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'Not since Faulkner have I read American prose so bristling with life and particularity.' -- J M Coetzee Following in the footsteps of such chroniclers of American absurdity as Cormac McCarthy, Joy Williams, and Charles Portis, Robin McLean's Pity the Beast is a mind-melting feminist Western that pins a tale of sexual violence and vengeance to a canvas stretching back to prehistory, sideways into legend, and off into a lonesome future. Millennia ago, Ginny's family ranch was all grass and rock and wild horses. A thousand years hence, it'll all be peacefully underwater. In the matter-of-fact here and now, though, it's a hotbed of lust and resentment, and about to turn ugly, because Ginny's ju...
Dark, profane, and hilarious, yet ultimately humane, these ten stories are the latest and best of Robin McLean's reports from the eternal battlefront that is the United States. Ranging across the continent, from Alaska to Missouri, from the flatlands to the mountains, each tale is a snapshot of the political, racial, and sexual undercurrents roiling contemporary life, and each finds a way into the nerves and blood that pulse beneath the question of how to live a decent life. Here you'll find stolen children living life to the fullest on the run and on the road, soldiers guarding empty frontiers, and rugged individualists brought low by an uncaring nature. You'll find prehistoric beasts rubbing talons with hustlers as well as death machines lurking beneath the bucolic countryside. Here you'll find hatred, friendship, and pitch-black humor all seething in the same stew. Get 'em Young, Treat 'em Tough, Tell 'em Nothing marries the sardonic moral and political explorations of a Flannery O'Connor to the surreal, scuzzy wit of a Denis Johnson. It is a brazen State of the Union for a nation on the edge.
Donald Maclean was a star diplomat, an establishment insider and a keeper of some of the West’s greatest secrets. He was also a Russian spy... Codenamed ‘Orphan’ by his Russian recruiter, Maclean was Britain’s most gifted traitor. But as he leaked huge amounts of top-secret intelligence, an international code-breaking operation was rapidly closing in on him. Moments before he was unmasked, Maclean escaped to Moscow. Drawing on a wealth of previously classified material, A Spy Named Orphan now tells this story for the first time in full, revealing the character and devastating impact of perhaps the most dangerous Soviet agent of the twentieth century. ‘Superb’ William Boyd ‘Fascinating... An exceptional story of espionage and betrayal, thrillingly told’ Philippe Sands ‘A cracking story... Impressively researched’ Sunday Times ‘Philipps makes the story and the slow uncovering of [Maclean’s] treachery a gripping narrative’ Alan Bennett
"Supervision in the Helping Professions remains a core text in our trainings and we welcome the updates, including the increased focus on ethics and diversity, the discussion of e-enabled modes of supervision and the review of research. What is so encouraging to students, trainers and practitioners is the 'beginner's mind' with which the authors continue to approach the subject, their tireless enthusiasm for enquiry, and their commitment to the learning edge. The launch of this edition coincides with the launch of the first UKCP Professional Register for Supervisors. The authors have done much to promote the development of supervision, and all future professional trainings in supervision wil...
'Charismatic and very more-ish' - Mark Lawrence, bestselling author of Red Sister 'Sixty-five thousand battle-shocked, trained killers came home to no jobs, no food and the plague. What did Her Majesty think was going to happen?' Tomas Piety takes his duties seriously: as a soldier, as a priest of Our Lady of Eternal Sorrows and as a leader of men. He has come home from the war to reclaim his family business, to provide for his men and to ensure the horrors of Abingon can never happen in Ellinburg. But things have changed: his crime empire has been stolen and the people of Ellinburg - his people - have run out of food and hope and places to hide. With his best friend Bloody Anne, his war-damaged brother Jochan and his new gang, the Pious Men, Tomas sets out to reclaim what was his. And as Tomas is dragged into a web of political intrigue by the sinister Queen's Men, forced to work against the foreign infiltrators lurking in the backstreet taverns, brothels and gambling dens of the Stink, one thing becomes clear. The war has just begun. 'Fans of Daniel Polansky, Mark Lawrence or, dare I say, Blackwing will most appreciate this book' - Ed McDonald, author of Blackwing
At the beginning of the Civil War, Lula McLean’s family home in Manassas, Virginia, is taken over by the Confederate army and used as its headquarters. Forced to flee by the oncoming Union army, Lula and her family and her favorite rag doll move south to a small village called Appomattox Court House. Then one day in 1865, Lula left her doll behind, and what happened next made history.
From the acclaimed author of Lies We Tell Ourselves, Robin Talley, comes a Shakespeare-inspired story of revenge and redemption, where fair is foul, and foul is fair. Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—but one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey. Golden child Delilah is a legend at exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. But Delilah doesn’t know that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to unseat Delilah for the scholarship. After all, it would lock in Maria’s attendance at Stanford—and assure her and Lily four more years in a shared dorm room. Together, Maria and Lily harness the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school. But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what’s imagined, the girls must attempt to put a stop to the chilling series of events they’ve accidentally set in motion.
Two victims. Nothing connects them, except that someone buried them in the exact same way. Seven hundred years apart. An archaeological dig at the old South Leith parish kirkyard has turned up a mysterious body dating from around seven hundred years ago. Some suspect that this gruesome discovery is a sacrifice, placed there for a specific purpose. Then a second body is unearthed. This victim went missing only thirty years ago - but the similarities between her death and the ancient woman's suggest something even more disturbing. Drawn into the investigation, Inspector McLean finds himself torn between a worrying trend of violent drug-related deaths and uncovering what truly connects these bodies. When a third body is discovered, and too close for comfort, he begins to suspect dark purpose at play - and that whoever put them there is far from finished. Praise for James Oswald: 'The new Ian Rankin' Daily Record 'Creepy, gritty and gruesome' Sunday Mirror 'Crime fiction's next big thing' Sunday Telegraph
The Robin has now been voted Britain's favorite bird--a friendly presence in thousands of gardens, year round. Its life was hardly understood when David Lack--who has been called Britain's most influential ornithologist--started his scientific observations of robins while a schoolteacher at Dartington. It was Lack who established that robins sing to defend their territory; that males will fight to the death but will also feed injured opponents; that couples will court and mate but then ignore each other; that most robins will die in any given year. The book he wrote is a landmark in natural history, not just for discoveries that changed ornithology, but because of the approachable style, sha...
Gangster, soldier, priest. Queen's Man. Governor. 'If you haven't yet picked up this riveting and unique series, I highly recommend you do' Fantasy Book Critic Tomas Piety has everything he ever wanted. In public he's a wealthy, highly respected businessman, happily married to a beautiful woman and governor of his home city of Ellinburg. In private, he's no longer a gang lord, head of the Pious Men, but one of the Queen's Men, invisible and officially non-existent, working in secret to protect his country. The queen's sudden death sees him summoned him back to the capital - where he discovers his boss, Dieter Vogel, Provost Marshal of the Queen's Men, is busy tightening his stranglehold on the country. Just as he once fought for his Pious Men, Tomas must now bend all his wit and hard-won wisdom to protect his queen - even when he can't always tell if he's on the right side. Tomas has started to ask himself, what is the price of power? And more importantly, is it one he is willing to pay? 'If you like your fantasy with a side of dark and gritty, you won't want to miss this' CHRISTINA HENRY, bestselling author of The Girl in Red on Priest of Lies