Studies of African economic development frequently focus on the daunting challenges the continent faces. From recurrent crises to ethnic conflicts and long-standing corruption, a raft of deep-rooted problems has led many to regard the continent as facing many hurdles to raise living standards. Yet Africa has made considerable progress in the past decade, with a GDP growth rate exceeding five percent in some regions. The African Successes series looks at recent improvements in living standa...

Elysium: A Visual History of Angelology is a richly illustrated exploration of how angels have been imagined, described, and depicted across centuries of art, religion, and literature.Written by scholar and cultural critic Ed Simon, this volume brings together striking imagery and accessible commentary to examine the enduring fascination with celestial beings across Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and beyond.In popular culture, ange...

My real thoughts about my motivation for writing "The Human Phase 2025":At first, I just wanted to get the thing out there to do my small contribution. I had heard about negative end-times prophecies, and that they were likely to occur because "nobody on Earth was doing anything to stop them." I wanted to express my faith in our abilities to get past the violent animal-like behavior that threatens our survival.There has been a huge amount of information to digest in the las...

We've all heard the arguments that Christianity is irrelevant, irrational and even immoral. But what if the Christian faith makes sense of all that matters?In this thoughtful, engaging book, Simon Edwards challenges the assumptions that may lead us to reject a faith and doubt something that we've never really had the chance to understand in the first place. From our need for meaning and significance, to our desires for truth, goodness, love and hope, he explores th...

It was the happiest day of her life. Little did she know it was also the last.When a woman’s body is found in the grounds of a ruined priory, Detective Imogen Evans realises she is dealing with a serial killer—a killer whose victims appear to die in a state of bliss, eyes open, smiles forever frozen on their faces.A few miles away, single dad Ben Hofland believes his fortunes are changing at last. Forced to move back to the sleepy village where he grew up f...

In this chilling thriller from the bestselling author of Keep Her Secret, if you don’t take your dark secrets to the grave, maybe they’ll take you there first…Calvin finally owns the bakery of his dreams, in an idyllic village in the Lake District. After reluctantly following his wife Vicky’s advice to promote it on social media, he’s thrilled when a viral clip makes him a legend overnight. But then the creepy DMs start flooding in—all from a stranger who ...

An Amazon Charts bestseller.A missing child. A desperate mother. And a house full of secrets.Two years ago, Julia lost her family in a tragic accident. Her husband drowned trying to save their daughter, Lily, in the river near their rural home. But the little girl’s body was never found—and Julia believes Lily is somehow still alive.Alone and broke, Julia opens her house as a writers’ retreat. One of the first guests is Lucas, a hor...

When Erica gets a phone call to say her mother, Ione, is ill in St. Lucia, she knows she must go to her. Though the island–the place of her mother’s birth–is somewhere that Erica has never seen as her homeland. Even when the plane touches down in the tropical paradise, with its palm trees swaying in the island breeze, the sound of accents so like her mother’s own calling loud in the air, Erica doesn’t find herself wanting to stay a moment longer than she has to. But stepping into her mothe...

The crime-infested intersection of West Fayette and Monroe Streets is well-known--and cautiously avoided--by most of Baltimore. But this notorious corner's 24-hour open-air drug market provides the economic fuel for a dying neighborhood. David Simon, an award-winning author and crime reporter, and Edward Burns, a 20-year veteran of the urban drug war, tell the chilling story of this desolate crossroad.Through the eyes of one broken family--two drug-addicted adults and their smart, ...

Pathophysiological Consequences of Alcohol examines the impact of alcohol on physiological processes within various organ systems. The book starts with an introduction to relevant organ system physiology, then presents current, evidence-based findings on how alcohol use, whether acute or chronic, affects these processes. Each chapter, aside from the Introduction and Cellular and Molecular Physiology, begins with a system overview, explores alcohol's effects, and concludes with integrated c...

The crime-infested intersection of West Fayette and Monroe Streets is well-known--and cautiously avoided--by most of Baltimore. But this notorious corner's 24-hour open-air drug market provides the economic fuel for a dying neighborhood. David Simon, an award-winning author and crime reporter, and Edward Burns, a 20-year veteran of the urban drug war, tell the chilling story of this desolate crossroad.Through the eyes of one broken family--two drug-addicted adults and their smart, ...

She couldn’t believe that he wanted to meet her. He was famous. She was a nobody. Finally, someone could see how special she was…When the body of a teenage girl is found in a London hotel, DI Patrick Lennon is mystified. Nobody saw her or her killer enter the hotel, and there is no apparent motive—until a second teenager is found and Lennon realises somebody is targeting fans of the world’s biggest boy band.As Lennon struggles with both his home life and his rivals...