Joe knew his mother was cruel & violent but he trusted his beloved father to protect him from her. When a freak accident saw his father burn to death in front of him Joe was left at the mercy of his mother. Without the love of his friend & brother he wouldnt have survived. With them he went on to spend his life fighting child abuse. Joe was just five years old & the horrific scene literally struck him dumb. He didnt speak for four & a half years which meant he was unable to ask anyone for help as his life turned into a living hell. His schizophrenic mother & two of his older brothers spent the following years beating him raping him & locking him in the cellar at the family home. Fed on scraps that he was forced to lick from the floor he was sometimes left naked in the dark for three days without human contact. Unable to read or write all Joe could do to communicate his suffering was draw pictures. The violence & sexual abuse grew in severity as more people including his stepfather were invited to use him in any way they chose. The only thing that saved Joe was the kindness of his elder brother & his only school friend both of whom showed him that love was possible even in the darkest of situations. At fourteen he finally found the courage to run away hiding in a hut by a railway line fed on scraps by some local children who found him. Joes is the ultimate insiders story casting light into the darkest of hidden worlds & a truly inspirational account of how one small boy found the strength to overcome almost impossible odds & become a remarkable man. Now that he has found his voice again Joe speaks out against child abuse & helps support & protect other children whose lives have been blighted by it. ...

Charles Cornick is his packs enforcer & lives a harsh life doing jobs other wolves cant
- or wont. & his most recent task was rescuing
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' It was only then that Jake realized that he still carried a full bottle of Scrubbs Ammonia in his h&. The lion came bounding swiftly through the shallow stagnant pool towards him. Despite the wounds it flowed with lithe & sinuous menace. It was so close that he could see each stuff white whisker in the curled upper lip & hear the rattle of air in its throat. He let it come on for to turn & run was suicide. At the last moment he reared back like a baseball pitcher & hurled the bottle.' Jake Barton is an American engineer Gareth Swales a stylish Englishman with a nose for a quick deal. Both have always moved from one escapade to another. Now as Mussolini prepares to annihilate the people of Ethiopia the two adventurers come up against Vicky Camberwell the beautiful but fiery reporter bent on espousing their cause. Striking a bargain with a beleaguered Ethiopian prince the trio dares to run gauntlet guns & a batch of run-down armoured cars in a final desperate gamble for freedom... ...

To their classmates Daniel & Justin are identical twin brothers. But in fact they couldn't be more different. On their thirteenth birthday one is destined to turn into a werewolf.. .! This full moon is going to change everything. Will Riley & Debi find out the boys' secret? & what will happen to the band? ...

The second book from Sunday Times bestselling author Casey Watson. Two weeks after saying farewell to her first foster child Casey is asked to look after Sophia a troubled 12-year-old with a sad past. Sophia's actions are disturbing & provocative & before long Casey & her family find themselves in a dark & dangerous situation. Two years ago Sophia's mother had a terrible accident. Sophia has been in care ever since. Right away Casey feels something isn't right. Sophia's a well-developed girl who looks more like 18 than 12. She only seems to have eyes & ears for men & treats all women with contempt & disgust. & she has everyone around her jumping through hoops. Over time as more details begin to emerge about Sophia's past it becomes clear that her behaviour is a front for an early life filled with pain & suffering. But although Casey feels she is gradually breaking through to Sophia & getting her to open up about things she has never spoken about before her violence is threatening the safety of the whole family forcing Casey to question whether she can really handle this lost & damaged girl. Both shocking & inspiring this true story will shed new light on the extreme & sometimes dangerous nature of foster care. ...

The Crying Game opens in 1944 & tells the story of Trixie
- a girl who has only ever known turmoil. As a teenager she covers up
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Suffused with rich satire chaotic brilliance verbal turbulence & wild humour The Crying of Lot 49" opens as Oedipa Maas discovers that she has been made executrix of a former lovers estate. The performance of her duties sets her on a strange trail of detection in which bizarre characters crowd in to help or confuse her. But gradually death drugs madness & marriage combine to leave Oepida in isolation on the threshold of revelation awaiting " The Crying of Lot 49". This is one of Pynchons shortest novels & one of his best." ...

Claire Nightingale is haunted by the memory of childhood abuse & the painful choices she was forced to make. Longing to find peace she knows she must first confront her demons. Moving to Solihull with her adopted daughter Nikki she tries to make amends with the family she left behind. But Claire is not the only one hurting: Nikki is scarred by her own abusive past & their relationship once loving becomes fraught with tension & resentment. Struggling to come to terms with their pain it is not long before ghosts from the past bring a new threat that jeopardises the possibility of any future happiness...A heartbreaking tale of abuse courage & above all the redemptive power of love. ...

If " The Crying Tree" doesn't make you cry you have better control over your blubbing than I do. This is an astonishing debut novel." (Richard Madeley " Woman's Own"). Irene Stanley thought her world had come to an end when her teenage son Shep is murdered. Daniel Robbin who had spent his teenage years in & out of trouble gave himself up to the police & was given the state's harshest sentence: death by lethal injection. Now nineteen years later as the state penitentiary prepares to execute Robbin Irene Stanley must reveal what she has been hiding from her family. That in order to survive the anger & grief she had at loosing her so she not only had forgiven the man who killed him but had come to be his friend. Her revelation stuns her family & cracks open the secrets that had been surrounding her son's death. Secrets that reveal how little she understood Shep her husband or herself. Dramatic emotional & ultimately uplifting " The Crying Tree" is an unforgettable story of love & redemption the unbreakable bonds of family & the transformative power of forgiveness. " If you enjoy reading Jodi Picolut you'll love Naseem Rakha. These are big themes for a new writer but Rakha knows what she's doing.. ." The Crying Tree" is quite simply a terrific story." (Judy Finnigan " Woman's Own")." ...

This is Bob Monkhouse's classic autobiography. One of Britain's most enduring & famous comedians tells us in his own inimitable style the fascinating & often hilarious story of his life. From disclosures of very painful personal tragedies to extraordinary & outrageously funny anecdotes about the stars he knew his confessions are blisteringly honest touching
- & often shocking. Crying With Laughter combines heartache with hilarity sexy showbiz revelations with genuinely moving tales of the hard times & typically funny jokes with sobering personal reflections to create a passionate witty & sparkling account of an extraordinary man's extraordinary life.
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