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A Fine Line
A story of the extraordinary lives of ordinary people.
Set between Victorian Liverpool and Dundee and the battlefields of the First World War, three families face the perils of life on the economic cliff-edge, where a single misstep can send lives plunging out of control.
Crossing a century of dramatic change, their journey begins in the aftermath of the slave trade, moving through the era of Empire expansion and Industrial Revolution to a time of religious strife and global conflict.
The world they navigate is one fraught with hazard in which exploitation, zealotry and violence lead to rape, prostitution, fraud, and murder.
At its heart, two indomitable women – lifelong friends – choose very different paths as they strive to hold their worlds together, and to survive.
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A Little Look at Bottoms
Designer Tom Karen gives us a delightful series of drawings to amuse and inspire young readers. Children love to laugh at bottoms, and with this little book they will go back to their favourites again and again – from giraffes to jellyfish and bumblebees to bears.
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A Strange Awakening
This is the story of a young boy growing up and how, although he is not aware of it at the time, he is destined for something beyond his wildest dreams. Since he was young, strange and unusual things have often seemed to happen to him: strangers who appear to know him; dreams and fantasies that merge with reality; and strange coincidences in which the events of his life draw in and interweave with the lives of many around him.
Torn between Australia and England, it seems as though the map of his life has already been laid out for him. But life has so much more in store for him than he ever imagined. Even if it lies beyond his understanding, he has no choice but to go along for the ride.
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A Suitcase Full of Boomerangs
A Suitcase Full of Boomerangs is essentially a romp around the Republic of Ireland. Tiny boomerangs are bequeathed to colourful characters encountered throughout the three-week round trip.
Narrated in the first person, the protagonist and two of her sisters manage to have a ball as they traverse the width and breadth of Ireland in a big black jeep filled with suitcases full of boomerangs. This book of travel laughs, mishaps and adventures is a light-hearted, feel-good read, intended to whisk the armchair traveller far away to another time and place – the magic that will always be Ireland.
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A Suitcase Full of Koalas
A Suitcase Full of Koalas is a modern, edgy travel book set to test your wits and memory for detail. Gallivanting around London and somewhere distinctly south of the great capital in a sleepy seaside village, the author finds herself handing out tiny furry koalas to the English, to the Polish, to the Italians, in fact to anyone who cares to accept the little fellas as a gift from Australia. In her moochings over a month, she manages to meet a myriad of characters from all walks of life who practically jump off the pavements, à la Mary Poppins and Bert, and into the book.
This is a book about life and living – about the human condition and quest for feathering one’s own nest. As John Donne observed, ‘No man is an island’, but sometimes we yearn to embrace solitude and sit with ourselves and a good book. A Suitcase Full of Koalas will inevitably tickle your fancy and have you laughing on every other page. But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?
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A Way to Go
An intense romance developed out of an illicit and highly sensual affair of more than 10 years which survived many hurdles.
Freed from the ties of work and family by retirement and bereavement, the couple embark on a trip of a lifetime around the coasts of Europe, with its idyllic beaches, historic cities, fascinating art galleries and ancient sites.
This is a gripping and highly readable novel full of wit, fun and escapist pleasures, but with disturbing happenings which raise serious issues of love, estrangement and loss.
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Almost Down to Earth
In this fable for our times, feisty M’bali Hoyle has returned to the town of her youthful disgrace.
Will tiny, isolated Quimbleton take her to its heart this time?
Two glamorous visitors drop into her world just as she meets ex-rock star Hayes.
Only M’bali sees the dark threat behind their glitzy facades.How can she convince Hayes and the starstruck locals, a cast of rural eccentrics, that her intuition is right?
Can she draw them all more or less together when danger strikes?
With a dry wit, the narrator observes the foibles of human nature as the reader is launched into a twisting, turning adventure with the future of life on Earth at its core.
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Alucard
Emery is no ordinary teenage girl. She is the result of two gods that weren’t meant to fall in love, who were forbidden to love. She is the daughter of Goddess Indie Jones and the devil himself, Jethro Mist.
Emery’s life is far from ordinary. With people out to kill her, school bullies and living in the underworld, she has enough to worry about without him: her parted soul, her star-crossed lover, Tyler. He consumes her every thought and her body desires him in every way, yet he couldn’t care less.
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An Agony of Flame and the Fury and the Mire
A two-part climax to The Last Vigil, An Agony of Flame and The Fury and the Mire, concludes the story of the fall of Constantinople. Here is an intense evocation, both of the gruelling eight-week siege itself and of the chaotic as well as terrifying aftermath.
In part three, Niccolo and Demetrius serve on the great Roman land walls, enduring bombardment and nocturnal hand-to-hand combat. Nestor-Iskander reappears, a deserter now from the Turkish camp. Niccolo is badly wounded, recovering in Theodora’s house in the suburb of Studion. Then comes the night of the final Ottoman assault when, after a valiant defence, treachery leads to massacre (including the death of Demetrius) and Niccolo finds himself among a scatter of survivors.
Part four centres on Niccolo’s frantic attempts to find a way through a city, now being systematically sacked. Moreover, he must think of others. Demetrius might be dead but Nestor-Iskander has survived and demands refuge. Then there is Theodora locked up with the faithful in Hagia Sophia. Can Niccolo reach her before the marauding enemy? So, he travels deeper and deeper into his adopted city’s heart of darkness. Nestor finds protectors, loses, then regains them. Theodora is found then lost forever. Mehmet appears once more; Cinnamon never reappears. Finally, after the city has been overwhelmed and pacified, Niccolo sets sail westward across the Mediterranean, not home to Venice but to an Atlantic shore where a new age of exploration is about to dawn.
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Andrew and the Midnight Ape
Most children in the world like to play and have fun. Many children have pets that they like to play with, usually a dog, a cat, a hamster, or a guinea pig.
Some lucky children even have a horse or a pony to play with.
But what if you were a nine-year-old boy or an eight-year-old girl, and you had a big, male silverback gorilla to play with? What would you do? Where would you go?
Well, this dream becomes a reality for Andrew Tyler and his sister Gemma.
Their adventure of a lifetime began when they went to stay with their grandparents, as they often did. You see, Andrew’s grandad has a menagerie in his back garden, a large and exotic menagerie.
However, there was a secret enclosure in the garden, which contained a big, hairy surprise for Andrew and Gemma…
…A large male gorilla named Fudge.
So now, at the stroke at midnight, the children secretly go outside and have the times of their lives with their new friend Fudge…
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Angel O’Clock…
On the edge of mortality, a profound transformation occurred within Matthew Johns. They came to a realization: events they once believed simply occurred to them were, in reality, orchestrated milestones leading them toward a greater purpose. The introduction of a soulmate in their life acted as a beacon, illuminating their newfound spiritual path.
Delving into this spiritual realm, Matthew Johns cultivated a deep and intuitive bond with The Divine. Their blossoming psychic understanding opened a sacred dialogue with Spirit, unveiling profound truths. Through their exploration of Angel Numbers and numerology, they discerned that Time wasn’t merely chronological, but a divinely orchestrated symphony. In this grand tapestry, ‘coincidences’ have a role, but it’s synchronicity that wears the crown.
Join Matthew Johns on a journey of discovery, where the wisdom, love, and guidance of Angels and the spirit-realm continually shine through. By embracing this presence and seeking its signs, readers are invited into a majestic dance choreographed by the Divine – a harmonious blend of destiny, partnership, and co-creation. In this world, Spirit Guides are ever vigilant, always ready to lead the way. All one needs to do is reach out and trust in their unwavering guidance.
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Angels and Demons – The Scroll of Seven Seals
The cousins – Ella, Emma, Olly, Catherine and Tom are excited to be together again for Christmas. Soon after arriving at the old farmhouse in North Cornwall they discover the truth: they are from a family of Angels! Now, they must begin a journey to a faraway island to learn more about their past and discover their future.
Admitted to the School of Enlightenment for Young Angels, the cousins make new friends, learn to fly and explore the secrets of their school. However, their fun is disturbed by Ella’s dreams about an ancient scroll which has the power to destroy the human world. Can the cousins discover the truth about the scroll in time to save humanity?
So begins a story of incredible bravery and amazing adventure.