Stuart just wanted his father to love him but he was made to believe he was too naughty to be loved. Finally David Howarth was sent to prison for abusing Stuarts young sisters. Nobody knew the truth about Stuarts abuse until one fateful day when his father tried it again & Stuart fought back in the only way he knew how. Stuart Howarth spent the first thirty years of his life in mental & physical hell. After years of emotional torment & despair at the age of 32 Stuart felt an overwhelming urge to see his father (who he now knows was actually his stepfather) then living in Wales. Seeking reconciliation Stuart was only to be met by the same old abusive man. The rage pain & confusion boiled over in Stuart & he fought back killing his stepfather. When Stuarts story came to light in the courtroom it was so terrible that he received the minimum possible sentence for his crime & only served thirteen months in Strangeways prison in Manchester. But while in prison the cruel system compounded the crimes of his evil abuser & he suffered at the hands of the prison guards. What happened to him during those months led to him suing the Home Office & Strangeways on his release & winning his case. This is the story of a sweet-natured boy who grew into a brave young man & refused to allow himself to be a victim any longer. ...

Bernadette was just ten years old when her father packed her off to a convent school in Dublin. Seven gruelling years later she returned home to Liverpool at the start of the swinging sixties. Bernadette had dreamed of being a teacher ever since she was a little girl so she promptly began a course at teacher training college determined to give children the sort of education she wished shed had. Bernadette got her first job at 21 teaching five to seven year olds in a school in one of Liverpools toughest slum areas. The poverty & deprivation she saw at the school shocked her to the core. Children would frequently turn up shoeless & starving but gradually Bernadette could see she was making a real difference to their lives & found that teaching changed her own life in ways she hadnt expected... Rich in period detail Please Miss is an uplifting & moving book that opens a window onto the colourful & fascinating world of 1960s Liverpool. ...

In July 2009 former Arsenal Celtic West Ham & Wales soccer star John Hartson was diagnosed with testicular cancer which had also spread to his lungs & brain. But before his treatment even began John came to the brink of death after contracting pneumonia ceasing to breathe & undergoing emergency brain surgery. Against all the odds he pulled through & in Please Dont Go" he documents his incredible fight for life. Johns truly inspirational account of how he has managed to overcome a very aggressive form of cancer will offer hope & courage to others affected by the disease. Including the poignant recollections of his wife Sarah & sister Victoria it is a touching & ultimately uplifting insight into the bravery of the popular football hero who has fought back to full health in the face of adversity." ...

How much can you hide? Jemima Hutton is determined to build a successful new life & keep her past a dark secret. Trouble is her jewellery business looks set to fail
- until enigmatic Ben Davies offers to stock her handmade belt buckles in his guitar shop & things start looking up on all fronts. But Ben has secrets too. When Jemima finds out he used to be the front man of hugely successful Indie rock band Willow Down she wants to know more. Why did he desert the band on their US tour? Why is he now a semi-recluse? & the curiosity is mutual
- which means that her own secret is no longer safe.. .

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'I'm going to love my baby & give her lots of attention ' Jade said. 'I'll show my mum she's wrong.' Jade 17 is pregnant homeless & alone when she's brought to live with Cathy. Jade is desperate to keep her baby but little more than a child herself she struggles with the responsibilities her daughter brings. Cathy is worried as soon as Jade arrives: she's never looked after a pregnant teenager before but none of the mother & baby carers is free &
- seventeen years old seven months pregnant & homeless
- Jade is in a desperate situation. But Jade doesn't want to listen or advice & although her daughter is born safely it isn't long before Jade's in trouble with the police. Cathy knows that Jade loves her daughter with all her heart but will she be able to get through to Jade in time to make her realise just how much she might lose?

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This witty collection of poems about school is full of typical classroom events that will be recognized & enjoyed by everyone: the candid revelations in a pupils newsbook the problem of copycats bickering making up swaps picking teams & forming gangs. Fritz Wegners line drawings beautifully complement the hilarious & poignant verses. Please Mrs Butler" was voted the most important twentieth-century childrens poetry book in a Books for Keeps poll." ...

A New Year at Ragley-on-the-Forest School... It's 1981 the time of Adam & the Ants Rubik's Cube the Sony Walkman & the Falklands War as head teacher Jack Sheffield returns to Ragley-on-the-Forest School for another rollercoaster year. Vera the ever-efficient chool secretary has to grapple with a new-fangled computer
- & enjoys a royal occasion
- while Ruby the caretaker rediscovers romance with a Butlin's Redcoat. & for Jack wedding bells are in the air. But the unexpected is just round the corner...

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Award-winning neuroscientist David Linden shows how pleasure affects us at the most fundamental level in our brains & why ecstatic activities can easily become addictive. On this trip into cutting-edge science he explores why nicotine & heroine are addictive while LSD is not; why the search for a safe appetitie suppressant has failed; if sex can be addicitve; & if we might someday control the part of the brain that makes us addicted in the first place. ...

Can the beast seduce a beauty & make her love him...? A promise of pleasure.. .from a brutal warrior determined to protect her. Never far from her bow Lucia the Huntress is as mysterious as she is beautiful. But the secrets she harbors could destroy her-and those she loves-and every day brings more danger. It isn't safe for her to be with Garreth Mac Rieve yet whenever she sees the fierce werewolf with his smoldering eyes she finds herself surrendering to his kiss. An uncontrollable need.. .that can only be sated with her touch. From the shadows Garreth prince of the Lykae has long watched over Lucia the lovely little Valkyrie who alternately maddens him & inflames his lust. He aches to claim the seductive creature as his own & keep her safe from harm but first he must convince her to accept him as her guardian. To do that he'll exploit Lucia's greatest weakness-her desire for him. ...

The first commercial paddle steamer was the Comet of 1812. Soon competitive steamer services developed resulting in bigger & more magnificent vessels & before long no seaside resort was complete without a pleasure steamer moored alongside the pier. By the 1970s however the ships had almost all disappeared & now only three remain in service
- Waverley Balmoral & Kingswear Castle
- delighting a new generation of daytrippers. Andrew Gladwell gives us a wonderful glimpse into the bygone age when a pleasure steamer trip was an essential part of countless seaside holidays & outlines the ongoing efforts to preserve what remains of pleasure steamer heritage in Britain.

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