English books

Readers will be swept away by the engrossing third book in the New York Times bestselling Beautiful Creatures series. Perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and Maggie Stiefvater. Ethan Wate thought he was getting used to the strange, impossible events happening in Gatlin, his small Southern town. But now that Ethan and Lena have returned home from the Great Barrier, strange and impossible have taken on new meanings. Swarms of locusts, record-breaking heat, and devastating storms ravage Gatlin as Ethan and Lena struggle to understand the impact of Lena's Claiming. Even Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals is affected―and their abilities begin to dangerously misfire. As time passes, one question becomes clear: What―or who―will need to be sacrificed to save Gatlin? For Ethan, the chaos is a frightening but welcome distraction. He's being haunted in his dreams again, but this time it's not Lena―and the mysterious figure is following him out of his dreams and into his everyday life. Worse, Ethan is gradually losing pieces of himself―forgetting names, phone numbers, even memories. He doesn't know why, and he's afraid to ask. Sometimes there's no going back. And this time there won't be a happy ending. "A potent mix of the gothic, the mythic, and the magical ... With original characters, complex world building, and crackling prose, this is masterful storytelling." ―Deborah Harkness, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches Read the Beautiful Creatures series: Beautiful Creatures Beautiful Darkness Beautiful Chaos Beautiful Redemption

The world of publicly traded companies can be confusing. What does a particular stock skyrocket one day and plummet the next? How is the value of a company - particularly a multi-national one - really determined? Karen Blumenthal, a veteran reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal, provides all of these questions and more in this riveting book. A grand business narrative in the tradition of Michael Lewis, Grande Expectations shows how money is made and lost by following one familiar stock, Starbucks, over the course of an entire year, demonstrating how all the players - big and small investors, company management, the media, and more - determine its performance.Blumenthal takes us behind the scenes at the company's annual stockholders meeting, into the inner sanctum of Starbucks's corporate headquarters, and introduces us to an array of colourful characters: the head of an investment club, a paranoid short seller, the manager of a huge investment portfolio, and more. What emerges is not only a demystification of the complex world of high finance, but a compelling biography of one of the world's most recognised brands.

The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland, author of the hugely popular Company of Liars, is a powerful historical thriller which takes you right back to the darkest corners of the 16th century. Intelligently written and meticulously researched, it is a real treat for all fans of CJ Sansom and Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. 'A tour de force: dark and woven with the supernatural' Daily Mail 1564, Lisbon. The Inquisition displays its power and ruthlessly spreads fear. Heretics are tortured and burned. Any who oppose the Church's will realize that silence is preferable to a slow and agonizing death. Isabela, daughter of the Falconer at the Royal Court, is about to be caught in the Church's terrifying schemes. The slaughter of two of the King's precious white falcons sees her father arrested and imprisoned. As punishment he and his family will be killed unless the birds are replaced. Isabela, young and headstrong, decides that only she can save her father. These birds are impossibly rare, and she will have to travel far and into strange lands to find them to clear her father's name. It is a journey that will take her into a dark and dangerous world filled with menacing people driven by fearful beliefs. And, unfortunately for Isabela, the Church has sent a companion to ensure she never returns . . . Step back in time with Karen Maitland's Dark Tales and discover a world full of imagination in The Falcons of Fire and Ice - 'a thrilling horrible vision of the Dark Ages' Metro Karen Maitland travelled and worked in many parts of the United Kingdom before finally settling in the beautiful medieval city of Lincoln. She is the author of The White Room, Company of Liars, The Owl Killers and The Gallows Curse. The latter three titles are available as Penguin paperbacks.

Five teenage girls have been viciously attacked. One survived. Only she can reveal the secrets of a disturbing ring of people who kidnap and sell teenage girls on the black market. But those responsible for the crimes will do whatever it takes to maintain her silence. Susannah Vartanian and Luke Papadopoulos have both sworn to stop the murderers for their own personal reasons. The investigation leads them to the shady realm of Internet chat rooms, where anyone can mask his or her identity. They soon discover a chain of deception so intricate they don't know whom to trust. Finding comfort in each other's arms, they begin to unravel the intricately knotted threads, but the killers are ruthless and determined, and won't hesitate to take extreme measures to insure their anonymity and keep their business intact. When Susannah proves to be inexplicably linked to the crimes, her life is soon in danger, and Luke will do everything he can to save the woman he loves. Five teenage girls have been viciously attacked. One survived. Only she can reveal the secrets of a disturbing ring of people who kidnap and sell teenage girls on the black market. But those responsible for the crimes will do whatever it takes to maintain her silence. Susannah Vartanian and Luke Papadopoulos have both sworn to stop the murderers for their own personal reasons. The investigation leads them to the shady realm of Internet chat rooms, where anyone can mask his or her identity. They soon discover a chain of deception so intricate they don't know whom to trust. Finding comfort in each other's arms, they begin to unravel the intricately knotted threads, but the killers are ruthless and determined, and won't hesitate to take extreme measures to insure their anonymity and keep their business intact. When Susannah proves to be inexplicably linked to the crimes, her life is soon in danger, and Luke will do everything he can to save the woman he loves.

The New York Times bestselling debut novel from acclaimed children's author Katherine Hannigan is both very funny and extraordinarily moving. Who is Ida B. Applewood? She is a fourth grader like no other, living a life like no other, with a voice like no other, and her story will resonate long after you have put this book down. How does Ida B cope when outside forces—life, really—attempt to derail her and her family and her future? She enters her Black Period, and it is not pretty. But then, with the help of a patient teacher, a loyal cat and dog, her beloved apple trees, and parents who believe in the same things she does (even if they sometimes act as though they don't), the resilience that is the very essence of Ida B triumph...and Ida B. Applewood takes the hand that is extended and starts to grow up. This modern classic is a great choice for independent reading. What happens when a girl who talks to trees has to learn how to talk to people again?

• Homeschooling to Public School: For Ida B, leaving her family's farm for the halls of Ernest B. Lawson Elementary is a disaster she never planned for.
• A Parent's Illness: A heartfelt and honest look at how a family changes when a mother gets sick, perfect for starting important conversations with children.
• Finding Your Voice: When Ida B enters her 'Black Period,' she must find her way through big feelings of anger and sadness with the help of a patient teacher.
• Resilience for Kids: A story that shows how even in the hardest times, the strength to grow up and reconnect with the world is always inside you.

While acknowledging Hannah Arendt's keen philosophical and political insights, Kathryn T. Gines claims that there are some problematic assertions and oversights regarding Arendt's treatment of the "Negro question."Gines focuses on Arendt's reaction to the desegregation of Little Rock schools, to laws making mixed marriages illegal, and to the growing civil rights movement in the south. Reading them alongside Arendt's writings on revolution, the human condition, violence, and responses to the Eichmann war crimes trial, Gines provides a systematic analysis of anti-black racism in Arendt's work.

Some people help the less fortunate. Others kill them. Evil has many guises. Jack Taylor has encountered most of them but nothing before has ever truly terrified him until a group called Headstone rears its ugly head. An elderly priest is viciously beaten until nearly dead. A special needs boy is brutally attacked. A series of seemingly random, insane, violent events even has the Guards shaken. Most would see a headstone as a marker of the dead, but this coterie of evil intends to act as a death knell to every aspect of Jack's life as an act of appalling violence alerts him to the horror enveloping Galway. Accepting the power of Headstone, Jack realizes that in order to fight back he must relinquish the remaining shreds of what has made him human - knowledge that may have come too late to prevent an act of such ferocious evil that the whole country would be changed forever - and in the worst way.