They say that the Thorn of Camorr can beat anyone in a fight They say he steals from the rich & gives to the poor They say he's part man part myth & mostly street-corner rumor & they are wrong on every count Only averagely tall slender & god-awful with a sword Locke Lamora is the fabled Thorn & the greatest weapons at his disposal are his wit & cunning He steals from the rich
- they're the only ones worth stealing from
- but the poor can go steal for themselves What Locke cons wheedles & tricks into his possession is strictly for him & his band of fellow con-artists & thieves the Gentleman Bastards Together their domain is the city of Camorr Built of Elderglass by a race no-one remembers it's a city of shifting revels filthy canals baroque palaces & crowded cemeteries Home to Dons merchants soldiers beggars cripples & feral children & to Capa Barsavi the criminal mastermind who runs the city But there are whispers of a challenge to the Capa's power A challenge from a man no one has ever seen a man no blade can touch The Grey King is coming A man would be well advised not to be caught between Capa Barsavi & The Grey King Even such a master of the sword as the Thorn of Camorr As for Locke Lamora

...

Trust in our politicians is at an all-time low We're in a "post-truth" era where feelings trump facts & where brazen rhetoric beats honesty But do politicians lie more than they used to? & do we even want them to tell the truth? In a history full of wit & political acumen Private Eye journalist Adam Macqueen dissects the gripping stories of the biggest political lies of the last half century from the Profumo affair to Blair's WMDs to Boris Johnson's GBP350 million for the NHS Covering lesser known whoppers infamous lies from foreign shores ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman") & some of the resolute untruths from Donald Trump's explosive presidential campaign this is the quintessential guide to dishonesty from our leaders
- & the often pernicious relationship between parliament & the media But this book is also so much more It explains how in the space of a lifetime we have gone from the implicit assumption that our rulers have our best interests at heart to assuming the worst even when
- in the majority of cases
- politicians are actually doing their best


...

What happens when you&re rejected from the afterlife? Jude is the son of God cast out from the heavens & forced to make a life on earth Cursed with the knowledge of the afterlife but unable to reach it Jude focuses his power on convincing people to disavow their belief in a higher power On the other side of the fight is Essie the child who was never born who recruits believers to her side When the fight between faith & disbelief is fought on the mortal coil the fallout is catastrophic This volume collects the final five issues of Exodus The Life After the fourth volume of The Life After saga a strange & insightful journey that goes far beyond the veil About the Author What happens when you&re rejected from the afterlife? Jude is the son of God cast out from the heavens & forced to make a life on earth Cursed with the knowledge of the afterlife but unable to reach it Jude focuses his power on convincing people to disavow their belief in a higher power On the other side of the fight is Essie the child who was never born who recruits believers to her side When the fight between faith & disbelief is fought on the mortal coil the fallout is catastrophic This volume collects the final five issues of Exodus The Life After the fourth volume of The Life After saga a strange & insightful journey that goes far beyond the veil ...

A baby is found by wood nymphs in the forest of Burzee They raise him as their own & give him the name Neclaus When he grows up Neclaus has to leave the forest so he makes a home for himself in the laughing valley of Hohaha where he lives amongst humans for the first time He discovers there that many children are very poor & neglected so to cheer them up he whittles wooden toys as gifts Eventually he makes presents for all the children & so the story of Santa Claus is born Fashioned as a whimsical fairy tale The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus was published in 1902 just two years after L Frank Baum's masterpiece of the imagination The Wonderful Wizard of Oz This festive Macmillan Collector's Library edition of The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus features charming original illustrations by Mary Cowles Clark & an afterword by writer & journalist Ned Halley Designed to appeal to the booklover the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful special gift editions of much loved classic titles Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love & treasure ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play A human baby is found & raised in the magical forest of Burzee The only human to ever be allowed into the forest young Nicholas soon seeks adventures that change the lives of children forever! This magical tale lets you in on all the secrets behind Christmas Why do reindeer pull the sleigh? How does Santa make all the Christmas toys in time? From the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz comes the story behind everyone's favourite holiday time! Actors Hal Holbrook Robby Benson Dixie Carter Directors Glen Hill Format Animated Dolby PALLanguage English Region Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe Read more about DVD formats) Number of discs 1 ...

' If The Girl on the Train was the woman of 2015 then Sophie Stark is this year's model Anna North's novel The Life & Death of Sophie Stark has been a hit in America with Lena Dunham describing its protagonist as a "totally unforgettable female antihero" Out now
- soon every girl on every train will be reading it' Sunday Times Who is the real Sophie Stark? The Life & Death of Sophie Stark is the story of an enigmatic film director told by the six people who loved her most Brilliant infuriating all-seeing & unknowable Sophie Stark makes films said to be 'more like life than life itself' But her genius comes at a terrible cost to her husband to the brother she left behind & to an actress who knows too much With shades of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves A Visit from the Goon Squad & Where'd You Go Bernadette it combines a uniquely appealing sensibility with a compulsively page-turning plot' Thriller-paced with mysteries revealed at every turn The great mystery at the centre is Sophie Stark a totally unforgettable female anti-hero who conforms to absolutely none of our expectations & suffers deeply for it' Lena Dunham' North is a natural butter-smooth storyteller' Maggie Shipstead author of SEATING ARRANGEMENTS'I read THE LIFE & DEATH OF SOPHIE STARK with my heart in my mouth Not only a dissection of genius & the havoc it can wreak but also a thunderously good story' Emma Donoghue author of ROME' Jennifer Egan eat your heart out' Sam Baker'A captivating portrait of the artist as a young woman It's a story that examines the notion of artistic legacy & meditates on the ethics involved in film-making & storytelling' THE INDEPENDENT' Gripping & graceful' THE GUARDIAN' The year's must read' GLAMOUR
...

The extraordinary story of the UK's most gruelling & spectacularly beautiful islands Tom Steel's acclaimed portrait of the St Kildan's lives is now updated in this reissued edition Situated at the westernmost point of the United Kingdom the spectacularly beautiful but utterly bleak island of St Kilda is familiar to virtually nobody A lonely archipelago off the coast of Scotland it is hard to believe that for over two thousand years men & women lived here cut off from the rest of the world With a population never exceeding two hundred in its history the St Kildans were fiercely self-sufficient An intensely religious people they climbed cliffs from childhood & caught birds for food Their sense of community was unparalleled & isolation enveloped their day-to-day existence With the onset of the First World War things changed For the very first time in St Kilda's history daily communication was established between the islanders & the mainland Slowly but surely this marked the beginning of the end of St Kilda & in August 1930 the island's remaining 36 inhabitants were evacuated Newly updated to include the historic appointment of St Kilda as the United Kingdom's only UNESCO Dual Heritage site the ongoing search for information about the island & the threats that it continues to face this is the moving story of a vanished community & how twentieth century civilization ultimately brought an entire way of life to its knees ...

In 1940 Daily Telegraph correspondent Henry Buckley published his eyewitness account of his experiences reporting form the Spanish Civil War The copies of the book stored in a warehouse in London were destroyed during the Blitz & only a handful of copies of his unique chronicle were saved Now seventy years after its first publication this exceptional eyewitness account of the war is republished with a new introduction by Paul Preston The Life & Death of the Spanish Republic is a unique account of Spanish politics throughout the entire life of the Second Republic from its foundation of 14 April 1931 to its defeat at the end of March 1939 combining personal recollections of meetings with the great politicians of the day with eyewitness accounts of dramatic events Buckley arrived in Spain prior to the outbreak of the war & was one of the few correspondents reporting on the conflict who had an in-depth knowledge & understanding of Spain
- its people politics & culture Well acquainted with the major protagonists from the conflict he particularly admired Dr Juan Negrin the wartime Socialist premier but was utterly bowled over by ' La Pasionaria' the Communist orator Dolores Ibarruri He was also a good friend of Ernest Hemingway & the renowned photographer Robert Capa This important book is one fo the most enduring records of the Spanish Republic & the civil war & a monumental testimony to Buckley's work as a correspondent Providing a fascinating portrait of a crucial decade of contemporary Spanish history & based on an abundance of the eyewitness material that only a really assiduous resident journalist could collect this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the Spanish Civil War
...

' It seems to me that we are all made up of the things we adore & by telling my stories through the prism of my passions I hope you will get an insight into my life' In his new autobiography written with characteristic humour & often outrageous candour Graham shows that life is more than just a series of dates & it's really the things you love that make you who you are From his beloved dogs to his rediscovered love of Ireland the men Graham has loved & lost to his love affair with New York It's been ten years since Graham last hit our shelves & being a decade older he has come to realise that what makes a life interesting is less what happens to you & more what inspires & drives you Graham Norton's career has spanned the last two decades seeing him 'transition from risque Channel 4 comedian to national treasure' (Evening Standard) & he has entertained an audience of millions in Father Ted as the hilarious host of Eurovision & on his primetime BBC1 TV & weekly BBC Radio 2 shows He is loved across the nation for his delight in the peculiar for his ability to find humour & a common ground in all that life brings In The Life & Loves of a He Devil is Graham shows us it's really the things you love that make you who you are ...

Ruth Patchett never thought of herself as particularly devilish Rather the opposite in fact
- simply a tall not terribly attractive
...