In the brief golden years of King Edward VII`s reign, Rosie Mc Cosh & her three very different sisters are growing up in an eccentric household in Kent, with their neighbours the Pitt boys on one side & the Pendennis boys on the other. But their days of childhood adventure are shadowed by the approach of war that will engulf them on the cusp of adulthood. When the boys end up scattered along the Western Front, Rosie faces the challenges of life for those left behind. Confused by her love for two young men
- one an infantry soldier & one a flying ace
- she has to navigate her way through extraordinary times. Can she, & her sisters, build new lives out of the opportunities & devastations that follow the Great War? Louis de Bernieres` magnificent & moving novel follows the lives of an unforgettable cast of characters as they strike out to seek what happiness can be built from the ruins of the old world.

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The Dutch, in the Xenophobe guide series; consisting of a range of pocket-sized guides which take a humorous & irreverent approach to a wide range of world cultures. Each guide explores the characteristics of a country’s people in a series of dedicated sections, encompassing nationalism & identity, behaviour, manners, character, obsessions, beliefs & values, leisure & pleasure, culture, custom & tradition, business, systems, health & hygiene, crime & punishment, government & bureaucracy, conversation & gestures & language. Written in a wholly irreverent style, Xenophobes guides attempt to forewarn readers of the main stereotypes & foibles that are associated with individual nationalities. ...

The best collection of Dutch cycling photos ever assembled! For more than a decade, American photographer & author Shirley Agudo has been photographing the incomparable bicycle culture of the Netherlands, where she now lives. Following the success of her previous book, Bicycle Mania Holl&, she has amassed this new collection of 400 photos The Dutch & their Bikes: Scenes from a Nation of Cyclists. It s the definitive photo guide to the world s best bicycle culture. For the Dutch, cycling is a way of life. With more bikes than people, the Netherlands is a nation of cyclists where children virtually learn to cycle before they learn to walk. Everyone cycles, every day & everywhere. What they carry & do on their bikes is unbelievable. Agudo s fascinating photo anthology offers a privileged look at this culture that lives & breathes cycling. Hold your breath for the ride.” ...

In 1972 a gold bullion convoy is hijacked in Marseilles. The security trucks & hijackers are swiftly rounded up, but a ton of gold has disappeared. More than twenty years later, Daniel Jac receives an unexpected gift from an old fisherman. At the same time, a Marseilles lawyer called Claude Dupont receives an equally unexpected gift from a dying gangland boss. Both gifts point the way to the missing gold & pit Jac & Dupont against the Polineaux & Duclos familles, two of the oldest & most feared crime syndicates on the Cote d` Azur. When the Marseilles police become involved following a series of gruesome murders, the investigation is headed by Chief Inspector Isabelle Cassier. An old friend & sometime lover of Jacquot`s, Isabelle discovers that the years haven`t lessened her longing for the maverick Marseilles cop, & that her feelings for him are far from professional. Together they embark on a cut-throat hunt for the gold, with hit-men from the Polineaux & Duclos clans hot on their heels. But after nearly thirty years, is the gold still there? & if it is, who will get to it first? ...

The FINAL shocking, heart-wrenching book in the jaw-droppingly stupendous Skulduggery Pleasant series. Valkerie. Darquesse. Stephanie. The world ain`t big enough for the three of them. The end will come... The War of the Sanctuaries has been won, but it was not without its casualties. Following the loss of Valkyrie Cain, Skulduggery Pleasant must use any & all means to track down & stop Darquesse before she turns the world into a charred, lifeless cinder. & so he draws together a team of soldiers, monster hunters, killers, criminals...and Valkyrie`s own murderous reflection. The war may be over, but the final battle is about to begin. & not everyone gets out of here alive... ...

July 1940. Eleven-year-old Lydia walks through a village in rural Suffolk on a baking hot day. She is wearing a gas mask. The shops & houses are empty, windows boarded up & sandbags green with mildew, the village seemingly deserted. Leaving it behind, she strikes off down a country lane through the salt marshes to a large Edwardian house -- the house she grew up in. Lydia finds it empty too, the windows covered in black-out blinds. Her family is gone. Late that night he comes, a soldier, gun in hand & heralding a full-blown German invasion. There are, he explains to her, certain rules she must now abide by. He won`t hurt Lydia, but she cannot leave the house. Is he telling the truth? What is he looking for? Why is he so familiar? & how does he already know Lydia`s name? Eerie, thrilling & piercingly sad, The Dynamite Room evokes the great tradition of war classics yet achieves a strikingly original & contemporary resonance. Hypnotically compelling, it explores, in the most extreme of circumstances, the bonds we share that make us human. ...

Welcome to the British Museum, home to Lottie Lipton: nine-year-old investigator extraordinaire! When a collection of Roman treasures comes to the museum, Lottie, Uncle Bert & Reg discover the legendary code of the Ninth Legion`s Golden Eagle. Can Lottie & her friends break the code & find the treasure before a ruthless treasure hunter gets his hands on it? Perfect for developing & newly confident readers, Lottie Lipton Adventures are packed with action, adventure & puzzles for the reader to solve. ...

The Eagle of the Canavese opens up an incredible time in racing history. In the early 1960s Franco Balmamion won successive editions of the Giro d' Italia, an achievement no Italian cyclist has been able to emulate in almost half a century since. In the post-war era only Balmamion & the three great champions Coppi, Merckx & Indurain, have successfully defended the fabled maglia rosa, the pink jersey of the Giro winner. & yet virtually nothing is known of this rider whose Giro record surpassed all but the very best, & who, with a fraction of the support others enjoyed, might well have won not only a third Giro, but also the Tour de France. In capturing the 1962 Giro Balmamion, the so-called ' Silent Champion', displayed extraordinary mental & physical courage, overcoming not only his rivals but also the mutiny & skullduggery of a famous, celebrated team-mate. His epic performance, at the age just twenty-two, was the equal of anything achieved by any of the true giants of the sport, but remains a story untold, ignored by the cycling world, obscured by the mists of time. How then has cycling contrived to disregard the achievements of such a rider? That is the question Herbie Sykes asks in an unforgettable quest to recover the memory of ' The Eagle of the Canavese'. In so doing he rediscovers the romantic, parochial community of Italian cycling, revealing for the first time the secrets of the race, & of the heroes & villains involved. Their stories, by turns heroic, astonishing & heartbreaking, are as immediate today as they were back then. ...

The Eagle of Toledo: The Life & Times of Federico Bahamontes is a biography of a cyclist regarded by many as not only the greatest climber in cycling history but also as the godfather of Spanish cycling. Bahamontes, the first Spaniard to win in 1959 the Tour de France & six times champion of the race's gruelling ' King of the Mountains' classification, may be less well known in Britain than some of his successors, but his life from his birth in 1928 to his retirement in 1965 coincides with one of the most troubled periods in Spain ...

The Eagle of Toledo: The Life & Times of Federico Bahamontes is a biography of a cyclist regarded by many as not only the greatest climber in cycling history but also as the godfather of Spanish cycling. Bahamontes, the first Spaniard to win in 1959 the Tour de France & six times champion of the race`s gruelling ` King of the Mountains` classification, may be less well known in Britain than some of his successors, but his life from his birth in 1928 to his retirement in 1965 coincides with one of the most troubled periods in Spain’s history & provides a fascinating subject for a biography. The author, Alasdair Fotherigham, a freelance journalist based in Spain, has covered 20 Tours de France & 18 Vuelta a España races & writes in the Independent & the Independent on Sunday both about Spain & about cycling. ...