A brilliant novel by Laurie Graham set in wartime London which follows Kick Kennedy sister of future US President JFK as she takes London society by storm. Nora Brennan is a country girl from Westmeath. When she lands herself a position as nursery maid to a family in Brookline Massachusetts she little thinks it will place her at the heart of American history. But its the Kennedy family. In 1917 Joseph Kennedy is on his way to his first million & he has plans to found a dynasty & ensure that his baby son Joe Junior will be the first Catholic President of the United States. As nursemaid to all nine Kennedy children Nora witnesses every moment public & private. She sees the boys coached at their fathers knee to believe everything theyll ever want in life can be bought. She sees the girls trained by their mother to be good Catholic wives. World War II changes everything. At the outbreak of war the Kennedys are living the high life in London where Joseph Kennedy is the American ambassador. His reaction is to send the entire household back across the Atlantic to safety but Nora surprised by midlife love chooses to stay in England & do her bit. Separated from her Kennedys by an ocean she nevertheless remains the warm approachable sun around which the older children orbit: Joe Jack Rosemary & in particular Kick who throws the first spanner in the Kennedy works by marrying an English Protestant. Laurie Grahams poignant new novel views the Kennedys from below stairs with the humour & candour that only an ex-nursemaid dare employ. ...

Despite inhabiting a great city renowned for its impeccable restraint the extended family of 44 Scotland Street is trembling on the brink of reckless self-indulgence. Matthew & Elspeth receive startling
- & expensive
- news on a visit to the Infirmary Angus & Domenica are contemplating an Italian menage a trois & even Big Lou is overheard discussing cosmetic surgery. But when Bertie Pollock
- six years old & impatient to be seven
- mislays his meddling mother Irene one afternoon a valuable lesson is learned: that wish-fulfilment is a dangerous business. Warm-hearted wise & very funny The Importance of Being Seven brings us a fresh & delightful set of insights into philosophy & fraternity among Edinburghs most loveable residents.



...

Despite inhabiting a great city renowned for its impeccable restraint the extended family of 44 Scotland Street is trembling on the brink of reckless self-indulgence. Matthew & Elspeth receive startling
- & expensive
- news on a visit to the Infirmary Angus & Domenica are contemplating an Italian menage a trois & even Big Lou is overheard discussing cosmetic surgery. But when Bertie Pollock
- six years old & impatient to be seven
- mislays his meddling mother Irene one afternoon a valuable lesson is learned: that wish-fulfilment is a dangerous business. Warm-hearted wise & very funny The Importance of Being Seven brings us a fresh & delightful set of insights into philosophy & fraternity among Edinburgh's most loveable residents.



...

Malcolm Fox & his team are back investigating whether fellow cops covered up for Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct but what should be a simple job is soon complicated by a brutal murder & a weapon that should not even exist. A trail of revelations leads Fox back to 1985 a year of desperate unrest when letter-bombs & poisonous spores were sent to government offices & kidnappings & murders were plotted. But while the body count rises the clock starts ticking & a dramatic turn of events sees Fox in mortal danger. ...

Malcolm Fox is back... Fox & his team are investigating whether fellow cops covered up for Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct with his own uncle
- also in the force
- proving to be his nemesis. But what should be a simple job is soon complicated by a brutal murder & a weapon that should not even exist. A trail of revelations leads Fox back to 1985 a year of desperate unrest when letter-bombs & poisonous spores were sent to government offices & kidnappings & murders were plotted. But while the body count rises the clock starts ticking & a dramatic turn of events sees Fox in mortal danger.

...

Much discussed & often maligned precious little is known or understood about North Korea the world's most controversial & isolated country. In The Impossible State" Victor Cha pulls back the curtain providing an unprecedented insight into North Korea's history the rise of the Kim family dynasty & the obsessive personality cult that surrounds them. He illuminates the repressive regime's complex economy & culture its appalling record of human-rights abuses its belligerent relationship with its neighbours & the United States & analyzes the regime's major security issues
- from the seemingly endless war with its southern counterpart to its terrifying nuclear ambitions
- all in the light of the destabilizing effects of Kim Jong-il's recent death. How has this enigmatic nation-state continued to survive when it regularly violates its own citizens' inalienable rights & has suffered severe famine global economic sanctions a collapsed economy & near-total isolation from the rest of the world? Cha reveals a land facing a pivotal & disquieting transition of power from tyrannical father to inexperienced son & delves into the ideology that leads an oppressed starving populace to cling so fiercely to its failed leadership. With rare personal anecdotes from the author's time in Pyongyang & his tenure as a White House adviser this engagingly written authoritative & highly accessible account offers much-needed answers to the most pressing questions about North Korea & ultimately warns of a regime that might be closer to its end than many might think
- a political collapse for which the Western world may be woefully unprepared."


...

We killed Americans. We are killing Americans. We will kill Americans". (North Korean schoolchildren conjugating verbs). In North Korea citizens found humming South Korean pop songs risk being sent to a gulag for six months of hard labour. Jail sentences are handed out if portraits of the late Kim Jong-il are not properly dusted. Shoot-to-kill orders are in effect for anyone caught trying to cross the Yalu or Tumen Rivers into China. Yet despite this an oppressed starving populace clings fiercely to its new Dear Leader Kim Jong-un & signs with the revolutionary slogan We Have Nothing To Envy line the streets of Pyongyang. So how did North Korea become this Impossible State? What does the future hold for a regime with terrifying nuclear ambitions & a seemingly endless war with its southern counterpart? Former White House adviser Victor Cha pulls back the curtain on the world's most isolated country to provide an unprecedented & timely insight into North Korea's history present & future." ...

Impossible to Resist Imposing & brooding Dr Jacob Wolff has built a wall around his heart as impregnable as the mountain on which he lives. Until with one simple request Hollywood beauty Ariel knocks it down... But Ariel hired him to protect her not bed her. Now Jacob finds himself lusting for the one woman he can never have. The Maids Daughter He thought he was done rescuing women in need. After all playing hero got millionaire Devlyn Wolff into enough trouble already! Still when a car accident lands Gillian at his feet he cant walk away...not even when he learns her connection to his past. Now seducing the maids daughter will lead him where he never meant to go... ...

A new title in Young Reading Series Three" which is aimed at children whose reading ability & confidence allows them to tackle longer & more complex stories. Today Impressionist paintings draw blockbuster crowds to museums & art galleries & sell for millions at auction. But who were the artists that painted 150 years ago why did they upset people & how did they come to be known as the Impressionists? Developed in consultation with Alison Kelly who is a senior lecturer in education & an early reading specialist from Roehampton University. Beautifully produced hardback with ribbon marker." ...

A hundred practical techniques for encouraging spontaneity & originality by catching the subconscious unawares...here is an inexhaustible supply of zany suggestions for unfreezing the petrified imagination" Daily Telegraph A leading figure in the theatre Keith Johnstone lays bare his techniques & exercises to foster spontaneity & narrative skill for actors. These techniques & exercises were evolved in the actors' studio when he was Associate Director of the Royal Court & then in demonstrations to schools & colleges & ultimately in the founding of a company of performers called The Theatre Machine. Divided into four sections " Status" " Spontaneity" " Narrative Skills" & " Masks & Trance" arranged more or less in the order a group might approach them the book sets out the specific approaches which Johnstone has himself found most useful & most stimulating. The result is a fascinating exploration of the nature of spontaneous creativity." If teachers were honoured in the British theatre along-side directors designers & playwrights Keith Johnstone would be as familiar a name as are those of... Jocelyn Herbert Edward Bond & other young talents who were drawn to the great lodestone of the Royal Court Theatre in the late 1950s. As head of the script department Johnstone played a crucial part in the development of the 'writers' theatre..." Irving Wardle" ...