Ellis Island. Arriving off one of the many transatlantic freighters are Cetta Luminita and her illegitimate baby boy Natale, fleeing the poverty and violence of their Southern Italian hometown. Having sacrificed everything, and endured every possible shame, Cetta has but one wish: that her baby should be an American, and grow up with the freedom to decide his own destiny. As they alight, US Immigration officials give Natale a new name: Christmas. Growing up in the Lower East Side of New York with his mother, who works as a prostitute, Christmas is determined to be a success, whether a decent person or a gangster. The city is ruled by gangs from each community, Italian, Jewish and Irish, and survival is dependent on ruthlessness and strength. But Christmas has a vivid imagination, and an ability to tell stories that people want to believe...and thus is born his imaginary gang, the Diamond Dogs, which earns him respect within the ghetto. All this changes the day he saves the life of a rich Jewish girl Ruth, and despite their different backgrounds, he falls hopelessly in love with her. When circumstance tears them apart, Christmas vows that he will find her, by any means possible. A sweeping saga of love and hate set in the Roaring Twenties, The Boy Who Granted Dreams is the story of Christmas and Ruth; the story of the dawn of radio, Broadway and Hollywood; and above all, a story about believing in the power of dreams.

    At thirteen-years-old, they are sold — Romulus to gladiator school, Fabiola into prostitution where she will catch the eye of one of the most powerful men in Rome.Tarquinius is an Etruscan warrior and soothsayer, and an enemy of Rome, but doomed to fight for the Republic in the Forgotten Legion. Brennus is a Gaul; the Romans killed his entire family. He rises to become one of the most famous and feared gladiators of his day — and mentor to the boy slave, Romulus, who dreams night and day of escape and revenge.The lives of the four are bound together into a marvellous story which begins in a Rome riven by corruption, violence and politics, and ends far away at the very border of the known world.

    He’s carrying a briefcase whose contents he’s selling to a representative from the Vatican; the briefcase contains a wealth of information about the violent history of the Zone—the lands of the Mediterranean basin, Spain, Algeria, Lebanon, Italy, that have become Mirković’s specialty.Over the course of a single night, Mirković visits the sites of these tragedies in his memory and recalls the damage that his own participation in that violence—as a soldier fighting for Croatia during the Balkan Wars—has wreaked in his own life. Mirkovic´ hopes that this night will be his last in the Zone, that this journey will expiate his sins, and that he can disappear with Sashka, the only woman he hasn’t abandoned, forever . . .One of the truly original books of the decade—and written as a single, hypnotic, propulsive, physically irresistible sentence—Mathias Énard’s Zone provides an extraordinary and panoramic view of the turmoil that has long deviled the shores of the Mediterranean.

    Growing up on a dairy farm in the mountains of British Columbia less than two miles from the American border, she knows little of the outside world. But she knows family. A family so close and loving that they are the envy of the nearby town of Atwood. Friends and neighbors, young and old alike, show up regularly on their farmhouse porch–all willing to share in the never-ending daily chores in exchange for a place at the Ward family table. Natalie cherishes her position as the only daughter of the beautiful Nettie Ward–the pride of the Catholic Ladies Auxiliary–and the town's milkman, Gus Ward–the darling of Atwood housewives. She adores her three brothers, especially the eldest, Boyer, whom she idolizes with a childlike worship. Like her mother, Natalie believes their lives are blessed, as rich and as sweet as the fresh milk that is their livelihood. Everything changes one hot July afternoon in 1966 when a long-haired stranger walks up the winding dirt road to their door. The arrival of this soft-spoken American, a Vietnam War resister, will test the morals and beliefs of the Ward family and their close-knit community. The catastrophic events that are set in motion will leave relationships shattered and Natalie separated from the family she loves in ways that she could never have imagined. Thirty-five years later, Natalie receives a late-night phone call from her now-estranged brother Boyer. Their mother is dying. Torn between the love of her mother and the fear of the past, Natalie returns to the town she has spent her entire adult life avoiding. As she travels back to her childhood home she steels herself against the bittersweet memories of that summer day in 1966 and the tragedy that followed. But before Natalie can find redemption, she must confront the secrets and horrors of a past she has desperately tried to forget.

    Her beauty captivates him. Aware of shameful secrets in her past, Isabel has no intention of letting anyone into her life, but Richard's persistence and ardour eventually win him her trust - and her hand in marriage. The decades pass and Isabel and Richard raise a family through the turbulent times of the First World War and the 1920s. As her children reach adulthood, Isabel is convinced her secret is safe - until an old acquaintance emerges from the shadows, turning her world upside down. To protect the happiness of those she loves most, Isabel must find the courage to confront what came before, and live with the consequences...

    But however much she loves reading the stars, she just can't seem to get her life on track and this week is no exception. First she's jilted at the altar by Ben. Then, sitting alone and forlorn in her home in Hazy Hassocks, she discovers that the flat above is owned by an ex-convict!

    . . 'The year is AD 255 - the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, its authority and might challenged along every border. The greatest threat lies in Persia to the east, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. There the isolated Roman citadel of Arete awaits inevitable invasion.One man is sent to marshal the defences and shore up crumbling walls. A man whose name itself means war: a man called Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces, and the courage to stand first and to stand hard, against the greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium.This is part one of WARRIOR OF ROME: an epic of empire, of heroes, of treachery, of courage, and most of all, a story of brutal, bloody warfare.

    Scipio Africanus, surely the greatest general that Rome produced, suffered both these fates. Today scholars celebrate the importance of Hannibal, even though Scipio defeated the legendary general in the Second Punic War and was the central military figure of his time. In this scholarly and heretofore unmatched military biography of the distinguished Roman soldier, Richard A. Gabriel establishes Scipio’s rightful place in military history as the greater of the two generals.  Before Scipio, few Romans would have dreamed of empire, and Scipio himself would have regarded such an ambition as a danger to his beloved republic. And yet, paradoxically, Scipio’s victories in Spain and Africa enabled Rome to consolidate its hold over Italy and become the dominant power in the western Mediterranean, virtually ensuring a later confrontation with the Greco-Macedonian kingdoms to the east as well as the empire’s expansion into North Africa and the Levant. The Roman imperium was being born, and it was Scipio who had sired it. Gabriel draws upon ancient texts, including those from Livy, Polybius, Diodorus, Silius Italicus, and others, as primary sources and examines all additional material available to the modern scholar in French, German, English, and Italian. His book offers a complete bibliography of all extant sources regarding Scipio’s life. The result is a rich, detailed, and contextual treatment of the life and career of Scipio Africanus, one of Rome’s greatest generals, if not the greatest of them all.

    A cottage that holds a secret. A mysterious and handsome Frenchman. Prepare to be “spellbound by the sheer charm” (Daily Express, UK) of Santa Montefiore’s tender and powerful novel about passion, loss, and the healing power of love.It begins as Miranda and David Claybourne move into a country house with a once-beautiful garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their dream. Soon the latent unhappiness in the family begins to come to the surface, isolating each family member in a bubble of resentment and loneliness. Then an enigmatic Frenchman arrives on their doorstep. With the wisdom of nature, he slowly begins to heal the past and the present. But who is he? When Miranda reads about his past in a diary she finds in the cottage by the garden, the whole family learns that a garden, like love itself, can restore the human spirit, not just season after season, but generation after generation. Wise and winsome, poignant and powerfully moving, The French Gardener is a contemporary story told with an old-fashioned sensibility steeped in the importance of family and the magical power of love.

    

    When Hitler told the assembled masses that they were a people with no past, he meant that they had no past following their humiliation in World War I of which to be proud. The Nazis' constant use of classical antiquity—in official speeches, film, state architecture, the press, and state-sponsored festivities—conferred on them the prestige and heritage of Greece and Rome that the modern German people so desperately needed. At the same time, the lessons of antiquity served as a warning: Greece and Rome fell because they were incapable of protecting the purity of their blood against mixing and infiltration. To regain their rightful place in the world, the Nazis had to make all-out war on Germany's enemies, within and without.

    But when an astonishing secret is revealed about a past relationship, their trip becomes a whirlwind journey of rediscovery that takes them from Montreal to Paris to Berlin and back home again, where Julia learns that even the smallest gestures she might have taken for granted have the power to change her life forever. Revised edition: Previously published as Toutes ces choses qu'on ne s'est pas dites, this edition of All Those Things We Never Said (US Edition) includes editorial revisions.

    Her body lies in a pool of blood in the north London flat where she worked as a prostitute. Deep knife wounds have been gouged into her corpse and her hands and feet are tied with coat hanger wire. For Detective Inspector Jack Delaney this is no ordinary case. He was a friend of Jackie's and she left desperate messages on his answer phone just hours before she was killed. Despite no immediate leads and no obvious suspects, the fear in her voice tells him that this was not a random act of violence. Just as Delaney begins his investigation, a young girl is reported missing, feared abducted, and he is immediately tasked with finding her. Delaney knows he must act quickly if there is any chance of finding her alive, but he is also determined to track down Jackie's killer before the trail goes cold. However, his tough and uncompromising attitude has made him some powerful enemies on the force, and Delaney soon finds that this case may provide the perfect opportunity for them to dispose of him, once and for all...

    He's a great doctor and he can cook She knows he's the one, even if she won't admit it. There is just one problem - he has vowed never to marry or have children. However much he wants Madison, he knows it wouldn't be right to have a relationship with her when he can't fulfill her dreams.Yet Theo's behaviour just doesn't add up. He behaves as if he loves her, he just doesn't say it, and he adores kids, so why doesn't he want any of his own? Then, just as Madison discovers the reason, she also discovers she is pregnant with his child...

    Jan's father has been summarily executed by the Nazis. His mother and his older sister Maria have disappeared, and his younger sister Lena has been removed to a remote farm in the German countryside. With Europe is in the throes of war, the ten-year-old boy embarks on a personal journey to reunite the family he has been violently torn from. The experiences he goes through and the horror he faces during this desperate quest will change his life for ever. While examining the devastating effects of war on ordinary families, "The Search" provides an exploration of fear and loss, and of the bond between parents and children. Riveting, moving, at times disturbing, Maureen Myant's debut novel will haunt its readers for a long time after they have put it down.

    Each unit contains student-centered objectives, detailed teacher notes with background and rationale, integration of universal values, flexible step-by-step procedures, and reproducible handouts to encourage insight and interactions.

    In this compelling new study Neil Faulkner argues that in fact, it was nothing more than a ruthless system of robbery and violence. War was used to enrich the state, the imperial ruling classes and favoured client groups. In the process millions of people were killed or enslaved.Within the empire the landowning elite creamed off the wealth of the countryside to pay taxes to the state and fund the towns and villas where they lived. The masses of people – slaves, serfs and poor peasants – were victims of a grand exploitation that made the empire possible. This system, riddled with tension and latent conflict, contained the seeds of its own eventual collapse.

    The couple were going house-hunting, looking for their first home together. Tig was only going to be gone a few days on a routine business trip - the annual highlight of an otherwise unglamorous job working on the Russian desk of a London bank.But just hours later something went wrong at Moscow airport. Very wrong.Misunderstanding a request from customs for a backhander to speed his progress into the country, Tig was pulled to one side to have his bag searched. A deliberate inconvenience, he thought.But Tig's world was about to implode with dizzying, terrifying speed. A tiny lump of hashish, nothing more than detritus from a recent stag weekend, was discovered in the pocket of an old pair of jeans. Too small to warrant anything more than a slapped wrist back home, he hadn't even known it was there.Tig was in Moscow's notorious Piet Centrale jail by nightfall - and that was just a stepping stone on his way to prison camp Zone 22 in the bleak, remote wastes of Mordovia.He wouldn't be returning home for years ...

    It is up to Po to defend the Valley of Peace from the evil snow leopard Tai Lung. At first glance, kung fu master Shifu and the Furious Five dismiss Po as a lazy panda who just loves to eat. But when Po is able to turn his love of food into his greatest strength, he knows he's stumbled upon something special. Join Po as he rises to the occasion and surprises everyone, including himself!

    JULIUS CESAR, the triumvir and the founder of the Roman Empire, was the grandnephew of C. Julius Caesar, the dictator, his adoptive father. Originally named, like his true father, C. Octavius, he entered the Julian family after the dictator’s death, and, according to the usual practice of adopted sons, called himself C. Julius Caesar Octavianus. But the name Octavianus soon fell into disuse, and by his contemporaries he was commonly spoken of as Caesar, just as Scipio Emilianus was commonly called Scipio.The victory of Actium (Sept. 2, 31 BC), and the death of Marcus Antonius (Aug. 1, 30 BC) placed the supreme power in the hands of Caesar, for so we may best call him until he becomes Augustus. The Roman world lay at his feet and he had no rival. He was not a man of genius and his success had perhaps been chiefly due to his imperturbable self-control. He was no general; he was hardly a soldier, though not devoid of personal courage, as he had shown in his campaign in Illyricum. As a statesman he was able, but not creative or original, and he would never have succeeded informing a permanent constitution but for the example of the great dictator. In temper he was cool, without ardor or enthusiasm. His mind was logical and he aimed at precision in thought and expression. His culture was wide, if superficial; his knowledge of Greek imperfect. In literary style he affected simplicity and correctness; and he was an acute critic. Like many educated men of his time, he was not free from superstition. His habits were always simple, his food plain, and his surroundings modest. His family affections were strong and sometimes misled him into weakness. His presence was imposing, though he was not tall, and his features were marked by symmetrical beauty; but the pallor of his complexion showed that his health was naturally delicate. It was due to his self-control and his simple manner of life that he lived to be an old man...

    (...) This is a narrative history as well as a focused study of the development of the ships, officers, and crews and the overall naval establishment. Recommended. CHOICE This publication represents the first true examination of the Roman Navy as an independent arm of the military. Though many may perceive the Roman Empire as a primarily land-based organisation, an empire forged by the formidable legions of infantry, the truth is that it was as much a maritime empire as that of the British in the nineteenth century, and in fact the Roman Navy was the most powerful maritime force ever to have existed. It secured the trade routes and maintained the communications that allowed the Roman Empire to exist; and it brought previously untouchable and unreachable enemies to battle and enabled the expansion of Imperial power into areas thought hitherto inaccessible. This book, featuring detailed reconstructions of the ships themselves, provides an engaging survey of the craft, their crewmen, and the navy's major contribution to the Empire's growth.

    The picturesque bay provided an ideal setting in which to read and write, exercise, enjoy the gardens, admire the views, and entertain friends.Julius Caesar, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero all built seaside villas in Baiae, and the emperor Augustus vacationed in Sorrento, Capri, and Posillipo. The richly decorated imperial villas set high artistic standards in the region, and the sculptors and painters whom the emperors employed found clients among the urban and suburban elite in Pompeii and Herculaneum.The magnificent contents of these sumptuously appointed villas and townhouses are the subject of Pompeii and the Roman Villa, and with them the breadth and richness of cultural and artistic life that thrived around the Bay of Naples before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. An international team of experts, led by Carol C. Mattusch, examines this exquisite body of ancient Roman art, complemented by more than 200 lavish illustrations of paintings, sculpture, mosaics, frescoes, jewelry, glass, and more.With contributions by Mary Beard, Bettina Bergmann, Stefano De Caro, Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, Kenneth Lapatin, and Carol C. Mattusch.

    When Rufus' growing reputation as an animal trainer and his friendship with Cupido, one of Rome's greatest gladiators, attract the cruel gaze of the Emperor, Rufus is bought from his master and taken to the imperial palace as the keeper of the imperial elephant. Rufus soon sees that life here is dictated by Caligula’s ever shifting moods—he is as generous as he is cruel and he is a megalomaniac who declares himself a living god who simultaneously lives in constant fear of the plots against his life. Caligula's paranoia is not misplaced, and Rufus and Cupido find themselves unwittingly placed at the center of a conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor.

    This simple retelling is ideal for young fans who are too old for beginning readers but not quite ready for the longer junior novel. Full color.

    

    In this fresh assessment the author offers instead a cultural history of the functions of the visual arts, the messages that these images carried, and the values that they affirmed in late Republican Rome and the Empire.The analysis begins at the point at which the characteristic features of Roman art started to emerge, when the Romans were exposed to Hellenistic culture through their conquest of Greek lands in the third century B.C. As a result, the values and social and political structure of Roman society changed, as did the functions and character of the images it generated. This volume, presented in very clear and accessible language, offers new and fascinating insights into the evolution of the forms and meanings of Roman art.

    The gripping plot revolves around the experiences of real-life German General Kurt von Hammerstein and his wife and children. A member of an old military family, a brilliant staff officer, and the last commander of the German army before Hitler seized power, Hammerstein, who died in 1943 before Hitler’s defeat, was nevertheless an idiosyncratic character. Too old to be a resister, he retained an independence of mind that was shared by his children: three of his daughters joined the Communist Party, and two of his sons risked their lives in the July 1944 Plot against Hitler and were subsequently on the run till the end of the war. Hammerstein never criticized his children for their activities, and he maintained contacts with the Communists himself and foresaw the disastrous end of Hitler’s dictatorship.In The Silences of Hammerstein, Hans Magnus Enzensberger offers a brilliant and unorthodox account of the military milieu whose acquiescence to Nazism consolidated Hitler’s power and of the heroic few who refused to share in the spoils.

    It sank within minutes taking almost all of the 2007 passengers to their watery graves. This is the gripping story of the Awa Maru, the little known Titanic of Japan. Follow the journey of Kyoko Tanaka, whose parents and brother had been passengers on the Awa Maru as she set sail on her own voyage of discovery. She travels from Japan to Singapore in search of the truth and a piece of her history and makes poignant and touching discoveries of the lives of her parents and some of the other families as they prepared to board the Awa Maru. The lives of the doomed passengers of the Awa Maru and the events of that horrific night when they perished are all told in this book as never before.

    At nearly forty, she's got a little black book that could bring Hollywood's A-list to its knees;The Lady - Emma Harvey is a fiery red-headed aristocrat.She's a social mover and shaker, who at fifty is happily married to the most handsome man in England.Three women who have every reason to distrust and despise each other.But their hatred for one man will unite them. For ever. He's...The Billionaire - Yuri Khordinsky, the ruthless Russian oligarch.He's on a mission to get recognition in polite society and will stop at nothing to get it.But this time he's crossed the wrong women. And they're determined to get back on top.

    An authoritative account of Roman imperial, military and political power, and of classical Rome's influence on Western culture, architecture and art.

    When her mother falls seriously ill and the relationship between her parents becomes suddenly strained, a carefully hidden family secret is revealed and Tiziana's seemingly idealistic world is turned upside down. After discovering she was born in a Naples orphanage and subsequently given up for adoption, Tiziana sets out for the small town of Gaeta in an attempt to find her birth parents. Meanwhile, her best friend Christopher is sending her mixed messages, causing her to wonder if there is more to their relationship than just companionship. As she becomes intertwined with a handful of interesting characters who help her uncover her past, Tiziana needs to decide whether her feelings for Christopher are deeper than she realizes. She discovers herself and others all while her family's resilience and love for one another is tested when confronted with a shocking truth. The answers lie in a box found in a closet in Italy, and Tiziana must determine if she wants to embrace the heartache and the pain from her past in order to learn forgiveness and find peace in the future.