London is & always has been a vortex of perpetual change. The 7 million people that live in the city today are presented with a volume of commercial technological & cultural choice that dwarfs any other period in its history. As each new high street brand & high-tech building appears on the urban landscape it becomes increasingly difficult to recall what once came before. This sense of loss is exacerbated by the sheer pace of life that creates an almost 'tunnel vision' effect in its citizens & visitors. This book offers an opportunity to remove those blinkers & enjoy a quirky & evocative look at a bygone city. Using atmospheric photography gleaned from the extensive Mirrorpix archives it chronicles the changing topography of London as well as charting the social evolution of the city through its industries sub-cultures fashions & momentous occasions. ...

1976: friends Marcus & Ruth go missing in Afghanistan during an overland bus trip to Kathmandu. A generation later Ruths niece Amber haunted by the disintegration of her family determines to get at the truth of their disappearance. Was it murder as her father suspected or a suicide pact as the police believed? Tracking down the trips bus driver Cassidy Amber starts to piece together a lost world
- the mystical vibrant hippy trail to India
- & colourful characters like Juliet who imagined herself the reincarnation of an Edwardian traveller. As the mystery surrounding her aunt & the charismatic Marcus unfolds Amber begins a journey of discovery of her own that will lead her not only into the dark secrets of the past & lost love but face to face with a tragedy much closer to home. Bonus content: * Interview with the author about her own overland adventure as an 18 year old that inspired the story * Discussion notes for reading groups

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Its every parents worst nightmare... Stephanie Harker is travelling through the security gates at OHare airport on her way to an idyllic holiday. Five-year-old Jimmy goes through the metal detector ahead of her. But then in panic & disbelief Stephanie watches as a uniformed agent leads her boy away
- & shes stuck the other side of Security hysterical with worry. The authorities unaware of Jimmys existence just see a woman behaving erratically; Stephanie is brutally wrestled to the ground & blasted with a taser gun to restrain her. & by the time she can tell them what has happened Jimmy is long gone. But as Stephanie tells her story to the FBI it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems with this seeminglynormal family. What is Jimmys background? Why would someone want to abduct him? & with time running out how can Stephanie get him back? A breathtakingly rich & gripping psychological thriller The Vanishing Point is Val Mc Dermids most accomplished standalone novel to date a work of haunting brilliance.
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The stunning new novel from the rising star of the crime writing genre Vanishing Point sees DI Jack Brady investigating the ...

Stephanie Harker is travelling through security at O' Hare airport with five-year-old Jimmy. But in a moment everything changes. In disbelief Stephanie watches as a uniformed agent leads her boy away
- & she's stuck the other side of the gates hysterical with worry. The authorities unaware of Jimmy's existence just see a woman behaving erratically; Stephanie is wrestled to the ground & blasted with a taser gun. By the time she can tell them what has happened Jimmy is long gone. But as Stephanie tells her story to the FBI it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. There are many potential suspects for this abduction. With time rapidly running out how can Stephanie get him back? A breathtakingly rich & gripping psychological thriller The Vanishing Point is Val Mc Dermid's most accomplished standalone novel to date a work of haunting brilliance.
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Following on from Lucy Lord's brilliant debut novel Revelry comes Vanity. Oozing with sex wild partying & scandal join Bella & best friend Poppy as they continue to navigate the world of being young fun & (almost) carefree. Glamorous Poppy seems to have it all & after a long tough year she is damn well going to enjoy it. But as Poppy's career in New York goes from strength to strength her husband Damian's takes a nosedive & she begins to wonder if love really can survive anything. In London Poppy's best friend Bella is basking in that new-couple glow with her boyfriend Andy. But not everything is as perfect as it seems & Bella can't help but be a little jealous of her best friend's Big Apple adventures. Meanwhile their arch-nemesis shallow but beautiful Ben is in Hollywood to make his name on the silver screen & annoyingly is doing rather well at it! From St Tropez to New York LA to the impossibly chic Paris; join Bella Poppy & their friends as they face the reality of friendships pushed to the limits & embark on a road trip that they'll never forget... ...

Thackeray's upper-class Regency world is a noisy & jostling commercial fairground predominantly driven by acquisitive greed & soulless materialism in which the narrator himself plays a brilliantly versatile role as a serio-comic observer. Although subtitled A Novel without a Hero Vanity Fair follows the fortunes of two contrasting but inter-linked lives: through the retiring Amelia Sedley & the brilliant Becky Sharp Thackeray examines the position of women in an intensely exploitative male world. ...

Becky Sharp is a poor orphan when she first makes friends with the lovely Amelia Sedley at Miss Pinkertons Academy for Young Ladies. She may not have the natural advantages of her companion but she more than makes up for it with her wit charm deviousness & determination to make a success of herself whatever the cost. Vanity Fair" is the story of Beckys spectacular rise & fall as she gambles manipulates & seduces her way through high society & the Napoleonic wars." ...

Standing at the crossroads of psychology & religion this catalyzing work applied the scientific method to a field abounding in abstract theory. William James believed that individual religious experiences rather than the precepts of organized religions were the backbone of the worlds religious life. His discussions of conversion repentance mysticism & saintliness & his observations on actual personal religious experiences
- all support this thesis. In his introduction Martin E. Marty discusses how James pluralistic view of religion led to his remarkable tolerance of extreme forms of religious behaviour his challenging highly original theories & his welcome lack of pretension in all of his observations on the individual & the divine.
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A woman vanishes in the fog up on 'the Hill' an area in Lafferton known for its tranquillity & peace. The police are not alarmed; people usually disappear for their own reasons. But when a young girl an old man & even a dog disappear no one can deny that something untoward is happening in this quiet cathedral town. Young policewoman Freya Graffham is assigned to the case she's new to the job compassionate inquisitive dedicated & needs to know
- perhaps too much. She & the enigmatic detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler have the task of unravelling the mystery behind this gruesome sequence of events. From the passages revealing the killer's mind to the final heart-stopping twist The Various Haunts of Men is an astounding & masterly crime debut & is the first in a magnificent series featuring Simon Serrailler.
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