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.

...

Therese Raquin is a clinically observed sinister tale of adultery & murder among the lower orders in nineteenth-century Paris. Zolas dispassionate dissection of the motivations of his characters mere human beasts who kill in order to satisfy their lust is much more than an atmospheric Second Empire period-piece. Many readers were scandalized by an approach to character-drawing which seemed to undermine not only the moral values of a deeply conservative society but also the whole code of psychological description on which the realist novel was based. Together with the important Preface to the Second Edition in which Zola defended himself against charges of immorality Therese Raquin stands as a key early manifesto of the French Naturalist movement of which Zola was the founding father. Even today this novel has lost none of its power to shock. This new translation is based on the second edition of 1868. The Introduction situates the novel in the context of Naturalism medicine & the scientific ideas of Zolas day. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

The fifth edition has been issued to incorporate two new tables -- Data of Refrigerant 134a & a table containing for selected substances molar enthalpies & molar Gibbs functions of formation Equilibirum constants of formation as well as molar heat capacities & absolute entropies. ...

Enticed by advertisements for a newly restored palatial hotel & filled with visions of a life of leisure good weather & mango juice in their gin a group of very different people leave England to begin a new life in India. On arrival they are dismayed to find the palace is a shell of its former self the staff more than a little eccentric & the days of the Raj long gone. But as they soon discover life & love can begin again even in the most unexpected circumstances. ...

Under the reign of Louis XV corruption & intrigue have been allowed to blossom in France & Justin Alastair the notorious Duke of Avon & proud of his soubriquet Satanas flourishes well. Then from a dark Parisian back alley he plucks Leon a red-headed urchin with strangely familiar looks just in time for his long over-due schemes of revenge on the Comte de St Vire. Among the splendours of Versailles & the dignified mansions of England Justin begins to unfold his sinister plans
- until that is Leon becomes the ravishing beauty Leonie...
...

Paolo Nutini is a 19-year-old singer/songwriter from Paisley Scotland & These Streets" is his debut album. Nutinis songs suggest he knows an awful lot about the vagaries of life & love & demonstrate his unique gift for expressing in song the attitudes & experiences of someone his age. " These Streets" records his experiences of moving to London a song which wistfully name checks the places in which he grew up & is sure to strike a chord with anyone who has ever lived in bedsit-l&. Many of the songs on the album including " Last Request" & " Rewind" were inspired by a turbulent relationship with a girlfriend & " Jenny Dont Be Hasty" is a true story about encounters with an older woman." ...

One innocent child A secret that could destroy his life Imprisoned for a heinous crime when she was a just a teenager Allison Glenn is now free. Desperate for a second chance Allison discovers that the world has moved on without her... Shunned by those who once loved her Allison is determined to make contact with her sister. But Brynn is trapped in her own world of regret & torment. Their legacy of secrets is focused on one little boy. & if the truth is revealed the consequences will be unimaginable for the adoptive mother who loves him the girl who tried to protect him & the two sisters who hold the key to all that is hidden... Praise for TV Bookclub pick The Weight of Silence Deeply moving & lyrical...it will haunt you... Company magazine Fans of Jodi Picoult will devour this... Red magazine ...

Auntie F. came in announcing dramatically that Hitler is coming tomorrow at which my father remarked that he would now that he's just finished papering upstairs. At the outbreak of World War Two May Smith was twenty-four. She lived in a small village near Derby with her parents & taught at the local elementary school. The war brought many changes: evacuees arrived in the village; nights were broken by the wail of the siren as bombers flew overhead; the young men of May's circle donned khaki & disappeared to far-flung places to 'do their bit'. But a great deal remained the same: May still enjoyed tennis parties holidays to Llandudno & going shopping for new outfits
- coupons & funds permitting. & it was during these difficult times that May fell in love. These Wonderful Rumours! gives a unique & surprising insight into life on the Home Front. Through May Smith's observant witty & sometimes acerbic diary we gain a new understanding of how the people of Britain coped with the uncertainty the heartbreak & the black comedy of life during wartime.
...