When sixteen-year-old Sally is evacuated to the English south coast she is terrified by what lies ahead of her. All she knows are the sights & sounds of London's East End
- but Sally swallows her tears as they leave the familiar landmarks behind knowing that she has to be a Grown-Up Girl & play mother to her six-year-old brother Ernie. Playing mother is nothing new for Sally
- their real mother Florrie a good-time girl hasn't even come to the station to wave them off & Ernie crippled at an early age by polio is used to depending on his older sister. When they arrive in Cliffehaven they're taken to live at the Beach View Boarding House where they're welcomed by the open-hearted Reilly family headed up by warm loving Peggy & life begins to improve. Sally gets a job in a uniforms factory to help pay her way
- & to pay for Ernie's expensive medicines
- but then Florrie arrives in Cliffehaven bringing disaster with her. & Sally is forced to work out where her true loyalties lie...



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Give me a dollar or I'll spit on you." That's Bradley Chalker for you. He is the oldest child in the class. He tells enormous lies. He picks fights with girls & the teachers say he has "serious behaviour problems." No one likes him
- except Carla the new school counsellor. She thinks Bradley is sensitive & generous & she even enjoys his far-fetched stories. Carla knows that Bradley could change if only he weren't afraid to try. Sometimes the hardest thing in the world is believing in yourself."
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There's a house inside my Mummy Where my little brother grows or maybe it's my little sister No-one really knows. A gentle & tender story of a little boy waiting for his little brother or sister to arrive. Told with humour & a simple rhyming text this is the perfect picture book for all expectant brothers & sisters! ...

There's a house inside my mummy Where my little brother grows or maybe it's my little sister No one really knows. A gentle & tender story of a little boy waiting for his new brother or sister to arrive. Told with humour & a simple rhyming text this is the perfect picture book for all expectant brothers & sisters. A great book for sharing with your firstborn while your second is still in the 'tummy house'." The Times" ...

Tony Lightspeed is always bringing home sick & injured animals so when he turns up with an unconscious man dressed from head to toe in rather stinky bandages his family aren't too surprised. But then they discover that the man is an ancient Egyptian pharaoh named Sennapod who has been dead for over 4 000 years. Brought back to life by two dastardly grave robbers Sennapod is on the run. Can he persuade the Lightspeeds to help him? ...

When Dottie's husband Reg receives a mysterious letter through the post Dottie has no idea that this letter will change her life forever. Traumatised by his experiences fighting in World War II Reg isn't the same man that Dottie remembers when he is demobbed & returns home to their cottage in Worthing. Once caring & considerate Reg has become violent & cruel. Dottie just wants her marriage to work but nothing she does seems to work. The letter informs Reg that he is the father of a child born out of a dalliance during the war. The child has been orphaned & sole care of the young girl has now fallen to him. He seems delighted but Dottie struggles with the idea of bringing up another woman's child especially as she & Reg are further away than ever from having one of their own. However when eight-year-old Patsy arrives a whole can of worms is opened & it becomes clear that Reg has been very economical with the truth. But can Dottie get to the bottom of the things before Reg goes too far? A compelling family drama that will appeal to fans of Maureen Lee Lyn Andrews Josephine Cox & Annie Groves. ...

Willaby Wallaby is not happy. There's an ouch in the pouch & it's making him grouch! So off he hops to the Blue Billabong to find a new home. Mummy Wombat & Mummy Possum can't help but the Billabong becomes scary when Willaby bumps into Ma Dingo. You & I know that a dingo has no pouch but Ma Dingo is as cunning as a fox.. .run for your life little Willaby run! Willaby bounces back to his mum but when he learns that the ouch is just his new little sister he realises that maybe he doesn't need a pouch after all. He's a big boy now & likes being free to do bounces & hops! This is a truly entertaining story about toddler behaviour & the discovery of independence. ...

Little Bear is so excited! He's going to sleep in his very own bedroom for the first time ever. But without his big brother there Little Bear's new bedroom seems a bit scary. It's full of strange shadows & noises & he's sure there's a monster that wants to eat him! ' Silly Little Bear' chuckles Big Bear. After all there's no such thing as monsters... Or is there? ...

Nobel-prize winner Francois Mauriacs masterpiece is Therese Desqueyroux the story of a complex woman trapped by provincial life. First published in 1927 this astonishing & daring novel has echoes of Madame Bovary & has recently been made into a ravishing film starring Amelie actress Audrey Tautou. Therese Desqueyroux walks free from court acquitted of trying to poison her husb&. Everyone knew shed tried to do it but family honour was more important than the truth. As she travels home to the gloomy forests of Argelouse Therese looks back over the marriage that brought her nothing but stifling darkness & wonders has she really escaped punishment or is it only just about to begin? Francois Mauriac was born in Bordeaux in 1885. He left his university studies to devote himself to writing & published a collection of poems Les Mains jointes (Clasped Hands) in 1909. He married in 1913 & the following year was mobilized to serve in the First World War with the Auxilliary Medical Squad in Thessalonica. Mauriacs major literary breakthrough came in 1922 with a novel called Le Baiser au lepreux (A Kiss for the Leper). His most famous work Therese Desqueroux appeared in 1927 & has been made into a film twice: first in 1962 with Emmanuelle Riva in the lead role & more recently in 2012 in a version starring Audrey Tautou. In 1933 Mauriac was elected a Member of the French Academy & in 1952 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in Paris in 1970. A great novel.. .the brilliance of its structure & the elegance of its prose never fail to take my breath away". (Beryl Bainbridge)." ...

Perhaps his most famous work Emile Zola's Therese Raquin is a dark & gripping story of lust violence & guilt set in the gloomy back streets of Paris. This Penguin Classics edition is translated with notes & an introduction by Robin Buss. In the claustrophobic atmosphere of a dingy haberdasher's shop on the Passage du Pont-Neuf in Paris Therese Raquin is trapped in a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin Camille. The numbing tedium of her life is suddenly shattered when she embarks on a turbulent affair with her husband's earthy friend Laurent but their animal passion for each other soon compels the lovers to commit a crime that will haunt them forever. Therese Raquin caused a scandal when it appeared in 1867 & borught its twenty-seven-year-old author a notoriety that followed him throughout his life. Zola's novel is not only an uninhibited portrayal of adultery madness & ghostly revenge but also a devastating exploration of the darkest aspects of human existence. Robin Buss' translation superbly conveys Zola's fearlessly honest & matter-of-fact style. In his introduction he discusses Zola's life & literary career & the influence of art literature & science on his writing. This edition also

Includes:: the preface to the second edition of 1868 a chronology further reading & notes. Emile Zola (1840-1902) was the leading figure in the French school of naturalistic fiction. His principal work Les Rougon-Macquart is a panorama of mid-19th century French life in a cycle of 20 novels which Zola wrote over a period of 22 years including Au Bonheur des Dames (1883) The Beast Within (1890) Nana (1880) & The Drinking Den (1877). If you enjoyed Therese Raquin you might like Zola's Germinal also available in Penguin Classics.

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