Growing up in Hanoi Haiphong & Saigon Mai Elliott loved listening to the stories told by her parents & other relatives about their parents & grandparents. She found these tales fascinating
- some funny some tragic. She knew one day she would tell their stories & she has in her book The Sacred Willow. In The Sacred Willow Mai tells the story of her family over four generations from the 19th century to the present. She takes us back to the vanished world where her great-grandfather Duong Lam rose from poverty to become a mandarin at the imperial court. She tells of childhood hours spent in her grandmothers sil shop
- & of hiding while French troops torched her village watching blossoms from the trees torn by fire flutter like hundreds of butterflies" overhead. She reveals the agonizing choices that split Vietnamese families while her father loyal to his mandarin heritage served the French colonial regime her eldest sister joined the Communist guerillas & vanished for years into the jungle. Finally Mai traces her familys journey through some of the most harrowing events of recent times
- the fall of Saigon the exodus of the boat people & the re-education camps endured by those who were left behind. Writing with insight & compassion Mai Elliott weaves a narrative with the richness & colour of a historical novel. Haunting heartbreaking & inspiring The Sacred Willow wo;; fprever cjamge pir imderstamdomg pf Vietnam & our role in it."


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Moving to remote Shetland has been unsettling enough for consultant surgeon Tora Hamilton; even before the gruesome discovery she makes one rain-drenched afternoon.. . Deep in the peat soil of her field she is shocked to find the perfectly preserved body of a young woman a gaping hole where her heart has been brutally removed & three rune marks etched into her skin. The marks bear an eerie resemblance to carvings Tora has seen all over the islands & she quickly uncovers disturbing links to an ancient legend. But as Tora investigates she is warned by the local police her boss & even her husband to leave well alone. & even though it chills her to the bone to admit it.. .something tells her their concern isn't genuine. ...

The sickness destroyed everyone over the age of fourteen. All across London diseased adults are waiting hungry predators with rotten flesh & ravaged minds. Small Sam & his unlikely ally The Kid have survived. They're safe with Ed & his friends at the Tower of London but Sam is desperate to find his sister. Their search for Ella means Sam & The Kid must cross the forbidden zone. & what awaits them there is more terrifying than any of the horror they've suffered so far.. . ...

The Sacrifice is the fourth gruesome & horrifying book in Charlie Higson's brilliant zombie series. The sickness destroyed everyone over the age of fourteen. All across London diseased adults are waiting hungry predators with rotten flesh & ravaged minds. Small Sam & his unlikely ally The Kid have survived. They're safe with Ed & his friends at the Tower of London but Sam is desperate to find his sister. Their search for Ella means Sam & The Kid must cross the forbidden zone. & what awaits them there is more terrifying than any of the horror they've suffered so far... Lord of the Flies with zombies". (Rick Riordan creator of the Percy Jackson series). Charlie Higson is the bestselling author of Young Bond & creator of The Fast Show. It is perfect for bloodthirsty fans of Darren Shan & 28 Days Later." ...

Afghanistan 2008. A Black Hawk helicopter carrying a senior CIA operative is shot down by a surface to air missile its lone passenger taken hostage by a fanatical new insurgent group. Knowing this man holds information vital to the ongoing conflict the CIA bring in Ryan Drake & his elite Shepherd team to find & rescue their lost operative. But nothing is what it seems & within hours of arriving in the war-torn country Drake & his team find themselves caught in a deadly conflict between a brutal terrorist warlord & the ruthless leader of a private military company. & lurking in the shadows is a woman from Drake's past determined to settle old scores. ...

Perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom & The Name of the Rose the third historical thriller featuring Giordano Bruno heretic philosopher & spy. In the pursuit of power nothing is sacred... Summer 1584. The Protestant Prince William of Orange has been assassinated by a fanatical Catholic & there are whispers that Queen Elizabeth will be next. Fear haunts the streets of London & plague is driving many citizens away. Giordano Bruno radical philosopher & spy chooses to remain only to find that someone is following him through the city. Confronting his stalker he realizes it is the woman he once loved
- she is on the run having been accused of murder. Bruno travels to Canterbury to help clear her name & also on behalf of Sir Francis Walsingham. The Queens spymaster has long suspected Catholic influence in the ancient centre of pilgrimage & instructs Bruno to work to expose any enemy plots. As Bruno begins his hunt for the real killer he is drawn into the heart of a sinister conspiracy hiding in the shadow of Englands holiest shrine...
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Perfect for fans of C.J. Sansom & The Name of the Rose the third historical thriller featuring Giordano Bruno heretic philosopher & spy. In the pursuit of power nothing is sacred... Summer 1584. The Protestant Prince William of Orange has been assassinated by a fanatical Catholic & there are whispers that Queen Elizabeth will be next. Fear haunts the streets of London & plague is driving many citizens away. Giordano Bruno radical philosopher & spy chooses to remain only to find that someone is following him through the city. Confronting his stalker he realizes it is the woman he once loved
- she is on the run having been accused of murder. Bruno travels to Canterbury to help clear her name & also on behalf of Sir Francis Walsingham. The Queens spymaster has long suspected Catholic influence in the ancient centre of pilgrimage & instructs Bruno to work to expose any enemy plots. As Bruno begins his hunt for the real killer he is drawn into the heart of a sinister conspiracy hiding in the shadow of Englands holiest shrine...
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An elderly stroke victim dies without having arranged a will... Beautiful young Elinor Carlisle stood serenely in the dock accused of the murder of Mary Gerrard her rival in love. The evidence was damning: only Elinor had the motive the opportunity & the means to administer the fatal poison. Yet inside the hostile courtroom only one man still presumed Elinor was innocent until proven guilty: Hercule Poirot was all that stood between Elinor & the gallows... ...

Elinor Carlisle & Roddy Welman are the model English couple perfect companions set for a life of ease when they inherit Aunt Lauras considerable fortune. But a poison pen letter begins a chain of events which is to end in tragedy... Enter Hercule Poirot to investigate. John Moffatt stars as the great Belgian detective in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation. ...

The very first novel written by Jack Higgins re-packaged to celebrate 50 years of bestsellerdom. He guesses its around 3am. Gun runner & occasional smuggler Mark Hagen hears a scream through the fog. He finds a girl; young beautiful trouble. But as Mark Hagen himself said I love trouble angel. It makes life so much more interesting." Before long he is hauled into a chaotic chase involving The Red Chinese & a lot of gold. From feeling he had lost everything to suddenly fighting for his life Hagen must battle his inner demons & some truly terrifying enemies in a deadly game of power action & murder." ...