In the brave new Japan of the 1870s Taka & Nobu meet as children & fall in love; but their relationship will test the limits of society. Unified after a bitter civil war Japan is rapidly turning into a modern country with rickshaws railways & schools for girls. Commoners can marry their children into any class & the old hatred between north & south is over
- or so it seems. Taka is from the powerful southern Satsuma clan which now dominates the country & her father General Kitaoka is a leader of the new government. Nobu however is from the northern Aizu clan massacred by the Satsuma in the civil war. Defeated & reduced to poverty his family has sworn revenge on the Satsuma. Taka & Nobus love is unacceptable to both their families & must be kept secret but what they cannot foresee is how quickly the tables will turn. Many southern samurai become disillusioned with the new regime which has deprived them of their swords status & honour. Takas father abruptly leaves Tokyo & returns to the southern island of Kyushu where trouble is brewing. When he & his clansmen rise in rebellion the government sends its newly-created army to put them down. Nobu & his brothers have joined this army & his brothers now see their chance of revenge on the Satsuma. But Nobu will have to fight & maybe kill Takas father & brother while Taka now has to make a terrible choice
- between her family & the man she loves...

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Kusang never thought she would leave Tibet. Growing up in a remote mountain village she married a monk & gave birth to two children. But then the Chinese army invaded & their peaceful lives were destroyed forever. Thousands were tortured prison camps were set up & Kusangs monastery was destroyed. The family were forced to flee across the Himalayas in the depths of winter battling cold fear starvation & exhaustion. It took a month to reach India where they were then passed from one refugee camp to another all the while fighting hunger & disease. Kusangs husband & her younger child died but somehow Kusang & her daughter Sonam survived. In Across Many Mountains" Sonams daughter Yangzom born in safety in Switzerland has written the story of her inspirational mother & grandmothers fight for survival & their lives in exile. It is an extraordinary story of determination love & endurance." ...

Kevin & Sadie just want to be together but it's not that simple. Things are bad in Belfast. Soldiers walk the streets & the city is divided. No Catholic boy & Protestant girl can go out together
- not without dangerous consequences... This is the second of Joan Lingard's ground-breaking Kevin & Sadie books.
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When a bridge collapses in the Highlands of Scotland dozens of people vanish into the river below. A car hired by a woman tourist was filmed pulling onto the bridge moments before it fell. Now numbered among the missing the woman seizes her chance to start her life over. But her new path takes her no farther than a wooden cabin on the riverbank where she seeks rebirth & freedom from her old self. There she lives with Silva an illegal immigrant whose husband & daughter have not been seen since the day of the bridges collapse. The women are befriended by the boatman Ron & together they create a fragile sanctuary. Lost souls all they keep secrets from each other yet connect in ways none of them expects as they strive to reconcile their past histories with the present & shape for themselves an elusive longed-for future. ...

Restless gripped by an overwhelming wish to make a name for himself in a world ever more hemmed in by progress & 'civilization' Thesiger (1910-2003) embarked on his amazing journeys across Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter to test himself & to show what could still be done. The result was a monument both to his resilience & to the Bedu who guided him & who emerge as the book's real heroes. Great Journeys" allows readers to travel both around the planet & back through the centuries
- but also back into ideas & worlds frightening ruthless & cruel in different ways from our own. Few reading experiences can begin to match that of engaging with writers who saw astounding things: great civilisations walls of ice violent & implacable jungles deserts & mountains multitudes of birds & flowers new to science. Reading these books is to see the world afresh to rediscover a time when many cultures were quite strange to each other where legends & stories were treated as facts & in which so much was still to be discovered."
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In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama the murderous warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard. Brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden a reclusive & spiritual people Takeo has learned only the ways of peace. Why then does he possess the deadly skills that make him so valuable to the sinister Tribe? These supernatural powers will lead him to his violent destiny within the walls of Inuyama
- & to an impossible longing for a girl who can never be his. His journey is one of revenge & treachery honour & loyalty beauty & magic & the passion of first love.
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The War is just over. In Venice a city elaborately & affectionately described the American Colonel Richard Cantrell falls passionately in love with Renata a young Italian countess who has a profile that could break your or anyone elses heart. Cantrell is embittered war-scarred & old enough to be Renatas father but he is overwhelmed by the selflessness & freshness of the love she is offering. But this is no fairy tale. The fighting may be ended but the wounds of war have not yet healed. & for some the longed-for peace has come too late. A lesser known classic by one of the great American writers of the twentieth century Across the River & Into The Trees is still vintage Hemingway. ...

Kyffin Williams remained faithful to the subjects around him the rugged mountains & the shadowy valleys of Snowdonia; the stonebuilt cottages of Gwynedd & sunlight over the Menai Strait. This volume offers insight into the vision of one of Waless greatest artists. ...

Amy has left the life she loves for a world 300 years away Trapped in space & frozen in time Amy is bound for a new planet. But fifty years before shes due to arrive she is violently woken the victim of an attempted murder. Now Amys lost on board & nothing makes sense
- shes never felt so alone. Yet someone is waiting for her. He wants to protect her; & more if shell let him. But who can she trust amidst the secrets & lies? A killer is out there
- & Amy has nowhere to hide...

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Must-have short story collection by Garth Nix containing thirteen stories all introduced by the author himself. ACROSS THE WALL brings together an eclectic mix of Garth Nix's writing spanning several years. The opening story is the 2005 World Book Day novella & Old Kingdom story NICHOLAS SAYRE & THE CREATURE IN THE CASE winner of two prestigious Aurealis Awards. The rest of the collection

Includes:: two tales inspired by Arthurian legend a war story a western a traditional tale with a twist & a hilarious choose-your-own-adventure spoof. The volume is introduced by the author himself & even better so is each story -- giving context anecdotes & a generous dollop of Nix's own wry humour. Plus! A final bonus section of frequently asked questions for which Garth Nix supplies vital answers.

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