With illustrations by Terry Willers For the unprepared visitor Irish conversation can be a minefield. Hows the craic ? is not an assumption that you are well versed in the properties of narcotics substances merely an enquiry after your health & general well-being. A seemingly easy question like Youre not from around here are ye? requires a far more detailed reply than No Im not. In order not to be thought rude you should supply details of where you live why you are in Ireland the tiny village now deserted from which your great-great grandfather emigrated in the year dot & to be really accepted your salary figure marital status & daily eating habits! To the uninitiated advice like this might seem extreme but as Tadhg Hayes points out the proper answer will save you from insistent & repeated questioning which in the case of the Irish is motivated by genuine interest & not just downright nosiness. Having safely negotiated the opening gambits plenty of other conversational pitfalls await the visitor. GIFT OF THE GAB covers them all & will see you through any topic from THE WEATHER SPORT DRINK DEATH how to interpret travel directions & statements on a persons financial situation (see THE POOR MOUTH). For Improvers there are useful phrases to add colour to your conversation including the essential feck fecking & its variations. All in all the most essential thing after your umbrella you will need for an enjoyable holiday in Irel&. ...

THE GIFT OF THERAPY is the culmination of master psychiatrist Dr Irvin Yaloms thirty-five years work as a therapist illustrating through real case studies how patients & therapists alike can get the most out of therapy. Presented as eighty-five tips for beginner therapists Yalom shares his own fresh approach & the insights he has gained while treating his patients. Personal & sometimes provocative Yalom makes some unorthodox suggestions including: Let the patient matter to you; Acknowledge your errors; Create a new therapy for each patient; Make home visits; (Almost) never make decisions for a patient; & Freud was not always wrong. This is an entertaining informative & insightful read for both beginners & more experienced therapists patients students & everyone with an interest in the subject. ...

When his mother Joan was diagnosed with terminal cancer Rory Mac Lean & his wife Katrin took her into their home. For five months as their life fragmented & turned inward they fought both to resist & to accept the inevitable. Each gave vent to their emotions in different ways but all three kept a diary. Heartbreakingly honest & deeply moving Gift of Time" is the story of those days in the words of a son his wife & his mother. Woven together into a poignant meditation on life & death they illuminate the courage & dignity of one woman who confronted what we all must face. Threaded through with wisdom & guilt anger & acceptance the story is punctuated by a family wedding & the hope of new life by bin-bags of old letters & books rediscovered by the end of winter & the first signs of spring. Powerful raw & urgent this slender volume is above all a celebration of life. Capturing every moment of beauty & pain it acknowledges that what survives all of us is love. Praise for Rory Mac Lean's previous titles: " Stalin's Nose": " The most extraordinary debut in travel writing since " In Patagonia". A dark sardonic & brilliant book which grows in stature with every page". (William Dalrymple). "A surreal masterpiece". (Colin Thubron). " The Oatmeal Ark": " One of the most original & innovative travel books for years". (Alexander Frater). "A truly astonishing performance". (Jan Morris). " Such a book as this rather marvellously explains why literature still lives". (John Fowles). " Under the Dragon": "I cannot imagine a better book on the beauty & terror of Burma. Read it. Read it. Read it". (Fergal Keane). " It will make you cry & it will give you hope... It is astonishingly good". (Jeanette Winterson). " Magic Bus": "A disturbing gripping & intensely passionate story". (Esther Freud)." ...

A set of anonymous postcards leads Detective Chief Inspector Hennessey to make a chilling discovery. When four postcards are sent anonymously to an advice centre each with the word murder scribbled in a foreign language & the same precise OS map reference DCI Hennessey & his team visit the sinister location & make a chilling discovery: the body of a professional man who had been reported missing ten years earlier. Who sent the postcards & why so long after the crime? As Hennessey & his team investigate they find themselves drawn into a puzzling & dangerous investigation. ...

This is the first book in the epic Pellinor" series
- four books telling an extraordinary tale of another world. Maerad is
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Dead people dont make great companions something cute athletic Ken finds out the hard way when following an accident on the football field he starts hearing ghostly voices. Its not the kind of gift he would have asked for
- especially when it gets him involved in a love triangle with his dead best friends girlfriend
- but theres nothing he can do about it until an anonymous note invites him to a seance. Completely convinced by the medium he meets Ken tries to tell her about his secret. Only his gifted classmates can save him from revealing the truth
- & finding himself in terrible danger...


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These students look like the others but each of them has a special supernatural attribute that marks them out. You could call it a skill a talent or a disadvantage but each of these students is unique -- theyre gifted. Shy dreamy Emilys premonitions arent always quite right & the gifted class usually dont take her seriously. But as Emilys visions get clearer her classmates are forced to listen to her -- before its too late... ...

Brimming with ideas from the pretty to the practical Gifts from the Garden contains more than 100 projects that use the gardener's bounty throughout the seasons. Divided into Flowers & Herbs & Fruit & Vegetables Debora

Includes:: gifts that are edible for your home & for your wellbeing. There are potted bulbs in teacups & decorated personal seed packets a lavender rose & chamomile bubble bath flower & fruit lip balms a tisane planter & a pizza herb window box as well as festive wreaths & ideas for using flowers & foliage when wrapping presents. & of course delicious ideas like toffee apples herbal teas spice rubs chilli jams courgette muffins & quince vodka to name a few! So whether you want to give something practical for the home indulgent to enjoy at bathtime or to complement a delicious dinner there is a present that will suit everyone.

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What could be more wonderful than receiving a jar of piquant mango chutney a tray of gooey brownies a bottle of fresh raspberry cordial or a box of delicate almond friands? With the current trend for all things thrifty & creative now is the perfect time to explore the tradition of making & giving something homemade. Accompanied by creative packaging ideas & with a huge variety of recipes & ideas for every season & occasion
- from candied almonds & Chinese fortune cookies to slow-roasted tomatoes & macaroons
- there is sure to be something for everyone here whether you want to celebrate a birthday a wedding the arrival of a new baby welcome someone into their new home or just say thank you.

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How much nicer is it to receive something that has been made with love
- & specially for you? In this book youll learn how to
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