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The Country of the Pointed Firs and Other Stories: And Other Stories
by Sarah Orne JewettThe Country of Pointed Firs, Sarah Orne Jewett's masterpiece, established her among the consummate stylists of nineteenth-century American fiction. Composed in a series of beautiful web-like sketches, the novel is narrated by a young woman writer who leaves the city to work one summer in the Maine seaport of Dunnet Landing, and stays with the herbalist Mrs Almira Todd. She writes a New England idyll rooted in friendship, particularly female friendship, weaving stories and conversations, imagery of sea, sky and earth, the tang of salt air and aromatic herbs into an organic 'fiction of community' in which themes and form are exquisitely matched. To quote Willa Cather: 'The 'Pointed Fir' sketches are living things caught in the open, with light and freedom and air spaces about them. They melt into the land and the life of the land until they are not stories at all, but life itself'. This edition, introduced by Alison Easton, also includes ten of Sarah Orne Jewett's short stories, among them 'The Queen's Twin', 'The Foreigner' and 'William's Wedding' set in Dunnet Landing.
Crossing the Boundary
by Kevin PietersenDescribed by the media as 'the David Beckham of cricket', Kevin has become the poster boy for English cricket. But he is also in possession of a prodigious talent - fearless, bold and with unflappable nerves. His unique batting style has produced hundreds of runs and many outstanding innings, culminating in his extraordinary triumph at the 2005 Ashes. Yet with the highs, come the lows, and he gives his version of events during the 2006/07 Ashes when England were defeated by Australia.Crossing the Boundary recounts Kevin's remarkable journey so far - from growing up in his native South Africa and the opposition he faced from the national cricket board; his move to England and burgeoning career at Hampshire to winning a place on the England team. It provides a rare insight into the mind of an international cricketer, on and off the pitch. Reflecting his youthful charisma and his bullish confidence, this is a sporting memoir like no other.Full of personal anecdotes and insight from numerous sporting legends such as Shane Warne, Ian Botham, and Nasser Hussain, this is the riveting story of one of the most significant cricketers of our time.
The Country of the Blind and other Selected Stories
by H. G. WellsHerbert George Wells was perhaps best known as the author of such classic works of science fiction as The Time Machine and War of the Worlds. But it was in his short stories, written when he was a young man embarking on a literary career, that he first explored the enormous potential of the scientific discoveries of the day. He described his stories as "a miscellany of inventions," yet his enthusiasm for science was tempered by an awareness of its horrifying destructive powers and the threat it could pose to the human race. A consummate storyteller, he made fantastic creatures and machines entirely believable; and, by placing ordinary men and women in extraordinary situations, he explored, with humor, what it means to be alive in a century of rapid scientific progress.
Crossing Continents: A History of Standard Chartered Bank
by Duncan Campbell-SmithFor almost a hundred years from the 1860s, the City of London's overseas banks financed the global trade that lay at the core of the British Empire. Foremost among them from the beginning were two start-up ventures: the Standard Bank of South Africa, which soon developed a powerful domestic franchise at the Cape, and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China. This book traces their stories in the nineteenth century, their glory days before 1914 - and their remarkable survival in the face of global wars and the collapse of world trade in the first half of the twentieth century.The unravelling of the Empire after 1945 eventually forced Britain's overseas banks to confront a different future. The Standard and the Chartered, alarmed at the expansion of American banking, determined in 1969 on a merger as a way of sustaining the best of the City's overseas traditions. But from the start, Standard Chartered had to grapple with the fading fortunes of its own inherited franchise - badly dented in both Asia and Africa - and with radical changes in the nature of banking. Its British managers, steeped in the past, proved ill-suited to the challenge. By the late 1980s, efforts to expand in Europe and the USA had brought the merged Group to the brink of collapse.Yet it survived - and then pulled off a dramatic recovery. Standard Chartered realigned itself, just in time, with the phenomenal growth of Asia's 'emerging markets', many of them in countries where the Chartered had flourished a century earlier. In the process, the Group was transformed. Trebling its workforce, it brushed aside the global financial crisis of 2008 and by 2012 could look back on a decade of astonishing growth. Recent times have added an eventful postscript to a long and absorbing history.Crossing Continents recounts Standard Chartered's story with a wealth of detail from one of the richest archives available to any commercial bank. The book also affords a rare and compelling perspective on the evolution of international trade and finance, showing how Britain's commercial influence has actually worked in practice around the world over one hundred and fifty years.
Country Matters
by Tesni MorganWhen Lorna Erskine inherits Hinton Priory - deep in the heart of rural England - she thinks she is set for a life of tranquillity and pastoral bliss. She's wrong. Her closest neighbour, Ryder Tyrell, is not the country gentleman he seems to be and is trying to lure Lorna into his elite cult of sexual excess.A ruthless businessman also has Lorna in his sights, and wants to build an exclusive leisure centre on her land. He sets out to seduce her - as does the darkly handsome architect who has been hired to restore the Priory; he has his own private reasons for wanting to possess her: body, mind and soul. The village is seething with intrigue, which can only escalate when Lorna discovers that paganism is thriving on her doorstep. Can she hold on to the Priory and her sanity?
The Crossing: My journey to the shattered heart of Syria
by Samar Yazbek'ONE OF THE FIRST POLITICAL CLASSICS OF THE 21st CENTURY'- Observer'EXTRAORDINARILY POWERFUL, POIGNANT AND AFFECTING. I WAS GREATLY MOVED' Michael PalinFOREWORD BY CHRISTINA LAMBJournalist Samar Yazbek was forced into exile by Assad's regime. When the uprising in Syria turned to bloodshed, she was determined to take action and secretly returned several times. The Crossing is her rare, powerful and courageous testament to what she found inside the borders of her homeland.From the first peaceful protests for democracy to the arrival of ISIS, she bears witness to those struggling to survive, to the humanity that can flower amidst annihilation, and why so many are now desperate to flee.
The Country House Revealed: A Secret History of the British Ancestral Home
by Dan CruickshankSpanning the architectural history of the country house from the disarming Elizabethan charm of South Wraxall, the classical rigour of Kinross in Scotland, the majesty and ingenuity of Hawksmoor's Easton Neston, the Palladian sweep of Wentworth Woodhouse, with over 300 rooms and frontage of 600 feet, the imperial exuberance of Clandeboye, through to the ebullient vitality of Lutyens' Marshcourt, the stories of these houses tell the story of our nation. All are the are buildings of the greatest architectural interest, each with a fascinating human story to tell, and all remain private homes that are closed to the public. But their owners have opened their doors and allowed Dan Cruickshank to roam the corridors and rummage in the cellars as he teases out the story of each house - who built them, the generations who lived in them, and the families who lost them. Along the way he has uncovered tales of excess and profligacy, tragedy, comedy, power and ambition. And as these intriguing narratives take shape, Dan shows how the story of each house is inseparable from the social and economic history of Britain. Each one is built as a wave of economic development crests, or crumbles. Each one's architecture and design is thus expressive of the aims, strengths and frailties of those who built them. Together they plot the psychological, economic and social route map of our country's ruling class in a rich new telling of our island story.
Cross My Heart
by Ferne McCannFerne McCann is a TV personality, style icon and influencer and for the first time she's telling her story.In Cross My Heart, Ferne tells her own story in her own words. She lifts the lid on love and heartbreak, the ups and downs behind the scenes of ITV''s much loved reality TV show, TOWIE and what really went on in the I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! jungle, the show that was the best thing that ever happened to her. It promises to be candid, moving and, above all, a story told with Ferne's characteristic wit and honesty.
The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain
by Ian JackIn this selection from over twenty years of reporting and writing, Ian Jack sets out to deal with contemporary Britain - from national disasters to football matches to obesity - but is always drawn back in time, vexed by the question of what came first. In 'Women and Children First', watching the film Titanic leads into an investigation into the legend of Wallace Henry Hartley, the famous band leader of the doomed liner, while 'The 12.10 to Leeds', a magnificent report on the Hatfield rail crash, begins its hunt for clues in the eighteenth century in the search for those responsible. Further afield, he finds vestiges of a vanished Britain in the Indian subcontinent, meeting characters like maverick English missionary and linguist William Carey, credited with importing India's first steam engine.Full of the style, knowledge and intimacy that makes his work so special, this collection is the perfect introduction to the work of one of the country's finest writers.
Crooked Talk: Five Hundred Years of the Language of Crime
by Jonathon GreenThe language of crime has a long and venerable history - in fact, the first collection of words specifically used by criminals, Hye-Way to the Spittel House, dates from as early as 1531. Jonathon Green is our national expert on slang, and in Crooked Talk he looks at five hundred years of crooks and conmen - from the hedge-creepers and counterfeit cranks of the sixteenth century to the blaggers and burners of the twenty-first - as well as the swag, the hideouts, the getaway vehicles and the 'tools of the trade'. Not to mention a substantial detour into the world of prisons that faced those unlucky enough to be caught by the boys in blue. If you have ever wondered when the police were first referred to as pigs, why prison guards became known as redraws, or what precisely the subtle art of dipology involves, then this book has all the answers.
Country Church Monuments
by C. B. NewhamA landmark illustrated history of rural church monuments - the forgotten national treasures of England and WalesDeep in the countryside, away from metropolitan abbeys and cathedrals, thousands of funerary monuments are hidden in parish churches. These artworks - medieval brasses and elegant marble effigies, stone tomb chests and grand mausoleums - are of great historical and cultural significance, but have, due to their relative inaccessibility, faded from accounts of our art history.Over twenty-five years, C. B. Newham FSA has visited and photographed more than eight thousand rural churches, cataloguing the monumental sculptures encountered on his quest. In Country Church Monuments, he presents 365 of the very best, each accompanied by detailed photographs, biographies of both the deceased and their sculptors and a wealth of contextual material. Many of these works commemorate famous historical figures, from scheming Tudor courtier Richard Rich to Victorian prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. But more moving are the countless others - minor aristocrats, small-time industrialists, much-loved mothers, fathers and children - who, if not for their memorials, would wholly be lost to time.As Newham blows the dust off these artworks and breathes life into the stories they tell, a new aesthetic history of rural England and Wales emerges. Country Church Monuments is a poignant record of the art we make at the borders of life and death, of our ceaseless human striving for eternity.
A Crooked Mile: An emotional and uplifting saga set in Bolton from bestselling author Ruth Hamilton
by Ruth HamiltonCatherine Cookson fans will love this heart-warming saga set in Lancashire from The Sunday Times bestseller Ruth Hamilton. You won't want to put it down... "Very much the successor to Catherine Cookson. Her books are plot driven, they just rip along; laughs, weeps, love, they've got the lot, and they're quality writing as well" - Sarah Broadhurst on Radio Four. "Gritty, down-to-earth writing and strong female characters have become the trademarks of her writing" -- Bookworld"I really do not know what to say about this book, it is the most moving story I have ever read. In places it made me laugh, and in many places it made me cry. Absolutely excellent." -- ***** Reader review."Another excellent book from Ruth Hamilton. I read every night in bed and am always reluctant to switch off my Kindle as I want to know what happens next in the story." -- ***** Reader review."Ruth Hamilton has exceeded all expectations [-] another successful novel..." -- ***** Reader review. "Really enjoying this book. Can't wait to pick it up again." -- ***** Reader review. **************************SHE'LL NEED ALL HER STRENGTH TO SURVIVE...Life is tough and conditions are squalid for the residents of Myrtle Street, in the shadow of the Althorpe mills.Joe Duffy, a Bolton tradesman, strives to lift his family out of the 'garden' streets. But as more children are born, Joe's wife Tess sinks deeper into the obsession that will be her undoing. Few people heed her ravings saying that the area is cursed. She is ignored, even as the Myrtle Street tragedies become more frequent and begin to feature in local gossip.It is left to Megan, the third Duffy child to end the curse. When she becomes embroiled in a web of deceit, Megan needs all her strength, talents, and wit in order to survive and ensure her family's stability and the future of the Althorpe cotton mills.
Confidence in a Minute
by Tony WrightonYou're about to discover the key to instant confidence. Offering quick-fix confidence boosts based on the principles of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), this easy-to-use, down-to-earth guide will enable you to overcome the key barriers to confidence that can affect all areas of your work and personal life, from big presentations to awkward social situations. You'll discover how to: -visualise success (rather than failure)-master body language-prepare effectively (rather than exhaustively) -harness your nerves, and much, much more. With Tony Wrighton's help you'll feel more confident in minutes, not weeks or months.
The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (C Oet T Oxford English Texts)
by Philip SidneyBasilus, a foolish old duke, consults an oracle as he imperiously wishes to know the future, but he is less than pleased with what he learns. To escape the oracle's horrific prophecies about his family and kingdom he withdraws into pastoral retreat with his wife and two daughters. When a pair of wandering princes fall in love with the princesses and adopt disguises to gain access to them, all manner of complications, both comic and serious, ensue. Part-pastoral romance, part-heroic epic, Sidney's long narrative work was hugely popular for centuries after its first publication in 1593, inspiring two sequels and countless imitations, and contributing greatly to the development of the novel.
The Confessions Of Robin Askwith
by Robin AskwithOf all the actors and personalities thrown up by that strangest of periods. The 1970s, surely Robin Askwith was one of the most 'of his time'? As star of the infamous CONFESSIONS films, as well as over 25 other movies, Askwith was huge. His cheeky, innocent face, his Mick Jagger lips and more often than not his bare arse -- he, possibly more than anyone else sums up a bygone era remembered fondly by millions. Today, Askwith is a cult figure. The CONFESSIONS films are still regular staples on British TV and around the world, especially in the Commonwealth countries. They are just as funny as they ever were -- classic camp British humour in the same language as the Carry On films. In this brilliant autobiography, the self-deprecating Askwith cuts straight to the chase, starting in the `70s as he auditions for CONFESSIONS OF A WINDOW CLEANER, moving on to CONFESSIONS OF A POP STAR and DRIVING INSTRUCTOR. His career was truly amazing and varied beyond belief. From IF. . . to NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDEF From CONFESSIONS to Zefferelli`s BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON and Pasolini CANTERBURY TALES. He was also great friends with the late Lindsay Anderson. In the end, Robin is most famous for his sex comedies and isn't embarrassed about it one jot. It`s a rollicking ride. Hold On Tight!
Countess Dracula
by Guy AdamsYou can do anything in Hollywood and be forgiven, anything except grow old...It’s the 1930s and cinema stands at the dawn of a new age, the silent era is all but dead, talkies are here and Technicolor is on its way. The whole world loves movie icons Frank Nayland and Elizabeth Sasdy, lapping up each new picture and following their romantic life story both on and off the screen. But all is not as perfect as it appears. Not only has the advent of talkies meant torturous sessions with a vocal coach to try and remove Sasdy’s Hungarian accent but she’s starting to spot the first few grey hairs, and the lines on her face get deeper every day. If she loses her looks she’ll lose everything, but even a woman as powerful as Elizabeth Sasdy can’t fight nature. Can she?A chance accident reveals the solution. But just how far is the Queen of Hollywood prepared to go to stay beautiful forever?
Confessions of an Italian
by Ippolito NievoAn overlooked classic of Italian literature, this epic and unforgettable novel recounts one man's long and turbulent life in revolutionary Italy.At the age of eighty-three and nearing death, Carlo Altoviti has decided to write down the confessions of his long life. He remembers everything: his unhappy childhood in the kitchens of the Castle of Fratta; romantic entanglements during the siege of Genoa; revolutionary fighting in Naples; and so much more. Throughout, Carlo lives only for his twin passions in life: his dream of a unified, free Italy and his undying love for the magnificent but inconstant Pisana. Peopled by a host of unforgettable characters - including drunken smugglers, saintly nuns, scheming priests, Napoleon and Lord Byron - this is an epic historical novel that tells the remarkable and inseparable stories of one man's life and the history of Italy's unification.Ippolito Nievo was born in 1831 in Padua. Confessions of an Italian, written in 1858 and published posthumously in 1867, is his best known work. A patriot and a republican, he took part with Garibaldi and his Thousand in the momentous 1860 landing in Sicily to free the south from Bourbon rule. Nievo died before he reached the age of thirty, when his ship, en route from Palermo to Naples, went down in the Tyrrhenian Sea in early 1861. He was, Italo Calvino once said, the sole Italian novelist of the nineteenth century in the 'daredevil, swashbuckler, rambler' mould so dear to other European literatures. Frederika Randall has worked as a cultural journalist for many years. Her previous translations include Luigi Meneghello's Deliver Us and Ottavio Cappellani's Sicilian Tragedee and Sergio Luzzatto's Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age.Lucy Riall is Professor of Comparative History at the European University Institute. Her many books include Garibaldi. Invention of a Hero. 'Of all the furore that came out of the Risorgimento, only Manzoni and Nievo really matter today' - Umberto Eco 'The one 19th century Italian novel which has [for an Italian reader] that charm and fascination so abundant in foreign literatures' - Italo Calvino 'Perhaps the greatest Italian novel of the nineteenth century' - Roberto Carnero 'A spirited appeal for liberté, égalité and fraternité, the novel is also an astute, scathing and amusing human comedy, a tale of love, sex and betrayal, of great wealth and grinding poverty, of absolute power and scheming submission, of idealism and cynicism, courage and villainy' - The Literary Encyclopedia
Countdown to Christmas: The most uplifting and feel-good Christmas romance book of 2023 from the bestselling author
by Jo ThomasThe queen of feel-good Christmas fiction returns with a snowy adventure to Canada!'If you love a rugged hero, a heroine you can relate to, a warm romantic story and a bit of armchair travel, Countdown to Christmas is for you!' Katie Fforde'It just wouldn't be Christmas without Jo's book in your stocking!' Jill Mansell-----------------------------------Chloe can't wait for Christmas . . . to be over! Her son Ruben is staying with his dad and Chloe is planning to ignore the holidays altogether. Her only festive touch is her son's advent calendar, to help count down the days till he's home again.But a surprise call changes everything. Chloe might be the unexpected owner of some land in Canada! Surely, it's a scam. Or could it be just the escape she needs right now? Ruben's latest note in the advent calendar tells her to 'say yes!'In a flash, Chloe's new countdown to Christmas involves a log cabin in the middle of a snowy forest, a community that's worried for its future, a gruff lumberjack who gives her butterflies and a lot of pancakes with maple syrup . . .For a happy Christmas read full of romance and festive surprises, choose Jo Thomas.Readers love Jo's books:'Bursting with flavour, adventure and romance' Ruth Jones'Jo sweeps you away to a better place with every book, which are always filled with warmth, love and a big spoonful of happiness' Veronica Henry'Sparkling, romantic, magical - and delicious' Milly Johnson
The Confessions of an English Slave
by Yolanda CelbridgeIntroduced to the joys of bare-bottom discipline by lustful ladies, naval cadet Philip Demesne, posted to the Far East, painfully learns true submission from the voluptuous dominatrix Galena, aboard her private carriage on the Trans-Siberian Express.Escaping from her lash, he is kidnapped to serve in an English School of female domination, transplanted to the emptiness of Siberia to escape do-gooding restrictions on corporal punishment. His male arrogance utterly crushed, Philip gladly submits to total enslavement by women with unlimited flagellant discipline.
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
by Thomas De Quincey"Thou has the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!" Determined to counter the lies about opium that had been told by travellers to the Orient and the medical profession, De Quincey describes his addiction, the consciousness alteringproperties of the drug, its pleasures and its pains.
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre DumasThe epic tale of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge, in its definitive translationThrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to use the treasure to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas' epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s.Translated with an Introduction by ROBIN BUSS
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
by Thomas De QuinceyWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HOWARD MARKSOnce upon a time, opium (the main ingredient of heroin) was easily available over the chemist's counter. The secret of happiness, about which philosophers have disputed for so many ages, could be bought for a penny, and carried in the waistcoat pocket: portable ecstasies could be corked up in a pint bottle. Paradise? So thought Thomas de Quincey, but he soon discovered that 'nobody will laugh long who deals much with opium'.
The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas**AS SEEN ON WRITE AROUND THE WORLD WITH RICHARD E GRANT**A brilliant story of intrigue, retribution, revenge and redemption.Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Edmond Dantès spends fourteen bitter years in a dungeon. When his daring escape plan works, he uses all he has learnt during his incarceration to mastermind an elaborate plan of revenge that will bring punishment to those he holds responsible for his fate. No longer the naïve sailor who disappeared into the dark fortress all those years ago, he reinvents himself as the charming, mysterious and powerful Count of Monte Cristo... 'Dumas is a master of ripping yarns full of fearless heroes, poisonous ladies and swashbuckling adventurers' Guardian
Confessions of an Air Ambulance Doctor
by Dr Tony BleetmanNote to customers: This book is also available under the title "You Can't Park There!: The Highs and Lows of an Air Ambulance Doctor". 'People get into this work for "the juice", meaning the adrenaline rush, but they don't tell you about the other juices - the mud, blood, snot and grot.' Confessions of an Air Ambulance Doctor is the first ever behind-the-scenes account of life onboard an air ambulance. The first of its kind to carry doctors and surgeons who can take the hospital to the patient. Drug addicts, lorry crashes, open-heart surgery, stab wounds, headless chickens, mating llamas, and strip routines – it’s all in a day’s work for emergency doctor Tony Bleetman and his team. Whether they are landing in the middle of the M1 or at a maximum security jail, Tony and his crew Helimed 999 are the first on the scene in the most critical of emergencies. This gripping read will make you laugh, cry and marvel at the wonders of life (and death) in equal measure.
Confessions of a Tinderella
by Rosy EdwardsThe laugh-out-loud true story of one girl's experience of life on Tinder.Rosy Edwards is the epitome of a contradictory twenty-something year old. She’s frugal when it comes to food shopping, but is willing to splash out on shampoo. She’s career minded, she just doesn’t know which career to have in mind right now. And although she’s happy being single, a part of her kind of wants a boyfriend. So after a few unsuccessful dates with friends of friends (read: being forced to date their shortest/dullest/oddest acquaintance), she put herself on Tinder, the app that has transformed the world of online dating. And she soon learns the unspoken rules the hard way: always reject a guy with black and white profile pics (he is ginger and/or ugly); is wearing a hat (bald); has a shot of his torso (moron) or is not standing beside anything scaleable (5”8 and under). And then there are the dates themselves. From a sky-high dinner date to a borderline drug bust in Chelsea, Rosy has experienced it all, swinging through her love life on the trapeze of Tinder. She falls for the wrong guys, ditches the nice ones, but can she finally find her happy ending. Brilliantly honest and hilariously funny, Rosy’s story shows us all that the key to a successful love life could just be a swipe away.