Congratulations to Anne Berry, who is the winner of our Autumn 2009 Rising Stars with her debut novel. The Hungry Ghosts is the story of 12-year-old Alice Safford, living in colonial Hong Kong, who finds herself the target of a parasitic ghost. As successive tragedies engulf her, Alice's ghostly entourage swells alarmingly.
Anne's novel received the most positive reception from Amazon customers. Here's what some of you had to say about it:
• "This is such an original piece of work, I am not sure how to describe it. It is a ghost story but then again, it isn't a ghost story. Anne Berry's writing was a joy, lyrical and flowing a wonderful debut novel."
• "I found this book to be thoroughly absorbing, loved the descriptive powers of the author, and found that I could actually 'see' the colours that she described, her writing was so good. A triumph."
London now ranks alongside Paris, New York and Milan as a global fashion capital, and it has produced such outstanding designers as John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Hussein Chalayan and Stella McCartney. Style City tells, for the first time, the story of how that came about, describing how fashion developed in Britain from the early 1970s, when designer fashion scarcely existed, to the present day.
Targeted by a hitman and under threat of his past being exposed by the media, Alex reluctantly turns to MI6. But their help doesn't come cheap: they need Alex to spy on the activities at a GM crop plant. There he spots Desmond McCain, a high profile charity organiser, who realises that Alex is on to him and the real plans for the money he's raising. Kidnapped and whisked off to Africa, Alex learns the full horror of McCain's plot: to create an epic disaster that will kill millions. Forced to ask MI6 for protection, Alex finds himself being manipulated in a deadly game that could lead to the destruction of an entire East African country.
