In this beautifully illustrated book Annie Bell explains the techniques that produce perfect results every time whether baking sponge cakes biscuits brownies muffins macaroons or meringues. She creates sweet treats for all occasions from childrens birthdays to Christmas sharing her fail-safe recipes that will ensure you never again bake a cake that fails to rise or sinks in the middle. & with recipes for everything from really great chocolate brownies to a delicious carrot cake & tangy lemon & polenta cake all packed into one practical volume this is an indispensable guide to becoming a brilliant baker. It is the only baking book you will ever need. ...

Annie Dunne & her cousin Sarah live & work on a small farm in a remote & beautiful part of Wicklow in late 1950s Irel&. All about them the old green roads are being tarred cars are being purchased a way of life is about to disappear. When Annies nephew & his wife are set to go to London to find work their two small children a little boy & his older sister are brought down to spend the summer with their gr&-aunt. A summer of adventure pain delight & ultimately epiphany unfolds in this poignant & exquisitely told story of innocence loss & reconciliation ...

Annie John "is a haunting & provocative story of a young girl growing up on the island of Antigua. A classic coming-of-age story in the tradition of " The Catcher in the Rye "and "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man " Kincaids novel focuses on a universal tragic & often comic theme: the loss of childhood. Annies voice--urgent demanding to be heard--is one that will not soon be forgotten by readers. An adored only child Annie has until recently lived an idyllic life. She is inseparable from her beautiful mother a powerful presence who is the very center of the little girls existence. Loved & cherished Annie grows & thrives within her mothers benign shadow. Looking back on her childhood she reflects " It was in such a paradise that I lived." When she turns twelve however Annies life changes in ways that are often mysterious to her. She begins to question the cultural assumptions of her island world; at school she instinctively rebels against authority; & most frighteningly her mother seeing Annie as a "young lady " ceases to be the source of unconditional adoration & takes on the new & unfamiliar guise of adversary. At the end of her school years Annie decides to leave Antigua & her family but not without a measure of sorrow especially for the mother she once knew & never ceases to mourn. " For I could not be sure " she reflects "whether for the rest of my life I would be able to tell when it was really my mother & when it was really her shadow standing between me & the rest of the world."" ...

Annie Rose & Alfie have lots of games they like to play together like being scary monsters with Bernard or running their own shop. But there are some things Annie Rose is too little to do & even some things Alfie would rather do without her. But if Annie Rose is ever sad or cross there is only one person who can make her feel better.. .her big brother. This is Shirley Hughes at her best
- warm & wonderfully observed illustrations & a touching text about the special bond between siblings.
...

When Annie Jacksons father doesnt return from war her mother remarries. But while the outside world thinks Leonard Spode is a loving husband & father behind closed doors he reveals his true colours
- & Annie is forced to grow up very quickly. In her brave attempts to expose Spode for the monster he is she finds himself branded a trouble-maker & sent to a childrens home
- where she discovers she is pregnant. One thought keeps Annie going: that Spode will one day be brought to justice. If not in her lifetime then in her daughters to whom she plans to tell the full story on her 18th birthday.. . Set in post-war Yorkshire ANNIES LEGACY is a powerful story of one girls battle against all that life throws at her & her determination to have the last word.

...

It is 1888 & Queen Victoria has remarried taking as her new consort Vlad Tepes the Wallachian Prince infamously known as Count Dracula. Peppered with familiar characters from Victorian history & fiction the novel tells the story of vampire Genevieve Dieudonne & Charles Beauregard of the Diogenes Club as they strive to solve the mystery of the Ripper murders. ...

It is 1918 & Dracula is commander-in-chief of the armies of Germany & Austria-Hungary. The war of the great powers in Europe is also a war between the living & the dead. As ever the Diogenes Club is at the heart of British Intelligence & Charles Beauregard & his protege Edwin Winthrop go head-to-head with the lethal vampire flying machine that is the Bloody Red Baron... ...

Rome 1959 & Count Dracula is about to marry the Moldavian Princess Asa Vajda. Journalist Kate Reed flies into the city to visit the ailing Charles Beauregard & his vampire companion Genevieve. She finds herself caught up in the mystery of the Crimson Executioner who is bloodily dispatching vampire elders in the city. She is on his trail as is the undead British secret agent Bond. ...

Edward Thomas wrote a lifetime's poetry in two years. Already a dedicated prose writer & influential critic he became a poet only in December 1914 at the age of 36. In April 1917 he was killed at Arras. Often viewed as a 'war poet' he wrote nothing directly about the trenches; also seen as a 'nature poet' his symbolic reach & generic range expose the limits of that category too. A central figure in modern poetry he is among the half-dozen poets who remade English poetry in the early 20th century. Edna Longley published an acclaimed edition of Edward Thomas' Poems" & " Last Poems" in 1973. Her work advanced Thomas' reputation as a major modern poet. Now she has produced a revised version which

Includes:: all his poems & draws on freshly available archive material. The extensive notes contain substantial"ations from Thomas' prose letters & notebooks as well as a new commentary on the poems. The prose hinterland behind Edward Thomas' poems helps us to understand their depth & complexity together with their contexts in his troubled personal life in wartime England & in English poetry. Edna Longley also shows how Thomas' criticism feeds into his poetry & how he prefigured critical approaches such as 'ecocriticism' that are now applied to his poems. The text of this edition which has a detailed textual apparatus differs in small but significant ways from that of other extant collections of Thomas' poems. The Bloodaxe edition is larger (with more comprehensive notes) than Faber's " Collected Poems" by Edward Thomas as well as a pound cheaper. More importantly for academic sales the Bloodaxe text is more authoritative than Faber's (which uses R. George Thomas' 1978 text). Edna Longley has used manuscripts proofs & newly available archive material to establish a text for Edward Thomas' complete poetry which will now be used by scholars & students in all future discussions of his work."

...

The definitive edition of this beloved childrens classic featuring a wealth of accompanying illustrations & notes which take the reader further into both the story & the tale of how it was written. Seldom has any book been so widely read & loved as J.R.R. Tolkiens classic tale The Hobbit. Since its first publication in 1937 it has remained in print to delight each new generation of readers all over the world & its hero Bilbo Baggins has taken his place among the ranks of the immortals: Alice Pooh Toad... As with all classics repeated readings continue to bring new detail & perspectives to the readers mind & Tolkiens Middle-earth is a vast mine of treasures & knowledge its roots delving deep into folklore mythology & language. The Hobbit is therefore an ideal book for annotation: as well as offering a marvellous & entrancing story it introduces the reader to the richly imagined world of Middle-earth a world more fully & complexly realised in The Lord of the Rings & The Silmarillion. Douglas Andersons annotations make fascinating reading. in addition many of Tolkiens own illustrations embellish the text & numerous illustrations from foreign editions exhibit an extraordinary range of visual interpretation. In an appendix there are details of the revisions made by Tolkien at various times to the publsihed text which provide an uncommon & privileged glimpse into the special concerns of an exceptional & painstaking writer. ...