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Your Pregnancy Companion: Everything you need to know about pregnancy, birth and the first weeks of parenthood
by Zita WestYour Pregnancy Companion is an informative and reassuring guide to pregnancy, birth and the first weeks with your baby. Full of the latest essential information and expert advice, it will help you to prepare yourself for motherhood and give your baby the best start in life.Zita also includes her own unique methods and advice which make her so successful with her clients’ pregnancies, such as relaxation techniques to prepare for birth, simple Mind-Body-Baby exercises to start bonding with your baby during pregnancy, and information on nutrition to help control morning sickness, sleep well and feel more energetic. Your Pregnancy Companion includes:· Stage-by-stage photographs of your developing baby · What to eat to stay healthy and help your baby develop· What to expect from antenatal care· How to prepare yourself physically and mentally for the birth· Information on genetics· Sections for expectant dads and preparing for fatherhood· Specific advice for mothers who have had IVF, have a higher risk pregnancy or who are expecting twins· Q&A sections to answer common questions and concerns· Essential advice to help you through the first weeks of parenthood, including breast- and bottle-feeding, promoting good sleep, keeping your baby clean and comfortable, ‘baby blues’/ PND, understanding your baby’s cries and having fun with your babyThis is the perfect companion to help you prepare yourself physically and mentally for the most incredible and unique time in your life.
The Instant Dream Book
by Tony CrispTony Crisp brings a new approach to dreams in this fascinating and important book. Instead of attempting to explain the lengthy process of interpreting one's dreams, he details techniques we can use for their instant understanding and use.Some of these techniques such as Key Words, he has developed through working with the dreams sent in by hundreds of readers of The Daily Mail and SHE magazine to which he contributes regular articles.Through the use of these techniques one can stimulate the massive, computer-like ability of the subconscious to solve problems of work, sex and self-confidence. Dreams can also be used to assess a new job, a marriage partner, decisions, or give a health check.Later chapters explore the relationship between dreams and little-used mental abilities, and the inner and spiritual life of human beings. Tony Crisp sees the dream as a link between drams and self and Cosmos, which he believes to be the basis for a real spiritual life for men and women.
A Cautious Approach
by Stanley MiddletonShortly before his death last year, Stanley Middleton completed this, his last novel, which concludes a unique depiction of middle-class life in 'Middle England', quietly and cumulatively over many volumes and decades. Once again we are in Beechnall, the constant setting of Stanley Middleton's novels, and his sense of place and his feeling for his characters remains as strong as ever. At the heart of A Cautious Approach is a tentative love story, which begins when two lonely men meet, out walking on Christmas Day: Andy invites George home, and there he meets the captivating Mirabel, Andy's former fiancée. George has been a teacher, but ill health has deprived him of his career and confidence, and he has retrained as a postman. This chance encounter, and others that follow, have the potential to shift George's life, and soon he is drawn into a set of uncertain relationships in which past experience, present stoicism and future expectation all play a part. As ever, but here for the last time, Stanley Middleton's bold experimentation with flashbacks, and the embedding of one scene or dialogue within another, gives added density to his depiction of ordinary, defiantly unfashionable human lives.
Diaries Volume One: Prelude to Power (The Alastair Campbell Diaries #1)
by Alastair CampbellAs Alastair Campbell said in the introduction to The Blair Years, it was always his intention to publish the full version, covering his time as spokesman and chief strategist to Tony Blair. Prelude to Power is the first of four volumes, and covers the early days of New Labour, culminating in their victory at the polls in 1997.Volume 1 details the extraordinary tensions between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as they resolved the question as to which one should stand to become Labour leader. It shows that right from the start, relations at the top were prone to enormous strain, suspicions and accusations of betrayal. Yet it also shows the political and personal bonds that tied them together, and which made them one of the most feared and respected electoral machines anywhere in the world. A story of politics in the raw, Prelude to Power is above all an intimate, detailed portrait of the people who have done so much to shape modern history.
Before I Forget
by Fiona PhillipsFiona Phillips is one of our best-loved television presenters. Well-known for being warm, chatty and down to earth, she attended her local comprehensive in Southampton before studying English in Birmingham. For over twelve years she presented GMTV, during which time she interviewed some of the most famous and influential people on the planet, from film stars to royalty, politicians to local heroes. But in August 2008 Fiona announced that she was to quit the job she loved, revealing that her father, Phil, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's just a year after her mother had died of the same disease and that she had decided to devote more time to him and to her family. Before I Forget is a wonderfully honest account of growing up in the 1960s and 70s within a complex family. During her childhood her father could sometimes be distant and demanding which both saddened her and drove her to succeed, her mother always the devoted wife and the steady heart of the family. When Fiona lands the job at GMTV she revels in how proud they are of her achievement. When her mother and then her father succumb to Alzheimer's we share in Fiona's sadness as she movingly describes watching them fade away, one moment interviewing George Clooney the next taking a call from Pembrokeshire Social Services to say that her mother had wandered away from her care home.Before I Forget is an extraordinary book which will resonate with Fiona's millions of fans and the millions of people who day-by-day are going through, or have gone through, the same experiences.
The Finest Type of English Womanhood
by Rachel HeathIt is 1946, and seventeen-year-old Laura Telling is stagnating in her dilapidated Sussex family home, while her eccentric parents slip further into isolation. A chance encounter with Paul Lovell offers her the chance to alter the course of her destiny - and to embark on a new life in South Africa. Many miles north, sixteen-year-old Gay Gibson is desperate to escape Birkenhead. When the girls' paths cross in Johannesburg, Laura is exposed to Gay's wild life of parties and inappropriate liaisons. Each in their own worlds, but thrown together, the girls find their lives inextricably entangled, with fatal consequences...
Dance While You Can
by Susan LewisIt all started with a silly prank, a play and a dance - a love so enduring, so indestructible that it would survive against all odds.Elizabeth Sorrill is the junior matron at Foxton's élite School for Boys. Blessed with the kind of beauty others only dream about, her attractions prove irresistible to Alexander Belmayne, the seventeen-year-old son of the Lord Chief Justice. But their passionate affair is shortlived as bitter lies and scandal force them apart.Angry and frustrated at Oxford, Alexander thrives on his reputation as a heartbreaker, until Bohemian beauty Jessica Poynter draws him into a fast life of glittering excess and depravity in London's high society. But when a chance meeting brings Alexander and Elizabeth together again, their passionate reunion leads to a breathtaking crime fired by an overwhelming obsession - a hatred so violent it knows no limits...
Darkest Longings
by Susan LewisClaudine Rafferty is rich, reckless and beautiful. So when she throws herself into an arranged marriage with the eminently eligible but notorious François de Lorvoire, everyone in Paris is amazed. Determined to cope with François's cruelty and indifference, Claudine soon finds herself driven to find love in the arms of Armand St Jacques, one of her husband's vignerons.But all is not what it seems in the de Lorvoire family. As Claudine learns more of Francois's sinister past, she also inherits some of his most dangerous enemies. And against a background of betrayal and conspiracy, she forced to learn not only whom she can trust, but also whom she really loves...
Last Resort
by Susan LewisWhen Penny Moon is banished from Fleet Street to ressurect an ex-pat magazine on the French Riviera, the worst news is yet to come. Her partner will be David Villers, the man she once tried - and humiliatingly failed - to seduce.But when she arrives at the Riviera, she is surprised to find that, instead of the usual headaches and frustrations of restarting a magazine, all that should be impossible is easy. Then, quite unexpectedly, she meets Christian Mureau, a mysterious and elusive man who is wanted by the FBI, and her curiosity is instantly clouded by passion.Swept along by the glamour and intrigue of Mureau's life and increasingly affected by David's charm and humour, Penny finds her loyalties as mixed as her feelings. Feelings which lead her deeper and deeper into a web of love and deceit towards the terrifying consequences of two men's crimes - and beyond...
Chasing Dreams
by Susan LewisGrowing up in a small town, Sandy Paull dreams of something better. When she lands a job with one of London's leading theatrical agencies her dreams appear to be coming true, particularly when she meets Michael McCann, her handsome and dynamic boss.Ellen Shelby, as a highly respected and successful agent, has Hollywood at her feet. But she is as insecure with relationships as she is confident with deals. And when she meets her British rival, Michael McCann, there is a powerful attraction between them that they are powerless to deny.But Michelle, the woman Michael once loved and lost, still haunts his thoughts. And when a dramatic event pulls him back into the past, a nightmare of untenable proportions begins to close in on those he loves...
The Hornbeam Tree (Laurie Forbes and Elliott Russell #4)
by Susan LewisJust as celebrated columnist Katie Kiernan thinks life is over, it suddenly arrives on her doorstep in the shape of her sister Michelle, and all the intrigue Michelle brings with her. Friction, resentment and old jealousies make life in their house doubly challenging, as Katie struggles to cope with a rebellious teenager and Michelle longs for the man she has left behind. After a devastating betrayal Laurie Forbes is trying to rebuild her relationship with Elliot Russell, when she is plunged into a whirlwind of passion that threatens to tear them apart completely. Top journalist, Tom Chambers, the man Michelle left behind, faces the greatest challenge of his career when highly classified documents fall into his hands. Realizing how explosive the material is, Tom calls upon Elliot Russell to help with the investigation, and very quickly they are caught up in the deadly efforts to stop them going to print.
Intimate Strangers (Laurie Forbes and Elliott Russell #3)
by Susan LewisInvestigative journalist, Laurie Forbes, is planning her wedding to Elliot Russell, when she receives a tip-off that a group of illegally smuggled women is being held somewhere in the East End of London. During her search unexpected and devastating events begin throwing her own life into chaos, so fellow journalist, Sherry MacElvoy steps in to help. Taking on undercover roles to get to the heart of the ruthless gang of human-traffickers, neither reporter can even begin to imagine what dangers they are about to face. Neela is one of the helpless Indian girls being held in captivity. Her fear is not only for herself, but her six-year-old niece, Shaila. A disfiguring birthmark has so far saved Neela from the abuse, but she knows it is only a matter of time before she is sent for - and worse, before Shaila is taken. Her desperate bids to seek outside help are constantly thwarted, until finally she, and the women with her, agree there is only one way out ...
Just One More Day: A Memoir
by Susan LewisIn 1960s Bristol, a family is overshadowed by tragedyWhile Susan, a typically feisty seven-year-old, is busy being brave, her mother, Eddress, is struggling for courage. Though bound by an indestructible love, their journey through a world that is darkening with tragedy is fraught with the kind of misunderstandings that bring as much laughter as pain, and as many dreams as nightmares. How does a child cope when faced with a wall of adult secrets? What does a mother do when her biggest fear starts to become a reality? Because it's the Sixties, and because it's shameful to own up to feelings, Eddress tries to deny the truth, while Susan creates a world that will never allow her mother to leave. Set in a world where a fridge is a luxury, cars have starting handles, and where bingo and coupons bring in the little extras, Just One More Day is a deeply moving true-life account, told by mother and daughter, of how the spectre of death moved into their family, and how hard they tried to pretend it wasn't there.
The Golden Cup: A Cornwall Family Saga
by Marcia Willett'Riveting, moving and utterly feel-good' Daily Mail ___________________Paradise has been home to generations of Trevannions: Paradise, the house at the head of a sheltered Cornish valley where Mrs Trevannion lives, surrounded by her family. Frail and elderly Honor Trevannion, bedridden following a nasty fall, is inexplicably anxious and distressed by the arrival of a young American bearing an old black and white photograph of a double wedding and looking for a long-lost relation. Her children Bruno and Emma, granddaughter Joss and faithful cousin Mousie try to nurse Honor back to health, unaware of the secrets which she keeps from those closest to her. Increasingly troubled and confused, she begs Joss to find a cache of letters which have been hidden for fifty years.Too late to hear the story from Honor herself, the family are faced with revelations which could destroy the tranquillity of life in their beloved valley. Will they be torn apart or can they unite in admiration for one woman's courage in standing by the life-changing decision she made so many years ago?___________________Praise for Marcia Willett:'A genuine voice of our time' The Times'Riveting, moving and utterly feel-good' Daily Mail
Homecoming Girls
by Val WoodHull, 1874. The beautiful, mysterious Jewel Newmarch, adopted as a baby, turns heads wherever she goes - her exotic looks point to her origins far away from the streets of Hull. Even at her cousin Elizabeth's wedding, she is the belle of the ball. But as she looks on at the happy, newly-married couple she feels a restlessness and intense longing to know her own roots.And so she decides to return to her birthplace in America, taking the bride's twin sister Clara as her companion. In discovering the mysteries of Jewel's past the girls realise that this is a life-changing voyage of discovery for both of them, as they learn important lessons about family, friendship, love and home. But most importantly, love...If you enjoy books by Katie Flynn and Dilly Court, you'll love Val's heartwarming stories of triumph over adversity.
Deep Jungle: Journey To The Heart Of The Rainforest
by Fred PearceDEEP JUNGLE is an exploration of the most alien and feared habitat on Earth. Starting with man's earliest recorded adventures, Fred Pearce journeys high into the canopy - home to two-thirds of all the creatures on our planet, many of whom never come down to earth. During his travels he encounters all manner of fantastic flora and fauna, including a frog that can glide from tree to tree, a spider that can drag live chickens into its burrow and a flower that smells of decaying flesh.It is in the jungle that Pearce discovers secrets about how evolution works, the intricate links that connect us all, and maybe even clues to where humans came from - here is the key to our future foods and medicines, our climate and our understanding of how life works. At the start of a new millennium Pearce asks why we continue to waste precious time - and billions of dollars - looking for signs of life elsewhere in our universe when the greatest range of life-forms that have ever existed lies right here on our doorstep. Today environmentalists say we are on the verge of destroying the last rainforests, and with them the planet's evolutionary crucible, and maybe even its ability to maintain life on Earth. But nature has a way of getting its own back. The Mayans and the people of Angkor went too far in manipulating nature and paid the ultimate price. Their civilisations died and the jungle returned. Nature reclaimed it's own and it may do so again ...
Defender of Rome: (Gaius Valerius Verrens 2): A heart-stopping and gripping novel of Roman adventure (Gaius Valerius Verrens #2)
by Douglas JacksonThis riveting and action-packed historical thriller from bestselling author Douglas Jackson is real edge of your seat stuff! Perfect for fans of Simon Scarrow and Ben Kane.Readers are loving Gaius Valerius Verrens! "Absolutely incredible." - 5 STARS."Gripping, violent and captivating." - 5 STARS."The best Roman historical series I've yet read. Just pips Ben Kane and Conn Iggulden." - 5 STARS **************************************************************Gaius Valerius Verrens returns to Rome from the successful campaign against Boudicca in Britain. But he is not the man he once was - scarred both physically and emotionally by the battles he has fought. And neither is Rome the same city as the one he left.The Emperor Nero grows increasingly paranoid. There is talk of a new threat, one found within the walls of Rome itself. A new religious sect, the followers of Christus, deny Nero's divinity and are rumoured to be spreading sedition.Nero calls on Valerius to seek out this rebel sect and to capture their leader. Failure would be to forfeit his life, and the lives of twenty thousand Judaeans living in Rome. But as Valerius begins his search, a quest which will take him to the edge of the empire, he will discover that success may cost him nearly as much as failure.Gaius Valerius Verrens's adventures continue in Avenger of Rome.
Horse Play: (Churchminster: book 5): a romantic, scandalous and sizzling rom-com – the perfect dose of escapism! (Churchminister #5)
by Jo CarnegieIf you like Jilly Cooper, you will love this naughty, funny and deliciously addictive read from much loved author, Jo Carnegie.'Funny, saucy escapism' -- Heat'Sexy, sassy and scandalous' Glamour'The sort of book you lose yourself in' -- ***** Reader review'Total escapism and very, very funny' -- ***** Reader review'Absolutely loved it' -- ***** Reader review'A fantastic read' -- ***** Reader review******************************************************************************************************ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE COUNTRY...SO BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!Churchminster village - picturesque, quaint, sleepy - OR NOT...A place where women know exactly what they want, and it's not cream tea with the vicar.And a place where the men had better behave . . . because the ladies won't take it lying down (well, not unless they want to!)
The Last Wolf
by Michael MorpurgoMichael Morpurgo has created a sweeping and dramatic story in the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie. This spellbinding tale is complemented perfectly by Michael Foreman's illustrations.Robbie McLeod and a wolf cub, both orphaned, venture far from their birthplace, a land of rebellious fighters and vicious redcoats. There is little constancy in Robbie's adventurous life, save for the companionship of his wolf. But when at last Robbie finds a place where he can peacefully make his home, he knows in his heart that the wolf must find his own natural home too . . .
Here Comes Charlie Moon
by Shirley HughesCharlie Moon's Auntie Jean runs a joke shop at the seaside. Charlie loves to go and stay there and try out the comic hats, masks, rubber spiders, fake flowers that squirt water, and cushions that squeak when you sit on them...even when his clever cousin Ariadne is staying, too.
The Charlie Moon Collection
by Shirley HughesCharlie gets into all sorts of sticky situations when his seaside summer holiday turns into a missing jewellery mystery - and detective Charlie finds himself in the middle of a muddle once again when a gang of bungling burglars threatens to spoil the Big Library Bonanza . . .
Daisy and the Trouble with Life (A Daisy Story #1)
by Kes GrayThe trouble with life is it's SOOOOOOOOO unfair. Daisy's been grounded. No HOPPING or SKIPPING, FLYING or PARACHUTING. She's lucky she's even been allowed out of her bedroom after what she's done. But what HAS she done that is SOOOOOOOOOOO naughty? You'll have to read the book to find out!
The Hunt in the Forest
by John BurnsideTaking its title from Uccello's famous painting of a band of men - on foot and on horseback - massing for the chase, John Burnside's new poems take us on a journey out of the light and into the darkness, where we may just as easily lose ourselves as find what we are looking for. In these poems of hunting and predation, Burnside explores our most deep-rooted and primeval pursuits: romantic love, memory, selfhood, grief, the recollection of the dead. Yet just as we seek, so are we sought out: at any moment we may slide into loss or be gathered in by some otherworldly light; at any moment, the angel of the annunciation may seek us out and demand some astonishing transformation. Even in the pursuit of love, or in the exercise of memory, we fall into snares and become entangled in veils; just as we are always on the point of discovery, so we are always a hair's-breadth away from being lost. Concerned with love and mourning, with what we discover and what remains hidden - with learning how to follow the trail through the forest and find the way home - above all, these poems are about the quest: knowing that whatever we bring back from the hunt, it is always hard-won and never fully our own.With this extraordinary collection of fleet and deftly beautiful poems, John Burnside confirms his place at the forefront of writing, as one of a handful of truly important British poets working today.
The Art Of Life
by Paul DurcanIn The Art of Life Paul Durcan takes us around County Mayo in his "filthy, two-door, bottle-green Opel Astra", stopping off at Westport and Achill Island, where he declares himself to be "globally sad", but "locally glad". Next he travels east to Dublin to hold in his arms his newborn granddaughter and thence to Tuscany, Poland and Japan. Along the way he reflects upon parental pride, the aches and pains of old age, the trim bottoms of snooker players, the wisdom of ex-wives and dogs on Sandymount Strand, while introducing us to a host of colourful characters, including a bishop, a roofer, a milkman, a priest and an unmarried mother. Is there an art of living or is life a work of art? This magnificent collection - originally published on Paul Durcan's sixtieth birthday - reveals one of Ireland's most successful and popular poets at the height of his powers and continuing to challenge, amuse and delight.
Life is a Dream: 40 Years Reading Poems 1967-2007
by Paul DurcanFamous for his electrifying poetry readings, Paul Durcan marks four decades of composing silently and reciting aloud with this magnificent collection, which brings together for the first time the critically acclaimed poet's own choice of his work from his first book, Endsville (1967), to The Laughter of Mothers (2007). Life is a Dream represents the whole range of Durcan's writing - funny and subversive verse narratives and self-mocking poems of underachievement; poems celebrating love and sex or the lives of famous writers and artists; as well as tender, poignant verses commemorating the dead. Throughout his long career, Durcan has continued to make passionate and moving poetry out of his own and his country's misfortunes. He is by turns a surrealist, a mystic, an Irish comedian with perfect comic timing and an angry champion of the oppressed. Life is a Dream reaffirms the constant vision and artistic integrity of one of the most powerful, humane and original voices in modern poetry.