She`s back! When arch-snob Emmeline Lucas (known universally as Lucia) makes some money on the stockmarket, the wheels are set in motion for a new adventure
- & this time, her ambitions are larger than ever. But eternal rival Elizabeth Mapp-Flint is determined to outshine Lucia & she`s got royalty on her side. The much-loved Mapp & Lucia series takes a new turn as the two legendary protagonists travel to the continent to lock horns in an idyllic Italian setting. Can Mapp upstage Lucia on foreign soil so far from Tilling? What is Georgie`s new valet up to? & will Lucia`s financial speculation lead to rags or more riches? ` Lucia On Holiday` is a new addition to the Mapp & Lucia canon, based on the immortal characters first created by E.F. Benson. Perfect reading for followers of Benson`s original novels & sure to be equally loved by new fans, this is a pitch-perfect & deliciously enjoyable social satire of an England long gone but not forgotten.
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In May 1943, a young Frenchwoman called Lucie Aubrac engineered the escape of her husband Raymond from the clutches of Klaus Barbie, the feared Gestapo chief later known as the ` Butcher of Lyon`. When Raymond was arrested again that June, Lucie mounted a second astonishing rescue, ambushing the prison van that was transporting him. Spirited out of France with her husband by the RAF, she arrived in London a heroine. However, in 1983 Klaus Barbie made the bombshell claim that the Aubracs had become informers in 1943, betraying their comrades. The French press & the couple themselves furiously denounced this `slander`, but as worrying inconsistencies were spotted in Lucie`s story, doubts emerged that have never quite gone away. Who was Lucie Aubrac? What did she really do in 1943? & was she truly the spirit of la vraie France, or a woman who could not resist casting herself as a heroine, whatever the cost to the truth? Sian Rees` penetrating account is the first full English-language biography of this extraordinary woman. ...

Lucie Duff Gordon was a world apart from her Victorian counterparts. An intellectual, traveller, writer & progressive social commentator, she & her husband led a bohemian, eccentric & highly unconventional life in London, socialising with such luminaries as Tennyson, Dickens & Thackeray. In 1862, however, Lucie was diagnosed with tuberculosis & on the advice of her doctor, left her husband & three children to live in Egypt, where she would spend the rest of her life. Drawing on Duff Gordon`s correspondence with her family, Katherine Frank elegantly relates the dramatic transformation that she underwent as she discarded the restrictions of Victorian Engl&, shunned the English community in Cairo & immersed herself in the Egyptian way of life
- `the real, true Arabian nights`. Lucie Duff Gordon, Noor ala Noor `light from the source of all light` as she later became, led an exceptional, luminous life, never afraid to step outside the boundaries of convention & explore the unknown.
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A magnificently funny first picture book by Danny Baker, the popular comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ & screenwriter. Illustrated by rising star Pippa Curnick. Lucie Goose lives all alone in a house at the edge of the woods. She has never met or spoken to another animal of any sort until...a wolf, bear & lion turn up on her doorstep & go Rraaaarrrrrr! She should start screaming. She should run away. But Lucie Goose isn`t very good at being scared. What will she do? Introducing a wonderfully charming & funny new picture book from two remarkable talents. ...

Things at the Grace residence are getting completely out of h&. As if being attacked by goblins & almost eaten by a bridge troll wasn`t enough, now the house boggart, Thimbletack, is out to get Jared. Simon has a very hungry griffon recuperating in the carriage house, & Mallory is convinced that the only way to stop the madness is to get rid of the Guide. But fortunately for Jared, it seems that is not an option. With all kinds of creatures after them, the Guide is the only protection the Grace kids have. If only they could work out why the faeries are stalking them? Could it be the Guide that they want? There`s only one person who might know the answer
- their crazy old Aunt Lucinda.
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We`re having a surprise at dinner tonight...but what could it BE? A joyful slice of family life all about what it really means to be lucky. When Mum announces that we`re having a surprise at dinner tonight, my brother Leo & I can`t help but wonder... What could it BE? Mum says we`ll have to wait & see, but Leo & I have some ideas of our own... The award-winning creator of the Roald Dahl shortlisted Marchall Armstrong is New to Our School delivers a tasty & touching slice of family life, in a story all about the benefits of brothers, & what it really means to be lucky... ...

Solimar Castro-Valdez is 18 & drunk on optimism when she embarks on a perilous journey across the US/ Mexican border. Weeks later she arrives on her cousin`s doorstep in Berkeley, California, dazed by first love, & pregnant. This was not the plan. But amid the uncertainty of new motherhood & her American identity, Soli learns that when you have just one precious possession, you guard it with your life. For Soli, motherhood becomes her dwelling & the boy at her breast becomes her hearth. Kavya Reddy has always followed her heart, much to her parents chagrin. A mostly contented chef at a UC Berkeley sorority house, the unexpected desire to have a child descends like a cyclone in Kavya`s mid-thirties. When she can`t get pregnant, this desire will test her marriage & her sanity. More than that, it will set Kavya & her husband on a collision course with Soli when she is detained & her infant son comes under Kavya`s care. As Kavya learns to be a mother
- the singing, story-telling, inventor-of-the-universe kind of mother she always fantasized about being
- she builds her love on a fault line, her heart wrapped around someone else`s child.LUCKY BOY is an emotional journey that will leave you certain of the redemptive beauty of this world. There are no bad guys in this story, no single obvious hero. Sekaran has taken real life & applied it to fiction; the results are moving & revelatory.

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Its beckoning paw has a cult fanbase, but the lucky cat is more than just a cute ornament. The iconic creature is a symbol of good fortune & used as a powerful lucky charm in shops & homes across Japan, China & beyond. The lucky cat (or maneki neko in Japanese) has a long history dating back to the 17th century that`s packed with fascinating folklore, serious symbolism & countless contemporary cat spin-offs. Its paw, bib, coin, collar & colours all have meaning. Did you know a pink cat will bring you luck in love, while a gold cat is all about wealth? Or that a left-pawed cat is used by businesses to attract customers, while a cat with a beckoning right paw is found in homes as talisman? Dive into this adorable book to find out all you need to know about the beautiful lucky cat. ...

Originating in Japanese culture, Lucky Cat, or maneki-neko, is regarded as a charm that brings good fortune to its owner. Included herein is a mini Lucky Cat figure with motorized arm & a 32-page illustrated book on the history of this ancient talisman. ...

Kingsley Amis` witty campus novel, ” Lucky Jim” is a comedy that skewers the hypocrisies & vanities of 1950s academic life. This ” Penguin Modern Classics” edition contains an introduction by David Lodge. Jim Dixon has accidentally fallen into a job at one of Britain`s new red brick universities. A moderately successful future in the History Department beckons
- as long as Jim can stave off the unwelcome advances of fellow lecturer Margaret, survive a madrigal-singing weekend at Professor Welch`s, deliver a lecture on ` Merrie England` & resist Christine, the hopelessly desirable girlfriend of Welch`s awful son Bertr&. Inspired by Amis`s friend, the poet Philip Larkin, Jim Dixon is a timeless comic character, adrift in a hopelessly gauche & pretentious world. Kingsley Amis (1922-1995), born in London, wrote poetry, criticism, & short stories, but is best remembered as the novelist whose works offered a comic deconstruction of post-war Britain. Amis explored his disillusionment with British society in novels such as ” Lucky Jim” (1954) & ” That Uncertain Feeling” (1955); his other works include ” The Green Man” (1970) ” Stanley & the Women” (1984), & ” The Old Devils” (1986) which won the Booker Prize. If you enjoyed ” Lucky Jim”, you might like Amis`s ” The King`s English”, also available in ” Penguin Modern Classics”. ”A flawless comic novel...I loved it then, as I do now. It has always made me laugh out loud.” (Helen Dunmore, ” The Times”). ”A brilliantly & preposterously funny book.” (” Guardian”).
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