The Lake District 1908. It seems as though Livia Ella & Maggie Angel lead a charmed life on a large country estate. But since the death of their mother their family home has been far from a quiet haven as their bullying father is determined to marry off the girls to his greatest advantage. When the sisters discover their father had an affair many years ago which resulted in the birth of a baby girl they determine to find their half-sister & their search begins in the local workhouse. Mercy had been unaware of her connection to the rich Angel family until her mothers death-bed confession & once she knows shes not at all sure that she wants to be part of the family. ...

Bernarda Alba is a widow & her five daughters are incarcerated in mourning along with her. One by one they make a bid for freedom with tragic consequences. Lorcas tale depicts the repression of women within Catholic Spain in the years before the war. The House of Bernarda Alba is Lorcas last & possibly finest play completed shortly before he was murdered by Nationalist sympathisers at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Inspired by real characters & described by the author as a true record of village life it is a tragic tale of frustration & explosive passions in a household of women rulled by a tyrannical mother. Edited with invaluable student notes
- a must for students of Spanish drama
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This is a new translation of Federico Garcia Lorcas masterpiece by award-winning playwright Jo Clifford (The Tree of Knowledge" " Every One" " Yerma Blood Wedding"). When Bernardas husband dies she locks all the doors & windows. She tells her grown-up daughters to sew & be silent. There are eight years of mourning ahead of us. While it lasts not even the wind will get into this house. But locks cant hold back the growing tide of desire... Nick Hern Books are pocket-sized Drama Classics: the worlds great plays at a great little price." ...

In The House of Bernarda Alba" a tyrannical matriarch rules over her house & five daughters cruelly crushing their hopes & needs. The other plays here also portray female characters whose desires are tragically & violently frustrated: a womans longing for a child in " Yerma" & a brides yearning for her lover in " Blood Wedding". All appeal for freedom & sexual & social equality & are also passionate defences of the imagination: in Christopher Maurers words poetic drama unsurpassed by any writer of our time." ...

In Northern Genabackis just before the events recounted in GARDENS OF THE MOON a raiding party of savage tribal warriors descends from the mountains into the southern flat lands. Their intention is to wreak havoc among the despised lowlanders but for the one named Karsa Orlong it marks the beginning of what will prove an extraordinary destiny. Some years later it is the aftermath of the Chain of Dogs. Coltaine revered commander of the Malazan 7th Army is dead. & now Tavore elder sister of Ganoes Paran & Adjunct to the Empress has arrived in the last remaining Malazan stronghold of the Seven Cities to take charge. Untested & new to command she must hone a small army of twelve thousand soldiers mostly raw recruits into a viable fighting force & lead them into battle against the massed hordes of Shaiks Whirlwind. Her only hope lies in resurrecting the shattered faith of the few remaining survivors from Coltaines legendary march veterans one & all. In distant Raraku in the heart of the Holy Desert the seer Shaik waits with her rebel army. But waiting is never easy. Her disparate collection of warlords
- tribal chiefs High Mages a renegade Malazan Fist & his sorceror
- is locked in a vicious power struggle that threatens to tear the rebellion apart from within. & Shaik herself suffers haunted by the private knowledge of her nemesis Tavore...her own sister. So begins the awesome new chapter in Steven Eriksons MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN
- an epic novel of war intrigue magic & betrayal from a writer regarded as one of the most original imaginative & exciting storytellers in fantasy today.


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Greece 1936. A young British diplomat & his wife have been posted to Athens. Hugh loves the life there but his spirited & unconventional wife Evadne finds it hard to fit in with the whirl of endless parties & socialising. When Hugh is sent to Crete to sort out a problem they stay in a rundown house owned by his family. His wife falls in love with the place & the people & stays on when Hugh returns to his duties. As she tries to rebuild the ramshackle home Evadne
- known as Heavenly by the locals
- makes firm friends with Anthi a young woman from the village & Christo the handsome & charismatic young builder. But the dark clouds of war are gathering & the island will become a crucible of violence & bloodshed in the days to come. For Heavenly her friends & family it will be the greatest test they have ever known.

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Newly discovered & with an introduction by Johnny Depp this is legendary American folk singer Woody Guthries only finished novel: a compelling portrait of two hardscrabble farmers struggling during the Dust Bowl. Filled with the homespun lyricism that made Guthries songs unforgettable this is the story of an ordinary couples dream of a better life in a corrupt world. Living in a precarious wooden shack Texan farmers Tike & Ella May yearn for a sturdy house to protect them from the treacherous elements. Thanks to a government pamphlet Tike knows how to build a simple adobe dwelling from the land itself- a house of earth. But while the land on which Tike & Ella May live & work is not theirs their dream remains painfully out of reach. A rural tale of progressive activism HOUSE OF EARTH is a searing portrait of hardship & hope set against a ravaged landscape. Combining the moral urgency & narrative drive of John Steinbeck with the erotic frankness of D.H. Lawrence it is a powerful tale of America from a great artist. ...

When Joss an adopted child discovers that her real mother has left the beautiful family home Belheddon Hall to her she is thrilled until she discovers that the Hall is haunted by a presence which will not tolerate husbands or sons living in the house. Joss Grant is eager to begin a new life when she inherits Belheddon Hall. She brings her husband Luke & their small son Tom to the dilapidated house & sets about discovering her family roots which lie in the village. But not long after they move in Tom wakes screaming at night. Joss hears echoing voices & senses an invisible presence watching her from the shadows. Are they spirits from the past? Or is she imagining them? As she learns with mounting horror of Belheddons tragic & dramatic history her fear grows very real for she realises that both her family & her own sanity are at the mercy of a violent & powerful energy which seems beyond anyones control. ...

Two sisters fight to assert themselves after being plunged into devastating poverty following their fathers death. Luckily their natural flair for design soon finds them in demand as dressmakers. Beatrice is the elder & apparently wiser of the two who considers herself plain & unmarriageable & whose relationship with society photographer Jack Maddox is seared with conflict & doubt. Her younger sister is Evangeline ravishingly beautiful the victim of chancers philanderers & rogues -- but most of all the victim of her own desires. Throughout all their private turmoils their professional goal is constant: to establish a fashion house in London to rival any in Paris. Based on the massively successful television series created by Jean Marsh & Eileen Atkins this is the full story of Beatrice & Evangeline & of the strength & triumph bitterly made decisions & anguishes that accompanied the rise of the House of Eliott. ...

In the heart of Indianapolis in the mid 1960's through a twist of fate & fortune a pretty young girl came to live with a thirty-seven-year-old mother & her seven children. What began as a temporary childcare arrangement between Sylvia Likens' parents & Gertrude Baniszewski turned into a crime that would haunt cops prosecutors & a community for decades to come... When police found Sylvia's emaciated body with a chilling message carved into her flesh they knew that she had suffered tremendously before her death. Soon they would learn how many others-including some of Baniszewski's own children-participated in Sylvia's murder & just how much torture had been inflicted in one House Of Evil"." ...