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In this speech training manual, we teach you how to produce all British English sounds. Each chapter in the book covers one sound. First, we explain how to place your tongue, lips, and jaw for the target sound. Then you repeat the sound in words, phrases, sentences, proverbs, famous quotations, verses, and tongue twisters. In addition, you drill contraction exercises, words with silent letters, and French expressions used in business in the English-speaking world. This is the most complete and comprehensive resource for business speech training.

Banned Books explores why some of the world's most important literary classics and seminal non-fiction titles were once deemed too controversial for the public—whether for challenging racial or sexual norms, satirizing public figures, or simply being deemed unfit for young audiences. From the banning of All Quiet on the Western Front and the repeated suppression of On the Origin of the Species, to the uproar provoked by Lady Chatterley's Lover, entries offer a fascinating chronological account of censorship.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor,” Poirot investigates the case of a middle-aged man who died under suspicious circumstances just weeks after insuring his life for 50,000 pounds. Could the man, who was in financial straits, have killed himself to benefit his beautiful young wife? This short story originally appeared in the April 18, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

The Biology Book is packed with short, pithy explanations of more than 95 momentous ideas in science, from cell theory to evolution by natural selection. Themed chapters explore key areas of the life sciences including ecology, zoology and biotechnology, tracing the history of scientific thought and introducing the scientists who shaped the subject, such as Carl Linnaeus, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel. Coverage of topical issues such as cloning, neuroscience, human evolution and gene-editing brings the story right up to date.

In a small fishing village on the Devon coast, Lucy Locke has built a life that anyone would envy. She and her husband, Daniel, own successful businesses and live with their two children in a picturesque home overlooking the harbor. But everything changes one morning when, following a monumental storm, the family yacht is found empty—and Lucy’s husband is nowhere in sight. As the search for Daniel mounts, so does Lucy’s sense of dread, raised to a fever pitch when another more terrifying revelation pushes her storybook life to the brink of total destruction.

Ralph is turning 45, and the only gift he wants is his ex-wife. Gemma, his trophy girlfriend, won’t let anything ruin her plans for an engagement. Sarah, the ex-wife, has agreed to attend Ralph’s party, with her new man in tow. And Jack, her partner, will stop at nothing to keep Sarah out of her ex-husband’s clutches. It’s a celebration like no other. The whole extended family in a villa on the beautiful Amalfi coast. But by the end of the trip, two people will be dead. At this birthday party to remember, will anybody unwrap the truth?

In Craven House, among the shifting, uncertain world of the English boardinghouse, with its sad population of the shabby genteel on the way down and the eternal optimists who would never get up or on, the young Patrick Hamilton, with loving, horrified fascination, first mapped out the territory that he would make uniquely his own. Although many of Hamilton's lifelong interests are here, they are handled with a youthful brio and optimism conspicuously absent from his later work.

Discover the key battles, tactics, technologies and turning points of the Second World War—the epic conflict that shaped the modern world. The World War II Book explores the causes, key events and lasting consequences of the Second World War. Using the original approach of the series, entries profile more than 90 of the key ideas and events during and surrounding the conflict—from the rise of Hitler and Fascism in the 1930s, to Pearl Harbor, the D-Day landings and the bombing of Hiroshima, to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

For Howie, the lonely barista, he longed for the dream life. Husband, house with a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and a dog. Sadly, all he could get were meaningless one-night stands leaving him feeling…empty. Jackson Milsap, the introverted writer, quietly pined for Howie from the corner of the café. Stepping outside of his comfort zone and asking him out on a date sent his social anxiety into overdrive. That was until the day he came to Howie’s rescue, forever changing both their lives.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Cornish Mystery,” Poirot is asked to help a Cornwall woman who believes she is being poisoned by her husband. When Poirot and Hastings visit her home, they are shocked to find she has died. But is it really her husband who did the poisoning? This short story originally appeared in the November 28, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Adventure of Johnnie Waverly,” Poirot investigates the kidnapping of Johnnie Waverly, the three-year-old son of a wealthy couple in Surrey. Could the butler be in on the plot? And why were all the clocks in the house set 10 minutes ahead at the time of the kidnapping? This short story originally appeared in the October 10, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

After the Second World War, many of the men and women who had worked at Bletchley Park moved on to GCHQ: the British government's new facility established to fight the KGB. The Spies of Winter explores the early years of GCHQ as it navigated its way through a tumultuous era - from the defection of the Cambridge Five and the treachery of atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs to the collapse of the British Empire and the emergence of the US as a superpower.

In this chronicle of his lifelong obsession with recreating the lives of writers and scientists, Richard Holmes here casts a new eye not only on the Romantic poets and lost women of Romantic science he has long studied, but on their biographers, as well. He examines the evolution of the myths that have overshadowed certain lives, and reveals how the manner in which each generation tells the stories of the lives that came before it shapes and is shaped by a contemporary understanding of human nature.

Paradiso is the third and final part of The Divine Comedy, Dante's epic poem describing man's progress from hell to salvation. In it, the author progresses through nine concentric spheres of heaven. Corresponding with medieval astronomy, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn deal with the four cardinal virtues Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman,” Poirot and Hastings investigate the suspicious death of Count Foscatini in his apartment in Regent’s Court. Found dead at the dinner table, with three empty dinner plates, suspicion is immediately place on his two dinner guests. But is there more to the story? This short story originally appeared in the October 24, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Veiled Lady,” Poirot’s investigation of a jewelry heist intersects with a case of blackmail brought to him by a heavily veiled lady. The woman wants to retrieve an embarrassing letter from an extortionist, but is she telling the whole truth? This short story originally appeared in the October 3, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

Christo Lloyd was recognised as one of the foremost gardeners and garden writers of the 20th century. Here, for the first time, is the definitive collection of his best, most informative, and so often amusing garden writing. Christo on gardening: "ours, in its humble way, is an art as well as a craft. At the same time it keeps us in touch with the earth, the seasons, and with that complex of interrelated forces both animate and inanimate which we call nature. It is a humanising occupation."

This guide to Mexico takes you to the heart of Mexican society. It describes how people socialize and meet members of the opposite sex, the dynamics of daily life, the central importance of family, and the annual cycle of Catholic feasts and fiestas. For business travelers, there are key sections on the economy and vital insights into the general business culture. The third-largest country in Latin America, Mexico is hugely diverse, having both rural areas, where time seems to have stood still, and manic urban centers like Mexico City, one of the most exciting cities in the world.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Lemesurier Inheritance,” Poirot and Hastings are asked to keep an eye on the heir of a Northumberland estate. The house, thought to be cursed since the middle ages, is the locale of several recent near-death accidents for a young boy and rumors of the curse increase. But is it possible the accidents are man-made? This short story originally appeared in the December 19, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Market Basing Mystery,” Poirot and Hastings are called on to investigate the suspicious death of a landowner in a small English town. What looks at first like a simple case of suicide quickly becomes more complex as Poirot interrogates the suspects in the home. This short story originally appeared in the October 17, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.