Herbs are the most liberating & confidence-boosting of ingredients: grow some & you feel like a proper gardener bring some into the kitchen & you feel like a proper cook. They allow you to experiment & bring individuality to your cooking while at the same time anchoring you in sound culinary tradition because herbs are often responsible for those key flavours that 'make' a dish. Not only that but they are a step on the road to a more self-sufficient homegrown organic way of eating. In the first part of the book Nikki explains how to get the most from herbs. She outlines the basic choosing picking & using guidelines. The second part is a catalogue of herbs each with grow-your-own notes flavour descriptions & mini-recipes. Among the forty herbs that Nikki describes are basil bay bergamot chives coriander dill fennel horseradish hyssop marigold marjoram mint parsley perilla rocket rosemary sage scented geranium tarragon thyme wild garlic & winter savory. Following this are over fifty wonderful & adaptable recipes for everything from herb-scented cakes & biscuits to soups stuffings & tarts where more than one herb is or can be used. With an introduction by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & full-colour photographs Herbs is a must-have book for every kitchen. ...

For millennia man has been using herbs; in food for healing & for magical purposes. Only in the last hundred years have the magical & medicinal properties of herbs been separated by scientists & the magical community. This book reunites the two into a comprehensive reference. Drawing on her years of practice & research Deborah Martin has compiled information on over three hundred herbs. Avoiding the confusion of common names which can vary by region she uses the Latin binomial or scientific names for all the plants but gives the reader a cheat sheet for easy reference. Written with a touch of humor she details the difference between synthetic drugs & herbal alternatives. Lists make looking up an herb for a simple ailment or magical spell effortless. Also given are instructions for different types of herbal preparations & their medicinal & magical uses. ...

This handsome volume well supplied with photographs & diagrams is the work of Andrew Wallace-Hadrill former Director of the British School at Rome & a distinguished expert on Roman Italy. It is also the fruit of the Herculaneum Conservation Project which has worked to conserve the site & remedy the neglect that it had suffered especially in comparison with Pompeii. Wallace-Hadrill begins by considering the site's geology & the history of archaeological work there & goes on to look at the evidence for daily life in the town as well as the amenities it offered to different members of society. Pictures of key buildings as well as material remains
- striking statues items of furniture & stone reliefs for example
- help to give an excellent sense of the site. The final chapter is devoted to the describing the fascinating struggle to preserve the site in recent years.

...

In ad 79 the volcano Vesuvius erupted burying the cities of Pompeii & Herculaneum under ash & rock & leaving them remarkably well preserved for centuries. While Pompeii has been extensively written about & popularized the remains of its sister city a smaller yet wealthier community close to the sea are less widely known but they have yielded spectacular archaeological evidence. This is the first major study of Herculaneum since that of Joseph Jay Deiss published in 1966 & last revised in 1993. & in any language there have only ever been a handful of books available mostly guidebooks & exhibition catalogues. Herculaneum is based on the latest excavation work & incorporates much new material that has revolutionized our understanding of the site. The book draws on a decade's work with the Herculaneum Conservation Project which thanks to the Packard Humanities Institute has begun to reverse the neglect of previous years which had reduced this extraordinary site to a critical condition. Illustrated with more than 300 newly taken colour photographs & archive illustrations plus eight spectacular 360-degree panoramas it is the definitive overview for the general public of what we know & understand about Herculaneum of what is still unknown & mysterious & of the potential for future discoveries in both archaeological & political contexts. ...

All 51 Hercule Poirot short stories presented in chonological order in a single volume
- plus a bonus story not seen for more than
...

This is a BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation starring Peter Sallis as the great Belgian detective. Tyrannical millionaire Simeon Lee has been estranged from most of his family for years. But now on Christmas Eve the old man calls them all together once more. Unable to disobey the children gather uneasily & wonder what their fathers intentions are. Does he want to clear up past misunderstandings or cause fresh mischief? Before they can find out a deafening crash is heard overhead. Rushing upstairs they discover a shocking sight: Simeon Lee is lying in a pool of blood his throat cut. But it is the strangest thing
- the door has been locked from the inside & there is no trace of the murderer. With so many possible suspects it is lucky for Superintendent Sugden that the Chief Constable has his old friend Hercule Poirot staying with him. It seems to be an impossible case. But as Poirot knows only too well things arent always as they seem.
...

Agatha Christie's seasonal mystery thriller reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans & book lovers. It is Christmas Eve. The Lee family reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture followed by a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood his throat slashed. But when Hercule Poirot who is staying in the village with a friend for Christmas offers to assist he finds an atmosphere not of mourning but of mutual suspicion. It seems everyone had their own reason to hate the old man... ...

This is an absorbing historical novel of power & betrayal loyalty & political intrigue in thirteenth-century England Wales & France centring on King John of England younger brother to the brilliant Richard Lionheart Joanna his illegitimate but recognised daughter & Llewellyn Ab Iowerth Prince of Gwynedd a bitter opponent of English ways laws & encroachment into Wales who becomes Joanna's husb&. ...

The aliens are coming! A fleet of spaceships full of fearsome creatures is heading towards Earth
- & what a bizarre bunch these
...

Shirley Valentine eat your heart out Ven Roz Olive & Frankie have been friends since school. They day-dreamed of glorious futures full of riches romance & fabulous jobs. The world would be their oyster. Twenty-five years later Olive cleans other people's houses to support her lazy out-of-work husband & his ailing mother. Roz cannot show her kind caring husband Manus any love because her philandering ex has left her trust in shreds. & she & Frankie have fallen out big time. But Ven is determined to reunite her friends & realise the dream they had of taking a cruise before they hit forty. Before they know it the four of them are far from home on the high seas. But can blue skies hot sun & sixteen days of luxury & indulgence distract from the tension & loneliness that await their return? ...