Charming, hilarious & super-inventive comic strip adventures from Gary Northfield, creator of ” Derek the Sheep”. Is it possible to fly to the moon in a bubble of snot? Can you really have an argument with a cloud? Are there bogey monsters at the bottom of the garden? All these questions & more are explored in an hysterical & charming collection of comic strip adventures, following a teeny tiny gang of dinosaurs as they wind each other up & muddle their way through the myths & mysteries of prehistoric life. It offers seven short & entertaining stories that will engage young girls & boys. The book combines storytelling with fun games, laugh-out-loud gags & unforgettable comic book characters. ” Beano” whizz Gary Northfield is creating comics at the very height of his powers & this book is an absolute must-have for all the family. ...

A brilliantly interactive book that makes times tables fun! Lift the flaps & pull the tabs to learn all the times tables up to twelve. Join Noah as he counts the animals into the ark, help an octopus work out how many shoes she has & find the secret times tables hidden in the sweet factory. ...

Stephen King hailed Dan Simmons` bestselling novel as `a brilliant, massive combination of history & supernatural horror` & it`s now a chilling 10-part AMC Original TV series from Ridley Scott. The most advanced scientific enterprise ever mounted, Sir John Franklin`s 1845 expedition in search of the fabled North-West Passage had every expectation of triumph. But for almost two years his ships HMS Terror & Erebus have been trapped in the Arctic ice. Supplies of fuel & food are running low. Scurvy, starvation & even madness beging to take their toll. & yet the real threat isn`t from the constantly shifting, alien landscape, the flesh-numbing temperatures or being crushed by the unyielding, frozen ocean. No, the real threat is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness. It stalks the ships & snatches men. It is a nameless thing. At once nowhere & everywhere, this terror has become the expedition`s nemesis... ...

The French Revolution marks the foundation of the modern political world. It was in the crucible of the Revolution that the political forces of conservatism, liberalism & socialism began to find their modern form, & it was the Revolution that first asserted the claims of universal individual rights, on which our current understandings of citizenship are based. But the Terror was, as much as anything else, a civil war, & such wars are always both brutal & complex. The guillotine in Paris claimed some 1, 500 official victims, but executions of captured counter-revolutionary rebels ran into the tens of thousands, & deaths in the areas of greatest conflict probably ran into six figures, with indiscriminate massacres being perpetrated by both sides. The story of the Terror is a story of grand political pronouncements, uprisings & insurrections, but also a story of survival against hunger, persecution & bewildering ideological demands, a story of how a state, even with the noblest of intentions, can turn on its people & almost crush them. ...

This is shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013. Colm Toibin`s The Testament of Mary is the moving story of the Virgin Mary, told by a novelist famous for writing brilliantly about the family. From the author of Brooklyn, in a voice that is both tender & filled with rage, The Testament of Mary tells the story of a cataclysmic event which led to an overpowering grief. For Mary, her son has been lost to the world, & now, living in exile & in fear, she tries to piece together the memories of the events that led to her son`s brutal death. To her he was a vulnerable figure, surrounded by men who could not be trusted, living in a time of turmoil & change. As her life & her suffering begin to acquire the resonance of myth, Mary struggles to break the silence surrounding what she knows to have happened. In her effort to tell the truth in all its gnarled complexity, she slowly emerges as a figure of immense moral stature as well as a woman from history rendered now as fully human. Praise for The Testament of Mary: ” This is a short book, but it is as dense as a diamond. It is as tragic as a Spanish pieta, but it is completely heretical... Toibin maintains all the dignity of Mary without subscribing to the myths that have accumulated around her”. (Edmund White, Irish Times). ” Depicting the harrowing losses & evasions that can go on between mothers & sons... Toibin creates a reversed Pieta: he holds the mother in his arms”. (Independent). ”A beautiful & daring work.. .it takes its power from the surprise of its language, its almost shocking characterization”. (Mary Gordon, New York Times). Colm Toibin was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of six novels, including The Blackwater Lightship, The Master, both of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, & Brooklyn, which won the Costa Novel Award, & two collections of stories, Mothers & Sons & The Empty Family. ...

Thailand & Thai culture are exotic. In spite of the effects of mass tourism & globalization, Thailand is unusual in that it preserves much of its unique traditional culture very largely intact. This compelling collection of articles aims to highlight facets of Thai life, aspects that are in most cases readily seen & yet defining in their own way of the ` Thainess` that indelibly stamps the culture of a country & a people so fascinating &, ultimately, so endearing. The articles are grouped by themes covering The Buddhist World; The Supernatural World; The Ceremonial World; The Festive World; The Natural World; The Art World; The Sporting World & The Changing World. They reflect the author`s long fascination with the country
- he has lived there since 1979
- for him it is the unexpected that underscores precisely what the city & Thai culture as a whole is all about
- the ability to constantly surprise, to offer fresh encounters
- as this fascinating book gradually reveals.



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The Thames is unique, emerging as a small stream in idyllic countryside & growing into the country`s largest river, passing through some of the world`s most iconic urban environments. Linking London to the countryside & the sea, the Thames is the heart of the capital & its waters the lifeblood of Engl&. This beautiful book celebrates the entire river from source to sea, & with wonderful photography & quirky text follows it on a voyage through Britain`s history. London has so often been the beginning & the end of the Thames story, & whilst it forms a major part, this book gives an altogether more complete & unexpected view of one of the most remarkable & well-loved rivers in the world. We see the famous views & also learn lesser-known facts, such as Dick Turpin`s secret hideaway (complete with an underground stable for Black Bess), the home of the notorious Chancellor Sir Francis Dashwood (the only Chancellor to have delivered his budget speech drunk) & the scene of the Monty Python fish-slapping dance. First published in 2007, this gorgeous coffee table book has been updated for its second edition with new text & photography (including the Jubilee pageant), & continues to be the perfect gift for anyone living near, visiting or enjoying this magnificent river, with its visual variety, hidden secrets & fascinating history. ...

The Thames in the Landscapes of the Imagination guide series; providing an in-depth cultural & account of some of the world’s most memorable & evocative landscapes. Presented as a cultural & literary guide, each title in the series explores the cultural history of a landscape, providing an overview of the area’s development from its earliest roots to the modern day. Particular emphasis is placed on the literary, poetic, architectural, cultural & historical elements that make up the landscape & each title is written & researched by an academic expert. An Epilogue offers suggestion for further reading & indices of literary, artistic & historical names & places & landmarks. ...

The Thames is liquid history` John Burns MP (1858-1943) As the silver thread woven through Britain`s centuries, the Thames is the subject of this significant biography. Following its course, geologically & chronologically, THE THAMES will chart the growing importance of the river & some of the dramatic historic events it was central to. Since Tudor times, the Thames has been a key factor in our understanding of the British nation. At Runnymede, in a field by the river, England`s barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. At Tilbury, on the banks of the Thames, in 1588, Elizabeth exhorted her troops to defy the Spanish Armada. In dockl&, in east London, in 1940, local residents absorbed the full fury of Hitler`s dreaded Luftwaffe. Hitler tried, & failed, to destroy the Port of London, symbol of British commercial power, reservoir of the material needed to fuel & fund the British war effort. This is a book about a river, but also about the evolution, though not always smooth, of a national identity. ...