Hardcover book with dust jacket by Thomas J. Craughwell. This edition published by Tess Press and imprint of Black Dog &Leventhal Publishers Inc., it has 512 pages very well illustrated.

Slam is a hilarious coming-of-age novel by bestselling author Nick Hornby 'There was this time when everything seemed to have come together. And so obviously it was time to go and screw it all up.' Sam is sixteen and a skater. Just so there are no terrible misunderstandings: skating = skateboarding. There's no ice. Life is ticking along nicely for Sam; his Mum's got rid of her rubbish boyfriend, he's thinking about college and he's met someone. Alicia. Then a little accident happens. One with big consequences for someone just finding his way in life. Sam can't run (let alone skate) away from this one. He's a boy facing a man's problems and the question is — has he got what it takes to confront them? Slam, from the acclaimed author of About a Boy and High Fidelity is a teenage novel about a boy who has to grow up in big, big hurry. It is The Catcher in the Rye for the 21st century. 'Very funny...very real' Daily Telegraph 'Hornby gets his point across with the subtlety and skill of a born novelist who always deserves to be read' Independent 'A moving read for anyone' Elle Nick Hornby has captivated readers and achieved widespread critical acclaim for his comic, well-observed adult novels About a Boy, A Long Way Down, Juliet, Naked, How to be Good and High Fidelity. His three works of non-fiction, 31 Songs (shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award), Fever Pitch (winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award) and The Complete Polysyllabic Spree are also available from Penguin.

The jagged peaks of the Caucasus Mountains have hosted a rich history of diverse nations, valuable trade, and incessant warfare. But today the region is best known for atrocities in Chechnya and the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia. In Let Our Fame Be Great, journalist and Russian expert Oliver Bullough explores the fascinating cultural crossroads of the Caucasus, where Europe, Asia, and the Middle East intersect. Traveling through its history, Bullough tracks down the nations dispersed by the region's last two hundred years of brutal warfare. Filled with a compelling mix of archival research and oral history, Let Our Fame Be Great recounts the tenacious survival of peoples who have been relentlessly invaded and persecuted and yet woefully overlooked.

It was the night before Christmas, and Olivia discovers that her favorite stuffed monkey, Mathilda, is missing. Not only is Mathilda missing, but other favorites keep disappearing around the house too. In the true spirit of Christmas, Olivia figures out how to not only give but to give back what has been missing.

When Herr Drosselmeir gives Marie a nutcracker for Christmas, the Nutcracker comes alive, and Marie enters a magical kingdom of fairies, dolls and royalty! Based on the beloved story by E.T.A. Hoffman, which inspired the famous ballet, this beautifully illustrated gift set containing a 24-page book plus two dioramas is sure to become a holiday favorite.

From the anteater to the zorro... The rain forest is teeming with life — hundreds of mammals, birds, amphibians, and fish, and millions of species of insects. Readers of all ages can discover this mysterious and beautiful habitat — and why it is worth saving — in this exquisitely illustrated alphabet book. Newly redesigned and reformatted.

This title offers a beautifully produced tribute to the 2000s, featuring images straight from the archives of the Press Association. This illuminating collection offers fascinating images that depict both major historical events and smaller, but no less significant, occurrences. It presents a beautiful gift idea, either as a stand-alone title or part of this invaluable series. It is part of a series giving an insight into major historical events in Britain from 2000 to 2009, plus smaller occurrences that had equal, if not greater, significance for the people of Britain. Amid a climate of flooding, heat wave, gales and global warming, cannabis is downgraded, cigarettes are banned from public places, and knife crime escalates. An Internet and telecommunications boom spawns social media microblogging and reality TV gives 'fifteen minutes of fame' to ordinary people. From the onset of foot and mouth in the first year of the new millennium to concerns over swine flu towards the end of the decade; from the anti-capitalist riots of 2000 to the collapse of major banks and the credit crunch in 2008. This book contains around 300 photographs, hand-picked by PA Photos' own archivists. Many of these images have lain unseen since they were used as news pictures when first taken.

The White Castle, Orhan Pamuk's celebrated first novel, is the tale of a young Italian scholar captured by pirates and put up for auction at the Istanbul slave market. Acquired by a brilliant Turkish inventor, he is set to work on projects to entertain the jaded Sultan.

Based on a riveting historical episode, The Stalin Epigram is a fictional rendering of the life of Osip Mandelstam, perhaps the greatest Russian poet of the twentieth century — and one of the few artists in Soviet Russia who daringly refused to pay creative homage to Joseph Stalin. The poet's defiance of the Kremlin dictator and the Bolshevik regime — particularly his outspoken criticism of Stalin's collectivization rampage that drove millions of Russian peasants to starvation — reached its climax in 1934 when Mandelstam, putting his life on the line, composed a searing indictment of Stalin in a sixteen-line epigram and secretly recited it to a handful of friends and fellow artists. Would Stalin and his merciless state security apparatus get wind of this brazenly insulting poem? Would the poet's body and spirit be crushed under the weight of the state if they did? Narrated in turn by Mandelstam himself, his devoted wife, his great friends the poets Boris Pasternak and Anna Akhmatova, along with vivid fictional characters, The Stalin Epigram is the page-turning tale of courage and the human spirit told in deftly poetic prose by a perceptive, talented writer. With the benefit of extraordinary research and an almost mystical empathy, bestselling author Robert Littell has drawn a fictional portrait of the beleaguered poet struggling to survive the running riot of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s. This memorable novel culminates in a wholly unexpected encounter that illuminates the agonizing choices Russian intellectuals faced during the Stalinist terror and explains what drew Robert Littell to the poignant subject in the first place.

Chestertonians and other readers will rejoice in the republication of this long-unavailable book of delights. Featuring the author's early work as well as previously unpublished material, this volume abounds in fairy stories, comic verses, and satirical ballads. Best of all, it features a treasury of Chesterton's distinctive colour and black-and-white illustrations. This is a reprint of the Sheed & Ward, New York, 1938 edition.

Ranging from the 10th to the 20th centuries, these ghostly tales mix the eerie, the terrifying, and the madly comic. Enhanced by the author's 30 illustrations of Irish homes and castles, 22 short stories feature The headless Rider of Castle Sheela, Mrs O'Moyne and the Fatal Slap, The Harpies of The Ghostly Catch, and more. This book is a reprint of the Creative Age, New York, 1947 edition.

When we first meet Charlie he is about to embark on a compelling but dangerous journey from retardation to genius. He has only a vague understanding of what will happen, but he is aware that knowledge and the ability to write are of paramount importance.

Following on from the huge success of the 44 Scotland Street series, Alexander McCall Smith 'moved house' to London's Pimlico and into his brand new daily novel, Corduroy Mansions. The building itself — described in a guide to the architecture of the area as 'a building of no interest whatsoever' — is believed to have been built as an asylum, or possibly a school, or maybe it was a mansion block — nobody is very sure. In fact, nothing of its history is known, although it does have some nice Arts and Craft features. At the moment it is inhabited by an assortment of characters — including amongst others a literary agent, a wine merchant, one accountant, possibly the first ever nasty Liberal Democrat MP and his long-suffering PA, and a small dog in his prime. At least one character is on a voyage of self-discovery, which has taken him to Cheltenham so far. Although Corduroy Mansions is a nickname, it is now recognized by the Post Office.

St Cedd's Church fete had been held in the grounds of Martingale manor house for generations. As if organizing stalls, as well as presiding over luncheon, the bishop and the tea tent, were not enough for Mrs Maxie on that mellow July afternoon, she also had to contend with the news of her son's sudden engagement to her new parlour maid, the sly single mother, Sally Jupp. On the following morning Martingale and the whole village are shocked by the discovery of Sally Jupp's body. Investigating the violent death at the manor house, Detective Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh is embroiled in the complicated passions beneath the calm surface of English village life.

From the authors of the bestselling The Daring Book for Girls, an all-new double-the-fun, double-the-adventure guidebook of stories, activities, facts, and games for daring girls everywhere.

In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities. Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico — from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City — Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence. Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach — the lacuna — between truth and public presumption. With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist — and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.

A true masterpiece of book design and illustration for beginning readers, this collection pairs well-known nursery tales with uniquely beautiful period illustrations that look as fresh and vital today as they did six decades ago, when the book was first published in Great Britain. Never before published in the United States, My First Nursery Book features four beloved stories: Who Killed Cock Robin?, The Gingerbread Man, Three Little Pigs, and The Three Bears. Franciszka Themerson, a Polish avant-garde artist and filmmaker who turned to childrens book illustration as a refugee in London in the 1940s, is regarded as one of the great talents in classic childrens book illustration.Finally, American children can experience and enjoy this remarkable volume, filled with stunning illustrations that will bring a new audience to Themersons genius.

In the 60s, Elizabeth Taylor's affair with the married Richard Burton knocked John Glenn's orbit of the moon off front pages nationwide. Yet, despite all the gossip, the larger-than-life personality and influence of this very human woman has never been captured. William Mann, praised by Gore Vidal, Patricia Bosworth, and Gerald Clarke for Kate, uses untapped sources and conversations to show how she ignited the sexual revolution with her on- and off-screen passions, helped kick down the studio system by taking control of her own career, and practically invented the big business of celebrity star-making. With unputdownable storytelling he tells the full truth without losing Taylor's magic, daring, or wit. Readers will feel they are sitting next to Taylor as she rises at MGM, survives a marriage engineered for publicity, feuds with Hedda Hopper and Mr. Mayer, wins Oscars, endures tragedy, juggles Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton and her country's conservative values. But it is the private Elizabeth that will surprise — a woman of heart and loyalty, who defends underdogs, a savvy professional whose anger at the studio's treatment of her led to a lifelong battle against that very system. All the Elizabeth's are here, finally reconciled and seen against the exciting years of her greatest spirit, beauty, and influence. Swathed in mink, staring us down with her lavender eyes, disposing of husbands but keeping the diamonds, here is Elizabeth Taylor as she was meant to be, leading her epic life on her own terms, playing the game of supreme stardom at which she remains, to this day, unmatched.

A chilling and vividly rendered ghost story set in postwar Britain, by the bestselling and award-winning author of The Night Watch and Fingersmith. Sarah Watersas trilogy of Victorian novels Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, and Fingersmith earned her legions of fans around the world, a number of awards, and a reputation as one of todayas most gifted historical novelists. With her most recent book, The Night Watch, Waters turned to the 1940s and delivered a tender and intricate novel of relationships that brought her the greatest success she has achieved so far. With The Little Stranger, Waters revisits the fertile setting of Britain in the 1940saand gives us a sinister tale of a haunted house, brimming with the rich atmosphere and psychological complexity that have become hallmarks of Watersas work. The Little Stranger follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in declineaits masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his. Abundantly atmospheric and elegantly told, The Little Stranger is Sarah Watersas most thrilling and ambitious novel yet.

Literature's most famous romantic hero opens his diary: it's intimate, dramatic, deeply passionate, and sometimes downright shocking. Have you ever wondered what Mr. Darcy was really thinking? Find out his secrets in this captivating novel of love, pride, passion, and, of course, prejudice. Mr. Darcy's intimate diary reveals his entanglements with women, his dangerous friendship with Lord Byron, his daily life in Georgian London, his mercurial mood swings calmed only by fisticuffs at Jackson's-and, most importantly, his vain struggle to conquer his longing for Elizabeth Bennet.