' Nesbit opened the door in the magic wardrobe pointed the way to platform nine & three quarters She even had a hand in building the Tardis & these are among her minor achievements She is also simply the funniest writer we have ever had' Frank Cottrell-Boyce ' This is the story of one of the most far-reaching & influentially naughty things we ever did in our lives We did not mean to do such a deed & yet we did do it' After being banished to the countryside for creating even more mayhem than usual the Bastable children vow to mend their ways Establishing ' The Society of the Wouldbegoods' their first rule is 'every member is to be as good as possible' But sometimes it's just not possible to be good
- no matter how hard you try A collection that will be coveted by children & adults alike this list is the best in children's literature curated by Virago These are timeless tales with beautiful covers that will be treasured & shared across the generations Some titles you will already know; some will be new to you but there are stories for everyone to love whatever your age Our list

Includes:: Nina Bawden (Carrie's War The Peppermint Pig) Rumer Godden (The Dark Horse An Episode of Sparrows) Joan Aiken (The Serial Garden The Gift Giving) E Nesbit (The Psammead Trilogy The Bastable Trilogy The Railway Children) L M Montgomery (The Anne of Green Gables series) & Susan Coolidge (The What Katy Did Trilogy) Discover Virago Children's Classics


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A 1 New York Times bestseller & a sumptuous epic tale inspired by A Thousand & One Nights'A riveting Game of Thrones meets Arabian Nights love story'
- US Weekly Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer Khalid the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise So it is a terrible surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive & exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend & countless other girls Shazi's wit & will get her through to the dawn that no others have seen but with a catch she may be falling in love with a murderer Shazi discovers that the villainous boy-king is not all that he seems & neither are the deaths of so many girls It's up to her to uncover the reason for the murders & to break the cycle once & for all So you would have me throw Shazi to the wolvesshazi? Honestly I pity the wolves
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A gripping children's story from War Horse author & former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo We all knew what was going to happen We'd seen it before A ship about to founder staggers before she falls A huge wave broke over her stern & she did not come upright again Life on the Scilly Isles in 1907 is bleak & full of hardship Laura's twin brother Billy disappears & then a storm devastates everything It seems there's little hope But then the Zanzibar is wrecked on the island's rocks & everything changes The Wreck of the Zanzibar is a gripping historical adventure from the author of An Eagle in the Snow Listen to the Moon Shadow & An Elephant in the Garden Michael Morpurgo is the master storyteller of such modern classic children's books as War Horse Friend or Foe Private Peaceful & Kensuke's Kingdom He has written more than one hundred books for children & won the Whitbread Award the Smarties Award the Circle of Gold Award the Children's Book Award & has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times ...

' Beautiful eerie dark & dreamy' MELINDA SALISBURY' Thrilling & otherworldly' SUNDAY TIMES Every winter Wren Silke is chased through the forest in a warped version of a childhood game The boys who haunt her are judges powerful & frightening pursuers who know nothing of her true identity If they knew she was an augur their sworn enemy the game would turn deadly But Wren is on the hunt too Sent undercover as an intern to the Harkness Foundation
- enemy headquarters
- her family's survival rests on finding a secret meant to stay hidden As the enmity between two ancient magics reaches breaking point Wren is torn between old loyalties & new lies & trapped in the most dangerous game of her life Part thriller part love story this captivating debut novel will leave readers spellbound

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It is a cold day in Ireland the 26th of December; frost lies thick on the blackthorn A man walks the just-waking village banging on every door summoning the boys Today is St Stephen's Day when legend has it that the Saint was betrayed by a wren's call & the boys are off to the forest where they hope to find the traitorous bird & capture it by nightfall But what will they do if their prey escapes them? Inspired by the many myths of the wren & the Irish tradition of hunting it Carol Ann Duffy's beautiful new Christmas poem takes us on a chase through a snowy rural landscape & ends with a merry celebration With gorgeous full-colour illustrations by Dermot Flynn throughout The Wren-Boys will make a perfect stocking-filler this festive season ...

Frantz Fanon's seminal work on the trauma of colonization The Wretched of the Earth made him the leading anti-colonialist thinker of the twentieth century This Penguin Modern Classics edition is translated from the French by Constance Farrington with an introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre Written at the height of the Algerian war for independence from French colonial rule & first published in 1961 Frantz Fanon's classic text has provided inspiration for anti-colonial movements ever since analysing the role of class race national culture & violence in the struggle for freedom With power & anger Fanon makes clear the economic & psychological degradation inflicted by imperialism It was Fanon himself a psychotherapist who exposed the connection between colonial war & mental disease who showed how the fight for freedom must be combined with building a national culture & who showed the way ahead through revolutionary violence to socialism Many of the great calls to arms from the era of decolonization are now of purely historical interest yet this passionate analysis of the relations between the great powers & the ' Third World' is just as illuminating about the world we live in today Frantz Fanon (1925-61) was a Martinique-born French author essayist psychoanalyst & revolutionary Fanon was a supporter of the Algerian struggle for independence from French rule & became a member of the Algerian National Liberation Front He was perhaps the preeminent thinker of the 20th century on the issue of decolonization & the psychopathology of colonization His works have inspired anti-colonial liberation movements for more than four decades If you enjoyed The Wretched of the Earth you might like Edward Said's Orientalism also available in Penguin Modern Classics' In clear language in words that can only have been written in the cool heat of rage he showed us the internal theatre of racism' Independent ...

Despite the functional obsolescence of the mechanical wristwatch (our phones & computers tell more accurate time) the early 21st Century has seen a boom in the development production & appreciation of all things horological Whether it is presented to the collector as an alternative investment as a feat of micro-mechanical technology or as a showcase of artisanal mastery the mechanical wristwatch has never possessed more forms functions or facets than it does today The Wristwatch Handbook is written from the epicentre of a renaissance a place in time between the Quartz revolution & the rise of the smart device
- where the mechanical wristwatch is the antidote to the microprocessor & the permanent buzz of your inbox From the multi-axis tourbillion to the split-second chronograph to the sidereal sky chart The Wristwatch Handbook covers it all & does so with more than 470 rich illustrations from over 90 of the World's leading brands The book is separated into two sections The first section provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical movement Its chapters explore power transmission distribution & regulation illustrating the basic concepts before considering the innovation & complexity that takes place further toward the cutting edge From the fifty-day power reserve to the constant force mechanism & the 1000 Hz mechanical escapement section 1 will allow the reader to understand & appreciate what is happening beneath the dial of their watch Section two allows the reader to take this understanding & apply it to the vast range of complications (functions) that exist in modern horology Each chapter showcases a distinct category of complication For example the regatta timer pulsometer & monopusher chronograph join a host of others in a chapter entitled ' Recording Lapses of Time'; The power reserve indicator dynamograph & crown position indicator are featured in a chapter for ' Power & Performance Indication'; The moon phase indicator annual calendar & planetarium can be found in the ' Astronomical Complications' chapter Once the functional categories are exhausted the final three chapters explore whimsical complications that have little regard for practical function novelty time indication & the 'super-complicated' watch
- a rare breed of timepiece that houses an intimidating host of complications featured throughout the book Upon completion of The Wristwatch Handbook the reader will be able to identify even the most exotic complication from across the room & be able to share their appreciation & understanding of what makes it so useful & compelling The Wristwatch Handbook is "brand agnostic" using only those watches that most aptly illustrate the given subject-matter As a consequence the book places equal emphasis on the classic & the cutting edge on watches produced in large volume or exclusive runs by industry-leading technology or at the hand of a master In doing so the book provides an unparalleled range of watches from over 90 brands allowing the reader to determine for themselves which brands complications & styles they will build their collection from

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From the grand tour to the global village novelists & poets have made particularly observant travellers Many writers have been prone to wanderlust eager to explore the world & draw inspiration from their travels They recorded their notes in letters journals essays & books In some cases these became celebrated examples of travel writing but there are many more accounts which remain overlooked In The Writer Abroad Lucinda Hawksley takes us on a literary journey around the world through extracts from Arthur Conan Doyle in Australia Joseph Conrad in the Congo Charles Dickens in Italy Henry James in France Mary Wollstonecraft in Sweden & many more ...

From clay tablets to the printing press From the pencil to the internet From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Harry Potter This is the true story of literature -- of how great texts & technologies have shaped cultures & civilizations & altered human history The inventions of paper the printing press & the world wide web are usually considered the major influences on the way we share stories Less well known is the influence of Greek generals Japanese court ladies Spanish adventurers Malian singers & American astronauts & yet all of them played a crucial role in shaping & spreading literature as we know it today The Written World tells the captivating story of the development of literature where stories intersect with writing technologies like clay stone parchment paper printing presses & computers Central to the development of religions political movements & even nations texts spread useful truths & frightening disinformation & have the power to change lives Through vivid storytelling & across a huge sweep of time The Written World offers a new & enticing perspective on human history ...

Cockney gang leader Pearly Gates (Peter Sellers) enters into an unlikely collaboration with Scotland Yard to track down three Australian criminals themselves disguised as policemen who are stealing the gang&s illicitly gained earnings British comedy featuring a host of familiar faces including Bernard Cribbins John Le Mesurier & Lionel Jeffries ...