Life & Fate is an epic tale of a country told through the fate of a single family the Shaposhnikovs. As the battle of Stalingrad looms Grossman's characters must work out their destiniesin a world torn by ideological tyranny & war. Completed in 1960 & then confiscated by the KGB this sweeping panorama of Soviet Society remained unpublished until it was smuggled into the West in 1980 where it was hailed as a masterpiece. ...

Discover Michael Mc Intyre's hilarious life-story in Life & Laughing". Michael Mc Intyre is Britain's biggest comedy star. He has released two record-breaking DVDs " Live & Laughing" & " Hello Wembley"; hosts his own BAFTA-nominated BBC1 series " Michael Mc Intyre's Comedy Roadshow"; & has picked up British Comedy Awards for Best Live St&-Up & Best Male TV Comic. Last year he became the youngest ever host of the Royal Variety Performance & now in 2011 he takes the hot seat as a judge in the hit ITV show " Britain's Got Talent". How did he get there? Michael reveals all in his remarkably honest & hilarious autobiography. His showbiz roots his appalling attempts to attract the opposite sex his fish-out-of-water move from public to state school & his astonishing journey from selling just one ticket at the Edinburgh Festival to selling half a million tickets on his last tour. Michael Mc Intyre's " Life & Laughing" is riveting poignant romantic & above all very very funny. Michael Mc Intyre was born in South London in 1976 to parents from the world of showbiz. His Hungarian mother was a dancer & his Canadian father co-wrote " The Kenny Everett Television Show". Now he is a st&-up comedian who in 2009 sold out a record six nights at Wembley Arena & four nights at London's O2. Michael lives in North London with his wife Kitty & their sons Lucas & Oscar. This is his first book." ...

In Life & Love of Cats Lewis Blackwell provides a unique perspective on one of our closest companions. Starting with the earliest records of domestic cats 9 000 years ago in Africa & the Mediterranean Blackwell celebrates & explores the joy of cats in our lives searching for the essence of our connection with them. Supporting the text is his presentation of a unique range of images shot by leading animal photographers from around the world. Through stunning photographs we are taken on a feline journey: from the homes of middle America to the alleys & lanes of France to the plains of Africa; from rare hybrid domestic cross breeds like the Savannah to the exquisite specimens on show at the glittering Supreme Cat Show to shelter cats lovingly rescued by volunteers; from graceful & haughty pure breeds such as the Persian & the Abyssinian to adored domestic companions of all shapes colours & sizes. Blackwell weaves stories around these photographs tales that track the close relationship between cats & humankind. ...

This title explores the life & mysterious death of Ian Mackintosh one of the finest spy dramatists of the twentieth century. It uncovers the secrets behind one of the most successful television spy shows in history which still has a cult following. It reproduces for the first time Mackintoshs original eleven-page pitch for The Sandbaggers". No spy drama has ever matched " The Sandbaggers" which featured a tiny covert intelligence unit based in London during the Cold War. The show that the " New York Times" called the "best spy series in television history" was the vision of Ian Mackintosh who was among the first writers to present espionage realistically
- as a sordid series of political struggles double crosses & personality clashes. " The Life & Mysterious Death of Ian Mackintosh" provides a behind-the-scenes look at the show that forever changed the spy genre. Readers will also gain insight into the enigmatic & accomplished Mackintosh. A Royal Navy lieutenant commander he spent part of his service at the Admiraltys Department of Naval Intelligence once one of the worlds ranking espionage operations. He retired early & penned thirteen books & a number of television series including the classic Warship. A leading authority on aircraft Mackintosh was also one of the youngest recipients of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire an honor one step below knighthood for his still-classified exploits. His disappearance without a trace on July 7 1979
- nineteen days before his thirty-ninth birthday
- while flying with two companions over the Gulf of Alaska (which happened to be teeming with Soviet submarines & other spycraft) remains a mystery as the British government declined to investigate the incident. Robert Folsom takes readers inside the world of " The Sandbaggers" & Ian Mackintosh whose ultimate fate is a plot twist worthy of his own trailblazing creation."


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Tristram Shandy is one of English literatures most curious complex & comic novels & is therefore perfectly suited to the distinctive anarchic style of the celebrated cartoonist & illustrator Martin Rowson. Here Rowson travels with his faithful companion Pete through the tortuous paths of Laurence Sternes infinitely digressive world interpreting the great novel in a new way. ...

The stories & secrets behind BBC television's most-loved show. The official companion to series 1 & 2 as well as the forthcoming Christmas special. The Life & Times of Call the Midwife takes you behind the scenes of the small-screen sensation that has brought to life Jennifer Worth's experiences as a midwife among the slums & buzzing dockyards of London's East End in the Fifties. Find out how Fifties fashions make-up & homes were flawlessly recreated. Discover the hidden secrets of the nurses & nuns of Nonnatus House & what flavour cake ruled in the kitchen when war-time rationing finally came to an end. Immerse yourself in a world that's been fondly revived to celebrate a glimpse of history that like today has childbirth at its heart. ...

In a South Africa torn by civil war Michael K sets out to take his mother back to her rural home. On the way there she dies leaving him alone in an anarchic world of brutal roving armies. Imprisoned Michael is unable to bear confinement & escapes determined to live with dignity. Life & Times of Michael K goes to the centre of human experience
- the need for an interior spiritual life for some connections to the world in which we live & for purity of vision.
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Some say that the first hint that Bill Bryson was not of Planet Earth came when his mother sent him to school in lime-green Capri pants. Others think it all started with his discovery at the age of six of a woollen jersey of rare fineness. Across the moth-holed chest was a golden thunderbolt. It may have looked like an old college football sweater but young Bryson knew better. It was obviously the Sacred Jersey of Zap & proved that he had been placed with this innocuous family in the middle of America to fly become invisible shoot guns out of people's hands from a distance & wear his underpants over his jeans in the manner of Superman. Bill Bryson's first travel book opened with the immortal line 'I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to.' In his deeply funny new memoir he travels back in time to explore the ordinary kid he once was & the curious world of 1950s America. It was a happy time when almost everything was good for you including DDT cigarettes & nuclear fallout. This is a book about growing up in a specific time & place. But in Bryson's hands it becomes everyone's story one that will speak volumes
- especially to anyone who has ever been young.
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Powerful new research methods are providing fresh & vivid insights into the makeup of life. Comparing gene sequences examining the atomic structure of proteins & looking into the geochemistry of rocks have all helped to explain creation & evolution in more detail than ever before. Nick Lane uses the full extent of this new knowledge to describe the ten greatest inventions of life including DNA sex sight & consciousness based on their historical impact role in living organisms today & relevance to current controversies. Lane also explains how these findings have come about & the extent to which they can be relied upon. The result is a vivid gripping & lucid account of the ingenuity of nature & a book which is essential for anyone who has wondered at how we came to be here. ...

The debut of a female Steve Jones
- likeable literate lucid & laconic. A sprightly lavishly illustrated book on the science of
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