Commissario Soneri returns home for a hard-earned autumn holiday, hoping to spend a few days mushroom picking on the slopes of Montelupo. This isolated village relies on the salame factory founded in the post-war years by Palmiro Rodolfi, & now run by his son, Paride. On arrival, Soneri is greeted by anxious rumours about the factory`s solvency & the younger Rodolfi`s whereabouts. Not long afterwards, a decomposing body is found in the woods. In the shadow of Montelupo, carabinieri prepare to apprehend their chief suspect
- an ageing woodsman who defended the same mountains from S.S. commandos during the war.
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Twelve-year-old Kester thought he had discovered the last wild animals in the l&. He thought his adventure was over. He was wrong. Below the sparkling city of Premium, deep underground, a dark wild remains: animals who believe the time is right to rise up against their human enemies. & soon Kester realises: he is the only one who can stop them. Kester Jaynes saved the animals. Can he save the humans too? ...

The Darkening Age is the largely unknown story of how a militant religion deliberately attacked & suppressed the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in centuries of unquestioning adherence to `one true faith`. Despite the long-held notion that the early Christians were meek & mild, going to their martyr`s deaths singing hymns of love & praise, the truth, as Catherine Nixey reveals, is very different. Far from being meek & mild, they were violent, ruthless & fundamentally intolerant. Unlike the polytheistic world, in which the addition of one new religion made no fundamental difference to the old ones, this new ideology stated not only that it was the way, the truth & the light but that, by extension, every single other way was wrong & had to be destroyed. From the 1st century to the 6th, those who didn`t fall into step with its beliefs were pursued in every possible way: social, legal, financial & physical. Their altars were upturned & their temples demolished, their statues hacked to pieces & their priests killed. It was an annihilation. Authoritative, vividly written & utterly compelling, this is a remarkable debut from a brilliant young historian. ...

In The Darkening Age, Catherine Nixey tells the little-known
- & deeply shocking
- story of how a militant religion deliberately

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Ned & the magical Circus of Marvels are back in a third rip-roaring, page-turning adventure! The Armstrongs are both predator & prey, hunting for clues to help them fight the Darkening-King, while constantly watching their backs. This time it`s not just the world of the Hidden searching for them: the Josser world is intent on capturing the family too. Leading the search is the curious Mr Fox & his agents in grey, & they`ve found an ally who knows Ned`s every move. As the world of the Hidden begins to fall apart, its horde of Demons & Darklings threatens to spill out of the shadows at any moment. With his trusty mouse & Familiar, Lucy & George, Ned must travel from the snow-swept forests of Siberia to the cliffs of Dover in a desperate attempt to rally allies for a final st&. Fearsome enemies will become allies & old allies enemies, as Ned prepares himself for the final battle. ...

Young Chris is an astronaut. A very busy astronaut. Saving the planet from aliens is much more important than taking baths or going to bed. Because at bedtime the worst sort of alien appears
- darkness. But when Chris watches the first moon landing on TV, he discovers that there is a dark out in Space that is much darker than he`s used to. It`s the darkest dark ever, & he realises that the unknown can be.. .exciting! The Darkest Dark is the debut picture book by Commander Chris Hadfield, international bestselling author of An Astronaut`s Guide to Life on Earth & You Are Here, with spectacular illustrations by illustration team The Fan Brothers. Inspired by Chris`s decision to become an astronaut after watching the Apollo 11 moon landing at age nine, The Darkest Dark is an inspiring story about facing your fears & following your dreams.
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This special hardback edition comes with an audio CD of the story read by Chris Hadfield, plus bonus commentary & The Darkest Dark Song written & recorded by him too! Young Chris is an astronaut. A very busy astronaut. Saving the planet from aliens is much more important than taking baths or going to bed. Because at bedtime the worst sort of alien appears
- darkness. But when Chris watches the first moon landing, he discovers that there is a dark out in Space that is much darker than he`s used to. It`s the darkest dark ever, & he realizes that the unknown can be... exciting! The Darkest Dark is the debut picture book by Commander Chris Hadfield, international bestselling author of An Astronaut`s Guide to Life on Earth, with spectacular illustrations by illustration team, The Fan Brothers. Inspired by Chris`s decision to become an astronaut after watching the Apollo 11 moon landing at age nine, The Darkest Dark is about facing your fears & following your dreams. Awarded as a Junior Library Guild Selection in the United States for autumn 2016.
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The Darkest Days shows how the war-hungry leaders & the right-wing press hustled the nation into war, making only the barest efforts to save the peace. As a result the declaration was the result of political negotiation, dishonesty & willful belligerence that split the cabinet & kept the opposition & the nation itself in the dark until it was too late. Through a forensic study of the personal papers of many of the key figures on both sides of the debate, historian Douglas Newton pieces together what really went on in the frenetic weeks between the assassination in Sarajevo & Britain`s declaration of war upon Germany on Tuesday 4 August 1914. Many recently published histories of Britain`s Great War embrace the conflict as a good war
- irresistible, righteous
- & popular. It has become almost heretical to offer criticism of Britain`s intervention. This book presents a new critical examination of the government`s choice for war, & weaves into the story an account of those ”radicals” & other activists who urged neutral diplomacy in 1914.

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In this crackling, highly imaginative thriller debut in the vein of W.E.B. Griffin & Philip Kerr, set in German-occupied London at the close of World War II, a hardened, dispirited British detective jeopardizes his own life to save someone else & achieve the impossible--some kind of redemption London, 1946. The Nazis have won the war & now occupy Great Britain, using brutality & fear to control its citizens. They even use it to control those who work for them. John Henry Rossett, a decorated British war hero & former police sergeant, is one of those unlucky souls. He`s a man accustomed to obeying commands, but he`s now assigned a job he didn`t ask for & knows he cannot refuse: rounding up Jews for deportation, including men & women he`s known his whole life. Robbed of his family by a Resistance bomb, & robbed of his humanity by the work he is forced to do, fate suddenly presents Rossett with an unexpected challenge that could change everything. He finds a boy hiding in an abandoned building & is faced with a momentous decision--to do something or to look the other way. Yet whatever Rossett does, he will be pushed into a place where he could endanger all he holds dear. Played out against a city in ruin, a place divided between the conquered & the conquerors, The Darkest Hour is a tense, driving adventure thriller, a fascinating alternate history, & the unforgettable story of a man who will be broken--or be given a completely new lease on life. ...

` The underground world presents the last arena for the true pioneering spirit.` Martyn Farr`s The Darkness Beckons charts the history & development of cave diving, from early underwater expeditions in France in the late nineteenth century, through to cutting-edge dives across the globe, where iron-willed individuals are pushing the limits of equipment & techniques in the pursuit of exploration. Cave diving is the natural evolution of caving, where cavers & open-water divers overcome the challenges of water-filled passages by using specialist breathing apparatus to explore further & deeper than ever before. The challenges are many
- distance, depth, temperature, visibility, rockfall & simple restriction in passage size
- together with the physical & mental demands placed on an individual in an environment where, despite meticulous preparation, equipment can malfunction & one cannot expect to be rescued if something goes wrong. Early cave dives were made using Standard Equipment diving suits, before `frogman` equipment was adopted by British & Italian divers in the 1940s. Around the same time, Jacques-Yves Cousteau & Emile Gagnan designed the compressed-air aqualung, the first scuba equipment. The development of breathing apparatus has continued, alongside solutions to evermore challenging projects, especially those at extreme depth. British cave divers, including the author, have been at the forefront of many developments, such as the explorations at Wookey Hole in the Mendips, Keld Head in the Yorkshire Dales & Pozo Azul in Spain. Cave diving today is a truly international endeavour, & Farr gives detailed & engaging accounts of developments in Europe, the Americas, Australia & New Zeal&, Southern Africa & more. Farr introduces cave diving`s pioneers & chronicles their achievements. Among a cast of many are the Britons Graham Balcombe & Mike Boon; the American Sheck Exley, who died while attempting to establish a new depth record in the Zacaton sinkhole in Mexico; & the outstanding German cave diver & equipment innovator Jochen Hasenmayer. The stories of their adventures are charged with courage, danger & excitement, & some have led to tragedy. First published in 1980, this 2017 edition of The Darkness Beckons has been fully revised & updated to reflect the latest developments. Featuring over 400 breathtaking photographs & illustrations, & with a foreword by renowned American cave diver & explorer Bill Stone, it is an inspirational read for anyone with an interest in exploration & adventure.

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