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Vanity Fair: A Novel Without A Hero (Macmillan Collector's Library #125)
by William Makepeace ThackerayA major TV series starring Olivia Cooke, Simon Russell Beale and Micheal Palin.Brilliant anti-heroine Becky Sharp will do anything to climb to society’s loftiest heights and couldn’t be more different from her rich, sweet-natured schoolmate, Amelia Sedley. Their parallel lives are marked by love, lust, marriage, fortune and loss, in all their different guises, as they navigate the corrupt circus of upper-class Regency England. Hailed as a literary masterpiece upon first publication, William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair has never waned in popularity and remains a highly entertaining satire of early nineteenth-century high society. This gorgeous edition includes an afterword by the prizewinning author and critic, Henry Hitchings. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector’s Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector’s Library are books to love and treasure.
Vera Jewel is Late for School
by Nicola KentWhen Vera Jewel's bike breaks one morning, she takes matters into her own hands and comes up with some ingenious - and very funny! - ways to get to school. From jumping on her space hopper to making her own catapult, Vera's ideas get more and more adventurous, but nothing seems to get her there on time. It's a good thing that she's one determined little girl who never gives up . . . Vera Jewel is Late for School is a warm, funny and very original story about determination and creativity, perfect for learning about standing on your own two feet - and being rewarded for hard work and inventiveness! Nicola Kent’s catchy rhyming text, bright, jewel-like colours and eye-catching illustrations make this a truly stunning picture book.
A Very French Wedding
by Maeve HaranFor all those who imagine escaping to a château and living the dream . . . to find that even dreams can have their complications.Steph, Jo and Meredith have been friends since school. Their lives have all taken very different paths across the years, but when Meredith buys a romantic château in an idyllic village in the Dordogne she finds she can’t do it alone – so who better to enlist for help than her two old friends? Together they hope to bring the château back to life and create the most romantic wedding venue in France.And it seems that the nearby village of Bratenac has much more to offer than sun, wine and delicious French food when a handsome chef and his equally charming son, a vigneron from New Zealand, not to mention the local ladies’ luncheon club and a British bulldog named Nelly all join the party.Friends and lovers, old and new, come together and fall apart in deepest France, culminating in a very special château wedding. Funny, uplifting and poignant, this is Maeve Haran, bestselling author of The Greek Holiday, at her very best.
Visions Before Midnight
by Clive JamesFrom the man who made TV criticism an entertainment in its own right comes Visions Before Midnight, a selection from the column hundreds of thousands of devoted fans would turn to first thing on a Sunday morning. Clive James's comic brilliance is displayed here, from the 1972 Olympics (But your paradigm no-no commentary can't be made up of fluffs alone. It needs flannel in lengthy widths, and it's here that Harry and Alan come through like a whole warehouse full of pyjamas) to the 1976 Olympics ('Jenkins has a lot to do' was a new way of saying that our man, of whom we had such high hopes, was not going to pull out the big one). In between we have 'War and Peace' (Tolstoy makes television history), the Royal Wedding (Dimbling suavely, Tom Fleming introduced the scene), the Winter Olympics (unintelligibuhl), the Eurovision Song Contest (The Hook of their song lasted a long time in the mind, like a kick in the knee. You could practically hear the Koreans singing it. 'Waterloo . . .' ), and much more.
Vladimir
by Julia May Jonas'If Netflix’s The Chair, Lisa Taddeo’s best-seller Three Women, and the most compelling passages of Ottessa Moshfegh’s Death in Her Hands had a love child (just go with me here), it would be this fiction debut. With a title character who’s a sought-after young novelist new to a college faculty,Vladimir leaves the reader with more questions than answers - about sex, and sexual politics - in the most delicious way.' – Entertainment WeeklyA provocative, razor-sharp, and timely debut novel about a beloved English professor facing a slew of accusations against her professor husband by former students – a situation that becomes more complicated when she herself develops an obsession of her own . . .When I was a child, I loved old men, and I could tell that they also loved me.And so we meet our deliciously incisive narrator: a popular English professor whose husband, a charismatic professor at the same small liberal arts college, is under investigation for his inappropriate relationships with his former students. The couple have long had a mutual understanding when it comes to their extramarital pursuits, but with these new allegations, life has become far less comfortable for them both. And when our narrator becomes increasingly infatuated with Vladimir, a celebrated, married young novelist who’s just arrived on campus, their tinder-box world comes dangerously close to exploding.With her bold, edgy, and uncommonly assured literary debut, Julia May Jonas takes us into charged territory, where the strictures of morality bump up against the impulses of the human heart. Propulsive, darkly funny, and surreptitiously moving, Vladimir maps the personal and political minefield of our current moment, exposing the messy contradictions of power and desire.
Voyage to Magical North (The Accidental Pirates #1)
by Claire FayersTake to the high seas in Voyage to Magical North, a swashbuckling pirate adventure filled with magic by Claire Fayers.Twelve-year-old Brine Seaborne is a girl with a past . . . if only she could remember what it is. Found alone in a rowboat as a child, clutching a shard of the rare starshell needed for spell-casting, she's spent every day since housekeeping for an irritable magician and his obnoxious apprentice, Peter.But everything changes when Brine and Peter accidentally break the magician's starshell and need to flee the island. Lost at sea, they blunder into the path of the legendary pirate ship the Onion. Before you can say 'pieces of eight,' they're up to their necks in the pirates' quest to find Magical North, a place so shrouded in secrets and myth that most people don't even think it exists. If Brine is lucky, she may find out who her parents are and why they sent her out to sea. And if she's unlucky, everyone on the ship will be eaten by sea monsters. It really could go either way.Enjoy more fun adventures with The Accidental Pirates in Journey to Dragon Island.
The Warden: First Of The Barsetshire Novels (Macmillan Collector's Library)
by Anthony TrollopeThe Warden introduces us to the lives of some of the most beloved characters in all literature. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition has an introduction by Margaret Drabble and illustrations by F. C. Tilney.Scandal strikes the peaceful cathedral town of Barchester when Septimus Harding, the warden of charitable foundation Hiram’s Hospital, is accused of financial wrongdoing. A kindly and naive man, he finds himself caught between the forces of entrenched tradition and radical reform amid the burgeoning materialism of Britain in the 1850s. The deeply insightful portrayals of figures such as the booming Archdeacon Grantly and the beautiful Eleanor Harding are at the heart of this moving and deliciously comical tale. The Warden launched the enduringly popular Barsetshire Chronicles series of six novels and won Anthony Trollope a seat in the pantheon of great literary figures.
The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby (Macmillan Collector's Library #72)
by Charles KingsleyAfter being chased from the home of an upper-class young girl called Ellie, chimney-sweep Tom falls asleep and tumbles into a river. There he is transformed into a 'water-baby' and his adventures truly begin. Beneath the surface, he enters a magical world full of strange and wonderful creatures, where he must prove his moral worth in order to earn what he truly desires.One of the most unusual children's books ever written, The Water-Babies, subtitled 'A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby', was originally intended as a satire in support of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, and explores many of the issues at the forefront of biologists' minds at the time. First published as a complete novel in 1863, Charles Kingsley's classic tale also explores ideas about religion, the Victorian education system and the working conditions of children and the poor.With glorious black and white illustrations by W. Heath Robinson and an introduction by author and journalist Christina Hardyment.Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
Water from the Sun and Discovering Japan: Short Reads (Picador Shots)
by Bret Easton EllisPreviously published in the short story collection, The Informers, Water from the Sun and Discovering Japan is part of the Picador Shots range of short reads.Bret Easton Ellis’s two short stories, Water from the Sun and Discovering Japan, chronicle the lives of a group of Los Angeles residents all of them suffering from nothing less that death of the soul. Ellis has immense gift for dialogue, off-the-wall humour, merciless description and exotic bleakness.In Water from the Sun, Cheryl Lane is going under. Her marriage to William has broken down, she has moved in with a young boy half her age who is more interested in other young boys that in her and she keeps not turning up at work, the one area of her life that seems to be in good working order. To keep afloat she drinks, she shops and she takes pills. Would meeting up with William, something she has been avoiding like everything else in her life, give her what she needs anyway?In Discovering Japan, Bryan, is on tour. His manager, Roger, has taken him to Tokyo to promote his record and do a few gigs. But to get Roger out of hotel room, off the drink, drugs and women is going to be a tall enough feet itself for Bryan. Written with spare and hypnotic prose, this is a story about a man hell-bent on destruction by a writer deeply concerned with the moral decline of our society.
We Could Be Heroes
by Tom Fordyce Ben DirsBen: Do you ever worry you’ll die without having left a mark? Tom: What about when you won that 3 a.m. break-dancing battle with the overweight Australian girl? Ben: It’s not enough. I want to go down in history. Tom: You’re called Ben Dirs. You will. Finely-tuned triathlete Tom Fordyce and hopeless smoker Ben Dirs have made a living blogging for the BBC about the triumphs and tribulations of sport at its highest level – but they will never be World Champions themselves. Well, unless they can find some really pointless sporting challenges… From the gripping slow-motion drama of the World Sauna Championships to the Cotswold Olympicks, in which ‘competitors, wearing boots, attempt to kick each other,’ We Could Be Heroes is a collection of brilliantly funny gonzo despatches from the frontline of sport. If you can race Ben Fogle up a Yorkshire hillside carrying a sack of coal, or kick the shin out of Rory McGrath, you could be the Champion of the World – and what’s more, you’ll have very, very sore shins, my son.
Wee? It Wasn't Me!: Winner of the Lollies Book Award! (Lenny Learns About . . . #5)
by Clare Helen WelshA funny story, all about wee, packed full of animal facts! The follow-up to the hilarious Poo! Is That You?Lenny the lemur is on holiday in Alaska. He's skipping across the snow, when he slips in a puddle. It's wet, yellow and smelly... WEE! But whose wee could it be? Lenny is on a quest to find out... Along the way, he meets various animals and learns all about their weeing habits! But the real question is: will he find that pesky puddle-piddler?Learn about caribou, turtles, wolves and more in the piddle-tastic Wee? It Wasn't Me! written by Clare Helen Welsh and illustrated by Nicola O'Byrne. Cleverly interweaving facts throughout, it also contains an information page at the back of the book, with a photo of each animal.
Well-Remembered Days: Eoin O'ceallaigh's Memoir Of A Twentieth-century Catholic Life
by Arthur MatthewsEoin O'Cellaigh: writer, poet, nationalist, playwright, civil servant, commentator (non-sport) - above all a defender of the traditional values of Ireland. The 'land of saints and scholars' has produced another grand voice. A true renaissance Catholic, Eoin O'Cellaigh has witnessed nearly a century of stirring events in the history of Ireland. This is his autobiography. O'Cellaigh enthrallingly recounts the key moments in his rich life, such as his success in bringing Pope John Paul II to Ireland, or his founding of the League of the Mother of God Against Sin, which kept jazz and modern dancing out of Irish life for most of the century. The young O'Cellaigh was marked for life by his meeting with that mythical battler for Irish independence Michael Collins, for whom he once hid sausages under the bed. As he grew older he was drawn towards the important work of censorship and campaigning against sex. In the words of Frank Sinatra, he did things, 'swell.'
Wendel and the Robots
by Chris RiddellA brilliantly funny robot adventure from award-winning author and illustrator, Chris Riddell, creator of Once Upon a Wild Wood.Wendel is a very clever mouse – but not a very tidy one. If his inventions go wrong, Wendel just throws them away and starts again. So when Clunk, his robot assistant, fills the sock drawer with cups and saucers and makes tea in a Wellington boot, Wendel throws him on the scrapheap and makes himself a new assistant: the Wendelbot. But he gets more than he bargained for, and soon Wendel finds himself on the scrapheap. Can he win back his workshop from the mighty Wendelbot? Let the robot battle commence!With Chris Riddell's characteristic verve and brilliance, Wendel and the Robots is a wonderfully funny, action-packed story full of surprises and extraordinary inventions, and with a subtle environmental message.
Went to London, Took the Dog: The Diary of a 60-Year-Old Runaway
by Nina StibbeFrom the beloved writer Nina Stibbe, a warm and funny story of a woman changing her life at 60.'A unique comic voice, endlessly funny' - David Nicholls, author of One Day'Painfully funny, but also deeply moving' - Meg Mason, author of Sorrow and BlissWhat does it mean to start again at sixty?Nina Stibbe is surprised to find herself asking this question as she leaves married life behind in Cornwall and heads back to London after twenty years away for what she calls ‘a year-long sabbatical’.She takes up lodgings at the house of writer Deborah Moggach, unprepared for how she, and the city, has changed and now wondering whether freedom is all it’s cracked up to be . . .As heard on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour'An utter, UTTER treat! It was like spending time with my most clever, insightful, funny, FUNNY friend' - Marian Keyes'Vulnerable, sharp, funny, wise' Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry'No one writes heartbreak more hilariously, or hilarity more heartbreakingly' - Katherine Heiny'So sharp and funny, blissfully gossipy, enviably well-observed . . . I loved it' - India Knight
What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness (Wow! Ser.)
by Jon RonsonIn part one, read about the time Jon inadvertently made a lewd gesture to a passing fourteen-year-old girl late at night in the lobby of a country-house hotel. And about his burgeoning obsession with a new neighbour who refused to ask him what he did for a living, despite Jon's constant dropping of intriguing hints. And about the embarrassment of being caught recycling small talk at a party. In part two, read some of Jon's longer stories, which explore manifestations of insanity in the wider world: the tiny town of North Pole, Alaska, where it's Christmas 365 days of the year; behind the scenes at Deal or No Deal, which Jon likens to a cult with Noel Edmonds as its high priest; a meeting with TV hypnotist Paul McKenna, who has joined forces with a self-help guru who once stood trial for murder - but can they cure Jon of his one big phobia? As hilarious as it is perturbing, Jon Ronson's What I Do is a treat for everyone who has ever suspected themselves to be at the mercy of forces they can barely comprehend.
When You Get The Chance
by Emma LordWhen You Get The Chance is a heartwarming read from Emma Lord, the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese Witherspoon YA Book Club pick You Have a Match.Nothing will get in the way of Millie Price's dream of becoming a Broadway star. Not her lovable but super introverted dad, who raised Millie alone since she was a baby or her drama club rival, Oliver, who is the very definition of Simmering Romantic Tension. Millie needs an ally. And when an accidentally left-open browser brings Millie to her dad's embarrassingly moody LiveJournal from 2003, Millie knows just what to do — find her mum.But how can you find a new part of your life and expect it to fit into your old one without leaving any marks? And why is it that when you go looking for the past, it somehow keeps bringing you back to what you've had all along?Praise for Emma Lord:"Brimming with energy, rapid-fire banter, and affectionate theater references, this memorable Mamma Mia! retelling . . . thoughtfully pays homage while skillfully modernizing it for today's readers." - Publishers Weekly "Chock-full of musical theater references and humor, the novel includes high-stakes emotional drama that is balanced by supportive friendships and strong, deep family connections . . . An entertaining personal journey with plot twists galore." - Kirkus Reviews
Where Is Your Sister?
by Puck Koper*Winner of the Opera Prima Bologna Ragazzi Prize 2020*A stylish and funny search-and-find adventure with a twist, packed with twin-sister mischief.The store is a riot of dots and stripes, patterns and checks, so it's not easy to find one little girl in a spotty dress. Children will love finding Harriet on every page as the madcap chase moves from the fashion floor to home furnishings and into the toy department. More and more people join in until at last naughty Harriet is reunited with her family.Jam-packed with action and details to find and spot, Where Is Your Sister? is a strikingly confident debut from Puck Koper. Her blue, red and black artwork is printed in eye-catching pantone inks, and her remarkable eye for composition and funny characters marks her out as a talent to watch.
Where's My Happy Ending?: Happily ever after and how the heck to get there
by Anna Whitehouse Matt FarquharsonWhere is ‘happily ever after’? And what do you do once you get there?Maybe you’ve just had a first date with ‘the one’, maybe you’ve been married for ten years. Either way, it’s hard to know if they’re really meant to be by your side until you both wear dentures. In Where's My Happy Ending? Anna Whitehouse and Matt Farquharson, authors of the Sunday Times bestseller Parenting the Sh*t Out of Life, set out to discover what it takes to make it to forever, by asking our greatest questions about love.They ask a former sex-worker and her ex-gigolo husband, celibate monks and free-loving hippies. They ask people who never wanted kids and people who have loads of them. They ask porn-makers and feminist academics, neurologists, psychologists and romance novelists. They ask a whelk fisherman and a lollipop lady. They speak to couples, throuples and singles; gay, straight and anywhere in-between. And in asking these questions, they are forced to confront their own relationship after a decade of marriage. Through tears, laughter, and one improperly discarded toenail clipping, Where’s My Happy Ending? gets answers for anyone who’s ever wondered ‘what’s next?’ Join Anna and Matt on a searingly honest, belly-laugh inducing journey through love and relationships, social media and small children, expert advice and everyday exasperation, as they navigate the muddy waters of modern romance. Discover whether love and relationships could be simpler – or more complex – than we think in this study on what it really means to find and keep love today.
Which Witch? (Piccolo Bks.)
by Eva IbbotsonWhich Witch? is a brilliantly witty tale of magic and marriage by Eva Ibbotson, shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.'Find me a witch!' cried Arriman the Awful, feared Wizard of the North.Arriman has decided to marry. His wife must be a witch of the darkest powers – but which witch will she be? To find the most fiendish, he holds a spell-casting competition.Glamorous Madame Olympia performs the terrifying Symphony of Death and conjures up a thousand plague-bearing rats. The magic of gentle Belladonna, the white witch, goes hopelessly wrong. She produces perfumed flowers instead of snakes. And bats roost in her golden hair instead of becoming blood-sucking vampires.Poor Belladonna longs to be an evil enchantress – but how?'This kind of fun will never fail to delight' Philip Pullman.
The Whicharts
by Noel StreatfeildYoung, naive and too kind for her own good, Rose falls for a young Brigadier with a colourful history. Soon after their fling ends he drops a baby off on her doorstep begging her to raise it for his latest mistress.Tender hearted Rosie nurtures the baby into a sophisticated young woman called Marmie – alongside two other baby girls dropped off by the Brigadier – Daisy, a natural born dancer, and Tania who aspires to be a mechanic. But raising three growing girls on very little money after the war is an impossible task, so the girls find a way to earn their keep through a life on the stage.Revealing the toil a dancer goes through backstage and the friendship and love needed to survive it, The Whicharts is an exceptional inter-war novel from Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild.
White Noise: Text And Criticism (Penguin Great Books Of The 20th Century Ser. #13)
by Don DeLillo'America's greatest living writer.' - ObserverJack Gladney is the creator and chairman of Hitler studies at the College-on-the-Hill. This is the story of his absurd life; a life that is going well enough, until a chemical spill from a rail car releases an 'Airborne Toxic Event' and Jack is forced to confront his biggest fear - his own mortality. White Noise is an effortless combination of social satire and metaphysical dilemma in which Don DeLillo exposes our rampant consumerism, media saturation and novelty intellectualism. It captures the particular strangeness of life lived when the fear of death cannot be denied, repressed or obscured and ponders the role of the family in a time when the very meaning of our existence is under threat.
Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever
by Nick de SemlyenWild and Crazy Guys is the larger-than-life story of the much-loved Hollywood comedy stars that ruled the 1980s. As well as delving behind the scenes of classic movies such as Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places and dozens more, it chronicles the off-screen, larger-than-life antics of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Candy et al. It’s got drugs, sex, punch-ups, webbed toes and Bill Murray being pushed into a swimming pool by Hunter S Thompson, while tied to a lawn chair. It’s akin to Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, following the key players through their highs and lows, and their often turbulent relationships with each other. Nick de Semlyen has already interviewed pretty much all the big names for Empire, as well as directors such as Walter Hill, John Landis and Carl Reiner, and is sitting on lots of unseen material. Taking you on a trip through the tumultuous ’80s, Wild And Crazy Guys explores the friendships, feuds, triumphs and disasters experienced by these iconic funnymen. Based on candid interviews from the stars themselves, as well as those who entered their orbit, it reveals the hidden history behind the most fertile period ever for screen comedy.
The Wildest Cowboy
by Garth JenningsWay out in the West there's a town they call FearAnd only the roughest and toughest live here . . .When cheerful salesman, Bingo B Brown, rolls his wagon full of Wild West goodies into town, he's met with a stony silence. This is clearly no place for novelty bow ties and elastic lassos. Not even Bingo's dancing dog can raise a smile! But this town is not just joyless, it's dangerous. And as Bingo soon discovers, the people of the town are not just scary, they're also scared. It isn't long before Bingo and his dog discover why, as they come face to face with the Wildest Cowboy in the West! Saddle up for a spectacular ride with a wildly talented pairing: film director and author, Garth Jennings and star illustrator, Sara Ogilvie. The Wildest Cowboy is a funny and uplifting adventure story in which fun wins out over fear. Featuring a dramatic train chase, rattlesnake socks and a dancing dog.
William: Home For The Holidays! (Just William series #10)
by Richmal CromptonEveryone's favourite troublemaker, William Brown, is back in Richmal Crompton's William, a hilarious collection of stories from the classic Just William series – with a gorgeous cover illustrated by the award-winning Lauren Child and an introduction by actress Bonnie Langford.Greyhound racing was a wonderfully exciting idea. After all, William's dog, Jumble was as likely to be a greyhound as anything, and surely no one would mind the Outlaws borrowing another dog to race against him. Would they?This tousle-headed, snub-nosed, hearty, lovable imp of mischief has been harassing his unfortunate family and delighting his admirers since 1922.Enjoy more of William's adventures in William the Bad and William's Happy Days.
William Again (Just William series #3)
by Richmal CromptonWilliam's back and as mischievous as ever!In Richmal Compton's William Again William and his mate Ginger have to endure bankruptcy – they don't even have enough money for sweets. Then William comes up with what he thinks is a fantastic idea!William Again is the third set of stories featuring the endearing and mischievous William Brown; a much-loved character whose adventures have become children's classics. With an introduction by author and comedian Louise Rennison, this funny and endearing collection of fourteen brilliant Just William stories has an engaging contemporary cover look illustrated by Chris Garbutt along with the original inside illustrations of Thomas Henry. There is only one William. This tousle-headed, snub-nosed, hearty, loveable imp of mischief has been harassing his unfortunate family and delighting his hundreds of thousands of admirers since 1922.Enjoy more of William's adventures in William the Fourth and Still William.