The Somerset & Dorset Railway known as the S&D (said to also stand for Slow & Dirty' or Serene & Delightful') ran from Bath across the Mendip hills to Bournemouth on the south coast Never a high-speed line the main traffic for the Somerset & Dorset during the winter months was freight & local passenger traffic In the summer however there was heavy traffic as Saturday holiday services from the northern industrial towns passed along the line In 1962 John Betjeman travelled along the Somerset & Dorset from Evercreech Junction to Highbridge & Burnham-on-Sea making a BBC documentary called Branch Line Railway in which he pleaded for the line to be spared from the Beeching cuts However despite an active campaign to save it & the promise by the new Labour government that there would be no more railway cutbacks on 7 March 1966 the whole line was closed 2016 will see the fiftieth anniversary of the closure of this much-mourned railway; here in this well-illustrated book the history of the line is preserved ...

'A lively entertaining blend of murder mystery & supernatural adventure' George R R Martin Should you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation think of Jesperson & Lane For several years Miss Lane was companion collaborator & friend to the lady known to the Psychical Society only as Miss X
- until she discovered that Miss X was actually a fraud Now Miss Lane works with Mr Jasper Jesperson as a consulting detective but the cases are not as plentiful as they might be & money is getting tight
- until a wife's concern for her husband's nocturnal ramblings piques their interest & mediums begin to disappear all over London There is only one team with the imagination & intelligence to uncover the nefarious purpose behind the vanished psychics & the somnambulist's wanderings Jesperson & Lane at your service

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THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES starring Pierce Brosnan & co-written by Philipp Meyer The critically acclaimed New York Times-bestselling epic a saga of land blood & power follows the rise of one unforgettable Texas family from the Comanche raids of the 1800s to the oil booms of the 20th century Eli Mc Cullough is just twelve years old when a marauding band of Comanche storm his Texas homestead brutally murder his mother & sister & take him captive Despite their torture & cruelty Eli
- against all odds
- adapts to life with the Comanche learning their ways & language taking on a new name finding a place as the adopted son of the band's chief & fighting their wars against not only other Indians but white men too which complicates his sense of loyalty his promised vengeance & his very understanding of self But when disease starvation & westward expansion finally decimate the Comanche Eli is left alone in a world in which he belongs nowhere neither white nor Indian civilized nor fully wild Deftly interweaving Eli's story with those of his son Peter & his great-granddaughter JA The Son maps the legacy of Eli's ruthlessness his drive to power & his lifelong status as an outsider even as the Mc Cullough family rises to become one of the richest in Texas a ranching & oil dynasty that is as resilient & dangerous as the land they claim Yet like all empires the Mc Culloughs must eventually face the consequences of their choices Panoramic deeply evocative & utterly transporting The Son is a masterpiece American novel
- part epic of Texas part classic coming-of-age story
- that combines the narrative prowess of Larry Mc Murtry with the knife-edge sharpness of Cormac Mc Carthy ' Stunning a book that for once really does deserve to be called a masterpiece' Kate Atkinson ' Magnificent Mc Carthy's Border Trilogy is a point of reference as is There Will Be Blood but it is not fanciful to be reminded of certain passages from Moby-Dick
- it's that good' The Times ' Brilliant a wonderful novel' Lionel Shriver




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OVER 33 MILLION BOOKS SOLD WORLDWIDESONNY'S ON THE RUN Sonny is a model prisoner He listens to the confessions of other inmates & absolves them of their sins HE'S BEEN LIED TO HIS WHOLE LIFE But then one prisoner's confession changes everything He knows something about Sonny's disgraced father SONNY WANTS REVENGE He needs to break out of prison & make those responsible pay for their crimes WHATEVER THE COST ...

The SECOND title in this number one bestselling spin-off series from Percy Jackson creator Rick Riordan This crazy messed up world of gods & monsters is Percy Jackson's reality which pretty much sucks for him Percy Jackson son of Poseidon God of the Sea has woken from a very deep sleep & come face to face with two snake-haired ladies who refuse to die But they're the least of his problems Because Percy finds himself at a camp for half-bloods which doesn't ring any bells for him There's just one name he remembers from his past Annabeth Only one thing is certain
- Percy's questing days aren't over He & fellow demigods Frank & Hazel must face the most important quest of all the Prophecy of Seven If they fail it's not just their camp at risk Percy's old life the gods & the entire world might be destroyed
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play After years of misery at the hands of the hapless Inspector Clouseau Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) at last feels he has gained the recognition he deserves when assigned to a high profile case to rescue a kidnapped princess He is offered the assistance of a young gendarme (Roberto Benigni) who acts in a strangely familiar manner & a meeting with the gendarme&s mother confirms Dreyfus& worst fears
- his charge is the illegitimate love child of Jacques Clouseau & his methods of detection are just as haphazard as his father&s
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Frank doesn't know how to feel when Nick Underbridge rescues her from bullies one afternoon No one likes Nick He's big he's weird & he smells
- or so everyone in Frank's class thinks & yet there's something nice about Nick's house There's strange music playing there & it feels light & good & makes Frank feel happy for the first time in forever But there's more to Nick & to his house than meets the eye & soon Frank realises she isn't the only one keeping secrets Or the only one who needs help A poignant darkly comic & deeply moving story about the power of the extraordinary & finding friendship where you least expect it Written by the author of the critically acclaimed The Imaginary & illustrated by award-winning illustrator Levi Pinfold this is perfect for fans of Roald Dahl & Neil Gaiman
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How do you make a song a global smash hit that is guaranteed to make millions? Who are the hit-manufacturers that can create a tune that is so catchy so wildly addictive that it sticks in the minds of millions of listeners? & who are the powerful few that have the capacity to transform say a young Barbadian woman called Robyn Rihanna Fenty into the global megastar that is Rihanna? In The Song Machine John Seabrook dissects the workings of this machine travelling the world to reveal its hidden formulas & interview its geniuses
- the hitmakers'
- at the centre of it all Hilarious & jaw-droppingly shocking this book will change how you think & feel about music as well as how you listen to it

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A beautiful new limited edition paperback of The Song of Achilles published as part of the Bloomsbury Modern Classics list ...

Greece in the age of heroes Patroclus an awkward young prince has been exiled to the court of King Peleus & his perfect son Achilles Despite their differences Achilles befriends the shamed prince & as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war & medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper
- despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis a cruel sea goddess But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped Achilles must go to war in distant Troy & fulfill his destiny Torn between love & fear for his friend Patroclus goes with him little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear
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