For seven-year-old Raami the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh Cambodias capital. Soon the familys world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution & forced exodus. Over the next four years as she endures the deaths of family members starvation & brutal forced labour Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood
- the mythical legends & poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness & justification for execution Raami fights for her improbable survival. Displaying the authors extraordinary gift for language In the Shadow of the Banyan is testament to the transcendent power of narrative & a brilliantly wrought tale of human resilience.
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For nearly a decade Matteo Pistono smuggled out of Tibet evidence of atrocities by the Chinese government showing it to the United States government human rights organisations & anyone who would listen. Yet Pistono did not originally intend to fight for social justice in Tibet
- he had gone there as a Buddhist pilgrim. Pistonos quest led him to Tibet & to a meditation master whose spiritual brother is Sogyal Rinpoche bestselling author of The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying. Pistono not only became the masters student but also couriered messages to him in Tibet from the Dalai Lama in India. This began an extraordinary & ultimately vital adventure. In the Shadow of the Buddha" is a book about Tibet through the eyes of a devotee
- a stranger hiding in plain sight. Its about how a cultures rich spiritual past is slipping away against the force of a tyrannical future. Its about how Tibetans live today & the tenacity of their faith in the future in spite of dire repression & abuse. Its also about Pistonos own journey from being a frustrated political activist to becoming a practicing Buddhist mystic a man who traveled thousands of miles & risked his own life to pursue freedom & peace."

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The Shadow of the Cross dispels one of the greatest myths of all time that Jesus did not die on the cross & in fact lived on to continue his ministry. The author makes a detailed analysis of the secret life of Jesus that was known to the early Christians & which was suppressed later by the Church of Rome. Did Jesus really travel incognito under the name of Yuz Asaph? Did he really marry Mary Magdalene & father her children? Many religious scholars & historians believe that a 2000 year old tomb in Srinagar Kashmir known as the Rozabal was the final resting place of Jesus The Prophet of the Book. In the Shadow of the Cross explores the scientific as well as the historic facts bringing to light a truth that has lain buried beneath 2000 years of falsehood & which culminates in the greatest conspiracy of all time. ...

In the 6th century AD the Near East was divided between two venerable empires: the Persian & the Roman. A hundred years on & one had vanished forever while the other seemed almost finished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval so profound that it spelt in effect the end of the ancient world. In The Shadow of the Sword Tom Holland explores how this came about. Spanning Constantinople to the Arabian desert & starring some of the most remarkable rulers who ever lived he tells a story vivid with drama horror & startling achievement. ...

In the 6th century AD the Near East was divided between two great empires: the Persian & the Roman. A hundred years on & one had vanished for ever while the other was a dismembered bleeding trunk. In their place a new superpower had arisen: the empire of the Arabs. So profound was this upheaval that it spelled in effect the end of the ancient world. But the changes that marked the period were more than merely political or even cultural: there was also a transformation of human society with incalculable consequences for the future. Today over half the world's population subscribes to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during the last centuries of antiquity. Wherever men or women are inspired by belief in a single god to think or behave in a certain way they bear witness to the abiding impact of this extraordinary convulsive age
- though as Tom Holland demonstrates much of what Jews Christians & Muslims believe about the origins of their religion is open to debate. In the Shadow of the Sword explores how a succession of great empires came to identify themselves with a new & revolutionary understanding of the divine. It is a story vivid with drama horror & startling achievement & stars many of the most remarkable rulers ever seen.
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French-born Marie Gabin forms a friendship with Veronica Attwood in their final two years at school but this is tested when Marie is forced to disclose a secret to her friend. The First World War takes its toll when Marie loses the man she loves. Veronica's husband suffers injuries which eventually leave her a widow but she finds consolation in her love for the l&. Returning to France Marie marries her childhood sweetheart but once again life brings involvement in war for the two friends. Loving their Yorkshire land Veronica & her daughters enlist in the Land Army. When a bomber squadron arrives on a newly constructed airfield on part of the estate relationships are formed. Veronica's daughter Elise joins the RAF & is recruited into the SOE. But secrets will out. On a mission to France Elise faces dangers she did not expect as she searches for Marie & the truth
- a truth that will have an outcome she never envisaged.
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In this fourth book in the Monkey & Robot series Monkey & Robot are very excited when it starts to snow. Of course they cannot resist going out to play & have fun. But when they start making a snowball the snowball becomes bigger & bigger & BIGGER until it is out of control! Monkey & Robot end up rather wet & snowy but a big mug of hot chocolate helps to cheer them up. ...

This engaging book brings together the author's expertise in Biblical studies & his extensive experience in leading tours around the Holy L&. Following the chronological sequence of the key events in Luke's gospel the book comprises previous & later history of the sites where these events occurred geographical & archaeological descriptions maps of the relevant areas a description of the sites today & full colour photography throughout. Suitable for the traveller & the 'armchair pilgrim' alike In the Steps of Jesus offers vivid insights into Jesus' life & travels. ...

In 1355 the Black Prince took an army to Bordeaux & embarked on two chevauchees (mounted military expeditions generally characterised by the devastation of the surrounding towns & countryside) which culminated in his decisive victory over King Jean II of France at Poitiers the following year. Using the recorded itineraries as his starting point the author of this book walked more than 1 300 miles across France retracing the routes of the armies in search of a greater understanding of the Black Princes expedition. He followed the 1355 chevauchee from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean & back & that for 1356 from Aquitaine to the Loire to the battlefield at Poitiers & back again to Bordeaux. Drawing on his findings on the ground a wide range of documentary sources & the work of local historians many of whom the author met on his travels the book provides a unique perspective on the Black Princes chevauchees of 1355 & 1356 & the battle of Poitiers one of the greatest English triumphs of the Hundred Years War demonstrating in particular the impact of the landscape on the campaigns. Peter Hoskins is a former Royal Air Force pilot now living in France. He combines his interest in exploration of his adopted country with his research into the Hundred Years War. ...

Ann Rule delves into the mysterious death of Ronda Reynolds a former state trooper whose death ruled a suicide ten years ago is now considered a murder. On December 15 1998 thirty-three-year-old Ronda Reynolds was living with her husband of eleven months in the small town of Toledo Washington-but she planned to leave him that night & fly to Spokane Washington where her mother brother & grandmother eagerly awaited her visit for the Christmas holidays. But as Barb Thompson Rondas mother waited in an airport amid Christmas decorations in 1998 Ronda never arrived. Ronda had sounded happy on the phone only hours before excited that she would be seeing her family. But sheer dread replaced confusion as the news of Rondas death arrived. Her husband told a 911 operator that Ronda had committed suicide. Now a decade later the only thing we can be sure of is that Ronda Reynolds died violently that night & the lies & contradictions of her husband began to unravel. Written with the complete cooperation of Barb Thompson Rondas mother this is a homicide puzzle that Ann Rule fans will find haunting & utterly captivating. ...