Whether its leaves on the line or the wrong kind of snow whether the extortionately priced curled-up sandwich on sale in the buffet car or the militancy of the rail unions that seem to be endlessly on strike over nothing everyone in Britain has an opinion about our railways. After the weather they are probably the countrys most reliable talking point. With Telegraph readers being the trenchant choleric & waggish letter-writers that they are our railways have always figured high on the list of subjects requiring a missive to the Editor. Now in this fascinating & hilarious selection Gavin Fuller has put together the best letters on trains to the paper over the years. Here is the end of Steam & the start of Eurostar; the punctuality of Swiss trains & the signal failures of ours; the laments for the branch lines lost under the Beeching cuts & also for the much-missed peace & quiet of a railway carriage replaced by the menace of personal stereos & fellow passengers booming Im On The Train! into their mobile phones. ...

In this memoir of personal discovery loss & renewal Claire Bloom looks beyond the stage & unveils her true identity. One of the most beautiful & gifted actresses of her generation Claire Blooms achievements in theatre & television have been celebrated throughout the world. Bloom traces her fatherless years in the 1930s to her apprenticeship in the British theatre & her rise as an actress in Charles Chaplins Limelight before she was 20. She recounts professional & personal relationships with Laurence Olivier John Gielgud Anthony Hopkins & Paul Schofield & tells of her long entanglement with Richard Burton. She recalls failed marriages to Rod Steiger & Hillard Eskins & the book concludes with a stark account of the most important relationship of her life with writer Philip Roth. ...

In one of the most remarkable memoirs of recent years the acclaimed writer respected thinker & outspoken former bishop Richard Holloway takes us back through a life defined by the biggest questions: Who am I? & what is God? At the tender age of fourteen Richard Holloway left his home in the Vale of Leven north of Glasgow & travelled hundreds of miles to be educated & trained for the priesthood by a religious order in an English monastery. It was an intense cloistered education for an impressionable young man. By twenty-five he had been ordained & was working in the slums of Glasgow. Throughout the forty years that followed Richard touched the lives of many people in the Church & in the wider community. But behind his confident public face lay a restless unquiet heart & a constantly searching mind. How can anyone claim a complete understanding of the mystery of existence? Why is the Church which claims to be the instrument of Gods love so prone to cruelty & condemnation? & how can a man live with the tension between public faith & private doubt? In his long-awaited memoir Richard seeks to answer these questions & to explain how after many crises of faith he finally & painfully left the Church. It is a wise poetic & fiercely honest book. As a portrait of an inner life plagued by doubt it is unsurpassed. ...

This book is the winner of the PEN/ Ackerley Prize 2013. At the tender age of fourteen Richard Holloway left his home town of Alexandria north of Glasgow & travelled hundreds of miles to be educated & trained for the priesthood at an English monastery. By the age of twenty-five he had been ordained & was working in the slums of Glasgow. Through the forty years that followed Richard touched the lives of many people as he rose to one of the highest positions in the Anglican Church. But behind his confident public faith lay a restless heart & an inquisitive mind. Poignant wise & fiercely honest Leaving Alexandria is a remarkable memoir of a life defined by faith but plagued by doubt. ...

London 1933. Some two months after an Indian woman Usha Pramal is found murdered in a South London canal her brother turns to Maisie Dobbs to find the truth about her death. Not only has Scotland Yard made no arrests but evidence indicates they failed to conduct a full & thorough investigation. Before her death Usha was staying at an ayahs hostel a refuge for Indian women whose British employers had turned them out. As Maisie learns Usha was different from the hostels other lodgers. But with this discovery comes new danger
- soon another Indian woman who was close to Usha is found murdered before she can speak out. As Maisie is pulled deeper into an unfamiliar yet alluring subculture her investigation becomes clouded by the unfinished business of a previous case. & at the same time her lover James Compton gives her an ultimatum she cannot ignore.. .
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Working as a ladys maid to Miss Olivia Mercer in Liverpool in 1919 Phoebe-Ann Parkinson dreams of a grander future. But when a tragic attack threatens her sister Emilys life Phoebe-Ann is driven from the Mercer household & into the arms of Jake one of the notorious drunken Malone clan. Phoebe-Ann is abandoned by her family & her dreams are turning into a nightmare. But as Emily begins to recover Phoebe-Ann is able to look forward to leaving Liverpool & her past behind her. ...

This fun bright card has the message &8216; Leaving to have a Baby in with &8216; Leaving&8217; in 3D multicoloured pastel lettering on a white background decorated with sparkly silver spots & abc blocks. This card is blank inside for your own message & comes with a silver envelope ready for posting Approximate dimensions: 20.5 x 20.5cm Not suitable for children under 3 years contains small parts which may cause a choking hazard. ...

In his first book Hussien Dekmak opens the door to his country's food & traditions with over 100 delicious authentic recipes ...

Following on from Phaidon's classic home-cooking bibles of national cuisines which started with The Silver Spoon in 2005 & has continued with 1080 Recipes Vefa's Kitchen I Know How to Cook & India Cookbook The Lebanese Kitchen is the definitive guide to traditional cuisine from Lebanon. The Lebanese Kitchen brings together more than 500 recipes ranging from light tempting mezes to rich & hearty main courses. On the shores of the eastern Mediterranean & a gateway to the Middle East the food of Lebanon blends textures colours scents & flavours from both & has long been regarded as one of the most refined cuisines in the Middle East. The diversity of Lebanese food reflects the variety inherent in the country's landscape & climate from the fertile Beqaa Valley to the snow-covered tops of the Danniyeh mountains. This means that fresh & inspiring vegetable dishes such as the classic tabbouleh (bulgur wheat & parsley salad) are as numerous as the meat specialities like lamb kofte or traditional desserts such as muhallabieh (a milk & rose water pudding topped with pistachios). Many areas produce a range of home-grown fruit & vegetables such as tomatoes apples figs beans grapes & citrus fruits & there are many traditional recipes that show the uses that resourceful home cooks have developed to make the most of seasonal produce. Lebanese food has become increasingly popular in the last few years & is nutritious & healthy (based on vegetables oil & pulses & a balanced use of meat) as well as aromatic & tempting. Salma Hage a Lebanese housewife from Mazarat Tiffah (Apple Hamlet) in the mountains of the Kadisha Valley in north Lebanon has over 50 years experience of family cooking. In The Lebanese Kitchen she presents a comprehensive list of her own recipes for family favourites along with classic dishes handed from generation to generation. A combination of old favourites & some inspiring surprises The Lebanese Kitchen is a must for everyone with an interest in this wholesome & delicious cuisine. ...

DJ any party anytime anywhere with the portable MP3 Mixing Deck from Lecci. Simply plug in two MP3 players a pair of headphones & youre ready to go. This mixing deck will allow you to flip between tracks hear the next one youve selected & mix them in as you please. Works with all MP3 players. Requires 4 AAA 1.5V batteries (not included). ...