Mama is a battle-hardened beauty of Tokyo's famous nightclub circuit - her life spent feeding the egos of politicians, businessmen and celebrities. With Tokyo in trouble, suicides are rising so she decides to act in her own novel way, stumbling into a lot of lives and laughs while she and her bumbling old barman Kenji embark on a scheme to enrich her failing nightclub.

An entertaining novel centered around Britain's most popular indoor sport. Okay, perhaps the second most popular sport. Probably the only humour book written on the game, with lots of incidents that will be familiar to anyone who has been around the pub scene.Under the guiding hand of his canny old grandpa Kerry sets off toconquer the world of darts. And finds out that the climb up is not as easy as he thought. But he has a lot of fun trying.Both players and non-player...

Highway humour for any driver. New to the wheel? Laugh as you learn! A chuckle on every page, it lists 120 questions from Driving Theory Tests, that apply to road users worldwide. A great way to get some grins as anyone struggles through the rules of the road. In each set of wacky answers there's a genuine response to help you remember on test day. Packed with original cartoons. Enjoy!

'A funny thing happened on my way to the billabong…' Sure did. In fact, a lot of funny things happened on the 3rd Altrincham Rover Crew Australasian Expedition fifty years ago.Here's how my expedition from the UK to Australia missed its target by 5000 miles and ended up in Tokyo. In an old van it was a rough ride - few roads, but enough interesting memories and amusing stories for a lifetime

The China Plot dramatizes an epic that could well stand as a sequel to The Last Emperor . It reveals an enthralling chapter in Asian history that has been overlooked for eighty years.In the l930's Pu-chieh, brother of the last emperor of China, was used by the Japanese military in an effort to establish a Japanese bloodline on the throne of China following their conquest of Manchuria.The Kwangtung Army, Japan's army of occupation, with the cooperation of the military-politica...

A household name, an Australian rock icon, the elder statesman of Ozrock - there isn't an accolade or cliche that doesn't apply to Jimmy Barnes. But long before Cold Chisel and Barnesy, long before the tall tales of success and excess, there was the true story of James Dixon Swan - a working class boy whose family made the journey from Scotland to Australia in search of a better life.Working Class Boy is a powerful reflection on a traumatic and violent childhood, which fue...

The acclaimed author recounts his epic journey across Europe and Asia in this international bestselling classic of travel literature: "Compulsive reading" (Graham Greene).In 1973, Paul Theroux embarked on a four-month journey by train from the United Kingdom through Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. In The Great Railway Bazaar, he records in vivid detail and penetrating insight the many fascinating incidents, adventures, and encounters of his gr...

Now available for the first time with two additional stories!Have you ever wondered what it's like to be bitten by a zombie or live through a bioweapon attack? In Cory Doctorow's collection of novellas, he wields his formidable experience in technology and computing to give us mind-bending sci-fi tales that explore the possibilities of information technology—and its various uses—run amok."Anda's Game" is a spin on the bizarre new phenomenon of "cyber sweatshops," in which p...

YOU CAN'T KEEP A GOOD WOMAN DOWNIn this part of Ireland, the past can never stay buried.In Blarney, Cork, an old millworker's cottage guards its secrets. In 1921, a mother, father and their two young children disappeared from this house. Now their mummified bodies have been discovered under the floorboards.As DS Katie Maguire investigates a ninety-five-year-old murder, the flames of old family rivalries flare up once more, catching ...

As everyone knows, there are three ways of doing things. The right way, the wrong way and the Top Gear way. Although, on reflection, that's usually just the wrong way, but faster and with more shouting. Anyway, the good news is that this third way of doing things can be applied to almost anything, and that includes motoring in general. All you need is the right guidance, which is where the brand new Top Gear Alternative Highway Code comes in.Top Gear's Altnern...

Every year, nearly one hundred thousand Japanese vanish without a trace. Known as the johatsu, or the evaporated,” they are often driven by shame and hopelessness, leaving behind lost jobs, disappointed families, and mounting debts. In The Vanished, journalist Léna Mauger and photographer Stéphane Remael uncover the human faces behind the phenomenon through reportage, photographs, and interviews with those who left, those who stayed behind, and those who help orchestrate...

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child.T**om tucked a blanket round him, drew up a chair by the fire and watched Willie fall asleep. The tales he had heard about evacuees didn't seem to fit Willie. 'Ungrateful' and 'wild' were the adjectives he had heard used, or just plain 'homesick'. He was quite unprepared for this timid, sickly little specimen.Britain, 1940. With World War Two raging all around, young ch...