From the flamboyant & unpredictable Maryska, who scandalises the town when she cuts short her golden tresses, to the eccentric Uncle Pepin, who always has to have a ready supply of furniture to smash when he's angry, Bohumil Hrabal creates a range of enchanting & memorable characters
- confirming his status as one of Europe's greatest writers.
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` Folks, life is beautiful! Bring on the drinks, I`m sticking around till I`m ninety! Do you hear?`A young boy grows up in a sleepy Czech community where little changes. His raucous, mischievous Uncle Pepin came to stay with the family years ago, & never left. But the outside world is encroaching on their close-knit town
- first in the shape of German occupiers, & then with the new Communist order. Elegiac & moving, Bohumil Hrabal`s gem-like portrayal of the passing of an age is filled with wit, life & tenderness. ` What is unique about Hrabal is his capacity for joy` Milan Kundera` Even in a town where nothing happens, Hrabal`s meticulous & exuberant fascination with the human voice insists that, as long as there`s still breath in a body, life is endlessly eventful` Independent
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Early one morning the little train wakes up in his home town, Little Snoreing, & decides to go on an adventure. He chugs & puffs his way through villages, past castles & over bridges. But soon he gets tired, & the big city is a bit scary. There`s only one thing for it; he`ll have to head back! The Little Train, Graham Greene`s first children`s book, was originally published in 1946 with Ardizzone`s illustrations commissioned 28 year later. First published by The Bodley Head in 1974, this new edition brings the classic little train back to life for a whole new generation. ...

Can you remember Dirty Harry`s weapon of choice? Or the type of flower given to Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games? Does a severed horse`s head mean anything to you? Or what about a pair of glistening shoes with magical powers? Film magazine Little White Lies dares you to test your mental agility & pop cultural prowess with the Movie Memory Game, an illustrated card game for the movie lover in your life.

Includes:: 50 cards & a guide to the 25 movies.

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Get ready for a bedtime adventure story with the littlest dreamer as you save your pet from the clutches of a fierce dragon, dig for pirate treasure, zoom round a racing track in a super-fast car & even blast off into space to play with aliens on Mars! Snuggle up with this fantastical yet settling journey into dreaml&. This aspirational & soothing story is brought to life by Charlotte Cooke`s delightful illustrations & is the perfect bedtime story, with special bedtime stickers to reward children for getting into bed, staying put & falling asleep! You can also climb lollipops in a land of sweets & swim with mermaids before settling down to bedtime in Littlest Dreamer: A Bedtime Journey. Suzanne Smith is Creative Director & Content Creator at Mums Creative Content Ltd & Doodle Pie Ltd, who create captivating concepts for children`s television & books including the Hattie B, Magical Vet series published by Puffin & the Doodle Girl picture book activity series published by Simon & Schuster. Charlotte Cooke graduated from the University of the West of England in 2010 with a First Class Honours degree in Illustration. She was awarded Highly Commended for the Macmillan Prize in 2010. Her publishers include Parragon & Canata Learning & she has worked with Charlotte & Adam Guillain, best-selling authors of the George`s Amazing Adventures series. ...

The romantic dream of downsizing, giving up the ratrace, & living life at 4mph on the inland waterways is proving more & more attractive. But for tens of thousands of people it is not just a romantic dream but an actual lifestyle. Tony Jones is one of those people. He has lived aboard his 50ft narrowboat for over 7 years & in this very practical book he documents what the liveaboard lifestyle is really like, focusing on the practical issues of day to day living for those who want to know what living on a boat actually entails, to see how to manage it for themselves. Topics covered include:
- the pros, cons & costs of a residential mooring
- power usage & energy consumption (and how it differs from a house)
- how to stay warm
- the choice of coal, electric, gas or wood heating
- boat loos
- the pros & cons, & troubleshooting typical problems
- entertainment
- TV, radio, internet, DVDs
- logistical problems
- no postal address, GP access, vehicle access or use The aim of this book is to feed people`s dreams by showing that every possible problem that could arise when living on a boat has a tried & tested solution. The dream is perfectly possible, & this book is the complete practical guide to achieving it.









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This is book shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014. It was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2014. Calcutta, 1967. Unnoticed by his family, Supratik has become dangerously involved in extremist political activism. Compelled by an idealistic desire to change his life & the world around him, all he leaves behind before disappearing is a note. At home, his family slowly begins to unravel. Poisonous rivalries grow, the once-thriving family business implodes & destructive secrets are unearthed. & all around them the sands are shifting as society fractures, for this is a moment of turbulence, of inevitable & unstoppable change. ” Deeply moving”. (Amitav Ghosh). ” Terrifies & delights”. (A S Byatt, Guardian). ” Unforgettable”. (Daily Telegraph). ...

With a foreword by John le Carre. 1984. East Germany. Captain Gerd Wiesler, a loyal member of the secret police, is assigned to spy on the playwright Georg Dreyman. The flat is bugged, & Wiesler begins to listen in to the daily
- & nightly -activities of the playwright & his actress-girlfriend. But when he discovers that the surveillance has been instigated by the Minister of Culture`s desire for Dreyman`s girlfriend, rather than the playwright`s political views, Wiesler begins to question his own loyalties. As he continues to listen in, he finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed in the couple`s lives, & the gap between his professional duty & personal integrity starts to widen. This hugely influential film by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, whose screenplay is published in English for the first time, is as relevant
- or even more so
- now, in the wake of Edward Snowden & the Wiki Leaks revelations, as it was when it won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Further contents: Introduction by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; ` Appassionata: The Idea for the Film`, by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck`; an essay by Sebastian Koch (` Georg Dreyman`); an interview with Ulrich Muhe, by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; ` Wiesler`s Change of Heart`, an essay by Manfred Wilke; full film cast & crew credits Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the writer & director of The Lives of Others, was born in Cologne in 1973 & grew up in New York City, Brussels, Frankfurt & West Berlin. He studied Russian Literature in Leningrad before obtaining an MA from Oxford & a Diploma in Film Direction from the University of Film & Television in Munich.


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Throughout history great gardeners have risen from all walks of life. Some have been aristocratic amateur gardeners, others professional designers with an international practice. Some have come to garden-making from sister arts such as sculpture or painting; some have been hands-on nurserymen or botanists. What they all have in common, no matter where or when they were born, is the ability to take an idea & develop it in a new manner relevant to their times. The book contains four sections. ` Gardens of Ideas` moves from the politically allusive gardens of 18th-century England made by men such as William Kent, to Charles Jencks` Scottish garden inspired by 21st-century cosmography. ` Gardens of Straight Lines` explores the lives of the great formalist gardeners, from Le Notre at Versailles to the rational English minimalism of contemporary designer Christopher Bradley-Hole. ` Gardens of Curves` begins with that great exponent of the English landscape garden, ` Capability` Brown, & leads to the extraordinary Brazilian designer Roberto Burle Marx. Finally, ` Gardens of Plantsmanship` moves from the father of naturalistic planting, William Robinson, to the sweeping prairies of New York`s favourite Dutch designer, Piet Oudolf. With an outstanding text by the award-winning gardens writer Stephen Anderton, this book will appeal to garden lovers everywhere. ...

The turbulent Tudor age never fails to capture the imagination. But what was it actually like to be a woman during this period? This was a time when death in infancy or during childbirth was rife; when marriage was usually a legal contract, not a matter for love, & the education of women was minimal at best. Yet the Tudor century was also dominated by powerful & characterful women in a way that no era had been before. Elizabeth Norton explores the seven ages of the Tudor woman, from childhood to old age, through the diverging examples of women such as Elizabeth Tudor, Henry VIII`s sister who died in infancy; Cecily Burbage, Elizabeth`s wet nurse; Mary Howard, widowed but influential at court; Elizabeth Boleyn, mother of a controversial queen; & Elizabeth Barton, a peasant girl who would be lauded as a prophetess. Their stories are interwoven with studies of topics ranging from Tudor toys to contraception to witchcraft, painting a portrait of the lives of queens & serving maids, nuns & harlots, widows & chaperones. ...