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Lottie Moggach's thrilling Kiss Me First is the inspiration for the major Channel 4 and Netflix TV series from the co-author of Skins, Bryan Elsey. Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award.Teenage identity in the digital age is explored in this innovative, unsettling and powerful coming-of-age story about a life lived online. Sheltered and obsessive, Leila spends more time online than in the real world. So she seems like the ideal person to take over the virtual identity of the vivacious and fragile Tess, who wants to disappear. But even with all the facts at her fingertips, there are things that Leila can't possibly know about Tess - or herself - until it is too late . . .
Opening with the military preparations before Paris was besieged by the invading German army in September 1870, Alistair Horne's compelling account of this dramatic episode takes the reader through the fall of Paris and German victory to the last days of the Paris Commune in May Week 1871.
'A brilliant read... that illustrated the strong will and determination of man in the face of everything that nature had to throw at us' WanderlustNick Middleton, the intrepid Oxford don, explorer and author of Going to Extremes is back, and he's set himself a challenge to cope with the worst that nature can throw at him in Surviving Extremes. Travelling to four of the most extreme natural environments: swamps, deserts, jungles and arctic wastelands, the question is, can he pick up enough tips from the indigenous people to hack it at the very edge of human existence, or will his mid latitude sensibilities forever let him down? This is Nick's account of how he had to put his body and mind to the test in a unique survival experiment.
Even when I was funny, I wasn't this funny'Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors Have you ever embarrassed yourself so badly you thought you'd never get over it? Have you ever wished your family could be just like everyone else's? Have you ever been followed to school by your father's herd of turkeys, mistaken a marriage proposal for an attempted murder or got your arm stuck inside a cow? OK, maybe that's just Jenny Lawson . . . The bestselling memoir from one of America's most outlandishly hilarious writers.
The stories in these pages comprise all the surviving fiction of a man described by John Updike in the introduction as 'one of the great transmogrifiers of the world into words'. They portray the doom-ridden yet comic world of a small Polish town in the years before the war, a world brought vividly to life in prose as memorable and as unique as are the brushstrokes of Marc Chagall.
By the author of You Can Change Your Life (Macmillan, December 2012) Over the last decade, Rob Yeung has interviewed hundreds of high achievers in business, sport and entertainment to gain insight into the minds of successful people. Combining this knowledge with a wealth of scientific research, he has defined the subtle yet crucial differences that distinguish exceptional people from everyone else. By reading this book you will: - Discover the critical mindset that allows high achievers to generate creative ideas - Learn the secret psychology that helps you to influence and persuade others to come round to your way of thinking - Develop practical techniques for boosting yoour relationships and earning and achieving more 'A great guide to high achievement. Full of fascinating information and wonderful advice' Professor Richard Wiseman Please note this book was published as THE EXTRA ONE PER CENT in Trade Paperback.
For Romany Eva Petulengro, marrying outside her culture was a big step to take. And now she had to adapt to living with a gorger - and her husband had to adapt to living with her! In this charming sequel to The Girl in the Painted Caravan, she describes their first eventful years of married life in Brighton, and the birth of their four children She also reveals how she became famous as a clairvoyant, the advice her clients needed, and the attack from an enraged wife who assumed her husband's meetings with Eva meant he was having an affair. In the Swinging Sixties, a sheltered Romany girl could easily find herself out of her depth, and Eva's innocence led her into some strange situations, including a narrow escape from a notorious duchess. She also weaves in the story of her wider family, from her brother Nathan's romance and the adventures of her charming brother Eddie to her aunts and cousins in Blackpool. Funny and heartwarming, Caravans and Wedding Bands is a poignant reminder of a time when life was changing irrevocably for the Romany, and yet their spirit remained the same.
'Fizzes with intellectual curiosity. Kane writes engagingly and with a humility difficult to find among idea-entrepreneurs' James Harkin, Independent We all think we know what play is. Play is what we do as children, what we do outside of work, what we do for no other reason than for pleasure. But this is only half of the truth. The Play Ethic explores the real meaning of play and shows how a more playful society would revolutionize and liberate our daily lives. Using wide and varied sources - from the Enlightenment to Eminem, Socrates to Chaos theory, Kierkegaard to Karaoke - The Play Ethic shows how play is fundamental to both society and to the individual, and how the work ethic that has dominated the last three centuries is ill-equipped to deal with the modern world. With verve, wit and intelligence, Pat Kane takes us on a tour of the playful world arguing that without it business, the arts, politics, education, even our family and spiritual lives are fundamentally impoverished. The Play Ethic seeks to change the way you look at your daily life, how you interact with others, how you view the world. It is a guidebook to new, exciting - and unsettling - times. Shocking, controversial, yet magnificently argued, The Play Ethic is a book no one who works, or has ever worked, can afford to be without. 'Kane's Manifesto for a Different Way of Living is a brave attempt to inject a little playfulness . . . into the dull grind of the working stiff' Iain Finlayson, The Times
With wit and verve Robin Waterfield brings the bizarre story of hypnotism to life. A lively mixture of popular history, science and psychology, Hidden Depths is the definitive work on hypnosis. From its origins as animal magnetism, as practised by Franz Anton Mesmer, to its modern day use as a health cure and a form of entertainment, hypnosis encompasses many different facets of humanity. Always controversial, the outlandish claims that its zealous believers make are only matched in intensity by the howls of derision that they provoke from sceptics. Hypnotism exists on the periphery of the scientific community, much as it has since its inception, and Robin Waterfield approaches the issues with an open mind, carefully stripping the fact from the fancy and the truth from the myth. Vividly written, compellingly readable, this is a fascinating insight into one of the more esoteric branches of science. 'Hidden Depths is a highly readable, wide-ranging and informative account of a fascinating topic' Observer 'Fascinating' Daily Telegraph
Winner of the Alan Paton Award and the South African Booksellers Choice AwardJonathan Kaplan has been a hospital surgeon, a flying doctor, a ship's medical officer and a battlefield surgeon. He has worked in places as diverse as Burma, Kurdistan, America, Mozambique, England and Eritrea. The Dressing Station presents a vivid, moving account of the varied faces of medicine he has encountered. In a mixture of reportage, confession and exposition Kaplan talks about the practice of medicine and of its shortcomings, because medicine is not always benign or balanced. At its extremes it is a process of treating the casualties, for life is a war, and being a doctor is serving in that war. 'His account is born of two talents: to save lives and to bear witness. The result is a unique mixture of biography and reportage, both personal and clinical' Time Magazine
In the second part of Amanda Hocking's bestselling Trylle trilogy, Torn, Wendy is desperate to return to her old life, but can she put the Trylle, and especially Finn Holmes, behind her?Acknowledging that she was different from everyone else wasn't difficult for Wendy Everly - she'd always felt like an outsider. But a new world and new family is a little hard for any girl to accept. Leaving behind the mysterious country of her birth, she is determined to fit back into normal life. But the world she's left behind won't let her go that easily . . . Kidnapped and imprisoned by her true family's enemies, Wendy soon learns that the lines between good and evil aren't as defined as she thought. And those things she'd taken for granted may have been lies all along. With the help of the dangerously attractive Loki, she escapes back to the safety of Forening - only to be confronted by a new threat.It's time to make a choice - can she put aside her personal feelings for the sake of her country? Torn between duty and love she must make a choice that could destroy her one chance at true happiness.
Switched is the first novel in Amanda Hocking's bestselling trilogy, Trylle.Wendy Everly knew she was different the day her mother tried to kill her and accused her of having been switched at birth. Although certain she's not the monster her mother claimed she is, she does feel that she doesn't quite fit in.She's bored and frustrated by her small-town life - and then there's the secret she can't tell anyone. Her mysterious ability - she can influence people's decisions, without knowing how, or why . . .When the intense and darkly handsome newcomer Finn suddenly turns up at her bedroom window one night, her world is turned upside down. He holds the key to her past, the answers to her strange powers and is the doorway to a place she never imagined could exist: Forening, the home of the Trylle.Finally everything makes sense. Among the Trylle she is not just different, but special. But what marks her out as chosen for greatness in this world also places her in grave danger. With everything around her changing, Finn is the only person she can trust. But dark forces are conspiring - not only to separate them, but to see the downfall of everything that Wendy cares about.The fate of Forening rests in Wendy's hands, and the decisions she and Finn make could change all their lives forever . . .
Amanda Hocking's bestselling Trylle trilogy comes to its thrilling conclusion in Ascend.Wendy Everly can barely remember what it was like to feel like a normal girl. She'd wished for her life to be different but everything is so much more complicated than she'd expected. And she certainly hadn't dreamt she'd be getting married at eighteen to a man she didn't love - all for the sake of duty. As the big day approaches, Wendy can't stop thinking about two different men - and neither of them are her husband-to-be. Finn - quiet, strong and determined to do what's right, and Loki - dark and seductive, a sworn enemy who once saved her life. With all-out war just days away, Wendy needs to act quickly if she is to save her friends and family. But while her loyalties and duties are to her people, deeper passions are leading her elsewhere. And as her worlds collide, Wendy must sacrifice everything she loves to save them. But will it be enough?
'It's a story worthy of a blockbuster novel, and it's all true. Oodles of sex, passion, adultery, media hype, decadence, plots, murder, mayhem, anguish and betrayal fill these pages . . . an enjoyable, well-researched book; I didn't want to reach the end' Edwina Currie, New Statesman Books of the Year One of the most potent icons of female sexuality, Josephine has largely been reduced to an empty cipher, wife to her more famous husband and the butt of one of the oldest jokes around. Yet as Andrea Stuart shows, the girl who grew up on the beautiful island of Martinique endured Caribbean slave revolts, an arranged marriage, and the threat of the guillotine before she even met the man who made her Empress of France. In the grip of turbulent times, Josephine used her intelligence and her allure to forge her way in a Paris that raged and fought and danced its way through revolution and empire. This is the thrilling story of her strength, survival and ultimate transformation.
A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.The End of Everything by Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me, is a taut and suspenseful novel of friendship, loss and the dark undercurrents of adolscence.A close-knit street, the clink of glass on glass, summer heat. Two girls on the brink of adolescence, throwing cartwheels on the grass. Two girls who tell each other everything. Until one shimmering afternoon, one of them disappears. Lizzie is left with her dread and her loss, and with a fear that won't let her be. Had Evie tried to give her a hint of what was coming, a clue that she failed to follow? Caught between her imaginary guilt, her sense of betrayal, her own powerful need, and the needs of the adults around her, Lizzie's voice is as unforgettable as her story is arresting. This is no ordinary tale of innocence lost . . .
If the 1960s was the decade of peace, love and understanding, the 1970s was the decade of glitter and glam rock. Or was it? Gerard DeGroot peels away the polyester to examine what really happened in a decade that began with the death of Jimi Hendrix and ended with Ronald Reagan in the White House and Margaret Thatcher in 10 Downing Street. Some commentators have written off the Seventies as a period in which nothing happened, yet politically it was a time of great hope. Dictatorial regimes ended in Portugal, Spain, Nicaragua, Rhodesia and Greece. Accord between nations was established at Camp David, Peking, Moscow, Geneva and Brussels. For feminists, environmentalists and homosexuals, the Seventies was the decade of hope. In cultural terms, it brought the Sydney Opera House, Monty Python, Annie Hall, David Hockney and M.A.S.H. The music, with or without ABBA, was simply brilliant. But it was also a time of quite extraordinary violence and as the decade continued, the bloodshed and the hate came to dominate, whether in Jonestown, Belfast, Palestine or Cambodia. And while the violence of nations is a constant throughout history, in the 1970s ordinary people seemed to surrender to violence with frightening ease. As the Sixties chickens came home to roost, the Seventies became an era when dreams died, hope was thwarted, problems long ignored finally exploded, and optimism repeatedly crushed gave way to frustration. Incisive, iconoclastic and hugely entertaining The Seventies Unplugged is popular history at its best.
Now a major TV series: Quirke starring Gabriel Byrne. When newspaper magnate Richard Jewell is found dead at his country estate, clutching a shotgun in his lifeless hands, few see his demise as cause for sorrow. But before long Doctor Quirke and Inspector Hackett realise that, rather than the suspected suicide, 'Diamond Dick' has in fact been murdered. Suspicion soon falls on one of Jewell's biggest rivals. But as Quirke and his assistant Sinclair get to know Jewell's beautiful, enigmatic wife Francoise d'Aubigny, and his fragile sister Dannie, as well as those who work for the family, it gradually becomes clear that all is not as it seems . . . Against the backdrop of 1950's Dublin, Benjamin Black conjures another atmospheric, beguiling mystery.
Let Pete Cohen become your personal life coach and show you how to get your life sorted once and for all with his 21-day programme to help you tackle the different problem areas which may be troubling you. He covers the areas in our lives that cause us all anxiety and stress from time to time, whether it is body image and weight loss, confidence and self-esteem, time-management, stress and anxiety, relationships or just bad habits. This book will provide you with the tools to help you increase your happiness and wellbeing and fulfil your full potential. The book contains questionnaires, exercises and case studies to inspire you and help you to create the life you want.
Behind The Black Door, anything and everything can happen . . .Ariel Vaughn is a high powered attorney and a partner at her firm, dating one of the most eligible bachelors in New York City. She's living the high life, but her sex life has hit a low point.Then a hot young escort introduces her to The Black Door club and her best friend encourages her to try it out. There she finds a fantasy playground for women, full of every obsession and erotic temptation a girl could dream of. Soon she meets a man who taps into her darkest desires. But it's not long before everything she holds dear becomes threatened by this new found passion . . .
Business and pleasure is a dangerous game . . . Former part-time escort Mason Anthony manages The Black Door Two - a club catering to a much younger, sexually uninhibited clientele than the original uptown elite Black Door club. In a world where customers are always right, Mason makes sure that he fully accommodates all of their needs and cravings. But controlling his passion-starved spirit long enough to focus on his new leadership role is tough, especially when he's on the search for romance. Will he be able to resist temptation to win the heart of the one woman he loves? Or will secrets and scandal come knocking on his door one steamy night?
The women in the Naughty Book Club - Naomi, Kennedy, Mira and Tyler - will go to any length to satisfy their desires. Naomi, a suburban housewife, is stuck in a loveless, sexless marriage. Mira, the seemingly conservative CEO, has a wild side that could ruin not only her professional reputation but also her relationship with her partner Sam. Kennedy, a flight attendant, is tired of looking for love in the wrong places, but the mystery man seated in first class might be just what she needs. And when Tyler comes home early from her latest design assignment, she discovers her girlfriend in bed with a man, and it's all she can do to keep it together. Here, they each begin their journey at The Black Door club, a place of passionate desires and forbidden pleasures. But each soon comes to learn the repercussions these new-found experiences might have . . .
One girl and a griffin against an empire: A dying land.The Shima Imperium verges on collapse. Land and sky have been poisoned by clockwork industrialization, the Lotus Guild oppresses the populace and the nation's Shogun is lost to his thirst for power.An impossible quest.Yukiko and her warrior father are forced to hunt down a griffin at the Shogun's command. But any fool knows griffins are extinct - and death will be the price of failure.A hidden gift. Disaster strikes and Yukiko is stranded in the wilderness with a fabled griffin, now furious and crippled. Although she hears his thoughts and saved his life, Yukiko knows he'd rather see her dead than help her. And discovery of the talent allowing them to communicate would mean her execution. Yet together, the pair will form an indomitable bond, and rise to challenge an empire.Set in steampunk Japan, Jay Kristoff's Stormdancer is full of mythic creatures, demons and Gods, and a strong female protagonist. Continue the Lotus War Trilogy with Kinslayer and Endsinger.
Surgery carries more individual responsibility than any other field of medicine. Jonathan Kaplan studied medicine in South Africa and, after working in a black township and being drafted by the South African army, he chose exile rather than serve the apartheid state. He travelled the globe in search of sanctuary, experiencing riots, tropical fevers, political upheaval and a jungle search for a lost friend. Kaplan landed eventually in Angola and took charge of a combat zone hospital, the only surgeon for 160,000 civilians, where he was exposed daily to the horrors of war. As a volunteer surgeon in Baghdad, he treated civilian casualties amid gunfights for control of hospitals, gangs of AK-47 wielding looters stripping pharmacies, and militant Shi'a groups harassing doctors out of operating rooms. Contact Wounds is an account of these travels. Immediate, haunting and wryly funny, the book is simultaneously a vivid illustration of how to mess up a promising medical career, and an account of survival - Kaplan's own as well as that of his patients. Kaplan describes his attempt to find his place in a world entering a time of instability and war, and the way in which his qualifications in trauma and uncertainty have made him a specialist in this century's changed requirements.
It's 2017 and the End Days are coming, beings that were once human gathering to fight in one last great war for control of the Vellum - the vast realm of eternity on which our world is just a scratch. But to a draft-dodging Irish angel and a trailer-trash tomboy called Phreedom, it's about to become brutally clear that there's no great divine or diabolic plan at play here, just a vicious battle between the hawks of Heaven and Hell, with humanity stuck in the middle, and where the easy rhetoric of Good and Evil, Order versus Chaos just doesn't apply. Here there are no heroes, no darlings of destiny struggling to save the day, and there are no villains, no dark lords of evil out to destroy the world. Or at least if there are, it's not quite clear which is which. Here, the most ancient gods and the most modern humans are equally fate's fools, victims of their own hubris, struggling to save their own skins, their own souls, but sometimes . . . just sometimes . . . sacrificing everything in the name of humanity."e;Vellum is a mind-blowing read that's genuinely like nothing you've ever read before. . . The imaginary worlds that he dreams up are stunning. . . Vellum has expanded fantasy's limits like nothing published in years."e; SFX
In Valerio Massimo Manfredi's The Ends of the Earth Alexander's epic quest continues through the heart of Asia and on towards the mystery of India. The Macedonian Army march in search of limitless glory, crushing resistance at every turn. The beauty of Babylon is ravaged, the Palace of Persepolis burnt to ashes. An empire is destroyed and a new and bloody era begins. But there are other things on the great conqueror's mind. An ambitious project to unite the peoples of the empire in one homeland begins to obsess him, until the curious beauty of Queen Roxanna gives Alexander the strength to fulfil his destiny . . . A truly compelling and romantic book and a breathtaking conclusion to the bestselling Alexander trilogy.
The 1960s is a decade often seen through a rose-tinted lens: an era when the young would not only rule the world but change it, too, for the better. But does such fond nostalgia really stand up? Vivid, rich in anecdote, sometimes angry and always persuasive, The Sixties Unplugged is a hugely entertaining and authoritative account of the decade of myth and madness. Read it and remember that even if you weren't there, you can still find out what really happened.
Jo Wood is a former model and wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood. She is also, in her own words, 'an organic nut' with her own beautiful range of organic beauty products. In her book Jo writes passionately about what an organic lifestyle has done for her, her family and friends. She explains the huge benefits of eating organically and describes the diet that brought herself and Ronnie back to health. She details the chemicals (some thought to be cancer causing) that are used in cosmetics and household products and absorbed through our skin, and tells the reader how they can find organic alternatives. She describes how to make your own oils and lotions, as well as sharing some of her favourite recipes (many cooked for her family while on tour). Packed full of useful advice and tips, informed and entertaining, this book shows that organic does not have to be boring. Anyone who cares about the health of themselves or their family will find much to inspire them.'Refreshingly clear, simple and honest' Lucia van der Post, The Times'Enlightening . . . The tone is gentle not preachy, as this is a book born out of a desire to share her experiences with anyone interested in going green' Glamour
With an introduction by Simon CallowJudgements about the quality of works of art begin in opinion. But for the last two hundred years only the wilfully perverse (and Tolstoy) have denied the validity of the opinion that Shakespeare was a genius.Who was Shakespeare? Why has his writing endured? And what makes it so endlessly adaptable to different times and cultures? Exploring Shakespeare's life, including questions of authorship and autobiography, and charting how his legacy has grown over the centuries, this extraordinary book asks how Shakespeare has come to be such a powerful symbol of genius.Written with lively passion and wit, The Genius of Shakespeare is a fascinating biography of the life - and afterlife - of our greatest poet. Jonathan Bate, one of the world's leading Shakespearean scholars, has shown how the legend of Shakespeare's genius was created and sustained, and how the man himself became a truly global phenomenon.'The best modern book on Shakespeare' Sir Peter Hall
A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.The Crying Tree is a heartfelt family drama by Naseem Rakha.Irene Stanley thought her world had come to an end when her fifteen-year-old son, Shep, was murdered in a robbery at their Oregon home. Daniel Robbin, who had spent his teenage years in and out of trouble, gave himself up to the police and was imprisoned in the State Penitentiary.Now, eighteen years later, Robbin is placed on Death Row awaiting a date for his execution. Irene's husband, Nate, has demons from the past of his own which he needs to face, and Shep's sister, Bliss, quickly learns that she too has a part to play in the healing of her family shattered by the tragedy.Irene, having reached the brink of suicide, comes to the realization that to survive she needs to overcome her grief and her hate for Robbin, and that she must face the secrets that she suspects surround Shep's murder. She turns full circle, defying both her family and the church, and finds that she is not only capable of forgiveness for the man who murdered her son, but also she comes to terms with understanding much more about events that happened that fateful afternoon back in Carlton. And perhaps the most painful realization of all, how little they as a family understood Shep.
People are the most important asset in any business today. It is through great people that great results are achieved. To ensure that your business is as efficient as possible, as a manager you need to be able to motivate and draw out the best from others, which can be a difficult task in times of corporate change or personal uncertainty. Effective Motivation is a practical guide to developing this key leadership skill. Written by John Adair, Britain's foremost expert on leadership training, this book will help you to: Understand what motivates you and your staff Develop awareness of how you can increase energy and motivation, in yourself and others, in order to achieve your goals Grow as a leader by putting your motivational skills into practice Based on scientifically proven motivational methods, and presented in a clear, easy-to-use style, Effective Motivation will tell you everything you need to know to enable you and your team to perform to the best of your abilities and be as energetic and dynamic as you can be.
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