`I waited patiently for the next hand to be played out, & I had a feeling it was going to be a Natural, a perfect nine.` His name is Lord Doyle. His plan: to gamble away his last days in the dark & decadent casino halls of Macau. His game: baccarat punto blanco
- `that slutty dirty queen of casino card games.` Though Doyle is not a Lord at all. He is a fake; a corrupt lawyer who has spent a career siphoning money from rich clients. & now he is on the run, determined to send the money
- & himself
- up in smoke. So begins a beguiling, elliptical velvet rope of a plot: a sharp suit, yellow kid gloves, another naughty lemonade & an endless loop of small wins & losses. When Lady Luck arrives in the form of Dao-Ming, a beautiful yet enigmatic lost soul, so begins a spectacular & unnatural winning streak in which millions come Doyle`s way. But in these shadowy dens of risk & compulsion, in a land governed by superstition, Doyle knows that when the bets are high, the stakes are even greater. The Ballad of a Small Player is a sleek, dark-hearted masterpiece: a ghost story set in the land of the living, & a decadent morality tale of a Faustian pact made, not with the devil, but with fortune`s fickle h&.


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In 1903, the Victorian composer Cecil Sharp began a decade-long journey to collect folk songs that, he believed, captured the spirit of Great Britain. A century later, with the musical & cultural map of the country transformed, writer & journalist Will Hodgkinson sets out on a similar journey to find the songs that make up modern Britain. He looks at the unique relationship the British have with music, & tries to understand how the country has represented itself through song. He visits remote pubs in the West Country where families have been passing down local songs for generations, monasteries in Oxfordshire where monks use plainsong to commune with God, sits in with Hindu devotional singers in the suburbs of Birmingham & learns an ancient folk tune from a Sussex farmer. Will goes from the heart of the mainstream music scenes to the very fringes as part of his quest, visiting in turn remote musical heartlands & great urban musical cities. London (The Kinks, The Who & Blur), Liverpool (The Teardrop Explodes, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Beatles), Manchester (Joy Division, Stone Roses, Oasis) & Sheffield (Cabaret Voltaire, The Human League, Pulp & more recently, The Arctic Monkeys) all feature prominently as the respective homes of clusters of great bands that have helped shape the British musical landscape. An engaging blend of humour & musical scholarship, The Ballad of Britian is as much a portrait of Britain as an adventure into lyric & melody. The project forced the author into an itinerant life, scouring the length & breadth of the country for singers & songwriters in an attempt to discover whether songs still travel the way they once did, to find out whether folk music still exists in a meaningful sense, & to see how regional variations contribute to a collective musical ” Britishness”. ...

A man of devilish charm & enterprising spirit, Dougal Douglas is employed to revitalize the ailing firm of Meadows, Meade & Grindley. He succeeds, but not quite in the way his employer intended. Strange things begin to happen as Dougal exerts an uncanny influence on the inhabitants of Peckham Rye & brings lies, tears, blackmail & even murder into the lives of all he meets, from Miss Merle Coverdale, head of the typing pool, to Beauty, the resident femme fatale, & even Mr Druce, the unsuspecting Managing Director himself. ...

A classic work that has charmed generations of readers, this collection assembles Carson Mc Cullers` best stories, including her beloved novella ” The Ballad of the Sad Cafe.” A haunting tale of a human triangle that culminates in an astonishing brawl, the novella introduces readers to Miss Amelia, a formidable southern woman whose cafe serves as the town`s gathering place. Among other fine works, the collection also

Includes:: ” Wunderkind, ” Mc Cullers` first published story written when she was only seventeen about a musical prodigy who suddenly realizes she will not go on to become a great pianist.

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There`s little room in this world for a moral man. Meet Early ” Trenchmouth” Taggart, a man born & orphaned in 1903, a man nicknamed for his lifelong oral affliction. His boyhood is shaped by the Widow Dorsett, a strong mountain woman who teaches him to hunt & survive the taunts of others. In the hills of southern West Virginia, a boy grows up fast. Trenchmouth sips moonshine, handles snakes, pleasures women, & masters the rifle
- a skill that lands him in the middle of the West Virginia coal wars. A teenaged union sniper, Trenchmouth is exiled to the backwoods of Appalachia`s foothills, where he spends his years running from the past. But trouble will sniff a man down, & an outlaw will eventually run home. Here, Trenchmouth Taggart`s story, like the best ballads, etches its mark deep upon the memory.
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Alan Palmer’s “ The Baltic” deals with the nations & individuals who have shaped this vitally important geopolitical zone from ancient history right through to the present day. From the trading cities of the Hanseatic League to the great Templar castle at Marienburg, the Baltic’s medieval Golden Age is evoked in this clearly written & definitive history. Palmer also examines the role of the Baltic States in the Twentieth century as the setting of the Eastern Front in the Second World War & as occupied territory during Nazism. The present era finds the Baltic as a region home to some of Europe’s most progressive democracies, & Palmer skilfully debates the future that lies in store for these countries. ...

The nine countries bordering the Baltic Sea offer an immense variety of cruising grounds, people & cultures. There are thousands of harbours & innumerable anchorages, & it would take an entire bookshelf, to cover them all in detail. The information contained in this book is therefore selective. It has been chosen for its value both at the planning stages
- preparing the yacht, choosing the most suitable route, timing & communications etc
- & again on arrival, when a general overview of each individual country is followed by specific harbour information. Where detailed cruising information is readily available
- effectively Germany, Denmark, Sweden & Finland
- only selected harbours are covered, chosen, with a few exceptions, as fulfilling certain key needs. Where cruising information is more limited
- Pol&, Kaliningrad, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia & Russia
- many smaller harbours are also featured in detail. In addition to comprehensive suggestions for further reading (and sources in each country from which they may be ordered) more than 200 websites are listed, again chosen for their relevance both at the planning stages & en route. In order to facilitate the latter, as well as for general communication, details of internet access points are included for most major harbours. This 3rd edition has been produced by a team from the Royal Cruising Club & contains substantial changes. Coverage of the West Coast of Sweden, the Gota Canal & the Gulf of Bothnia has been extended & there is more detailed information on the Baltic states. Throughout there are new plans & photographs & the technical data on countries & navigation has been thoroughly revised. Beautiful, secluded anchorages, picturesque canals, bustling marinas, dramatic cities
- all await those considering a Baltic cruise.






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NOVEMBER 24, 2004 The day of the tragedy. The end of a brotherhood. The Baltimore Boys. The Goldman Gang. That was what they called Marcus Goldman & his cousins Woody & Hillel. Three brilliant young men with dazzling futures ahead of them, before their kingdom crumbled beneath the weight of lies, jealousy & betrayal. For years, Marcus has struggled with the burdens of his past, but now he must attempt to banish his demons & tell the true & astonishing story of the Baltimore Boys. The stunning new novel from the author of the global bestseller, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair Translated from the French by Alison Anderson ...

NOVEMBER 24, 2004 The day of the tragedy. The end of a brotherhood. The Baltimore Boys. The Goldman Gang. That was what they called Marcus Goldman & his cousins Woody & Hillel. Three brilliant young men with dazzling futures ahead of them, before their kingdom crumbled beneath the weight of lies, jealousy & betrayal. For years, Marcus has struggled with the burdens of his past, but now he must attempt to banish his demons & tell the true & astonishing story of the Baltimore Boys. The stunning new novel from the author of the global bestseller, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair Translated from the French by Alison Anderson ...

The bamboo is a unique fusion of wood & metal. As the name suggests, bamboo wood is combined with the white painted metal to form the base. Bamboo wood globe• Bamboo wood & painted metal base• Oriental design of the Vision Globe series• Illuminated globe ball ...