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Such Sweet Sorrow
by Catrin CollierHave you ever wondered what it would be like to work for yourself? Since the recent recession figures show that more and more people, both young and old, would rather set up their own business than continue searching for jobs that are scarce, and often end up being poorly-paid. In Be Your Own Boss, dozens of ordinary people who have taken the plunge and launched their own successful businesses, share their know-how on how to get started and on the common mistakes to avoid. Whether it's baking cakes to make a bit of spare cash, leaving school at 16 to launch a magazine, turning redundancy into an opportunity or attracting money from the stars of TV's Dragons' Den, their stories will inspire. Business experts also share their top tips on where to go for money and advice to take your ideas from the bedroom to the boardroom. This book has all you need to start on the journey to be your own boss.
Swansea Girls
by Catrin CollierA new generation of the Maxwell family are farming at Wester Rullion during the 1980s. Young Paul Maxwell and his cousin Ryan are determined to work together to restore the farm's prosperity. How will they achieve their ambitious aims - only with the support of their grandparents? Can they overcome the hurdles of new farming regulations? Will Ryan get his heart's desire and marry Molly Nairne, daughter of a prosperous local farmer? What of Paul - abandoned by his mother as a young boy - who is adamant that he will never fall in love? Can a new arrival at the farm cause him to change his mind?
Swansea Summer
by Catrin CollierNewly promoted DI Matt Pryor is disappointed when his first case seems to be a simple death from natural causes - that is, until the post-mortem shows something quite unexpected ... The elderly man who died on a Cardiff train was murdered - poisoned - by one of the other passengers. But who? There's a photograph in the dead man's pocket - a photograph that matches one owned by young professional Ellie Bevan. Is it just a coincidence that Ellie's the one who stayed with the body until the police arrived - or did she have a more sinister reason for sticking around? Matt's boss DCI Martin Phelps is delving into a tricky case of his own. The new superintendent is determined to clear up any old cases with a whiff of police corruption about them and Phelps is sent to investigate the decade-old murder of a young Somali man. He soon discovers that the police reports are filled with errors. Sloppy detective work - or a cover-up? Both Pryor and Phelps soon find themselves surprisingly drawn towards investigating a respected humanitarian charity. Feted by important people, the organisation isn't quite what it seems - and a wrong move could spell disaster ... Never Dead is the fifth in Wonny Lea's Cardiff Bay Investigations featuring DCI Phelps.
Tiger Bay Blues
by Catrin CollierA Short Ghost Story by best-selling author Catrin Collier Kitty had never thought she'd escape the shadow of the workhouse or her mother's shame until she met Ellis. He gave her more than she'd ever dreamed could be hers - a real home and more love than she'd imagined existed in the world. Until war came even to their quiet farm and blighted their lives. Once again she knew loneliness - until the night Ellis returned. But was he Ellis? And who was the sick, whining stranger in the wheelchair, always moaning, never silent who threatened to destroy their lives . . .
Tiger Ragtime
by Catrin CollierA tale of love and hardship set in wild and beautiful 19th century Cornwall. Born into a once-respectable family, circumstances have reduced Roz Trevaskis to working at the local inn. In order to pay the fines incurred through her alcoholic mother's drunken behaviour, Roz has put herself in debt to some unpleasant people, and has reluctantly turned to smuggling. When her half-brother, Tom, is offered a job as an apprentice on the estate of the local JP, Branoc Casvellan, Roz realises this is an opportunity to dig her family out of trouble. Then Casvellan's brother catches smallpox, and it falls to Roz to nurse him - bringing her into close contact with her handsome employer. But how will Casvellan - and his family - react when the truth about Roz's life comes out?
Winds of Eden
by Catrin CollierWith the dreaded Family Reunion looming over her head - and a broken heart to boot - Augusta Josephine Burnette takes matters in hand and leaves her hometown for a job in a seaside resort. The setting is elegance incarnate, but the atmosphere says something else entirely. With her innate sense of adventure (and just plain nosiness), AJ sets out to unravel exactly what - and who -the Mirmar Resort is hiding. AJ begins to think that time spent with her crazy family might not be as lethal as the time spent at the Miramar, and she makes an effort to leave. Thankfully, her cousin Ellie, a self-described psychic, has come along for the ride, and between the two of them, a very underhand plan is brought to light - and a murderer is nabbed.
Winners and Losers
by Catrin CollierFive years ago the staff of Pickwicks Cafe in Richmond were thrown into turmoil when their cook and part-owner, Scott, had a terrible accident. With help from his friends, his wife Peggy, and the staff at the local hospital, he made an amazing recovery. Now Pickwicks is preparing to host a special Christmas fundraiser for the hospital department that looked after Scott. Pickwicks' waitress Megan has been liaising with the ward's administrator, Nick, as all the staff who helped Scott's recovery are invited are invited. As the problems of organising the fundraiser take up more and more of their busy lives, Megan and Nick contact each other more frequently, and their emails and phone calls start to develop from the practical into the flirty. But can you actually fall for someone you've never met? As the fundraiser draws closer, Megan is beginning to think that she had imagined all the virtual flirting between herself and Nick - he promised to arrange to meet her for real, but he hasn't done so. Now he's bringing someone with him to the fundraiser, and they're just bound to be everything Megan feels she isn't ... Another Cup of Christmas is a festive sequel (of sorts!) to Jenny Kane's fantastic debut romance, Another Cup of Coffee.
Call of the Heather
by Gwen Kirkwood1812: With her guardian planning to remarry, 20-year-old Phoebe Dymond finds she is no longer welcome in his Falmouth home and is soon hustled aboard the packet ship Providence bound for Jamaica and an arranged marriage. A skilled herbalist and midwife, Phoebe clashes with ship's surgeon, Jowan Crossley. But their professional antagonism evolves into mutual respect and a deepening attraction neither dare acknowledge. Following a skirmish with a French privateer, Providence is robbed of crew by a Royal Navy frigate and arrives to find the island facing a slave revolt and Kingston flooded with French refugees. Escorted by Jowan to the plantation of which she will be mistress, terrifying events force Phoebe to relinquish all hope of the happiness she has glimpsed. But her journey is not yet over...
Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East
by Roger FordThe definitive and epic account of World War I in the Middle East. The Great War in the Middle East began with an invasion of the Garden of Eden, and ended with a momentous victory on the site of the biblical Armageddon. For the first time, the complete story of this epic, bloody war is now presented in a single, definitive volume. In this inspired new work of history, Roger Ford describes the conflict in its entirety: the war in Mesopotamia, which would end with the creation of the countries of Iran and Iraq; the desperate struggle in the Caucasus, where the Turks had long-standing territorial ambitions; the doomed attacks on the Gallipoli Peninsula that would lead to ignominious defeat; and the final act in Palestine, where the Ottoman Empire finally crumbled. Ford ends with a detailed description of the messy aftermath of the war, and the new conflicts that arose in a reshaped Middle East that would play such a huge part in shaping world affairs for generations to come.
Elsie and Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front
by Diane AtkinsonThe incredible story of two courageous and spirited women who were the only female participants to serve on the western front during World War I. When they met at a motorcycle club in 1912, Elsie Knocker was a thirty year-old motorcycling divorcee dressed in bottle-green Dunhill leathers, and Mairi Chisholm was a brilliant eighteen-year old mechanic, living at home borrowing tools from her brother. Little did they know, theirs was to become one of the most extraordinary stories of World War I. In 1914, they roared off to London 'to do their bit,' and within a month they were in the thick of things in Belgium driving ambulances to distant military hospitals. Frustrated by the number of men dying of shock in the back of their vehicles, they set up their own first-aid post on the front line in the village of Pervyse, near Ypres, risking their lives working under sniper fire and heavy bombardment for months at a time. As news of their courage and expertise spread, the 'Angels of Pervyse' became celebrities, visited by journalists and photographers as well as royals and VIPs. Glamorous and influential, they were having the time of their lives, and for four years Elsie and Mairi and stayed in Pervyse until they were nearly killed by arsenic gas in the spring of 1918. But returning home and adjusting to peacetime life--and the role of women in British society--was to prove more challenging than even the war itself.
Roosevelt's Navy: The Education of a Warrior President, 1882-1920
by James Tertius de KayFDR as never seen before: His formative years as Woodrow Wilson's Assistant Secretary of the Navy, evolving from political neophyte to visionary leader. This is the story of a very different Franklin Delano Roosevelt from the one traditionally found in the history books. This is a much younger, untested, pre-polio FDR, learning the complexities of gaining and exercising power as Woodrow Wilson's ambitious Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He arrives in Washington as an inexperienced political amateur possessed of little more than a famous name, but by the time he leaves the Navy eight years later he will have transformed himself into a seasoned professional, wise to the ways of power, a visionary ready and eager to take his place on the world stage. FDR's early years in Washington also include the most tumultuous period in his personal life, when, caught in a difficult marriage, he is forced to choose between his own personal happiness and his political ambitions. He must deal at close quarters with Congress, with the Administration, and with the military. Lastly, but crucially, he confronts himself, learning something about his potential, his limitations, and his growing ambition to become president of the United States.
The Fighting Temeraire: The Battle of Trafalgar and the Ship that Inspired J. M. W. Turner's Most Beloved Painting
by Sam WillisThe extraordinary story of the mighty Temeraire, the ship behind J. M. W. Turner's iconic painting. The H.M.S. Temeraire, one of Britain's most illustrious fighting ships, is known to millions through J. M. W. Turner's masterpiece, The Fighting Temeraire (1839), which portrays the battle-scarred veteran of Britain's wars with Napoleonic France. In this evocative new volume, Sam Willis tells the extraordinary story of the vessel behind the painting. This tale of two ships spans the heyday of the age of sail: the climaxes of both the Seven Years' War (1756-63) and the Napoleonic Wars (1798-1815). Filled with richly evocative detail, and narrated with the pace and gusto of a master storyteller, The Fighting Temeraire is an enthralling and deeply satisfying work of narrative history.
Judgment Before Nuremberg: The Holocaust In The Ukraine And The First Nazi War Crimes Trial
by Greg DawsonFrom the author of Hiding in the Spotlight, the story of the Kharkov trials, forgotten by history, which sought justice for the thousands killed the Ukraine, a place also overlooked in the annals of the Holocaust When one thinks of the Holocaust, we think of Auschwitz, Dachau; and when we think of justice for this terrible chapter in history, we think of Nuremberg. Not of Russia or the Ukraine, and certainly not of a city called Kharkov. But in reality, the first war-crimes trial against the Nazis was in this idyllic, peaceful Ukrainian city, which is fitting, because it is also where the Holocaust actually began.Eighteen months before the end of World War II--two full years before the opening statement by the prosecution at Nuremberg--three Nazi officers and a Ukrainian collaborator were tried and convicted of war crimes and hanged in Kharkov's public square. The trial is symbolic of the larger omission of the Ukraine from the popular history of the Holocaust--another deep irony, as most of the first of the six million perished in the Ukraine long before Hitler and his lieutenant seven decided on the formalities of the Final Solution.
The Last Armada: The Story of the 100-Day Spanish Invasion
by Des EkinThe story of the last great naval battle between England and Spain, evoking a number of colorful and dangerous personalities who fought in the climactic conclusion to these two countries’ great rivalry on the sea. Ireland: Christmas Eve, 1601. As thunder crashes and lightning rakes the sky, three very different commanders line up for a battle that will decide the fate of a nation. General Juan del Águila has been sprung from a prison cell to command the last great Spanish armada. His mission: to seize a bridgehead in Queen Elizabeth's England and hold it. Facing him is Charles Blount, a brilliant English strategist whose career is also under a cloud. His affair with a married woman edged him into a treasonous conspiracy—and brought him to within a hair’s breadth of the gallows. Meanwhile, Irish insurgent Hugh O’Neill knows that this is his final chance to drive the English out of Ireland. For each man, this is the last throw of the dice. Tomorrow they will be either heroes or failures. These colorful commanders come alive in this true story of courage and endurance, of bitterness and betrayal, and of drama and intrigue at the highest levels in the courts of England and Spain.
The Passenger: A Novel
by F. R. TallisThe new supernatural thriller from F. R. Tallis, who takes his readers under the wartime seas of the stormy North Atlantic in 1942, where not all those on board are invited . . . A German submarine, U-330, patrols the stormy inhospitable waters of the North Atlantic. It is commanded by Siegfried Lorenz, a maverick SS officer who does not believe in the war he is bound by duty and honor to fight in. U-330 receives a triple-encoded message with instructions to collect two prisoners from a vessel located off the Icelandic coast and transport them to the base at Brest—and a British submarine commander, Sutherland, and a Norwegian academic, Professor Bjornar Grimstad, are taken on board. Contact between the prisoners and Lorenz has been forbidden, and it transpires that this special mission has been ordered by an unknown source, high up in the SS. It is rumored that Grimstad is working on a secret weapon that could change the course of the war . . . Then, Sutherland goes rogue, and a series of shocking, brutal events occur. In the aftermath, disturbing things start happening on the boat. It seems that a lethal, supernatural force is stalking the crew, wrestling with Lorenz for control. A thousand feet under the dark, icy waves, it doesn't matter how loud you scream...
So Close to Home: A True Story of an American Family's Fight for Survival During World War II
by Michael J. Tougias Alison O'LearyA true story of men and women pitted against the sea during World War II--and an unforgettable portrait of the determination of the human spirit. On May 19, 1942, a U-boat in the Gulf of Mexico stalked its prey fifty miles from New Orleans. Captained by twenty nine-year-old Iron Cross and King's Cross recipient Erich Wu¨rdemann, the submarine set its sights on the freighter Heredia with sixty-two souls on board. Most aboard were merchant seamen, but there were also a handful of civilians, including the Downs family: Ray and Ina, and their two children, eight-year-old Sonny and eleven-year-old Lucille. Fast asleep in their berths, the Downs family had no idea that two torpedoes were heading their way. When the ship exploded, chaos ensued--and each family member had to find their own path to survival. Including original, unpublished material from Commander Wu¨rdemann's war diary, the story provides balance and perspective by chronicling the daring mission of the U-boat--and its commander's decision-making--in the Gulf of Mexico. An inspiring historical narrative, So Close to Home tells the story of the Downs family as they struggle against sharks, hypothermia, drowning, and dehydration in their effort to survive the aftermath of this deadly attack off the American coast.
The Kamikaze Hunters: 1945
by Will IredaleAn extraordinary story of courage, valor, and dogged determination, the vivid account of how a few brave young pilots ensured lasting peace during World War II. In May 1945, with victory in Europe established, the war was all but over. But on the other side of the world, the Allies were still engaged in a bitter struggle to control the Pacific. And it was then that the Japanese unleashed a terrible new form of warfare: the suicide pilots, or Kamikaze. Drawing on meticulous research and unique personal access to the remaining survivors, Will Iredale follows a group of young men from the moment they signed up through their initial training to the terrifying reality of fighting against pilots who, in the cruel last summer of the war, chose death rather than risk their country's dishonourable defeat--and deliberately flew their planes into Allied aircraft carriers.
The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood: The Spy Who Stole the Crown Jewels and Became the King's Secret Agent
by Robert HutchinsonThe gripping story of one of the most enigmatic and alluring figures in British history: a dangerous double agent and Irish rogue in King Charles II's court One morning in May 1671, a man disguised as a parson daringly attempted to seize the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Astonishingly, he managed to escape with the regalia and crown before being apprehended. And yet he was not executed for treason. Instead, the king granted him a generous income and he became a familiar strutting figure in the royal court's glittering state apartments. This man was Colonel Thomas Blood, a notorious turncoat and fugitive from justice. Nicknamed the 'Father of all Treasons,' he had been involved in an attempted coup d'etat in Ireland as well as countless plots to assassinate Charles II. In an age when gossip and intrigue ruled the coffee houses, the restored Stuart king decided Blood was more useful to him alive than dead. But while serving as his personal spy, Blood was conspiring with his enemies. At the same time he hired himself out as a freelance agent for those seeking to further their political ambition. In The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood, bestselling historian Robert Hutchinson paints a vivid portrait of a double agent bent on ambiguous political and personal motivation, and provides an extraordinary account of the perils and conspiracies that abounded in Restoration England.
The Wages of Desire: A World War II Mystery (Inspector Lamb Ser.)
by Stephen KellyIn the late summer of 1941, as the war deepens, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Lamb must risk his life to sort out the links between a series of killings—past and present—in a Hampshire village brimming with buried secrets. In the late summer of 1941, as the war in Europe drags on, long-buried secrets begin to surface in the Hampshire village of Winstead, when the body of a young woman – a former conscientious objector - is found shot to death in the church cemetery. The woman’s only connection to Winstead seems to be that she lately had joined a group of conscripted workers who are building a prisoner of war camp on an abandoned farm near the village. But Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Lamb, who is called in to solve the case, has his doubts. The mystery deepens when workers at the farm find the remains of a child in the foundation of the old farmhouse, and a tramp who had been squatting in the wood near the church turns up dead. Lamb soon begins to suspect that the crimes might be related to a tragic event that occurred in Winstead more than twenty years earlier – the suicide of a village woman who took her life in despair after her husband abandoned her and took their young twin sons with him. As Lamb pieces together the connections between the crimes, he draws closer to the source of evil in Winstead’s past and present and, in the end, must risk his own life to uncover the truth.
Cyberspies: The Secret History of Surveillance, Hacking, and Digital Espionage
by Gordon CoreraThe previously untold--and previously highly classified--story of the conflux of espionage and technology, with a compelling narrative rich with astonishing revelations taking readers from World War II to the internet age. As the digital era become increasingly pervasive, the intertwining forces of computers and espionage are reshaping the entire world; what was once the preserve of a few intelligence agencies now affects us all. Corera's compelling narrative takes us from the Second World War through the Cold War and the birth of the internet to the present era of hackers and surveillance. The book is rich with historical detail and characters, as well as astonishing revelations about espionage carried out in recent times by the UK, US, and China. Using unique access to the National Security Agency, GCHQ, Chinese officials, and senior executives from some of the most powerful global technology companies, Gordon Corera has gathered compelling stories from heads of state, hackers and spies of all stripes. Cyberspies is a ground-breaking exploration of the new space in which the worlds of espionage, diplomacy, international business, science, and technology collide.
Marked for Death: The First War in the Air
by James Hamilton-PatersonA dramatic and fascinating account of aerial combat during World War I, revealing the terrible risks taken by the men who fought and died in the world's first war in the air. Little more than ten years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. Nearly forgotten in the war's massive overall death toll, some 50,000 aircrew would die in the combatant nations' fledgling air forces. The romance of aviation had a remarkable grip on the public imagination, propaganda focusing on gallant air 'aces' who become national heroes. The reality was horribly different. Marked for Death debunks popular myth to explore the brutal truths of wartime aviation: of flimsy planes and unprotected pilots; of burning nineteen-year-olds falling screaming to their deaths; of pilots blinded by the entrails of their observers. James Hamilton-Paterson also reveals how four years of war produced profound changes both in the aircraft themselves and in military attitudes and strategy. By 1918 it was widely accepted that domination of the air above the battlefield was crucial to military success, a realization that would change the nature of warfare forever.
God's Armies: Origins, History, Aftermath
by Malcolm LambertWith ramifications on geopolitics today, a vivid chronicle of the Christian and Islamic struggle to control the sacred places of Palestine and the Middle East between the seventh and thirteenth centuries. Crusade and jihad are often reckoned to have represented two sides of the same coin: each resonated on the opposing sides in the holy wars of the Middle Ages and each has been invoked during the war on terror. A chronicle of the Christian and Islamic struggle to control the sacred places of Palestine and the Middle East between the seventh and thirteenth centuries, this dynamic new history demonstrates that this simple opposition ignores crucial differences. Placing an equal emphasis on the inner histories of Christianity and Islam, the book traces the origins and development of crusade and jihad, showing for example that jihad reflected internal tensions in Islam from its beginnings. The narrative also reveals the ways in which crusade and jihad were used to disguise ambitions for power and to justify atrocity and yet also inspired acts of great chivalry and heroic achievement. The story brims with larger than life characters, among them Richard the Lionheart, Nur al-Din, Saladin, Baybars, and Ghengiz Khan. Lambert concludes by considers the long after-effects of jihad and crusade, including the role of the latter in French imperialism and of the former in the wars now afflicting the Middle East and parts of Africa. This vivid, balanced account will interest all readers who wish to understand the complexities of the medieval world and how it relates our own.
Culloden: Scotland's Last Battle and the Forging of the British Empire
by Trevor RoyleA vigorous and authoritative history of last major battle fought between Scottish and English forces, ending all hope of the Stuarts reclaiming the throne and forming the bedrock for the creation of the British Empire. The Battle of Culloden in 1746 has gone down in history as the last major battle fought on British soil: a vicious confrontation between the English Royal Army and the Scottish forces supporting the Stuart claim to the throne. But this wasn't just a conflict between the Scots and the English: the battle was also part of a much larger campaign to protect the British Isles from the growing threat of a French invasion. In Trevor Royle's vivid and evocative narrative, we are drawn into the ranks, on both sides, alongside doomed Jacobites fighting fellow Scots dressed in the red coats of the Duke of Cumberland's Royal Army. And we meet the Duke himself, a skilled warrior who would gain notoriety because of the reprisals on Highland clans in the battle's aftermath. Royle also takes us beyond the battle as the men of the Royal Army, galvanized by its success at Culloden, expand dramatically and start to fight campaigns overseas in America and India in order to secure British interests. We see the revolutionary use of fighting techniques first implemented at Culloden, and we see the creation of professional fighting forces. Culloden changed the course of British history by ending all hope of the Stuarts reclaiming the throne, cementing Hanoverian rule and forming the bedrock for the creation of the British Empire. Royle's lively and provocative history looks afresh at the period and unveils its true significance, not only as the end of a struggle for the throne but the beginning of a new global power.
Hemingway at War: Ernest Hemingway's Adventures as a World War II Correspondent
by Terry MortFrom Omaha Beach on D-Day and the French Resistance to the tragedy of Huertgen Forest and the Liberation of Paris, this is the story of Ernest Hemingway's adventures in journalism during World War II. In the spring of 1944, Hemingway traveled to London and then to France to cover World War II for Colliers Magazine. Obviously he was a little late in arriving. Why did he go? He had resisted this kind of journalism for much of the early period of the war, but when he finally decided to go, he threw himself into the thick of events and so became a conduit to understanding some of the major events and characters of the war. He flew missions with the RAF (in part to gather material for a novel); he went on a landing craft on Omaha Beach on D-Day; he went on to involve himself in the French Resistance forces in France and famously rode into the still dangerous streets of liberated Paris. And he was at the German Siegfried line for the horrendous killing ground of the Huertgen Forest, in which his favored 22nd Regiment lost nearly man they sent into the fight. After that tragedy, it came to be argued, he was never the same. This invigorating narrative is also, in a parallel fashion, an investigation into Hemingway’s subsequent work—much of it stemming from his wartime experience—which shaped the latter stages of his career in dramatic fashion.
The Secret State: A History of Intelligence and Espionage
by John Hughes-WilsonA ground-breaking history of intelligence—from its classical origins to the onset of the surveillance state in the digital age—that lifts the veil of secrecy from this clandestine world. Comprehensive and authoritative, The Secret State skillfully examines the potential pitfalls of the traditional intelligence cycle; the dangerous uncertainties of spies and human intelligence; how the Cold War became an electronic intelligence war; the technical revolution that began with the use of reconnaissance photography in World War I and during the Cuban Missile Crisis; the legacy of Stalin's deliberate ignoring of vital intelligence; how signals intelligence gave America one of its greatest victories; how Wikileaks really happened; and whether 9/11 could have been avoided if America's post-Cold War intelligence agencies had adapted to the new world of international terrorism. Authoritative and analytical, Hughes-Wilson searches for hard answers and scrutinizes why crucial intelligence is so often ignored, misunderstood, or spun by politicians and seasoned generals alike. From yesterday's spies to tomorrow's cyber world, The Secret State is a fascinating and thought-provoking history of this ever-changing and ever-important subject.