Elfride Swancourt was a girl whose emotions lay very near the surface. Elfride is the daughter of the Rector of Endelstow a remote sea-swept parish in Cornwall based on St Juliot where Hardy began the book during the first days of his courtship of his first wife Emma. Blue-eyed & high-spirited Elfride has little experience of the world beyond & becomes entangled with two men: the boyish architect Stephen Smith & the older literary man Henry Knight. The former friends become rivals & Elfride faces an agonizing choice. Written at a crucial time in Hardys life A Pair of Blue Eyes expresses more directly than any of his novels the events & social forces that made him the writer he was. Elfrides dilemma mirrors the difficult decision Hardy himself had to make with this novel: to pursue the profession of architecture where he was established or literature where he had yet to make his name? ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

When Elfrise Swanston meets Stephen Smith she is attracted to his handsome face gentle bearing & the sense of mystery which surrounds him. Although distressed to find that the mystery consists only in the humbleness of his origins she remains true to their youthful vows. But societal pressures & the advent of the superior Henry Knight eventually displace her affections. Knight however proves to be an uncompromising moralist who obsessed with fears about Elfrides sexual past destroys her happiness. Writing of the struggle between classes & sexes Hardy drew heavily on his own relationships & in the introduction Pamela Dalziel discovers fascinating parallels between Hardys life & his art. ...

At the school where Edward Enderby taught for over forty years there were few who knew he'd once been a successful fighter pilot during the war. It was not something he ever talked about
- not even to his family. & for over half a century he had for the most part managed to put the memories of those years out of his mind. But fifty years on he is alone
- a widower
- with a strained relationship with his only son & a career behind him that has brought him respect but little affection. In 1995 Britain is celebrating the anniversary of the end of the war & Edward finds himself forced to confront the tragedy he suffered during those years. Embarking on a journey of self-discovery & personal redemption Edward travels from England to Malta & then to Italy & in doing so comes face-to-face with the idealistic young man he once was & the devastated & traumatised 23-year-old he was to become. Following his experiences over the skies of England in 1941 through the dark days of the Siege of Malta to the partisan struggle in Italy A Pair of Silver Wings is a story of friendship love & the terrible legacy of war exploring universal themes of grief & redemption & one man's quest to heal the scars of the past.


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The easy way to learn to pair food with wine Knowing the best wine to serve with food can be a real challenge & can make or break a meal. Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies helps you understand the principles behind matching wine & food. From European to Asian fine dining to burgers & barbeque youll learn strategies for knowing just what wine to choose with anything youre having for dinner. Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies goes beyond offering a simple list of which wines to drink with which food. This helpful guide gives you access to the principles that enable you to make your own informed matches on the fly whatever wine or food is on the table. Gives you expert insight at the fraction of a cost of those pricey food & wine pairing courses Helps you find the perfect match for tricky dishes like curries & vegetarian food Offers tips on how to hold lively food & wine tasting parties If youre new to wine & want to get a handle on everything you need to expertly match food & wine Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies has you covered. ...

Born only five years after Pakistan was created in 1947 Imran Khan has lived his country's history. Undermined by a ruling elite & unable to protect its people from the carnage of regular bombings from terrorists & its own ally America Pakistan has for years suffered from instability. Now Imran Khan & his own political party the Tehreek-e-Insaf offer a real political alternative for the people of Pakistan at a time when tension between Pakistan's government & the powerful military has reached dangerous new levels. How did this flashpoint of volatility & injustice come about? Pakistan: A Personal History" provides a unique insider's view of a country unfamiliar to a western audience. Woven into this history we see how Imran Khan's personal life
- his happy childhood in Lahore his Oxford education his extraordinary cricketing career his marriage to Jemima Goldsmith his mother's influence & that of his Islamic faith
- inform both the historical narrative & his current philanthropic & political activities. It is at once absorbing & insightful casting fresh light upon a country whose culture he believes is largely misunderstood by the West."

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Help your students achieve their best on the exams with authentic & sophisticated phrases. This new edition of the bestselling ...

A luminous & bewitching debut novel that is perfect for fans of Angela Carter. Set in Victorian London it follows the fortunes of Eve the Lion-Faced Girl & Abel the Flayed Man. A magical realism delight. Before Eve is born her mother goes to the circus. She buys a penny twist of coloured sugar & settles down to watch the heart-stopping main attraction: a lion billed as a monster from the savage heart of Africa. Mama swears she hears the lion sigh just before it leaps...and nine months later when Eve is born the story goes she doesn't cry
- she meows & licks her paws. When Abel is pulled from the stinking Thames the mudlarks are sure he is long dead. As they search his pockets to divvy up the treasure his eyes crack open & he coughs up a stream of black water. But how has he survived a week in that thick stew of human waste? Cast out by Victorian society Eve & Abel find succour from an unlikely source. They soar to fame as The Lion Faced Girl & The Flayed Man star performers in Professor Josiah Arroner's Palace of Curiosities. & there begins a journey that will entwine their fates forever.
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The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half-history half-myth & wholly magical; narrated by Panchaali the wife of the five Pandava brothers we are -- finally -- given a womans take on the timeless tale that is the Mahabharata Tracing Panchaalis life -- from fiery birth & lonely childhood where her beloved brother is her only true companion; through her complicated friendship with the enigmatic Krishna; to marriage motherhood & Panchaalis secret attraction to the mysterious man who is her husbands most dangerous enemy -- The Palace of Illusions is a deeply human novel about a woman born into a mans world -- a world of warriors gods & the ever manipulating hands of fate. A mythic tale brimming with warriors magic & treachery Los Angeles Times A radiant entree into an ancient mythology.. . Charming & remarkable Houston Chronicle A womans look at crime & punishment loyalty promises love & vengeance.. . With The Palace of Illusions Divakaruni has proven that her storytelling talents put her right up there with the best Miami Herald ...

On a blustery October night the Circus Oscuro came to town. It was clear from the start that this was no ordinary circus. They did not roll into town with fanfares & cartwheeling clowns. Instead they came in the dead of night when all the townspeople were asleep. The circus wagons turned into the long field at the bottom of the hill that overlooked the town of Larde & creaked to a halt in neat rows with barely a sound. There was just one witness to the arrival of the circus. A small boy huddled in a large wooden barrel high on the side of the hill watched the raising of the big top awakened from his sleep by the shouts of the circus people & the occasional trumpeting of the elephants. The boys name was Miles & the barrel was his home... ...

In the third instalment in the creepy captivating Larten Crepsley series Larten finds out what it means to love...but is he also damned to find out what it means to lose? Lost in the arctic waste carrying a baby whose love he could never deserve Larten faces the darkest time he has ever known. But hope has a way of shining through even the smallest of cracks & just as Larten reaches the end a new beginning presents itself. The trouble is for Larten the violence of his youth is never far from the surface...and those he loves are the ones he hurts the most. As Larten experiences heaven & hell & tries to save the soul of a child the question is: can he save his own? ...