- Table View
- List View
The Apocryphal Gospels
by Simon GathercoleA new translation of the oldest non-canonical Christian gospels In the early years of Christianity, several groups produced 'hidden' or 'apocryphal' gospels, alternative versions of the story of Christ. Sometimes these texts complemented the four canonical gospels of the New Testament, sometimes they subverted them and often they were completely different. Here, in the widest selection of non-canonical gospels gathered in one volume - which also includes two modern forgeries - we see the young Jesus making live birds from clay, hear his secret words of wisdom, discover gnostic cosmologies and witness the Harrowing of Hell. Preserved by their readers and attacked by their detractors, these gospels shine a fascinating light on the early Christian Church.Translated with an Introduction by Simon Gathercole
An Apology for Idlers (Penguin Great Ideas)
by Robert Louis StevensonAn irresistible invitation to reject the work ethic and enjoy life's simple pleasures (such as laughing, drinking and lying in the open air), Robert Louis Stevenson's witty and seminal essay on the joys of idleness is accompanied here by his writings on, among other things, growing old, visiting unpleasant places and the overwhelming experience of falling in love. Throughout history, some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves - and each other. They have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution. They have enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted. They have enriched lives - and destroyed them. Now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization and helped make us who we are
An Apology for Raymond Sebond
by Michel MontaigneAn Apology for Raymond Sebond is widely regarded as the greatest of Montaigne's essays: a supremely eloquent expression of Christian scepticism. An empassioned defence of Sebond's fifteenth-century treatise on natural theology, it was inspired by the deep crisis of personal melancholy that followed the death of Montaigne's own father in 1568, and explores contemporary Christianity in prose that is witty and frequently damning. As he searches for the true meaning of faith, Montaigne is heavily critical of the arrogant tendency of mankind to create God in its own image, and offers his personal reflections on the true role of man, the need to eschew personal arrogance, and the vital importance of faith if we are to understand our place in the universe. Wise, perceptive and remarkably informed, this is one of the true masterpieces of the essay form.
The Apparition Phase: Shortlisted for the 2021 McKitterick Prize
by Will MacleanSome ghosts never leave us.SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2021'A wild rural gothic with some slick plotting . . . the perfect novel for our phantom present' Guardian 'Outstanding . . . ideal for fans of Andrew Michael Hurley' Metro _________________Twins Tim and Abi have always been different from their peers, spending their evenings in the attic of their parents' suburban house, poring over reports of the unexplained. Obsessed with photographs of ghostly apparitions, they decide to fake their own, and use it to frighten a girl at school.But what was only supposed to be a harmless prank sets in motion a deadly and terrifying chain of events that neither of them could have predicted..._________________'Clear your diary, switch off your phone, and get lost in this atmospheric and madly gripping ghost story' Daily Mirror'A nostalgic delight' Irish Independent'Intriguing, atmospheric and utterly terrifying in parts' My Weekly
Appassionata: The most fun you can have under a Tenor
by Jilly Cooper OBEThe most fun you can have under a Tenor...Abigail Rosen, nicknamed Appassionata, was the sexiest, most flamboyant violinist in classical music, but she was also the loneliest and the most exploited girl in the world. When a dramatic suicide attempt destroyed her violin career, she set her sights on the male-dominated heights of the conductor's rostrum.Given the chance to take over the Rutminster Symphony Orchestra, Abby is ecstatic, not realising the RSO is in hock up to its neck and is composed of the wildest bunch of musicians ever to blow a horn or caress a fiddle. Abby finds it increasingly difficult to control her undisciplined rabble and pretend she is not madly attracted to the fatally glamorous horn player, Viking O'Neill, who claims droit de seigneur over every pretty woman joining the orchestra. And then Rannaldini, arch-fiend and international maestro, rolls up with Machiavellian plans of his own to sabotage the RSO.Effervescent as champagne, Jilly Cooper's novel brings back old favourites like Rupert and Taggie Campbell-Black, but also ends triumphantly with a rampageous orchestral tour of Spain and the high drama of an international piano competition.-------------------------------------Praise for Appassionata:'Delicious ... I could not put the damned thing down' Sunday Express'A boisterous tale of sex and Chopin' Tatler'Sexy, dazzling protagonists... the humour comes thick and fast' Daily Express
The Apple Barrel: A heart-wrenching West Country novel of the ultimate betrayal of trust from bestselling author Susan Sallis
by Susan SallisReaders of Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Fiona Valpy will simply love this utterly captivating, emotional and memorable novel from The Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis.Readers are loving The Apple Barrel!"A book you can become immersed in and just enjoy" - 5 STARS"Susan Sallis has such an insight into characters - a very moving, interesting story" - 5 STARS"Beautifully written....kept my attention to the end" - 5 STARS"One of those books where you are unaware how long you have been reading! Loved it!" - 5 STARS"A book that you have great difficulty putting down but very sorry when it's finished" - 5 STARS********************************************************WHEN FACED WITH BETRAYAL, CAN YOU FIND PEACE? Hope and Jack Langley's marriage gets off to a promising start: they spend their honeymoon in a primitive Cornish cottage called Widdershins and Hope falls in love with the place on sight - even though half of it has fallen down, water has to be pumped by hand and there are no sea views.Soon after they return home to begin married life in a small village outside Gloucester, Hope discovers she is pregnant. And, almost simultaneously, the glamorous Petersens, Henrik and Mandy, move in as new neighbours. Local rumour about the couple is rife: they are rich, they are Norwegian, they aren't married, they give crazy parties. To Hope and Jack, they seem reassuringly normal and kind and soon the two couples became close.With the birth of their second daughter, the Langleys' happiness seems complete. But appearances can be deceptive.The challenges that eventually confront Hope are almost overwhelming, and the only place that offers refuge and peace is her beloved Widdershins.
The Apple Revolution: Steve Jobs, the Counterculture and How the Crazy Ones Took over the World
by Luke DormehlOn 26 May, 2010 Apple Inc. passed Microsoft in valuation as the world's largest technology company. Its consumer electronic products - ranging from computers to mobile phones to portable media devices, not to mention its iTunes, iBook and App Store - have influenced nearly every facet of our lives, and it shows no sign of slowing down. But how did Apple - a company set up in the back room of a house by two friends, and one that always marketed itself as the underdog - become the marketplace leader (and the world's second largest company overall), and is it a good thing to have one company hold so much power? In The Apple Revolution Luke Dormehl shares the inside story of how Apple Inc. came to be; from the formation of the company's philosophies and user-friendly ethos, to the "iPod moment" and global domination, leaving you with a deep understanding of how it was created, why it has flourished, and where it might be going next.
The Apple Tree: get swept away by this captivating, heart-warming and uplifting novel set in the Yorkshire Dales
by Elvi RhodesPerfect for fans of Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher, this is an emotional and moving novel about fresh starts and new beginnings by multi-million copy seller Elvi Rhodes.READERS ARE LOVING THE APPLE TREE!"The descriptive style...leads you into the story, and you feel as if you know the characters" - 5 STARS"A most entertaining book and different from the usual "I have moved house" story." - 5 STARS"A brilliant story" - 5 STARS"What an emotional book, could not put [it] down" - 5 STARS"Very descriptive and sensitively written" - 5 STARS*******************************************************A FRESH START IN UNCHARTERED TERRITORY; THE CHANCE TO REBUILD HER LIFE...When Frances changes her unsettled life in Brighton and buys an old farmhouse in the Yorkshire Dales to run as a guesthouse, she finds herself in uncharted territory. The villagers seem very friendly and talk about the previous owners of Beck Farm but there seems to be some mystery about them. What had happened to the wife of the previous owner - and why was she still resented? Can Frances find out while at the same time rebuilding her own life?
Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes (Beatrix Potter Originals)
by Beatrix PotterThis original, authorised version has been lovingly recreated electronically for the first time, with reproductions of Potter's unmistakeable artwork optimised for use on colour devices such as the iPad. Beatrix Potter gathered material for a book of rhymes over many years. In 1917, when her publisher was in financial difficulties and needed her help, she suggested that Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes could be brought out quickly, using her existing collection of rhymes and drawings. The fact that the illustrations were painted at different times explains why the style occasionally varies.Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes is number 22 in Beatrix Potter's series of 23 little books, the titles of which are as follows:1 The Tale of Peter Rabbit2 The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin3 The Tailor of Gloucester4 The Tale of Benjamin Bunny5 The Tale of Two Bad Mice6 The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle7 The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher8 The Tale of Tom Kitten9 The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck10 The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies11 The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse12 The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes13 The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse 14 The Tale of Mr. Tod15 The Tale of Pigling Bland16 The Tale of Samuel Whiskers17 The Tale of The Pie and the Patty-Pan18 The Tale of Ginger and Pickles19 The Tale of Little Pig Robinson20 The Story of a Fierce Bad Rabbit21 The Story of Miss Moppet22 Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes23 Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes
Appliance: Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2022
by J. O. Morgan**Finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2022 **From the Costa Award winner, a highly inventive and and humane novel about our relationship with technology and our addiction to innovation.This is the tale of a new technology, an alternative history that unfolds over many decades. It is a fable told through a constantly shifting cast of characters, all drawn into the world of a machine that slowly alters every life it touches.But in this unending quest for progress, what will happen to the things that make us human: the memories, the fears, the love, the mortality? As we push towards a brave new world, what do we stand to lose?'Such a super novel' Wendy Erskine'A clever book...that will have you thinking about the machines in your own life' Sunday Times
Appointment At The Palace: An Adams Family Saga Novel (The Adams Family #21)
by Mary Jane StaplesExcitement is running high in the Adams family. Mr Finch, after a long career in secret government work, is to be knighted - which means that Chinese Lady will become a real 'Lady'! What with having to find a new outfit suitable for the occasion, and worrying about whether she'll have to curtsey to the King, the redoubtable matriarch of the Adams family scarcely knows if she's coming or going.Her grandson Paul, meanwhile, working for the Young Socialists, is worried at what his fiery colleague Lucy will say if she learns that he has titled connections. And Sammy, trying to rebuild his clothing business after the War, is horrified at the growing fashion for denim jeans, which even the young ladies of the family seem to be wearing. Should he forsake his beliefs that girls should dress like girls and start stocking these objectionable garments?All differences are resolved, as the great day dawns when the Adams family goes to the Palace for their proudest moment.
The Apprentice
by Carrie WilliamsIn desperate financial straits, aspiring writer Genevieve Carter takes a job as a personal assistant, only to discover that the middle-aged woman she will be working for is none other than her literary heroine, Anne Tournier. Genevieve is at first ecstatic at gaining an introduction to London literary life and Anne's many famous friends. However, her new employer expects rather more from her assistant than was implied in the advert and Genevieve gradually becomes enmeshed in a web of sexual intrigue and experimentation with men and women. Then, by accident, she learns that she has been cast as the heroine of an erotic novel that Anne is writing. Determined to get her own story out first, Genevieve starts a blog where she relates her sexual liaisons to a growing and appreciative readership. Lured by the prospect of a lucrative publishing deal, a competition ensues between mistress and apprentice, one which will push Genevieve to her artistic and erotic limits.
The Apprentices
by Leon GarfieldLife in eighteenth-century London was hard and especially so for the city's apprentices. For seven long years they struggled for their livelihoods among the fetid houses and sinister quays of old London. But despite their hardships there was hope and even fun.This compelling story-cycle follows them round the year, through the dark, cold winter nights to midsummer in the city, The lamplighter, the pawnbroker, the midwife or the clockmaker, their stories interweave delightfully to paint a colourful picture of life in London 200 years ago.
Aqua Domination
by William DoughtyJust why would Mary go back to David and his bizarre bathroom? Whatcould be crazier than designing and equipping a luxurious bathroom for the soapy, slippery domination of women? Yet she has returned to submit to watery domination, while dressed in fetish garments of plasticand rubber. And having seen the bathroom, can her friends - Jack, Carol and Faye - resist plunging into slippery submission?
Aquinas: An Introduction to the Life and Work of the Great Medieval Thinker
by F. CoplestonAquinas (1224-74) lived at a time when the Christian West was opening up to a wealth of Greek and Islamic philosophical speculation. An embodiment of the thirteenth-century ideal of a unified interpretation of reality (in which philosophy and theology work together in harmony), Aquinas was remarkable for the way in which he used and developed this legacy of ancient thought—an achievement which led his contemporaries to regard him as an advanced thinker. Father Copleston's lucid and stimulating book examines this extraordinary man—whose influence is perhaps greater today than in his own lifetime—and his thought, relating his ideas wherever possible to problems as they are discussed today.
Arabella Boxer's Book of English Food: A Rediscovery of British Food From Before the War
by Arabella BoxerA Book of English Food is an elegant compendium of brilliant recipes adapted from the cookery books of the 1920s and 1930s by Arabella Boxer, with beautiful new illustrations by Cressida Bell.Arabella Boxer's Book of English Food describes the delicious dishes - and the social conditions in which they were prepared, cooked and eaten - in the short span between the two World Wars when English cooking suddenly blossomed.The food in these wonderful recipes comes from the great country houses, where little had changed since Victorian times, the large houses in London and the South, where fashionable hostesses vied with each other to entertain the most distinguished guests at their tables, and less grand establishments, like those in Bloomsbury where the painters and writers of the day contrived to lead cultured and civilised lives on little money.Containing 200 recipes, drawn from cookery books, magazines of the period, family sources or from talking to survivors who still remember those days, A Book of English Food is a fascinating glimpse into another world, and a celebration of English cooking at its finest.'That rare thing, a cookery book with an argument: viz, that English cookery was once both good and independent of the cuisines of her neighbours . . . a rollicking good read' Observer'I still find the calm elegance of her writing an inspiration' Nigel Slater'A treasury of social gossip . . . immensely enjoyable and useful' Spectator'A captivating exploration and celebration of the flowering of English cooking in the 1920s and 30s' Financial Times'I recommend it, not only for its excellent food but also for the superb introductions and details of social history in the great houses with their shimmering hostesses' Evening StandardArabella Boxer was born in 1934 and educated in the UK, Paris and Rome. She has written for the Sunday Times magazine and the Telegraph magazine and was Food Writer for Vogue from 1966 to 1968 and 1975 to 1991. She was awarded the Glenfiddich Cookery Writer of the Year Award in 1975 and 1978, a Glenfiddich Special Award in 1992 and won the 1991 André Simon Award and the 1992 Michael Smith Macallan Award for fine writing about British food. Arabella Boxer is the author of a number of cookery books, including First Slice Your Cookbook, Arabella Boxer's Garden Cookbook, Mediterranean Cookbook, The Sunday Times Complete Cookbook and A Visual Feast (with Tessa Traeger). A founding member of the Guild of Food Writers, she lives in London.
The Arabian Nights: Volume 2 (The Arabian Nights #2)
by Malcolm C. Lyons Ursula Lyons Robert IrwinEvery night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tell the king tales of adventure, love, riches and wonder - tales of mystical lands peopled with princes and hunchbacks, the Angel of Death and magical spirits, tales of the voyages of Sindbad, of Ali Baba's outwitting a band of forty thieves and of jinnis trapped in rings and in lamps. The sequence of stories will last 1,001 nights.
The Arabian Nights: Volume 3 (The Arabian Nights #3)
by Malcolm C. Lyons Ursula Lyons Robert IrwinEvery night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tell the king tales of adventure, love, riches and wonder - tales of mystical lands peopled with princes and hunchbacks, the Angel of Death and magical spirits, tales of the voyages of Sindbad, of Ali Baba's outwitting a band of forty thieves and of jinnis trapped in rings and in lamps. The sequence of stories will last 1,001 nights.
The Arabian Nights: Volume 1 (The Arabian Nights #1)
by Malcolm C. Lyons, Ursula Lyons, Robert Irwin Malcolm C. Lyons Ursula Lyons Robert IrwinEvery night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her the next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tell the king stories of adventure, love, riches and wonder - tales of mystical lands peopled with princes and hunchbacks, the Angel of Death and magical spirits, tales of the voyages of Sindbad, of Ali Baba outwitting a band of forty thieves and of jinnis trapped in rings and in lamps. The sequence of stories will last 1,001 nights.
Araminta's Wedding
by Jilly Cooper OBEA Country House Extravaganza Story by Jilly Cooper. Pictures by Sue Macartney-Snape.Rufus, fifth Earl of Atherstone, has no son and gloomily contemplates his vast Lincolnshire estate passing into the hands of his plain but good-natured daughter, Araminta, and her grasping cousin, Piggy Atherstone, who is determined to marry her. A serious rival for Araminta's hand, however, materialises in Bounder Cartwright, a debonair money-market gambler, whose sexual conquests are as prolific as his investments are suddenly catastrophic. By Ascot he has won the day and the wedding is fixed for September.Then, at the last minute, the events of the previous Boxing Night catch up with the Atherstones in a surprising way. Will the wedding take place or not? The combination of Jilly Cooper's irreverent tale of country house life with the colourful and perceptive paintings of Sue Macartney-Snape which inspired it, presents a wickedly funny portrait of the English upper classes at play. Araminta's Wedding is irresistible fireside reading for even the coldest of stately homes.
The Aran Islands (Penguin Modern Classics)
by J.M. SyngeIn 1907 J. M. Synge achieved both notoriety and lasting fame with The Playboy of the Western World. The Aran Islands, published in the same year, records his visits to the islands in 1898-1901, when he was gathering the folklore and anecdotes out of which he forged The Playboy and his other major dramas. Yet this book is much more than a stage in the evolution of Synge the dramatist. As Tim Robinson explains in his introduction, "If Ireland is intriguing as being an island off the west of Europe, then Aran, as an island off the west of Ireland, is still more so; it is Ireland raised to the power of two." Towards the end of the last century Irish nationalists came to identify the area as the country's uncorrupted heart, the repository of its ancient language, culture and spiritual values. It was for these reasons that Yeats suggested Synge visit the islands to record their way of life. The result is a passionate exploration of a triangle of contradictory relationships – between an island community still embedded in its ancestral ways but solicited by modernism, a physical environment of ascetic loveliness and savagely unpredictable moods, and Synge himself, formed by modern European thought but in love with the primitive.
Ararat: In Search of the Mythical Mountain
by Frank WestermanMount Ararat in Turkey is where, as biblical tradition has it, Noah's Ark ran aground and God made his covenant with mankind. Now it stands astride the fault-line between religion and science, a geographical, political and cultural crossroads, bound up with the centuries-old history of warfare between different cultures in this region. Frank Westerman takes a pilgrimage from the mountain's foot to its highest slopes, meeting along the way geologists, priests and an expedition in search of the Ark's remains, as well as a Russian astronaut who observes that 'there is something between heaven and earth about which we humans know nothing'. Ararat is a dazzling, highly personal book about science, religion and all that lies between, by one of Europe's most celebrated young writers.
The Arcade
by Katie FlynnOne of bestselling author Katie Flynn's contemporary novels reissued for the first timeFor the shopkeepers who work in the Arcade in the seaside town of Haisby, life is not always easy.Diane Hopgood has moved from the bright lights of London to start a fashion boutique, expecting a quiet life, she finds both love and drama.Anthea, her assistant, has finally managed to free herself of the dark memories of her father’s sadistic abuse. But a terrible event changes everything for her. Marj cooks and waits tables at the wine bar, under the watchful eye of Martin, a chef of undoubted genius, despite his passion for women. Why has he never noticed Marj, though?As the shopkeepers struggle to make a living, each of them finds their life changing over the course of one eventful year.
Archangel
by Henry ShukmanIt has been over a decade since Henry Shukman published his award-winning first collection, In Doctor No’s Garden. Now, in his greatly anticipated second collection, he explores a little-known piece of Jewish history, in a sequence of poems that forms the centre-piece of this book. In 1917 several thousand Jewish tailors were deported from London and shipped back to Archangel and the Russian Empire they had recently fled, ostensibly to fight on the Eastern Front. They arrived just as the Revolution was unfolding and the old regime was collapsing into chaos. Among them were Shukman’s grandfather and great-uncle, and these poems chronicle their four-year struggle to return to their wives and children in London.With poems on loss and mortality, on love in difficult circumstances, and on the familiar themes of childhood and family relationships, Archangel tells the stories of many journeys – from youth to maturity, from loss back into love – and the migrations of Shukman’s Jewish grandparents are echoed in his own move with his wife and family from England to New Mexico. Whatever the theme, though, these are all love poems: poems lucid with intensity, bright with the longing for love – both its fleeting rapture and its slow contentment – and Archangel is a book of great reach, power and beauty.
The Archers: Moments that made the nation's favourite radio drama
by Joanna Toye Karen FarringtonThe Archers, like life, is made of moments: marriages and births, loves and losses, triumphs and disasters. It has been the soundtrack of our lives for over six decades, from stooking corn with Dan Archer in the 1950s to the tragic death of Nigel Pargetter in 2011.We know the characters of Ambridge – from much-loved Phil and Jill Archer and the irrepressible Grundys to wayward Brian Aldridge – like we know close friends. This book is their tribute.The Ambridge Chronicles relives some of the defining moments in The Archers history, delving into the rich archive of its scripts, to celebrate the highs and lows that have made the world’s longest running radio serial so treasured.