Second-century Roman Britain is the setting for epic battle, high drama, bravery & romance in these two stories for young readers.

A

...

In this lavish companion to the BBC series Earth: The Power of the Planet, renowned science writers Iain Stewart & John Lynch ...

Earth & Ashes is a story of such spareness & power it leaves the reader reeling. Set during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan, it is a fable about war, family, home & tradition. An old man & his grandson sit in a deserted landscape of dusty roads & looming mountains. What are they waiting for? As we watch them we learn their story-Rahimi has managed to condense centuries of Afghan history into his short tale of three very different generations. At the same time, he has created a story that is universal in its power. ...

Native Americans had a close affinity with the earth & an understanding of the natural forces which shaped their environment.



...

The Gwynns, a pleasant American couple, have lived outside York for the past fourteen years. Nesta, their only child, was born there & attends the local school. They seem ordinary enough & comfortable in their leafy suburb. But they have an astonishing secret unknown even to Nesta. One evening when she sees her father diminish & disappear into a stone lily pad in the garden pond, Nesta has to be told what she really is. Her parents are visitors from the planet Ormingat, sent to Earth to investigate life there. Now they have been ordered to return home. Nesta can`t take it all in, refuses to accept that she is not earthborn & finally runs away with the help of her best school mate, Amy. ...

Anthony Burgess' epic masterpiece follows the lives of two men who each represent different kinds of earthly power. Kenneth Toomey is an eminent novelist, world-famous homosexual, & a man who has outlived his contemporaries to survive into honoured, bitter, luxurious old age as a celebrity of dubious notoriety. Don Carlo Campanati is a man of God, who rises through the Vatican as a subtle negotiator & shrewd manipulator to become the controversial architect of church revolution & a candidate for sainthood. Through the lives of these two men, related to each other not only by family ties but also by sympathy, genius & a deep common understanding of mankind's frailties, Burgess explores the very essence of power. ...

In recent decades there has been a dramatic transformation around the Pacific Rim. Japan has become an economic superpower, & the People's Republic of China is close behind, flooding the world market with computers, automobiles, & electronic components. No longer 'the Far East'
- that exotic, mysterious land at the distant fringe of Western consciousness
- East Asia today commands the attention of the entire world. In East Asia, Arthur Cotterell condenses into a compact, highly readable book an immense amount of historical knowledge, placing this amazing economic development in its proper perspective
- an Asian one. Cotterell ranges from the dawn of Chinese civilization to Japan's emergence as the first East Asian nation to develop an industrial economy. & he brings his history up to the present, examining America's setbacks in the Korean & Vietnam Wars, Japan's rise as an economic superpower, & the recent histories of countries such as reunited Vietnam, Indonesia & Singapore. Cotterell goes on to suggest that Japan will eventually be overtaken by its neighbours, concluding that relations between the Chinese & the Japanese will ultimately determine the future of East Asia, although over the coming decades the key Pacific partners remain China & the United States. With spectacular historical perspective, Arthur Cotterell performs an invaluable service to all those who wish to have deeper understanding of our newest, & most competitive, trading partners.


...