'A masterpiece' Irish Times 'Exhilarating' Daily Telegraph Born in the Dublin slums of 1901, his father a one-legged whorehouse bouncer and settler of scores, Henry Smart has to grow up fast. By the time he can walk he's out robbing and begging, often cold and always hungry, but a prince of the streets. By Easter Monday, 1916, he's fourteen years old and already six-foot-two, a soldier in the Irish Citizen Army. A year later he's ready to die for Ireland again, a rebel, a Fenian and a killer. With his father's wooden leg as his weapon, Henry becomes a Republican legend - one of Michael Collins' boys, a cop killer, an assassin on a stolen bike Discover Roddy Doyle's latest novel THE WOMEN BEHIND THE DOOR now.

Viscount Medardo is bisected by a Turkish cannonball, Baron Cosimo retires to the trees for the rest of his days, and Agiluf the Knight is an empty suit of armour. Our Ancestors brings together three surreal novellas set in distinct historical worlds across medieval and early modern Europe. In The Cloven Viscount, a nobleman returns from war as two separate beings, one cruel and one impossibly virtuous, leaving his community to suffer the consequences. In The Baron in the Trees, a young aristocrat climbs into the branches of the Italian Riviera and refuses to touch the ground again, living out his life among the leaves while history moves below him. In The Nonexistent Knight, a suit of armour fights in the army of Charlemagne, sustained only by will and duty. Our Ancestors blends satire with fable, exploring how power, war and social expectation shape the self. 'The most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists' The Times

A group of strangers is stranded in a boarding house during a snow storm, one of whom is a murderer. The suspects include the newly married couple who run the house, and the suspicions in their minds nearly wreck their perfect marriage. Others are a spinster with a curious background, an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef, a retired Army major, a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift, and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. Into their midst comes a policeman, traveling on skis. He no sooner arrives, when the jurist is killed. Two down, and one to go. To get to the rationale of the murderer's pattern, the policeman probes the background of everyone present, and rattles a lot of skeletons. Another famous Agatha Christie switch finish! Chalk up another superb intrigue for the foremost mystery writer of her time.

?Murder, teenage bullying, sleazy adults, and good police work add up to another fine entry by Jance.? ?The Oklahoman Betrayal of Trust is the twentieth mystery by New York Times bestseller J.A. Jance to feature Seattle p.i. J. P. Beaumont?and it is another surefire winner from the author the Chattanooga Times calls, ?One of the best?if not the best.? When Beau discovers a snuff film recorded on a smart phone?a horrific crime that has a devastating effect on two troubled teens?his investigation unleashes a firestorm that blazes all the way up through the halls of Washington state government. Betrayal of Trust is certain to win this phenomenal crime fiction master (?In the elite company of Sue Grafton and Patricia Cornwell??Flint Journal) a wealth of new fans while enthralling the army of devoted readers already addicted to the potent Jance magic.

In 1970, nine members of a Japanese New Left group called the Red Army Faction hijacked a domestic airliner to North Korea with dreams of acquiring the military training to bring about a revolution in Japan. The North Korean government accepted the hijackers—who became known in the media as the Yodog? group, based on the name of the hijacked plane—and two years later they announced their conversion to juche, North Korea’s new political ideology. Little was heard from the exiles until 1988, when a member of Yodog? was unexpectedly arrested in Japan, and communications with the group opened up in the context of his trial. As a former Red Army Faction member, journalist K?ji Takazawa made several trips to North Korea, reestablished his ties to the group’s leader Takamaro Tamiya, and helped to publish the group’s writings in Japan. After Kim Il Sung revealed that Yodog? members had Japanese wives, Takazawa published a book of interviews with the women, but in the process became suspicious about the romantic stories they told. He also wondered about the members who were missing and learned more details in long, private conversations with Tamiya. After Tamiya’s sudden death in 1995, Takazawa launched his own investigation of what the group had actually been doing for two decades, even traveling to Europe to follow traces there. An example of superb investigative journalism, Destiny: The Secret Operations of the Yodog? Exiles offers K?ji Takazawa’s powerful story of how he exposed the Yodog? group’s involvement in the kidnapping and luring of several young Japanese to North Korea, as well as the truth behind their Japanese wives’ presence in the country. Takazawa’s careful research was validated in 2002, when the North Korean government publicly acknowledged it had kidnapped thirteen Japanese citizens during the 1970s and 1980s, including three people whom Takazawa had connected to the Yodog? hijackers. Embedded in his pursuit toward what truly happened to the Yodog? members is Takazawa’s personal reflection of the 1970s, a decade when radical student activism swept Japan, and what it meant to those whose lives were forever changed.

DARK LORD BATTLESHIP ENDYMION, FULL SPEED AHEAD! Leonis and his army are headed for the Otherwordly Castle to confront the Undead King. On their way to the Void World, they fight alongside the Dragon Lord, Veira, dispatching hordes of Void monsters. Meanwhile, now that Elfiné has been rescued by Riselia, it's time for the two to make their daring escape. However, things may not go so smoothly as they become trapped underground in the control tower. The situation goes from bad to worse as the messenger of the Apostles, Nefakess, blocks their way in his true, monstrous form. It's the Dark Lord alliance versus the Undead King's men! Who will come out on top?

Esme escaped the dragon realm of Draethys with her life-barely. A king is dead. A usurper has taken the throne. And an army beneath the earth is preparing to rise. But the worst thing Esme brings home isn't the news. It's Dayn Draxion-an exiled dragon king with molten-gold eyes, a talent for making decisions for her, and a bond that won't stop tightening around her... But Esme was trained to be a weapon. Not a bride. Darkbirch wants her to shoulder the cost of survival through the treacherous Ide Trials. Dayn wants to stop the war before it starts. And the dead keep whispering the same thing: Only you two together can prevent what's coming. Complete your union...

One of the Sunday Times paperbacks of the Year 2020 One of the Financial Times best books of 2020 'Totally gripping'-- Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Pilecki is perhaps one of the greatest unsung heroes of the second world war ... this insightful book is likely to be the definitive version of this extraordinary life' -- Economist Would you sacrifice yourself to save thousands of others? In the Summer of 1940, after the Nazi occupation of Poland, an underground operative called Witold Pilecki accepted a mission to uncover the fate of thousands of people being interned at a new concentration camp on the border of the Reich. His mission was to report on Nazi crimes and raise a secret army to stage an uprising. The name of the detention centre -- Auschwitz. It was only after arriving at the camp that he started to discover the Nazi's terrifying plans. Over the next two and half years, Witold forged an underground army that smuggled evidence of Nazi atrocities out of Auschwitz. His reports from the camp were to shape the Allies response to the Holocaust - yet his story was all but forgotten for decades. This is the first major account to draw on unpublished family papers, newly released archival documents and exclusive interviews with surviving resistance fighters to show how he brought the fight to the Nazis at the heart of their evil designs. The result is an enthralling story of resistance and heroism against the most horrific circumstances, and one man's attempt to change the course of history.

The first prequel in Larry McMurtry's beloved Lonesome Dove series features the early adventures of Texas Rangers Augustus McCrae and Woodrow F. Call, two of the most memorable heroes in contemporary fiction. As young Texas Rangers, Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call ("Gus" and "Call" for short) have much to learn about survival in a land fraught with perils: not only the blazing heat and raging tornadoes, roiling rivers and merciless Indians, but also the deadly whims of soldiers. On their first expeditions—led by incompetent officers and accompanied by the robust, dauntless whore known as the Great Western—they will face death at the hands of the cunning Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump and the silent Apache Gomez. They will be astonished by the Mexican army. And Gus will meet the love of his life.

In early October 1966, the fresh and inexperienced 196th Light Infantry Brigade of the US Army was conducting a series of routine patrols in War Zone C. A lucky discovery of a rice cache led to the uncovering of a planned base area being established by the Viet Cong insurgents of South Vietnam (NLF) southeast of Tay Ninh City. What followed was named Operation Attleboro. Unbeknownst to the US and ARVN forces the NLF 9th Division was preparing to attack the brigade in its base and two ARVN positions near Tay Ninh. American moves spoiled the planned attack and initiated a prolonged battle that at its height would pit four regiments of the NLF and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against 18 American and three ARVN battalions, supported by 24 artillery batteries and countless fixed wing and helicopter sorties, including 225 B-52 strikes. The battle would also draw in the 1st Infantry Division, the famed 'Big Red One' and the 25th Infantry Division. Both sides would claim victory but the 9th Division limped towards Cambodia. Attleboro was the largest American operation in the Vietnam War to date, the culmination of one year of bloody battles between the 9th Division and II Field Force Vietnam. It would be a test for the campaign that US General William Westmoreland had planned for 1967. It would be also a test of different tactical approaches to be used in Vietnam: an 'infantry-heavy' approach favored by the commander of the 196th, General Edward H. De Saussure, and for firepower-intensive approach championed by the Commanding General of the 1st Infantry Division, General William DePuy.

Roman Emperor Constantine is one of the most momentous figures in the history of Christianity, a ruler whose conversion turned the cult of Jesus into a world religion. Classical scholar Baker tells of the changing Roman world in which Constantine rose to power-an empire where feudalism was replacing the old senatorial government and the lands of the empire were split into two regions. It was also a place where customs from the East were replacing the old Roman values, preparing the way for the Byzantine Empire. Baker describes Constantine's unique conversion (which apparently did not prevent him from sacrificing to idols), his wars to control first the Roman army and then the Germans and the lands of Asia Minor, and finally the founding of Constantinople and the establishment of the monarchial system that dominated Europe for over a thousand years.

Esme escaped the dragon realm of Draethys with her life-barely. A king is dead. A usurper has taken the throne. And an army beneath the earth is preparing to rise. But the worst thing Esme brings home isn't the news. It's Dayn Draxion-an exiled dragon king with molten-gold eyes, a talent for making decisions for her, and a bond that won't stop tightening around her... But Esme was trained to be a weapon. Not a bride. Darkbirch wants her to shoulder the cost of survival through the treacherous Ide Trials. Dayn wants to stop the war before it starts. And the dead keep whispering the same thing: Only you two together can prevent what's coming. Complete your union...

New Year's Eve 1941, war has been declared and the Japanese internment is in full swing. Sergeant Dudley Smith of the Los Angeles Police Department is now Army Captain Smith. He's in Baja, Mexico, and spends his time hunting down a missing Japanese Naval Attaché. Hideo Ashida is working in the crime lab, but he knows he can't avoid internment forever. Captain William H. Parker puts newly arrived Navy Lieutenant Joan Conville on Ashida's team. Conville and Ashida become obsessed with finding the identity of a body discovered in a mudslide. It's a murder victim linked to an unsolved gold heist from '31, and they want the gold. And things really heat up when two detectives are found murdered.

Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began the largest and most costly campaign in military history. Its failure was a key turning point of the Second World War. The operation was planned as a Blitzkrieg to win Germany its Lebensraum in the east, and the summer of 1941 is well-known for the German army's unprecedented victories and advances. Yet the German Blitzkrieg depended almost entirely upon the motorised Panzer groups, particularly those of Army Group Centre. Using archival records, in this book David Stahel presents a history of Germany's summer campaign from the perspective of the two largest and most powerful Panzer groups on the Eastern front. Stahel's research provides a fundamental reassessment of Germany's war against the Soviet Union, highlighting the prodigious internal problems of the vital Panzer forces and revealing that their demise in the earliest phase of the war undermined the whole German invasion.

Emma James felt secure in her life. Money, social standing and the protection of her step-brother. Or so she thought. When she discovers his dark secrets, he turns on her and sells her to a western brothel to keep her quiet. There, she's forced to work or participate in an auction. A virgin auction...and she's the prize. One look at Emma James and Whitmore Kane and Ian Stewart know she would belong to them. Marriage was the only way to truly claim her...so they bid and bid well. As their bride, they return to the Bridgewater Ranch and teach her the ways to please not one husband, but two. But danger has tracked Ian around the world and threatens their newfound relationship. Together, can they fight the demons of the past while forging a future? This is the first book in the Bridgewater Ménage Series, where you'll meet all of the men in Kane and Ian's army regiment and discover their unusual beliefs on marriage. Read the entire series to follow along as the men, two or three at a time, claim their brides. Bridgewater: Where ménage meets marriage.

Winter, 1939. As WWII rages, the Soviet Union's Red Army invades Finland. They aren't expecting their tiny, defenceless neighbour to fight back - and win. The Winter Warriors is an unbelievable true story of resistance, heroism, and the best sniper the world has ever seen. An epic, extraordinary, richly imagined and researched thriller from one of France's most decorated crime writers. "Impeccably researched and beautifully written, The Winter Warriors is perfect for fans of Ben Macintyre and Robert Harris" Paula Hawkins "There are echoes of Vasily Grossman in this gripping, chillingly urgent story of the horrors and heroism of war" A.D. Miller ***More than 260,000 copies sold*** ______ A single man can change the course of history. At the heart of the harshest of its winters, at the heart of the bloodiest war in its history, Finland saw the birth of a legend. The legend of Simo Häyhä, the White Death... Three months after the beginning of WWII, in November 1939, the Soviet Union invaded their tiny and relatively defenceless neighbour Finland. So began what is known as the Winter War. Against overwhelming odds the makeshift Finnish army not only resisted the Red Army, they forced it to offer terms for peace. Olivier Norek's breathtaking novel is the story of one company at the heart of the defence of its country in the face of a horrific invasion. The Russians so far outnumbered their enemy that but for the almost unimaginable folly of their commanders and but for the heroism of the Finnish Army their neighbours would have been overrun. Nor had they taken into account the spirit of the defenders. There are countless stories of courage and some of unmatched heroism - among them the record of Simo Häyhä, who became known as the White Death and whose skill as a sniper will perhaps never be matched. ______ 'The plot revolves around a small group of village lads who are conscripted together, one of whom, Simo, becomes the so-called White Death, one of the world's most deadly snipers ... What makes it tick is the urgent, vital narrative as the Russians surge across the border and the Finns fight back with little more than grenades and rifles' Bookbrunch "A masterpiece" Jean-Christophe Buisson, Le Figaro "A dazzling success" Stéphanie Janicot, La Croix "Exhaustively researched, subtle, sensitive, and set against the background of a war which resonates with the present day. There are more than a few similarities between this story and the current Russian aggression in Ukraine" Gilbert Chevalier, France Info "Norek depicts with great humanity and profound empathy the courage and resilience of the Finns, fighting for survival in extreme conditions" Georgia Morisset, Actualitté "Magificent" Mariann Payot, Express ***WINNER OF THE PRIX JEAN GIONO*** ***FINALIST FOR THE PRIX INTERALLIÉ*** ***Olivier Norek's thriller Between Two Worlds was The Times & Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Year 2024***

Originally one of the paramilitary groups that arose in Germany's turbulent 1920s , the SS grew from its original protection activities into the Deaths Head" troops and the Verfugungstruppe, and later during WWII, the Waffen-SS. During its evolution, the SS changed from its black uniform into a variety of uniforms that eventually resembled those of the German army, in various types of fabric, and predominately field-grey, so often seen in period photographs and movies. In volume 2, Lorenzo Silvestri presents many different Waffen-SS uniforms with numerous full-colour photos to display how the clothing appeared. In addition, numerous detail images are used to clearly expose key features of the uniforms and equipment. The text explains important details about the creation, manufacturing, and wear of each item. Period photos illustrate the wear of each item presented in the books. The two volumes present the various helmets, caps, trousers, tunics and jackets in nearly 900 pages with over 1,400 colour, pre-World War II and World War II images.

Can life ever be the same again? The start of a fabulous new series set at Trenwith Estate from bestselling author Rosie ClarkeHampshire, 1913Amidst the glitz and glamour of England's High Society, Sarah Trenwith is more of a wallflower living in the shadow of her beautiful sister Marianne.But as the war approaches Sarah will have to step out of the place society and her family have assigned her if she's to do her part and claim the love she always dreamed of from afar.As heir to Lord Pelham's estate, Troy is not expected to join the army, but he's determined to do his part. Yet the war exacts a toll that he never anticipated and the future he once imagined with his one true love seems forever from his grasp.After the trials and tribulations of war, can two star crossed lovers finally find each other and true happiness?Previously published as A Gentleman's Honour by Linda Sole

When his new army was ready to march against the witch hordes, it rained frogs! It was a veritable heavy bombardment from empty skies! That's the sort of thing Dray Prescot is up against in the war of the Nine Unspeakable Curses! Dray was struggling to gather together his shattered empire when the witchcraft hit. But he has wizards on his side, too, and very soon it becomes a battle of sheer courage, quick wits, and fast flying. This was more to his liking, for he knew that this time the Star Lords might be on his side. Not that he could rely on them, for they were just as likely to toss him back to Earth for a crash course in the old world's learning! Witches of Kregen is the thirty-fourth book in the epic fifty-two book saga of Dray Prescot of Earth and of Kregen by Kenneth Bulmer, writing as Alan Burt Akers. The series continues with Storm over Vallia.

This is the second book in the bestselling urban fantasy trilogy, "The Mortal Instruments".With her mother in a coma and her father hell-bent on destroying the world, Clary is dragged deeper into New York's terrifying underworld of werewolves, demons and the mysterious Shadowhunters. Discovering the truth about her past was only the beginning, now Clary must save the world from her own father - the rogue Shadowhunter Valentine. With two of the Mortal Instruments at his command, Valentine is assembling an army of demons to wage war on the council of Shadowhunters and destroy them once and for all. As the battle begins, Clary must face her darkest fears - and come to terms with her feelings for a boy she wishes wasn't her brother.