Novelist satirist poet photographer painter alchemist & hellraiser
- August Strindberg was all these & yet he is principally known
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Taklamakan desert 1895: a new Pompeii has come to light & with it two remarkable artefacts found in a hidden burial chamber. A metal ankh & star
- covered in strange inscriptions feather-light & cool to the touch. Svalbard 1897: on the skerried islands of Svalbard a hydrogen balloon is readied for a polar voyage. Publicly it is a patriotic attempt to put Sweden in the lead of the race to the North Pole. Privately the three men on board have another objective. But S. A Andree Knut Frankel & Nils Strindberg will never be seen alive again. Falun Sweden 2011: 260 meters under the earth in a long-flooded mineshaft a divers torchbeam plays over a mouldering corpse with a fist-sized hole in its forehead. Skeletal fingers clutch a metal amulet. It is the key to the annals of a secret history so deeply buried that the few who knew of it though it lost forever. Until now...
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An imaginative tight edge-of-your-seat supernatural thriller which follows an historical mystery through to its nail-biting contemporary conclusion. Present Day: Cadair Idris Snowdonia. Hannah Wilde flees to Llyn Gwyr a remote mountain farmhouse her husband bleeding to death on the passenger seat beside her. In the back of the car sits their seven year old daughter. Hannah's father is missing. Her mother is already dead. Mysterious strangers are converging on the mountain. & Hannah must decide who to trust
- & who to sacrifice
- if she's to defeat the predator who has stalked five generations of her family. 1979: Balliol College Oxford. Charles Meredith a brilliant obsessive professor clashes with a beautiful French woman in Balliol's library. When the woman disappears & her identity is exposed as a sham Charles is dragged into a terrifying pursuit. 1873: Godollo Hungary. Lukas Balazs prepares for his vegzet night the celebration that symbolises his entry into adulthood. But the festivities are about to go horribly wrong & only Lukas knows why. A centuries-old secret is about to unravel.. . Jakab is coming.

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John Williams is indisputably one of the most accomplished & celebrated musicians of his generation. A master of the classical genre he has been pivotal in bringing the guitar to a wider audience with the group SKY & through collaborations involving the music of South America Africa & jazz. The product of unprecedented cooperation from Williams his family friends & professional associates Without Strings is the first telling of the fascinating life of a world-renowned musician & equally the story of a man & the making of his identity. John Williams might never have come to the guitar allowing his extraordinary talent to blossom without the foresight ambition & subtle discipline of his father & teacher Len Williams & to a lesser extent his mother Melaan. Williams has almost certainly exceeded any dream his father dared have for him as a classical guitarist. But while fulfilling that ambition did he also in his own quiet way rebel against the authoritarian nature of his father? As it tells Johns story this book challenges its readers to consider the influence of his father for good & ill as it contributed to making John Williams the successful complex & compassionate man he was to become. ...

For three Las Vegas women the Strip is an adults-only playground a neon-splashed boulevard where excitement seduction & betrayal never go to sleep: Kristin Fox
- the bestselling writer of controversial & sexy bestsellers who hungers for passion outside the pages of her money-making fiction. Jennifer Payne -- the insightful marriage & family therapist who has an answer for every relationship problem except the one happening in her own bedroom. Billie Shelton -- the casino showroom headliner who has been saved remade & quietly shattered by a darkly obsessive Svengali husb&. & they share one magnificent man: Cam Lawford the ultimate stud-for-hire who has gone from roaring crowds in sports stadiums to willing & generous women in luxury hotels. But who knew the business of sex & satisfaction could be such a dangerous game? J.J. Salem lays bare the high-octane glamour & gritty reality of a world where lovers & gamblers play to win. THE STRIP is a wild wicked & gloriously promiscuous novel that will keep you up all night.
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Make notes & jot down your daily thoughts in this &8220; Stripe” A4 Notebook. The book features lined perforated paper allowing you to tear out the pages to A4 size. The pad features a wiro-bound spine meaning you can turn the pages over with ease. ...

This is an updated edition of the electrifying biography about four Essex lads who became award-winning stadium superstars & champions of synth pop/rock. This groundbreaking book features in-depth interviews with founder member Vince Clarke engineer-cum-producer Gareth Jones
- who together with Mute Records founder/mentor Daniel Miller
- played a pivotal role in shaping Depeche Modes unique sound over theyears latter-day producer Mark Bell & contains never before seen interviews with Miller & the band members themselves. With additional input from pivotal suynth pioneers Gary Numan John Foxx Karl Baros (ex-Kraftwerk) & Thomas Dolby this is a unique portrait of a band that almost lost control when their lives went off the rails singer Dave Gahans herion addiction nearly killed him & musical mastermind Alan Wilder left for good. Their story is brought right up to date with details of Dave Gahans solo success their album sales that top 70 million copies & their record breaking stadium concerts.

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When Sam Bailey tells people that she used to take her clothes off for money three questions usually follow. The first is Why? The simple answer is that she enjoyed it. She liked showing off being desired & earning a lot of money. The second is How did you get started? Sam was 17 had a poorly paid job that she hated & couldnt bear to think that was all there was for her in life. The third question is: So Sam what was it like? In Stripped" Sam Bailey reveals all about her experiences taking us behind the scenes & introducing us to the other strippers & the punters aged 18 to 80. She recounts a series of episodes that shine a light on the simultaneously sexy & seedy glamorous & gritty world of lap-dancing clubs. " Stripped" takes you down the steps & through the double doors to reveal some of the nights darkest secrets & expose the reality of life in the strip-club underworld." ...

Is lap dancing harmless fun providing entertainment for men & well-paid self-empowering work for women? The lap dancing industry has long argued that it offers an everyday service within free market guidelines but in 2010 the UK government legislated that lap dancing venues in the UK should be classed as 'sex establishments'. So are lap dancers sex workers rather than exotic dancers? What attracts so many women to work within the industry? Are women being sexually exploited & their bodies used as objects for male gratification? Media depictions of lap dancers often fall prey to caricatured & stereotypical images. Having worked as a lap dancer herself Jennifer Hayashi Danns knows about the industry from direct experience. In Stripped" she tells her story & gives a voice to many others who have either worked in the clubs or been directly affected by what goes on in them. In sometimes raw direct language the various contributors express their knowledge of the lap dancing industry & the impact it has had on their lives. These compelling narratives give dramatic perspectives into a secretive & largely undisclosed world peeling away some of the gloss on the surface & revealing the often seedy & desperate reality of the lap dancing industry. The second part of the book offers insightful commentary analysis & solutions." ...

This profoundly influential book re-examines events leading up to the Reformation in England & illuminates our understanding of the period. A prize-winning account it recreates lay peoples experience of the religion of the pre-Reformation church showing that late-medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed but was a strong & vigorous tradition & that the Reformation represented a violent rupture from a popular & theologically respectable religious system. For this edition Duffy has written a substantial new introduction including a discussion of the Lollards & reflecting on recent developments in Reformation studies. A mighty & momentous book.. .which reorders ones thinking about much of Englands religious past. Jack Scarisbrick The Tablet Duffy wants to show the vitality & appeal of late medieval Catholicism & to prove that it exerted a diverse & vigorous hold over the imagination & loyalty of the people up to the very moment of the Reformation. He succeeds triumphantly. Susan Bridgen London Review of Books A magnificent scholarly achievement a compelling read & not a page too long. Patricia Morrison Financial Times A landmark book in the history of the Reformation. Ann Eljenholm Nichols Sixteenth Century Journal This book will afford enjoyment & enlightenment to layman & specialist alike. Duffy sweeps the reader along.. .by his lively & absorbing detail his piercing insights patient analysis & his vigour in debates. Peter Heath Times Literary Supplement Sensitively written & beautifully produced this book represents a major contribution to the Reformation debate. Norman Tanner The Times Deeply imaginative movingly written & splendidly illustrated. Maurice Keen The New York Review of Books ...