Unusually for Dickens Hard Times is set not in London but in the imaginary mid-Victorian Northern industrial town of Coketown with its blackened factories downtrodden workers & polluted environment. This is the soulless domain of the strict utilitarian Thomas Gradgrind & the heartless factory owner Josiah Bounderby. However human joy is not excluded thanks to Mr Slearys Horse-Riding circus a gin-soaked & hilarious troupe of open-hearted & affectionate people who act as an antidote to all the drudgery & misery endured by the ordinary citizens of Coketown. ...

This edition of Dickens tenth novel set in the industrial Midlands is that of the 1854 first edition. It has been re-edited in the light of scholarly findings made since 1990. Annotations have been revised & expanded. Sections on backgrounds sources & contemporary reactions include material on industrialism education & utilitarianism. The criticism section

Includes:: 17 essays on the novel seven of which are new to this edition.

...

Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind school headmaster & model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils & family with facts he bans fancy & wonder from any young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman & bully of humanity Mr Bounderby & his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling & robbery. & as their fortunes cross with those of free-spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe & victimized weaver Stephen Blackpool Gradgrind is eventually forced to recognize the value of the human heart in an age of materialism & machinery. ...

Lucile Garrett is just thirteen when she meets Clint Palmer a charismatic stranger who will forever change her life. The year is 1934 & as the windblown dust of the Great Depression rakes the Oklahoma plains Palmer offers Lucile & her father homeless & hungry the irresistible promise of a better future. But when they follow Palmer to Texas Lucile's father mysteriously disappears launching man & girl on an epic journey through the American Southwest: a spree of violence & murder that culminates in one of the most celebrated criminal trials of the era. Based on a true story Hard Twisted is a chilling tale of survival & redemption & a young girl's coming of age in a world as cruel as it is beautiful. ...

This student cookbook stands out from all the others on the market. It doesnt feature baked beans & its packed with truly mouthwatering easy nutritious recipes. Betsy Bell wrote this book for her children & their friends when they were heading to university. She realised that they all knew little (or nothing) about culinary survival but that their sophisticated tastes went beyond the standard macaroni cheese & beans on toast recipes that feature in other student cookbooks. So Hard Up & Hungry

Includes:: recipes that students will want to make; that are tempting enough to keep them away from the nearest pizza outlet or chip shop. It

Includes:: Spaghetti with Fennel & Smoked Bacon Spinach Frittata Cod with Olives & Sweet Peppers Southwestern Burgers Italian Rice & Beans & sweet treats (including American pancakes & Vodka Jelly). Betsy doesnt forget the basics either: the ultimate Bacon Butty Boiled Eggs & Baked Potatoes all feature too. The book is also packed with advice on how to store & shop for food inexpensively (including alternatives to supermarkets & the pros & cons of online shopping). Illustrated throughout with hip black & white photographs & wiro bound this is the ultimate cookbook for students & anyone who wants to cook fantastic food on a budget.



...

When V.I. Warshawski is asked to find a man whos been missing for four decades a search that she thought would be futile turns lethal. Old skeletons from the citys racially charged history rise up to force her back with a vengeance
- a nun who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. dies without revealing crucial evidence & on the citys South Side people spit when she shows up. The elderly sisters who hired her are also keeping important information to themselves. Then V.I. finds that her family is keeping secrets of their own. A young cousin whom shes never met arrives from Kansas City to work on a political campaign but disappears under mysterious circumstances. Afraid to learn that her adored father might have been a bent cop deception & corruption following her at every step V.I. finds all her certainties under threat but takes the investigation all the way to its frightening end.
...

What does it feel like to fall through a flaming table for the very first time? Or the umpteenth time for that matter. In the fresh off-the-cuff style that has earned him legions of admirers & made his previous wrestling books massive worldwide bestsellers Foley gives readers a blow-by-blow first-hand account of exactly what it is like to step into the wrestling ring. As a champion wrestler he was known both for his tenacity in the ring & for the fearlessness which led him to take extraordinary risks in any number of groundbreaking dangerous stunts. & as an industry insider he offers a unique perspective on what it was like to perform at that level which readers will never find anywhere else. In HARDCORE DIARIES Mick Foley will take fans right inside a wrestling year vividly recreating his experiences in diary form & revealing how mentally & physically preparing for this extremely challenging sport has helped him become the legend he is today. ...

In this valuable book Tubal Cain takes the reader beyond the superficial or the simply practical with explanations of the composition of steel its additives & the effects of different temperatures on its constituents. With a grasp of what changes are actually taking place in the metal the care needed in following the practical processes described becomes understandable & will lead to better & more consistent results. Flame salt bath & furnace heating are detailed with information on accurate measurement or recognition of temperature levels. For the average small workshop operative or model engineer the discourses on tool material hardening & tempering will be of most use & in this connection this book replaced the authors earlier Hardening & Tempering Engineers Tools providing a broader-based more detailed & up to date examination of the subject. ...

This title is part of four new titles in the fantastic First Reading" series aimed at children who are beginning to read. luxurious ...

THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. WINNER OF THE 2010 COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD. 264 wood & ivory carvings none of them bigger than a matchbox: Edmund de Waal was entranced when he first encountered the collection in his great uncle Iggie's Tokyo apartment. When he later inherited the 'netsuke' they unlocked a story far larger & more dramatic than he could ever have imagined. From a burgeoning empire in Odessa to fin de siecle Paris from occupied Vienna to Tokyo Edmund de Waal traces the netsuke's journey through generations of his remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century. ' You have in your hands a masterpiece' Frances Wilson Sunday Times. ' The most brilliant book I've read for years...A rich tale of the pleasure & pains of what it is to be human' Bettany Hughes Daily Telegraph Books of the Year. 'A complex & beautiful book' Diana Athill. ...