A great countryside tale Chris Lisa & Tom spend their days in their secret hide-out in the Castle an old WWII pill-box But the Castle is on Old Rafferty's land & he hates kids They find themselves in big trouble when some local lads lock them in & there is no one around for miles High quality cream paper & a special easy to read font ensure a smooth read for all ...

The Castle of Adventure is the second exciting instalment in the Adventure series by Enid Blyton one of the best-loved children's writers of all time Why is everyone so afraid of the castle on the hill & what dark secrets lurk inside its walls? Philip Dinah Lucy-Ann Jack & Kiki the parrot are on holiday in the countryside staying on the side of Castle Hill When flashing lights are seen in a distant tower they decide to investigate
- & discover a very sinister plot concealed within its hidden rooms & gloomy underground passages
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' Look my lord! See heaven itself declares against your impious intentions!' The Castle of Otranto (1764) is the first supernatural English novel & one of the most influential works of Gothic fiction It inaugurated a literary genre that will be forever associated with the effects that Walpole pioneered Professing to be a translation of a mysterious Italian tale from the darkest Middle Ages the novel tells of Manfred prince of Otranto whose fear of an ancient prophecy sets him on a course of destruction After the grotesque death of his only son Conrad on his wedding day Manfred determines to marry the bride-to-be The virgin Isabella flees through a castle riddled with secret passages Chilling coincidences ghostly visitations arcane revelations & violent combat combine in a heady mix that terrified the novel's first readers In this new edition Nick Groom examines the reasons for its extraordinary impact & the Gothic culture from which it sprang The Castle of Otranto was a game-changer & Walpole the writer who paved the way for modern horror exponents ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more ...

On the day of his wedding Conrad heir to the house of Otranto is killed in mysterious circumstances His calculating father Manfred fears that his dynasty will now come to an end & determines to marry his son's bride himself
- despite the fact he is already married But a series of terrifying supernatural omens soon threaten this unlawful union as the curse placed on Manfred's ancestor who usurped the lawful Prince of Otranto begins to unfold First published pseudonymously in 1764 purporting to be an ancient Italian text from the time of the crusades The Castle of Otranto is a founding work of Gothic fiction With its compelling blend of sinister portents tempestuous passions & ghostly visitations it spawned an entire literary tradition & influenced such writers as Ann Radcliffe & Bram Stoker
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Phryne Fisher is back
- as smart & sassy as ever Phryne Fisher her sister Beth & her faithful maid Dot decide that Luna Park is
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Our intrepid heroes—mages Trinh Charris & Ursa—have made great strides in learning to work together as a team But the darkness is coming & a foe from their past has grown more formidable Will their combined talents be enough to defeat the ever-expanding Surrogate army? An army that has swallowed up so many mages more powerful than they are? ...

The Castrato is a nuanced exploration of why innumerable boys were castrated for singing between the mid-sixteenth & late-nineteenth centuries It shows that the entire foundation of Western classical singing culminating in bel canto was birthed from an unlikely & historically unique set of desires public & private aesthetic economic & political In Italy castration for singing was understood through the lens of Catholic blood sacrifice as expressed in idioms of offering & renunciation & paradoxically in satire verbal abuse & even the symbolism of the castrato's comic cousin Pulcinella Sacrifice in turn was inseparable from the system of patriarchy
- involving teachers patrons colleagues & relatives
- whereby castrated males were produced not as nonmen as often thought nowadays but as idealized males Yet what captivated audiences & composers
- from Cavalli & Pergolesi to Handel Mozart & Rossini
- were the extraordinary capacities of castrato voices a phenomenon ultimately unsettled by Enlightenment morality Although the castrati failed to survive their musicality & vocality have persisted long past their literal demise



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When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties the town of Pagford is left in shock Pagford is seemingly an English idyll with a cobbled market square & an ancient abbey but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war Rich at war with poor teenagers at war with their parents wives at war with their husbands teachers at war with their pupils Pagford is not what it first seems And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion duplicity & unexpected revelations?A big novel about a small town The Casual Vacancy is JK Rowling's first novel for adults It is the work of a storyteller like no other ...

In the beginning God created man but seeing him so feeble He gave him the cat& Warren Eckstein Combining gorgeous & characterful photographs with witty & heart-warming"ations this enchanting celebration of our feline friends is a must-have for any cat lover ...

A cat lives in a house filled with toys but every day she dreams of being free like the bird she watches through the window Finally with the bird's help she is able to escape & dance on the roofs of the city by moonlight This lovely story unfolds in a series of playful brilliantly colourful illustrations based on the artist Paul Klee's work Influenced by the artist's bright palette & use of shapes & line the book culminates in a dazzling reproduction of Klee's Cat & Bird Accompanied by information about the artist & this iconic painting the book invites appreciation of the unfettered joyfulness that makes Klee one of the most universally loved artists of all time ...