What happens when Dad`s a calamitous boozer & spends all his money down the pub, when Mum has five other children & spends most her free-time on a sewing machine making clothes to pay the rent, when you don`t know where you`ll be living from one day to the next, when bombs are raining down & disease is everywhere, & when you come out of school, chances are you`ll have to go out scrounging to earn your next meal?. A. S. Jasper answers all these questions & more with animated gusto (and without a whimper) in A Hoxton Childhood, a thin volume of memoirs depicting life in a London slum during the First World War, seen through the eyes of a child. ...

Matt Hopwood set off with just a small bag & a walking stick, no possessions & an open mind to walk many hundreds of miles the length & breadth of the country. He relied entirely on the generosity of strangers for shelter & asked people to tell him their transforming stories. They did. All of these deeply enthralling, profoundly honest stories weave a web of tenderness, connection, compassion & community. For some people their love story will span decades & tell a tale of romantic love evolving through the passing years. Others` stories express fleeting moments of connection, care, concern. Most love stories are marked by sadness & loss. Some stories are concerned with maternal & paternal love, others with a love of place, a visceral connection with spirit through landscape. Love stories also connect deeply with our identities, in how we belong & how we are welcomed in society. Each story is different. Each beautiful. Each valuable. ...

In January 2003 Asne Seierstad entered Baghdad on a ten-day visa. She was to stay for over three months, reporting on the war & its aftermath. A Hundred & One Days is her compelling account is her account of life in Baghdad in the lead up to, during & aftermath of the American invasion, & a fascinating insight into the life of a foreign correspondent. An award-winning writer, Seierstad brilliantly details the frustrations & dangers journalists faced trying to uncover the truth behind the all-pervasive propaganda. She also offers a unique portrait of Baghdad & its people, trying to go about their daily business under the constant threat of attack. Seierstad`s passionate & erudite book conveys both the drama & the tragedy of her one hundred & one days in a city at war. ...

A bunch of scruffy urchin kids in the backstreets of Paris outwit thieves to uncover the whereabouts of millions of francs stolen from the Paris-Ventimiglia express. Gaby is the leader, but it is super-cool Marion with her collection of stray dogs who is the heart of the gang. It all begins when a local villain offers the children a fortune for their `horse`
- a headless rocking horse, given old tricycle wheels that they `ride` down the steep cobbled street, but they don`t want to part with it. Then, a few days later, the horse is stolen, & so begins an adventure that is full of twists & turns, leading to a satisfying conclusion when the villains receive their comeuppance.
...

The New York Times bestselling novel. Rhode Isl&, 1938. A sweltering summer of secrets, passion & betrayal...`I wish I could remember more. I wish I had taken down every detail, because I didn`t see him again until the summer of 1938; the summer the hurricane came & washed the world away...` Lily Dane has returned to the exclusive enclave of Seaview, Rhode Isl&, hoping for an escape from the city & from her heartbreak. What she gets instead is the pain of facing newlyweds Budgie & Nick Greenwald
- her former best friend & former fiance. During lazy days & gin-soaked nights, Lily is drawn back under Budgie`s glamorous & enticing influence, & the truth behind Budgie & Nick`s betrayal of Lily begins to emerge. & as the spectre of war in Europe looms, a storm threatens to destroy everything...
...

Allotments are places to grow food, but they are so much more than that. They are also places that encourage spontaneity, exploration, learning, sharing, restful activity & camaraderie. This book is a celebration of the allotment hut
- their architecture & design, but most of all the wonderful invention & resourcefulness that makes each one unique. A series of original & charming illustrations offer insight into the world of allotment huts & offer inspiration to create your own, very special shed. This is the ideal gift book for allotment folk, gardeners or those curious about alternative lifestyles & the quirkier side of life.
...

The first title in a series of concertina fold-out books features a two-metre diorama of New York`s iconic skyline. Spot over eighty objects
- from famous buildings to finger-licking frankfurters
- then flip the page to see a cut-away replication of the same scene, showing what New Yorkers get up to behind closed doors. Detailed & humorous artwork brings one of the world`s best-loved cities to life.

...

Agatha Christie revelled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books; indeed, she employed it more than any other murder method, with the poison itself often being a central part of the novel. Her choice of deadly substances was far from random
- the characteristics of each often provide vital clues to the discovery of the murderer. With gunshots or stabbings the cause of death is obvious, but this is not the case with poisons. How is it that some compounds prove so deadly, & in such tiny amounts? Christie`s extensive chemical knowledge provides the backdrop for A is for Arsenic, in which Kathryn Harkup investigates the poisons used by the murderer in fourteen classic Agatha Christie mysteries. It looks at why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body, the cases that may have inspired Christie, & the feasibility of obtaining, administering & detecting these poisons, both at the time the novel was written & today.A is for Arsenic is a celebration of the use of science by the undisputed Queen of Crime.
...

Examining the popular heroes of Japanese films, comics, theatre & television, The Japanese Mirror looks at the dual status of women as both goddesses & she-devils, artificiality & transvestism, the role of the samurai & the gangster, & the modern father-figure as an object of ridicule. Both panoramic & intimate, A Japanese Mirror is a rich & surprising exploration of national identity. ...

` Whenever I find myself thinking in a brooding way, I must simply turn it off & think of something else. God forbid that I should become an eccentric.` Rachel Cameron is a shy, retiring schoolmistress, tethered to her overbearing invalid mother. Thirty-four & unmarried, she feels herself edging towards a lonely spinsterhood. But then she falls in love for the first time, & embarks upon an affair that will change her life in unforeseen ways. ...