If you love a good story then look no further. Oxford Children's Classics bring together the most unforgettable stories ever told. They're books to treasure & return to again & again. Stolen from his life of luxury Buck finds himself in the frozen Yukon Territory as part of a team of sledge dogs. Half-starved & cruelly treated Buck must endure hardship beyond anything he's experienced before. & through it all he hears the call of wild beckoning him
- playing on his most primitive animal instincts.
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The Call of the Wild (1903) & White Fang (1906) are world famous animal stories. Set in Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s The Call of the Wild is about Buck the magnificent cross-bred offspring of a St Bernard & a Scottish Collie. Stolen from his pampered life on a Californian estate & shipped to the Klondike to work as a sledge dog he triumphs over his circumstances & becomes the leader of a wolf pack. The story records the 'decivilisation' of Buck as he answers 'the call of the wild' an inherent memory of primeval origins to which he instinctively responds. In contrast White Fang relates the tale of a wolf born & bred in the wild which is civilised by the master he comes to trust & love. The brutal world of the Klondike miners & their dogs is brilliantly evoked & Jack London's rendering of the sentient life of Buck & White Fang as they confront their destiny is enthralling & convincing. The deeper resonance of these stories derives from the author's use of the myth of the hero who survives by strength & courage a powerful myth that still appeals to our collective unconscious. ...

Working as a fireman in Londons East End during the early 1970s was no easy ride. In the years before workplace health-&-safety legislation had started to exert its grip Allan Grice had to cut his fire-&-rescue teeth without the advantages of a breathing apparatus for each member of his crew. Back then the time-tested strategy was to get in
- to crawl below the intense heat & eat the thick smoke
- in order to locate a missing child or to halt a rapidly spreading inferno. In Call the Fire Brigade" Grice recounts his most memorable experiences as a senior member of the London Fire Brigade working the citys East End with its myriad commercial premises brooding Thames-side warehouses seedy tenements & colourful cosmopolitan community ranging from prosperous manufacturers to down-&-out winos with their body-warming bonfires on rubble-strewn bombsites. Fires in factories tenements & warehouses & non-fire emergencies such as the Moorgate Tube disaster of 1975 are graphically described while the elation of rescue the sadness of being too late to save lives & the warm camaraderie of fire crews during some of the capitals busiest peacetime years are vividly depicted."

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Jennifer Worth came from a sheltered background when she became a midwife in the Docklands in the 1950s. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying not only because of their grimly impoverished surroundings but also because of what they were expected to endure. But while Jennifer witnessed brutality & tragedy she also met with amazing kindness & understanding tempered by a great deal of Cockney humour. She also earned the confidences of some whose lives were truly stranger more poignant & more terrifying than could ever be recounted in fiction. Attached to an order of nuns who had been working in the slums since the 1870s Jennifer tells the story not only of the women she treated but also of the community of nuns (including one who was accused of stealing jewels from Hatton Garden) & the camaraderie of the midwives with whom she trained. Funny disturbing & incredibly moving Jennifer's stories bring to life the colourful world of the East End in the 1950s. ...

Jennifer Worth came from a sheltered background when she became a midwife in the Docklands in the 1950s. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying not only because of their grimly impoverished surroundings but also because of what they were expected to endure. But while Jennifer witnessed brutality & tragedy she also met with amazing kindness & understanding tempered by a great deal of Cockney humour. She also earned the confidences of some whose lives were truly stranger more poignant & more terrifying than could ever be recounted in fiction. Attached to an order of nuns who had been working in the slums since the 1870s Jennifer tells the story not only of the women she treated but also of the community of nuns (including one who was accused of stealing jewels from Hatton Garden) & the camaraderie of the midwives with whom she trained. Funny disturbing & incredibly moving Jennifers stories bring to life the colourful world of the East End in the 1950s. ...

Jennifer Worth came from a sheltered background when she became a midwife in the Docklands in the 1950s. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying not only because of their grimly impoverished surroundings but also because of what they were expected to endure. But while Jennifer witnessed brutality & tragedy she also met with amazing kindness & understanding tempered by a great deal of Cockney humour. She also earned the confidences of some whose lives were truly stranger more poignant & more terrifying than could ever be recounted in fiction. Attached to an order of nuns who had been working in the slums since the 1870s Jennifer tells the story not only of the women she treated but also of the community of nuns (including one who was accused of stealing jewels from Hatton Garden) & the camaraderie of the midwives with whom she trained. Funny disturbing & incredibly moving Jennifer's stories bring to life the colourful world of the East End in the 1950s. ...

India 1819
- Matthew Hervey is charged with raising a new troop & organising transport for India
- for he his men & their horses

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He loves the tango was trained as a Chemist & in his youth he had a regular girlfriend whom he planned to marry. For a pope Francis has an unusual life story. Drawing on conversations interviews inside information & the Pope's own writings & talks A Call to Serve offers first-hand information moving reflections & profound insights into the life & character of Jorge Bergoglio his ministry in Buenos Aires the challenges he faces in Rome & his vision for renewing the church & serving the world. Provides intriguing insights into the historic events surrounding Pope Benedict XVI's resignation the conclave that elected Pope Francis & the ups & downs of his time as a priest & cardinal in Argentina. ...

Description Tanner his Beast Firepos & his companions are on a perilous mission to save the land of Avantia from the evil warlord Derthsin. They must locate the pieces of a powerful artifact called the Mask of Death before it is too late. Avantia now burns in the fires of war. Derthsin's evil armies swarm the land & Tanner & the Chosen Riders are all that stand in their way. Will they encounter more Beasts on their treacherous journey to the Southern Caves? & will the dark forces that seek control of Tanner prevent the Riders from fulfilling their destiny...? ...

From 1947 to 1963 some 2.3 million men were conscripted to do national service. For some it was to prove the most exciting & terrifying time of their lives as many were sent to the Korean War or to countries such as Palestine & Kenya where the terrorist threat was ever-present. They faced death & learned about sex. For others it was a frustrating interference in their lives made all the more ridiculous by endless hours of square-bashing or painting coal white. Tom Hickman shows just how varied were the experiences of the recruits. By talking to over 80 veterans he recalls the hilarious & moving stories from those times & seeks to explain why the subject still causes debate more than 40 years on. Above all The Call-Up is a portrait of a vanished era that many still feel has something to teach us today. ...