AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 'A GOOD READ' 'A novel that made such a deep impression on me at sixteen that I can still conjure the atmosphere in my fifties of yearning infatuation mingled indistinguishably with envy & remorse' Lionel Shriver An American coming-of-age tale during a period when the entire country was losing its innocence to the second world war Set at a boys' boarding school in New England during the early years of World War II A Separate Peace is a harrowing & luminous parable of the dark side of adolescence Gene is a lonely introverted intellectual Phineas is a handsome taunting daredevil athlete What happens between the two friends one summer like the war itself banishes the innocence of these boys & their world ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play The stand out film of the 2011 Berlin Film Festival & winner of the Golden Bear A Separation is a suspenseful & intelligent drama detailing the fractures & tensions at the heart of Iranian society Written & directed by Asghar Farhadi the film boasts a range of superb performances from the ensemble cast who collectively received the Silver Bears for both Best Actor & Best Actress at the Berlinale The compelling narrative is driven by a taut & finely written script rooted in the particular of Iranian society but which transcends its setting to create a stunning morality play with universal resonance When his wife (Leila Hatami) leaves him Nader (Peyman Moadi) hires a young woman (Sareh Bayat) to take care of his suffering father (Ali-Asghar Shahbazi) But he doesn&t know his new maid is not only pregnant but also working without her unstable husband&s (Shahab Hosseini) permission Soon Nader finds himself entangled in a web of lies manipulation & public confrontations A Separation is the first ever Iranian film to be awarded the Golden Bear In 2001 Iranian born director Asghar Farhadi wrote the screenplay for Ebrahim Hatamikia&s box-office & critical success Low Heights His directorial debut was in 2003 with Dancing in the Dust After Beautiful City in 2004 & Fireworks Wednesday in 2006 Farhadi directed About Elly winning the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2009 Berlinale A Separation is his fifth feature A Separation continued it&s award stealing sweep by picking up the Oscar statuette for Best Foreign Language Film at this years Academy Awards This comes after it&s triumph win at the Golden Globes The British Independent Film Awards & the BBC Four World Cinema Awards Actors Leila Hatami Peyman Moadi Shahab Hosseini Sareh Bayat Sarina Farhadi Babak Karimi Ali-Asghar Shahbazi & Kimia Hosseini Director Asghar Farhadi Certificate PGYear 2011 Languages Persian Subtitles English Duration 2 hours (approx) ...

Please note this is a region B Blu-Ray & will require a region B or region free Blu-Ray player in order to play Academy Award winning filmmakers Joel & Ethan Coen bring their famously wicked sense of humor to this every day tale about a moral man who sees the world inexplicably turn against him in this darkest of comedies Larry Nidus is a good man He is a loving husband a committed father & a dedicated professor who always does the fair & just thing in the face of daily temptations But one day everything starts to go wrong His wife leaves him for reasons she can&t explain & her smug new lover manages to convince Larry that he should be the one to move out of the house & into a cheap motel
- all for the children&s benefit of course Then Larry&s career is put into jeopardy by a series of anonymous letters falsely accusing him of unnamed treacheries & when his wife&s new partner dies in a car accident she insists that he should foot the bill for the funeral! Now the cash strapped Larry finds himself paying to bury a man he hates bailing his gambling addicted brother out of jail & desperately trying to save his name & his career in academia Yet in spite of it all we can&t help but laugh as we contemplate Larry&s plight in a world with no silver linings that might just seem uncomfortably familiar to us all Actors Simon Helberg Adam Arkin Richard Kind Michael Stuhlbarg George Wyner Fyvush Finkel Katherine Borowitz Peter Breitmayer Amy Landecker & Stephen Park Director Ethan Coen & Joel Coen Certificate 15 years & over Year 2009 Screen Widescreen 1851 Languages English
- DTS-HD Master Audio (51) Additional Languages Latin American Spanish ; Canadian French Subtitles English for the hearing impaired ; Latin American Spanish ; Canadian French Duration 1 hour & 46 minutes (approx)

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Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Academy Award winning filmmakers Joel & Ethan Coen bring their famously wicked sense of humour to this every day tale about a moral man who sees the world inexplicably turn against him in this darkest of comedies Larry Nidus is a good man He is a loving husband a committed father & a dedicated professor who always does the fair & just thing in the face of daily temptations But one day everything starts to go wrong His wife leaves him for reasons she can&t explain & her smug new lover manages to convince Larry that he should be the one to move out of the house & into a cheap motel
- all for the children&s benefit of course Then Larry&s career is put into jeopardy by a series of anonymous letters falsely accusing him of unnamed treacheries & when his wife&s new partner dies in a car accident she insists that he should foot the bill for the funeral! Now the cash strapped Larry finds himself paying to bury a man he hates bailing his gambling addicted brother out of jail & desperately trying to save his name & his career in academia Yet in spite of it all we can&t help but laugh as we contemplate Larry&s plight in a world with no silver linings that might just seem uncomfortably familiar to us all Actors Simon Helberg Adam Arkin Richard Kind Michael Stuhlbarg George Wyner Fyvush Finkel Katherine Borowitz Peter Breitmayer Amy Landecker & Stephen Park Director Ethan Coen & Joel Coen Certificate 15 years & over Year 2009 Screen Widescreen 1851 Anamorphic Languages English
- Dolby Digital (51) Additional Languages Spanish Subtitles English for the hearing impaired ; Spanish Duration 1 hour & 41 minutes (approx) Region Region 2
- Will only play on European Region 2 or multi-region DVD players


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' My name is Finlay Mc Intosh I can see OK can hear perfectly fine & I can write really really well But the thing is I can't speak I'm a st-st-st-stutterer Hilarious isn't it? It's like the word is there in my mouth fully formed & then just as it's ready to leave my lips POP! It jumps & ricochets & bounces around my gob Except it isn't funny at all because there's not a thing I can do about it' Finlay's mother vanished two years ago & ever since then his stutter has become almost unbearable Bullied at school & ignored by his father the only way to get out the words which are bouncing around in his head is by writing long letters to his ma which he knows she will never read & by playing Scrabble online But when Finlay is befriended by an online Scrabble player called Alex everything changes Could it be his mother secretly trying to contact him? Or is there something more sinister going on?A Seven-Letter Word is an evocative & heartfelt story from the multi-award-winning author of Smart Kim Slater ...

This collection of eight short stories combines Catherine Lim's sharp powers of observation with her insightful comments on the conflicts both internal & external brought about by love in the lives of men & women in modern-day Singapore The result is a vibrant assortment of stories & voices brimming with courage deep introspection & heartfelt emotion Powerful & riveting this collection is sure to captivate your mind & tug at your heartstrings & with its relentless prose & evocative charm ...

The third in a fantastic series of animal stories for younger readers by Waterstones Children's Book Prize-shortlisted author Helen Peters with beautiful black-&-white illustrations by Ellie Snowdon A sick puppy abandoned on Jasmine's farm urgently needs her help to survive & though he adores her Jasmine doesn't know if Sky will ever trust people again But it's not until she gets into terrible danger that she finds out Brilliant storytelling that will make you laugh & cry this is Dick King-Smith for a new generation Look out for Jasmine's other adventures!A Piglet Called Truffle A Duckling Called Button ...

The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want Travel the shepherd's path to the green pastures & cool refreshing waters of Psalm 23 As a shepherd Phillip Keller shares his insights into the life & character of sheep-and of the Good Shepherd who loves & cares for them This beloved classic will give new meaning to the ageless Shepherd Psalm enriching your trust in & love for the Lord who watches closely over you ...

Considered a classic at the time of its publication in 1910 A Shepherd's Life is a rare account of the lives of those who lived on & worked the land in nineteenth-century rural Britain A masterful work of prose W H Hudson focuses on the story of one man a Wiltshire shepherd named Caleb Bawcombe whose tales of sheep dogs farmer's wives poachers & local fairs become a sublime account of a way of life that has largely disappeared from these shores ...

The bestselling debut saga novel of 2017 Powerful absorbing storytelling that fans of sagas by Dilly Court Rosie Goodwin & Maggie Hope will adore Sally Swann thought life couldn't get much worse Then a single coin changed hands A dismal cottage in the heart of Bolton Lancashire has been Sally's prison since Joseph Goden 'bought' her from the workhouse as his wife A drunkard & bully Joseph rules her with a rod of iron using fists & threats to keep her in check When Sally gives birth however she knows she must do anything to save her child from her husband's clutches She manages to escape & taking her baby flees for the belching chimneys of Manchester in search of her only relative But with the threat of discovery by Joseph who will stop at nothing to find her Sally must fight with every ounce of strength she has to protect herself & her son & finally be with the man who truly loves her For a fresh start does not come without a price ...