Lizzie Miller worries about her beautiful eldest daughter. A mother shouldn't have favourites but Ruby wins a special place in Lizzie's heart. Money is short in their little house in Blackburn & Ruby yearns to give her beloved family a better life. Determined to enjoy the security only wealth can bring she stifles her feelings for handsome Johnny Ackroyd. Ruby knows he cannot offer her the life she craves. She works as a maid for Mr Banks & his daughter Cicely. The two girls hatch a mischievous plan to introduce Ruby to society at a party for the 'gentry' of Blackburn where Ruby meets Luke Arnold the dissolute heir to his father's fortunes. Seeing Ruby's dark beauty he determines to despoil her innocence. When Luke slyly turns his charm on Cicely Ruby feels compelled to warn her friend of his evil nature. Ruby quickly finds employment in a milliner's shop & eventually takes over the business. But her worldly success still leaves an emptiness that riches cannot fill & Ruby learns at last that the love of family & friends is beyond price... ...

Abandoned & alone you'll do anything to survive! A gritty saga from the bestselling author Kitty Neale. Abandoned on the cold stone steps of an orphanage only a few hours old & clutching the object which was to give her name Pearl Button had a hard start to life. Now 16 years old she's finally managed to escape the cruel confines of the orphanage & enter the real world. Finding work at a nearby cafe Pearl is thrilled to start earning her own money even if she must contend with sharp-tongued Dolly Dolby. But soon she becomes tangled up in the murky South London underworld in which Dolly's son -- the cruel but handsome Kevin -- operates. By chance she sees something she shouldn't something dangerous & her life is thrown into jeopardy. Can gentle giant Derek Lewis protect vulnerable Pearl from Kevin -- & her own heart? Meanwhile a local boy is snatched terrifying this close-knit community & at the orphanage where Pearl lived out her wretched childhood the past is coming back to haunt its owner -- & the secret she has promised to guard for so many years! ...

Abby Lovitt has always been more at ease with horses than with people. Her father insists they call all the mares Jewel" & all the geldings " George" & warns Abby not to get attached: the horses are there to be sold. But with all the stress at school (the Big Four have turned against Abby & her friends) & home (her brother Danny is gone
- for good it seems
- & now Daddy won't speak his name) Abby seeks refuge with the Georges & the Jewels. But there's one gelding on her family's farm that gives her no end of trouble: the horse who won't meet her gaze the horse who bucks her right off every chance he gets the horse her father makes her ride & train every day. She calls him the Ornery George."

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Nobu Matsuhisa still stands above all the other great world-class chefs in being the only one who is truly celebrated internationally. His ever-expanding empire of fabulously fashionable restaurants in the USA UK Italy & Japan now numbers thirteen & they still remain very much THE places to eat & to be seen in each of those cities. In Nobu Now he gives readers an exhilarating taste of how his repertoire has developed constantly expanded by his travels & experience as well as the rich cross-fertilization with cuisines of the nations in which his empire now operates. For the first time Nobu ventures beyond his favourite seafood into meat & poultry dishes applying his usual principles & using his signature sauces as in his Kobe Beef with Anticucho sauce & Foie Gras with Miso. For the vegetarian there are treats like Tomato & Vegetable Ceviche Watercress & White Asparagus Salad with Watercress Dressing & Avocado Egg Pudding while the desserts section really underscores the breadth & diversity of his repertoire. The art of using very simple techniques to bring out the latent flavours in the very best of ingredients is still at the heart of Nobu's cooking. In Nobu Now he amply demonstrates the essence of Japanese cuisine & quite how far this tenet can be applied. The result is the food that his legions of admirers all over the world absolutely adore
- light modern clean & fresh.
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Great for boys with a huge collectability factor bolstered by the cards in the back of the books & links to an excellent interactive website. Tom thinks he has defeated his enemy Evil Wizard Malvel. But he is wrong! Malvel lives & he intends to bring doom to Avantia by creating six deadly Beasts. Tom must first face Noctila the Death Owl! ...

For many of us the moon & the chill light it casts are things we either ignore or take for granted. It wouldnt enter our heads therefore to set off around the world in search of moonlight. But as James Attlees eccentric quest proves we couldnt be more wrong. From Normandy to Naples Wales to Arizona Las Vegas to Japan Attlee explores moonlights many moods & meanings. Taking in the ancient & modern art & literature science & music Nocturne" travels far & deep to provide a portrait of an enigmatic light increasingly endangered in our over-illuminated world." ...

In this latest collection of poems Hill invokes people & place mythologizing & demythologizing city lives as they are led. From poignant vignettes & celebrations to urban-pastoral & elegy these poems extend Hills romance with Londons psychic & surreal fabric. Selected as a Next Generation poet Hill continues to delight us with sensuous observation & imaginative embrace. ...

Take his hand & follow him into the darkness.. . John Connolly bestselling author of seven brilliantly scary mystery novels now turns his pen to the short story to give us a volume of chilling tales of the supernatural. In this macabre collection echoing masters of the genre from M R James to Stephen King Connolly delves into our darkest fears
- lost lovers missing children subterranean creatures & predatory demons. Framing the collection are two substantial novellas
- THE CANCER COWBOY RIDES charts the fatal progress of a modern-day grim reaper while THE REFLECTING EYE is a haunted house tale with a twist & marks the return of private detective Charlie Parker the troubled hero of Connollys crime novels. This edition contains two additional stories
- THE CYCLE & MR GRAYS FOLLY
- not previously included. NOCTURNES is a masterly volume to be read with the lights on
- menace has never been so seductive.. .




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In a sublime story cycle Kazuo Ishiguro explores ideas of love music & the passing of time. From the piazzas of Italy to the Malvern Hills a London flat to the hush-hush floor of an exclusive Hollywood hotel the characters we encounter range from young dreamers to cafe musicians to faded stars all of them at some moment of reckoning. Gentle intimate & witty this quintet is marked by a haunting theme: the struggle to keep alive a sense of lifes romance even as one gets older relationships flounder & youthful hopes recede. ...

This Noddy story from Enid Blyton's much-loved original series is republished in B format paperback for the first time &



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