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Night and Silence, Who is Here?
by Pamela Hansford JohnsonFollowing his appearance in The Unspeakable Skipton, Matthew Pryar returns as the hero of Pamela Hansford Johnson’s novel, Night and Silence, Who is Here? On any count, Pryar is a memorable character, and his experiences as a Visiting Fellow of Cobb, a liberal arts college in New Hampshire, U.S.A., will delight all who appreciate satirical comedy and brilliantly entertaining writing. Pryar arrives at Cobb to assume his Visiting Fellowship in a mood of expectant complacency. He expects to spend a comfortable, fruitful year completing his long-deferred monograph on the work of the celebrated and awful poetess Dorothy Merlin and to be mildly lionized in the process. He reckons without the nightmare quality of the domestic arrangements, the profusion and variety of the eccentricities of his colleagues and the unheralded and unwanted descent of the poetess herself. The complexities of the situation are considerable and they are compounded by Pryar’s newly-born ambition to abandon belles-lettres in favour of college administration. Pamela Hansford Johnson, as one would expect, handles her narrative and her marvellous cast of characters with such dexterity and wit that this New Hampshire winter story has all the pace and gaiety of Carnival in high summer.
Trent’s Last Case (Detective Club Crime Classics)
by E. C. BentleyWritten in reaction to what Bentley perceived as the sterility and artificiality of the detective fiction of his day, Trent's Last Case features Philip Trent, an all-too-human detective who not only falls in love with the chief suspect but reaches a brilliant conclusion that is totally wrong.
'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert (Spike Milligan War Memoirs #2)
by Spike MilliganSpike Milligan's legendary war memoirs are a hilarious and subversive first-hand account of the Second World War, as well as a fascinating portrait of the formative years of this towering comic genius, most famous as writer and star of The Goon Show. They have sold over 4.5 million copies since they first appeared.'The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read' Sunday Express'Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics, throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes' Daily Mail'Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar' Sunday Times'Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on Mental Grounds.' 'That's how I got in, sir.' 'Didn't we all.'The second volume of Spike Milligan's legendary recollections of life as a gunner in World War Two sees our hero into battle in North Africa - eventually. First, there is important preparation to be done: extensive periods of loitering ('We had been standing by vehicles for an hour and nothing had happened, but it happened frequently'), psychological toughening ('If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it') and living dangerously ('no underwear!'). At last the battle for Tunis is upon them...'That absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man' Stephen Fry'Milligan is the Great God to all of us' John Cleese'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy' Eddie Izzard'Manifestly a genius, a comic surrealist genius and had no equal' Terry Wogan'A totally original comedy writer' Michael Palin'Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense' GuardianSpike Milligan was one of the greatest and most influential comedians of the twentieth century. Born in India in 1918, he served in the Royal Artillery during WWII in North Africa and Italy. At the end of the war, he forged a career as a jazz musician, sketch-show writer and performer, before joining forces with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe to form the legendary Goon Show. Until his death in 2002, he had success as on stage and screen and as the author of over eighty books of fiction, memoir, poetry, plays, cartoons and children's stories.
The GCHQ Puzzle Book II
by GchqPre-order the long-awaited and brain-busting sequel from the UK's finest codebreakers and puzzle-solvers at GCHQ. With their first bestselling book, The GCHQ Puzzle Book, the UK's intelligence and security experts tested us with puzzles, codes and real-life entrance tests from their archives. Now, they are back with a new collection of head-scratching, mind-boggling and brain-bending puzzles that will leave you pondering for hours. For those who often found themselves stumped with the first book, there will be even more starter puzzles to get those brains warmed up. Puzzle aficionados needn't worry though, as there will also be an 'Even Harder' section to test everyone to their limits. Not only that, but in celebration of GCHQ's centenary, the puzzles in this new book will sit alongside stories, facts and photos from the organisation's first 100 years at the heart of the nation's security. From the Government Code & Cipher School, to Bletchley Park, through to protecting against cyberattacks, the security of our country is in the hands of GCHQ. With this book, you'll get exclusive snapshots into the organisation that keeps us all safe.
Potterism (PDF)
by Rose MacaulayRose Macaulay’s 1920 satire on British journalism and the newspaper industry will be back in print in the UK for the first time in seventy years. It will be published alongside a new collection of her pacifist writing from 1916 to 1945, Non-Combatants and Others: Writings Against War (ISBN 9781912766307). Potterism is about the Potter newspaper empire, fake news and anti-Semitism during the First World War and into the 1920s. When Jane and Johnny Potter are at Oxford they learn to despise their father’s popular newspapers, though they still end up working for the family business. But Jane is greedy, and wants more than society will let her have. Mrs Potter is a well-known romantic novelist, whose cheap novelettes appear in the shop-girls’ magazines. She has become unable to distinguish fact from fiction, and her success gives her an unhealthy estimation of her own influence. Arthur Gideon resists the fake news and gushing sentiment peddled by the Potter press, but an unexpected tragedy binds him even closer to their influence. The Introduction is by Sarah Lonsdale, senior lecturer in journalism at City University London, and the author of the Introduction to Handheld Press’s best-selling edition of Rose Macaulay’s What Not
Potterism (Handheld Classics Ser.)
by Rose MacaulayRose Macaulay’s 1920 satire on British journalism and the newspaper industry will be back in print in the UK for the first time in seventy years. It will be published alongside a new collection of her pacifist writing from 1916 to 1945, Non-Combatants and Others: Writings Against War (ISBN 9781912766307). Potterism is about the Potter newspaper empire, fake news and anti-Semitism during the First World War and into the 1920s. When Jane and Johnny Potter are at Oxford they learn to despise their father’s popular newspapers, though they still end up working for the family business. But Jane is greedy, and wants more than society will let her have. Mrs Potter is a well-known romantic novelist, whose cheap novelettes appear in the shop-girls’ magazines. She has become unable to distinguish fact from fiction, and her success gives her an unhealthy estimation of her own influence. Arthur Gideon resists the fake news and gushing sentiment peddled by the Potter press, but an unexpected tragedy binds him even closer to their influence. The Introduction is by Sarah Lonsdale, senior lecturer in journalism at City University London, and the author of the Introduction to Handheld Press’s best-selling edition of Rose Macaulay’s What Not
Perfect Behavior
by Donald Ogden StewartA guide for ladies and gentlemen in all social crises - a humorous version.<P> Excerpt: The first thing to do on arriving at a symphony concert is to express the wish that the orchestra will play Beethoven's Fifth. If your companion then says "Fifth what?" you are safe with him for the rest of the evening; no metal can touch you. If, however, he says "So do I"--this is a danger signal and he may require careful handling.
Slaughterhouse 5: The Children's Crusade A Duty-Dance With Death
by Kurt VonnegutRead Kurt Vonnegut's powerful masterpiece, which is as timely now as when it was first published.‘An extraordinary success. A book to read and reread. He is a true artist’ New York Times Book ReviewBilly Pilgrim – hapless barber's assistant, successful optometrist, alien abductee, senile widower and soldier – has become unstuck in time. Hiding in the basement of a slaughterhouse in Dresden, with the city and its inhabitants burning above him, he finds himself a survivor of one of the most deadly and destructive battles of the Second World War. But when, exactly? How did he get here? And how does he get out?Travel through time and space on the shoulders of Vonnegut himself. This is a book about war. Listen to what he has to say: it is of the utmost urgency.‘The great, urgent, passionate American writer of our century, who offers us a model of the kind of compassionate thinking that might yet save us from ourselves.’ George Saunders
Arabel and Mortimer Stories (A Puffin Book)
by Joan AikenArabel and her notorious raven Mortimer make a welcome return to Puffin Books!When Arabel's father, Ebenezer Jones, drives his taxi home late one night he comes across 'a large black bird, with a hairy fringe around its beak.' He takes it home and from that moment on, life is never the same again for the Jones family. Arabel's raven is called Mortimer - and he's one in amillion. 'Nevermore!' he cries when astonished or upset, 'Down the hatch' he thinks before gobbling bowler hats, stairs, telephones. He dislikes flying except in emergencies, and with disaster-prone Mortimer around there are plenty of those. There are six hilarious escapades in this collection, brought to life by Quentin Blake's wonderfully animated illustrations.
All the Tea in China: A Charlie Mortdecai novel (Mortdecai)
by Kyril BonfiglioliAll the Tea in China - a Mortdecai novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli, soon to be a major film starring Johnny Depp'One of the funniest writers ever' UncutAfter committing a crime anyone but a close relative might forgive, Karli Mortdecai Van Cleef leaves Holland double-quick with his uncle's buckshot lodged firmly in the seat of his breeches. Discretion being the least-idiotic part of valour he decides to hide far away in London, among the tea shops and opium dens. On savouring these Eastern delicacies and knowing an opportunity when he sups upon one, young Karli throws in his lot with an opium clipper bound for China's high seas.Life on the ocean waves, however, is full of perils for an officer and his sensitive digestive tract: mountainous waves, an encounter with a malodorous slave ship, the captain's wife's pulse-racingly brief wardrobe, several hordes of pirates, mutiny, the ship's cook's fondness for curry - to name but a few.All the Tea in China is a swaggering, rip-snorting, buckler-swashing tale about one of the men who - for a reasonable fee - made Britain great.'For those who have learnt to relish his elegant, nasty thrillers, Bonfiglioli is a name hard to forget. This farrago represents a change from the thrillers - a good clean salt-water yarn for the decadent' Irish Press'Shows his customary inventive comedy and zest for language' Sunday Times'Bonfiglioli deserves better than cult status' IndependentKyril Bonfiglioli was born on the south coast of England in 1928 of an English mother and Italo-Slovene father. After studying at Oxford and five years in the army, he took up a career as an art dealer, like his eccentric creation Charlie Mortdecai. He lived in Oxford, Lancashire, Ireland and Jersey, where he died in 1985. He wrote four Charlie Mortdecai novels, and a fifth historical Mortdecai novel (about a distinguished ancestor).
The Triumphant Footman
by Edith Olivier'All his life, he had so much enjoyed getting into scrapes, that he could never think of a better way out of one than to jump forthwith into another.'Alphonse Biskin is the lowly footman for the highly respected Captain Lemaur and his invalid, autocratic wife in Florence. Quick to dismiss him as incompetent, the Lemaurs are oblivious to the fact that their footman, the son of a working class couple from London, has a penchant for mischief and adventure, imitating others and spreading a web of seemingly harmless and humorous lies for his own amusement. From a director of a museum in Barcelona to a Frenchman of noble ancestry, from Florence to London . . . Alphonse's impersonations draw him into social circles and events that he could otherwise only dream about. With a combination of natural charm and good fortune, Alphonse seems destined to always get away with these deceptions - but will his tricks eventually catch up with him?The Triumphant Footman (1930) was Edith Olivier's third, and most cheerful and light-hearted novel.
Business As Usual (PDF)
by Jane Oliver Ann StaffordBusiness As Usual (1933) by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford is a delightful illustrated novel in letters from Hilary Fane. She is an Edinburgh librarian who is determined to support herself by her own earnings in London for a year, despite the mutterings of her surgeon fiancé. After a nervous beginning looking for a job while her savings shrink, she finds work as a typist in the London department store of Everyman's (a very thin disguise for Selfridges). She rises rapidly through the ranks to the books department, and then the library, where she has to enforce modern systems on her entrenched and frosty manager. Business as Usual is charming, intelligent, heart-warming, funny, and entertaining. It’s a fascinating record of library history and of shopping in the 1930s, and for its unflinching descriptions of social conditions, women’s poverty and illegitimacy. ‘Jane Oliver’ was the pen-name of Helen Evans (1903-1970). Formerly a PE teacher, a pilot, and Clemence Dane’s secretary, Helen met her co-author Ann Stafford (the pen-name of Anne Pedler, 1900-1966) when working at the Times Book Club. Business as Usual was their first joint novel: together and as solo authors they published at least ninety-seven books. They founded the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize in memory of Helen’s husband.
Business As Usual (Handheld Classics Ser.)
by Jane Oliver Ann StaffordBusiness As Usual (1933) by Jane Oliver and Ann Stafford is a delightful illustrated novel in letters from Hilary Fane. She is an Edinburgh librarian who is determined to support herself by her own earnings in London for a year, despite the mutterings of her surgeon fiancé. After a nervous beginning looking for a job while her savings shrink, she finds work as a typist in the London department store of Everyman's (a very thin disguise for Selfridges). She rises rapidly through the ranks to the books department, and then the library, where she has to enforce modern systems on her entrenched and frosty manager. Business as Usual is charming, intelligent, heart-warming, funny, and entertaining. It’s a fascinating record of library history and of shopping in the 1930s, and for its unflinching descriptions of social conditions, women’s poverty and illegitimacy. ‘Jane Oliver’ was the pen-name of Helen Evans (1903-1970). Formerly a PE teacher, a pilot, and Clemence Dane’s secretary, Helen met her co-author Ann Stafford (the pen-name of Anne Pedler, 1900-1966) when working at the Times Book Club. Business as Usual was their first joint novel: together and as solo authors they published at least ninety-seven books. They founded the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize in memory of Helen’s husband.
Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2022
by Tim BensonIn Britain's Best Political Cartoons 2022 the nation's finest satirists turn their eyes and their pens to the biggest, funniest and most poignant news stories of the year so far. Bringing much needed humour to a tumultuous year in politics, this companion features the work of Peter Brookes, Steve Bell, Morten Morland, Nicola Jennings, Christian Adams, Dave Brown, Brian Adcock and many more, alongside captions from Britain's leading cartoon expert. The result is a razor-sharp, witty and essential companion to another year like no other.__________________________________________________________________'A wonderful book . . . A beautiful thing to look at . . . Our brilliant cartoonists show there is still something to satirise . . . A great stocking filler.' Giles Coren'A blockbuster collection of the year's funniest political cartoons . . . [compiled by] Britain's leading authority on political cartoons . . . It made us chuckle.' Eamonn Holmes
The Naming of Cats
by T. S. EliotThe Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,It isn't just one of your holiday games;You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatterWhen I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.The first poem in Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is a brilliant introduction to the fabulous world of Cats, featuring names such as Bombalurina and Munkustrap - made famous by the recent film!The seventh gorgeous Cats picture book with lively and colourful illustrations by Arthur Robins. Perfect for reading aloud, singing or performing!
The Puzzle of the Happy Hooligan
by Stuart PalmerIt's murder on a film set...'Will keep you laughing and guessing from the first page to the last' NEW YORK TIMESHildegarde Withers is just your average school teacher but with above-average skills in the art of deduction. She often finds herself investigating crimes led only by her own meddlesome curiosity, though her friends on the NYPD don't mind when she solves their cases for them. After plans for a grand tour of Europe are interrupted by Germany's invasion of Poland, Miss Withers heads to Los Angeles instead, where her vacation finds her working as a technical advisor on the set of a film adaptation of the Lizzie Borden story. But the producer's plans for an epic retelling of the historical killer's murder-spree are derailed when a screenwriter turns up dead...
The Widening Stain
by W Bolinbroke JohnsonA series of accidents? Or is it Murder in the library...?A wonderfully entertaining classic from the Golden Age of crime fictionAt first, for the staff of the university library, it's easy enough to dismiss the death of a woman who fell from a rolling ladder as nothing more than an unfortunate accident. It's more difficult, however, to explain away the strangled corpse of a man found inside a locked room, surrounded by rare and obscure erotica. When a valuable manuscript disappears from the archive, it begins to look like both a killer and a thief are on the loose. It's up to chief cataloguer Gilda Gorham to solve the crimes but, unless she's careful, the next death in the library might just be her own.
Home Sweet Homicide
by Craig RiceA crime writer's family witnesses a real-life murder - the neighbourhood just got dangerous...Perfect for fans of KNIVES OUT'There was never anyone else like Craig Rice' NEW YORK TIMESGrowing up with a crime writer for a mother leaves the Carstairs family with a talent for detection. So when they witnesses a neighbourhood murder, they launch their own investigation. And why not? They know everything about baffling mysteries from reading their mother's books, the publicity could do wonders for her sales, and then she and a handsome detective could fall in love. It's too perfect for words.Marion's too busy wrapping up the loose ends of her latest book for the inconvenience of a real crime. But what's surfacing in the shadows of the house next door is not quite as predictable as fiction: accusations of racketeering, kidnapping and blackmail - and much more...
Adrian Mole: The Collected Poems
by Sue Townsend'It's really, really, really funny' David Walliams Mole Press - a brand new imprint of Penguin Books - is proud to announce the first publication of The Collected Poems of Adrian Mole to mark the author's 50TH birthday.--------------------------- 'Edgy politics, tortured eroticism, misunderstood intellect, changing Britain - a whiff of the sublime. Mole's contribution is significant' Daily Telegraph Featuring poems scattered over nearly thirty years of writing and salvaged from the diaries 'authored' by one Sue Townsend, this slim volume features more than thirty pieces of Adrian's unique art. From his timeless first documented poem - The Tap - via classic odes to his muse, first and only true love Pandora (I adore ya), we follow Adrian's life in verse form. We not only witness his burgeoning political anger in works like Mrs Thatcher (Do you weep, Mrs Thatcher, do you weep?) but also see in later poems his merciless examination of the hollow shell of masculinity as well as documenting his declining libido in tragic pieces like To My Organ. For the first time in a single volume, these are the collected poems of misunderstood intellectual and tortured poet Adrian Mole. 'I ruthlessly exploited Adrian. But he can't afford to sue me' Sue Townsend 'Wonderfully funny and sharp as knives' Sunday Times 'One of the great comic creations' Daily Mirror 'The funniest person in the world' Caitlin Moran
The Cats on Hutton Roof
by Marilyn Edwards'A colourful series that celebrates the many ways animals enrich our relationships and our lives' Karin SlaughterMarilyn and husband Michael have known many happy years at Moon Cottage, with their cats Fannie, Titus and Pushkin. However, the time has come to make a dream come true, and for the family to move to beautiful Cumbria.However, as all cat-lovers will know, the feline companions in our lives do not always share our dreams, and getting Fannie, Titus and Pushkin on board with the change will be its very own challenge. . .Capturing the highs and the lows which come with living with cats, The Moon Cottage cat series is a testimony and a tribute to that unique and rewarding relationship which exists between humans and their feline companions in which cats, in their splendid complexity, remain among us, but not of us.**Fully illustrated throughout**Praise for the Moon Cottage cat series:'My all-time favourite cat book' Jacqueline Wilson'Cat lovers will adore this book . . . A tender story of love between the author and her cats' Celia Haddon'All the many delights and a few of the heartaches of a life with cats are told with charm and wit. A vivid, honest, observant and involving book' Desmond Morris
The Coach House Cats
by Marilyn Edwards'A colourful series that celebrates the many ways animals enrich our relationships and our lives' Karin SlaughterIt's become obvious that the time has come to have Pushkin, the Russian Blue tom, and Titus, the ginger moggy queen, neutered. This was indeed the plan for Fannie, the tortoiseshell, but with her longed-for pregnancy well under way it must now be postponed. Fannie's due date for her kittens arrives and, in the time-honoured tradition of cats and the best laid plans, unexpected problems arise.Following this drama, the household finds itself in turmoil again with the arrival of a black Bengal kitten, called Gilly, who disrupts the peace of both cats and people resident in The Coach House. . . With a fine eye and ear for the world of natural history, Marilyn Edwards writes about rural living with charm and passion - but it is her observation of cats and their ways that make her books so utterly magical.**Fully illustrated throughout**Praise for the Moon Cottage books:'My all-time favourite cat book' Jacqueline Wilson'Cat lovers will adore this book . . . A tender story of love between the author and her cats' Celia Haddon'All the many delights and a few of the heartaches of a life with cats are told with charm and wit. A vivid, honest, observant and involving book' Desmond Morris
Letty Fox: Her Luck
by Christina Stead'Letty Fox: Her Luck is a fully achieved comic novel of a most original kind' ANGELA CARTER. One hot night last spring, after waiting fruitlessly for a call from my then lover, with whom I had quarrelled the same afternoon, and finding one of my black moods on me, I flung out of my lonely room on the ninth floor (unlucky number) in a hotel in lower Fifth Avenue and rushed into the streets of the Village, feeling bad. Letty Fox is hunting for a husband. Her picaresque adventures are brilliantly described in this imaginative portrayal of a woman who might have been independent, but chose otherwise.
The Secret Diary & Growing Pains of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾: The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ And The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole (The\adrian Mole Ser. #1)
by Sue TownsendGet yourself TWO BOOKS IN ONE for this amazing price.'I not only wept, I howled and hooted and had to get up and walk around the room and wipe my eyes so that I could go on reading' Tom SharpeTHE MUST-HAVE CHRISTMAS GIFT for devoted Adrian Mole fans.Celebrate Adrian Mole's 50th Birthday with this new double edition, featuring the FIRST TWO BOOKS in the hilarious collection and see life through the spectacles of a misunderstood boy growing up in the early 1980s.---------------------------Friday January 2ndI felt rotten today. It's my mother's fault for singing 'My Way' at two o'clock in the morning at the top of the stairs. Just my luck to have a mother like her. There is a chance my parents could be alcoholics. Next year I could be in a children's home. Meet Adrian Mole, a hapless teenager providing an unabashed, pimples-and-all glimpse into adolescent life. Telling us candidly about his parents' marital troubles, The Dog, his life as a tortured poet and 'misunderstood intellectual', his love for the divine Pandora and his horror at learning of his mother's pregnancy, Adrian's painfully honest diary is a hilarious and heartfelt chronicle of misspent adolescence.Features the complete texts of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole. 'I've never experienced a greater sense of recognition than when reading The Secret Diary' David Nicholls'Every sentence is witty and well thought out, and the whole has reverberations beyond itself' The Times 'Townsend has held a mirror up to the nation and made us happy to laugh at what we see in it' Sunday Telegraph'One of the great comic creations' Daily Mirror'The funniest person in the world' Caitlin Moran
True Confessions of Margaret Hilda Roberts Aged 14 ¼
by Sue TownsendDiscover the brilliantly funny True Confessions of Margaret Hilda Roberts by Sue Townsend, 'the funniest person in the world' - Caitlin Moran, The Times Tuesday May 24th Had a lie in until 6am. Then got out of bed and had a brisk rub down with the pumice stone. I opened the curtains and saw that the sun was shining brightly. (A suspicion is growing in my mind that the BBC is not to be trusted.) Margaret Hilda Roberts is a rather ambitious 14 ¼ year old grocer's daughter from Grantham. She can't abide laziness, finds four hours of chemistry homework delightful and believes she is of royal birth - or at least destined for great things. But Margaret knows that good things never come to those who wait . . .These are the secret diary entries of a girl born into an ordinary life, yet who might just go on to become something really rather extraordinary, and she is brilliantly brought vividly to life by bestselling author Sue Townsend, Britain's favourite comic writer for over three decades.'Essential reading for Mole followers' Times Educational Supplement'Wonderfully funny and sharp as knives' Sunday Times
Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose
by Dr. SeussA hilarious story about one very big-hearted moose who is only too happy to host a menagerie of animals in his antlers – until his new guests go too far!