' It's the end of the 1916 winter & the conditions are almost unbelievable. We live in a world of Somme mud. We sleep in it work in it fight in it wade in it & many of us die in it. We see it feel it eat it & curse it but we can't escape it not even by dying...'. Edward Lynch enlisted when he was just 18
- one of thousands of fresh-faced men who were proudly waved off by the crowds as they embarked for France. It was 1916 & the majority had no idea of the reality of the Somme trenches of the traumatised soldiers they would encounter there of the innumerable awful contradictions of war. Private Lynch was one of those who survived & on his return home in 1919 wrote Somme Mud" in pencil in over 20 school exercise books perhaps in the hope of coming to terms with all that he had witnessed there. Written from the perspective of an ordinary ' Tommy' & told with dignity candour & surprising wit " Somme Mud" is a testament to the human spirit for out of the mud that threatened to suck out a man's soul rises a compelling story of humanity & friendship. It is a rare & precious find."
...

On the first day of the Somme enlisted railwayman Jim Stringer lies trapped in a shell hole smoking cigarette after cigarette under the bullets & the blazing sun. He calculates his chances of survival
- even before they departed for France a member of Jim's unit had been found dead. During the st&-off that follows Jim & his comrades must operate by night the vitally important trains carrying munitions to the Front through a ghostly landscape of shattered trees where high explosive & shrapnel shells rain down. Close co-operation & trust are vital. Yet proof piles up of an enemy within & as a ferocious military policeman pursues his investigation into the original killing the finger of accusation begins to point towards Jim himself...
...

Some secrets are better left buried... When seventeen-year-old Phoebe Turner visits Wiltons Music Hall to watch her Aunt Cissy performing on stage she risks the wrath of her mother Maud who marches with the Hallelujah Army campaigning for all London theatres to close. While there Phoebe is drawn to a stranger the enigmatic Nathaniel Samuels who heralds dramatic changes in the lives of all three women. When offered the position of companion to Nathaniels reclusive wife Phoebe leaves her life in Londons East End for Dinwood Court in Herefordshire
- a house that may well be haunted & which holds the darkest of truths...
...

Part epic of Texas part classic coming-of-age story part unflinching portrait of the bloody price of power The Son is an utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American West through the lives of the Mc Culloughs an ambitious family as resilient & dangerous as the land they claim. Love honour children are sacrificed in the name of ambition as the family becomes one of the richest powers in Texas a dynasty of unsurpassed wealth & privilege. Yet like all empires the Mc Culloughs must eventually face the consequences of their choices. ...

Based on the classic bestseller Son-Rise which was made into an award-winning TV movie viewed by 300 million people worldwide this expanded & updated journal continues the story of Barry & Samahria Kaufmans efforts to reach Raun their autistic child. 22 photos. ...

Back in the land of Oz the adolescent boy Liir was last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised comatose & left for dead Liir is tended to at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by a silent novice called Candle who wills him back to life with her musical gifts. What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphabas son? He has her broom & her cape
- but what of her powers? In an Oz that since the Wizards departure is under new & dangerous management can Liir keep his head down long enought to grow up?
...

First a symphony & then a song.. . Mozart can never stop composing. It's as if his life depends on it. But this deeply angers his employer the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg who will not tolerate the slightest disobedience. So the rebellious young musician decides to get away from the court of his oppressive patron once & for all by moving to Vienna where he will finally meet the love of his life Constance Weber. Meanwhile Thamos Count of Thebes & Mozart's ever-faithful Egyptian companion accompanies him to the city. One of the last members of a spiritual brotherhood keeping alive the secrets of the pharaohs his mission is to find & protect the ' Great Magician' foretold by Osiris a genius whose works will save humanity. Convinced that he has found the one in young Mozart there is no time to lose in instructing his young protege in the Masonic rites inspired by the Egyptian Great Mysteries. But in doing so Thamos & Mozart find themselves in great danger. For the governing powers will not tolerate what they take to be the first steps towards revolution.. . ...

Son of My Father" explores the changing relationship between father son & their beloved football club
- Derby County. Along
...

This is the second title in this number one bestselling spin-off series from Percy Jackson creator Rick Riordan. This crazy messed up world of gods & monsters is Percy Jacksons reality which pretty much sucks for him. Percy Jackson son of Poseidon God of the Sea has woken from a very deep sleep & come face to face with two snake-haired ladies who refuse to die. But theyre the least of his problems. Because Percy finds himself at a camp for half-bloods which doesnt ring any bells for him. Theres just one name he remembers from his past: Annabeth. Only one thing is certain
- Percys questing days arent over. He & fellow demigods Frank & Hazel must face the most important quest of all: the Prophecy of Seven. If they fail its not just their camp at risk. Percys old life the gods & the entire world might be destroyed...
...

We sat & stared balefully at the walnut buffet. A rich customer had complained it was making strange noises in the night. It was around midnight & we strained our ears to hear hardly daring to breathe. & there it was a kind of crunch crunch crunching sound. John's life as a travelling brocanteur (antiques dealer) in rural France is decidedly less colourful as his unscrupulous yet affable partner in crime Serge Bastarde marries & decamps to Martinique. But like a bad penny Serge returns his personal life in tatters. What follows is a madcap adventure which sees John being coerced into striking deals with the Romanian 'mafia' re-roofing a huge Basque house & getting trapped in a skip in the dead of night while Serge rides an emotional roller coaster. Serge may be as faux as some of his antiques but with John's help he eventually strikes gold in this laugh-out-loud romp. ...