The five centuries between the end of Roman Britain (410) & the death of Alfred the Great (899) have left few voices save a handful of chroniclers but Britain's Dark Ages' can still be explored through their material remnants buildings books metalwork & above all landscapes Max Adams explores Britain's lost early medieval past by walking its paths & exploring its lasting imprint on valley hill & field From York to Whitby from London to Sutton Hoo from Edinburgh to Anglesey & from Hadrian's Wall to Loch Tay each of his ten walk narratives form both free-standing chapters & parts of a wider portrait of a Britain of fort & fyrd crypt & crannog church & causeway holy well & memorial stone Part travelogue part expert reconstruction IN THE LAND OF GIANTS offers a beautifully written insight into the lives of peasants drengs ceorls thanes monks & kings during an enigmatic but richly exciting period of our island's history ...

Alphonse Daudet was a highly popular nineteenth-century French novelist whose work radiated humour & good cheer Few knew that for his entire adult life he suffered from syphilis a disease both unmentionable & incurable at the time What even fewer realised was that he kept an intimate notebook in which he recorded the development & terrifying effects of the disease Describing a life in pain & the sometimes alarming treatments he underwent Daudet's journal is unique for its comic zest lucid self-examination & stoicism Translated by the Booker Prize-winning writer Julian Barnes ...

IN THE LAND OF WOMEN is a surprisingly sombre yet funny coming-of-age tale from director Jon Kasdan & stars Adam Brody in a role not too different from his beloved Seth Cohen on the night-time teen soap THE OC Brody playing a character his own age breezily inhabits Carter a loveable but somewhat directionless screenwriter (if you count soft-core porn films) who is dumped by his beautiful but shallow starlet girlfriend Sofia at the start of the film In crisis mode he packs up & heads to the Detroit suburb where his senile grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) lives in an attempt to help her out & get some perspective While desperately trying to make sense of his grandmother's incoherent ramblings Carter slaves away at a long-coming screenplay & creates confusing friendships with the mother (Meg Ryan) & daughter (Kristen Stewart) next door While the film sometimes seems to be grasping for something it can't quite find it is entertaining throughout especially for fans of Brody Thanks to some clever dialogue quirky characters & Brody's oddball line delivery IN THE LAND OF WOMEN manages to get more than a few laughs That said the film also deals with serious issues like sickness & death in a light-hearted way Ryan & Stewart both add depth to what could be one-dimensional characters & while Brody's performance doesn't feel like much of a stretch it's nice to see the actor moving towards some slightly more adult material Kasdan packs the film to the brim with indie pop songs providing a hip soundtrack for a story that feels contemporary by refusing to fit the traditional romantic-comedy mould ...

One September morning in 2008 an investment banker approaching forty his career in collapse & his marriage unravelling receives a surprise visitor at his West London home He struggles to place the dishevelled figure carrying a backpack until he recognizes a friend from his student days a brilliant man who disappeared years earlier under mysterious circumstances The friend has resurfaced to make a confession of unsettling power Theirs is the age-old story of the bond between two men & the betrayal of one by the other As the friends begin to talk & as their room becomes a world a journey begins that is by turns exhilarating shocking intimate & strange Set against the breaking of nations & beneath the clouds of economic crisis & moving between Kabul New York Oxford London & Islamabad In the Light of What We Know tells the story of people wrestling with unshakeable legacies of class & culture & pushes at the great questions of love origins science faith & war In an extraordinary feat of imagination Zia Haider Rahman has woven the seismic upheavals of our young century into a novel of rare compassion scope & courage ...

Please note this is a region B Blu-ray & will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) is a tough veteran Secret Service agent who has been plagued by feeling s of guilt & failure since the assassination of John F Kennedy As the agent on duty that fatal day Horrigan feels that he should have reacted more quickly & taken the bullet for the President Thirty years later the current President of the United States is entering a re-election campaign & following a number of death threats Horrigan has been called in to assist in what should be a routine research operation However when he discovers that a professional assassin & master of disguise (John Malkovich) has been tracking the President the assignment turns into a deadly game of cat & mouse Leary uses his knowledge of the events in 1963 to mentally torture Horrigan in the ensuing psychological duel
- a duel that will eventually put Horrigan & In the Line of Fire&
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IN THE LOOP finds writerdirector Armando Iannucci expanding his critically acclaimed satire THE THICK OF IT for the big screen & features a cast including Peter Capaldi (TORCHWOOD) James Gandolfini (THE SOPRANOS) Tom Hollander (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) Peter Capaldi (THE THICK OF IT) Steve Coogan (I'M ALAN PARTRIDGE) & former child star Anna Chlumsky (MY GIRL) The foul-mouthed comedy follows the US President & UK Prime Minister as they conspire to start a war & promote is as a 'good thing' US General Miller (Gandolfini) disagrees as does British Secretary of State for International Development Simon Foster (Hollander) When the mild-mannered minister appears on TV is"ed out of context & made to look like he endorses the conflict he suddenly finds his every move under the watchful eye of the PM's amoral chief of communications (Capaldi) The Brits soon find themselves in Washington & at the centre of what will become an insurmountable 'mountain of conflict' ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play In The Loop is a foul-mouthed comedy that draws on non-specific events to create a world that is terrifyingly familiar The US President & UK Prime Minister fancy a war but not everyone agrees that war is a &good thing& US General Miller (James Gandolfini
- The Sopranos The Taking Of Pelham 123) certainly doesn&t think so & neither does the British Secretary of State for International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander
- Pirates of the Caribbean Pride & Prejudice) But when the mild-mannered minister inadvertently appears to back the war on prime-time television he immediately attracts the attention of the PM&s venomously aggressive communications chief Malcolm Tucker (reprised from The Thick of It by Peter Capaldi) who latches onto him like a hawk Soon the Brits are in Washington where diplomatic relations collide with trans-Atlantic spin doctors & Foster&s off-hand remark quickly spirals into an insurmountable &mountain of conflict& Actors Steve Coogan James Gandolfini Anna Chlumsky Tom Hollander David Rasche Peter Capaldi Chris Addison Natasha Sattler Zach Woods Harry Hadden-Paton Jen Carden Joanna Scanlan James Smith & Paul Higgins Director Armando Iannucci Certificate 15 years & over Year 2009 Screen Widescreen Languages English
- Dolby Digital (51)


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The trials we face in this life can feel overwhelming Life often seems broken-shattered into a million pieces-and at times we may wonder if our mess is "too big" for God We can convince ourselves we are too far away from God's grace for it to reach us where we are Sheila Walsh knows this feeling all too well-and the hiding & shame that result from it But in this six-session video study she shows how using spiritual disciplines such as confession prayer & meditation on Scripture helped her break free from this cycle of despair & experience newfound joy as a child of God-fully known fully loved & fully accepted She reveals that while we will never be completely "fixed" on earth God's power can be made perfect in our weakness He is waiting to accept us-having already promised to love us heal us & carry us through to the end Our brokenness can be the beginning of something beautiful & accepting the fact that we are broken can be the key to finding God's strength in the middle of the mess This study guide

Includes:: video discussion questions Bible exploration & in-between session study materials that will help you practice the spiritual discipline Sheila is discussing each week as she leads you & your group members through the journey of brokenness Sessions include Brokenness Is the Beginning Brokenness Is Hard Brokenness Is Loud Brokenness Is to Be Shared Brokenness Is the Path to Healing Brokenness Is Temporary Designed for use with the In the Middle of the Mess Video Study (sold separately)

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Jennifer Worth's bestselling memoirs of her time as a midwife have inspired & moved readers of all ages Now in In the Midst of Life she documents her experiences as a nurse & ward sister treating patients who were nearing the end of their lives Interspersed with these stories from Jennifer's post-midwife career are the histories of her patients from the family divided by a decision nobody could bear to make to the mother who comes to her son's adopted country & joins his family without being able to speak a word of English In the Midst of Life also gives moving insights not just into Jennifer's life & career but also of a period of time which seems very different to today's fast-paced world ...

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The captivating new novel from the multi-million-bestselling author of The House of the Spirits & The Japanese Lover ' In some of the most beautiful passages in the novel Allende explores the gentle but redemptive depths of mature love & the paths it can take Allende has an unflashy wisdom to offer a maturity that illuminates her storytelling it pursues an age-old question how to live a full life & find meaning not just survive or endure one's past' Financial Times on In the Midst of Winter New York Times bestseller Isabel Allende returns with a beautifully crafted multi-generational novel of struggle endurance & friendship against the odds Amid the biggest Brooklyn snowstorm in living memory an unexpected friendship blossoms between three people thrown together by circumstance Richard Bowmaster a lonely university professor in his sixties hits the car driven by Evelyn Ortega a young undocumented migrant from Guatemala But what at first seems an inconvenience takes an unforeseen & darker turn when Evelyn comes to him & his neighbour Lucia Maraz desperately seeking help Sweeping from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala to turbulent 1970s Chile & Brazil & woven with Isabel Allende's trademark humanity passion & storytelling verve In the Midst of Winter is a mesmerizing & unforgettable tale Praise for Isabel Allende Isabel Allende is a master storyteller When it comes to love Isabel writes from the heart to the heart & I feel all the richer for having been touched by her' Santa Montefiore If Allende's life depended on her narrative gifts she'd not only survive but reign' Los Angeles Times Isabel Allende is the most romantic of writers & The Japanese Lover is a novel of high romance & lush sensuality unashamedly about the enduring power of love & ending on a note of grace' The Times Lush storytelling with a liberal dusting of South American magical realism & a multi-gener-ational narrative sweep' Financial Times Internationally beloved Allende as effervescent in her compassion social concerns & profound joy in storytelling as ever brings both humor & intensity to this madcap soulful & transporting tale of three survivors who share their traumatic pasts Allende has a rare & precious gift for simultaneously challenging & entrancing readers' Booklist starred review Grief & loss are transformed into healing friendship in this fantastic novel A suspenseful icy adventure Filled with Allende's signature lyricism & ingenious plotting the book delves wonderfully into what it means to respect protect & love' Publishers Weekly This winter's tale has something to melt each frozen heart' Kirkus Reviews ...