He loved all mankind; for fortune prevented him from knowing there were rascals. Oliver Goldsmiths hugely successful novel of 1766 remained for generations one of the most highly regarded & beloved works of eighteenth-century fiction. It depicts the fall & rise of the Primrose family presided over by the benevolent vicar the narrator of a fairy-tale plot of impersonation & deception the abduction of a beautiful heroine & the machinations of an aristocratic villain. By turns comic & sentimental the novels popularity owes much to its recognizable depiction of domestic life & loving family relationships. Regarded by some as a straightforward & well-intentioned novel of sentiment & by others as a satire on the very literary conventions & morality it seems to embody The Vicar of Wakefield contains in the figure of the vicar himself one of the most harmlessly simply & unsophisticated yet also ironically complex narrators ever to appear in English fiction. 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. ...

In 1812 Francisco Manoel da Silva escaping a life of poverty in Brazil sailed to the African kingdom of Dahomey determined to make his fortune in the slave trade. Armed with nothing but an iron will he became a man of substance in Ouidah & the founder of a remarkable dynasty. His one remaining ambition is to return to Brazil in triumph but his friendship with the mad mercurial king of Dahomey is fraught with danger & threatens his dream. ...

Castor has reluctantly returned to exorcism after the case of the Bonnington Archive ghost convinced him that he really can do some good with his abilities ('good' of course being a relative term when dealing with the undead). But his friend Rafi is still possessed; the succubus Ajulutsikael (Juliet to her friends) still technically has a contract on him; & he's still
- let's not beat around the bush
- dirt poor. Doing some consulting for the local constabulary helps pay the bills but Castor needs a big private job to really fill the hole in his overdraft. That's what he needs. What he gets good fortune & Castor not being on speaking terms is a seemingly insignificant 'missing ghost' case that inexorably drags himself & his loved ones into the middle of a horrific plot to raise one of Hell's fiercest demons. When Satanists sacrifice farms stolen spirits & possessed churches all appear on the same police report the name of Felix Castor can't be too far behind.. .

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Sail back to a vicious time with fearsome seafaring Viking warriors with big boats big shields & enormous ginger beards. Readers can discover all the foul facts about the Vicious Vikings including Viking Gods in wedding dresses corpses on trial & Death by booby-trapped statues. History with the nasty bits left in! 2013 is HORRIBLE HISTORIES twentieth anniversary. ...

Readers can learn what life was really like in the Measly Middle Ages
- in days of old when knights were bold women wore tall pointy
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The world's first self-powered machine gun the Maxim gun became a potent symbol of Victorian colonialism in the closing years of the 19th century. It was the brainchild of Sir Hiram Maxim the American-born firearms inventor who founded the company bearing his name with financing from Albert Vickers who became the company's chairman; Maxim's company was absorbed by Vickers Sons & Company in 1897. Subsequent variants in British German & Russian service
- the. 303in Vickers (1912) 7.92mm MG 08 (1908) & 7.62mm PM M1910 respectively
- dominated both the Eastern & Western Fronts during World War I & soldiered on into World War II while the Vickers remained in front-line British service essentially unchanged until 1968. Featuring specially commissioned full-colour artwork & written by a noted authority this is the engaging story of the Maxim & its descendants the innovative rapid-fire weapons that saw combat with British German Russian & other forces in the late Victorian era & throughout the world wars.

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You look as if you've seen a ghost!' Jade is so used to living in the shadow of Vicky her loud confident best friend that when a tragic accident occurs she can hardly believe that Vicky's no longer around. But Vicky's a sparky girl who's not going to let a small thing like being dead stop her from living life to the full! Whether Jade is in lessons out running or tentatively trying to make new friends Vicky is determined to make her presence felt.. . ...

Life is looking bleak for Frankie Mitchell
- not only has she lost custody of her two children to their sadistic gypsy-bred father
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Suicide? Or murder? Marilyn Monroe's death in August 1962 apparently a suicide shocked the world. A Hollywood star a global icon why would she have killed herself? Yet the coroner's report stated her death was due to a massive overdose of 47 Nembutal capsules. But what about the discrepancies between the official report & the scene of her death? What about the forensic evidence that went missing shortly after she died? Matthew Smith has constructed a startling new version of events. His interpretation is based not only on the full & true forensic evidence from the time but also on the tapes that Marilyn made for her psychiatrist in the days & weeks before her death tapes that portray a woman in full charge of her life & looking forward to a bright busy successful future. Forty years after her death Marilyn remains an icon & a mystery. Matthew Smith's investigation into her death will lead to a new understanding of what really happened on the night of August 5th 1962 & in the weeks leading up to it. ...

The bodies are found in towns & cities around Puget Sound. The young women who are the victims had nothing in common
- except the
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