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." ...

Its so remarkable its almost absurd. There has been a dynamic Ive never understood the way people have warmed to her. She is re-defining our lives.o Part-owner Colin Madden. When Black Caviar raced to her historic victory in the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot she showed the world what Australians already knew u theirs was a racehorse that redefined the word champion. With Ascot the crowning achievement of a record-breaking career Black Caviar has won every one of the 22 races she has started in & captured the hearts of a sport loving nation u as well as the world. Filled with sensational photographs & revealing insights from the trainers & jockeys & the owners as well as sporting writers around the world this book will reveal the power & endurance of Black Caviar & her amazing winning streak. The ultimate book for any Black Caviar fan & a tribute to a true Australian sporting great. ...

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. ...

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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This elegant black condolence book has blank cream pages. The front page has a section where you can fill in details of the event. The cover is leather effect with white stitching detail & ‘ Condolence Book’ embossed on the cover.

Approximate dimensions: W 255 x H 200mm

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Who was the real Count of Monte Cristo? In this extraordinary biography Tom Reiss traces the almost unbelievable life of the man who inspired not only Monte Cristo but all three of the Musketeers: the novelists own father. Born in St Dominigue in 1762 the son of a French nobleman & a sugar plantation slave General Alexandre Dumas did not have an auspicious start in life. Things got worse when his father sold him into slavery to pay his passage back to Normandy. But six months later Dumas fortunes changed. His father bought him out of slavery & raised him in France where Dumas went to the nations finest schools & fencing academies & having enrolled in the army became known as Frances most handsome & strongest soldier. By the time Napoleon invaded Egypt Dumas was his top cavalry commander. But Napoleon was threatened by the physical prowess & popularity of this black nobleman. He engineered his disgrace & imprisonment & to please the sugar growers reintroduced slavery. A brief flowering of freedom & equality was over & forgotten but Dumas legacy would live on in the novels of the son who adored him. Reiss tells this tale with magisterial authority. Long years of research have led him across Europe the Caribbean & the Middle East in search of forgotten documents. He has journeyed through the Alps where Dumas scaled unscalable ice cliffs. He has walked the streets of Cairo where Dumas intrepid cavalry charge is still remembered. The result is an enthralling book that entertains astounds & triumphantly resurrects a lost hero from the worlds first multiracial society. ...