The Old Ways" is the stunning new book by acclaimed nature writer Robert Macfarlane Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize ...

The Old Ways" is the stunning new book by acclaimed nature writer Robert Macfarlane. Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize ...

First published in 1908 The Old Wives' Tale" affirms the integrity of ordinary lives as it tells the story of the Baines sisters
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This is a new title in the fantastic First Reading" series aimed at children who are beginning to read. It presents the much-loved darkly comic poem of the old woman who swallowed a fly & her misguided attempts to get it out. It is developed in consultation with Alison Kelly who is a senior lecturer in education & an early reading specialist from Roehampton University. It is a great value quality hardback with ribbon marker guaranteed to foster pride in book ownership." ...

Storytelling kept alive the myths legends & history of the Blasket Islands. In her old age Peig Sayers recounted her life to her son who recorded the tale in this book. She recalls the events of her life & her simple philosophy in a moving poetic style. Such everyday tasks as collecting turf for roots catching & eating seals & preparing for a wake are depicted alongside such momentous events as drownings at sea pilgrimages & the spread of the news of the Easter uprising in 1916. There were 'clouds of sorrow' but helping to lift them was the friendship she found in the community which 'was like a little rose in the wilderness'. The Blasket Islands are three miles off Irelands Dingle Peninsula. Until their evacuation just after the Second World War the lives of the 150 or so Blasket Islanders had remained unchanged for centuries. A rich oral tradition of story-telling poetry & folktales kept alive the legends & history of the islands & has made their literature famous throughout the world. The 7 Blasket Island" books published by OUP contain memoirs & reminiscences from within this literary tradition evoking a way of life which has now vanished." ...

Dr Rob Hicks is instantly recognisable from his TV & radio shows & raids the kitchen & bathroom to show old-fashioned but effective ways to get better & stay healthy. In an age when many of us are looking for more natural remedies Rob explores two angles
- what do you need to fight particular illnesses such as arthritis or bad breath & what do kitchen staples (e.g. garlic) help to beat. How you can be healthy & save money by using old-fashioned natural remedies? He also looks at past disastrous cures including mercury for whitening the skin & teeth & belladonna for 'curing' fevers & headaches
- cures which generally killed or disfigured the patient instead. A fascinating book which will appeal to those who want to know more about what they're eating & its benefits or want to fight illness naturally.

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Catherine Alliott bestselling author of A Rural Affair" & "A Crowded Marriage" tells a hilarious story about the perils of helping someone in need in " The Old-Girl Network". Finding true loves a piece of cake
- as long as youre looking for someone elses true love... Polly McLaren is young scatty & impossibly romantic. She works for an arrogant & demanding boss & has a gorgeous if never-there-when-you-need-him boyfriend. But the day a handsome stranger recognises her old school scarf her life is knocked completely off kilter. Adam is American new to the country & begs Pollys help in finding his missing fiance. Over dinner at the Savoy she agrees
- the girls of St Gertrudes look out for one another. However the old-girl network turns out to be a spiders web of complications & deceit in which everyone & everything Polly cares about is soon hopelessly entangled. The course of true love never did run smooth. But no one said anything about ruining your life over it. & its not even Pollys true love... Step into Alliott country with " The Old-Girl Network". Praise for Catherine Alliott: " Possibly my favourite writer". (Marian Keyes). " Alliotts joie de vivre is irresistible". (" Daily Mail"). 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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This book tells the story of Oldburys rise from overcrowded Victorian town to progressive municiple borough & its absorption into larger local authorities from 1966. Its success was built on coalmining metal working & chemicals. Further south off the coalfield lay the rural area of old Warley whose fields were lost to housing between the wars. Langley at the boundary of the coalfield was part industrial & part rural. Oldbury Langley & Warley Through Time describes the area in 1900 & traces its changes during the twentieth century. It shows some of the people organisations & events that made up life in this hardworking hard-living area. Much recorded here has become a victim of progress & we have only photographs reports & a few eye-witnesses to preserve the history of the place & its old lifestyle. ...

At your age people expect you to be calm dignified & sober... Disappoint them. Save water
- drink wine. Never eat healthy food.
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' At your age people expect you to be calm dignified & sober... Disappoint them.' ' Save water
- drink wine.' ' Never eat healthy
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