Based on a true story The Invisible Mile tells the poignant story of five Australian & New Zealand cyclists who in 1928 formed the first English-speaking team to ride in the Tour de France. They were gallant, under-resourced & badly outnumbered but taken deep to the heart by the French nation. The novel describes in a wonderful poetic & visceral voice what it was like to ride in this race (the chaos, danger & rivalries), the extraordinary lengths to which the riders pushed themselves, suffering horrific injuries, riding through the night in pitch dark, & the ways they staved off the pain, through camaraderie, through sexual conquest, through drink, & through drugs (cocaine for energy, opium for pain). Added to the team is the fictional narrator who is cycling towards his demons in a northern France still scarred by the First World War. His brother was a fighter pilot damaged by his experiences in France, his sister has died, & this self-imposed test of endurance is slowly & painfully bringing him to his final, invisible mile where memory eventually comes to collide with the past ...

The sweep of a century, the hand of history, three women whose lives will never be the same again. As the twentieth century dawns, so begins one of the most dramatic periods in the history of South America. Women are emancipated, Che Guevara & Fidel Castro free Cuba, the Perons take power in Argentina, & three generations of Firielli women are to live, love, & fight for their independence & freedom. Pajarita is the founder of the dynasty, born into a rural village & constantly chafing against its narrow confines. A love-match with a circus performer offers her escape, but she is trapped in a cage of another sort when her husband becomes a monster. Her spirited daughter, Eva, enters a world shaken by revolution. Fleeing childhood abuse, & alienated from her mother, she heads to Buenos Aires, but the glittering circles she moves in cannot erase the memories of her past. Her daughter, Salome, driven by political passion becomes a guerrilla fighter, but her idealism turns to tragedy when she is captured, & brutalised. From bohemian Buenos Aires to the hills of Rio de Janeiro; from tangos to demonstrations; from the broad sweep of history to the intimate lives of the Fierelli family, The Invisible Mountain traverses a changing South America, in which some things
- love, family, hope
- continue forever.

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Small-time private investigator Ray Lovell veers between paralysis & delirium in a hospital bed. But before the accident that landed him there, he had promised to find Rose Janko. Rose was married to the charismatic son of a travelling gypsy family, Ivo Janko. When Ray starts to investigate her disappearance he's surprised that her family are so hostile towards him. The Jankos have not had an easy past. They are a clan touched by tragedy
- either they are cursed, or they are hiding a terrible secret. Could it be that Rose's discovery of that secret led to her disappearance all those years ago? Soon Ray wishes that he'd never asked the question. In a novel that is totally different from Stef's extraordinary debut The Tenderness of Wolves, she shows herself once more to be a matchless storyteller.
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” During the 1970s & early 80s, dozens
- perhaps hundreds
- of Japanese civilians were kidnapped by North Korean commandos

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During the 1970s & early 80s, dozens
- perhaps hundreds
- of Japanese civilians were kidnapped by North Korean commandos &

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Ionian Islands & Epirus in the Landscapes of the Imagination guide series; providing an in-depth cultural & account of some of the world’s most memorable & evocative landscapes. Presented as a cultural & literary guide, each title in the series explores the cultural history of a landscape, providing an overview of the area’s development from its earliest roots to the modern day. Particular emphasis is placed on the literary, poetic, architectural, cultural & historical elements that make up the landscape & each title is written & researched by an academic expert. An Epilogue offers suggestion for further reading & indices of literary, artistic & historical names & places & landmarks. ...

Len Deighton`s classic first novel, whose protagonist is a nameless spy
- later christened Harry Palmer & made famous worldwide
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Challenge those little grey cells & put your IQ to the ultimate test in this fun & entertaining game for all the family. With different categories testing different skills, it`s not what you know, but how you think that`ll keep you top in this game. Where other games test to see who knows the most about pop culture or trivia, this game gets right to the heart of the matter – just who is smartest in your family or circle of friends? With specially designed questions to test intelligence rather than knowledge, this fun family quiz game with a twist has questions based in four key categories, including logic problems, language reasoning, spacial awareness, & memory. ...

Xenophobe’s Guide to the Irish is a pocket-size guide that takes a frank & funny look at what makes the Irish Irish.“ Writers occupy a powerful position in Irish society: the wall of the local pub, to be exact.” Xenophobe’s guides attempt to forewarn readers of the main stereotypes & foibles that are associated with individual nationalities. Each guide explores the characteristics of a country’s people in a series of dedicated sections, encompassing nationalism & identity, behaviour, manners, character, obsessions, beliefs & values, leisure & pleasure, culture, custom & tradition, business, systems, health & hygiene, crime & punishment, government & bureaucracy, conversation & gestures & language. ...

New in paperback in a compact format, an atmospheric portrayal of ten remarkable houses & castles that have survived the vicissitudes of Ireland`s history & are still in the hands of their original families. From cabinets filled with generations of monogrammed heirloom china to canopy beds keeping the chill of an Irish winter at bay to cabbage-rose slip-covered sofas nestled under tall Gothic windows, this book takes the reader on a tour of ten grand Irish country houses, providing an intimate look at a marvellous hotchpotch of rooms & decoration. Specially commissioned, evocative photographs by James Fennell show inviting living rooms & tousled bedrooms, print-lined hallways & well-trampled mudrooms. The houses are not the instant creation of trendy decorators they have evolved over generations, furnished with heirlooms & cherished h&-me-downs, & exuding the mossy scent of peat fires. ” This is a book for lovers of Irel&, history or decoration. An intimate glimpse inside ten wonderful Irish country houses”. (Min Hogg). ” Packed with beautiful pictures, this page-turner allows us all to dream superb”. (” The Irish Times”).”A vivid picture of a unique culture, this is an unrivalled opportunity to tour some of Irelands most atmospheric houses”. (” Country Life”). ...