More doom and gloom for the Baudelaire orphans, and school as well. Dear Customer, If you are looking for a story about cheerful youngsters spending a jolly time at boarding school, look elsewhere. You might expect that Violet, Klaus and Sunny would do very well at school. Don't. For the Baudelaires, school turns out to be another miserable episode in their unlucky lives. Within the chapters of this dreadful story, the children will face snapping crabs, strict punishments, dripping fungus, comprehensive exams, violin recitals, S.O.R.E and the metric system. It is my solemn duty to stay up all night researching and recording the history of these three hapless youngsters, but you may be more comfortable getting a good night's sleep. In that case, you should probably choose some other tape. With all due respect, Lemony Snicket
After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune.
Gerald Durrell's adventurous spirit and his spontaneous gift for narrative and anecdote mark him as a rare bird indeed.In The Bafut Beagles he describes a collecting expedition to the Cameroons, where, with the assistance of a pack of African enthusiasts and mongrel dogs, he captured almost everything from flying mice to booming squirrels. The unconscious humour of a supercilious toad or a hypocritical chimpanzee is only surpassed by the electric charm of the convivial Fon of Bafut himself.There are not many travel books with a more natural sense of humour.
January 1801, and Captain Alan Lewrie, RN, known as “St. Alan the Liberator” for freeing (stealing!) a dozen black slaves on Jamaica to man his frigate years before, is at last being brought to trial for it, with his life on the line. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia are forming a League of Armed Neutrality, to Napoleon Bonaparte’s delight, to deny Great Britain their vital exports, even if it means war. England will need all her experienced sea dogs, but … even Alan Lewrie? Ultimately Lewis is acquitted, but he’s also ignored by the Navy, ...
In a blind rage, King James, ex-slave and now Marlowe's comrade in arms, slaughters the crew of a slave ship and makes himself the most wanted man in Virginia. The governor gives Marlowe a choice: Hunt James down and bring him back to hang or lose everything Marlowe has built for himself and his wife, Elizabeth.Marlowe sets out in pursuit of the ex-slave turned pirate, struggling to maintain control over his crew -- rough privateers who care only for plunder -- and following James's trail of destruction. But Marlowe is not James's only threat, as factions aboard James's own ship vie for control and betrayal stalks him to the shores of Africa.
The fourth book in the Nathaniel Drinkwater seriesIn The Bomb Vessel, a young Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater is given command of the old VIRAGO, to be sent to the Baltic as a cargo ship. Drinkwater's ambition is to turn VIRAGO back into a fighting ship, but he is thwarted by Lord Nelson. At the same time, Drinkwater's brother appeals for help in his desperate attempt to escape the gallows. As Sir Hyde Parker's fleet approaches the Danish coast, the VIRAGO is nearly caught in their destructive path. Amid gales and ice, Drinkwater strives to save his ship and his brother. In the spring of 1801, Napoleon had reached supreme power in France and allied himself with Tsar Paul of Russia. Against this hazardous backdrop of the Baltic expedition, Drinkwater's actions in the complex and bloody battle of Copenhagen are crucial.
In the Book and Sword, Louis Cha revives the legend about the great eighteenth-century Manchu Emperor Qianlong which claims that he was in fact not a Manchu but a Han Chinese as a result of a "baby swap." The novel is panoramic in scope and includes the fantastical elements for which Cha is well-known: secret societies, kungfu masters, a lost desert city guarded by wolf packs, and the mysterious Fragrant Princess.***Like the martial art heroes that he writes about, Louis Cha is a legend in his own time. Better known to his Chinese fans by his ...
