To many, Patrick O' Brian was the greatest British novelist of the Twentieth Century. The twenty volumes of the series set in the Royal Navy of the beginning of the Nineteenth Century & featuring Aubrey & Maturin have been hailed as 'the best historical novels ever written' by the New York Times.

Nikolai Tolstoy was O' Brian's stepson & his acquaintanceship with him lasted forty-five years during most of O' Brian's marriage to Mary Tolstoy, Nikolai's mother. Tolstoy stayed with the couple regularly at their French home & was a frequent correspondent with the reclusive & secretive author, discovering facets of his character & creative genius that he showed to no one else.

He has unique access to letters, notebooks & photographs, which will appear in this book. This volume tells the story of O' Brian's life up to his decision to move to Collioure in the South of France. His oppressed childhood, his precocious writing success, his first visit to Irel&, his sailing experiences as a young man, & the truth behind his first marriage, divorce & name change are all dealt with.
This is the first part of the definitive biography of one of our literary geniuses.




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Balloons? Sausages on sticks? An entertainer? Oh NO! It must be a party...

Patrick loves making models & creating his own

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This collection of speeches by the Australian Nobel prize-winning author have provoked extreme reactions in Australia. While members of the establishment & parts of the media have dismissed him as a bitter old man, the young & needy have responded to him with something close to adulation. ...

When a teenage couple are found murdered in their car, a boy called Adam Sligo is the only suspect. A manhunt begins. The letter A is found blazoned on the wall at the murder scene & is soon followed, around town, by the other letters of the alphabet, each immaculately painted in red. What do the letters mean? Is Sligo playing games with the police? Or putting a spell on the town?

Perry Scholes is mixed up in all this from the start: a man haunted by cars & death

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When a teenage couple are found murdered in their car, a boy called Adam Sligo is the only suspect. Sligo is missing, & a manhunt begins, but the letter A is found blazoned on the wall at the murder scene. When the other letters of the alphabet start appearing in sequence all over town, each immaculately painted in red, a seemingly random act of violence appears to be part of a bigger & more terrifying picture. For the town's inhabitants, it feels like the beginning of a new age of terror, with Adam Sligo still on the loose. What do the letters mean? Is he playing games with the police? Or putting a spell on the town?

One man, Perry Scholes, is mixed up in all this from the start: a man haunted by cars & death
- & photographic images of both. He trawls the motorways & edgelands listening to police radio so that he can get to the car-crash or the crime scene before the police. Like his hero Weegee
- the original ambulance-chaser photographer
- he makes a living selling these shots to the papers. He always gets there first
- he was the one to find the old BMW with its young corpses; he is the one who spots the painted letters, & begins to document their appearances.

As the town is paralysed by fear & paranoia
- its inhabitants polarising into a new-age group that gather around a shrine to the murdered couple & a vigilante cult that arm themselves for the battle against evil
- Perry finds himself trapped in a nightmare. A killer is at large, & the alphabetical messages he leaves seem to be personal messages for Perry. Who is leaving them, & why, is the centre of this dark, disturbing parable of urban anxiety & primitive fear.









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Herman Roth is eighty-six years old, a widower & retired insurance manager, suffering from a brain tumour & fighting death. In a remarkable act of memory, elegy & appreciation, Philip Roth creates his most irrepressible & irresistible hero yet
- his father.
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Herman Roth is eighty-six years old, a widower & retired insurance manager, suffering from a brain tumour & fighting death. In a remarkable act of memory, elegy & appreciation, Philip Roth creates his most irrepressible & irresistible hero yet
- his father.
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She saved the business, but can she save herself?

After years of neglect by her mother, when her father comes home

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From a husb&-&-wife team who specialize in Irish food, this collection, now available in paperback for the first time, is filled with traditional & modern recipes created to make the most of the very best Irish produce.

Paul & Jeanne Rankins recipes take their influences from their many global culinary journeys, whilst retaining an authentic spirit that reflects their shared passion for cooking with fresh Irish ingredients.

In this delightful collection, Paul & Jeanne have given many of their favourite traditional Irish dishes a modern twist, such as Irish Stew & Warm Salad of Fish & Chips. They also present tantalizing new recipes, including Spicy Leek & Goats Cheese Souffl & Irish Coffee Tart.

Beautifully illustrated with over 90 colour photos & including a helpful section detailing tips from Paul & Jeanne on where & when to buy the finest of Irish produce, New Irish Cookery is a celebration of high-quality, mouth-watering food.





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