Random House

Thief, The

Rendell, Ruth — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

FROM THE LEGENDARY MISTRESS OF CRIME COMES A CHILLING THRILLER FOR 'Random Reads'

What you do in childhood may come back to haunt you Stealing things from people who had upset her was something Polly did quite a lot. There was her Aunt Pauline; a girl at school; a boyfriend who left her. And there was the man on the plane... Humiliated and scared by a total stranger Polly does what she always does. She steals something. But she never could have imagined that her desire for revenge would have such terrifying results.

Second Messiah, The

Meade, Glenn — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An utterly compelling codes and conspiracies thriller in the tradition of Dan Brown and Glenn Cooper.

For two thousand years, wars have been fought, dynasties founded and great empires built on the message at the heart of Christianity – that Jesus Christ is the one true messiah. But in modern-day Jerusalem, archaeologist Jack Cane makes a shocking discovery. A discovery that not only threatens to destroy the charismatic new Pope, but one that could shatter two millennia of faith and challenge the very foundations of the western world. As Jack fights to uncover the truth buried beneath a centuries-old conspiracy of corruption and deceit, he comes ever closer to a catastrophic secret – one so dark it could change mankind's entire understanding of both its past, and its very future...

Captive Queen, The

Weir, Alison — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A top ten bestselling novelist and historian recreates in fiction the most extrordinary and tempestuous marriage in history

It is the year 1152 and a beautiful woman of thirty, attended by only a small armed escort, is riding like the wind southwards through what is now France, leaving behind her crown, her two young daughters and a shattered marriage to Louis of France, who had been more like a monk than a king, and certainly not much of a lover. This woman is Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, and her sole purpose now is to return to her vast duchy and marry the man she loves, Henry Plantagenet, a man destined for greatness as King of England. Theirs is a union founded on lust which will create a great empire stretching from the wilds of Scotland to the Pyrenees. It will also create the devil’s brood of Plantagenets – including Richard Cœur de Lion and King John – and the most notoriously vicious marriage in history. The Captive Queen is a novel on the grand scale, an epic subject for Alison Weir. It tells of the making of nations, and of passionate conflicts: between Henry II and Thomas Becket, his closest friend who is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on his orders; between Eleanor and Henry’s formidable mother Matilda; between father and sons, as Henry’s children take up arms against him; and finally between Henry and Eleanor herself.

Bose in Nazi Germany

Romain Hayes — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

By the late 1930s, Subhas Chandra Bose had become disillusioned with Gandhi’s leadership of the Indian National Congress and the nationalist struggle. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he resolved that India could only achieve freedom through a violent uprising. Two years later, in 1941, Bose went on to make a daring escape, via Afghanistan and Russia, to Berlin in search of an anti-British alliance. The Nazis seized Bose’s offer and the possibilities of an anti-British revolt in India, even envisaging German troops marching into the country as ‘liberators’. Meanwhile, thousands of British Indian troops captured in North Africa enlisted in the Wehrmacht hoping to join the Nazi march into India as they swore oaths to Hitler and Bose ‘in the fight for the freedom of India’. Yet for all their accord, the Bose-Nazi relationship remained complicated, full of ambivalences on both sides. This book for the first time, tells the story of Bose’s war years in Germany and examines his relationship with the Nazis. This period remains a deeply controversial moment in Indian history and has thus far been suffused with hagiography. Using rare German and Indian war records, Romain Hayes has written a nuanced, thoughtful, and vital account of these years, shedding light on an aspect of Bose that has till now remained in shadow.

Titus Awakes

Gilmore, Maeve,Peake, Mervyn — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Recently rediscovered manuscript of the sequel to The Gormenghast Trilogy. Published to tie in with the centenary of Mervyn Peake's birth

When Peake died in 1968, he left behind the start of a fourth Gormenghast book, Titus Awakes. His wife, the writer and artist Maeve Gilmore, completed the manuscript. The book continues the story of the Titus, the 77th Earl of Groan, as he wanders in the modern world and finds his final resting place in Sark.

Reckoning, The

Casey, Jane — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of THE MISSING and THE BURNING

To the public, he’s a hero: a killer who targets convicted paedophiles. Two men are dead already - tortured to death. Even the police don’t regard the cases as a priority. Most feel that two dead paedophiles is a step in the right direction. But to DC Maeve Kerrigan, no one should be allowed to take the law into their own hands. Young and inexperienced, Kerrigan wants to believe that murder is murder no matter what the sins of the victim. Only, as the killer’s violence begins to escalate, she is forced to confront exactly how far she’s prepared to go to ensure justice is served…

Scenes from Village Life

Oz, Amos — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An unsettling portrait of a fictional village from the Israeli master storyteller

Amos Oz’s new fiction presents a surreal and unsettling portrait of a village in Israel. A picture of the community takes shape across seven stories, in which a group of characters appear and return. The book concludes with an eighth story, shocking and strange, from another place and a distant time. Each villager is searching for something, yet in this almost dreamlike world nothing is certain, nothing is resolved. An old man grumbles to his daughter about the unexplained digging and banging he hears under the house at night. A stranger turns up at a man’s door, to persuade him that they must get rid of his ageing mother in order to sell the house. A man goes to his neighbours for regular evenings of music and old pioneer songs, but is overwhelmingly drawn to the tragic heart of the house. Behind each episode is another, hidden story – a glimpse of what goes on beneath the surface of everyday existence. In beautifully simple, poetic language, Amos Oz peers into the darkness of our lives in this powerful, hypnotic work.

Grey Man, The

McNab, Andy — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A Random Read thriller.

A STUNNING ACTION THRILLER FROM A REAL-LIFE HERO Kevin Dodds leads a dull, uneventful life. He has a steady job at the bank, a nice house and car. His wife goes to Bingo on a Saturday night, but he usually stays in to save money. But Kevin has spent enough quiet nights in watching TV and decides he'd like a night out himself. And he's not talking about a pint and a packet of peanuts down at the local. He's going to attempt to pull off a daring bank robbery single handed. Kevin is about to take a heart-thumping step into the unknown. For once, he's going to stop being the grey man...

Poor Economics

Abhijit V. Banerjee — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Imagine you have a few million dollars. You want to spend it on the poor. How do you go about it? Billions of government dollars, and thousands of charitable organizations and NGOs, are dedicated to helping the world’s poor. But much of their work is based on assumptions about the poor and the world that are untested generalizations at best, harmful misperceptions at worst. Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo have pioneered the use of randomized control trials in development economics through their award-winning Poverty Action Lab. They argue that by using randomized control trials, and more generally, by paying careful attention to the evidence, it is possible to make accurate—and often startling assessments—on what really impacts the poor and what doesn’t. Why would a man in Morocco who doesn’t have enough to eat buy a television? Why is it so hard for children in poor areas to learn even when they attend school? Why do the poorest people in Maharashtra spend 5 percent of their total budget on sugar? Does having lots of children actually make you poorer? Drawing on their research at the Poverty Action Lab and their fifteen years of fieldwork in India and across the world, the two economists ask many such questions and show why the poor, despite having the same desires and abilities as anyone else, end up with entirely different lives. Revelatory and impassioned, Poor Economics is a pathbreaking book that will help you to understand the real causes of poverty and how to end it.

Last Night Another Soldier

McNab, Andy — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A new Random Read title from the author of Bravo Two Zero.

Afghanistan, 2009. A Rifle section is halfway through their six-month tour of duty in Helmand Province. Sixteen men from their Battalion have already been killed. Forty-seven others have been wounded and flown back home. The last three months have been tough and it shows. Their kit is in a bad way. They are in a bad way. Young men with tans, scruffy beards, peeling noses and lips burnt raw by the Afghan sun. Despite the hardships they are enjoying their time out here learning how to fight the Taleban. The lads are on their way to becoming the best soldiers in the Army. Last Night Another Soldier… is the story of four of the young men in this Rifle section, partly told from the point of view of eighteen-year-old squaddie, David ‘Briggsy’ Briggs.

Payback, The

Kernick, Simon — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Two cops. One city. No mercy. The new race-against-time bestseller by the UK Harlan Coben

Dennis Milne is a man with a past, and a past that involves murder. A former cop, he’s earned his living killing the bad guys – drug-dealers, corrupt business men - people who, in his opinion, deserve to die. For the past two days, he’s been in Manila, waiting for his next target: a young woman who’s made herself some poor life-choices, and some even worse enemies. DI Tina Boyd is a woman on a mission. Tough, spiky and determined, she’s looking for the man she holds responsible for the death of her lover. She knows he’s ruthless. She knows he’s dangerous. But he’s in Manila, and she’s determined to find and kill him – before he kills her. Two cops with pasts that haunt them - and a present that could see them both dead. They are about to meet. And when they do, it’s payback time …

Island of Thieves, The

Lacey, Josh — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Wuthering Hearts

Woodward, Kay — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A humorous spin on Emily Bronte's classic

Passion, the Yorkshire moors, a wild and handsome stranger . . . sound familiar? When Robert arrives in town with his dark good looks and mysterious background, Emily has a huge crush! It’s almost enough to take her mind off this year’s school play . . . miserable, wailing Wuthering Heights. But Robert is no prince, with his black moods and fierce temper. The beautiful untamed moors would be the perfect backdrop to their fiery romance, if only Emily could work it out. On stage or off stage, will Emily ever be the Cathy to his Heathcliff?

The Next Convergence

Michael Spence — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

With the Industrial Revolution, part of the world’s population (Europe, America, and Japan) started to experience extraordinary economic growth, yet four-fifths of humanity remained mired in poverty. Till the Second World War the world remained a profoundly unequal place. Then the pendulum began to swing the other way. Some countries, mainly in Asia, started growing at unprecedented rates at about 7 percent a year. More recently, the two most populous countries in the world—China and India—have begun to grow at rates close to 10 percent. This convergence between the developing and developed worlds—a revolution just as profound as the Industrial Revolution—is reshaping the world today, argues Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Spence. Spence looks at what caused this dramatic shift, the implications of this new convergence, and the challenges these growing economies face. He argues that maintaining the high growth rates in developing countries presents serious difficulties for them in governance, international coordination, and ecological sustainability. The implications for those living in the advanced countries are also great but little understood. The Next Convergence is big picture economics at its finest—a lucid, deeply intelligent analysis of the global economy and a riveting introduction to the most critical debates today.

You Against Me

Downham, Jenny — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Another intense and uncompromising novel from the critically acclaimed author of BEFORE I DIE.

If someone hurts your sister and you’re any kind of man, you seek revenge, right? If your brother’s accused of a terrible crime but says he didn’t do it, you defend him, don’t you? When Mikey’s sister claims a boy assaulted her, his world begins to fall apart. When Ellie’s brother is charged with the offence, her world begins to unravel. When Mikey and Ellie meet, two worlds collide. This is a brave and unflinching novel from the bestselling author of Before I Die. It’s a book about loyalty and the choices that come with it. But above all it’s a book about love.

Blood Magic

Tessa Gratton — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

"The murder of her parents has left Silla damaged and lost, and Silla's insistence that her father is not to blame only alienates her further from her friends and family. When a mysterious spell book arrives, Silla hopes it will lead to some answers about her parents' killer. In her first attempt at magic, in an old graveyard near her home, Nick, the new boy in town spies on her; he recognizes the magic that Silla is performing as the same magic his mother performed with him, before she went mad. Before long, Silla and Nick connect, though Nick is unwilling to share his history with blood magic with Silla. When Silla's friends start showing signs of possession, Silla, Nick and Silla's brother, Reese, must contend with a deadly, immortal woman who will stop at nothing to take the book of spells from them."

In the Sea there are Crocodiles

Geda, Fabio — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A beautiful, heartbreaking novel based on the true story of an Afghan boy’s journey in search of a home.

One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah’s mother tells him three things: don’t use drugs, don’t use weapons, don’t steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isn’t there. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone in Pakistan to fend for himself. In a book that takes a true story and shapes it into a beautiful piece of fiction, Italian novelist Fabio Geda describes Enaiatollah’s remarkable five-year journey from Afghanistan to Italy where he finally managed to claim political asylum aged fifteen. His ordeal took him through Iran, Turkey and Greece, working on building sites in order to pay people-traffickers, and enduring the physical misery of dangerous border crossings squeezed into the false bottoms of lorries or trekking across inhospitable mountains. A series of almost implausible strokes of fortune enabled him to get to Turin, find help from an Italian family and meet Fabio Geda, with whom he became friends. The result of their friendship is this unique book in which Enaiatollah’s engaging, moving voice is brilliantly captured by Geda’s subtly simple storytelling. In Geda’s hands, Enaiatollah’s journey becomes a universal story of stoicism in the face of fear, and the search for a place where life is liveable.

Fat Years, The

Koonchung, Chan — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Banned in China, a Chinese 1984 that holds controversial secrets about both the leaders and the people

TRUTH IS NOT AN OPTION…. Beijing, sometime in the near future: a month has gone missing from official records. No one has any memory of it, and no one can care less. Except for a small circle of friends, who will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the sinister cheerfulness and amnesia that has possessed the Chinese nation. When they kidnap a high-ranking official and force him to reveal all, what they learn - not only about their leaders, but also about their own people - stuns them to the core. It is a message that will rock the world… Terrifying methods of cunning, deception and terror are unveiled by the truth-seekers in this thriller-expose of the Communist Party's stranglehold on China today.

Obscure Logic of the Heart, The

Basil, Priya — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Epic 21st century Romeo and Juliet, set on the landscape of Kenya and urban Britain, for fans of HALF OF A YELLOW SUN and THE MEMORY OF LOVE

Love means never having to keep a secret In a bustling London café, Anil, now a famous architect, sits waiting for Lina. It is years since he last laid eyes on her, the love of his life. Lina is running for the train – punctuality has never been her strength. After all this time she cannot be late to meet Anil. Together, they think back to tragedies both personal and political, betrayals large and small. A past played out across three continents that house their rival worlds: Sikh and Muslim, wealthy and modest, liberal and orthodox, corrupt and moral…. Lina has one more revelation that must be shared with Anil. Might it unite them once and for all, or has it come too late?

Swimming Pool Sunday

Wickham, Madeleine — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An early bestseller from the author of the fabulous Shopaholic series

On a shimmeringly hot Sunday in May, Louise is at a neighbour's pool with her daughters - and glaring at her resentfully is her estranged husband Barnaby. While the children splash and shriek in the cool, blue waters, she lies blissfully back in the sun and dreams of Cassian, the charismatic new lawyer in her life.The day seems perfect. But suddenly the bliss is shattered. The consequences of a terrible accident develop into a drama of recriminations, jealousy and legal power-play. Friendships crumble, the village is split, and the needs of a child become secondary to the dangerous contest in which the grown-ups are engaged.

Cain

Saramago, Jose — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The last novel to be written before the death of the great Portuguese novelist and Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, who passed away in June 2010 - a controversial book in the mode of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

Two decades after Portuguese novelist and Nobel Laureate José Saramago shocked the religious world with his novel The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, he has done it again with Cain, a satire of the Old Testament. Written in the last years of Saramago’s life, it tackles many of the moral and logical non sequiturs created by a wilful, authoritarian God, and forms part of Saramago’s long argument with religion. The stories in this book are witty and provocative. After Adam and Eve have been cast out of Eden, Eve decides to go back and ask the angel guarding the gate if he can give her some of the fruit that is going to waste inside. The angel agrees, and although Eve swears to Adam that she offered the angel nothing in return, their first child is suspiciously blond and fair-skinned. Cain, in his wandering, overhears a strange conversation between a man named Abraham and his son Isaac – and manages to prevent the father from murdering the son. The angel appointed by God to prevent the murder arrives late due to a wing malfunction. Cain brushes off his apology. ‘What would have happened if I hadn’t been here?’ Cain asks, ‘and what kind of god would ask a father to sacrifice his own son?’ Saramago died in June 2010, shortly after the controversial Portuguese publication of Cain but before he could participate in its publication in other countries. Harvill Secker’s edition of this remarkable book will be part of a tribute to Saramago’s life and work which includes the gradual reissue of his previous novels as Vintage Classics.

Strangers on the 16:02

Basil, Priya — Thu, 05 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Thrilling tale about love, chance and a big secret, from a skilled British Asian author - a violent incident on a train causes two strangers to come together...

It’s a hot, crowded train. Helen Summer is on her way to see her sister Jill to tell her an awful secret. Another passenger, Kerm, is on his way back from his grandfather’s funeral. They are strangers, jammed against each other in a crowded carriage. Noisy school kids fill the train – and three of them are about to cause a whole heap of trouble. In the chaos, Helen and Kerm are thrown together in a way they never expected. Catching a train? Read Strangers on the 16:02 and you’ll never feel the same way about your fellow passengers again.

Elephant's Journey, The

Saramago, Jose — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Nobel prizewinner Saramago always has something new up his sleeve: this time he has written a delightful historical fable about an Indian elephant called Solomon, who, in obedience to the absurd caprice of a sixteenth-century monarch, travels from Lisbon

Solomon the elephant’s life is about to be upturned. For two years he has been in Lisbon, brought from the Portuguese colonies in India. Now King Dom João III wishes to make him a wedding gift for the Hapsburg archduke, Maximilian. It’s a nice idea, since it avoids the Portuguese king offending his Lutheran cousin with an overtly Catholic present. But it means the poor pachyderm must travel from Lisbon to Vienna on foot – the only option when transporting a large animal such a long way. So begins a journey that will take the stalwart Solomon across the dusty plains of Castile, over the sea to Genoa and up to northern Italy where, like Hannibal’s elephants before him, he must cross the snowy Alps. Accompanying him is his quiet keeper, Subhro, who watches while – at every place they stop – people try to turn Solomon into something he is not. From worker of holy miracles to umbrella stand, the unassuming elephant suffers the many attempts of humans to impose meaning on what they don’t understand. Saramago’s latest novel is an enchanting mix of fact (an Indian elephant really did make this journey in 1551), fable and fantasy. Filled with wonderful landscapes and local colour, peppered with witty reflection on human failings and achievements, it is, in the end, about the journey of life itself.

In the Sea There are Crocodiles

Geda, Fabio — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A bestseller in Italy, a beautiful, heartbreaking novel based on the true story of an Afghan boy’s journey in search of safety.

Recommended by PEN One night before putting him to bed, Enaiatollah’s mother tells him three things: don’t use drugs, don’t use weapons, don’t steal. The next day he wakes up to find she isn’t there. They have fled their village in Ghazni to seek safety outside Afghanistan but his mother has decided to return home to her younger children. Ten-year-old Enaiatollah is left alone in Pakistan to fend for himself. In a book based on a true story, Italian novelist Fabio Geda describes Enaiatollah’s remarkable five-year journey from Afghanistan to Italy where he finally managed to claim political asylum. His ordeal took him through Iran, Turkey and Greece, working on building sites in order to pay people-traffickers, and enduring the physical misery of border crossings squeezed into the false bottoms of lorries or trekking across inhospitable mountains. A series of almost implausible strokes of fortune enabled him to get to Turin, where he found help from an Italian family and met Fabio Geda. The result of their friendship is this unique book in which Enaiatollah’s engaging, moving voice is brilliantly captured by Geda’s subtle storytelling. In Geda’s hands, Enaiatollah’s journey becomes a universal story of stoicism in the face of fear, and the search for a place where life is liveable.

Bloody Valentine

Patterson, James — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Exclusively for World Book Day, James Patterson brings his unique storytelling gift to the Quick Reads scheme

This year Valentine’s Day isn’t for romance. It’s for murder. Mega rich restaurant owner Jack Barnes and his second wife Zee are very much in love. However, their plans for Valentine’s Day are about to be torn apart by the most violent murder.Who is the strange figure plotting this sick crime? Who hates Jack that much? There are plenty of suspects living in Jack’s fancy block of flats. Is it them, or could it be the work of an outsider with a twisted mind? One thing’s for sure, the police have got their work cut out solving this bloody mess.

Happy Birthday

Steel, Danielle — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The brilliant new novel from the world's favourite author - perfect summer reading!

Time to blow out the candles, say goodbye to the past, and make a wish for the future… For April Wyatt, turning thirty is not what she had expected. She’s single, with no interest in changing that in the foreseeable future. Her popular, successful restaurant in downtown New York – where she is chef and owner – consumes every ounce of her passion, attention and energy. Ready or not, though, April’s life is about to change, in a tumultuous discovery on the morning of her milestone birthday. April’s mother Valerie is a popular TV personality and the queen of gracious living. Since her divorce long-ago, she has worked tirelessly to reach the pinnacle of her career and to create a camera-ready life in her Fifth Avenue penthouse. But she’s having trouble equating her age with how she feels, and all the hours with her personal trainer, the careful work of top hairdressers and her natural good looks can’t hide the fact that she is turning sixty, and the whole world discovers it on her birthday. It is also Jack Adams’ birthday – the most charismatic sports personality on TV, a man who has his pick of desirable younger women. But he fears his age may finally be catching up with him when he wakes up on his fiftieth birthday needing an emergency visit to the chiropractor… A terrifying act of violence, an out-of-the-blue blessing, and two very unlikely love affairs soon turn lives inside out and upside down. As these three very different people celebrate their birthdays, they discover that life itself is a celebration – and that its greatest gifts are always a surprise…

The Leopard

Nesbo, Jo — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A heart-stopping thriller from the international crime fiction star and top 5 bestseller that the Independent has called 'The next Stieg Larsson'.

In the depths of winter, two young women are found dead, both drowned in their own blood. Inspector Harry Hole, deeply traumatised by an investigation that threatened the lives of those he holds most dear, initially wants nothing to do with the case but his instincts take over when a prominent MP is found brutally murdered. The victims appear completely unconnected to one another, but it’s not long before Harry makes a discovery: the women all spent the night in the same isolated mountain hostel. And someone is picking off the guests, one by one...

Decision Points

Bush, George W. — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

President George W. Bush describes the critical decisions of his presidency and personal life.

Decision Points is the extraordinary memoir of America’s 43rd president. Shattering the conventions of political autobiography, George W. Bush offers a strikingly candid journey through the defining decisions of his life. In gripping, never-before-heard detail, President Bush brings readers inside the Texas Governor’s Mansion on the night of the hotly contested 2000 election; aboard Air Force One on 9/11, in the hours after America’s most devastating attack since Pearl Harbour; at the head of the table in the Situation Room in the moments before launching the war in Iraq; and behind the Oval Office desk for his historic and controversial decisions on the financial crisis, Hurricane Katrina, Afghanistan, Iran, and other issues that have shaped the first decade of the 21st century. President Bush writes honestly and directly about his flaws and mistakes, as well as his accomplishments reforming education, treating HIV/AIDS in Africa, and safeguarding the country amid chilling warnings of additional terrorist attacks. He also offers intimate new details on his decision to quit drinking, discovery of faith, and relationship with his family. A groundbreaking new brand of memoir, Decision Points will captivate supporters, surprise critics, and change perspectives on one of the most consequential eras in American history – and the man at the centre of events.

A free man

Aman Sethi — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Mohammed Ashraf has studied biology in college, and after college has learnt how to repair television sets, cut suit lengths, and slice chicken. He has lived in Mumbai, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Surat, and Patna, but this evening he is stoned on a street in Sadar Bazaar, in North Delhi. The morning shall bring hangovers, whiskey breakfasts, and possibly answers to the lingering questions that haunt Ashraf. How did he get here? Why is he the way he is? And is there a way back home? In this compelling account of the life of an itinerant labourer, Aman Sethi brings Ashraf vividly alive and illuminates the lives of countless others like him. Wry, humourous, and insightful, A Free Man is an unforgettable portrait of an invisible man in his invisible city.

Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning

Frankl, Viktor E — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An inspirational exploration of the psychology that enabled Viktor Frankl, bestselling author of Man's Search for Meaning, to survive the Holocaust

Viktor Frankl is known to millions as the author of Man's Search for Meaning, his harrowing Holocaust memoir. In this book, he goes more deeply into the ways of thinking that enabled him to survive imprisonment in a concentration camp and to find meaning in life in spite of all the odds. Here, he expands upon his groundbreaking ideas and searches for answers about life, death, faith and suffering. Believing that there is much more to our existence than meets the eye, he says: 'No one will be able to make us believe that man is a sublimated animal once we can show that within him there is a repressed angel.' In Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning, Frankl explores our sometimes unconscious desire for inspiration or revelation. He explains how we can create meaning for ourselves and, ultimately, he reveals how life has more to offer us than we could ever imagine.

Our Lady of Alice Bhatti

Mohammed Hanif — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Alice Bhatti has just come out of prison and is looking for a second chance. She’s hungry, tough, and full of fight, but being a Catholic choohra in Karachi means she also needs good luck. A lot of it. Alice’s prayers are answered when she gets a job as junior nurse at the Sacred Heart Hospital, a squalid public hospital full of shoot-out victims and homeless drug addicts. There she meets Teddy Butt, a trigger happy, ex-body builder and a part-time goon for the police. The two could not be further apart and that’s why they fall in love—Teddy with sudden violence, Alice in cautious hope. How will their unlikely romance end? In A Case of Exploding Mangoes, Mohammed Hanif tore into the corruption of the army and General Zia’s dictatorship; in this novel he draws a dark and compelling portrait of Pakistan today where killers fall in love and lovers are forced to make impossible choices. Written with savage humour and in sizzling prose, Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is a tour de force from one of the most brilliant young writers today.

Sense of an Ending, The

Julian Barnes — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A brilliant short novel from a writer at the very height of his powersTony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Maybe Adrian was a little more serious than the others, certainly more intelligent, but they all swore to stay friends for life. Now Tony is in middle age. He’s had a career and a single marriage, a calm divorce. He’s certainly never tried to hurt anybody. Memory, though, is imperfect. It can always throw up surprises, as a lawyer’s letter is about to prove. The Sense of an Ending is the story of one man coming to terms with the mutable past. Laced with trademark precision, dexterity and insight, it is the work of one of the world’s most distinguished writers.

Persuade...In a Minute

Wrighton, Tony — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Discover simple, super-quick steps for getting your way

Do you often lose arguments? Do you get frustrated because you can't get your way? Is your boss too dismissive? Do you have trouble persuading people to agree with you? Would you love to quietly get your way with the people around you, instead of shouting to make yourself heard? And how satisfying would it be if they felt happier about it too? These easy strategies for communicating with the important people in your life all take a minute or less. You'll instantly be getting your point across more effectively. You will discover how to: Get your way at work Get your way at home Get your way with your boss Get a payrise Get more money Get your way with your loved ones Get others to feel better about themselves Get your way with kids And (most importantly), keep everyone happy at the same time! From the things we say to the way we act in everyday situations, Tony Wrighton's techniques will help you to get your way more often, as well as using your new-found influence to look out for other people too.

Teach Us to Sit Still

Parks, Tim — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An inspiring and entertaining true story of a sceptic's journey into the world of meditation and alternative health.

‘Just when the medical profession had given up on me and I on it, just when I seemed to be walled up in a life sentence of chronic pain, someone proposed a bizarre way out: sit still, they said, and breathe...’ TEACH US TO SIT STILL is the visceral, thought-provoking and improbably entertaining story of Tim Parks’ quest to overcome ill health. Bedevilled by a crippling condition which nobody could explain or relieve, he confronts hard truths about the relationship between the mind and the body, the hectic modern world and his life as a writer. Following a fruitless journey through the conventional medical system he finds solace in an improbable prescription of breathing exercises that eventually leads him to take up meditation. This was the very last place Parks expected or wanted to find answers; anything New Age simply wasn’t his scene. Meantime, he is drawn to consider the effects of illness on the work of other writers, the role of religions in shaping our sense of self, and the influence of sport and art in our attitudes to health and well-being. Most of us will fall ill at some point; few will describe that journey with the same verve, insight and radiant intelligence as Tim Parks. Captivating and inspiring, TEACH US TO SIT STILL is an intensely personal – and brutally honest – story for our times.

Small Is Beautiful

E F Schumacher — Thu, 16 Sep 1993 00:00:00 GMT

Desperate in Dubai

Ameera Al Hakawati — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Oozing with men, money, and Maseratis, Dubai is the ultimate playground for the woman who knows her Louboutins from her Louis Vuittons. But for some, there’s a lot more at stake than a Hermes Birkin. Leila has been in search of a wealthy husband for over a decade. Nadia moves to Dubai to support her husband’s career, only to have her sacrifices thrown in her face. Sugar escapes the UK in an attempt to escape her past. Lady Luxe, the rebellious Emirati heiress, scoffs at everything her culture holds sacred. Until the day her double life starts unravelling at the seams. Set against a backdrop of luxury hotels and manmade islands, Desperate in Dubai tells the tale of four desperate women as they struggle to find truth, love, and themselves.

How To Be a Woman

Moran, Caitlin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A new way of looking at feminism from one of our funniest writers

1913 – Suffragette throws herself under the King’s horse. 1969 – Feminists storm Miss World. NOW – Caitlin Moran rewrites The Female Eunuch from a bar stool and demands to know why pants are getting smaller. There’s never been a better time to be a woman: we have the vote and the Pill, and we haven’t been burnt as witches since 1727. However, a few nagging questions do remain… Why are we supposed to get Brazilians? Should you get Botox? Do men secretly hate us? What should you call your vagina? Why does your bra hurt? And why does everyone ask you when you’re going to have a baby? Part memoir, part rant, Caitlin Moran answers these questions and more in How To Be A Woman – following her from her terrible 13th birthday (‘I am 13 stone, have no friends, and boys throw gravel at me when they see me’) through adolescence, the workplace, strip-clubs, love, fat, abortion, TopShop, motherhood and beyond.

Spills and Spin

Bergin, Tom — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

I’m Not Stressed: Secrets for a calm mind and a healthy body

Deanne Panday — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Are you stressed? The workplace has become increasingly competitive, family life has its never-ending complications, and when you step outside, you have to deal with heavy traffic, aggression, and massive pollution. No wonder that you’re tense and agitated, have hyper reflexes and blood pressure that’s higher than the midday sun. But you’re not alone. Fifty percent of Indian professionals suffer from stress with stress-related diseases from depression to lack of fertility drastically on the rise. In I’m Not Stressed, Deanne Panday, one of the country’s leading health and fitness experts, shares with you her secrets to tackle this looming lifestyle problem. She tells you what stress really means, how to know when you have a serious case of it, and most importantly how to deal with it through a simple plan of diet, exercise, sleep, meditation, and breathing. With advice from leading psychiatrists, cardiologists, endocrinologists, and celebrities who have to deal with high-level stress, I’m Not Stressed is your mantra for enduring health and happiness.

The Artist of Disappearance

Anita Desai — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A little boy grows up in the hills of Mussorie, benignly neglected by his glamourous parents. As he grows older, he finds it impossible to make a life for himself in the city and returns to his childhood home, empty of all occupants apart from his mother’s aged English companion. There a tragedy makes an unexpected artist of him. A lonely college lecturer discovers a great Oriya writer and secures a publishing deal to translate her novel. Heady with the joy of this small success, she finds herself blurring the line between translator and writer. Haunting, mysterious, written with an almost fable-like intensity, The Artist of Disappearance is another superb offering from one of India’s great novelists.

Empires of Food

Fraser, Evan D. G.,Rimas, Andrew — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

An evocative history that considers how food has shaped our world - and what the future holds

For thousands of years we have grown, cooked and traded food, and over that time much has changed. Where once we subsisted on gritty, bland grains, we now enjoy culinary creations and epicurean delights made with vegetables from the New World, fish trawled from the deep sea, and flavoured with spices from the Orient. But how did we make that change from eating for survival to the innovations of modern cuisine? How has food helped to shape our culture? And what will happen when global warming and peak oil have their inevitable effect on agriculture? Empires of Food is an authoritative exploration of the innumerable ways that food has changed the course of history. The earliest cities, after all, were founded on the creation and exchange of food surpluses, and since then trade routes of ever greater sophistication have developed. We've built complex societies by shunting corn and wheat and rice along rivers, up deforested hillsides, and into the stockpots of history. But we cannot go on forever. As Evan D. G. Fraser and Andrew Rimas compellingly show, the abundance that we all enjoy comes at a price, and unless we think of a more sustainable way to grow, eat and enjoy food, we may find that our civilization reaches its best before date.

Kiss, Date, Love, Hate

Plaja, Luisa — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

A cool computer programme that can change your life, looks and who falls in love with you? Let the games begin...

Lex Murphy's group of friends have all dated, hated, ignored and lusted after each other for the last few years. If only there was a way of matching people perfectly to avoid all the unrequited love, dumping and drama! Then Lex's friend George is given a mysterious Sims-like game by his software-testing dad which involves building character profiles in the categories of Life, Looks and Love. Lex and George populate the game with avatars for all their mates, making a few 'wishful thinking' adjustments to the settings - and find that the next day these tinkerings have come true! But how long can this new calm, loved-up atmosphere continue...?

Awakening: The story of the Bengal Renaissance

Subrata Dasgupta — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In the nineteenth century, Bengal witnessed an extraordinary intellectual flowering. Bengali prose emerged, and with it the novel and modern blank verse; old arguments about religion, society, and the lives of women were overturned; great schools and colleges were created; new ideas surfaced in science. And all these changes were led by a handful of remarkable men and women. For the first time comes a gripping narrative about the Bengal Renaissance recounted through the lives of all its players from Rammohun Roy to Rabindranath Tagore. Immaculately researched, told with colour, drama, and passion, Awakening is a stunning achievement.

Tripwire: Deathwing

Cole, Steve,Hunter, Chris — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The second title in the explosive new series by Steve Cole and Chris Hunter. This is Boy Soldier meets Alex Rider meets Cherub, it is exciting, authentic and adrenalin-fuelled. Each action-packed book is a ticking bomb . . .

The second title in the explosive new series by Steve Cole and Chris Hunter. This is Boy Soldier meets Alex Rider meets Cherub, it is exciting, authentic and adrenalin-fuelled. Each action-packed book is a ticking bomb . . . Felix is going back under cover . . .

Mayfair Mysteries: The Case of the Suspicious Supermodel, The

Carter, Alex — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Millionaires, models and mysteries! The third title in this sparkling new series for girls aged 8 and up.

Millionaires, models and mysteries! The third title in this sparkling new series for girls aged 8 and up . . . When a beautiful super-model arrives in town for London Fashion Week, Lauren and her friends think she's just another one of Mayfair Park's many stylish, wealthy guests. Charming. beautiful, seemingly enless clothes, shoes and celebrity parties - what more could any girl want? But there's more to the model than meets the eye and when she's arrested for things she swears she didn't do, the girls just have to investiagte. Is there a case of identity theft to solve . . . ?

The Dangerous Man

Ibn-e Safi — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Mysterious Screams: Ten years ago, Nawwab Hashim was found dead in his bedroom. Now a man claiming to be him appears out of the blue. Sajid, his nephew and heir, doesn’t know what to believe, nor can he fathom the terrible screams that have started emerging from the house each night. The Dangerous Man: Roshi, a prostitute, has always known how to take care of herself until the day she meets a handsome young man called ‘Parrot’. Soon she is caught in a spiral of intrigue and she doesn’t know who to trust. Who is this ‘Parrot’? Will he prove to be her saviour? Or is he the archnemesis?

Mayfair Mysteries: The Case of the Haunted Hotel, The

Carter, Alex — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Millionaires, movie-stars and mysteries! The fourth title in this sparkling new series for girls aged 8 and up.

Millionaires, movie-stars and mysteries! The fourth title in this sparkling new series for girls aged 8 and up . . . There's more detective work to be done when the crew of a ghost hunting reality TV show turn up to film in the hotel and uncover more than they had bargained for . . .

Johnny Swanson

Updale, Eleanor — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A rip-roaring mystery adventure with the most unlikely hero ever.

Johnny Swanson is in shock. His friend Doctor Langdon and his wife have disappeared without a trace. And that’s not all . . . it appears they have been murdered. But things are about to become much, much worse. A suspect has been arrested . . . and it’s Johnny’s mother. Johnny knows she didn’t do it. And now, he needs to prove it – fast. Join brave, determined, ingenious Johnny as he embarks on a fast-paced hunt for the true killer – and exposes a deadly, dangerous secret along the way.

Obamas, The

Firstbrook, Peter — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

This book will be a real life ‘Roots’ story – the African history of America’s first family.

Peter Firstbrook spent many months in Kenya researching the history of Barack Obama's family. Peter is the only person to have traced Obama's roots from the present back through more than twenty generations, thanks to the Luo tribe's remarkable oral tradition. Seen though the eyes of the Obama family this will be the story of an African dynasty going back over 400 years. It is a truly astonishing drama culminating in the inauguration of Barack Obama on 20 January 2009, watched by Obama's African family on a flickering television clustered under a group of trees in the twilight of Kobama village in Kenya. A very special hundred or so men, women and children amongst billions all around the world who viewed the momentous event of the swearing in of the first black President of the United States. This book establishes the early ancestry of the Obama family in the Alego region, telling the story of farmers and fishermen, of love and tribal warfare, of families lost and found. It traces the Obama roots from famous tribal warriors in the seventeenth century to the first encounters with the white man in the early 1900s; generation by generation we follow the family through colonial rule and the fight for Kenyan independence, including the Mau Mau and the relationship of Barack Obama's father with President Kenyatta. This is a book about a family whose destiny is unknown to them. It is a true testament to the belief that any person can make their mark in the world no matter how humble their origins.

A Case of Exploding Mangoes

Mohammed Hanif — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In August 1988, Zia gets into the presidential plane, Pak One, which explodes midway. Who killed him? The army generals growing old waiting for their promotions, the CIA, the ISI, RAW or Ali Shigri, a junior officer at the military academy whose father, a whisky-swilling jihadi colonel, was murdered by the army? A Case of Exploding Mangoes is sharp, black, inventive and utterly gripping. It marks the debut of a brilliant new writer.

American Caesars

Hamilton, Nigel — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A group biography of the twelve caesars of our time: American Presidents from Roosevelt to George W. Bush.

The twentieth century has been called ‘the American Century’. Not since the days of the Roman emperors has there been such a succession of rulers holding the fate of the world in their hands. Now, award-winning biographer Nigel Hamilton gives us the lives of the twelve men, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush, who presided over America’s imperial fortunes – the good, the bad and the truly awful. How did these American Caesars reach the White House? What were the challenges they faced when they got there and how did they meet them? And who were these men in their private lives? Compulsively readable, packed with unforgettable characters as well as stories, lessons and revelations, American Caears is essential reading for our times.

Undercover Muslim

Padnos, Theo — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The remarkable story of how a Westerner ventured into the heart of radical Islam in the Yemen

In December 2009 the US government launched an air strike against the tiny Yemeni village of al-Majalah where al-Qaida militants were believed to be in hiding. A second attack a week later targeted the prominent religious leader Anwar Awlaki. He escaped unharmed but many villagers were killed. These two strikes were intended to set back al-Qaida’s operations in Yemen but, within 24 hours, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab – a 23-year-old Nigerian man and one of Awlaki’s followers – boarded a plane to Detroit with explosives hidden in his clothing. His is not a unique story: at a time when true pluralism remains an aspiration rather than a reality in the West, young men, disillusioned and angry with the spiritually barren, consumerist societies in which they live, travel to Yemenin search of fulfilment. There, in the country’s anarchic wilderness, they find what they could not at home: a pure way of life, submissive wives and like-minded brethren. Some, like Abdulmutallab, find something much more dangerous: the conviction to carry out Jihad. In Undercover Muslim, Theo Padnos brilliantly evokes a landscape and journey that few Westerners have experienced. He investigates the radicalisation of these disaffected young men as they move, almost unnoticed, from London, Berlin or Paris to their new spiritual home in Yemen. Padnos’s journey takes him from the newsroom of a Yemeni newspaper to the prayer rows and lecture rooms of Yemen’s madrassas, from covert Jeep rides into the sacred mountains to a stint in an overcrowded prison. It is through these events, and through the people he encounters, that Padnos shows us how a terrifying gulf has opened between Islam and the West.

Scribble, Scribble, Scribble

Schama, Simon — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A treasure trove of Schama's writing with subjects ranging from cookery to Barack Obama.

Passionate, provocative, entertaining and informative, Scribble, Scribble, Scribble ranges far and wide: from cookery and family to Barack Obama, from preaching and Shakespeare to Victorian sages, from Charlotte Rampling and Hurricane Katrina to 'The Fate of Eloquence in the Age of The Osbournes'. Never predictable, always stimulating, Scribble, Scribble, Scribble allows us to view the world, in all its diversity, through the eyes of one of Britain's best-loved public intellectuals.

In The Garden of Beasts

Larson, Erik — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The extraordinary true story of love, intrigue and emerging terror at the American embassy in Berlin during the tumultuous twelve months that witnessed Hitler's rise to ultimate power in Germany.

Berlin,1933. William E. Dodd, a mild-mannered academic from Chicago, has to his own and everyone else's surprise, become America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany, in a year that proves to be a turning point in history. Dodd and his family, notably his vivacious daughter Martha, observe at first-hand the many changes - some subtle, some disturbing, and some horrifically violent - that signal Hitler's consolidation of power. Dodd has little choice but to associate with key figures in the Nazi party, his increasingly concerned cables make little impact on an indifferent U.S. State Department, while Martha is drawn to the Nazis and their vision of a 'New Germany' and has a succession of affairs with senior party players, including first chief of the Gestapo, Rudolf Diels. But as the year darkens, Dodd and his daughter find their lives transformed and any last illusion they might have about Hitler are shattered by the violence of the 'Night of the Long Knives' in the summer of 1934 that established him as supreme dictator. Suffused with the tense atmosphere of the times, and with brilliant portraits of Hitler, Goebbels, Goering and Himmler amongst others, In the Garden of Beasts brings a unique perspective on events as they unfolded. The result is an unforgettable, addictively readable work of narrative history.

The Power Of Ethical Management

Norman Vincent Peale — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

THE POWER OF ETHICAL MANAGEMENT proves that you don't have to cheat to win. It shows how to bring integrity back into business. It offers hardhitting, practical and ethical strategies that build profits, productivity and long-term success. Written as a parable this simple book gives you an immensely useful set of tools; from a three-step 'Ethics Check' that helps you evalutate any action or decision, to the Five Ps' of ethical behaviour which will clarify your purpose and your goals. This is no theoretical treatise: peale and Blanchard speak from their enormous and unique experience, and show how integrity pays.

Last Flannelled Fool, The

Simkins, Michael — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

A hilarious odyssey in search of some answers about life and cricket from the author of the bestselling Fatty Batter

As Michael Simkins eases into his half century he starts, quite rightly, to reflect on how everything has gone to the dogs: cricket, England and his own spreading self. Worried that he’s spending as much time visiting relatives in nursing homes as he is at cricket grounds or rural creases, he takes off in search of ‘the fire’ (those golden moments when his love of cricket was first kindled), in search of himself and an England past. It's a journey that takes him back to the light drizzle of childhood holidays, the burial site of his favourite ground (now a Marks & Spencer), to historic Hambledon and the Eton–Harrow match. It’s not all Proustian lament, and Michael even tries heroically to fall in love with the confetti-cannoned bastard child of WG Grace and Kerry Katona that is T20 and has not one but two epiphanies: one facing down Freddie Flintoff, the other in a small room in Market Harborough at 2am with Ken Dodd. So can his beloved cricket still bring comfort and meaning to life or is Old Father Time about to call for Michael’s bails?

Legs on Everest

Mark Inglis — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

“On 15 May 2006 double amputee Mark Inglis fulfilled a childhood ambition: to stand on the summit of the highest mountain in the world. Legs on Everest follows Mark’s preparation for the Everest attempt, including climbing Cho Oyu in the Himalayas, and the built-up to the summit push. It shows that reaching the top of Everest is only half the journey – you have to get back down alive. Here at last is the full story of Mark’s Everest expedition – a story of determination, pain, controversy and overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles, both physical and psychological. It’s full of gripping detail, providing a fascinating insight into the world of extreme mountaineering straight from the heart of one of New Zealand’s most incredible personalities. It’s also humorous, deeply moving, enlightening and entertaining.”

Murder Machine

Capeci, Jerry,Mustain, Gene — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

One of the most shocking and compelling stories to ever emerge from the world of organised crime

Meet the DeMeo gang - the most deadly killers the Mafia has ever known. They started out as a small-time Brooklyn corner crew, but once the killing started it didn't stop. They became the hitmen of choice for their Mafia bosses, who came to know, use, and utimately to fear them. They would kill for profit and pleasure, cold-blooded plans and sudden violent whim. Now thanks to to the personal revelations of one of the key players, the inside story of these mafia serial killers can be told in all its astonishing detail. 'A murderous crew that every wisequy in New York was afraid of... compelling and authoritative' - Nicholas Pileggi, author of Goodfellas

The Complete Guide to Becoming Pregnant

Dr Firuza R. Parikh — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Are you or your partner having trouble conceiving? You’re not alone. About 10–12 percent of Indians have infertility problems and this trend is increasing. Yet there is a stigma around infertility and many couples find it hard to talk openly about their problems or to get adequate information. Now Dr Firuza R. Parikh, India’s top fertility specialist and gynaecologist, gives you the seminal guide to infertility and its treatments. Simple, accessible, and completely authoritative, The Complete Guide to Becoming Pregnant tells you all that you need to know about conceiving a healthy child.

More Awkward Situations for Men

Wallace, Danny — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Danny is back with more hilarious true-life stories of hopeless modern manhood

In 2010’s brilliant AWKWARD SITUATIONS FOR MEN, Danny Wallace entertained us with wonderful bite-sized stories from his often embarrassing and bewildering everyday life as a man. Well, now it’s 2011 and Danny is back – and he’s even more confused than ever! A lot has happened to Danny Wallace in the past year. He has had a baby and has been hobnobbing with the powers that be in Hollywood. But that hasn't made him any less awkward. Being more of a grown up brings its own baffling etiquette and expected social graces, and no-one has told Danny. Join Danny once again on his very funny stumble through more Awkward Situations. It's not easy being a man!

Leela’s Book

Alice Albinia — Fri, 13 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Leela—alluring, taciturn, haunted—is moving back to Delhi from New York. She knows her return will unsettle many lives. Twenty-five years ago her sister was seduced by Vyasa, a young university lecturer. Now Vyasa, an eminent Sanskrit scholar, is preparing for the unlikely marriage of his son, Ash, to the child of a Hindu nationalist. Compounding Leela’s disruptive presence, Vyasa’s hedonistic daughter Bharati arrives from London, reluctantly leaving her cosmopolitan university life to see Ash married. He, meanwhile, has fallen in love with his brother-in-law to be. Gleefully presiding over the drama is Ganesh—divine, elephant-headed scribe of India’s great epic, the Mahabharata. The family patriarchs may think they have arranged the wedding for their own selfish ends, but according to Ganesh it is he who is directing events —in a bid to save Leela, his beloved heroine, from his devious enemy Vyasa. Turning to fiction after an award-winning travel book, Alice Albinia has written a brilliantly playful and genre-defying first novel. Ambitious and entertaining, Leela’s Book weaves a tale of contemporary Delhi that crosses religious and social boundaries, reaching back into the origins of the Mahabharata itself.

Supergods

Morrison, Grant — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The mind-bending history of superheroes by comics legend Grant Morrison.

Supergods is your opportunity to join one of the great figures of modern comics on a mind-bending journey into the world of the superheroes. In 1938, the first superhero comic ever published, Action Comics #1, introduced the world to something both unprecedented and profoundly familiar: Superman, a caped god for the modern age. In a matter of years, the skies of the imaginary world were filled with strange mutants, aliens, and vigilantes: Batman, Wonder Woman, the Fantastic Four, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, and the X-Men – the list of names is as familiar as our own. In less than a century they’ve gone from not existing at all to being everywhere we look: on our movie and television screens, in our videogames and dreams. But why? For Grant Morrison, possibly the greatest of contemporary superhero storytellers, these heroes are not simply characters but powerful archetypes whose ongoing, decades-spanning story arcs reflect and predict the course of human existence: through them, we tell the story of ourselves. In this exhilarating book, Morrison draws on history, art, mythology, and his own astonishing journeys through this alternate universe to provide the first true chronicle of the superhero – why they matter, why they will always be with us, and what they tell us about who we are.

Trauma

Turnbull, Gordon — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Meet the man who turns victims into survivors.

Lockerbie, Hillsborough, the Iraq Wars, 9/11, the London bombings … Thousands died, and in their aftermath, many more became prisoners of their own devastated minds – their only hope: a small number of dedicated pioneers working to piece together the crumbled fragments of their lives. The Ancient Greeks called it ‘trauma’. And yet almost three thousand years later what was identified as shellshock during the First World War was still mistaken for cowardice or lack of moral fibre. Only since Vietnam have we begun to understand the symptoms and the causes of what is now known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Dr Gordon Turnbull recognized PTSD as a serious clinical condition from the start of his career as a psychiatrist in the RAF. It afflicts people hit by violent tragedy, injury or shock, and, directly or indirectly, it can affect us all. Andy McNab, Terry Waite, Johnson Beharry VC, John McCarthy and their families are just some of those who have benefited from Gordon’s care and counsel. The Mind Mender explores the stories behind the headlines, and of those much closer to home. It describes how Gordon treated them, how this treatment often flew in the face of accepted ‘knowledge’, and how it was, at times, several steps ahead of current scientific discovery. Overwhelmed by anxiety, flashbacks, nightmares and a terrible feeling of isolation, many sufferers think they will never again find the comfort of normality – but in 80 per cent of cases Gordon Turnbull and his team have helped them rebuild their lives. How they achieve this lies at the heart of his fascinating and inspirational story.