At midnight the dogs cats & rats rule Venice. The Ponte di Ghetto Nuovo the bridge that leads to the ghetto trembles under the weight of sacks of rotting vegetables rancid fat & vermin. Seeping refuse on the streets renders the pavement slick & the walking treacherous. It was on such a night that the men came for Hannah. Hannah Levi is famed throughout Venice for her skills as a midwife but as a Jew the law forbids her from attending a Christian woman. However when the Conte appears at her door in the dead of night Hannahs compassion is sorely tested. & with the handsome reward he is offering she could ransom back her husband currently imprisoned on the island of Malta. But if she fails in her endeavours to save mother & child will she be able to save herself let alone her husband? ...

Agnes Light trained as a nurse in the 1960s & went on to become a midwife
- helping to bring new lives into the world for over
...

A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime. The new novel from Orange Prize listed author Patricia Ferguson is a deeply moving tale about two sisters & the young black orphan who changes their lives
- for anyone who loves Call the Midwife or Andrea Levy. violet Dimond" the " Holy Terror" has delivered many of the town children
- & often their children
- in her capacity as handywoman. But violet's calling is dying out as with medicine's advances the good old ways are no longer good enough. Grace violet's adopted daughter is a symbol of change herself. In the place where she has grown up & everyone knows her she is accepted though most of the locals never before saw a girl with skin that colour. For violet & Grace the coming war will bring more upheaval into their lives: can they endure it or will they like so many be swept aside by history's tide? A moving tale of prejudice struggle love tragedy bravery & the changing lives of women in the twentieth century " The Midwife's Daughter" grips the reader all the way to its heartstopping conclusion. Praise for Patricia Ferguson: " Strong affecting vividly depicted... It is a pure pleasure to read". (Lionel Shriver " Telegraph" (on Peripheral Vision by Patricia Ferguson)). " One of the most brilliant novelists around...funny gripping wonderfully shrewd". (" Independent"). Patricia Ferguson trained in nursing & midwifery & her first book " Family Myths & Legends" won the Betty Trask David Higham & Somerset Maugham awards. Her most recent books " It So Happens" & " Peripheral Vision" were both longlisted for the Orange Prize. She lives in Bristol."


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The Sunday Times bestseller ' Delivering my first baby is a memory that will stay with me forever. Just feeling the warmth of a newborn head in your hands that new life there's honestly nothing like it...I've since brought more than 2 200 babies into the world & I still tingle with excitement every time.' It's the summer of 1968 & St Mary's Maternity Hospital in Manchester is a place from a bygone age. It is filled with starched white hats & full skirts steaming laundries & milk kitchens strict curfews & bellowed commands. It is a time of homebirths swaddling & dangerous anaesthetics. It was this world that Linda Fairley entered as a trainee midwife aged just 19 years old. From the moment Linda delivered her first baby
- racing across rain-splattered Manchester street on her trusty moped in the dead of night
- Linda knew she'd found her vocation. ' The midwife's here!' they always exclaimed joined in their joyful chorus by relieved husbands mothers grandmothers & whoever else had found themselves in close proximity to a woman about to give birth. Under the strict supervision of community midwife Mrs Tattershall Linda's gruellingly long days were spent on overcrowded wards pinning Terry nappies making up bottles & sterilizing bedpans
- & above all helping women in need. Her life was a succession of emergencies successes & tragedies: a never-ending chain of actions which made all the difference between life & death. There was Mrs Petty who gave birth in heartbreaking poverty; Mrs Drew who confided to Linda that the triplets she was carrying were not in fact her husband's; & Muriel Turner whose dangerously premature baby boy survived
- against all the odds. Forty years later Linda's passion for midwifery burns as bright as ever as she is now celebrated as one of Britain's longest-serving midwives still holding the lives of mothers & children in her own two hands. Rich in period detail & told with a good dose of Manchester humour The Midwife's Here! is the extraordinary heartwarming tale of a truly inspiring woman.



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' An investigation consists of a mass of voices the sort you can hear & the sort you can't. You have to listen to the soundless voices Malin. That's where the truth is hidden.' Early one morning in the coldest winter in Swedish memory police detective Malin Fors is called away from the warm flat she shares with her teenage daughter. The naked body of a man has been found hanging from a tree on the deserted frozen plain outside the town of Link?ping. From the outset Malin is confronted with a host of unanswered questions: Who is the dead man? How did he end up in a tree? & where did the strange wounds on his body come from? Malin & her team must search for the truth in a community that seems determined to keep its secrets & follow in the frigid wake of a killer to the darkest corners of the human heart. ...

Guided by pastry chef/owner Meg Ray's creative hand home bakers & Miette fans can capture the gorgeously girlish Miette aesthetic as well as the unique flavors from the bakery Conde Nast named one of The Top 10 Pastry Shops in the World. This book brings home the beauty & presentation that draws locals & tourists to Miette. With: *60+ top-secret formulas for Miette's irresistable sweets including: cakes tarts cookies gingersnaps macarons caramels toffee marshmallows pots de creme buttercreams mousses ganaches & frostings. *75 colour photos from award-winning photographer Frankie Frankeny *unique technique tips from Meg Ray owner/baker *a brief history of Miette from the Berkeley Farmers' Market to the present. ...

Miffy gets tired after meeting all the other animals in Dick Bruna's classic picture book. Mr & Mrs Bunny have a daughter called Miffy. One by one all the animals come to say hello. & by the end of the day she's all tired out. Miffy is among the most iconic of all classic children's characters. Dick Bruna's most popular creation was first conceived in 1955 & since then his books have gone on to sell more than 80 million copies in 40 different languages. In this hardback storybook a whole new generation of readers are able to fall in love with the little white bunny. ...

miffy is crying miffy wakes up in the middle of the night & finds that something is missing
- her teddy bear. Many tears are shed
...

miffy is crying miffy wakes up in the middle of the night & finds that something is missing
- her teddy bear. Many tears are shed
...

Miffy celebrates her birthday in this classic picture book by Dick Bruna. Miffy puts on her best dress because today is her birthday. Lots of people come to give her lovely presents & wish her a happy birthday. But Grandpa & Grandma bunny give her the most special present of all. Miffy is among the most iconic of all classic children's characters. Dick Bruna's most popular creation was first conceived in 1955 & since then his books have gone on to sell more than 80 million copies in 40 different languages. In this hardback storybook a whole new generation of readers are able to fall in love with the little white bunny. ...