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万本电子书0元读

Free Sampler of The Sea Sisters (Chapters 1–6)
Free Sampler of The Sea Sisters (Chapters 1–6)
Lucy Clarke
¥11.77
“a terrific summer read” Richard & Judy Two sisters, one life-changing journey… This is a free sample of the first six chapters (of 33) of the novel THE SEA SISTERS, by Lucy Clarke. There are some currents in the relationship between sisters that run so dark and so deep, it’s better for the people swimming on the surface never to know what’s beneath . . . Katie’s carefully structured world is shattered by the news that her headstrong younger sister, Mia, has been found dead in Bali – and the police claim it was suicide. With only the entries of Mia’s travel journal as her guide, Katie retraces the last few months of her sister’s life, and – page by page, country by country – begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her death. What she discovers changes everything. But will her search for the truth push their sisterly bond – and Katie – to breaking point? The Sea Sisters is a compelling story of the enduring connection between sisters.
Lady Mary Crawley and Matthew Crawley Esq
Lady Mary Crawley and Matthew Crawley Esq
Jessica Fellowes,Matthew Sturgis
¥11.77
This richly illustrated short, extracted from the official book The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, focuses on the characters individually, examining their motivations, their actions and the inspirations behind them. Forwarded by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. ‘There’s an independence about Mary,” says Michelle Dockery, the actress who plays her. “She’s not influenced by anyone and she’s very much her own person, she makes her own decisions. I understand her because I’m one of three girls too and I’ve always been defiant that I didn’t want to do what they did.’ Having her heart both broken and put back together by her true love, Matthew, has rounded the edges off Mary. Now, we find she has her backbone of steel but she is kinder, nicer and altogether more forgiving of human fallibilities – even her own. Matthew is a lucky man to have survived the war. What’s more, he has the possibility of gaining a large fortune, and is due to marry the woman he loves. Yet, he is not a man at ease. His conscience is easily pricked by the requirements that lie ahead of him in the role of Earl of Grantham. Purchase this ebook short and the others in the series to get closer still to the characters at Downton Abbey and to understand more about their social context – from the changing role of the aristocracy to fashion and beauty, American Anglophiles, the Suffragette movement and life below stairs in a big country house like Downton. Search for The Chronicles of Downton Abbey to purchase all shorts combined.
Lady Edith Crawley (Downton Abbey Shorts, Book 5)
Lady Edith Crawley (Downton Abbey Shorts, Book 5)
Jessica Fellowes,Matthew Sturgis
¥11.77
This richly illustrated short, extracted from the official book The Chronicles of Downton Abbey, focuses on the characters individually, examining their motivations, their actions and the inspirations behind them. Forwarded by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. Edith Crawley, the middle daughter of the Granthams, sandwiched between her elder, beautiful and fiery sister Mary, and Sybil, the younger, worthy one, struggles to find her position in life. She is caught between acting tough and being on the defensive. ‘She’s vulnerable,’ says Laura Carmichael, who plays her. ‘She’s the disappointing daughter. And she feels that very keenly – she so wants to be loved and accepted, rather than rejected. And she throws herself into things to try and achieve that.’ Purchase this ebook short and the others in the series to get closer still to the characters at Downton Abbey and to understand more about their social context – from the changing role of the aristocracy to fashion and beauty, American Anglophiles, the Suffragette movement and life below stairs in a big country house like Downton. Search for The Chronicles of Downton Abbey to purchase all shorts combined.
Madge’s story (Individual stories from THE SWEETHEARTS, Book 1)
Madge’s story (Individual stories from THE SWEETHEARTS, Book 1)
Lynn Russell,Neil Hanson
¥11.77
This is Madge’s story, one of five stories extracted from THE SWEETHEARTS. Whether in wartime or peace, tales of love, laughter and hardship from the girls in the Rowntrees factory in Yorkshire. “On the morning of her Rowntrees job interview, on a warm Monday morning in July 1932, Fourteen-year-old Madge Fisher stood fidgeting in the hallway of her terraced house while her mother, Margaret, pinned up her hair and then inspected her from top to toe. ‘Hands,’ her mother said, and Madge presented them meekly for inspection, glad that she’d remembered to wash them at the kitchen sink…” From the 1930s through to the 1980s, as Britain endured war, depression, hardship and strikes, the women at the Rowntree’s factory in York kept the chocolates coming. This is the true story of The Sweethearts, the women who roasted the cocoa beans, piped the icing and packed the boxes that became gifts for lovers, snacks for workers and treats for children across the country. More often than not, their working days provided welcome relief from bad husbands and bad housing, a community where they could find new confidence, friendship and when the supervisor wasn’t looking, the occasional chocolate.
Florence’s story (Individual stories from THE SWEETHEARTS, Book 2)
Florence’s story (Individual stories from THE SWEETHEARTS, Book 2)
Lynn Russell,Neil Hanson
¥11.77
This is Florence’s story, one of five stories extracted from THE SWEETHEARTS. Whether in wartime or peace, tales of love, laughter and hardship from the girls in the Rowntrees factory in Yorkshire. “Florence was born in 1923 and remembers sleeping three or four to a bed with the other children. ‘If it was really cold, my mum would give us the shelf out of the fireside oven, wrapped in a piece of cloth, as a hot water bottle. She’d put it right in the middle of the bed where all four of us could get our feet on it’. Florence finished school on a Friday in July 1937 and started work at Rowntree’s the following Monday. ‘There were so many people pouring in through the gates,’ Florence recalls, ‘and the whole place was so huge – even the rooms were enormous – that I couldn’t imagine how I was ever going to find my way around the place…” From the 1930s through to the 1980s, as Britain endured war, depression, hardship and strikes, the women at the Rowntree’s factory in York kept the chocolates coming. This is the true story of The Sweethearts, the women who roasted the cocoa beans, piped the icing and packed the boxes that became gifts for lovers, snacks for workers and treats for children across the country. More often than not, their working days provided welcome relief from bad husbands and bad housing, a community where they could find new confidence, friendship and when the supervisor wasn’t looking, the occasional chocolate.
The Rest Is Noise Series: Zero Hour
The Rest Is Noise Series: Zero Hour
Alex Ross
¥11.77
This is a chapter from Alex Ross’s groundbreaking history of twentieth-century classical music, ‘The Rest is Noise’. Further extracts are available as digital shorts, accompanying the London Southbank festival programme. Following the Allied victory, all over Europe, young people were emerging from the rubble into adulthood – amongst them, leading figures of the post-war musical scene. They would be indelibly marked by their teenage experiences, their memories colouring their compositions. Now a major festival running throughout 2013 at London’s Southbank, The Rest is Noise is an intricate commentary not just on the sounds that defined the century, but on art’s troublesome dance with politics, social and cultural change. Alex Ross is the New Yorker’s music critic, and the winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Rest is Noise, which was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson and Pulitzer prizes for non-fiction.
The Rest Is Noise Series: Brave New World
The Rest Is Noise Series: Brave New World
Alex Ross
¥11.77
This is a chapter from Alex Ross’s groundbreaking history of twentieth-century classical music, ‘The Rest is Noise’. Further extracts are available as digital shorts, accompanying the London Southbank festival programme. The Cold War breaks out and music explodes into a pandemonium of revolutions, counterrevolutions, theories, polemics, alliances,and party splits. The language of modern music is reinvented. This short ebook looks at some of the extraordinary compositions of this period. Now a major festival running throughout 2013 at London’s Southbank, The Rest is Noise is an intricate commentary not just on the sounds that defined the century, but on art’s troublesome dance with politics, social and cultural change. Alex Ross is the New Yorker’s music critic, and the winner of the Guardian First Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for The Rest is Noise, which was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson and Pulitzer prizes for non-fiction.
How to Fall in Love... With Life
How to Fall in Love... With Life
Cecelia Ahern,The General Public
¥11.77
Containing an exclusive extract from Cecelia’s next book, HOW TO FALL IN LOVE, comes a free ebook collection of inspiring stories from Cecelia’s biggest fans Cecelia Ahern's new must-read, HOW TO FALL IN LOVE, is a lesson in just that – but rather than falling for the archetypal romantic hero, this tale centres around loving life itself. This special ebook shares the inspiring stories of the defining moments when you, the readers, have fallen in love with life. HOW TO FALL IN LOVE: When a chance-encounter leads to a surprising and courageous journey, strangers Christine and Adam learn whether two weeks are enough to rediscover the joys of living – but is that all that’s happening…?
Clean Eating Alice Spring Clean:Recipes and Workouts for a Healthier You
Clean Eating Alice Spring Clean:Recipes and Workouts for a Healthier You
Alice Liveing
¥11.77
Instagram sensation Clean Eating Alice shares 8 new recipes and a HIIT workout in this new e-book to help you get into shape for Spring. Full of sound advice that will appeal to her legions of fans. Spring is a great time to make some simple changes to your lifestyle – start with some easy swaps at mealtimes by trying out some of the recipes in this e-book. The lighter evenings are an excellent time to step up your exercise routine and get outside for some fresh air and activity. Easter is a time of celebration that often involves family and food and lots of chocolate Easter eggs.It isn’t a time of year typically associated with clean eating and restraint. But it doesn’t have to be like that! In this book, I give you some simple ideas to change your diet for the better and there are even some treats so you don’t feel you are missing out on all the Easter fun.. This e book gives you: 8 simple, healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. it shows you that eating clean means that you can still enjoy family favourites – such as pancakes and roast dinners with a twist. A bespoke HIIT workout, that requires no equipment at all, and can be done at home, to help you feel healthier, fitter and more energized. So what’s stopping you..refuel yourself with delicious nutritious food and embrace the clean eating way of life – you’ll never have felt so good.
Claude’s Christmas Adventure:The must-read Christmas dog book of 2016!
Claude’s Christmas Adventure:The must-read Christmas dog book of 2016!
Sophie Pembroke
¥11.77
Meet Claude. He’s a loveable, big-eared, permanently hungry French Bulldog, who loves his humans – the McCawley family of number 11 Maple Drive to be precise. When Daisy and Oliver McCawley start using new words like, ‘ferry’, ‘chateau’ and ‘France’, Claude realises they won’t be spending this Christmas at home. Only, when he finds himself on the street, as the family car pulls away, Claude realises he is ALONE. And more importantly, he is without all the yummy treats he knows the festive season brings… Cue the start of Claude’s Christmas Adventure. It all begins with a belly-flop through next door’s catflap, where he finds newly single and craft-a-holic Holly, Jack the ex-army postman, his arch nemesis Perdita the cat … and serious amounts of gingerbread. Maple Drive’s cutest resident is about to bring the street together for Christmas, in ways no-one could have imagined … A heart-warming and uplifting tale, perfect for fans of A Street Cat Named Bob, A Pug Like Percy and Home Alone.
FREE preview of Temptation Island - this year’s sensational summer read
FREE preview of Temptation Island - this year’s sensational summer read
Victoria Fox
¥11.77
Sensational, scandalous, sinfully good - enjoy a FREE sample of Victoria Fox’s Temptation Island. Victoria invites you to spend this summer in paradise. Sit back, grab a cocktail and step into temptation... Fame. Money. Success. Lori wants them – Aurora is being destroyed by them, and Stevie’s got them at her best friend’s expense. These three women are drawn unwittingly to the shores of Temptation Island, all looking for their own truth. But they discover a secret so shocking – there’s no turning back. It’s wicked, it’s sensational. Are you ready to be told? But the glittering waters drown dark secrets. The island promises the one thing money can’t buy - and the price is devastating... Praise for Victoria Fox:‘Jackie Collins for the modern gal’ – Grazia‘... giving Jackie Collins a run for her money’ - That’s Life ‘... perfect for the beach’ – The Sun
Meet Me In Manhattan: A sparkling, feel-good romantic comedy to whisk you away !
Meet Me In Manhattan: A sparkling, feel-good romantic comedy to whisk you away !
Claudia Carroll
¥11.77
What if THE ONE isn’t who you think he is? You don’t mess with aspiring journalist Holly Johnson! The man she fell for is not all that he seems – because sometimes dating online doesn’t quite go to plan. She’s decided to fly to the Big Apple to surprise him and to get some answers. And if her plan works she’ll also get the scoop of her career … But as she steps out of her yellow taxi and the first snowflakes start to fall, it’s Holly who has the surprise of her life. What should be a dream come true is looking a little like a nightmare. But Holly is determined to get her New York happy ending!
Tales from a Wild Vet: Part 2 of 3: Paws, claws and furry encounters
Tales from a Wild Vet: Part 2 of 3: Paws, claws and furry encounters
Jo Hardy,Caro Handley
¥11.77
Tales From A Wild Vet: Paws, Claws and Furry Encounters
The Silent Cry:Part 1 of 3
The Silent Cry:Part 1 of 3
Cathy Glass
¥11.77
The heartbreaking true story of a young, troubled mother who needed help. The sixteenth fostering memoir by Cathy Glass. It’s a big, exciting moment for Laura when she decides to finally take her new baby out to the school playground for the first time ever. What should be a happy, magical moment quickly sours, however, when Laura suddenly feels queasy and runs off back home. None of the other schoolyard mothers seem to notice this troubled, struggling woman – apart from Cathy. But when Cathy tries to help, she finds herself hitting wall after wall. Laura needs medical help but refuses to see a doctor. Her own cold mother refuses to help. It is left to Cathy to try and bring light to this dark and dangerous place.
Mavis’s Story (Individual stories from WISH YOU WERE HERE!, Book 2)
Mavis’s Story (Individual stories from WISH YOU WERE HERE!, Book 2)
Lynn Russell,Neil Hanson
¥11.77
One of seven touching true stories from Wish You Were Here!, the tale of Butlin’s holiday camps. ‘When I got to the camp I felt as if I’d suddenly walked into Utopia – it was so colourful, so warm, so friendly. There were lights across the roads, there were banners fluttering in the breeze… There seemed to be laughter coming from every building.’ With grey post-WWII skies hanging low over Britain, factories lining the streets and smoke stacks dotting the horizon, there was one way that ordinary families could escape: the ever-cheerful holiday camps of Butlin’s. When Billy Butlin founded his holiday camps in 1936, they were bastions of community spirit and havens of luxury. Here, for one week, wives and mothers were freed from the toil and drudgery of housework, children ran free through the grounds, fathers and husbands hung up their work clothes. Ever-helpful redcoats were on hand all hours of the day, dinner halls ready with plentiful food for old and young alike, bars stocked to quench any level of thirst, ballrooms waiting to be flooded with shiny shoes, rustling dresses and peals of laughter. And, as the sun went down on another exhausting, happy day, a chorus line was ready to sing holidaymakers back to their beds. Rich in period detail and highly evocative, Wish You Were Here! follows the lives of seven of the camps’ key figures through the highs and lows of the holiday season: from redcoats searching for stardom to young families who returned year after year, to pensioners who rediscovered an inner youth. The laughter and tears, the loves and losses, and the fun and friendships that have lasted a lifetime – it's all here. Funny, moving and heartwarming, they are tales of swimming pools and sing-a-longs, Glamorous Grannies and bicycle rides, and of a community spirit that burned brightly in a much-loved British institution.
You Are Destined To Be Together Forever [an Odd Thomas short story]
You Are Destined To Be Together Forever [an Odd Thomas short story]
Dean Koontz
¥11.77
Odd Thomas’s singular journey is approaching its unforgettable conclusion in SAINT ODD. But before Odd’s destiny is revealed, this exclusive eBook short story looks back to where it all began for Odd Thomas and Stormy Llewellyn, two souls who are destined to be together forever. Odd Thomas, a 16 year old fry-cook with a gift for seeing the recently deceased, and his girlfriend Stormy Llewellyn (and in the backseat, the spirit of Elvis Presley) are on their way to the annual carnival when a man with a machete embedded in his neck hurls himself into their borrowed car, with all the nimble grace of the lingering dead. Someone, somewhere close by is in imminent danger. Odd and Stormy must postpone their visit to the fair and its fortune-telling machine in order to avert a brutal crime…
The 13th Gift: Part Two (HarperTrue Life – A Short Read)
The 13th Gift: Part Two (HarperTrue Life – A Short Read)
Joanne Huist Smith
¥11.77
A true Christmas story of a family suffering their darkest moments finding strength and love from a surprise Christmas miracle. December 1999: It was the Christmas season, but Joanne Smith was numb. She wished she could just go to sleep and wake up on December 26. No singing. No laughter. No shopping. She typically enjoyed the holidays, but this year she couldn’t celebrate. Her beloved husband of almost twenty years had died two months previously. What had once been a happy home was now devastated, leaving her and her three children drowning in grief. Until they were thrown a lifeline. Twelve days before Christmas, Jo was in the midst of rushing her kids to school, when she discovered a poinsettia sitting on her doorstep with a card, signed cryptically by her “true friends.” That seemingly small gift was the turning point for the Smith family, as over the course of the twelve days of Christmas, a new gift arrived daily. The mystery of the Christmas presents – specifically, the generosity and kindness behind them – worked its magic on the Smiths as the family knitted back together. They rose out of their grief and latched onto the hope they suddenly felt again: that with love, with community, and with family, even the most broken hearts can be mended.
The Girl From Cobb Street
The Girl From Cobb Street
Merryn Allingham
¥11.77
She longed for a family of her own… Growing up in an orphanage on East London’s Cobb Street, Daisy Driscoll never felt the warm heart of home. Forging her own way in the world, determined Daisy struggles to make ends meet as the country finds itself on the brink of the Second World War. Her fortunes change when she finds solace in the arms of Gerald Mortimer, a handsome cavalry subaltern in the Indian army. Finally, Daisy has found someone to love of her very own. But soon she discovers she’s pregnant and fate was never going to give her an easy ride. Gerald is not all he claims to be and, as he leads her along a path of danger and scandal, Daisy must find the strength within herself to get through her darkest hour. For fans of Nadine Dorries, Katie Flynn and Maureen Lee. The Daisy’s War trilogy: The Girl from Cobb Street – Book 1 The Nurse’s War – Book 2 Daisy’s Long Road Home – Book 3 Each story in the Daisy’s War series can be read and enjoyed as a standalone story – or as part of this compelling trilogy charting the fortunes of Daisy Driscoll.
Skating at Somerset House (A Christmas Short Story) Love London Series
Skating at Somerset House (A Christmas Short Story) Love London Series
Nikki Moore
¥11.77
Nb. While the beautiful setting for this book is real, the events are not, and some elements of the story contain necessary poetic licence.
Strawberries at Wimbledon (A Short Story) Love London Series
Strawberries at Wimbledon (A Short Story) Love London Series
Nikki Moore
¥11.77
Have a great (hopefully sunny) summer.
The Billionaire's Fantasy - Part 2 (Mills & Boon M&B) (The Forbidden Series, Boo
The Billionaire's Fantasy - Part 2 (Mills & Boon M&B) (The Forbidden Series, Boo
Kate Hewitt
¥11.77
The Forbidden Series: billionaires who can look, but shouldn't touch! In Part Two of The Billionaire's Fantasy, Louise is tired of being safe, boring and steady. She needs excitement and passion… and that's Jaiven. He makes her feel beautiful, sexy—wanted. But standing at his front door wearing only a trench coat and high heels is a risk she's beginning to question!