In a narrative beginning almost 1.5 million years ago with the emergence of Homo erectus, Frank Welsh takes the reader from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment, from the Industrial Revolution to the age of terrorism. Using his masterly storytelling skills, he recounts the epic story of human growth, survival & achievement across all continents & ages. Providing insight into the lives of ordinary people in every corner of the globe, this comprehensive book is the perfect introduction to the human history of our planet. ...

Liverpool 1985 Kathleen, Adam & Jocelyn are three teenage friends who bond over an unconventional nativity play. They all have ambitions, they all have dreams. Adam wants to be a writer, Jocelyn wants to sing & Kathleen
- well, she wants to be an embalmer. London 2015 Kathleen is a borderline alcoholic, Adam is holding on to a shocking secret & Jocelyn is dead. Where did it all go wrong? How did having the world at their feet turn into having the weight of it on their shoulders? Filled with Jonathan Harvey`s trademark wit, warmth & outrageous humour, The History of Us is a novel about friendship & secrets, the choices we make & the consequences we face.
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The definitive history of Britain's busiest rail terminal, written by a long term commuter to the station & bulging with illustrations. Waterloo Station has a massive 91 million passenger movement every year. It has more platforms & a greater square footage of floor space than any other station in Britain & is second in terms of train movements. The main facade erected in 1920 is now a listed heritage building. In terms of size, importance & bustle there is quite simply nothing like Waterloo. In this book retired commuter John Fareham looks at the history, trains & diverse range of characters that have made Waterloo what it is today. Built in 1848 as a small station for the London Southampton Railway Company, Waterloo grew with that company over the years until by 1913 it had become a vast, sprawling & confusing mass of rails & platforms. A planned rebuilding was delayed the Great War, but began in 1919 & was completed in 1920 creating the core station we see today. More developments in the 1990s & in 2012 saw the station enlarged & renovated. In this amusing, enthralling & engaging book, we meet the characters who have worked at Waterloo or who have used it. We see the key events in the history of the station. We look behind the scenes at the hidden warren of rooms & tunnels never seen by passengers. A fascinating & engaging book guaranteed to be of interest to all users of this mighty station. ...

Winemaking is as old as civilization itself & wine has always been more than just a drink. For thousands of years, from its origins in ancient Mesopotamia to its current status as a vast global industry, the history of wine has been directly related to major social, cultural, religious & economic changes. This fascinating & entertaining book takes a look at 100 bottles that mark a significant change in the evolution of wine & winemaking & captures the innovations & discoveries that have had the biggest impact on the history of `bottled poetry`. From goatskin to the German Ratskeller casks & invention of the glass wine bottle, from the short onion-shaped bottles of the 1720s to the tall cylindrical bottles of the 1780s, why Bordeaux, Burgundy & Hoch have their own distinctive bottle shape to the distinctive Paul Masson carafe of the 1970s. Other stories cover the first cork-topped bottles to screw caps, bag-in-box, cans & cartons, early wine labels once glue was strong enough, the first wine labels to be produced by a vineyard (and not a merchant as previously) & commissioned artwork by the 20th century`s most iconic artists for labels on high-end bottles; historically important & unique bottles: the oldest unopened, the most expensive sold at auction, the rarest; wines from the oldest vineyard in production, from the driest place on earth, from the highest & lowest vineyards & the most northern & southern. Oz Clarke also writes about the people who have influenced wine through the centuries, from the medieval Cistercian monks of Burgundy who first thought of place as an important aspect of wine`s identity, through scientists like Pasteur & Peynaud who enhanced key technical aspects of winemaking, to 20th-century giants like Robert Mondavi & Robert Parker Jr. Oz also talks about famous vintages, from the 1727 Rudesheimer Apostelwein to the first Montana Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc in 1979 & today`s cult wines from Bordeaux & California. ...

How far would you go to belong? Fourteen-year-old Linda lives with her parents in an ex-commune beside a lake in the beautiful, austere backwoods of northern Minnesota. The other girls at school call Linda ` Freak`, or ` Commie`. Her parents mostly leave her to her own devices, whilst the other inhabitants have grown up & moved on. So when the perfect family
- mother, father & their little boy, Paul
- move into the cabin across the lake, Linda insinuates her way into their orbit. She begins to babysit Paul & feels welcome, that she finally has a place to belong. Yet something isn`t right. Drawn into secrets she doesn`t underst&, Linda must make a choice. But how can a girl with no real knowledge of the world understand what the consequences will be?

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First a legendary radio series, then a bestselling book, now a blockbuser movie, the immensely successful Hitch Hiker`s Guide to the Galaxy needs no introduction. Reissued to coincide with the film`s release, this hardback omnibus edition include all five parts of the trilogy, incorporating for the first time, Mostly Harmless, along with a guide to the guide & essential notes on how to leave the planet. This single hardback edition is indispensable for any would-be galactic traveller & for old & new fans of Douglas Adams, Doctor Who & bestselling science fiction books. ...

Thirty years of celebrating the comic genius of Douglas Adams... On 12 October 1979 the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing corporations of Ursa Minor (and Earth) was made available to humanity -- The Hitchhiker`s Guide to the Galaxy. It`s an ordinary Thursday lunchtime for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace bypass & his best friend has just announced that he`s an alien. At this moment, they`re hurtling through space with nothing but their towels & an innocuous-looking book inscribed with the big, friendly words: DON`T PANIC. The weekend has only just begun... Volume one in the trilogy of five ...

A special edition of The Hitchhiker`s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams reissued with a bright retro design to celebrate Pan`s 70th anniversary. It`s an ordinary Thursday morning for Arthur Dent until his house gets demolished. The Earth follows shortly afterwards to make way for a new hyperspace bypass & his best friend has just announced that he`s an alien. At this moment, they`re hurtling through space with nothing but their towels & an innocuous-looking book inscribed in large, friendly letters with the words: DON`T PANIC. An international phenomenon & a pop-culture classic, The Hitchhiker`s Guide to the Galaxy has been a radio show, TV series, stage play, comic book & film, & is a work of true comic genius. It was the first Pan Original to sell more than one million copies. ...

It`s the start of another school year at St Ambrose. But while the children are in the classroom colouring in, their mothers are learning sharper lessons on the other side of the school gates. Lessons in friendship. Lessons in betrayal. Lessons in the laws of community, the transience of power...and how to get invited to lunch. Beatrice
- undisputed queen bee. Ruler, by Divine Right, of all school fund-raising, this year, last year &, surely, for many years to come. Heather
- desperate to volunteer, desperate to be noticed, desperate just to belong. Georgie
- desperate for a fag. & Rachel
- watching them all, keeping her distance. But soon to discover that the line between amused observer & miserable outcast is a thin one. Wickedly funny & brilliantly observed, The Hive is a fascinating & subtle story about group politics & female friendship. From the joys & perils (well, mainly perils) of the Lunch Ladder, to the military operation that is the Car Boot Sale, via the dos & don`ts of dressing your child as a Dalek, all human life is here.



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Maud Drennan
- underpaid carer & unintentional psychic
- is the latest in a long line of dogsbodies for the ancient, belligerent

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