The fascinating autobiography from Asia`s first ever dinghy sailing gold medallist. Learning to sail & becoming a full-time athlete at just 10 years old, Lijia Xu was taken away from her parents & enrolled on the gruelling Chinese training regime, a programme meticulously prescribed across all sporting disciplines to catapult the nation`s talented youngsters to international champions. A rare insight into a shocking world of relentless physical training & unquestioning mental compliance, Lijia`s honest & heart-felt account takes you on her journey from physical disabilities & debilitating injuries to learning to think for herself, eventually going on to achieve her dream of becoming an Olympic gold medallist. This is an inspirational story of a young woman`s will to succeed despite all that her background threw at her. ...

Worldwide bestselling author Wilbur Smith will take you on an incredible journey on the thrashing seas off the coast of Africa in this glorious return to the series that made him who he is: The Courtney series. East African Coast, 1670. In a time of brave & brutal adventure, one man will journey across land & sea to pursue his greatest enemy.. . The Golden Bough, captained by Henry ` Hal` Courtney, is running south from Ethiopia to Zanzibar. Below deck, both his crew & his lover, the fearless warrior Judith Nazet, sleep. As the moon glints through clouds, Hal sights a ship passing close by. Although there is an uneasy truce between the warring English & Dutch, Hal scents danger. When the Bough is boarded, the crew must go hand to hand to defend their ship & their lives. But soon Hal will face even graver danger, as he discovers his mortal enemy still lives & is hell-bent on revenge. he must pursue his nemesis across desert savannah, through the seedy underbelly of Zanzibar`s slave markets & shark-infested waters, imperilling his own life at every turn. But it will take more than a slave`s shackles to hold Hal Courtney...A thrilling blend of extraordinary drama & epic storytelling, Golden Lion sees Wilbur Smith return in triumphant form to the adventures of his beloved & bestselling Courtney family. ...

Worldwide bestselling author Wilbur Smith will take you on an incredible journey on the thrashing seas off the coast of Africa in this glorious return to the series that made him who he is: The Courtney series. East African Coast, 1670. In a time of brave & brutal adventure, one man will journey across land & sea to pursue his greatest enemy.. . The Golden Bough, captained by Henry ` Hal` Courtney, is running south from Ethiopia to Zanzibar. Below deck, both his crew & his lover, the fearless warrior Judith Nazet, sleep. As the moon glints through clouds, Hal sights a ship passing close by. Although there is an uneasy truce between the warring English & Dutch, Hal scents danger. When the Bough is boarded, the crew must go hand to hand to defend their ship & their lives. But soon Hal will face even graver danger, as he discovers his mortal enemy still lives & is hell-bent on revenge. he must pursue his nemesis across desert savannah, through the seedy underbelly of Zanzibar`s slave markets & shark-infested waters, imperilling his own life at every turn. But it will take more than a slave`s shackles to hold Hal Courtney...A thrilling blend of extraordinary drama & epic storytelling, Golden Lion sees Wilbur Smith return in triumphant form to the adventures of his beloved & bestselling Courtney family. ...

At the time of Burma`s military coup in 1962, Wendy Law-Yone was fifteen. A year later, her father Ed Law-Yone, daredevil proprietor of The Nation newspaper, was arrested & his newspaper shut down. Eventually, Wendy was herself briefly imprisoned before managing to escape the country. Ed would spend five years as a political prisoner. But from the moment he was freed he set about forming a government-in-exile in neighbouring Thail&. There he tried, unsuccessfully, to stage a revolution. Yet even after emigrating to America, he never gave up hope for the restoration of democracy in Burma. He died disappointed
- but not before placing in his daughter`s hands an extraordinary bequest. Ed had asked Wendy for help in editing his papers, but year after year she avoided the daunting task. When at last she found the confidence to take up the neglected manuscript, she discovered a captivating saga. Here was the forceful testimony of an ambitious, audacious, idiosyncratic & above all determined patriot whose career had spanned Burma under colonial rule, under Japanese occupation, through the turbulence of the post-war years, & into the catastrophe of a military dictatorship. The result of this discovery is Golden Parasol: a unique portrait of Burma, a nation whose vicissitudes continue to intrigue the world. It is also a powerfully evocative family memoir: a daughter`s journey of reconciliation that illuminates the twin histories of country & kin.
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India’s Golden Triangle between Delhi, Agra & Jaipur on a road map at approx. 1:400, 000 with on the reverse large, clear street plans of these three cities, all indexed, plus a 19-page colour booklet with general information & descriptions of main sights. On one side is a road map showing the network of main & selected local roads in the region bound by these three cities. Along the main routes locations of tourist accommodation, car parks, petrol stations & medical facilities are marked; driving distances are shown on main & many local routes. The map also shows railway lines & highlights a selection of places on interest. On the reverse are three panels with street plans of Delhi, Agra & Jaipur, indicating main traffic arteries, railway connections, various facilities & places of interest. Both the main map & the street plans are indexed. The map comes with a 19-page booklet with descriptions of main sights & general tourist information, illustrated with colour photos. ...

The top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller. ” Completely fascinating, authoritative & intriguing.” (William Boyd). ” The big bang of Bond books... Beautiful, brilliant.” (Tony Parsons). Goldeneye: the story of Ian Fleming in Jamaica & the creation of British national icon, James Bond. From 1946 until the end of his life, Ian Fleming lived for two months of every year at Goldeneye
- the house he built on a point of high land overlooking a small white sand beach on Jamaica`s north coast. All the James Bond novels & stories were written here. Fleming adored the Jamaica he had discovered, at the time an imperial backwater that seemed unchanged from the glory days of the empire. Amid its stunning natural beauty, the austerity & decline of post-war Britain could be forgotten. For Fleming, Jamaica offered the perfect mixture of British old-fashioned conservatism & imperial values, alongside the dangerous & sensual: the same curious combination that made his novels so appealing, & successful. The spirit of the island
- its exotic beauty, its unpredictability, its melancholy, its love of exaggeration & gothic melodrama
- infuses his writing. Fleming threw himself into the island`s hedonistic Jet Set party scene: Hollywood giants, & the cream of British aristocracy, the theatre, literary society & the secret services spent their time here drinking & bed-hopping. But while the whites partied, Jamaican blacks were rising up to demand respect & self-government. & as the imperial hero James Bond
- projecting British power across the world
- became ever more anachronistic & fantastical, so his popularity soared. Drawing on extensive interviews with Ian`s family, his Jamaican lover Blanche Blackwell & many other islanders, Goldeneye is a beautifully written, revealing & original exploration of a crucially important part of Ian Fleming`s life & work.




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Golders Green in 1894 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. Two versions have been published for this area around & to the west of Golders Green, stretching from Brent Gas Works eastward to Hodford Farm, from Renters Farm southward to the northern tip of Child`s Hill. (Golders Green station is on the adjacent map, sheet 18.) In the 1894 map the area is entirely rural, with just a few villas along North End Road; an isolated fever hospital is in the centre, along with sewage works, while Brent Junction & Brent Sidings are in the south-west corner. On the reverse is a large extract from the First Edition map of 1880. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

Golders Green & Brent Cross in 1894-1912 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. Two versions have been published for this area around & to the west of Golders Green, stretching from Brent Gas Works eastward to Hodford Farm, from Renters Farm southward to the northern tip of Child`s Hill. (Golders Green station is on the adjacent map, sheet 18.) This version is from the rare Special Edition of 1912. It retains the information on the earlier map but also indicates in an outline form the changes up to 1912; the development at Golders Green with new streets & houses off Golders Green Road & Finchley Road, including Woodstock Avenue, Montpelier Rise, Hamilton Road, Wentworth Road, etc. Street directory extracts are on the reverse. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

` You`re stale, tired of having to be tough. You want a change. You`ve seen too much death`. In Fleming`s seventh 007 novel, a private assignment sets Bond on the trail of an enigmatic criminal mastermind
- Auric Goldfinger. But greed & power have created a deadly opponent who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Pussy Galore returns... This edition

Includes:: an extract from the new official 007 adventure, Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, which is set in 1957 two weeks after the events of Goldfinger & features some iconic characters from Fleming`s original thriller.


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When Goldilocks stumbles on an empty cottage in the woods, she sits down to eat breakfast. But none of the three bowls of porridge on the table is quite right... This simple, easy-to-read version of the classic fairy tale is part of the Usborne Reading Programme, comprising over 300 books for children who are learning to read. ...