Steve Coll's Private Empire" is winner of the FT/ Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2012. In this prize-winning book the author of " Ghost Wars" & " The Bin Ladens" investigates the notoriously mysterious Exxon Mobil Corporation & the secrets of the oil industry. In many of the nations where it operates Exxon Mobil has a greater sway than that of the US embassy its annual revenues are larger than the total economic activity in most countries & in Washington it spends more on lobbying than any other corporation. Yet despite its outsized influence it is to outsiders a black box. " Private Empire" begins with the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 & closes with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Steve Coll's narrative spans the globe taking readers to Moscow impoverished African capitals Indonesia & elsewhere as Exxon Mobil carries out its activities against a backdrop of blackmail threats kidnapping civil wars & high-stakes struggles at the Kremlin. In the US Coll goes inside Exxon Mobil's ruthless Washington lobbying offices & its corporate headquarters in Irving Texas where top executives oversee a bizarre corporate culture of discipline & secrecy. " Private Empire" is the masterful result of Steve Coll's indefatigable reporting from the halls of Congress to the oil-laden swamps of the Niger Delta; previously classified U.S. documents; heretofore unexamined court records; & many other sources." ...

Psychologist Alex Delaware regards Melissa Dickinson as one of his greatest achievements. A tormented seven year old when she first appeared in his LA surgery two years on she was fully recovered. Years later Melissa contacts Alex desperate for him to help her mother Gina. Gina was a budding Hollywood starlet until a vicious acid attack left her disfigured. Crippled with fear Gina has hidden from the world for two decades. But before Alex can help she disappears. Now Alex is locked in a search leading him into a grotesque labyrinth of hidden histories & desires... ...

July 2012: The Games have arrived in London. Preparations have gone flawlessly & the stage is set for one of the greatest ever showcases of sporting excellence. But one man has a devastating plan. Having waited years for this chance he is now ready for vengeance. When Sir Denton Marshall a key member of the London Olympic organising committee is found decapitated in his garden Peter Knight head of Private London is called to the scene. Private are working with the organising committee on the security for the Games so Denton Marshall was a valuable client. But there is a more personal link: Marshall was also the fiance of Knights mother. Having only recently lost close friends & colleagues at Private London in a fatal plane crash this is another torturous blow for Knight & threatens to push him over the edge. But it soon becomes clear that Denton Marshalls murder is no isolated incident & that the killers number one target is the Games itself. As the most talented athletes in the world gather in London Knight knows he must find Sir Dentons killer. Thousands of lives are at stake... ...

July 2012: The Games have arrived in London & the stage is set for one of the greatest ever showcases of sporting excellence. When Sir Denton Marshall a key member of the London Olympic organising committee is found brutally murdered Peter Knight head of Private London is called to the scene. Private are working with the organising committee on security for the Games so Denton Marshall was a valuable client. But there is a more personal link: Denton was also the fiance of Knight's mother. Knight is devastated by Denton's murder but it soon becomes clear that this is no isolated incident. The killer is targeting the Games itself & the lives of everyone involved are under threat. ...

July 2012: The Games have arrived in London. Preparations have gone flawlessly & the stage is set for one of the greatest ever showcases of sporting excellence. But one man has a devastating plan. Having waited years for this chance he is now ready for vengeance. When Sir Denton Marshall a key member of the London Olympic organising committee is found decapitated in his garden Peter Knight head of Private London is called to the scene. Private are working with the organising committee on the security for the Games so Denton Marshall was a valuable client. But there is a more personal link: Marshall was also the fiance of Knight's mother. Having only recently lost close friends & colleagues at Private London in a fatal plane crash this is another torturous blow for Knight & threatens to push him over the edge. But it soon becomes clear that Denton Marshall's murder is no isolated incident & that the killer's number one target is the Games itself. As the most talented athletes in the world gather in London Knight knows he must find Sir Denton's killer. Thousands of lives are at stake... ...

Margaret Mayfield is nearly an old maid at twenty-seven when she marries Captain Andrew Jackson Jefferson Early. He's the most famous man their Missouri town has ever produced: a naval officer & an astronomer
- a genius who according to the local paper has changed the universe. Margaret's mother calls the match a piece of luck". Yet Andrew confounds Margaret's expectations from the moment their train leaves for his naval base in San Francisco & soon she realizes that his devotion to science leaves little room for anything or anyone else. She stands by him through tragedies both personal & those they share with the nation. But as World War II approaches Andrew's obsessions take a darker turn forcing Margaret to reconsider the life she'd so carefully constructed."
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The Victorian & Edwardian eras in the run-up to 1914 marked the golden age of the English country house when opulence & formality attained a level that would never be matched again. The ease of these perfect settings for flirtation & relaxation was maintained by a large & well-trained staff of servants. Although those in service worked very long hours & had little personal freedom many were proud of their positions & grateful for the relative security these gave. Indeed the strictly hierarchical world below stairs could be more snobbish than that of a houses owners. Michael Paterson skillfully & entertainingly explores the myths & realities of this vanished world both upstairs & down. ...

What is happening in the brain when we drink too much alcohol get high on ecstasy or experience road rage? Emotion says internationally acclaimed neuroscientist Susan Greenfield is the building block of consciousness. As our minds develop we create a personalized inner world based on our experiences. But during periods of intense emotion such as anger fear or euphoria we can literally lose our mind returning to the mental state we experienced as infants. Challenging many preconceived notions Susan Greenfield's groundbreaking book seeks to answer one of science's most enduring mysteries: how our unique sense of self is created. ...

Escape with Sunday Times bestseller Tasmina Perry into an intoxicating world where games are played to mask the truth where there is no one you can trust & where being too good at your job can put your life in danger... Anna Kennedy loves her career. A young associate with a top media law firm she's the lawyer to the stars hiding their sins from the hungry media. When Anna fails to prevent a damaging story being printed about heart-throb movie star Sam Charles she finds herself fighting to save not only his reputation but also her own. But Anna is about to uncover a scandal more explosive than even Sam's infidelities. A party girl is already dead & those responsible are prepared to silence anyone who stands in their way. Not least a pretty young lawyer who knows too much... ...

Manet Monet Pissarro Cezanne Renoir Degas Renoir Sisley Berthe Moriost & Mary Cassatt were all branded as lunatics but today this is a roll-call of great artists whose paintings evoke a unique atmosphere of harmony: languid landscapes flooded with light shop-workers dancing on their day off bars & gas-lit streets the sunlit beach at Trouville. We all know these dazzling pictures
- but how well do we know the Impressionists as people? This book tells their story. In a vivid & moving narrative Sue Roe shows how the early leaders of the group first met in the Paris studios & lived & worked closely together for nearly twenty years. Painting outdoors meeting in cafes they supported each other & shared emotional & financial difficulties. Defying the hide-bound rules of the salon they staged joint exhibitions & rebelled against artistic prejudice moral tyranny & social hierarchy. Often rejected by their horrified parents they led volatile & precarious lives: their wives were servants models flower-sellers & although their paintings today sell for millions they were barely able to support their families. This intimate colourful superbly researched account takes us into their homes as well as their studios & describes their love affairs & arguments heartaches & dreams as well as their canvases & theories. Over the years there were divisions & rows but in the end this constellation of talent shone through giving the world a new exhilarating form of art.
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