HarperCollins Publishers

A refreshingly fun, activity-based approach to Spanish for 7 to 9 year olds. Foreign languages are set to become part of the core primary curriculum, and Collins Spanish Club is the ideal way to ensure that young learners not only excel in Spanish at school but also have great fun doing it. Through a series of 10 units, Spanish Club uses puzzles, stories and songs to explore grammar and vocabulary concepts in an entirely undaunting way. The recurring 'Detective' feature encourages learners to explore the language for interesting new facts and rules, while regular Q&A-style tips address common queries about things like spelling, usage and irregularities.

The Collins Cambridge IGCSE English Student Book covers every skill and topic in the Cambridge First Language English syllabuses 0500 and 0522 in depth, showing students how to make progress towards their target grades.

A revealing look backstage at the hit TV show Downton Abbey. In-depth interviews give an exclusive insight into the actors' experiences on set as well as the celebrated creative team behind the award-winning drama. A lavishly illustrated book full of images from the new series including those stunning 1920s costumes, which will delight the millions of devoted Downton fans. Step inside the props store or the hair and make-up truck and catch a glimpse of the never-before-seen secret backstage world. Expertly crafted with inside knowledge and facts, this book will delve into the inspiration behind the details seen on screen, the choice of locations, the music and much more. With a perspective from the director's chair and rare insights into filming, this is the inside track on all aspects of the making of the show.

They saved each other once. Can they save each other again? It is the blistering summer of 1929 and Hollywood's glamorous set appear to have it all. Everybody everywhere is living the Hollywood dream, including the elegant and charming, high-society couple, actor and actress Maximilian and Eleanor Beecham. But beneath the sophistication and glamour their insecure and unhappy marriage is on the brink of divorce and their finances are teetering on a knife's edge after a series of failed films. When the creditors come in to take possession of the house, it seems all is lost and they have nowhere to turn but into the arms of their waiting lovers. But when they receive an invitation to one of the legendary weekend house parties at Hearst Castle — which they know will be filled every Hollywood big-shot around — they cannot resist one last shot of making it in the film industry. With gossip, glamour, scandal and decadence the party is the epitome of the Golden Era, but for Maximilian and Eleanor the time has come to make a decision that will change their future. Will they sacrifice everything for fame and fortune or can Eleanor and Maximilian learn to love each other again?

The first biography since 1877 of Venice's greatest artist — a towering work which captures the genius of Titian, beautifully illustrated throughout with full colour plates. Devoted father and loyal friend, Titian was notorious for disregarding authority and was an international celebrity by his late fifties. He was famously difficult but his stubbornness and horrendous timekeeping did nothing to deter his patrons who included the Hapsburgs, the Pope and his family and Charles V. During his career, which spanned more than seventy years, Titian painted around five or six hundred pictures of which less than half survive. His work has been studied by generations of great artists from Rubens to Manet and he is often seen as having artistically transcended his own time. Sheila Hale not only examines his life, both personal and professional, but how his art affected his contemporaries and how it influences artists today. She also examines Venice in its context of a city at the time of the Renaissance, overshadowed artistically by Rome and Florence and growing into the famous historical city it has become. Fully illustrated with four colour plate sections (including his famous works 'Reclining Venus', 'Death of Actaeon' and 'Three Ages of Man'), this is an astonishing portrait of one of the most important figures in the history of Western art and a vivid evocation of Venice in its 'Golden Age'.

Unpublished for 90 years, Agatha Christie's extensive and evocative letters and photographs from her year-long round-the-world trip to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and America as part of the British trade mission for the famous 1924 Empire Exhibition.

The autobiography of the fastest man of all time and a superstar whose talent and charisma have made him one of the most famous people on the planet. Whether you know Athletics or not, and even whether you know sport or not, chances are you know Usain Bolt. The fastest man on the planet, not just now but ever, Usain has won the hearts of people everywhere with his mind-blowing performances and his infectious charisma — uniting supporters around the world. In this, his full autobiography, Usain tells his story in his own words: from humble beginnings in Jamaica, to international stardom at Beijing and on to the new heights of superstardom he has reached since lighting up London 2012. Full of the charm and charisma that has made him the most popular sporting figure of our time and a universal celebrity, this is a book that Usain's millions of fans will love.

Justine Picardie has spent the last decade puzzling over the truth about Coco Chanel, attempting to peel away the accretions of romance and lies. In this full-scale biography we finally discover the history of the incredible woman who created the way we look now. Coco Chanel was an extraordinary inventor — she conjured up the little black dress, bobbed hair, trousers for women, contemporary chic, best-selling perfumes, and the most successful fashion brand of all time — but she also invented herself, fashioning the myth of her own life with the same dexterity as her couture. While Chanel was supreme innovator and vendor of all things elegant and beautiful, what lies beneath her own glossy myth is far darker. Throwing new light on her passionate and turbulent relationships, this beautifully constructed portrait gives a fresh and penetrating look at how Coco Chanel made herself into her own most powerful creation. Justine Picardie brings the mysterious Gabrielle Chanel out of hiding, to celebrate her great achievements. She examines Chanel's enduring afterlife, as well as her remarkable life, uncovering the consequences of what she covered up, unpicking the seams between truth and legend, yet keeping intact the real fabric of her past.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable and quiet life. His contentment is disturbed one day when the wizard, Gandalf, and the dwarves arrive to take him away on an adventure. Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on to the floor when he caught a sudden thin ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug's left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance! Whisked from his comfortable hobbit-hole by Gandalf the wizard and a band of dwarves. Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon...

Potent poisons and deadly rivalries in this glamorous thriller. Jim and Millie Hunter have it all: good looks, brilliant minds, and a meteoric rise to fame. Dr Jim Hunter is a genius biochemist, and author of a smash-hit science book that is propelling him to the top. His wife Millie, is a blonde bombshell and fellow scientist, researching rare poisons derived from puffer fish. They seem to have it all, but others in their academic circle have got the knives out, jealous of their success — and their inter-racial relationship arouses prejudice. So when a double murder is perpetrated, using poison stolen from Millie's research lab, Captain Carmine Delmonico of Holloman Police must race to find the killer before they can claim their next victim. The pool of suspects is small, but nobody is talking. Have two men died to safeguard the publication of Jim's book — or do rivalries and betrayals run deeper than that?

Ten incredible trips into the unknown await you... Blast off with: 'Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo' an all-new and exclusive tale from Rick Riordan; 'A Day in the Life' by award-winning author/illustrator Shaun Tan; 'Rise of the RoboShoes' by Tom Angleberger of Origami Yoda fame And many more weird and wonderful stories by legendary writer Ray Bradbury, Newbery medalist Rebecca Stead, Shannon Hale, D. J. MacHale, Eric Nylund, Kenneth Oppel and Neal Shusterman. Compiled by US National Ambassador for Children's Literature (and Secret Ambassador for the Intergalactic Alliance) Jon Scieszka, Other Worlds will boldly take you where no reader has gone before.

Heartbreaking and uplifting, Me and You is a story about how hard it is to leave our old selves behind, the tough choices we sometimes have to make and how love and friendship can heal the most damaged of hearts. I'm fine. I'm sorry. Please take care of him for me. And maybe one day I'll get to explain. Angie knows a lot about her best friend Kitty. She knows Kitty is mad and wild and loves to wear clashing colours. She knows she's incredibly funny and generous but also very unreliable. And she knows that there is a perfect explanation for Kitty standing her up on her birthday. She thinks she knows everything about Kitty, except she doesn't. Kitty knows that she is the happiest she has ever been. She knows she's so lucky to have a lovely boyfriend, Simon and a best friend like Angie. But what she doesn't know that on this night, her past is finally going to catch up with her and change everything.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable and quiet life. His contentment is disturbed one day when the wizard, Gandalf, and the dwarves arrive to take him away on an adventure. Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on to the floor when he caught a sudden thin ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug's left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance! Whisked from his comfortable hobbit-hole by Gandalf the wizard and a band of dwarves. Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon...

A curriculum-supportive Primary World Atlas for children aged 7-11 years (Key Stage 2). Designed for use in the classroom or at home, this revised edition includes informative politically coloured reference mapping of all major world regions.

A hilarious field guide to the world's most remarkable and unusual creatures: the English Thanks to television documentaries by Bruce Parry and David Attenborough, we are better acquainted with the hunting rituals of the San bushmen and the mating habits of Papua New Guinean tribes than we are with the everyday lives of the strangest species of them all — the English. In Life on England, Sunday Times journalist Matt Rudd, sets out to uncover what makes us, the English, tick. He will examine us in our natural habitats, starting with the living room and moving out to the kitchen, the garden, the commuter train, the office, the motorway, the high street, the sports stadium, the pub, club, bingo hall, balti house, beach and ending up in the bedroom.

The sixth Odd Thomas thriller from the master storyteller. Our reluctant hero is drawn once more into a strange encounter with the lingering dead. Later that morning, when I walked downtown to buy blue jeans and a few pairs of socks, I met a guy who offered to neuter me with a .45 pistol. In a sinister encounter with a rogue truck driver, Odd — who has the gift of seeing the dead and the soon-to-be dead — has a disturbing vision of the slaughter of three innocent children. Across California, into Nevada and back again, Odd embarks on a road chase to prevent the tragedy. But he is to discover that he is not up against a single twisted sociopath but a mysterious network of evil men and women whose resources appear supernatural. Luckily, in this world that Odd finds so beautiful and full of wonders, and deeply odd as well, he meets a collection of like-minded eccentrics who will help him to take the next giant step towards his destiny.

Star Product Designers offers an insider's look at the best product designers working today. With the goal of eliminating the need for instruction manuals, every designer in this book endeavors to create products that are user-friendly, efficient, and beautiful. Perfect for both the amateur designer as well as the most accomplished-and anyone else in between — this comprehensive compendium reveals the design process, from concept to finished product, of some of the most innovative products on the market today. Featuring a wealth of concept sketches, profiles of the leading designers and design firms, and gorgeous, full-color photographs of the products themselves, this book is a must-have for anyone interested in understanding product design and the creative design process.

S. J. Watson makes his powerful debut with Before I Go to Sleep, a compelling, fast-paced psychological thriller, reminiscent of Shutter Island and Memento, in which an amnesiac who, following a mysterious accident, cannot remember her past or form new memories, desperately tries to uncover the truth about who she is — and who she can trust.

An earthquake in Masada, Israel, kills hundreds and reveals a tomb buried in the heart of the mountain. A trio of investigators-Sergeant Jordan Stone, a military forensic expert; Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest; and Dr, Erin Granger, a brilliant but disillusioned archaeologist-are sent to explore the macabre discovery, a subterranean temple holding the crucified body of a mummified girl. But a brutal attack at the site sets the three on the run, thrusting them into a race to recover what was once preserved in the tombs sarcophagus: a book rumored to have been written by Christs own hand, a tome that is said to hold the secrets to His divinity. The enemy who hounds them is like no other, a force of ancient evil directed by a leader of impossible ambitions and incalculable cunning. From crumbling tombs to splendorous churches, Erin and her two companions must confront a past that traces back thousands of years, to a time when ungodly beasts hunted the dark spaces of the world, to a moment in history when Christ made a miraculous offer, a pact of salvation for those who were damned for eternity. Here is a novel that is explosive in its revelation of a secret history. Why do Catholic priests wear pectoral crosses? Why are they sworn to celibacy? Why do the monks hide their countenances under hoods? And why does Catholicism insist that the consecration of wine during Mass results in its transformation to Christs own blood? The answers to all go back to a secret sect within the Vatican, one whispered as rumor but whose very existence was painted for all to see by Rembrandt himself, a shadowy order known simply as the Sanguines. In the end, be warned: some books should never be found, never opened — until now.

For the first time, Lauren Oliver's short stories about characters in the Delirium world appear in print. Originally published as digital novellas, Hana, Annabel, and Raven each center around a fascinating and complex character who adds important information to the series and gives it greater depth. This collection also includes an excerpt from Requiem, the final novel in Oliver's New York Times bestselling series. Hana is told through the perspective of Lena's best friend, Hana Tate. Set during the tumultuous summer before Lena and Hana are supposed to be cured, this story is a poignant and revealing look at a moment when the girls' paths diverge and their futures are altered forever. Lena's mother, Annabel, has always been a mystery — a ghost from Lena's past — until now. Her journey from teenage runaway to prisoner of the state is a taut, gripping narrative that expands the Delirium world and illuminates events — and Lena — through a new point of view. And as the passionate, fierce leader of a rebel group in the Wilds, Raven plays an integral role in the resistance effort and comes into Lena's life at a crucial time. Crackling with intensity, Raven is a brilliant story told in the voice of one of the strongest and most tenacious characters in the Delirium world.

Discworld's only demonology hacker, Eric, is about to make life very difficult for the rest of Ankh-Morpork's denizens. This would-be Faust is very bad... at his work, that is. All he wants is to fulfill three little wishes: to live forever, to be master of the universe, and to have a stylin' hot babe. But Eric isn't even good at getting his own way. Instead of a powerful demon, he conjures, well, Rincewind, a wizard whose incompetence is matched only by Eric's. And as if that wasn't bad enough, that lovable travel accessory the Luggage has arrived, too. Accompanied by his best friends, there's only one thing Eric wishes now — that he'd never been born!

Where do you run to when your life has fallen apart? Lucy Jorik is a champ at never embarrassing the family she adores — not surprising since her mother is one of the most famous women in the world. But now Lucy has done just that. And on her wedding day, no less, to the most perfect man shes ever known. Instead of saying I do to Mr. Irresistible, Lucy flees the church in an ill-fitting blue choir robe and hitches a ride on the back of a beat-up motorcycle plastered with offensive bumper stickers. Shes flying into the unknown with a rough-looking, bad-tempered stranger who couldn't be more foreign to her privileged existence.While the world searches for her, Lucy must search for herself, and she quickly realizes that her customary good manners are no defense against a man whose raised rudeness to an art form. Lucy needs to toughen up — and fast. Her great escape takes her to his rambling beach house on a Great Lakes island. Here, she hopes to find a new direction... and unlock the secrets of this man who knows so much about her but reveals nothing about himself. As the hot summer days unfold amid scented breezes and sudden storms, shell also encounter a beautiful, troubled beekeeper; a frightened young boy; a modern-day evil queen; and a passion that could change her life forever. In this dazzling follow-up to her New York Times bestseller Call Me Irresistible, Susan Elizabeth Phillips tells the funny, touching, enchanting story of a young woman searching for her destiny... and of a damaged man who doesnt believe in second chances.

The bestselling author of The Madonnas of Leningrad returns with a breathtaking novel of love, madness, and devotion set against the extravagant royal court of eighteenth-century St. Petersburg. Born to a Russian family of lower nobility, Xenia, an eccentric dreamer who cares little for social conventions, falls in love with Andrei, a charismatic soldier and singer in the Empress's Imperial choir. Though husband and wife adore each other, their happiness is overshadowed by the absurd demands of life at the royal court and by Xenia's growing obsession with having a child — a desperate need that is at last fulfilled with the birth of her daughter. But then a tragic vision comes true, and a shattered Xenia descends into grief, undergoing a profound transformation that alters the course of her life. Turning away from family and friends, she begins giving all her money and possessions to the poor. Then, one day, she mysteriously vanishes. Years later, dressed in the tatters of her husband's military uniform and answering only to his name, Xenia is discovered tending the paupers of St. Petersburg's slums. Revered as a soothsayer and a blessed healer to the downtrodden, she is feared by the royal court and its new Empress, Catherine, who perceives her deeds as a rebuke to their lavish excesses. In this evocative and elegantly written tale, Dean reimagines the intriguing life of Xenia of St. Petersburg, a patron saint of her city and one of Russia's most mysterious and beloved holy figures. This is an exploration of the blessings of loyal friendship, the limits of reason, and the true costs of loving deeply.

The uplifting and thoughtful novel from the uniquely talented author. Everyone has a story to tell... Kitty Logan has lost her way... As a journalist, she's spent the past few years chasing the big scoops — no matter the consequences. When she makes a terrible mistake, she finds herself mired in scandal, her career implodes and even her personal relationships are tested to the limit. At a loss, Kitty finds distraction in a list of one hundred names that her late mentor and boss, Constance, has left her. Kitty's been given one final chance, the most important assignment of her life — to write the story behind the one hundred names as a tribute piece to Constance. As she tracks down the people on the list and tries to work out what connects them, Kitty meets some extraordinary people. Can these strangers' stories help her finally understand her own?