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Quercus/MacLehose Press
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Is there any safer space for secret desires than virtual reality? This is the most unusual and compelling love story of the new millennium. It begins by chance: Leo receives emails in error from an unknown woman called Emmi. Being polite he replies, and Emmi writes back. A few brief exchanges are all it takes to spark a mutual interest in each other, and soon Emmi and Leo are sharing their innermost secrets and longings. The erotic tension simmers, and it seems only a matter of time before they will meet in person. But they keep putting off the moment — the prospect both unsettles and excites them. And, after all, Emmi is happily married. Will their feelings for each other survive the test of a real-life encounter? |
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Five years after his death, Stieg Larsson is best known as the author of the Millennium Trilogy, but during his career as a journalist he was a crucial protagonist in the battle against racism and for democracy in Sweden, and one of the founders of the anti-facist magazine Expo. Kurdo Baksi first met Larsson in 1992; it was the beginning of an intense friendship, and a fruitful but challenging working relationship. In this candid and rounded memoir, Baksi answers the questions a multitude of Larsson's fans have already asked, about his upbringing; the recurring death threats; his insomnia and his vices; his feminism — so evident in his books — and his dogmatism. What was he like as a colleague? Who provided the inspiration for his now-immortal characters (Baksi is one of the few who appears in the trilogy as himself)? Who was Lisbeth Salander? |
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Chil Rajchman, a Polish Jew, was arrested with his younger sister in 1942 and sent to Treblinka, a death camp where more than 750,000 were murdered before it was abandoned by German soldiers. His sister was sent to the gas chambers, but Rajchman escaped execution, working for ten months under incessant threats and beatings as a barber, a clothes-sorter, a corpse-carrier, a puller of teeth from those same bodies. In August 1943, there was an uprising at the camp, and Rajchman was among the handful of men who managed to escape. In 1945, he set down this account, a plain, unembellished and exact record of the raw horror he endured every day. This unique testimony, which has remained in the sole possession of his family ever since, has never before been published in English. For its description of unspeakably cruelty, Treblinka is a memoir that will not be superseded. In addition to Rajchman's account, this volume includes the complete text of Vasily Grossman's 'The Hell of Treblinka', one of the first descriptions of a Nazi extermination camp; a powerful and harrowing piece of journalism written only weeks after the camp was dissolved. Introduction by Samuel Moyn, Professor of History at Columbia University and author of A Holocaust Controversy: The Treblinka Affair in Postwar France. |
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Even after four years military service at the edge of the Roman world, Vespasian can't escape the tumultuous politics of an Empire on the brink of disintegration. His patrons in Rome have charged him with the clandestine extraction of an old enemy from a fortress on the banks of the Danube before it falls to the Roman legion besieging it. Vespasian's mission is the key move in a deadly struggle for the right to rule the Roman Empire. The man he has been ordered to seize could be the witness that will destroy Sejanus, commander of the Praetorian Guard and ruler of the Empire in all but name. Before he completes his mission, Vespasian will face ambush in snowbound mountains, pirates on the high seas, and Sejanus's spies all around him. But by far the greatest danger lies at the rotten heart of the Empire, at the nightmarish court of Tiberius, Emperor of Rome and debauched, paranoid madman. |
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«In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell; shortly afterwards the two Germanies reunited, and East Germany ceased to exist. In a country where the headquarters of the secret police can become a museum literally overnight, and one in 50 East Germans were informing on their countrymen and women, there are a thousand stories just waiting to get out. Anna Funder tells extraordinary tales from the underbelly of the former East Germany — she meets Miriam, who as a 16-year-old might have started World War III, visits the man who painted the line which became the Berlin Wall and gets drunk with the legendary «Mik Jegger» of the East, once declared by the authorities to his face to «no longer to exist». Written with wit and literary flair, Stasiland provides a rivetting insight into life behind the wall.» |
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Boxed set edition of the Millennium Trilogy, the first volume of which, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, has been adapted as a major Hollywood film starring Daniel Craig to be released on the 26th December. The set includes revised hardback editions of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, plus a fourth volume containing essays by those who knew and worked with the author, as well as other original material. Extra material in the fourth volume includes an essay by Eva Gedin, Larsson's publisher, on working with the author; an email correspondence between Larsson and Eva Gedin; an essay by John-Henri Holmberg, placing Stieg Larsson in the context of the resurgence of Scandinavian crime writing; maps and photographs. |
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Introducing Leadership: A Practical Guide by Alison Price and David Price is packed with examples of famous leaders who achieved brilliant things against all odds. In this practical guide to leadership you'll discover the ideas, strategies and tried and tested winning solutions of famous leaders, which can be applied to the opportunities and challenges that you face. So whether you're starting from scratch as a new leader, needing to raise your game, or aiming to do what great leaders do and aim even higher, this practical yet inspirational guide will help you to perform at your very best. Introducing Leadership: A Practical Guide will help both aspiring and experienced leaders to best build winning strategies for achieving your aims, inspire others to perform at their very best, bring your team together into a coherent and purposeful whole, and deliver results even in the toughest situations. |
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Though controversial in his time, Gustav Klimt's works are today recognized as masterpieces. The Byzantine luxuriance of form, the vivid juxtaposition of colours and the rich symbolism, sensuality and eroticism of his work have made the artist one of the most popular in the world. In this lavish volume his most important and iconic works are arranged thematically, and accompanied by Rachel Barnes' expert commentary on all aspects of the artist's life, influences and paintings — from the inspiration and provenance of each painting, to the technique used to create it and a list of exhibitions. Interspersed with gold pages and featuring some of the most iconic artworks of the late 19th/early 20th centuries in spectacular giant-size — including Judith I, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer and The Kiss — this special edition presents Klimt's work in exquisite detail. |
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«ONE MAN Born in rural obscurity ONE DESTINY To become one of Rome's greatest Emperors 26 AD: Sixteen-year-old Vespasian leaves his family farm for Rome, his sights set on finding a patron and following his brother into the army. But he discovers a city in turmoil and an Empire on the brink. The aging emperor Tiberius is in seclusion on Capri, leaving Rome in the iron grip of Sejanus, commander of the Praetorian Guard. Sejanus is ruler of the Empire in all but name, but many fear that isn't enough for him. Sejanus' spies are everywhere — careless words at a dinner party can be as dangerous as a barbarian arrow. Vespasian is totally out of his depth, making dangerous enemies (and even more dangerous friends — like the young Caligula) and soon finds himself ensnared in a conspiracy against Tiberius. With the situation in Rome deteriorating, Vespasian flees the city to take up a position as tribune in an unfashionable legion on the Balkan frontier. Even here, rebellion is in the air and unblooded and inexperienced, Vespasian must lead his men in savage battle with hostile mountain tribes. Vespasian will soon realize that he can't escape Roman politics any more than he can escape his destiny...» |
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When Vladimir Putin, an unimportant, low-level KGB operative, was rushed to power by a group of Oligarchs in 1999, he was a man without a history. Within a few brief years, Putin had dismantled the country's media, wrested control and wealth from the country's burgeoning business class, and decimated the fragile mechanisms of democracy. Virtually every obstacle to his unbridled control was removed and every opposing voice silenced, with political rivals and critics driven into exile or to the grave. Drawing on information and sources no other writer has tapped, Masha Gessen's fearless account charts Putin's rise from the boy who had scrapped his way through post-war Leningrad schoolyards, to the 'faceless' man who manoeuvred his way into absolute — and absolutely corrupt — power. |
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From Marathon in 490 BC or Hastings in 1066 to Trafalgar and Austerlitz in 1805; from Midway, Stalingrad or Leyte Gulf during the Second World War to the fall of Baghdad in 2003, this meticulously illustrated companion to great battles of the world will be essential reading for anyone fascinated by military set-pieces and strategy. When did an Asian power first defeat a European one? How did Joan of Arc beat the British at the Siege of Orleans? Why did France lose at Dien Bien Phu in 1954? and much much more...- Features accurate, dynamic maps showing why battles took place and their consequences — Each battle is accompanied by diagrams, fact files and essays explaining how they were won and lost — Includes a chronological collection of momentous battlefield clashes. |
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It's an astonishing fact that capturing all the energy in just one hour's worth of sunlight would enable us to meet the planet's food and energy needs for an entire year. Project Sunshine tells the story of how scientists are working to reconnect us to the 'solar economy', harnessing the power of the sun to provide sustainable food and energy for a global population of 9 billion people: an achievement that would end our dependence on 'fossilised sunshine' in the form of coal, oil and gas and remake our connection with the soil that grows our food. Steve McKevitt and Tony Ryan describe the human race's complex relationship with the sun and take us back through history to see how our world became the place it is today — chemically, geologically, ecologically, climatically and economically — before moving on to the cutting-edge science and technology that will enable us to live happily in a sustainable future. Like no other book, Project Sunshine gives a true picture of how we are going to live — and going to have to live — in the surprisingly near future. |
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It is 1942 and the Jews are being deported from Belgium. Separated from his parents, seven-year-old Joseph must go into hiding. He is taken in the dead of night to an orphanage, the Villa Jaune, where the benign and enigmatic Father Pons presides over a motley assortment of children. With the ever-present threat of the Gestapo growing closer, Joseph learns that the secret of survival is to conceal his Jewish heritage. Soon Joseph also discovers that Father Pons has a secret of his own: he is risking his life not only for the boys in his care, but for the Jewish faith itself. Sensitive, funny and deeply humane, Noah's Child is a simple fable that reveals the complexities of faith, bravery and the human condition. |
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«A huge international bestseller — «The Cook» is a thriller and a love story that has gripped readers across Europe. As the financial crisis tightens its grip on Europe, the gilded world of Zurich's leading restaurant, Chez Huwyler, seems immune to plunging stock markets and collapsing banks. But behind the scenes, even the rarefied world of haute cuisine is feeling the bite and so Maravan — a Tamil dishwasher and undiscovered culinary genius — and Andrea — a stunningly beautiful waitress — find themselves out of a job and needing to find another way to survive. After Maravan seduces Andrea by cooking her a dinner that fuses the aphrodisiac recipes of his ancestors with the necromancy of molecular gastronomy, Andrea hits upon a business idea: romantic catering for couples. But even culinary magic can't ward off recession and when their new company begins to struggle, they are forced to enter into a much more unsavoury business, plunging them deep into an underworld where murder and sex feed otherwise unquenchable thirsts...It is suitable for readers of: Pascal Mercier's «Perlmann's Silence», Patrick Suskind's «Perfume» and Joanne Harris' «Chocolat».» |
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A MURDER: A brutal killing has taken place on Scotland's most remote island. Detective Fin MacLeod is sent from Edinburgh to investigate. For Lewis-born MacLeod, the case represents a journey both home and into his past. A SECRET: Something lurks beneath the close-knit, God-fearing facade of the Lewis community. Something primal. As Fin investigates, old secrets are unearthed, and soon he, the hunter, becomes the hunted. The Blackhouse is a crime novel of rare power and vision. Peter May has crafted a page-turning murder mystery that explores the darkness in our soul, and just how difficult it is to escape the past. |
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An unidentified corpse is recovered from a Lewis peat bog; the only clue to its identity being a DNA sibling match to a local farmer. But this islander, Tormod Macdonald — now an elderly man suffering from dementia — has always claimed to be an only child. When Tormod's family approach Fin Macleod for help, Fin feels duty-bound to solve the mystery. |
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What do you do if you've been married to a man for half your life and out of nowhere he leaves your bed — permanently? When this happens to Jeanie, she's furious and hurt, and determined to confront George, her husband of thirty years. Her worst fear is that he's in love with someone else. What did she do wrong? The brightest day of her week is Thursday, the day Jeanie takes her granddaughter to the park. There, one day, she meets Ray and his grandson. Ray is kind, easy to talk to, and gorgeous — everything George isn't. She starts to live for Thursdays. But does she have the courage to turn her life upside down for another shot at love? Family ties, dramas, secrets and lies all weave their way though this beautiful and insightful first novel. |
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When the Sex Pistols swore live on tea-time telly in 1976, there was outrage across Britain. Headlines screamed. Christians marched. TVs were kicked in. Thirty years on, all those words are media-mainstream — bandied about with impunity on TV and in the papers. This is the story of our bad language and its three-decade journey from the fringes of decency to the working centre of a more linguistically liberal nation. Silverton takes a clear, comprehensive and witty look at swearing and the impact of its new acceptability on our language, our manners, and our society. He considers how we have become more openly emotional, yet more wary about insulting others. And how it's seemingly become alright to say and but not or. This is the story of that cultural revolution, written by one who was there at the start, proudly striking some of the first blows in the long struggle for the right to reclaim filthy English and use it. |
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In November 1910, Count Lev Tolstoy died at a remote Russian railway station attended by the world's media. He was eighty-two years old and had lived a remarkable and long life during one of the most turbulent periods of Russian history. Born into a privileged aristocratic family, he seemed set to join the ranks of degenerate Russian noblemen, but fighting in the Crimean war alongside rank and file soldiers opened his eyes to Russia's social problems and he threw himself into teaching the peasantry to read and write. After his marriage he wrote War and Peace and Anna Karenina, both regarded as two of the greatest novels in world literature.Rosamund Bartlett's exceptional biography of this brilliant, maddening and contrary man draws on key Russian sources, including the many fascinating new materials which have been published about Tolstoy and his legacy since the collapse of the Soviet Union. |
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Introducing Getting the Job You Want supports you through all the stages of finding your perfect job — from organisation and preparation to the different ways to implement a job search campaign. In a challenging job market you need to create a resume that will sell you, and to be well prepared for interview. Both new graduates and those returning to the job search will learn simple yet effective techniques from award-winning career psychologist, Denise Taylor. |
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