The book is the story of an Anglo Indian community in 1960s Calcutta coming to terms with India taking its first few faltering steps towards democracy. Joan is a single parent whose son`s accidental discovery of the body of a young woman, gets her embroiled in the sinister activities of a maoist faction. The movement is bent on bringing a violent revolution to overturn the unfairness of caste, class, religion & privilege. The book evokes the rich multicultural but confused five hundred year heritage of the Anglo Indian community who feel abandoned by the British & unsure of their fellow Indians. You smell the sumptuous cuisine, feel the emergence of popular culture, recoil at the racism, despair at the bureaucracy & are aroused by the sexual tensions. Although the characters in the book are purely fictional, the background is based on real historical, national & world events of the day; the Naxalbari uprisings, President`s rule & the rise of democratic Marxism in India. The writing is in the genre of a popular political thriller. The author, an Anglo-Indian, is intimately familiar with the period & is keen to give this almost extinct, post-Raj community & authentic voice. The book will appeal to those interested in stories of South Asia, political events of the 1960s, the cross-over of English & Indian. It is the author`s intention to include a list of recipes & a glossary of the less familiar Anglo Indian words. ...

Root for Morris the spectacle-wearing mole to find his way home in this laugh-out-loud story from Jarvis, the creator of Alan`s Big, Scary Teeth.” The witty Jarvis makes all the right moves” New York Times From Jarvis, the creator of Alan`s Big, Scary Teeth, comes another truly unmissable, hilarious adventure about a daddy mole who has mislaid his spectacles. Morris can`t find them anywhere. So, he decides to go on without them, trusting his instincts to lead him the right way home to his waiting family & delicious dinner of worm noodles. ” Mrs Mole, I`m homeeee!” he sings.. . as he burrows right into some poor unsuspecting rabbit family`s hole. Oh dear. Without his spectacles, Morris really can`t see a single thing
- how will he ever get home? With perfect comic timing & a whole lot of heart, Jarvis will have all readers rooting for Morris to find his family, & rejoicing in the idea that
- glasses or no glasses
- you can always make your way back to home sweet home.


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Having fled Rome & a stultifying marriage, Isabel Osmond is in London, brooding on the recent disclosure of her husband`s shocking, years-long betrayal of her. What should she do now, & which way should she turn, in the emotional labyrinth where she has been trapped for so long? Reawakened by grief & the knowledge of having been grievously wronged, she determines to resume her youthful quest for freedom & independence. Soon Isabel must return to Italy & confront her husb&, & seek to break his powerful hold on her. But will she succeed in outwitting him, & securing her revenge? Mrs Osmond is a masterly novel of betrayal, corruption & moral ambiguity, from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea. ...

Having fled Rome & a stultifying marriage, Isabel Osmond is in London, brooding on the recent disclosure of her husband`s shocking, years-long betrayal of her. What should she do now, & which way should she turn, in the emotional labyrinth where she has been trapped for so long? Reawakened by grief & the knowledge of having been grievously wronged, she determines to resume her youthful quest for freedom & independence. Soon Isabel must return to Italy & confront her husb&, & seek to break his powerful hold on her. But will she succeed in outwitting him, & securing her revenge? Mrs Osmond is a masterly novel of betrayal, corruption & moral ambiguity, from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea. ...

On a rainy Sunday in January, the recently widowed Mrs Palfrey arrives at the Claremont Hotel where she will spend her remaining days. Her fellow residents are magnificently eccentric & endlessly curious, living off crumbs of affection & snippets of gossip. Together, upper lips stiffened, they fight off their twin enemies: boredom & the Grim Reaper. Then one day Mrs Palfrey strikes up an unexpected friendship with Ludo, a handsome young writer, & learns that even the old can fall in love.. . ...

A collection of fourteen short stories featuring the amazing Mrs Pepperpot. Mrs Pepperpot can`t choose when she will shrink to the size of a pepperpot
- it just happens. But whatever she does, whether it`s swimming with a frog, rescuing a baby bird, or seeing off an unwelcome visitor, Mrs Pepperpot will always save the day.
...

Disproving the theory that women can’t read maps, Mrs P’s Journey is the fascinating story of the woman who mapped London’s A-Z & created a publishing phenomenon. Spirited, artistic & eccentric, Phyllis Pearsall became increasingly frustrated at the lack of proper street maps of London. Phyllis’ reaction was completely characteristic & she threw herself into attempting to map the busy, sprawling metropolis. Without hesitation, she covered London’s 23, 000 streets on foot during the course of one year, often leaving her bedsit at dawn to do so. In light of its enormous success, she set up the Geographers’ Map Company, which still publishes the A-Z of London & of most British cities. Sarah Hartley has written a beautifully moving account of an inspirational woman who carved a niche for herself in what was traditionally a man’s world & who left behind an enduring legacy. ...

When the married Isabella Robinson was introduced to the dashing Edward Lane at a party in 1850, she was utterly enchanted. He was `fascinating`, she told her diary, before chastising herself for being so susceptible to a man`s charms. But a wish had taken hold of her, & she was to find it hard to shake... In one of the most notorious divorce cases of the nineteenth century, Isabella Robinson`s scandalous secrets were exposed to the world. Kate Summerscale brings vividly to life a frustrated Victorian wife`s longing for passion & learning, companionship & love, in a society clinging to rigid ideas about marriage & female sexuality. ...

Mrs Vickers` Knickers is a cheeky & fast-paced romp about a pair of frilly knickers on one hilarious journey. Mrs Vickers is just pegging out her favourite knickers when
- whoosh
- they are caught in a gust of wind & fly away. That`s the end of them, thinks Mrs Vickers. But she is wrong. This is just the beginning.. . Mrs Vickers` Knickers are whisked & whirled on the breeze; on & on they sail, over the building site, through the town (where they cause traffic chaos) & round & round the rollercoaster! Will Mrs Vickers` ever be united with her favourite pair of frilly pink knickers? Debut picture book author, Kara Lebihan & the illustrator behind The Night Pirates & She`ll Be Coming Round the Mountain, Deborah Allwright, combine in an amazing slapstick story that`s perfect for reading aloud.

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Virginia Woolf`s singular technique in Mrs Dalloway heralds a break with the traditional novel form & reflects a genuine humanity & a concern with the experiences that both enrich & stultify existence. Society hostess, Clarissa Dalloway is giving a party. Her thoughts & sensations on that one day, & the interior monologues of others whose lives are interwoven with hers gradually reveal the characters of the central protagonists. Clarissa`s life is touched by tragedy as the events in her day run parallel to those of Septimus Warren Smith, whose madness escalates as his life draws toward inevitable suicide. ...