It all started in Balham. Tony Hawks is at his friend Arthur Smith's house watching the England football team play the little-know Eastern European state of Moldova. The game fails to hold their interest &, for no other reason than sheer boredom, the pair become involved in a pointless argument about how good Tony is at tennis. The debate concludes with a bet
- that he can't beat all eleven members of the Moldovan football team at tennis. As natural sportsmen, Arthur argues, they will beat Tony easily. ' One of them' he reasons, 'is bound to be very good'.
...

All I knew about Moldova were the names of eleven men printed on the inside back pages of my newspaper. None of them sounded to me like they were any good at tennis.. . An eccentric wager finds Tony Hawks, a man who loves an unusual challenge, bound for the little-known Eastern European state of Moldova. His mission: to track down members of the country`s football team & persuade them to play him at tennis. The bizarre quest ultimately has little to do with tennis or football, but instead turns into an extraordinary journey involving the Moldovan underworld, gypsies, chronic power shortages, near kidnap, & a surprisingly tender relationship with his host family. Follow the fortunes of Tony in this hilarious & often moving adventure as it takes him from Moldova, onwards to Northern Irel&, leading to an exciting denouement in Nazareth
- & the naked truth of the bet`s final outcome...
...

`I have never read such a stimulating short guide to art. It should be issued as a set text in every school` Lynn Barber, Sunday Times Now Grayson Perry is a fully paid-up member of the art establishment, he wants to show that any of us can appreciate art (after all, there is a reason he`s called this book Playing to the Gallery & not ` Sucking up to an Academic Elite`). Based on his hugely popular BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures & full of pictures, this funny, personal journey through the art world answers the basic questions that might occur to us in an art gallery but seem too embarrassing to ask. ...

Just when you think you`ve saved the world...” You will kill her?” the Torment asked. Skulduggery sagged. ” Yes.” He hesitated, then took his gun from his jacket. ”I`m sorry, Valkyrie, ” he said softly. ” Don`t talk to me, ” Valkyrie said. ” Just do what you have to do.” Valkyrie parted her tunic, & Skulduggery pointed the gun at the vest beneath. ” Please forgive me, ” Skulduggery said, then aimed the gun at the girl & pulled the trigger. With Serpine dead, the world is safe once more. At least, that`s what Valkyrie & Skulduggery think, until the notorious Baron Vengeous makes a bloody escape from prison, & dead bodies & vampires start showing up all over Irel&. With Baron Vengeous after the deadly armour of Lord Vile, & pretty much everyone out to kill Valkyrie, the daring detective duo face their biggest challenge yet. But what if the greatest threat to Valkyrie is just a little closer to home...? ...

` One June day in 1953 aged twelve I sat in a classroom & drew a map.` The map that the young Hamilton-Paterson drew was of a tropical isl&, & it prefigured with uncanny accuracy the Philippine island on which, thirty years later, he would spend a full third of each year, entirely alone. It had a coral str&, a field of grass, vertical volcanic cliffs & no water. He survived by fishing & by drinking rainwater. This is a book about a remarkable & self-sufficient writer`s `desire to be lost`, & the journey of a conventionally educated Englishman to an island on the far side of the world that aroused in him a feeling of discovering a place he always knew. Hamilton-Paterson writes with incomparable skill about the hard beauty of the sea, of coral reefs & the animals that live in them, & about the fishermen who eke a living among the labyrinth of islands that make up the Philippines. ...

Oscar Wilde took London by storm with his first comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan. The combination of dazzling wit, subtle social criticism, sumptuous settings & the theme of a guilty secret proved a winner, both here & in his next three plays, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husb&, & his undisputed masterpiece, The Importance of Being Earnest. This volume

Includes:: all Wilde's plays from his early tragedy Vera to the controversial Salome & the little known fragments, La Sainte Courtisane & A Florentine Tragedy. The edition affords a rare chance to see Wilde's best known work in the context of his entire dramatic output, & to appreciate plays which have hitherto received scant critical attention.

...

This is the second in our Snuggle Books series
- you`ve met Snuggle Bunny, now here`s Playtime Teddy
- a cheery little bear

...

Topographic survey of France at 1:25, 000 in IGN`s excellent TOP25 / Série Bleue series. All the maps are GPS compatible, with a 1km UTM grid plus latitude & longitude lines at 5’ intervals. Contours are at 5m intervals except for mountainous areas where the maps have contours at 10m intervals, vividly enhanced by hill shading & graphics for rocky terrain. Colouring with graphics indicates different types of vegetation or land use (deciduous or coniferous forests, moors, orchards, vineyards, etc). PLEASE NOTE: coverage of France at this scale is currently being revised – the format & the presentation of each title are indicated by the letters at the end of its Sheet Reference number (e.g. 0416ET, 3531ETR, 1923SB, etc.)MAPS WITH FULL TOURIST OVERPRINT & AN ENGLISH MAP LEGEND: all TOP25 maps & the SB editions of Série Bleue have an overprint highlighting waymarked walking trails including long-distance GR routes &, where appropriate, ski routes. Symbols indicate campsites, gîtes d’etape, refuges, equestrian centres & other recreational facilities or sites, tourist information centres, cultural heritage, etc. Towns & locations of particular interest are highlighted.- ET or OT = single-sided TOP25 map covering approx. 29x 21 km / 18x 13 miles.- ETR or OTR = waterproof & tear resistant TOP25 map covering the same area as the corresponding ET or OT number, but double-sided, printed on a smaller size sheet with a good overlap between the sides.- SB = Série Bleue map with full tourist overprint; these maps, first introduced in summer 2014, each cover approx. 29x 24km / 18x 15 miles.SÉRIE BLEUE maps with numbers ending in E (Est) or O (Ouest): most editions now indicate the GR routes, but do not show any other tourist information. Map legend is in French only. Each map covers approx. 14x 20km / 9x 12 miles. ...

The funny, disturbing & deeply affecting new book by the acclaimed author of Terms & Conditions Charlie, a curious boy with a dangerous dictaphone habit, eavesdrops on the eccentric guests of the Mirage Hotel, as the African nation of Bwalo prepares for the annual appearance of its Glorious Leader Tafumo. Sean, an Irishman who`s given his heart (and the best part of his liver) to Bwalo, struggles to write the great African novel
- if only his crazed fiancee & fierce thirst would stop distracting him. Josef, mythmaker & kingmaker, who paved the way for Tafumo`s rise to power, starts to hear the ominous rattle of skeletons in his closet. Hope, the nurse caring for the King, keeps the old man alive, maintaining the facade of the powerful ruler, as she mourns her own broken dreams. & in the countdown to the Big Day, storm clouds are gathering as petty criminal, Jack, smuggles something into Bwalo
- to the Mirage Hotel
- that will change the lives of all of them for ever...


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Please Enjoy Your Happiness is a beautifully written coming-of-age memoir based on the English author`s summer-long love affair with a remarkable older Japanese woman. Whilst serving as a seaman at the age of nineteen, Brinkley-Rogers met Kaji Yukiko, a sophisticated, highly intellectual Japanese woman, who was on the run from her vicious gangster boyfriend, a member of Japan`s brutal crime syndicate the yakuza. Trying to create a perfect experience of purity, she took him under her wing, sharing their love of poetry, cinema & music & many an afternoon at the Mozart Cafe. Brinkley-Rogers, now in his seventies, re-reads Yukiko`s letters & finally recognizes her as the love of his life, receiving at last the gifts she tried to bestow on him. Reaching across time & continents, Brinkley-Rogers shows us how to reclaim a lost love, inviting us all to celebrate those loves of our lives that never do end. ...