Local rather than international the dramas & privations described in this memoir are not the stuff of headlines. This is the story of an ordinary boy growing up in Belfast after the war; an ordinary boy who would go on to become world-famous as a hostage in Beirut & author of the extraordinary testimony of imprisonment & survival that was An Evil Cradling". In this remarkable & equally moving act of retrieval Brian Keenan has captured the vanished world of 1950s Belfast in all its vivid vernacular & grey post-war austerity. This is a time of licorice & Airfix models pigeon-fanciers street vendors selling coal & bleach & herring street-fighters with lions on chains
- a city where westerns were showing every afternoon at the Picture Theatre where livestock was still herded onto the docks & the shipyards flourished. It was also a place of ghosts: the plague dead in the cemeteries the family dead in the scrapbooks a witchs box discovered under the stairs the giant street bonfires every 12th of July to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne. By the end of the book after his fathers death & his mothers Alzheimers Belfast itself becomes a ghost city to Brian Keenan the boy who leaves to become a man. Rich in detail & atmosphere " Ill Tell Me Ma" is an affectionate story of a disaffected childhood. At the centre is a shy self-conscious boy of unusual moral integrity; a boy puzzled by religion & sectarianism in love with books & music & full of curiosity about the world outside. A book of reclamation " Ill Tell Me Ma" is also a coming-to-terms with the past: a resounding thrilling record of redemption."
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Two years after the day that her son Matthew was kidnapped in broad daylight in Central Park Alexandra Moreland still finds herself torn between hope & despair. As no trace of Matthew was ever found she has never been able to give him up for dead. But now on what would have been Matthews fifth birthday photos surface that seem to show Alexandra kidnapping her own child. Then as her bank accounts are suddenly drained & her reputation as a successful architect comes under immense pressure Alexandra begins to suspect that someone is using her credit cards to steal her identity. But who would want to ruin her so completely? Hounded by the press under investigation by the police attacked by both her angry ex-husband & a vindictive business rival Alexandra sustained only by her belief that Matthew is still alive sets out to discover who is behind this cruel hoax. Little does she realize that with every step she takes toward the truth she is putting herself -and those she loves most
- in mortal danger.
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This is a brilliant book packed with amazing facts & terrific trivia about things that kids have done when they are eight from writing novels & symphonies to climbing mountains & recording hit records. Did you know? By the time you are 8 you will have: taken 67 159 993 breaths; blinked 52 851 994 times; seen 200 000 television adverts; & slept 38 070 hours & 53 minutes. ...

This is a fantastic book packed with amazing facts & terrific trivia about things that kids have done when they are 9 from developing computer programmes or running a business to being an expert golfer or film star. Did you know? By the time you are nine you will have: farted 46 021 times; watched 5 475 hours of television; slept 42 829 hours & 45 minutes; & laughed 985 500 times. ...

I Dougal Trump am dead. Ok Im not actually dead but if Im not very careful I soon will be. In this first book football-loving Dougal Trump finds himself at risk from the mysterious creature living in the garden shed. Nobody believes him but as a precaution he sets upon writing his will
- rewarding thise who help him disinheriting those who get on his bad side & fielding constant pleas from friends & associates [ Cool will Dougie! Can I have your playstation?
- George]. Meanwhile as limbs & windows alike are broken by rogue footballs & unhinged canines Dougal finds himself in all sorts of trouble...

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The Ironman World Championship is one of the most gruelling tests of mental & physical endurance & athleticism in the world. Its competitors have 17 hours to swim 2.4 miles bike 112 miles & run a full marathon 26.2 miles. Chris Mc Cormack has dedicated his life to training for
- & winning
- this race a feat he has accomplished twice along with winning the Australian Ironman five years in a row & coming in first at both the Triathlon World Championships & the International Triathlon Union World Cup. But his journey to athletic greatness is more than one of just physical endurance. IM HERE TO WIN is Mc Cormacks account of everything it takes
- mind body & spirit
- to become a champion. In 2010 Mc Cormack silenced his critics when he won the Hawaiian Ironman Championship at 37. He ran the race not just for himself but for his late mother & the charity he founded in her honour to fight breast cancer. While Macca gives much credit to his physical performance he believes his success comes from what he does before & after the race as much as during.



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Im not a princess a pirate or a witch! IM ME! Grown ups. Lovely Aunt Sara can pretend all she wants but Imogen doesnt want to be a princess a pirate or a witch. Not today. She wants to go to the park with her aunt & play with a ball swing higher than a tree & eat ice-cream. & why not? This book is perfect for children who know their own minds
- & grown-ups who think they dont.
...

Baby Owl decides to explore the woods but all the animals he meets think that he is so cute & so fluffy that they all want to give him a hug! But Baby Owl tells them Im not cute!" A perfect bedroom read that all children will relate to. A real hoot!" ...

Paul Lake was Manchester born a City fan from birth. His footballing talent was spotted at a young age & in 1983 he signed coveted schoolboy forms for City. Only a short time later he was handed the team captaincy. An international career soon beckoned & after turning out for the England under-21 & B teams he received a call-up to the England training camp for Italia 90. Despite missing out on a place in the final squad he suitably impressed the management with Bobby Robson earmarking him as an England captain in the making. As a rising star Paul became a target for top clubs like Manchester United Arsenal Spurs & Liverpool but he always stayed loyal to his beloved club deeming Maine Road the spiritual home at which his destiny lay. But then in September 1990 disaster struck. Paul ruptured his cruciate ligament & sustained the worst possible injury that a footballer can suffer. & so began his nightmare. Neglected ignored & misunderstood by his club after a succession of failed operations Pauls career began to fall apart. Watching from the sidelines as similarly injured players regained their fitness he spiralled into a prolonged bout of severe depression. With an enforced retirement from the game he adored the death of his father & the collapse of his marriage Paul was left a broken man. Set against a turning point in English football Im Not Really Here is the powerful story of love & loss & the cruel irreparable damage of injury; of determination spirit & resilience & of unfulfilled potential & broken dreams. ...

Paul Lake was Manchester born a City fan from birth. His footballing talent was spotted at a young age & in 1983 he signed coveted schoolboy forms for City. Only a short time later he was handed the team captaincy. An international career soon beckoned & after turning out for the England under-21 & B teams he received a call
- up to the England training camp for Italia 90. Earmarked as an England captain in the making Paul became a target for top clubs like Manchester United Arsenal Spurs & Liverpool but he always stayed loyal to his beloved club deeming Maine Road the spiritual home at which his destiny lay. But then in September 1990 disaster struck. Paul ruptured his cruciate ligament; sustaining the worst possible injury that a footballer can suffer. & so began his nightmare. Neglected ignored & misunderstood by his club after a succession of failed operations Pauls career began to fall apart. Watching from the sidelines as similarly injured players regained their fitness he spiraled into a prolonged bout of severe depression. With an enforced retirement from the game he adored the death of his father & the collapse of his marriage Paul was left a broken man. Set against a turning point in English football Im Not Really Here" is the powerful story of love & loss & the cruel irreparable damage of injury; of determination spirit & resilience & of unfulfilled potential & broken dreams."
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