In the late 1930s in New York Marielle Patterson shares her life with her husband Malcolm & their little boy Teddy. But their lives are filled with secrets. Haunted by a past she has kept secret even from her husband Marielle secretly lights a candle each year for a child who died in a tragic accident when he was scarcely more than a baby. Then Marielle runs into her first love American expatriate Charles Delauney. & when her little Teddy is kidnapped Charles is first blamed then arrested as the Pattersons the New York Police & the FBI turn the country upside down looking for Teddy. A terrifying court drama seeks to put Charles Delauney behind bars as a series of revelations begin to unravel the truth about Marielle Charles & Malcolm. Piece by piece the uncovering of their pasts creates a complex mosaic of the motives & passions controlling their lives. Vanished is an intriguing tale of guilt desire & suspense & people one cant easily forget as they are drawn inexorably together seeking the child that...vanished. ...

From Norman Davies the acclaimed author of Europe: A History" comes the magical history of Europe's lost realms selected as a Book of the Year by the " Sunday Times" " Daily Telegraph" " New Statesman" " Independent" " Guardian" & " Financial Times". Europe's history is littered with kingdoms duchies empires & republics which have now disappeared but which were once fixtures on the map of their age. What happened to the once-great Mediterranean ' Empire of Aragon'? Where did the half-forgotten kingdoms of Burgundy go? Which current nations will one day become a distant memory too? This original & enthralling book peers through the cracks of history to discover the stories of lost realms across the centuries. " Dazzling provocative & brilliant". (Dominic Sandbrook " Sunday Times" Books of the Year). "A luminous account.. .there are few better ways of understanding the multilayered splendours & horrors of Europe's past than through the pages of this wise humane & unfailingly engaging book". (John Adamson " Sunday Telegraph"). "" Vanished Kingdoms" is great history & also great art. It is written with verve passion & profound empathy". (David Marquand " New Statesman" Books of the Year). "A magnificent achievement. Brocaded with scholarship the book is unlikely ever to be equalled". (Ian Thomson " Independent")." ...

A killer flees the scene of a homicide at a prestigious Manhattan music school & locks himself in a classroom. Within minutes the police have him surrounded. Then a scream rings out followed by a gunshot. The police break down the door. The room is empty. Lincoln Rhyme & Amelia Sachs are brought in to help with the high-profile investigation. For the ambitious Sachs solving the case could earn her a promotion. For the quadriplegic Rhyme it means relying on his protge to ferret out a master illusionist theyve dubbed the conjurer who baits them with gruesome murders that become more diabolical with each fresh crime. As the fatalities rise & the minutes tick down Rhyme & Sachs must move beyond the smoke & mirrors to prevent a terrifying act of vengeance that could become the greatest vanishing act of all. ...

Rupert Everett's first memoir
- Red Carpets & Other Banana Skins
- was an international bestseller & an instant classic on publication

...

Rupert Everett's first memoir
- Red Carpets & Other Banana Skins
- was an international bestseller & an instant classic on publication

...

This is a story about a snow-covered island you wont find on any map. Its the story of a girl Minou. A year ago her mother walked out into the rain & never came back. Its about a magician & a priest & a dog called No Name. Its about a fathers endless hunt for the truth. Its about a dead boy who listens & Minous search for her mothers voice. Its a story of how even the most isolated places have their own secrets. Its a story you will never forget. ...

THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX is vintage Maggie O' Farrell: a stunning imagining of a life stolen & reclaimed. Edinburgh ...

Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father Andrew she now has a young daughter a handsome fianc & her own Search & Rescue bloodhound
- which she uses to find missing persons. But as she plans her wedding she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall. Then a policeman shows up at her door arresting her father for the kidnap of a little girl. & Delia's past & present fracture into little pieces. VANISHING ACTS is a book about the very nature & power of memory. It explores what happens when the past we have been running from catches up to us & questions who we trust to tell us the story of our lives before we are capable of remembering it ourselves.
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There was a smell in the air of tar & rope & rusted chain a smell of tidal water. Down harbour around the point was the open sea. Here was the freedom I desired long sought-for not yet known. Freedom to write to walk to wander freedom to climb hills to pull a boat to be alone.. .I for this & this for me. Daphne du Maurier lived in Cornwall for most of her life. Its rugged coastline wild terrain & tumultuous weather inspired her imagination & many of her works are set there including Rebecca Jamaica Inn & Frenchmans Creek. In Vanishing Cornwall she celebrates the land she loved exploring its legends its history & its people eloquently making a powerful plea for Cornwalls preservation. ...

Vanishing Ireland is a unique collection of portrait interviews looking at the dying ways & traditions of Irish life & taking us back to an Ireland virtually unrecognisable to todays post-boom generation. Illustrated with over a hundred evocative & stunning photographs we meet the people & customs that shaped the cultural identity of the Irish nation. Through their own words & memories sixty-four men & women transport us back to a time when people lived off the land & the sea when music & storytelling were essential parts of life when a person was defined by their trade. Divided into five parts
- Children of the Field Children of the Music Children of the Horse Children of the Trade & Children of the Water
- Vanishing Ireland brings together the stories of those who lived through Irelands formative years. We hear of children harassed by the Black & Tans of ceilis in kitchens & the rigours of working in the fields of the wonder of electricity & the devastation of emigration. From coalminers to saddlers farmers to fishermen along with horse dealers publicans housemaids & musicians
- these remarkably poignant interviews & photographs in their simplicity & honesty will make you laugh & cry but above all will provide a valuable chronicle that connects twenty-first century Ireland to a rapidly disappearing world.


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