HarperCollins Publishers

Witty and clever art history-mystery featuring Jonathan Argyll, from the author of the bestselling masterpiece 'An Instance of the Fingerpost'. General Bottando of Rome's Art Theft Squad is in trouble: his theory that a single master criminal, dubbed 'Giotto', is behind a string of major art thefts has aroused the scorn of his arch enemy and rival, the bureaucrat Corrado Argan. He needs a result, and the confession of a dying woman may just provide the vital clue. In pursuit of the elusive Giotto, Bottando's colleague, Flavia di Stefano, sets off hotfoot for Florence, and English art dealer Jonathan Argyll is dispatched to London and then on to rural Norfolk — only to discover a body and a mystery which could lead to the greatest art find of his career!

A celebration of the world's favourite birds, as nominated by birders and conservationists worldwide Birders worldwide were asked to tell us the top 10 favourite birds in their country and why. The responses included contributions from people from major organisations, such as Audubon and BirdLife, as well as bird lovers around the world, and formed the basis for the list of the 100 birds within this book. These include the most glamorous or extraordinary birds from the common to the less well-known: penguins to hummingbirds and toucans to cranes. A quirky design and gift format give this bird book a distinctive edge. Beautiful photos support fascinating text, which explores the cultural associations and conservation stories of our favourite species, and what exactly makes them special.

The gripping inside story of the complex and ambitious Chancellor of the Exchequer — and Prime Minister in waiting. Gordon Brown's arrival at the Treasury in May 1997 was greeted with great excitement — not to mention anticipation. Officials of every rank looked on expectantly to see what miracles the chancellor would work. And so, as Master of the New Era, Brown created relationships across every Whitehall department and extended his influence to every aspect of government. He brought into effect the most important budgetary changes of the past decade: the commitment to Private Finance Initiative, which altered infrastructure from the London Underground to the NHS and state schools; the management of the Inland Revenue; the increase in taxes; and the demise of Britain's pension funds. In this gripping and fully updated biography, reissued to coincide with Brown's assumption of Tony Blair's mantle, best-selling author Tom Bower documents the rise to power of a driven and complex politician, and exposes how the ambitions of the Labour Party's leader-in-waiting will affect the country for decades to come.

Prefabricated and modular homes are essentially buildings whose components are built at a factory, then shipped and assembled on site on a foundation that has been constructed in advance. These homes were once viewed as nothing more than modest, inexpensive shelters, lacking in any design aesthetic and offering only the basics required for habitation. This is no longer the case. Prefab design has emerged as a way for the design — and cost — conscious generation to achieve the dream of home ownership. Today, prefab houses are manufactured to the highest standards of construction and aesthetics. Repetitive, linear configurations once made a prefabricated house easy to spot. Architects are using new construction technologies and materials to create complex designs that make every prefabricated home look custom-designed. Clients are able to choose among a variety of modules to arrive at a home that is uniquely their own. And thanks to the internet, these houses can be ordered from all over the world. European architects have long embraced the notion that prefab design has merits, and many of their designs have inspired many U.S. architectural firms to create distinct lines of modular and prefab housing. Today, new models and designs, like cars, are being introduced on an almost annual basis. Elaborate plans and drawings accompany each project, and the book offers a broad geographical range of homes from the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia.

This volume in the DesingSource series illustrates a number of inspiring pools created by architects, designers, and pool owners from around the world. The varied aesthetics of the pools shown in Pools DesignSource display numerous design ideas and examples for those who wish to create a pool of their own, or enhance their existing pool. These pools — whether simple and minimalist or extravagantly decorated — offer design solutions to create an attractive and personalized pool.

Features various poets and writers who tried their hand at erotic fiction and created classics in the genre. This title offers an introductory essay to each volume, and details the lives of the authors, the social mores of the times, and the publication histories of each book.

From comic illustration Ikari Studio comes the ultimate guide on how to draw manga. The Monster Book of Manga 3: Fairies and Magical Creatures focuses on these figures of wonder. Each illustration is broken down into six stages of creation and is accompanied by step-by-step instructions, taking the artist from an initial black-and-white sketch to final colour piece. Each drawing is also accompanied by practical suggestions, hints, and tips. This monster-size manual is the must-have book for anyone interested in learning how to draw manga, appealing to beginning and advanced artists alike.

At last, Mia is a junior. An upperclassperson. So why is it that everything is going so terribly wrong? What is she doing in Intro to Creative Writing? When she has made it through Algebra and Geometry, why must she be faced with Precalculus? All this is nothing compared to the news Michael springs on her, however. Her beloved boyfriend could be leaving for Japan for a year — or more Precalc has nothing on preparing for the worst separation ever Turns out there is one way she might convince Michael to stay. But will she? Or won't she? No matter what, Mia seems headed for disaster.

Meet the great Skulduggery Pleasant: wise-cracking detective, powerful magician, master of dirty tricks and burglary (in the name of the greater good, of course). Oh yeah. And dead. Then there's his sidekick, Stephanie. She's...well, she's a twelve-year-old girl. With a pair like this on the case, evil had better watch out...»So you won't keep anything from me again?» He put his hand to his chest. «Cross my heart and hope to die.» «Okay then. Though you don't actually have a heart,» she said. «I know.» «And technically, you've already died.» «I know that too.» «Just so we're clear.» Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction. Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source — the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard. When all hell breaks loose, it's lucky for Skulduggery that he's already dead. Though he's about to discover that being a skeleton doesn't stop you from being tortured, if the torturer is determined enough. And if there's anything Skulduggery hates, it's torture...Will evil win the day? Will Stephanie and Skulduggery stop bickering long enough to stop it? One thing's for sure: evil won't know what's hit it.

How far would you go to find yourself? The lyrical, life-affirming new novel from the bestselling author of Private Peaceful There were dozens of us on the ship, all up on deck for the leaving of Liverpool, gulls wheeling and crying over our heads, calling good-bye! That is all I remember of England. When six-year-old orphan Arthur Hobhouse is shipped to Australia after WWII he loses his sister, his country and everything he knows. Overcoming enormous hardships with fellow orphan Marty, Arthur is finally saved by the extraordinary people he meets and by his talent for boat-design and sailing. Now he has built a special boat for his daughter Allie — a solo yacht designed to carry her to England in search of his long-lost sister. Will the threads of Arthur's life finally come together? I was there on the quayside to see Allie take her out for the first time, saw her dancing through the waves, and I knew I'd never built a finer boat.

Michael Morpurgo's inspiring new story of Robbie, a boy in a coma — victim of a car accident. Locked inside his own head, able to hear but not move or speak, Robbie tries to keep himself from slipping ever deeper into unconsciousness. Robbie, football fan and animal lover, runs after his dog Lucky one day when he chases a cat and is hit by a car. Unconscious, Robbie lies in hospital, unable to speak, move or eat. But he can hear; he is aware, even though his family and friends don't know this. Inside his head, we hear Robbie's thoughts; on his Mum and sister, why his parents are separated. His friends and family try desperately to reach him — even Zola, his favourite Chelsea footballer, comes to see him. And still Robbie can't 'wake up'. Until one day, against hospital rules, Dad brings Lucky into the hospital. Can Lucky bring Robbie back to life?

A moving story of a brother, a sister and a swallow, and how all are in some way victims of the horrors of landmines. Olly's brother Matt wants to go and work with children who have been made orphans, through war, in Africa. He wants to be a clown and make them laugh. His mother and sister want him to stay in England and go to university. Hero, a swallow, has a journey to make too. He must fly to Africa for the winter to join all the other swallows. His journey is difficult and fraught with danger. Three separate stories are woven into one powerful and moving novel whose central theme not only exposes the horrors of war and of landmines, but also the endurance of the human spirit.

A lyrical and moving tale of a young boy growing up in Africa, and his lifelong friendship with a white lion. All my life I'll think you you, I promise I will. I won't ever forget you. Bertie rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African veld. They are inseparable until Bertie is sent to boarding school far away in England and the lion is sold to a circus. Bertie swears that one day they will see one another again, but it is the butterfly lion which ensures that their friendship will never be forgotten.

Best Friends Frog and Toad are always together. Here are five wonderful stories about flowers, cookies, bravery, dreams, and, most of all, friendship.

Celebrate a very merry Christmas with best-selling picture book character, Russell the Sheep! When Santa and his broken sleigh are stranded in Firefly Wood, Sanya is sure that Christmas will have to be cancelled. That is, until Russell the Sheep comes to the rescue! With a clatter and a bang, Russell shows that hard work and a little imagination can make a magic that is all his own. Everyone's favourite woolly sheep is baaaack in a Christmas story perfect for any eager child awaiting Santa's arrival.

The ponies are having an ice-skating party, and each pony plans to share a special skating trick. But Pinkie Pie doesn't even know how to skate Will she be able to learn in time for the party?

Already a seasoned veteran of King Edward's army, young Thomas of Hookton possesses the fearlessness of a born leader and an uncanny prowess with the longbow. Now, at the head of a small but able band of soldiers, he has been dispatched to capture the castle of Astarac. But more than duty to his liege has brought him to Gascony, home of his forebears and the hated black knight who brutally slew Thomas's father. It is also the last place where the Holy Grail was reported seen. Here, also, a beautiful and innocent, if not pious, woman is to be burned as a heretic. Saving the lady, Genevieve, from her dread fate will brand Thomas an infidel, forcing them to flee together across a landscape of blood and fire. And what looms ahead is a battle to the death that could ultimately shape the future of Christendom.

The last unvanquished piece of England, Wessex is eyed hungrily by the fearsome Viking conquerors. A dispossessed young nobleman, Uhtred is tied to the imperiled land by birth and marriage but was raised by the Danish invaders — and he questions where his allegiance must lie. But blood is his destiny, and when the overwhelming Viking horde attacks out of a wintry darkness, Uhtred must put aside all hatred and distrust and stand beside his embattled country's staunch defender — the fugitive King Alfred. The Pale Horseman is a gripping, monumental adventure that gives breathtaking life to one of the most important epochs in English history — yet another masterwork from New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell.

Celebrate a very merry Christmas with best-selling picture book character, Russell the Sheep! When Santa and his broken sleigh are stranded in Firefly Wood, Sanya is sure that Christmas will have to be cancelled. That is, until Russell the Sheep comes to the rescue! With a clatter and a bang, Russell shows that hard work and a little imagination can make a magic that is all his own. Everyone's favourite woolly sheep is baaaack in a Christmas story perfect for any eager child awaiting Santa's arrival.

Bestselling author Marian Keyes has delighted readers with the lives, loves, and foibles of the irrepressible Walsh sisters and their eccentric mammy. In this Life in the Big Apple is perfect for Anna. She has the best job in the world, a lovely apartment, and great friends. Then one morning, she wakes up in her mammy's house in Dublin with stitches in her face, a dislocated knee, hands smashed up, and no memory at all of what happened. As soon as she's able, Anna's flying back to Manhattan, mystified but determined to find out how her life turned upside down. As her past slowly begins coming back to her, she sets out on an outrageous quest-involving lilies, psychics, mediums, and anyone who can point her in the right direction. Marrying life's darker bits with wild humor and tender wit, Anybody Out There is a strange and wonderfully charming look at love here and ever after.

In The Monster Book of More Manga, comic illustration pros Ikari Studio offer the ultimate guide on how to draw manga. The book is divided into sections focusing on the most popular manga figures and themes: girls, boys, heroes, heroines, dragons, samurai, monsters, and computers. Each illustration is broken down into six stages accompanied by step-by-step instructions, taking the artist from an initial black-and-white sketch to the final colour piece. From beginner to advanced, this monster-size manual is the must-have book for anyone interested in learning how to draw manga. Ikari Studio is a leading anime school and studio specialising in comic and manga illustration.

This classic story of Sophie and her extraordinary tea-time guest has been loved by millions of children since it was first published over 30 years ago. Now a new generation will enjoy this beautiful reformatted board book edition! The doorbell rings just as Sophie and her mummy are sitting down to tea. Who could it possibly be? What they certainly don't expect to see at the door is a big furry, stripy tiger! This modern classic picture book is perfect for reading aloud, or for small children to read to themselves time and again. All artwork has been re-originated and a fresh design approach has been used for this reformatted edition.

TORO, TORO is the story of a young boy growing up in Andalucia, Spain, on a farm rearing bulls for the bull ring. Antonito hand rears a little black calf and they become firm friends, but the boy doesn't yet understand the fate of the black bulls — the corrida and death. Later, when he learns of the horrors of the bull fight, he frees Paco, the black bull, and rides with him into the hills. There they witness the bombing of their village (it's the year 1936, and the Spanish Civil War has started) and Antonito cannot go back — his family and the farm are destroyed, and Paco has run off, wild with fright. He decides to stay in the hills, where he meets up with the Resistance fighters. During the War, Antonito hears stories round the campfire of the wonderful black bull, who becomes a symbol of freedom for them all. Could this really be Paco? But no-one has ever seen him. After the war, when Antonito is working as a muleteer in the mountains, he falls asleep and dreams of Paco. In the morning, he wakes to see hoof prints on the ground beside him... A delightful story, full of nostalgia and drama in the author's own inimitable style. Illustrated by Michael Foreman.

Collins Easy Learning French Study Dictionary is an up-to-date, easy-reference dictionary with IPA, ideal for learners of French at Junior Secondary level. Collins Easy Learning French Study Dictionary can also be used by anyone of any age who is starting to learn French. The entries cover everyday French and English (including all essential set expressions) so you can be sure of having all the vocabulary you need. The dictionary also offers additional help in the form of a full guide to using the dictionary, essential grammar pages and phonetics for all French and English headwords. With warnings on the most common errors and confusable words, the Collins Easy Learning French Study Dictionary gives a solid foundation for French language learning.