One day Colin Grant's teenage brother Christopher failed to emerge from the bathroom His family broke down the door to find him unconscious on the floor None of their lives were ever the same again Christopher was diagnosed with epilepsy In A Smell of Burning Colin Grant tells the remarkable story of this strange & misunderstood disorder He shows us the famous people with epilepsy like Julius Caesar Joan of Arc & Vincent van Gogh the pioneering doctors whose extraordinary breakthroughs finally helped gain an understanding of how the brain works & through the tragic tale of his brother he considers the effect of epilepsy on his own life ...

Please note this is a region B Blu-ray & will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play Rinko (Asuka Kurosawa from Cold Fish) & Shigehiko (novelist Yuji Kotari) are a strange couple whose physical mismatch (she a lithe beauty he an overweight balding obsessive-compulsive neurotic) is reflected in the complete lack of intimacy between them They connect as human beings but they live more like friends than as lovers & lead nearly independent lives Both seem comfortable with this coexistence but the desires that lurk beneath its surface are brought out with the introduction of a third element into the equation When Rinko receives a package of candid photographs of herself masturbating & the sender (played by Tsukamoto himself) contacts her with the threat of exposing them to her husband she submits herself to the anonymous voyeur&s sexual games If she wishes to get hold of all the negatives & prints Rinko is to comply with a set of assignments that place her constantly on the borderline between humiliation & pleasure
- the voyeur knows exactly what Rinko&s personal erotic fantasies are & makes her act them out one by one
...

As read on Radio 4 seven linked stories set in the Christmas holidays
- all as funny joyous poignant & memorable as Christmas should
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Taking its place alongside works by Ernst Junger Robert Graves & Erich Maria Remarque Emilio Lussu's memoir is one of the most affecting accounts to come out of the First World War A classic in Italy but virtually unknown in the English-speaking world it reveals in spare & detached prose the almost farcical side of the war as seen by a Sardinian officer fighting the Austrian army on the Asiago plateau in northeastern Italy the front so poignantly evoked by Ernest Hemingway in A Farewell to Arms For Lussu June 1916 to July 1917 was a year of continuous assaults on impregnable trenches absurd missions concocted by commanders full of patriotic rhetoric & vanity but lacking in tactical skill & episodes often tragic & sometimes grotesque where the incompetence of his own side was as dangerous as the attacked waged by the enemy A rare firsthand account of the Italian front Lussu's memoir succeeds in staging a fierce indictment of the futility of war in a dry often ironic style that sets his tale wholly apart from the Western Front of Remarque & adds an astonishingly modern voice to the literature of the Great War ...

Sammy is a football crazy rescue puppy Mouser is a fearless grey tabby Together they make an unlikely pair that won't be parted not even by the First World War As the war rages in Europe Londoners are sending brave animals to help the soldiers
- & Mouser & Sammy are soon on their way to the trenches 336 pages Rix Megan
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Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month August 2015 The wronged do not rest in peace Marsac is a quiet town in the Pyrenees best known for its elite university But when one of the professors is found drowned in her bath it becomes clear that the tranquil surface is a lie The chief suspect is the son of Commandant Servaz's university sweetheart; & when she implores him to investigate he cannot refuse To close the case Servaz must delve into his own past & re-open old wounds It will be his most dangerous
- & his most personal
- investigation yet

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Winner of the Guardian children's book prize 2015I'm the one who's left behind I'm the one to tell the tale I knew them both knew how they lived & how they died Claire is Ella Grey's best friend She's there when the whirlwind arrives on the scene catapulted into a North East landscape of gutted shipyards; of high arched bridges & ancient collapsed mines She witnesses a love so dramatic it is as if her best friend has been captured & taken from her But the loss of her friend to the arms of Orpheus is nothing compared to the loss she feels when Ella is taken from the world This is her story
- as she bears witness to a love so complete; so sure that not even death can prove final
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WINNER OF THE AUTHORS' CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2015SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2015 & THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 2015 Meet the Bradleys In lots of ways they're a normal family Zippy is sixteen & in love for the first time; Al is thirteen & dreams of playing for Liverpool & in some ways they're a bit different Seven-year-old Jacob believes in miracles So does his dad But these days their mum doesn't believe in anything not even getting out of bed How does life go on now that Issy is gone? ...

A heart-stopping crime thriller & the fourth consecutive No 1 Bestseller from the author of the Logan Mc Rae series & Birthdays for the Dead He's back Eight years ago The Inside Man' murdered four women & left three more in critical condition
- all of them with their stomachs slit open & a plastic doll stitched inside & then the killer just disappeared Ash Henderson was a Detective Inspector on the initial investigation but a lot can change in eight years His family has been destroyed his career is in tatters & one of Oldcastle's most vicious criminals is making sure he spends the rest of his life in prison Now a nurse has turned up dead a plastic doll buried beneath her skin & it looks as if Ash might finally get a shot at redemption At earning his freedom At revenge
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Tom fell in love with Alice the moment he saw her He realises that being with her will not be easy but she is a force of nature a burst of sunlight in his otherwise ordinary world Some people might look at Alice & think she has everything but Alice knows she is not like other women Her life is complicated unpredictable difficult Alice does not like pity All she wants to do has ever wanted to do is sing Alice has been told not to follow her dreams So has Tom But when fate has already dealt a tough hand it's time to stop listening to everyone else & only follow their hearts A heart-wrenching read A moving story of an extraordinary young woman & the triumph of her spirit against huge odds' Fanny Blake Sunday Express ' An almost unbearably moving portrait of courage in the face of adversity & the enduring power of love it's impossible to get to the end of this powerful & poignant story without a lump in the throat' Deirdre O' Brien Sunday Mirror A Song for Tomorrow is an extraordinary story that goes straight to the heart Alice Peterson celebrates her namesake with great understanding & skill acknowledging the frailties & strengths the ambitions & the talent of an amazing young woman' Janet Ellis author of The Butcher's Hook An inspiring uplifting novel about an extraordinary young woman who refuses to let anything stand in the way of her love & her dream' Julie Cohen author of R&J Book Club pick Dear Thing 'A wonderful book about the beautiful Alice Martineau that both inspired me & made me cry uncontrollably when I finished it' Becky Barrow Sunday Times' What a beautiful passionate story I couldn't physically put the book down I had to keep on reading' Alice Beer journalist broadcaster & author Touching & vivid A book that will live on in the hearts of many' Casilda Grigg journalist A Song for Tomorrow brought Alice's soul to life This book had me in tears my favourite book of the year Lizzy Ward Thomas from the band Ward Thomas An emotional uplifting page-turner inspired by the true story of the singer Alice Martineau that celebrates making every moment in life count & never giving up' Jo Charrington Capitol Records ' If you read nothing else this year please read this book! You won't regret it! I didn't know anything about Alice Martineau when I opened this book but now I want to know more about this incredible woman' Reading between the pages ...