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Mothering Sunday
by Noel StreatfeildSeventy-year-old widowed Anna Caldwell likes to be alone, happy to potter around her garden chatting to her friend Miss Poe. However, the bliss of Anna’s peaceful lifestyle causes her five children much dismay.Jane, the eldest and most organised, gathers her siblings together to visit Anna on Mothering Sunday. Henry the politician, Margaret the doctor and the youngest, Felicity, all agree to attend with their partners . . . but that leaves Tony, the shadow on the family’s respectable past.Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild pieces together a startling image of the post-war British family in her novel Mothering Sunday.
Aunt Clara
by Noel StreatfeildSixty-two-year-old Clara leads a virtuous life. She spends all her time helping others and she always puts her friends and family first. It’s a shame that nobody, including her four siblings and their myriad of children, ever stops to say thank you and appreciate all she does.. . . until wealthy Uncle Simon comes into her life. Like Clara, Simon never married, never had children and he lived alone – the two understood each other like no one else in the family could. So when Uncle Simon dies, and leaves very specific wishes to Clara in his will, the path of her life changes in ways she could never imagined.Thrown into the world of circuses, greyhound-racing and dubious house-property, Aunt Clara encounters bizarre incidents and an unlikely love story in this enchanting novel from Carnegie Medal winning author, Noel Streatfeild.
It Pays to Be Good
by Noel StreatfeildFlossie Elk was an astonishingly beautiful baby. But whilst her mother Fanny encouraged Flossie to use the power of those dazzling looks, her greengrocer father George stood by the belief that “Beauty is a lure of Satan.”When the First World War breaks out and George joins the army, Fanny sends her daughter to dance academy where Flossie’s beauty can shine like it’s never been able to before. Not before long Flossie is given a starring role on stage, but with less than honourable intentions . . .Carnegie Award winning author Noel Streatfeild explores the dark side of the backstage world, which she knows all too well from her own life, in this witty and enchanting wartime novel, It Pays to be Good.
Parson's Nine
by Noel StreatfeildChristmas is disrupted by the death of a distant relative in the vicarage . . . but with death comes a substantial inheritance for David, Catherine and their nine children.Catherine resolves to send her eldest children, Edras and Tobit, to a preparatory school and she hires a governess for her younger children. Miss Crosby is a passionate woman striving for women’s emancipation – including emancipation for young and clever Judith from the constraints of marriage . . .But as the First World War erupts the family approaches catastrophe, can all nine children emerge from it unscathed? Carnegie Medal winning Noel Streatfeild showcases courage and endurance in her family wartime novel, Parson’s Nine.
Luke
by Noel StreatfeildAndrew and Freda Dawson are enjoying a happy, second marriage in the English countryside with their collective brood of three children. But their idyllic existence is shattered when Freda finds her husband dead one evening . . .It becomes apparent his death was not from natural causes and all evidence points to suicide, but there are lingering doubts about Freda’s role in the death . . . and about the possible role her precocious son Luke could have played.Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild delves into the cracks of a seemingly perfect marriage in her interwar family novel, Luke.
The Girl from Paris (Paget Family Saga #3)
by Joan AikenAn elegant Victorian young lady educated at a familiar sounding boarding school in Brussels (think Charlotte Bronte's Villette) and now A Girl From Paris, Ellen Paget is on a (never ending) journey of romantic adventure - often attracting the wrong kind of admiration - in the third and final of Joan Aiken’s regency dramas. Twenty-one-year old Ellen is an intelligent and spirited heroine, whisked away from her teaching profession and unsuitable romance in Brussels by her godmother to become a governess in the household of a grand Parisian Comte. But as the Count's family tensions and their literary salon scene (think George Sand and Baudelaire) are reaching sinister heights, Ellen finds gothic entanglements in the schemes of her brutal father back home in The Hermitage. She must now extract herself from all these ties and discover who her true friends are, in order to find her own happiness.Joan Aiken plunges into the hearts of two contrasting families in this dark and romantic adventure.
The Smile of the Stranger (Paget Family Saga #1)
by Joan AikenStrong, subversive heroine Juliana Paget is forced to flee from her Italian home during the French Revolution in the first of Joan Aiken’s romantic regency adventures, The Smile of a Stranger.Escaping from the horrors of revolutionary France, seventeen year old Juliana embarks on a wild and dangerous journey, crossing the channel in a hot air balloon to the supposed safety of English soil. But what awaits her is far from harmless: an evil aunt, a dangerous prospective husband, and a threatening presence from her past . . . Aiken’s plucky but disarmingly innocent heroine must learn to tell truth from fiction in this gripping romantic adventure.
The Weeping Ash (Paget Family Saga #2)
by Joan AikenTwo intertwining adventures – one of English drama and one of Indian conflict – both meet at the Paget family home in the second of Joan Aiken’s romantic regency adventures, The Weeping Ash. Aiken's earlier heroine Juliana Paget kindly lends The Hermitage Estate to her widowed cousin Thomas and his new wife Fanny – on one condition – that if their missing cousins arrive they must be welcomed in. Little does Juliana know that cousin Thomas is an abusive tyrant who torments his stoic wife, entrapping her in the beautiful Paget house. Thousands of miles away in India, twin Paget cousins Scylla, governess to the old Maharaja's family, and her poet brother Cal are fleeing for their lives with the orphaned royal heir. They must survive a perilous journey - assisted by the dashing Colonel Cameron - across Kafiristan, Afghanistan, Persia, and Turkey before finally arriving at The Hermitage Estate.But the adventure does not stop here. A dark and explosive confrontation awaits the Pagets as Aiken's two spirited heroines strive for independence in this thrilling romantic adventure.
The Five-Minute Marriage
by Joan AikenDelphie Carteret is forced into a dangerous marriage of convenience in Joan Aiken’s stunning regency drama, The Five Minute Marriage. Delphie has been disinherited from her family’s life of luxury and wealth, and as her mother's health and wits deteriorate she has no choice but to seek help from distant relatives. However when she arrives at the family’s grand house she discovers part of their fortune is rightfully hers, and the only way to obtain her inheritance is through a sham marriage to her cousin.Unknowingly Delphie has tangled herself in a web of family rivalry and deceit which goes back for generations. Other members of the family are not just in debt but in the Marshalsea - the debtors' prison described by Dickens. Forced to maintain the charade of her marriage, Delphie is finally drawn into a dramatic fight for her life, and a surprisingly romantic finale on the roof of the family mansion . . .Joan Aiken has woven together an enchanting plot of romance and rivalry that will grip readers till the very end. Fans of Georgette Heyer should definitely make this novel their next read.
Castle Barebane
by Joan Aiken'Joan Aiken writes superbly, with a force, a colour and strength of imagination that one encounters all too rarely today. I loved every moment of it.' London Daily TelegraphStrong and independent Vahalla Montgomery, a heroine straight out of a Henry James novel, abandons her New York career as a journalist to search for her half-brother in Joan Aiken’s gothic novel, Castle Barebane.Wishing to escape from her pretentious New York fiancé, Valla is happy to have an excuse to travel to England, only to discover that her half-brother and his wife have disappeared from their London home – leaving their young two children all alone. Finding Victorian London a gloomy and sinister place, haunted by a series of Ripper style murders, Valla takes the children up to Scotland to a bleak family property known as Castle Barebane. In this Gothic ruin, perched on the edge of a cliff, the mystery surrounding her missing brother only gets darker, and more terrifying . . . This unforgettable tale of love, loss, and human nature is brought to life by Joan Aiken’s vivid story-telling and gripping plot. If you love Virginia Andrews or Nicola Cornick, Joan Aiken should certainly be your next read.
Emma Watson: Jane Austen's Unfinished Novel Completed by Joan Aiken
by Joan AikenJane Austen gave life to the fictional Watson family in 1803, but sadly abandoned them five chapters in – now Joan Aiken completes their story in her ingenious novel, Emma Watson.Emma Watson has been brought up by her aunt in a wealthy and refined household, an educated lifestyle far removed from her widowed father and five siblings. So when her aunt enters into an imprudent second marriage, nineteen-year-old Emma is sent back home and must join her sisters in their pursuit of a husband . . .Aiken takes on the fate of Austen’s characters with confidence and skill, flawlessly entwining themes of loss and love together in this stunning regency pastiche.
The Youngest Miss Ward: A Jane Austen Sequel (A\jane Austen Entertainment Ser.)
by Joan AikenJane Austen’s Mansfield Park famously narrates the story of poor little Fanny Price sent to live with her mother's grander sisters - the Ward family. Written almost two centuries later, Joan Aiken’s powerful sequel reverses the story and introduces us to The Youngest Miss Ward, Hatty, sent to fend for herself with the poor relations.Although creative, charismatic and witty, Hatty Ward lacks the beauty that her older sisters inherited and is left without a dowry to care for their ill mother once her sisters are married off. Sent to Portsmouth to live with her rumbustious uncle and cousins, Hatty turns her creative flair to poetry and believes she must become a governess, that is until handsome Lord Camber passes through town . . .With imagination and authenticity Joan Aiken captures the customs and language of Austen’s England in this one of a kind sequel, revealing a subversive and unique heroine.
Deception
by Joan Aiken'A winner. The narrative is crisp, the characterisation revealing, the ending quite modern in its ambiguity.' The LadyTwo very different – yet physically identical – young ladies meet at a boarding school once attended by Jane Austen in Joan Aiken’s engrossing historical novel, Deception.Self-righteous Louisa wants to escape her grand family life in Northumberland and become a missionary in India. Imaginative and quiet Alvey has no family and only longs for peaceful independence to complete her novel.So when Louisa suggests swapping identities it seems like the perfect plan: Alvey will have a peaceful country manor in which to write her book and Louisa will be free to voyage across the globe. But when Alvey becomes a beloved and indispensible member of her extraordinary new family, how will they view the return of the horrible Louisa?Joan Aiken weaves a complicated plot of deception and identity, peopled with strong female characters, in this unique historical romance.
The Last Brother
by Andrew GrossFrom International Number One Bestseller Andrew Gross, The Last Brother is the thrilling historical novel about three brothers and the Mafia in 1930s New York. Published in the USA as Button Man.United by blood1930s New York City. Three brothers grow up poor on the Lower East Side, until the death of their father forces them to find work to support their family. Each brother takes a different path.Divided by ambitionTwelve-year-old Morris Rabishevsky apprentices himself to a garment manufacturer with the aim of running the business. Sol, six years older, heads to accounting school but is forced to drop out. Scarred by a family tragedy, Harry falls under the spell of the charismatic Louis Buchalter, who in a few short years becomes the most ruthless mobster in town.Torn apart by conflictMorris convinces Sol to go into business with him, but Harry can’t be lured away from the glamour, power and money of the mob. As their business grows, Buchalter sets his sights on the unions that control the garment maker’s factories, setting up a fatal showdown that could bring them together or shatter their family forever.
Wolves of Rome
by Valerio Massimo ManfrediFrom the international bestselling Valerio Massimo Manfredi, Wolves of Rome is a historical thriller about two brothers and the betrayal of Teutoburg Forest that devastated the Roman Empire. This is a must read for fans of Simon Scarrow, Ben Kane and Conn Iggulden.Bound by Blood. Divided by an Empire.Deep in a dark, foreboding forest, the Roman Empire will face its bloodiest test.3 BC. Two wild Germanic brothers, Armin and Wulf, are held hostage in Rome to keep their father from rebelling against the Empire. As the years pass, they are moulded into ideal soldiers: brave, disciplined, ruthless. Attributes that are to be tested when a conspiracy arises, threatening their emperor and the Empire’s future . . .As serving Roman soldiers, the brothers are separated at opposite ends of the Empire, each proving their bloody might on the battlefield. But Armin begins to realize that no matter how far he travels and how many lives he takes, he has an inescapable bond to his father, mother and the tribes of Germania. His goal: to unite them all under one banner.Wulf, though, remains loyal to Rome and it soon becomes clear that both he and the might of the Roman Empire are the only obstacles standing between Armin and his dream of freedom for the Germanic people . . .
The Dressmaker of Draper's Lane: An Evocative Historical Novel From the Author of The Silk Weaver
by Liz TrenowThe richest silk hides the deepest secrets . . . The Dressmaker of Draper’s Lane revisits the opulence and extravagance of the London silk trade in the mid-eighteenth century which Liz Trenow wrote about in her previous bestselling novel, The Silk Weaver.1768, London.As a foundling who rose from poverty and now runs her own successful dressmaking business in the heart of society London, Miss Charlotte is a remarkable woman, admired by many. She has no need, nor desire, to marry. The people she values most are her friend Anna, her recently-found sister Louisa and nephew Peter.She feels herself fortunate, and should be content with what she has. But something is missing.A small piece of rare silk discovered in a bundle of scraps at auction triggers a curious sense of familiarity, and prompts her to unpick a past filled with extraordinary secrets and revelations . . .
Black Beauty: The Autobiography Of A Horse (Macmillan Collector's Library #14)
by Anna SewellDesigned 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. This edition of Black Beauty features illustrations by Cecil Aldin and an afterword by author and conservationist Lauren St. John.Black Beauty enjoys a carefree upbringing in a pleasant meadow with his mother, where his gentle first master trains him well – until he is reluctantly forced to sell him. Through a long and varied life, Black Beauty passes from one owner to the next; some treat him well, others are so cruel that they inflict lasting damage.Anna Sewell’s biographical novel about a horse is one of the bestselling books of all time, and her depiction of Victorian society’s harsh treatment of animals inspired significant changes to animal welfare in both the UK and America.
My Country, My Life: Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace
by Ehud BarakIn the summer of 2000, the most decorated soldier in Israel's history – Ehud Barak – set himself a challenge as daunting as any he had faced on the battlefield: to secure a final peace with the Palestinians. He would propose two states for two peoples, with a shared capital in Jerusalem. He knew the risks of failure. But he also knew the risks of not trying: letting slip perhaps the last chance for a generation to secure genuine peace. It was a moment of truth. It was one of many in a life intertwined, from the start, with that of Israel. Born on a kibbutz, Barak became commander of Israel's elite special forces, then army Chief of Staff, and ultimately, Prime Minister. My Country, My Life tells the unvarnished story of his - and his country's - first seven decades; of its major successes, but also its setbacks and misjudgments. He offers candid assessments of his fellow Israeli politicians, of the American administrations with which he worked, and of himself. Drawing on his experiences as a military and political leader, he sounds a powerful warning: Israel is at a crossroads, threatened by events beyond its borders and by divisions within. The two-state solution is more urgent than ever, not just for the Palestinians, but for the existential interests of Israel itself. Only by rediscovering the twin pillars on which it was built – military strength and moral purpose – can Israel thrive.
The Sale of the Late King's Goods: Charles I and His Art Collection
by Jerry BrottonSet against the backdrop of war, revolution, and regicide, and moving from London to Venice, Mantua, Madrid, Paris and the Low Countries, Jerry Brotton’s colourful and critically acclaimed book, The Sale of the Late King's Goods, explores the formation and dispersal of King Charles I’s art collection. Following a remarkable and unprecedented Parliamentary Act for ‘The sale of the late king’s goods’, Cromwell’s republican regime sold off nearly 2,000 paintings, tapestries, statues and drawings in an attempt to settle the dead king’s enormous debts and raise money for the Commonwealth’s military forces. Brotton recreates the extraordinary circumstances of this sale, in which for the first time ordinary working people were able to handle and own works by the great masters. He also examines the abiding relationship between art and power, revealing how the current Royal Collection emerged from this turbulent period, and paints its own vivid and dramatic picture of one of the greatest lost collections in English history.
Peter Abelard
by Helen WaddellA new edition of the historical novel Peter Abelard by Helen Waddell introduced by Kate Mosse, the bestselling author of The Burning Chambers and Labyrinth.The story of Heloise and Abelard is one of the most famous love stories of all time. He was a famous philosopher in 12th Century Paris and she was a gifted scholar. He takes on the role of her tutor and the two fall passionately in love. Heloise’s Uncle arranges for them to be married in secret but his motives are far from kind. He arranges a brutal attack on Abelard which leaves him a broken man. Both Heloise and Peter take holy orders but although separated physically their love for each other lasts for the rest of their lives.First published in 1933 and a huge bestseller in its time, Helen Waddell’s novel tells their story with an intoxicating mix of drama and sensitivity and her own extensive scholarly research allows her to portray 12th France with astonishing vigour.
Mary, Queen of Scots
by Eric LinklaterA major film starring Oscar nominated actress Saoirse Ronan and BAFTA award winner Margot Robbie.‘She was always in the lead, thrusting herself against the storm, tireless in pursuit’Mary, Queen of Scots was only eighteen years old when she came to the throne of Scotland in 1542. A catholic in a protestant country, her twenty-five year reign was marked by turbulence. Eric Linklater accentuates her strong political ambition, her kindness and strength in adversity as she battled through religious divide, hostility from Queen Elizabeth, unwanted suitors, spiteful love traps and double-crossing rebel lords. But throughout all of this she ruled her country with austere kindness and grace, woman against men, Queen against Queen. Eric Linklater details the trials and tribulations of Mary’s life with illustrative precision, littered with quotes and poetry that build an honest portrayal of this prestigious Queen.
Desire: A History of European Sexuality
by Anna ClarkA sweeping survey of sexuality in Europe from the Greeks to the present, Desire: A History of European Sexuality follows changing attitudes to two major concepts of sexual desire – desire as dangerous, polluting, and disorderly, and desire as creative, transcendent, even revolutionary – through the major turning points of European history. Chronological in structure, and wide ranging in scope, Desire addresses such topics as sex in ancient Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, sexual contact and culture clash in Spain and colonial Mesoamerica, new attitudes toward sexuality in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and sex in Bolshevik Russia and Nazi Germany. The book introduces the concept of "twilight moments" to describe activities seen as shameful or dishonorable, but which were tolerated when concealed by shadows, and integrates the history of heterosexuality with same-sex desire, as well as exploring the emotions of love and lust as well as the politics of sex and personal experiences. This new edition has been updated to include a new chapter on sex and imperialism and expanded discussions of Islam and trans issues. Drawing on a rich array of sources, including poetry, novels, pornography, and film, as well as court records, autobiographies, and personal letters, and written in a lively, engaging style, Desire remains an essential resource for scholars and students of the history of European sexuality, as well as women’s and gender history, social and cultural history and LGBTQ history.
To Obama: With Love, Joy, Hate and Despair
by Jeanne Marie LaskasEvery day, President Obama received ten thousand letters from ordinary American citizens. Every night, he read ten of them before going to bed. This is the story of how they shaped his presidency. Together they reveal the diary of a nation.In To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter-writers themselves and the White House staff in the Office of Presidential Correspondence who were witness to the millions of pleas, rants, thank-yous and apologies that landed in the mailroom during the Obama years. There is Peggy, a patriotic grandmother who thinks the President is trying to lead the country into socialism and recommends that he read the Constitution; Bill, a lifelong Republican whose attitude towards immigration reform was transformed when he met a boy who escaped MS-13 gang leaders in El Salvador; Jordan, a seven-year-old about to be adopted, who wants to thank the President for keeping him safe; James, who on the morning after the 2016 election tells the President to start packing; and Dawn, who writes to say that he made it possible for a very jaded generation to begin to hope and believe in the good.They wrote to Obama out of gratitude and desperation, in their darkest times of need, with anger, fear and respect. To Obama is an intimate look at one man's relationship with the American people, and at a time when empathy intersected with politics in the White House.
Makarios: The Revolutionary Priest of Cyprus (International Library of Twentieth Century History)
by Demetris AssosWhen Mikhail Makarios became head of the Church of Cyprus in 1950, Greek Cypriots presumed that he would lead the struggle for union with Greece - partly because the Church was perceived to be the custodian of this nationalist tradition. And though Archbishop Makarios III pursued this objective energetically, by 1959 he had signed the agreements that established an independent Cyprus republic – ending the dream of enosis and setting the scene for today's struggles to bring peace to the island. In this first English language biography of one of the most important figures in Cypriot modern history, Demetris Assos shows how Makarios oscillated between his personal nationalist romantic idealism and the management of hard political realities on the ground, and argues a nuanced understanding of this ambivalence is crucial to contextualise and explain his actions. Assos shows how, by the 1950s, the political authority of Makarios' position became intertwined with his spiritual power. He also unpicks the influence of the Orthodox Church on modern Cypriot history. A new analysis of the Cyprus experience, this is an essential addition to our understanding of the Cyprus problem, and a new portrait of one of the great Cypriots.
The Confectioner's Tale: A Novel Of Paris
by Laura MadeleineAt the famous Patisserie Clermont in Paris, 1909, a chance encounter with the owner’s daughter has given one young man a glimpse into a life he never knew existed: of sweet cream and melted chocolate, golden caramel and powdered sugar, of pastry light as air. But it is not just the art of confectionery that holds him captive, and soon a forbidden love affair begins.Almost eighty years later, an academic discovers a hidden photograph of her grandfather as a young man with two people she has never seen before. Scrawled on the back of the picture are the words ‘Forgive me’. Unable to resist the mystery behind it, she begins to unravel the story of two star-crossed lovers and one irrevocable betrayal.'Delightful and delicious: a must read' Nina George, bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop'Mouth-watering and mysterious . . . a compelling read' Leah Fleming, bestselling author of The Girl under the Olive TreeTake a moment to savour a bittersweet love story that echoes through the decades – perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Santa Montefiore and Victoria Hislop.