' 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
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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
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' 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
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Bill Bryson's first travel book opened with the immortal line I come from Des Moines Somebody had to' In this deeply funny & personal memoir he travels back in time to explore the ordinary kid he once was in the curious world of 1950s Middle America It was a happy time when almost everything was good for you including DDT cigarettes & nuclear fallout This is a book about one boy's growing up But in Bryson's hands it becomes everyone's story one that will speak volumes
- especially to anyone who has ever been young
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The Chippendale cabinet-making firm founded by Thomas Chippendale senior in about 1750 became famous partly through the succesful publication of his The Gentleman & Cabinet-Maker's Director (1754 re-published 1755 & 1762) & partly through the fine furniture supplied to a number of illustrious clients Chippendale senior ran the workshop for just over twenty years His eldest son Thomas Chippendale junior continued the business for over forty the first two decades in partnership with Thomas Haig Chippendale senior's work has been well documents Chippendale junior's work has never until now been thoroughly researched The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale Junior repairs the omission His patrons included members of the Royal Family aristocrats landed gentry & antiquarians He was adept at satisfying their demands whether they required lavish gilt or simpler often mahogany pieces Where family archives & original settings survive as at Harewood House Paxton House & Stourhead they reveal the variety & quality of Chippendale's output Analysis of client's invoices even when the furniture can no longer be traced for the first time provides a colourful view of what customers chose & what prices they paid ...

Wes Anderson&s THE LIFE AQUATIC a group of oceanic explorers who call themselves Team Zissou embark on a journey to hunt down the &jaguar shark& that ate one of their crew members (Seymour Cassel) Determined to avenge the death of his dear friend team leader Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) is melancholic about the journey he&s about to make Meanwhile financial troubles & nostalgia for his past make Zissou behave like a reckless playboy an ageing softy & a past-his-prime tyrant Surrounding Zissou are a hodgepodge of eccentrics--a pregnant journalist doing a magazine feature (Cate Blanchett) an airline pilot from Kentucky who claims he is Zissou&s son (Owen Wilson) an emotionally needy European (Willem Dafoe) an acoustic guitarist who sings David Bowie songs in Brazilian Portuguese (Seu Jorge) Zissou&s brilliant wife (Anjelica Houston) & her ex-husband who is Zissou&s seafaring nemesis (Jeff Goldblum) Clad in baby-blue polyester uniforms Adidas sneakers & red stocking caps Team Zissou is a sight to see & as their deep-sea adventure takes them into dangerous waters where they are attacked by pirates & dazzled by CGI fish the group finds magic both in their bonds to each other & in the colourful world around them In keeping with Anderson&s unique brand of escapist humour these caricatured characters are nothing short of fascinating While their lives are extraordinary they act bored dwelling on banalities like hurt feelings jealousy & loneliness The more absurd their stories are the more believable their quirky personalities become With plenty of hilarious moments offsetting the film&s tongue-in-cheek sentimentalism THE LIFE AQUATIC is sure to please seasoned Anderson fans & make new ones of the uninitiated ...

Do you want to live forever? Ben Ferguson-Cripps is a struggling writer with a surname that gets more comments than his waning blog In desperation Ben sets aside his literary ambitions to join the newly established & enigmatic Life Assistance Agency The agency's first case is to trace a missing person with links to the Elizabethan angel-caller Dr John Dee Pursued by a shadowy organisation
- & the ghosts of Ben's past
- the trail leads them on a white-knuckle ride through Europe into the historic streets of Prague As forces meet in a deadly climax the long-buried secrets of Dr Dee's achievements are finally revealedand Ben will discover there is always more to life

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If you are considering life coaching as a career this book provides a guide to creating & sustaining your practice a resource for coaching yourself towards a more fulfilled life & a reference & companion designed to serve you through your professional life It sets out to promote a thorough understanding of what life coaching entails & to lead you through a course of applied neuro-linguistic programming techiques & exercises aimed at improving your coaching abilities These include state control rapport-building metaphor meta-programs & meta-linguages The book also introduces the spiral coaching model a new coaching tool that identifies & utilises people's thinking patterns ...