Showing results by author "Jean" in All Categories

Life in Cockney London was tough in the post-war years. The government's broken promises had led to a chronic housing shortage, rampant crime and families living in squalor. But one thing prevailed: the unbeatable spirit of the East End, a tight-knit community who pulled through the dark times with humour and heart. Drawing on both family history and her own memories of growing up in the 1950s and '60s, as well as her working life as a district nurse and local police officer, Jean Fullerton vividly depicts this fascinating part of London.

Erich Bannon is happy in the small Irish village he has thought of as home since he arrived as a terrified, traumatised seven year old, one of the last Jewish children to escape Berlin in 1939. Now at twenty-three, it feels like all of his friends are drawn to The Promised Land, and he can understand why, but Israel is not for him. One by one, they leave, and Erich is bereft. He feels lost but a chance encounter with an Irish Catholic girl gives him hope.

Set 25,000 years in the past, The Clan of the Cave Bear is an epic tale of love, identity and the struggle to survive. 'BEAUTIFUL, EXCITING, IMAGINATIVE' NEW YORK TIMES 'MAGIC' TELEGRAPH When an earthquake destroys her family's camp, Ayla is left orphaned and alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous...

With Princess Sultana's Circle, the extraordinary story of Princess Sultana continues. The forced marriage of Sultana's niece to a cruel and depraved older man, and Sultana's discovery of the harem of sex slaves kept by a royal cousin, makes this brave royal princess more determined than ever to fight the oppression of women in Saudi Arabia. Princess Sultana's cause is given an extra sense of urgency against the background of increased dissent against the Al Sa'uds, and the looming specter of Islamic fundamentalism.

Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. In The Social Contract, Rousseau explores the concept of freedom and the political structures that may enable people to acquire it. He argues that the sovereign power of a state lies not in any one ruler but in the will of the general population. Rousseau argues that the ideal state would be a direct democracy where executive decision making is carried out by citizens who meet in assembly, as they would in the ancient city-state of Athens.

It's 1939, and the Brogan family of London's East End are ready to show Hitler what for. But things don't seem so rosy when rationing, evacuation and air raids start to put this larger-than-life family to the test. When a mysterious young man arrives at the Brogans' local parish church, he provides just the dazzling distraction they need - and, for eldest daughter Mattie, the promise of more than she'd ever wished for. But as the pair fall deeper in love, they are drawn into secret dangers, rife on the very London streets they call home.

An irresistible French sensation - Mr Penumbra's 24- hour Bookstore meets Amélie - The Reader on the 6.27 explores the power of books through the lives of the people they save. It is sure to capture the hearts of book lovers everywhere. Guylain Vignolles leads a dull and solitary life. He hates...

Entre confidences et révélations, le grand illusionniste du XIXe siècle Jean‑Eugène Robert‑Houdin raconte comment naît une vocation et se forge un art. Dans ce récit mêlant souvenirs, coulisses et réflexions, il dévoile avec élégance l’apprentissage, la patience et l’ingéniosité qui transforment un curieux en « sorcier ».

Jean Ajalbert nous entraîne au cœur d’un pays qui se dévoile par touches sensibles et regard attentif. En tableaux vivants, il capte l’âme de l’Auvergne: ses paysages, ses voix, son rythme, la simplicité du quotidien et la force discrète d’un territoire fidèle à lui-même. Entre chronique et confidence, sa langue précise et chaleureuse fait surgir atmosphères, rencontres et souvenirs, pour une immersion délicate dans une région qui se raconte autant qu’elle se traverse. À écouter comme une marche lente, curieuse et émerveillée, vers l’intimité d’une terre.

De Langres, un paysan soldat écrit à Hélène. Ses feuillets, passés à travers tant de lignes de feu et de sang, ont dormi des décennies, parfumés d’armoire de grand-mère, de paille et de lavande. Quand son petit-fils les déplie, la voix du grand-père se mêle à la sienne. Lettres et échos tressent un amour en temps de guerre, une mémoire vive où l’intime affronte l’Histoire. À mesure que la lecture avance, les générations se rejoignent: il parlait de moi, de nous. Un récit d’une simplicité bouleversante qui célèbre la force des mots, la tendresse et ces liens qui traversent le temps.

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE A daughter’s quest to understand her charismatic and troubled father, an immigrant who crosses borders both real and illusory—between sanity and madness, science and spirituality, life and death PEN America Literary Award Winner “The kind of...

LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST An audacious and wryly funny coming-of-age story about a pregnant pizza delivery girl who becomes obsessed with one of her customers. Eighteen years old, pregnant, and working as a pizza delivery girl in suburban Los Angeles, our charmingly dysfunctional...

Scotland has been torn apart by civil war, and the young and passionate Catholic Mary Queen of Scots is in the hands of her enemies. Under duress, Mary abdicates in favour of her son, James VI, and flees to England for safety, boldly seeking refuge with her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. But Elizabeth has never trusted the ambitious Catholic queen and has Mary imprisoned.

The young Princess Victoria, strictly confined within the boundaries of Kensington Palace, is being moulded for her awesome future as Queen of England. Surrounded by her dolls and closely guarded by her domineering mother and faithful governess, she slowly becomes aware of the bitter conflicts that surround her. The jealous and scheming Duke of Cumberland is a constant threat to her rightful accession …her mother’s sinister friend, Sir John Conroy, makes her uneasy … and the bickering between her mother and the king seems never-ending.

Dublin, Ireland 1915. Eighteen-year-old May Gallagher is beautiful but restless, and longs for the freedom to live her own life, to decide her own destiny. Mollycoddled as the only remaining child of middle-class parents in the suburbs, she sneaks out to the theatre when she can. She is mesmerised by the captivating actor Peter Cullen, and wishes she could enjoy a more bohemian life. The Great War is taking all the boys away, and the promise that it will all be over by Christmas is ringing more hollow with each passing month.

As second-generation members of the royal family who have benefited from Saudi oil wealth, Maha and Amani are surrounded by untold opulence and luxury from the day they were born. And yet, they are stifled by the unbearably restrictive lifestyle imposed on them, driving them to desperate measures. Throughout, Sultana and Sasson never tire of their quest to expose the injustices which society levels against women.

Mon premier a un papa qui lui achète tout ce qu'il veut. Mon deuxième est le chouchou de la maîtresse. Mon troisième est le plus fort de la classe. Le papa de mon quatrième est agent de police. Mon cinquième est le dernier de la classe. Mon sixième, qui est très gros, aime manger. Mon tout est la plus chouette bande de copains qui ait existé : Geoffroy, Agnan, Eudes, Rufus, Clotaire, Alceste... et le Petit Nicolas !

With her family struggling amidst the nightly bombing raids in London’s East End, Ida Brogan is doing her very best to keep their spirits up. The Blitz has hit the Brogans hard, and rationing is more challenging than ever, but they are doing all they can to help the war effort. When Ida’s oldest friend Ellen returns to town, sick and in dire need of help, it is to Ida that she turns. But Ellen carries a secret, one that threatens not only Ida’s marriage but the entire foundation of the Brogan family. Can Ida let go of the past and see a way to forgive her friend?

The death of The Conqueror left three sons to inherit his power and his wealth. Normandy for Robert, England for Rufus, and for Henry, the youngest, 5,000 pounds of silver. The three were natural rivals. The feckless Robert lost his Norman dukedom in an orgy of impulsive extravagance. Red-haired Rufus scandalized the court with his perverse sexuality and contempt for the Church. And Henry - cleverest of all - awaited his chance to fulfill his father’s prophecy and assume the mantle of The Lion of Justice.

The French painter Jean Hélion’s unique and deeply moving account of his experiences in Nazi prisoner-of-war camps prefigures the even darker stories that would emerge from the concentration camps. This serious adventure tale begins with Hélion’s infantry platoon fleeing from the German army and warplanes as they advanced through France in the early days of the war. The soldiers chant as they march and run, “They shall not have me!” but are quickly captured and sent to hard labor.