Drop him into a ghastly Kenya prep school in the middle of Rider Haggard country. A school where cricketing news comes by carrier pigeon, leopards are assaulted with a red-hot poker, and runaway boys are hunted down with spearmen and a pack of foxhounds... For Martin Riddle, the experience is unforgettable. For the riding mistress, Lady Bullivant, it is all part of the day's work. And for the headmaster, a disreputable ex-Guards officer, it is simply a means of staving off bankruptcy for a few more weeks. As for the Masai, tennis may be on the curriculum at Haggard Hall, but midnight meetings with naked warriors definitely are not! 'The funniest book I have read since David Lodge's Small World' - Sunday Times 'Wickedly funny' - Daily Mail 'Less savage than Evelyn Waugh, Best is every bit as sharp... an immensely enjoyable book' - Evening Standard 'Very good entertainment' - Sir Alec Guinness (Sunday Times book of the year) Nicholas Best's books have been translated into many languages. He was the Financial Times's fiction critic for ten years and was long-listed in 2010 for the Sunday Times-EFG Bank 30,000 award, the biggest short story prize in the world. For more details, see www.nicholasbest.co.uk

     • Rules are simple: no peeking, no skipping. • Do you agree? • Don't miss out! About Us Top 50 Facts is an unofficial collection of facts for fans and readers alike, looking to conveniently discover more about the books they love.

    From Dakota’s Black Hills to the gold and diamond fields of Southern Africa, Jim O’Rourke and his daughter, Kathleen step from the sailing ship Eudora and take their covered wagon deep inside a vast and ancient wilderness. The land is raw-boned and unforgiving – the men and women who search its heart for wealth, love and adventure, even more so. Smoke from a thousand fires clung to a broken landscape and towering above it, churned from a vast and open wound in the earth’s crust, were those billowing clouds of powdered Kimberlite; as yellow, ochrous fingers they reached upwards for over a thousand feet, deep inside the heart of that darksome Colesberg sky.

    Tower in the sky is the story of love, revolution, hopes, dreams, violence, terror, trust, betrayal, tragedy, disillusionment, self-transformation and the triumphal power of the human spirit. The book vividly depicts a moment in Ethiopia's history when the country convulsed with violence unleashed by a bloodthirsty military government that massacred an untold number of people, especially the young and plunged the country into darkness. It is also the story of thousands of young people who stood up against one of the most brutal dictatorships in history and fought for equality, freedom, social justice and human dignity.

     The town’s mayor, Jim Truehart, bought the land from his former master Hiram Little and transformed the Delta swamp into the best cotton land in the county. Now Little wants the land back, and he hires a man for the job that everyone in Willow Bend knows too well—former Klansman Benjamin Loveless, who carried out a massacre in the neighboring county ten years before. Byrd thought he was done with being a soldier. But his friendship with Truehart—and his love for Truehart’s eighteen-year-old daughter Bernie—pull him into Willow Bend’s fight. As danger comes ever closer, Byrd decides to join with Willow Bend for battle. Will it be a fight for freedom...or a massacre?

    "The Lion and the Leopard" takes place during the Great 1914-18 War when German forces invaded Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa. Martin Russell ("The Settler") and his step-daughter, Clare, travel to the war front, while the Spaight family (Alan, from "Lake of Slaves", and his son Drew, and daughters Mandy and Kirsty) are also drawn into the conflict. A young British officer falls in love with Mandy, but she finds her true love elsewhere. Kirsty's friend, a Britsh naval reservist, joins the gunboat flotilla on Lake Tanganyika. The Chilembwe Uprising in Nyasaland provides an unwelcome distraction early in the war. The loves and tragedies in the families unfold during the long and bitter campaign.

    But when the Blitz reaches Manchester, she is locked in the cellar by her feckless mother, Lizzie. As bombs rain down from a sky turned blood red with flame, Jess waits for Lizzie to return.But fortunes are fickle, and soon Jess finds herself packed off to live with her tyrant Uncle Bernie, a bullying black marketeer. Though he treats her like a servant, she seeks refuge in the Sally Army and her natural musical talent offers both an escape route and the chance for love.But Uncle Bernie never forgives his niece for refusing to join his illegal schemes and threatens to deprive Jess of her hard-won freedom once and for all. This is a sweeping saga of hope and resilience perfect for fans of Kitty Neale and Rosie Goodwin. Praise for Dancing on Deansgate ‘A heart-wrenching story’ 5* Reader review‘It drew me in straight away’ 5* Reader review‘Another gem from a great writer’ 5* Reader review‘A compelling story of separation and hardship, and heartache overcome at last’ 5* Reader review

    Ben will stop at nothing to save his son, but what awaits him is an evil, more dangerous and insidious than he could have ever anticipated. Into the Lion’s Den is a fast-paced action thriller, a compelling saga of the love of family and the indomitable will to survive in the face of an implacable malevolence.

    54 pages of summaries and analysis on A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe.This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

    In between attending make-up magic classes, dragon training lessons, and simply learning her way around the big city of Areth, Tesa can't help but try to uncover the secret behind the symbol-engraved stones Berick used to enslave her. With all her new dragon rider friends away from the city searching for the stolen egg and kidnapped guard, Tesa must find new friends and allies as she searches for the answer to the spellstones. What she finds may put her--and the dragons--in more danger than ever before.

    

    But even as she began that long ride down from the mining camp, a silver coin was being tossed into the air a few miles away that would change everything.

    It was released on June 2014. Ng’s novel managed to beat the likes of Stephen King and Hilary Mantel for the 2014 Amazon Book of the Year Award. Her debut novel has also won the 2014-2015 Asian/ Pacific American Award for Literature in Adult Fiction and the 2014 Alex Award. Currently, Everything I Never Told You is sold in 15 territories worldwide. Celeste Ng’s family thriller is a highly recommended and critically acclaimed work of fiction. Read more.... Download your copy today! for a limited time discount of only $2.99! Available on PC, Mac, smart phone, tablet or Kindle device. © 2015 All Rights Reserved by Unlimited Press Works, LLC

    eastern seaboard at once, the Eastern Power Grid fails and plunges half of the country into a complete blackout--no power, no phones, and no cellphones. Hospitals, banks, and grocery stores stop running, and chaos rules. Cities are controlled by gangs, and citizens have two choices: leave their homes or fight for what supplies are left. Luckily some people are ready. Four families from Pittsburgh flee the city and join together to live in a cabin in the middle of the forest and try to wait it out. But when IS the power coming back on? What will happen to a recession-era United States when half the country doesn’t have power?

    But for a one small boy in the leafy northern suburbs of Johannesburg ... his beloved housekeeper is serving fish fingers for lunch.This is the tale of Hamish Charles Sutherland Fraser – chorister, horse rider, schoolboy actor and, in his dreams, 1st XV rugby star and young ladies’ delight. A boy who climbs trees in the spring and who loves a girl named Reggie.An odd child growing up in a conflicted, scary, beautiful society.A young South African who hasn’t learnt the rules.