Former dancer & party loyalist Wen Liping vanishes in rural China just before she was to leave the country. Her husband a key witness against a smuggling ring suspected of importing aliens to the US refuses to testify until she is found & brought to join him in America. A few days later a badly mutilated body turns up in Shanghais Bund Park. It bears all the hallmarks of a triad killing. The US immigration agency convinced that the Chinese government are hiding something send US Marshal Catherine Rohn to Shanghai to join the investigation. Inspector Chen an astute young policeman with twin passions for food & poetry is under political pressure to find answers fast. When Catherine Rohn joins him he must decide what is more dangerous: to hide the truth or to risk unleashing a scandal that could destroy his career. ...

Eve Dallas has been chosen by a deadly revolutionary group Cassandra as their one true adversary. While investigating the seemingly simple case of a jealous lover killing her partner she receives a disk from Cassandra telling her to expect a demonstration of their power. Arriving just in time to see one of her billionaire husband Roarke's empty properties blown up the link continues as more of Roarke's city landmarks are destroyed testing Eve & her team to the limit & costing more & more lives. Discovering that Cassandra is linked to a previous group responsible for blowing up the Pentagon several years ago things turn increasingly sinister as Eve realises that the murdered man & his family are implicated & she races to break down the web of deceit & destruction before the city falls. ...

Caitlin's life changes from the moment she sees Lucas walking across the causeway one hot summer's day. He is the strangest most beautiful boy she has ever seen
- & when she meets him her world comes alive. But to others he quickly becomes an object of jealousy prejudice & hatred. Caitlin tries to make sense of the injustice that lurks at every unexpected twist & turn until she...
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Shes back! When arch-snob Emmeline Lucas (known universally as Lucia) makes some money on the stockmarket the wheels are set in motion for a new adventure
- & this time her ambitions are larger than ever. But eternal rival Elizabeth Mapp-Flint is determined to outshine Lucia & shes got royalty on her side. The much-loved Mapp & Lucia series takes a new turn as the two legendary protagonists travel to the continent to lock horns in an idyllic Italian setting. Can Mapp upstage Lucia on foreign soil so far from Tilling? What is Georgies new valet up to? & will Lucias financial speculation lead to rags or more riches? Lucia On Holiday is a new addition to the Mapp & Lucia canon based on the immortal characters first created by E.F. Benson. Perfect reading for followers of Bensons original novels & sure to be equally loved by new fans this is a pitch-perfect & deliciously enjoyable social satire of an England long gone but not forgotten.
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What happens to us when we die? Oblivion. Or so believes Dr Miles Fleming a brilliant young neuroscientist who has developed a device capable of reading human brainwaves. But when his own brother contacts him after being certified dead for six whole minutes Fleming wonders if hes got it all wrong. His search for the truth uncovers a terrifying religious conspiracy to stage the most ambitious experiment the world has ever seen
- to prove beyond doubt the existence of a heaven or a hell. As the world awaits the final judgment Fleming must confront his own demons to save not only his own soul but that of all humanity. The Lucifer Code" pits the faith of religion against the certainty of science in a heart stopping thriller which explores our deepest fears."
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In The Lucifer Effect the award-winning & internationally respected psychologist Philip Zimbardo examines how the human mind has the capacity to be infinitely caring or selfish kind or cruel creative or destructive. He challenges our conceptions of who we think we are what we believe we will never do
- & how & why almost any of us could be initiated into the ranks of evil doers. At the same time he describes the safeguards we can put in place to prevent ourselves from corrupting
- or being corrupted by
- others & what sets some people apart as heroes & heroines able to resist powerful pressures to go along with the group & to refuse to be team players when personal integrity is at stake. Using the first in-depth analysis of his classic Stanford Prison Experiment & his personal experiences as an expert witness for one of the Abu Ghraib prison guards Zimbardo's stimulating & provocative book raises fundamental questions about the nature of good & evil & how each one of us needs to be vigilant to prevent becoming trapped in the ' Lucifer Effect' no matter what kind of character or morality we believe ourselves to have. The Lucifer Effect won the William James Book Award in 2008.


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Things at the Grace residence are getting completely out of h&. As if being attacked by goblins & almost eaten by a bridge troll wasnt enough now the house boggart Thimbletack is out to get Jared. Simon has a very hungry griffon recuperating in the carriage house & Mallory is convinced that the only way to stop the madness is to get rid of the Guide. But fortunately for Jared it seems that is not an option. With all kinds of creatures after them the Guide is the only protection the Grace kids have. If only they could work out why the faeries are stalking them? Could it be the Guide that they want? Theres only one person who might know the answer
- their crazy old Aunt Lucinda.
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For aspiring cricketer Ed Smith luck was for other people. Like his childhood hero Geoff Boycott the tough flinty Yorkshireman the young Ed knew that the successful cricketer made his own luck by an application of will power elimination of error & the relentless pursuit of excellence. But when a freak accident at the crease at Lords prematurely ended Ed Smiths international cricketing career it changed everything
- & prompted him to look anew at his own life through the prism of luck. Tracing the history of the concepts of luck & fortune destiny & fate from the ancient Greeks to the present day
- in religion in banking in politics
- Ed Smith argues that the question of luck versus skill is as pertinent today as it ever has been. He challenges us to think again about privilege & opportunity to re-examine the question of innate ability & of gifts & talents accidentally conferred at birth. Weaving in his personal stories
- notably the chance meeting of a beautiful stranger who would become his wife on a train he seemed fated to miss
- he puts to us the idea that in life luck cannot be underestimated: without any means of explaining our differing lots in life the world without luck is one in which you deserve every ill that befalls you where envy dominates & averageness is the stifling ideal. Embracing luck leads us to a fresh reappraisal of the nature of success opportunity & fairness. Bankers have promised risk-free investments the self-help industry peddles the idea that everyone can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps & lifes winners are encouraged to claim that they did it all themselves in a meritocracy. The case for luck needs to be made now more than ever.




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Tracing the history of the concepts of luck & fortune destiny & fate from the Ancient Greeks to the present day
- in religion in
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When 14-year-old Rebeccas parents die of smallpox she & her brother & sister must leave their smart home in Kent for the more poverty-stricken conditions in Londons East End. After initial trauma they adapt to poorer living conditions & grow to love the area. Five years on aged 19 Rebecca meets Jimmy Jackson born in Bow & now a successful bookmaker. They are attracted but when their relationship grows to love an old flame of Jimmys turns up producing a son he didnt know he had. Young James & Jimmy get on well his old flame decides to take herself off to enjoy her life without them & Rebecca & Jimmys relationship takes off again. ...