Найти книгу: "Heart and Soul - The Emotional Autobiography of Melissa Bell, Alexandra Burke's Mother"

Melissa Bell is the mother of X Factor winner Alexandra Burke. But her own life story is even more remarkable that that of her daughter and is truly inspiring in its own right. From the age of four, music filled every corner of Melissa's life: she could play the piano, was constantly singing and even ran her own 'radio station' from the upstairs window of the house, calling out to passers-by and begging them to stop and listen. It was when Melissa saw the 14-year-old Lena Zavaroni performing on Opportunity Knocks that she knew her life's dream was to be a singer. Her break in the music world came when she was spotted at a talent show at the Hackney Empire. She became the singer in Jazzy B's group Soul II Soul and her huge talent led to life-changing events such as performing at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert at Wembley, singing with Whitney Houston and performing on stage with Stevie Wonder – as well as going to church with him one Sunday! But the happiness Melissa found in her music was not mirrored in her personal life. Her marriage to childhood sweetheart David Burke fell apart when she discovered that he had been unfaithful to her. Left to bring up four children on her own, times were hard and, when Alex was small, Melissa recalls how they had to delve down the back of the sofa for change to buy bread and milk. The demands of singing and bringing up a young family could not co-exist and Melissa gave up her passion to be there for her kids. Her dreams of stardom were reignited when Alex was successful in getting through to the X Factor finals and was ultimately crowned the winner of the show. Behind the scenes, however, Melissa was dealing with the devastating news that her kidneys were failing. When Alex was on the verge of entering X Factor bootcamp, Melissa collapsed and was rushed to hospital; she then received the devasting news that she would need regular dialysis to stay alive. This is the fascinating and poignant story of a mother who has battled against the odds to give her children the best life possible and afford them the opportunities that she herself had to sacrifice. As Melissa waits to hear if she will be successful in her quest for a kidney donor, she strives to keep her independence, stay strong for her children and help those with similar problems. She is a shining example of a woman for whom giving up is simply not an option.

Героини книги – бабушки, наши ангелы-хранители. Судьба каждой из них неповторима, а истории любви достойны пера романиста. Наряду со свидетельствами мемуаристов XIX века в книге представлены воспоминания наших современников. Авторов объединяет «память сердца» и благодарность к тем, кто сумел предать внукам творческое отношение к жизни, сострадание к людям, любовь к искусству и природе.

The youth wants to perform a feat while the girl wants quiet life. Everything turns out just the opposite: the girl has to perform a feat while the youth changes his attitude to life.

«Made in Italy» is a worldwide label for fashion and luxury brands. It suggests top quality as well as a sense of distinction and it is closely linked to famous brand names as well as entrepreneurs like Giorgio Armani, Miuccia Prada, Gianni Versace. Nevertheless, behind the sparkling names, made in Italy hides a set of entrepreneurial forms that are at the heart of peculiar Italian savoir-faire for fashion and luxury goods and that were, indeed, at the heart of the economic development of the country. Design, production and distribution of fashion and luxury goods in Italy have solid foundations in a diffuse network of independent enterprises that ensured economic and cultural development and innovation. The free, yet coordinated, initiative of small entrepreneurs, firmly rooted in the traditional structure of the Italian society, constitute the economic and social fabric behind the success of some of the well known large groups of the high end of the fashion and luxury system. This fabric of diffuse entrepreneurship is also actually ensuring the necessary variety of initiatives and countermeasures to face the crisis of this sector and to invent new solutions against the de-manufacturing and the fierce concurrence of the developing countries.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843. It is told by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of his sanity, while describing a murder he committed. (The victim was an old man with a filmy "vulture-eye", as the narrator calls it.) The murder is carefully calculated, and the murderer hides the body by dismembering it and hiding it under the floorboards. Ultimately the narrator's guilt manifests itself in the form of the sound – possibly hallucinatory – of the old man's heart still beating under the floorboards.

Mark Twain began writing his autobiography long before the 1906 publications of "Chapters from my Autobiography". He originally planned to have his memoirs published only after his death but realized, once he’d passed his 70th year, that a lot of the material might be OK to publish before his departure. While much of the material consists of stories about the people, places and incidents of his long life, there’re also several sections from his daughter.