Ben Blake an eighteen year old British Intelligence agent brimming with gifts; intellectual genius striking appearance impeccable acting skills & a heightened sixth sense...gifts that all guarantee the success of his first undercover assignment. He effortlessly infiltrates university life in Cambridge & befriends Cathy the daughter of billionaire Edward Carter one of the most influential & politically secure titans of the time. Samantha Black known as the elusive & exquisitely petite Sam. She rises from the ashes & battles her dark legacy. Her cryptic past & deep secrets become firmly intertwined with Bens investigations shredding his carefully thought out plan to bits. Jake Snell the young rugged Earl of Yorkley the enigma the rogue full of vices...but possessing abundant resourcefulness creativity & determination. He is Bens only lifeline in this treacherous game. The Blake Curse is all about heartrending choices fast paced suspense & that faith in the thread of human goodness. ...

Contrary to popular (parental) opinion teenagers are not the lazy unpleasant
- frankly spotty
- louts they occasionally appear

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This title is a comprehensive guide to the biological mysteries that lie behind teenage behaviour. Contrary to popular (parental) opinion teenagers are not the lazy unpleasant
- frankly spotty
- louts they occasionally appear to be. During the teenage years the brain is undergoing its most radical & fundamental change since the age of two. Nicola Morgan's carefully researched accessible & humorous examination of the ups & downs of the teenage brain has chapters dealing with powerful emotions the need for more sleep the urge to take risks the difference between genders & the reasons behind addiction or depression. The revised edition of this classic book contains important new research including information about the discovery of mirror neurons & their effect on the teenage brain. It is shortlisted for the 2006 Royal Society's Aventis Prize for Science Books.

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Quitting her husband's house & moving back in with her horrible family Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season. Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council & the only person who can explain anything Lord Akeldama unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs indicating as only ladybugs can the fact that all the London vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead. While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated & Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition but they may be worse than the vampires
- & they're armed with pesto. *** Also available as a manga adaptation***
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Now a major BBC drama starring Timothy Spall David Walliams & Jennifer Saunders. Published to coincide with the star-filled BBC production of Blandings this superb new anthology sees these celebrated stories together for the first time. Set in the delightfully dysfunctional mess of Blandings Castle these 6 gems follow the trials of poor Earl Emsworth & his beloved pig Empress as they clash with a panoply of friends & family servants & spongers bookies & hucksters. & all served up with great lashings of comedy from that rarest of geniuses: P.G. Wodehouse. ...

From bestselling author Stephen Pinker The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature" shatters the myths surrounding human behaviour & 'nature versus nurture'. Recently many people have assumed that we are shaped by our environment: a blank slate waiting to be inscribed by upbringing & culture with innate abilities playing little part. " The Blank Slate" shows that this view denies the heart of our being: human nature. Violence is not just a product of society; male & female minds are different; the genes we give our children shape the more than our parenting practices. To acknowledge our nature Pinker shows is not to condone inequality but to understand the very foundations of humanity. " Magnificent & timely". (" Sunday Telegraph"). "A passionate defence of the enduring power of human nature.. .both life-affirming & deeply satisfying". (Tim Lott " Daily Telegraph" Books of the Year). " Brilliant.. .enjoyable informative clear humane". (" New Scientist"). Steven Pinker is a best-selling author & Professor of Psychology & Director of the Center for cognitive Neuroscience at MIT. Pinker has been awarded research prizes from the National Academy of Sciences & the American Psychological Association graduate & undergraduate teaching prizes from MIT & book prizes from the American Psychological Association the Linguistics Society of America & the " Los Angeles Times". He is the author of " How the Mind Works" " The Blank Slate" " The Better Angels of Our Nature" & " The Language Instinct"." ...

Over 100 different blanket squares can be knitted up to create a dozen unique afghans in a variety of styles. Projects range from baby's first comfort blanket in subdued pastels to brightly coloured motifs embellished with beads & buttons for the spirited teenager. Full instructions are given for each square including expert advice on how to knit with several colours plus how to bead with complete confidence. Moreover step-by-step instructions show you how to piece the squares together to create the finished afghan. You can follow the patterns given for the twelve designs or experiment with your own choice of squares & create a one-of-a-kind treasure to pass on from generation to generation. From an eye-popping Candy Mixture to the pastel perfection Queen of Hearts each design combines a range of techniques & textures in a variety of sumptuous yarns. Fabulous in-close colour photographs of each individual square & a full colour picture of the finished afghan show off these knitted treasures in all their glorious detail. ...

He had always been scared of flying. Now the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps he swallows; & punches at his seat-belt. Nancy the woman he loves is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her pushing her face into the headrest. It is a reflex visceral action made without rational thought... But Daniel Kennedy did it. & already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. Almost a hundred years earlier Daniels great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele. A shell explodes & he wakes up alone & lost in the hell of no-mans-l&. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? & if he doesnt find his unit is he a deserter? Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness. How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes? ...

He had always been scared of flying. Now the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps he swallows; & punches at his seat-belt. Nancy the woman he loves is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her pushing her face into the headrest. It is a reflex visceral action made without rational thought... But Daniel Kennedy did it. & already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. Almost a hundred years earlier Daniels great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele. A shell explodes & he wakes up alone & lost in the hell of no-mans-l&. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? & if he doesnt find his unit is he a deserter? Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness. How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes? See Judys Review See Richards Review See Nigel Farndale talk about his book Reading Group Questions Read our exclusive Q&A with Nigel Farndale Write a Review for The Blasphemer Judys Review This novel gripped me from start to finish. The impossible demands placed on young men like Andrew in the trenches of the Great War; the fight-or-flight reflex that overwhelms his great grandson after a terrifying plane crash: Nigel Farndale uses both as jumping off points for a story about faith courage cowardice & redemption. & the possibilities of the infinite too. An old photograph of Andrew with an unnamed comrade taken just before the hellish battle of Passchendaele may not be what it seems. Nor are the sightings of a strangely familiar wide-eyed man that Daniel keeps glimpsing usually just before & after moments of great peril. Following a freakishly lucky escape from a terrorist bombing in London Daniel the unbeliever begins to wonder if his survival is anything to do with luck at all. There are wonderful characters in this book. Daniel&8217;s father Philip an ex-military man who hides his love for his son behind a rigid emotional froideur; the truly wicked Wetherby a professor who poses as Daniel&8217;s friend at the university they both teach at but who is in fact a Judas plotting to betray him. Interestingly &8211; & amusingly
- Wetherby is the most devoutly religious figure in the whole story. The Blasphemer is a powerful morality tale with a tantalising nod to the possibility that angels may indeed move among us. Unforgettable. Richards Review How would any of us react in a mo"
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He's got a plan. But he hasn't got a clue. Clayton Blaisdell's capers are strictly small-time until he meets George Rackley. With Blaze's brawn & George's brains they pull off a hundred successful cons. Then George plans the one big score every small timer dreams of: kidnapping the infant heir to a family fortune. The trouble is that by the time the deal goes down the brains of the operation has died. Or has he? Now Blaze is running into the white hell of the Maine woods with a baby as hostage. The crime of the century just turned into a race against time.. . ...