Books
Feral Youth : Polly Courtney
Feral Youth
Growing up on a south London estate and excluded from every school that would take her, Alesha is the poster girl for the nation’s ‘feral youth’.
When a young teacher makes an unexpected reappearance in the 15-year-old’s life, opening the door to a world of salaries, pianos and middle-class housemates, Alesha’s instinct is to pull up her hood and return to the streets.
But fuelled by a need to survive, she falls into a cycle of crime, violence and drug-dealing, her one true ally deserting her when she needs him most. While everyone around her is rallying against the authorities in a war of haves and have-nots, Alesha finds herself caught in the crossfire, inextricably linked to the people she is trying to fight against.
Can she see a way out? And as riots sweep the nation, whose side will she take?
FERAL YOUTH is Courtney’s sixth novel and her first since walking out on her publisher, HarperCollins, over the ‘girly’ titles and covers assigned to her books. She wrote Feral Youth ‘to give a voice to the thousands of frustrated youths who, like Alesha, feel marginalised and ignored by the rest of society’.
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Conquest Defiled : Robert Wagner
Conquest Defiled : Triumph of Evil
This novel is historical fiction set in fifteenth century Spain. The Inquisition thrived and terrorized those who deviated from church teaching (heretics). During this era King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ended eight hundred years of Arab occupation and re-fashioned Spain. Seen through the eyes of a Christian knight and his Jewish wife, the novel is of enduring love against a background of intrigue, war and religious arrogance.
To inherit the throne of Castile, Isabella was required to marry a suitor chosen by the king (Henry IV, her half-brother). She refused, and in spite of consanguinity laws, married her second cousin, Ferdinand of Aragon. Upon the death of Henry IV, Isabella crowned herself Queen of Castile and secured the crown by victory in the war of succession.
Appointed by God, the monarchs won the war of the Reconquista and purged the infidel from Christian Spain. Ferdinand conducted the war. Isabella formed alliances, gave land grants to nobles and received vast sums of money from the church. After the war the monarchs issued The Edict of Expulsion. All Jews and Muslims were banished. Only Christians remained. Spain was now one country, of one faith, under God and pure of blood (Limpieza de Sangre).
Entwined in the novel are the fictional characters, Casiano, a Christian knight and Perla, his wife, a Converso Jewess. Unable to relinquish her traditional beliefs, she was denounced to the Inquisition and sentenced as a heretic. Casiano rescued her from the stake and fled. Freed from their imposed god, they found within themselves, God in whose image they were, the essence of their souls.
The Unwanted Heiress : Amy Corwin
The Unwanted Heiress
An American heiress nobody wants; a Duke every woman is after; and a murder no one expects.
When Nathaniel, Duke of Peckham, meets Charlotte, he’s suspicious of her indifference. Too many women have sought—and failed—to catch him. However, Charlotte is more interested in dead pharaohs than English dukes.
Unfortunately, a debutante seeking to entrap Nathaniel gets murdered, and his reputation as a misogynist makes him a suspect. On impulse, Charlotte comes to his aid, not realizing that her actions may place her in danger, too.
Both are unaware that a highwayman interested in rich heiresses is following Charlotte, and that another debutante lies dead in Nathaniel’s carriage.
Some nights just don’t go as planned.
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Coffee and Vodka : Helena Halme
Coffee and Vodka
‘Nordic Noir Meets Family Saga’
‘A rich story that stays with us….with moments of brilliance.’ Dr Mimi Thebo, Bath Spa University.
‘The descriptions of the difficulties of childhood, sisterhood, relationships and parenthood transcend national borders.’ Pauline Masurel, editor & writer.
Eeva, a tall, ambitious teacher of Swedish to immigrants, is sipping coffee in her orderly flat in Stockholm, when the phone rings. She recognises the voice immediately, though she hasn’t spoken with Pappa for over thirty years. He has news that Eeva’s beloved grandmother is dying. Immediately Eeva decides to travel to Finland alone. She tries to call her sister Anja to tell her the news, but can’t get hold of her. However, Eeva decides against telling her boyfriend, Janne, about her journey.
On the overnight ferry to Finland, Eeva is haunted by memeories of her childhood and the dramatic events which follwed her family’s move in 1974 from a small Finnish town to Stockholm. The story shifts between the past and the present.
Eeva is excited when Pappa announces the move from Tampere to a brand new flat in the Swedish capital, where ‘Everything is bigger and better’. But in Sweden Eeva’s world falls apart. Mamma finds feminism and Eeva’s feisty older sister, Anja, quickly becomes fluent in the language and starts to pretend to be Swedish. But the domineering Pappa feels angry at being called a ‘Fucking Finn’ by the more affluent Swedes. He feels inferior and resents his family’s newfound independence.
On the overnight ferry Eeva meets an old lover she thought’d she’d forgotten, Yri. They share a drink and Eeva finds he hasn’t lost any of his charm. The next morning, when Eeva drives towards Tampere, a town she left behind as a child, she dreads seeing Pappa again. She’s anxious to see her grandmother and puzzled that she can’t get hold of her sister. How will Eeva overcome her fear of Pappa, her anger at his past actions and the haunting memories from her childhood? And what is she going to say to Janne?
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Everything You Were Taught About the Civil War is Wrong : Lochlainn Seabrook
Everything You Were Taught About the Civil War is Wrong, Ask a Southerner!
DID YOU KNOW THAT . . .
• American slavery got its start in the North
• The American abolition movement began in the South
• Most Southern generals did not own slaves, and many, like Robert E. Lee, were abolitionists
• Many Northern generals, like U.S. Grant, owned slaves and said they would not fight for abolition
• According to the 1860 Census a mere 4.8 percent of Southerners owned slaves, 95.2 percent did not
• Abraham Lincoln was a white separatist who wanted to send all blacks “back to Africa”
• Jefferson Davis adopted a black boy and freed Southern slaves before the North did
• Lincoln was not against slavery, he was against the spread of slavery
• Lincoln supported the idea of corralling African-Americans in their own all-black state
• True slavery was never practiced in the South
• Lincoln “won” both the 1860 and 1864 elections with less than 50 percent of the American vote
• Lincoln was a big government liberal, Davis was a small government conservative
• There were tens of thousands of both black and Native-American slave owners
• Lincoln started the Civil War, not the South
• The North fought to “preserve the Union,” not to abolish slavery
• The South fought to uphold the original Constitution, not to maintain slavery
• the Northern armies were racially segregated, the Southern armies were racially integrated
• 1 million African-Americans fought for the Confederacy in one capacity or another
• The original Ku Klux Klan was an anti-Yankee organization with thousands of black members
• “Reconstruction” was a dismal failure, which is why the South is still recovering from the War
In this bestselling book, popular Southern historian and award-winning author Lochlainn Seabrook sets the record straight on these and hundreds of other commonly misunderstood topics in this easy-to-read, well documented handbook on the American “Civil War.” This is the book that every Civil War museum, house, gift shop, and Website has been waiting for, and every Civil War buff and student of history has been asking for! Includes over 1000 endnotes, a 700-book bibliography, and an index.
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Signs of Passion : Astrologers Haunani
Signs of Passion
Signs of Passion is an unique book. To get the most from it we strongly suggest reading the introductory chapter in which lovable, yet cantankerous, Grandee, is introduced and her secret, herbal, alchemic laboratory revealed. It is from her amphorae of preparations the adventures morph the reader into the theme character in which they will “live” each sign’s experience.
This book can be read on different levels – light entertainment of exhilarating adventures, more deeply as historical fiction or deeply as an illuminating astrological lesson in love. One needn’t be an astrologer to understand, but has only to remember the essence of each story to gain insight into all love natures available. However, if one “speaks” astrology one can further enjoy the way each story evolves within the parameters of each sign.
The reader is transported into the shoes of male and female “personalities” of each sign representing the entire gambit of love possibilities. These carefully crafted explorations were written in story format, which more easily imbues the mind than seemingly unrelated lists of astrological sign attributes. Following each story is a detailed description of Venus or Mars from a strictly astrological view and the time period in which it is set.
This anthology of 24 short stories allows an understanding of the qualities offered romantically in a totally absorbing and new mode so one may entertain which sign(s) might best fulfill their personal desires. Information allows one to cherish self through understanding one’s own personality and needs so as to not be forced off the path of personal transformation in an effort to gain a partner. The gift of Signs of Passion is freeing one from approaching the quest seeking love as if blindfolded.
Astrologers Haunani is the second and third generations of a three-generation family of astrologers.
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The Winter People : Bret Tallent
The Winter People
The Winter People talk in the wind and torment you in your dreams. They call an enormous blizzard to their aid and fall upon the tiny mountain town of Copper Creek.
The residents and visitors of this quaint village have more to fear than the raging blizzard that has cut off their town from the rest of the world. They have more to fear than the nightmares they can’t quite remember in the morning.
The Winter People have come to feed.
This is a fast paced heart pounding fear-fest. It follows the lives of a small group trying to survive the greatest horror they have ever known, and an enemy like no other on earth.
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Green Eyes and Good Hair : Hugh O. Smith
Green Eyes and Good Hair
Tony is young good-looking and successful, the ultimate ladies’ man. Everything about him, from his clothes to his apartment, is designed to be a trap for the women who catch his eye. Tony has no immediate plans except to advance his career and continue with his playboy ways. Then one day he meets Olivia, a beautiful plus-size executive, and he sees a way he can do both.
Olivia is new in town, but not certainly not new to the ways of the player. She knows that no man can treat her the way she deserves so she doesn’t even try to find one. As far as she’s concerned, life is just fine without an encumbrance like a boyfriend or husband. When she meets Tony, she sees him for exactly what he is, a playboy looking for a good time. She’s wise to his playboy ways but still, she wouldn’t mind spending a little time with him.
Tony and Olivia get together, each with their own agenda. Then, against all odds, something happens that changes them both…
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The Judas Hunter : William E. Wallace
The Judas Hunter
Private eye Jack Burial is so down-and-out that his cell phone’s been cut off and he’s about to be evicted from his office.
A job tracing a businessman who has betrayed his partners could put Burial back in the black; all he has to do is survive the Mafia, murderous bikers and an irate federal prosecutor while tracking down the Judas — without becoming one himself!
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The Book On Entrepreneurship and Property : Selchouk Sami
The Book On Entrepreneurship and Property
The book taps in to the fundamentals of the entrepreneurial spirit.
In eight concise chapters totaling just over 130 pages, “The Book on Entrepreneurship and Property the Guide to Successful Entrepreurship and Property Investment” illustrates how entrepreneurship has developed and impacted society over the years by reviewing the industrial revolutions that have set the framework for modern economic development and then takes a look in to the future with the Third Industrial Revolution.
It next moves on to list ten of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time and identifies how they have achieved their success. There is nothing better than learning from the best to awaken the entrepreneurial spirit. For the property investor there is a Chapter on legal and practical concerns. The entrepreneurial mind can be applied to acquire a property for as little as £1 which is addressed in a Chapter. This is the first book in the UK written by a lawyer to discuss the creative tool known as instalment contracts. By the time you have completed this book, you should be equipped with the fundamentals to enable you to decide what your next move in business is going to be; whether it is to find the right business partner or to seek advice from an expert.
Chapter 7 elaborates on the finding by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) that entrepreneurship globally is on the rise and that entrepreneurship, is the best hope for stimulating a weakened world economy.
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