The village school is to get a new head & the inhabitants of Turnham Malpas await her arrival with curiosity. At first sight Kate Pascoe seems ideal. She's young pretty & obviously loves her job. But when she introduces meditation classes for her ten-year-olds & even tree-hugging the villagers begin to think again. Then a strange malaise afflicts the whole village: lights are seen in Sykes Wood at night; a dog long dead appears to come to life & a sudden shocking death plunges the village into a state of superstitious dread. & always at the eye of the storm is Kate Pascoe... ...

Craddock Fitch is a relative newcomer to the village of Turnham Malpas & is keen to make a splash by holding a village show
- the
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It's 1980: recession & unemployment have hit Britain a royal wedding is on the way & the whole country is wondering Who Shot JR? As Jack returns for his fourth year at Ragley-on-the Forest School there's a definite chill in the air. Village schools are being closed down all over the place
- will his be one of them? As school life continues
- Vera the school secretary has to grapple with a new-fangled electric typewriter Ruby celebrates ten years as the school cleaner & the village panto throws up some unusual problems
- Jack wonders what the future holds...' Wry observation & heartwarming humour in equal measure'
- Alan Titchmarsh.



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Don Whillans has an iconic significance for generations of climbers. His epoch-making first ascent of Annapurnas South Face achieved with Dougal Haston in 1970 remains one of the most impressive climbs ever made
- but behind this & all his other formidable achievements lies a tough recalcitrant reality: the character of the man himself. Whillans carried within himself a sense of personal invincibility forceful direct & uncompromising. It gave him sporting superstar status
- the flawed heroism of a Best a Mc Enroe an Ali. In his own circle his image was the working-class hero on the rock-face laconic & bellicose ready to go to war with the elements or with any human who crossed his path on a bad day.

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Small-time villain Sean O' Donnell walked out on his family almost twenty years ago & hasn't been heard of since. Now his daughter Iris has returned to the East End to find out just what happened. But it isn't going to be easy. Everyone close to Iris seems to be keeping secrets. When the mysterious Guy Wilder offers to help Iris uncover the truth he changes everything. As the son of the local criminal matriarch though Guy has plenty of problems of his own.. . ...

Police officers are now no longer encouraged to talk to criminals & thats a pity. Wonderful stories once were shared as a result of a quick pint with a snout down the pub or as a respite during interrogation when both copper & criminal would stop for a fag. Those were the glory days where gripping accounts of slashings fit-ups dodgy deals blaggings & petermen would filter through & become folklore. These days such intimacy is frowned upon (and smoking in interrogation cells is of course banned) so it is only here that these stories can be recounted. In Villains Tales" the reader will be introduced to the bad the mad & the dangerous to know recounted in gripping style by those who had intimate dealings with the shady characters both criminal & copper from Londons underworld long ago. All the usual suspects are here
- the Krays the Richardsons plus a few surprises & several hidden gems. Literally."
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Murder gunrunning drug trafficking kneecappings
- Paul Ferris has been accused of many things in his life some true some not. What's
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Villette" is Charlotte Bronte's powerful autobiographical novel of one woman's search for true love edited with an introduction by Helen M. Cooper in " Penguin Classics". With neither friends nor family Lucy Snowe sets sail from England to find employment in a girls' boarding school in the small town of Villette. There she struggles to retain her self-possession in the face of unruly pupils the hostility of headmistress Madame Beck & her own complex feelings
- first for the school's English doctor & then for the dictatorial professor Paul Emanuel. Drawing on her own deeply unhappy experiences as a governess in Brussels Charlotte Bronte's autobiographical novel the last published during her lifetime is a powerfully moving study of loneliness & isolation & the pain of unrequited love narrated by a heroine determined to preserve an independent spirit in the face of adverse circumstances. Helen M. Cooper's new introduction places the novel in the context of Bronte's life & career & argues for the importance of the novel as an exploration of imperialism. Charlotte Bronte (1816-55) eldest of the Bronte sisters was born in Thornton West Yorkshire. " Jane Eyre" was first published in 1847 under the pen-name Currer Bell & was followed by " Shirley" (1848) & " Vilette" (1853). In 1854 Charlotte Bronte married her father's curate Arthur Bell Nicholls. She died during her pregnancy on 31 March 1855 in Haworth Yorkshire. " The Professor" was posthumously published in 1857. If you liked " Villette" you may enjoy Elizabeth Gaskell's " Cranford" also available in " Penguin Classics". "I am only just returned to a sense of real wonder about me for I have been reading " Villette"." (George Eliot). " Her finest novel". (Virginia Woolf)."
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This novel is based on the author's personal experience as a teacher in Brussels. It is a moving tale of repressed feelings & subjection to cruel circumstance & position borne with heroic fortitude. It is also the story of a woman's right to love & be loved. ...

I am only just returned to a sense of the real world about me for I have been reading Villette a still more wonderful book than Jane Eyre. George Eliot Lucy Snowe in flight from an unhappy past leaves England & finds work as a teacher in Madame Becks school in Villette. Strongly drawn to the fiery autocratic schoolmaster Monsieur Paul Emanuel Lucy is compelled by Madame Becks jealous interference to assert her right to love & be loved. Based in part on Charlotte Brontes experience in Brussels ten years earlier Villette (1853) is a cogent & dramatic exploration of a womans response to the challenge of a constricting social environment. Its deployment of imagery comparable in power to that of Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights & its use of comedy D Sironic or exuberant D Sin the service of an ultimately sombre vision make Villette especially appealing to the modern reader. 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. ...