Hilary Mantel's superb story of suburban mayhem and revenge is sharp, merciless and unerringly hilarious. Barricaded inside their house filled with festering rubbish, unhealthy smells and their secrets, the Axon family baffle Isabel Field, the latest in a long line of social workers. Isabel has other problems too: a randy, untrustworthy father and a slackly romantic lover, Colin Sidney, history teacher to unresponsive yobs and father of a parcel of horrible children. With all this to worry about, how can Isabel begin to understand what is going on in the Axon household?

'Savage and funny black humour at its best' Time Out Muriel Axon is about to re-enter the lives of Colin Sidney, hapless husband, father and schoolmaster, and Isabel Field, failed social worker and practising neurotic. It is ten years since her last tangle with them, but for Muriel this is not time enough. There are still scores to be settled and truths to be faced — not to mention a certain amount of vengeance to be wreaked.

Unravel the meaning, origin, and usage of over 6,000 phrases from book and film titles, idioms and cliches, to nicknames, slogans and quotations with this modern and entertaining guide to wonderful phrases by one of the world’s best-known wordsmiths. The ideal replacement or complement to that tatty old copy of Brewer's Phrase and Fable most of us have about the house, A Word in Your Shell-Like is an entertaining look at both familiar and unfamiliar phrases by one of the key world authorities in English language reference. The articles also contain discussion of meaning, origin and usage. Who was originally 'sold down the river'? Have you been told to 'Naff off'? Find out of whom it was said 'he couldn't chew gum and fart at the same time', who the 'catcher in the rye' was, and what it means to be 'caught between wind and water'. Few other word reference books are likely to increase your store of knowledge with such fun.

Faced with a blank slate after Oceanic flight 815 crashes, moneyed Ivy League student Bernard Cross reinvents himself once again — just as he had done in Sydney before his deceit was revealed. When tragedy strikes, Bernard must trust his fellow castaways with the truth.

«Previously published as «Rosie Dunne» this delightfully enchanting novel about what happens when two people who are meant to be together just can't seem to get it right is written by the gifted author of the widely acclaimed, bestselling «PS, I Love You.»

Splendid and sumptuous historical novel from this internationally bestselling author, telling of the early life of Katherine of Aragon. We think of her as the barren wife of a notorious king; but behind this legacy lies a fascinating story. Katherine of Aragon is born Catalina, the Spanish Infanta, to parents who are both rulers and warriors. Aged four, she is betrothed to Arthur, Prince of Wales, and is raised to be Queen of England. She is never in doubt that it is her destiny to rule that far-off, wet, cold land. Her faith is tested when her prospective father-in-law greets her arrival in her new country with a great insult; Arthur seems little better than a boy; the food is strange and the customs coarse. Slowly she adapts to the first Tudor court, and life as Arthur's wife grows ever more bearable. But when the studious young man dies, she is left to make her own future: how can she now be queen, and found a dynasty? Only by marrying Arthur's young brother, the sunny but spoilt Henry. His father and grandmother are against it; her powerful parents prove little use. Yet Katherine is her mother's daughter and her fighting spirit is strong. She will do anything to achieve her aim; even if it means telling the greatest lie, and holding to it. Philippa Gregory proves yet again that behind the apparently familiar face of history lies an astonishing story: of women warriors influencing the future of Europe, of revered heroes making deep mistakes, and of an untold love story which changes the fate of a nation.

Critically acclaimed, award-winning biography of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and the brilliant group of writers to come out of Oxford during the Second World War. C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford scenery in the years during and after the Second World War. They drank beer on Tuesdays at the Bird and Baby, and on Thursday nights they met in Lewis' Magdalen College rooms to read aloud from the books they were writing; jokingly they called themselves The Inklings. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien first introduced The Screwtape Letters and The Lord of the Rings to an audience in this company and Charles Williams, poet and writer of super-natural thrillers, was another prominent member of the group. Humphrey Carpenter, who wrote the acclaimed biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, draws upon unpublished letters and diaries, to which he was given special access, in this engrossing story.

Presents the fictional diary of Maybell Brumby, a wealthy American widow who arrives in London in 1932 and discovers that an old school friend is in town: Bessie Wallis Warfield. Maybell and Wally are made for one another. One has money and a foothold in high society. The other has ruthless ambition and enough energy to power the National Grid.

This is a rebranded edition of this uniquely helpful guide to all areas of English grammar, illustrated with examples from today's language. Collins Gem English Grammar provides up-to-date and accessible guidance through the intricacies of English grammar in a format that is conveniently sized, durable, and simple to use. The book is divided into sections dealing with the different parts of speech. Each grammatical point is clearly described in a user-friendly format that combines explanations on the left-hand page with examples from modern English on the right-hand page. Providing clear, concise explanations, it features a clear layout with colour. It also offers an accessible approach to English grammar.

Brochure design is critical in the world of marketing and graphic design, yet can be challenging to execute successfully. The Big Book of Brochures is an extraordinary visual collection featuring work from top designers around the globe. It offers hundreds of ideas, pages of inspiration, and loads of advice for professional graphic designers and students alike. This book provides ideas on corporate and product literature, annual reports and direct marketing, and new media, providing a wellspring of ideas for designers creating client brochures. It offers recommendations for choosing type, layout, photo treatments, and much more. Covering a variety of styles, from classic to modern, sophisticated to conceptual, The Big Book of Brochures is an indispensable brainstorming resource for any designer looking to create innovative, high-quality brochures.

This book presents a complete collection of Tolkien's essays, including two on Beowulf, which span three decades beginning six years before The Hobbit to five years after The Lord of the Rings. The seven 'essays' by J.R.R. Tolkien assembled in this new paperback edition were with one exception delivered as general lectures on particular occasions; and while they mostly arose out of Tolkien's work in medieval literature, they are accessible to all. Two of them are concerned with Beowulf, including the well-known lecture whose title is taken for this book, and one with Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, given in the University of Glasgow in 1953. Also included in this volume is the lecture in English and Welsh; the Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford in 1959; and a paper on Invented Languages delivered in 1931, with exemplification from poems in the Elvish tongues. Most famous of all is On Fairy-Stories, a discussion of the nature of fairy-tales and fantasy, which gives insight into Tolkien's approach to the whole genre. The pieces in this collection cover a period of nearly thirty years, beginning six years before the publication of The Hobbit, with a unique 'academic' lecture on his invention (calling it A Secret Vice) and concluding with his farewell to professorship, five years after the publication of The Lord of the Rings.

Brilliantly funny, Louise Rennison's fabby third book on the confessions of crazy but lovable Georgia Nicolson. Now in gorgey new paperback and guaranteed to have the nation laughing their knickers off! Jas said, Well, what happened? And I said, Well, it was beyond marvy. We talked and snogged and then he made me a sandwich and we snogged and then he played me a record and then we snogged. So it was like! Yeah! a snogging fest. Sacre bleu! Jas looked like she was thinking which is unusual and scary. I said, But then this weird thing happened. He had his hands on my waist, standing behind me. Oo-er! D-accord. Anyway, I turned round and he sort of leaped out of the way like two short leaping things. Was he dancing? No! I think he was frightened of being knocked out by my nunga-nungas! Then we both laughed like loons on loon tablets (i.e. a lot).

A heart-warming tale of courage and warmth, set against the backdrop of the Second World War, about an abandoned village, a lifelong friendship and one very adventurous cat! 'Classic Morpurgo brilliance' — Publishing News. Something's up. Something big too, very big. At school, in the village, whoever you meet, it's all anyone talks about. It's like a sudden curse has come down on us all. It makes me wonder if we'll ever see the sun again. It's 1943, and Lily Tregenze lives on a farm, in the idyllic seaside village of Slapton. Apart from her father being away, and the 'townie' evacuees at school, her life is scarcely touched by the war. Until one day, Lily and her family, along with 3000 other villagers, are told to move out of their homes — lock, stock and barrel. Soon, the whole area is out of bounds, as the Allied forces practise their landings for D-day, preparing to invade France. But Tips, Lily's adored cat, has other ideas — barbed wire and keep-out signs mean nothing to her, nor does the danger of guns and bombs. Frantic to find her, Lily makes friends with two young American soldiers, who promise to help her. But will she ever see her cat again? Lily decides to cross the wire into the danger zone to look for Tips herself! Now, many years later, as Michael is reading his Grandma Lily's diary, he learns about 'The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips' — and wonders how one adventurous cat could still affect their lives sixty years later.

This is the reissue of the second novel in the Wideacre Trilogy; a compulsive drama set in the eighteenth century. The Wideacre estate is bankrupt, the villagers are living in poverty and Wideacre Hall is a smoke-blackened ruin. But, in the Dower House, two children are being raised in protected innocence. Equal claimants to the inheritance of Wideacre, rivals for the love of the village, they are tied by a secret childhood betrothal but forbidden to marry. Only one can be the favoured child. Only one can inherit the magical understanding between the land and the Lacey family that can make the Sussex village grow green again. Only one can be Beatrice Lacey's true heir. Sweeping, passionate, unique The Favoured Child is the second novel in Philippa Gregory's bestselling trilogy which began with Wideacre and concluded with Meridon.

Youthful beauty, intellectual brilliance, physical passion, tragedy and disgrace are all in this wonderful novel as told through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl. Sophie is a self-contained, exceptionally bright child who has no known parents and has spent all her life in a children's home. Her life is transformed when she wins a scholarship to Tatham's, a kind of Oxbridge university for teenagers, but this is only the start of an education as much emotional as intellectual. She falls hopelessly in love with Lucas, adored gay son of a wealthy Jewish family and, through him, is drawn into a tangle of betrayed friendship and forbidden passions that ends in tragedy and disgrace. But school is only half the story. Spanning the years 1975 to 1979 the chapters alternate between terms and holidays, between Sophie's dogged pursuit of the glittering prizes and her slow, painful discovery of who she is and where she belongs. Through other people's families, and especially other people's mothers, she learns as much about the mysterious laws of class and love as she learns from her teachers about the Latin and Greek that will prove her passport to security.

This is a translation of three medieval tales. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl are two poems by an unknown author written in about 1400. Sir Gawain is a romance, a fairy-tale for adults, full of life and colour; but it is also much more than this, being at the same time a powerful moral tale which examines religious and social values. Pearl is apparently an elegy on the death of a child, a poem pervaded with a sense of great personal loss: but, like Gawain it is also a debate on much less tangible matters. Sir Orfeo is a slighter romance, belonging to an earlier and different tradition. The three translations represent the complete rhyme and alliterative schemes of the original.

A wombat's work is never done! Take a trip with a wombat, and discover the ins and outs of her day in this modern classic Australian picture book. There are holes to be dug and territory to be defended — and don't forget all the eating and sleeping that needs to be squeezed in too!

This atlas is ideal for the driver in central London. The large scale and high level of detail make it an essential purchase. This atlas is ideal for all drivers in London; professional drivers; businesses; and residents. This large format atlas is the chosen product of many professional drivers in London. It has an extensive area of coverage, and is ideal for route planning and driving in London. To aid map reading, the busy central London area is shown at an extra large scale. The atlas includes: London and M25 route planning maps; an index to places of interest; full index to street names; and clear colour-coded roads and buildings. It extends from Heathrow in the west to Barking in the east, and from Edmonton in the north to Beckenham in the south. The main mapping is at 1:15,000 (4.25 inches to 1 mile), Central London at 1:7500 (8.5 inches to 1 mile).

he Ultimate resource for all things bathroom, from layout, to style to color and appliances. Thousands of at-a-glance bathroom combinations take the mystery out of planning precisely what you want in your next bathroom.

«Fletcher Moon has never been like other kids. For one thing, he has had to suffer the humiliating nickname «Half Moon» because of his short stature. But the real reason Fletcher is different is that ever since he was a baby, he's had a nose for sniffing out mysteries. And after graduating at the top of his Internet class, he is officially certified as the youngest detective in the world. He even has a silver-plated detective's badge to prove it. Everything is going along fine until two things happen: a classmate hires him to solve a crime, and his prized badge is stolen. All signs point to the town's most notorious crime family, the Sharkeys. As Fletcher follows the clues, evidence of a conspiracy begins to emerge. But before he can crack the case, Fletcher finds himself framed for a serious crime. To clear his name, he will have to pair up with the unlikeliest of allies and go on the run from the authorities. Fletcher has twelve hours to find the guilty party — or he «is» the guilty party.»