The war, they said, would be over by Christmas. That was in 1939, & it is now January 1944. An exhausted Britain faces another year of conflict.

Meanwhile, small coastal villages in Devon are facing an invasion from an army just as foreign as that of the Germans. The Americans are smart, well-fed & well-equipped, & they have swept the bewildered citizens of South Devon from their homes in deadly earnest rehearsal for D-Day.

As the beaches echo to the sound of bullets & the local church to the strains of Glenn Miller, Americans & English are thrown together with sometimes hilarious, sometimes painful & puzzling results.



...

Josh is so forgetful he almost forgets to put his trousers on when he goes to school on Tuesday. Luckily his magic backpack zooms him into class just as they are discussing the ingredients for a chocolate cake they are going to make. Eggs come from hens, butter comes from cows, & flour comes from wheat, & Josh knows that chocolate comes from cocoa, because his uncle has a cocoa plantation in Africa. Josh offers to bring the cocoa for the cake, but he forgets! Luckily he doesn't forget his magic backpack & before he knows it, he & his friend Tracy are swooshing off
- over the sea, over the desert, to the rainforest of his uncle's cocoa plantation. Will Josh get back in time to add the cocoa to the cake?
...

Many of Malamud's characters are Jewish (the title story, for example, is about a rabbinical student trying to find a wife through a very peculiar marriage broker) but through his gentle & haunting exploration of their predicaments he illuminates a region that is common to every man's world. ...

Georgie has got a new bed, but it's not like other beds. For each night, Georgie says the magic word & it whisks him away on a fantastic adventure. He loves his bed, but one day he & his family go on holiday, & when they come back, Granny has a big surprise for Georgie... ...

Georgie has got a new bed, but it's not like other beds. For each night, Georgie says the magic word & it whisks him away on a fantastic adventure. Georgie loves his bed, but one day he & his family go on holiday, & when they come back, Granny has a big surprise for Georgie- ...

When Alexandra Stamford goes to stay with her Millington cousins at Knighton Hall she knows nothing about the handsome stable lad they have cruelly nicknamed 'the oik'', nor is she destined to meet him until he is rich & successful. If Tom O' Brien is a servant, Alexandra herself is very much the poor relation, while the daughters of the house have beauty, status & wealth. Shortly after Alexandra's return home, her father re-marries. No longer wanted, Alexandra is forced to become a maid-of-all-work for a Mrs Smithers who lives in a grand Regency house in the seaside town of Deanford. Here she rapidly makes her mark among the impoverished ladies of the town, arranging romantic luncheons where they can meet wealthy widowers in comfort. It is through one of these occasions that handsome, funny Bob Atkins meets & falls in love with Alexandra. Despite her commitment to Bob, Alexandra is determined to make a success of her new life. Meanwhile Tom O' Brien meets & falls for the beautiful Lady Florazel Compton who introduces him to the sophistications of 1950s London. As Bob is conscripted for National Service, Alexandra plans her future, & in doing so discovers the awful circumstances of her birth. Tragedy strikes, & it is only when Tom returns from New York to search out his old friend Bob Atkins' fiancee that Alexandra's life appears about to be truly transformed. But the past seems destined to wreck the happiness of the present, as the glamorous Lady Florazel Compton is determined to re-capture her former love, destroying the magic hour of Tom's & Alexandra's meeting. ...

When Alexandra Stamford goes to stay with her Millington cousins at Knighton Hall she knows nothing about the handsome stable lad they have cruelly nicknamed 'the oik'', nor is she destined to meet him until he is rich & successful. If Tom O' Brien is a servant, Alexandra herself is very much the poor relation, while the daughters of the house have beauty, status & wealth. Shortly after Alexandra's return home, her father re-marries. No longer wanted, Alexandra is forced to become a maid-of-all-work for a Mrs Smithers who lives in a grand Regency house in the seaside town of Deanford. Here she rapidly makes her mark among the impoverished ladies of the town, arranging romantic luncheons where they can meet wealthy widowers in comfort. It is through one of these occasions that handsome, funny Bob Atkins meets & falls in love with Alexandra. Despite her commitment to Bob, Alexandra is determined to make a success of her new life. Meanwhile Tom O' Brien meets & falls for the beautiful Lady Florazel Compton who introduces him to the sophistications of 1950s London. As Bob is conscripted for National Service, Alexandra plans her future, & in doing so discovers the awful circumstances of her birth. Tragedy strikes, & it is only when Tom returns from New York to search out his old friend Bob Atkins' fiancee that Alexandra's life appears about to be truly transformed. But the past seems destined to wreck the happiness of the present, as the glamorous Lady Florazel Compton is determined to re-capture her former love, destroying the magic hour of Tom's & Alexandra's meeting. ...

In this book Brian Snellgrove will provide you with a method for seeing & tuning into other peoples' auras
- their problems, their
...