Gentlemen And Players

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 450 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2009-10-13
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780061839917

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Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris Pdf

The New York Times bestselling author takes a riveting new direction with this richly textured, multi-layered novel of friendship, murder, revenge, and class conflict set in an upper-crust English school—as enthralling and haunting as Ian McKewan’s Atonement and Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley Audere, agere, auferre. To dare, to strive, to conquer. For generations, elite young men have attended St. Oswald’s School for Boys, groomed for success by the likes of Roy Straitley, the eccentric classics teacher who has been a revered fixture for more than 30 years. But this year, things are different. Suits, paperwork, and Information Technology rule the world, and Straitley is reluctantly contemplating retirement. He is joined in this, his 99th, term by five new faculty members, including one who—unknown to Straitley and everyone else—holds intimate and dangerous knowledge of St. Ozzie’s ways and secrets, it’s comforts and conceits. Harboring dark ties to the school’s past, this young teacher has arrived with one terrible goal: Destroy St. Oswald’s. As the new term gets underway, a number of incidents befall students and faculty alike. Beginning as small annoyances—a lost pen, a misplaced coffee mug—they soon escalate to the life threatening. With the school unraveling, only Straitley stands in the way of St. Ozzie’s ruin. But the old man faces a formidable opponent—a master player with a strategy that has been meticulously planned to the final move. A harrowing tale of cat and mouse told in alternating voices, this riveting, hypnotically atmospheric novel showcases Joanne Harris’s astonishing storytelling talent as never before.

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2017-01-03
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781501155512

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Different Class by Joanne Harris Pdf

Originally published: Great Britain: Doubleday, 2016.

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2006-01-03
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780060559144

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Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris Pdf

Audere, agere, auferre. To dare, to strive, to conquer. For generations, privileged young men have attended St. Oswald's Grammar School for Boys, groomed for success by the likes of Roy Straitley, the eccentric Classics teacher who has been a fixture there for more than thirty years. But this year the wind of unwelcome change is blowing. Suits, paperwork, and information technology are beginning to overshadow St. Oswald's tradition, and Straitley is finally, and reluctantly, contemplating retirement. He is joined this term by five new faculty members, including one who -- unbeknownst to Straitley and everyone else -- holds intimate and dangerous knowledge of St. Oswald's ways and secrets. Harboring dark ties to the school's past, this young teacher has arrived with one terrible goal: to destroy St. Oswald's. As the new term gets under way, a number of incidents befall students and faculty alike. Beginning as small annoyances -- a lost pen, a misplaced coffee mug -- they are initially overlooked. But as the incidents escalate in both number and consequence, it soon becomes apparent that a darker undercurrent is stirring within the school. With St. Oswald's unraveling, only Straitley stands in the way of its ruin. The veteran teacher faces a formidable opponent, however -- a master player with a bitter grudge and a strategy that has been meticulously planned to the final move, a secret game with very real, very deadly consequences. A harrowing tale of cat and mouse, this riveting, hypnotically atmospheric novel showcases New York Times bestselling author Joanne Harris's astonishing storytelling talent as never before.

Author : Charles Williams
Publisher : Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2012-09-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9780297608097

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Gentlemen & Players by Charles Williams Pdf

Amateurs versus professionals - a social history and memoir of English cricket from 1953 to 1963. The inaugural Gentlemen v. Players first-class cricket match was played in 1806, subsequently becoming an annual fixture at Lord's between teams consisting of amateurs (the Gentlemen) and professionals (the Players). The key difference between the amateur and the professional, however, was much more than the obvious one of remuneration. The division was shaped by English class structure, the amateur, who received expenses, being perceived as occupying a higher station in life than the wage-earning professional. The great Yorkshire player Len Hutton, for example, was told he would have to go amateur if he wanted to captain England. GENTLEMEN & PLAYERS focuses on the final ten years of amateurism and the Gentlemen v. Players fixture, starting with Charles Williams' own presence in the (amateur) Oxbridge teams that included future England captains such as Peter May, Colin Cowdrey and M.J.K. Smith, and concluding with the abolition of amateurism in 1962 when all first-class players became professional. The amateur innings was duly declared closed. Charles Williams, the author of a richly acclaimed biography of Donald Bradman, has penned a vivid social-history-cum-memoir that reveals an attempt to recreate a Golden Age in post-war Britain, one whose expiry exactly coincided with the beginnings of top-class one-day cricket and a cricket revolution.

Author : Kenneth Sheard,Eric Dunning
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 291 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2013-01-11
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781135762803

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Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players by Kenneth Sheard,Eric Dunning Pdf

First published in 1979, this classic study of the development of rugby from folk game to its modern Union and League forms has become a seminal text in sport history. In a new epilogue the authors provide sociological analysis of the major developments in international ruby that have taken place since 1979, with particular attention to the professionalism that was predicted in the first edition of this text. Sports lovers, rugby fans and students of the history and sociology of sport will find it invaluable. Rugby football is descended from winter 'folk games' which were a deeply rooted tradition in pre-industrial Britain. This was the first book to study the development of Rugby from this folk tradition to the game in its modern forms. The folk forms of football were extremely violent and serious injuries - even death - were a common feature. The game was refined in the public schools who played a crucial role in formulating the rules which required footballers to exercise greater self-control. With the spread of rugby into the wider society, the Rugby Football Union was founded but class tensions led to the split between Rugby Union and Rugby League. The authors examine the changes that led to the professionalisation of Rugby Union as well as the alleged resurgence of violence in the modern game.

Author : P. G. Wodehouse
Publisher : Library of Alexandria
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2024-04-27
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781465540300

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Ladies and Gentlemen v. Players by P. G. Wodehouse Pdf

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Random House
Page : 413 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2010-07-06
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781407056289

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Blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris Pdf

Captivating, complex and compellingly intense, this psychological thriller from international multi-million copy seller Joanne Harris is perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves, Susan Hill, Nicci French and Val McDermid. Brilliantly written, expertly plotted and ingeniously structured...with its fair share of plot twists and unreliable narrators, this is one book that will not let you go... 'Delivers an almighty twist in the tale late on...brilliantly atmospheric and at times heartbreaking' -- The Times 'An ingenious, gripping read...it terrified the living daylights out of me' -- Daily Express 'Engrossing psychological thriller...a novel of unusual complexity...Harris, best known for Chocolat, again shows her skill and versatility' -- Mail on Sunday 'Joanne Harris never fails to deliver' -- ***** Reader review 'A story superbly told with a brilliant, totally unexpected, twist at the end. Made my blood run cold!' -- ***** Reader review 'I couldn't put this one down!' -- ***** Reader review 'An enthralling read' -- ***** Reader review 'I read this book in two days; I just couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review ****************************************************************** FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR JOANNE HARRIS COMES THIS GRIPPING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER... Once there was a widow with three sons, and their names were Black, Brown and Blue. Black was the eldest; moody and aggressive. Brown was the middle child; timid and dull. But Blue was his mother's favourite. And he was a murderer. blueeyedboy is a dark and intricately plotted tale of a poisonously dysfunctional family, a blind child prodigy, and a serial murderer who is not who he seems. Told through a series of anonymous posts on the internet, this is a thriller that makes creative use of all the multiple personalities, disguise and mind games that are offered by playing out a life online.

Author : Timothy Mowl
Publisher : History PressLtd
Page : 218 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2010-07-09
Category : Gardening
ISBN : 0750937688

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Gentlemen and Players by Timothy Mowl Pdf

The English love affair with the landscape garden reached its height in the eighteenth century, when the creation of some of our greatest gardens set a stylistic lead which Continental Europe was eager to follow. In this informed and entertaining book, Timothy Mowl reveals how this development in garden style came about through an interaction between the garden owners, who had a vision of what these gardens might become, and the professionals who had the expertise to realise this vision. Technologies and discoveries were exchanged, and theories were absorbed, popularised and then discarded, in a fascinating sequence of action and reaction. It was a mould-breaking, revolutionary period in garden history. Mowl takes the reader on a fascinating journey to the magnificent gardens at Chiswick, Stowe, Castle Howard, Painshill, Stourhead and an astonishing host of lesser Edens, and casts a fresh and illuminating perspective on the great age of the English Arcadia (1620-1820).

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Orion
Page : 448 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2021-08-04
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781409170839

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A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris Pdf

'Twist follows twist and nothing is what it seems' ALEX MICHAELIDES 'Exhilarating, addictive, fierce' BRIDGET COLLINS 'A psychological thriller you can't put down' HARLAN COBEN 'Dark, Gothic, and propulsively readable' RUTH WARE 'A dark and richly enjoyable novel that already feels like a classic' ELLY GRIFFITHS * * * * * Now I'm in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rules. It's an incendiary moment for St Oswald's school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls. Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered. But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She'll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all... You can't keep a good woman down. * * * * * Praise for Joanne Harris's other books set in the St Oswald's world: 'A masterpiece of misdirection' Val McDermid 'Delivers an almighty twist . . . brilliantly atmospheric ' The Times '[A] gripping psychological thriller . . . Harris is one of our most accomplished novelists' Daily Express '[A] delicious black comedy' Daily Mail

Author : Brad Miner
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 306 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 2021-05-11
Category : Cooking
ISBN : 9781684511761

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The Compleat Gentleman by Brad Miner Pdf

“Here is a welcome reminder that men can be gentlemen without turning into ladies—or louts.”—Michelle Malkin "Miner writes with wit and charm."—Wall Street Journal The Gentleman: An Endangered Species? The catalog of masculine sins grows by the day—mansplaining, manspreading, toxic masculinity—reflecting our confusion over what it means to be a man. Is a man’s only choice between the brutish, rutting #MeToo lout and the gelded imitation woman, endlessly sensitive and fun to go shopping with? No. Brad Miner invites you to discover the oldest and best model of manhood— the gentleman. In this tour de force of popular history and gentlemanly persuasion, Miner lays out the thousand-year history of this forgotten ideal and makes a compelling case for its modern revival. Three masculine archetypes emerge here—the warrior, the lover, and the monk—forming the character of “the compleat gentleman.” He cultivates a martial spirit in defense of the true and the beautiful. He treats the opposite sex with passionate respect. And he values learning in pursuit of the truth. Miner’s gentleman stands out for the combination of discretion, decorum, and nonchalance that the Renaissance called sprezzatura. He belongs to an aristocracy of virtue, not of wealth or birth, following a lofty code of manly conduct, which, far from threatening democracy, is necessary for its survival.

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Anchor Canada
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2010-12-03
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780385674737

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Chocolat by Joanne Harris Pdf

When the exotic stranger Vianne Rocher arrives in the old French village of Lansquenet and opens a chocolate boutique called “La Celeste Praline” directly across the square from the church, Father Reynaud identifies her as a serious danger to his flock. It is the beginning of Lent: the traditional season of self-denial. The priest says she’ll be out of business by Easter. To make matters worse, Vianne does not go to church and has a penchant for superstition. Like her mother, she can read Tarot cards. But she begins to win over customers with her smiles, her intuition for everyone’s favourites, and her delightful confections. Her shop provides a place, too, for secrets to be whispered, grievances aired. She begins to shake up the rigid morality of the community. Vianne’s plans for an Easter Chocolate Festival divide the whole community. Can the solemnity of the Church compare with the pagan passion of a chocolate éclair? For the first time, here is a novel in which chocolate enjoys its true importance, emerging as an agent of transformation. Rich, clever, and mischievous, reminiscent of a folk tale or fable, this is a triumphant read with a memorable character at its heart. Says Harris: “You might see [Vianne] as an archetype or a mythical figure. I prefer to see her as the lone gunslinger who blows into the town, has a showdown with the man in the black hat, then moves on relentless. But on another level she is a perfectly real person with real insecurities and a very human desire for love and acceptance. Her qualities too - kindness, love, tolerance - are very human.” Vianne and her young daughter Anouk, come into town on Shrove Tuesday. “Carnivals make us uneasy,” says Harris, “because of what they represent: the residual memory of blood sacrifice (it is after all from the word "carne" that the term arises), of pagan celebration. And they represent a loss of inhibition; carnival time is a time at which almost anything is possible.” The book became an international best-seller, and was optioned to film quickly. The Oscar-nominated movie, with its star-studded cast including Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) and Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love), was directed by Lasse Hallstrom, whose previous film The Cider House Rules (based on a John Irving novel) also looks at issues of community and moral standards, though in a less lighthearted vein. The idea for the book came from a comment her husband made one day while he was immersed in a football game on TV. “It was a throwaway comment, designed to annoy and it did. It was along the lines of...Chocolate is to women what football is to men…” The idea stuck, and Harris began thinking that “people have these conflicting feelings about chocolate, and that a lot of people who have very little else in common relate to chocolate in more or less the same kind of way. It became a kind of challenge to see exactly how much of a story I could get which was uniquely centred around chocolate.” Rich with metaphor and gorgeous writing...sit back and gorge yourself on Chocolat.

Author : David Anthony Durham
Publisher : Anchor
Page : 588 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2006-01-03
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780307276995

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Pride of Carthage by David Anthony Durham Pdf

This epic retelling of the legendary Carthaginian military leader’s assault on the Roman empire begins in Ancient Spain, where Hannibal Barca sets out with tens of thousands of soldiers and 30 elephants. After conquering the Roman city of Saguntum, Hannibal wages his campaign through the outposts of the empire, shrewdly befriending peoples disillusioned by Rome and, with dazzling tactics, outwitting the opponents who believe the land route he has chosen is impossible. Yet Hannibal’s armies must take brutal losses as they pass through the Pyrenees mountains, forge the Rhone river, and make a winter crossing of the Alps before descending to the great tests at Cannae and Rome itself. David Anthony Durham draws a brilliant and complex Hannibal out of the scant historical record–sharp, sure-footed, as nimble among rivals as on the battlefield, yet one who misses his family and longs to see his son grow to manhood. Whether portraying the deliberations of a general or the calculations of a common soldier, vast multilayered scenes of battle or moments of introspection when loss seems imminent, Durham brings history alive.

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Harper Collins
Page : 456 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2009-10-13
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780061836701

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Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris Pdf

When Framboise Simon returns to a small village on the banks of the Loire, the locals do not recognize her as the daughter of the infamous woman they hold responsible for a tragedy during the German occupation years ago. But the past and present are inextricably entwined, particularly in a scrapbook of recipes and memories that Framboise has inherited from her mother. And soon Framboise will realize that the journal also contains the key to the tragedy that indelibly marked that summer of her ninth year. . . .

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Random House
Page : 594 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2010-07-06
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781407039657

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The Lollipop Shoes (Chocolat 2) by Joanne Harris Pdf

THE SECOND NOVEL IN THE BESTSELLING CHOCOLAT SERIES 'A delicious urban fairytale' DAILY MAIL Seeking refuge and anonymity in the cobbled streets of Montmartre, Vianne Rocher – disguising herself as 'Yanne' – and her two daughters live peacefully, if not happily, above their little chocolate shop. Nothing unusual marks them out, and the wind has stopped – at least for a while. Then into their lives blows Zozie de l'Alba, the lady with the lollipop shoes, ruthless, devious and seductive. With everything she loves at stake, Yanne must face a difficult choice: to flee, as she has done so many times before, or to confront her most dangerous enemy. 'Chocolat was a hard act to follow but Harris has managed it in style' DAILY EXPRESS 'She is terrific, she can write about anywhere, anything, anyone' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Harris is as good at portraying the agonies of motherhood as she is at evoking the scent of bitter chocolate laced with cinnamon and chilli' SUNDAY TIMES

Author : Joanne Harris
Publisher : Doubleday Canada
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2010-12-10
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780385674744

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Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris Pdf

From the author of Chocolat, an intoxicating fairy tale of alchemy and love where wine is the magic elixir. Jay Mackintosh is a 37-year-old has-been writer from London. Fourteen years have passed since his first novel, Jackapple Joe, won the Prix Goncourt. His only happiness comes from dreaming about the golden summers of his boyhood that he spent in the company of an eccentric vintner who was the inspiration of Jay's debut novel, but who one day mysteriously vanished. Under the strange effects of a bottle of Joe's '75 Special, Jay decides to purchase a derelict yet promising château in Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. There, a ghost from his past waits to confront him, and his new neighbour, the reclusive Marise - haunted, lovely and dangerous - hides a terrible secret behind her closed shutters. Between them, there seems to be a mysterious chemistry. Or could it be magic? Joanne Harris's previous novel, Chocolat, was both a dazzling literary success and a commercial triumph. Chocolat, the major motion picture directed by Lasse Hallström (The Cider House Rules), was released in December 2000, starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Dame Judy Dench, Alfred Molina, and Lena Olin.