The explosive, untold story of how Russia mastered the art and science of targeted assassination 'A real life thriller, packed with characters that even John le Carre couldn't dream of. If this doesn't scare you, then you're not paying attention.' Oliver Bullough They thought they had found a safe haven in the green hills of England. They were wrong. One by one, the Russian oligarchs, dissidents, and gangsters who fled to Britain after Vladimir Putin came to power dropped dead in strange or suspicious circumstances. One by one, their British lawyers and fixers met similarly grisly ends. Yet, one by one, the British authorities shut down every investigation-and carried on courting the Kremlin. In From Russia With Blood, multi-award-winning investigative journalist Heidi Blake unflinchingly documents the growing web of Russian-linked deaths on British and American soil, tracking the men who lived and died in the Kremlin's crosshairs from London's high-end night clubs to Miami's million-dollar hideouts, and following a trail of increasingly savage attacks onto the streets of Salisbury, where the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned with a deadly nerve agent in 2018. Working with bags of crime scene evidence, hundreds of thousands of pages of exclusive documents, surveillance footage, classified intelligence briefings, forensically restored phones and computers, and hundreds of insider interviews, Blake bravely exposes how Russia's killing campaign fits into Putin's pursuit of global dominance - and why Western governments have failed time and again to stop the bloodshed. This heart-stopping international investigation - written with the page-turning pace and chilling narrative of a thriller - reveals one of the most important and terrifying stories of our time.
It has been called the political crime of the century: This book from Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Greg Miller uncovers for the first time the truth behind the Kremlin's attempt to put Trump in the White House, how they did it, when and why. This exclusive book uncovers the truth behind the Kremlin's interference in Donald Trump's win and Trump's steadfast allegiance to Vladimir Putin. Drawing on interviews with hundreds of people in Trump's inner circle, the intelligence communities, foreign officials, and confidential documents. The Apprentice offers exclusive information about: * the hacking of the Democrats by Russian intelligence; * Russian hijacking of Facebook and Twitter; * National Security Adviser Michael Flynn's hidden communications with the Russians; * the attempt by Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, to create a secret backchannel to Moscow using Russian diplomatic facilities; * the firing of FBI Director James Comey; * the appointment of Mueller and the investigation that has followed; * and Trump's jaw-dropping behaviour in Helsinki. Deeply reported and masterfully told, The Apprentice is essential reading for anyone trying to understand Vladimir Putin's secret operation, its catastrophic impact, and the nature of betrayal.
WELCOME TO THE ISLE OF MULCH… This little island is home to a large number of horrible grown-ups. The school, the local park, the toy shop and even the island’s ice-cream van are all run by awful adults who like nothing more than making children miserable. And the island is owned by the most awful one of all – Aunt Greta Greed! Something needs to be done about them. But who could be brave enough? Meet Ned – an extraordinary boy with a special power. SLIMEPOWER!
Before he was Ciri's guardian, Geralt of Rivia was a legendary swordsman. Season of Storms is an adventure set in the world of the Witcher, the book series that inspired the hit Netflix show and bestselling video games. Geralt. The witcher whose mission is to protect ordinary people from the monsters created with magic. A mutant who has the task of killing unnatural beings. He uses a magical sign, potions and the pride of every witcher - two swords, steel and silver.
WINNER of the International Affairs Book of the Year at the Political Book Awards 2014 Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize 2013 The First World War followed a period of sustained peace in Europe during which people talked with confidence of prosperity, progress and hope. But in 1914, Europe walked into a catastrophic conflict which killed millions of its men, bled its economies dry, shook empires and societies to pieces, and fatally undermined Europe's dominance of the world. It was a war which could have been avoided up to the last moment - so why did it happen? Beginning in the early nineteenth century, and ending with the assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand, award-winning historian Margaret MacMillan uncovers the huge political and technological changes, national decisions and - just as important - the small moments of human muddle and weakness that led Europe from peace to disaster. This masterful exploration of how Europe chose its path towards war will change and enrich how we see this defining moment in our history.
This entertaining book is bursting with ideas for fingerprinting lots of creepy crawlies, from bees and ladybirds to spiders and ants. Create scenes with hungry snails, wiggly worms, fluttering butterflies and lots more. With an inkpad of seven bright colours and a spiral binding so that the book lies flat.
Bursting with fun fingerprinting ideas, this colourful activity book comes with its own inkpad of seven bright colours. Decorate the underwater scenes with fish, turtles, submarines, mermaids and much more. There are simple instructions showing how to fingerprint each picture and the book has a spiral binding so that it lies flat.
Join Poppy and Sam for lots of fingerprinting fun in this entertaining activity book, with its own brightly coloured inkpad of seven colours. Decorate the scenes with flowers, chicks, piglets, rabbits and much more. There are simple instructions showing how to fingerprint each scene and the book has a spiral binding so that it lies flat.
This entertaining book is bursting with ideas for fingerprinting dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Create scenes with Velociraptors scurrying around a forest, a sky filled with swooping Pteranodons, add plates to Stegosaurs' backs and much more. With an inkpad of seven bright colours and a spiral binding so that the book lies flat.
This finger-printing book includes simple, step-by-step instructions for lots of pictures and scenes to create using only fingerprints, and a multi-coloured ink pad is attached to the side of the book, so no extra materials are required. Encourages creativity and manual dexterity.
In this revealing and entertaining guide to how the Romans confronted their own mortality, Peter Jones shows us that all the problems associated with old age and death that so transfix us today were already dealt with by our ancient ancestors two thousand years ago. Romans inhabited a world where man, knowing nothing about hygiene let alone disease, had no defences against nature. Death was everywhere. Half of all Roman children were dead by the age of five. Only eight per cent of the population made it over sixty. One bizarre result was that half the population consisted of teenagers. From the elites' philosophical take on the brevity of life to the epitaphs left by butchers, bakers and buffoons, Memento Mori ('Remember you die') shows how the Romans faced up to this world and attempted to take the sting out of death.
From the prize-winning screenwriter of The Theory of Everything and Darkest Hour, The Two Popes is a fascinating, revealing and gripping tale of two very different men whose destinies converge with each other - they both live in the Vatican - and the wider world. On 28 February 2013, a 600-year-old tradition was shattered: the conservative Pope Benedict XVI made a startling announcement. He would resign. Reeling from the news, the College of Cardinals rushed to Rome to congregate in the Sistine Chapel to pick his successor. Their unlikely choice? Francis, the first non-European pope in 1,200 years, a one time tango club bouncer, a passionate football fan and a man with the common touch. How did these two men become two of the most powerful people on Earth? What's it like to be the Pope? What does the future hold for the Catholic Church and its 1 billion followers? The Two Popes is a dual biography that masterfully combines these two popes' lives into one gripping narrative. From Benedict and Francis' experiences of war in their homelands - when they were still Joseph and Jorge - and the sexual abuse scandal that continues to rock the Church to its foundations, to the intrigue and the occasional comedy of life in the Vatican, The Pope glitters with the darker and the lighter details of life inside one of the world's most opaque but significant institutions.
An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young adult and adult intermediate learners of English. Olly's top-notch language-learning insights are right in line with the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively. I love his work - and you will too! - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers Short Stories in English for Intermediate Learners has been written especially for students from a low-intermediate to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to B1-B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you and give you a feeling of progress when reading. What does this book give you? * Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary * Controlled language at your level to help you progress confidently * Realistic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability * Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way * Beautiful illustrations accompanying each story, to set the scene and support your understanding * Pleasure! Research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!' With intriguing plots that will spark your imagination and keep you reading, Short Stories in English for Intermediate Learners will take your grasp of English to the next level with key features to support and consolidate your progress, including: * A glossary for bolded words in each text * A bilingual word list * Full plot summary * Comprehension questions after each chapter. As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in English for Intermediate Learners uses reading as the perfect tool to not only delight in learning English, but to accelerate your journey towards fluency.
An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young and adult learners. "I love Olly's work - and you will too!" - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers Short Stories in German for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you, and give you a feeling of progress when reading. What does this book give you? * Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary * Controlled language at your level, including the 1000 most frequent words, to help you progress confidently * Authentic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability * Pleasure! It's much easier to learn a new language when you're having fun, and research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!' * Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way Carefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress, including * A glossary for bolded words in each text * A bilingual word list * Full plot summary * Comprehension questions after each chapter. As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed or frustrated. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in German for Beginners will make learning French easy and enjoyable.
An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young adult and adult intermediate learners of Italian. Olly's top-notch language-learning insights are right in line with the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively. I love his work - and you will too! - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers Short Stories in Italian for Intermediate Learners has been written specifically for students from a low-intermediate to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to B1-B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories will both entertain you, and give you a feeling of progress when reading. What does this book give you? * Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary * Controlled language at your level to help you progress confidently * Realistic spoken dialogues to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability * Beautiful illustrations accompanying each story, to set the scene and support your understanding * Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way * Pleasure! Research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!' With intriguing plots that will spark your imagination and keep you reading, Short Stories in Italian will take your grasp of Italian to the next level with key features to support and consolidate your progress, including: * A glossary for bolded words in each text * A bilingual word list * Full plot summary * Comprehension questions after each chapter. As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language all without ever feeling overwhelmed. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Italian for Intermediate Learners uses reading as the perfect tool to not only delight in learning Italian, but to accelerate your journey towards fluency.
New Edition of the Leading Work on Modern Turkey* In a world of rising tensions between Russia and the United States, the Middle East and Europe, Sunnis and Shiites, Islamism and liberalism, Turkey is at the epicentre. And at the heart of Turkey is its right-wing populist president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Since 2002, Erdogan has consolidated his hold on domestic politics while using military and diplomatic means to solidify Turkey as a regional power. His crackdown has been brutal and consistent - scores of journalists arrested, academics officially banned from leaving the country, university deans fired and many of the highest-ranking military officers arrested. In some senses, the nefarious and failed 2016 coup has given Erdogan the licence to make good on his repeated promise to bring order and stability under a 'strongman'. Here, leading Turkish expert Soner Cagaptay will look at Erdogan's roots in Turkish history, what he believes in and how he has cemented his rule, as well as what this means for the world. The book will also unpick the 'threats' Erdogan has worked to combat - from the liberal Turks to the Gulen movement, from coup plotters to Kurdish nationalists - all of which have culminated in the crisis of modern Turkey.
WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE Two old friends - Cline Linley and Vernon Halliday - meet at the funeral of gorgeous, witty Molly Lane. Both men had been Molly's lovers years before their dazzling success; Clive is Britain's most eminent modern composer and Vernon is the editor of the respected broadsheet, The Judge. In the weeks that follow, Clive and Vernon's lives become bound together in ways neither could have imagined. Two dubious moral decisions and a pact made in extremis lead them both to the heart of Amsterdam.
For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve prime ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace, a meeting like no other in British public life. It is private. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said. The Audience breaks this contract of silence. It imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each prime minister has used these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional - sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive. From young mother to grandmother, these private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next prime minister. The Audience by Peter Morgan premiered at the Gielgud Theatre, London, in March 2013. It returned to the Apollo Theatre, London, in this revised version in April 2015. 'This is something rarer: funny and truthful, goodhearted, spiky, full of surprises. I loved every minute... there are stunning political moments... It's all fiction, of course, and often painfully funny, yet is expresses large and serious truths.' The Times
Yanis Varoufakis, world renowned economist, writes to his daughter to teach her the hazards of capitalism. 'Why is there so much inequality?' asked Xenia to her father. Answering her questions in a series of accessible and tender letters, Varoufakis educates her to what economics and capitalism is and why it is so dangerous. Taking from memories of her childhood and a variety of well-known tales - from Oedipus and Faust to Frankenstein and The Matrix - Varoufakis turns Talking To My Daughter into an enjoyable and engaging read, without ever shying from the harder truths. Greece's former finance minister explains everything you need to know to understand why economics is the most important drama of our times. In answering his daughter's deceptively simple questions, Varoufakis disentangles our troubling world with remarkable clarity and child-like honesty, as well as inspiring us to make it a better one. 'Utterly accessible, deeply humane and startlingly original - a potent democratic tool at the perfect time' Naomi Klein
From the author of the global phenomenon and New York Times bestselling Ranger's Apprentice! Hal and his brotherband crew are hot on the trail of the pirate Zavac and they have one thing only on their minds: Stopping the bloodthirsty thief before he can do more damage. Of course, they also know Zavac has the Andomal, the priceless Skandian artifact stolen when the brotherband let down their guard. The chase leads down mighty rivers, terrifying rapids, to the lawless fortress of Ragusa. If Hal is to succeed, he will need to go beyond his brotherband training. He will need to challenge the pirate one-on-one, knowing only one of them will survive. The epic series from Ranger's Apprentice author John Flanagan continues, delivering pulse-pounding adventure and fun.
