`I pity this house; the curse of God is hanging over it`. Set in Lombardy during the Spanish occupation of the late 1620s, The Betrothed tells the story of two young lovers, Renzo & Lucia, prevented from marrying by the petty tyrant Don Rodrigo, who desires Lucia for himself. Forced to flee, they are then cruelly separated, & must face many dangers including plague, famine & imprisonment, & confront a variety of strange characters
- the mysterious Nun of Monza, the fiery Father Cristoforo & the sinister ` Unnamed`
- in their struggle to be reunited. With a vigorous portrayal of enduring passion, the Betrothed`s exploration of love, power & faith presents a whirling panorama of seventeenth-century Italian life & is one of the greatest European historical novels. It is a new series of twenty distinctive, unforgettable Penguin Classics in a beautiful new design & pocket-sized format, with coloured jackets echoing Penguin`s original covers.

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Liliane Bettencourt was the world`s richest woman, & the tenth wealthiest in the entire world. But at 93, became embroiled in incredible controversy
- controversy so great it almost took down the French government. It`s all become Europe`s biggest scandal in years, uncovering a shadowy corporate history, a buried WWII secret, & much more
- so much that the former President of France has become embroiled in the controversy.

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This title is shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2012. This acclaimed book by Steven Pinker, author of ” The Language Instinct” & ” The Blank Slate”, argues that, contrary to popular belief, humankind has become progressively less violent, over millenia & decades. Can violence really have declined? The images of conflict we see daily on our screens from around the world suggest this is an almost obscene claim to be making. Extraordinarily, however, Steven Pinker shows violence within & between societies
- both murder & warfare
- really has declined from prehistory to today. We are much less likely to die at someone else`s hands than ever before. Even the horrific carnage of the last century, when compared to the dangers of pre-state societies, is part of this trend. Debunking both the idea of the `noble savage` & an over-simplistic Hobbesian notion of a `nasty, brutish & short` life, Steven Pinker argues that modernity & its cultural institutions are actually making us better people. ” One of the most important books I`ve read
- not just this year, but ever... For me, what`s most important about ” The Better Angels of Our Nature” are its insights into how to help achieve positive outcomes. How can we encourage a less violent, more just society, particularly for the poor? Steven Pinker shows us ways we can make those positive trajectories a little more likely. That`s a contribution, not just to historical scholarship, but to the world”. (Bill Gates). ” Brilliant, mind-altering... Everyone should read this astonishing book”. (David Runciman, ” Guardian”). ”A supremely important book. To have command of so much research, spread across so many different fields, is a masterly achievement. Pinker convincingly demonstrates that there has been a dramatic decline in violence, & he is persuasive about the causes of that decline”. (Peter Singer, ” New York Times”). ”[A] sweeping new review of the history of human violence...[ Pinker has] the kind of academic superbrain that can translate otherwise impenetrable statistics into a meaningful narrative of human behaviour.. .impeccable scholarship”. (Tony Allen-Mills, ” Sunday Times”). ” Written in Pinker`s distinctively entertaining & clear personal style...a marvellous synthesis of science, history & storytelling”. (Clive Cookson, ” Financial Times”). ” Pinker`s scholarhsip is astounding.. .flawless.. .masterful”. (Joanna Bourke, ” The Times”). Steven Pinker is the Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. Until 2003, he taught in the Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences at MIT. He conducts research on language & cognition, writes for publications such as ” The New York Times”, ” Time” & ” Slate”, & is the author of six books, including ” The Language Instinct”, ” How the Mind Works”, ” The Blank Slate” & ” The Stuff of Thought”.


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This delightful edition of The BFG, by Roald Dahl is illustrated in full colour by Quentin Blake & accompanied by the Puffin Audiobooks CD read by author & comedian, David Walliams. The audiobook features original music & sound design by Pinewood film studios. On a dark, silvery moonlit night, Sophie is snatched from her bed by a giant. Luckily it is the Big Friendly Giant, the BFG, who only eats snozzcumbers & glugs frobscottle. But there are other giants in Giant Country. Fifty foot brutes who gallop far & wide every night to find human beans to eat. Can Sophie & her friend the BFG stop them? Let`s hope so
- otherwise the next child a gruesome giant guzzles could be YOU. Listen to THE BFG & other Roald Dahl audiobooks read by some very famous voices, including Kate Winslet & Steven Fry. Look out for new Roald Dahl apps in the App store & Google Play- including the disgusting TWIT OR MISS! & HOUSE OF TWITS inspired by the revolting Twits.
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THE BFG by Roald Dahl, now a major new movie directed by Steven Spielberg. The well-loved story of a big friendly giant who spirits a child out of bed to the land of the child-eating giants. Every night, when the world is sleeping, big gruesome giants guzzle up whoppsy-whiffling human beans. & there`s only one giant who can stop them
- the BFG. He`s the kindest giant there is &, with his friend Sophie in his top pocket, he sets out to rid the world of the Bloodbottler, the Fleshlumpeater & all their rotsome friends forever.. . Listen to THE BFG & other Roald Dahl audiobooks read by some very famous voices, including Kate Winslet, David Walliams & Steven Fry
- plus there are added squelchy soundeffects from Pinewood Studios! Look out for new Roald Dahl apps in the App store & Google Play- including the disgusting TWIT OR MISS! inspired by the revolting Twits.

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Phizz-whizzing new branding for the world`s No.1 storyteller, Roald Dahl! Exciting, bold & instantly recognisable with Quentin Blake`s inimitable artwork. On a dark, silvery moonlit night, Sophie is snatched from her bed by a giant. Luckily it is the Big Friendly Giant, the BFG, who only eats snozzcumbers & glugs frobscottle. But there are other giants in Giant Country. Fifty foot brutes who gallop far & wide every night to find human beans to eat. Can Sophie & her friend the BFG stop them? Let`s hope so
- otherwise the next child a gruesome giant guzzles could be you. Now you can listen to The BFG & other Roald Dahl audio books read by some very famous voices, including Katel Winslet, David Walliams & Steven Fry
- plus there are added squelchy sound effects from Pinewood Studios! Also look out for new Roald Dahl apps in the App store & Google Play- including the disgusting Twit or Miss! & House of Twits inspired by the revolting Twits.

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` Human beans is not really believing in giants, is they? Human beans is not thinking we exist.` On a dark, silvery moonlit night, Sophie is snatched from her bed by a giant. Luckily it is the Big Friendly Giant, the BFG, who only eats snozzcumbers & glugs frobscottle. But there are other giants in Giant Country. Fifty foot brutes who gallop far & wide every night to find human beans to eat. Can Sophie & her friend the BFG stop them? ...

The Bhagavad Gita, a scintillating jewel embedded in the great Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, is a dialogue between Krishna & Arjuna set against the background of war. At the beginning of the poem, we learn that there is going to be a great war for the rule of a kingdom. On the battlefield, with armies of the Kuru clan ranged against each other, Arjuna & Krishna explore the necessity of war & the nature of the human soul. The eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad Gita encompass the whole spiritual struggle of a human soul, & the central themes of this immortal poem arise from the symphonic vision of God in all things & of all things in God. ...

The Bakkarwals of Jammu & Kashmir: Navigating through Nomadism presents this almost entirely nomadic community, through an ethnography of their social association, religion, language, folklore & material culture, normative beliefs & indigenous knowledge, the contexts for development, gender relations, the nature of power & reciprocity, as well as the indices of change, with the aim to sensitize the reader to the precariousness of their lives, as also to their remarkable vitality & grace. ...

Catch-22 meets The Brothers Karamazov in the last great satire of the Soviet Era The Great Patriotic War is stumbling to a close, but a new darkness has fallen over Soviet Russia. & for a disparate, disconnected clutch of wanderers
- many thousands of miles apart but linked by a common goal
- four parallel journeys are just beginning. Gorych & his driver, rolling through water, sand & snow on an empty petrol tank; the occupant of a black airship, looking down benevolently as he floats above his Fatherland; young Andrey, who leaves his religious community in search of a new life; & Kharitonov, who trudges from the Sea of Japan to Leningrad, carrying a fuse that, when lit, could blow all & sundry to smithereens. Written in the final years of Communism, The Bickford Fuse is a satirical epic of the Soviet soul, exploring the origins & dead-ends of the Russian mentality from the end of World War Two to the Union`s collapse. Blending allegory & fable with real events, & as deliriously absurd as anything Kurkov has written, it is both an elegy for lost years & a song of hope for a future not yet set in stone.

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