The Village" by Nikita Lalwani the prize-winning author of " Gifted" is a disturbing & utterly gripping modern morality tale set in contemporary India & will appeal to readers of Kiran Desai's " The Inheritance of Loss" & Jhumpa Lahiri's " The Namesake". Ray a young British-Asian woman arrives in the afternoon heat of a small village in India. She has come to live there for several months to make a documentary about the place. For this is no ordinary Indian village
- the women collecting water at the well the men chopping wood in the early morning light have all been found guilty of murder. The village is an open prison. Ray is accompanied by two British colleagues & as the days pass they begin to get closer to the lives of the inhabitants of the village. & then it feels too close. As the British visitors become desperate for a story the distinction between innocence & guilt between good intentions & horrifying results becomes horribly blurred. Set in a village modelled on a real-life open prison in India " The Village" is a gripping story about manipulation & personal morality about how truly frail our moral judgement can be. Nikita Lalwani has written a dazzling heartfelt & disturbing novel which delivers on all the promise of her first. "A sparkling funny & poignant study of a young maths prodigy struggling with her gift & a difficult family". (Gerard Woodward " Books of the Year" (" Gifted") " Observer). Nikita Lalwani was born in Rajasthan & raised in Cardiff. Her first novel " Gifted" was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize & shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award & won the Desmond Elliott Prize. She lives in London."
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The Grey House was the answer to everything in Alice Jordan's life
- her perfect life. The beautiful eighteenth-century building
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' People in Fairacre simply won't stand for their children being uprooted & carted away in buses like so many
- er so many-' '
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This is a story of survival set in a small fishing village near Bombay. Lila & Hari aged 13 & 12 struggle to keep the family including two young sisters going when their mother is ill & their father usually the worse for drink. When Hari goes to Bombay to find work Lila seems to be responsible for everything. Although the book paints a picture of extreme poverty it demonstrates the strength of the family even in the most extreme circumstances & offers a powerful picture of another culture. ...

Village Centenary welcomes us back to Fairacre just in time for the one hundredth anniversary of the village school. Such a centenary should be celebrated & all of Fairacre is quick to offer suggestions
- from a tea party to a pageant. Deciding how best to stage the grand occasion however is only one of Miss Read's problems. The ancient skylight in the school is leaking & Mr Willet the school caretaker fears that replacing it will be a difficult job. The new teacher Miss Briggs fresh from college & full of idealistic theories proves a thorn in Miss Read's side. The vicar has decided to keep bees. & Mrs Pringle is her usual dour self. But the seasons continue to change & the centenary year unfolds with its hopes & fears its memories & forecasts its friendships & feuds. Village Centenary marks yet another delightful year in the company of our favourite Fairacre friends.
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With the Rector Peter Harris & his family back from Africa the villagers of Turnham Malpas heave huge sighs of relief
- everything
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A mysterious visitor has arrived in Turnham Malpas. What can Titus Bellamy want? Is it true the villagers ask each other that he has discovered a medieval charter which grants the right to hold a market on their picturesque village green? & if it is true can he be stopped? Meanwhile after twenty-five years the marriage of Liz & Neville Neal is on the rocks. Or so the unhappy Liz thinks. But Neville to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary has decided to throw a lavish party. The anniversary party & the market on the green mark both the beginning & end of two quite different relationships. But is it really all the fault of Titus Bellamy? The village is divided
- before a spate of burglaries on market day adds fuel to the hot debate & someone unexpected decides to take matters into her own hands...
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Rivalries flare & scandal abounds in Rebecca Shaws sparkling tale of love loyalty & village life. The villagers of Turnham Malpas are in for a shock. With Sir Ralph now dead his fortune & title go to a newcomer. It swiftly becomes clear that Johnny Templeton could not be more different to his well-loved predecessor. Johnny soon finds himself in conflict with long-standing members of Turnham Malpas
- particularly Craddock Fitch who is determined to obstruct Johnnys plan to buy back the Templeton estate. Meanwhile there are two other villagers in crises but theirs is a much more private issue. Marcus & Alice March have longed for a child for years. But when Alice finally becomes pregnant there are those in the village who harbour doubts about the childs progeny knowing how close Alice has grown to Johnny. As gossip begins to circulate the village Alice must make the most difficult of decisions
- whether to follow her heart or her morals...

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Rivalries flare & scandal abounds in Rebecca Shaw's sparkling tale of love loyalty & village life. The villagers of Turnham Malpas are in for a shock. With Sir Ralph now dead his fortune & title go to a newcomer. It swiftly becomes clear that Johnny Templeton could not be more different to his well-loved predecessor. Johnny soon finds himself in conflict with long-standing members of Turnham Malpas
- particularly Craddock Fitch who is determined to obstruct Johnny's plan to buy back the Templeton estate. Meanwhile there are two other villagers in crises but theirs is a much more private issue. Marcus & Alice March have longed for a child for years. But when Alice finally becomes pregnant there are those in the village who harbour doubts about the child's progeny knowing how close Alice has grown to Johnny. As gossip begins to circulate the village Alice must make the most difficult of decisions
- whether to follow her heart or her morals...

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This reprint of the third book in Nichols Allways Trilogy" contains a new foreword by Bryan Connon Beverley Nichols biographer. Set in the English countryside the hilarious memoir is as much about the authors love for plants as it is about the village in which he lived. The depictions of flowers & ornamentals
- A single one of those gloxinias would be an event in Allways...I should give a party for it
- are both inspiring & unforgettable. This is the voice of one whose chief endowment is an appreciation for plants & the landscape including a keen understanding of the importance gardens play in an increasingly modern world."

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