Engl&, 1937. In the village of Blacknowle on the Dorset coast, fourteen-year-old Mitzy Hatcher has endured a wild & lonely upbringing. Shunned by her neighbours, the arrival of renowned artist Charles Aubrey, along with his exotic mistress & their daughters, is like a breath of fresh air. As Charles's muse, Mitzy develops a deep & abiding bond with the Aubrey household over the course of the following three summers. Gradually, Mitzy begins to perceive a future she had never thought possible, & a powerful love is kindled in her. A love that will grow as she does: from innocence to obsession; from childish infatuation to something far more complex. It will be almost seventy-five years before the consequences of this potent desire are fully played out, as a young man in an art gallery looks at a hastily-drawn portrait & wonders at the intensity of it. The questions he asks will lead him back to Blacknowle, & draw him to the truth about those fevered summers in the 1930s. Read by Jacqueline King. ...

A very deadly squib
- likely to upset the equanimity of upholders of capital punishment far more than any ponderous tome of high
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Like so many in Clydeside's dockland tenements, Jenny Gillespie suffered her share of troubles during the Great War. Firstly her fiance, Robert Archer, leaves her for Engl&, a new job & another woman. Then, with her brother missing in action, she is forced to out the demands of her relentless family before the prospect of a new beginning at a Glasgow department store. Jenny's job in Dalkieth's shipyard is difficult enough. But then her former fiance returns as both a qualified naval engineer & her new boss & he wants to rekindle their relationship... ...

East London, in the late 1880s. With their mother & father dead from diphtheria, fifteen-year-old Maggie, her sister Liz & young brother Charlie must fend for themselves from now on. But suddenly Liz is taken ill, & in caring for her, Maggie loses the little work she had. One night, in desperation, she ventures onto the streets, risking her safety & innocence, discovering both violence & compassion. Yet that dark night also provides Maggie with a chance to lift her family out of poverty & though tragedy still lies in store, a mysterious stranger has her best interests at heart & Maggie ...

What happens when you reach the threshold of life & death
- & come back?

As long as humans have lived together on the


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Who were the first Britons, & what sort of world did they occupy? In A HISTORY OF ANCIENT BRITAIN turns a spotlight on the very beginnings of the story of Britain; on the first people to occupy these islands & their battle for survival. There has been human habitation in Britain, regularly interrupted by Ice Ages, for the best part of a million years. The last retreat of the glaciers 12, 000 years ago brought a new & warmer age & with it, one of the greatest tsunamis recorded on Earth which struck the north-east of Britain, devastating the population & flooding the low-lying plains of what is now the North Sea. The resulting island became, in time, home to a diverse range of cultures & peoples who have left behind them some of the most extraordinary & enigmatic monuments in the world. Through what is revealed by the artefacts of the past, Neil Oliver weaves the epic story
- half a million years of human history up to the departure of the Roman Empire in the Fifth Century AD. It was a period which accounts for more than ninety-nine per cent of humankind's presence on these islands. It is the real story of Britain & of her people.
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Bridgwater, a Somerset market town, has a history dating back to " Domesday Book", & this long-awaited book traces the fascinating story of the settlement's development from those distant days to the Millennium. In 1200, a medieval feudal lord realised the value of Bridgwater's navigable river & bridge, & obtained licence to build a castle & a royal charter to create a borough. The compelling & entertaining narrative relates the histories of both castle & borough, along with that of the two religious houses, & the town's parish church. The growth & trade of the port, & use & maintenance of the bridge, are also detailed. By Tudor times Bridgwater had further charters, including one granting the town a mayor & corporation. The High Cross & Burgess Hall were also built at this time. Bridgwater was involved in many historic English conflicts: it was besieged during the Civil War, & both the Monmouth rebellion & the battle of Sedgemoor occurred just outside its boundaries. After 1685 the quays were rebuilt & enlarged, a new almshouse & assize hall were erected, & the Duke of Chandos built 'the finest Georgian street outside Bath'. The Victorian era was one of progress: brick & tile manufacture replaced the wool & cloth trade, the railway arrived, a new town hall was built, the turnpikes were abolished & a floating harbour was created. However, the town was also beset by several scandals: a major cholera outbreak, criticism of the Dickensian care of workhouse inmates, & corrupt electoral practices, which led to Bridgwater being disfranchised. The last century, which saw advances in the public sector, ambitious house-building programmes implemented after both world wars, & continued advances in road transport, is covered in detail. The rapid decline of shipping & brick & tile manufacture after 1945 led to the local government changes of 1974 that resulted in Bridgwater becoming part of the Sedgemoor district & thereby losing some of its identity. This remarkably detailed book, enhanced by over 100 splendid illustrations, will appeal both to residents of Bridgwater, & local historians in general. ...

This highly illustrated, information-packed volume explores British history from Neolithic times right up to New Labour. Every double-page spread focuses on a different topic, making it a pleasure to dip into & easy to look up any subject that interests you, be it Boudicca's Rebellion, the wars against Napoleon or the Troubles in Northern Irel&. Find out how centuries of invasions & migrations shaped British society & culture; how four proud & fiercely independent territories finally came together to form the United Kingdom; how a small island nation rose to become a global power, controlling the largest empire the world had ever seen; & how that empire was lost & today's modern, multicultural Britain emerged. ...

Expanded & updated, this is the definitive history of British serial killing 1888-2020
- by the UK's leading criminologist,

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Once the preserve of the English, now, for nations the world over, summertime means cricket bats to be oiled, rain forecasts analysed & tea in the pavilion. Cricket has enthralled us since the seventeenth century. But what is it about the game that provokes such fervour? Award-winning sports author Gavin Mortimer calls together a cast of salt-of-the-earth Yorkshiremen, American billionaires & dashing Indian princes to tell the strange & remarkable tale of crickets journey from medieval village sport of club-ball to the global media circus graced by superstars from Denis Compton to Sachin Tendulkar. If youve ever wanted to know what a hoop skirt has to do with overarm bowling, why England fight Australia over a burnt bail, or how to avoid tickling a jaffa in the corridor of uncertainty, Mortimer chalks up a stunning century of tales in the first truly accessible global history of cricket. ...