Michael Krupa was born into a poor family in south-west Poland & in his teens was accepted into a Jesuit seminary. He ran away before taking his final vows & joined the army. Soon afterwards the German tanks rolled into Poland & easily defeated her antiquated forces
- the Polish cavalry were armed with sabres. Krupa survived Hitlers invasion but was arrested in Soviet-occupied eastern Poland & accused of spying. After enduring torture in Moscows notorious Lubianka prison he was sentenced to ten years corrective labour & deported to the Pechora Gulag. Most prisoners there were worked & starved to death within a year. But Krupa managed again to escape & in the chaos following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union made one of the most extraordinary journeys of the war
- from Siberia to safety in Afghanistan. Krupas Jesuit training had given him an inner strength & resilience which enabled him to survive in the face of appalling brutality & cruelty. Luck & the kindness of strangers helped him complete his epic journey to freedom. The story of the suffering inflicted on millions in Stalins camps has been told before
- but Krupas story is remarkable & uni


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In this ground-breaking & compelling book Nicholas Carr argues that not since Gutenberg invented printing has humanity been exposed to such a mind-altering technology. The Shallows draws on the latest research to show that the Net is literally re-wiring our brains inducing only superficial understanding. As a consequence there are profound changes in the way we live & communicate remember & socialise
- even in our very conception of ourselves. By moving from the depths of thought to the shallows of distraction the web it seems is actually fostering ignorance. The Shallows is not a manifesto for luddites nor does it seek to turn back the clock. Rather it is a revelatory reminder of how far the Internet has become enmeshed in our daily existence & is affecting the way we think. This landmark book compels us all to look anew at our dependence on this all-pervasive technology.
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The Outside World clamours at the wrought iron gates & the evil alliance within Stonewylde threatens to destroy everything. With the new business & their relationship in tatters Yul & Sylvie find their once-beautiful world has been desecrated by the dark forces. But Stonewylde is as old as the hills themselves & the landscape endures. Leveret has discovered her true calling & is determined to lead the community back to the golden age of magic & prosperity. As the enchanting tale of Stonewylde draws to its end Sylvie finally realises why she was brought here & Yul understands his true destiny. Whilst Leveret sees exactly what lies ahead for Stonewylde.. . ...

The first book in a brand new trilogy from the author of the Farseer Liveship Traders & Tawny Man trilogies. Young Nevare Burvelle is the second son of a second son. Traditionally in Gernia the firstborn son is heir to the family fortunes the second son bears a sword & the third son is consecrated to the priesthood. Nevare will follow his father
- newly made a lord by the King
- into the cavalry; to the frontier & thence to an advantageous marriage to carry on the Burvelle name. It is a golden future & Nevare looks forward to it with relish. For twenty years King Troven's cavalry have pushed the frontiers of Gernia out across the grasslands subduing the fierce tribes of the plain on its way. Now they have driven the frontier as far as the Barrier Mountains home to the enigmatic Speck people. The Specks
- a dapple-skinned forest-dwelling folk
- retain the last vestiges of magic in a world which is becoming progressive & technologised. The 'civilised' peoples base their beliefs on a rational philosophy founded on scientific principle & a belief in the good god who displaced the older deities of their world. To them the Specks are primeval savages little better than beasts. Superstitions abound; it is said that they harbour strange diseases & worship trees. Sexual congress with them is regarded as both filthy & foolhardy: the Speck plague which has ravaged the frontier has decimated entire regiments. All these beliefs will touch Nevare's training at the Academy; but his progress there is not as simple as he would wish. He will experience prejudice from the old aristocracy: as the son of a 'new noble' he is segregated into a patrol comprising other new nobles' sons all of whom will encounter injustice discrimination & foul play in that hostile & deeply competitive environment. In addition his world view will be challenged by his unconventional girl-cousin Epiny; & by the bizarre dreams which visit him at night. & then on Dark Evening the circus comes to Old Thares bringing with it the first Specks Nevare has ever seen...



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Great for boys with a huge collectability factor bolstered by the cards in the back of the books & links to an excellent interactive website. Malvel wants revenge on Tom! The Evil Wizard is using the ancient spirits of Avantian heroes to conjure bloodthirsty Beasts. Shamani the Raging flame is causing havoc...can Tom stop the Beast? ...

Omar Khayyam Shakil had three mothers who shared the symptoms of pregnancy as they did everything else inseparably. At their six breasts Omar was warned against all feelings & nuances of shame. It was training which would prove useful when he left his mothers fortress (via the dumb-waiter) to face his shameless future... As captivating fairy-tale devastating political satire & exquisite uproarious entertainment SHAME is a novel without rival. ...

In 1998 Sarbjit Athwal was called by her husband to attend a family meeting. It looked like just another family gathering. An attractive house in west London a large dining room two brothers their mother one wife. But the subject they were discussing was anything but ordinary. At the head of the group sat the elderly mother. She stared proudly around smiling at her children then raised her hand for silence. ' It's decided then ' the old lady announced. ' We have to get rid of her.' ' Her' was Surjit Athwal Sarbjit's sister-in-law. Within three weeks of that meeting Surjit was dead: lured from London to India drugged strangled & her body dumped in the Ravi River never to be seen again. After the killing risking her own life Sarbjit fought secretly for justice for nine long scared years. Eventually with immense bravery she became the first person within a murderer's family ever to go into open court in an honour killing trial as the Prosecution's key witness & the first to waive her anonymity in such a trial. As a result of her testimony the trial led to the first successful prosecution of an honour killing without the body ever being found. But her story doesn't end there. Since the trial her life has been threatened; her own husband arrested after an allegation of intimidation. Shamed is a story of fear & of horror
- but also of immense courage & a woman who risked everything to see that justice was done.
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Martin is kind decent & good-looking. & look where it's got him. His boyfriend of four years has run off with a male prostitute. His friends John & Caroline are no help
- John prefers infamy to sympathy & Caroline is too busy trying to work out if her wonderful sensitive boyfriend is a closet case. & to top it all Martin's hippie father turns up to stay wearing his ' Proud to be an Embarrassing Parent' badge. To escape Martin jumps head first into hedonism throwing himself into the gay club scene a world of drugs & muscles hard bodies & harder music. Meanwhile Caroline is learning that being Shameless has its price & so does she... How long can they keep up with the lifestyle? & can they find the man of their dreams when sex has become a substitute for love & pleasure is measured in beats per minute...?
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Coupland's funny spot-on portrait of the death of the yuppie. Tyler Johnson is an apocalyptic entrepreneur in the making. His memories begin with Ronald Reagan. With his neat girlfriend smart jokes & shampoo collection he works at the nuclear power plant where his hippie parents used to demonstrate plotting his fortune. But fortune has other plans
- the return of a Paris summer fling one of the 'low-ambition Euro-teens' who takes Tyler on the road to the shimmering dreams of L.A.
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Shane Williams has spent almost a decade thrilling the rugby world with his evasive running skills & a box of tricks that has left the best defences grasping thin air disproving the notion that size matters in modern professional rugby. Hes been called the little wizard the artful dodger & a whole host of other superlatives & wherever Williams has played the crowd have been on the edge of their seats. As his teenage years came to an end Williams looked set for a life of relative obscurity playing scrum-half for his local side Amman United & scratching around in a variety of day jobs. All that changed however when he was plucked from nowhere by then Neath coach Lyn Jones & his rise to become Wales most dangerous strike runner was meteoric. Following his international debut aged 21 Williams lit up Wales 2003 World Cup campaign & went on to become an integral part of the Grand Slam-winning side of 2005 a year in which he also toured with the British Lions to New Zeal&. In 2008 when Wales took the Grand Slam once more he made a sensational contribution to the sides glorious victory. After leading the great Bryan Habana a merry dance on the way to two mesmerising tries on Wales tour to South Africa just two months later Williams became the first Welshman crowned IRB World Player of the Year that autumn. He then completed the 2008-09 season with a second Lions tour touching down twice in the 28-9 third Test victory against the Springboks. In Shane" Williams reveals the inside story of his incredible rugby career so far the personal trials that have come with success & how he has managed to defy the odds to become a living Welsh rugby legend." ...