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A Column of Fire by Ken Follett
In 1558, the ancient stones of Kingsbridge Cathedral look down on a city torn apart by religious conflict. As power in England shifts precariously between Catholics and Protestants, royalty and commoners clash, testing friendship, loyalty, and love.
Ned Willard wants nothing more than to marry Margery Fitzgerald. But when the lovers find themselves on opposing sides of the religious conflict dividing the country, Ned goes to work for Princess Elizabeth. When she becomes queen, all Europe turns against England.
The shrewd, determined young monarch sets up the country’s first secret service to give her early warning of assassination plots, rebellions, and invasion plans. Over a turbulent half century, the love between Ned and Margery seems doomed as extremism sparks violence from Edinburgh to Geneva. Elizabeth clings to her throne and her principles, protected by a small, dedicated group of resourceful spies and courageous secret agents.
The real enemies, then as now, are not the rival religions. The true battle pitches those who believe in tolerance and compromise against the tyrants who would impose their ideas on everyone else—no matter what the cost.
Set during one of the most turbulent and revolutionary times in history, A Column of Fire is one of Follett’s most exciting and ambitious works yet. It will delight longtime fans of the Kingsbridge series and is the perfect introduction for readers new to Ken Follett.
The Jewish Phenomenon by Steven Silbi...
The Jewish Phenomenon: Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People
Why have Jews risen to the top of the business and professional world in numbers staggeringly out of proportion to their percentage of the American population? Steven Silbiger has the answer. Based on the author's synthesis of wide reading and research, The Jewish Phenomenon sets forth seven principles that form the bedrock of Jewish financial success.
With startling statistics, a wealth of anecdotes, and the fascinating details behind some of America's biggest business success stories, Silbiger convincingly shows how these seven keys have helped the Jews historically and how they continue to ensure Jewish success today. More important, the author makes clear that these principles are equally at the disposal of Jews and non-Jews alike. The amazing success of the Jews simply proves that they work.
The Jewish Phenomenon pays tribute not merely to the success of a people but to the commonsense wisdom and enduring values that can enrich us all.
The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai H...
Brief summary
Voted an Observer Top Ten Contemporary African Book 2012 and nominated for The Guardian's Not the Booker Prize 2011. Vimbai is the star hairdresser of her salon, the smartest in Harare, Zimbabwe, until the enigmatic Dumisani appears.
Losing many of her best customers to this good-looking, smooth-talking young man, Vimbai fears for her job, vital if she's to provide for her young child. But in a remarkable reversal the two becomes allies, Dumi renting a room from Vimbai, then inviting her to a family wedding, where to her surprise, he introduces her to his rich parents as his 'girlfriend'.
Soon they are running their own Harare salon, attracting the wealthiest and most powerful clients in the city. But disaster is near, as Vimbai soon uncovers Dumi's secret, a discovery that will result in brutality and tragedy, testing their relationship to the very limit. The Hairdresser of Harare is a stylish, funny and sophisticated first-hand account of life today in Zimbabwe's capital city, confounding stereotypes and challenging injustice with equal fearlessness.
This is an upbeat, charming, but at times heart breaking, story of friendship, prejudice and forgiveness from the heart of contemporary Africa.
The Kingdon Field Guide to African Ma...
Brief summary
This is a complete guide to the mammal fauna of Africa. Covering all known species (around 460), this guide will enable identification of all land mammals likely to be seen anywhere in Africa.
Detailed accounts, with colour illustrations, are provided for most species, but some complex small mammal groups are summarized by general.
The colour illustrations show both sexes in sexually dimorphic species, and there are also a wealth of line drawings illustrating typical behaviours, the function of camouflaged or disruptive markings and the details of interspecific variation among closely allied species. Distribution maps show the ranges of most species covered.
The Pirates of Somalia
Brief summary
The Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World
The first close-up look at the hidden world of Somali pirates by a young journalist who dared to make his way into their remote havens and spent a year infiltrating their lives.
For centuries, stories of pirates have captured imaginations around the world. The recent ragtag bands of pirates off the coast of Somalia, hijacking multimillion-dollar tankers owned by international shipping conglomerates, have brought the scourge of piracy into the modern era.
Jay Bahadur’s riveting narrative exposé—the first of its kind—looks at who these men are, how they live, the forces that created piracy in Somalia, how the pirates spend the ransom money, how they deal with their hostages, among much, much more. It is a revelation of a dangerous world at the epicenter of political and natural disaster.
ISBN:9780307379061
Author:Jay Bahadur
Middle School Get Me Out of Here
Brief Summary
After sixth grade, the very worst year of his life, Rafe Khatchadorian thinks he has it made in seventh grade. He's been accepted to art school in the big city and imagines a math-and-history-free fun zone. Wrong! It's more competitive than Rafe ever expected, and to score big in class, he needs to find a way to turn his boring life into the inspiration for a work of art.
His method? Operation: Get a Life! Anything he's never done before, he's going to do it, from learning to play poker to going to a modern art museum. But when his newest mission uncovers secrets about the family Rafe's never known, he has to decide if he's ready to have his world turned upside down.
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ISBN:9780316206716
Author:Chris Tebbetts and James Patterson
The Boy with the Biggest Head in the ...
Brief Summary
Meet classic comic-strip character Big Nate – The Boy with the Biggest Head in the World – as he stars in his own super-funny series. Big Nate is created by Lincoln Peirce, who inspired Jeff Kinney, author of ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’.
Big-head Nate Wright truly believes he is destined for greatness! He's a table tennis champ, a genius comic book artist and the self-proclaimed king of his class.
One school morning, Nate barely survives his Dad's toxic porridge before rushing off to school, forgetting his lunch. He thinks he has a test and he hasn't studied for it! Nate's class notes are full of doodles but sadly lacking any useful information… On the way to school he accidentally body slams his head teacher, then, during his first lesson of the day, he manages to insult his least favourite teacher, Mrs. Godfrey (aka Godzilla).
But a little thing like having-the-worst-day-ever won't hold back The Boy with the Biggest Head in the World!
ISBN:9780007355167
Author:Lincoln Peirce
Big Nate Boredom Buster
Brief Summary
This Big Nate activity book is bursting with exclusive activities. Includes mazes, sudoku, crossword puzzles, doodle games, comics, secrets codes, and much more!
Nate may not be Joe Honor Roll, but he knows he's meant for big fun. He's always up for scribbling games, jokes, laughs, and creating comics. And now you can join him!
There is plenty of space for kids to get creative, and all the favorite characters from Nate's New York Times bestselling world are included—the know-it-all Gina; Nate's best buddies, Francis and Teddy; his rival, Artur; and his least favorite teacher, Mrs. Godfrey, aka Godzilla. Nate's world pops off the pages with more than 500 black-and-white illustrations that you get to help create.
An awesome way to guarantee 100% relief from boredom—learn to doodle, draw, and write the Big Nate way!
ISBN:9780062060945
Author:Lincoln Peirce
Shake Hands with the Devil The Failur...
Overview
On the 10th anniversary of when UN peacekeepers landed in Rwanda, Random House Canada proudly publishes the unforgettable 1st-hand account of the genocide by the leader of the mission. Digging deep into shattering memories, Dallaire has written a powerful story of betrayal, naïveté, racism & international politics. His message is simple, undeniable: Never again.
When Lt-Gen. Roméo Dallaire was called to serve as force commander of the UN intervention in Rwanda in '93, he thought he was heading off on a straightforward peacekeeping mission. Thirteen months later he flew home from Africa, broken, disillusioned & suicidal, having witnessed the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in 100 days.
In Shake Hands with the Devil, he takes readers with him on a return voyage into hell, vividly recreating the events the international community turned its back on. This book is an unsparing eyewitness account of the failure by humanity to stop the genocide, despite timely warnings. Woven thru the story of this disastrous mission is his own journey from confident Cold Warrior, to devastated UN commander, to retired general engaged in a painful struggle to find a measure of peace, hope & reconciliation.
This book is a personal account of his conversion from a man certain of his worth & secure in his assumptions to one conscious of his own weaknesses & failures & critical of the institutions he'd relied on. It might not sit easily with standard ideas of military leadership, but understanding what happened to him & his mission to Rwanda is crucial to understanding the moral minefields peacekeepers are forced to negotiate when we ask them to step into dirty wars.
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ISBN:9780786715107
Author:Roméo Dallaire
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabrie...
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic.
As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina.
Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.
Into Thin Air
Brief summary
One of the inspirations for the major motion picture Everest, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley.
Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air is the true story of a 24-hour period on Everest, when members of three separate expeditions were caught in a storm and faced a battle against hurricane-force winds, exposure, and the effects of altitude, which ended the worst single-season death toll in the peak's history.
In March 1996, Outside magazine sent veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer on an expedition led by celebrated Everest guide Rob Hall. Despite the expertise of Hall and the other leaders, by the end of summit day, eight people were dead.
Krakauer's book is at once the story of the ill-fated adventure and an analysis of the factors leading up to its tragic end. Written within months of the events it chronicles, Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape.
As the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. The author's own anguish over what happened on the mountain is palpable as he leads readers to ponder timeless questions.
ISBN:9781447200185
Author:Jon Krakauer
The Spy by Paulo Coelho
Brief summary
In his new novel, Paulo Coelho, best-selling author of The Alchemist and Adultery, brings to life one of history's most enigmatic women: Mata Hari.
HER ONLY CRIME WAS TO BE AN INDEPENDENT WOMAN
When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Within months she was the most celebrated woman in the city.
As a dancer, she shocked and delighted audiences; as a courtesan, she bewitched the era’s richest and most powerful men.
But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917, she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs Elysees, and accused of espionage.
Told in Mata Hari’s voice through her final letter, The Spy is the unforgettable story of a woman who dared to defy convention and who paid the ultimate price.
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ISBN:9781524732066
Author:Paulo Coelho
Morning Noon and Night by Sydney Sheldon
Brief summary
A power revered by presidents and kings, a fortune unsurpassed by few people on earth: all that ended for Harry Stanford the day he mysteriously-and fatally-plunged from his luxury yacht into the Mediterranean Sea.
Then, back home in Boston, as the family gathers to grieve for his memory and to war over his legacy, a stunningly beautiful young woman appears. She claims to be Stanford's long-lost daughter and entitled to her share of his estate.
Now, flaming with intrigue and passion through the glamorous preserves of the world's super rich, the ultimate game of wits begins, for stakes too dazzling and deadly to imagine.
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ISBN:9780446602211
Author:Sidney Sheldon
Fifty shades freed
Morning, Noon & Night
A power revered by presidents and kings, a fortune unsurpassed by few people on earth: all that ended for Harry Stanford the day he mysteriously-and fatally-plunged from his luxury yacht into the Mediterranean Sea.
Then, back home in Boston, as the family gathers to grieve for his memory and to war over his legacy, a stunningly beautiful young woman appears. She claims to be Stanford's long-lost daughter and entitled to her share of his estate.
Now, flaming with intrigue and passion through the glamorous preserves of the world's super rich, the ultimate game of wits begins, for stakes too dazzling and deadly to imagine.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Sidney Sheldon
A Stranger In The Mirror by Sydney Sh...
A LONELY MAN. Toby Temple is a super star and a super bastard, a man adored by his fans and plagued by suspicion and distrust.
A DISILLUSIONED WOMAN. Jill Castle came to Hollywood to be a star — and discovered she had to buy her way with her body.
A WORLD OF PREDATORS. Here they are bound to each other by a love so ruthless, so strong, it is more than human — and less...
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Sidney Sheldon
Red Notice
A real-life political thriller about an American financier in the Wild East of Russia, the murder of his principled young tax attorney, and his dangerous mission to expose the Kremlin's corruption.Bill Browder's journey started on the South Side of Chicago and moved through Stanford Business School to the dog-eat-dog world of hedge fund investing in the 1990s.
It continued in Moscow, where Browder made his fortune heading the largest investment fund in Russia after the Soviet Union's collapse. But when he exposed the corrupt oligarchs who were robbing the companies in which he was investing, Vladimir Putin turned on him and, in 2005, had him expelled from Russia. In 2007, a group of law enforcement officers raided Browder's offices in Moscow and stole $230 million of taxes that his fund's companies had paid to the Russian government.
Browder's attorney Sergei Magnitsky investigated the incident and uncovered a sprawling criminal enterprise. A month after Sergei testified against the officials involved, he was arrested and thrown into pre-trial detention, where he was tortured for a year. On November 16, 2009, he was led to an isolation chamber, handcuffed to a bedrail, and beaten to death by eight guards in full riot gear. Browder glimpsed the heart of darkness, and it transformed his life: he embarked on an unrelenting quest for justice in Sergei's name, exposing the towering cover-up that leads right up to Putin. A financial caper, a crime thriller, and a political crusade, Red Notice is the story of one man taking on overpowering odds to change the world.
ISBN:2147483647
Author:Bill Browder
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel — an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa.
Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father's disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.
Yet it will be love, not politics — their passion for the same woman—that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital.
When the past catches up to him — nearly destroying him — Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him. An unforgettable journey into one man's remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others.
White Mischief by James Fox
Brief Summary
Just before 3am on January 24th, 1941, when Britain was preoccupied with surviving the Blitz, the body of Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll, was discovered lying on the floor of his Buick, at a road intersection some miles outside Nairobi, with a bullet in his head.
A leading figure in Kenya's colonial community, he had recently been appointed Military Secretary, but he was primarily a seducer of other men's wives. Sir Henry Delves Broughton, whose wife was Erroll's current conquest, had an obvious motive for the murder, but no one was ever convicted and the question of who killed him became a classic mystery, a scandel and cause celebre.
Among those who became fascinated with the Erroll case was Cyril Connolly. He joined up with James Fox for a major investigation of the case in 1969 for the SUNDAY TIMES magazine. After his death James Fox inherited the obsession and a commitment to continue in pursuit of the story both in England and Kenya in the late 1970s.
One day, on a veranda overlooking the Indian Ocean, Fox came across a piece of evidence that seemed to bring all the fragments and pieces together and convinced him that he saw a complete picture.
Ivory Apes and Peacocks
Brief Summary
Alan Root is one of the great wildlife pioneers. His unmatched experience of East African wildlife and his appetite for risk have made him a world-class naturalist and film-maker.
Ivory, Apes & Peacocks tells the story of his life’s work, from his arrival in Kenya as a young boy to the making of his game-changing films. From a hot-air balloon Alan was the first to track the wildebeest migration; then he flew it over Kilimanjaro. He filmed inside a termite mound and dived with hippos and crocodiles.
In this extraordinary memoir we look at Africa’s wonders through the eyes of a visionary, live through hair-raising adventure and personal sorrow, and also bear witness to a natural world now largely lost from view.
ISBN:978-0099555889
Author:Alan Root