Showing results by author "Robin" in All Categories

April 1941. Britain is at war, and a secret agency called the Ministry of Unladylike Activity is training up children as spies - because grown-ups always underestimate them. Enter May, Eric and Nuala: courageous, smart, and the Ministry's newest recruits. They have travelled to London for spy training, and are staying on a quiet street close to the Ministry, home to an unlikely collection of people thrown together by the war.

Now published in over 70 languages, this number one international best seller gently offers answers to life's biggest questions as well as a practical process to help you create prosperity, vitality, happiness and inner peace. This is the incredible story of Julian Mantle, a superstar lawyer whose out-of-balance lifestyle leads him to a near-fatal heart attack in a packed courtroom. His collapse brings on a spiritual crisis, forcing him to seek answers to life's most important questions.

Jack Valentine seemed to have it all. He made good money as an ad man and looked good doing it. He had a hot apartment, cool friends, even a slick car - at least until the hectic Monday morning a truck smashed into it, sending the critically injured Jack to the hospital. Everything happens for a reason, though, and Jack’s reason reveals itself in the silver-haired cancer patient who becomes his roommate one evening. The elderly man, Cal, shares his life story - one not dissimilar to Jack’s - of material wealth masking a gaping hole within.

Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are paying a visit to Hazel's family estate in hot, sultry Hong Kong. It may be the holidays, but the Detective Society is never far away from a mystery - and soon they are mixed up in a truly terrible crime. Hazel's little half brother is kidnapped - and the family maid murdered. Daisy and Hazel know another life could be at stake if they don't crack this case quickly. And when Hazel is framed for the crime, the detectives are faced with their toughest mystery yet - one that will test them and their friendship more than ever before.

It's the summer holidays and eleven-year-old loner, Seymour, lodged with a fussy guardian in an inner-city suburb, is bored and unhappy in his confined world. By chance he meets Angie, beautiful, charismatic Angie. He is bewitched, and his world is opened as she takes him on unexpected holiday outings and shopping sprees. Angie, however, is not what she seems.

When investigative journalist Reagan McAdams discovers her new husband, Julien, is part of a powerful international crime family, she flees Paris with their newborn, returning to her childhood home in Nutfield, New Hampshire. She plans to gather her inheritance, collect her beloved grandmother, and disappear forever. She'll do whatever it takes to protect her son from his criminal father. But when Reagan arrives home, her heart breaks at the news of her grandmother's death. Finding her missing inheritance is as impossible as a second chance with her former boyfriend, Brady.

Instead of becoming a famous fashion designer as she'd dreamed, Brett Bishop ends up working for the 24-year-old daughter of an A-list designer instead. Even though her career plans didn't turn out as she expected, she still believes her expectations for her love life will be met. Brett is ready to meet Ms. Right Forever if she can get a break in the schedule her young boss dictates. Evangeline Scott, known as Scotty, also dreamed of being a famous fashion designer. Years of fighting tooth and nail for a toehold in the fashion industry have taken their toll.

Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus, we don't like to talk, or even think, about the extent of our selfishness. This is "the elephant in the brain".

Princess Charlotte’s entire life had been planned. Right up until the moment her fiancé is kidnapped on her wedding day, sending the entire kingdom hurtling toward disaster. Charlie has never left the protective grounds of the castle, but to save her intended, she’ll trade her crown for a sword and forge into dangerous rebel lands alongside her fiancé’s arrogant older brother, Logan. He thinks she’s a spoiled princess. She’s about to prove him wrong. But each step deeper into the enemy’s world confirms nothing is what it seems.

Index funds are the most widely influential investment vehicles available. They have revolutionised investing by saving millions of people billions of dollars in fees that would otherwise have gone to fund managers. It is no exaggeration to say that the rise of passive investing is probably one of the most consequential financial inventions of the past half-century, by rewiring markets and reshaping the finance industry. Yet some detractors say that index investing is an insidious disease, and index funds may have cataclysmic consequences that we aren't even aware of yet.

The classical civilisations of Greece and Rome dominated the world for centuries and continue to intrigue and enlighten us with their inventions, whether philosophy, politics, theatre, athletics, celebrity, science or the pleasures of horse racing. Robin Lane Fox's spellbinding history spans almost a thousand years of change from the foundation of the world's first democracy in Athens to the Roman Republic and the Empire under Hadrian. 

Dragon blood and scales, dragon liver and eyes and teeth. All required ingredients for medicines with near-miraculous healing powers. The legendary blue dragon Tintaglia is dying of wounds inflicted by hunters sent by the Duke of Chalced, who meanwhile preserves his dwindling life by consuming the blood of the dragon’s poet Selden Vestrit.

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chilvary Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility. So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways.

Alexis Holt unknowingly meets the woman of her dreams at a party. Unfortunately, Alexis was at the wrong place at the wrong time and walked away from the encounter thinking Stacy Kirkland was an arrogant snob. Alexis knew it wouldn't be the last time she saw Stacy, and she wasn't looking forward to their next meeting. Thanks to the internet, Stacy Kirkland already knows who Alexis is before they meet face to face. She's one step ahead of Alexis because Stacy already has a crush on her.

Daisy and Hazel are back at Deepdean for a new term, and murder is still never far away when Head Girl, Elizabeth Hurst, is found dead on Bonfire Night. As Christmas approaches, the pair are off to Cambridge for the holidays, but there's danger lurking in the dark stairwells of ancient Maudlin College. And when summer comes around and they visit Hazel's family in Hong Kong, they become mixed up in a truly terrible crime that sees Hazel's half brother kidnapped and the family maid murdered.

Prof Brian Cox and Robin Ince take the musings of the great and the good of British science, producing an insight into the multifaceted subjects involved in building a universe, with pearls of wisdom from leading scientists and comedians peppered throughout. Covering thousands of concepts and conundrums, they tackle everything from the big bang to parallel universes, fierce creatures to extraterrestrial life, brain science to artificial intelligence.

On 10th November 1984 Laurie Tanner comes home to his farmhouse in country Victoria and finds Jenny, his wife, dead, her hand wrapped around the barrel of a bolt-action rifle. Her death was viewed as suicide. Deeply puzzled by the mass of anomalies in the case, Robin Bowles, a Melbourne company director, goes looking for answers. How, for instance, could Jenny have shot herself twice in the brain - after shooting both her hands first? What unfolds is a true-life detective story, a bizarre tangle of police bungles, cover-ups and family intrigue.

Few perspectives epitomize the sheer drama and sacrifice of combat more perfectly than those of the fighter pilots of World War II. As romanticized as any soldier in history, the World War II fighter pilot was viewed as larger than life: a dashing soul waging war amongst the clouds. In the 65-plus years since the Allied victory, stories of these pilots' heroics have never been in short supply. But what about their adversaries - the highly skilled German aviators who pushed the Allies to the very brink of defeat?

Blaze Sonnier has had a bad year. In the spring, she made national news while dressed as the Easter Bunny in a brawl where she was trying to defend herself, and earned the moniker Bitch Slap Bunny. In the fall, the mother who abandoned Blaze for an acting career showed up on her doorstep, not only injured from an accident but broke and in need of a place to stay. While on a bike ride to purge her stress Blaze encounters one small (in physical stature only) silver lining with a flat tire.

When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries. Little do they know that in the months that follow, mystery - and murder - will never be far away, and when Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym, the Detective Society is determined to get to the bottom of the crime. Then, soon afterwards, there's the incident at Daisy's family home, Fallingford, where a guest falls mysteriously, fatally ill.