Imagine a disused living room in a grand house. In it is a tiger rug & a statue of a little girl. But is the tiger a real tiger, a fake or a magical carpet? Is the little girl real but bewitched or just a stone statue & will she ever come to life? By turns comical & lugubrious, the tiger gives the little girl plenty of versions of the truth, but how will she decide what is true & will she be able to break free? A parable about outgrowing your childhood & becoming what you want to be, this is a book for anyone who has ever felt `stuck` in their circumstances. ...

The twisting new thriller from international sensation Ruth Ware, author of Sunday Times bestsellers In a Dark, Dark Wood & The Woman in Cabin 10` Another heart-stopping belter of a thriller from an epic talent` Heat The text message arrives in the small hours of the morning: I need you. Isa drops everything, takes her baby daughter & heads straight to Salten. She spent the most significant days of her life at boarding school on the marshes there, days which still cast their shadow over her. Isa & her three best friends used to play the Lying Game, competing to convince people of outrageous stories. Now, after seventeen years of hiding the truth, something terrible has been found on the beach. The friends` darkest secret is about to come to light...`I could not put this book down` REESE WITHERSPOON` Atmospheric, mysterious, gripping` MARIAN KEYESNow available for pre-order: Ruth Ware`s brand new psychological thriller, The Death of Mrs Westaway. Coming June 2018. ...

`I cannot be killed indoors, ` he said, `nor out of doors; I cannot be killed on horseback, nor on foot.` ` Well, ` she said, `how can you be killed?` Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance, & an intriguing interpretation of British history
- these are just some of the themes embraced by the anonymous authors of the eleven tales that make up the Welsh medieval masterpiece known as the Mabinogion. They tell of Gwydion the shape-shifter, who can create a woman out of flowers; of Math the magician whose feet must lie in the lap of a virgin; of hanging a pregnant mouse & hunting a magical boar. Dragons, witches, & giants live alongside kings & heroes, & quests of honour, revenge, & love are set against the backdrop of a country struggling to retain its independence. This new translation, the first for thirty years, recreates the storytelling world of medieval Wales & re-invests the tales with the power of performance. 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.
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The Macmillan Alice Colouring Book is a beautifully produced colouring book, with black line illustrations by Sir John Tenniel, taken from the original Alice`s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, with added decoration & imagery to stimulate the imagination & soothe the mind, as you lose yourself in Wonderl&. This gorgeous colouring book, from the original publisher of Lewis Carroll`s beloved masterpiece, features all of Wonderland`s favourite characters, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen & of course Alice herself
- just waiting to be brought to life with colour.
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This delightful book contains thirty postcards illustrated with images from Alice`s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass. Each postcard has a"ation from Lewis Carroll`s classic text on the reverse, setting it in the context of the original stories. All our favourite characters are here
- in addition to Alice there are images of the Mad Hatter, Humpty Dumpty, the White Rabbit & many other characters. The front of each card is printed in full colour, using the coloured versions of John Tenniel`s iconic illustrations. The Macmillan Alice Postcard Book is a wonderful celebration of one of the best loved children`s classics, from Lewis Carroll. A great gift to give or to keep for yourself!
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If you have ever been asked to `not keep your legs`, offered a `villain roast bighead` for lunch, or even thought of visiting Buckshutem Wildlife Reserve, you will know that the English language is truly in a parlous condition. The Mad World of Sign Language is a compendium of the most inappropriate, confusing, poorly translated & downright bizarre signs from every corner of the globe, as spotted by the readers of the Telegraph whilst on their travels. It seems that few things amuse & appal this eagle-eyed tribe as much as the abuse, misuse, mistranslation & utter mangling of the English language. Here we present an entertaining round-the-world tour of their most egregious & amusing sightings, as collected by the weekly feature Sign Language. The ailing art of signwriting offers a timely warning about the imperilled state of modern English, both here & abroad. What more efficient & hilarious way to make the point? ...

A young woman moves into a Paris apartment & discovers a storage room filled with the belongings of the previous owner, a certain Madeleine who died in her late nineties, & whose treasured possessions nobody seems to want. In an audacious act of journalism driven by personal curiosity & humane tenderness, Clara Beaudoux embarks on The Madeleine Project, documenting what she finds on Twitter with text & photographs, introducing the world to an unsung twentieth-century figure. Along the way, she uncovers a Parisian life indelibly marked by European history. This is a graphic novel for the Twitter age, a true story that encapsulates one woman`s attempt to live a life of love & meaning together with a contemporary quest to prevent that existence from slipping into oblivion. Through it all, The Madeleine Project movingly chronicles, & allows us to reconstruct, intimate memories of a bygone era. Clara Beaudoux is a Paris-based journalist for the France Info news network. The Madeleine Project has been wildly popular in France. You can follow her on Twitter at @ Clarabdx. ...

This is a new translation of Simenon`s tense novel, book fifteen in the new Penguin Maigret series. He recalled his travelling companion`s agitated sleep
- was it really sleep?
- his sighs, & his sobbing. Then the two dangling legs, the patent-leather shoes & h&-knitted socks.. . An insipid face. Glazed eyes. & Maigret was not surprised to see a grey beard eating into his cheeks. A distressed passenger leaps off a night train & vanishes into the woods. Maigret, on his way to a well-earned break in the Dordogne, is soon plunged into the pursuit of a madman, hiding amongst the seemingly respectable citizens of Bergerac. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels. ” Compelling, remorseless, brilliant”. (John Gray). ” One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.. . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories”. (Guardian). ”A supreme writer.. .unforgettable vividness”. (Independent). Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. Best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret books, his prolific output of over 400 novels & short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerl&, where he had lived for the latter part of his life.

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1923 Maria Vittoria is embroidering a sheet for her dowry trunk. Her father has gone to find her a husb&. He`s taken his mule, a photograph & a pack of food: home-made sopressa sausage, cold polenta, a little flask of wine
- no need to take water
- the world is full of water. There are no eligible men in this valley or the next one, & her father will not let her marry just anyone, & now, despite Maria`s years, she is still healthy. Her betrothed will see all that. He`ll be looking for a woman who can do the work. Maria can do the work. Everyone in the contra says that. And the Lord knows Maria will need to be able to work. Fascism blooms as crops ripen, the state craves babies just as the babies cry for food. Maria faces a stony path, but one she will surely climb to the summit. In this sumptuous & elegant novel you will taste the bigoli co l`arna, touch the mulberry leaves cut finer than organdie, & feel the strain of one woman attempting to keep her family safe in the most dangerous of times.

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Helen Stancey`s debut collection of short stories more than rival her well received novels, Words & Common Ground. The Madonna of the Pool is a fantastic collection of short stories which explore the triumphs, compromises & quiet disappointments of everyday life. Drawing on a wide array of characters, Helen Stancey shows how small events, insignificant to some, can resonate deeply in the lives of others. Richly poetic, deeply moving & entirely engaging, these short stories demonstrate an exquisite understanding of human adaptation, endurance &, most of all, optimism. ...