply filters on images and videos ? Use different techniques to manipulate and improve images ? Extract and manipulate particular parts of images and videos ? Track objects or colors from videos ? Recognize specific object or faces from images and videos ? How to create Augmented Reality applications ? Apply artificial neural networks and machine learning to improve object recognition In Detail Computer vision is found everywhere in modern technology. OpenCV for Python enables us to run computer vision algorithms in real time. With the advent of powerful machines, we have more processing power to work with. Using this technology, we can seamlessly integrate our computer vision applications into the cloud. Focusing on OpenCV 3.x and Python 3.6, this book will walk you through all the building blocks needed to build amazing computer vision applications with ease. We start off by manipulating images using simple filtering and geometric transformations. We then discuss affine and projective transformations and see how we can use them to apply cool advanced manipulations to your photos like resizing them while keeping the content intact or smoothly removing undesired elements. We will then cover techniques of object tracking, body part recognition, and object recognition using advanced techniques of machine learning such as artificial neural network. 3D reconstruction and augmented reality techniques are also included. The book covers popular OpenCV libraries with the help of examples. This book is a practical tutorial that covers various examples at different levels, teaching you about the different functions of OpenCV and their actual implementation. By the end of this book, you will have acquired the skills to use OpenCV and Python to develop real-world computer vision applications. Style and approach The book is a practical tutorial that covers various examples at different levels, teaching you about the different functions of OpenCV and their actual implementation.

Transform yourself into a Kubernetes specialist in serverless applications. About This Book ? Get hands-on experience in installing, configuring, and using services such as Kubeless, Funktion, OpenWhisk, and Fission ? Learn how to launch Kubernetes both locally and in public clouds ? Explore the differences between using services such as AWS Lambda and Azure Functions and running your own Who This Book Is For If you are a DevOps engineer, cloud architect, or a stakeholder keen to learn about serverless functions in Kubernetes environments, then this book is for you. What You Will Learn ? Get a detailed analysis of serverless/Functions as a Service ? Get hands-on with installing and running tasks in Kubernetes using Minikube ? Install Kubeless locally and launch your first function. ? Launch Kubernetes in the cloud and move your applications between your local machine and your cloud cluster ? Deploy applications on Kubernetes using Apache OpenWhisk ? Explore topics such as Funktion and Fission installation on the cloud followed by launching applications ? Monitor a serverless function and master security best practices and Kubernetes use cases In Detail Kubernetes has established itself as the standard platform for container management, orchestration, and deployment. It has been adopted by companies such as Google, its original developers, and Microsoft as an integral part of their public cloud platforms, so that you can develop for Kubernetes and not worry about being locked into a single vendor. This book will initially start by introducing serverless functions. Then you will configure tools such as Minikube to run Kubernetes. Once you are up-and-running, you will install and configure Kubeless, your first step towards running Function as a Service (FaaS) on Kubernetes. Then you will gradually move towards running Fission, a framework used for managing serverless functions on Kubernetes environments. Towards the end of the book, you will also work with Kubernetes functions on public and private clouds. By the end of this book, we will have mastered using Function as a Service on Kubernetes environments. Style and approach A clear, concise, and straightforward book that will empower you work with clusters and run serverless functions effectively.

Deploy and manage VMware vSphere 6.5 components with ease. About This Book ? Simplified and to-the-point theory and practical recipes to deploy and manage vSphere 6.5 ? Discover the best ways to deploy stateless and stateful ESXi hosts and upgrade them ? Storage and network resource management ? Certificate management using VMCA ? Monitor the performance of a vSphere environment. Who This Book Is For If you are a system administrator, support professional, or anyone interested in learning how to install, configure, and manage a vSphere environment, then this book is for you. This task-oriented reference guide will also benefit consultants or infrastructure architects who design and deploy vSphere 6.5 environments. What You Will Learn ? Upgrade your existing vSphere environment or perform a fresh deployment. ? Automate the deployment and management of large sets of ESXi hosts in your vSphere Environment ? Configure and manage FC, iSCSI, and NAS storage, and get more control over how storage resources are allocated and managed ? Configure vSphere networking by deploying host-wide and data center-wide switches in your vSphere environment ? Configure high availability on a host cluster and learn how to enable the fair distribution and utilization of compute resources ? Patch and upgrade the vSphere environment ? Handle certificate request generation and renew component certificates ? Monitor performance of a vSphere environment In Detail VMware vSphere is a complete and robust virtualization product suite that helps transform data centers into simplified on-premises cloud infrastructures, providing for the automation and orchestration of workload deployment and life cycle management of the infrastructure. This book focuses on the latest release of VMware vSphere and follows a recipe-based approach, giving you hands-on instructions required to deploy and manage a vSphere environment. The book starts with the procedures involved in upgrading your existing vSphere infrastructure to vSphere 6.5, followed by deploying a new vSphere 6.5 environment. Then the book delves further into the procedures involved in managing storage and network access to the ESXi hosts and the virtual machines running on them. Moving on, the book covers high availability and fair distribution/utilization of clustered compute and storage resources. Finally, the book covers patching and upgrading the vSphere infrastructure using VUM, certificate management using VMCA, and finishes with a chapter covering the tools that can be used to monitor the performance of a vSphere infrastructure. Style and approach This book will quickly get you started with managing VMware components.