It was the week before Thanksgiving when Kinsey Millhone first heard the sad story of the late Johnny Lee the World War II fighter pilot of whom rather mysteriously the military authorities have no record. His family are concerned -- perhaps Kinsey could make a few calls straighten things out? Then Johnny's apartment is ransacked. In the debris a hidden safe is uncovered -- & in that safe is a mysterious key marked LAWLESS. That night Kinsey's on a plane to Dallas at the start of a thrilling rollercoaster ride through Texas & Kentucky on the trail of long-buried treasure. Unfortunately there's a fire-raising psychopath on her tail.. . And she's going to be late for a very important wedding.. .' An alphabet of prime puzzles' Sunday Times ...

The seventh novel in the Rougon-Macquart cycle LAssommoir (1877) is the story of a womans struggle for happiness in working-class Paris. It was a contemporary bestseller outraged conservative critics & launched a passionate debate about the legitimate scope of modern literature. At the centre of the novel stands Gervaise who starts her own laundry & for a time makes a success of it. But her husband Coupeau squanders her earnings in the Assommoir the local drinking shop & gradually the pair sink into poverty & squalor. LAssommoir is the most finely crafted of Zolas novels & this new translation captures not only the brutality but also the pathos of its characters lives. This book is a pwerful indictment of nineteenth-century social conditions & the introduction examines its relation to politics & art as well as its explosive effect on the literary scene. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

The small commune of Fogas in the French Pyrenees has been thrown into turmoil by the revelation that the Auberge des Deux Vallees has been bought by an English couple & not by the Mayors brother-in-law as had been expected. With everyone aghast at the idea of an English run restaurant & the certainty of gastronomic disasters Mayor Serge Papon is in the mood to take revenge. Within hours of hearing the news he has called an emergency Committee meeting & his machinations to force out the new owners have begun. But the Mayor hasnt reckoned on one of his deputies Christian Dupuy whose conscience always leads his politics. Refusing to condone Mayor Papons calls to compulsory purchase the Auberge he proposes an alternative solution which will prevent the Mayor from getting his own way. Or will it.. . ...

The woman was one of those irritating expat types who felt she owed it to the world to impart on her all her superior knowledge of life in France. I realised that if I didn't stop her now she'd be bending my ear all the way to Bergerac. ' Actually ' I said leaning in toward the woman 'I'm planning to integrate my way into the boxers of the first good-looking Frenchman I see. Can't think of any better way to learn the language myself. You wouldn't happen to know the French for fancy a shag?" would you? Voulez-vous coucher avec moi just seems a bit nineteen-seventies these days.' After one particularly bad day at work advertising executive & confirmed city girl Melanie Jones decides to give up her old life in search of something new & simpler in South West France. With little knowledge of the country even less of the language & just the memory of a disastrous school French exchange & a few day trips to Calais she embarks on her adventure with a suitcase full of optimism & not a little bit of naivety. After all how different can life in France be? After a series of adventures with skirt-ripping tractors handsome twin farmers celebrity not-quite-beens unusual toilets & a bonkers ex-pat community all topped up of course with lashings of rose Melanie begins to discover that her new life in France isn't quite what she'd thought it would be." ...

Lynne Reid Banks compassionate first novel examines the stigma of unmarried motherhood in pre-pill pre-Abortion Act Britain... While the social climate has changed drastically since publication a transgressive frisson still crackles from the pages
- The Guardian". Pregnant by accident kicked out of home by her father 27-year-old Jane Graham goes to ground in the sort of place she feels she deserves
- a bug-ridden boarding-house attic in Fulham. She thinks she wants to hide from the world but finds out that even at the bottom of the heap friends & love can still be found & self-respect is still worth fighting for."

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A reckoning has come to the City of Angels... Karen Garcia is missing & her father doesnt trust the cops
- he wants someone he
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Los Angeles is all about the sweet life: hot clubs cute guys designer... everything." Nineteen-year-old Jane Roberts cant wait to start living it up. She may be in L.A. for an internship but Jane plans to play as hard as she works & has enlisted her BFF Scarlett to join in the fun. When Jane & Scarlett are approached by a producer who wants them to be on his new series a "reality version of " Sex & the City "" they can hardly believe their luck. Their own show? Yes please! Soon Jane is TVs hottest star. Fame brings more than she ever imagined possible for a girl from Santa Barbara--free designer clothes the choicest tables at the most exclusive clubs invites to Hollywood premieres--and shes lapping up the VIP treatment with her eclectic entourage of new pals. But those same friends who are always up for a wild night are also out for a piece of Janes spotlight. In a city filled with people chasing after their dreams its not long before Jane wakes up to the reality that everyone wants something from her & nothing is what it seems to be. "L.A. Candy" is a deliciously entertaining novel about what its like to come of age in Hollywood while starring in a reality TV show written by a girl who has experienced it all firsthand: Lauren Conrad." ...

In addition to all the usual elements of an art historical monograph on this scale Rosenthal has devoted chapters to Lowrys technique his visual friendship with his fellow painter David Carr; & a serious analysis & rebuttal of a theory that has advanced the view that Lowry suffered from Aspergers Disease. ...

In the thirty years since the artist L S Lowry's death several items have come into the public domain
- including collections of
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