To Make A Child Smile Little Autumn barely speaks--and rarely smiles. So as a fresh start for both himself and his daughter, widowed doctor Matt Graham moves to a small Southern town. There they happen across a lovely young woman named Hannah Taylor. Something about Hannah awakens the girl, and suddenly Autumn is full of sweet chatter and laughter. In remission from the very illness that took so much from Matt and Autumn, Hannah seems to understand what the family of two needs. She's healed his daughter's heart. But can he open his enough to accept her love? Excerpt. All Rights Reserved. The display area, which had seemed expansive all morning, suddenly grew smaller as Hannah realized that she and Dr. Matt Graham were now alone. "Your name is Hannah?" he asked. She was a little embarrassed at the fact that she hadn't thought to introduce herself."Yes, Hannah Taylor." He shifted the curtain aside and glanced into the store. Then he let the thin navy fabric fall back into place. "I didn't want her to hear," he said softly. "But I want to explain." He breathed in, let it out. "Autumn hasn't smiled and has barely spoken since we lost her mother. So when she smiled at you, when she spoke to you." He pulled the curtain aside and glanced at his daughter again, then turned back to Hannah. "It was like watching a miracle. It's been two years." Two years. "I look like her mother?" In Hannah's mind, that was the only reasonable answer for why the child would have come out of her shell today. But he shook his head. "No. Rebecca had long curly red hair," he smiled, obviously remembering his wife. "And lots of freckles." Then his eyes seemed to be drawn to Hannah's shirt or more precisely to the small pin on her left chest. "Rebecca had breast cancer." Hannah swallowed past the lump in her throat, and her hand instinctively moved to the pink ribbon pin."You think she saw my pin from out there?" "I don't know, but somehow you reminded her of Rebecca." He indicated the pin. "You're a survivor, aren't you? You've had breast cancer too." "I am. Actually, my sister and I are both survivors," Hannah said. He tilted his head, curiosity at Autumn's awareness still evident on his face. "Well, for some reason, she was drawn to you, and you got more words from her in the last ten minutes than three child psychologists did in two years." He paused. "Or than I have, since her mama died." Hannah remembered her silent prayer, asking God to let her help this little girl. "Maybe because I'm meant to help her? God has His plans, you know." That made him smile, and Hannah couldn't deny the impact that his smile had on her heart. "Just now, when she told me that she loved me," he inhaled, let it out, and seemed too overwhelmed to finish. "She hasn't told you that she loves you," Hannah said, "in two years?" He shook his head, looked as though he wanted to say more, but remained silent. "Bless your heart," Hannah whispered. He stepped closer. "I know this will sound a little odd, but I think maybe the reason I picked this town, the reason Autumn and I are here is because of you." Hannah's mind reeled with the statement. What was she supposed to say? "I'm sorry.I can't imagine how that made you feel. It's just that I've been hoping for a breakthrough for so long, and then all of a sudden, here you are, and Autumn speaks. I'd have to say it's an answered prayer. And in all honesty, I haven't prayed a lot in the past two years. Didn't have a reason to trust in the power of it anymore." "But now?" she asked, still wondering what role God planned for her to have in his daughter's life. And, maybe, in this man's life?

Facing Her Past Single mother Kait Field is back home in the small Oklahoma town she left eight years ago. It’s time to empty the family home, close the door on the past and introduce her daughter, Jenna, to her daddy. Ryan Jones hasn’t quite forgiven his teenage sweetheart, who left him with unanswered questions and a broken heart. But Kait was never accepted by his controlling family, and they don’t seem any more welcoming this time around. Yet now Ryan and Kait are resolved that nothing will come between renewed promises of faith, forever—and the second chance that neither expected.

EVER FEEL LIKE SOMEONE’S WATCHING YOU? ME, TOO. BUT LATELY IT’S BEEN HAPPENING IN MY ROOM. WHEN I’M ALONE. A friend posted a video of me dancing online, and now I’m no longer Alicia Ruffino. I’m dancergirl. And suddenly it’s like me against the world— everyone’s got opinions. My admirers want more, the haters hate, my best friend Jacy—even he’s acting weird. And some stalker isn’t content to just watch anymore. Ali. Dancergirl. Whatever you know me as, however you’ve seen me online, I’ve trained my whole life to be the best dancer I can be. But if someone watching has their way, I could lose way more than just my love of dancing. I could lose my life.

Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston—and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear. All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive…

As the "oracle of dating," Kayla is supposed to have all the answers about love and relationships. She's supposed to have the perfect relationship. But now that Jared is "taking a step back," Kayla feels like a total fraud. So the expert on dating starts taking her own rebound advice—and some from her friends—and stops moping around. Yeah, there are other possibilities out there—including the beyond-cute French foreign exchange student she's showing around town. But when controversy erupts about the Oracle's advice, Kayla is sent reeling once again. Will anything work out for her this year? Yet when her friends start seriously needing the Oracle, Kayla begins to focus on what really matters: Viv, Sharese, Amy and Ryan, her true-blue buds. And suddenly, everything starts making sense again…

Build a tower defense game and earn delectable C# treats by baking cupcakes and fighting fearsome sweet-toothed pandas About This Book Build a complete and exciting 2D Tower Defense game from scratch. Understand and learn to perform each phase of the game development pipeline Homework and exercises to improve your skills and take them to the next level Who This Book Is For If you are looking forward to get started with 2D game development, either if you are a newcomer to this world, or you came from 3D games or other game engines, this book is for you. Although there are many references to other resources throughout the book, it is assumed that you have a general understanding of C# and its syntax and structure. What You Will Learn Import and set up assets for 2D game development Design and implement dynamic and responsive User Interfaces Create and handle complex animation systems Unlock all the potentiality of the physics engine Implement Artificial Intelligence algorithms to give intelligence to your NPCs Script gameplay and overall bring your ideas to life In Detail Want to get started in the world of 2D game development with UnityThis book will take your hand and guide you through this amazing journey to let you know exactly what you need to build the games you want to build, without sacrificing quality. You will build a solid understanding of Unity 5.x, by focusing with the embedded tools to develop 2D games. In learning about these, along with accurate explanations and practical examples, you will design, develop, learn how to market and publish a delectable Tower Defense game about cupcakes versus pandas. Each chapter in this book is structured to give you a full understanding on a specific aspect of the workflow pipeline. Each of these aspects are essential for developing games in Unity. In a step-by-step approach, you will learn about each of the following phases: Game Design, Asset Importing, Scripting, User Interfaces, Animations, Physics, Artificial Intelligence, Gameplay Programming, Polishing and Improving, Marketing, Publishing and much more. This book provides you with exercises and homework at the end of each chapter so that you can level up your skills as a Unity game developer. In addition, each of these parts are centered on a common point of discussion with other learners just like you. Therefore, by sharing your ideas with other people you will not only develop your skills but you will also build a network. Style and approach This is a fun step-by-step approach in the whole pipeline of 2D game development in Unity, which is explained in a conversational and easy-to-follow style. Each topic is explained sequentially, allowing you to experience both basics and advanced features of Unity. By doing this, the book is able to provide you with a solid grasp on each of the topics. In this way, by engaging with the book’s content, exploring the additional references to further readings and completing the homework sections, you are able to challenge yourself and apply what you know in a variety of ways. Once you have finished reading this book, you will be well on your way to developing games from start to finish!

Build, implement and scale distributed deep learning models for large-scale datasets About This Book Get to grips with the deep learning concepts and set up Hadoop to put them to use Implement and parallelize deep learning models on Hadoop’s YARN framework A comprehensive tutorial to distributed deep learning with Hadoop Who This Book Is For If you are a data scientist who wants to learn how to perform deep learning on Hadoop, this is the book for you. Knowledge of the basic machine learning concepts and some understanding of Hadoop is required to make the best use of this book. What You Will Learn Explore Deep Learning and various models associated with it Understand the challenges of implementing distributed deep learning with Hadoop and how to overcome it Implement Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with deeplearning4j Delve into the implementation of Restricted Boltzmann Machines (RBM) Understand the mathematical explanation for implementing Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) Get hands on practice of deep learning and their implementation with Hadoop. In Detail This book will teach you how to deploy large-scale dataset in deep neural networks with Hadoop for optimal performance. Starting with understanding what deep learning is, and what the various models associated with deep neural networks are, this book will then show you how to set up the Hadoop environment for deep learning. In this book, you will also learn how to overcome the challenges that you face while implementing distributed deep learning with large-scale unstructured datasets. The book will also show you how you can implement and parallelize the widely used deep learning models such as Deep Belief Networks, Convolutional Neural Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks, Restricted Boltzmann Machines and autoencoder using the popular deep learning library deeplearning4j. Get in-depth mathematical explanations and visual representations to help you understand the design and implementations of Recurrent Neural network and Denoising AutoEncoders with deeplearning4j. To give you a more practical perspective, the book will also teach you the implementation of large-scale video processing, image processing and natural language processing on Hadoop. By the end of this book, you will know how to deploy various deep neural networks in distributed systems using Hadoop. Style and approach This book takes a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to implement efficient deep learning models on Hadoop. It starts from the basics and builds the readers’ knowledge as they strengthen their understanding of the concepts. Practical examples are included in every step of the way to supplement the theory.

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

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

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

Build data-intensive applications locally and deploy at scale using the combined powers of Python and Spark 2.0 About This Book Learn why and how you can efficiently use Python to process data and build machine learning models in Apache Spark 2.0 Develop and deploy efficient, scalable real-time Spark solutions Take your understanding of using Spark with Python to the next level with this jump start guide Who This Book Is For If you are a Python developer who wants to learn about the Apache Spark 2.0 ecosystem, this book is for you. A firm understanding of Python is expected to get the best out of the book. Familiarity with Spark would be useful, but is not mandatory. What You Will Learn Learn about Apache Spark and the Spark 2.0 architecture Build and interact with Spark DataFrames using Spark SQL Learn how to solve graph and deep learning problems using GraphFrames and TensorFrames respectively Read, transform, and understand data and use it to train machine learning models Build machine learning models with MLlib and ML Learn how to submit your applications programmatically using spark-submit Deploy locally built applications to a cluster In Detail Apache Spark is an open source framework for efficient cluster computing with a strong interface for data parallelism and fault tolerance. This book will show you how to leverage the power of Python and put it to use in the Spark ecosystem. You will start by getting a firm understanding of the Spark 2.0 architecture and how to set up a Python environment for Spark. You will get familiar with the modules available in PySpark. You will learn how to abstract data with RDDs and DataFrames and understand the streaming capabilities of PySpark. Also, you will get a thorough overview of machine learning capabilities of PySpark using ML and MLlib, graph processing using GraphFrames, and polyglot persistence using Blaze. Finally, you will learn how to deploy your applications to the cloud using the spark-submit command. By the end of this book, you will have established a firm understanding of the Spark Python API and how it can be used to build data-intensive applications. Style and approach This book takes a very comprehensive, step-by-step approach so you understand how the Spark ecosystem can be used with Python to develop efficient, scalable solutions. Every chapter is standalone and written in a very easy-to-understand manner, with a focus on both the hows and the whys of each concept.

The powerful new novel from the master storyteller - inspired by the true story of one man who might have stopped World War II. 1940. The train is under attacks from German fighters. In the darkness, sheltering in a railway tunnel, the stranger in the carriage with Barney and his mother tells them a story to pass the time. And what a story. The story of a young man, a young soldier in the trenches of World War I who, on the spur of the moment, had done what he thought was the right thing. It turned out to have been the worst mistake he ever could have made – a mistake he must put right before it is too late…

A century before A GAME OF THRONES, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS compiles the first three official prequel novellas to George R.R. Martin’s ongoing masterwork, A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. Before Tyrion Lannister and Podrick Payne there was Dunk and Egg. A young, na?ve but courageous hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall towers above his rivals – in stature if not experience. Tagging along with him is his diminutive squire, a boy called Egg – whose true identity must be hidden from all he and Dunk encounter: for in reality he is Aegon Targaryen, and one day he will be king. Improbable heroes though they be, great destinies lie ahead for Dunk and Egg; as do powerful foes, royal intrigue, and outrageous exploits. A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS brings together for the first time the first three official prequel novellas to George R.R. Martin’s ongoing masterwork, A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory. Featuring more than 160 illustrations by Gary Gianni, one of the finest fantasy artists of our time, this beautiful volume will transport readers to the world of the Seven Kingdoms in an age of bygone chivalry.

An immediate new classic from Nigel Slater. Over 250 recipes, moments and ideas for good eating, with extra-special seasonal sections for quick, weeknight eats. The third instalment of Nigel Slater’s classic Kitchen Diaries series, A Year of Good Eating explores the balance and pleasure in eating well throughout the year. The leisurely recipes and kitchen stories of the Diaries are ingeniously interspersed with seasonal sections of quick, weeknight suppers in the style of Nigel’s most recent bestseller Eat. A salmon pie with herb butter sauce or an asparagus and blue cheese tart for when you have time to cook; roasted summer vegetables with sausages or quick baked eggs and greens for when you need to get dinner on the table fast. With Nigel’s characteristically simple recipes and inspiring writing, this new book will make good eating a joy, every day of the year.

How could a relatively simple chemical code give rise to the complexity of a human being? How could our human genome have evolved? And how does it actually work? Over the past 50 years we have deciphered the inner workings of the human genome. From the basic structure of DNA through to the complete sequence of the code, what first appeared to be simple is actually a complex and beautiful three-dimensional world that makes each of us who we are. In The Mysterious World of the Human Genome acclaimed science writer Frank Ryan leads us through the most exciting scientific discoveries of the last 50 years, revealing how this science has unlocked the cure of some genetic diseases, developed the use of DNA in forensic science and paternity testing, helped us trace our ancestors and provided a definitive map for the movement of humans out of Africa. This scientific journey has had a profound impact on our understanding of the evolution of life itself, through the role of the most ancient of organisms in our basic biology all the way to the revelation that our most recent ancestor, Homo neanderthalensis, lives on in many of us. In the ever more complicated world of the human genome, this is the first book to explain how the human genome actually works as a whole and how that knowledge will have a profound effect on our understanding of where we have come from and where we are likely to be going in the future.

THE EXHILARATING AND ADDICTIVE NEW THRILLER BY THE MASTER BESTSELLER SCOTT MARIANI. AN ANCIENT CURSE. A SHOCKING MASSACRE. A THREAT TO UNLEASH THE ULTIMATE DISASTER. Could Ben Hope have found peace at last? That’s the question he’s asking himself after his wanderings through Europe have led him to a remote medieval monastery in the French Alps. A haven of serenity, a place he wants to remain. But wherever Ben goes, trouble is never too far behind. When a team of merciless killers invade his newfound sanctuary and slaughter the innocent monks, Ben’s revenge quest quickly draws him into a bewildering mystery of stolen treasure, deception and murder. What is the truth behind the cache of gold bullion apparently hidden for centuries under the monastery? What is the significance of an ancient curse dating back to a cruel heretic burning in medieval times? What are the real ambitions of the enigmatic leader of an organisation of doomsday ‘preppers’ calling themselves Exercitus Paratorum: the Army of the Prepared? As he works to unravel the clues, Ben is confronted with a terrifying reality that threatens to devastate the world and reshape the whole of our future. The race is on to prevent the ultimate disaster, and there’s only one man who can do it. BEN HOPE is one of the most celebrated action adventure heroes in British fiction and Scott Mariani is the author of numerous bestsellers. Join the ever-growing legion of readers who get breathless with anticipation when the countdown to the new Ben Hope thriller begins…

A story of obsession, revenge and deceit, of a woman caught up in terrifying circumstances. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins, and The Lie by C. L. Taylor. Laura Maxwell appears to have it all – perfect career, perfect husband, perfect life. But how well do you really know the people around you? All it takes is one tiny crack to shatter the whole fa?ade. A series of accidents causes Laura to believe that someone is deliberately targeting her, trying to harm her. Fear starts to pervade every part of her life, affecting her work and her marriage, and she feels increasingly isolated. If no one believes Laura’s story, who will be there to protect her when her attacker closes in for the kill?

‘Tahir spins a captivating, heart-pounding fantasy’ Us Weekly Read the explosive New York Times bestselling debut that’s captivated readers worldwide. Set to be a major motion picture, An Ember in the Ashes is the book everyone is talking about. What if you were the spark that could ignite a revolution? For years Laia has lived in fear. Fear of the Empire, fear of the Martials, fear of truly living at all. Born as a Scholar, she’s never had much of a choice. For Elias it’s the opposite. He has seen too much on his path to becoming a Mask, one of the Empire’s elite soldiers. With the Masks’ help the Empire has conquered a continent and enslaved thousands of Scholars, all in the name of power. When Laia’s brother is taken she must force herself to help the Resistance, the only people who have a chance of saving him. She must spy on the Commandant, ruthless overseer of Blackcliff Academy. Blackcliff is the training ground for Masks and the very place that Elias is planning to escape. If he succeeds, he will be named deserter. If found, the punishment will be death. But once Laia and Elias meet, they find that their destinies are intertwined and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire. In the ashes of a broken world one person can make a difference. One voice in the dark can be heard. The price of freedom is always high and this time that price might demand everything, even life itself.

The Vagrant is his name. He has no other. Years have passed since humanity’s destruction emerged from the Breach. Friendless and alone he walks across a desolate, war-torn landscape. As each day passes the world tumbles further into depravity, bent and twisted by the new order, corrupted by the Usurper, the enemy, and his infernal horde. His purpose is to reach the Shining City, last bastion of the human race, and deliver the only weapon that may make a difference in the ongoing war. What little hope remains is dying. Abandoned by its leader, The Seven, and its heroes, The Seraph Knights, the last defences of a once great civilisation are crumbling into dust. But the Shining City is far away and the world is a very dangerous place.

From the award-winning co-author of ‘I Am Malala’, this book asks just how the might of NATO, with 48 countries and 140,000 troops on the ground, failed to defeat a group of religious students and farmers? How did it go so wrong? Twenty-seven years ago, Christina Lamb left Britain to become a journalist in Pakistan. She crossed the Hindu Kush into Afghanistan with mujaheddin fighting the Russians and fell unequivocally in love with this fierce country of pomegranates and war, a relationship which has dominated her adult life. Since 2001, Lamb has watched with incredulity as the West fought a war with its hands tied, committed too little too late, failed to understand local dynamics and turned a blind eye as their Taliban enemy was helped by their ally Pakistan. Farewell Kabul tells how success was turned into defeat in the longest war fought by the United States in its history and by Britain since the Hundred Years War. It has been a fiasco which has left Afghanistan still one of the poorest nations on earth, the Taliban undefeated, and nuclear armed Pakistan perhaps the most dangerous place on earth. With unparalleled access to all key decision-makers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, London and Washington, from heads of state and generals as well as soldiers on the ground, Farewell Kabul tells how this happened. In Afghanistan, Lamb has travelled far beyond Helmand – from the caves of Tora Bora in the south to the mountainous bad lands of Kunar in the east; from Herat, city of poets and minarets in the west, to the very poorest province of Samangan in the north. She went to Guantánamo, met Taliban in Quetta, visited jihadi camps in Pakistan and saw bin Laden’s house just after he was killed. Saddest of all, she met women who had been made role models by the West and had then been shot, raped or forced to flee the country. This deeply personal book not only shows the human cost of political failure but explains how short-sighted encouragement of jihadis to fight the Russians, followed by prosecution of ill-thoughtout wars, has resulted in the spread of terrorism throughout the Islamic world

“My name is Harriet Manners, and I have always been a geek.” The fourth book in the award-winning GEEK GIRL series.