Using exclusive access to newly uncovered archives Kalush & Sloman reveal the clandestine agreements in which the British & Americans recruited Houdini to be an active secret agent. In exchange for his cooperation the governments of these two countries facilitated his rise to the top of the world stage. The authors give thrilling accounts of his assignments such as his participation in early aerial surveillance & his use of his own magic magazine to communicate espionage-related information. After the war Houdini embarked upon what became his most dangerous mission when he took on the Spiritualist movement. Convinced that Spiritualist mediums were frauds he became obsessed with exposing them. But the Spiritualists were a powerful adversary. An organized network of fanatics led by Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle worked relentlessly to orchestrate a campaign that would silence Houdini forever. Grounded in solid research but as exciting & dramatic as a good thriller THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI traces the magicians long & circuitous route from struggling vaudevillian to worldwide legend. ...

Seduction is the sweetest secret... One kiss then another & before she knows it Lady Julia Leighton succumbs to the breathtaking charms of a stranger... at the ball celebrating her betrothal to a man who considers her a sister. The steamy encounter changes her life in more ways than one. When she meets her seducer again Julia is no longer a lady but an outcast a paid companion to a lady who used to be her equal-- & her desire for him burns as strong as ever. He goes by Thomas Merritt a name as questionable as his intentions. A thief with a secret past he was utterly bewitched by the beautiful & innocent Lady Julia. But after their one glorious evening together the handsome rogue left without a backward glance--knowing that he could never be a part of her world again. Now in a Vienna rife with political intrigue Thomas harbors a perilous secret--and the only person who can aid him is the woman who has captured his heart. ...

Beautiful damaged the ultimate sex symbol publicly celebrated privately unhappy
- Marilyn Monroe's tumultuous life & untimely death
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Neil Mc Kenna argues that our view of Oscar Wilde even after Ellmans magisterial volume is determined by Victorian sentimentality. In his own much more modern version of Wildes story he is not only extremely promiscuous but also a sort of campaigner for sexual freedom. He reveals for example that Wildes relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas was not an idealistic doting on a beautiful boy but that Bosie was the more dominant experienced of the two who used to go out hunting together for young boys. Wildes last days in Paris were not Mc Kenna shows miserable & defeated; Paris was for him an idyllic sensual & intellectual playground free from the narrowness of London. ...

Colin Tudges The Secret Life of Trees: How they Live & Why they Matter" explores the hidden role of trees in our everyday lives
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Behind the celebrated code-breaking at Bletchley Park lies another secret... The men & women of the 'Y' (for Wireless') Service were sent out across the world to run listening stations from Gibraltar to Cairo intercepting the German military's encrypted messages for decoding back at the now-famous Bletchley Park mansion. Such wartime postings were life-changing adventures
- travel out by flying boat or Indian railways snakes in filing cabinets & heat so intense the perspiration ran into your shoes
- but many of the secret listeners found lifelong romance in their far-flung corner of the world. Now drawing on dozens of interviews with surviving veterans Sinclair Mc Kay tells their remarkable story at last.

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The Darke Academy is a school like no other. An elite establishment that moves to an exotic new city every term its students are impossibly beautiful sophisticated & rich. & the more new scholarship girl Cassie Bell learns about the Academy the more curious she becomes. What sinister secrets are guarded by the Few
- the select group of students who keep outsiders away? Who is the dark stranger prowling the corridors at night? & what really happened a year earlier when the last scholarship girl died in mysterious circumstances? One thing Cassie will discover is that a little knowledge may be a dangerous thing but knowing too much can be deadly...
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To the dismay of her ambitious mother Bolanle marries into a polygamous family where she is the fourth wife of a rich rotund patriarch Baba Segi. She is a graduate & therefore a great prize but even graduates must produce children & her husbands persistent bellyache is a sign that things are not as they should be. Bolanle is too educated for the white garment conmen Baba Segi would usually go to for fertility advice so he takes her to hospital to discover the cause of her barrenness. Weaving the voices of Baba Segi & his four competing wives into a portrait of a clamorous household of twelve Lola Shoneyin evokes an extraordinary Nigerian family in splashes of vibrant colour. ...

Britains birds are among the best loved in the world & also among the best studied. In recent times these studies rather like tabloid exclusives have thrown up some surprising revelations & sullied a few reputations in the process. They have above all demonstrated that many of our birds lead much more complex lives than we previously thought. Following in the footsteps of the bestselling Secret Lives of Garden Birds this trip around Britains principal habitats looks beyond the confines of our gardens & parks to expose the extraordinary hidden world of some our most familiar birds. We learn the secrets of romance from Mute Swans meet the perfect father in the Guillemot the estranged couple (of Chiffchaffs) who share the same territory & enter the bizarre high-rise society of the Dotterel in which women rule. We also meet the ultimate killers both by day (Peregrine) & by night (Barn Owl) & encounter the only true living monster in Scotl&. At the same time we find out how all these birds cope with living in seemingly inhospitable habitats such as muddy estuaries lonely moorland or open ocean. Dominic Couzens is an acclaimed writer & bird tour leader whose popular monthly columns in BBC Wildlife & Birdwatching magazines have brought a fresh & dynamic approach to writing about birds & birdwatching. His previous publications include Identifying Birds by Behaviour & Secret Lives of Garden Birds. Peter Partingtons painting is widely admired for the uniquely vibrant & fluid style in which he captures the essence of bird behaviour. His previous publications include Learn to Draw Birds & Secret Lives of Garden Birds. Whether its the duplicitous love-life of certain male Pied Flycatchers or the fragile pair-bonding of Dottorel plenty of sexy secrets are revealed. Birds Illustrated Spring 2007 ...

There is no wildlife closer to us than that found in our gardens
- or indeed in our houses
- so it follows that many of those

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