Adventure, romance, politics, and murder filled the life of Lorenzo DiMedici. A banker who inherited the leadership of Florence, Italy during the 15th Century used his charisma and financial influence to create a humanistic city of art and culture despite plots against him by Pope Sixtus IV, the Pazzi family and King Ferrante of Naples who would mummify those whose spirits he desired to be surrounded by. After the murder of his brother during Easter Sunday services, Lorenzo had to make the difficult choice of meeting with King Ferrante alone and unarmed or go to war.
Adventure, romance, politics, and murder filled the life of Lorenzo DiMedici. A banker who inherited the leadership of Florence, Italy during the 15th Century used his charisma and financial influence to create a humanistic city of art and culture despite plots against him by Pope Sixtus IV, the Pazzi family and King Ferrante of Naples who would mummify those whose spirits he desired to be surrounded by. After the murder of his brother during Easter Sunday services, Lorenzo had to make the difficult choice of meeting with King Ferrante alone and unarmed or go to war.
Alwyston is a quaint and picturesque village in southern England. It is away from the main thoroughfares and is accessed by one road that leads into and out of the town. This is a narrow road lined with hedgerows and dry-stone walls behind which lie ordered gardens, stone cottages and gentle fields. The local landscape also hides a rich archaeology. The expectation of uncovering something of historical value brings many hopeful amateur archaeologists to the village each year. A number of these are aging, retired or semi-retired and spend half the year in Alwyston and half the year in their native Australia. As well as its archaeological attractions, Alwyston holds the dubious record for having the highest murder rate in the country. Conveniently for some, these murders only occur in the warmer months, "the summer murdering season", as the villagers say. Accompanied by the requisite constabulary and an assortment of local identities, the part-time denizens of the village and their friends have solved both archaeological and homicidal mysteries in the past. They fully and enthusiastically intend to do so again in spite of their advancing years and other impediments. Madgery Ashfield, a retired psychologist from Australia, arrives in Alwyston in early spring to find her close friend, Winnie, already ensconced in the village. Winnie is staying in the local pub owned by Madgery's good friend, Cedric Drury. She is there for the summer to explore her ancestry in the area. As well as owning the pub, Cedric has been an art importer-exporter and an employee of the FBI. Because of this experience, detectives from Scotland Yard and Interpol often rely on him to help them to solve the seasonal murders. On the evening of her arrival, Madgery is surprised to hear from Cedric and Montegrew Plum the local doctor that the first murder of the summer has occurred just that morning. A young man has been brutally slain in the dried moat of a nearby ruined Norman castle. The circumstances of the murder intrigue the police and university archaeologists, headed by Professor Charles Upton, because the body lies over the exposed skeleton of a Saxon woman. Subsequently, with the help of Cedric, Madgery and their friends, they discover that the murder is associated with the recovery of jewels and other valuable artefacts from the moat. This provides sufficient motive for the crime and a possible means of tracing the perpetrator. However, on the eve of the arrival of another friend from Australia, the intrepid Oliver Stillov, Cedric's housekeeper, Doris, is murdered in his newly restored Georgian mansion. Doris had interrupted someone removing plaster from the walls of Cedric's library. This murder is deeply felt by the villagers who attend Doris' funeral conducted by Bartholemew Pettigrew the vicar. Monte who undertakes autopsies of Doris and the young man in the moat is also treating a number of tourists to Alwyston who have been poisoned by eating sweets purchased in the village. The poison was introduced to the sweets through honey provided by Cedric who keeps hives in the field behind his pub. Two of the sick tourists succumb to the poison. It becomes more complicated when another, but antipathetic refugee from Australia, Helga van Reich stalks the friends. Darren Thompson, her friend, often accompanies her. Helga has chosen a grotesque disguise to achieve her objectives and has settled in an unsavoury guesthouse just outside Alwyston run by the obsequious Steven Swineton. A famous television team of archaeologists, with the help of the friends and local university academics, exposes the archaeology in the moat. This requires some division of time for Cedric, Oliver, Madgery and their friends between solving the murders and undertaking the archaeological work. Fortunately, Detective Inspector Bill Strangman arrives from New Scotland Yard
Canada’s foremost cookbook author began her career, not as a cook, but as a journalist writing for Canadian magazines. She was 60 when she turned her attention to food. Food That Really Schmecks immediately became a best-seller, and continues to sell 35 years later. It’s more than a book of wonderful recipes - it also describes the Mennonite way of life. The success of that book led to two more Schmecks books and many other cookbooks. Edna has received the Order of Canada among many other awards. Over the years, Edna developed longstanding friendships with many of Canada’s greatest writers, including Margaret Laurence, W.O. Mitchell, Sheila Burnford, and Pierre Berton. In 1991 she established The Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-fiction to recognize the first or second book of a Canadian writer. To Experience Wonder is the first book to explore behind the scenes of this successful writer’s life. At the age of 97, Edna leads an active life at her cottage on Sunfish Lake, where she writes, reads, and welcomes the many aspiring writers who come to visit.
In the Andes mountainous region of South America grasslands known as páramos provide important ecosystem services like sustaining biodiversity, securing carbon sequestration and providing water storage. However, many páramos regions are subject to land use change due to expanding agriculture, intensified grazing and land burning. These are usually caused by socio-economic factors driving local communities to increase their income generation. Trying to achieve a better understanding of the páramos is often restricted to exploring specific details and does not follow an integrated approach or a comprehensive ecosystem analysis. In this research the focus is on better understanding the dominant ecohydrological processes and their interactions. An integrated approach is followed using in-situ measurements, field experiments, laboratory analyses, and numerical modelling. Also, different hydroinformatics tools are used to identify and quantify the ecosystem services provided by the páramos. Moreover, a framework is developed that allows a more realistic quantification and mapping of the main ecosystem services. The approach was carried out for a test site in an Ecological area in North Ecuador. The findings show a clear difference in ecosystem services depending on their altitudinal range and type of vegetation. These results can be used to further develop environmental management and landscape planning strategies, in order to better meet the social goals. This research is aligned with the priorities advocated in the IPCC Report (2007) 'to improve representation of the interactive coupling between ecosystems and the climate system', and with SDG #15: Life on Land 'By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services'.
Upstairs, downstairs... it's all going on at the manor. From the bestselling author of THE LONG WEEKEND and A NIGHT ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Before THE BEACH HUT there was AN ELIGIBLE BACHELOR... When Guy wakes up with a terrible hang-over and a new fiancée, he tries not to panic. After all, Richenda is beautiful, famous, successful... What reason could he have for doubts? As news of the engagement between the heir of Eversleigh Manor and the darling of prime-time television spreads through the village, Guy wonders if he's made a rash decision. Especially when he meets Honor, a new employee of the Manor who has a habit of getting under his skin... But Honor has her own troubles - a son who's missing a father, and an ex-boyfriend who has made an unexpected reappearance...
The stars are coming out to play ... The brilliant novel from the author of THE BEACH HUT. Secrets, rivalry, glamour - it's time for the party of the year... Delilah has lived out her tempestuous marriage to hell-raiser Raf in the glare of the media spotlight. Now planning a milestone birthday, she has more on her mind than invitations. Raf has been offered a part in a movie he can't refuse. But will he succumb to the temptations he's struggled to resist for the last ten years? Delilah's three daughters are building careers of their own, only too aware that the press are waiting for them to slip up. For the Rafferty girls might look like angels, but they are only human. It's the perfect recipe for a party like no other...
This book surveys the influence of the middle ages, and of medieval attitudes and values, on later periods and on the modern world. Many artistic, political and literary movements have drawn inspiration and sought their roots in the thousand years between 500 and 1500 AD. Medieval Christianity, and its rich legacy, has been the essential background to European culture as a whole.Gothic architecture and chivalry were two keys to Romanticism, while nationalists, including the Nazis, looked back to the middle ages to find emerging signs of national character. In literature few myths have been as durable or popular as those of King Arthur, stretching from the Dark Ages to Hollywood. In Search of the Holy Grail is a vivid account of how later ages learnt about and interpreted the middle ages.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime - a rundown hotel in Cornwall, just waiting to be brought back to life... Secrets, rivalry, sunshine - from the author of THE BEACH HUT and A NIGHT ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. When the rundown Rocks Hotel comes up for auction in Mariscombe, Lisa and her boyfriend George make a successful bid to escape and live the dream. But their dream quickly becomes a nightmare. Their arch-rival, Bruno Thorne, owner of the Mariscombe Hotel, seems intent on sabotage. Meanwhile, local chambermaid Molly is harbouring a secret that will blow the whole village apart. Then an unexpected visitor turns up on the doorstep. It seems everyone in Mariscombe is sailing a little too close to the rocks ...
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