This Blinding Absence of Light
ISBN : 9780141022826
In 1971 disaffected student Salim took part in a failed coup to oust King Hassan II of Morocco. With sixty others he was incarcerated in a secret prison complex in the Moroccan desert ; they were to remain there for nearly twenty years. In starkly eloquent, beautiful prose, Tahar Ben Jelloun relates the prisoners' experiences as they struggle to survive. The son of a witty, feckless courtier who disowns him, Salim tells stories to keep sane - from the suras of his beloved Koran to the plot of A Streetcar Named Desire. Even in the darkest, most terrible conditions, sympathy, insight, the human quest for meaning and understanding never desert Salim. The resulting novel is a wrenching yet exquisite celebration of the human spirit and its determination to survive.
Le Larousse des 1000 mots
ISBN : 9782035960337
3 grandes parties : - 12 double pages avec les mots de la journée : Je me réveille, comment je m'habille, la ville, l'école maternelle, les nombres, les couleurs, le repas, les courses, les jeux, les petites bêtises, le bain, le dîner ; - 4 double pages avec les mots des activités : Vive le sport, la musique, le cirque, le zoo ; - 10 double pages avec les mots de l'environnement : Les pompiers, les engins, la gare, l'aéroport, à la campagne, en forêt, la montagne, la mer, pays froids-pays chauds, les étoiles. Un ouvrage très illustré : - 40 mots par double-page, illustrés chacun, comme dans un imagier ; - 1 ou 2 saynètes par double-page, plus riches, présentent de façon vivante, un ensemble de mots. - les images, très lisibles pour les tout-petits mais suffisamment riches et humoristiques pour les plus grands, permettent une double lecture : avec l'aide des parents, les petits pointent les mots qu'ils reconnaissent puis les nomment.
The Temptation of Forgiveness
ISBN : 9781787461109
Important information is leaking from inside the Venetian Questura, and Commissario Guido Brunetti is tasked with uncovering the culprit. But before Brunetti can begin his investigation, a friend of his wife's comes asking for his help, fearful that her son is using drugs. A few weeks later, the woman's husband is found unconscious at the foot of a bridge. Following various contradictory leads, Brunetti navigates his way through Venice's underworld in an attempt to understand who is responsible for the vicious attack. But as he gets closer to discovering what happened, Brunetti is faced with a difficult truth : sometimes, the best intentions lead to the darkest of consequences...
Behave - The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
ISBN : 9780099575061
Why do human beings behave as they do ? We are capable of savage acts of violence but also spectacular feats of kindness : is one side of our nature destined to win out over the other ? Every act of human behaviour has multiple layers of causation, spiralling back seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, even centuries, right back to the dawn of time and the origins of our species. In the epic sweep of history, how does our biology affect the arc of war and peace, justice and persecution ? How have our brains evolved alongside our cultures ? This is the exhilarating story of human morality and the science underpinning the biggest question of all : what makes us human ?
Warlight
ISBN : 9781784708351
It is 1945, and London is still reeling from the Blitz. 14-year-old Nathaniel and his sister, Rachel, are apparently abandoned by their parents, left in the care of an enigmatic figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and grow both more convinced and less concerned as they get to know his eccentric crew of friends : men and women who all seem determined to protect Rachel and Nathaniel. But are they really what and who they claim to be ? A dozen years later, Nathaniel journeys through recollection, reality and imagination to uncover all he didn't know or understand in that time, to piece together a story that feels something like the truth.
Social Intelligence ; The New Science of Human Relatioships
ISBN : 9780099464921
Presents a synthesis of the findings in biology and brain science, revealing a fundamental discovery: we are designed for sociability, constantly engaged in a 'neural ballet' that connects us brain-to-brain with those around us. This work explains the surprising accuracy of first impressions, the basis of charisma and emotional power, and more.
JAZZ
ISBN : 9780099750918
BY THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF BELOVED Joe Trace - in his fifties, door-to-door salesman of Cleopatra beauty products, erstwhile devoted husband - shoots dead his lover of three months, the impetuous, eighteen-year-old Dorcas. At the funeral, his determined, hard-working wife, Violet, who is given to stumbling into dark mental cracks, tries with a knife to disfigure the corpse. Passionate and profound, Jazz brings us back and forth in time, in a narrative assembled from the hopes, fears and realities of black urban life. Winner of the PEN/Saul Bellow award for achievement in American fiction
Home
ISBN : 9780099555940
It begins with a letter from a woman Frank has never met. A pleading letter. A letter that closed his throat. 'Come fast. She be dead if you tarry.' And that is it all it takes.
A Prayer for Owen Meany
ISBN : 9780552993692
Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen doesn't believe in accidents ; he believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is both extraordinary and terrifying.