In this hugely ambitious history of Britain Eric Evans surveys every aspect of the period in which the country was transformed into the world s first industrial power. This was an era of revolutionary change unparalleled in Britain yet one in which transformation was achieved without political revolution. The unique combination of transition & revolution is a major theme in the book which ranges across the embryonic empire the Church education health finance & rural & urban life. Evans gives particular attention to the Great Reform Act of 1832. The Third Edition

Includes:: an entirely new introductory chapter & is illustrated for the first time.

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There's nothing like a good wedding...to start world war three! & that's exactly what's going to happen if Connie Adams the mother of the bride can't smooth things over between Debbie & her dad. He's hell bent on bringing his stuck-up second wife & their sulky teenage daughter to the big day but Debbie would rather walk up the aisle of a supermarket than have them at her wedding. It's the last thing Debbie needs right now
- her boss is making her life hell & she's starting to suspect that her fiance's getting cold feet... So will they all live happily ever after or are the whole family heading for divorce?
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Polly Longden's china-doll looks belie a strong & fiery personality. When typhoid strikes her home city of Lincoln she needs every ounce of that strength in order to cope. With the death of her mother thirteen-year-old Polly has to give up her ambition of becoming a teacher to care for her family. When their father too falls victim to the typhoid his only hope is to go to hospital leaving Polly to cope alone. Thankfully she has the support of her neighbours: Bertha Halliday & her son Leo a young policeman. Through all the hardships that follow Polly is sustained by her dream of becoming Leo's wife. But her father's hot temper leads him to the wrong side of the law during the railway riots of 1911 forcing Leo to take drastic action that Polly will surely never be able to forgive & forget... ...

Lesley Pearse No.1 UK bestselling author of The Promise & Belle" is back with " Forgive Me" a compelling story of a daughter uncovering her mother's secret past. Cheltenham 1991 When Eva Patterson returns home from work one day a devastating scene awaits her. Her mother Flora lies dead in the bath. Beside her is a note saying only: ' Forgive Me'. Until then Eva always believed her family's life would be comfortable & secure
- but Flora's suicide changes everything. & when Eva discovers that in her will Flora left her an artist's studio in London she realises how little she knows about her mother's past. When Eva visits the now derelict studio she is shocked to find out that her mother was once a successful artist back in the 1960s. A chance encounter leads her to Phil who agrees to help her restore the studio as well as offering her the advice & friendship Eva so badly needs. In the studio attic she finds a collection of Flora's paintings & old diaries which Eva believes were purposely left for her to find. Searching for answers Eva encounters a psychic who mysteriously warns her to beware of a 'sleeping serpent' which she soon discovers refers to a shocking crime in Flora's past. Will discovering the truth destroy Eva's belief in everything she holds dear? & will Phil stand by Eva even when her journey leads her & those she loves into certain danger? From the author of international bestseller Stolen " Forgive Me" is an intense & gripping story of love & forgiveness. " Pearse will pull your heartstrings." (" Sun"). " Characters it is impossible not to care about." (" Daily Mail"). " An addictive tear-jerker with characters you'll adore laugh with & cry for." (" Bella"). " Full of love passion & heartbreak." (" Best"). " Glorious heartwarming." (" Woman & Home"). Lesley Pearse's novels have sold over five million copies worldwide. Her fifteen most recent books including " The Promise" " Belle" " Stolen" " Gypsy" " Faith" " Hope" "A Lesser Evil" " Secrets" " Remember Me" " Till We Meet Again" " Father Unknown" " Trust Me" " Never Look Back" " Charlie & Rosie" are huge bestsellers & available as Penguin paperbacks. Lesley lives near Bristol & has three daughters & two grandchildren."
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When a mermaid has her first kiss she bonds for life with the person she kisses. For Lily a mermaid princess living in secret on land this means she has ended up accidentally bonded to her obnoxious neighbour instead of to the boy of her dreams. So begins a tidal wave of relationship drama as Lily discovers that happily-ever-after never goes as smoothly as you plan it to. ...

When Lisa Martin & David Kirby were forced to part they never dreamed they might one day have a second chance. Many years later they meet again & it is clear that despite everything that's happened to them they are still the big love of each other's life. & nothing is going to keep them apart this time around. But then they are faced with a shocking truth. However David won't be defeated. In spite of knowing this is a battle they can't win he decides to fight anyway in the only way he knows how. When Lisa discovers what he intends she's so horrified. Yet through a chink in her fear she can see the logic of what he's suggesting. But can she bring herself to help him...? ...

Military criminal investigator John Puller is drawn closer to home when his aunt is found dead in her house in Paradise Florida. The local police have ruled the death as an accident but Puller finds evidence to suggest that she may well have been murdered. On the surface the town lives up to its name but as Puller digs deeper he realises that this town & its inhabitants are more akin to Hell than Paradise. His belief is confirmed as evidence of strange & inexplicable events come to light. & when Puller learns the truth about what is happening in this once sleepy town he knows that his discoveries will impact far wider than Paradise. ...

Here's the thing about me: I can see the future in flashes like memories. But my past is a blank. I remember what I'll wear tomorrow & an argument that won't happen until this afternoon. But I don't know what I ate for dinner last night. I get by with the help of notes my mom & my best friend Jamie & the system works.. . Until now. Everything's falling apart. Jamie's going of the rails. My mom is lying to me. & I can't see the boy I adore in my future. But today I love him. & I never want to forget how much.. . Forgotten is the story of a girl for whom yesterday is lost today is an adventure & tomorrow is a memory. An unforgettable read. ...

Happy with her husb&-to-be & beloved son Isabel Dalhousie has feelings about parenthood that grow more tender daily. So when Jane a visiting academic adopted & sent to Australia as a baby asks for help in tracing her Scottish origins she cannot refuse. However habitually upright Isabel finds herself beset by temptation
- for instance to be suspicious of Professor Lettuce's latest subterfuge & of her niece Cat's weakness for the wrong man. & when the search for Jane's parents turns troubling she can hardly prevent herself from interfering too forcefully in family secrets. As she steers a course between love & laissez-faire our philosopher heroine succeeds in resisting all temptations but those which must be answered & teases a solution from every problem.
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The vast crescent of British-ruled territories from India down to Singapore appeared in the early stages of the Second World War a massive asset in the war with Germany providing huge quantities of soldiers & raw materials & key part of an impregnable global network denied to the Nazis. Within a few weeks in 1941-2 a Japanese invasion had destroyed all this almost effortlessly taking the impregnable fortress' of Singapore with its 80 000 strong garrison & sweeping through South & Southeast Asia to the frontier of India itself. This revolutionary absolutely gripping book brings to life the entire experience of South & Southeast Asia in this extraordinary period telling the story from an Indian Burmese Chinese or Malay perspective as much as from that of the British or Japanese. Effectively it is the story of the birth of modern South & Southeast Asia & the hopes & fears of the dozens of forgotten armies' marching through the jungle battlefields so many dying for causes swept away by the reality that emerged in 1945. Even as the British successfully fought back in the bloodiest battles in South & Southeast Asia's history there was no going back to colonial rule. ...