Darkus is miserable. His dad has disappeared, & now he is living next door to the most disgusting neighbours ever. A giant beetle called Baxter comes to his rescue. But can the two solve the mystery of his dad`s disappearance, especially when links emerge to cruel Lucretia Cutter & her penchant for beetle jewellery? A coffee-mug mountain, home to a million insects, could provide the answer
- if Darkus & Baxter are brave enough to find it.
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” Jaw-droppingly gorgeous”
- The Bookseller Beetle mania is spreading, thanks to M.G. Leonard`s bestselling Beetle Boy trilogy.
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Cruel beetle fashionista, Lucretia Cutter, is at large with her yellow ladybird spies. When Darkus, Virginia & Bertolt discover further evidence of her evil, they`re determined to stop her. But the three friends are in trouble. Darkus` dad has forbidden them to investigate any further
- & disgusting crooks Humphrey & Pickering are out of prison. Hope rests on Novak, Lucretia`s daughter & a Hollywood actress, but the beetle diva is always one scuttle ahead.. .
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Beetles are arguably the most diverse organisms in the world, with nearly half a million beetle species described & catalogued in our museums, more than any other type of living thing. This astonishing species diversity is matched by a similar diversity in shape, form, size, life history, ecology, physiology & behaviour. Beetles occur everywhere, & do everything. & yet they form a clearly discrete insect group, typically characterised by their attractively compact form, with flight wings folded neatly under smooth hard wing-cases. Almost anyone could recognise a beetle, indeed many are intimately associated with human society. Groups like ladybirds are familiar to us from a very young age. Large stag beetles & handsome chafers are celebrated for their imposing size & bright colours. The sacred scarabs of the ancient Egyptians were given iconic, if not god-like, status & even though the exact religious meanings may be fading after three millennia, their bewitching jewellery & monumental statuary inspire us still. Despite this ancient & easy familiarity with beetles, the Coleoptera remains tainted by the notion that it is a `difficult` group of insects. The traditional routes into studying British natural history, through birdwatching, butterfly-collecting & pressing wild flowers, now extend to studying dragonflies, bumblebees, grasshoppers, moths, hoverflies & even shieldbugs. These are on the verge of becoming popular groups, but beetles remain the preserve of the expert, or so it seems. So many British beetles are easy to find & easy to identify by the non-expert, but that bewildering background diversity, & the daunting numbers of species in the Coleoptera as a whole, have been enough to dissuade many a potential coleopterist from grasping the nettle & getting stuck in. Richard Jones` groundbreaking New Naturalist volume on beetles encourages those enthusiasts who would otherwise be put off by the, to date, rather technical literature that has dominated the field, providing a comprehensive natural history of this fascinating & beautiful group of insects. ...

An enticing collection of before-&-after scenarios, created by master artist & acclaimed author of This Is Not A Book Graphic artist Jean Jullien insightfully & comically depicts a set of clever & surprising before-&-after two-frame narratives, each progressed by a page turn. From pale skin to sunburned skin, dirty to clean, long hair to short hair (to long again), Jullien masterfully builds anticipation & a satisfying resolution with each pairing. Striking the perfect balance of predictability & unexpectedness, this book will leave readers in wonder as they flip back & forth.

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They say `live every day as if it`s your last`
- but you never actually think it`s going to be. At least I didn`t. The thing is,
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Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love
- all forgotten overnight. & the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine`s life.
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As I sleep, my mind will erase everything I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I`m still a child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choice ahead of me.. .` Welcome to Christine`s life. Quite simply the best debut novel I`ve ever read.
- Tess Gerritsen. Brilliant in its pacing, profound in its central question, suspenseful on every page
- & satisfying in its thriller ending.
- Anita Shreve. A deft, perceptive exploration of a fascinating neurological condition, & a cracking good thriller. -Lionel Shriver. A terrific first novel
- well-written, genuinely unsettling & psychologically very plausible. Thrillers seldom come much better than this. Loved it, read it in one
- Joanne Harris. An exceptional thriller. It left my nerves jangling for hours after I finished the last page
- Dennis Lehane. So high-concept, so ambitious & so structurally brilliant. It`s so rare to read a thriller that`s perfect in every detail, but this one definitely qualifies!
- Sophie Hannah. A deeply unsettling debut that asks the most terrifying question
- what do you have left when you lose yourself?
- Val Mc Dermid. A truly amazing debut. The central character, Christine, is beautifully drawn. It`s hard to imagine a more compelling, believable & sympathetic portrayal of a damaged human being. I loved it from start to finish.
- Mo Hayder.









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Reinaldo Arenas was born to a poverty-stricken family in rural Cuba. By the time of his death in New York four decades later, he had become one of Cuba`s most important poets, an outspoken critic of Castro`s regime & one of the leading gay voices of the twentieth century. In Before Night Falls, Arenas tells of his odyssey from young rebel fighting for the Revolution, through his suppression as a writer, his disillusionment with Castro, his imprisonment & torture, to his eventual exile from Cuba to New York, where in 1987 he was diagnosed with AIDS. He committed suicide in 1990, ending a life of constant struggle against repression. In a farewell note, Arenas wrote: Due to my delicate state of health & to the terrible depression that causes me not to be able to continue writing & struggling for the freedom of Cuba, I am ending my life.. . I do not want to convey to you a message of defeat, but of continued struggle & hope. Cuba will be free. I already am. (signed) Reinaldo Arenas ...

The story of the land that became Scotland is one of dramatic geological events & impressive human endeavour. Alistair Moffats gripping narrative ranges from the great thaw at the end of the Ice Age which was instrumental in shaping Scotlands magnificent landscape through the megalith builders, the Celts & the Picts, to the ascension of King Constantine II. Moffat deploys his knowledge with wit & deftness, interweaving the story with numerous special features on topics as diverse as cave drawings of dancing girls, natural birth control, the myth of Atlantis & the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence all of them valuable, sometimes quirky, additions to the whole picture. Rounding out the account is a selection of carefully chosen colour photographs that give a strong sense of the Scottish landscape & monuments. Erudite & entertaining, ” Before Scotland”, newly available in paperback, transforms our understanding of a neglected period. It is essential reading for anyone interested in the land that became Scotl&. ...