Estwych. A place only the initiated can enter. A place where one must face one's deepest fears & most secret desires. A place ...

Estwych. A place only the initiated can enter. A place where one must face one's deepest fears & most secret desires. A place ...

This is a book for those who unashamedly want manners in the world. They are the essence of living together. & we are struggling to find rules that we can agree on in a new world where change & uncertainty are a way of life & personal responsibility is at a disastrous low.

No-one wants to bow & scrape to the rhythms of outdated etiquette any more. We need to seek out the original social purpose of manners & apply the principles to life today. We need rules of respect for each other & an agreement to stick to them. Combining an appeal to history, anthropology & common sense with a witty disdain for the sillier snobberies of the traditionalists, Simon Fanshawe has borrowed the format of Erasmus

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This is a book for those who unashamedly want manners in the world. They are the essence of living together. & we are struggling to find rules that we can agree on in a new world where change & uncertainty are a way of life & personal responsibility is at a disastrous low.

No-one wants to bow & scrape to the rhythms of outdated etiquette any more. We need to seek out the original social purpose of manners & apply the principles to life today. We need rules of respect for each other & an agreement to stick to them. Combining an appeal to history, anthropology & common sense with a witty disdain for the sillier snobberies of the traditionalists, Simon Fanshawe has borrowed the format of Erasmus

...

A young writer, struggling for success, employs an elderly woman called Emerence to be her housekeeper. From their first encounter it is clear that Emerence is no ordinary maid. Although everyone in the neighbourhood knows & respects her, no one knows anything about her private life or has ever crossed her threshold. Only a great drama in the writer ...

A busy young writer struggling to cope with domestic chores, hires a housekeeper recommended by a friend. The housekeeper's reputation is one built on dependable efficiency, though she is something of an oddity. Stubborn, foul-mouthed & with a flagrant disregard for her employer's opinions she may even be crazy. She allows no-one to set foot inside her house; she masks herself with a veil & is equally guarded about her personal life. & yet Emerence is revered as much as she is feared. As the story progresses her energy & passion to help becomes clear, extinguishing any doubts arising out of her bizarre behaviour. A stylishly told tale which recounts a strange relationship built up over 20 years between a writer & her housekeeper. After an unpromising & caustic start benign feelings develop & ultimately the writer benefits from what becomes an inseparable relationship. Simultaneously we learn Emerence's tragic past which is revealed in snapshots throughout the book. ...

It is spring & William, Mary & Alice Constant have returned to Golden House for the Easter holidays, anxious to see if the magic will work again. When they are drawn to the Magician's hideout, through a door in a tree, they learn that the secret to magic is believing; & through believing they can enter the magic & continue their great task. ...