An urgent Penguin Special investigating the 2014 mass-kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls by the world`s deadliest terrorists On 14th April 2014, 276 girls disappeared from a secondary school in northern Nigeria, kidnapped by the world`s deadliest terror group. A tiny number have escaped back to their families but over 200 remain missing. Reporting from inside the traumatised & blockaded community of Chibok, Helon Habila tracks down the survivors & the bereaved. Two years after the attack, he bears witness to their stories & to their grief. & moving from the personal to the political, he presents a comprehensive indictment of Boko Haram, tracing the circumstances of their ascent & the terrible fallout of their ongoing presence in Nigeria. ...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK` An engrossing, irresistible story about the coming to light of a long-buried secret. An absolutely fabulous read
- I loved it!` Shari Lapena, author of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR` Clever & compelling. You`ll love THE CHILD` Clare Mackintosh` Tense, tantalising & ultimately very satisfying... definitely one of the year`s must-reads` Lee Child******** When a paragraph in an evening newspaper reveals a decades-old tragedy, most readers barely give it a glance. But for three strangers it`s impossible to ignore. For one woman, it`s a reminder of the worst thing that ever happened to her. For another, it reveals the dangerous possibility that her darkest secret is about to be discovered. And for the third, a journalist, it`s the first clue in a hunt to uncover the truth. The Child`s story will be told.********`I loved this gripping story that kept me guessing to the end` Liz Nugent` Fiona Barton is a major new talent` M J Arlidge
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After crossing oceans, a man & a boy arrive in a new l&. Here they are each assigned a name & an age, & held in a camp in the desert while they learn Spanish, the language of their new country. As Simon & David they make their way to the relocation centre in the city of Novilla, where officialdom treats them politely but not necessarily helpfully. Simon finds a job in a grain wharf. The work is unfamiliar & backbreaking, but he soon warms to his stevedore comrades, who during breaks conduct philosophical dialogues on the dignity of labour, & generally take him to their hearts. Now he must set about his task of locating the boy's mother. Though like everyone else who arrives in this new country he seems to be washed clean of all traces of memory, he is convinced he will know her when he sees her. & indeed, while walking with the boy in the countryside Simon catches sight of a woman he is certain is the mother, & persuades her to assume the role. David's new mother comes to realise that he is an exceptional child, a bright, dreamy boy with highly unusual ideas about the world. But the school authorities detect a rebellious streak in him & insist he be sent to a special school far away. His mother refuses to yield him up, & it is Simon who must drive the car as the trio flees across the mountains. The Childhood of Jesus is a profound, beautiful & continually surprising novel from a very great writer. ...

This is an astonishing new masterpiece from the Nobel & twice Booker Prize-winning author of Disgrace & Summertime. After crossing oceans, a man & a boy
- both strangers to each other
- arrive in a new l&. David, the boy, has lost his mother & Simon vows to look after him. In this strange new country they are assigned a new name, a new birthday, a new life. Knowing nothing of their surroundings, nor the language or customs, they are determined to find David`s mother. Though the boy has no memory of her, Simon is certain he will recognize her at first sight. ” But after we find her, ” David asks, ”what are we here for?” The Childhood of Jesus is a profound, beautiful & continually surprising novel from a very great writer.

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This book is a brilliant, emotionally wrenching novel from the author of Atonement & Amsterdam. Fiona Maye, a leading High Court judge, renowned for her fierce intelligence & sensitivity is called on to try an urgent case. For religious reasons, a seventeen-year-old boy is refusing the medical treatment that could save his life. Time is running out. She visits the boy in hospital
- an encounter which stirs long-buried feelings in her & powerful new emotions in the boy. But it is Fiona who must ultimately decide whether he lives or dies & her judgement will have momentous consequences for them both.
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Award-winning P.D. James, one of the masters of British crime fiction, plots this atmospheric & disturbing novel in the year 2021. Children of Men is a brilliant mystery possessing all of the qualities which distinguish P.D. James as a novelist. Under the despotic rule of Xan Lyppiatt, the Warden of Engl&, the old are despairing & the young cruel. Theo Faren, a cousin of the Warden, lives a solitary life in this ominous atmosphere. That is, until a chance encounter with a young woman leads him into contact with a group of dissenters. Suddenly his life is changed irrevocably, as he faces agonising choices which could affect the future of mankind. PD James is the world`s pre-eminent crime writer, most famous for her Adam Dalgliesh mysteries & for her bestselling titles Death Comes to Pemberley & The Murder Room. Children of Men was adapted into a hit film in 2006, directed by Alfonso Cuaron the film starred Clive Owen, Michael Caine & Julianne Moore. ...

Few people know that Ypres, centre of First World War remembrance, was once home to a thriving British community that played a heroic role in the Second World War. This expatriate outpost grew around the British ex-servicemen who cared for the war memorials & cemeteries of ` Flanders Fields`. Many married local women & their children grew up multi-lingual, but attended their own school & were intensely proud to be British. When Germany invaded in 1940 the community was threatened: some children managed to escape, others were not so lucky. But, armed with their linguistic skills & local knowledge, pupils of the British Memorial School were uniquely prepared to fight Hitler in occupied territory & from Britain. Still in their teens, some risked capture, torture & death in intelligence & resistance operations in the field. An exceptional patriotism spurred them on to feats of bravery in this new conflict. Whilst their peers at home were being evacuated to the English countryside, these children were directly exposed to danger in one of the major theatres of war. James Fox was a pupil at the British Memorial School in 1940 & he has made it his mission to trace his former school friends. The Children Who Fought Hitler is their story: a war story about people from an unusual community, told from a fresh & human perspective. Gardens of Stone: My Boyhood in the French Resistance, published recently by Hodder & Stoughton, tells the story of one of James`s former school friends, Stephen Grady, & his role in the French Resistance. ...

To suppport Save the Children, bestselling authors from around the world have banded together to create a bold & moving anthology of stories about childhood. Participants include acclaimed & award-winning authors such as David Almond, Margaret Atwood, Andre Brink, Melvin Burgess, Nadine Gordimer, Eva Hoffman, Alberto Manguel, Meg Rosoff, Nicholas Shakespeare, Ali Smith & Richard Zimler. ...

Famous author Olive Wellwood writes a special private book, bound in different colours, for each of her children. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh they play in a story-book world
- but their lives, & those of their rich cousins & their friends, the son & daughter of a curator at the new Victoria & Albert Museum, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries its own secrets. They grow up in the golden summers of Edwardian times, but as the sons rebel against their parents & the girls dream of independent futures, they are unaware that in the darkness ahead they will be betrayed unintentionally by the adults who love them. This is the children`s book.
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This title helps you learn the secret of magic & put on your own astounding magic show with these 20 step-by-step magic tricks to try at home. The Children`s Book of Magic demystifies the mystical by tracing the history of magic from ancient Egypt to the present day exploring the secrets behind some of the greatest magicians from Harry Houdini to Albertus Magnus. From coin tricks to sleight of hand The Children`s Book of Magic explains the best magic tricks for kids through engaging step-by-step sequences helping you master the perfect trick. With 8 schools of magic & 20 magic tricks inside, you`ll learn how to cut a person in half, make objects levitate or even disappear! You`ll be well on your way to becoming the world`s best magician & putting on your very own magic show! Dive in & discover amazing magic tricks from the secrets of sleight of hand to captivating card tricks & the mysteries of misdirection for your own magic show. ...