For the first time author Sophie Johnson reveals the story behind Miranda's rise to fame. The comedian was born in Torquay in 1972 yet despite graduating with a degree in politics she always wanted to be a comedian. In 2002 she performed at the Edinburgh Festival & her early career was followed by Jennifer Saunders who cast Miranda in an Ab Fab Christmas special. TV roles such as The Vicar of Dibley Nighty Night Hyperdrive & Not Going Out followed
- before Miranda Hart's Joke Shop was commissioned by BBC Radio 2 in 2008 leading to the development of the smash hit series Miranda which made her a household name. Since then Miranda has branched out into straight acting with a highly-acclaimed role in BBC drama Call the Midwife. She is the newest comedy legend to capture the imagination of the public
- this is her full story.

...

Kirsty & Rachel are excited to be entering a charity fashion show where children get to show off their own designs. Unfortunately Jack Frost thinks everyone in the world should dress like him & steals the Fashion Fairies seven magical items to put his naughty plan into action! In this opening book of the magical series Kirsty & Rachel must help Miranda the Beauty Fairy so that people everywhere can continue to look good & feel great. ...

Fight the Beasts Fear the Magic! Join the hero Tom on a high-action adventure with terrible Beasts & deadly danger! Tom's bravery & fighting skills are tested to the limit in his next Beast Quest. Is he brave enough to continue with his most challenging Beast Quest yet? Or will Mirka the Ice Horse defeat him? ...

The bright colours & graphic strength of Miro's paintings have made him an immensely popular modern painter but the artist would have been extremely disappointed to see his work treated as little more than interior decor. In this accessible survey of the artist's life & career Iria Candela explains the complex roots & darker shades that lie behind the evolution of Miro's work from the culture of his Catalan homeland to his exposure as a young man to the latest experiments of the avant-garde in Paris & the rise of Fascism in Spain. She examines not only Miro's paintings but also his sculpture prints & murals "ing from many of the artist's own revealing statements. For anyone wanting to explore the visual legacy left by the artist who declared that he wanted to 'assassinate painting' this vividly illustrated book is the perfect guide. ...

Two diverse countries & cultures are linked with warmth & charm in this two-in-one picture book. This innovative picture book comprises two stories designed to be read simultaneously
- one from the left the other from the right. Page by page we experience the lives of two little boys
- one from an urban family in Sydney Australia the other from Morocco. From busy motorways to desert landscapes these worlds couldn't be further apart. Yet with the journey of a homemade Moroccan carpet into the Australian boy's home we can see how these separate lives become intertwined. At the book's conclusion the family in Sydney can be seen enjoying their new purchase together while the Moroccan family are surfing the internet. A powerful book Mirror" illustrates how our lives reflect each other & that we are all even in some small way connected. It features innovative dual-book format effectively communicating the way people's experiences & values are shared despite geographical & cultural differences. The essential story is conveyed wordlessly while the short introduction & author's note appear in both English & Arabic. There is a keystone in the vital bridge across the East-West gap."

...

A facsimile first edition hardback of the Miss Marple books published to mark the 75th anniversary of her first appearance & to celebrate her new-found success on television. When The Murder at the Vicarage was published in October 1930 little did the literary world realise that Agatha Christie already famous for her early Poirot titles was introducing a character who would become the best-loved female sleuth of all time. The 14 Marple books would appear at intervals over the next 49 years with Miss Marples Final Cases published in 1979 three years after Agathas death. To mark the 75th anniversary of Miss Marples first appearance & to celebrate her renewed fortunes as a primetime television star this collection of facsimile first editions will be the perfect way to enjoy these books in their original form -- 12 novels & two short story collections. Reproducing the original typesetting & formats from the first editions from the Christie familys own archive copies these books sport the original covers which have been painstakingly restored from the best available copies reflecting five decades of iconic cover design. ...

After the death of her husband Dolly Bantry sold Gossington Hall to the former film star Marina Gregg & her husb&. When the glamorous couple decide to throw a benefit party for the local hospital the grounds are thronged with curious visitors & for one of them the day ends in tragedy. As Marina is serving cocktails in the house she is cornered by the excitable Heather Babcock who chatters away about their former meeting about eleven years ago before spilling her daiquiri all over herself & Marina. Ever the gracious hostess Marina offers her own untouched drink to Mrs Babcock
- only to look on horrified as the lady dies in front of her. It is up to Miss Marple to find out who was really meant to take the poison that killed poor Heather Babcock. Could it be that Marina Gregg was the intended victim? If so Miss Marple's task will not be an easy one for the lady had an unusually large number of enemies... Agatha Christie's perplexing mystery is dramatized with a full cast including Ian Lavender Gayle Hunnicutt & James Laurenson with June Whitfield as the sharp-witted spinster sleuth.
...

To look at one was to see the other. For family even the girls' own father it was a constant guessing game. For strangers the surprise was overwhelming. & for twins Olivia & Victoria coming of age at the turn of the century their bond was mysterious marvelous & often playful
- a secret realm only they inhabited. Shy serious Olivia born eleven minutes before her sister had taken over the role of mother in their lush New York estate. Free-spirited Victoria wanted to change the world & embraced the women's suffrage movement dreaming of sailing to war-torn Europe. Then in the girls' twenty-first year as the First World War escalated overseas a fateful choice changed their lives forever. Handsome lawyer Charles Dawson came into their lives to try to save the reputation of Victoria whose life was about to become a public scandal. Still mourning the death of his wife aboard the Titanic struggling to raise his nine-year old son Charles was determined never to lose his heart again. An irrevocable step took one of the twins to the battlefields of France & the other into a marriage she longed for but thought she could not have. From Manhattan society to the trenches of war-torn France Mirror Image" moves elegantly & dramatically through a rich & troubled era. With startling insight Danielle Steel explores women's choices: between home & adventure between the love for family & the passion for a cause between sacrifice & desire."
...

Perhaps the single most revolutionary aspect of the Renaissance was the re-emergence of the gods & goddesses of antiquity. In the midst of Christian Europe artists began to decorate luxury goods with scandalous stories from classical mythology & rulers to identify themselves with the deities of ancient religion. The resulting fusion of erotic fantasy & political power changed the course of Western art & produced many of its most magical & subversive works. The first book ever to survey this extraordinary phenomenon in its entirety The Mirror of the Gods" takes the story from the Renaissance to the Baroque. Each chapter focuses on a particular god (Diana Apollo Hercules Venus Bacchus Jupiter) & recounts the tales about that deity not as they appear in classical literature but as they were re-created by artists such as Botticelli Titian Bernini & Rembrandt. & yet this is not a book simply about painting & sculpture. It is an attempt to re-imagine the entire designed world of the Renaissance where the gods also appeared in carnival floats & in banquet displays & entertained the public in the form of snow men & fireworks. This rich & original new portrait of the Renaissance will ensure that readers never see the period in quite the same way again." ...

Described by the author as simply a work of love Mirror to Damascus" provides an enthralling & fascinating history of Damascus from the Amorites of the Bible to the revolution of 1966 as well a being a charming & witty personal record of a city well-loved. In explaining how modern Damascus is rooted in immemoriable layers of culture & tradition Colin Thubron explores the historical artistic social & religious inheritance of the Damascenes in an amusing & perceptive manner whilst interspersing the narrative with innumerable anecdotes about travellers of bygone days. " Mirror to Damascus" is a unique portrait of a city now obscured by recent upheavals by one of the most indefatigable & popular of travel writers." ...