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Showing 1 - 20 of 30 items
By Eric A. Kimmel, Jim Madsen. 2009
Story based on childhood events of Harry Houdini (1874-1926), who became a famous magician and escape artist. Describes Harry and…
his brother Dash learning to walk a tightrope after going to the circus with their family for the first time. For grades 2-4. 2009By Jonah Winter, Richard Egielski. 2009
In the late nineteenth century, Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Sullivan, who write operas together for a theater called Topsy-Turvydom, have…
a falling-out when Mr. Sullivan refuses to write music for another ridiculous story that is like all the others. Caldecott Medalist Richard Egielski teams up with Jonah Winter for a story about how fights sometime make a stronger friendship (and beautiful music to boot!). For grades K-3. 2009On November 22, 1915, Jasper Jacob Francis, a prosperous farmer and leading citizen of Stoutland, Missouri, was found dead in…
a brush pile on Rouse Hill. He had been savagely murdered. The case helped launch the career of Phil M. Donnelly, who acted as the defense attorney for the accused killer, and later became governor of Missouri, and a U.S. CongressmanBy Jean Plaidy, Jhan Robbins. 1977
In this sequel to The Three Crowns (RC 39450), Britain is on the eve of the 1688 Glorious Revolution. The…
Protestant Stuart sisters, Mary, the queen, and Anne, the future monarch, are continually haunted by their betrayal of their Catholic father, James II, exiled to France. 1966By Roy Hoopes. 1994
Tells the stories of the roles that Hollywood stars played during World War II, both on and off the screen.…
While many stayed home and worked or had affairs with the spouses of those who went off to war, many others contributed actively to the war effort. Some, like Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Jimmy Stewart, and Henry Fonda, enlisted and fought. Some, like Carole Lombard, Bette Davis, and Groucho Marx, raised money. Others, like Marlene Dietrich, Mickey Rooney, and Bob Hope, put their lives at risk by entertaining troopsBy Jake Brennan. 2019
From the creator of the popular rock 'n' roll true crime podcast, DISGRACELAND comes an off-kilter, hysterical, at times macabre…
book of stories from the highly entertaining underbelly of music history.You may know Jerry Lee Lewis married his thirteen-year-old cousin but did you know he shot his bass player in the chest with a shotgun or that a couple of his wives died under extremely mysterious circumstances? Or that Sam Cooke was shot dead in a seedy motel after barging into the manager's office naked to attack her? Maybe not. Would it change your view of him if you knew that, or would your love for his music triumph? Real rock stars do truly insane thing and invite truly insane things to happen to them; murder, drug trafficking, rape, cannibalism and the occult. We allow this behavior. We are complicit because a rock star behaving badly is what's expected. It's baked into the cake. Deep down, way down, past all of our self-righteous notions of justice and right and wrong, when it comes down to it, we want our rock stars to be bad. We know the music industry is full of demons, ones that drove Elvis Presley, Phil Spector, Sid Vicious and that consumed the Norwegian Black Metal scene. We want to believe in the myths because they're so damn entertaining.DISGRACELAND is a collection of the best of these stories about some of the music world's most beloved stars and their crimes. It will mix all-new, untold stories with expanded stories from the first two seasons of the Disgraceland podcast. Using figures we already recognize, DISGRACELAND shines a light into the dark corners of their fame revealing the fine line that separates heroes and villains as well as the danger Americans seek out in their news cycles, tabloids, reality shows and soap operas. At the center of this collection of stories is the ever-fascinating music industry--a glittery stage populated by gangsters, drug dealers, pimps, groupies with violence, scandal and pure unadulterated rock 'n' roll entertainment.By Luis Rius Caso. 2019
«¿Para qué abrir heridas? Que si el mestizaje, que si lo mexicano, que si lo español... Y peor aún si…
van ligados a traumas históricos, corrupción, dictaduras, farsas.» José Gallostra llevaba dos años fungiendo como ministro extraoficial de la España franquista cuando, el 20 de febrero de 1950, fue asesinado a tiros en una calle de la Ciudad de México. Gallostra actuaba en realidad no como embajador, sino como un espía político, y servía de enlace en operaciones ilícitas, en contubernio con algunos personajes de la colonia española. Aparte de provocar un conflicto diplomático, y de que su ejecutor material, un evidente sicario, ni siquiera se resistió al arresto, su asesinato encierra un enigma: ¿quién lo ordenó y con qué propósito? ¿Los republicanos, los comunistas, los anarquistas, el propio Franco, para propiciar una crisis? Gallostra era un gran ajedrecista y un personaje carismático, galante, pícaro y lujurioso sin cortapisas, así que también cabe pensar: ¿fue su muerte la venganza de algún marido cornudo? Sustentada en una meticulosa investigación, esta novela también muestra un rico mosaico de la sociedad española asentada en la capital mexicana en una época vibrante y definitoria, donde conviven tanto el muralismo y la cultura del exilio como Diego Rivera, José Gaos, Miguel Alemán Valdés y Lázaro Cárdenas. Luis Rius Caso ha logrado una afortunada mezcla de los elementos del thriller con los de la novela histórica.By Giorgio Vasta. 2008
El tiempo material es una novela extrema, inteligente y que se ha impuesto en Italia como la primera novela de…
un joven escritor especialmente talentoso. Sicilia, 1978: Italia atraviesa uno de los periodos políticos más convulsos de su historia. Aldo Moro, primer ministro italiano y líder de la Democracia Cristiana, ha sido secuestrado por las Brigadas Rojas. Tras sesenta días de cautiverio, es hallado asesinado en el maletero de un coche en pleno centro de Roma. El tiempo material es, a este nivel, una alegoría política escrita con un pulso narrativo feroz que recuerda a Leonardo Sciascia o Pier Paolo Pasolini. Ante este panorama tres jóvenes amigos, Nimbo, Raggio y Volo, deciden seguir de cerca el caso Aldo Moro. En sus mentes adolescentes los brigadistas son guerreros, magos que luchan por una Italia mejor. Las vidas de los tres amigos transcurren en una aparente normalidad, pero cuando están a solas desprecian a los italianos por su apatía y su cinismo, un odio que les llevará a cometer oscuros actos de los que terminarán arrepintiéndose. Reseña:«Una perturbadora parábola sobre los abusos del poder político.»RelevantBy Javier Cercas. 2014
LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL 2018A TRUE STORY THAT IS PACKED WITH FICTION - FICTION CREATED BY ITS MAIN…
CHARACTER, ENRIC MARCOBut who is Enric Marco? A veteran of the Spanish Civil War, a fighter against fascism, an impassioned campaigner for justice, and a survivor of the Nazi death camps? Or, is he simply an old man with delusions of grandeur, a charlatan who fabricated his heroic war record, who was never a prisoner in the Third Reich and never opposed Franco; a charming, beguiling and compulsive liar who refashioned himself as a defender of liberty and who was unmasked in 2005 at the height of his influence and renown?In this extraordinary novel - part narrative, part history, part essay, part biography, part autobiography - Javier Cercas unravels the enigma of the man and delves with passion and honesty into the most ambiguous aspects of what makes us human - our infinite capacity for self-deception, our need for conformity, our thirst for affection and our conflicting needs for fiction and for truth.Translated from the Spanish by Frank WynneBy Anya Seton. 1954
Katherine comes to the court of Edward III at the age of fifteen. The naïve convent-educated orphan of a penniless…
knight is dazzled by the jousts and the entertainments of court. Nevertheless, Katherine is beautiful, and she turns the head of the King's favourite son John of Gaunt. But he is married, and she is soon to be betrothed.A few years later their paths cross again and this time their passion for each other cannot be denied or suppressed. Katherine becomes the prince's mistress, and discovers an extraordinary world of power, pleasure and passion.(P)2009 ISIS Publishing LtdBy Anthony Riches. 2016
'A master of the genre' The TimesThe ninth novel in the thrilling Empire sequence leads Centurion Marcus Aquila and the…
Tungrians to the battlefield that was one of Rome's most disastrous defeats.The Tungrians have no sooner returned to Rome than they find themselves tasked with a very different mission to their desperate exploits in Parthia. Ordered to cross the river Rhenus into barbarian Germany and capture a tribal priestess who may be the most dangerous person on the empire's northern border, they are soon subject to the machinations of an old enemy who will stop at nothing to sabotage their plans before they have even set foot on the river's eastern bank. But after their Roman enemy is neutralised they face a challenge greater still. With two of the Bructeri tribe's greatest treasures in their hands they must regain Roman territory by crossing the unforgiving wilderness that was the graveyard of Roman imperial strategy two hundred years before. And capture by the Bructeri's vengeful chieftain and his warband can only end in one way - a horrific sacrificial death on the tribe's altar of blood.(P)2016 Hodder & StoughtonBy Jenny Gladwell. 2021
The new heart-warming novel from the Kindle bestselling author of A Gift in December, Jenny Gladwell, about a widowed mother…
and daughter coming together to pull together the perfect family Christmas.Sometimes you have to fall apart to become whole again... Kate is a successful interior designer with two wonderful kids. Kate is also a recent widow, a grieving daughter and worrying about how to pay the bills. Her life might look perfect from the outside, but making things look better than they are is just how Kate copes. Her mother, Jean, worries about her - but she has her own problems. A mystery from the past has come back to haunt her, and she decides now is the time to put the pieces together. When romance makes an appearance in both their lives, can mother and daughter lay the past to rest - and begin again?(P) 2021 Hodder & Stoughton LtdBy Julian Stockwin. 2021
1812. Arriving back in England after his successes in the Adriatic, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is bestowed with honours. In…
London he's greeted by the Prince Regent who, despite Kydd's protestations that he's happy with his present command, insists he be given a bigger ship - HMS Thunderer, a 74-gun ship of the line. But she's old, and being part of a standing fleet Kydd's chances of further fame and distinction are slim indeed. Winning over his new command is fraught with challenges. A hostile crew, abysmal levels of gunnery and sail-handling capabilities are intolerable to a fighting captain like Kydd. With the ship short of men and no incentives to attract more, can he ever bring Thunderer to a proper state of fighting preparedness?Kydd is sent to reinforce the Baltic squadron as Bonaparte's vast army invades Russia. News reaches him of French victory at the Battle of Borodino. The road to Moscow is now open. To avert total French victory, Kydd must lead a vital convoy through battle and tempest to the aid of Britain's last ally.Praise for Julian Stockwin's Kydd series'Paints a vivid picture of life aboard the mighty ship-of-the-line' Daily Express'This heady adventure blends fact and fiction in rich, authoritative detail' Nautical Magazine'Fans of fast-paced adventure will get their fill with this book' Historical Naval Society(P) 2021 Hodder & Stoughton LtdBy Thomas Keneally. 2018
In a novel of breathtaking reach and inspired imagination, the Booker Prize-winning author of Schindler's Ark tells the stories of…
two men who have much in common. What separates them is 42,000 years.Shade lives with his second wife amid their clan on the shores of a bountiful lake. A peaceable man, he knows that when danger threatens, the Hero ancestors will call on him to kill, or sacrifice himself, to save his people.Over 40,000 years later, Shade's remains are unearthed near the now dry Lake Learned in New South Wales. The sensational discovery fascinates Shelby Apple, a documentary film maker who tracks the controversies it provokes about who the continent's first inhabitants were and where Shade's bones belong.Shelby goes on to follow his own heroes to the battlefields of Eritrea and the Rift Valley where Homo sapiens sprang from. When he, too, faces mortality and looks back on his passions, ideals and sorely tested marriage, Learned Man stands as an enduring spirit, a fellow player in the long, ever-evolving story of humankind.By Melvyn Bragg. 2019
A profoundly thought-provoking, moving novel that breathes fresh life into one of history's most remarkable and enduring love stories. Paris…
in 1117. Heloise, a brilliant young scholar, is astonished when the famous, radical philosopher, Peter Abelard, consents to be her tutor. But what starts out as a meeting of minds turns into a passionate, dangerous love affair, which incurs terrible retribution. Nine centuries later, Arthur is in Paris to recreate the extraordinary story of Heloise and Abelard in a novel. To his surprise, his daughter visits and agrees to help, challenging his portraits of a couple who seem often inscrutable, sometimes breathtakingly modern. It soon emerges she is on her own mission to discover more about her parents' fractured relationship - and that Arthur's connection to his subject is more emotional than he cares to admit.(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedBy Charles Frazier. 2018
The new novel from the number one bestselling author of Cold Mountain - a stunning portrait of the devastation left…
by the American Civil War, as seen through the eyes of a woman who played a part at the heart of it.With her marriage prospects ruined in the wake of her father's financial decline, teenage Varina Howell decides her best option is to wed the much-older widower Jefferson Davis, with whom she expects a life of security as a Mississippi landowner. When he instead pursues a career in politics and is appointed President of the Confederacy, it puts Varina at the white-hot centre of one of the darkest moments in American history - culpable regardless of her intentions.As the Confederacy prepares to surrender and she finds herself friendless and alone, Varina and her children escape Richmond. With her marriage in tatters and the country divided, they travel south, now fugitives with 'bounties on their heads, an entire nation in pursuit'.(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedBy Kate Thompson. 2019
A new series from bestselling author Kate Thompson.'Kate Thompson's wartime novels always strike a chord and Secrets of the Homefront…
Girls is no exception. You can almost smell the Yardley violets drifting over the factory as the girls live lives complicated by the trials and tribulations of war' My Weekly'Kate Thompson's put the lives of women working in the Yardley factory during the Blitz at the heart of her latest novel' Woman's HourStratford, 1939.Britain may be at war, but on the home front keeping up morale and keeping up appearances go hand in hand. For the young women working on the lipstick production line at Yardley's cosmetics factory, it's business as usual.Headstrong Renee Gunn is the queen of the lipstick belt - although her cheeky attitude means she's often in trouble. When Esther, an Austrian refugee, arrives at Yardley's, it's Renee who takes her under her wing and teaches her to be a true cockney.But outside of the factory, things are more complicated. Lily, Renee's older sister, has suddenly returned home after six years away, and is hiding a dark secret. Meanwhile Esther is finding life in England more difficult than expected, and it's not long before Renee finds herself in trouble, with nowhere to turn.In the face of the Blitz, the Yardley girls are bound together by friendship and loyalty - but could the secrets they are hiding be the biggest danger of all?'A compelling saga set around the tenacious women of the East End' Daisy Styles'Kate Thompson is a skillful and humane storyteller who lights up the sooty face of the old East End with tales full of drama and human interest.' Annie Murray(P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedBy Johanna Bell. 2019
1914. While their men fight in France, at home in Britain women are finally seizing the opportunity to make a…
difference . . .Maggie and her new friends Annie, Irene and Sarah come from very different backgrounds, but they've got one thing in common: they've all signed up for the Women's Police Volunteers. They can't wait to show the men just what they're made of.But soon, Maggie realises she's in over her head. Hiding her involvement with the WPV from her tyrannous father is becoming ever more difficult, and when she bumps into an old acquaintance with a big chip on his shoulder, the dangers of her new life become all too clear . . .As she and the girls work to find their feet on the beat, will their friendship get her through the darkest of times? A gritty, uplifting new saga series about the first ever female police officers, set at the outbreak of the First World War - perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Daisy Styles and Call the Midwife.(P) 2019 Hodder & Stoughton LtdBy Nancy Krulik. 2001
HEATH WAVE! Heath Ledger may come from the land Down Under, but he's taking Hollywood by storm! After starting out…
in local musical theater, this talented hottie left his hometown, Perth, and headed to Sydney to forge a career in television and film. Success came easily in Australia, with Heath landing roles in the TV drama Sweat, as well as some Aussie films. Then, at 17 and with less than a dollar in his pocket, the precocious actor decided to try his luck in Los Angeles. He gained instant recognition starring opposite Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You, but the critical acclaim poured in after he nearly stole the show from Mel Gibson in The Patriot. And the rest has been Hollywood history. With lead roles in the eagerly anticipated films A Knight's Tale and The Four Feathers, Heath's career is on fire! Now, read all about Heath: his family life, his hobbies, his attitude toward show business, and more. In The Heath Is On, you'll get all the info on this up-and-coming young star: gossip, anecdotes, horoscope, vital stats -- it's all in here! The Heath is definitely on!By Beezy Marsh. 2022
Don't miss the next gripping and unputdownable gangland saga in the series by Beezy Marsh'Oh my goodness what a story'…
NETGALLEY REVIEWER, 5*'Excellent follow up to the first book' NETGALLEY REVIEWER, 5*'So many twists and turns that I didn't see coming at all' NETGALLEY REVIEWER, 5*'Well written and addictive' NETGALLEY REVIEWER, 5*1957, London.Gangland Queen Nell has the perfect life of crime as a top shoplifter by day and glamorous club owner by night. But a betrayal and botched robbery suddenly reverse her fortunes... and her old rival, Alice Diamond, is hell-bent on taking her down.After escaping a poverty-stricken childhood, nightclub dancer Zoe has more on her mind than settling scores for Alice. But the life of luxury Zoe craves comes at a terrible price. And when a vicious gang tightens its grip on Soho, all three women realise it pays to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.When the fight to save your family becomes a fight for survival, there is no honour among thieves...The second in a thrilling new crime saga series about a real-life gang girl from Sunday Times bestselling author Beezy Marsh, Queen of Clubs is perfect for fans of Sam Michaels, Martina Cole and Jessie Keane.