Sweden, winter, 1991. Inspector Kurt Wallander & his team receive an anonymous tip-off. A few days later a life raft is washed up on a beach. In it are two men, dressed in expensive suits, shot dead. The dead men were criminals, victims of what seems to have been a gangland hit. But what appears to be an open-&-shut case soon takes on a far more sinister aspect. Wallander travels across the Baltic Sea, to Riga in Latvia, where he is plunged into a frozen, alien world of police surveillance, scarcely veiled threats, & lies. Doomed always to be one step behind the shadowy figures he pursues, only Wallander`s obstinate desire to see that justice is done brings the truth to light. ...

When Mishka is abandoned on the streets of Moscow he falls in with a gang of other homeless children, hoping they`ll give him a chance of survival. But as winter freezes the city & food becomes scarce, he is left alone, to fend for himself. Help comes in an unexpected form: Mishka is adopted by a pack of dogs. The creatures quickly become more than just his street companions, they are his family. But he can`t stay hidden from the world for ever... ...

This is a deliciously different travelogue. In 2005, Cathy & Jason threw in successful careers as TV presenters & producers to become olive farmers in Italy. With their one year old daughter & Italian dictionary in tow, they found themselves in the middle of a European nowhere, untouched by modernity. They were on a steep learning curve in more-or-less everything
- finding out how to prune an olive tree so that a sparrow can pass through its branches, learning what beauty products are de rigeur in the changing rooms of a local Italian football team, being trained, by a local Italian choir, how to sing in English but with an Italian accent
- & learning the rigorous rules of when one is allowed to consume a cappuccino. Armed with their indefatigable love of food, they headed off many a potentially tricky situation by cooking their way out of it, a sure route to the heart of any Italian. They discover that olive farming is dominated by the big boys & desperate to turn their new home into a way of making a living they cast around for ideas of how they can do so. A flash of inspiration led them to launch an ` Adopt-an-Olive-Tree` scheme. For a fee buyers could adopt a tree, receive produce from it & even go & visit it to give it a hug. The scheme became hugely popular with trees selling out way ahead of expectations. A contract with Selfridges followed & suddenly Cathy & Jason`s dream is realised. Or nearly anyway. It`s a hard slog & they meet every challenge with fortitude & humour but what they hadn`t expected was that the biggest challenge would be the quiet of the countryside. Soon they find themselves hankering for the sounds & stench of the city & facing a difficult decision on what they should do next. The book concludes with about 50 recipes of typical dishes & condiments from infused olive oil & butternut squash risotto to marinated aubergines, polenta & hazelnut meringue layer cake…

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Archer B. Helmsley longs for adventure. But how can he have an adventure when he can`t even leave his house? Archer B. Helmsley has grown up in a house full of oddities & treasures collected by his grandparents, the famous explorers. Archer longs for grand adventures but ever since his grandparents went missing on an iceberg, his mother barely lets him leave the house. So, along with his best friends, Adelaide L. Belmont & Oliver Grub, Archer forms a plan to get out of the house & set off on a grand adventure with crocodiles & parachutes & danger. It`s a good plan. Well, it`s not bad, anyway. But nothing goes quite as they expected... ...

`I want to know if men realise when they are insane. Sometimes I think that my brain cannot hold together, it is filled with too much horror
- too much despair.. .I cannot sleep, I cannot close my eyes without seeing his damned face. If only it had been a dream.` In ` The Doll`, a waterlogged notebook is washed ashore. Its pages tell a dark story of obsession & jealousy. But the fate of its narrator is a mystery. Most of the stories in this haunting collection were written early in Daphne du Maurier`s career
- when she was still in her early twenties
- yet they display her mastery of atmosphere, tension & intrigue & reveal a cynicism far beyond her years.


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A timeless fantasy set in the Second World War that weaves together magic, folklore & history, perfect for fans of The Book Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas & Goodnight Mister Tom. One night a little doll named Karolina comes to life in a toyshop in Krakow, Pol&, in 1939 & changes the life of the gruff, broken-hearted Dollmaker. & when the darkness of the Nazi occupation sweeps over the city, Karolina & the Dollmaker must bravely use their magic to save their Jewish friends from a terrible danger, no matter what the risks. This powerful story is about finding friendship in the darkest of places & the importance of love in times of great pain. ...

Surreal, ambitious, & exquisitely conceived, THE DOLL`S ALPHABET is a collection of stories in the tradition of Angela Carter & Margaret Atwood. Dolls, sewing machines, tinned foods, mirrors, malfunctioning bodies
- many images recur in stories that are in turn child-like & naive, grotesque & very dark. In ` Unstitching`, a feminist revolution takes place. In ` Waxy`, a factory worker fights to keep hold of her Man in a society where it is frowned upon to be Manless. In ` Agata`s Machine`, two schoolgirls conjure a Pierrot & an angel in a dank attic room. In ` Notes from a Spider`, a half-man, half-spider finds love in a great European city. By constantly reinventing ways to engage with her obsessions & motifs, Camilla Grudova has come up with a method for storytelling that is highly imaginative, incredibly original, & absolutely discomfiting.
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Victorian London had Jack the Ripper. Georgian Dublin had the Dolocher... When murderer Olocher commits suicide in the Black Dog Prison on the eve of his execution, terror is unleashed upon Dublin. A mysterious creature stalks the streets & women report attacks by a half-man, half-pig possessed by Olocher`s dark spirit. The Dolocher is on the loose... At least that`s the story down-at-heel writer Solomon Fish peddles in his broadsheets, & the people of Dublin can`t get enough of his gruesome tales. To Solomon, it`s only an ordinary man playing a tasteless trick, a sensational story that will soon blow over. But when the Dolocher starts killing & Solomon himself is set upon by the beast, he starts to have doubts. With the help of his swashbuckling landlady, ship`s surgeon-turned-apothecary Merriment O` Grady, Solomon swears to unmask the Dolocher. Yet Solomon & Merriment soon find themselves torn between reason & superstition, their heads & their hearts as they strive to solve the mystery. But are they hunting the Dolocher or is it hunting them? ...

The Dolomites Smart Map at 1:200, 000 from the Touring Club Italiano, printed on light waterproof & tear-resistant synthetic paper, with street plans of central Bolzano & Trento annotated with main sights, plus 16 more recommendations of places worth visiting. Coverage extends from Brunico south beyond Trento, Feltre & Belluno; & west/east roughly from the Gruppo di Brenta massif & Val Venosta to the Carnia region. In addition to the recommended sights, the map prominently highlights the course of the region ...

The elegant & dramatic peaks of the Dolomites, one of the most recently designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites, have long epitomised the ideals of climbers the world over. These spectacular limestone & dolomite monoliths rise abruptly from beautiful meadows, their pale faces contrasting starkly with the vibrant colour of the surrounding alpine pastures, to create one of the most instantly recognisable landscapes in the World. Located in northern Italy, & representing a true mix of Italian & Austrian culture, these so-called ` Pale Alps` contain climbing of every shape & size. Single pitch sport crags lie beside kilometre-long traditional routes, with climbs which are steeped in history running parallel to modern bolted lines. The area is particularly renowned for its via ferrata, cabled routes predating the Great War which give superb access to some of the World`s most striking summits. The metal wires, interspersed with breathtaking ladders & unlikely suspension bridges, provide aerial assault courses which combine the thrill of an ascent on rock with the security of a protected mountain scramble. This Rockfax guide covers everything you need for a climbing trip regardless of ability, whether it be sport, trad, via ferrata or a combination of all three. It features all the major areas & is the only guidebook available to have such comprehensive coverage. Catinaccio, Val di Fassa, Marmolada, Sella Group, Val Gardena, Fanis Group, Lagazuoi Group, Tofana Group, Cinque Torri, Cortina Basin, Cadini di Misurina, Tre Cime. ...