The eagerly-awaited sequel to Shadowmagic. Having returned to the real world from Tir Na Nog at the end of the last book, our hero Conor finds himself arrested for the murder of his father. When he explains to the cops that his dad is safe and well and enjoying life as king of a land of elves, imps and banshees they understandably think he is a nutcase. That is until he is rescued by Celtic warriors on horseback and taken back to Tir Na Nog, accidentally bringing a policeman with him. Once safely back in The Land, Conor finds that all is not well. His father is dying, the girl he loves is betrothed to another and a rather confused American cop is wandering around causing havoc. It falls to our young hero, and his band of friends, to find a cure for the king. On their epic journey they encounter one of the most mystical and dangerous races in The Land, the shapeshifting Pooka, and find their fates linked in ways they could never have imagined. The Prince of Hazel and Oak is a stunning fantasy adventure that takes fans of Shadowmagic further in to the land and brings back many of the favourite characters from the first book.

It’s the hotly anticipated sequel to the winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, WITHERING TIGHTS – laugh your tights off as Tallulah Casey and her bonkers mates return for a new term at Dother Hall performing arts college. Boys, snogging and bad acting guaranteed! Yaroooo! Tallulah’s triumphant Heathcliff in ‘Wuthering Heights’ the comedy musical was enough to secure her place at Dother Hall performing arts college for another term. She can’t wait to see her pals again, Charlie and the boys from Woolfe Academy and maybe even bad boy Cain… Could the bright lights of Broadway be calling? And for who? Find out in the next Misadventures of Tallulah Casey. Praise for WITHERING TIGHTS: "I don't know how, but Louise Rennison has done it again. Tallulah is even funnier, warmer, and sweeter than her cousin Georgia Nicolson. I fell in love with Withering Tights, and you will too!" – Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Abandon series

Shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny prize 2010 – The Clumsies are back in their third and most hilarious book yet! Full of the surreal invention and sparkling wit we’ve come to expect, this latest instalment will have everyone checking under their desks for talking mice… Howard's evil boss Mr Bullerton has decided to put on a Big Show at work – and he wants Howard to sing! Trouble is, Howard's singing is worse than awful… and Mr Bullerton knows it. Now Howard faces an epic humiliation. Can the Clumsies help by turning Mr Bullerton's concert into total chaos? Silly question.

Saddle up for the eleventh Pony Club Secrets adventure! Issie leaps to new heights with showjumper Comet, but will she ride to victory on Liberty? The penultimate book in a best-selling pony adventure series. Issie and Comet have travelled to Lexington, USA to take on the best riders in the world at the famed four-star horse trials. It’s Issie first experience of competing against adult professional riders and she begins to worry that she’s out of her depth. But then the competition gets even more exciting when Tara Kelly calls with the offer of a chance ride on another horse. With everything at stake does Issie have what it takes to win?

Just after ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ author Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker for ‘Wolf Hall’, she fell gravely ill. This is her remarkable hospital diary. Originally published in the London Review of Books, this diary by the acclaimed author Hilary Mantel explores in forensic detail her loss of dignity, her determination, the concentration of the senses into an animalistic struggle to get through, and the attendant hallucinations she was plagued by during her stay in hospital. With her health now improved, and the acknowledgement of the Man Booker prize-winning follow-up to ‘Wolf Hall’, ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ as one of our greatest works of fiction, ‘Ink in the Blood’ remains a significant testament to the traumas of illness, and one of the most incredible and haunting essays published in a very long time.

The remarkable true story of ‘Big Red,’ one of America’s finest racehorses. When her beloved Meadow Stables is faced with closure following her father’s illness, housewife and mother Penny Chenery agrees to take over. Despite her lack of horse-racing knowledge she calls in assistance from trainer Lucien Laurin and a host of successful jockeys. Pitted against the Phipps’ racing dynasty, Penny takes the decision to breed her mare Somethingroyal to the Phipps’ Bold Ruler, the nation’s favourite stallion. With the toss of a coin it is agreed that one family will take Somethingroyal’s first foal with the losing stable taking the colt out of Hasty Matelda and Somethingroyal’s second foal. Penny loses the toss, but the wait for the unborn foal proves fortuitous when a bright red chestnut colt is born, Secretariat. Nicknamed “Big Red,” with Laurin’s guidance, Penny manages to navigate the male-dominated business of horse racing, ultimately fostering the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years and what may be the greatest racehorse of all time. Now, more than 30 years after its initial publication, the story of "Big Red" continues to be a classic. Secretariat is the tale of a great racehorse but also a testimony to the dedication of Penny Chenery. Following her triumph with Secretariat she was elected as the first female member of The Jockey Club, changing the face of American horse racing forever.

The Sunday Times No. 1 paperback bestseller. …because it’s where the heart is. Four women. Four lives. One place they call home. Eleanor Levine left Ireland years ago with just a suitcase and her mother’s recipe book. And now, a lifetime later, she returns from New York for Dublin’s beautiful Golden Square full of hard-won wisdom. As she watches life unfold from her window, she is drawn into the lives of the women who live in the square… Beautiful actress Megan Bouchier had fame and success in her grasp – then she made the wrong kind of headlines. Now she needs a place to hide. Big-hearted teacher Connie O’Callaghan is approaching forty and has given up on love. Why does no man match the heroes in her romantic novels? Rae is a loyal friend and wife, dispensing tea and sympathy from Titania’s Tea Room – until a secret threatens everything she holds dear… Rae is a loyal friend and wife, dispensing tea and sympathy from Titania’s Tea Room – until a secret threatens everything she holds dear…

How Understanding Flocks, Schools and Colonies Can Make Us Better at Communicating, Decision Making and Getting Things Done. The modern world may be obsessed with speed and productivity, but twenty-first century humans actually have much to learn from the ancient instincts of swarms. A fascinating new take on the concept of collective intelligence and its colourful manifestations in some of our most complex problems, Smart Swarm introduces a compelling new understanding of the real experts on solving our own complex problems relating to such topics as business, politics, and technology. Based on extensive globe-trotting research, this lively tour from National Geographic reporter Peter Miller introduces thriving throngs of ant colonies, which have inspired computer programs for streamlining factory processes, telephone networks, and truck routes; termites, used in recent studies for climate-control solutions; schools of fish, on which the U.S. military modelled a team of robots; and many other examples of the wisdom to be gleaned about the behaviour of crowds-among critters and corporations alike. In the tradition of James Surowiecki's The Wisdom of Crowds and the innovative works of Malcolm Gladwell, Smart Swarm is an entertaining yet enlightening look at small-scale phenomena with big implications for us all.

The first book in the hilarious Awesome Animals series – awesome adventures with the wildest wildlife. Told in Ian Whybrow’s unique style, this hilarious animal adventure starring ever-popular meerkats is a funny, fast-paced, sure-fire hit. Meerkat Madness is the story of a burrow of meerkat pups and their eccentric babysitter, Uncle Fearless who once travelled to the Blah-Blah camp at the edge of the desert. Truth be told, Uncle is a bit of a show-off but the pups love his colourful stories even if they don’t really believe them. But then they find a mysterious object buried in the sand and it isn’t long before they are caught up in a daring adventure of their own! A hilarious story about ever-endearing meerkats from the creator of Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs.

Jeremy Strong described Ivan's first Casper Candlewacks book as a "funny and engaging debut". This is the triumphant follow-up from the funniest new voice in fiction and once again unsung hero, Casper must save the day. Most villages have an idiot but Casper's village is full of them. So being bright makes poor Casper something of an outsider. An infamous cat burglar has struck in the village of Corne-on-the-Kobb, stealing a precious jewelled sword and kidnapping Casper’s baby sister. To make matters worse a gaggle of amateur detectives are on the case, questioning the villagers and getting in the way. Armed only with his wits, an egg-boiling lie-detecting machine and his best friend Lamp, can Casper rescue his sister and save the day? A side-splittingly funny tale for girls and boys

A family near breaking point hire a nanny with secrets of her own in this gripping novel from an exciting new talent. On the surface, Ruth and Christian seem like an ordinary working couple with two kids – and a home in chaos. As the cracks in their marriage widen, they decide to get their very own super-nanny, Aggie. Quietly efficient, she brings calm and order, and the children adore her. But why is Aggie so eager to gain their trust? Is there something sinister about her efforts to create the perfect family? And what is she really doing in their home? ‘Everything and Nothing’ builds to a mesmerising climax in a story that is, at its heart, about thwarted and damaged love.

An engrossing novel about political and personal life in Central America, from the award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking. Set in the ruined Central American nation of Boca Grande, A Book of Common Prayer is the story of two American women and their conflicting experiences of wealth, politics and personal history. We follow the intriguing life of Grace Strasser-Mendana – an American expatriate and member of one of Boca Grande’s most influential families – alongside the story of Charlotte Douglas, whose daughter Medin has run off with a group of Marxist radicals. What follows is an exploration of the women’s ability to make sense of the behaviour that surrounds them, as their worlds are made hazy by the atmosphere of evil and innocence that envelops their strained and entangled lives.

A wonderful collection of Cecelia’s short stories As the smell of pinecones and cinnamon fill the air and the plump turkey roasts in the oven, the final preparations for Christmas day have begun just as they do every year. The tree lights are twinkling and the mince pies are cooked and there is just one final tradition to carry out before the Christmas magic can begin. This year though, something is different and it's time for life-long traditions to change. For years the family has followed the same pattern, not changing their routine through the generations; babies have grown into teens and then adults, and then eventually have had children of their own, but one thing always remained constant throughout… Time has finally caught up with the family and this year the new traditions must be formed.

For all fans of TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY comes this masterclass in suspense about a spy caught up in his own web of deception… Alec Milius is young, smart and ambitious – with a talent for deception. When a chance encounter opens the door to a career with MI6, he is desperate to make his mark. But life as a spy begins to take a terrible toll on himself and those around him, and soon Alec is chasing not just success but survival. Forced to work alone, he spins a web of deceit that traps him centre stage in a game of global espionage. In this new job, the difference between truth and a lie can be a matter of life and death. And for Alec, it’s getting harder to tell them apart… A Spy By Nature is the bestselling novel with which Charles Cumming announced his arrival as heir apparent to masters like John le Carré and Len Deighton; compellingly told, utterly authentic and heart-racingly intense, it will grip you till the very last page.

A collection of short stories featuring the ‘heart specialist’, Parker Pyne. Mrs Packington felt alone, helpless and utterly forlorn. But her life changed when she stumbled upon an advertisement in The Times which read: ‘ARE YOU HAPPY? IF NOT, CONSULT MR PARKER PYNE’. Equally adept at putting together the pieces of a marriage or the fragments of a murder mystery, Mr Parker Pyne was possibly the world’s most unconventional private eye – and certainly its most charming.

Set in 1919, young couple Tommy Beresford and Tuppence Cowley form a partnership, hiring themselves out as ”young adventurers”. Their first case, however, is more of an adventure than they expect – working to find documents that, if they were known to the general public, would fuel a communist revolution in Britain. The action and drama was kept high throughout the course of the plot, and the twist at the end was marvelously well-done. I didn’t expect it at all– in fact, I thought I had worked out the solution about halfway through, but I was completely wrong. I love it when mystery books do that; it makes reading them into a fun game.

Some of Agatha Christie’s earliest stories – including her very first – which show the Queen of Crime in the making… A macabre recurring dream … revenge against a blackmailer … jealousy, infidelity and a tortured conscience … a stolen gemstone … the haunting attraction of an ancient relic … a race against time … a tragic love triangle … a body in a box … an unexpected visitor from beyond the grave… Nine quintessential examples of Agatha Christie's brilliance are contained in this collection of early short stories - including the very first one she ever wrote - and provide a unique glimpse of the Queen of Crime in the making.

A C# beginners guide to the core parts of the C# language! About This Book ? Learn C#, Visual Studio, and Object Oriented Programming ? See practical examples of all the core C# language features so that you can easily master them yourself ? Use the C# programming language to work with code and data, which can be applied to other programming languages as well ? Complete a variety of programming assignments for hands-on practice, as you move through the course Who This Book Is For This book will appeal to anyone who is interested in learning how to program in C#. Previous programming experience will help you get through the initial sections with ease, although, it’s not mandatory to possess any experience at all. What You Will Learn ? Learn C#, Visual Studio, and object-oriented programming ? Learn all the core C# language syntax with hands-on working examples ? Learn everything from basic variable assignments to complex multidimensional arrays ? Go through practical examples of all the core C# language features so that you can easily master them yourself ? Use the C# programming language to work with code and data, which can be applied to other programming languages as well In Detail Beginning C# Hands-On - The Core Language teaches you core C# language and syntax in a working Visual Studio environment. This book covers everything from core language through to more advanced features such as object-oriented programming techniques. This book is for C# beginners who need a practical reference to core C# language features. You'll also gain a view of C# through web programming with web forms, so you'll learn HTML, basic CSS, and how to use a variety of controls, such as buttons and drop-down lists. You'll start with the fundamentals of C# and Visual Studio, including defining variables, interacting with users, and understanding data types, data conversions, and constants. You'll move on to checking conditions using if/else blocks, and see how to use loops to do things such as repeat blocks of code. After covering various operators to evaluate and assign control structures, you'll see how to use arrays to store collections of data. By the time you’ve finished the book, you’ll know how to program the vital elements of the core C# language. These are the building blocks that you can then combine to build complex C# programs. Style and approach A comprehensive book that blends theory with just the right amount of practical code implementations, to help you get up and running with the C# programming language. You’ll also get to work with other tools and technologies that complement C# programming. Each core part of the C# language is coded as you learn, and code output is tested every time to verify the syntax is working as expected, so it’s easy for you to learn directly from the working code examples.

Over 50 recipes covering all you need to know about AWS networking About This Book ? Master AWS networking concepts with AWS Networking Cookbook. ? Design and implement highly available connectivity and multi-regioned AWS solutions ? A recipe-based guide that will eliminate the complications of AWS networking. ? A guide to automate networking services and features Who This Book Is For This book targets administrators, network engineers, and solution architects who are looking at optimizing their cloud platform's connectivity. Some basic understanding of AWS would be beneficial. What You Will Learn ? Create basic network in AWS ? Create production grade network in AWS ? Create global scale network in AWS ? Security and Compliance with AWS Network ? Troubleshooting, best practices and limitations of AWS network ? Pricing model of AWS network components ? Route 53 and Cloudfront concepts and routing policies ? VPC Automation using Ansible and CloudFormation In Detail This book starts with practical recipes on the fundamentals of cloud networking and gradually moves on to configuring networks and implementing infrastructure automation. This book then supplies in-depth recipes on networking components like Network Interface, Internet Gateways, DNS, Elastic IP addresses, and VPN CloudHub. Later, this book also delves into designing, implementing, and optimizing static and dynamic routing architectures, multi-region solutions, and highly available connectivity for your enterprise. Finally, this book will teach you to troubleshoot your VPC's network, increasing your VPC's efficiency. By the end of this book, you will have advanced knowledge of AWS networking concepts and technologies and will have mastered implementing infrastructure automation and optimizing your VPC. Style and approach A set of exciting recipes on using AWS Networking services more effectively.

Unleash the combination of Docker and Jenkins in order to enhance the DevOps workflow About This Book ? Build reliable and secure applications using Docker containers. ? Create a complete Continuous Delivery pipeline using Docker, Jenkins, and Ansible. ? Deliver your applications directly on the Docker Swarm cluster. ? Create more complex solutions using multi-containers and database migrations. Who This Book Is For This book is indented to provide a full overview of deep learning. From the beginner in deep learning and artificial intelligence to the data scientist who wants to become familiar with Theano and its supporting libraries, or have an extended understanding of deep neural nets. Some basic skills in Python programming and computer science will help, as well as skills in elementary algebra and calculus. What You Will Learn ? Get to grips with docker fundamentals and how to dockerize an application for the Continuous Delivery process ? Configure Jenkins and scale it using Docker-based agents ? Understand the principles and the technical aspects of a successful Continuous Delivery pipeline ? Create a complete Continuous Delivery process using modern tools: Docker, Jenkins, and Ansible ? Write acceptance tests using Cucumber and run them in the Docker ecosystem using Jenkins ? Create multi-container applications using Docker Compose ? Managing database changes inside the Continuous Delivery process and understand effective frameworks such as Cucumber and Flyweight ? Build clustering applications with Jenkins using Docker Swarm ? Publish a built Docker image to a Docker Registry and deploy cycles of Jenkins pipelines using community best practices In Detail The combination of Docker and Jenkins improves your Continuous Delivery pipeline using fewer resources. It also helps you scale up your builds, automate tasks and speed up Jenkins performance with the benefits of Docker containerization. This book will explain the advantages of combining Jenkins and Docker to improve the continuous integration and delivery process of app development. It will start with setting up a Docker server and configuring Jenkins on it. It will then provide steps to build applications on Docker files and integrate them with Jenkins using continuous delivery processes such as continuous integration, automated acceptance testing, and configuration management. Moving on you will learn how to ensure quick application deployment with Docker containers along with scaling Jenkins using Docker Swarm. Next, you will get to know how to deploy applications using Docker images and testing them with Jenkins. By the end of the book, you will be enhancing the DevOps workflow by integrating the functionalities of Docker and Jenkins. Style and approach The book is aimed at DevOps Engineers, developers and IT Operations who want to enhance the DevOps culture using Docker and Jenkins.

Build DIY wireless projects using the Raspberry Pi Zero W board About This Book ? Explore the functionalities of the Raspberry Pi Zero W with exciting projects ? Master the wireless features (and extend the use cases) of this $10 chip ? A project-based guide that will teach you to build simple yet exciting projects using the Raspberry Pi Zero W board Who This Book Is For If you are a hobbyist or an enthusiast and want to get your hands on the latest Raspberry Pi Zero W to build exciting wireless projects, then this book is for you. Some prior programming knowledge, with some experience in electronics, would be useful. What You Will Learn ? Set up a router and connect Raspberry Pi Zero W to the internet ? Create a two-wheel mobile robot and control it from your Android device ? Build an automated home bot assistant device ? Host your personal website with the help of Raspberry Pi Zero W ? Connect Raspberry Pi Zero to speakers to play your favorite music ? Set up a web camera connected to the Raspberry Pi Zero W and add another security layer to your home automation In Detail The Raspberry Pi has always been the go–to, lightweight ARM-based computer. The recent launch of the Pi Zero W has not disappointed its audience with its $10 release. "W" here stands for Wireless, denoting that the Raspberry Pi is solely focused on the recent trends for wireless tools and the relevant use cases. This is where our book—Raspberry Pi Zero W Wireless Projects—comes into its own. Each chapter will help you design and build a few DIY projects using the Raspberry Pi Zero W board. First, you will learn how to create a wireless decentralized chat service (client-client) using the Raspberry Pi's features?. Then you will make a simple two-wheel mobile robot and control it via your Android device over your local Wi-Fi network. Further, you will use the board to design a home bot that can be connected to plenty of devices in your home. The next two projects build a simple web streaming security layer using a web camera and portable speakers that will adjust the playlist according to your mood. You will also build a home server to host files and websites using the board. Towards the end, you will create free Alexa voice recognition software and an FPV Pi Camera, which can be used to monitor a system, watch a movie, spy on something, remotely control a drone, and more. By the end of this book, you will have developed the skills required to build exciting and complex projects with Raspberry Pi Zero W. Style and approach A step-by-step guide that will help you design and create simple yet exciting projects using the Raspberry Pi Zero W board.