A YEAR IN THE COUNTRY. A YEAR TO FALL IN LOVE. The BRAND NEW deliciously romantic novel from the Sunday Times Number One Bestselling Author of A Summer At Sea and A Secret Garden. Fran has always wanted to be a farmer, so how she ended up a chef in London is anyone's guess. But her childhood dream is about to come true. She has just moved in to a beautiful but very run-down farm in the Cotswolds, currently owned by an old aunt who has told Fran that if she manages to turn the place around in a year, the farm will be hers. But Fran knows nothing about farming. She might even be afraid of cows. She's going to need a lot of help from her best friend Issi, and also from her wealthy and very eligible neighbour - who might just have his own reasons for being so supportive. Is it the farm he is interested in? Or Fran herself? Warm, funny and wonderfully romantic, this is Katie Forde at her very best.

Hidden amid lush parkland, Eardisford is the ultimate English country retreat and it's just been sold for the first time in its history. Romantic daredevil Kat Mason has been bequeathed the estate's lakeside sanctuary, Lake Farm, until she dies or marries. But the new owners want her out now . . . In rides charming playboy Dougie Everett, the man hired to sweep Kat off her feet and off the property. Dougie loves nothing more than the thrill of the chase, but does he risk losing his heart along the way?

A Nobel Prize–winning economist tells the remarkable story of how the world has grown healthier, wealthier, but also more unequal over the past two and half centuries The world is a better place than it used to be. People are healthier, wealthier, and live longer. Yet the escapes from destitution by so many has left gaping inequalities between people and nations. In The Great Escape, Nobel Prize–winning economist Angus Deaton—one of the foremost experts on economic development and on poverty—tells the remarkable story of how, beginning 250 years ago, some parts of the world experienced sustained progress, opening up gaps and setting the stage for today's disproportionately unequal world. Deaton takes an in-depth look at the historical and ongoing patterns behind the health and wealth of nations, and addresses what needs to be done to help those left behind. Deaton describes vast innovations and wrenching setbacks: the successes of antibiotics, pest control, vaccinations, and clean water on the one hand, and disastrous famines and the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the other. He examines the United States, a nation that has prospered but is today experiencing slower growth and increasing inequality. He also considers how economic growth in India and China has improved the lives of more than a billion people. Deaton argues that international aid has been ineffective and even harmful. He suggests alternative efforts—including reforming incentives to drug companies and lifting trade restrictions—that will allow the developing world to bring about its own Great Escape. Demonstrating how changes in health and living standards have transformed our lives, The Great Escape is a powerful guide to addressing the well-being of all nations.

The DEBUT NOVEL that you won't be able to resist falling in love with. Heart-warming romance and a breath-taking countryside escape - this is the PERFECT summer read . . . 'A lovely debut, full of fun and colour' BELLA OSBORNE 'A heart-warming and uplifting romance - the perfect summer read!' HOLLY MARTIN 'Such a fun ride! Faulkner brings colour and humour to every line in this hoot of a debut. If you're looking for a big splash of bright sunshine in your life, this is it' PERNILLE HUGHES FALLING IN LOVE ISN'T ALWAYS SO BLACK AND WHITE . . . When vibrant but penniless Lexie is dumped by her posh boyfriend who is looking for a more financially suitable match, she decides to pack up her beloved orange campervan Penny in search of a new path. Stumbling upon a vacancy at a family-run paint company in the Cotswolds, Lexie believes she's found her perfect match . . . Lexie arrives at Nutgrass Hall, home of Carrington Paints, but it seems that owner Benedict Carrington is less than impressed with her arrival, and Lexie realises she'll have her work cut out for her if she's to convince stuffy "Beige Ben" to trust her with rescuing his out-of-touch business. But Ben has more on his mind than just the company - his mother is determined to find him a suitable wife worthy of carrying the Carrington family name, or she'll take the business from him. As Lexie sets to work on injecting some life colour into Carrington Paints, Ben allows himself to be set up with Tewkesbury's finest ladies. But the more time the pair spend together, the more they realise their feelings for each other aren't so black and white. Will Lexie be able to brighten into Ben's colourless world before it's too late? Let yourself be whisked away with A Colourful Country Escape and fall in love with the cosy Cotswold charm, the colourful characters and some heart-stopping romance. Perfect for fans of Heidi Swain, Jo Thomas and Bella Osborne. 'I absolutely adored this book. Fresh, funny and upbeat, A Colourful Country Escape is rom-com perfection!' KITTY WILSON 'An impressive debut of pure delight - I loved it!' NICOLA MAY 'A debut triumph! Endlessly joy-lit. Bursting with character and warmth' CHRISTIE BARLOW 'A vibrant, charming book. Makes me quite want to take a colourful adventure of my own, especially after these rather beige past couple of years!' ISLA GORDON 'A sparkling romantic debut that whisks you along for the ride' NINA KAYE

This new, thoroughly updated edition of Bradt's Belarus remains the only full-blown standalone guide to the most westerly of the constituent republics that formed the Soviet Union prior to the break-up in 1991. Written and updated by expert author and Russian speaker Nigel Roberts, who has been travelling throughout the country for over 17 years, it is the definitive guide to understanding, and making the most of a visit to this much-misunderstood nation. Included in this new edition is a detailed focus on the capital city Minsk, the most likely destination for first-time travellers and now becoming a major European capital city thanks to an easing of visa regulations, as well as coverage of each of the other five cities and all six regions. Roberts draws on his years of experience and shares many stories and vignettes of his own adventures and experiences of everyday life, all of which help to bring the destination to life. In addition, there are recommendations and tips from his wide circle of contacts, including people at all levels of the tourism industry, charities working on the ground, local people and travellers from abroad, who regularly share details of up-to-the-minute information, changes and developments. With Bradt's Belarus enjoy the opportunity to put the cliché to the test; only ever described by Western media as 'the last dictatorship in Europe', travellers certainly do have the opportunity to experience elements of life as it was lived in the days of the Soviet Union but can also see beyond the cliché as Belarus seeks to free itself from the Soviet past and establish its own heritage and place in the modern world. Discover beautifully preserved and restored museum towns such as Mir, Njasvizh, Novogrudok, Pinsk and Polotsk; see Soviet-style brutalist and modernist architecture; explore accessible national parks and vast areas of unspoilt wilderness, with ample opportunity to study flora and fauna; visit historic palaces and castles stunningly restored; and enjoy the unconditional hospitality of a people who are anxious to interact with visitors from the English-speaking world.

Inspiration and advice about finding a dream home in the countryside from Jules Hudson, presenter of the BBC's Escape to the Country. Escape to the Country has run on daytime BBC1 since 2002 and is now in its eighteenth season. Each week it helps urban buyers find their dream home in rural Britain by showing them specially selected properties. Along the way the program tells us about the landscape and history of the area they are in. The program is on every weekday and has been sold to thirty countries including Australia, Canada, and the USA. This is an inspirational and practical book to appeal to armchair dreamers and lovers of property porn as well as those really thinking of making the move. Regional sections look at the typical kinds of homes found in each place, along with local landscapes and landmarks. Features sprinkled throughout the book cover everything from dealing with listed building consent and public footpaths to how grow your own food. Jules is well placed to talk about conservation and renovation issues too, having trained as an archaeologist and renovated his own historic house.

Broad in scope and carefully balanced in emphasis, this book is a major treatise on the theory and practice of public finance. It is unique in its presentation of a worldwide perspective and in its treatment of both the instruments of public finance and the goals, effects, and criteria of public finance measures. The book is divided into three parts. Book One defines the field, specifies the possible meaning of the "effects" of a public finance measure, and describes the criteria by which these measures are commonly appraised.Book Two is concerned with micro public finance and opens with a discussion of the theory of public goods in general. Each of the major free government services and types of transfer payments as well as the taxes that government employs are then examined. This section concludes with a chapter on the relevant aspects of government borrowing and inflationary finance. Book Three considers the major goals of public finance policy and describes how the various instruments described in Book Two can be used in achieving these goals. Among the topics treated are the use of appropriate instruments to resolve conflict in goals, conceptual problems of measuring the public finance sector and its maximum and minimum economic limits, consensus goals of equity full employment and Pareto-optimism use of resources, and goals that evoke conflicts of interest within any community.

* Offers a simple and universal cross-platform solution for e-commerce, complex web, and database-driven applications. * A resource for working PHP developers who want to take their skills to the next level. Includes case studies on a user privilege system and a multi-tiered WML-based shopping cart. * Covers installation on *nix, Windows, and MacOS X, PHP with PostgreSQL and ODBC, PHP support for LDAP, PHP with MySQL, PHP’s interactions with XML, multi-tiered development using PHP, and PHP extension libraries

A provocative view of economic growth in the Third World argues that the countries that have achieved steady economic growth—including future economic superpowers India and China—have done so because they have resisted the American ideology of free markets. The American government has been both miracle worker and villain in the developing world. From the end of World War II until the 1980s poor countries, including many in Africa and the Middle East, enjoyed a modicum of economic growth. New industries mushroomed and skilled jobs multiplied, thanks in part to flexible American policies that showed an awareness of the diversity of Third World countries and an appreciation for their long-standing knowledge about how their own economies worked. Then during the Reagan era, American policy changed. The definition of laissez-faire shifted from "Do it your way," to an imperial "Do it our way." Growth in the developing world slowed, income inequalities skyrocketed, and financial crises raged. Only East Asian economies resisted the strict prescriptions of Washington and continued to boom. Why? In Escape from Empire, Alice Amsden argues provocatively that the more freedom a developing country has to determine its own policies, the faster its economy will grow. America's recent inflexibility—as it has single-mindedly imposed the same rules, laws, and institutions on all developing economies under its influence—has been the backdrop to the rise of two new giants, China and India, who have built economic power in their own way. Amsden describes the two eras in America's relationship with the developing world as "Heaven" and "Hell"—a beneficent and politically savvy empire followed by a dictatorial, ideology-driven one. What will the next American empire learn from the failure of the last? Amsden argues convincingly that the world—and the United States—will be infinitely better off if new centers of power are met with sensible policies rather than hard-knuckled ideologies. But, she asks, can it be done?