The third in a series of books featuring four young women whose lives will be forever changed by WWII. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn.As the daughter of the local cinema manager, Sally Brewer has always dreamed of stardom. When she gets offered a theatre job in London, any fancy notions she has are quickly dashed when faced with the reality of long hours with no prospect of a speaking part.But all of this goes out of Sally’s mind once the nightly hail of German bombs start to rain down on London. She joins the newly-formed ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association and is soon raising morale all over the bombed-out city – there is little time for love.One night, Sally discovers a valuable ring sewn into the lining of a cloak. Intrigued, she tracks down the owner – a Naval Officer called Jonathan – but they barely have time to get to know each other before he is recalled to sea. Then Sally gets the terrible news that his ship has been destroyed. With only the ring to remember him by, can Sally face the future without the man she loves?
A stunning debut historical thriller set in the turbulent 14th Century for fans of CJ Sansom, The Name of the Rose and An Instance of the Fingerpost.London, 1385. A city of shadows and fear, in a kingdom ruled by the headstrong young King Richard II, haunted by the spectre of revolt. A place of poetry and prophecy, where power is bought by blood.For John Gower, part-time poet and full-time trader in information, secrets are his currency. When close confidant, fellow poet Geoffrey Chaucer, calls in an old debt, Gower cannot refuse.The request is simple: track down a missing book. It should be easy for a man of Gower’s talents, who knows the back-alleys of Southwark as intimately as the courts and palaces of Westminster.But what Gower does not know is that this book has already caused one murder, and that its contents could destroy his life.Because its words are behind the highest treason – a conspiracy to kill the king and reduce his reign to ashes…
Heart-stopping thriller from the master of suspense. Bad things are starting to happen at the Pendleton, an eerie building with a tragic past.The Pendleton stands on the summit of Shadow Hill, a palace built in the late 19th century as a tycoon’s dream home. But its grandeur has been scarred by episodes of madness, suicide and mass murder. Since being converted into luxury apartments in the 70s, however, the Pendleton has been at peace. For its fortunate residents – among them ex-marine Bailey Hawk, songwriter Twyla Trahern and her young son Winny – the Pendleton is a sanctuary, its dark past all but forgotten.But now inexplicable shadows caper across walls, security cameras relay impossible images, phantom voices mutter in strange tongues, not-quite-human figures lurk in the basement, elevators plunge into unknown depths. It seems that whatever drove past occupants to their unspeakable fates is at work again.As nightmare visions become real, a group of extraordinary individuals hold the key to humanity’s destiny. Welcome to 77 Shadow Street.
A substantially revised and updated edition of the author's classic 1987 book, 'The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and their Culture', which has been out of print since 2001.No nation's history has been so distorted as that of Poland. In 1797 Russia, Prussia and Austria divided the country up among themselves, expunging Poland’s sovereignty from history, casting it as a backwater that needed civilising. But as Adam Zamoyski’s thrilling history shows, the country they had wiped off the map had been one of Europe’s largest and most varied in cultural and religious traditions, with one of the boldest constitutional experiments ever attempted. Its destruction initiated a series of struggles that culminated in the two world wars and the Cold War. Today, Poland has been restored to its rightful place as one of the most vigorous nations of Europe, and is perfectly captured in this full revision Adam Zamoyski's classic ‘The Polish Way’.
The first single-volume history of India since the 1950s, combining narrative pace and skill with social, economic and cultural analysis. Five millennia of the sub-continent’s history are interpreted by one of our finest writers on India and the Far East. This edition does not include illustrations.Older, richer and more distinctive than almost any other, India’s culture furnishes all that the historian could wish for in the way of continuity and diversity. The peoples of the Indian subcontinent, while sharing a common history and culture, are not now, and never have been, a single unitary state; the book accommodates Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as other embryonic nation states like the Sikh Punjab, Muslim Kashmir and Assam.Above all, the colonial era is seen in the overall context of Indian history, and the legacy of the 1947 partition is examined from the standpoint of today.
An unforgettable first novel.Consisting entirely of staff emails, e spends a fortnight in the company of Miller Shanks, an advertising agency that scales dizzying peaks of incompetence. Among the cast are a CEO with an MBA from the Joseph Stalin School of Management, a Creative Director who is a genius, if only in his own head, designers and copywriters driven by breasts, beer or Bach Flower Remedies, and secretaries who drip honey and spit blood.The novel is a tapestry of insincerity, backstabbing and bare-arsed bitchiness: that is to say, everyday office politics. Oh yes, and there is some work to be done too – the quest for advertising’s Eldorado, the Coca-Cola account.e is sleazy, scurrilous and scabrously funny. It also contains a first-class joke about the Pope and sound advice on the maintenance of industrial carpet tiles.
An accessible, authoritative single-volume narrative history of China, from the earliest times to the present day, designed both to engage the general reader and to challenge the horizons of the China specialist.Most histories of China appear to have been written by sinologists for sinologists. As China rejoins and perhaps comes to dominate our world order, the need for an authoritative yet engaging history is universally acknowledged.Modelled on the author's own 'India: A History', 'China: A History' is informed by a wide knowledge of the Asian context, an approach devoid of Euro-centric bias, and acclaimed narrative skills. Broadly chronological, the book presents a history of all the Chinas – including those regions (Yunnan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Manchuria) that account for two thirds of the People's Republic of China land mass but which barely feature in its conventional history (which tends to concentrate on the succession of mainly north China imperial dynasties).The book also examines the many non-Chinese elements in China's history – the impact of Buddhism, Islam and Christianity; the effects of trade; the nature of 'barbarian' invasion; the relevance of many imperial dynasties being of non-Chinese origin.Major archaeological discoveries in the last two decades afford a chance to flesh out and correct much of the written record. 'China: A History' will tell the epic story from the time of the Three Dynasties (2000-220 BC) to Chairman Mao and the current economic transformation of the country.
From No. 1 bestselling children’s author, David Walliams comes his biggest and most epic adventure yet! Illustrated by the artistic genius Tony Ross.This is the story of a ten-year-old orphan and a 10,000-year-old mammoth…Read all about it! Read all about it!ICE MONSTER FOUND IN ARCTIC!When Elsie, an orphan on the streets of Victorian London, hears about the mysterious Ice Monster – a woolly mammoth found at the North Pole – she’s determined to discover more…A chance encounter brings Elsie face to face with the creature, and sparks the adventure of a lifetime – from London to the heart of the Arctic!Heroes come in all different shapes and sizes in David Walliams’ biggest and most epic adventure yet!
From the Booker Prize-winner of ‘Offshore’, ‘The Blue Flower’ and ‘Innocence’ comes this brilliant novel about life at an eccentric stage school.In the 1960s, Freddie’s was the usual name for the Temple Stage School, which supplied the West End theatres with children for roles in everything from Shakespeare to pantomime. Freddie, the proprietress, is a formidable woman, of unknown age and provenance. But everybody who is anybody claims to know her. By sheer force of character and single-minded thrust she has turned herself into a national institution.This story of what happened at Freddie’s is not only for theatre-lovers, but for people who care about children or hate them, or were – once upon a time – children themselves. In particular, it is for those of us who sometimes pretend to be what we are not – that is to say, act a little.
Humour for younger readers from a first-time children’s author. They looked like ordinary, innocent pants, but those pants had just hypnotised the headteacher!Tony Trebelli has a little trouble telling the truth. He tells the most enormous lies in the world and nobody ever believes him. That is, until the day he gets his new pants. When he tells his first fib, they get a little warm. When he tells his second, there's a definite smell of burning. By the time he's on his third, there's smoke… but Tony doesn't care. Because each time this happens, Tony's lies get believed! His pants have the power to hypnotise his teachers – even Mrs McMahon, the headteacher herself. However, when Tony's pants suddenly get too hot to bear, he finds himself naked in the playground. Suddenly his lies become less appealing and Tony learns his lesson.Taking the theme of the playground chant, 'Liar, liar pants on fire,' Victoria Lloyd has written an hilarious story for younger readers. With plenty of alliteration, repetition and humour this is a terrific text for children able to read on their own but who don't want a longer novel.