Four kingdoms in a fragile truce around the Void. Four weapons, each emblazoned with the sacred power of one of Earth's elements-air, water, fire, earth. Each weapon forged with the mythic power to choose the heir to its throne. In a lost village in the Aquadom, young Noakhail arduously trains to learn the art of the sword. As a baby, on a day the sky turned red, Noakh was chosen to be the Ascendant Phoenix, king of Firia, the Fire Kingdom-a fate he remains unaware of. His parents missing, he lives as an outcast with Lumio, his stepfather, until the day Lumio gives him one of the two legendary fire swords whose powers have chosen Noakh to be the heir to Firia. For the time has come for Noakh to return to his homeland to claim the throne.Even as Noakh begins his ascendency, a bevy of young, impatient princesses in the Aquadom-the queendom of water-perform the daily sword ritual: one day the water sword shall choose which princess will become the Lacrima, the rightful heiress of the queendom. Everyone expects the honor will fall to the eldest sister, Katienne. After all, she is just like her mother the queen. But will she be the sword's choice? And whomever the sword chooses, how will the new heiress address the rising threat of Noakh's ascendancy? The Sapphire Eruption is the stunning first volume in the intricate Sword's Choice series, a medieval fantasy saga unfolding in a harsh and vengeful world. It is a story of ambition and resolve set in an environment ruled by the elements. Here, Noakh's determination and Katienne's heartless desires threaten to upset the delicate harmony of a world where the flames of fire are countered by water's tides, and where air and earth hang in the balance.

Sonia Gandhi's transformation from an unsure Congress party president to the unchallenged political chief of the ruling United Progressive Alliance government happened with some speed in the aftermath of the Congress-led coalition's surprise victory in the 2004 general election. Her renunciation of the prime minister's post enhanced her moral stature in the public eye, but it is her skilled handling of the equation with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, that indicates the emergence of a self-confident politician, secure in her position at the helm of national affairs. In this fully revised and updated biography, Rasheed Kidwai tracks the evolution of the new Sonia Gandhi against the backdrop of the Congress party's return to power after years in the Opposition. The last five years have witnessed the Congress president's growing assurance in her dealings with party stalwarts, with coalition partners and Opposition leaders. Drawing on his long experience as a political journalist, Kidwai chronicles how Rahul Gandhi's smooth passage into the front rank of the party's leadership was achieved and gives a vivid account of how Sonia Gandhi navigated such critical moments as the 'office of profit' crisis, the presidential election, the Indo-US nuclear deal and the vote of confidence. In Sonia, A Biography, Rasheed Kidwai tells the extraordinary story of one of India's most enigmatic women, whose journey from the small Italian town of Orbassano to 10 Janpath, New Delhi, is one of the most fascinating in contemporary India.

As student populations become more diverse, college mental health facilities are challenged to modify traditional theoretical and practice frameworks. The first case book to focus on counseling and mental health intervention with diverse college populations, Diversity in College Settings is a timely and important collection. Taken together, the studies redirect the focus of college mental health practice, arguing convincingly for acknowledging diversity, cultivating cultural competence among health practitioners and the adoption of ethnospecific and cultural parameters in serving college populations.

The truly inspiring story of the first Latina Supreme Court Justice. Outspoken, energetic, and fun, Sonia Sotomayor has managed to turn every struggle in life into a triumph. Born in the Bronx to immigrant parents from Puerto Rico, Sonia found out at age nine that she had diabetes, a serious illness now but an even more dangerous one fifty years ago. How did young Sonia handle the devastating news? She learned to give herself her daily insulin shots and became determined to make the most out of her life. It was the popular sixties TV show Perry Mason that made Sonia want to become a lawyer. Not only a lawyer, but a judge! Her remarkable career was capped in 2009 when President Barack Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court, only the third woman and first Hispanic justice in the court's history. Stories of Sotomayor's career are hardly dry legal stuff—she once hopped on a motorcycle to chase down counterfeiters and was the judge whose ruling ended the Major League baseball strike in 1995.

Social Mobility: Chance or Choice?, a sequel to `Born to Fail? Social Mobility, a Working Class View' (October 2017), sets out the current chances and choices available for those considered by the establishment to need social mobility. Revisiting mutuality, Sonia Blandford asks whether we care enough as a society by considering the issues, solutions and impact to the education and social issues that push against the chance or choice of social mobility. Citing the views from interviews with education and business leaders, Social Mobility: Chance or Choice? reflects on the changing skillsets and capacities of workers required by employers, business and industry and the inescapable conclusion that the skillsets and capacities will continue to change in ways that are almost impossible for us to predict. In these contexts, we must question whether the traditional acme and 'recognised journey' of educational achievement – maximising university entrance – is still relevant or useful for working-class children and young people and children facing disadvantage. Apprenticeships, at their best, can offer an updated and forward-facing solution to the providing choice for working-class and all children and young people. Despite current policy developments to encourage meaningful apprenticeships, apprenticeship programmes are experiencing challenges. Social Mobility: Chance or Choice? argues that applied learning and work-based learning should be more accessible and available to all children and young people. If we are serious about unleashing the talent of all children and young people, regardless of their background, challenges or needs, we must consider new and innovative approaches to post-14 education. If we are to unleash the potential of all children and young people, the role of Further Education needs to be respected and understood. Quality Further Education and training in partnership with business is a credible answer to social mobility. Further Education is an underused but ideally placed sector to develop meaningful change for working-class young people, providing real chances and choices. Beginning with Leaders - professionals, practitioners, parents or carers, and members of society have a shared responsibility to ensure that all children and young people have a right to chance or choice and support these opportunities. Building a society that is truly inclusive.

A warm, personal memoir of one of Canada's best-known composers, this volume chronicles the remarkable life of Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté. Though she achieved recognition in Europe she really came into her own in the last stage of her life when she and her second husband, Ferdinand Eckhardt, emigrated to Winnipeg.