Anna has always been exceptionally close to her mother Kate & as a child was captivated by the stories her mother would tell of her childhood in Birmingham with her best friend Olivia. Olivia & Kate seemed to have a magical friendship. But when Kate dies she leaves her daughter a final story one that this time tells the whole truth of her life with Olivia Kemp. As Anna reads she is shocked to discover how little she really knew about the mother she felt so close to. With Kates words of caution ringing in her head she goes in search of the one woman who can answer urgent questions about her mothers life & about her own...A remarkable stirring novel Birmingham Friends" perfectly captures the complicated intimacy of female relationships." ...

In the summer of 1914 our finest young men flocked to the colours in Northern towns & cities to answer Lord Kitchener's ' Call to Arms' in a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm & patriotism. The Call appealed to their sense of adventure & offered an escape from the humdrum life of office factory & mill. The new recruits volunteered with brothers cousins friends & work mates. The newly-formed units became the focus of local civic pride & soon became known as the Pals. The City of Birmingham formed three such battalions with over 3 000 local volunteers. This book tells their story. Birmingham Pals is a story that covers the full range of human experience in war
- the highest courage & bravery the misery & tedium of trench life the exhilaration terror & slaughter involved in 'going over the top'. Above all it is a story of interest to people of all backgrounds & ages as a tale of comradeship which for many survivors was to last a life time.
...

In the 1950s & 60s aware of what was about to happen to Birmingham Dennis Norton took his camera & went to work. Photographing buildings along the route of the forthcoming inner ring road around New Street station & in other areas of the city due for redevelopment he captured a Birmingha that is now long gone but fondly remembered by many. Almost half a century later Mark Norton discovered these photographs taken by the father he never knew: Dennis died just nine weeks before his son was born. Mark set about retracing his fathers footsteps to discover what has been lost & to compare past with present. In the process he gained a respect for Birmingham that had been missing when he grew up amid the concrete subways & urban motorways of the 1970s. Anyone who remembers Birmingham as it was in the 1950s & 60s will be fascinated by these recently rediscovered photographs while those who only know the city of today will be astonished to see the changes that have taken place. ...

The railway network within Birmingham has long been important for the movement of passengers & freight to serve the centre & its suburbs & as the road network around Birmingham has become more congested the railways in the city have once more taken on an important role. As the network declined in the twentieth century trains were regarded as shabby & also suffered from poor punctuality & stations became unkempt & many had no staff although the majority of the network remained intact. However things began to change during the 1980s. Today Cross-City services operate from a number of Birmingham stations & similar services function between Wolverhampton & Walsall & other cities. The stations serving the city centre have very different & fascinating histories. New Street was the first to appear built by the London & North Western Railway in 1854. The station at Snow Hill was built by the Great Western Railway & opened in 1852. Moor Street terminus was opened in 1909 close to the tunnel mouth on the Snow Hill line. The station was abandoned for a while but has since been beautifully restored to something near its former glory & now allows termination of Chiltern Railways trains from London (Marylebone). Indeed such renovations have ensured that Birmingham is still well served by a modern railway network. ...

Life is bleak for Rose Lucas a spirited intelligent girl born into a large family in the slums of pre-war Birmingham. But her friendship with Diana daughter of a vicar from middle-class Moseley gives her hope. She learns to aspire to a different kind of existence vowing never to become a child-bearing drudge like her mother. Life however never follows the way of dreams. After a childhood marked by tragedy Rose eventually finds & loses the love for which she has striven so hard. From Italy where she has travelled during the Second World War she is forced to return to Birmingham & an unhappy marriage her hopes & illusions shattered. But Rose will not be defeated & she too is determined to rise once again above the devastation of her life.. . Collect the Birmingham set: Birmingham Friends Birmingham Blitz"." ...

Reality Shows. They may be all the rage on television at present but lets face it
- the real reality is here! The minute you open
...

Birth marriage & death records are an essential resource for family historians & this handbook is an authoritative introduction to them. It explains the original motives for registering these milestones in individual lives describes how these record-keeping systems evolved & shows how they can be explored & interpreted. Authors David Annal & Audrey Collins guide researchers through the difficulties they may encounter in understanding the documentation. They recount the history of parish registers from their origin in Tudor times they look at how civil registration was organized in the nineteenth & twentieth centuries & explain how the system in England & Wales differs from those in Scotland & Irel&. The record-keeping practised by nonconformist & foreign churches in communities overseas & in the military is also explained as are the systems of the Isle of Man & the Channel Islands. Other useful sources of evidence for births marriages & deaths are explored & of course the authors assess the online sites that researchers can turn to for help in this crucial area of family history research. ...

Written by one of the worlds leading obstetricians this extraordinary book takes a totally fresh look at what parenting means at the beginning of the 21st century. Addressing both parents the book looks at all aspects of life through the nine months of pregnancy & the following nine of the babys life. It is both a practical handbook for pregnancy birth & the early months of a new babys life & a stimulating exploration of this period of enormous transition. Taking a holistic approach it advocates integrated health care i.e. both conventional & complementary therapies & with its exhaustive medical content including a 160 page A-Z section also acts as a superb source of reference. ...

Following the massive success of the Demonata series Darren Shan is back where it all started
- telling the life story of the vampire
...

The Birth of an Opera offers an illuminating insight into how operas are written & the personalities incidents & musical circumstances that have shaped their composition. Through a deft compilation of primary sources
- letters memoirs & personal accounts from composers librettists & performers
- Michael Rose re-creates for his readers the circumstances that gave rise to fifteen operatic milestones. From Monteverdi & Mozart to Puccini & Berg each chapter focuses on a well-known opera & tells the story that lies behind its creation. Rather than retreading familiar ground with pages of historical & musical analysis Rose places each opera firmly in the context of the composers life & provides an engaging text in which the varied & colourful personalities involved are seen to discuss comment & contribute in one way or another to the progress of its composition. The reader will find Mozart with a new & flamboyant librettist tackling the risky enterprise of Le Nozze di Figaro; Wagner confessing his hidden love for the woman who inspires him as he creates the passionate drama of Tristan und Isolde; Verdi deep in Shakespearian discussion with Boito as they remodel the tragedy of Othello; Debussy coming almost literally to blows with Maeterlinck over the soprano to take the leading role in Pelleas et Melisande. Throughout Rose offers his readers the most direct possible link to events that have often become twisted or obscured by operatic myth & in so doing captures the bizarre interactions of chance genius practical necessity & dogged determination that accompanied the making of some of operas most enduring masterpieces.

...