Bloomsbury Publishing

1978: Lower East Side, New York. Fifteen-year-old Finn Earl's mother, Liz, is a thirty-two year-old masseuse with a taste for cocaine. When Liz's habit forces them to flee the city, they find protection under the wing of one of her clients, ageing billionaire Mr Osborne. In Vlyvalle, a golden playground for the super-rich, Finn discovers a people who are stranger, more savage, and more secretive than any tribe in National Geographic. Offered a new life and new friends amongst the decadent and beautiful denizens of Osborne's empire, Finn falls in love and grows up fast. He's living a twisted approximation of the American dream — and for a moment everything he wants is there for the taking. But in America, social-climbing is a blood sport. Even on what should be the happiest night of Finn's life, on an island in the middle of a private lake, naked and high with Maya, Osborne's bewitching granddaughter, someone is watching him from the depths of the forest and laughing. This is a modern coming-of-age novel in the tradition of «Huckleberry Finn», and a portrait of America as vivid and strange as «The Great Gatsby, Fierce People» marks the emergence of a dazzling new talent.

'You know what they say about GIs and English girls'knickers', ran the wartime joke, 'One Yank and they're off.' When Gloria met Ron, he was an American pilot who thought nothing of getting hit by shrapnel in the cockpit. She was working in a munitions factory in Bristol during the Blitz, but still found time to grab what she wanted. Ciggies. Sex. American soldiers. But war has an effect on people. Gloria did all sorts of things she wouldn't normally do — evil things, some of them — because she might be dead tomorrow. Or someone might. Now, fifty years on, it's payback time. In her old folks' home, Gloria is forced to remember the real truth about her and Ron, and confront the secret at the heart of her dramatic home front story. In a gripping, vibrant evocation of wartime Britain, Liz Jensen explores the dark impulses of women whose war crimes are committed on the home front, in the name of sex, survival, greed, and love.

The sequel to «Witch Child», this title reveals what happens to Mary Newbury, who has disappeared into the forest. Alison finds out from Agnes Hearnethat Agnes is a descendent of Mary's and has a special skill which allowsher to be in touch with Mary in the spirit world.

During the witch hunts of the mid-1600s, many young Englishwomen died on the gallows, innocent victims of false or hysterical accusations of witchcraft. But what of those women who actually claimed the name «witch» as their own? In the pages of her secret journal, Mary Nuttall reveals what it is like to live in a climate of mistrust and piety in which differences are dangerous and rumors can kill, where she must hide her heritage as a healer and pagan. With a sure hand, she describes her beloved grandmother's trial and hanging as a witch, her own rescue by a mysterious noblewoman, and her eventual passage to the New World and the forest settlement of Beulah. There Mary falls under a curtain of suspicion when she willingly chooses to explore the dark woods shunned by the fearful colonists and makes friends with some of the spiritual native people. When several girls in the community begin to shriek and swoon, and the same minister who damned Mary's grandmother comes to search for signs of witchcraft, Mary is subjected to close and deadly scrutiny.

When a man who claims to be from outer space is brought into the Manhattan Institute, the mental ward seems to be just the place for him. However this patient is unlike anyone psychiatrist Dr. Gene Brewer has had under his care before. Calling himself 'prot', he has no traceable background but says that he is an inhabitant of the planet K-PAX, a perfect world without wars, government or religion, and where every being coexists in harmony. Setting a departure date — August 17th at 3.31am — on which he plans to return home on a beam of light, 'prot' keeps us guessing right up until the end.

This fully revised edition of this reference explains thousands of terms such as DVD, RealAudio, and streaming video. The dictionary explains acronyms used in desktop and Internet-based multimedia, as well as terms used in the fields of CD-ROM production, video, game, image, animation and graphics, and the Internet. The dictionary provides clear, concise definitions in an encyclopedic style-without grammar or linguistic detail.

At the age of 72, Lily Roberts becomes a national celebrity when she writes her spiritual memoirs. Her children, Alan and Clary, are disturbed by Lily's intimate revelations about her married life. Ten years on, Lily comes to live with Alan, and the bitterness threatens to upset their lives.

The Encarta® Essential English Dictionary is a companion to English that fits neatly into a briefcase or holdall. Packed in among more than 40,000 headwords are innovative features that focus on correct use of English, such as 200 Usage Notes providing answers to common language queries; 200 Spellchecks contrasting easily confused pairs such as horde/hoard; 1,000 incorrect spellings highlighting typical spelling blunders; and 700 Synonym Essays.

The Encarta® Essential Thesaurus is a handy guide for choosing just the word you are looking for. 200,000 synonyms (words of similar meaning) and antonyms (words of opposite meaning) can be accessed from a quick-reference A-Z list of 20,000 entries. Its format means it can be easily slipped into a briefcase or college holdall. For words which have similar meanings, the Encarta® Essential Thesaurus provides Compare and Contrast panels to highlight the differences. There are also thematic groupings of selected nouns in Word Banks, e.g. words for male and female animals, types of jewellery and parts of a bike. The Encarta Essential Thesaurus is based on the electronic thesaurus in the popular Word word-processing program which is used by thousands of people daily. 200,000 synonyms and antonyms Over 20,000 entries Essential companion to the Encarta® Essential English Dictionary

On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicide — it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese — the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope...’ First published in 1993, the haunting, humorous and tender story of the brief lives of the five entrancing Lisbon sisters is Pulitzer Prize-winner Jeffrey Eugenides classic debut novel.

Stanley Yelnat’s family has a history of bad luck going back generations, so he is not too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre. As punishment, the boys must dig a hole, five foot wide by five foot deep, each day in the hard earth of the dried-up lake bed. The warden claims this is ‘character building’ – but it doesn’t take long for Stanley to realise that what he must uncover is the truth. A wonderfully inventive, compelling novel «Holes» is a modern masterpiece.

Harry Potter is a wizard. He is in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Little does he know that this year will be just as eventful as the last. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is as good as its predecessor. Hogwarts is a creation of genius — The Times Literary Supplement. All the Harry Potter titles are now available in large print. This best-selling series has sold over 100 million copies around the world.

A unique workbook that helps test and improve specialist Military English vocabulary, this includes word games, puzzles, quizzes, and other material to help students master a specialized terminology. An ideal resource for self-study or class work for armed forces or any professional who needs to communicate with military personnel in English, each exercise forms the basis of one lesson and tests a particular part of English vocabulary or grammar. It includes full instructions for ESL teachers and students, together with an answer key.

A fully updated and revised dictionary covering all aspects of astronomy, from telescopes to planets, equations to astronomers, stars to comets. It includes recent missions, discoveries and changes in technology, clearly explaining complex terms with over 2000 entries aided by illustrations.

The Encarta Thesaurus encompasses over 350,000 synonyms and antonyms, more than 1,200 themes listing more than 50,000 related terms, and many words from information technology, e-commerce and the media. The first section of the book, an alphabetical list of 40,000 entries, provides quick reference lists of synonyms. These double as an index to a completely new system of categories in the second section. The categories have headings such as ’The Way Things Are or Seem to Be’ or ’Emotions and States of Mind', reflecting the way language works at the start of the 21st century.

After twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine, chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain has decided to tell all. From his first oyster in the Gironde to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown (where he first experiences the real delights of being a chef); through the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, to Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable, as shocking as they are funny.

Harry Potter is an ordinary boy who lives in a cupboard under the stairs at his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's house, which he thinks is normal for someone like him who's parents have been killed in a 'car crash'. That is until an owl turns up with a letter addressed to Harry and all hell breaks loose.

Layton's wildly exuberant illustrations provide the perfect accompaniment to the four legged narrator's refreshing brand of humour — The Guardian. This is a completely topsy-turvey view of a world seen from a dog's eye point of view — a very funny story which turns to real drama when the little girl gets lost on the beach and the search is on to find her.

The Encarta Book of Quotations contains 25,000 quotes drawn from the history, politics, literature, religions, science, and popular culture of the world ranging from the earliest Chinese sages through Shakespeare to the present day. It even includes the first «quotable» sayings of the 21st century. Whether the statement of a political point of view or the vivid expression of a sensation or emotion, each quotation has been chosen for poignancy and precision. Included are quotations from cultures, religions and literature not represented in other quotation books. Its 1,200 pages are a treasure house of the world's sayings that have stood the test of time along with the best of those from the last 100 years. As the most international and contemporary collection of quotations it offers a compelling portrait of our common humanity.

In this revised edition, John Ayto looks at these forbidden areas and traces the interrelated network of euphemisms we use to cope with them. The result is both entertaining and enlightening.

A guide to aromatherapy. It discusses aromatherapy's history and theories, then matches physical disorders with natural remedies and cures, with guidance for the care of mind, body and soul. Massage skills are covered, and at the end, a list of aromatic oils outlines the properties of each.

On 4 November 1945 a party from Moscow Dynamo Football Club travelled to Britain to play four matches against top British teams. They departed 33 days later, leaving a trail of controversy in their undefeated wake. On the pitch, they played exciting football, displaying their technically superior strikers. Off the pitch, they were constantly involved in disputes with the FA, the British clubs, the match referees and the press. With the Cold War not yet begun, everyone claimed to want to keep politics out of sport. But the Soviet authorities were clearly anxious that Dynamo's performance should reflect well on the State; and there were many in the British press eager to make political capital out of the controversy surrounding the tour. Passovotchka contains a blow-by-blow account of the tour itself, a history of the Moscow Dynamo club, and a discussion of the state of British football at the end of the war. The result is both a vivid portrait of club football's early forays into the international arena and a fascinating picture of two cultures helplessly colliding.

Stanley Yelnat's family has a history of bad luck going back generations, so he is not too surprised when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre. Nor is he very surprised when he is told that his daily labour at the camp is to dig a hole, five foot wide by five foot deep, and report anything that he finds in that hole. The warden claims that it is character building, but this is a lie and Stanley must dig up the truth. In this wonderfully inventive, compelling novel that is both serious and funny, Louis Sachar has created a masterpiece that will leave all readers amazed and delighted by the author's narrative flair and brilliantly handled plot.

A book about one of the most ridiculous hairstyles of all-time.