Arrow Books State Of The Union Кеннеди Дуглас

Award-winning author of The Nowhere Men, Living on the Volcano and No Hunger in Paradise returns with his magnum opus on the state of modern football • First he revealed the extraordinary lives of football scouts in The Nowhere Men • Next he unearthed the pressures on football managers in Living on the Volcano • Then he chronicled the hardships of young players striving to make it in No Hunger in Paradise • Now in State of Play, in what marks the pinnacle of a career investigating the human stories of football, award-winning writer Michael Calvin turns his eye to the biggest story of all - the game itself • From mental health to money, concussion to Champions league, fan-owners to oligarchs, women's football to world cups, Calvin gets under the skin of the beautiful game, and reveals why it is truly the game of our lives

In the tragedy of war, will love conquer all? • Liverpool, 1940 • When nurses Nancy Kerris and Jess Williams both lose their lovers in the trenches during the Great War, their future in Liverpool looks bleak. As the war finally ends, their lives are set on different paths, with Nancy choosing to marry an Australian, leaving behind her life - and her friend - for the Outback • Years later with the outbreak of the Second World War, Nancy's son Pete decides to join the Royal Air Force and as such travels to England. He promises to pay his mother's friend a visit, however when he arrives in Liverpool, he is dismayed to find half the city has been demolished by the May Blitz. Jess's home has been destroyed, and even worse, her daughter Debbie is missing

For Hawk, being a hero weighs heavily on her wings • In the City of the Dead, life happens in the shadows. That's why a war is brewing against an enemy no one can see • Hawk and Maximum Ride never back down from a conflict, but as the dead begin to outnumber the living, they'll need to work together now more than ever

The third novel in the compelling Conquest series (1066: The Bloody Aftermath) from the author of Sworn Sword. Perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwall, Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane • Autumn, 1071. The struggle for England has been long and brutal. Five years after the fateful Battle of Hastings, only a desperate band of rebels in the Fens stands between King William and absolute conquest • Tancred, a proud and ambitious knight, is among the Normans marching to destroy them. Once lauded for his exploits, his fame is now dwindling. He yearns for the chance to restore his reputation through spilling enemy blood • But as the Normans' attempts to assault the rebels' island stronghold are thwarted, the King grows ever more frustrated. With the campaign stalling and morale in camp failing, he looks to Tancred to deliver the victory that will crush the rebellions once and for all

The second novel in the uplifting railway girls series. Perfect for fans of Nancy Revell and Margaret Dickinson • Manchester, November 1940 • As the war continues and secrets threaten the railway girls, they will discover the true meaning of friendship • For Dot, her job on the railways is everything. Transporting parcels around the country gives her pride that she is doing her bit for the war effort, but a growing friendship causes problems when home and work collide • Joan loves her boyfriend Bob dearly, but when tragedy strikes, her heart is torn apart, and she is forced to make a decision that could hurt those she loves most • Meanwhile Mabel has finally found a place to call home and her relationship seems to be going from strength to strength

Sunderland, 1941 • As the world war continues the shipyard girls face hardships at home, but work and friendship give them strength to carry on • Gloria is smitten with her newly arrived bundle of joy, but baby Hope’s first weeks are bittersweet. Hope's father is missing at sea, and with their future as a family so uncertain, Gloria must lean on her girls for support • Meanwhile, head welder Rosie has turned her back on love to keep her double life secret. But her persistent beau is determined to find out the truth and if he does, it could ruin her • And there is finally a glimmer of hope for Polly and her family when Bel and Joe fall in love. But it isn’t long before a scandalous revelation threatens to pull them all apart

Sunderland, 1943: With the future of Britain uncertain, the shipyard girls fight to keep their lives on an even keel • Head-welder Rosie is just about managing to keep her double life hidden from little sister Charlotte's prying eyes. But Charlotte senses something is up and, with a secret this big, the truth is bound to come out • After a whirlwind wedding, Polly must bid farewell to her sweetheart as he returns to the front line • And there is something odd about yard manager Helen's newest recruit Bel. But in resolving to uncover the truth, Helen might discover more than she bargained for • Only by rallying together will the shipyard girls triumph

Sunderland, 1942: Polly's heart and her future are hanging in the balance… • Polly’s sweetheart Tommy has been declared missing while serving overseas, and although there is no certainty that he is dead, there is no guarantee that he will return home. Now Polly needs her friends more than ever, and the other women welders are ready to rally around her while she waits for news • The only one not showing support is shipyard manager, Helen. But looks can be deceiving, and beneath her cold exterior, Helen is wrestling with demons of her own, including one life-changing decision that could lead to potential ruin • As the war continues, the shipyard girls must support one another as they bravely soldier on

The bestselling novel from the master storyteller of the sea • It is 1943, and Captain Mike Blackwood, Royal Marine Commando, is a survivor. Young, toughened and tried in the hellish crucible of Burma, he labours, sometimes faltering, beneath the weight of tradition, the glorious heritage of his family, and the burden of his own self-doubt • For Blackwood, the horizon is not the lip of the trench seen by men of the Corps in the previous war, but the ramp of a landing craft smashing down into the sea, and the fire of the enemy on a Sicilian beach. Here, tradition is not enough, and Mike Blackwood must find within himself qualities of leadership which will inspire those Royal Marines who are once again the first to land, and among the first to die

The Allies are poised for the invasion of Italy • Yet the Germans hold a vital card: a floating dock - the only one in the Adriatic large enough to take a major warship. Moored at a small port near Rimini, it is exposed, vulnerable • It must be destroyed before the Germans can tow it to a safer harbour. Air, surface and conventional submarine attacks are out of the question • Only one team can do the job and still stand a chance of surviving - the crew of HM Midget Submarine XE 51

A secret from the past can change your life for ever. A heart-breaking love story set in Cold War Berlin by the author of The Pursuit of Happiness and Five Days • Thomas Nesbitt is a divorced American writer living a very private life in Maine. Until, one wintry morning, his solitude is disrupted by the arrival of a package postmarked Berlin • But what is more unsettling is the name accompanying the return address on the package: Petra Dussmann. For she is the woman with whom Thomas had an intense love affair twenty-five years before in a divided Berlin, where people lived fearfully under the shadows of the Cold War • And so Thomas is forced to grapple with a past he has always kept hidden. For Petra Dussman was a refugee from the police state of East Germany

Join Douglas Adams, bestselling and beloved author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and zoologist Mark Carwardine on an adventure in search of the world’s most endangered and exotic creatures • In this book, Adams’ self-proclaimed favourite of his own works, the pair encounter animals in imminent peril: the giant Komodo dragon of Indonesia, the lovable kakapo of New Zealand, the blind river dolphins of China, the white rhinos of Zaire, the rare birds of Mauritius island in the Indian Ocean and the alien-like aye-aye of Madagascar. Inimitably witty and poignant, Last Chance to See is both a celebration of our most extraordinary creatures and a warning about what we have to lose if we do not act soon • Featuring a fantastic new foreword by the authors' long-time friend Stephen Fry, and an afterword from Mark Carwardine that considers what has changed since the book was first published, Last Chance to See feels more urgent than ever before