Celestria always spends her summer holiday at Pendrift Hall the rambling shabby Cornish mansion adorned with wisteria & clematis that has been home to the Montague family for generations. In the summer of 1958 the highlight is a lavish ball in honour of Archie Montagues fiftieth birthday & the beautiful girl on the cusp of womanhood is looking forward to practising her flirtation skills on the Wilmotte boys. But what is supposed to be a night of celebration ends in catastrophe. As a result Celestrias grandfather encourages her to play detective to seek out an explanation for the bewildering events. The quest takes her to the heel of Italy to the rugged beauty of Puglia & the cool cloisters of the Convento di Santa Maria del Mare. Here Celestria meets an enigmatic stranger & confronts unwelcome truths about her family
- & about herself. Once she has done so she is able to transform herself from selfish girl to mature woman & save the family home.
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At the heart of this epic saga set just before the Opium Wars is an old slaving-ship The Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean its crew a motley array of sailors & stowaways coolies & convicts. In a time of colonial upheaval fate has thrown together a truly diverse cast of Indians & Westerners from a bankrupt Raja to a widowed villager from an evangelical English opium trader to a mulatto American freedman. As their old family ties are washed away they like their historical counterparts come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais or ship-brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born which will span continents races & generations.???? The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges the rolling high seas & the exotic backstreets of China. But it is the panorama of characters whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself which makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive
- a masterpiece from one of the worlds finest novelists.
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Two girls with two very different lives come together in this beautiful & moving story of friendship & family by a major new voice in girls' fiction. Meet Maya. She has a cosy comfy life with her slightly hippy mum & dad by the sea in Cornwall. But as an only child Maya feels smothered by her parents' love & longs to be a given more freedom & independence; but what Maya wants more than anything is a sister. Meet Cat. She's never known her dad & her mum's an alcoholic & is not capable of looking after herself let alone her 11 year old daughter. Cat's spent her life protecting her mum & keeping some dark secrets; all she wants is to be left alone. But Cat & Maya's worlds collide when Cat is taken into care & Maya's parents make the life-changing decision to adopt her. Maya can't wait to welcome Cat into the family & hopes that by having a sister her parents might learn to 'chill out' & give Maya a bit more freedom. But Cat is angry & resentful & resists Maya's attempts at friendship & soon Maya's idea of a perfect family is blown out of the water. As tensions rise & secrets come out will the girls ever become friends let alone sisters? ...

Jack is an apprentice bard & just beginning to learn the secrets of his mysterious master when he & his little sister are captured by Viking chief Olaf One-Brow & taken to the court of Ivar the Boneless. Ivar is married to a half-troll named Frith an evil & unpredictable queen with a strange power over her husbands court. Jack is sent on to the kingdom of the trolls where he has to find the magical well & undo the charm he has cast on Frith. He is accompanied by Thorgill a shield maiden aged 12 who wants to be a berserker when she grows up. Together they are set for a magical & exciting adventure. ...

The murder of two clam fishermen off the island of Pellestrina south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon draws Commissario Brunetti into the close-knit community of the island bound together by a code of loyalty & a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia. When the boss' secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the island where she has relatives Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders concerns for Elettra's safety & his not entirely straightforward feelings for her.. . ...

A family conflict is set to make waves.. . After years of fast living & reckless excitement Cameron Quinn is called home to help care for his adopted brother Seth a troubled young boy not unlike Cameron once was. Dark brooding & fiercely independent Cameron's life changes overnight as he has to learn to live with his brothers again. Old rivalries & new resentments flare between the passionate Quinn boys as they try to set aside their differences. But when Seth's fate falls into the hands of Anna a tough but beautiful social worker the tide starts to turn. She alone has the power to bring the Quinns together
- or tear them apart.. .
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BOOK SIX: SHADOWS OF THE APT A shadow is falling over Collegium. Despite the tenuous peace Stenwold Maker knows that the Empire will return for his city. Even as he tries to prepare for the resurgence of the black & gold empire a hidden threat is working against his people. Ships that sail from Collegium's harbour are being attacked sunk by pirates. Some just go missing.. . Lulled by the spread of lies & false promises Stenwold's allies are falling away. He faces betrayal on every side & the Empire is just waiting for the first sign of weakness to strike. But the Empire is not the only power that has its eyes on Collegium. & even the Wasp-kinden may not be powerful enough to stave off the forces massing in the darkness. Praise for Shadows of the Apt: 'A page-turning ride to its superb finale' Fantasy Book Critic Blog 'I cannot even begin to explain how much I enjoy the Shadows of the Apt books.. .some of the best fantasy entertainment out there' LECBook Reviews.com ...

Airplanes adventures life & death in the skies: The Sea Witch brings together three dramatic tales
- from three periods of history
-

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This title

Includes:: introduction by Ben Kane. Oliver Tressilian a Cornish gentleman is blessed with youth

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One stormy night the sea-thing child a draggled heap of scales & feathers is flung up on the beach. Afraid of the wild waves & the storm skies he meets a fiddler crab with no bow & together they avoid facing their fears. Finally though he finds his star his courage & his ocean self. ...