Stardust

In the sleepy English countryside of decades past, a lovelorn young man stepsthrough a gap in a high stone wall, and into the most unforgettable adventureof his life.

In the sleepy English countryside of decades past, a lovelorn young man stepsthrough a gap in a high stone wall, and into the most unforgettable adventureof his life.

A FAIRY TALE FOR EVERYONE. 'Beyond all the borders that divide us, there is a place of infinite possibilities and pure magic. I think of Neil Gaiman as a writer who wears the key to that land around his neck - the key to Storyland' ELIF SHAFAK 'Gaiman describes the indescribable' SUSANNA CLARKE 'A tonic for these turbulent times' IRISH TIMES THE ACCLAIMED, ENCHANTING FILM ADAPTATION STARS ROBERT DE NIRO, CLAIRE DANES, RUPERT EVERETT, MICHELLE PFEIFFER AND MANY MORE FAVOURITES... --- 'I wanted to write a story that would feel, to the reader, like something he or she had always known' NEIL GAIMAN --- At the dawn of the Victorian era, life moves leisurely in the sleepy village of Wall. Young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the beautiful Victoria Forester and, to win her love, vows to bring her a star they see fall from the night sky. It is an oath that sends him over the town's ancient wall and into the mysterious land of Faerie - a world that is dangerous and strange beyond imagining . . . NEIL GAIMAN. W ITH STORIES COME POSSIBILITIES. --- **Includes 'Wall, A Prologue', reading-group discussion questions and an interview with Neil Gaiman**

A FAIRY TALE FOR EVERYONE. 'Beyond all the borders that divide us, there is a place of infinite possibilities and pure magic. I think of Neil Gaiman as a writer who wears the key to that land around his neck - the key to Storyland' ELIF SHAFAK 'Gaiman describes the indescribable' SUSANNA CLARKE 'A tonic for these turbulent times' IRISH TIMES THE ACCLAIMED, ENCHANTING FILM ADAPTATION STARS ROBERT DE NIRO, CLAIRE DANES, RUPERT EVERETT, MICHELLE PFEIFFER AND MANY MORE FAVOURITES... --- 'I wanted to write a story that would feel, to the reader, like something he or she had always known' NEIL GAIMAN --- At the dawn of the Victorian era, life moves leisurely in the sleepy village of Wall. Young Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the beautiful Victoria Forester and, to win her love, vows to bring her a star they see fall from the night sky. It is an oath that sends him over the town's ancient wall and into the mysterious land of Faerie - a world that is dangerous and strange beyond imagining . . . NEIL GAIMAN. WITH STORIES COME POSSIBILITIES. --- **Includes 'Wall, A Prologue', reading-group discussion questions and an interview with Neil Gaiman**

The acclaimed, bestselling author of The Good German and Los Alamos returns with his most absorbing and accomplished novel yet--a mesmerizing tale of Hollywood, postwar political intrigue, and one man's determination to learn the truth about his brother's death.Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from war-torn Europe to find his brother has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful movie career, and a heroic past choose to kill himself? Ben enters the uneasy world beneath the glossy shine of the movie business, where politics and the dream factories collide and Communist witch hunts are rendering the biggest star makers vulnerable. Even here, where the devastation of Europe seems no more real than a painted movie set, the war casts long and dangerous shadows. When Ben learns troubling facts about his own family's past and embarks on a love affair that never should have happened, he is caught in a web of deception that shakes his moral foundation to its core. Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Stardust flawlessly blends fact and fiction into a haunting thriller evoking both the glory days of the movies and the emergence of a dark strain of American political life.

The acclaimed, bestselling author of The Good German and Los Alamos returns with his most absorbing and accomplished novel yet--a mesmerizing tale of Hollywood, postwar political intrigue, and one man's determination to learn the truth about his brother's death.Hollywood, 1945. Ben Collier has just arrived from war-torn Europe to find his brother has died in mysterious circumstances. Why would a man with a beautiful wife, a successful movie career, and a heroic past choose to kill himself? Ben enters the uneasy world beneath the glossy shine of the movie business, where politics and the dream factories collide and Communist witch hunts are rendering the biggest star makers vulnerable. Even here, where the devastation of Europe seems no more real than a painted movie set, the war casts long and dangerous shadows. When Ben learns troubling facts about his own family's past and embarks on a love affair that never should have happened, he is caught in a web of deception that shakes his moral foundation to its core. Rich with atmosphere and period detail, Stardust flawlessly blends fact and fiction into a haunting thriller evoking both the glory days of the movies and the emergence of a dark strain of American political life.

We are made of stardust-and so is all life as we know it. All the chemical elements on earth except hydrogen-including the ones in our bodies-have been processed inside stars, scattered across the universe in great stellar explosions, and recycled to become new stars, planets, and parts of us. In this engrossing book, John and Mary Gribbin relate the developments in twentieth-century astronomy that have led to this shattering realization. They begin their account in the 1920s, when astronomers discovered that the oldest stars are chiefly composed of the primordial elements hydrogen and helium, produced in the birth of the universe in a Big Bang. They then describe the seminal work of the 1950s and 1960s, which unlocked the secret of how elements are "cooked" by nuclear fusion inside stars. The heart of the story is their discussion of supernovae, only recently understood as great stellar explosions in which the resulting ash is spread far and wide through the cosmos, forming new generations of stars, planets, and people. Focusing on the relationship between the universe and the Earth, the authors eloquently explain how the physical structure of the universe has produced conditions ideal for life.

We are made of stardust-and so is all life as we know it. All the chemical elements on earth except hydrogen-including the ones in our bodies-have been processed inside stars, scattered across the universe in great stellar explosions, and recycled to become new stars, planets, and parts of us. In this engrossing book, John and Mary Gribbin relate the developments in twentieth-century astronomy that have led to this shattering realization. They begin their account in the 1920s, when astronomers discovered that the oldest stars are chiefly composed of the primordial elements hydrogen and helium, produced in the birth of the universe in a Big Bang. They then describe the seminal work of the 1950s and 1960s, which unlocked the secret of how elements are "cooked" by nuclear fusion inside stars. The heart of the story is their discussion of supernovae, only recently understood as great stellar explosions in which the resulting ash is spread far and wide through the cosmos, forming new generations of stars, planets, and people. Focusing on the relationship between the universe and the Earth, the authors eloquently explain how the physical structure of the universe has produced conditions ideal for life.