A pregnancy pact between three teenaged girls puts their mothers love to the ultimate test in this explosive new novel from Barbara Delinsky When Susan Tates seventeen-year-old daughter Lily announces she is pregnant Susan is stunned. A single mother she has struggled to do everything right. She sees the pregnancy as an unimaginable tragedy for both Lily & herself. Then comes word of two more pregnancies among high school juniors who happen to be Lilys best friends-and the town turns to talk of a pact. As fingers start pointing the most ardent criticism is directed at Susan. As principal of the high school she has always been held up as a role model of hard work & core values. Now her detractors accuse her of being a lax mother perhaps not worthy of the job of shepherding impressionable students. As Susan struggles with the implications of her daughters pregnancy her job financial independence & long-fought-for dreams are all at risk. The emotional ties between mothers & daughters are stretched to breaking in this emotionally wrenching story of love & forgiveness. Once again Barbara Delinsky has given us a powerful novel one that asks a central question: What does it take to be a good mother? ...

There's something Billy Bonkers doesn't want you to know. Come closer...I'll whisper it: he has to wear his sister's underpants! & whether Billy's flying round a go-kart track chasing a very smelly dog or finding some priceless long-lost treasure it's not easy to explain: They're NOT MY PANTS!"" ...

Mike Pannett used to work the beat in Central London
- tackling drugs & knife crime
- so when he moved back to Yorkshire he

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The young Jon Bull is sent by Westminster to Waless last remaining Welsh-speaking town to see why all attempts to bring it into the twenty-first century have failed. Waiting for him is the beautiful but embittered Gwalia... Not Quite White explores the complex tensions that spit & seethe when English colonialism & Welsh nationalism go head to head. It is a passionate defence of cultural & political identity & a considered plea for tolerance. It is also a sustained attack on the forces of small-town bigotry & corruption. But above all it is an acknowledgement of the subtleties & ambiguities that exist in even the most entrenched attitudes. ...

In Not Quite Worlds End" Simpson offers a lively & upbeat look at the challenges & the changes the world has gone through in his life & long career. In it he looks at the world & takes the perhaps surprising view that its actually not nor will be the end of the world. His vivid prose his clear-sightedness & the wonderful anecdotes about the many strange people & places he has come across
- from emperors to movie stars from Chelsea to China
- all add up to a richly satisfying read. & with his long experience & his remarkable ability to explain whats really going on out there he offers us all a crumb of comfort in desperate times. He is a very fine journalist
- Nelson Mandela. Inspirational anecdotal humorous & chilling. Simpsons unbiased accounts are riveting
- Bob Geldof."



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Last year Stephen Pile attempted to deliver a daring blow to the success ethic that so pervades Western culture. To his dismay The Ultimate Book of Heroic Failures" became the " Sunday Times" Humour Book of the Year. Nothing daunted Stephen returns with a new selection which brings together the very best of his original classic titles
- " The Book of Heroic Failures" & " The Return of Heroic Failures". The heartwarming news that stays news is that there really is no limit to what humanity can achieve as we move onwards & downwards to ever more immortal & breathtaking feats of incompetence. " The Not Terribly Good Book of Heroic Failures" lovingly chronicles the all-time heroes who have been so bad at things that they shine as beacons for future generations. It is hard not to feel boundless admiration for example for the fifty Mexican convicts who dug an escape tunnel out of their jail & came up in the courtroom where many of them had been sentenced. Or for the worlds worst tourist who spent three days in New York believing he was in Rome."
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Catherine Alliott bestselling author of A Rural Affair" & "A Crowded Marriage" examines just the sort of trouble a girl can land herself in when she gets caught in the middle of a love triangle in " Not That Kind of Girl". A girl can get into all kinds of trouble just by going back to work... Henrietta Tate gave up everything for her husband Marcus & their kids. But now that the children are away at school & shes rattling round their large country house all day shes feeling more than a little lost. So when a friend puts her in touch with Laurie a historian in need of a PA Henrietta heads for London. Quickly she throws herself into the job. Marcus is
- of course
- jealous of her spending so much time with her charming new boss. & soon enough her absence causes cracks to form in their marriage that just cant be papered over. Then Rupert a very old flame reappears & Henrietta suddenly finds herself torn between three men. How did this happen? Shes not that kind of girl.. .is she? Step into Alliott country with " Not That Kind of Girl". Praise for Catherine Alliott: " Compulsively readable". (" The Times"). " Possibly my favourite writer". (Marian Keyes). Catherine Alliott is the author of twelve bestselling novels: "A Crowded Marriage" "A Married Man" " Not That Kind of Girl" " Going Too Far" " The Old-Girl Network" " Olivias Luck" " Rosie Meadows Regrets..." " The Wedding Day" " The Real Thing" " The Secret Life of Evie Hamilton" " One Day in May" & "A Rural Affair". She lives with her family in Hertfordshire."

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Lisa Maxwell the newest addition to the quick-witted Loose Women team is a bundle of fun & laughter & a natural storyteller. Here for the first time she tells her astonishing story
- a tale of remarkable spirit incredible experiences & family secrets. A much-loved presenter & respected actress Lisa got her first onscreen role at the age of just 11. In the eighties she became a TV presenter on series like Splash & No Limits interviewing the icons of the time & partying with the likes of George Michael Robert Downey Junior & Michael Hutchence before moving more firmly into comedy appearing on sketch shows like The Les Dennis Laughter Show The Russ Abbott Show & her very own self-titled The Lisa Maxwell Show. She narrowly missed out on the part of Daphne in a little show called Frazier. & then for seven years played the part of The Bills DI Sam Nixon before joining Loose Women in 2009 where she quickly became an audience favourite. But behind the fun glamour & onscreen success is a south London girl hiding the secret shes been taught never to talk about. An illegitimate child brought up in Elephant & Castle Lisas life very nearly took a different path. Lucky for her her dear old Nan had a kind heart & in a last minute change of plan she was brought home to her grandparents flat on the Rockingham Estate. With warmth honesty & humour Lisa takes us to the heart of the Elephant revealing a home filled with love laughter & drama. From having the drawer of an old chest for her bed to hiding from the Tally Man waiting for her Nan outside the betting shop to dabbling in petty crime discovering her dad was still alive & always looking for a way to be in the lime light Lisa has written a colourful memoir of life as a daughter a granddaughter a mother & an actress.
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As everyone knows football is a funny old game though few have gone out of their to make it as amusing as Ian Holloway. His footballing ethos since taking over as manager at Blackpool has been constantly to entertain
- making them everyones second favourite team in the Barclays Premiership this season. Off the pitch he is at least as entertaining
- offering a brand of off-the-wall philosophical musings on the game of football that has made his post match press conferences the most anticipated part of the week for many fans. Not the Best Looking Bird presents Ian Holloway at his career-spanning funniest.

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Harvey Pekars mother was a Zionist by way of politics. His father was a Zionist by way of faith. Whether handing out communist pamphlets attending Zionist picnics or going to daily Hebrew classes Pekar grew up a staunch supporter of the Jewish state. But he was also an autodidact from the moment he could read & as he grew up he confronted more & more questions his parents couldnt answer. Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me" interweaves Pekars gradual disaffection with the modern state of Israel with a comprehensive history of the Jews from biblical times to the present. Told over the course of a single day in Cleveland Ohio the graphic novel follows Pekar & the books illustrator JT Waldman as they wrestle with the mythologies & realities surrounding the Jewish homel&. Not the Israel My Parents Promised Me is a graphic memoir from the man who defined the genre." ...