At the heart of this epic saga set just before the Opium Wars is an old slaving-ship The Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean its crew a motley array of sailors & stowaways coolies & convicts. In a time of colonial upheaval fate has thrown together a truly diverse cast of Indians & Westerners from a bankrupt Raja to a widowed villager from an evangelical English opium trader to a mulatto American freedman. As their old family ties are washed away they like their historical counterparts come to view themselves as jahaj-bhais or ship-brothers. An unlikely dynasty is born which will span continents races & generations.???? The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges the rolling high seas & the exotic backstreets of China. But it is the panorama of characters whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself which makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive
- a masterpiece from one of the worlds finest novelists.
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Two girls with two very different lives come together in this beautiful & moving story of friendship & family by a major new voice in girls' fiction. Meet Maya. She has a cosy comfy life with her slightly hippy mum & dad by the sea in Cornwall. But as an only child Maya feels smothered by her parents' love & longs to be a given more freedom & independence; but what Maya wants more than anything is a sister. Meet Cat. She's never known her dad & her mum's an alcoholic & is not capable of looking after herself let alone her 11 year old daughter. Cat's spent her life protecting her mum & keeping some dark secrets; all she wants is to be left alone. But Cat & Maya's worlds collide when Cat is taken into care & Maya's parents make the life-changing decision to adopt her. Maya can't wait to welcome Cat into the family & hopes that by having a sister her parents might learn to 'chill out' & give Maya a bit more freedom. But Cat is angry & resentful & resists Maya's attempts at friendship & soon Maya's idea of a perfect family is blown out of the water. As tensions rise & secrets come out will the girls ever become friends let alone sisters? ...

Jack is an apprentice bard & just beginning to learn the secrets of his mysterious master when he & his little sister are captured by Viking chief Olaf One-Brow & taken to the court of Ivar the Boneless. Ivar is married to a half-troll named Frith an evil & unpredictable queen with a strange power over her husbands court. Jack is sent on to the kingdom of the trolls where he has to find the magical well & undo the charm he has cast on Frith. He is accompanied by Thorgill a shield maiden aged 12 who wants to be a berserker when she grows up. Together they are set for a magical & exciting adventure. ...

The murder of two clam fishermen off the island of Pellestrina south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon draws Commissario Brunetti into the close-knit community of the island bound together by a code of loyalty & a suspicion of outsiders worthy of the Mafia. When the boss' secretary Signorina Elettra volunteers to visit the island where she has relatives Brunetti finds himself torn between his duty to solve the murders concerns for Elettra's safety & his not entirely straightforward feelings for her.. . ...

Two sisters one life-changing journey... There are some currents in the relationship between sisters that run so dark & so deep it's better for the people swimming on the surface never to know what's beneath.. . Katie's carefully structured world is shattered by the news that her headstrong younger sister Mia has been found dead in Bali
- & the police claim it was suicide. With only the entries of Mia's travel journal as her guide Katie retraces the last few months of her sister's life &
- page by page country by country
- begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her death. What she discovers changes everything. But will her search for the truth push their sisterly bond
- & Katie
- to breaking point? The Sea Sisters is a compelling story of the enduring connection between sisters.

The Sea Sisters is part of the Richard & Judy Summer 2013 Book Club. Find out how you can get involved with Britain's biggest & best book club. Visit the brand new Book Club website Â-


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BOOK SIX: SHADOWS OF THE APT A shadow is falling over Collegium. Despite the tenuous peace Stenwold Maker knows that the Empire will return for his city. Even as he tries to prepare for the resurgence of the black & gold empire a hidden threat is working against his people. Ships that sail from Collegium's harbour are being attacked sunk by pirates. Some just go missing.. . Lulled by the spread of lies & false promises Stenwold's allies are falling away. He faces betrayal on every side & the Empire is just waiting for the first sign of weakness to strike. But the Empire is not the only power that has its eyes on Collegium. & even the Wasp-kinden may not be powerful enough to stave off the forces massing in the darkness. Praise for Shadows of the Apt: 'A page-turning ride to its superb finale' Fantasy Book Critic Blog 'I cannot even begin to explain how much I enjoy the Shadows of the Apt books.. .some of the best fantasy entertainment out there' LECBook Reviews.com ...

Airplanes adventures life & death in the skies: The Sea Witch brings together three dramatic tales
- from three periods of history
-

...

This title

Includes:: introduction by Ben Kane. Oliver Tressilian a Cornish gentleman is blessed with youth

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One stormy night the sea-thing child a draggled heap of scales & feathers is flung up on the beach. Afraid of the wild waves & the storm skies he meets a fiddler crab with no bow & together they avoid facing their fears. Finally though he finds his star his courage & his ocean self. ...

The true story of three men & their dreams for a racehorse -- Seabiscuit -- that symbolised a pivotal moment in American history as the 20th-centurys greatest nation found the courage to bet on itself to win against the odds. Now a major motion picture directed by Gary Ross & starring Toby Maguire & Jeff Daniels. In 1936 the habits of 19th-century America were finally consigned to history just as Margaret Mitchells Gone with the Wind" was published. In their place modern America was born. But what defined this new era? Nothing more than the story of Seabiscuit a stunted colt with asymmetrical knees that had for two years been hacked around no-good race tracks leading to permanent leg damage. Yet by 1937 Seabiscuit could draw crowds of 60 000 & had more newspaper column inches devoted to him than Mussolini Hitler or Roosevelt his popularity peaking during his appearances at the Santa Anita Handicap. America had gone to the races for the first time since the Depression & fallen in love with a misshapen colt of great character. Now it wanted a winner. Seabiscuit is also the story of three men: Tom Smith a former Wild West showman was the trainer; Red Pollard abandoned by his poverty-stricken family at a race track became the rider; & Charles Howard a pioneer car manufacturer in San Francisco in the 1920s was the owner & financier. These three combined to create the legend of Seabiscuit & epitomise a dream for the emerging new America." ...