New Title: The Drop

Title: The Drop

 

Author:  Michael Connelly

• Hardcover:400 pages
• Publisher:Orion (27 Oct 2011)
• ISBN-10:1409134288
• ISBN-13:978-1409134282
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15 x 3.4 cm

Product Description

Harry Bosch is facing the end of the line. He’s been put on the DROP – Deferred Retirement Option Plan – and given three years before his retirement is enforced. Seeing the end of the mission coming, he’s anxious for cases. He doesn’t have to wait long. First a cold case gets a DNA hit for a rape and murder which points the finger at a 29-year-old convicted rapist who was only eight at the time of the murder. Then a city councilman’s son is found dead – fallen or pushed from a hotel window – and he insists on Bosch taking the case despite the two men’s history of enmity. The cases are unrelated but they twist around each other like the double helix of a DNA strand. One leads to the discovery of a killer operating in the city for as many as three decades; the other to a deep political conspiracy that reached back into the dark history of the police department.

 

About the Author

A former police reporter for the LOS ANGELES TIMES, Michael Connelly is the author of the acclaimed Harry Bosch thriller series and several other bestselling novels. He lives in Tampa, Florida, with his family.

 

Great Book: Charles Dickens – A Life

Title: Charles Dickens: A Life

 

Author:  Claire Tomalin

• Hardcover:576 pages
• Publisher:Viking; Signed edition (6 Oct 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0670917672
• ISBN-13:978-0670917679
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 4.8 cm

Product Description

Charles Dickens was a phenomenon: a demonicly hardworking journalist, the father of ten children, a tireless walker and traveller, a supporter of liberal social causes, but most of all a great novelist – the creator of characters who live immortally in the English imagination: the Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip, David Copperfield, Little Nell, Lady Dedlock, and many more.

At the age of twelve he was sent to work in a blacking factory by his affectionate but feckless parents. From these unpromising beginnings, he rose to scale all the social and literary heights, entirely through his own efforts. When he died, the world mourned, and he was buried – against his wishes – in Westminster Abbey.

Yet the brilliance concealed a divided character: a republican, he disliked America; sentimental about the family in his writings, he took up passionately with a young actress; usually generous, he cut off his impecunious children.

Claire Tomalin, author of Whitbread Book of the Year Samuel Pepys, paints an unforgettable portrait of Dickens, capturing brilliantly the complex character of this great genius. Charles Dickens: A Life is the examination of Dickens we deserve.

About the Author

Claire Tomalin was literary editor of the New Statesman then the Sunday Times before leaving to become a full-time writer. Her first book, The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, won the Whitbread First Book Award, and she has since written a number of highly acclaimed and bestselling biographies. The Invisible Woman, a definitive account of Dickens’ relationship with the actress Ellen Ternan, won three major literary awards, and Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self was Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002. Claire Tomalin is married to the writer Michael Frayn.

 

 

Book Recommendation: Kristie Allsopp Craft

Title: Kirstie Allsopp Craft

 

Author:  Kirstie Allsopp

• Hardcover:224 pages
• Publisher:Hodder & Stoughton (13 Oct 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1444737589
• ISBN-13:978-1444737585
• Product Dimensions: 26.2 x 19.8 x 3 cm

Product Description

‘To my utter joy, crafts of every kind have made their way back into our lives – big style. They’ve shaken off their old-fashioned image and a whole new generation of people have embraced them. Join me on my voyage of discovery, meeting passionate crafters, learning the secrets of their amazing artistry and then, for my sins, trying to compete with them in craft competitions across the country.’
Kirstie Allsopp

Kirstie Allsopp’s love affair with British crafts took off when she renovated her house in Devon. Now she takes to the road on a tour of the country to discover and celebrate the things that make Great Britain a nation of truly great crafters.

Kirstie Allsopp Craft is an inspiring collection of projects that introduces you to traditional crafting skills in a fresh, modern way. From making your own family scrapbooks and appliqué cushions to jam-making and handmade bunting, Kirstie Allsopp Craftcontains 50 practical projects to inspire you to have a go.

 

About the Author

Kirstie Allsopp is the star of Channel 4′s Kirstie’s Homemade Home and the co-presenter, with Phil Spencer, of Location, Location, Location and Relocation, Relocation. After working with interior decorator Nikki Haslam, Kirstie worked for Country Living magazine before setting up a property buying business with a friend. Kirstie lives in Devon and West London with her partner Ben Anderson and their two sons and two stepsons.

 

 

Bestsellers 2011 (Canada)

1.Heaven Is for Real by Todd Burpo

2.The Help by Kathryn Stockett

3.The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

4.The Original Argument by Glenn Beck

5.The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

6.The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

7.Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

8.Michael Vey by Richard Paul Evans

9.A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard

10.Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Great Book: 100 Great Breads

Title: 100 Great Breads

 

Author:  Paul Hollywood

• Hardcover:144 pages
• Publisher:Cassell Illustrated (1 Jun 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1844037002
• ISBN-13:978-1844037001
• Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 23.2 x 1.6 cm

Product Description

Paul Hollywood presents all the know-how you need to bake delicious and unusual breads. Bread links all cultures together. It holds a social and gastronomic significance for everybody. Paul Hollywood’s love of this foodstuff has built him a thriving bakery business and seen him creating breads for some of the country’s most famous hotels. He believes in celebrating the baking of bread and conveys his own love of bread-making and its therapeutic powers in this collection of fantastic recipes. In this book, Paul Hollywood reveals all the simple techniques you need to make this staple food and shows you that baking bread is far easier than you could possibly have imagined. This book contains 100 great breads from a basic brown and white loaf to savoury and sweet, Mediterranean, traditional and ancient breads.

 

From the Author

I want this book to well-used and thumbed through. Having baked at some of the most lavish hotels of the world, it would be satisfying to know that the recipes in this book will find their way to your dining table. The recipes are easy to follow and taste delicious. Bread is essentially easy to make and I hope you enjoy making them as much as I have. The recipes in this book from the likes of Italy, France and above all Cyprus represent my travels through Europe on my quest to find good, hearty bread [with no additives]. My crusade is to put bread back where it belongs, in the centre of our tables with the likes of wine, cheese, pate and olives…..ENJOY! –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

 

Book Recommendation: The World Of Downton Abbey

Title : The World of Downton Abbey

 

Author:  Jessica Fellowes

• Hardcover:304 pages
• Publisher:Collins (15 Sep 2011)
• ISBN-10:0007431783
• ISBN-13:978-0007431786
• Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 19.6 x 3 cm

Product Description

The official companion to series 1 and 2.

Downton Abbey portrays a world of elegance and decadence, a world of duty and obedience and a world of romance and rivalry: this companion book, full of rich historical detail, takes fans deeper into that period than ever before.

Step inside one of the most beautiful houses in Britain, past Carson the butler at the front door and into the grand hallway. Catch a glimpse of the family having drinks in the drawing room before dinner, dressed in their evening finery, whilst Lord Grantham finishes writing a letter in his study. Then climb the grand sweeping staircase to the maze of rooms upstairs and peak through Lady Mary’s open door to see Anna, her maid, tidying scent bottles and jewellery on the ornate dressing table. Follow Anna down the servants’ stairs and into the kitchens to watch Mrs Patmore frantically preparing dinner. Mrs Hughes keeps a watchful eye from her study and the world of Downton comes alive before you.

Experience the inner workings of the downstairs life and be dazzled by the glamour of upstairs life with profiles of all the major characters, interviews with the actors, behind the scenes insights and in-depth information on costumes and props.

About the Author

Jessica Fellowes is an established writer and editor. She has worked as a gossip columnist, celebrity interviewer and lifestyle features editor for the Mail on Sunday. For four years she was Deputy Editor of Country Life. Her previous books are ‘Mud & the City: dos and don’ts for townies in the country’ and ‘The Devil You Know: looking out for the psycho in your life.’ She lives in London with her family.
http://www.jessicafellowes.com

 

Great Book: Death Of Kings

Title: Death of Kings

 

Author:  Bernard Cornwell

• Hardcover:400 pages
• Publisher:HarperCollins (29 Sep 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0007331789
• ISBN-13:978-0007331789
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.5 x 3.3 cm

Product Description

The master of historical fiction presents the iconic story of King Alfred and the making of a nation.

As the ninth century wanes, England appears about to be plunged into chaos once more. For the Viking-raised but Saxon-born warrior, Uhtred, whose life seems to shadow the making of England, this presents him with difficult choices.

King Alfred is dying and his passing threatens the island of Britain to renewed warfare. Alfred wants his son, Edward, to succeed him but there are other Saxon claimants to the throne as well as ambitious pagan Vikings to the north.

Uhtred‘s loyalty – and his vows – were to Alfred, not to his son, and despite his long years of service to Alfred, he is still not committed to the Saxon cause. His own desire is to reclaim his long lost lands and castle to the north. But the challenge to him, as the king’s warrior, is that he knows that he will either be the means of making Alfred’s dream of a united and Christian England come to pass or be responsible for condemning it to oblivion.

This novel is a dramatic story of the power of tribal commitment and the terrible difficulties of divided loyalties.

This is the making of England magnificently brought to life by the master of historical fiction.

About the Author

Bernard Cornwell was born in London, raised in Essex, and now lives mainly in the USA with his wife. In addition to the hugely successful Sharpe novels, Bernard Cornwell is the author of Azincourt, The Fort, the Starbuck Chronicles, the Warlord trilogy, the Grail Quest series and the Alfred series.

 

 

Book Recommendation: The Impossible Dead

Title: The Impossible Dead

 

Author:  Ian Rankin

• Hardcover:384 pages
• Publisher:Orion (13 Oct 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0752889532
• ISBN-13:978-0752889535
• Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.6 x 3.8 cm

Product Description

Malcolm Fox and his team from Internal Affairs are back. They’ve been sent to Fife to investigate whether fellow cops covered up for a corrupt colleague, Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct with his own uncle, also in the force, having proved to be his nephew’s nemesis. But what should be a simple job is soon complicated by intimations of conspiracy and cover-up – and a brutal murder, a murder committed with a weapon that should not even exist. The spiralling investigation takes Fox back in time to 1985, a year of turmoil in British political life. Terrorists intent on a split between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom were becoming more brazen and ruthless, sending letter-bombs and poisonous spores to government offices, plotting kidnaps and murder, and trying to stay one step ahead of the spies sent to flush them out. Fox has a duty to get at the truth, while the body count rises, the clock starts ticking, and he fights for his professional and personal life.

 

About the Author

Ian Rankin is the internationally bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus and Detective Malcolm Fox novels, as well as a string of standalone thrillers. His books have been translated into 36 languages and are bestsellers on several continents. Ian is the recipient of four CWA DAGGER AWARDS and in 2004, won America’s celebrated EDGAR AWARD. He is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, Hull and Edinburgh and received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

 

New Title: 11.22.63

Title: 11.22.63

 

Author:  Stephen King

 

Product Description

WHAT IF you could go back in time and change the course of history? WHAT IF the watershed moment you could change was the JFK assassination? 11/22/63, the date that Kennedy was shot – unless . . .

King takes his protagonist Jake Epping, a high school English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, 2011, on a fascinating journey back to 1958 – from a world of mobile phones and iPods to a new world of Elvis and JFK, of Plymouth Fury cars and Lindy Hopping, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life – a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

With extraordinary imaginative power, King weaves the social, political and popular culture of his baby-boom American generation into a devastating exercise in escalating suspense.

 

About the Author

Stephen King has written some fifty books and novellas, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are FULL DARK, NO STARS, UNDER THE DOME, JUST AFTER SUNSET, the DARK TOWER novels and his acclaimed non-fiction book, ON WRITING. He won America`s prestigious National Book Award and was voted Grand Master in the 2007 Edgar Allen Poe awards. He lives with his wife, novelist Tabitha King, in Maine, USA.

Great Book: The Hairy Bikers’ Perfect Pies

Title: The Hairy Bikers’ Perfect Pies: The Ultimate Pie Bible from the Kings of Pies

 

Authors:  Hairy Bikers, Dave Myers, and Si King

 

Product Description

This is the definitive Pie Bible from the Kings of Pie, The Hairy Bikers. In their culinary homecoming, Si and Dave celebrate a dish close to their hearts. This beautifully illustrated cookbook brings together the Great British classic in 150 brand-new recipes. Featuring an extraordinary range of pies – from the sweet and savoury, deep and small, and to the pies that are puddings – The Hairy Bikers will inspire you to coo and share the mighty dish with the ones you love. With top tips on pastry, the failsafe methods, the secrets and the cheats, the boys will teach you how to choose the right type of pastry and filling for any occasion. Learn the rules of pastry making and how to add the right pickles, relishes and sauces to make your pie an unforgettable dish. And of course, how to make the most of those little left over bits and turn them into delicious cheese straws, jam tarts and turnovers. This is a heart-warming, delicious and nostalgic recipe book that can be enjoyed by families, friends and fans of the nation’s favourite dish.

 

About the Author

Born and bred in Barrow-in-Furness, Dave Myers joined the BBC as a make-up artist, and while travelling the world with hit TV series he picked up recipes with Si, Dave’s travelling companion and the other half of the hairy bikers. Si King hails from North East England and is a big, blond bearded biker with an infectious laugh. His love of food was established at a young age when his father bought exotic ingredients back from his Royal Navy voyages. Hairy Bikers Si and Dave are the nation’s favourite food heroes. Stars of BBC2′s MUMS KNOW BEST and FOOD TOUR OF BRITAIN, they represent all that is good-hearted, down-to-earth and loved about food.

Book Recommendation: Gangsta Granny

Title: Gangsta Granny

 

Author:  David Walliams

 

Product Description

Another hilarious and moving novel from bestselling, critically acclaimed author David Walliams, the natural successor to Roald Dahl.

A story of prejudice and acceptance, funny lists and silly words, this new book has all the hallmarks of David’s previous bestsellers.

Our hero Ben is bored beyond belief after he is made to stay at his grandma’s house. She’s the boringest grandma ever: all she wants to do is to play Scrabble, and eat cabbage soup. But there are two things Ben doesn’t know about his grandma.

1) She was once an international jewel thief.

2) All her life, she has been plotting to steal the crown jewels, and now she needs Ben’s help…

About the Author

DAVID WALLIAMS is an actor and writer best known for his work with Matt Lucas in the multi-award-winning sketch show Little Britain. His debut children’s novel, The Boy in the Dress, was published in 2008 to unanimous critical acclaim. Since then, his second book, Mr Stink, has gone on to receive similar plaudits, while growing an already devoted fanbase. The Boy in the Dress was shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, and Mr Stink was one of Amanda Craig’s Children’s Books of the Year in the Times.

Irish Books

The Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year
Solace by Belinda McKeon (Picador)
On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry (Faber)
The Cold Eye of Heaven by Christine Dwyer Hickey (Atlantic)
City of Bohane by Kevin Barry (Random House)
The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright (Random House)
Mistaken by Neil Jordan (John Murray)

RTÉ Radio 1’s The John Murray Show Listeners’ Choice Award:
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (Corsair)
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt (Granta)
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (Ebury)
How the Light Gets in by Mary McEvoy (Hachette Ireland)
The Club by Christy O’Connor (Penguin Ireland)
My Dad was Nearly James Bond by Des Bishop (Penguin Ireland)

The Ireland AM Irish Crime Fiction Book of the Year:
A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black (Mantle)
The Bloody Meadow by William Ryan (Mantle)
Bloodland by Alan Glynn (Faber)
The Reckoning by Jane Casey (Ebury)
Taboo by Casey Hill (Simon & Schuster)
Absolute Zero Cool by Declan Burke (Liberties Press)

The Argosy Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year:
How Ireland Really Went Bust by Matt Cooper (Penguin Ireland)
Easy Meals by Rachel Allen (Collins)
Circles Around the Sun by Molly McCloskey (Penguin Ireland)
Moscow, December 25, 1991 by Conor O’Clery (Transworld Ireland)
Just Joe: My Autobiography by Joe Duffy (Transworld Ireland)
Anglo Republic by Simon Carswell (Penguin Ireland)

Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year:
The Time of my Life by Cecilia Ahern (HarperCollins)
All For You by Sheila O’Flanagan (Headline)
Me and My Sisters by Sinead Moriarty (Penguin Ireland)
Love and Marriage by Patricia Scanlan (Transworld Ireland)
NAMA Mia! by Ross O’Carroll Kelly (Penguin Ireland)
The Pink Ladies Club by Emma Hannigan (Poolbeg Press)

Irish Sports Book of the Year:
My Autobiography by A P McCoy (Orion)
Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson by Paul Kimmage (Simon & Schuster)
Walk On: My Life in Red by Ronnie Whelan and Tommy Conlon (Simon & Schuster)
A Parish Far from Home by Philip O’Connor (Gill & Macmillan)
Joking Apart: My Autobiography by Donncha O’Callaghan (Transworld Ireland)
Inside the Peloton by Nicolas Roche (Transworld Ireland)

Sunday Independent Best Irish Newcomer of the Year:
The Tenderloin by John Butler (Picador)
Solace by Belinda McKeon (Picador)
The Better Half by Sarah Harte (Penguin Ireland)
The Lingerie Designer by Siobhan McKenna (Poolbeg Press)
Salty Baby by Orla Tinsley (Hachette Ireland)
My Dad was Nearly James Bond by Des Bishop (Penguin Ireland)

International Education Services Best Irish Published Book of the Year:
Catherine’s Family Kitchen by Catherine Fulvio (Gill & Macmillan)
Make Bake Love by Lilly Higgins (Gill & Macmillan)
Revolution by Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc (Mercier)
The Other Ireland by Mary Jones (Gill & Macmillan)
Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom by Tim Robinson (Penguin Ireland)
Gorgeous to Go by Aisling McDermott (Gill & Macmillan)

Specsavers Irish Children’s Book of the Year:
Junior:
Adam’s World of Wonders by Benji Bennett (Adams Printing Press)
The Lonely Beast by Chris Judge (Andersen Press)
Sally Go Round the Stars by Sarah Webb and Steve McCarthy with Claire Ranson (O’Brien Press)
Stuck by Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins Childrens)
Marco Moves In by Gerry Boland (O’Brien Press)

Senior:
The Saga of Larten Crepsley: Ocean of Blood by Darren Shan (HarperCollins Childrens)
Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer by Derek Landy (HarperCollins Childrens)
And For Your Information… by Denise Deegan (Hachette)
Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent by Alan Early (Mercier)
The Real Rebecca by Anna Carey (O’Brien)

Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award
Seamus Heaney

Source: http://www.irishpublishingnews.com/

Irish Book Awards 2011

Irish Book Awards

Exclusively Irish, inclusive in every other sense, the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards brings together the entire literary community — readers, authors, booksellers, publishers and librarians — like no other awards. These are your awards – join us in celebrating Irish writing.

The shortlists for the 2011 Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards were officially unveiled at today’s Launch in the Merrion Room of the RDS. Among the authors in attendance were Sebastian Barry, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Sheila O’Flanagan, Patricia Scanlan, Paul Howard, Rachel Allen, Des Bishop, Orla Tinsley, Joe Duffy, Paul Kimmage, Matt Cooper and Conor O’Clery.

Public voting begins on October 21st from 9.00am and the winners will be announced at the Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony on November 17th.

It’s been another fantastic year for Irish books so keep abreast of news and developments by watching this space.

Website: http://www.irishbookawards.ie/

 

Food and Drink Bestsellers (Cookery) 27/10/11

1. Entertaining at Home by Rachel Allen

2. Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver

3. Kitchen Hero by Donal Skehan

4. Grandma’s Best Recipes

5. Martin’s Fishy Fishy Cookbook by Martin Shanahan

6. Irish Cooking by Biddy White Lennon

7. The Taste of Ireland by Tamsin Pickeral

8. Grandma’s Special Recipes

9.Annabel Karmel’s New Complete Baby & Toddler Meal Planner by Annabel Karmel

10. Everyday Muffins and Bakes

New Title: You Talkin To Me

Title: You Talkin’ To Me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama

 

Author:  Sam Leith

• Hardcover:304 pages
• Publisher:Profile Books (20 Oct 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1846683157
• ISBN-13:978-1846683152
• Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 13.8 x 3.4 cm

Product Description

Rhetoric is what gives words power. It’s nothing to be afraid of. It isn’t the exclusive preserve of politicians: it’s everywhere, from your argument with the insurance company to your plea to the waitress for a table near the window. It convicts criminals (and then frees them on appeal). It causes governments to rise and fall, best men to be shunned by brides, and people to march with steady purpose towards machine guns. In this highly entertaining (and persuasive) book, Sam Leith examines how people have taught, practised and thought about rhetoric from its Attic origins to its twenty-first century apotheosis. Along the way, he tells the stories of its heroes and villains, from Cicero and Erasmus, to Hitler, Obama – and Gyles Brandreth.

About the Author

Sam Leith is a former Literary Editor of the Daily Telegraph, and contributes regularly to the Evening Standard, Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Spectator and Prospect. He’s the author of two nonfiction books: Dead Pets and Sod’s Law and a novel, The Coincidence Engine.

 

Great Book: Snowdrops

Title: Snowdrops

 

Author:  A. D. Miller

• Paperback:288 pages
• Publisher:Atlantic Books (1 Sep 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1848874537
• ISBN-13:978-1848874534
• Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 2.4 cm

Product Description

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011, Snowdrops is THE debut of 2011: A stunning novel of moral ambiguity, uncertainty and corruption. Snowdrops. That’s what the Russians call them – the bodies that float up into the light in the thaw. Drunks, most of them, and homeless people who just give up and lie down into the whiteness, and murder victims hidden in the drifts by their killers. Nick has a confession. When he worked as a high-flying British lawyer in Moscow, he was seduced by Masha, an enigmatic woman who led him through her city: the electric nightclubs and intimate dachas, the human kindnesses and state-wide corruption. Yet as Nick fell for Masha, he found that he fell away from himself; he knew that she was dangerous, but life in Russia was addictive, and it was too easy to bury secrets – and corpses – in the winter snows…

 

About the Author

Born in London in 1974, A.D. Miller studied literature at Cambridge and Princeton. He worked as a television producer before joining the The Economist. From 2004 to 2007 he was the magazine’s Moscow correspondent, travelling widely across Russia and the former Soviet Union. He is the author of the acclaimed family history The Earl of Petticoat Lane (Heinemann, 2006). Snowdrops is his first novel. He lives in London with his wife and children.

 

Book Recommendation: The Fear Index

Title: The Fear Index

 

Author:  Robert Harris

• Hardcover:336 pages
• Publisher:Hutchinson (29 Sep 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0091936969
• ISBN-13:978-0091936969
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.4 x 3.4 cm

Product Description

His name is carefully guarded from the general public but within the secretive inner circles of the ultra-rich Dr Alex Hoffmann is a legend – a visionary scientist whose computer software turns everything it touches into gold.

 

Together with his partner, an investment banker, Hoffmann has developed a revolutionary form of artificial intelligence that tracks human emotions, enabling it to predict movements in the financial markets with uncanny accuracy. His hedge fund, based in Geneva, makes billions.

 

But then in the early hours of the morning, while he lies asleep with his wife, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of their lakeside house. So begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as Hoffmann attempts, with increasing desperation, to discover who is trying to destroy him.

 

His quest forces him to confront the deepest questions of what it is to be human. By the time night falls over Geneva, the financial markets will be in turmoil and Hoffmann’s world – and ours – transformed forever.

 

About the Author

Robert Harris has written seven previous novels – Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, The Ghost and Lustrum. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. For his collaboration with Roman Polanski on the film version of The Ghost, he won both the French César and the European Film Awards for best adapted screenplay.

 

A graduate of Cambridge University, where he studied English, he joined the BBC and later wrote for the Observer, the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

 

He is married to Gill Hornby. They have four children and live in a village near Hungerford in West Berkshire.

 

 

New Title: Conqueror

Title: Conqueror

 

Author  Conn Iggulden

• Hardcover:464 pages
• Publisher:HarperCollins (27 Oct 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:000727114X
• ISBN-13:978-0007271146
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 5.1 cm

Product Description

The one and only Conn Iggulden takes on the story of the mighty Kublai Khan. An epic tale of a great and heroic mind; his action-packed rule; and how in conquering one-fifth of the world’s inhabited land, he changed the course of history forever.

A scholar who conquered an empire larger than those of Alexander or Caesar.

A warrior who would rule a fifth of the world with strength and wisdom.

A man who betrayed a brother to protect a nation.

From a young scholar to one of history’s most powerful warriors, Conqueror tells the story of Kublai Khan – an extraordinary man who should be remembered alongside Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte as one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known.

It should have been a golden age, with an empire to dwarf the lands won by the mighty Genghis Khan. Instead, the vast Mongol nation is slowly losing ground, swallowed whole by their most ancient enemy. A new generation has arisen, yet the long shadow of the Great Khan still hangs over them all …

Kublai dreams of an empire stretching from sea to sea. But to see it built, this scholar must first learn the art of war. He must take his nation’s warriors to the ends of the known world. And when he is weary, when he is wounded, he must face his own brothers in bloody civil war.

 

About the Author

Conn Iggulden is one of the most successful authors of historical fiction writing today. His two number one bestselling series, on Julius Caesar and on the Mongol Khans of Central Asia, describe the founding of the greatest empires of their day. Conn Iggulden lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and their children.

 

Great Book: The Life of Lee

Title: The Life of Lee

 

Author:  Lee Evans

• Hardcover:400 pages
• Publisher:Michael Joseph (29 Sep 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0718156188
• ISBN-13:978-0718156183
• Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 15.5 x 3.8 cm

Product Description

Lee Evans is one of the best-loved comedians in the country; a Hollywood star able to sell out arenas in the blink of eye.

 

But he was not always such a roaring success.

The Life of Lee is an utterly hilarious and very moving autobiography charting his ups and downs on the way to the top. Lee takes us on a darkly humorous journey through his childhood spent running wild on a Bristol housing estate and his unconventional school days, when he was publicly derided as ‘a failure’ by a sadistic teacher.

 

In this brilliantly entertaining and engaging tale, he also guides us through a grim teenage period of numerous dead-end jobs. When he was cleaning toilets and plucking turkeys, he could never have imagined that one day he would be playing to thousands of adoring fans at the O2 Arena.

 

The book also reveals how as a boy Lee got his first taste of showbiz, living out of a suitcase and accompanying his entertainer father around the smoky, rowdy, unforgiving working-men’s club and theatre circuit.

 

Desperately struggling to be accepted, this quiet young loner always saw himself as an outsider. But he finally met the love of his life and accidentally discovered the one place where he felt at home: the stage.

 

The Life of Lee is a story that is like its subject: compelling, touching, charming and, above all, fantastically funny.

About the Author

In November 2005, the comedian Lee Evans smashed the world record by playing to the largest ever comedy audience, 10,108 people at the Manchester Evening News Arena. The record merely underlined his status as the most popular comedian in the UK.

 

A former boxer, Lee went on to break more records. On his ‘Big’ tour of 2008, he sold more than 500,000 tickets on fifty-nine arena dates. He has now sold in excess of four million DVDs.

 

The Perrier Award-winning comedian, who was born in Bristol in 1964, has also enjoyed great success as a movie star, headlining in such films as There’s Something About Mary, MouseHunt, The Fifth Element, The Martins and the critically acclaimed Funny Bones.

 

In addition, he has made a big splash in West End shows such as the musical, The Producers (with Nathan Lane), Endgame (with Sir Michael Gambon) and The Dumb Waiter (with Jason Isaacs), receiving numerous theatre awards along the way.

 

Lee has been happily married to Heather for twenty-seven years. They live in Essex and have a daughter called Mollie.

 

Book Recommendation: The Faithless

Title: The Faithless

 

Author:  Martina Cole 

• Hardcover:464 pages
• Publisher:Headline (18 Oct 2011)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:075537553X
• ISBN-13:978-0755375530
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 4.2 cm

Product Description

The powerfully addictive new novel from the No. 1 bestseller

Gabby looked at the woman she had hated nearly all her life. Then she sat down on the ladder-backed chair, put her face into her bloodied hands and cried.

To the outside world, Cynthia Tailor is a woman to envy; she has a devoted husband, a lovely home and two gorgeous children. But Cynthia is deeply unhappy with her lot; she has always craved the best things in life, and is determined to see that she gets them. Cynthia will let nothing stand in her way, even if it means devastation and tragedy for those nearest to her. And the casualties are many: her husband Jimmy, weak and unable to fight the wife he can never please; her sister Celeste, from whom Cynthia steals her most precious possession; and her parents, Mary and Jack, who pick up the pieces. But the victims who suffer the most are Cynthia’s children. For James Junior and Gabby, the pain she causes will stay with them for ever…

 

About the Author

Martina Cole is the No. 1 bestselling author of seventeen hugely successful novels. Her hard-hitting, uncompromising and haunting writing makes for an incredible read, and sales of her books now stand at over ten million copies. She is the person who dares to tell it like it really is.