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Mansfield Park
By Jane Austen. 2008
Fanny Price's rich relatives offer her a home at Mansfield Park so that she can be properly brought up. However,…
Fanny's childhood is a lonely one as she is never allowed to forget her place. Her only ally is her cousin Edmund. But when the glamorous and exciting Henry and Mary Crawford arrive in the area, Edmund starts to grow close to Mary and Fanny finds herself dealing with feelings she has never experienced before.'Full of the energies of discord - sibling rivalry, greed, ambition, illicit sexual passion and vanity' Margaret DrabbleThe Mayor of Casterbridge
By Thomas Hardy. 2010
'A tale of true tragedy - a man of potential brought down by his own fatal flaw - wonderfully vivid…
and strong' Joanna TrollopeThe Mayor of Casterbridge is a man haunted by his past. In his youth he betrayed his wife and baby daughter in a shocking incident that led him to swear never to touch alcohol again for twenty-one years. He has since risen from his humble origins to become a respected pillar of the community in Casterbridge, but his secrets cannot stay hidden forever and he has many hard lessons left to learn. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY LUCY HUGHES-HALLETTThe Last Rite: (The Danilov Quintet 5) (The Danilov Quintet #5)
By Jasper Kent. 2014
Russia – 1917. Zmyeevich, king of all vampires, is dead. History records that the great voordalak – known across Europe…
as Dracula – perished in 1893 beneath the ramparts of his own castle, deep in the mountains of Wallachia. In Russia, the Romanov tsars are free of the curse that has plagued their blood for two centuries.But two decades later and Tsar Nicholas II faces a new threat – a threat from his own people. War has brought Russia to her knees and the people are hungry for change. Revolution is in the air.Mihail Konstantinovich Danilov – who himself carries Romanov blood – welcomes the prospect of a new regime. Like his ancestors he once fought to save the Romanovs from the threat that Zmyeevich brought them. Fought and won. But now he sees no future for a Russia ruled by a tyrant. He is joined in the struggle by his uncle, Dmitry Alekseevich - a creature born in a different era, over a century before. For more than half his existence he has been a vampire, and yet he still harbours one very human desire; that his country should be free.But the curse that infects the blood of the Romanovs cannot be so easily forgotten and Mihail soon discovers that it – that he – may become the means by which a terror once thought eradicated might be resurrected . . .Matisse's War
By Peter Everett. 1996
At seventy, Henri Matisse is a trim, clean old gentleman with a passion for naked women. He is UN MONSTRE…
SACRE who depicts with passion and conviction only what he takes pleasure in, only what he chooses to see. He is art personified. If there were no Matisse there would be no art as such. . . . He has purged everything from his painting except anxieties concerning structure and colour; his struggle is with these alone! MATISSE'S WAR is a minutely researched yet fictional account of Matisse's life during the years 1939-1945. It is also a superb portrait of the lives of the major French artists and writers under the German occupation. Louis Aragon, Malraux, Picasso and Bonnard all appear prominently in the narrative.Mad, Bad And Totally Dangerous
By Susan Davis. 2011
Abbie, Lauren and Ruby are earning some holiday dosh at the Northgate Poetry Festival. It promises to be dull, dull,…
dull until they meet the ravishing Ron Lord. But then some seriously weird goings-on lead Abbie to suspect that the drop-dead-delicious poet may actually have dropped dead quite some time ago . . .Posing poets, fit photographers and a ghostly ex-girlfriend stalk the pages of this hilarious new novel from the author of The Henry Game and Delilah and the Dark Stuff.Little Aunt Crane
By Geling Yan. 2008
In the last days of World War II, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria has collapsed. As the Chinese move in,…
the elders of the Japanese settler village of Sakito decide to preserve their honour by killing all the villagers in an act of mass suicide. Only 16-year-old Tatsuru escapes. But Tatsuru's trials have just begun. As she flees, she falls into the hands of human traffickers. She is sold to a wealthy Chinese family, where she becomes Duohe - the clandestine second wife to the only son, and the secret bearer of his children. Against all odds, Duohe forms an unlikely friendship with the first wife Xiaohuan, united by the unshakeable bonds of motherhood and family. Spanning several tumultuous decades of Mao’s rule, Little Aunt Crane is a novel about love, bravery and survival, and how humanity endures in the most unlikely of circumstances.The Man Who Planted Trees
By Jean Giono. 2019
‘A book for children from 8 to 80. I love the humanity of this story and how one man’s efforts…
can change the future for so many. It’s a real message of hope.’ Michael MorpurgoDiscover this beloved masterpiece of nature writing that is a hymn to creation and to the power of the individual to do their bit to change the world for the better.In 1910, while hiking through the wild lavender in a wind-swept, desolate valley in Provence, a man comes across a shepherd called Elzéard Bouffier. Staying with him, he watches Elzéard sorting and then planting hundreds of acorns as he walks through the wilderness. Ten years later, after surviving the First World War, he visits the shepherd again and sees the young forest he has created spreading slowly over the valley. Elzéard’s solitary, silent work continues and the narrator returns year after year to see the miracle he is gradually creating: a verdant, green landscape that is a testament to one man’s creative instinct.A beautiful story of hope, survival and selflessness, The Man Who Planted Trees resonates as strongly with readers today as when it was first published.'A charming and brilliantly entertaining novel... shot through with the light-hearted Nesbit touch' Penelope Lively, from the introduction"When did two…
girls of our age have such a chance as we've got - to have a lark entirely on our own? No chaperone, no rules, no...""No present income or future prospects," said Lucilla.It's 1919 and Jane and her cousin Lucilla leave school to find that their guardian has gambled away their money, leaving them with only a small cottage in the English countryside. In an attempt to earn their living, the orphaned cousins embark on a series of misadventures - cutting flowers from their front garden and selling them to passers-by, inviting paying guests who disappear without paying - all the while endeavouring to stave off the attentions of male admirers, in a bid to secure their independence.'To come upon any Nesbit today, hitherto unread... is like receiving a letter from a friend whom you have believed dead' New York Times'A wry, charming delight of a book' The PoolLady Susan (Penguin Little Black Classics)
By Jane Austen. 2016
'Of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a Man of his age! - just old enough to be…
formal, ungovernable and to have the Gout - too old to be agreable, and too young to die.'The scheming and unscrupulous Lady Susan is unlike any Austen heroine you've met in this fascinating early novella.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries - including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.Luke Lancelot and the Golden Shield
By Giles Andreae. 2004
When Luke's brother Arthur is given an ancient and magnificent sword for his birthday, Luke is crushed. He is the…
one who dreams of being a knight - it's not fair! But as promised by Merlin, Luke soon gets the chance to prove himself as a true and courageous knight. When the evil Morgana poisons Arthur and her brother Mandrake turns into a dragon and steals him away to a secret lair, Luke and sister Gwinnie chase after them on the magnificent flying horse Avalon. Together they manage to save Arthur and defeat the evil Morgana and Mandrake. Afterwards, back at Camelot, Luke is made a knight for his bravery - the bravest knight of all!The Luck of the Vails
By E F Benson. 2013
A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERYWH Auden, Nancy Mitford and Noel Coward were among his fans... But have you discovered E. F.…
Benson yet?In a Holbein portrait above the grand old fireplace, Francis Vail, second baronet, brandishes a beautiful golden goblet, encrusted with pearls, rubies and emeralds. But this treasure, the Luck of the Vails, has since brought the family nothing but ruin and death.On the eve of his twenty-first birthday, Harry Vail discovers the Luck hidden in the attic of his ancestral home, the family curse is reawoken, and a tale of madness, avarice and murder unfolds.Murder mystery... Ghost story... Whodunnit. This is a classic detective story from the author of Mapp and Lucia. Crime fiction at its best.Malaria
By Susan Hillmore. 2000
To the island of Mannar - once an enchanted paradise, now polluted, its wildlife dead or dying - comes Sir…
Alexander Haye, zoologist and TV personality, determined to acquire one of the last of the island's elephants for London Zoo. A mother elephant and her calf are procured and the task of escorting them to the capital falls to Alexander's twin brother Max. Sick at heart, his attachment to the beasts growing with each step of their journey, Max delivers them to their fate and retreats to his sanctuary, a fantastic island castle. There the malaria he has picked up in the jungle overcomes him and he plunges into fever and hallucination. When Alexander returns to the island, all the elephants are dead and the waves of violent anarchy that are sweeping through Mannar have reached even Max's haven.Loyalties
By Raymond Williams. 1985
What is loyalty? What is treachery? What does it mean to find that one of your friends is a spy?…
Loyalties traces the fortunes of a group of friends, some from the Welsh valleys, some from Cambridge, from the Spanish Civil War to the 1984 miners' strike, combining the tension of a first-class thriller with a brilliant analysis of our age.Kronos
By Guy Adams. 2011
'What manner of monster can wreak such damage? I only hope you know how it can be stopped.' The peace…
of an English village is shattered when a young girl withers before her friend's eyes, becoming but dust and bones. Witnessing this terrifying transformation, local physician Dr Marcus fears the village has been cursed by the presence of evil. He immediately summons his old army friend, the mysterious but powerful vampire hunter, Kronos.Together with the help of his assistant Professor Grost, Kronos has dedicated his whole life to destroying vampires. He knows that there is nothing so varied and deadly. With a vampire nothing is certain, especially how one might be able to kill it. As more and more villagers fall prey to this deadly curse, time is against him. And when it comes dangerously close to home, Kronos is faced with a terrible choice...Love Will Tear Us Apart: (The Stranger Times 3) (The Stranger Times #3)
By C. K. McDonnell. 2023
Love can be a truly terrible thing.Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is…
dead.Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn't have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?As if that wasn't enough, one of the paper's ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.The Lagoon (Little Clothbound Classics)
By Joseph Conrad. 2023
Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by…
the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil.On sea, on land, at the edges of the colonial experience, Joseph Conrad's short stories offer a glimpse of the violence, the kindness, and the mystery at humanity's heart. 'The Lagoon' tells of love and its shadow, 'The Typhoon' of the gap between man and nature, while 'The Secret Sharer' provides a brilliant exploration of truth and trust.A Love Story for Bewildered Girls: 'Utterly gorgeous' Pandora Sykes
By Emma Morgan. 2019
'An utterly gorgeous novel. It will forever hold my heart in its pages' Pandora Sykes, co-host of The High-Low podcastGrace…
loves a woman. Annie loves a man. Violet isn't quite sure. But you'll love them all...Grace has what one might call a 'full and interesting life' which is code for not married and has no kids. Her life is the envy of her straight friends, but all this time she has been waiting in secret for love to hit her so hard that she runs out of breath, like the way a wave in a rough sea bowls you over, slams you into the sand, and nearly drowns you.When Grace meets a beautiful woman at a party, she falls suddenly and desperately in love. At the same party, lawyer Annie meets the man of her dreams - the only man she's ever met whose table manners are up to her mother's standards. And across the city, Violet, who is afraid of almost everything, is making another discovery of her own: that for the first time in her life she's falling in love with a woman.A Love Story for Bewildered Girls is a moving and exquisitely funny novel about love, sex and heartbreak.'Exquisitely tender, beautifully written, funny and sad' Daisy Buchanan, author of How to Be a Grown-up 'Funny, honest, brilliant' Nina Stibbe, bestselling author of Love, Nina'I absolutely loved this book by Emma Morgan which follows 3 women's very different love lives... I inhaled it' Emma Gannon, Sunday Times best-selling author and host of the podcast Ctrl-Alt-Delete'Funny, touching, uplifting, thoroughly modern' Lauren Bravo, author of What Would the Spice Girls Do?'I was transfixed by this funny and moving story of three women navigating their way through the complexities of love, life and the search for personal fulfilment' Sarah Haywood, author of The Cactus, a Richard & Judy Book Club Pick 'A charming modern romance' Glamour 'Beautifully written, Morgan's novel is a seriously impressive debut' Stylist'Emma Morgan is an author to look out for' Julie Cohen, author of 'Louis & Louise'LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE 2020Love Me Tender
By Jane Feaver. 2009
There is more going on in the village of Buckleigh than meets the eye and its sense of community is…
often as much a curse as a blessing. While Barrie, the local mayor, is driven into the arms of tough single mother Debbie, his father lusts after a former chorus girl whose breath now smells of 'cabbage and chocolates'. Meanwhile, a farmer's wife is driven to murder by her unfaithful husband, a carnival queen faces an uncertain future and the postman is in danger of realising his sexual fantasies. Playing on in the background of each of these wry, interlinked tales is the village silver band, swilling cider and keeping a sharp eye out for any misbehaviour.In A Province
By Sir Laurens Van Der Post. 1934
Last year the rain went away. It became very dry; there was no water and the sun killed the crops…
of my father. Leaving the kraal and misty Valley of a Thousand Hills, Kenon has come to Port Benjamin in search of work. In Johan he finds a master and a friend. For a time it seems their unorthodix friendship can break down the barrier between black and white. But storm clouds are gathering and the forces of love and politics will explode into tradedy.Ladybird Classics: Gulliver's Travels
By Jonathan Swift. 2013
This beautiful hardback Ladybird Classic edition of Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift is a perfect first illustrated introduction to the…
classic story for younger readers.It has been sensitively abridged and retold to make it suitable for sharing with young children from 5+, whilst retaining all the key parts of Gulliver's travels and adventures in the strange lands of Lilliput and Brobdingnag. Detailed full-colour illustrations throughout also help to bring this classic tale to life. Other exciting titles in the Ladybird Classics series include Alice in Wonderland, Black Beauty, The Secret Garden, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, Heidi, The Jungle Book, The Wind in the Willows, The Three Musketeers and Treasure Island.