Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is growing increasingly disenchanted after her decades of public service & years of family scandal. One day the Queen takes things into her own hands & in a spur-of-the-moment decision leaves the palace alone & incognito. An unlikely group of six including two of the Queens most trusted household staff members William & Shirley; one of her loyal ladies in waiting Lady Anne; an equerry fresh from the battlefields of Afghanistan Luke; a young equestrienne who minds the horses in the Royal Mews Rebecca; & Rajiv an Etonian spending his early 20s behind the counter in an artisanal cheese shop in Mayfair & moonlighting as a tabloid photographer are the only ones who know of her disappearance. They vow to find her & bring her back to the palace before MI6 turn her Scottish sojourn into a national crisis. Capturing the faded but enduring glamour & glory of a seemingly old-fashioned institution & a woman who wonders if she too has become outmoded this is a charming witty & poignant novel of responsibilities & freedom. ...

From the number one bestselling multi-award-winning author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher comes a brand new true story of Victorian scandal On a mild winters evening in 1850 Isabella Robinson set out for a party. Her carriage bumped across the wide cobbled streets of Edinburghs Georgian New Town & drew up at 8 Royal Circus a grand sandstone terrace lit by gas lamps. The guests were gathered in the high airy drawing rooms on the first floor the ladies in glinting silk & satin pulled tight over boned corsets; the gentlemen in tailcoats waistcoats & neckties. When Mrs Robinson joined the throng she was at once enchanted by a Mr Edward Lane a handsome medical student ten years her junior. He was fascinating she told her diary before chastising herself for being so susceptible to a mans charms. But a wish had taken hold of her which she was to find hard to shake... ...

When the married Isabella Robinson was introduced to the dashing Edward Lane at a party in 1850 she was utterly enchanted. He was 'fascinating' she told her diary before chastising herself for being so susceptible to a man's charms. But a wish had taken hold of her & she was to find it hard to shake... In one of the most notorious divorce cases of the nineteenth century Isabella Robinson's scandalous secrets were exposed to the world. Kate Summerscale brings vividly to life a frustrated Victorian wife's longing for passion & learning companionship & love in a society clinging to rigid ideas about marriage & female sexuality. ...

Margaret Greville of Polesden Lacey who styled herself ' Mrs Ronnie' rose from obscure & humble origins to become a fabulously wealthy & ambitious society hostess travelling the world & acquiring a portfolio of movie stars monarchs maharajahs & millionaires. Her long rich & fascinating life of dark secrets racy scandal & power-broking intrigue encompassed close relationships with royals from Edward Vii to George VI. But her fascination with charisma also led her to champion characters as diverse as Winston Churchill Oswald Mosley Mussoini & Hitler. No-one doubted her patriotism but some questioned her judgement. King Edward VII who commended her 'positive genius for hospitality' appreciated her discretion in his affair with her friend Alice Keppel. Mrs Ronnie intrigued with King George V & Queen Mary & advanced the courtship of ' Bertie & Elizabeth' who honeymooned at her luxurious country house Polesden Lacey in Surrey. She disapproved of the Prince of Wales & had a ringside view of the Abdication Crisis becoming a valued supporter of the new King & Queen. Mrs Ronnie was a complex & contradictory character & her astonishing rise from a straitened & obscure childhood to the position of 'favoured aunt' to the British Royal Family is a genuine 'rags to riches' tale. ...

The romance of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor has been called the greatest love story of the twentieth century. However with the first edition of this biography in 1988 highly acclaimed author Charles Higham used explosive secret intelligence files to reveal a far darker side to their forty-year relationship. Now the author has re-visited & updated his international bestseller resulting in a fascinating & at times shocking expose of Wallis Simpson. New & disturbing revelations have come to light adding to the now classic story of an illegitimate child from Baltimore who rose to become the mistress of the king of England & brought about his abdication. Wallis gained control of the Monarch through sexual techniques learned in China but risked losing everything through a reckless long-term affair with William Bullitt US Ambassador to France. Newly released FBI files demonstrate as no other source has done the extent of the Duchess espionage activities & how she conspired against Britain in the interest of Hitler. This is an intimate & extraordinary account of the woman who very nearly became the Queen of Engl&. An enthralling & jaw-dropping read"
- " Sunday Express". " An excellent account of life love & Roger Vivier shoes"
- " Tatler". "A rattling read"
- " Mail on Sunday"."


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REBECCA was Daphne du Mauriers most famous & best-loved novel. Countless readers wondered: what happened next? Out of fire-wracked ruins of Manderley would love & renewal rise phoenix-like from the ashes of the embittered past? Married to the sophisticated wordly-wise Maxim the second Mrs de Winters life should be happy & fulfilled. Bu the vengeful ghost of Rebecca Maxims first wife continues to cast its long shadow over them. Back in England after an absence of over ten years it seems as if happiness will at last be theirs. But the de Winters still have to reckon with two hate-consumed figures they once knew
- both of whom have very long memories...
...

They are not like other rats. They work at night in secret... Time is running out for Mrs Frisby. She must move her family of mice before the farmer destroys their home. But her youngest son Timothy is too ill to survive the move. Help comes in the unexpected form of a group of mysterious super-intelligent rats. But the rats are in danger too & little by little Mrs Frisby discovers their extraordinary past. ...

A fantastic collection of much-loved classic stories for all the family! Mrs Pepperpot cant choose when she will shrink to the size of a pepperpot
- it just happens! But whatever she encounters whether it be a monstrous mousetrap a crafty fox or a gigantic mountain of ice cream little Mrs Pepperpot will always come out on top.
...

Whenever a plumber is needed in the town people call for Mrs Plug. & wherever she goes Mr Plug & the baby Plugs go too. Then one night she uses her plumbing tools to save a rich man from a robber & the family end up setting sail on their biggest plumbing adventure ever! Based on the classic ' Happy Families' card game this highly entertaining series is ideal for reading & sharing at home or at school. It is guided by the Education Adviser Brian Thompson & written by the award-winning author Allan Ahlberg. ' The best thing to happen to beginner readers since Dr Seuss'
- Children's Rights Workshop.
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In May 1977 Posy Simmonds an unknown young illustrator started drawing a weekly comic strip for the Guardian. It began as a silly parody of girls adventure stories making satirical comments about contemporary life. The strip soon focused on three 1950s school friends in their later middle-class & nearly middle-aged lives: Wendy Weber a former nurse married to polytechnic sociology lecturer George with a large brood of children; Jo Heep married to whisky salesman Edmund with two rebellious teenagers; & Trish Wright married to philandering advertising executive Stanhope & with a young baby. The strip which was latterly untitled & usually known just as Posy ran until the late 1980s. Collected here for the first time are the complete strips. Although celebrated for pinpointing the concerns of Guardian readers in the 1980s & their constant struggle to remain true to the ideals of the 1960s they are in fact remarkably undated. They show one of Britains favourite cartoonists celebrated for Literary Life" & " Tamara Drewe" maturing into genius." ...