Returning to the scene of Cannery Row — the weedy lots, junk heaps and flop houses of Monterey — Steinbeck brings to life in Sweet Thursday the denizens of a netherworld of laughter and tears. He again explores the common bounds of humanity and love which make goodness and happiness possible.

First time in print — Cook's most daring novel yet. A mysterious transmission from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean leads a crew of oceanographers and divers to a phenomenon beyond scientific understanding — and a discovery that will change everything we know about life on Earth.

Cath and Si are best friends. Total opposites, always together, and both unlucky in love. Cath is scatty, messy, and emotionally closed. Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy, and desperate for a man of his own. When Portia steps back into their lives, her reappearance sets off a chain of events that tests them to the limit. Does Portia have a hidden agenda, or is she just looking for happy endings all round? Whatever the answers, none of them could ever predict the outcome...

Drifters in search of work, George and his simple-minded friend Lennie, have nothing in the world except each other — and a dream. A dream that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch, but their hopes are doomed as Lennie — struggling against extreme cruelty, misunderstanding and jealousy — becomes a victim of his own strength. Tackling universal themes, friendship and a shared vision, and giving a voice to America's lonely and dispossesed, Of Mice And Men remains Steinbeck's most popular work.

Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. But one thing will always be out of his reach... Everybody who is anybody is seen at his glittering parties. Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking, dancing and debating his mysterious character. For Gatsby — young, handsome, fabulously rich — always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.

This is a great first poetry book; the poems span time, from Robert Louis Stevenson and Walter de la Mare right up to date with Roger McGough and Michael Rosen. Themes covered, such as mealtimes, playtime, animals, family and bedtime, really appeal to youngreaders.

Madeline is one of the best-loved characters in children's literature. Set in picturesque Paris, this tale of a brave little girl's trip to the hospital was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1940 and has as much appeal today as it did then. The combination of a spirited heroine, timelessly appealing art, cheerful humor, and rhythmic text makes Madeline a perennial favorite with children of all ages. No one has ever written more delightful stories than the Madeline books, whose text and pictures are cherished by parents as well as by youngsters, and which have brightened the evening shadows at many a bedtime.

A novel constructed around the last great poem of a fictional American poet, John Shade, and an account of his death. The poem appears in full and the narrative develops through the lengthy, and increasingly eccentric, notes by his posthumous editor.

Follows a man's thoughts and dreams during a single night. It is also a book that participates in the re-reading of Irish history that was part of the revival of the early 20th century. The author also wrote Ulysses, Dubliners and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.

Even easier than Level 1 All Aboard Reading books, Picture Readers combine rebus pictures, super-simple vocabulary, and cut-out flash cards to develop and reinforce reading skills. In The Big Snowball, a little boy's runaway snowball causes village-wide calamity! Simple rhyming text and funny illustrations describe the snowball's path through the town, and the silly ending will leave kids giggling.

The #1 New York Times Bestselling series featuring Lucas Davenport. Of all the criminals that Lucas Davenport has hunted, none has been as frighteningly intelligent as the woman who's hunting him now.

Through realistic pastels and watercolors, Johnson proposes a new look at the urban landscape, pointing out how letters appear in a variety of places, from interstates to a simple sawhorse at a construction site.

Estate agent Frankie Blue is known on his home turf — White City, Shepherd's Bush — as 'Frank theFib'. He's a liar — but one who always tries to tell the truth. He has been friends with Diamond Tony, a hairdresser, Colin, a computer nerd, and Nodge, a cabbie, since schooldays. Now they are thirty, and trying to live the same life as they did then — drinking, girls, coke, and football. But Frankie is bored. He's decided to carry out the great 'betrayal' — he's going to get married. From the moment he tells his mates, the whole patchwork of their friendships begins to collapse — revealing the sad, shocking but often hilarious truths that lie underneath.

'Twas the night before Valentine's Day, and all through the town, Children were busy, not making a sound. They gathered their scissors, their glitter and glue, Pink and red paper, and paint brushes, too... The Night before Valentine's Day looks in on a house full of excited children, busily cutting out heart-shaped cards and writing silly Valentine rhymes. The next day at school is a day of parties and games — and even a surprise visitor bearing a special Valentine gift for the whole class!

Lynley Dodd, winner of numerous awards for her hugely popular series featuring Hairy Maclary and his many canine and feline friends, continues to entertain us with delightful rhyming text. Enjoy the entire Hairy Maclary collection as he and his mischevious companions explore their neighborhood. Gold Star First Readers are for children learning basic reading skills. The simple text incorporates repetition and rhyme to encourage and build confident readers. The vivid, full-color illustrations enhance children's understanding of what they read.

The Pearl is Steinbeck's flawless parable about wealth and the evil it can bring. When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, finds 'the Pearl of the world' he believes that his life will be magically transformed. He will marry Juana in church and their little boy, Coyotito, will be able to attend school. Obsessed by his dreams, Kino is blind to the greed, fear and even violence the pearl arouses in him and his neighbours. Written with haunting simplicty and lyrical simplicity, The Pearl sets the values of the civilized world against those of the primitive and finds them tragically inadequate.

Enigmatic Claire is 30 and lives alone. When she meets Martin Gibson, a faded scholar, she becomes inordinately interested. She is even more interested when she meets his wife, a far more spectacular personality. But the unexpected news of this woman's death releases emotions that were not entirely foreseen.

In the summer of 1920 two men, both war survivors meet in the quiet English countryside. One is living in the church, intent upon uncovering and restoring an historical wall painting while the other camps in the next field in search of a lost grave. Out of their meeting, comes a deeper communion and a catching up of the old primeval rhythms of life so cruelly disorientated by the Great War.

This Dickensenian story is of two brothers who come from nowhere and want everything. When Paul marries Louise, Johnnie is part of the contract, while their daughter Anna is entangled in it from birth. When Johnnie has to get out of the country, Louise goes with him. This has been her story too, right from the beginning.

Voyage In The Dark was first published in 1934, but it could have been written today. It is the story of an unhappy love affair, a portrait of a hypocritical society, and an exploration of exile and breakdown; all written in Jean Rhys' hauntingly simple and beautiful style. Eighteen, on her own and independent as much through circumstance as character, Anna has exchanged the West Indies of her childhood for the cold greyness of England, with its narrow streets and narrower rules. As she drifts towards the demi-monde of 1914 London, she comes to realise that life will never be so free and easy again. Her childish dreams have been replaced by the harsher reality of living in a man's world, where all charity has its price.