Your Mother's Tongue: A Book Of European Invective

In this tour of anger, exasperation, prejudice, irony and loathing as expressed in some twenty European tongues, we learn that what is invective in one country is sweet talk in another; that a German's arsehole is an Italian's son of a bitch; and why you should never, ever call a Finn a Swede, a Portuguese woman a nanny-goat or a Spanish one a vixen. A single currency? Maybe. A common language? Not on your life.

Your Mother's Tongue: A Book of European Invective

Humor & Entertainment

BURGEN, Stephen

Humor

Victor Gollancz

The unexpected message from Spain that his aunt has just died stuns Alex Nadal. It’s not just that the circumstances of her fatal fall are suspicious, it’s that his father had always led him to believe that his aunt was killed at the end of the Spanish Civil War sixty years ago. With the inheritance of her farm near Barcelona, Alex decides to leave his native New York City for his ancestral homeland. Very soon after landing on Spanish soil, however, Alex finds himself an unwelcome stranger in a country determined to keep its secrets. An unnamed party persistently makes him fantastic offers for his aunt’s estate, with hints of threats if he does not sell—yet no one will answer his questions about the truth behind his true family legacy. But Alex will not be put off and his persistence brings him up against some of the most powerful forces in the country, including Salvador Oriol, the uncrowned king of Catalonia, and his nephew Narcis, a sharply dressed thug with a talent for violence. Yet Alex is not without allies, among them Carmen, the dark-eyed arts correspondent of the Barcelona daily, who seems heaven-sent. On the other side, there is Angel, doyen of hustlers and Carmen’s ex-lover. In a thriller that matches top-notch suspense with the romantic atmosphere of Spain, Alex and Carmen unearth a dossier of explosive information on events that happened in 1938 and forced his father to flee the family farm. In trying to find out why, Alex discovers that this is a country where there is no past, only unfinished business.

Walking the Lions: A Novel of Suspense

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Carroll&Graf

Walking the Lions

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Constable

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher
We're chuffed to bits to present this tour of Ole Blighty's lingo. It's the dog's bollocks! Try it out on the lads down your local, have a few pints, don't worry about sounding naff - if it all goes pear-shaped, wait for the sound of 'Oh, bless!' as they pat you on the back and buy you another bevvie.
Features special sections on Welsh, Scottish, Cornish and Scots (Lallans).
Lonely Planet's Language &amp; Culture series goes behind the scenes of languages you thought you knew. Get into the culture and humour behind common - and not so common - English expressions and learn about the local languages that inspired them.
Lonely Planet gets you to the heart of a place. Our job is to make amazing travel experiences happen. We visit the places we write about each and every edition. We never take freebies for positive coverage, so you can always rely on us to tell it like it is.
Authors: Written and researched by Lonely Planet, Elizabeth Bartsch-Parker, Stephen Burgen, Richard Crowe, David Else, Dr. Roibeard O Maolalaigh, and Dominic Watt. 
About Lonely Planet: Started in 1973, Lonely Planet has become the world's leading travel guide publisher with guidebooks to every destination on the planet, as well as an award-winning website, a suite of mobile and digital travel products, and a dedicated traveller community. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in.
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Lonely Planet British Language & Culture 3 (Phrasebook)

Travel

Else, David

Bartsch-Parker, Elizabeth

Crowe, Richard

O Maolalaigh, Dr Roibeard

Watt, Dominic

Europe

Lonely Planet

When Alex Nadal unexpectedly inherits his aunt's farm near Barcelona he has two problems, the first being that he is a piano player from New York with no knowledge of matters agricultural, and secondly, his aunt appears to have died twice: once at the end of the Spanish Civil War - or so Alex's father had always led him to believe - and again sixty years later, from a mysterious fall. Very soon after landing on Spanish soil it soon becomes apparent that Alex's is not a prodigal's return. From the moment he steps off the plane he is under pressure to go back to where he came from, but Alex is not a quitter and to him any problem can be solved if people are willing to discuss it. And sure enough, people are happy to talk - but not about Alex's immediate problem: anything but that. It gradually dawns on Alex that he is in the way of something but when he tries to find out what that is the answer is always the same: don't ask, let sleeping dogs lie. But Alex will not be put off and his persistence brings him up against some of the most powerful forces in the country, including Salvador Oriol, the uncrowned king of Catalonia, and his nephew Narcis, a sharply-dressed thug with a talent for violence. Yet Alex is not without allies, among them Carmen, the dark-eyed arts correspondent of the Barcelona daily, who seems heaven-sent. On the other hand there is Angel, doyen of hustlers and Carmen's exlover, who most certainly isn't. Together Alex and Carmen unearth a dossier of explosive information on events which happened in 1938 that forced his father to flee the family farm and in trying to find out why, Alex discovers that this is a country where there is no such thing as the past but a place where there is only unfinished business.

Walking the lions

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