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A Pattern Of Roses
by K M PeytonWhen Tim finds a strange old drawing hidden up the chimney in his crumbling new home, he notices it's signed by someone with the initials T. R. I. - the same initials as his own. In the local churchyard, Tim stumbles across Tom Inskip's gravestone, and begins to investigate his early death. But the deeper Tim delves into the past, the more Tom seems to come to life. Is he sending a message? Or is it a warning?
Paul Clifford
by Edward Bulwer-Lytton'It was a dark and stormy night ...'Paul Clifford leads a double life. By day he is a fashionable man about town, the toast of genteel society. By night, he is 'Captain Lovett', a dashing masked highwayman, robbing unsuspecting travellers on moonlit roads with his band of fellow brigands. When Clifford falls in love with the beautiful, auburn-haired Lucy, the daughter of a wealthy squire, he wonders if he should abandon his life of vice. But there are many obstacles in his path: his sly love rival Lord Mauleverer, dark secrets from the past, and the threat of the hangman's noose ...
Paul O'Grady's Country Life: Heart-warming and hilarious tales from Paul
by Paul O'GradyTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA fascinating and hilarious glimpse into Paul's life at home in the country with his animalsPaul O'Grady's Country Life for the first time gives a glimpse into the home life of one of Britain’s best loved stars, alongside the animals he adores. Sometimes rural idyll, sometimes hell on earth, Paul’s life in rural Kent has been shared over the years with some very vocal pigs, a mad cow, various rescued barn owls, the world’s most sadistic geese and Christine the psychotic sheep – among many other animal waifs and strays. And of course Paul tells the stories of the dogs in his life – including the tiny chihuahua/Jack Russell cross with Napoleonic ambitions, Eddie, Miss Olga, Bullseye, Louis, Boycie and, of course, Buster, the greatest canine star since Lassie. In addition, Paul shares some of his favourite recipes, explores country lore and superstitions, and extols the benefits of growing your own vegetables, herbs and fruit.This is a warts-and-all account of country living, as far removed from the bright lights of celebrity as you could ever imagine. The trials and tribulations Paul experienced on moving to deepest darkest Kent as a dyed-in-the-wool city dweller are every bit as hilarious and eventful as you would think. He had a lot of new skills to learn, and fast: everything from how to churn your own butter and how to birth a lamb to the best way to lure a cow out of your kitchen while naked from the waist down.Brilliantly funny and full of classic stories, Paul O’Grady’s Country Life is your armchair guide to the wonders and horrors of rural existence._____________________________Readers love Paul O’Grady’s Country Life:***** ‘This book is excellent. It will make you laugh out loud and it will make you cry.’***** ‘Delightful read. An insight into Paul O’Gradys country life, told in his true fashion. Couldn’t put it down!’***** ‘I think he has a gift of compassion for animals as well as people and it always shines through.’
Paul Weller - The Changing Man
by Paolo HewittPaolo Hewitt has known Paul Weller since they were both teenagers in the depths of Woking, through his ascent to fame with The Jam, the halcyon years of The Style Council and for all of his critically acclaimed solo career. Hewitt has even been the inspiration for some of Weller's songs - and he has extraordinary in-depth knowledge of the inspiration behind the rest.Once, when Hewitt interviewed Weller for a music magazine, he complained - 'I don't know why people ask me all these questions. All the answers are in my songs.' Largely unnoticed, Weller has used thirty-years of lyrics to explore his personal history and beliefs. Taking as his starting point these lyrics, alongside a lifetime's friendship, Paolo Hewitt shows us the real Paul Weller, the man inside the music.
Pavel's Letters
by Monika MaronTeasing her family's past out of the fog of oblivion and lies, one of Germany's greatest writers asks about the secrets families keep, about the fortitude of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and about what becomes of the individual mind when the powers that be turn against it.Born in a working-class suburb of wartime Berlin, Monika Maron grew up a daughter of the East German nomenklatura, despairing of the system her mother, Hella, helped create. Haunted by the ghosts of her Baptist grandparents, she questions her mother, whose selective memory throws up obstacles to Maron's understanding of her grandparents' horrifying denouement in Polish exile. Maron reconstructs their lives from fragments of memory and a forgotten box of letters. In telling her family's powerful and heroic story, she has written a memoir that has the force of a great novel and also stands both as an elaborate metaphor for the shame of the twentieth century and a life-affirming monument to her ancestors.
The Paw House
by Megan RixHamish's summer isn't going as planned. First, his parents left him to go on a business trip to Japan, and now he's found himself stuck in the Scottish highlands with an aunt he's never met, a grumpy girl called Izzy, and a lot of animals. He's never even stroked a dog - what on earth is he supposed to do here? Before long Hamish finds himself taking the dogs for walks, adopting a piglet, even rescuing a tiny puppy in the dead of night. But something's not right: Aunt Helen is worried about the future of the sanctuary, and with more animals in need arriving every day, something's got to be done before they lose their home forever. With the help of some unexpected new friends, can Hamish save the animals and turn the fate of the Paw House around?
The Payback: (Dennis Milne: book 3): a punchy, race-against-time thriller from bestselling author Simon Kernick (Dennis Milne #3)
by Simon KernickA gripping thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick, the UK's answer to Harlan Coben."Pace, pace pace is what Kernick does best" - DAILY MIRROR"Delights, excites and stimulates, and the only reason you consume it so quickly is because it's so damn good" - GQ"Fast moving and a gripping race to the dénouement." -- ***** Reader review"Great read, Simon Kendrick is a fantastic writer, kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through this book, couldn't wait to read every page." -- ***** Reader review"Completely compelling" -- ***** Reader review**************************************************************TWO COPS. ONE CITY. NO MERCY.Dennis Milne is a former cop and part-time assassin. He kills the bad guys - people who, in his opinion, deserve to die. Now he's in Manila, waiting for his next target: a young woman who's made some deadly enemies.DI Tina Boyd is in Manila hunting down the man responsible for the death of her lover. She knows he's dangerous. She knows he's ruthless. But she's determined to bring him to justice - even if it kills her.Two cops with pasts that haunt them - and a present that could see them both dead.They are about to meet.And when they do, it's payback time.
Paying for It: How Turning Tricks Paid the Mortgage, Kept the Kids in Trainers and Gave Me Back My Life
by Scarlett O'KellyCombining the sexual frankness of Fifty Shades of Grey and of Belle de Jour's writing, with the fascinating insights of What the Nanny Saw, Scarlett O'Kelly's memoir of her year as a high-end escort, Paying For It, is an explicit, astonishing and compulsive story of living a double life .Facing financial meltdown, mother of three Scarlett O'Kelly did what the average woman would find unthinkable: she set herself up a sex worker. There was the sex, which, surprisingly for Scarlett, could have unexpected pleasures. Then the clients - ordinary men who worried that they had to hide their sexual needs, desires and fantasies from their wives or girlfriends. Not to mention her realisation that women just like her could build stronger relationships if they could let go their hang-ups in and out of bed. And there's the high price Scarlett paid for her double life - one she is still coming to terms with.Paying For It is a raw, intimate and powerful story of one brave woman's sacrifice in a time of hardship. It is a searingly honest and truly eye-opening account of modern life and what really goes on in couples' bedrooms.It is also an intriguing and risqué account of one woman's sexual odyssey - from her decision to make money from sex to her realisation that she had become sexually liberated in the process.Scarlett O'Kelly is a middle class everywoman - and her clients were ordinary middle class men - so this is an intriguing picture of a side of life that is usually hidden.
Peace Is Possible: Thoughts on happiness, success and relationships for a deeper understanding of life
by Prem RawatA calming collection of allegories, and illustrations from a world-renowned peace ambassador.Global peace ambassador Prem Rawat has spent his entire life travelling the world to deliver one timeless message: Peace is Possible. Conflict, he explains, takes place at three levels: between countries, between people, and finally within each of us as individuals. These levels are all interconnected. Hence the conflict that rages within a person will lead them to seek out conflict with another. Similarly, conflict between people of one nation is likely to result in conflict between many nations. So the first step to world peace is a simple one: we must first find peace within ourselves. Peace is Possible draws together age-old stories which, as they have been passed down over generations, inspired and transformed the lives of millions. From the power of adaptability, to the importance of trust, to the sticking-place of courage, these are the messages that will change the world. For good.
Peace Work (Spike Milligan War Memoirs)
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'I had not informed my parents of my return, I wanted it to be a lovely surprise; it was, for me, they were away ...' The seventh and last volume of Spike Milligan's memoirs sees our hero returning from war and Italy ... but to what? Aside from shooting large, inaccurate guns at Germans, all he has done for five long years is blow a trumpet, tell rude jokes and write and perform sketches for the entertainment of bored and murderous soldiers - who on earth is going to pay a civilian to do more of that? From the giddy heights of Hackney Empire to a Zurich Freak Show and beyond, Spike makes his way through the backwaters of showbiz, first as band musician then as one-man wild-act and eventually in the company of a group of like-minded comedians called Harry Secombe, Michael Bentine and Peter Sellers. They decide to call themselves The Goons...'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 Pearly Queen: a heartwarming and touching saga you won’t want to put down…
by Mary Jane StaplesA wonderfully warm, uplifting and moving saga from multi-million copy seller Mary Jane Staples. Perfect for fans of Maggie Ford, Kitty Neale and Katie Flynn. Perfect to settle down with!READERS ARE LOVING THE PEARLY QUEEN!'I couldn't put it down' - 5 STARS'I really enjoyed this book from start to finish' - 5 STARS'Good plot and believable characters. Thoroughly enjoyed this book' - 5 STARS'Fantastic' - 5 STARS'A very light and refreshing story!' - 5 STARS*******************************************************************CAN SHE BE THE MOTHER THEY SO DESPERATELY NEED?The Pearly Queen is really Aunt Edie. Everyone in Camberwell Green loves her Aunt Edie - especially the Andrews family.Jack Andrews is having a tough time. Not long after he came back from the First World War, his wife decides to leave him and their three children to join Father Peter's League of Repenters - never to return.Jack and the children manage as best they can, but things are pretty tough until Aunt Edie turns up. Having failed to convince her cousin, Maud Andrews, to come back, Edie moves in and takes over the Andrews family. For the first time in years life begin to look good again.Aunt Edie: warm, generous, kind, and, above all, their very own Pearly Queen.
The Peasants
by Wladyslaw ReymontOne of Poland's most engrossing twentieth-century epics, by the 1924 winner of the Nobel Prize for LiteratureIn the village of Lipce, scandal, romance and drama crackle in every hearth. Boryna, a widower and the village's wealthiest farmer, has taken the young and beautiful Jagusia as his bride - but she only has eyes for his impetuous son Antek. Over the course of four seasons - Autumn to Summer - the tangled skein of their story unravels, watched eagerly by the other peasants: the gossip Jagustynka, pious Roch, hot-blooded Mateusz, gentle Witek ... Richly lyrical and thrillingly realist, at turns comic, tragic and reflective, Wladyslaw Reymont's magnum opus is a love song to a lasting dream of rural Poland, and to the eternal, timeless matters of the heart.
Peckham Patter: The Complete Wit and Wisdom of Only Fools
by Dan SullivanFOREWORD BY SIR DAVID JASONAs Macbeth said to Hamlet in Midsummer Night's Dream, 'we've been done up like a couple of kippers - DelIn this pukka 42-carat gold-plated bargain, you have the wit and wisdom of Del Boy, Rodney, Albert, Boycie and Trigger at your disposal. Packed with all the funniest and most memorable lines from the classic British sit-com as it turns 40, this quote book is the crème de la menthe. Never be caught short again.Let's face it Del, most of your phrases come out of a Citroen manual - Rodney
The Peculiar Triumph Of Professor Branestawm
by Hunter Norman HunterHe's madly sane and cleverly dotty. He's the craziest genius you'll ever meet and he's about to cause havoc in Pagwell with his wild inventions . . . The lovable Professor Branestawm, with his five pairs of spectacles and his pockets full of all manner of things, is back!Norman Hunter's irrepressible humour packs every page and the illustrations (by the well-known cartoonist, George Adamson) entirely capture the eccentricity of the Professor and the hilarity of his incredible adventures.
The Peel Sessions: A story of teenage dreams and one man's love of new music
by Ken GarnerThis is a story of teenage dreams, which, as any Peel fan knows, are hard to beat. Between 1967 and 2004 John Peel picked over 2000 bands to come and record over 4000 sessions to be played on his radio show. Many were young and had never been in a recording studio before, for some it was the start of an illustrious career, for others it was the only recognition their musical talent ever got. For over 35 years the cream of British musical talent made the journey to the BBC's studio in Maida Vale, from Pink Floyd to Pulp, the Small Faces to the Smiths. And because John Peel was so respected his sessions took on a legendary status - they were a rite of passage that every new band wanted to go through. Unfettered by commerical pressure the Peel Sessions were a unique British institution - an archive of music that reflects one man's passion for finding and encouraging new music.Includes a full sessionography listing songs, band members and broadcast dates.Jarvis Cocker writing about his first Peel Session aged 18 (Wayne the drummer was 15):'We travelled down to Maida Vale in a van driven by a very strange man we'd contacted via a card pinned to the Virgin record shop noticeboard. We'd had to borrow lots of equipment from a band called The Naughtiest Girl Was a Monitor 'cause we didn't have enough stuff of our own. The session was to be produced by Dale Griffin, who used to be the drummer in Mott the Hoople; I seem to remember that he was wearing cowboy boots.I think the crisis point came when Wayne was attempting to get a home-made synth-drum to work that a friend of his at school had made out of a rubber burglar-alarm mat and an old electronic calculator - Dale Griffin looked at this 15-year-old kid crouching on the floor bashing what looked like a doormat with some wires coming out of it and just put his head in his hands. But to his credit, the session did get finished and after it, everything else started for me...'
Peep Show
by Mathilde MaddenNaughty Imogen likes to watch. When her boyfriend Christian is out at work she spends her evenings spying on the neighbors through binoculars and viewing her secret porn collection. Most of all, though, she likes to go online and pretend to be Christian while she chats up men on a Manchester gay dating site.But when her latest virtual beau and borderline obsession 'Dark Knight' asks for a photograph, her voyeuristic games become complicated. Suddenly Christian is being drawn into her sleazy thrills without his knowledge. Imogen's getting more eye candy than she ever dreamed of, but at what price?
Peer Gynt and Brand
by Henrik IbsenA new Penguin edition of Ibsen's two great verse plays, in masterful versions by one of our greatest living poets, Geoffrey Hill. These two powerful and contrasting verse dramas by Ibsen made his reputation as a playwright. The fantastical adventures of the irrepressible Peer Gynt - poet, idler, procrastinator, seducer - draw on Norwegian folklore to conjure up mountains, kidnappings, shipwrecks and trolls in an exuberant examination of truth and the self; while Brand, an unsparing vision of an idealistic priest who lives by his steely faith, explores free will and sacrifice. This volume brings together the poet Geoffrey Hill's acclaimed stage version of Brand with a new poetic rendering of Peer Gynt, published for the first time.This Penguin edition includes an interview with Geoffrey Hill about recreating Ibsen in English, an introduction by Janet Garton and editorial materials by Tore Rem.
The Pelvic Floor Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Prevent and Cure Problems at Every Stage in Your Life
by Jane SimpsonHave you ever laughed so much you wet yourself - just a little bit? Or found yourself crossing your legs on the doorstep frantically searching for your keys? Do you get up at night to go to the toilet more than once?An estimated 200 million people around the world suffer from some form of urinary incontinence. It's an embarrassing problem that affects women disproportionately as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. In The Pelvic Floor Bible, Jane Simpson argues that it's time for us all to feel the squeeze and celebrate the wonder of our pelvic floor muscles. She shows you how to incorporate pelvic floor exercises as part of your daily routine in order to prevent issues in later life and cure existing problems now. Learn how to treat common problems such as stress incontinence, overactive bladder and prolapse, get back into shape post-pregnancy and enjoy a healthy sex life at every stage of your life. Incontinence is both preventable and curable through pelvic floor exercises and rehabilitation but too many people assume nothing can be done, follow incorrect advice or are ashamed to seek help. We need to end the taboo now.
The Pendulum Book
by Jack F ChanduThe science of using a pendulum or a divining road, also known as dowsing, consists of obtaining information from or through the subconscious, by subconsciously making a pendulum or divining rod move. From finding lost objects to making contact with your subconscious, once you have mastered the use of the pendulum you will find countless opportunities for its use.These step-by-step instructions and exercises are easy to follow. Most people find that they achieve results by the third day of practice. No special aptitude is required; anyone who is prepared to apply themselves seriously will learn how to use the pendulum successfully.
The Penguin Book of Baby Names
by David PickeringOf all the decisions a new parent makes, choosing that special name is the most significant and the most rewarding. A new reference book for prospective parents, this clear, helpful and easy-to-use A-Z guide gives you thousands of brilliant suggestions for picking the perfect name for your new arrival. It also includes appendices of the top ten names through the centuries and the most popular celebrity names.
The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need To Know To Play Over 250 Games
by David ParlettThe Penguin Book of Card Games is the authoritative up-to-date compendium, describing an abundance of games to be played both for fun and by serious players.Auctions, trumpless hands, cross-ruffing and lurching: card players have a language all of their own. From games of high skill (Bridge) to games of high chance (Newmarket) to trick-taking (Whist) and banking (Pontoon), David Parlett, seasoned specialist in card games, takes us masterfully through the countless games to choose from.Not content to merely show us games with the conventional fifty-two card pack, Parlett covers many games played with other types of cards - are you brave enough to play with Tarot? With a 'working description' of each game, with the rules, variations and origins of each, as well as an appendix of games invented by the author himself, The Penguin Book of Card Games will delight, entertain and inform both the novice and the seasoned player.
The Penguin Book of Caribbean Verse in English
by Paula BurnettOver the last few decades Caribbean writers - performance poets, newspaper poets, singer-songwriters - have created a genuinely popular art form, a poetry heard by audiences all over the world. At the same time, even at its most literary, Caribbean poetry shares the vigour of the oral tradition. Writers like Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott, and many other exciting new voices, are exploring ways of capturing the vitality of the spoken word on the page. Both of these traditions are represented in this lively anthology, which traces Caribbean verse from its roots to the present.
The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories: From Hans Christian Andersen to Angela Carter
by Hans Christian Andersen and Angela CarterThe perfect gift this Christmas season: a generous selection of some of the greatest festive stories of all timeThis is a collection of the most magical, moving, chilling and surprising Christmas stories from around the world, taking us from frozen Nordic woods to glittering Paris, a New York speakeasy to an English country house, bustling Lagos to midnight mass in Rio, and even outer space. Here are classic tales from writers including Truman Capote, Shirley Jackson, Dylan Thomas, Saki and Chekhov, as well as little-known treasures such as Italo Calvino's wry sideways look at Christmas consumerism, Wolfdietrich Schnurre's story of festive ingenuity in Berlin, Selma Lagerlof's enchanted forest in Sweden, and Irène Nemerovsky's dark family portrait. Featuring santas, ghosts, trolls, unexpected guests, curmudgeons and miracles, here is Christmas as imagined by some of the greatest short story writers of all time.
The Penguin Book of Classical Myths
by Jennifer MarchThe figures and events of classical myths underpin our culture and the constellations named after them fill the night sky. Whether it’s the raging Minotaur trapped in the Cretan labyrinth or the twelve labours of Hercules, Aphrodite’s birth from the waves or Zeus visiting Danae as a shower of gold, the mythology of Greece and Rome is full of unforgettable stories. All the stories of the Greek tragedies – Oedipus, Medea, Antigone – are there; all the events of the Trojan wars and of Odysseus and Aeneas’ epic journeys; the founding of Athens and of Rome… These are the strangest tales of love, war, betrayal and heroism ever told and, while brilliantly retelling them, this book shows how they echo through the works of much later writers from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Camus and Ted Hughes. Full of attractive illustrations and laid out in eighteen clear chapters (the titles include ‘Dangerous Women’ and ‘Heroes’), Dr Jennifer March has written a fascinating guide to the myths of classical civilization that is as readable as a novel.
The Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories (Penguin Modern Classics)
by Joost Zwagerman'The stories here will provoke, delight and impress. Joost Zwagerman's selection forms a fascinating guidebook to a landscape you'll surely want to wander in again.' Clare Lowden, TLS'There is a lot of northern European melancholy in the collection, though often tinged with wry humour...an excellent book' Jonathan Gibbs, Minor Literatures'We were kids - but good kids. If I may say so myself. We're much smarter now, so smart it's pathetic. Except for Bavink, who went crazy'A husband forms gruesome plans for his new fridge; a government employee has a haunting experience on his commute home; prisoners serve as entertainment for wealthy party guests; an army officer suffers a monstrous tropical illness. These short stories contain some of the most groundbreaking and innovative writing in Dutch literature from 1915 to the present day, with most pieces appearing here in English for the first time. Blending unforgettable snapshots of the realities of everyday life with surrealism, fantasy and subversion, this collection shows Dutch writing to be an integral part of world literary history.Joost Zwagerman (1963-2015) was a novelist, poet, essayist and editor of several anthologies. He started his career as a writer with bestselling novels, describing the atmosphere of the 1980s and 1990s, such as Gimmick!(1988) and False Light (1991). In later years, he concentrated on writing essays - notably on pop culture and visual arts - and poetry. Suicide was the theme of the novel Six Stars (2002). He took his own life just after having published a new collection of essays on art, The Museum of Light.