In fourteenth-century Devon runaway villeins were brutally punished if apprehended by their masters. But when Peter Bruther flees the home of Sir William Beauscyr he puts himself in the protection of the king by setting up as a tin miner on the moors. & the bailiff of Lydford Simon Puttock has to inform an irate Sir William that he has no legal claim on his wayward servant. When Bruthers body is found hanging from a tree Simon assisted by the former Knight Templar Sir Baldwin Furnshill finds himself investigating cold-blooded murder. & theres no shortage of suspects from Sir William himself to his feuding sons to Thomas Smyth a wealthy tinner who runs a ruthlessly enforced protection racket funded by landowners. The pressure is on Simon & Baldwin to unravel the truth before further violence ensues. ...

Brilliantly funny teen drama from the consistently brilliant & Carnegie Medal winning author. Will it be a boy or a girl? Nothing can prepare Jess & Nick for when Jess gives birth to their first
- moose. Four legs won't fit into a romper suit & what will grandma say? But there has been a spate of Non-Homo-Sapien births round the country & everyone else is coping disembowelled labradors apart. The trials of being a parent
- A moving & also hilarious take on relationships & motherhood
- with a very powerful message. Particularly suitable for struggling reluctant & dyselxic readers of 12+


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Evil is not confined to war or to circumstances in which people are acting under extreme duress. Today it more frequently reveals itself in the everyday insensitivity to the suffering of others in the inability or refusal to understand them & in the casual turning away of ones ethical gaze. Evil & moral blindness lurk in what we take as normality & in the triviality & banality of everyday life & not just in the abnormal & exceptional cases. The distinctive kind of moral blindness that characterizes our societies is brilliantly analysed by Zygmunt Bauman & Leonidas Donskis through the concept of adiaphora: the placing of certain acts or categories of human beings outside of the universe of moral obligations & evaluations. Adiaphora implies an attitude of indifference to what is happening in the world -- a moral numbness. In a life where rhythms are dictated by ratings wars & box-office returns where people are preoccupied with the latest gadgets & forms of gossip in our hurried life where attention rarely has time to settle on any issue of importance we are at serious risk of losing our sensitivity to the plight of the other. Only celebrities or media stars can expect to be noticed in a society stuffed with sensational valueless information. This probing inquiry into the fate of our moral sensibilities will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the most profound changes that are silently shaping the lives of everyone in our contemporary liquid-modern world. ...

Atwood entices us to flip through the photo album of a Canadian woman who closely resembles herself. Come here sit beside me she seems to say. Then she takes us on an emotional journey through loneliness love loss & old age Sarah Emily Miano THE TIMES Short stories that trace the course of a life & the lives intertwined with it
- MORAL DISORDER is Margaret Atwood at her very finest. Funny touching beady-eyed slouchily elegant giving us family life in all its horrors. The secret resentments & alignments
- difficult siblings unfair parents hopeless yearnings & rage
- are funny to read about hellish to experience. Atwood makes it look so easy doing what she does best: tenderly dissecting the human heart.. .A marvellous writer Lee Langley DAILY MAIL A model of distillation precision clarity & detail.. . Atwood writes with compassion & intensity not only about her characters but also about the 20th century itself Mary Flanagan INDEPENDENT MORAL DISORDER is an infinitely ingenious & perceptive study as intimate as a self-portrait but with an epic breadth of vision. It deserves to become a quiet classic Charlotte Moore SPECTATOR


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Sam Harris's first book The End of Faith ignited a worldwide debate about the validity of religion. In the aftermath Harris discovered that most people
- from religious fundamentalists to nonbelieving scientists
- agree on one point: science has nothing to say on the subject of human values. Indeed our failure to address questions of meaning & morality through science has now become the primary justification for religious faith. In this highly controversial book Sam Harris seeks to link morality to the rest of human knowledge. Defining morality in terms of human & animal well-being Harris argues that science can do more than tell how we are; it can in principle tell us how we ought to be. In his view moral relativism is simply false
- & comes at an increasing cost to humanity. & the intrusions of religion into the sphere of human values can be finally repelled: for just as there is no such thing as Christian physics or Muslim algebra there can be no Christian or Muslim morality. Using his expertise in philosophy & neuroscience along with his experience on the front lines of our 'culture wars' Harris delivers a game-changing book about the future of science & about the real basis of human cooperation.


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THE NO.1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY published in 1998 introduced the world to the one & only Precious Ramotswe the engaging & sassy owner of Botswanas only detective agency. TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE took us further into this world & now continuing the adventures of Mma Ramotswe MORALITY FOR BEAUTIFUL GIRLS finds her expanding her business to take in the world of car repair & a beauty pageant. Alexander Mc Call Smiths sense of humour & gentle charm have created a substantial cult following. MORALITY FOR BEAUTIFUL GIRLS will win him yet more fans. ...

Possibly the only drawback about the bestselling How To Be A Woman" was that its author Caitlin Moran was limited to pretty much one subject: being a woman. " Moranthology" is proof that Caitlin can actually be quite chatty about many other things including cultural social & political issues which are usually the province of learned professors or hot-shot wonks
- & not a woman who once as an experiment put a wasp in a jar & got it stoned. These other subjects include: Caffeine; Ghostbusters; Being Poor; Twitter; Caravans; Obama; Wales; Marijuana Addiction; Paul Mc Cartney; The Welfare State; Sherlock; David Cameron Looking Like Ham; Amy Winehouse; Elizabeth Taylors Eyes; Michael Jacksons Funeral; The Big Society; Big Hair; Nutter-letters; Failed Nicknames; Wolverhampton; Squirrels Testicles; Sexy Tax; Binge-drinking; Chivalry; Rihannas Cardigan; Boris Johnson
- Albino Shag-hound; Party Bags; Hot People; Transsexuals; The Gay Moon Landings; & My Own Untimely Death."

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Possibly the only drawback about the bestselling How To Be A Woman" was that its author Caitlin Moran was limited to pretty much one subject: being a woman. " Moranthology" is proof that Caitlin can actually be quite chatty about many other things including cultural social & political issues which are usually the province of learned professors or hot-shot wonks
- & not a woman who once as an experiment put a wasp in a jar & got it stoned. These other subjects include: Caffeine; Ghostbusters; Being Poor; Twitter; Caravans; Obama; Wales; Marijuana Addiction; Paul Mc Cartney; The Welfare State; Sherlock; David Cameron Looking Like Ham; Amy Winehouse; Elizabeth Taylors Eyes; Michael Jacksons Funeral; The Big Society; Big Hair; Nutter-letters; Failed Nicknames; Wolverhampton; Squirrels Testicles; Sexy Tax; Binge-drinking; Chivalry; Rihannas Cardigan; Boris Johnson
- Albino Shag-hound; Party Bags; Hot People; Transsexuals; The Gay Moon Landings; & My Own Untimely Death."

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What were Roald Dahl's first words? Read his account of going to football matches with Joss Spivvis the gardener. This new edition of a favourite book contains a wealth of new photos facts & writings about Roald Dahl & his childhood together with the original text & illustrations from his much-loved memoir. With lots of little-known details this is a must-have for all Dahl fans! ...

Bears like Paddington are very rare " says Mrs Bird "and a good thing too or it would cost us a small fortune in marmalade." The Brown Family first met Paddington on a railway station
- Paddington station in fact
- & now he is just another member of their family if a slightly unusual one. As he says himself " Things happen to me
- Im that sort of bear." With his attempts at home decorating detective work & photography the Brown family soon find that Paddington causes his own particular brand of chaos."


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