The brave little Manxmouse is on a special journey. But can he survive fearsome foxes terrified elephants & cats big & small to reach his destination? The Manxmouse is one-of-a-kind. He s the strangest little mouse you ll ever see with bright blue fur huge rabbit ears & a distinct lack of tail. But Manxmouse doesn t mind being different. He knows that destiny awaits him & so Manxmouse sets out on an exciting adventure. He meets tigers & hawks & dastardly pet-shop owners but there s someone he dreads & desires to meet more than anyone else. The someone who has been waiting for him all along...the Manx Cat. ...

Things are finally looking up for George & Ann Richardson. After causing years of worry their younger daughter Tess who had always been sickly & small is starting to blossom into a confident clever girl. It will be some time before she catches up with her older sister Maddy but her family know shell soon be just as strong. & theyve just scraped together enough money to take them on their first holiday to Wales where the country life will be just what they need. But heartache is waiting for the family when they return to Liverpool & many a tear will have to fall before they find the true happiness they long for... ...

Charlaine Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse novels) & Toni L.P. Kelner (the Laura Fleming mysteries) have gathered together another 11 writers with serious vamp credentials to provide a bakers dozen tales. Meet Sookie Stackhouse who as the only non-vampire at a Draculas birthday ball soon finds thats shes the one on the menu & Harry Dresden who drops by a role-playing game to find himself dealing with deadly party crashers. In P.N. Elrods Grave-Robbed which mixes pathos & comedy vampire PI Jack Fleming busts a phony medium mid-seance Tanya Huffs Blood Wrapped has Henry Fitzroy searching for the ideal gift for a vampires 40th mixing with his pursuit of a human kidnapper. & Christopher Golden takes birthdays to heart in his poignant coming-of-age story The Mournful Cry of Owls. ...

Can true love triumph in the face of fierce family opposition? Mr Alis marriage bureau is flourishing but trouble isnt far away once son Rehman begins secretly to woo TV journalist Usha in the small cafes & on the beautiful beaches of South Indian Vizag in an ill-advised romance. Meanwhile the lovely Aruna has a problem or two all her own. She enjoys being Mr Alis right-hand woman at the marriage bureau having a wonderful husband Ram & living in a mansion a far cry from her parents cramped one-room house; but how long can Aruna remain happy once her spiteful sister-in-law Mani comes home to stay? When Ushas father finds out about Rehman a Muslim the fat is in the fire. & what will Mr & Mrs Ali have to say when they discover too their son has been dating a non-Muslim? ...

Stephanie Beacham is one of the leading actors of her generation. Now in her 60s Stephanie looks back over a career spanning 40 years during which she appeared on stage at some of the most prestigious theatres in the world
- from the National Theatre to Broadway. She also made countless appearances on TV in much-loved series including Tenko" " Connie" " Bad Girls" & " Coronation Street" & starred in Hollywood feature films alongside some of the greatest actors of their time including Marlon Brando Ava Gardner & Sir Anthony Hopkins. But Stephanie is perhaps best known as the smouldering super-bitch Sable Colby in the role she played alongside Charlton Heston in the long-running blockbuster soap of the 1980s " Dynasty". It was a role that would bring the celebrated beauty worldwide fame & awards. Off screen away from the glitz & glamour Stephanie has faced powerful personal challenges. Born with just 40 per cent hearing which led to painful childhood taunts Stephanie reveals how she succeeded in a world where hearing meant everything & goes on to speak about her struggle to balance her acting with bringing up two young children following a painful divorce. Her inner strength & down-to-earth pragmatic & witty approach to life have carried her through these intense personal challenges but coming close to death in her early 30s fired her passion to understand more about spirituality & the nature of our existence. Living for many years in California has enabled her to be a jackdaw gathering spiritual jewels that she has sprinkled throughout this wise & witty book as a resource for anyone who might find them useful."
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In the 22nd Century a group of misfits & mavericks are preparing to leave behind everything they have known. Advanced technology has created a one-way time portal to Earth's Pliocene Era -- six million years ago. Those seeking a better life are drawn to the promise of a simple utopia far from the civilised Galactic Mileu. But no one could have predicted the dangers on the other side. For the group will enter the battleground of two warring alien races exiled from a distant planet. & these races not only have potent mind powers but seek to exploit & enslave humans for their own needs. The travellers are about to discover that their unspoilt paradise is far from Eden. Winner of the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. ' Julian May has woven a many-coloured tapestry of exotic adventure' Roger Zelazny 'I was captivated by its glamorous sinister movement through the misty forests of Earth's true past' Fritz Leiber ...

Jung Changs Wild Swans was an extraordinary bestseller throughout the world selling more than 10 million copies & reaching a wider readership than any other book about China. Now she & her husband Jon Halliday have written a groundbreaking biography of Mao Tse-tung. Based on a decade of research & on interviews with many of Maos close circle in China who have never talked before
- & with virtually everyone outside China who had significant dealings with him
- this is the most authoritative life of Mao ever written. It is full of startling revelations exploding the myth of the Long March & showing a completely unknown Mao: he was not driven by idealism or ideology; his intimate & intricate relationship with Stalin went back to the 1920s ultimately bringing him to power; he welcomed Japanese occupation of much of China; & he schemed poisoned & blackmailed to get his way. After Mao conquered China in 1949 his secret goal was to dominate the world. In chasing this dream he caused the deaths of 38 million people in the greatest famine in history. In all well over 70 million Chinese perished under Maos rule
- in peacetime. Combining meticulous history with the story-telling style of Wild Swans this biography makes immediate Maos roller-coaster life as he intrigued & fought every step of the way to force through his unpopular decisions. The reader enters the shadowy chambers of Maos court & eavesdrops on the drama in its hidden recesses. Maos character & the enormity of his behaviour towards his wives mistresses & children are unveiled for the first time. This is an entirely fresh look at Mao in both content & approach. It will astonish historians & the general reader alike.


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Winner of the BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2011 Between 1958 & 1962 45 million Chinese people were worked starved or beaten to death. Mao Zedong threw his country into a frenzy with the Great Leap Forward an attempt to catch up with & overtake the Western world in less than fifteen years. It lead to one of the greatest catastrophes the world has ever known. Dikotters extraordinary research within Chinese archives brings together for the first time what happened in the corridors of power with the everyday experiences of ordinary people giving voice to the dead & disenfranchised. This groundbreaking account definitively recasts the history of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Raised in a desperately poor village during the height of Chinas Cultural Revolution Li Cunxins childhood revolved around the commune his family & Chairman Maos Little Red Book. Until that is Madame Maos cultural delegates came in search of young peasants to study ballet at the academy in Beijing & he was thrust into a completely unfamiliar world. When a trip to Texas as part of a rare cultural exchange opened his eyes to life & love beyond Chinas borders he defected to the United States in an extraordinary & dramatic tale of Cold War intrigue. Told in his own distinctive voice this is Lis inspirational story of how he came to be Maos last dancer & one of the worlds greatest ballet dancers. ...

This is the true story of a poor Chinese peasant boy who plucked unsuspectingly at the age of ten from millions of others across the land to be trained as a ballet dancer turned the situation to his advantage to become one of the world's greatest ballet stars. Simply told with charm humour & compassion & at times this is a great drama. His childhood despite the terrible hardships is drawn with love & affection & contrasts starkly with the seven lonely years of gruelling training at the Peking Dance Academy. At the age of l 8 Li performs at the Houston Ballet school in the US which leads to his dramatic defection. This is a condensed edition specially for younger readers & has an Afterword especially for children. ...