New Title: Betrayal

Title: Betrayal

Author:  Danielle Steel

• Hardcover:336 pages
• Publisher:Bantam Press (1 Mar 2012)
• ISBN-10:0593063104
• ISBN-13:978-0593063101
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 3.6 cm

Product Description

Tallie Jones is a Hollywood legend. An ambitious and passionate film director, her award-winning productions achieve the rare combination of critical and commercial success. But she has little interest in the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, instead focusing intently on her work and family.

 

She has close, loving relationships with her daughter, her elderly father and Hunter Lloyd – her co-producer and partner of four years. Completing her trusted circle is Brigitte Parker – Tallie’s best friend and devoted personal assistant. They’ve been friends since film school, and Brigitte’s polished glamour and highly organized style provides a perfect balance to Tallie’s casual appearance and down-to-earth approach to life.

 

However as Tallie is in the midst of directing her most ambitious film to date, small disturbances start to ripple through her faultlessly ordered world. An audit reveals worrying discrepancies in her financial records, which have always been maintained by her trusted accountant, Victor Carson. Receipts hint at activities of which she has no knowledge. Someone close to Tallie has been steadily helping themselves to enormous amounts of her money. Her once safe world of trusted associates is suddenly shaken to its very core – and Tallie is in shock, trying to figure out who has betrayed her among those she trusts and holds dear…

 

About the Author

Danielle Steel is one of the world’s most popular and highly acclaimed authors, with nearly 600 million copies of her novels sold. Her many international bestsellers include Happy Birthday, 44 Charles Street, Family Ties and Legacy. She is also the author of His Bright Light, the story of her son Nick Traina’s life and death. She lives in California and Paris.

Book Recommendation: Canada

Title: Canada

Author: Richard Ford

• Hardcover:432 pages
• Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (7 Jun 2012)
• ISBN-10:0747598606
• ISBN-13: 978-0747598602

Product Description

First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then the murders, which happened later. In 1956, Dell Parsons’ family came to a stop in Great Falls, Montana, the way many military families did following the war. His father, Bev, was a talkative, plank-shouldered man, an airman from Alabama with an optimistic and easy-scheming nature. Dell and his twin sister, Berner, could easily see why their mother might have been attracted to him. But their mother Neeva – from an educated, immigrant, Jewish family – was shy, artistic and alienated from their father’s small-town world of money scrapes and living on-the-fly. It was more bad instincts and bad luck that Dell’s parents decided to rob the bank. They weren’t reckless people. In the days following the arrest, Dell is saved before the authorities think to arrive. Driving across the Montana border into Saskatchewan his life hurtles towards the unknown, towards a hotel in a deserted town, towards the violent and enigmatic American Arthur Remlinger, and towards Canada itself – a landscape of rescue and abandonment. But as Dell discovers, in this new world of secrets and upheaval, he is not the only one whose own past lies on the other side of a border. In Canada, Richard Ford has created a masterpiece. A visionary novel of vast landscapes, complex identities and fragile humanity. It questions the fine line between the normal and the extraordinary, and the moments that haunt our settled view of the world.

 

About the Author

Richard Ford was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1944. He has published six novels and four collections of stories, including The Sportswriter, Wildlife, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land. Independence Day was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the first time the same book had won both prizes.

Septic Tanks Inspection ROI

Septic Tank Inspections By EU Directive by Annette J Dunlea
A septic tank is a key component of the septic system, a small-scale sewage treatment system common in areas with no connection to main sewage pipes provided by local governments or private corporations. Other components include pumps, alarms, sand filters, and clarified liquid effluent disposal means such as a septic drain field, ponds, natural stone fiber filter plants or peat moss beds. Septic systems are a type of On-Site Sewage Facility. The term “septic” refers to the anaerobic bacterial environment that develops in the tank and that decomposes or mineralizes the waste discharged into the tank. A septic tank generally consists of a tank of between 4000 and 7500 liters in size connected to an inlet wastewater pipe at one end and a septic drain field at the other. In general, these pipe connections are made via a T pipe, which allows liquid entry and exit without disturbing any crust on the surface.
There are environmental issues with these tanks and hence they need to be monitored by the local councils.Some pollutants, especially sulfates, under the anaerobic conditions of septic tanks, are reduced to hydrogen sulfide, a pungent and toxic gas. Also methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is another by-product. Nitrates and organic nitrogen compounds are reduced to ammonia. Because of the anaerobic conditions, fermentation processes take place, which ultimately generate carbon dioxide and methane.The fermentation processes cause the contents of a septic tank to be anaerobic with a low redox potential, which keeps phosphates in a soluble and, thus, mobilized form. Because phosphates can be the limiting nutrient for plant growth in many ecosystems, the discharge from a septic tank into the environment can trigger prolific plant growth including algal blooms, which can also include blooms of potentially toxic cyanobacteria.In areas with high population density, groundwater pollution levels often exceed acceptable limits. Some small towns are facing the costs of building very expensive centralized wastewater treatment systems because of this problem, owing to the high cost of extended collection systems.
Irish homeowners with septic tanks will face a €50 registration charge under legislation.The registration certificate will be valid for five years.It will also be an offence if home owners fail to maintain their septic tank and create a risk to the environment.In the near future inspectors from the EPA will have the power to carry out examinations of septic tanks.If a septic tank fails this inspection homeowners can apply for a re-test within 21 days and this this could cost up to €200.
Why because in 2009 European Court of Justice ruling that found Ireland was in breach of the EU Waste Directive? The EU Waste Framework Directive, is legislation that aims to ensure that waste is disposed of without endangering human health or harming the environment.The European Commission is to ask the Court of Justice to impose fines on Ireland for failing to comply with directives relating to septic tanks.There are more than 400,000 septic tanks in Ireland and poorly designed models, or those badly maintained, are polluting groundwater and putting health at risk.The Commission said ‘human health is put at risk because pathogens can enter drinking water’.The EU wants to fine the Irish Government €2.7 million plus a daily penalty €26,173.Of course, it is a matter for the court to decide on the amount. The justification is that the European Commission know that geological and soil conditions in many parts of Ireland may make it difficult for septic tanks to function without causing pollution.
The new Water Services (Amendment) Bill, which will require owners of septic tanks to pay a fee in order to register it for inspection.Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan said that the inspections will be carried out by local authority engineers and if they need to employ assessors from outside, they can do so. The minister said he will look very carefully at the EPA guidelines laid down for the inspections and they will be implemented by the local authorities.From 2013, inspectors from local authorities will then come out and inspect tanks to ensure they comply with rules and standards to be agreed between Government and the Environmental Protection Agency.If a tank does not meet the standards, it will be the responsibility of its owner to carry out work on it and cover the cost of that work, he said.
“Billions have been spent on upgrading and providing a modern sewerage system in urban areas,” said Enda Kenny.Several households helped to pay for this through taxes yet they are being forced by your government to bear the burden of the cost of improvements, upgrades and replacements.The Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has announced a reduced inspection fee for septic tanks.Mr Hogan said the fee will be reduced from €50 to €5 for the first three months when the charge is introduced in April.He said the lower rate was an incentive for septic tank owners to register early.The deadline for registration will be March of next year.
The End

New Title: The Boy Who Fell To Earth

Title: The Boy Who Fell To Earth

Author:  Kathy Lette

• Hardcover:336 pages
• Publisher:Bantam Press (1 Mar 2012)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0593060830
• ISBN-13:978-0593060834
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 3.8 cm

Product Description

Meet Merlin. He’s Lucy’s bright, beautiful son – who just happens to be autistic.

 

Since Merlin’s father left them in the lurch shortly after his diagnosis, Lucy has made Merlin the centre of her world. Struggling with the joys and tribulations of raising her eccentrically adorable yet challenging child, (if only Merlin came with operating instructions) Lucy doesn’t have room for any other man in her life.

 

By the time Merlin turns ten, Lucy is seriously worried that the Pope might start ringing her up for tips on celibacy, so resolves to dip a poorly pedicured toe back into the world of dating. Thanks to Merlin’s candour and quirkiness, things don’t go quite to plan… Then, just when Lucy’s resigned to a life of singledom once more, Archie – the most imperfectly perfect man for her and her son – lands on her doorstep. But then, so does Merlin’s father, begging for forgiveness and a second chance. Does Lucy need a real father for Merlin – or a real partner for herself?

About the Author

Kathy Lette first achieved succès de scandale as a teenager with the novel Puberty Blues. After several years as a newspaper columnist and television sitcom writer in America and Australia, she wrote eleven international bestsellers including Mad Cows, How to Kill Your Husband (and other handy household hints) and To Love, Honour and Betray. Her novels have been published in fourteen languages around the world. Kathy appears regularly as a guest on BBC Breakfast, and has her own column in Good Housekeeping.

 

She lives in London with her husband and two children. Visit her website at http://www.kathylette.com

Book Recommendation: The Chemistry Of Tears

Title: The Chemistry of Tears

Author:  Peter Carey

• Hardcover:288 pages
• Publisher:Faber and Faber (5 April 2012)
• ISBN-10:057127997X
• ISBN-13:978-0571279975
• Product Dimensions: 24 x 16.1 x 2.6 cm

Product Description

An automaton, a man and a woman who can never meet, a secret love story, and the fate of the world are all brought to life in this hauntingly moving novel from one of the finest writers of our time. London 2010, Catherine Gehrig, conservator at the Swinburne museum, learns of the unexpected death of her colleague and lover of thirteen years. As the mistress of a married man she has to grieve in private. One other person knows their secret, the director of the museum, who arranges for Catherine to be given a special project away from prying eyes. Mad with grief, the usually controlled and rational Catherine discovers a series of handwritten notebooks telling the story of the man who originally commissioned the extraordinary and eerie automata she has been asked to bring back to life. With a precocious new assistant, Amanda, at her side, she starts to piece together both the clockwork puzzle and the story of the mechanical creature which was commissioned in 19th century Germany by an English man, Henry Brandling, as a ‘magical amusement’ for his consumptive son. Having been asked to leave his home by his wife, Henry turns his hurtful departure into an adventure that he records for his young child. But it is Catherine Gehrig, in a strangely stormy and overheated London nearly two hundred years later, who will find comfort and wonder in reading Henry’s story. And it is the automata, in its beautiful, uncanny imitation of life, that will link two strangers confronted with the mysteries of life and death, the miracle and catastrophe of human invention and the body’s astonishing chemistry of love and feeling.

 

About the Author

Twice winner of the Booker Prize, Peter Carey’s most recent novel Parrot and Olivier in America was described by the New Yorker as ‘a comic masterpiece’ and by the Sunday Times as ‘an exhilarating tour-de-force’. It was shortlisted for both the Man Booker Prize and a National Book Award in 2010.

New Title: Street Magic

Title: Street Magic: Street Tricks, Sleight of Hand and Illusion

Author:  Paul Zenon

• Paperback:176 pages
• Publisher:Carlton Books Ltd (3 Mar 2008)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1844420469
• ISBN-13:978-1844420469
• Product Dimensions: 17.4 x 12.6 x 1.4 cm

Product Description

“Book Street Magic” is a how-to magic book that teaches the real secrets of close-up, under-your-nose, in-your-face magic as seen on television. Magic is one of the longest surviving forms of entertainment and is as popular today as ever, having undergone a huge renaissance recently. This book contains great tricks, as popularised by today’s greatest magicians. The book is very accessible, and is fully illustrated with very high quality, original two-colour illustrations.

 

About the Author

Paul Zenon is the UK’s leading comedy magician, with dozens of television credits to his name, including Paul Zenon’s Trick or Treat, Paul Zenon Turning Tricks and Paul Zenon’s White Christmas. He has performed live shows in 30 countries around the world, from Las Vegas to Belize and from Bosnia to London. His two previous books 100 Ways to Win a Tenner and Paul Zenon’s Dirty Tricks are steady sellers.

Book Recommendation: A Life Without Limits

Title: A Life Without Limits

Author:  Chrissie Wellington 

• Hardcover:320 pages
• Publisher:Constable (23 Feb 2012)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1849017131
• ISBN-13:978-1849017138
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm

Product Description

Chrissie Wellington is the world’s No 1 female Ironman triathlete, a four times World Champion, having recently won the her fourth title in October 2011 and the World Record holder. In 2009 she was voted ‘Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year’ and in 2010 was awarded the MBE. She is the undefeated champion of Triathlon, having won thirteen Ironman titles from thirteen races. She set a new World Record of 8 hours19:13 at Quelle Roth Germany in 2010, which slashed over 14 minutes from the previous record and where she was only beaten by six men. She went on to improve this time by another minute in the 2011 race. She also set a new world record for the fastest ever Ironman sanctioned event at Ironman South Africa in April 2011. Chrissie has displayed unprecedented levels of stamina, strength and competitiveness in becoming Ironman World Champion in only her second event at Ironman level. Her victory in Kona, Hawaii in 2007 finishing five minutes ahead of her nearest rival was described as the ‘biggest upset in Ironman history’ and ‘a remarkable feat, deemed to be near impossible task for any athlete racing as a rookie at their first Ironman World Championships’. She defended her World title in Hawaii in 2008 and again in 2009. However a bout of severe sickness on the eve of the 2010 event meant she was unable to make the start line to defend her title. She bounced back in 2011 to retain her title in her most fiercely competitive race to date, which adds another fantastic chaper to her extraordinary sporting career. This is the remarkable story of how a Norfolk girl – a ‘sporty kid, swimming, playing hockey, running, but never excelling and always more interested in the social side of the sports scene’ – became a world champion.

 

About the Author

Chrissie Wellington is the world-record holder for ironman-distance triathlon. She is a four-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion, having won the World Championship consecutively in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and regaining it in 2011. She is noted for having won the World Championship less than a year after turning professional. She is also the first British athlete to hold the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, and remains undefeated over the Ironman distance. In addition to the Ironman titles, she was also the 2006 ITU Age Group World Champion and the 2008 ITU long-distance World Champion. See more on her website: http://www.chrissiewellington.org

 

New Title: Not Bad For A Bad Lad

Title: Not Bad for a Bad Lad

Authors: Michael Morpurgo and Michael Foreman

• Paperback:92 pages
• Publisher:Templar Publishing (24 Feb 2012)
• ISBN-10:184877320X
• ISBN-13:978-1848773202
• Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 1.3 cm

Product Description

When a young boy gets a reputation for being naughty at school, he reacts by being the bad lad that everyone expects. Leaving school at fourteen, he becomes a thief and eventually ends up in Hollesley Prison. But Mr Alfie, the stable manager, decides to give the boy a chance, letting him look after the horses. It turns out that his skill with horses saves him from a life of crime: on leaving prison, he manages to get a job working with horses in the army, and eventually achieves his dream of becoming a drum major.

 

About the Author

A champion for readers, book lovers and storytelling, Michael Morpurgo is one of the great children’s authors of our time. Children’s Laureate (2003 – 05) and recipient of numerous awards and accolades, his skill for storytelling is unmatched. Ever since his mother ignited his passion for stories, Michael has been weaving tales with magical narratives and characters that engage, inspire and captivate his young readers. From War Horse to Private Peaceful each Morpurgo book is lovingly crafted and a joy to read. The rich collaboration between Michael Morpurgo and illustrator Michael Foreman, has produced many modern classics. When the two Michaels create a book together you know it will be a real gem.

Book Recommendation: Farewell To The East End

Title: Farewell To The East End: The Last Days of the East End Midwives

Author:  Jennifer Worth

• Paperback:336 pages
• Publisher:Phoenix; MMP Latest Reissue edition (15 Oct 2009)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0753823063
• ISBN-13:978-0753823064
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.1 x 19.8 cm

Product Description

This final book in Jennifer Worth’s memories of her time as a midwife in London’s East end brings her story full circle. As always there are heartbreaking stories such as the family devastated by tuberculosis and a ship’s woman who ‘serviced’ the entire crew, as well as plenty of humour and warmth, such as the tale of two women who shared the same husband! Other stories cover backstreet abortions, the changing life of the docklands, infanticide, as well as the lives of the inhabitants of Nonnatus House. We discover what happens with the gauche debutant Chummy and her equally gauche policeman; will Sister Monica Joan continue her life of crime? Will Sister Evangelina ever crack a smile? And what of Jennifer herself? The book not only details the final years of the tenements but also of Jennifer’s journey as she moves on from the close community of nuns, and her life takes a new path.

 

About the Author

Jennifer Worth trained as a nurse at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, and was later ward sister at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London, then the Marie Curie Hospital, also in London. Music had always been her passion, and in 1973 she left nursing in order to study music intensively, teaching piano and singing for about twenty-five years. Jennifer died in May 2011 after a short illness, leaving her husband Philip, two daughters and three grandchildren. Her books have all been bestsellers.

New Title: Capital

Title:Capital

Author: John Lanchester

• Hardcover:592 pages
• Publisher:Faber and Faber (20 Feb 2012)
• ISBN-10:0571234607
• ISBN-13:978-0571234608
• Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 15.7 x 3.3 cm

Product Description

Pepys Road: an ordinary street in the Capital. Each house has seen its fair share of first steps and last breaths, and plenty of laughter in between. Today, through each letterbox along this ordinary street drops a card with a simple message: We Want What You Have. At forty, Roger Yount is blessed with an expensively groomed wife, two small sons and a powerful job in the City. An annual bonus of a million might seem excessive, but with second homes and nannies to maintain, he’s not sure he can get by without it. Elsewhere in the Capital, Zbigniew has come from Warsaw to indulge the super-rich in their interior decoration whims. Freddy Kano, teenage football sensation, has left a two-room shack in Senegal to follow his dream. Traffic warden Quentina has exchanged the violence of the police in Zimbabwe for the violence of the enraged middle classes. For them all, this city offers the chance of a different kind of life. Capital is a post-crash state-of-the nation novel told with compassion and humour, featuring a cast of characters that you will be sad to leave behind.

 

About the Author

John Lanchester was born in Hamburg in 1962. He has written three novels,The Debt to Pleasure, Mr Phillips and Fragrant Harbour, and two works of non-fiction:Family Romance, a memoir; and Whoops!: Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay, a book about the global financial crisis. He is married, has two children and lives in London.

Book Recommendation: Shadows of the Workhouse

Title:Shadows Of The Workhouse: The Drama Of Life In Postwar London

Author: Jennifer Worth

• Paperback:304 pages
• Publisher:Phoenix; Paperback edition (22 Jan 2009)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0753825856
• ISBN-13:978-0753825853
• Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm

Product Description

In this follow up to CALL THE MIDWIFE, Jennifer Worth, a midwife working in the docklands area of East London in the 1950s tells more stories about the people she encountered. There’s Jane, who cleaned and generally helped out at Nonnatus House – she was taken to the workhouse as a baby and was allegedly the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat. Peggy and Frank’s parents both died within 6 months of each other and the children were left destitute. At the time, there was no other option for them but the workhouse. The Reverend Thornton-Appleby-Thorton, a missionary in Africa, visits the Nonnatus nuns and Sister Julienne acts as matchmaker. And Sister Monica Joan, the eccentric ninety-year-old nun, is accused of shoplifting some small items from the local market. She is let off with a warning, but then Jennifer finds stolen jewels from Hatton Garden in the nun’s room. These stories give a fascinating insight into the resilience and spirit that enabled ordinary people to overcome their difficulties.

 

About the Author

Jennifer Worth trained as a nurse at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, and was later ward sister at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London, then the Marie Curie Hospital, also in London. Music had always been her passion, and in 1973 she left nursing in order to study music intensively, teaching piano and singing for about twenty-five years. Jennifer died in May 2011 after a short illness, leaving her husband Philip, two daughters and three grandchildren. Her books have all been bestsellers.

See  Also:

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  Farm Boy: The Sequel to War Horse by Michael Morpurgo

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  The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The History… by Sinclair McKay

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  Midwife on Call by Agnes Light

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  My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

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  Everybody Knew: A Boy. Two Brothers. A Stole… by Michael Clemenger

   

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  Yes Sister, No Sister: My Life as a Trainee Nur… by Jennifer Craig

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New Title: The Sins Of the Father

Title: The Sins of the Father (Clifton Chronicles 2)

Author:  Jeffrey Archer

• Hardcover:400 pages
• Publisher:Macmillan (15 Mar 2012)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:0230748236
• ISBN-13:978-0230748231
• Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm

Product Description

The master storyteller continues the Clifton saga with this, the second novel

 

Book Description

New York, 1939. Tom Bradshaw is arrested for first degree murder. He stands accused of killing his brother. When Sefton Jelks, a top Manhattan lawyer, offers his services for nothing, penniless Tom has little choice but to accept his assurance of a lighter sentence. After Tom is tried, found guilty and sentenced, Jelks disappears, and the only way for him to prove his innocence would be to reveal his true identity – something that he has sworn never to do in order to protect the woman he loves. Meanwhile, the young woman in question travels to New York, leaving their son behind in England, having decided she’ll do whatever it takes to find the man she was to marry – unwilling to believe that he died at sea. The only proof she has is a letter. A letter that has remained unopened on a mantelpiece in Bristol for over a year. In Jeffrey Archer’s epic novel, family loyalties are stretched to their limits as secrets unravel, and the story moves from the backstreets of Bristol to the boardrooms of Manhattan.

 

About the Author

Jeffrey Archer, whose novels and short stories include Kane and Abel, A Prisoner of Birth and Cat O’ Nine Tales, has topped the bestseller lists around the world, with sales of over 270 million copies. He is the only author ever to have been a number one bestseller in fiction (fifteen times), short stories (four times) and non-fiction (The Prison Diaries). The author is married with two sons and lives in London and Cambridge.

 

Book Recommendation: Half Of The Human Race

Title: Half of the Human Race

Author:  Anthony Quinn

• Paperback:496 pages
• Publisher:Vintage (5 Jan 2012)
• ISBN-10:0099531941
• ISBN-13:978-0099531944
• Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 3.4 cm

Product Description

Summer of 1911. The streets of London ring with cheers for a new king’s coronation and the cries of increasingly violent suffragette protests.

 

Connie Callaway, fired up by the possibilities of independence, wants more than the conventional comforts of marriage. Spirited and courageous, she is determined to fight for ‘the greatest cause the world has ever known’.

 

Will Maitland, the rising star of county cricket, is a man of traditional opinions. He is both intrigued and appalled by Connie’s outspokenness and her quest for self-fulfilment.

 

Buffeted and spun by choice and chance, their lives become inextricably entangled, even as the outbreak of war drives them further apart. This is a deeply affecting story of love against all the odds.

 

About the Author

Anthony Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1964. Since 1998 he has been the film critic of the Independent. His first novel The Rescue Man (2009) won the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award.

New Title: A Song Of Ice And Fire 6

Title: A Song of Ice and Fire (6) – A Dance With Dragons: After the Feast: Book 5 Part 2 of A Song of Ice and Fire (Song of Ice & Fire 5 Part 2)

Author:  George R. R. Martin

• Paperback:592 pages
• Publisher:Harper Voyager (15 Mar 2012)
• ISBN-10:0007466072
• ISBN-13: 978-0007466078

Product Description

Part Two of the highly anticipated fifth volume of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, the greatest epic work of the modern age.

In King’s Landing the Queen Regent, Cersei Lannister, awaits trial, abandoned by all those she trusted; while in the eastern city of Yunkai her brother Tyrion has been sold as a slave.

Having left his wife and the Red Priestess Melisandre under the protection of Jon Snow, Stannis Baratheon marches south to confront the Boltons at Winterfell. But beyond the Wall the wildling armies are massing for an assault…

On all sides bitter conflicts are reigniting, played out by a grand cast of outlaws and priests, soldiers and skinchangers, nobles and slaves. The tides of destiny will inevitably lead to the greatest dance of all.

About the Author

George R. R. Martin is the author of fourteen novels, including five volumes of A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, several collections of short stories and numerous screen plays for television drama and feature films. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Book Recommendation: Girl Reading

Title: Girl Reading

Author:  Katie Ward

Paperback: 352 pages

• Publisher:Virago (5 Jan 2012)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1844086879
• ISBN-13:978-1844086870
• Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.6 x 2.6 cm

Product Description

An orphan poses nervously for a Renaissance maestro in medieval Siena, and an artist’s servant girl in seventeenth-century Amsterdam snatches a moment away from her work to lose herself in tales of knights and battles. A woman reading in a Shoreditch bar catches the eye of a young man who takes her picture, and a Victorian medium holds a book that she barely acknowledges while she waits for the exposure.

 

About the Author

Katie Ward was born in Somerset in 1979. She has worked in the public and voluntary sectors, including at a women’s refuge and for a Member of Parliament. Katie lives in Suffolk with her husband and cat.

New Title: Waiting For Sunrise

Title: Waiting for Sunrise

Author:  William Boyd

• Hardcover:368 pages
• Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (16 Feb 2012)
• ISBN-10:1408817748
• ISBN-13:978-1408817742
• Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 3.6 cm

Product Description

Vienna, 1913. It is a fine day in August when Lysander Rief, a young English actor, walks through the city to his first appointment with the eminent psychiatrist Dr Bensimon. Sitting in the waiting room he is anxiously pondering the particularly intimate nature of his neurosis when a young woman enters. She is clearly in distress, but Lysander is immediately drawn to her strange, hazel eyes and her unusual, intense beauty. Her name is Hettie Bull. They begin a passionate love affair and life in Vienna becomes tinged with a powerful frisson of excitement for Lysander. He meets Sigmund Freud in a cafe, begins to write a journal, enjoys secret trysts with Hettie and appears – miraculously – to have been cured. Back in London, 1914. War is imminent, and events in Vienna have caught up with Lysander in the most damaging way. Unable to live an ordinary life, he is plunged into the dangerous theatre of wartime intelligence – a world of sex, scandal and spies, where lines of truth and deception blur with every waking day. Lysander must now discover the key to a secret code which is threatening Britain’s safety, and use all his skills to keep the murky world of suspicion and betrayal from invading every corner of his life. Moving from Vienna to London’s West End, from the battlefields of France to hotel rooms in Geneva, Waiting for Sunrise is a feverish and mesmerising journey into the human psyche, a beautifully observed portrait of wartime Europe, a plot-twisting thriller and a literary tour de force from the bestselling author of Any Human Heart, Restless and Ordinary Thunderstorms.

 

About the Author

William Boyd is the author of ten novels, including A Good Man in Africa, winner of the Whitbread Award and the Somerset Maugham Award; An Ice-Cream War, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Brazzaville Beach, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; Any Human Heart, winner of the Prix Jean Monnet and adapted into a Channel 4 drama; Restless, winner of the Costa Novel of the Year, the Yorkshire Post Novel of the Year and a Richard & Judy selection, and most recently, the bestselling Ordinary Thunderstorms.

 

Book Recommendation: Lost Kingdoms Of Africa

Title: The Lost Kingdoms of Africa

Author:  Gus Casely-Hayford

• Hardcover:352 pages
• Publisher:Bantam Press (16 Feb 2012)
• ISBN-10:0593068130
• ISBN-13:978-0593068137
• Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 15.8 x 3.6 cm

Product Description

For many of us the history of Africa is, at best, vague. We might think of Egyptian pyramids, legendary queens (of Sheba or Cleopatra) and Zulu warriors. The truth, however, is one of remarkably diverse, creative, culturally rich civilisations. In this book, which accompanies an 8-part BBC series, Gus Casely-Hayford takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of this remarkable continent. We will encounter archaeological sites of staggering beauty that rival the Great Wall of China, vast and ancient universities that predate Oxford and Cambridge, kingdoms of extraordinary wealth, artistic traditions that still inspire artists today, great religious sites that surpass the Vatican, and a country with more pyramids than Egypt.

 In recent years new archaeological and anthropological research has opened up the study of African history in ways previously unimaginable. Long-lost kingdoms are suddenly being brought back to life. Civilisations that had faded into myth are revealing their secrets. Using this latest research, Gus Casely-Hayford is able to tell the history of Africa’s major kingdoms in an entirely new, colourful and richly-informed way.

 Accessible and inspiring, The Lost Kingdoms of Africa is both a major addition to our understanding of this oft-overlooked history and a source of genuine delight and wonder.

About the Author

Gus Casely-Hayford is a Curator and cultural historian and has previously held the post of Executive Director, Arts Strategy, for the Arts Council England. He has directed and produced arts programmes for the BBC and Channel 4 and is a member of Tate Britain’s Council and a Clore Fellow. Gus has lectured at the Royal College of Art, Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Goldsmiths College. He gained a PhD in African History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University.

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Jobs Plan 2012 ROI

Action Plan For Jobs 2012 by Annette J Dunlea

Published In The Carrigdhoun Newspaper 25th Feb 2012 p.9

A recent report by the Irish government says that it’s top priority of the Government is to get Ireland back to work. Through it they will target different sectors with new policy supports and change for the better the way Government interacts with businesses by cutting costs and red tape.It further states that by supporting growth industries, and by building on recent successes, they will attract new foreign investment and increase our exports even further. They will help more Irish businesses to make it into the global market place and to create more jobs at home.Jobs will be central to economic recovery. There is no easy or quick path to full employment.They must rebuild our economy piece by piece and restore confidence and stability if they are to attract new jobs. This Action Plan outlines their intentions for the year ahead.

Here is a summary of the report.Becoming the best small country in the world in which to do business will require a deep transformation of Government and of all sectors of our society. The Action Plan for Jobs will seek to build on the work already begun across Government to rebuild our economy. It is about protecting existing jobs, as well as creating new ones.The restructuring of the banking system by Minister Noonan provides the basis for a core banking service that can deliver on the needs of start up or growing businesses.Ministers Burton and Quinn are delivering on a fundamental transformation of the employment support services that the State provides so that supports and training are working more closely together to help assist people back in to the workforce, it states. In other areas such as the establishment of NewERA and the Strategic Investment Fund, the Government is developing innovative ways to leverage the assets we own to drive long term investment in key infrastructure.The reorientation of the tax system, recognising that taxing work is not the way to revive the economy, is absolutely key.

This Plan is for 2012; subsequent Action Plans will be prepared for 2013, 2014 and so on, until their goals are realised.In total there are over 270 distinct actions identified to be delivered in 2012 across all Departments of Government and more than 36 agencies of the State. Each action has an identified lead Department or Agency that is responsible for its delivery. Milestones and timeframes for the delivery of each action are detailed in an Annex to the Action Plan which is published separately.At the same meeting of Cabinet that approved the annual Action Plan for Jobs process it was agreed that a Monitoring Group comprising of the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and Forfás would be formed to meet regularly and police the delivery of the actions identified in the report. This monitoring group will report in to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Recovery and Jobs with a view to quarterly reports on implementation being prepared and published.This Plan, unlike previous strategies, reports and publications, is geared solely towards carrying out the necessary changes across the sectors to make it easier to do business in Ireland so that as many jobs as possible can be protected and created over the coming years.

Key Actions of The Plan are:

1. Design and launch a new Development Capital Scheme, aimed at addressing a funding gap for mid-sized, high-growth, indigenous companies with significant prospects for jobs and export growth. €50 million of State investment is expected to leverage up to an extra €100 million in private sector funding over its lifetime.

2. Restructuring of the enterprise agencies in order to better target supports towards indigenous businesses with job-creation potential:establish a new Potential Exporters Division within Enterprise Ireland to target a wider group of potential exporting companies.Establish a new “one?stop?shop” micro enterprise support structure through the dissolution of the existing CEB offices and the creation of a new Micro Enterprise and Small Business Unit in Enterprise Ireland that will work with Local Authorities to establish a new network of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in each Local Authority.Establish a joint Enterprise Ireland/IDA senior management team to work on cross-agency priorities such as attracting international start-ups, improving mentoring for SMEs, and helping SMEs win supply contracts from multinationals.

3. Extend the corporation tax exemption for start?up companies until 2014.

4. Help more small businesses win big contracts, including:measures to make public procurement more accessible to Irish SMEs, such as

amending pre?qualification criteria, pre?qualification panels for SMEs and a new Procuring Innovation initiative which focuses on procuring solutions to specific needs, rather than prescriptive products or services.Measures to help more SMEs to win contracts with multinationals based here.

5. Measures to target improved performance by indigenous companies, including:greater funding for mentoring and management development networks.Long-term development programmes for 250 managers and short?term programmes for 700 managers.Increased mentoring of SMEs by top business leaders, multinationals and large Irish companies.Securing 750 new buyers for exporting Irish companies in 2012.Making 200 investments over €500,000 in EI?assisted firms in 2012.

6. The targeted temporary Partial Credit Guarantee for SMEs struggling to access credit will go live – for every €100 million extra in loans guaranteed under this demand-led scheme, over 1200 small businesses will benefit.

7. The Micro Finance fund will go live, generating up to €100 million in extra lending for micro-businesses over ten years.

8. The second call for Innovation Fund Ireland will go live, worth approximately €60 million, to invest in small Irish based high-tech companies.

9. Attract more mobile international entrepreneurs to start businesses in Ireland through a €10 million State fund for investment in international start?ups, improvements to immigration arrangements, a targeted marketing campaign, greater use of existing networks in the IDA and the diaspora.

10. Launch the Diaspora Finders Fee initiative (“Succeed in Ireland”) to attract greater numbers of inward investors to Ireland.

11. Establish a Global Irish Network of advocates to maximise the opportunities from Diaspora interest in Ireland and secure greater investment in Ireland.

12. Through the Strategic Investment Fund, channel commercial investment from the NPRF and matching investment from private sector investors towards productive investment in the Irish economy. The NPRF will also commit €250 million to the Infrastructure Fund, which will seek up to €1 billion from institutional investors in

Ireland and overseas for investment in infrastructure in Ireland.

13. Accelerate the delivery of economic outcomes from Government investment in research by implementing a Research Prioritisation Plan and enact new legislation to target the State’s research funding towards applied areas of research with strong potential for commercialisation and job-creation.

14. The R&D tax credit system will be further improved, making it easier for small and large companies to invest in research and development.

15. Initiatives targeting a number of key sectors where we see particular potential for jobcreation,such as:manufacturing, including establishment of a Manufacturing Development Forum.Establish a Health Innovation Hub to drive collaboration between the health system and the life sciences industry.Publish and implement a Cross-Departmental Plan for the development of the Green Economy.Agri?food – including winning more investment from multinational food companies for Ireland.Cloud computing – including a Cloud Computing Strategy for the Public Service and establishment of a research centre in cloud computing.Establish a cluster development team for digital games. Establish industry clusters in these targeted sectors.

The Government has an ambitious jobs plan which aims to create 100,000 new positions by 2016 and a further 100,000 by 2020. The State is to guarantee 75% of some loans to small and medium businesses in the second quarter of this year.The plan also includes a development capital scheme for companies with prospects of jobs and export growth. It will be backed by €50 million of state investment which is expected to leverage up to €100 million. A new micro finance fund will supply investment in small companies seeking less than €25,000. The fund will be worth €10 million every year for ten years. The European Investment Bank will supply some of the equity.There is also a facility for the diaspora to contribute to investment in new enterprises which is modelled on similar scheme in Israel. The plan includes steps to encourage more mobile international entrepreneurs to start businesses in Ireland through a €10 million State fund for investment in start-ups, improvement in immigration arrangements, a targeted marketing campaign and greater use of IDA Ireland’s network.

The NPRF will commit €250 million and a further €1 billion will be sought from institutional investors in Ireland and overseas for infrastructural investment.County and city enterprise boards will be dissolved and a new micro enterprise and small business unit in Enterprise Ireland will now work with local authorities. A corporation tax exemption will be extended for start-up companies until 2014.Other measures will see better support indigenous companies to improve their performance, including increased mentoring of SMEs by top business leaders, multinationals and large Irish companies and helping small businesses to engage in R&D and innovation.

The report acknowledges that the challenge for Ireland is to reinvent itself. It will be through the creativity and ingenuity of people in the private and public sectors that we will achieve this change. It is through ideas that can be successfully commercialised that we can create real value, change people’s lives, provide and sustain employment.

The End

New Title: Pure

Title: Pure

Author:  Andrew Miller

• Paperback:352 pages
• Publisher:Sceptre (5 Jan 2012)
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN-10:1444724282
• ISBN-13:978-1444724288
• Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3.2 cm

Product Description

A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of mummified corpses and chanting priests.

A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love…

A year unlike any other he has lived.

Deep in the heart of Paris, its oldest cemetery is, by 1785, overflowing, tainting the very breath of those who live nearby. Into their midst comes Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young, provincial engineer charged by the king with demolishing it.

At first Baratte sees this as a chance to clear the burden of history, a fitting task for a modern man of reason. But before long, he begins to suspect that the destruction of the cemetery might be a prelude to his own.

About the Author

Andrew Miller was born in Bristol in 1960. He has lived in Spain, Japan, Ireland and France, and currently lives in Somerset. His first novel, INGENIOUS PAIN, was published by Sceptre in 1997 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Grinzane Cavour prize in Italy. He has since written five novels: CASANOVA, OXYGEN, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award and the Booker Prize in 2001, THE OPTIMISTS, ONE MORNING LIKE A BIRD and PURE which won the Costa Novel of the Year Award 2012.

 

Book Recommendation: The Shop

Title: The Shop

Author:  J. Carson Black

• Format:Kindle Edition
• File Size:596 KB
• Publisher:Thomas & Mercer (6 Feb 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
• LanguageEnglish
• ASIN:B005WWC67G
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled

Product Description

In Aspen, Colorado, a pop star and her entourage are brutally murdered in their luxury chalet. The lead assassin, ex-Navy SEAL Cyril Landry, has no qualms about carrying out his mission until the instant before he kills the young star—an intense, shared moment that will ultimately drive him to find out why these people had to die. Landry transforms from mercenary to hunter as he delves into the depths of The Shop, the shadowy organization that has hired him to execute people across the country.

Thousands of miles away, in a seedy motel in Gardenia, Florida, a local police chief is found shot to death. The scene has all the signs of a romantic rendezvous gone wrong, but Detective Jolie Burke isn’t so sure. As she digs for clues, the tangled threads of evidence lead to a disturbing place: Indigo, the lush tropical estate of the powerful Haddox clan and home of US Attorney General Franklin Haddox. As Jolie continues to pursue the truth, she quickly discovers that Haddox will do anything to protect his country’s ugly secrets—even kill.

Landry’s quest to uncover The Shop’s motives throws him into the dark currents of Jolie’s investigation, and they find themselves working together as an unlikely duo: a cop and a killer, joining forces to expose a shocking conspiracy that ascends to the highest offices in the land.

Intricate and fast-paced, The Shop is a breathtaking thriller in the vein of Nelson DeMille and David Baldacci.

About the Author

J. Carson Black is the bestselling and critically-acclaimed author of eight books, including the Laura Cardinal crime fiction series. Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Black has found inspiration for her writing in everything from real life horrors to the headlines screaming today’s news. She is currently working on her next thriller, to be published by Thomas & Mercer in 2012.