Many of us remember with pleasure Hilaire Belloc's humorous & piquant Cautionary Tales". Ever popular since publication in 1940 the moral poems were supposedly for children
- but with their satirical reflections on the state of the nation & the human condition were also enjoyed by adults. Inspired by the prose & poetry of Belloc James Muirden has penned these whimsical & well-observed Precautionary Tales to amuse grandparents & perhaps their grandchildren too & impart some moral guidance in today's world. Read about Matilda who was too truthful to be successful in business & John who lost at conkers & gained his father some useful publicity. Whether you grew up reading Belloc or not this compilation of wit in verse is guaranteed to leave you smiling
- & may even teach you a valuable lesson or two."

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Where are you from? is a question I always find hard to answer. 1971: an ad in Nursery World. Private foster parents required for a three-month-old baby
- me. The lucky applicants are a 57-year-old white woman & her daughter who love babies especially black babies. My mother arrives a haughty Nigerian woman in a convertible with a moses basket on the seat beside her setting the net curtains in this all-white council estate twitching. & though the whole place makes my privileged mothers skin crawl she returns to London with an empty basket beside her choosing this home for me because unusually for the estate my foster mother talks proper & Ill need a posh white accent for the bright future I have ahead of me. Ill cling on to that idea
- that Ive a bright future ahead of me
- even though theres nothing in my upbringing to warrant it. Even though my mothers love consists of long absences confusing behaviour & dauntingly high expectations. Even though my foster mothers love is overwhelming & suffocating. Even though I seem to be a magnet for abusive sexual attention from men I barely know. Even though the authorities have no idea where to put me or where I belong & nor really do I. & even when I fall pregnant at eighteen & find myself back in the rural town Id tried to escape from with a tiny baby dependent on me I still think the futures out there. Ill find it whatever it takes. Precious" is the story of growing up black in a white community of struggling to find an identity that fits amid conflicting messages of deciphering a childhood full of secrets & dysfunction. Painfully honest swerving from farce to tragedy " Precious" has a spirit that refuses to be crushed."


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Well before Precious Ramotswe founded her Number One Ladies' Detective Agency as an eight-year-old girl she was already solving mysteries. Here in this delightful enchanting tale for children we find out just who has been stealing her schoolfriends' snacks & how the young Precious became the crafty & intuitive private investigator we all know & love! ...

Well before Precious Ramotswe founded her Number One Ladies Detective Agency as an eight-year-old girl she was already solving mysteries. Here in this delightful new enchanting tale for children we see how the young Precious became the crafty & intuitive private investigator we all know & love! ...

World First a brand new story from Alexander Mc Call Smith that is now available in paperback! A world first from Itchy Coo this is a brand new book for younger readers telling the story of the girlhood adventures of Precious Ramotswe founder of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. Written by one of the worlds favourite authors Alexander Mc Call Smith & translated into Scots by award winning author James Robertson this story will not be available in any other language until 2011. The Scots is simple & accessible & a glossary will be provided for those not familiar with Scots words. ...

In order to spend more time with her four-year-old son Ned Clara Costello trades in her secure well-paid job & two-seater sports car for a camper van called Winnie & the three of them set off on a mystery tour of Engl&. Of course her friends & family think she's gone mad. But when they arrive in Deaconsbridge a small market town on the edge of the Peak District Clara & Ned become drawn into the lives of the locals. Two in particular seem destined to get under Clara's skin: Gabriel Liberty a cranky widower who terrifies his family; & Archie Merryman a local dealer in second-hand furniture who possesses a heart of gold. Then Clara finds herself having to confront a problem much closer to home & one she had hoped she would never have to face.. . ...

Key features of this title: show how archers adjust to weather & terrain conditions; provide expert instruction from top archery coaches & intructors; include advice on selecting equipment bow tuning & set-up arrow tuning & testing & maintaining equipment; & more. ...

This is the book supermarkets want to ban! In an age where the consumer is getting more & more conscious of chemicals not only in food but in everyday cleaning products Precycle!" is packed full with recipes for everything you could possibly need in the kitchen the bathroom the utility room & even the bedroom. This handy reference book gives tips & recipes on how to make everything you buy in the shops from sauces to sausages bleach to beer & detergents to disinfectants so that instead of buying products which are often heavy on chemicals & then throwing away or recycling the packaging or tin you can miss out that entire stage & make the contents yourself saving a fortune getting better chemical-free products & saving the planet in the process." ...

Florida is full of human predators & they all give Dr Kay Scarpetta the opportunity & the means to do what she does best
- persuading
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When Tom & Hester's scrapyard aircraft is pursued by rocket-firing gunships they seek sanctuary in the speeding ice city of Anchorage. But it is no safe refuge. Devastated by plague & haunted by ghosts Anchorage is heading for the Dead Continent... ...