AD 71. Germania Libera: dark dripping forests inhabited by bloodthirsty barbarians & legendary wild beasts a furious prophetess who terrorises Rome & the ghostly spirits of slaughtered Roman legionaries. Enter Marcus Didius Falco an Imperial agent on a special mission: to find the absconding commander of a legion whose loyalty is suspect. Easier said than done thinks Marcus as he makes his uneasy way down the Rhenus trying to forget that back in sunny Rome his girlfriend Helena Justina is being hotly pursued by Titus Caesar. His mood is not enhanced when he discovers his only allies are a woefully inadequate bunch of recruits their embittered centurion a rogue dog & its innocent young master; just the right kind of support for an agent unwillingly trying to tame the Celtic hordes. ...

In many ways this book tells a familiar story in British industry: of innovation & enterprise in the early decades.. .of worldwide dominance at a time when Britain was the workshop of the world.. .of wars & economic downturns.. .of foreign competition.. .and of relative & absolute decline on the path of de-industrialisation in the latter part of the twentieth century. For most of this period the farm machine industry grew & matured. It is an inspiring story of technological achievement & of industrial success as farmers & engineers brought iron & steel to fields which had previously been the domain of locally made timber implements & power provided by horses. Agricultural technology moved on inexorably from broad-cast seed & the sound of the threshing flail via the portable steam engine & the threshing machine right through to the modern world of giant tractors
- each with the power of 200 horses
- combine harvesters & impressively efficient farming methods. This book traces the broad sweep of the whole industry over 200 years looking at many individual companies & products to explain how & why the farm machinery industry developed in the way it did. Important individual machines are described & illustrated in detail. The British farm machine industry is unlikely ever again to be large by world standards nor to dominate the world stage as once it did. Yet the author traces a rich vein of innovation enterprise & technological inspiration often taking place within the large number of relatively small-scale craft-based workshops which were so prevalent in the early decades. Rather than mere manufacturing therefore perhaps it is this tradition of technical innovation & invention which marked out the British farm machinery industry for historical greatness & perhaps it is this tradition which will continue to mark it out in the future.

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Derby Day at Epsom Downs. A multitude of people crowd to watch the races: dukes & dustmen bishops & beggars privileged ladies & prostitutes. The gamut of Victorian society & a hotbed for crime & crooks of all kinds. With the nation a-flutter in the run up to this national event a disembodied head is discovered on a passenger train at Crewe; the first in a murky course of events that takes in murder fraud & race-fixing. Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck & his assistant are assigned to the case & are soon snarled up in a web of skulduggery stretching across the country. They are forced to ask themselves just how much is someone prepared to hazard to win? ...

Iron House is the remarkable story of two orphaned brothers separated by violence at a tender age. When a boy is savagely killed in their brutal orphanage one brother runs & takes the blame with him eventually finding his way to New York & into the heart of organized crime. Two decades later
- a seasoned killer
- he returns to North Carolina with a sentence on his head the mob in hot pursuit & his long-lost brother in trouble of a different kind. With vast sums in play political fortunes at risk & bodies piling up the brothers reunite to solve the mystery of their shared past in a tour de force narrative of loss courage & the aftermath of violence. A dark atmospheric thriller with a plot that will keep you guessing until the last moment.

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Things are finally looking good for Captain Frey & his crew. The Ketty Jay has been fixed up good as new. They've got their first taste of fortune & fame. & just for once nobody is trying to kill them. Even Trinica Dracken Frey's ex-fiancee & long-time nemesis has given up her quest for revenge. In fact she's offered them a job
- one that will take them deep into the desert heart of Samarla the land of their ancient enemies. To a place where the secrets of the past lie in wait for the unwary. Secrets that might very well cost Frey everything. Join the crew of the Ketty Jay on their greatest adventure yet: a story of mayhem & mischief roof-top chases & death-defying races murderous daemons psychopathic golems & a particularly cranky cat. The first time was to clear his name. The second time was for money. This time Frey's in a race against the clock for the ultimate prize: to save his own life.
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' This was the original game of thrones' George R.R. Martin From the publishers that brought you A Game of Thrones comes the series that inspired George R.R. Martin's epic work. Accursed! Accursed! You shall be accursed to the thirteenth generation!" The Iron King
- Philip the Fair
- is as cold & silent as handsome & unblinking as a statue. He governs his realm with an iron hand but he cannot rule his own family: his sons are weak & their wives adulterous; while his red-blooded daughter Isabella is unhappily married to an English king who prefers the company of men. A web of scandal murder & intrigue is weaving itself around the Iron King; but his downfall will come from an unexpected quarter. Bent on the persecution of the rich & powerful Knights Templar Philip sentences Grand Master Jacques Molay to be burned at the stake thus drawing down upon himself a curse that will destroy his entire dynasty..."

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Winner of the Wolfson History Prize Christopher Clark's Iron Kingdom: The Rise & Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947" is a compelling account of a country that played a pivotal role in Europe's fortunes & fundamentally shaped our world. Prussia began as a medieval backwater but transformed itself into a major European power & the force behind the creation of the German empire until it was finally abolished by the Allies after the Second World War. With great flair & authority Christopher Clark describes Prussia's great battles dynastic marriages & astonishing reversals of fortune its brilliant & charismatic leaders from the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg to Bismarck & Frederick the Great the military machine & the progressive enlightened values on which it was built. " Fascinating.. .masterly.. .littered with intriguing detail & wry observation". (Richard Overy " Daily Telegraph"). "A terrific book.. .the definitive history of this much-maligned state". (" Daily Telegraph Books of the Year"). " You couldn't have the triumph & the tragedy of Prussia better told". (" Observer"). "A magisterial history of Europe's only extinct power". (" Financial Times"). " Exemplary.. .an illuminating profoundly satisfying work of history". (" The New York Times"). Christopher Clark is a lecturer in Modern European History at St Catharine's College University of Cambridge. He is also the author of " Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Life in Power"." ...

It wasnt hard to follow the scent of blood to the living room where the fae had been killed. It had been a violent death perfect for creating ghosts. Mercy Thompson enjoys life as a mechanic but life is never simple given her increasing closeness to the local werewolf pack & her ability to change into coyote form at will. & when a member of the fae community calls in a favour needing her skills for a covert murder investigation she jumps into the hunt. But the dangers multiply & she clashes with shadowed creatures of great power. When her old boss Zee is charged with a brutal assassination Mercy find herself fighting alone. There are those who love her who would keep her safe but she is wary & holds her freedom precious. Until that is she has nothing left to lose but her life.. . ...

My name--my True Name--is Ashallayn' darkmyr Tallyn. I am the last remaining son of Mab Queen of the Unseelie Court. & I am dead to her. My fall began as many stories do with a girl..." To cold faery prince Ash love was a weakness for mortals & fools. His own love had died a horrible death killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought. Then Meghan Chase--a half human half fey slip of a girl--smashed through his barricades binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. & when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive. With the unwelcome company of his archrival Summer Court prankster Puck & the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end--a quest to find a way to honor his vow to stand by Meghan's side. To survive in the Iron Realm Ash must have a soul & a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. & along the way Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that challenges his darkest beliefs & shows him that sometimes it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice." ...

In this abridged edition of John Campbell's two acclaimed volumes on Margaret Thatcher we trace the life of Britain's only female Prime Minister from her upbringing in Grantham to her unexpected challenge for leadership of the Conservative party to her eleven tumultuous years in Downing Street & her eventual removal from power. This is an extraordinary account of an extraordinary individual who changed the face of Britain; John Campbell portrays an ambitious & determined woman who started cautiously grew in confidence after the Falklands War but became increasingly remote & domineering until she finally lost the trust of her colleagues. ...