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When Maggie's latest placement arrives on her doorstep, it is clear that Sean, Dougie and their big sister Mary have been through unspeakable traumas in their short?lives. Violent and malnourished,?the siblings have been left to fend for themselves by their drug-addicted parents. Maggie must use all of her skills and experience as a foster carer to help these damaged siblings to learn to be children again. With much love, care and patience, their behaviour gradually starts to improve and social services start looking for a forever family for them. But alarm bells start to ring when Maggie meets the couple who have been matched to adopt the siblings. It is clear that they're looking for the perfect, ready-made family, and they're not going to get it with these vulnerable brothers and sister. Despite raising her concerns with social services, Maggie is powerless to prevent the adoption from going ahead and she must put aside her own fears to help the siblings settle in with their new parents. But she can't shake the feeling of dread as she waves them goodbye.A few months later, Maggie's worst nightmares come true when she learns that the children have been handed back to the care of social services following the breakdown of the adoption. Maggie must fight to get the children returned to her, but is it too late to undo the damage that has been done?

'Ben Aaronovitch's masterfully crafted world of magic, ghosts and gruesome crimes gives the late, great Terry Pratchett a run for his money' The Sun'Great, great fun' Simon Mayo, Radio 2My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying.

Arthur Oakes is an outsider. His mother was protesting against the government's nuclear bombs, and something went wrong, and someone died. Now she is in prison. His father is long gone. Arthur spends his time lost in English mythology and unfulfilled dreams about the girls in his college. But one unintended incident - one moment of standing up for another underdog - leaves his mother in danger and him with orders to steal rare books from the college library. And the events that will unfold from that one moment of bravery will lead to slaughter.The gang of six use a book covered in human skin in an arcane ritual, and summon the evil dragon King Sorrow. They enter into a pact - he will kill the couple who have been terrorising the group by easter, in exchange for their worship. But dragons are not to be trusted, and now they must repeat the ritual every year - including choosing who he will kill... An epic, sprawling novel set in the 80s in Midwest America and going through to 2022 in England, with a massive cast led by six clever, damaged protagonists battling all manner of menaces, both supernatural and all too human.

Hakan Veil is back, and he's pissed off.He's an Overrider by trade - gene-tweaked to cryo-sleep shipboard across interplanetary space, but wake up running hot and save the day if ever things go wrong: take out the pirate assault team before they can board, put down the mutiny before it can take hold, save the ship from whatever ails it - meteor strike, hull breach, crew crisis, reactor failure, fuel or atmosphere leak - and bring the cargo safely home. Fast-thinking, no need for sleep, running on stored energy that lets him work hard and fast until the situation is resolved, he's the ultimate First Responder, hardwired to fix the problem, whatever and wherever it is.At the other end of the cycle - getting ready to hibernate for a solid few months - it's a different story. Slower, eating more, not quite so crisp. Because by then the emergency is supposed to be over. Exiled by his employers to Mars for failing to execute a captive, Veil found himself thrust into the violent chaos arising from the Earth Oversight audit. He took out the powerful and corrupt with extreme prejudice, uncovered a major political conspiracy, defeated a cell of hardened undercover spec ops provocateurs. In the end, he brought a rough and ready kind of stability to the faction-riven Red Planet.You could say he's owed some much needed downtime.Only now there's a new f*cking emergency. And it's only just getting up to speed. The son of a Martian corporate aristo has gone missing under mysterious circumstances; a charismatic tech-messiah believed long dead appears to be back in business at the head of his cult; and high above the Martian surface, military grade orbital platforms are falling out of the sky like storm-struck birds. Once again, Hakan Veil finds himself in the midst of rising chaos, and once again it looks like he's the only one equipped to deal with the crisis.And he's in no mood for any of it.

The inspirational true story of India's race to the stars - and the women who made it possible.On November 5, 2013, a rocket launched toward Mars. It was India's first interplanetary mission, named Mangalyaan, and a huge gamble. Nine months later, when Mangalyaan successfully entered into Mars' orbit, it created history. Until this point, when we thought of rocket scientists, we imagined men from NASA in crisp white shirts. But India's success instead came from the genius and tireless efforts of scientists in silk sarees. With a Whistle in the Dark follows the stories of three women central to the building of India's space programme, and the success that came after. These women got Indian rockets to Mars, but faced cultural and gender barriers so immense, that by pursuing a life of science, they started a rebellion.

Rivers are the great natural arteries that run through our lives. We have tapped them, navigated them, dammed them and worshipped at them. From the ancient ecosystems of Egypt to the sinking cities of Shanghai and London, what we do with our rivers tells us about who has power and what we value. Now, when environmental regulations are at their strongest and a passion for wild swimming is flourishing, when the Amazon is on fire and some of our major river systems are dying, it has never been clearer that rivers are intertwined with humanity at our best and our worst. Liquid History is story of the Nile, Danube, Niger, Mississippi, Ganges, Yangtze and the Thames. It is a story of imperial frontiers, alluvial gold, kidnappings, slavery, de-colonialism, creation myths and the killing of rivers. It is about those who've lived and died on these rivers and their endless capacity for invention: their harnessing of oases and aquifers, their lotus pools and hanging gardens, their gigantic canal systems and elaborate fishing rituals, their absolute powers and their sly rebellions. At its heart are the empire-builders of the Chinese dynasties, Romans and Hindus and their river gods, the Habsburgs and Ottomans, Mughal emperors, the people of the Niger from Mali's golden age to today, struggles of life and death on the Mississippi, and the dethroning of the British on the rivers of their unruly imperial subjects. This is the story of us, in seven rivers.

The Great Pyramid of Giza. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Colossus at Rhodes. The Lighthouse of Alexandria. The statue of Zeus at Olympia. The temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The scale and majesty of the seven wonders of the ancient world still enthral us today. In a thrilling, colourful narrative enriched with the latest archaeological discoveries, bestselling historian Bettany Hughes tells the story of the ancient world through its legendary achievements in engineering technology, sophisticated planning and religious devotion.

This is the story of the first human being born on Mars: Rose Fuller. She saw a better future than the one we were given and gave her life to build it.It's a story about Dylan Ward, a woman who grew up in the frontier of human existence and misses it every single day.It's a story about a man who went missing, and the man who wants to find out what he knew.It's a story about what makes us human - and how we might live once we leave our home.This is the story of the first murder on Mars.

'Atmospheric, original and tension-filled, THE GUEST HOUSE will keep you on the edge of your seat.' T.M. Logan, author of THE CURFEWKEEP YOUR FAMILY SAFE.WHATEVER THE COST...Jamie and Victoria are expecting their first baby.With a few weeks to go, they head off for a final weekend break in a remote part of the North Pennines. The small and peaceful guesthouse is the ideal location to unwind together before becoming parents. Upon arrival, they are greeted by Barry and Fiona, the older couple who run the guesthouse. They cook them dinner and show them to their room before retreating to bed themselves.The next morning, Jamie and Victoria wake to find the house deserted. Barry and Fiona are nowhere to be seen. All the doors are locked. Both their mobile phones and car keys have disappeared. Even though it's a few weeks early, Victoria knows the contractions are starting.The baby is coming, and there's no way out.

Was it an accident? Or was it murder?Marc Mercier appears to have it all - a successful business man with a loving family who has risen above his upbringing. So when he vanishes while on a hunting trip in the Atchafalaya Basin, the mystery appears to be nothing more than a tragic accident.But all is not what it seems in Marc Mercier's life. As detectives launch the investigation into his death, the picture of his perfect life begins to unravel. Family members begin to make accusations, his wife and best friend change their stories, and the police are left floundering as the secrets begin to pile up. The clock is ticking - can detectives Nick and Annie discover the truth before someone else ends up as a case number?The gripping new thriller from New York Times bestseller Tami Hoag.