After 15 years in power, Isaiah Mujuni, President of Barudi, the world’s leading tobacco producer realizes it’s all over. Demonstrators and rioters, inspired by similar events in North Africa have run amok- burning Government buildings and trashing the capital. They want him out and the International Community is on their side. His enemies want him tried for trumped up charges of human rIn this character-driven short science fiction story, a family in a dying space ship is responsible for delivering a vaccine to a colony on Jupiter's moon Europa. Without the vaccine, 5,000 souls could be wiped out. But the ship is hit by a meteor before it gets there. The resulting dilemma creates heroes out of ordinary people.

A moving story of a brother, a sister and a swallow, and how all are in some way victims of the horrors of landmines.Olly’s brother Matt wants to go and work with children who have been made orphans, through war, in Africa. He wants to be a clown and make them laugh. His mother and sister want him to stay in England and go to university.Hero, a swallow, has a journey to make too. He must fly to Africa for the winter to join all the other swallows. His journey is difficult and fraught with danger.Three separate stories are woven into one powerful and moving novel whose central theme not only exposes the horrors of war and of landmines, but also the endurance of the human spirit. Michael divides his time between his writing and running Farms for City Children, a charity which each year takes up to 3,000 children to a working farm for a week. Michael and his wife Clare were awarded MBEs this year for their work with the charity. Before the first farm opened 22 years ago, Morpurgo was a teacher and his knowledge of children’s experiences, plus his experience of Farms enrich his writing enormously.Michael Morpurgo has won the Whitbread Children’s Book Award, and the Smarties Book Prize.

The year is 1883, and in New York City, it’s a time of dizzying splendor, crushing poverty, and tremendous change. With the gravity-defying Brooklyn Bridge nearly complete and New York in the grips of anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, Anna Savard and her cousin Sophie—both graduates of the Woman’s Medical School—treat the city’s most vulnerable, even if doing so may put everything they’ve strived for in jeopardy. Anna's work has placed her in the path of four children who have lost everything, just as she herself once had. Faced with their helplessness, Anna must make an unexpected choice between holding on to the pain of her past and letting love into her life. For Sophie, an obstetrician and the orphaned daughter of free people of color, helping a desperate young mother forces her to grapple with the oath she took as a doctor—and thrusts her and Anna into the orbit of Anthony Comstock, a dangerous man who considers himself the enemy of everything indecent and of anyone who dares to defy him.

A collection of stories in the world of Geralt the Witcher, introducing some of the most loved characters from this universe. A must-read for fans of the novels and games alike. Geralt is a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent. He roams the country seeking assignments, but gradually comes to realise that while some of his quarry are unremittingly vile, vicious grotesques, others are the victims of sin, evil or simple naivety. In this collection of short stories, following the adventures of the hit collection The Last Wish, join Geralt as he battles monsters, demons and prejudices alike... The anthology is composed of several stories, loosely linked in a chronological order: The Bounds of Reason (Granica możliwości) A Shard of Ice (Okruch lodu) Eternal Flame (Wieczny ogień) A Little Dedication (Trochę poświęcenia) The Sword of Destiny (Miecz przeznaczenia) Something More (Coś więcej)

This is an evocation of the woman who married Chairman Mao and fought to succeed him. The unwanted daughter of a concubine, she refused to have her feet bound, ran away to join an opera troupe and eventually met Mao Zedong in the mountains of Yenan.

Ellen has one goal: vengeance. With little memory of her life before her imprisonment by a maniacal werewolf, her world has been full of pain, humiliation, and fear. But now that she's been rescued, her need for revenge is challenged by the urge to be part of a pack... and the unshakable connection to, Hollis, the man her wolf claims as their mate.Hollis will do whatever it takes to protect his pack, and that includes looking after Ellen, who doesn't need or want his help. He's determined to keep her safe, even though she's hell-bent on revenge, even if that means sacrificing himself. And it might come to that when the big bad comes back for the one woman he can't live without.Books in the Blood Moon Brotherhood series:Falling for the Billionaire Wolf and His BabyRescued by the WolfProtecting the Wolf's Mate

They Went From Completely Off-Limits To Husband And Wife... Overnight!Waking up next to a very virile–and very naked–Luke Boone is shocking enough. But for Katie Rodgers to learn that her sister's ex-fiancé is now her husband? Unforgivable. Katie needs an annulment of her marriage to Texas's wealthiest power broker–now! But when their sizzling chemistry survives the trip back to Texas, are the newlyweds really ready to untie the knot?

"Got a gun?"With those words, David Allen Crockett, a retired police officer who simply wanted to be left alone, finds his seclusion shattered by his friend, therapist Ruby LaCost. At Ruby's request, Crockett agrees to teach one of her clients, Rachael Moore, how to defend herself with a handgun.During the course of those lessons, Crockett and Rachael begin an intimate relationship. When Rachael is found dead from an apparent suicide, Crockett is devastated and tries to slink back into his self-imposed seclusion. But things get complicated when Crockett is contacted by Rachael's aunt, who believes the suicide was staged and claims she has the name of the murderer. Together, Crockett and Ruby begin an investigation that leads them into a world of treachery, deceit, and death.

Mary Renault’s inventive debut novel: A love-triangle drama set against the backdrop of hospital life Working in a hospital in 1930s Britain, two colleagues fall into an emotionally charged relationship. Vivian and Mic work demanding jobs and must endure long gaps between their secret meetings. But it is their relationship with Vivian’s brother, Jan, a charismatic scientist, that really complicates their union. Before falling for Vivian, Mic had nursed feelings for independent-minded Jan. As for Vivian, her romantic experience has left her with doubts about commitment. For this fraught trio, big questions about love—what and whom it is for—demand answers. In this powerful, sparklingly written debut tale of romance between the wars, Mary Renault showcases the talents that made her one of the twentieth century’s most beloved novelists.

Carter Sullivan, foster brother in the famous Campbell family, never had it easy. He was an abused kid, tortured by dealers, in and out of juvenile detention until he was sent to the Circle C Ranch to be fostered. Life got better, but when Carter was eighteen, his ex-girlfriend pushed his baby daughter into his arms and took off, never to be seen again. Carter raised his daughter, Faith, on his own, with the help of the four wild Campbell brothers and his foster mom, the first person who ever believed in him. Grace Malory always had a crush on Carter, the dark and damaged man who never quite fit in to the close community of Riverbend. When Carter’s foster mom needs help running the domestic side of the ranch, Grace is ready to help out with all the cooking for the brothers and their new families. Carter’s troubles rise again in the form of his ex-girlfriend who returns to try to claim custody of Faith. Carter’s greatest fear is losing his daughter, and he turns to Grace to help him in a desperate deception to keep Faith with him forever.

Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. Commissioned to rescue Governor Bligh of Bounty fame, Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and surgeon, Stephen Maturin, sail the Leopard to Australia with a hold full of convicts. Among them is a beautiful and dangerous spy — and a treacherous disease which decimates the crew. The ingredients of a wonderfully powerful and dramatic O’Brian novel are heightened by descriptive writing of rare quality. Nowhere in contemporary prose have the majesty and terror of the sea been more effectively rendered than in the thrilling chase through an Antarctic storm in which Jack’s ship, under-manned and out-gunned, is the quarry not the hunter.

Longer novels from Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo are always a particular treat, and Private Peaceful is no exception. Tragic, surprising and engaging in equal measures, Morpurgo's novel charts both the childhood of young Thomas Peaceful in the early years of the 20th century, and his eventual underage enlistment in the British army to help fight the First World War. It is, above all, a poignant story of war and about all of its many life-changing effects on those involved--also the brutality of the commanding regimes and the relentless squalor of trench warfare. It's not for the squeamish--Morpurgo tells it like it was and his honest insight is on every page for all to appreciate. "Tommo" Peaceful is recalling his childhood from those terrible battlefields. He remembers his big brother Charlie taking him to his first day of school, the death of his father, his mum working hard to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table. He remembers his brother Joe, who some called simple, but who to Tommo was very special. He also recalls the only girl in his life, Molly, and how Charlie somehow took her away from him. But as the World turned to War, he had to grow up fast. Together Charlie and Tommo enlist and are sent to France, almost immediately, to what could only be described as pure hell on Earth. Bullets, bombs, death. Shells, noise, dirt. Disease, rats, stench. Charlie and Tommo fight for their lives and to stay together--facing certain death in the face every time they try to advance the British lines. Morpurgo rattles through his narrative at some speed, gracefully capturing both the horror of war and the ecstasy of life. The ending is shocking and memorable. This is difficult, emotionally draining but highly recommended reading. (Recommended for ages 10 and over.) --John McLay