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Books > Fiction > True stories > General
Redmond O'Hanlon describes his extraordinary three-week trip on an
Orkney trawler as it journeys far into the north Atlantic in search
of its catch. Young skipper Jason Schofield has a 2 million pound
overdraft on his boat, the Norlantean, which is why he has to go
out in a Category One Force 12 hurricane when the rest of the
Scottish fleet has run for shelter. O'Hanlon may not be much help
when it comes to seamanship - in the words of one of the crew, he
doesn't know his arse from his tit - but he is able to wax lyrical
on the amazing deep-sea fish to be found north of the Wyville
Thomson Ridge: greater argentine, flying squid, blue ling, the
truly disgusting hagfish and many other exotics. Combining humour
with erudition, O'Hanlon has written a vivid and compulsively
readable account of a journey that for sheer terror beats all his
previous adventures.
Bringing to life the fabulous, colorful panorama of New Orleans in the first flush of the jazz era, this book tells the story of Buddy Bolden, the first of the great trumpet players--some say the originator of jazz--who was, in any case, the genius, the guiding spirit, and the king of that time and place.
In this fictionalized meditation, Bolden, an unrecorded father of Jazz, remains throughout a tantalizingly ungraspable phantom, the central mysteries of his life, his art, and his madness remaining felt but never quite pinned down. Ondaatje's prose is at times startlingly lyrical, and as he chases Bolden through documents and scenes, the novel partakes of the very best sort of modern detective novel--one where the enigma is never resolved, but allowed to manifest in its fullness. Though more 'experimental' in form than either The English Patient or In the Skin of a Lion, it is a fitting addition to the renowned Ondaatje oeuvre.
Not Just the Wife of the General Manager is a rollicking memoir of
one woman's life on outback cattle stations, and an homage to the
many unsung women like her. It was the 1980s and Sally Warriner was
in her early 20s when she returned from a backpacking sojourn and
hitchhiked to Australia's far north. But instead of moving back to
Canberra as planned, she stayed. After marrying a cattle station
manager, Sally lived and worked with him on various stations until
she was 50, injecting herself into the lives of the characters who
inhabited these isolated places. With wit and sass, Sally tells the
story of how she was so much more than just a wife of a station
manager (despite what the blokes of the top end thought). Among
other things, she was a nurse (dealing with local accidents,
assisting the Flying Doctor service and making emergency 400 km
round trips through the outback with sick children), a mother
(bringing up several children, not all her own), a travel agent, a
social secretary, a host and an organiser (including of Kerry
Packer's New Year's Eve parties). This is a story about adventure,
resilience, the unexpected journeys we need to go on to find
ourselves, and having the courage to do something for yourself. In
Sally's words: 'Life's like that, fellas. You may spend a lifetime
trying to find yourself but, at the end of the day, it's there all
along.'
Whether it's the joy-filled decision to welcome a child into your
arms or the difficult decision to give your child another
home-adoption is making the choice to love unselfishly and
unconditionally. Loved by Choice offers a clear and uplifting look
at adoption through true stories told from virtually every
perspective. Birth parents, adoptive parents, grandparents, adopted
children, families working out an overseas adoption, and those
creating interracial families are among those who share their joys
and difficulties. The collection is a tender celebration of
adoption, led by those who understand it best. "Heartwarming and
inspirational. By translating true stories from different
perspectives, Horner and Martindale intensely convey to the reader
the emotions that these people have felt-emotions ranging from
desperation to elation, from abandonment to fulfillment. Loved by
Choice is not only educational, it's an emotional read that, for
maybe the first time, discusses in-depth the impact that adoption
has on families and communities." Bill Owens, Governor of Colorado
"Loved by Choice is a perfect example of God's adoption of us as
his children and how the choice of love is extended to women in
unplanned pregnancies. It is a powerful review of how God uses
lives to save lives."Carol Everett, president of The Heidi Group
"The reader, at the end of this book, has learned a great deal
about the process of adoption, but that pales in comparison with
the impact of the stories on the heart itself. And that's the real
reason we should all read the book: to understand for the very
first time what it really means to be Loved by Choice." Joe
Wheeler, Ph. D., editor/compiler of the Heart to Heartseries of
anthologies
Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2018 If you
had told Helen two years ago that she would be getting up at 6 a.m.
on Sundays to swim in a freezing reservoir and spending her
Saturday nights unshowered and covered in mud in a pub, she would
have spat out her champagne. But when everyone around you starts
settling down, what else is a glamorous party girl to do but to
launch herself into the world of endurance sport? For someone who
didn't even own a pair of flat shoes (and definitely no
waterproofs), Helen would soon find she had a lot to learn. Join
Helen on her hilarious and soul-searching journey as she swaps a
life of cocktail bars and dating for the challenges and
exhilaration of triathlons, trail runs, obstacle races,
long-distance cycles and ocean swims... and sets herself the
seemingly impossible goal of qualifying as a Team GB triathlete.
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul is your handbook for surviving
and succeeding during the exciting teen years with both your sanity
and sense of humour intact. It contains invaluable lessons on the
nature of friendship and love, the importance of belief in the
future and the value of respect for yourself and others. It also
deals with tough issues like death, suicide and the loss of love.
You'll relate to and learn from the inspirational stories, without
feeling criticised or judged. Like a good friend, Chicken Soup for
the Teenage Soul will be there for you when you need someone and
cheer you up when you're down.
For fans of Mrs Hemingway and The Paris Wife, Whitney Scharer's The
Age of Light is the riveting, vivid and powerful story of the
photographer Lee Miller and her lover, Man Ray. Model. Muse. Lover.
Artist. Paris, 1929. Lee Miller has abandoned her life in New York
and a modelling career at Vogue to pursue her dream of becoming a
photographer. When she catches the eye of artist Man Ray she
convinces him to hire her as his assistant. Man is an egotistical,
charismatic force and they soon embark upon a passionate affair.
Lee and Man spend their days working closely in the studio and
their nights at smoky cabarets and wild parties. But as Lee begins
to assert herself, and to create pioneering work of her own, Man's
jealousy spirals out of control and leads to a betrayal that
threatens to destroy them both . . . 'Powerful, sensual and
gripping' - Madeleine Miller, author of Circe 'Fans of Mrs
Hemingway and The Paris Wife will love this one' - Elle
THE MITFORD GIRLS tells the true story behind the gaiety and frivolity of the six Mitford daughters – and the facts are as sensational as any novel: Nancy, whose bright social existence masked an obsessional doomed love which soured her success; Pam, a countrywoman married to one of the best brains in Europe; Diana, an iconic beauty, who was already married when at 22 she fell in love with Oswald Moseley, the leader of the British fascists; Unity, who romantically in love with Hitler, became a member of his inner circle before shooting herself in the temple when WWII was declared; Jessica, the family rebel, who declared herself a communist in the schoolroom and the youngest sister, Debo, who became the Duchess of Devonshire.This is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary family, containing much new material, based on exclusive access to Mitford archives.
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True Story
(Paperback)
Michael Finkel
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R392
R318
Discovery Miles 3 180
Save R74 (19%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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Michael Finkel was a top New York Times Magazine journalist
publicly fired and disgraced for making up a composite character
for a big investigative news piece about Africa. This book is about
how this brilliant, high achieving journalist found himself at that
point in his life. But in parallel it's also about Christian Longo,
a man accused of the multiple murder of his own wife and three
children. After the deaths, Longo fled to Mexico, where he passed
himself off as Michael Finkel, New York Times journalist. These two
weird stories come together as Finkel in turn becomes fascinated
(perhaps obsessed) with Longo the accused murderer, who while in
prison and during his trial would talk only to Finkel. Who is using
whom...?
Big Beat was once one of the biggest, but ironically, perhaps most
misunderstood musical movements of the Mid-Late 1990's, lead by
some of the biggest artists the Electronic Dance Music scene has
ever seen, such as Fatboy Slim (AKA Norman Cook), The Chemical
Brothers and The Prodigy. It's loud, eclectic sound with it's
syncopated beats was a smash around the world, leading to nights of
boozy (but good natured) hedonism, and it was the soundtrack to the
advertising world of the late 1990's and early 2000's. But,
somewhere along the way, the genre got a massive backlash from
critics, leading to a very quick and painful death, and became the
very victim of it's own success. Where did it go wrong and is there
a chance for the scene to experience a revival? With new and
exclusive interviews with Rory Hoy from 120 of those who were in
the thick of it (including Fatboy Slim and Liam Howlett and Keith
Flint from The Prodigy) - this is a celebratory (and sometimes
humorous) look at a music scene that was short lived . . but had a
very big impact.
This epic saga of brotherhood and rivalry, of loyalty and
treachery, of victory and death, forms part of the indelible core
of classical Chinese culture and continues to fascinate modern-day
readers. In 220 EC, the 400-year-old rule of the mighty Han dynasty
came to an end and three kingdoms contested for control of China.
Liu Pei, the legitimate heir to the Han throne, elects to fight for
his birthright and enlists the aid of his sworn brothers, the
impulsive giant Chang Fei and the invincible knight Kuan Yu. The
brave band faces a formidable array of enemies, foremost among them
the treacherous and bloodthirsty Ts'ao Ts'ao. The bold struggle of
the three heroes seems doomed until the reclusive wizard Chuko
Liang offers his counsel, and the tide begins to turn. Romance of
the Three Kingdoms is China's oldest novel and the first of a great
tradition of historical fiction. Believed to have been compiled by
the play-wright Lo Kuan-chung in the late fourteenth century, it is
indebted to the great San-kuo chi (Chronicles of the Three
Kingdoms) completed by the historian Ch'en Shou just before his
death in 297 CE. The novel first appeared in print in 1522. This
edition, translated in the mid-1920s by C. H. Brewitt-Taylor, is
based on a shortened and simplified version which appeared in the
1670s. An Introduction to this reprint by Robert E. Hegel,
Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Washington
University, provides an insightful commentary on the historical
background to the novel, its literary origins and its main
characters.
Terry Waite's personal account of his harrowing experiences as a
hostage in Beirut. This book gives a fascinating insight into human
life on the edge - the things people are willing to do to each
other, and what it feels like to be treated in that way. Terry's
endurance in the face of unimaginable suffering and long days spent
in solitary confinement makes for a compelling tale. This new
edition includes an updated foreword and new final chapter
conveying just a few of the many and varied experiences that came
Terry's way post-release, and conveying his passionate engagement
in Middle East issues since his release 25 years ago, an issue of
just as much relevance today as ever.
On July 12, 1969, Ruth Davis, a young American volunteer at Dr.
Jane Goodall's famous chimpanzee research camp in the Gombe Stream
National Park of Tanzania, East Africa, walked out of camp to
follow a chimpanzee into the forest. Six days later, her body was
found floating in a pool at the base of a high waterfall. With
careful detail, The Ghosts of Gombe reveals for the first time the
full story of day-to-day life in Goodall's wilderness camp-the
people and the animals, the stresses and excitements, the social
conflicts and cultural alignments, and the astonishing friendships
that developed between three of the researchers and some of the
chimpanzees-during the months preceding that tragic event. Was
Ruth's death an accident? Did she jump? Was she pushed? In an
extended act of literary forensics, Goodall biographer Dale
Peterson examines how Ruth's death might have happened and explores
some of the painful sequelae that haunted two of the survivors for
the rest of their lives.
Fearlessness has got nothing to do with being unafraid. It's about
doing things anyway, getting on with it, living, whether you're
afraid or not. Fuzzy-haired, free-spirited, cello-playing Catrina
is devastated when her lover, Jack, leaves her to go surfing on the
other side of the world. Trapped in a dead-end job and torn by his
departure, she dreams of running away. But how do you run away when
you're flat broke? Luckily, her friend Andrew comes up with a plan:
they'll get an old van, turn it into a camper and busk their way
from Norway to Portugal, via Nordkapp, the land of the Midnight
Sun. When a tragic accident occurs, the journey suddenly takes on
new meaning. As she navigates personal loss and the daily
challenges of life on the road, Catrina begins to learn the true
meaning of love and courage and, above all else, the importance of
following her dreams. This is an unforgettable story of a journey
like no other - a deeply emotional and inspirational debut by a
unique writer.
This amusing insight into Cunard's legendary liners begins more
than fifty years ago when Paul Curtis joined the original Queen
Mary as entertainments officer. Over a Cunard high tea in the
Queens Room, Paul recounts the stories of these iconic ships. Then,
over a drink in the Red Lion, he shares the tales of the antics of
both passengers and crews. The facts are delivered in vivid detail
- some of them things you should know and an occasional peep at
things you shouldn't. Simply turning these pages releases a sniff
of the sea and a whiff of champagne. Paul has worked, travelled
upon or photographed every Cunard Queen ever built. He has an
offbeat sense of humour and a keen appetite for the ridiculous. A
life at sea can do that to you.
By the author of The Cambridge Quintet, John L. Casti's new book
continues the tradition of combining science fact with just the
right dose of fiction. Part novel, part science ? wholly
informative and entertaining. In the fall of 1933 the newly founded
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, welcomed its
first faculty member, Albert Einstein. With this superstar on the
roster, the Institute was able to attract many more of the greatest
scholars, scientists, and poets from around the world. It was to be
an intellectual haven, a place where the most brilliant minds on
the planet, sheltered from the outside world's cares and
calamities, could study and collaborate and devote their time to
the pure and exclusive pursuit of knowledge. For many of them, it
was the "one, true, platonic heaven." Over the years, key figures
at the Institute began to question the limits to what science could
tell us about the world, pondering the universal secrets it might
unlock. Could science be the ultimate source of truth; or are there
intrinsic limits, built into the very fabric of the universe, to
what we can learn? In the late 1940's and early 1950's, this
important question was being asked and pondered upon by some of the
Institute's deepest thinkers. Enter the dramatis personae to
illuminate the science and the philosophy of the time. Mathematical
logician Kurt Godel was the unacknowledged Grant Exalted Ruler of
this platonic estate ? but he was a ruler without a scepter as he
awaited the inexplicably indefinite postponement of his promotion
to full, tenured professor. Also in residence was his colleague,
the Hungarian-American polymath, John van Neumann, developer of
game theory, the axiomatic foundations of quantum mechanics, and
the digital computer ? stymied by the Institute's refusal to
sanction his bold proposal to actually build a computer. One of
Godel's closest friends figures large in this story: Albert
Einstein, by common consensus the greatest physicist the 20th
century had ever known. And, of course, the director the Institute,
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, must by
necessity be key to any story that focuses in on this time and
place. Author Casti elegantly sets the stage and then masterfully
directs this impressive cast of characters?with able assists by
many "minor-character" icons like T. S. Eliot, Wolfgang Pauli,
Freeman Dyson, and David Bohm, to tell a story of science, history,
and ideas. As we watch events unfold (some of which are documented
fact while others are creatively imagined fiction), we are witness
to the discussions and deliberations of this august group? privy to
wide-ranging conversations on thinking machines, quantum logic,
biology as physics, weather forecasting, the structure of economic
systems, the distinction between mathematics and natural science,
the structure of the universe, and the powers of the human mind ?
all centered around the question of the limits to scientific
knowledge. Imaginatively conceived and artfully executed, The One
True Platonic Heaven is an accessible and intriguing presentation
of some of the deepest scientific and philosophical ideas of the
20th century. Table of Contents Front Matter Prologue Chapter One:
A Walk Down Mercer Street Chapter Two: Teatime at the IAS Chapter
Three: Goodtime Johnny Chapter Four: Goedel at the Blackboard
Chapter Five: The Boardroom Chapter Six: Late-Night Thoughts of the
Greatest Physicist Chapter Seven: An Evening at Olden Manor Chapter
Eight: The Verdicts Epilogue
This is an account of how an angry young man can cross the line
that divides theoretical support for violence from a state of
'killing rage', in which the murder of neighbour becomes thinkable.
Over 3000 people have died in Northern Ireland since 1969, and most
of them have died at the hands of their neighbours. The intimacy of
the Ulster conflict, what it means to carry out a political murder
when in all probability the victim is personally known, or lives in
a nearby street, is described accurately by an honest participant.
The book does not attempt to soften the impact of the events it
describes through euphemism or rhetoric. It is a truthful picture
of the brutality and waste caused by the IRA's unwinnable campaign,
and of its human consequences. It is also a self-portrait of the
despair and disintegration, the hardening to conscience and grief,
that accompany political violence.
It will make you laugh and it will make you cry: Felix The Railway
Cat is the SUNDAY TIMES bestselling, extraordinary tale of a
close-knit community and its amazing bond with a very special cat.
'The global sensation' Daily Telegraph ________ When Felix arrived
at Yorkshire's Huddersfield Train Station as an eight-week-old
kitten, no one knew just how important this little ball of fluff
would become. Although she has a vital job to do as 'Senior Pest
Controller', Felix is much more than just an employee of
TransPennine Express. Felix changes lives in surprising ways. She
is always ready to leap into action and save the day: from bringing
a boy with autism out of his shell to providing comfort to a
runaway child shivering on the platform one night. So when tragedy
hits the team at Huddersfield, it is only Felix who can pull them
back together. But a chance friendship with a commuter that she
waits for her on the platform every morning finally gives Felix the
recognition she deserves, catapulting her to international stardom
. . . Royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to
Prostate Cancer UK (registered charity 1005541, SC039332).
The Elephant in the Room is a collection of short stories that
creatively communicate the cancer patient's journey. The stories,
based on real-life accounts, are built around the idiosyncratic
relationships between patients and their doctors. Using humor,
empathy and wisdom, Jonathan Waxman explores the very human side of
cancer as well as providing expert commentary on the clinical
aspects of diagnosis and therapy of this disease. These stories
comfort and entertain, inform and engage, and are a treat to read
for anyone whose life has been affected by cancer.
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My Dream
(Paperback)
Meverly Benjamin
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R303
R247
Discovery Miles 2 470
Save R56 (18%)
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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My Dream is a gripping novel that follows the struggles of one
woman through adversity to be able to achieve her dream. This novel
confronts real, dark issues and experiences; following a childhood
of abandonment and hard work, this is a tale of perseverance and
drive that takes her from the wards of a London hospital to the
heart of the Middle East. Esther finds herself prepared to make the
ultimate sacrifice to be free of her pain. This is a story of love
and faith; of despair and betrayal. It is a powerful example of a
woman who nearly lost her dream, but who found it in the end.
'In my darkest hour, I reached for a hand and found your paw' When
Nicola found Buddy, abandoned and broken, she vowed to do all she
could to help save him. What she didn't know at the time was that
this little dog would in turn save her. This is the story of Buddy
and me: a remarkable true story of survival, hope, and never giving
up, no matter how hard life gets.
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