Nothing could have prepared him for the reality he ended up facing. Placing his focus on the day to day existence of the soldiers in the trenches, Adams presents a grim picture of mud-coated billets, relentless artillery barrages, working parties, training and the art of military sniping. Just as it would have been for the soldiers’ lives, Adams heightens his work with an emotive account of his first night patrol, the detonation of mines, battlefield duels and being wounded whilst out wiring in No Man’s Land. Understated and striving for truth over melodrama, Nothing of Importance is the original memoir of the First World War — the only record published while the conflict was still being fought — and the definitive account of trench warfare. Bernard Adams (1890-1917) was a British Army officer, joining 1 Royal Welsh Fusiliers as a Lieutenant in November 1914. He was the first of a triumvirate of authors who, for a time, served simultaneously in the same battalion: the second was Siegfried Sassoon, the third Robert Graves. Written whilst convalescing in 1916, he did not live to see it published.

    That quixotic quest for understanding has drawn much of the world’s population eastward ever since Buddha first assumed the lotus position, and writer Mara Altman needed to know why. So she flew around the world in search of an answer not only to that mystery, but also to the deeper questions that plague all who yearn to define the meaning of life. What Altman found in her wild, comic 18-day reporting trek across India – a journey that took her on a laborious, 37-hour cross-country train trip, onto a mystical flat rock by the ocean in Pondicherry, and eventually into the emergency room of a cut-rate Bangalore hospital – will make you laugh, learn and ponder. By the end of her epic odyssey, it will also take you unexpectedly and thrillingly close to the pulsing heart of human existence. After graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Mara Altman worked as a staff writer for The Village Voice. In 2009, HarperCollins published Altman's first book, Thanks For Coming: A Young Woman's Quest for an Orgasm, which was optioned as a comedy series by HBO. She has published seven bestselling Kindle Singles, including the #1 bestseller Bearded Lady, and has also written for New York Magazine and The New York Times. Cover design by Adil Dara

    Around him existentialism, Sartre, and Beckett were making the city the literary and philosophical capital of the world. But for Endo, the experience was deeply alienating, and he came away infected with tuberculosis, his studies incomplete, and having convinced himself that there could be no cultural commerce between East and West. Foreign Studies consists of three linked narratives exploring this theme. The first part, “A Summer in Rouen,” concerns Kudo, a Japanese student invited to France in the 1950s. It is a lucent snapshot of a young man who feels adrift in a Western country. The second part, “Araki Thomas,” sees Endo on familiar territory as he tells of an apostate Japanese Catholic who has visited 17th-century Rome. “And You, Too,” the third part, is the story of Tanaka, a Japanese scholar of French literature who visits France in the 1960s to research the life and work of the Marquis de Sade.

    In 1997 it had been running for 50 years, with less than one hundred people successfully completing it – only four of which had been non-Japanese. In the same year Scott Langley was at the top of his game, a third degree black belt, captain of the British JKS National Team and JKS European and World Champion. He moved to Japan with a secret plan – to be the fifth foreigner to complete the course. This is the true story of Scott’s Journey, spanning five years, chronicling the highs and lows of facing karate’s toughest challenge and how he learnt to survive and never give in.In Autumn 2013 Scott sent this book to his Sensei in Japan for their approval. They responded immediately declaring the book to be full of lies and misrepresentations of Japan and forbade him to publish it. He was suspended for a month and then affectively expelled in January 2014. Suddenly, his 30 year relationship with Japanese karate had abruptly come to an end. This had been major a part of his entire karate life and he had dedicated himself to its values and rules, running a karate organization in Ireland for over ten years. He never wanted to jeopardize his position or damage the reputation of the group. However, unfortunately, the sacrifices he made during this true story are nothing compared to the sacrifices he has had to make to publish it. About the Author Scott Langley began karate in 1985. Showing a rare combination of aptitude, dedication and love of the art, Scott rose through the grades at a steady rate. In 1991 he gained his black belt. However, this was just the beginning. He quickly began winning national competitions and in 1993 was selected for the Japan Karate Shotorenmei national team. While at university he trained daily at his university club and under the guidance of Sadashige Kato 8th Dan. By the time Scott graduated, he was a 3rd Dan and had become one of the youngest people to win the JKS World Championships. But this was just the foundation of what lay ahead. In 1997 Scott moved to Japan to train full time at the World Headquarters. In 2000 he was invited to enter the elusive instructors’ course and after two years of intensive training, graduated, becoming only the fifth westerner to complete the challenge. He moved to Ireland with a mandate to promote the JKS within the British Isles. Within a decade Scott’s group had become the biggest single style association in the UK and Ireland and was as big at the JKS in Japan. He now teaches fulltime at www.hombudojokarate.com

    In the story, a mother takes extreme measures to provide her four mentally disabled children with a normal life. She feeds them a medicinal soup made from the bones of her dead husband when she finds out that bones 'the closer from kin the better' can cure their illness. When she runs out of her husband's bones, she resorts to a measure that only a mother can take.

    The odds of their survival were long. The odds of escaping, even longer. But one-man had the courage to fight the odds . . . An elite British S.A.S. operative on an assassination mission gone wrong. A Jewish New Yorker injured in a Nazi ambush. An eighteen-year-old Gary Cooper lookalike from Mobile, Alabama. These men and hundreds of other soldiers found themselves in the prisoner-of-war camps off the Atlantic coast of occupied France, fighting brutal conditions and unsympathetic captors. But, miraculously, local villagers were able to smuggle out a message from the camp, one that reached the Allies and sparked a remarkable quest by an unlikely—and truly inspiring—hero. Andy Hodges had been excluded from military service due to a lingering shoulder injury from his college-football days. Devastated but determined, Andy refused to sit at home while his fellow Americans risked their lives, so he joined the Red Cross, volunteering for the toughest assignments on the most dangerous battlefields. In the fall of 1944, Andy was tapped for what sounded like a suicide mission: a desperate attempt to aid the Allied POWs in occupied France—alone and unarmed, matching his wits against the Nazi war machine. Despite the likelihood of failure, Andy did far more than deliver much-needed supplies. By the end of the year, he had negotiated the release of an unprecedented 149 prisoners—leaving no one behind. This is the true story of one man’s selflessness, ingenuity, and victory in the face of impossible adversity.

    After finally tasting triumph with a blockbuster new show, celebration is on the cards. The drop-dead gorgeous man in the front row is merely a bonus.Thierry is the mysterious man who danced through one night of her life, then seemed determined to be forgotten. A keen theatregoer, and a nigh-irresistible face in the crowd, he shows Charlotte what dreams are truly made of, before vanishing completely.Now, Charlotte has a problem. She’s pregnant, and the idea of Thierry never finding out is unconscionable. She resolves to find him, no matter what it takes.Her journey will take her thousands of miles, to Europe, and a series of frustrating dead ends. In Italy, a conversation with a stranger brings disturbing revelations, leaving Charlotte to wonder if the man who stole her heart is indeed the sort of man she wants to be her baby’s father.Still no closer to finding her mystery lover, Charlotte is overwhelmed with terrifying questions. Namely, what did Thierry do that made him want to disappear? Is he really a royal? And will she ever find him, and tell him he’s a father?

    Blair's majority was the culmination of a long struggle to modernize the party, and the politics of his country. Philip Gould is a political strategist and polling adviser who has worked with the Labour leadership since the 1980s. In this book he describes its rise and explains how the transformation was achieved, at the same time exploring the changed political climate in Britain.

    This manual provides that evidence, based on an appraisal of current research and advice from clinical experts.New for the seventh edition:A new chapter on 'Positioning' - how to help a patient sit in bed, to stand and lie comfortablySeparate chapters on 'Assessment and the process of care' and 'Communication'New sections on problem solving, to help nurses during the course of their clinical workEvidence rated to help nurses assess its validity This invaluable companion enables nurses to gain the confidence they need to become informed, skilled practitioners.Now available online to Hospitals, NHS Trusts and Academic Institutions

    Or so he believes.Food begins to go missing. Perturbed by this threat to his orderly life, Shimura sets up a webcam to monitor his home. But though eager to identify his intruder, is Shimura really prepared for what the camera will reveal?Based on real-life events, this prize‐winning novel is a moving tale of alienation in the modern world.

    When the letters she eagerly awaits never arrive, Rosie is disillusioned and open to the influence of Doug. Finding herself pregnant, she is forced to marry Doug - but then a letter arrives from Adam, saying he is coming home.

    It came to its bloody conclusion in Kosovo in 1999.Tim Marshall, then diplomatic editor at Sky News, was on the ground covering the Kosovo War. This is his illuminating account of how events unfolded, a thrilling journalistic memoir drawing on personal experience, eyewitness accounts, and interviews with intelligence officials from five countries. Twenty years on from the war’s end, with the rise of Russian power, a weakened NATO and stalled EU expansion, this story is more relevant than ever, as questions remain about the possibility of conflict on European soil. Utterly gripping, this is Tim Marshall at his very best: behind the lines, under fire and full of the insight that has made him one of Britain’s foremost writers on geopolitics.

    Their forbidden love soon draws everyone, including Queen Elizabeth, into the drama, and inspires Will to write the greatest love story of all time: Romeo and Juliet. Based on the Oscar-winning screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love has been deftly adapted for the stage by Lee Hall and has been playing to rave reviews and a sold-out theatre at the Noël Coward in London. The London production is directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod, the driving force behind the world-renowned theatre company, Cheek by Jowl. A Broadway transfer is planned for Spring 2015.

    Even the selfless physician who saves him cannot soften the boy's hardened spirit. Angry with the world and desiring vengeance against those who caused his parents' suicides, Hachiro feels rejection almost everywhere and reacts in kind. This anger he forges into an amazing skill with a sword. He becomes the most famous swordsman in the city. Many deaths are due to Hachiro’s reputation, until he seeks solitude and redemption by leaving the capital.The love of women proves even less kind than the cut of a sword. His obsession with a forbidden passion forces Hachiro to join the war between two powerful clans where he finds another dangerous woman and treachery.When at last he returns home, he finds Kyoto in ruin and his beloved master dead. In the midst of the tragedy of this ravaged city, he discovers his redemption, something he had given up hoping for. But first he must face the danger of losing all when a secret enemy sets his trap.

    Despite her hopes for a quieter, less hectic life, she finds she can't escape her involvement in the city's creative, intellectual and political circles.Oriku finds herself the subject of unanticipated attention, because along with her passion for music, theater and storytelling, she offers her own invaluable talents: a vibrant appreciation of life, an unparalleled gift for hospitality, and the maturity and sensitivity necessary to instruct young people in the all-important arts of love. Her independent thinking and love of Tokyo's traditions offer a unique perspective on the surprising complexity and contradictions of the Japanese culture of the era.Now available in English for the first time, Japan's beloved Mistress Oriku is filled with clear-eyed nostalgia for the vanished—and entirely captivating—world of old Tokyo."They say the pleasures you taste first in middle age are like rain that starts later in the day."