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One Tongue Singing
by Susan MannCamille Pascal, a young, unmarried French nurse comes to South Africa with her father and her small daughter, Zara, during the closing years of the apartheid regime. The family settles amongst a wine-growing community in the Western Cape where they become involved in the lives of victims of the System. Interwoven with Camille's story is that of Jake Coleman, a painter with an international reputation, a deep-seated fear of failure, and a complicated private life. It is in the exclusive Jake Coleman School of Art that Zara, now a talented artist in her late teens, decides to enrol. She is a feral, troubled girl, obsessed with scenes of violence, and quite unlike anything Jake has encountered. One Tongue Singing explores some of the different faces of power, both in the ways it operates between individuals and in societies. It is written with economy, humanity and a hard brilliance, and it announces a distinctive new voice from South Africa.
The Origin Of Plants: The People And Plants That Have Shaped Britain's Garden History
by Maggie Campbell-CulverA fascinating history of Britain's plant biodiversity and a unique account of how our garden landscape has been transformed over 1000 years, from 200 species of plant in the year 1000 to the astonishing variety of plants we can all see today. Thousands of plants have been introduced into Britain since 1066 by travellers, warriors, explorers and plant hunters - plants that we now take for granted such as rhododendron from the Far East, gladiolus from Africa and exotic plants like the monkey puzzle tree from Chile.Both a plant history and a useful reference book, Maggie Campbell-Culver has researched the provenance and often strange histories of many of the thousands of plants, exploring the quirky and sometimes rude nature of the plants, giving them a personality all of their own and setting them in their social context. The text is supported by beautiful contemporary paintings and modern photographs in 2 x 8 pp colour sections.
Oven Chips For Tea
by Alex GutteridgeKatrina has always relied on her grandparents to provide stability in comparison with her rather volatile parents. Her grandad has coached her to be an excellent table tennis player and they have a close relationship. Following a serious stroke, Grandad seems to have changed a lot and family tension runs high. When Kat hears rumours about a split in the family, she assumes her argumentative parents are splitting up, but when it turns out to be her grandparents who are getting divorced, her world is turned on its head. Worse still, her beloved Grandad is moving to Spain. Despite her desperate and sometimes comical efforts Kat fails to keep Gramps in the country, and the divorce goes ahead. In the meantime, though, she discovers several other worthwhile and important relationships in her life. Though this book tackles a serious subject it is funny and upbeat with a twist that will catch readers by surprise.
Pandora's Breeches: Women, Science and Power in the Enlightenment
by Patricia Fara'Had God intended Women merely as a finer sort of cattle, he would not have made them reasonable.' Writing in 1673, Bathsua Makin was one of the first women to insist that girls should receive a scientific education. Despite the efforts of Makin and her successors, women were excluded from universities until the end of the nineteenth century, yet they found other ways to participate in scientific projects.Taking a fresh look at history, Pandora's Breeches investigates how women contributed to scientific progress. As well as collaborating in home-based research, women corresponded with internationally-renowned scholars, hired tutors, published their own books and translated and simplified important texts, such as Newton's book on gravity. They played essential roles in work frequently attributed solely to their husbands, fathers or friends.
A Parents' Guide To Primary School
by Elizabeth GrahamslawEducation is an obsession for parents and children alike and parents will worry about anything to do with their children's schooling, from which school to choose and when their child should start to what they need to learn and how they'll cope in the playground.Schools are crying out for parents to become more involved in their children's education. A Parents' Guide to Primary School contains indispensable advice on:- Pre-school and choosing the right primary school- Getting ready for school and the first day- The curriculum, SATs, homework and the importance of parents' involvement in their children's learning- Discipline and bullying- Governors and the PTA - how to get involved- Parents' evenings and reports- Extracurricular activities- Special needs- Moving on - preparing for secondary school
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 Companion to Classical Music
by Paul GriffithsThis superbly authoratitive new work provides a comprehensive A-Z guide to some 1000 years of Western music. It explores in detail the lives and achievements of a vast range of composers, as well as looking at such key topics as music history (from medieval plainchant to contemporary minimalism), performers, theory and jargon. Throught Griffiths skilfully blends lightly worn scholarship with personal insight, whether examining the emotional colouring that different musical keys achieve or charting the rise and development of the symphony.
The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush
by Ann GerhartLaura Bush is arguably the most popular figure in the Bush White House. Even the President's detractors would not hesitate to describe the First Lady as utterly sincere and devoted to family and country, whether she is advocating on behalf of education and libraries or comforting the nation in times of crisis. Ann Gerhart of The Washington Post has covered Mrs. Bush since 2001, and no other reporter has interviewed the First Lady more often. Through this unparalleled access Gerhart has been able to uncover the woman behind the carefully maintained image. Far more than an uncomplicated maternal figure and dedicated wife, Laura Bush emerges as a complex and fascinating woman in her own right, who has composed a life of accomplishment for herself alongside her husband's tremendous ambitions. The Perfect Wife tells the complete story from Mrs. Bush's upbringing to her whirlwind three-month courtship by George W. Bush and her role as a mother, wife, and public figure. An only child raised in a segregated and fiercely traditional West Texas town, she is less conservative than her husband and appealingly down-to-earth despite the extraordinary privileges of her position. Two tragedies have defined her: a car accident when she was seventeen and September 11, when she suddenly had to transform her job and take herself far more seriously. Ann Gerhart examines the First Lady's influences and motivations, reveals the depths to which her husband relies upon her, and assesses her achievements. Compelling and insightful, this is the first comprehensive account of a woman who has won the admiration of the nation and of the compromises and challenges that come with taking on the most examined volunteer job in the world.
Petty Treason: A Sarah Tolerance Mystery (The Sarah Tolerance Mysteries #2)
by Madeleine E. RobinsWelcome to Miss Tolerance's Regency London, where nothing is what it seems and the only way to serve justice is to follow conscience rather than law.It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Fallen Woman of good family must, soon or late, descend to whoredom.Miss Sarah Tolerance refuses to follow the path of the Fallen Women who have gone before her. She's a straight shooter, with her pistol as well as her wit, and her mind is as sharp as the blade of her sword.Miss Tolerance is an Agent of Inquiry, a private investigator of sorts--the sole one of her kind in London, in this year of 1810 with mad King George III on the throne and Queen Charlotte acting as his Regent. Her aim was to trace lost trinkets, send wastrel husbands back to their wives, and occasionally provide protection to persons with more money than sense--but she is continually drawn into the plots of others. Her newest case poses a puzzle unlike any she has faced before: who killed the Chevalier d'Aubigny? The French émigré was beaten to death in his own bed, found by his retainers the next morning, all the doors and windows of the house sealed tight. The murder is a classic locked-room mystery, but Miss Tolerance knows she can find the key.As Miss Tolerance examines the situation and interviews witnesses and suspects, she realizes things are far more complicated than she originally suspected--for the Chevalier had more enemies than he had friends, and Miss Tolerance is hard pressed to find someone who didn't wish him dead. Her search for his killer takes her from the lowest brothels of the seedy London underworld, where men go to indulge their more aggressive desires, to the Royal Family and a Duke who must hide his perversions or risk the Throne.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Philosophical Dictionary
by Francois VoltaireVoltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, first published in 1764, is a series of short, radical essays - alphabetically arranged - that form a brilliant and bitter analysis of the social and religious conventions that then dominated eighteenth-century French thought. One of the masterpieces of the Enlightenment, this enormously influential work of sardonic wit - more a collection of essays arranged alphabetically, than a conventional dictionary - considers such diverse subjects as Abraham and Atheism, Faith and Freedom of Thought, Miracles and Moses. Repeatedly condemned by civil and religious authorities, Voltaire's work argues passionately for the cause of reason and justice, and criticizes Christian theology and contemporary attitudes towards war and society - and claims, as he regards the world around him: 'common sense is not so common'.
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science
by John FleischmanPhineas Gage was truly a man with a hole in his head. Phineas, a railroad construction foreman, was blasting rock near Cavendish, Vermont, in 1848 when a thirteen-pound iron rod was shot through his brain. Miraculously, he survived to live another eleven years and become a textbook case in brain science.At the time, Phineas Gage seemed to completely recover from his accident. He could walk, talk, work, and travel, but he was changed. Gage "was no longer Gage," said his Vermont doctor, meaning that the old Phineas was dependable and well liked, and the new Phineas was crude and unpredictable.His case astonished doctors in his day and still fascinates doctors today. What happened and what didn&’t happen inside the brain of Phineas Gage will tell you a lot about how your brain works and how you act human.
Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens
by Valerie Lester'Phiz' - Hablot Knight Browne - was the great illustrator of Dickens' fiction. For over twenty-three years they worked together, and Phiz's drawings brought to life a galaxy of much-loved characters, from Mr Pickwick, Nicholas Nickleby and Mr Micawber, to Little Nell and David Copperfield. But, from the mystery of his birth onwards, Phiz himself led a life as rich as any novel. In this vivid, lively memoir - the first full biography, long-awaited by Victorian scholars - his great-great-granddaughter Valerie Browne Lester tracks the struggles of the abandoned Browne family and follows Phiz's path to marriage and fame, his travels around England and Ireland and work with Dickens, Lever, Trollope and others, and his colourful private life. Based on a mass of unpublished material, this enchanting book, packed with surprising and delicious illustrations, is a perfect present for all who love Dickens and enjoy the hidden byways of Victorian life.
Pins And Needles: a compelling and dramatic page-turning Welsh saga from much-loved and bestselling author Rosie Harris.
by Rosie HarrisWith all her signature warmth, wonderful characters and unforgettable drama, lose yourself in this heart-rending and moving saga of a young woman's determination to keep the one person she loves best in the world from much-loved multi-million copy bestseller Rosie Harris. Perfect for readers of Dilly Court, Kitty Neale, Emma Hornby and Rosie Goodwin.What readers are saying!'I personally cannot fault Rosie Harris' books and I have read plenty of them. Yet another good read' - 5 STARS'Couldn't put it down once I started it' -- 5 STARS'Delightful' - 5 STARS'Good reading, a book you can't put down' - 5 STARS'Kept me on the edge of my seat' - 5 STARS********************************************************************************************************ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR, ISN'T IT? Twins Tanwen and Donna Evans are as different as chalk and cheese. Tanwen is pretty, pert, a bubbly extrovert but very selfish and as slim and sharp as a needle. Donna is plain, placid and shy, although very warm-hearted and as sturdy and useful as a pin.In 1924, when the girls are fourteen, their mother Gwyneth insists both become apprentices at The Cardiff Drapers, where she once worked. Her dressmaking pays little and the girls' wages will help bring more money in.Tanwen is in great demand when she becomes the store model, but much to both girls' dismay, Gwyneth insists Donna goes along with her sister when she has a date. Donna ends up playing gooseberry or in the company of a boy she doesn't like - until she meets tall, handsome Dylan Wallis and falls in love. But Tanwen sets her heart on Dylan with disastrous consequences for them all...
Pirate School: Where's That Dog? (Pirate School)
by Jeremy StrongThe third very funny story about the children at pirate school. The children hide a stray dog on board, while Patagonia Clatterbottom, the head teacher, is plagued by school inspectors, who are not impressed by the lessons. So, the children decide to sail the school away. The inspectors give chase, but the children fire on their boat and take it over - full marks for the lessons they have learnt about being pirates. And they're allowed to keep the dog!
Planning A Baby?: How to Prepare for a Healthy Pregnancy and Give Your Baby the Best Possible Start
by Dr Sarah BrewerPlanning a Baby? is all about giving your baby the best possible start in life. By taking maximum care of your health in the six important months before your new child is even conceived, you can optimise the chances of having a healthy baby. The first few weeks of gestation are critical. Research has shown that undernourishment during this time - often before the mother is even aware she is pregnant - can affect the baby a long way into the future. It is linked with the subsequent development of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes in middle age.In this completely updated and revised edition, Dr Sarah Brewer provides the latest groundbreaking research and gives advice on:-Contraceptive advances-Lifestyle and factors that affect early pregnancy-Conception itself - the myths and the facts-Which vitamins and minerals are needed, including the use of folic acid-Advice for vegetarians-Sperm health-An overview of the causes of miscarriageThis book aims to give potential parents all the tools they require before embarking on one of life's greatest adventures - conception, pregnancy and the birth of a healthy baby.
The Player
by Cat ScarlettCarter, manager of an exclusive all-female pool tour, discovers Roz in a backstreet pool hall. When he sees her bending to take her shot, he can't resist putting his marker down to play her. But when he signs Roz up to his tour, she discovers that the dominant Carter has a taste for the perverse, enforces a strict training regime, and that an exhibition match is just that.
Playing With Fire
by Nasser HussainNasser Hussain was acclaimed as England's best cricket captain since Mike Brearley. Under his leadership, a side more famous for its batting collapses and ability to seize defeat from the jaws of victory discovered its backbone. With coach Duncan Fletcher he put some steel into the side; they became a difficult team to beat.Hussain wore his heart on his sleeve: railing against complacency, defying critics of his place in the batting line-up and making a principled stand at the last World Cup when the ECB seemed incapable of it.Expect passion, integrity, insight and candour in his eagerly awaited autobiography.
Powder Wars: The Supergrass who Brought Down Britain's Biggest Drug Dealers
by Graham JohnsonGangster Paul Grimes was a one-man crimewave with a breathtaking capacity to steal. Any villains who got in his way were made to pay - often with their blood. But when his son died of a drugs overdose, the old-school mobster swore revenge on the new generation of Liverpool-based heroin and cocaine dealers. Against all odds, he turned undercover informant. The first gangster to fall foul of Grimes' change of heart was Curtis Warren, aka 'Cocky', the wealthiest and most successful criminal in British history. Grimes infiltrated his cocaine cartel and led Customs to the largest narcotics seizure on record, putting Warren in the dock in the drugs trial of the twentieth century. After turning his attention to heroin baron John Haase, Grimes rose to become the boss of the villain's notoriously bloodthirsty 'security firm' - a professional gang of racketeers addicted to cocaine, explosive violence and non-stop criminality. But as his net began to tighten, Grimes was confronted with the ultimate dilemma. He discovered his second son was now a rising star in the drugs business. The life-or-death question was: should he shop him or not?Powder Wars also reveals the secrets behind one of the most controversial episodes in British judicial history - how former Home Secretary Michael Howard was duped into granting John Haase a Royal Pardon.Today, Paul Grimes has a £100,000 contract on his head and is a real-life dead man walking. Powder Wars is a riveting account of modern gangsters told in brutal detail.
The Power of Playing Cards: An Ancient System for Understanding Yourself, Your Destiny & Your Relationships
by Geri Sullivan Saffi CrawfordFew people know that today's deck of playing cards is actually based on an ancient mystical card system akin to the Tarot. In The Power of Playing Cards you can discover the playing card that is linked to your birthday and learn the secrets that each card holds about personality traits, love relationships, destiny, and luck. Remarkably accurate, this system is a synthesis of playing cards, astrology, and numerology.This easy-to-use system allows you to gain insight into your past, present, and future and introduces you to an intricate web of relationship links that is second to none. These special links can explain why you fall in love, who your ideal partner is, and who can best provide what you need. By finding out who will support you and who will challenge you, you can increase your potential for successful relationships. Equally helpful, you can deepen your understanding of what motivates your family members, friends, and business partners.Besides enhancing your relationships, this unique system offers fascinating insight into your future by interpreting cards for each year that is to come. You'll also:Identify your special qualities by knowing your signature cardBecome aware of relationship card links that can improve your love life and increase your understanding of othersDiscover which celebrities share your cardFind out your good years for money, career, and new opportunitiesWhether you are using the cards for serious inquiry or simply for fun, this simple and enthralling guide is for all who seek to know more about themselves, their loved ones, and their futures.
The Prelude: The Four Texts (1798, 1799, 1805, 1850) (Chinese Studies #No. 35)
by William WordsworthFirst published in July 1850, shortly after Wordsworth's death, The Prelude was the culmination of over fifty years of creative work. The great Romantic poem of human consciousness, it takes as its theme 'the growth of a poet's mind': leading the reader back to Wordsworth's formative moments of childhood and youth, and detailing his experiences as a radical undergraduate in France at the time of the Revolution. Initially inspired by Coleridge's exhortation that Wordsworth write a work upon the French Revolution, The Prelude has ultimately become one of the finest examples of poetic autobiography ever written; a fascinating examination of the self that also presents a comprehensive view of the poet's own creative vision.
The Preservationist: A Novel
by David Maine"Noe says, -I must build a boat.-A boat, she says.-A ship, more like. I'll need the boys to help, he adds as an afterthought.-We're leagues from the sea, she says, or any river big enough to warrant a boat.This conversation is making Noe impatient. -I've no need to explain myself to you.-And when you're done, she says carefully, we'll be taking this ship to the sea somehow?As usual, Noe's impatience fades quickly. -We'll not be going to the sea. The sea will be coming to us."In this brilliant debut novel, Noah's family (or Noe as he's called here)-his wife, sons, and daughters-in-law-tell what it's like to live with a man touched by God, while struggling against events that cannot be controlled or explained. When Noe orders his sons to build an ark, he can't tell them where the wood will come from. When he sends his daughters-in-law out to gather animals, he can offer no directions, money, or protection. And once the rain starts, they all realize that the true test of their faith is just beginning. Because the family is trapped on the ark with thousands of animals-with no experience feeding or caring for them, and no idea of when the waters will recede. What emerges is a family caught in the midst of an extraordinary Biblical event, with all the tension, humanity-even humor-that implies.
The Princesse De Cleves
by Madame LafayetteSet towards the end of the reign of Henry II of France, The Princesse de Clèves (1678) tells of the unspoken, unrequited love between the fair, noble Mme de Clèves, who is married to a loyal and faithful man, and the Duc de Nemours, a handsome man most female courtiers find irresistible. Warned by her mother against admitting her passion, Mme de Clèves hides her feelings from her fellow courtiers, until she finally confesses to her husband - an act that brings tragic consequences for all. Described as France's first modern novel, The Princesse de Clèves is an exquisite and profound analysis of the human heart, and a moving depiction of the inseparability of love and anguish.
Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues
by George BerkeleyOne of the greatest British philosophers, Bishop Berkeley (1685-1753) was the founder of the influential doctrine of Immaterialism - the belief that there is no reality outside the mind, and that the existence of material objects depends upon their being perceived. The Principles of Human Knowledge eloquently outlines this philosophical concept, and argues forcefully that the world consists purely of finite minds and ideas, and of an infinite spirit, God. A denial of all non-spiritual reality, Berkeley's theory was at first heavily criticized by his contemporaries, who feared its ideas would lead to scepticism and atheism. The Three Dialogues provide a powerful response to these fears.
Protecting Your Parents' Money: The Essential Guide to Helping Mom and Dad Navigate the Finances of Retirement
by Jeff D. OpdykeWall Street Journal “Love and Money” columnist Jeff D. Opdyke offers a compassionate and highly effective handbook designed to help elderly parents manage their money. Protecting Your Parents’ Money is the essential guide to helping Mom and Dad navigate the finances of retirement, covering such topics as understanding Medicare, preventing elder fraud, and the hunt for a quality, affordable retirement home. Protecting Your Parents’ Money is a book everyone should own, as members of the Baby Boomer generation find themselves dealing with the many financial problems surrounding aging parents, and face their own future as seniors.
The Pumpkin Coach: an enchanting novel full of passion and drama from bestselling author Susan Sallis
by Susan SallisFans of Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Fiona Valpy will love this beautifully captivating romantic saga from multi-million copy seller and Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING!'I could not get over how beautifully written this book is' -- ***** Reader review'Highly recommend this book' -- ***** Reader review'A page-turner' -- ***** Reader review'Could not put it down! -- ***** Reader review'Don't miss this one' -- ***** Reader review*******************************************************************************************************YOUR DESTINY CAN BE SHAPED BY THE MOST UNLIKELY OF THINGS...For Alice Pettiford, living near Gloucester in the late 1940s, leaving school for a job as a railway secretary makes perfect sense: most of her family have worked for the railway over the years.What Alice does not expect is that she would fall in love with Joe Adair, a colleague, almost as soon as she meets him. But Joe has to go overseas on National Service, and in the meanwhile her friend Hester's brother, the enigmatic Valentine, finds that his fondness for Alice is deepening into something much stronger.When he and Alice discover an old railway coach, long abandoned, hidden in a clearing in the Forest of Dean, Alice realises that it has been a very special, magical place. What she doesn't know is that the coach has played a secret part in the history of Joe's family, and that Joe's mother named it 'the pumpkin coach'. Now her own destiny will also be shaped by this enchanted refuge.