An inch in the right direction is better than a mile in the wrong direction. If you think your life is bland then you havent added enough flavour. People who live in glass houses should never undress. In September 2009 London cabbie Mark Solomon began asking passengers in the back of his taxi for a random"e or proverb. It started spontaneously to give him more purpose & direction but he found that sharing these daily inspirations with others made them feel part of something special too. The project developed into a popular website & now this pocket-sized book offers the best thoughts for the day ranging from the truly philosophical to the downright bizarre. ...

Bridget Dean Mordaunt was a woman of consequence in her own part of the world. Inheriting her father's businesses at the age of nineteen by the time she was twenty-three in 1880 she was running them as confidently as any man. Yet the path destiny required her to follow was not an easy one. Her feckless cousin Victoria became infatuated with Lionel Filmore the fortune-hunting elder son of an old but impoverished family living in the decayed grandeur of Grove House. Bridget had no illusions about Lionel but Victoria's happiness was paramount to her. So a pattern began to form that would shape the lives of generations to come a pattern of some good & some great evil but all of it inexorably linking Bridget ever more closely with the Filmores & their house. The Black Candle" displays all of Catherine Cookson's narrative skills & shrewd perception of human strengths & frailties which have established her as our most widely-read & best-loved novelist." ...

The Black Cat" is one of the titles in Allan Ahlbergs iconic childrens picture book series about skeletons " Funnybones". Despite being set in a dark dark house this brightly coloured book is perfect for early readers! The skeleton friends go sledging
- whee! & crashing
- bang! They cant see their bones in the white snow but they can see a black cat.. .until she slips into their dark dark cellar. " There can be few families in the British Isles who do not possess at least one well-thumbed Ahlberg". (" Independent on Sunday"). Allan Ahlberg has published over 100 childrens books & with his late wife Janet created many award-winning childrens picture books including " Peepo!" " Each Peach Pear Plum" & the Kate Greenaway Medal winning " The Jolly Postman". Other titles in the " Funnybones" series include " Funnybones" " Mystery Tour" " The Ghost Train" " The Pet Shop" " Bumps in the Night" " Dinosaur Dreams" " Skeleton Crew" " Give the Dog a Bone" & "A Brilliant Bone Rattling Collection" all of which are available from Puffin."

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John Burnsides remarkable new book is full of strange unnerving poems that hang in the memory like a myth or a song. These are poems of thwarted love & disappointment of raw desire of the stalking beast eye-teeth/and muzzle/coated with blood; poems that recognise we have too much to gain from the gods & this is why/they fail to love us; poems that tell of an obsessive lover coming to grief in a sequence that echoes the old murder ballads or of a hunter losing himself in the woods while pursuing an unknown & possibly unknowable quarry. Drawing on sources as various as the paintings of Pieter Brueghel & the lyrics of Delta blues Black Cat Bone examines varieties of love faith hope & illusion to suggest an unusual possibility: that when the search for what we expected to find
- in the forest or in our own hearts
- ends in failure we can now begin the hard & disciplined quest for what is actually there. Full of risk & wonder Black Cat Bone shows the range of Burnsides abilities but also strikes out for new territories. He remains consistently though one of our finest living lyric poets & each of these astonishing poems is as clear & memorable as a silver bracelet//falling for days/through an inch & a half/of ice.

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This collection investigates the origins of our most intriguing old-fashioned superstitions many of which we still find ourselves abiding by today. Hundreds of the beliefs passed down through the generations have their foundations in our ancestors efforts to ward off evil which they blamed for hardship illness & injustice in times when life was as often as not nasty brutish & short. Black Cats & Evil Eyes" sets these superstitions in their historical & social context explaining how fear of the Devil demons evil spirits & witchcraft drove people to arm themselves with rituals & talismans to repel dark forces & allow them to live long & healthy lives. In examining many of our common superstitions this book illuminates the customs beliefs & practices that link us to an ancient & often darker human past." ...

Personal tragedy has left Dave Robicheaux close to the edge. Battling against his old addiction to alcohol & haunted nightly by vivid dreams & visitations Dave finds his only tranquillity at home with his young ward Alafair. But even this fragile peace is shattered by the arrival of Dixie Lee Pugh who brings with him a brutal trail of murder & violence. Robicheaux reluctantly agrees to help out his old friend but becomes more involved than he bargained for when he finds himself suspect Number One in the series of bloody killings. Forced to leave his home Robicheaux's precarious existence reaches breaking point when Alafair's life is threatened. ...

Incoming! Amy & Dan have been found unharmed! But perhaps not for long
- the ruthless Irina Spasky is right on their tail. & what
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A full-length Hercule Poirot novel adapted from Agatha Christies stage play by Charles Osborne Sir Claud Amorys revolutionary new formula for a powerful explosive is stolen. Locking his house-guests in the library Sir Claud switches off the lights to allow the thief to replace the formula no questions asked. When the lights come on he is dead & Hercule Poirot & Captain Hastings have to unravel a tangle of family feuds old flames & suspicious foreigners to find the killer & prevent a global catastrophe. BLACK COFFEE was Agatha Christies first playscript originally performed in 1930 & made into a now rarely-seen film the following year. Combining her typically beguiling plot & sparkling dialogue with his own faithful narrative Charles Osbornes novelisation is A worthy addition to the Christie canon (The Spectator) ...

Read by John Moffat this is a dark tale of family intrigue & murder. Available on CD for the first time. Sir Claud Amory has discovered the formula for a new powerful explosive which is stolen by one of the large household of relatives & friends. Locking everyone in the library Sir Claud switches off the lights to allow the thief to replace the formula on the table no questions asked. When the lights come on however he is dead & Hercule Poirot
- with assistance from Hastings & Inspector Japp
- has to unravel a tangle of family feuds old flames & suspicious foreigners to find the killer & prevent a global catastrophe.

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If I lose the light of the sun I will write by candlelight moonlight no light If I lose paper & ink I will write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always. I will capture nights all over the world & bring them to you. Henry Rollins renowned spoken-word performer musician actor & author of several books has a unique hard-edged view of the world. This collection of writings from 1989
- 1991 is the classic Rollins book. From dramatic fiction shorts detailing stark disturbing realities to gut-wrenching tour journals destroying all misconceptions of the glamour of fame & the music industry; from the challenging poetry to revealing dream sequences Rollins writing is unflinching in its honesty uncompromising in its truth & irresistibly addictive.
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