A mysterious giant of a man with no memory or past appears in the small town of Birchwood, Maine. He immediately meets thirteen-year-old Mary Whitney who hasn't spoken a word in more than a year. Who is this visitor? Why are some people frightened of him? What key does he hold to the mysteries enveloping this community?
Vain, shallow characters dominate the town's social structure. Mary's mother has spent a lifetime in the grip of alcoholism. Mary's father is seldom at home. Albert Hicks, an overweight deputy, suffers from feelings of inadequacy. Robin Cohen, Mary's new schoolteacher, harbors feelings of separation and isolation. The town's sheriff, Louis Cranston, struggles with his own inner demons of guilt and loss that reach back to his early childhood. These are only collateral symptoms of the darkest secret of all that's locked behind the silence of a young girl.
The key to the mystery may rest with the body of a murdered man found on the shores of the black lake from which the stranger appeared. The fate of a girl, a town, the world, and perhaps heaven itself are entwined within the dark secret that lies at the heart of "Birchwood."

Delivering a ground-breaking analysis of the EU’s diplomatic meetings (or dialogues) with China, this book reveals how the EU’s values rarely feature in exchanges, due to ingrained cultures of complacency and self-censorship amongst EU officials. Based on extensive interviews, and focusing on individual perceptions and practices, the book also highlights how intercultural misunderstanding and unreflective beliefs contribute to this troubling status-quo with serious implications. Furthermore, these dynamics run contrary to the Lisbon Treaty (2009) - where the EU states that its values inform its external relations - threatening the rules-based order that upholds the universal values and international norms the EU shares. At a time of flux in EU-China relations and geopolitical instability, this book’s timely insights will be of great interest and value to scholars and practitioners alike. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European (Union) foreign policy and diplomacy, EU-China relations, Chinese foreign policy, human rights diplomacy, sustainable development, trade policy and more broadly in European and Asian Studies, and International Relations.

Using case studies from around the world including India, Tanzania, the UK and US, Transparency and the open society surveys the adoption of transparency globally, providing an essential framework for assessing its likely performance as a policy and the steps that can be taken to make it more effective.

Arnold-Baker on Local Council Administration, often referred to as 'the bible', is a complete statement of the law relating to parish and community councils, in the form of an extensive though succinct narrative accompanied by comprehensive statutory materials. Now in its 13th edition, the ever-popular 'yellow book' remains the key text for Parish Councils, Local Authorities, barristers, and solicitors practicing in local government law and public and administrative law.

The NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Interfaces, Quantum Wells and Superlattices" was held from August 16th to 29th, 1987, in Banff, Alberta, Canada. This volume contains most of the lectures that were given at the Institute. A few of the lectures had already been presented at an earlier meeting and appear instead in the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Physics and Applications of Quantum Wells and Super lattices" held in Erice from April 21st to May 1st earlier in the year and published by Plenum Press. The study of semiconductor interfaces, quantum wells and super lattices has come to represent a substantial proportion of all work in condensed matter physics. In a sense the growth of interest in this area, which began to accelerate about 10 years ago and seems to be continuing, has been driven by technological developments. While the older generation of semiconductor devices was based on adjacent semiconductors with different properties (e. g. different doping levels) separated by interfaces, modern semiconductor devices tend to be based more and more on properties of the interfaces themselves. This has led, as an example, to the field of band-structure engineering. Improved understanding of the fundamental physics of these systems has aided technological developments and, in turn, technological developments have made available systems which exhibit novel and fascinating phYSical properties, such as the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects."

Rock icon and multi-instrumentalist Roger Taylor introduces his brand new solo album Outsider.

Although the drummer has released occasional solo tracks reflecting his worldview and observations - including Journey's End, Gangsters Are Running This World and most recently last year's Isolation, written and recorded in response to lockdown - Outsider represents Taylor's first album of new material since 2013's Fun On Earth.

With much of Outsider recorded during lockdown, this new album finds Taylor in a reflective mood, conveying a palpable sense of isolation, concerns over the passing of time, and perhaps tellingly dedicated "to all the outsiders, those who feel left on the sidelines".

A highly personal project, Outsider's instrumentation is almost entirely performed by Taylor, with the drummer's largely restrained vocals matching the mood-piece atmosphere. But Taylor does cut loose with the almost-punk More Kicks, along with a BIG surprise retread of a classic 1965 novelty song - exactly the fun on earth we need in these challenging times.

Track list
Tides
I Know, I Know, I Know
More Kicks
Absolutely Anything
Gangsters Are Running This World
We're All Just Trying to Get by - Ft. K T Tunstall
Gangsters Are Running This World - Purple Version
Isolation
The Clapping Song
Outsider
Foreign Sand - English Mix
Journey's End

Feature length documentary charting the career of the influential 1970s rock band, Mott the Hoople. Perhaps best known for their collaboration with David Bowie, resulting in the anthemic song 'All the Young Dudes', Mott the Hoople reunited in October 2009 for a few special anniversary concerts. As well as exclusive footage of the gigs, this documentary makes use of archive footage, interviews with the band members and contributions from such fans of the band as Mick Jones and Roger Taylor to tell their story.

Long before he published "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ("Lewis Carroll" to the world) took up photography as a hobby. Unlike most of the other amateurs in his circle, he persevered to become a dedicated, prolific, and remarkably gifted photographer, creating approximately 3,000 images during his twenty-five years of photographic activity. This handsomely designed volume makes clear the remarkable extent and complexity of Carroll's photographic art. It publishes for the first time the world's finest and most extensive collection of Carroll photographs, many of which have never been reproduced before and are unknown even to committed Carroll enthusiasts.

Roger Taylor's thorough and sophisticated discussion of Carroll as a photographic artist and as a prominent member of Victorian society reveals the man as never before, illuminating his relationships with the children he photographed in light of the idealism and social conventions of the day. This text, illustrated with exquisite tritone plates, is followed by Edward Wakeling's fully illustrated and thoroughly annotated catalogue of the entire Princeton University Library collection. It features, in addition to a trove of loose prints, four rare albums made by Carroll himself to showcase his work to friends, family, and potential sitters. Reproduced in album order, these images offer new insight into how Carroll thought about his work--and how he wanted it to be seen.

Compelling portraits of Alice Liddell and other children are presented alongside those of eminent Victorians such as Alfred Tennyson and William Holman Hunt, as well as evocative landscapes, narrative tableaux, and wonderfully strange studies of anatomical skeletons. The catalogue is followed by a chronological register of every known Carroll photograph--a remarkable resource for anyone studying his career as a photographer.

This sumptuous volume is the definitive work on Carroll's photography. All who admire Carroll and his writing, as well as everyone interested in Victorian England or the history of photography, will find it both essential and irresistible.

Book Two of the Chronicles of Hawklan. The darkness of ancient times is spreading over the land of Fyorlund and tainting even the Great Harmony of Orthlund. The ailing King Rgoric has imprisoned the much-loved and respected Lords Eldric, Arinndier, Darek and Hreldar; he has suspended the ancient ruling council of the Geadrol; he has formed his own High Guard, filling its ranks with violent unruly men; and Mandrocs have been seen even in Orthlund. At the centre of this corruption is the King's advisor, the evil Lord Dan-Tor, who is determined to destroy the peace won by Ethriss and the Guardians eons ago, and surrender the land to his Dark Lord, Sumeral. The people look to Hawklan to make a stand against Dan-Tor. But is he a healer or a soldier? Deep within himself, Hawklan has felt an ancient power, and when threatened has been seen to fight like a warrior out of legend. Hawklan knows he must confront Dan-Tor before the land falls forever to the encroaching, eternal night...