One of the earliest psychological crime novels, back in print after more than 80 years. Mrs Bentley has been arrested for murder. The evidence is overwhelming: arsenic she extracted from fly papers was in her husband’s medicine, his food and his lemonade, and her crimes are being plastered across the newspapers. Even her lawyers believe she is guilty. But Roger Sheringham, the brilliant but outspoken young novelist, is convinced that there is ‘too much evidence’ against Mrs Bentley and sets out to prove her innocence. Credited as the book that first introduced psychology to the detective novel, The Wychford Poisoning Case was based on a notorious real-life murder inquiry. Written by Anthony Berkeley, a founder of the celebrated Detection Club who also found fame under the pen-name ‘Francis Iles’, the story saw the return of Roger Sheringham, the Golden Age’s breeziest – and booziest – detective.

Tom Jackson started putting old postcards on Twitter in 2016. He lives in South London. @pastpostcard

The heart-warming story of one little dog’s big adventure, and the lives he changes along the way. This Christmas, anything could happen… When their pet corgi goes missing on a trip to London, the Walker family search everywhere. But Henry has ended up in the one place they never think to look… Henry has been mistaken for a royal corgi by the Queen’s Guard, and found himself in a very different sort of family home. In no time, Henry is getting the royal treatment in Buckingham Palace, from velvet thrones to a personal chef. If this is a dog’s life, he doesn’t mind it one bit. But as Christmas spirit fills the palace, Henry knows he must somehow get back to the Walkers. Because true family is for life, not just for Christmas… The feel-good Christmas story to read on your holidays, perfect for fans of Debbie Johnson and Erin Green.

Writer and canine behaviourist Carol Price has owned, trained and bred Border Collies for over 15 years. She is a member of The UK Registry of Canine Behaviourists, specialising particularly in Border Collies and rescue dogs, and the author of the best-selling books Understanding the Border Collie and Understanding the Rescue Dog. She has written extensively for The Times on canine and other animal behaviour subjects, and is a regular contributor and training advisor for both of the UK’s top-selling dog magazines, Dogs Today and Your Dog.

Create microservices using Java EE technologies using WildFly Swarm,deploy them in the OpenShift cloud, make them resilient to network failures using Hystrix, configure continuous integration using Jenkins, and security using Keycloak. About This Book ? Create functional microservices with WildFly Swarm ? Use OpenShift to deploy your microservices in the cloud ? Make your application production-ready using Jenkins, Hystrix, and Keycloak Who This Book Is For If you're an experienced developer familiar with Java EE technologies and would like to learn how you can use those technologies in the cloud with WildFly and OpenShift, then this book is for you. What You Will Learn ? Utilize Java EE technology to develop modern cloud-enabled applications ? Easily create microservices with WildFly Swarm using proven Java EE technologies ? See the benefits of OpenShift – easy deployment of your services, out of the box scalability and healing, and integration with Continuous Integration tools ? Integrate the sample application with Jenkins’ Continuous Integration server ? Utilize Netflix OSS to connect your services and provide resilience to your application ? Provide security to your application using Keycloak In Detail The book starts by introducing you to WildFly Swarm—a tool that allows you to create runnable microservices from Java EE components. You’ll learn the basics of Swarm operation—creating a microservice containing only the parts of enterprise runtime needed in a specific case. Later, you’ll learn how to configure and test those services. In order to deploy our services in the cloud, we’ll use OpenShift. You’ll get to know basic information on its architecture, features, and relationship to Docker and Kubernetes. Later, you’ll learn how to deploy and configure your services to run in the OpenShift cloud. In the last part of the book, you’ll see how to make your application production-ready. You’ll find out how to configure continuous integration for your services using Jenkins, make your application resistant to network failures using Hystrix, and how to secure them using Keycloak. By the end of the book, you’ll have a fully functional example application and will have practical knowledge of Java EE cloud development that can be used as a reference in your other projects. Style and approach This example-based tutorial guides you step by step through creating an application based on well-known Java EE technologies (JAX-RS, CDI, JPA, and JSF) and modern architectural patterns.

Discover solutions to all your Tkinter and Python GUI development problems About This Book ? Integrate efficient Python GUI programming techniques with Tkinter ? Efficiently implement advanced MVC architectures in your Python GUI apps ? Solve all your problems related to Tkinter and Python GUI development Who This Book Is For This book is for Python developers who are familiar with the basics of the language syntax, data structures, and OOP. You do not need previous experience with Tkinter or other GUI development libraries. What You Will Learn ? Add widgets and handle user events ? Lay out widgets within windows using frames and the different geometry managers ? Configure widgets so that they have a customized appearance and behavior ? Improve the navigation of your apps with menus and dialogs ? Apply object-oriented programming techniques in Tkinter applications ? Use threads to achieve responsiveness and update the GUI ? Explore the capabilities of the canvas widget and the types of items that can be added to it ? Extend Tkinter applications with the TTK (themed Tkinter) module In Detail As one of the more versatile programming languages, Python is well-known for its batteries-included philosophy, which includes a rich set of modules in its standard library; Tkinter is the library included for building desktop applications. Due to this, Tkinter is a common choice for rapid GUI development, and more complex applications can benefit from the full capabilities of this library. This book covers all of your Tkinter and Python GUI development problems and solutions. Tkinter GUI Application Development Cookbook starts with an overview of Tkinter classes and at the same time provides recipes for basic topics, such as layout patterns and event handling. Next, we cover how to develop common GUI patterns, such as entering and saving data, navigating through menus and dialogs, and performing long-running actions in the background. You will then make your apps leverage network resources effectively, perform 2D and 3D animation-related tasks, create 3D objects, and perform advanced graphical operations. Finally, this book covers using the canvas and themed widgets. By the end of the book, you will have an in-depth knowledge of Tkinter classes, and will know how to use them to build efficient and rich GUI applications. Style and approach A practical recipe-based guide that will help you find solutions to all your Tkinter and Python GUI development-related problems.

Build full-stack shopping list applications from scratch for web and mobile platforms using Xcode, Vapor, and Swift About This Book ? Build, package, and deploy an end-to-end app solution for mobile and web with Swift 4 ? Increase developer productivity by creating reusable client and server components ? Develop backend services for your apps and websites using Vapor framework Who This Book Is For This book is for developers who are looking to build full-stack web and native mobile applications using Swift. An understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript would be beneficial when building server-rendered pages with Vapor. What You Will Learn ? Get accustomed to server-side programming as well as the Vapor framework ? Learn how to build a RESTful API ? Make network requests from your app and handle error states when a network request fails ? Deploy your app to Heroku using the CLI command ? Write a test for the Vapor backend ? Create a tvOS version of your shopping list app and explore code-sharing with an iOS platform ? Add registration and authentication so that users can have their own shopping lists In Detail Making Swift an open-source language enabled it to share code between a native app and a server. Building a scalable and secure server backend opens up new possibilities, such as building an entire application written in one language—Swift. This book gives you a detailed walk-through of tasks such as developing a native shopping list app with Swift and creating a full-stack backend using Vapor (which serves as an API server for the mobile app). You'll also discover how to build a web server to support dynamic web pages in browsers, thereby creating a rich application experience. You’ll begin by planning and then building a native iOS app using Swift. Then, you'll get to grips with building web pages and creating web views of your native app using Vapor. To put things into perspective, you'll learn how to build an entire full-stack web application and an API server for your native mobile app, followed by learning how to deploy the app to the cloud, and add registration and authentication to it. Once you get acquainted with creating applications, you'll build a tvOS version of the shopping list app and explore how easy is it to create an app for a different platform with maximum code shareability. Towards the end, you’ll also learn how to create an entire app for different platforms in Swift, thus enhancing your productivity. Style and approach A step-by-step tutorial-based approach that teaches you full-stack Swift through the development of a single application on several platforms.

Become a better web programmer by writing efficient and modular code using ES6 and ES8 About This Book ? Learn to write asynchronous code and improve the readability of your web applications ? Explore advanced concepts such as closures, Proxy, generators, Promise, async functions, and Atomics ? Use different design patterns to create structures to solve common organizational and processing issues Who This Book Is For If you’re a web developer with a basic understanding of JavaScript and wish to learn the latest features of ECMAScript for developing efficient web applications, this book is for you. What You Will Learn ? Organize JavaScript programs across multiple files, using ES modules ? Create and work with promises using the Promise object and methods ? Compose async functions to propagate and handle errors ? Solve organizational and processing issues with structures using design patterns ? Use classes to encapsulate and share behavior ? Orchestrate parallel programs using WebWorkers, SharedMemory, and Atomics ? Use and extend Map, Set, and Symbol to work with user-defined classes and simulate data types ? Explore new array methods to avoid looping with arrays and other collections In Detail ECMAScript Cookbook follows a modular approach with independent recipes covering different feature sets and specifications of ECMAScript to help you become an efficient programmer. This book starts off with organizing your JavaScript applications as well as delivering those applications to modem and legacy systems. You will get acquainted with features of ECMAScript 8 such as async, SharedArrayBuffers, and Atomic operations that enhance asynchronous and parallel operations. In addition to this, this book will introduce you to SharedArrayBuffers, which allow web workers to share data directly, and Atomic operations, which help coordinate behavior across the threads. You will also work with OOP and Collections, followed by new functions and methods on the built-in Object and Array types that make common operations more manageable and less error-prone. You will then see how to easily build more sophisticated and expressive program structures with classes and inheritance. In the end, we will cover Sets, Maps, and Symbols, which are the new types introduced in ECMAScript 6 to add new behaviors and allow you to create simple and powerful modules. By the end of the book, you will be able to produce more efficient, expressive, and simpler programs using the new features of ECMAScript. Style and approach This book will follow a modular approach covering independent recipes on different features of ECMAScript throughout the book.

Learn about cryptography and cryptocurrencies, so you can build highly secure, decentralized applications and conduct trusted in-app transactions. About This Book ? Get to grips with the underlying technical principles and implementations of blockchain ? Build powerful applications using Ethereum to secure transactions and create smart contracts ? Explore cryptography, mine cryptocurrencies, and solve scalability issues with this comprehensive guide Who This Book Is For This book will appeal to those who wish to build fast, highly secure, transactional applications. It targets people who are familiar with the concept of blockchain and are comfortable with a programming language. What You Will Learn ? Master the theoretical and technical foundations of the blockchain technology ? Understand the concept of decentralization, its impact, and its relationship with blockchain technology ? Master how cryptography is used to secure data - with practical examples ? Grasp the inner workings of blockchain and the mechanisms behind bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies ? Understand the theoretical foundations of smart contracts ? Learn how Ethereum blockchain works and how to develop decentralized applications using Solidity and relevant development frameworks ? Identify and examine applications of the blockchain technology - beyond currencies ? Investigate alternative blockchain solutions including Hyperledger, Corda, and many more ? Explore research topics and the future scope of blockchain technology In Detail A blockchain is a distributed ledger that is replicated across multiple nodes and enables immutable, transparent and cryptographically secure record-keeping of transactions. The blockchain technology is the backbone of cryptocurrencies, and it has applications in finance, government, media and almost all other industries. Mastering Blockchain, Second Edition has been thoroughly updated and revised to provide a detailed description of this leading technology and its implementation in the real world. This book begins with the technical foundations of blockchain technology, teaching you the fundamentals of distributed systems, cryptography and how it keeps data secure. You will learn about the mechanisms behind cryptocurrencies and how to develop applications using Ethereum, a decentralized virtual machine. You will also explore different other blockchain solutions and get an introduction to business blockchain frameworks under Hyperledger, a collaborative effort for the advancement of blockchain technologies hosted by the Linux Foundation. You will also be shown how to implement blockchain solutions beyond currencies, Internet of Things with blockchain, blockchain scalability, and the future scope of this fascinating and powerful technology. Style and approach This comprehensive guide allows you to build smart blockchain applications and explore the power of this database. The book will let you quickly brush up on the basics of the blockchain database, followed by advanced implementations of blockchain in currency, smart contracts, decentralization, and so on.

本专著为“大连外国语大学日本语学院博士文库丛书”、2013年辽宁省高等学校杰出青年学者成长计划（5WJQ2013021）、大连外国语大学科研基金项目“日语自称词的历时考察与语用学研究”研究成果之一。

Optimize the powerful techniques of Java 9 to boost your application's performance About This Book ? Tackle all kinds of performance-related issues and streamline your development ? Dive into the new features of Java 9 ? Implement highly efficient and reliable codes with the help of new APIs of Java ? Embedded with assessments that will help you revise the concepts you have learned in this book Who This Book Is For This book is targeted at developers who would like to build reliable and high-performance applications with Java. What You Will Learn ? Familiarize with modular development and its impact on performance ? Learn various string-related performance improvements, including compact string and modify string concatenation ? Explore various underlying compiler improvements, such as tiered attribution and Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation ? Learn security manager improvements ? Understand enhancements in graphics rasterizers ? Use of command-line tools to speed up application development ? Learn how to implement multithreading and reactive programming ? Build microservices in Java 9 ? Implement APIs to improve application code In Detail Java 9 which is one of the most popular application development languages. The latest released version Java 9 comes with a host of new features and new APIs with lots of ready to use components to build efficient and scalable applications. Streams, parallel and asynchronous processing, multithreading, JSON support, reactive programming, and microservices comprise the hallmark of modern programming and are now fully integrated into the JDK. This book focuses on providing quick, practical solutions to enhance your application's performance. You will explore the new features, APIs, and various tools added in Java 9 that help to speed up the development process. You will learn about jshell, Ahead-of-Time (AOT) compilation, and the basic threads related topics including sizing and synchronization. You will also explore various strategies for building microservices including container-less, self-contained, and in-container. This book is ideal for developers who would like to build reliable and high-performance applications with Java. This book is embedded with useful assessments that will help you revise the concepts you have learned in this book. Style and approach This book is a fast-paced guide that provides practical solutions to enhance your application’s performance. Note: This book is a blend of text and quizzes, all packaged up keeping your journey in mind. It includes content from the following Packt product: ? Java 9 High Performance by Mayur Ramgir and Nick Samoylov

Delve deep into various security aspects of AWS to build and maintain a secured environment About This Book ? Learn to secure your network, infrastructure, data, and applications in AWS cloud ? Use AWS managed security services to automate security ? Dive deep into various aspects such as the security model, compliance, access management and much more to build and maintain a secured environment ? Explore Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and its components ? Embedded with assessments that will help you revise the concepts you have learned in this book Who This Book Is For This book is for all IT professionals, system administrators, security analysts, solution architects, and chief information security officers who are responsible for securing workloads in AWS for their organizations. What You Will Learn ? Get familiar with VPC components, features, and benefits ? Learn to create and secure your private network in AWS ? Explore encryption and decryption fundamentals ? Understand monitoring, logging, and auditing in AWS ? Ensure data security in AWS ? Secure your web and mobile applications in AWS ? Learn security best practices for IAM, VPC, shared security responsibility model, and so on In Detail With organizations moving their workloads, applications, and infrastructure to the cloud at an unprecedented pace, security of all these resources has been a paradigm shift for all those who are responsible for security; experts, novices, and apprentices alike. This book focuses on using native AWS security features and managed AWS services to help you achieve continuous security. Starting with an introduction to Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to secure your AWS VPC, you will quickly explore various components that make up VPC such as subnets, security groups, various gateways, and many more. You will also learn to protect data in the AWS platform for various AWS services by encrypting and decrypting data in AWS. You will also learn to secure web and mobile applications in AWS cloud. This book is ideal for all IT professionals, system administrators, security analysts, solution architects, and chief information security officers who are responsible for securing workloads in AWS for their organizations. This book is embedded with useful assessments that will help you revise the concepts you have learned in this book. Style and approach This book follows a practical approach delving into different aspects of AWS security. It focuses on using native AWS security features and managed AWS services to help you achieve continuous security. Note: This book is a blend of text and quizzes, all packaged up keeping your journey in mind. It includes content from the following Packt product: ? Mastering AWS Security by Albert Anthony

Unlock the power of Spring Boot to build and deploy production-ready microservices About This Book ? Get to know the advanced features of Spring Boot in order to develop and monitor applications ? Use Spring cloud to deploy and manage microservices on the cloud ? Look at embedded servers and deploy a test application to a PaaS Cloud platform ? Embedded with assessments that will help you revise the concepts you have learned in this book Who This Book Is For This book is aimed at Java developers who knows the basics of Spring programming and want to build microservices with Spring Boot. What You Will Learn ? Use Spring Initializr to create a basic spring project ? Build a basic microservice with Spring Boot ? Implement caching and exception handling ? Secure your microservice with Spring security and OAuth2 ? Deploy microservices using self-contained HTTP server ? Monitor your microservices with Spring Boot actuator ? Learn to develop more effectively with developer tools In Detail Microservices helps in decomposing applications into small services and move away from a single monolithic artifact. It helps in building systems that are scalable, flexible, and high resilient. Spring Boot helps in building REST-oriented, production-grade microservices. This book is a quick learning guide on how to build, monitor, and deploy microservices with Spring Boot. You'll be first familiarized with Spring Boot before delving into building microservices. You will learn how to document your microservice with the help of Spring REST docs and Swagger documentation. You will then learn how to secure your microservice with Spring Security and OAuth2. You will deploy your app using a self-contained HTTP server and also learn to monitor a microservice with the help of Spring Boot actuator. This book is ideal for Java developers who knows the basics of Spring programming and want to build microservices with Spring Boot. This book is embedded with useful assessments that will help you revise the concepts you have learned in this book. Style and approach This book follows a practical approach to teach you how to build, monitor, and deploy microservices with Spring Boot. Note: This book is a blend of text and quizzes, all packaged up keeping your journey in mind. It includes content from the following Packt product: ? Mastering Spring 5.0 by Ranga Rao Karanam

Build smarter and efficient database application systems for your organization with SQL Server 2017 About This Book ? Build database applications by using the development features of SQL Server 2017 ? Work with temporal tables to get information stored in a table at any time ? Use adaptive querying to enhance the performance of your queries Who This Book Is For Database developers and solution architects looking to design efficient database applications using SQL Server 2017 will find this book very useful. In addition, this book will be valuable to advanced analysis practitioners and business intelligence developers. Database consultants dealing with performance tuning will get a lot of useful information from this book as well. Some basic understanding of database concepts and T-SQL is required to get the best out of this book. What You Will Learn ? Explore the new development features introduced in SQL Server 2017 ? Identify opportunities for In-Memory OLTP technology ? Use columnstore indexes to get storage and performance improvements ? Exchange JSON data between applications and SQL Server ? Use the new security features to encrypt or mask the data ? Control the access to the data on the row levels ? Discover the potential of R and Python integration ? Model complex relationships with the graph databases in SQL Server 2017 In Detail Microsoft SQL Server 2017 is the next big step in the data platform history of Microsoft as it brings in the power of R and Python for machine learning and containerization-based deployment on Windows and Linux. Compared to its predecessor, SQL Server 2017 has evolved into Machine Learning with R services for statistical analysis and Python packages for analytical processing. This book prepares you for more advanced topics by starting with a quick introduction to SQL Server 2017’s new features and a recapitulation of the possibilities you may have already explored with previous versions of SQL Server. The next part introduces you to enhancements in the Transact-SQL language and new database engine capabilities and then switches to a completely new technology inside SQL Server: JSON support. We also take a look at the Stretch database, security enhancements, and temporal tables. Furthermore, the book focuses on implementing advanced topics, including Query Store, columnstore indexes, and In-Memory OLTP. Towards the end of the book, you’ll be introduced to R and how to use the R language with Transact-SQL for data exploration and analysis. You’ll also learn to integrate Python code in SQL Server and graph database implementations along with deployment options on Linux and SQL Server in containers for development and testing. By the end of this book, you will have the required information to design efficient, high-performance database applications without any hassle. Style and approach This book is a detailed guide to mastering the development features offered by SQL Server 2017, with a unique learn-as-you-do approach. All the concepts are explained in a very easy-to-understand manner and are supplemented with examples to ensure that you—the developer—are able to take that next step in building more powerful, robust applications for your organization with ease.

Build cross-platform solutions with .NET Core 2.0 through real-life scenarios About This Book ? Bridges the gap between learning and doing and improves your software development skills ? Covers the best practices of .NET development to improve your productivity ? Example-based approach to get you started quickly with software programming Who This Book Is For If you are a developer or architect and want to learn how to build cross-platform solutions using Microsoft .NET Core, this book is for you. It is assumed that you have some knowledge of the .NET Framework, OOP, and C# (or a similar programming language). What You Will Learn ? Build cross-platform applications with ASP.NET Core 2.0 and its tools ? Integrate, host, and deploy web apps with the cloud (Microsoft Azure) ? Leverage the ncurses native library to extend console capabilities in .NET Core on Linux and interop with native coden .NET Core on Linux and learn how to interop with existing native code ? Reuse existing .NET Framework and Mono assemblies from .NET Core 2.0 applications ? Develop real-time web applications using ASP.NET Core ? Learn the differences between SOA and microservices and get started with microservice development using ASP.NET Core 2.0 ? Walk through functional programming with F# and .NET Core from scratch In Detail With the rise in the number of tools and technologies available today, developers and architects are always exploring ways to create better and smarter solutions. Before, the differences between target platforms was a major roadblock, but that's not the case now. .NET Core 2.0 By Example will take you on an exciting journey to building better software. This book provides fresh and relevant content to .NET Core 2.0 in a succinct format that’s enjoyable to read. It also delivers concepts, along with the implications, design decisions, and potential pitfalls you might face when targeting Linux and Windows systems, in a logical and simple way. With the .NET framework at its center, the book comprises of five varied projects: a multiplayer Tic-tac-toe game; a real-time chat application, Let'sChat; a chatbot; a microservice-based buying-selling application; and a movie booking application. You will start each chapter with a high-level overview of the content, followed by the above example applications described in detail. By the end of each chapter, you will not only be proficient with the concepts, but you’ll also have created a tangible component in the application. By the end of the book, you will have built five solid projects using all the tools and support provided by the .NET Core 2.0 framework. Style and approach This book takes a concise yet comprehensive project-based approach to teaching the tricks and tools of .NET Core 2.0.

Enhance your Kotlin programming skills by building 3 real-world applications About This Book ? Build three full-fledged, engaging applications from scratch and learn to deploy them ? Enhance your app development and programming activities with Kotlin’s powerful and intuitive tools and utilities. ? Experience the gentle learning curve, expressiveness, and intuitiveness of Kotlin, as you develop your own applications Who This Book Is For This book is for those who are new to Kotlin or are familiar with the basics, having dabbled with Java until now. Basic programming knowledge is mandatory. What You Will Learn ? Learn the building blocks of the Kotlin programming language ? Develop powerful RESTful microservices for Android applications ? Create reactive Android applications efficiently ? Implement an MVC architecture pattern and dependency management using Kotlin ? Centralize, transform, and stash data with Logstash ? Secure applications using Spring Security ? Deploy Kotlin microservices to AWS and Android applications to the Play Store In Detail Kotlin greatly reduces the verbosity of source code. With Google having announced their support for Kotlin as a first-class language for writing Android apps, now's the time learn how to create apps from scratch with Kotlin Kotlin Programming By Example takes you through the building blocks of Kotlin, such as functions and classes. You’ll explore various features of Kotlin by building three applications of varying complexity. For a quick start to Android development, we look at building a classic game, Tetris, and elaborate on object-oriented programming in Kotlin. Our next application will be a messenger app, a level up in terms of complexity. Before moving onto the third app, we take a look at data persistent methods, helping us learn about the storage and retrieval of useful applications. Our final app is a place reviewer: a web application that will make use of the Google Maps API and Place Picker. By the end of this book, you will have gained experience of of creating and deploying Android applications using Kotlin. Style and approach Here we will build three exciting projects in Kotlin which will demonstrate how to effectively use Kotlin language constructs

Bruce Henderson is the author or coauthor of more than twenty nonfiction books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller And The Sea Will Tell, which was made into a highly-rated TV miniseries. General Colin Powell has called the Los Ba?os raid "a textbook operation for all ages and all armies." An award-winning journalist and author, Henderson is a member of the Authors Guild and the American Society of Journalists and Authors. He has taught reporting and writing courses at USC School of Journalism and Stanford University.

THE #2 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘The last untold account of the biggest crisis to hit the royals since the abdication … Explosive biography by Britain’s top royal author … A gripping story of human frailty, love, loss, sadness, and tragedy’ Daily Mail In her relationship with Charles that has survived for more than forty years, Camilla’s story has seen a great many myths. This book is the definitive account. The relationship between Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is one of the most remarkable love stories of the age. It has endured against all the odds, and in the process nearly destroyed the British monarchy. It is a rich and remarkable story that has never been properly told – indeed, it is one of the most extraordinary, star-crossed love stories of the past fifty years.

You are born into it or marry in. Loyalty is absolute, bloodshed revered and you kill or go to your grave before betraying The Family. This code of omertà is how the 'Ndrangheta became the world’s most powerful mafia. The Good Mothers is the story of the women who broke the silence. We live in their buildings, work in their companies, shop in their stores, eat in their restaurants and elect politicians they fund. Founded more than 150 years ago by shepherding families in the toe of Italy, the ’Ndrangheta is today the world’s most powerful mafia, with a crushing presence in southern Italy, a market-moving size in global finance and a reach that extends to fifty countries around the world. And yet, remarkably, few of us have ever heard of it. The ’Ndrangheta’s power rests on a code of silence, omertà, enforced by a claustrophobic family hierarchy and murderous misogyny. Men and boys rule. Girls are married off as teenagers in arranged clan alliances. Beatings are routine. A woman who is ‘unfaithful’ – even to a dead husband – can expect her sons, brothers or father to kill her to erase the ‘family shame’. In 2009, when abused wife Lea Garofalo ‘disappears’ after giving evidence against her mafiosi husband, prosecutor Alessandra Cerreti realises the ’Ndrangheta’s bigotry may be its great flaw. The key to bringing down this criminal empire is to free its women and allow them to speak out and testify. When Alessandra finds two collaborators inside Italy’s biggest crime families, she must persuade them to cooperate, and save themselves and their children. The stakes could not be higher. Alessandra is fighting to save a nation. The mafiosi are fighting for their existence. The women are fighting for their lives. Not all will survive.

Can the worst pirate ever win the Pirate of the Year Award…? 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. Mum is making me take part in the stupid Pirate of the Year Award. All I have to do is fight an enormous sea monster, (doom), beat my oh-so-brilliant brother at something (please please please) and find the legendary treasure that no one has ever found EVER in the history of EVER (easy peasy, then). Wish me luck! Pirate Blunderbeard. Blunderbeard might be the worst pirate ever but he’s also the funniest – laugh-out-loud fun for young readers of 7+

The brand new Wartime drama novel from bestselling author Annie Groves, perfect for fans of Christmas on the Mersey and Child of the Mersey Rita Kennedy has finally seen through her good-for-nothing husband, Charlie. Now he’s gone AWOL with his fancy woman and left her at the mercy of the local gossips. Her future is full of uncertainty and the only thing that keeps her going is knowing that her children are safe from the Luftwaffe – and the letters that she receives from Jack Callaghan, her childhood sweetheart – but a life together can is just a distant fantasy. Meanwhile, Kitty Callaghan has joined the WRENS and it’s opened up a whole new world. But despite finding romance with a handsome doctor, she still can’t forget Frank Feeny, the brave officer from Empire Street who still inhabits her dreams. As the bombs rain down on Liverpool, Rita and Kitty must face heartache and sorrow as they pray for the sun to shine on the Mersey once again.