` Mark Lowery is far too funny` Jonathan Meres, author of THE WORLD OF NORMThe fourth book in the hilarious & anarchic ROMAN GARSTANG ADVENTURE series Incredibly, unbelievably, Roman`s cousin is marrying the cousin of Rosie Taylor (AKA The Worst Person Who Ever Lived) cousin. Roman can`t believe this (as Rosie says: ” How can we be in the same family, we`re barely in the same species”). Rosie`s parents decide they should go along together & ”make a weekend of it”. Roman`s plus one is his best friend Gamble (probably the naughtiest kid in Europe)
- & it`s the beginning of another big, messy, catastrophic & uproarious adventure for Roman
- with Winnebagos, illegal thrash metal festivals & campsite beauty contests all thrown into the mix.. .

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The New Cat keeps bringing dead things into the house as presents for Tom. When he brings in the head of the vicar`s very expensive Koi Carp & the Vicar makes Mum pay GBP200 for a replacement, Anna`s Dad is so cross he locks the New Cat out of the cat-flap. Tom argues for the Cat to be let back in, but the flap is left shut overnight & when Dad finally concedes, the New Cat has disappeared altogether. Anna, Suzanne & Tom are convinced he has been kidnapped
- but who is responsible? A new investigation begins...
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In 1914 a train pulled into a provincial British railway station. The porter, a curious chap, asked the regiment of soldiers where they were from. ` Ross-shire, ` one called down, but the porter heard ` Russia`. & so began a rumour that led to Germany losing the First World War. Often the history we learn at school is only half the story. We hear of heroic deeds & visionary leaders, but we never hear about the people who turned up late for court & thereby changed the law, or who stood in the wrong queue at university & accidentally won a Nobel Prize. The Great Cat Massacre: A History of Britain in 100 Mistakes demonstrates that the nation is as much a product of error as design. Through chapters on religion, law, culture, war, science & politics, it reveals such things as how an edict from Pope Gregory IX helped spread the Black Death, how the sister of cricketer John Willes invented overarm bowling, & how, had a letter not been lost, Disraeli might never have become prime minister. This book is history told through human failings, schoolboy errors, bad luck & extraordinary consequences; a history of mishearing, misdiagnosis & misinterpretation
- a history that you won`t find in the textbooks.
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Jelly & her family live in Chompton-on-de-Lyte, where everyone loves a Chocablocka bar or two. So when the end of chocolate is announced, she can`t believe it. Determined to investigate, Jelly & her gran follow a trail of clues to a posh chocolate shop & its owner, the pompous Garibaldi Chocolati. Gari`s suspiciously smug, despite his failing business & yucky chocolate. Is it really the chocopocalypse, or is there a chocoplot afoot? ...

Stanfords Adult Book of the Month July 2016 From the origins of urbanization in Mesopotamia to the global metropolises of today, great cities have marked the development of human civilization. The Great Cities in History tells their stories, from Uruk & Memphis to Tokyo & Sao Paulo. A galaxy of distinguished contributors evoke the character of each place
- its people, its art & architecture, its government
- & explain the reasons for its success. Richly illustrated with photographs, paintings, maps & plans, this volume is nothing less than a portrait of world civilization.

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Here`s a book to hurl at the culinary barbarian on your crew, though it`s a lot more than a simple defense against digestion... John Payne, who writes with wit & clarity, makes the business of learning to be a good sea cook much more entertaining than it might otherwise be... All in all, this is an excellent guide to the task of providing good food afloat. Payne

Includes:: a lot of basic-but-need-to-know stuff, like: what kind of fruits & vegetables keep & how long, how to (really!) catch fish, galley equipment, safety, on board gardening (sprouting), & hundreds of really excellent recipes. Living Aboard

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The visitors from downriver had strange pale skin & blue eyes, but they left a deadly sickness of red spots & fever. Thirteen-year-old Millie & her younger sister Maura were the only survivors. As the first snowflakes fell the dogs were turning wild, & it was clear that the two girls must leave to find a new home. They loaded up a raft to take them away, & so began an epic journey through the harsh snowy landscape. This is an extraordinary story of courage, commitment & survival. ...

Niall Ferguson`s bold, pithy & insightful analysis of the degeneration of the West. The decline of the West is something that has long been prophesied. Symptoms of decline are all around us today: slowing growth, crushing debts, aging populations. But what exactly is amiss with Western civilization? The answer, Niall Ferguson argues, is that our institutions
- the intricate frameworks within which a society can flourish or fail
- are degenerating. Representative government, the free market, the rule of law & civil society were once the four pillars of West European & North American societies. In our time, however, these institutions have deteriorated. The Great Degeneration is a powerful indictment of an era of negligence & complacency. While the Arab world struggles to adopt democracy, & while China struggles to move from economic liberalization to the rule of law, the West is frittering away the institutional inheritance of centuries. To arrest the decline, Ferguson warns, will take heroic leadership & radical reform. Reviews: ”A refreshing perspective on the economic decline of advanced countries & the origins of the crisis”. (Samuel Brittan, Financial Times).”A compelling & cogently argued work”. (Times Higher Education). About the author: Niall Ferguson is one of Britain`s most renowned historians. He is the author of Paper & Iron, The House of Rothschild, The Pity of War, The Cash Nexus, Empire, Colossus, The War of the World, The Ascent of Money, High Financier & Civilization. He has written & presented six highly successful television series for Channel Four: Empire, American Colossus, The War of the World, The Ascent of Money, Civilization & China: Triumph & Turmoil.

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Between 1846 & 1940, more than 50 million Europeans moved to the Americas, irrevocably changing both their new lands & the ones they left behind. Their immigration fostered an idea of the ”land of the free” & yet more than a third returned home again. In a ground-breaking study, Tara Zahra explores the deeper story of this movement of people. As villages emptied, some blamed traffickers in human labour. Others saw opportunity: to seed colonies like the Polish community in Argentina or to reshape their populations by encouraging the emigration of minorities. These precedents would shape the Holocaust, the closing of the Iron Curtain & tragedies of ethnic cleansing while also forming notions of social solidarity, human rights & freedom. ...

Why has inequality increased in the Western world
- & what can we do about it? In The Great Divide, Joseph E. Stiglitz argues
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