In the 6th century AD the Near East was divided between two venerable empires: the Persian & the Roman. A hundred years on & one had vanished forever while the other seemed almost finished. Ruling in their place were the Arabs: an upheaval so profound that it spelt in effect the end of the ancient world. In The Shadow of the Sword Tom Holland explores how this came about. Spanning Constantinople to the Arabian desert & starring some of the most remarkable rulers who ever lived he tells a story vivid with drama horror & startling achievement. ...

In the 6th century AD the Near East was divided between two great empires: the Persian & the Roman. A hundred years on & one had vanished for ever while the other was a dismembered bleeding trunk. In their place a new superpower had arisen: the empire of the Arabs. So profound was this upheaval that it spelled in effect the end of the ancient world. But the changes that marked the period were more than merely political or even cultural: there was also a transformation of human society with incalculable consequences for the future. Today over half the world's population subscribes to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during the last centuries of antiquity. Wherever men or women are inspired by belief in a single god to think or behave in a certain way they bear witness to the abiding impact of this extraordinary convulsive age
- though as Tom Holland demonstrates much of what Jews Christians & Muslims believe about the origins of their religion is open to debate. In the Shadow of the Sword explores how a succession of great empires came to identify themselves with a new & revolutionary understanding of the divine. It is a story vivid with drama horror & startling achievement & stars many of the most remarkable rulers ever seen.
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As Internet usage has exploded in recent years so has the prevalence of compulsive online sexual behavior
- a problem first addressed
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French-born Marie Gabin forms a friendship with Veronica Attwood in their final two years at school but this is tested when Marie is forced to disclose a secret to her friend. The First World War takes its toll when Marie loses the man she loves. Veronica's husband suffers injuries which eventually leave her a widow but she finds consolation in her love for the l&. Returning to France Marie marries her childhood sweetheart but once again life brings involvement in war for the two friends. Loving their Yorkshire land Veronica & her daughters enlist in the Land Army. When a bomber squadron arrives on a newly constructed airfield on part of the estate relationships are formed. Veronica's daughter Elise joins the RAF & is recruited into the SOE. But secrets will out. On a mission to France Elise faces dangers she did not expect as she searches for Marie & the truth
- a truth that will have an outcome she never envisaged.
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In this fourth book in the Monkey & Robot series Monkey & Robot are very excited when it starts to snow. Of course they cannot resist going out to play & have fun. But when they start making a snowball the snowball becomes bigger & bigger & BIGGER until it is out of control! Monkey & Robot end up rather wet & snowy but a big mug of hot chocolate helps to cheer them up. ...

In 1355 the Black Prince took an army to Bordeaux & embarked on two chevauchees (mounted military expeditions generally characterised by the devastation of the surrounding towns & countryside) which culminated in his decisive victory over King Jean II of France at Poitiers the following year. Using the recorded itineraries as his starting point the author of this book walked more than 1 300 miles across France retracing the routes of the armies in search of a greater understanding of the Black Princes expedition. He followed the 1355 chevauchee from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean & back & that for 1356 from Aquitaine to the Loire to the battlefield at Poitiers & back again to Bordeaux. Drawing on his findings on the ground a wide range of documentary sources & the work of local historians many of whom the author met on his travels the book provides a unique perspective on the Black Princes chevauchees of 1355 & 1356 & the battle of Poitiers one of the greatest English triumphs of the Hundred Years War demonstrating in particular the impact of the landscape on the campaigns. Peter Hoskins is a former Royal Air Force pilot now living in France. He combines his interest in exploration of his adopted country with his research into the Hundred Years War. ...

Ann Rule delves into the mysterious death of Ronda Reynolds a former state trooper whose death ruled a suicide ten years ago is now considered a murder. On December 15 1998 thirty-three-year-old Ronda Reynolds was living with her husband of eleven months in the small town of Toledo Washington-but she planned to leave him that night & fly to Spokane Washington where her mother brother & grandmother eagerly awaited her visit for the Christmas holidays. But as Barb Thompson Rondas mother waited in an airport amid Christmas decorations in 1998 Ronda never arrived. Ronda had sounded happy on the phone only hours before excited that she would be seeing her family. But sheer dread replaced confusion as the news of Rondas death arrived. Her husband told a 911 operator that Ronda had committed suicide. Now a decade later the only thing we can be sure of is that Ronda Reynolds died violently that night & the lies & contradictions of her husband began to unravel. Written with the complete cooperation of Barb Thompson Rondas mother this is a homicide puzzle that Ann Rule fans will find haunting & utterly captivating. ...

It's twenty years since Miranda then sixteen holidayed in Cornwall & her life changed forever. Now she's back again
- with her
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All that was left of the garage was a heap of charred & smouldering beams. In the driving seat of the burnt-out car were the remains of a body.. . An accident said the police. An accident said the widow. She had been warning her husband about the danger of the car for months. Murder said the famous detective Lord Peter Wimsey
- & proceeded to track down the killer. 'I admire her novels.. .she has great fertility of invention ingenuity & a wonderful eye for detail' P. D. James
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Mohammed Dar & his three brothers were born in a boat on a lake in Kashmir a place of exquisite beauty that was to become a war zone & nuclear flashpoint. This Himalayan valley of water mist & mountains was once one of Indias greatest tourist draws. In 1989 it exploded into insurgency. Kashmir became a rallying cry for jihadi movements all over the region & Pakistans backing of the conflict triggered in part its own Islamist crisis. Mohammed Dar & his family found themselves living inside a new & foreign world of violence. Justine Hardy has stayed with the Dar family for many years reporting on the conflict. She tells their story of living through the destruction of their adored homel&. Through their eyes we see the rise of religious fundamentalism & intolerance the ethnic cleansing of the Hindu population of the valley & the recruitment of a generation to jihad. & amid the fighting families continue to try & educate their children find work & protect their physical & mental well-being while attempting to build some kind of future beyond the annihilation of their old way of life. In The Valley of Mist" is an extraordinary story of family survival at the heart of a conflict within & beyond the Muslim world." ...