The second book in the Tales of the Otori" trilogy continues the epic story of Otori Takeo & Shirakawa Kaede the young lovers whose fate is played out in an ancient Oriental world where ritualized codes of high honor counter the cruelty of savage blood-feuds. Takeo has pledged his life to the Tribe a secret clan of spies & assassins who claim his legendary supernatural skills for their own ruthless purposes in doing so he must deny his birthright as an Otori lord
- & his love for Kaede. If he does not serve them the Tribe will kill him. Kaede separated from Takeo must use her intelligence beauty & cunning to assert her place in a world of all-powerful men
- who must never know that she is carrying Takeo's child. In growing from boy to man Takeo must make a choice
- & the dangerous path he undertakes is a journey of high adventure treachery & passion that establishes this extraordinary trilogy as one of the most brilliant & enduring works of modern fiction. " Grass For His Pillow" the sequel to " Across the Nightingale Floor" shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal is one of the most eagerly-awaited novels of 2003. Lian Hearn has created a brilliantly imagined culture. Here is epic storytelling whose appeal crosses genres genders & generations."


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The classic first novel from the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. Doris Lessing brought the manuscript of The Grass is Singing with her when she left Southern Rhodesia & came to England in 1950. When it was first published it created an impact whose reverberations we are still feeling & immediately established itself as a landmark in twentieth-century literature. Set in Rhodesia it tells the story of Dick Turner a failed white farmer & his wife Mary a town girl who hates the bush. Trapped by poverty sapped by the heat of their tiny brick & iron house Mary lonely & frightened turns to Moses the black cook for kindness & understanding. A masterpiece of realism The Grass is Singing is a superb evocation of Africas majestic beauty an intense psychological portrait of lives in confusion & most of all a passionate exploration of the ideology of white supremacy. ...

After the concise & informative descriptions of the structure of grasses & their flowers there are lists of grasses for various habitats followed by a key to grasses in flower. This book provides excellent scientific illustrations of the major grasses found in the UK & information on the preferred conditions for each grass. ...

Grasshopper" is an enthralling chilling novel by the bestselling queen of crime Barbara Vine. They have sent me here because of what happened on the pylon. When Clodagh Brown writes these words at the age of nineteen she believes that she is leaving behind the traumatic events of her youth. But Clodagh soon learns that you can never entirely escape your past. In the aftermath of the incident on the pylon
- a gargantuan electrified grasshopper
- Clodagh goes off to university moves into a basement flat arranged by her unsympathetic family & finds freedom trekking across Londons rooftops with a gang of neighborhood misfits. As she begins a thrilling relationship with a fellow climber however both Clodagh & the reader are haunted by the memory of the pylon & of the terrible thing that happened there
- & by the eerie sense that another tragedy is just a footfall away. " Grasshopper" is a modern crime masterpiece that will have you gripped from the first page to the last. If you enjoy the novels of P.D. James Ian Rankin & Scott Turow you will love this book. " The Rendell/ Vine partnership has for years been producing consistently better work than most Booker winners put together". (Ian Rankin). "A superb & original writer". (Amanda Craig " Express"). Barbara Vine is the pen-name of Ruth Rendell. She has written fifteen novels using this pseudonym including "A Fatal Inversion" & " King Solomons Carpet" which both won the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award. Her other books include: "A Dark Adapted Eye"; " The House of Stairs"; " Gallowglass"; " Astas Book"; " No Night Is Too Long"; " In the Time of His Prosperity"; " The Brimstone Wedding"; " The Chimney Sweepers Boy"; " Grasshopper"; " The Blood Doctor"; " The Minotaur"; " The Birthday Present" & " The Childs Child"."


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For the first time ever a DVD featuring exclusive video & audio material accompanies the latest New Naturalist volume a multimedia first for the series. Ted Benton offers a comprehensive account of the appearance variations behaviour habitat life-cycles & distribution of all the native British species of bush-crickets crickets groundhoppers & grasshoppers. Many details from direct field observation are included which are published here for the first time. With up-to-date information on newly arrived & recently established species as well as long-established non-native species
- such as the house cricket & greenhouse camel cricket
- Benton pays special attention to a key area of evolutionary thought that has stimulated an international research focus on grasshoppers & crickets. Recent approaches to mating & reproduction emphasise differences & even conflicts of interest between males & females. The sexually selected adaptations & counter-adaptations to such conflicts of reproductive interest are used to explain the astonishing diversity of reproductive behaviour exhibited by grasshoppers & crickets: male territorial behaviour coercive mating complex songs elaborate courtship performances the donation of edible nuptial gifts the reversal of sex-roles mate-guarding keeping of harems & in a few species parental care of the offspring. These chapters provide an introduction to the theoretical issues & an overview of many case studies drawn from research on orthopterans from across the world (but including British species where relevant). A unique DVD features many aspects of the behaviour of nearly all British species including song conflict courtship behaviour sex-role reversal & egg laying. The book is lavishly illustrated with colour photographs & line drawings covering all the British species (including immature stages in most cases) key habitats & many aspects of behaviour.

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A gratin is any dish that has a crispy topping such as cheese or breadcrumbs & in this handy book you'll find recipes for classic gratins such as macaroni cheese as well as new & inventive ideas. Bakes are another timelessly popular method of cooking producing delicious results such as lasagne pastitsio & moussaka. Both gratins & bakes are perfect both for entertaining & feeding a hungry family. ...

In this book Louise has gathered together the insights & wisdom of some of the most inspirational teachers & authors she knows people who have demonstrated the power of gratitude in their own lives. Renowned contributors include Wayne Dyer Bernie Siegel Doreen Virtue Shakti Gawain Alan Cohen & Dan Millman. All profits from this book will benefit Louises non-profit organization The Hay Foundation. ...

This is a biography of one of Welsh rugbys much-missed stars. Before Ray Gravells untimely death last year he was already in the process of writing his autobiography with Gomer Press. In the book Grav in his own words will draw upon a number of resources including the manuscript by Grav himself as well as a range of radio & television interviews over many years. The book is edited by experienced author & rugby commentator Alun Wyn Bevan who was a close friend to Grav. It contains full-colour photographs of various periods in his life. A percentage of the selling price of the book will be donated to the Ray Gravell Trust Fund to be distributed to various charities dear to him. The book will contain chapters on: Early life & family roots school the game: Grav on glories of rugby Stradey & the Scarlets precious family: Mari & the girls Wales
- playing for ones country acting performing & broadcasting seeing the world illness friendship & sustenance the National Eisteddfod & other honours.
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Memories hid in every cell of the body. Memories that my grave magic could unlock & give shape as a shade. Of course that depended on having enough of the body at my disposal for my magic to fill in the gaps". After a month spent recovering from a vicious fight with a sorcerer Grave Witch Alex Craft is ready to get back to solving murders by raising the dead. With her love life in turmoil thanks to the disappearance of FBI agent Falin Andrews & Deaths shocking L word confession Alex is eager for the distractions of work. But her new case turns out to be more of a challenge than she was expecting. The police hire Alex to consult on a particularly strange investigation in a nature preserve. The strange part? There are no bodies just leftover pieces. With a probable serial killer on the loose & no way to raise a shade without a body Alex will have to rely solely on her ability to sense the grave to lead her to the dead. But with the strain of overusing her magic this might be the last case Alex ever solves..." ...

Thea Osborne & her loyal spaniel Hepzie are still pursuing their occupation as house-sitters despite the disastrous incidents of the past. At the moment they are staying in the late Greta Simmonds' house which is currently between ownership. But when a body is discovered in a nearby field Thea finds herself embroiled in a murder investigation once again. After befriending undertaker Drew Slocombe she soon finds she's aligned herself with the police's only suspect. Believing him to be innocent Thea works together with Drew to clear his name although it slowly dawns on them that in a village simmering with secrets a means & a motive could be laid at anybody's door. ...