While Cadfael has bent Abbey rules, he has never broken his monastic vows--until now. Word has come to Shrewsbury of a treacherous act that has left 30 of Maud's knights imprisoned. All have been ransomed except Cadfael's secret son, Olivier. Conceived in Cadfael's soldiering youth and unaware of his father's identity, Olivier will die if he is not freed.
The year is 1143, and once again Brother Cadfael is forced to abandon the tranquility of his herb garden and use his knowledge of human nature to solve a murder- this time frighteningly close to home. When a newly ploughed field, recently given to the Abbey yields that body of a young woman, Cadfael is quickly thrown into a delicate situation. The field was once ownded by a local potter named Ruald, who deserted his beautiful wife to take monastic vows among the Benedictines. The woman was said to have gone away with a lover, but now it would appear otherwise. With the arrival of young Sulien Blount, a novice fleeing homeward from the civil war raging in East Anglia, the mysteries surrounding the corpse start to multiply.
Gervase Bonel, with his wife and servants, is a guest of Shrewsbury Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul when he is suddenly taken ill. Luckily, the Abbey boasts the services of the clever and kindly Brother Cadfael, a skilled herbalist. Cadfael hurries to the man's bedside, only to be confronted by two very different surprises. In Master Bonel's wife, he good monk recognises Richildis, whom he loved many years ago before he took his vows, and Master Bonel has been fatallly poisoned by a dose of deadly monk's-hood oil from Cadfael's herbarium. The Sherrif is convinced that the murdered is Richildis' son Edwin, who had reasons aplenty to hate his stepfather. But Cadfael, guided in part by his tender concern for a woman to whom he was once betrothed, is certain of her son's innocence. Using his knowledge of both herbs and the human heart, Cadfael deciphers a deadly recipe for murder.
Mann die de Da Vinci Code creëerde - een ongeautoriseerde biografie van Dan Brown
Het boek beschrijft Browns mislukte carrière als componist en popmuzikant, zijn interesse in zowel Europese als Amerikaanse geheimen, de omstandigheden rond de totstandkoming van zijn proza "Digitale vesting" en "Engelen en demonen", en zijn transformatie tot een beroemdheid in de Amerikaanse literatuur na het schrijven van "De Da Vinci Code". De zoon van een wiskundeleraar en een muzikante groeide op op het terrein van een elite school, om uiteindelijk net als zijn vader leraar te worden.
For the stranger, Morocco was the last refuge. Here he hoped to build a new life for himself. But three people were waiting for him: Latham, a smuggler turned missionary; Kostos, a man with his grubby fingers in everything illegal; and a girl from his own mysterious past. The answers he sought would be found out among the Berbers residing between the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara...
Majoor Joseph Teleman voert in zijn A-17 - een toestel, dat meer weg heeft van een bestuurbare raket dan van een vliegtuig - een waarnemingsvlucht uit boven het grensgebied tussen de Sovjet-Unie en China. Hij verzamelt belangrijke gegevens, maar op de terugweg naar de Noordelijke Ijszeee, waar hij zijn gegevens zal overdragen aan de slagkruiser Robert F. Kennedy, slagen Russische jagers erin hem te onderscheppen, ondanks de onoverwinnelijk geachte bechermingsapparatuur waarvan de A-17 is voorzien. Teleman ontsnapt op het nippertje, maar hij moet een noodlanding maken op de Noorkaap, het noordelijkste punt van West-Europa, waar op dat moment een orkaan woedt. Het Amerikaanse schip stuurt een reddingsgroep uit, die hem in half bevroren toestand aantreft, en dan volgt een verschrikkelijke tocht door de dodelijke kou, waarbij ze achtervolgd worden door twee Russische patrouiiles welke door een onderzeeër aan land zijn gezet. Zwak en uitgeput wprden ze gevangengenomen, maar door een gelukkig toeval weten ze zich te bevrijden en ze zetten de wanhopige tocht voort, over sneeuw en rotsen, naar de Noorse NAVO-basis, onophoudelijk bedreigd door de grimmige natuur en opgejaagd door hun achtervolgenrs.
Dispatches from the Wonderful World of Mathematics
448 pages
16 hours of reading
Explodes the myth that maths is best left to the geeks. Covering subjects from adding to algebra, from set theory to statistics, and from logarithms to logical paradoxes, this book explains how mathematical ideas underpin just about everything in our lives. It shows the deep connections between maths, religion and philosophy.
The Mulgraves are a rootless, bohemian family who travel the continent, staying in crumbling Italian palazzos, Spanish villas, French vineyards - belonging nowhere, picking up friends and hangers-on as they go, and moving on when Ralph Mulgrave's latest enthusiasm dwindles. Faith, the eldest child of the family, longs for a proper home. But in 1940 Germany invades France and the Mulgraves are forced to flee to England. Faith and her brother Jake go to London, while Ralph reluctantly settles in a Norfolk cottage with the remnant of his family. In the intense and dangerous landscape of wartime London Faith finds work as an ambulance driver, and meets once again one of Ralph's retinue from those distant and, in retrospect, golden days of childhood. Through war and its aftermath it is Faith on whom the family relies, Faith who offers support and succour, and Faith who is constant and true in her love. An epic novel of courage, passion and enduring love by the outstanding author of The Winter House, The Shadow Child and Some Old Lover's Ghost.
Why did Gandhi hate iodine (I, 53)? Why did the Japanese kill Godzilla with missiles made of cadmium (Cd, 48)? How did radium (Ra, 88) nearly ruin Marie Curie's reputation? And why did tellurium (Te, 52) lead to the most bizarre gold rush in history? The periodic table is one of our crowning scientific achievements, but it's also a treasure trove of passion, adventure, betrayal and obsession. The fascinating tales in The Disappearing Spoon follow carbon, neon, silicon, gold and every single element on the table as they play out their parts in human history, finance, mythology, conflict, the arts, medicine and the lives of the (frequently) mad scientists who discovered them. Why did a little lithium (Li, 3) help cure poet Robert Lowell of his madness? And how did gallium (Ga, 31) become the go-to element for laboratory pranksters? The Disappearing Spoon has the answers, fusing science with the classic lore of invention, investigation, discovery and alchemy, from the big bang through to the end of time
Looking Good Dead is the second book by number one bestselling crime and
thriller writer Peter James. Part of the multi-million-copy series featuring
the definitive Brighton detective, Roy Grace.
Spiros Aristides ontdekt op een van zijn duiktochten voor de kust van Kreta een oud vliegtuigwrak met daarin enkele lijken en een koffer met geheimzinnige flacons. Hij neemt de flacons mee en één ervan maakt hij samen met zijn neef open. Vierentwintig uur later worden beide mannen dood aangetroffen, bloedend uit al hun lichaamsopeningen.De toegesnelde arts beseft al snel dat er sprake moet zijn van een onbekend en uiterst dodelijk virus. Het dorp wordt van de buitenwereld afgesloten en de Griekse overheid roept de hulp in van buitenlandse experts. Deze activiteiten worden opgemerkt door de CIA, die onmiddellijk haar eigen maatregelen treft om de vondst van het virus geheim te houden en alle sporen uit te wissen.Ook de Britse geheim agent Paul Richter wordt naar Kreta gestuurd om de mysterieuze sterfgevallen te onderzoeken. Hij stuit echter op meer vragen dan antwoorden. Waarom wil de CIA het wrak vernietigen? Waarom worden in Amerika gepensioneerde CIA-agenten omgebracht? Zelfs Richter is echter niet voorbereid op de verschrikkelijke waarheid...
The fourth anniversary of the transfer of Saint Winifred's bones to the Abbey at Shrewsbury is a time of celebration for the 12th-century pilgrims gathering from far and wide. In distant Winchester, however, a knight has been murdered. Could it be because he was a supporter of the Empress Maud, one of numerous pretenders to the throne? It's up to herbalist, sleuth, and Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael to track down the killer in the pious throng.
For three girls growing up in the Fens in the tumultuous years between two world wars, the Winter House was a special place of refuge and friendship. Winter or summer, they would meet at the old wooden house by the waterside to confide all the secrets and heartaches of childhood and adolescence. There was Robin, idealistic and clever, destined for Cambridge; Maia, the most beautiful and ambitious of the three, looking for a rich husband; and quiet Helen, living under the seemingly benevolent tyranny of her widower father, the local vicar. Adulthood separates the three girls, and Robin, abandoning ideas of university, goes to London to work amongst the poor, meeting there her first great love, the handsome but brittle Francis. Maia's ideal marriage to a wealthy man ends in tragedy and Helen, meanwhile, kept in near-imprisonment by her obsessively protective father, has her very sanity threatened. Hugely satisfying, dramatic and romantic,The Winter Housetells how these women find their way through a world changed for ever, through political and social upheaval, through the Spanish Civil World War and to the brink of the Second World War. Set against a backdrop of London, Paris and the unchanging English countryside, it is a novel of rare warmth and beauty.
Christmas, 1141 AD. Abbot Radulfus returns from London, bringing with him a priest for the vacant living of Holy Cross (known as the Foregate), a man of presence, scholarship and discipline, but neither humility nor the common touch. When he is found drowned in the mill-pond, suspicion is cast in many directions, not least towards a young man who came in the priest's train, sent to work in Brother Cadfael's garden. For he has little obvious priestly calling. Indeed, he soon attracts the friendship of a girl both beautiful and formidable. To Brother Cadfael, once worldly, now dedicated, if gently cynical, is left the familiar task of sorting the complicated strands which define guilt and innocence.
A late spring in 1142 brings dismay to the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for there may be no roses by June 22nd. On that day the young widow Perle must receive one white rose as rent for the house she has given to benefit the abbey or the contract is void. When nature finally complies, a pious monk is sent to pay the rent - and is found murdered beside the hacked rose-bush. The abbey's wise herbalist, Brother Cadfael, follows the trail of bloodied petals. He knows the lovely widow's dowry is far greater with her house included, and she will likely wed again. But before Cadfael can ponder if a greedy suitor has done this dreadful deed, another crime is committed. Now the good monk must thread his way through a tangle more tortuous than the widow's thorny bushes -- or there will be more tears...
When his friend, a former member of an elite assassin organization, is abducted by a vengeful adversary, Charlie Parker and his associates set out to find him, in a case that forces Charlie to test the boundaries of his ethics.
Veronika has everything she could wish for, but she is not happy. Something is lacking, and one morning she decides to die. She takes an overdose, only to wake up in hospital where she realises she has only days to live. The story follows Veronika through these intense days.
What was lost will be found...Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object - gruesomely encoded with five symbols - is discovered at the epicenter of the Rotunda. It is, he recognizes, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipient towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom.When Langdon's revered mentor, Peter Solomon - philanthropist and prominent mason - is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend's life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him.Langdon finds himself quickly swept behind the facade of America's most historic city into the unseen chambers, temples and tunnels which exist there. All that was familiar is transformed into a shadowy, clandestine world of an artfully concealed past in which Masonic secrets and never-before-seen revelations seem to be leading him to a single impossible and inconceivable truth.A brilliantly composed tapestry of veiled histories, arcane icons and enigmatic codes, The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced thriller that offers surprises at every turn. For, as Robert Langdon will discover, there is nothing more extraordinary or shocking than the secret which hides in plain sight...
Eleven Minutes is the story of Maria, a young girl from a Brazilian village, whose first innocent brushes with love leave her heartbroken. At a tender age, she becomes convinced that she will never find true love, instead believing that “love is a terrible thing that will make you suffer. . . .” A chance meeting in Rio takes her to Geneva, where she dreams of finding fame and fortune.Maria’s despairing view of love is put to the test when she meets a handsome young painter. In this odyssey of self-discovery, Maria has to choose between pursuing a path of darkness—sexual pleasure for its own sake—or risking everything to find her own “inner light” and the possibility of sacred sex, sex in the context of love.
Whether it's the sudden snapping of bonds between lovers or shopping on Oxford Street, Maeve Binchy finds the unexpected truth in experiences so real that every woman will recognize them. Filled with her delicious humor and warmth, the twenty-two stories in London Transports will delight and captivate as they take us to a place that is far away—and yet so familiar...Where having an affair with a married man brings one woman to a turning point...Where another finds that looking for an apartment to share can be a risky business...Where nosing into a secretary's life can have shocking results...Where a dress designer just had a god-awful day...And where Maeve Binchy captures the beat of every woman's heart.
Immerse yourself in an electrifying reading experience like no other -- international bestselling author Paulo Coelho's The Fifth Mountain. A stunning novel in the tradition of the highly acclaimed The Alchemist, this is Coelho's daring retelling of the prophet Elijah. During the chaos of the ninth century B.C., Jezebel, wife to Israel's ruler, orders the execution of all prophets who refuse to worship the pagan god Baal. The young prophet Elijah, commanded by an angel of God to flee Israel, seeks safety in the land of Zarephath, where he unexpectedly finds true love with a young widow. But this new-found rapture is to be cut short, and Elijah sees all of his hopes and dreams irrevocably erased. What follows is sure to be viewed as Coelho's literary milestone: the quietly moving account of a man touched by the hand of God who must triumph over his frustrations in a soul-shattering trial of faith. Inspired by a circumstance that forever altered Coelho's own life, The Fifth Mountain is a testament to the truth that tragedy in life should not be considered a punishment but a challenge of the spirit. Gorgeous in its narrative and unforgettable in its prose, The Fifth Mountain teaches without being sanctimonious. This is a timeless story for the ages, a tale of the past that resonates powerfully for today's readers.
The Journey... Every Friday night a lilac-colored minibus leaves Dublin for the Irish country town of Rathdoon with seven weekend commuters on board. All of them, from the joking bank porter to the rich doctor's daughter, have their reasons for making the journey. The Destination...Rathdoon is the kind of Irish village where family histories are shared and scandals don't stay secret for long. And this weekend, when the bus pulls in, the riders find the unexpected waiting for them...as each of their private lives unfolds to reveal a sharp betrayal of the heart, a young man's crime, and a chance for new dreams among the eight intriguing men and women on... "From the Trade Paperback edition."
When the cast and crew of reality TV show 'SeaLife' land on picturesque, unexplored Henders Island it's a ratings bonanza. But they're blissfully unaware that the decisions they make there will shape the fate of mankind. They quickly discover, however, that the island is seething with danger.
Two women, Grace in London, Bid in Dublin, and one man - the wealthy head of a Dutch development company. No apparent connection between them, yet their lives are destroyed by one searing incident, resolutely buried.
The Zahir', Paulo Coelho's new novel available in paperback for the first time, incorporates exclusive new content including an extra section containing interviews with Paulo and plenty of information for those for whom the book just wasn't enough.
George Soros's The Crisis of Global Capitalism became an international bestseller and an instant classic; a must read for anyone concerned with the complex market forces that rule our global economy and create both prosperity and instability. Now, in Open Society , Soros takes a new and provocative look at the arguments he made in that book, incorporating the latest global economic and political developments into his analysis. He shows how our economic and political arrangements are out of sync. Recognizing that our existing institutions are under the sway of sovereign states, he proposes an "open society alliance" with the dual purpose of fostering open societies in individual countries and laying the groundwork for a global open society. In leading up to his inspiring vision, Soros presents an iconoclastic view of the world that has guided him both in making money and spending it on his network of Open Society Foundations. This book sums up the life's work of an exceptional individual. George Soros is the best fund manager in history, a stateless statesman, and an original thinker.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Circle of Friends, The Glass Lake, and Evening Class comes a stunning collection of fifteen Christmas stories filled with Maeve Binchy's trademark wit, charm, and sheer storytelling genius. In "A Typical Irish Christmas," a grieving widower heads for a holiday in Ireland and finds an unexpected destination not just for himself, but for a father and daughter in crisis. . . . In "Pulling Together," a teacher not yet out of her twenties sees her affair with a married man at a turning point as Christmas Eve approaches. . . . And in the title story, "This Year It Will Be Different," a woman with a complacent husband and grown children enters a season that will forever alter her life, and theirs. . .These stories, and a dozen more, powerfully evoke many lives--from step-families grappling with exes to children caught in grown-up tugs-of-war--during the one holiday when feelings cannot be easily hidden. The time of year may be magical, imbued with meaning. But the situations are timeless. And Maeve Binchy makes us care about them all.
From one of the world's best loved storytellers, Paulo Coelho, comes a riveting novel tracing the mysterious life and disappearance of Athena dubbed 'the Witch of Portobello'. This is the story of Athena, or Sherine, to give her the name she was baptised with. Her life is pieced together through a series of recorded interviews with those people who knew her well or hardly at all - parents, colleagues, teachers, friends, acquaintances, her ex-husband. The novel unravels Athena's mysterious beginnings, via an orphanage in Romania, to a childhood in Beirut. When war breaks out, her adoptive family move with her to London, where a dramatic turn of events occurs... Athena, who has been dubbed 'the Witch of Portobello' for her seeming powers of prophecy, disappears dramatically, leaving those who knew her to solve the mystery of her life and abrupt departure. Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy and sacrifice.
Holly Appleton knows that modern women don't believe in love, and yet she believes in love so much that she sets up a dating agency, Girl Meets Boy, to help others fulfil their romantic destiny and find true happiness.Holly's life is a growing success, yet her own love life is beginning to unravel. She has just become un-engaged to Nick. But Nick won't move on, he won't even move out. Holly decides Nick needs to be shocked into shifting and agrees to go on a date with one of the men who writes to her agency. And that's when the problems really start. Not only is Stuart Marshall not her type, he's deeply unpleasant and unaccustomed to taking no for an answer.Will Nick see sense? Will Holly discover what she really wants and needs? Will Girl Meet Boy survive? Maybe they will, when they stop acting like children and start behaving like adults.
Taking place over the course of 24 hours during the Cannes Film Festival, this is the story of Igor, a successful, driven Russian entrepreneur who will go to the darkest lengths to reclaim a lost love--his ex-wife.
West Virginia, 1859. Sarah Brown heeft de bijzondere gave kaarten te tekenen en zo slaven te laten ontsnappen. Het is een veelbewogen zomer: Sarah is na een ziekte onvruchtbaar geworden en de oktoberopstand doet het kruitvat van de Burgeroorlog ontploffen. Maar het grootste conflict speelt zich af in haar hart. Ze is hartstochtelijk verliefd op Freddy maar hoe kan ze zijn aanzoek accepteren nu ze weet dat hun huwelijk kinderloos zal blijven? Honderdvijftig jaar later verhuizen Jack en Eden Anderson naar West Virginia om een gezin te stichten. Hoewel Eden alles heeft geprobeerd om zwanger te worden, wil het niet lukken. Op een dag vindt ze een vreemde pop in de kelder. Wanneer ze de herkomst probeert te achterhalen, gaan heden en verleden steeds meer door elkaar lopen.
A stranger arrives at the remote village of Viscos, carrying with him a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars. He comes searching for the answer to a question that torments him: Are human beings, in essence, good or evil? In welcoming the mysterious foreigner, the whole village becomes an accomplice to his sophisticated plot, which will forever mark their lives. A novel of temptation by the internationally bestselling author Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym is a thought-provoking parable of a community devoured by greed, cowardice, and fear—as it struggles with the choice between good and evil.
Georgie: gorgeous, glamorous and successful. But her bank balance is a molehill and her credit card bill a mountain. Lin: the gap between her dreams and reality is as wide as the Grand Canyon -- not ideal when you're a single mother. Cookie: smart and sassy, but all too aware that fairy tales don't happen for those not heroine-shaped. For these three women life just isn't turning out as planned. Working in publishing -- the parties, book launches and long lunches -- isn't nearly as glamorous as it sounds. And each is aware of something missing in their lives. So when the opportunity comes for them to wish for something, they jump at the chance. For where there's a wish, there's a way, especially with a little help from your friends ...
A Magical Tale About Forgiving Our Past and Believing in Our Future The enchanting, true story of The Valkyries begins in Rio de Janeiro when author Paulo Coelho gives his mysterious master J., the only manuscript for his book The Alchemist. Haunted by a devastating curse, Coelho confesses to J., "I′ve seen my dreams fall apart just when I seemed about to achieve them." In response, J. gives Coelho a daunting task: He must find and speak with his guardian angel. "The curse can be broken," he replies, "if you complete the task." Rising to the challenge, Paulo and his wife, Cristina, drop everything, pack their bags, and take off on a forty day adventure into the starkly beautiful and sometimes dangerous Mojave Desert where they encounter more than they bargained for. A masterful blend of the exotic locales, dramatic adventure, and magical storytelling, for which Coelho′s fictional works are renowned, this true-life account is at once a modern-day adventure and a metaphysical odyssey.
The thought-provoking new novel from the international bestselling author whose words change lives. Linda knows she's lucky. Yet every morning when she opens her eyes to a so-called new day, she feels like closing them again. Her friends recommend medication. But Linda wants to feel more, not less. And so she embarks on an adventure as unexpected as it is daring, and which reawakens a side of her that she - respectable wife, loving mother, ambitious journalist - thought had disappeared. Even she can't predict what will happen next...
Wanneer een lid van een vriendengroep spoorloos verdwijnt, wordt dat, en drie sterfgevallen in de groep van 15 jaar daarvoor, voor de politie aanleiding een uitgebreid onderzoek in te stellen.
De jonge Braziliaanse Maria verlangt koortsachtig naar het grote avontuur en de grote liefde. Onder valse voorwendselen wordt ze naar Genève gelokt, waar ze in de prostitutie belandt. Ze doet haar werk echter zonder schaamte, omdat ze haar geest leert zich niet te beklagen over wat haar lichaam doet en omdat ze zichzelf niet toestaat verliefd te worden. Niettemin blijft seks voor haar, net als de liefde, iets raadselachtigs. Dat verandert wanneer ze een jonge schilder ontmoet die haar in verwarring brengt, want ook al is hij net zo verloren als zij, hij weet de taal van het hart te spreken.
Het laatste lijk - Na een gruwelijke veldslag verlaat Cadfael de vredige kloostertuin om zich te wijden aan een naargeestige taak: het begraven van de gesneuvelden. Het officiële dodental is 94, maar... Cadfael ontdekt dat er 95 lijken te begraven zijn. Alle reden voor Cadfael om zelf ten strijde te trekken. De eenzame bruid - In Shrewsbury worden voorbereidingen getroffen voor een wel heel bizar huwelijk: dat tussen een oude edelman en een piepjong meisje. Een flink aantal bruiloftsgasten, van wie velen van heinde en verre komen, is al in Shrewsbury neergestreken. Dan wordt er een moord gepleegd... Cadfael wordt gevraagd om een onderzoek in te stellen, maar met al die vreemdelingen in de stad is dat voorwaar geen gemakkelijke opgave
Een man onderzoekt in Moskou het lichaam van een collega die bij een verkeersongeluk om het leven zou zijn gekomen, maar ontdekt dat de Russen hem voor de gek proberen te houden.