Hodder Paperbacks – serie

Being given yet another pointless 'man manual' that told him fifty ways to tie a bow tie in under 30 seconds made James May, co-presenter of The Grand Tour, certain there was a need for another kind of book. This book, in fact. He reckons there are nine vital things that a chap should be able to do. Not stuff you can download from the internet, but really important things. You never know when you might need to land an A330 Airbus, or deliver twins. And there may well be a moment when being able to play a bit of classical music on the piano is absolutely crucial to your success with women. So read, learn and be prepared - you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Top Gear's James May is back with his hilarious and controversial opinions on . . . just about everything.As well as writing about his first love, cars, James has a go at political correctness, the endless rules and regulations of daily life, the internal combustion engine and traffic wardens. He discusses gastropubs, Jeremy Clarkson and other trials of modern life.His highly entertaining observations from behind the wheel will have you laughing out loud, whether you share his opinions, or not.Car Fever is an indispensable guide to life for the modern driver.

Why does a wealthy Scottish financier set up a drugs deal with the IRA? Jeopardise his career, endanger his family and lover by tangling with the East End underworld and a ruthless mercenary? The motive is simple: revenge for a cold-blooded act of murder.His adversary is a dangerous gangland boss whose connections stretch from the Highlands to London and beyond. More than a match for a newcomer, especially when that newcomer's plans contain a fatal flaw which will be discovered only when it is much too late . . . *********PRAISE FOR STEPHEN LEATHER'A master of the thriller genre'Irish Times'As tough as British thrillers get . . . gripping' Irish Independent 'The sheer impetus of his story-telling is damned hard to resist'Sunday Express

When Corvinus receives a letter, with a tantalising PS, from his adopted daughter, Marilla, mentioning there might have been a murder, he hot-foots it to Castrimoenium at once. Not that everyone agrees that Lucius Hostilius was murdered. Poison was apparently the means of death, but Lucius was terminally ill: it was only a matter of time. Although he hasn't any official investigative status, Corvinus can't resist doing a little amateur sleuthing. And he has barely begun when two other corpses turn up and he is formally on the case. Lucius had been suffering something of a personality change because of his illness, so there is no shortage of suspects among friends and family whom he had antagonised. But Corvinus goes up many a blind alley before arriving at the heart of the mystery. As we follow Marcus Corvinus, clue by clue, on his twelfth case, we allow ourselves to be pleasurably diverted by rumours of Meton's love life - and by an authentic recipe for fish pickle sauce . . .

When Evan Delaney's father disappears, the cops think he's fled the country to avoid prosecution. But Evan is sure that Phil has been abducted or killed for reasons associated with his work for Naval Intelligence.As Evan hunts for clues, she is attacked by an armed man. The attacker ends up dead - and turns out to be a federal agent. Now Evan is on the run, implicated in his murder. Then she is contacted by a sinister duo - a Madam and gigolo mother-and-son-team who claim that Phil was mixed up in their very dirty business.Can Evan save her father's reputation - and his life? And can Jesse save Evan? Time is running out ...

Trevor Silvester is a Harley Street therapist and author of Lovebirds who is revolutionising the way we understand human nature.Grow! is a distillation of over 20 years of experience as a therapist applied to the task of raising happy children.Your children develop primarily in response to your influence, says Trevor. Writing with wonderful wit and clarity, he shows why parents need to nurture their own personal growth so their children can grow to become who they want to be. He shows how parents can overcome their own limitations so they don't pass them onto their children, and how best to guide the young toward becoming strong, resilient and fulfilled adults.Trevor identifies two ways of being in the world; we're either in a state of growth or a state of protection, and he argues that our interpretation of childhood events, and modern culture, often needlessly trigger us into a state of protection, leaving us anxious, fearful and unwilling to live life fully. Grow! describes strategies for keeping us, parents and children, in a state of growth.Using eight parenting mantras to guide you, he shares valuable lessons gained from the latest scientific research, as well as many hours in the therapy room. Incorporating them into your parenting will improve your child's wellbeing enormously. Incorporating them into your life will improve everything.To assist in making these new ideas habitual in the shortest space of time, Trevor has also created a series of downloads for you to listen to, using principles of unconscious influence that have been proven to work.

Brolga (aka Chris Barns) is the 6ft 7in strong but sensitive Aussie star of the extraordinary BBC series Kangaroo Dundee. Brolga lives in a simple tin shed in the outback where he raises orphaned baby kangaroos. It is a sad fact of life that kangaroo mothers are at the mercy of speeding cars in this part of the world - killed on the road, their young still tucked up in their pouches. These young joeys holding on to life, have been given a second chance thanks to the kindness and dedication of Brolga, who carefully retrieves them and nurses them back to health. Brolga has been rescuing these special creatures for years, slowly and painstakingly creating a kangaroo sanctuary for the many kangaroos he has saved, reared and loved. He has dedicated his life to observing how kangaroo mums care for their babies and does everything he can to replicate this. The baby kangaroos, traumatised by losing their mother so early, are tucked up into pillow cases and kept warm and comforted next to Brolga at night. We see him getting up at 4am to bottle feed them, washing them in a little tub, taking them to the supermarket and generally mothering them with heart breaking tenderness. Charting Brolga's life with the joeys and honing in on his relationship with one or two in particular, Kangaroo Dundee tells the heart-warming, sometimes funny, sometimes poignant story of one man's unique relationship with a group of extraordinary animals.

* AS SEEN ON BBC TWO'S BETWEEN THE COVERS *'Excellent - I inhaled it, I absolutely loved it!'CLAUDIA WINKLEMAN, BBC Radio 2 'Wonderfully funny, utterly charming and sharp as all Hell'SARAH MILLICAN'Tom Allen is one of the funniest comedians in the UK, the best-dressed man I know and now it turns out he is a superb writer'JOSH WIDDICOMBE ------ When I was 16 I dressed in Victorian clothing in a bid to distract people from the fact that I was gay. It was a flawed plan... No Shame is a very funny, candid and emotional ride of a memoir by one of our most beloved comedians. The working-class son of a coach driver, and the youngest member of the Noel Coward Society, Tom Allen grew up in nineties suburbia as the eternal outsider.In these hilarious, honest and heart-breaking stories Tom recalls observations on childhood, his adolescence, the family he still lives with, and his attempts to come out and negotiate the gay dating scene. They are written with his trademark caustic wit and warmth, and will entertain, surprise and move you in equal measure.