I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to'. & as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him but it did lure him back. After ten years in England he returned to the land of his youth & drove almost 14 000 miles in search of a mythical small town called Amalgam the kind of trim & sunny place where the films of his youth were set. Instead his search led him to Anywhere USA; a lookalike strip of gas stations motels & hamburger outlets populated by lookalike people with a penchant for synthetic fibres. Travelling around thirty-eight of the lower states
- united only in their mind-numbingly dreary uniformity
- he discovered a continent that was doubly lost; lost to itself because blighted by greed pollution mobile homes & television; lost to him because he had become a stranger in his own l&. The Lost Continent is a classic of travel literature
- hilariously stomach-achingly funny yet tinged with heartache
- & the book that first staked Bill Bryson's claim as the most beloved writer of his generation.



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In THE LOST CONTINENT BBC Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt tells the story of a flawed dream a noble vision that turned dangerous & which led Europe into its gravest crisis since World War Two
- a crisis for which it was totally unprepared. A pillar of the post-war European dream was a shared currency & with it came easy money seducing some countries into a wild spending binge. After the financial crash in the United States Europe caught the cold & was left with a debt crisis that came to threaten the entire European project. THE LOST CONTINENT is rich in anecdote weaving together the stories of ordinary people with the high politics & drama of Europe in crisis to give an unparalleled & vivid portrait of a massive shift in modern history. It

Includes:: interviews with top officials & insiders & dramatic accounts of key meetings. Gavin Hewitt's THE LOST CONTINENT is a clear-eyed book by a distinguished & well-connected journalist which tells the astonishing story of how we got here & where we might be headed.


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In THE LOST CONTINENT BBC Europe Editor Gavin Hewitt tells the story of a flawed dream a noble vision that turned dangerous & which led Europe into its gravest crisis since World War Two
- a crisis for which it was totally unprepared. A pillar of the post-war European dream was a shared currency & with it came easy money seducing some countries into a wild spending binge. After the financial crash in the United States Europe caught the cold & was left with a debt crisis that came to threaten the entire European project. THE LOST CONTINENT is rich in anecdote weaving together the stories of ordinary people with the high politics & drama of Europe in crisis to give an unparalleled & vivid portrait of a massive shift in modern history. It

Includes:: interviews with top officials & insiders & dramatic accounts of key meetings. Gavin Hewitt's THE LOST CONTINENT is a clear-eyed book by a distinguished & well-connected journalist which tells the astonishing story of how we got here & where we might be headed.


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This volume contains humorous accounts of two journeys one taken across America the other a trek across Europe. The Lost Continent" is an account of one man's rediscovery of America & his search for the perfect small town. Instead he finds a continent that is doubly lost: lost to itself because it is blighted by greed pollution mobile homes & television; & lost to him because he has become a foreigner in his own country. In " Neither Here Nor There" the author journeys from Hammerfest the northernmost town on the European continent to Istanbul. In doing so he retraces his steps as a student 20 years before visiting countries including Norway France & Italy." ...

Her past. Pallioti tapped the files. This he said is how youll find her. In Florence a young American student goes missing. At first neither Alessandro Pallioti one of the citys most senior policemen nor Enzo Saenz his deputy are too concerned. But soon the men are horrified to discover that the older man Kristen has been spending time with is Antonio Tomaselli a member of the notorious Red Brigades. Then before the police can get a handle on the case Kristens step-mother Anna also vanishes. Before long Enzo finds himself enmeshed in a web of false identities betrayed loyalties & revenge. At its centre is Anna a woman he is increasingly drawn to but knows he should not trust; & at stake is the life of an eighteen year old girl. With the horrors of the past rising behind him & the womens futures hanging in the balance Enzo Saenz is on unfamiliar ground & playing the most deadly game of his life.. . Grindle is a craftswoman of delicate evocative psychological thrillers Daily Telegraph ...

The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 1999-2001" is the seventh book in Sue Townsend's brilliantly funny " Adrian Mole" series. Monday January 3 2000. So how do I greet the New Millennium? In despair. I'm a single parent I live with my mother...I have a bald spot the size of a jaffa cake on the back of my head...I can't go on like this drifting into early middle-age. I need a Life Plan... The 'same age as Jesus when he died' Adrian Mole has become a martyr: a single-father bringing up two young boys in an uncaring world. With the ever-unattainable Pandora pursuing her ambition to become Labour's first female PM; his over-achieving half-brother Brett sponging off him; & literary success ever-elusive Adrian tries to make ends meet & find a purpose. But little does he realise that his own modest life is about to come to the attention of those charged with policing The War Against Terror... Bestselling author Sue Townsend has been Britain's favourite comic writer for over three decades. " An achingly funny anti-hero". (" Daily Mail"). " One of the great comic creations of our time. Almost every page of his diaries bring a smile to the face". (" Scotsman"). Sue Townsend is Britain's favourite comic author. Her hugely successful novels include eight " Adrian Mole" books " The Public Confessions of a Middle-Aged Woman (Aged 55)" " Number Ten" " Ghost Children" " The Queen & I" " Queen Camilla" & " The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year" all of which are highly acclaimed bestsellers. She has also written numerous well-received plays. She lives in Leicester where she was born & grew up." ...

Long out of print Jeff Lemires Xeric-Award-winning Lost Dogs" now returns in a newly remastered edition soaked with blood & ink. This 104-page mythic yarn follows a family man whos larger than life.. .but even he may not be powerful enough to prevent the loss of everything hes ever known. Bold brutal & emotionally raw " Lost Dogs" represents an acclaimed storytellers first professional work
- an early exhibition of the gifts that have made Lemires " Essex County" & " Sweet Tooth" so phenomenally popular."
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ROMANTIC NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2010. When the abandoned strays from a local dogs' home are matched with brand new owners it turns out it might not just be the dogs who need rescuing. Rachel's aunt has left her a house a Border Collie & despite knowing nothing about dogs a crowded kennels. But since her life has collapsed she's not sure she can deal with any more lost souls. Zoe's ex-husband has given their children a puppy. The kids are in love but she's the one stuck training Toffee the impossible Labrador. She's nearly at the end of her tether
- until Toffee leads her to a handsome doctor... Meanwhile Natalie & Johnny's marriage hasn't been easy since they started trying for a baby. But is a fridge-raiding sofa-stealing Basset hound like Bertie really the child substitute they're looking for? As the new owners' paths cross on the town's dog-walking circuits their lives become interwoven. & they
- & their dogs
- learn some important lessons about loyalty companionship & unconditional love.. .


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East Lothian a unitary authority area including the old county of Haddingtonshire is one of Scotlands most historic places
- John
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What happened to Edinburgh's once notorious but picturesque Tolbooth Prison? Where was the Black Turnpike once a dominant building in the town? Why has one of the New Town designer's major layouts been all but obliterated? What else has been lost in Edinburgh? From Edinburgh's mean beginnings
- 'wretched accommodation no comfortable houses no soft beds' visiting French knights complained in 1341
- it went on to attract some of the world's greatest architects to design & build & shape a unique city. But over the centuries many of those fine buildings have gone. Some were destroyed by invasion & civil strife some simply collapsed with old age & neglect & others were swept away in the 'improvements' of the nineteenth century. Yet more fell to the developers' swathe of destruction in the twentieth century. Much of the medieval architecture vanished in the Old Town Georgian Squares were attacked Princes Street ruined old tenements razed in huge slum clearance drives & once familiar & much loved buildings vanished. The changing pattern of industry social habits health service housing & road systems all took their toll; not even the city wall was immune. The buildings which stood in the way of what was deemed progress are the heritage of Lost Edinburgh. In this informative & stimulating book. Hamish Coghill sets out to trace many of the lost buildings & find out why they were doomed. Lavishly illustrated Lost Edinburgh" is a fascinating insight into an ever-changing cityscape."

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