English is the collective work of millions of people throughout the ages. It is democratic, ever-changing and ingenious in its assimilation of other cultures. English runs through the heart of world finance, medicine and the Internet, and it is understood by around two thousand million people across the world. Yet it was very nearly wiped out in its early years. In this book Melvyn Bragg shows us the remarkable story of the English language; from its beginnings as a minor guttural Germanic dialect to its position today as a truly established global language. The Adventure of English is not only an enthralling story of power, religion and trade, but also the story of people, and how their day-to-day lives shaped and continue to change the...
ISBN: 0-340-82993-1
Издательство:
Hodder
Дата выхода: ноябрь 2004
It`s Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and no one can remember the last sunny day. Humpty Dumpty, well-known nursery favourite, large egg, ex-convict and former millionaire philanthropist is found shattered beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. Following the pathologist`s careful reconstruction of Humpty`s shell, Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his Sergeant Mary are soon grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, the illegal Bearnaise sauce market, corporate politics and the cut and thrust world of international Chiropody. As Jack and Mary stumble around the streets of Reading in Jack`s Lime Green Austin Allegro, the clues pile up, but Jack has his own problems to deal on top of everything...
ISBN: 978-0-340-89710-2
Издательство:
Hodder & Stoughton
Дата выхода: январь 2013
Sir Henry Rider Haggard was an English writer of adventure novels set mostly in Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. The Brethren is set in the climactic months before the opening of the Third Crusade, called the Kings` Crusade. The Brethren is a classic tale of love and chivalry, unfolding the touching story of two English knights who are in love with the same maiden. The devotion of these men is tested when their beloved is carried away against her will to Palestine and eventually to the court of the famous Muslim leader, Saladin.
ISBN: 978-5-521-07754-0
Издательство:
Т8
Дата выхода: июль 2018
Max and Maddy are on the trail of a criminal who`ll stop at nothing to sabotage Mr Helium`s trans-American hot-air balloon race. The prize is a gold balloon worth one million and one dollars, and all the money raised by the race is to go towards the Home for Children Whose Parents Have Disappeared in Balloons - so there`s a lot at stake! They take to the skies on board Mr Helium`s very own balloon in order to catch the cheat. But will the detectives become victim to the dastardly villain`s dangerous schemes and dirty tricks, or will they blow his plot sky-high?
ISBN: 978-0-7475-8048-5
Издательство:
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Дата выхода: октябрь 2011
The Beautiful and Damned tells the story of Anthony Patch, a 1910s socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon`s fortune, and his courtship and relationship with his wife Gloria Gilbert. It describes his brief service in the Army during World War I, and the couple`s post-war partying life in New York, and his later alcoholism. Gloria and Anthony’s love story is much more than just a couple falling in love. Their story deals with the hardships of a relationship, especially when each character has a tendency to be selfish. Joanna Stolarek suggests, Fitzgerald draws on “Zelda, the object of the writer’s literary passion”.
The third book in Jason Goodwin`s celebrated series takes Yashim from the winding alleyways of Istanbul to the decaying grandeur of Venice. Charged by the Sultan to find a stolen painting by Bellini, he enlists the help of his friend Palewski, the Polish Ambassador, and goes undercover. Venice in 1840 is a city of empty palazzos and silent canals, and Palewski starts to mingle with Venetian dealers - self-made men, faded aristocrats and the hedonistic Contessa. But when two bodies turn up in the canal, he realises that art in Venice is a deadly business. And meanwhile, what has happened to Yashim? "The Bellini Card" is a thrilling adventure in which a quest for a lost painting turns into dangerous game of cat and mouse that threatens to...
ISBN: 978-0-571-23991-7
Издательство:
Faber
Дата выхода: октябрь 2011
Defence lawyer Mickey Haller has had some problems but now he`s put all that behind him and is ready to resume his career. Then another lawyer dies, leaving Mickey his entire practice - including a very high-profile and potentially lucrative murder case. Mickey is back in business. Except that according to Detective Harry Bosch, the other lawyer was murdered. Odds-on by one of his own clients. And now it`s Mickey`s job to defend him. Suddenly it`s not just about winning. It`s about staying alive.
ISBN: 978-1-4091-0203-8
Издательство:
Orion Books
Дата выхода: декабрь 2011
Father Christmas, a sickly Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, an elf who gets locked in the workshop, the story of the birth of the list goes on in this wonderful volume of stories for young readers all about Christmas. Lavishly illustrated throughout by a plethora of brilliant artists, including Sue Hellard, Michael Foreman, Eleanor Taylor and Ian Beck.
ISBN: 978-0-7475-9344-7
Издательство:
Bloomsbury
Дата выхода: декабрь 2011