Solomon Kugel wishes for nothing more than to be nowhere to be in a place with no past no history no wars no genocides. The rural town of Stockton New York is famous for nothing: No one was born there no one died there nothing of any import has ever happened there which is exactly why Kugel decided to move his family there. To begin again. To start anew. But it isnt quite working out that way. His ailing mother stubbornly holds on to life & wont stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she never actually suffered through. To complicate matters further some lunatic is burning down farmhouses just like the one he bought & he fears his is next. & when one night Kugel discovers history -- a living breathing thought-to-be-dead specimen of history -- hiding in his attic bad very quickly becomes worse. Like nothing youve read before the critically acclaimed Shalom Auslanders debut novel is a hilarious & disquieting examination of the burdens & abuse of history propelled with unstoppable rhythm & filled with existential musings & mordant wit. Scabrous & determinedly iconoclastic.. .one of the funniest & most thought-provoking novels youll read all year Sunday Times A wonderful twisted trangressive heartbreaking true & hugely funny book. It will make very many people angry. It will also make very many people very happy. A. L. Kennedy author of Day Auslander writes like some contemporary comedic Jeremiah thundering warnings of disaster & retribution. What makes him so terrifyingly funny is that he isnt joking. Howard Jacobson author of The Finkler Question winner of the Man Booker Prize Can the darkest events of the twentieth century & of all human history be used to show the folly of hope? & can the result be so funny that you burst out laughing again & again? If you doubt this is possible read Hope: A Tragedy. You wont regret it. John Gray author of Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans & Other Animals ...

The humour at times can leave you gasping.. .comic brilliance Sunday Times Solomon Kugel has had enough of the past & its burdens. So in the hope of starting afresh he moved his family to a small rural town where nothing of import has ever happened. Sadly Kugels life isnt that simple. His family soon find themselves threatened by a local arsonist & his ailing mother wont stop reminiscing about the Nazi concentration camps she didnt actually suffer through. & when one night Kugel discovers a living breathing thought-to-be-dead specimen of history hiding in his attic bad very quickly becomes worse. Singularly inventive & superbly shocking.. .nothing short of genius Scotland on Sunday He will make you laugh until your heart breaks New York Times Book Review ...

Ellie works really hard at the stables. Her only comforts are her beautiful horse Spirit & the friendship of her cousin Joe. When it looks like both might be taken away from her will Ellie have the strength she needs to survive? & will her magical bond with Spirit be unbreakable
- or not? This is a beautifully tender story that will enrapture girls with a passion for horses or a taste for romance.
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Hoppers is a peg solitaire jumping game. Set the frogs on the pond then start jumping until only the red frog is left.



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Play peekaboo with your baby & hear them giggle in delight as springtime animals are revealed! Read together & lift the flaps to reveal delightful springtime animals; then explore the soft shiny & bumpy textures. Where has bunny rabbit gone? Is she behind the pretty flower petals? & who will you discover behind the big daisy? Find them all as they are waiting to say Peekaboo! This is an award-winning series for babies perfect for developing imagination early-thinking & memory skills. ...

The hop has been intimately involved in social history for many centuries: it has caused controversy due to its role in the brewing process & was for centuries the centre of a social phenomenon with thousands descending on hop-producing regions during harvest. It is a branch of agriculture requiring intensive labour & great skill & this book examines its history from the earliest times to the present day describing the traditional tools of the trade the growers the pickers & all those whose versatile skills have through the centuries made the hop industry a success. ...

Emma Brown is a happy-go-lucky child content to work hard at school & to play hopscotch with her friends on the pavement outside her house in the run-down Nechells area of Birmingham. As long as everything is alright at home with her Ma & Pa her little sister Joyce & brother Sid then life is good. But after Ems mother Cynthia has her baby she just doesnt seem to be able to cope. Her life-long friend & neighbour Dot helps as much as she can but she has children of her own & no man to hand; Cynthias husband Bob too does his best but begins to feel that hes losing the wife he has loved so much; & little Em just cant find enough hours in the day to do all the washing & cleaning. Soon it seems the only thing is for Cynthia to go & stay across the city with her tyrannical older sister. With Cynthia away life only gets harder for Em. Her best friend Kate ostracizes her leaving only poor stinky Molly Fox at her side & when the Board Man comes to call wanting to know why shes not at school things are really bad. When Bob stays out later & later in the evenings always the worse for wear & spending too much time with a local very merry widow Em decides to travel across Birmingham to fetch her mother home but the mother she discovers is a far cry from the proud upright & loving figure she has known so well.. . ...

Set in the years 1914-1918 this is the third book in the Blackwood saga. For three generations members of the Blackwood family served the Royal Marines with distinction. With the outbreak of World War I at last comes Jonathan Blackwoods turn to carry the family name into battle. But as the young marines embark for the Dardanelles & a new kind of warfare it dawns on them that the days of scarlet coats & an unchanging tradition of honour & glory have gone forever. First in Gallipoli & two years later at Flanders comes their horrifying initiation into a wholescale slaughter for which no training could ever have prepared them. Caught up in the savagery of a conflict beyond any officers control Blackwoods future rests on the horizon
- the dark lip of the trench which was the last fateful sight for so many.
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The titanic war between the elemental alien hydrogues & faeros continues to sweep across the Spiral Arm extinguishing suns & destroying planets. Chairman Wenceslas & King Peter must now unify the human race with iron-fisted policies in a final bid to stand together -- or face total annihilation. But disparate civilizations are forging new alliances that threaten the old order. The Roamer & Theron clans will not yield their independence & the new Mage-Imperator Jora'h now faces a threat that no other Ildiran leader has ever seen -- a civil war that could break apart the entire Empire. ...

Just as celebrated columnist Katie Kiernan thinks life is over it suddenly arrives on her doorstep in the shape of her sister Michelle & all the intrigue Michelle brings with her. Friction resentment & old jealousies make life in their house doubly challenging as Katie struggles to cope with a rebellious teenager & Michelle longs for the man she has left behind. After a devastating betrayal Laurie Forbes is trying to rebuild her relationship with Elliot Russell when she is plunged into a whirlwind of passion that threatens to tear them apart completely. Top journalist Tom Chambers the man Michelle left behind faces the greatest challenge of his career when highly classified documents fall into his hands. Realizing how explosive the material is Tom calls upon Elliot Russell to help with the investigation & very quickly they are caught up in the deadly efforts to stop them going to print. ...