If you’ve ever wondered how to keep your romance alive you need to look no further. This inspiring book is a treasure trove of erotic wisdom – aromatic recipes, potent aphrodisiacs and sensual massage techniques that have stood the test of time.Includes:the use of essential oils since ancient times• how to prepare sexy massage oils and remedies• how aromatic oils and massage can enhance your sex life and help with sexual difficulties• new ways of soothing, relaxing and exciting your partner with touch and fragrance• how to beautify your skin and body with luxurious oilsThe art of driving your partner wild is at your fingertips!
Inspired by her uncle, Lisa Samson has communed with trees since her childhood. Tragically, a disease from mainland Europe now poses a very serious threat to the ash tree’s survival. Epitaph for the Ash explores how barren our landscape could become without the ash’s familiar branches protruding from limestone scars and chalky cliff faces.The trees’ grave prognosis takes on a personal resonance when, in the course of writing this book, Lisa is diagnosed with a brain tumour. While she receives treatment, and learns to walk and talk again, Lisa finds solace once more in the natural world. She continues to research her beloved forests, which once sheltered a wealth of flora and fauna, seeking out the possibilities that modern science might provide for their survival.Taking us from the lowlands of Norfolk to northernmost reaches of the British Isles, Lisa's book is a celebration of the deep cultural and historical significance of the ash. As Lisa contemplates her own mortality, and the trees’ likely fate emerges, Epitaph for the Ash offers up a rallying cry to treasure these remarkable woodlands while we still can, before it is too late.
What makes the English English? Is it their eccentricity, their passionate love (or, indeed, hatred) of Marmite – or is it something less easily defined?Beginning at the top of a muddy Gloucestershire slope at the Coopers Hill cheese-rolling contest and traversing a landscape of lawns and queues, coastlines and sporting arenas, Ben Fogle takes us on a journey through the peculiarly English: a country of wax jackets, cricket, boat races and jellied eels, by way of national treasures such as the shipping forecast, fish and chips and the Wellington boot. Not to mention the Dunkirk spirit of relentless optimism in the face of adversity, be it the heroic failure of Captain Scott’s doomed Antarctic expedition, or simply the perennial hope for better weather.The archetypal Englishman – lover of labradors and Land Rovers yet holder of two passports – Ben applauds all things quintessentially English while also paying tribute to the history, culture and ideas adopted with such gusto that they have become part of the fabric of the country. Written with Ben’s trademark warmth and wit, this is a light-hearted yet touching tribute to all things English.
An unusual and authoritative 'natural history of languages' that narrates the ways in which one language has superseded or outlasted another at different times in history.The story of the world in the last five thousand years is above all the story of its languages. Some shared language is what binds any community together, and makes possible both the living of a common history and the telling of it.Yet the history of the world’s great languages has rarely been examined. ‘Empires of the Word’ is the first to bring together the tales in all their glorious variety: the amazing innovations – in education, culture and diplomacy – devised by speakers in the Middle East; the uncanny resilience of Chinese throughout twenty centuries of invasions; the progress of Sanskrit from north India to Java and Japan; the struggle that gave birth to the languages of modern Europe; and the global spread of English.Besides these epic achievements, language failures are equally fascinating: why did Germany get left behind? Why did Egyptian, which had survived foreign takeovers for three millennia, succumb to Mohammed’s Arabic? Why is Dutch unknown in modern Indonesia, given that the Netherlands had ruled the East Indies for as long as the British ruled India?As this book engagingly reveals, the language history of the world shows eloquently the real characters of peoples; it also shows that the language of the future will, like the languages of the past, be full of surprises.
The inspirational story of the female motorsport pioneer who broke through the gender barrier to compete in and win some of the most iconic rallies in the world.Rosemary Smith is recognised internationally for her outstanding achievements in the world of motorsport. A female pioneer in a notoriously male-dominated sport, she drove in the Monte Carlo rally eight times, winning the Coupe des Dames on numerous occasions as well as competing in most other iconic rallies all over the world, including the London to Sydney in 1968, the World Cup London to Mexico in 1970 and the East African Safari Rally in the 1970s. In a Hillman Imp, Rosemary won the Tulip Rally outright, beating all the male drivers to the finish.Now, for the first time, Rosemary reveals the inside story of her amazing life, recounting many memorable adventures and exploits both on and off the track.But Rosemary’s story is not all fast cars and marathon rallies. She writes with honesty about her early life, about a disastrous marriage and money troubles – and how she overcame it all.
A classic Agatha Christie short story, available individually for the first time as an ebook.Captain Hastings talks Hercule Poirot into taking a bus trip. En route, a young woman takes them into her confidence, and Poirot finds himself with another case to solve.
A short story by Namwali Serpell from the collection Reader, I Married Him: Stories inspired by Jane Eyre.In ‘Double Men’, a secret liaison during a Zambian bonding ceremony has repercussions for two old female friends.Edited by Tracy Chevalier, the full collection, Reader I Married Him, brings together some of the finest and most creative voices in fiction today, to celebrate and salute the strength and lasting relevance of Charlotte Brontë’s game-changing novel and its beloved narrator.
This heart-wrenching memoir from Toni Maguire tells the deeply moving story of an idyllic childhood that masked a terrible truth. Underneath her mother's gentility and her father's roguish charm lay horrifying secrets, which eventually led to their only child's near destruction.The first time her father made an improper advance on Toni, she was six years old. Her father warned her not to tell her mother, or anyone else, because they would blame her and wouldn't love her any more. It had to remain ‘our secret.’When she finally built up the courage to tell her mother what had happened, she was told never to speak of the matter again. With no one to turn to, isolated and alone in rural Ireland, the abuse continued unhindered.At fourteen Toni fell pregnant by her father, and when her state was discovered she was made to have a late abortion which almost killed her. The truth of her childhood could no longer be kept hidden but, just as her father predicted, Toni found herself judged and rejected by her family, teachers and friends. The blame and anger she was treated with only worsened when her father was sent to prison as a result of his actions. This is the compelling story of her struggle to put the ghost of her childhood to rest, and emerge ultimately triumphant.
The DI Sean Corrigan Collection includes the first three books in Luke Delaney’s terrifyingly authentic DI Sean Corrigan series, COLD KILLING, THE KEEPER and THE TOY TAKER, plus two DI Sean Corrigan short stories, REDEMPTION OF THE DEAD and THE NETWORK.COLD KILLING:A series of brutal killings leaves South London’s Murder Investigation Unit struggling to connect the crimes: no recognizable method; no forensic evidence; no link between the victims.DI Sean Corrigan’s troubled past has left him with an uncanny ability to identify the darkness in others. He knows these murders are the work of one man. As the violence escalates, Sean must find the evidence he needs to bring the perpetrator to justice – before the next attack hits too close to home.THE KEEPER:Thomas Keller knows exactly who he’s looking for…When women start disappearing from their homes in broad daylight, DI Sean Corrigan’s Murder Investigation Team is reluctant to take on a missing persons case. But then the first body turns up, and Corrigan knows he must quickly get into the mind of the murderer. Because this killer knows exactly who he wants. And he won’t stop until he finds her.THE TOY TAKER:Children are being snatched from their homes in the dead of night. There’s no sign of forced entry, no one heard or saw a thing.DI Sean Corrigan needs to find four-year-old George Bridgeman before abduction becomes murder. But his ability to see into dark minds, to think like those he hunts, has deserted him – just when he needs it most.REDEMPTION OF THE DEAD (SHORT STORY)1993. The Parkside Rapist has been terrorising the women of South London, and Detective Chief Superintendent Charlie Bannan is in need of a secret weapon if he’s going to catch this particular monster. When fresh-faced PC Sean Corrigan is transferred to join the team, Bannan immediately spots his potential…THE NETWORK (SHORT STORY):Early in his career as a Detective, Corrigan is approached for an undercover assignment. He must take on the identity of a prison inmate and befriend a suspected paedophile, then infiltrate an early internet child abuse ring. Can he tap into his dark side for long enough to uncover the identities of the abusers without serious harm to himself?
Three thrillers featuring Detective Carson Ryder.BLOOD BROTHER: The Manhattan murder of a close friend draws Carson to New York, dropping him into a whirlpool that pulls him deep into his own past. Carson’s mad brother Jeremy returns to the mixture.IN THE BLOOD: A baby floats in from the sea and launches Carson and Harry into a world of money-hungry preachers, white-supremacists, and genetics researchers. Where did the child come from? And why do so many forces wish it harm?LITTLE GIRLS LOST: Carson reluctantly teams with a disgraced and mysteriously fired detective to investigate a horrifying series of child abductions. The first in the series where Carson doesn’t narrate the tale.