From the slums of Cape Town to the palaces of Algiers through Pygmy villages where pineapples grow wild to the Gulf of Guinea where the sea blazes with oil flares across two continents & fourteen countries
- this epic journey is nothing to swallows they do it twice a year But for Horatio Clare writer & birdwatcher it is the expedition of a lifetime Along the way he discovers old empires & modern tribes a witch-doctor's recipe for stewed swallow explains how to travel without money or a passport & describes a terrifying incident involving three Spanish soldiers & a tiny orange dog By trains motorbikes canoes one camel & three ships Clare follows the swallows from reed beds in South Africa where millions roost in February to a barn in Wales where a pair nest in May
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Itsuki Hashima is a novelist who&s hopelessly enamored with the idea of little sisters & is constantly surrounded by colorful characters A world class genius & love-guru who&s beauty almost seems a waste on her A girl who&s constantly troubled by her friendships love interests & can&t even find refuge in her dreams A ridiculously talented illustrator Each of them have as many problems & worries as the next & they never have a dull day together as they play games travel & work together From the same author of the famous I Don&t Have Many Friends Yomi Hirasaka! About the Author Kantoku is the illustrator of A Sister&s All You Need Yomi Hiraska is the author of A Sister&s All You Need & I Don&t Have Many Friends ...

Itsuki Hashima&s spirits are high after learning one of his many little-sister-filled series is getting both an anime & a manga adaptation! However the manga artist he&ll be working with has a shocking secret About the Author Kantoku is the illustrator of A Sister&s All You Need Yomi Hiraska is the author of A Sister&s All You Need & I Don&t Have Many Friends ...

North London November 1913 The storm clouds of war gather overhead while one brave girl fights to save her family After her mother dies Livvie Bone knows it's down to her to support her family & protect her younger siblings from their drunken father But life in Wood Green in 1913 is hard & full of danger & one night she needs protection herself When the mysterious Joe Hunter steps in to help her Livvie can't help but be drawn to him in spite of his unsavoury reputation Then Livvie is offered the chance to work at the Barratt's Sweet Factory Suddenly she has a chance to better herself
- & to offer her family a way out Livvie's fragile beauty hides a formidable strength of character & it doesn't take long for the factory manager Lucas to notice her He is a man of the world a sophisticated compelling character & he can open doors to the kind of life Livvie has only dreamed of But time is running out for war is approaching sweeping everything & everyone up in its remorseless path What will Livvie choose
- & who will come back to her when the fighting ends?

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They'd give up everything to dance on stage but could they lose each other? London's East End 1934 Eighteen-year-old twins Marie & Vesta Haskins work at the local shoe factory to bring in a few pennies for the family but they've never given up on their dream of treading the boards in the West End When a brand new East End club opens its doors the girls audition for the show & are over the moon to land two nights a week with their cabaret act But little do they realise that the villainous Scoresby brothers are using the club as a front for a very different line of business Seeing what is going on behind the smoke & lights of the stage sensible Marie vows to leave her job at the club before it is too late but headstrong Vesta has fallen for the Scoresby's handsome right-hand man Teddy & unwittingly leads her whole family into the Scoresby's clutches Will Marie be able to save her family from disaster? Or will Vesta's determination to become a star tear the Haskins family apart? ...

Frances Hardinge weaves a dark otherworldly tale in A Skinful of Shadows her first book since the Costa Award-winning The Lie Tree & Everyone should read Frances Hardinge Everyone Right now&
- Patrick Ness& Hardinge is a talent who deserves to be read by children & adults alike&
- Guardian When a creature dies its spirit can go looking for somewhere to hide Some people have space inside them perfect for hiding Makepeace a courageous girl with a mysterious past defends herself nightly from the ghosts which try to possess her Then a dreadful event causes her to drop her guard for a moment & now there&s a ghost inside her The spirit is wild brutish & strong but it may be her only defence in a time of dark suspicion & fear As the English Civil War erupts Makepeace must decide which is worse possession
- or death


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' Prose from a poet & a personal take on the spectacles' Chris Packham author of Fingers in the Sparkle Jar Shortlisted for Richard Jefferies Society & White Horse Bookshop Literary Prize 2017 Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize 2017 Britain is a nation of bird-lovers However few of us fully appreciate the sheer scale variety & drama of our avian life From city-centre hunters to vast flocks straight out of the Arctic wilderness much-loved dawn songsters to the exotic invaders of supermarket car parks a host of remarkable wildlife spectacles are waiting to be discovered right outside our front doors In A Sky Full of Birds poet & nature writer Matt Merritt shares his passion for birdwatching by taking us to some of the great avian gatherings that occur around the British isles
- from ravens in Anglesey & raptors on the Wirral to Kent nightingales & Scottish capercaillies By turns lyrical informative & entertaining he shows how natural miracles can be found all around us if only we know where to look for them A Sky Full of Birds is the perfect read for avid birdwatchers & a beautiful special gift for lovers of nature & poetic prose
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An old man looks into the fearful eyes of a burglar left to guard him while his brother is beaten; an Irish priest in a war-torn Syrian town teaches its young men the art of hurling; the driver of a car which crashed killing a teenage girl forges a connection with the girl's mother; a squad of broken friends assemble to take revenge on a rapist; a young man sets off on his morning run reflecting on the ruins of his relationship but all is not as it seems Donal Ryan's short stories pick up where his acclaimed novels The Spinning Heart & The Thing About December left off dealing with the human cost of loneliness isolation & displacement Sometimes this is present in the ordinary the mundane; sometimes it is triggered by a fateful encounter or a tragic decision At the heart of these stories crucially is how people are drawn to each other & cling on to love often in desperate circumstances In haunting & often startling prose Donal Ryan has captured the brutal beauty of the human heart in all its hopes & failings ...

Insults are part of the fabric of daily life But why do we insult each other? Why do insults cause us such pain? Can we do anything to prevent or lessen this pain? Most importantly how can we overcome our inclination to insult others? In A Slap in the Face now issued in paperback with a new preface William Irvine undertakes a wide-ranging investigation of insults their history the role they play in social relationships & the science behind them He examines not just memorable zingers such as Elizabeth Bowen's description of Aldous Huxley as " The stupid person's idea of a clever person" but subtle insults as well such as when someone insults us by reporting the insulting things others have said about us "I never read bad reviews about myself" wrote entertainer Oscar Levant "because my best friends invariably tell me about them" Irvine also considers the role insults play in our society they can be used to cement relations as when a woman playfully teases her husband or to enforce a social hierarchy as when a boss publicly berates an employee He goes on to investigate the many ways society has tried to deal with insults-by adopting codes of politeness for example & outlawing hate speech-but concludes that the best way to deal with insults is to immunize ourselves against them we need to transform ourselves in the manner recommended by Stoic philosophers We should more precisely become insult pacifists trying hard not to insult others & laughing off their attempts to insult us A rousing follow-up to A Guide to the Good Life A Slap in the Face will interest anyone who's ever delivered an insult or felt the sting of one-in other words everyone ...

Everyone’s a suspect when murder is on the menu! Budding Poi rots & wannabe Sherlock Holmes will love every minute of hosting an evening of whodunit entertainment with Inspector Mc Clue&s A Slice of Murder This crime-busting game provides everything you need to serve up the perfect murder mystery dinner party! The gripping story is set at Panton Place an 18th century house built by Sir John Panton in Rutting-on-the-Rise a beautiful if isolated corner of Norfolk Panton Place is just location to spend a couple of days on a cooking holiday – a Weekend Mini-Bake as it is advertised However the rural tranquillity is shattered when celebrity chef Francis ‘ Franny’ Craddock is found dead late on Saturday night…particularly when it turns out he has been murdered! Suspicion falls on the guests but who would have wanted to kill him? The anticipation mystery & excitement begin before guests have even arrived as each of the guests or suspects will receive their invite & suggestions for suitable dress This all starts to set the scene for the forthcoming crime
- & by the end of the evening one of the guests will be exposed as a killer! A Slice of Murder Dinner Party game comes complete with game rules recipes & decorating tips Invitations for each of the characters are also included complete with booklets about their roles background information & even a few tasty secrets To complete the pack there is a CD to help set the scene on the night & of course provide the solution to the crime!A Slice of Murder Dinner Party game is for 6-8 players & suitable for ages teen & upwards
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