Harry Patch the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of the First World War is now 108 years old & one of very few people who can directly recall the horror of that conflict. Harry vividly remembers his childhood in the Somerset countryside of Edwardian Engl&. He left school in 1913 to become an apprentice plumber but three years later was conscripted serving as a machine gunner in the Duke of Cornwalls Light Infantry. Fighting in the mud & trenches during the Battle of Passchendaele he saw a great many of his comrades die & in one dreadful moment the shell that wounded him kill his three closest friends. In vivid detail he describes daily life in the trenches the terror of being under intense artillery fire & the fear of going over the top. Then after the Armistice the soldiers frustration at not being quickly demobbed led to a mutiny in which Harry was soon caught up. The Second World War saw Harry in action on the home front as a fire-fighter during the bombing of Bath. He also warmly describes his friendship with American GIs preparing to go to France & years later his tears when he saw their graves. Late in life Harry achieved fame meeting the Queen & taking part in the BBC documentary The Last Tommies finally shaking hands with a German veteran of the artillery & speaking out frankly to Prime Minister Tony Blair about the soldiers shot for cowardice in the First World War. The Last Fighting Tommy is the story of an ordinary mans extraordinary life. ...

Harry Patch 110 years old is the last British soldier alive to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. From his vivid memories of an Edwardian childhood the horror of the Great War & fighting in the mud during the Battle of Passchendaele working on the home front in the Second World War & fame in later life as a veteran The Last Fighting Tommy is the story of an ordinary man's extraordinary life. ...

Michael Simkins is the ultimate Sunday cricketer
- passionate obsessive technically inept & hopelessly deluded. When an injury
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This is the first short story collection from an acclaimed novelist with a wide & loyal readership. Many of the stories have won prizes been published or broadcast; some are new written especially for the collection. Several feature artists & are set in the past in a rural England; others are contemporary: stories set in London or Europe of love glimpsed lost or longed for. In Bratislava" is the brief encounter between a lonely businessman & young student in the aftermath of communism. Two or three look at illness & mortality: in " Last Fling" the title story a dying woman places a lonely hearts ad. All these stories are written with Sue Gees insight precision & delicacy of style & tone. Her last novel " Reading in Bed" (2007) was a " Daily Mail" Book Club Selection; her next will be published in 2012. Poignant & haunting immensely readable " Last Fling" is the perfect book between the two." ...

The Last Four Things" is the second in Paul Hoffman's remarkable series. Death Judgement Heaven & Hell. These are the " Last Four Things". Now there are Five Meet Thomas Cale Returning to the Sanctuary of the Redeemers Thomas Cale is told by the Lord Militant that the destruction of mankind is necessary; the only way to undo God's greatest mistake. Cale seemingly accepts his role in the ending of the world: fate has painted him as the Left Hand of God the Angel of Death. Absolute power is within his grasp the terrifying zeal & military might of the Redeemers a weapon for him to handle as simply as he once used a knife. But perhaps not even the grim power that the Redeemers hold over Cale is enough
- the boy who turns from love to poisonous hatred in a heartbeat the boy who switches between kindness & sheer violence in the blink of an eye. The annihilation that the Redeemers seek may well be in Cale's hands
- but his soul is far stranger than they could ever know. " The Last Four Things" follows on from " The Left Hand of God". It is the second instalment in a gripping trilogy by Paul Hoffman. Imagine if Phillip Pullman's " His Dark Materials" met Umberto Eco's " Name of the Rose". Fans of epic heroic fiction will love this series. Praise for Paul Hoffman: " This book gripped me from the first chapter & then dropped me days later dazed & grinning to myself". (Conn Iggulden). " Tremendous momentum". (" Daily Telegraph"). "A cult classic.. .". (" Daily Express"). Paul Hoffman is the author of four previous novels " The Last Four Things" (2011) " The Left Hand of God" (2010) " The Golden Age of Censorship" (2007) a black comedy based on his experiences as a film censor & " The Wisdom of Crocodiles" (2000) which predicted the collapse of the world financial system."

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The teenage girl was the first victim. Her throat cut to the bone she didnt stand a chance. Her mother at least had time to fight back. Briefly. Called to the crime scene in leafy Wimbledon Maeve Kerrigans first thought is that this is a domestic dispute gone bad. But the husband is found lying bleeding & unconscious in an upstairs room. As a criminal barrister he insists hes the third victim rather than their prime suspect even if hes a man who makes enemies easily. The only other surviving family member is fifteen-year-old Lydia. She was the one to find her mother & twin sisters bodies
- & the only witness Maeve has. But she isnt talking...
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The teenage girl was the first victim. Her throat cut to the bone she didn't stand a chance. Her mother was the second. She at least had time to fight back. Briefly. Called to the South London crime scene Maeve Kerrigan's first thought is that this is a domestic dispute gone bad. But the husband
- found bloody & unconscious in an upstairs room
- insists he's the third victim not the killer. However the only witness is his young daughter. & she's not talking...

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It doesnt matter if youre a robot a caveman or an alien from outer space: sooner or later some girls going to break your heart. & Simon Rich is going to write about it. Love is really really difficult. & its even harder if youre the last woman on earth. The sketches in Simon Richs new book are bizarre funny & even familiar. Exploring loves many complications & mortifications
- losing it finding it breaking it & making it
- Rich turns the ordinary into the absurd. From the invisible mans compulsion to stalk his ex Sherlock Holmes" only blind spot & how Darwin really formed his theory of evolution " The Last Girlfriend on Earth" takes readers for an exhilarating hilarious ride on the rollercoaster of love."

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THE LAST GODFATHERS charts the rise of the notorious Corleone clan. From its humble origins in the town of Corleone the clan manipulated Cosa Nostras code of honour deceiving & bludgeoning its way to the top of the secret brotherhood purging its rivals & launching a terrorist campaign which decimated anti-mafia judges police & politicians. Journalist John Follain focuses on the three godfathers who headed the clan from the 1950s onwards. Luciano The Professor Leggio Salvatore The Beast Riina & Bernardo The Tractor Provenzano who forged a vicious clan bent on the subversion of democracy. Cutting through the romantic aura of Hollywood films THE LAST GODFATHERS portrays the true face of the crime family which inspired Mario Puzos The Godfather. Based on thousands of pages of judicial documents wiretap transcripts the testimony of mafiosi defectors & interviews with investigators this is the last word on the worlds most famous criminal organisation. ...

According to Jewish scripture there are thirty-six righteous people on earth. Without them humanity would perish. But the thirty-six do not know that they are the chosen ones. In Beijing a monk collapses in his chamber. A fiery mark has spread across his back & down his spine. In Mumbai a man who served the poor dies suddenly. His body shows the same mark. Similar deaths are reported in cities around the world
- the victims all humanitarians all with the same death mark. In Copenhagen it falls to veteran detective Niels Bentzon to investigate. He is told to find eight good people of Denmark & warn them of this threat. But Bentzon is trained to see the worst in people & he becomes increasingly skeptical as he realizes that not everyone perceived to be good is truly good. It is only when Niels meets Hannah a brilliant astrophysicist mourning the death of her husband that the pair begin to piece together the puzzle & a pattern emerges. There have been thirty-four deaths & there are two more to come. According to the pattern Bentzon & Hannah can predict the time & place of the final two. The murders will occur in Venice & Copenhagen. & the time is now.
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