This is an eye witness account of one of the darkest episodes of the late twentieth century, the era of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. From 1975 to 1979 ` Comrade` Duch was in charge of S 21, the security prison at the heart of Pnomh Penh where 12, 380 people were tortured & executed, having confessed to imaginary betrayals of the regime. After his film ”S21”, which brought survivors & executioners from the Khmer Rouge era together, Rithy Panh decided to film Duch in prison. During 300 hours of filming he confronts the man in charge of the campaign of extermination, tries to understand his personal history, his ideology, his methods. He talks to him about how he recruited his torturers, but also about his passion for numbers, for order. The process of confronting Duch every day, his cruelty, his evasions, his laugh draws Rithy Panh back to the past & the horrors of the Khmer Rouge era. Exhausted & despairing, he decides to tell his own story & that of his family. Against the evil of Duch he holds up the good embodied in the person of his own father, who believed in & fought for justice & education, & who perished in the Khmer Rouge genocide. ...

Back on the terrain of NW, The Embassy of Cambodia is another remarkable work of fiction from Zadie Smith. ` The fact is, if we followed the history of every little country in the world
- in its dramatic as well as its quiet times
- we would have no space left in which to live our own lives or apply ourselves to our necessary tasks, never mind indulge in occasional pleasures, like swimming...` First published this Spring in the New Yorker, The Embassy of Cambodia is a rare & brilliant story that takes us deep into the life of a young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals & escapee from one set of hardships to another. Beginning & ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in Willesden, NW London, Zadie Smith`s absorbing, moving & wryly observed story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life always raise larger, more extraordinary questions. Praise for NW: ”A triumph.. .modern London is explored in a dazzling portrait.. .every sentence sings”. (Guardian). ” Intensely funny, richly varied, always unexpected. A joyous, optimistic, angry masterpiece. No better English novel will be published this year”. (Philip Hensher, Daily Telegraph). ” Absolutely brilliant... So electrically authentic, it reads like surveillance transcripts”. (Lev Grossman, Time). Zadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. She is the author of the novels NW, White Teeth, The Autograph Man & On Beauty, & of a collection of essays, Changing My Mind. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People.

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This is the first thrilling book in the most exciting children`s fantasy series since Harry Potter. They were taken from their beds one frozen night, when the world was covered in snow. The silhouette of a tall, thin man has haunted Kate ever since. Ten years on, Kate, Michael & Emma have grown up in a string of miserable orphanages, & all memories of their parents have faded to a blur. Arriving at Cambridge Falls, the children quickly realise there is something different about this place
- & Kate feels sure she has seen the dark, crooked house before. As they explore, they discover an old, empty leather book. The moment they touch it, an ancient magical prophecy is set irrevocably in motion, & the children are thrown into a dangerous alternate reality of dark enchantments & terrifying monsters. Only they can prevent the terrible event that will ruin Cambridge Falls
- & stop the world from falling into complete devastation.

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It is late August 1939: Britain is on the brink of war, & preparations are under way to evacuate London`s children to the countryside. When twelve-year-old Tilly & her best friend Rosy find out that they will not be able to take their beloved dog & cat with them
- & that, even worse, their pets will, along with countless other animals, be taken to the vet to be put down
- they decide to take action. The two girls come up with the idea of hiding them in a derelict hut in the woods &, when other children find out & start bringing their rabbits, guinea pigs & hamsters, their secret den turns into an emergency zoo. Inspired by real events during the Second World War, Miriam Halahmy`s novel is a touching tale of courage, resourcefulness & camaraderie in desperate times, as well as a stirring defence of animal welfare.

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At first ” The Emigrants” appears simply to document the lives of four Jewish emigres in the twentieth century. But gradually, as Sebald`s precise, almost dreamlike prose begins to draw their stories, the four narrations merge into one overwhelming evocation of exile & loss. Written with a bone-dry sense of humour & a fascination with the oddness of existence ” The Emigrants” is highly original in its heady mix of fact, memory & fiction & photographs. ...

If you think you`re good at coming up with imaginative emoji combinations, think again! The Emoji-to-English Dictionary challenges you to step up your game with more than 100 phrases that will have you ROFL. This unique guide gives you the lowdown on the most hilarious & unexpected emoji phrases around. Divided by topic, each chapter translates dozens of emoji combinations into plain ol` English, so that you can quickly incorporate them into your messages--and even brainstorm crazy one-liners of your own! Complete with illustrations of each emoji phrase, The Emoji-to-English Dictionary provides you with the tools you need to truly master the world of emojis. ...

Driven by money, power & success, Gabriel has worked ruthlessly to get to the very top of the banking game. He`s not going to let the inconvenience of a terminal brain tumour get in his way. But the tumour has other ideas. As it grows, it appears to be doing strange things to Gabriel`s personality. Whether he likes it or not, he seems to be becoming less selfish, less mercenary, less unlikeable. Once he could dismiss the rest of humanity as irrelevant. Now he`s not so sure. Women, in particular, are becoming worryingly three-dimensional. & none more so than Caitlin, the `unremarkable` girl he sees busking on the steps of St Paul`s Cathedral. When she plays her violin, Gabriel could almost believe that he has a soul... But as each day that passes brings him closer to his last, has time run out for second chances? Bestselling author Gavin Extence pushes the envelope again with another thought-provoking & funny novel about the surprises, good & bad, that life can throw at us. ...

“ The Emperor” is a classic piece of reportage, beginning as it must after the fall of Haile Selassie in 1974, which ended the ancient rule of the Abyssinian monarchy; Ryszard Kapuscinski travelled to Ethiopia & sought out surviving courtiers to listen to their stories. Here, their eloquent & ironic voices depict the lavish, corrupt world they had known
- from the rituals, hierarchies & intrigues at court to the vagaries of a ruler who maintained absolute power over his impoverished people. Since his death in January of 2007, many critics have voiced their view that Kapuscinski may have invented, or modified some of his reportage for dramatic effect. Whether or not this is true we will never know, but what is obvious from this text is that his literary approach to his factual writing gave way to some startling insight & emotional impact that would have otherwise been lacking in a more conventional ‘straight’ journalistic approach. Dramatic & mesmerising, “ The Emperor” is one of the great works of reportage & a haunting epitaph on the last moments of a dying regime, a regime that seems to be the model for many an African leader since.
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Far from the glittering cities of Beijing & Shaghai, China`s borderlands are populated by around one hundred million people who are not Han Chinese. For many of these restive minorities, the old Chinese adage `the mountains are high & the Emperor far away`, meaning Beijing`s grip on power is tenuous & its influence unwelcome, continues to resonate. Travelling through China`s most distant & unknown reaches, David Eimer explores the increasingly tense relationship between the Han Chinese & the ethnic minorities. Deconstructing the myths represented by Beijing, Eimer reveals a shocking & fascinating picture of a China that is more of an empire than a country. ...

The Roman Empire, ruled by its emperors, was one of the greatest powers of the ancient world. Hadrian (c. AD117138) reigned for twenty-one years in its Golden Age & is perhaps best known today for his great wall in the north of Engl&. However, this was just one of his celebrated achievements. He was indeed a creator of magnificent buildings & structures that were architecturally daring, but he was also a skilled military leader & strategist; a tireless traveller who roamed his enormous empire & its boundaries; a well-educated man who loved the Arts & was passionate about Greece & Greek culture. This informative & beautifully illustrated little book presents a concise portrait of Hadrian, his family, his deeds, his loves, his dark side & his legacy.A potted biography is followed by picture-&-caption spreads that amplify the details of his life. These feature art & artefacts from museum collections around the world, as well as specially commissioned photographs of the Pantheon, the Villa Adriani, his mausoleum. The Emperor Hadrian is not only a celebration of a remarkable individual but a wonderful introduction to a fascinating period of Roman history. ...