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  After the Party

  Cressida Connolly

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  It is the summer of 1938 and Phyllis Forrester has returned to England after years abroad. Moving into her sister’s grand country house, she soon finds herself entangled in a new world of idealistic beliefs and seemingly innocent friendships. Fevered talk of another war infiltrates their small, privileged circle, giving way to a thrilling solution: the appointment of a great and charismatic new leader who will restore England to its former glory.At a party hosted by her new friends, Phyllis lets down her guard for a single moment, with devastating consequences. Years later, Phyllis, alone and embittered, recounts the dramatic events which led to her imprisonment and changed the course of her life forever.Powerful, poignant, and exquisitely observed, After the Party is an illuminating portrait of a dark period of British history which has yet to be fully acknowledged.

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  The Negotiator - The Masterclass...

  Francis Walder  

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  It is 1570, and France has been torn apart by religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots. The formidable Queen Mother, Catherine de Médicis, calls on Henri de Malassise to negotiate a peace treaty with the Huguenots. The wily nobleman needs all his experience and psychological insight to navigate through the tactics, manoeuvres and compromises of the discussions. He sees some division in the Huguenot ranks: is it a weakness, or a clever ploy by his adversaries? Is it by chance or design that his Huguenot cousin, the enigmatic Eléonore, appears on the scene at a critical moment? The negotiation at Saint-Germain really did take place, and Malassise played a key role. The author Francis Walder draws on his own military and diplomatic experience to illustrate, through this Prix Goncourt-winning novel, the skills of negotiation much needed in diplomacy and business today.

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  Top 10 Short Stories The - The...

  Fyodor Dostevesky, Mark Twain,...

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  The Century moves on decade by decade. War once again scars Europe, in America wagons roll west.  Social unrest continues even as conditions improve markedly for the few and only a little for the many.  The list of problems and of challenges described by our authors is long and their stories once again full of valuable and telling insights. 
   
  01 - The Top 10 - The 1870's - The Men - An Introduction 
  02 - Bobok by Fyodor Dostevesky 
  03 - A Ghost Story by Mark Twain 
  04 - God Sees The Truth But Waits by Leo Tolstoy 
  05 - Dickon the Devil by Sheridan Le Fanu 
  06 - The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller by Gustave Flaubert 
  07 - A Strange Story by Ivan Turgenev 
  08 - A Lonely Ride by Bret Harte 
  09 - Coward by Vsevolod Garshin 
  10 - The Man Without a Body by Edward Page Mitchell 
  11 - The Vampire by Jan Neruda

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  The Alien Corn - Canadians...

  Clare Flynn

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  They faced up to the challenges of war — but can they deal with the troubles of peace?Canadian Jim Armstrong married in haste during the Second World War after a one-night stand. When his wife and their small son join him in Canada, it's four years since they've seen each other.War bride Joan discovers Jim has no intention of the family returning to England. She struggles to adapt to life on a remote farm in Ontario, far from her family and cold-shouldered by Jim's mother.Jim, haunted by his wartime experiences in Italy, Iingering feelings for a former lover, and the demands of the farm, begins to doubt his love for Joan.From the rolling farmland of Ontario to the ravaged landscapes of war-torn Italy, this sweeping love story is the sequel to The Chalky Sea.

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  A Pocket Full of Shells

  Jean Reinhardt

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  In 1846 a baby girl is born to a young Irish fisherman and his wife. It is the second year of the Great Hunger and the young couple choose to remain in Ireland, while family and friends are leaving. Their story takes place in the fishing village of Blackrock, Dundalk, but with the cities of Liverpool and Sunderland playing a critical part in their lives. Is their love for each other and their homeland enough to sustain them, or will they be forced to join the one and a half million who emigrate? This is the story of a young man's love for his wife and child and the struggle to provide for his family in one of the darkest periods of Ireland's history.

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  Mr Smith to You

  Kerry Taylor

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  A novel based on the true story of Australian jockey Bill Smith – a life lived in secret.For most of his 76 years, Bill Smith preferred solitude over socialising, horses over people and confidentiality over confidantes. As a jockey, he was known for always turning up already fully kitted out in his silks. But now, in his advancing years, a fall lands him in full-time care and it becomes impossible to maintain his privacy. Nurse Maureen Bannon resents having to look after ‘the geries', especially grumpy old buggers like Mr Smith, but when she discovers Bill's secret an unlikely alliance is formed. Bill was assigned female at birth, a fact that shaped his life but never limited his ambition. With Mr Smith's health declining and time running out, Maureen wants to find someone who knows and loves him, but only one name seems to mean anything to Bill – Catherine, his first love. Can Maureen find out more to help Bill find peace?Mr Smith to You is a beautiful and tender novel about identity and a powerful testament to kindness and the human spirit.

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