T.S. Spivet is a genius mapmaker who lives on a ranch in Montana. His father is a silent cowboy & his mother is a scientist who for the last twenty years has been looking for a mythical species of beetle. His brother has gone, his sister seems normal but might not be, & his dog
- Verywell
- is going mad. T.S. makes sense of it all by drawing beautiful, meticulous maps kept in innumerable colour-coded notebooks. He is brilliant, & the Smithsonian Institution agrees, though when they award him a major scientific prize they don`t suspect for a moment that he is twelve years old. So begins T.S.`s life-changing adventure, travelling two thousand miles across America to reach the awards dinner, the secret-society membership & the TV interviews that beckon. But is this what he wants? Do maps & lists explain the world? & why are adults so strange?

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With pages & pages of stickers plus a brilliant pull out poster, this amazing book helps you to find out all about the secret world of Hello Kitty! Discover all of the things that Hello Kitty dreams about
- from being a superstar, fashion designer or superhero, to having lots of friends & being happy. Complete the pages with your stickers & enter into Hello Kitty`s secret world!
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` Almost every page

Includes:: a sizzling historical titbit.. . captivating, insightful & masterly` (Edward

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Few small islands play host to as much variety of landscape as Britain, from towering mountain ranges in the north, across rolling hills & cities of architectural splendour, to sandy beaches & rugged coves in the south. Shown here in all its majestic beauty, the stunning photographs include Loch Lomond, the Yorkshire Dales, Brighton Pavilion, & much more. ...

London, 1883: All is quiet at 125 Gower Street. Sidney Grice is swotting up on the anatomical structure of human hair whilst his ward, March Middleton, sneaks upstairs for her eighth secret cigarette of the day. The household is, perhaps, too quiet. So, when a beautiful young woman turns up at the door, imploring London`s foremost personal detective to solve the mystery of her father`s murder, Grice can barely disguise his glee. Mr Nathan Garstang was found slaughtered in his bed, but there is no trace of a weapon or intruder. A classic locked-room case. But what piques Grice`s interest is the crime`s link to one of London`s most notorious unsolved murders... ...

A breathtaking land of wildly varied landscapes, Ireland is shown here in all its awe-inspiring glory. From familiar tourist spots to seldom-seen vistas, this stunning new illustrated book captures the country as you've never seen it before. It covers the whole of the Emerald Isle from Ulster North to Munster South, from Giant's Causeway to the Cliffs of Moher. ...

There is Michelangelo, but also the mafia. Pavarotti, but also Berlusconi. The debonair Milanese, but also the infamous captain of the Costa Concordia cruise ship. This is Italy, admired & reviled, a country that has guarded her secrets & confounded outsiders for centuries. At a time when this Italian paradox is more evident than ever, cultural authority Corrado Augias poses the puzzling questions: how did it get this way? How can this peninsula be simultaneously the home of geniuses & criminals, the cradle of beauty & the butt of jokes? An instant 1 bestseller in Italy, Augias` latest sets out to rediscover the story
- different from the history
- of his country. Beginning with how Italy is seen from the outside & from the inside, he weaves a geo-historical narrative, passing through principal cities, re-reading classics & biographies of the people that have, for better or worse, made Italians who they are. From the gloomy atmosphere of Cagliostro`s Palermo to the elegant court of Maria Luigia in Parma, from the birth of the ghetto of Venice to the heroic blaze of the Neapolitan uprising against the Nazis, Augias sheds light on the true Italian character under the surface, explaining her not only to outsiders, but to Italians themselves. The result is a sort of novel of a nation, whose protagonists are both the figures we know from the history & literature, & characters long-hidden between the cracks of historical narrative & memory.

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Henry James said, ` Paris is the greatest temple ever built to material joys & the lust of the eyes`. Renowned as the City of Light, Paris is celebrated for its beautiful city plan, its architecture, museums, bridges, cathedrals, parks, shopping, flea markets, sidewalk cafes, wide & luxurious boulevards, elegant cuisine, & numerous monuments. Once confined to an island in the middle of the river Seine, the Ile de la Cite, Paris, founded more than 2, 000 years ago, quickly spread to both banks of the river
- the `rive droit` (right bank) & the `rive gauche` (left bank). The right bank is known for being the commercial heart of the city while the left bank is home to the University of Paris & all that is intellectual & artsy. Paris has also been feted for its aura of romance & mystery & has been the setting for many novels (The Americans, The Three Musketeers & the Maigret stories) & movies (Last Tango in Paris, Ratatouille). This gorgeous new book in the successful Secrets series is divided into several geographical sections, from the Louvre & Champs Elysees, via Les Halles, Le Marais & Bastille, to Montmartre & beyond. It`s a brilliant read for the armchair traveller & everyone interested in the history & the mysteries of the great cities of the world.
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” The Secrets of Provence” offers to take you on an enchanting photographic journey through the rich history & heritage of the region, illuminated by inspiring & informative text. In this title, historic sites & architecture are covered, such as the legendary Pont D` Avignon, & the Chateau D` If of ” The Count of Monte Christo” fame, while the natural beauty that characterizes Provence is also celebrated is spades, featuring landscapes well known as the inspiration behind works by Cezanne & Van Gogh. ...

From Italy's popular author Corrado Augias comes the most intriguing exploration of Rome ever to be published. In the mold of his earlier histories of Paris, New York, & London, Augias moves perceptively through twenty-seven centuries of Roman life, shedding new light on a cast of famous, & infamous, historical figures & uncovering secrets & conspiracies that have shaped the city without our ever knowing it. From Rome's origins as Romulus's stomping ground to the dark atmosphere of the Middle Ages; from Caesar's unscrupulousness to Caravaggio's lurid genius; from the notorious Lucrezia Borgia to the seductive Anna Fallarino, the marchioness at the center of one of Rome's most heinous crimes of the post-war period, Augias creates a sweeping account of the passions that have shaped this complex city: at once both a metropolis & a village, where all human sentiment-bravery & cowardice, industriousness & sloth, enterprise & laxity-find their interpreters & stage. If the history of humankind is all passion & uproar, then, as the author notes, for centuries Rome has been the mirror of this history, reflecting with excruciating accuracy every detail, even those that might cause you to avert your gaze. ...