When the abolitionist Granville Sharpe bought land in Sierra Leone to repatriate freed slaves one former slave living in London foresaw trouble. Is it possible asked Ottobah Cugoano biblically that a fountain should send forth both sweet water & bitter?. Could the slave trade be abolished from West Africa when West Africa was its source? The answer was no. Sweet Water & Bitter" is the extraordinary sequel to Britains abolition of the slave trade in 1807. The last legal British slave-ship left Africa that year but other countries & illegal slavers continued to trade. When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815 British diplomats negotiated anti-slave-trade treaties & a Preventive Squadron was formed to cruise the West African coast. In six decades this small fleet liberated 150 000 Africans & lost 17 000 of its own men in doing so. This is the tale of their exciting & arduous campaign. It is also a story of unforeseen consequences... What to do with the freed slaves? How to manipulate international law so that you could board the ships of other nations? How to fight the intense hostility of African leaders to abolition? In tracing these complex questions Sian Rees shows how the campaign was linked to British imperial & commercial ambition as well as to philanthropy: the colonising of West Africa was a direct though unintended result. Above all however this is a swashbuckling naval adventure full of sensational first-hand accounts of life at sea of the grim barracoons where slaves are held of the luxurious compounds of the slave-brokers & the lonely garrisons dotting the coast. Sailors speak of the boredom of patrol the terror of detached service in small boats upriver the sudden violent battles & the horror of seeing close up the cruelties of slaving. Combining flawless research with an intimate & dramatic narrative this is a voyage that no one will forget." ...

Michael Pennington has spent over 20 000 hours performing & working with Shakespeare. Loosely based on his popular one-man show Pennington illustrates the little we know about Shakespeares childhood early marriage his roles as an actor with wonderfully apt"ations from the works. ...

Carole Matthews backlist is being reissued looking as fresh as ever. Falling in love isnt easy. Sadie Nelson ought to know -- shes got two men to choose from & neither one is hassle-free. First theres Gill Mc Gann a Hollywood producer whos flown her from a grey day in London to sun-soaked LA in order to win her heart. He has more to offer Sadie than she could ever have imagined... Then theres gorgeous actor Tavis Jones whose sense of fun makes Sadie feel immediately at home. But can they ever be more than just good friends? The longer she leaves it the harder it gets & Sadies about to discover that in LA anything can happen... ...

If only everything in life was as simple as baking a cake... Jennie Copeland thought she knew the recipe for a happy life: marriage to her university sweetheart a nice house in the suburbs & three beautiful children. But when her husband leaves her she is forced to find a different recipe. & she thinks she's found just what she needs: a ramshackle house on the outskirts of the beautiful Talyton St George a new cake-baking business a dog a horse chickens... But life in the country is not quite as idyllic as she'd hoped & Jennie can't help wondering whether neighbouring farmer Guy Barnes was right when he told her she wouldn't last the year. Or perhaps the problem is that she's missing one vital ingredient to make her new life a success. Could Guy be the person to provide it? ...

As children Jennifer Harris & Cameron Quick were both social outcasts. They were also one anothers only friend. So when Cameron disappears without warning Jennifer thinks shes lost the only person who will ever understand her. Now in high school Jennifer has been transformed. Known as Jenna shes popular happy & dating everything Jennifer" couldnt be---but she still cant shake the memory of her long-lost friend. When Cameron suddenly reappears they are both confronted with memories of their shared past & the drastically different paths their lives have taken. Sweethearts is a story about the power of memory the bond of friendship & the quiet resilience of our childhood hearts." ...

It is the summer of 1976 the hottest summer on record. In the heart of Londons bustling East End lies a tight-knit community of families. They lead a very traditional way of life the men are down the pub the women are gossiping at the toddler group in the working womens club & the children stay out late in the long summer evenings playing in the park & roaming the streets carefree. In the sweltering heat Grace Ballantyne leaves her son Adam playing in his toy car in the garden. When she returns she finds the door to the car open & her four-year-old son is nowhere in sight. As Grace frantically searches panic creeps in & so the nightmare begins. A series of horrific assaults on young children spreads through the neighbourhood each one more brutal; there is only so much this close community can take. As they cling to one another for hope & survival the men beat up the school caretaker who they believe to be the perpetrator of this twisted abuse. But have they got the right man? Finally it is the women who take control. In a battle to protect their families
- & seek revenge
- they make sure the attacker gets his just desserts.

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As a child Gretchen's twin sister was taken by a witch-like monster in the woods. Ever since Gretchen & her brother Ansel have felt the long branches of the witch's forest threatening to make them disappear too. When their stepmother casts Gretchen & Ansel out as teens they stumble upon a sleepy Southern town & are invited to stay with Sophia Kelly at her sweet shop. Sophia moulds candied magic: coveted treats that inspire confidence bravery & passion. Life seems idyllic & Gretchen & Ansel finally start to forget their haunted past
- until Gretchen meets handsome local outcast Samuel who gives Gretchen a reason to fear Sophia: girls have been vanishing at Sophia's annual chocolate festival taken by the insatiable 'witch' of Gretchen's nightmares. Can Gretchen save herself the girls of Live Oak & Sophia?? Of one thing Gretchen is certain: a monster is coming & it will never go away hungry.
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For a decade Laetitia Maklouf did all her gardening in window boxes a balcony & across every surface inside her flat. Finally she moved into a house with her own garden. Beautifully illustrated throughout with Jill Mead's acclaimed photographs Sweet Peas for Summer is Laetitia's own story of creating her first garden from scratch in a year & a bible for the gardening beginner. Irreverent practical & funny she sets out how to plan plant & maintain a garden in ten easy steps. There are also over 100 plant recipes for spring summer autumn & winter planting plans for every personality type & plenty of time left over for lounging on the lawn. ...

This 4 port USB2 hub in Baby Pink with a retractable removable cord comes with a detachable & retractable USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 cable. Specifications include:-Ports: 4 x USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 1 x mini USB (Universal Serial Bus) 2.0 upstream. Illuminated with white LED. Short circuit protection. Supports: Windows Vista XP & MAC OSX. ...

This foldable webcam is suitable for all chat programmes so you can get chatting to all your friends asap! Thanks to its folding & adjustable base the webcam can be taken anywhere. When folded in the base provides protection for the lens. USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection. Place on a notebook or LCD screen. ...