The Regional Office & its band of super-powered female assassins protects the world from annihilation. But a prophecy suggests that someone from inside might bring about its downfall. & now the Regional Office is under attack... Rose is a young assassin leading the assault, eager to stretch into her powers & prove herself on her first mission. Defending the Regional Office is Sarah
- who may or may not have a mechanical arm
- fiercely devoted to the organisation that took her in as a troubled young woman. On the day that the Office is attacked, Rose`s & Sarah`s stories will overlap, their lives will collide, & the world as we know it just might come to an end...

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Swimming for his life towards traffickers on the Italian shore, Selim enters a world where Kurdish refugees disguise themselves as tomatoes, dates of birth are a matter of opinion, & a residency permit is a ticket to paradise. When he ends up in a small town in Germany, Selim believes he is finally safe, until the law catches up with him & the clock starts ticking. Selim realises there is only one way to avoid deportation, if he dare try.. . Fifteen years later, in a town hall in Paris, a Registrar receives an unsettling book in the post. The Registrar`s Manual for Detecting Forced Marriages only fuels her suspicions surrounding an impending Kurdish wedding. Unsure how to intervene, she embarks on an investigation that brings her uncomfortably close to an old acquaintance: Selim. ...

This title is based on the true story of Charles Sainte-Beuve, his lover Adele & her husb&, Victor Hugo. When Charles Saint-Beuve, a French literary journalist met Victor Hugo, an ambitious young writer who intended to become famous, he was swept into a world of grand emotions, a world where words can become swords. But it is not Victor he is really attracted to
- it is his wife Adele. Soon the two lovers are on the edge of a great scandale & a wounded Victor must exact his price for betrayal, a price that will change the lives of many, including his own children. As Saint-Beuve
- a man like no other man
- struggles to hold on to what is left of his great love, he finds that only words can rekindle the flame. Set during the tumultuous reign of Napoleon III, this mesmerising novel draws a rich portrait of old Paris, where duels were fought & cholera-ridden bodies float in the Seine. Towering over all is the genius of Victor Hugo, already the voice of France, eventually banished to the island of Guernsey for his opposition to the regime. In contrast come the quieter voices of two women destroyed by Hugo's ferocious literary ambition as well as the unique, acerbic & heart-breaking voice of the critic & essayist, Saint-Beuve, first Hugo's friend & then his unlikely competitor in love. An atmospheric story of delicacy & emotion, of the experience of professional jealousy & personal passion, The Reinvention of Love is an outstanding piece of fiction writing, in part about writing itself.


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Married to a great man, in love with a man like no other... When Charles Sainte-Beuve, a French journalist, met Victor Hugo, an ambitious young writer, he was swept into a world of grand emotions, a world where words can become swords. But Charles` attraction moves on from Victor, to his wife Adele. Soon the two lovers are on the edge of a great scandal & a wounded Victor must exact his price for betrayal. Set during the tumultuous reign of Napoleon III, this mesmerising novel draws a rich portrait of old Paris, where duels were fought & cholera-ridden bodies float in the Seine. An atmospheric story of delicacy & emotion, ” The Reinvention of Love” brings together the voices of two women destroyed by Victor Hugo`s ferocious ambition, & the unique, acerbic & heart-breaking voice of Charles Sainte-Beuve, first Hugo`s friend & then his unlikely competitor in love. ...

Learn to think like the father of relativity himself as you ponder over puzzles, enigmas, quizzes & logic trials based on & inspired by Einstein`s works. In Einstein`s Relatively Difficult Puzzle Universe you`ll come across more than 80 puzzles drawing on his scientific exploration, along with a selection of the wisest"es from the genius physicist himself. ...

At a cafe table in Lahore, a Pakistani man converses with a stranger. As dusk deepens to dark, he begins the tale that has brought him to this fateful meeting... Among the brightest & best of his graduating class at Princeton, Changez is snapped up by an elite firm & thrives on New York & the intensity of his work. & his infatuation with fragile Erica promises entree into Manhattan society on the exalted footing his own family once held back in Lahore. For a time, it seems as though nothing will stand in the way of Changez`s meteoric rise to personal & professional success: the fulfillment of the immigrant`s dream. But in the wake of September 11, he finds his position in the city he loves suddenly overturned, & his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. & Changez`s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, & perhaps even love. ...

Rising From The Mist in the sun-blushed hills of Tuscany is Il Piccolo Rustico, a 300-year-old stone farmhouse that Nancy Doran dreams of lovingly restoring into an idlyllic home. All her husband Phil can see is a crumbling money pit that, as far as dreams go, is more of a nightmare. Reluctantly leaving behind high -octane, air-conditioned Los Angeles where he lives & works as a writer-producer, Phil is uprooted to a strange country intoxicated by O sole mio, virgin olive oil & oak-aged Chianti. The local village reveals itself to be a hive of seething passions, secrets & age-old blood feuds, & the newcomers find that life is not all strolls around town during the passagiato & relaxing under the awnings of picturesque cafes. Beset by a rift of exasperating challenges
- from the cunning tricks of the Pinatore family to an infuriating Byzantine Italian bureaucracy
- it is only with an inspired touch of the ` Inner Italian` that Phil & Nancy finally manage to soften the hearts of their neighbours & are embraced by the community.

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This title is winner of the Booker Prize. In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside & into his past. A contemporary classic, ”he Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro`s beautiful & haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House, of lost causes & lost love. ...

The Remains of the Day won the 1989 Booker Prize & cemented Kazuo Ishiguro`s place as one of the world`s greatest writers. David Lodge, chairman of the judges in 1989, said, it`s ”a cunningly structured & beautifully paced performance”. This is a haunting evocation of lost causes & lost love, & an elegy for England at a time of acute change. Ishiguro`s work has been translated into more than forty languages & has sold millions of copies worldwide. Stevens, the long-serving butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside, but also into his own past. Reflecting on his years of service, he must re-examine his life in the face of changing Britain, & question whether his dignity & properness have come at a greater cost to himself. ...

More than ever before, the Renaissance stands as one of the defining moments in world history. Between 1400 & 1600, European perceptions of society, culture, politics & even humanity itself emerged in ways that continue to affect not only Europe but the entire world. This wide-ranging exploration of the Renaissance sees the period as a time of unprecedented intellectual excitement & cultural experimentation & interaction on a global scale, alongside a darker side of religion, intolerance, slavery, & massive inequality of wealth & status. It guides the reader through the key issues that defined the period, from its art, architecture, & literature, to advancements in the fields of science, trade, & travel. In its incisive account of the complexities of the political & religious upheavals of the period, the book argues that Europe`s reciprocal relationship with its eastern neighbours offers us a timely perspective on the Renaissance that still has much to teach us today. ...