Beatrice was the last child born to Queen Victoria & Prince Albert. Her father died when she was four & as Matthew Dennison relates Victoria came to depend on her youngest daughter absolutely but she also demanded from her complete submission. It is an enthralling story not just of a mother/daughter relationship but of a Queen & subject relationship. Beatrice succumbed to her mothers obsessive love so that by the time she was in her late teens she was her constant companion & running her mothers office which meant that when Victoria died her daughter became literary executor a role she conducted with teutonic thoroughness. She edited & bowdlerised her mothers Journals that cover 70 years & where possible her voluminous correspondence. Although Victoria tried to prevent Beatrice even so much as thinking of love her guard slipped when Beatrice was 29. She met Liko Prince Henry of Battenberg & fell in love. Beatrice however did not end up simply as a wife & mother. She loved music & composed a military march which remains in the repertoire of British regimental bands she sang & she painted. Matthew Dennison draws on extensive new material to restore Princess Beatrice to her rightful place as a key figure in the Victorian dynasty. ...

When Penny Moon is banished from Fleet Street to resurrect an ex-pat magazine on the French Riviera the worst news is yet to come. Her partner will be David Villers the man she once tried
- & humiliatingly failed
- to seduce. But when she arrives at the Riviera she is surprised to find that instead of the usual headaches & frustrations of restarting a magazine all that should be impossible is easy. Then quite unexpectedly she meets Christian Mureau a mysterious & elusive man who is wanted by the FBI & her curiosity is instantly clouded by passion. Swept along by the glamor & intrigue of Mureau's life & increasingly affected by David's charm & humor Penny finds her loyalties as mixed as her feelings. Feelings which lead her deeper & deeper into a web of love & deceit towards the terrifying consequences of two men's crimes
- & beyond...


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Lawrence Anthony's South African game reserve is home to many animals he has saved from a remarkable herd of elephants to a badly behaved bushbaby called George. Described as 'the Indiana Jones of conservation' when one of his rhinos was brutally slaughtered for her horn he didn't hesitate to lead an armed response against the poachers. Then he learned that there were only a handful of northern white rhinos left in the wild living in an area of the Congo controlled by the infamous Lord's Resistance Army & soon to be hunted into extinction. Lawrence knew he had to take action. What followed was an extraordinary adventure as he headed into the jungle to negotiate with the rebels while battling to save his own animals from terrible drought & to save the eyesight of his beloved elephant matriarch Nana. The Last Rhinos is peopled with unforgettable characters both human & animal & is a sometimes funny sometimes moving always exciting read. ' Anthony was a charismatic figure whose life combined Gerald Durrell-esque animal antics with Wilbur Smith bush heroics.. .a rattling read with an urgent message' BBC Wildlife Magazine ...

Lawrence Anthony's South African game reserve is home to many animals he has saved from a remarkable herd of elephants to a badly behaved bushbaby called George. Described as 'the Indiana Jones of conservation' when one of his rhinos was brutally slaughtered for her horn he didn't hesitate to lead an armed response against the poachers. Then he learned that there were only a handful of northern white rhinos left in the wild living in an area of the Congo controlled by the infamous Lord's Resistance Army & soon to be hunted into extinction. Lawrence knew he had to take action. What followed was an extraordinary adventure as he headed into the jungle to negotiate with the rebels while battling to save his own animals from terrible drought & to save the eyesight of his beloved elephant matriarch Nana. The Last Rhinos is peopled with unforgettable characters both human & animal & is a sometimes funny sometimes moving always exciting read. ' Anthony was a charismatic figure whose life combined Gerald Durrell-esque animal antics with Wilbur Smith bush heroics.. .a rattling read with an urgent message' BBC Wildlife Magazine ...

Lorraine Prestons brother Michael was sent down for life for the murder of their father
- & now hes being allowed out for their
...

The stunning new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. When modest Quaker Honor Bright sails from ...

Vampire Academy" is a dark & dangerous series by Richelle Mead. The final heart wrenching episode at St Vladimir's Academy. Rose is on trial for high treason & the death of Queen Tatiana. Someone is trying to frame her & it looks like even Dimitri might not be able to save her now. Richelle Mead the New York Times bestselling author of the " Vampire Academy" series lives in Seattle in the USA. " The Vampire Academy" series: " Vampire Academy"; " Frostbite"; " Shadow Kiss"; " Blood Promise"; " Last Sacrifice" & don't miss the brand new spin-off series " Bloodlines"..." ...

The dramatic arc of Saigo Takamoria s life from his humble origins as a lowly samurai to national leadership to his death as a rebel leader has captivated generations of Japanese readers & now Americans as well -- his life is the inspiration for a major Hollywood film The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise & Ken Watanabe. In this vibrant new biography Mark Ravina professor of history & Director of East Asian Studies at Emory University explores the facts behind Hollywood storytelling & Japanese legends & explains the passion & poignancy of Saigoa s life. Known both for his scholarly research & his appearances on The History Channel Ravina recreates the world in which Saigo lived & died the last days of the samurai. The Last Samurai traces Saigoa s life from his early days as a tax clerk in far southwestern Japan through his rise to national prominence as a fierce imperial loyalist. Saigo was twice exiled for his political activities ---- sent to Japana s remote southwestern islands where he fully expected to die. But exile only increased his reputation for loyalty & in 1864 he was brought back to the capital to help his lord fight for the restoration of the emperor. In 1868 Saigo commanded his lorda s forces in the battles which toppled the shogunate & he became & leader in the emperor Meijia s new government. But Saigo found only anguish in national leadership. He understood the need for a modern conscript army but longed for the days of the traditional warrior. Saigo hoped to die in service to the emperor. In 1873 he sought appointment as envoy to Korea where he planned to demand that the Korean king show deference to the Japanese emperor drawing his sword if necessary top defend imperial honor. Denied this chance to show his courage & loyalty he retreated to his homeland & spent his last years as a schoolteacher training samurai boys in frugality honesty & courage. In 1876 when the government stripped samurai of their swords Saigoa s followers rose in rebellion & Saigo became their reluctant leader. His insurrection became the bloodiest war Japan had seen in centuries killing over 12 000 men on both sides & nearly bankrupting the new imperial government. The imperial government denounced Saigo as a rebel & a traitor but their propaganda could not overcome his fame & in 1889 twelve years after his death the government relented pardoned Saigo of all crimes & posthumously restored him to imperial court rank. In THE LAST SAMURAI Saigo is as compelling a character as Robert E. Lee was to Americans--a great & noble warrior who followed the dictates of honor & loyalty even though it meant civil war in a country to which hea d devoted his life. Saigoa s life is a fascinating look into Japanese feudal society & a history of a country as it struggled between its long traditions & the dictates of a modern future. ...

British studio potter Michael Cardew (1901-1983) was a man of paradox a modernist who disliked modernity a colonial servant who despised Empire & an intellectual who worked with his hands. After graduating from Oxford in 1923 he made majestic slipware alongside legendary potter Bernard Leach. Wartime service in Ghana made Cardew fiercely critical of British overseas policies; he remained in West Africa intermittently until 1965 founding a local tradition of stoneware. Beginning in the late 1960s he travelled through Australia & North America teaching pottery & demonstrating against racism & its consequences. By the time of his death he had established himself as one of the finest 20th-century potters & as a voice of political dissent & counterculture. This is the first biography of his remarkable life. Harrods engaging narrative

Includes:: interviews with friends students & Cardews two surviving sons. Also included are previously unpublished photographs of Cardew & his family as well as colour images of his work.

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Jerusalem 70 AD. As the legions of Rome besiege the Holy Temple a boy is given a secret that he must guard with his life. Southern Germany December 1944. Six emaciated prisoners drag a mysterious crate deep into a disused mine. They too give their lives to keep the secret safe
- they are murdered by their Nazi guards. Egypt Valley of the Kings present day. A body is discovered among some ruins. It appears to be an open-&-shut case but the more Inspector Yusuf Khalifa of the Luxor police uncovers about the dead man the more uneasy he becomes. & his investigation turns out to be anything but routine. Khalifa doesn't know it yet but he is on the trail of an extraordinary long-lost artifact that could in the wrong hands turn the Middle East into a blood bath. It's a dangerous path he's taking
- & to make matters worse he's not alone... From ancient Jerusalem the Crusades Cathar heretics & coded medieval manuscripts to the Holocaust hidden Nazi treasure & the murderous present-day The Last Secret of the Temple is a thrilling rollercoaster ride of adventure in search of a two thousand year-old mystery & a pulse-pounding race against time.

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