I was lying dead in the churchyard... So says eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce
- but soon a murder provides a gruesome distraction
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What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered. Ralph Waldo Emerson This book is a practical & attractive guide to the many edible varieties of weed. It will appeal to gardeners botanists cooks & foragers & to anyone who wants to control weeds in eco-friendly ways. Weeds have many virtues: * They are often valuable to wildlife including beneficial insects. * They can be good for the soil
- helping the accumulation of trace elements & acting as hosts for mycorrhizal fungi. * Many weeds make interesting & unusual culinary ingredients. The main part of the book provides full details of over 50 edible species with valuable nutritional information advice on how to cook them & numerous recipe suggestions as well as some fascinating historical facts & tips for non-culinary uses. It covers both native & non-native species including some tiresome invasives & lists both common weeds such as nettle dandelion chickweed & ground elder & less common ones such as brooklime & wintercress. Advice is also given on controlling weeds & identifying those that are harmful if eaten. With The Weeders Digest on your bookshelf you can put your troublesome weeds to good use & welcome some plentiful edibles into your kitchen. It

Includes:: attractive colour photographs throughout.


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Gardeners find weeds baffling & daunting. Here at last comes a practical guide which explains how weeds work & how best to deal with them. Whenever he is gardening William Edmonds sees Charles Darwin as his mentor. Darwin was intrigued by the nature of variation in plants & how this related to which plants thrived & survived. From his minute observations we can understand how weeds can propagate & take over a garden. Informed by Darwin's insights & by over thirty years of gardening experience William Edmonds describes & illustrates one hundred significant garden weeds arranged in the order in which they have evolved. For each there is a What To Do & a further chapter sets out the pros & cons of twenty tried & tested approaches to weeding. Learning to recognise understand & deal with each weed will take you well on the way to coping in a relaxed
- even enjoyable
- tussle with these devilish despoilers. Weeds Weeding (& Darwin) is an enlightening guidebook for every gardener.

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When someone describes a bitter woman as having: A mouth like a kirby grip" or a depressed man as having: "A face like a horse in the huff" you can be fairly sure that you have strayed into Weegie Wan-Liners territory. This is the latest collection of Glaswegiana the straightforward insults the sly digs & the outright threats culled from pubs & howffs citywide by Ian Black master of the quick sidestep learned as he practised these gems especially from the ex-friends to whom he said: " Listen bampot features when you were born they slung the wean & kept the afterbirth"." ...

In the summer of 2009 Alain de Botton will be invited by the owners of Heathrow airport to become their first ever Writer in Residence. He will be installed in the middle of Terminal 5 on a raised platform with a laptop connected to screens enabling passengers to see what he is writing & to come & share their stories. He will meet travellers from around the world & will be given unprecedented access to wander the airport & speak with everyone from window cleaners & baggage handlers to air traffic controllers & cabin crew. Working with the renowned documentary photographer Richard Baker de Botton will produce an extraordinary meditation upon the nature of place time & our daily lives. He will explore the magical & the mundane personal & collective experiences & the interactions of travellers & workers all over this familiar but mysterious site. Like all airports Heathrow (the 15th century village of Heath Row lies beneath the short stay car park) is a non-place that we by definition want to leave but it also provides a window into many worlds
- through the thousands of people it dispatches every day. A Week at the Airport" is sure to delight de Bottons large following & anyone interested in the stories behind the way we live."
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The Sheedy sisters had lived in Stone House for as long as anyone could remember. Set high on the cliffs on the west coast of Ireland overlooking the windswept Atlantic ocean it was falling into disrepair
- until one woman with a past she needed to forget breathed new life into the place. Now a hotel with a big warm kitchen & log fires it provides a welcome few can resist. Winnie is generally able to make the best of things until she finds herself on the holiday from hell. John arrived on an impulse after he missed a flight at Shannon. & then there's Henry & Nicola burdened with a terrible secret who are hoping the break at Stone House will help them find a way to face the future.. .A WEEK IN WINTER is full of Maeve's trademark warmth humour & characters you want to spend time with.
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High on the cliffs of the west coast of Ireland overlooking the windswept Atlantic ocean is Stone House. Once falling into disrepair it is now a beautiful hotel specialising in winter holidays. With a big warm kitchen log fires & understated elegant bedrooms it provides a welcome few can resist whatever their reasons for coming... Henry & Nicola are burdened with a terrible secret & are hoping the break at Stone House will help them find a way to face the future. Winnie generally one to make the best of things finds herself on the holiday from hell. Then theres John who arrived on impulse after he missed a flight at Shannon; eccentric Freda who claims to be a psychic
- & the silent watchful Nora who seems so ready to disapprove. But looks can be deceptive...A Week in Winter is full of Maeves trademark warmth humour & characters you want to spend time with.
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High on the cliffs of the west coast of Ireland overlooking the windswept Atlantic ocean is Stone House. Once falling into disrepair it is now a beautiful hotel specialising in winter holidays. With a big warm kitchen log fires & understated elegant bedrooms it provides a welcome few can resist whatever their reasons for coming... Henry & Nicola are burdened with a terrible secret & are hoping the break at Stone House will help them find a way to face the future. Winnie generally one to make the best of things finds herself on the holiday from hell. Then there's John who arrived on impulse after he missed a flight at Shannon; eccentric Freda who claims to be a psychic
- & the silent watchful Nell who seems so ready to disapprove. But looks can be deceptive.. .A WEEK IN WINTER is full of Maeve's trademark warmth humour & characters you want to spend time with. Read by Kate Binchy. Kate Binchy has worked extensively in all media from West End to fringe theatre. Numerous television appearances include RUTH RENDELL MYSTERIES FATHER TED PEAK PRACTICE CASUALTY POIROT & FAIR CITY. She has appeared in over 500 radio plays & films such as MRS DALLOWAY & THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE. She is Maeve's cousin & has read all of Maeve's audiobooks.
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When Maudie Todhunter finally decides she must sell Moorgate her beautiful farmhouse on the edge of Bodmin Moor she anticipates strong objections from her family
- particularly from Selina her stepdaughter with whom she has never seen eye to eye. But no one could have predicted the feelings that Moorgate evokes or the consequences...
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The Sheedy sisters had lived in Stone House for as long as anyone could remember. Set high on the cliffs on the west coast of Ireland overlooking the windswept Atlantic ocean it was falling into disrepair
- until one woman with a past she needed to forget breathed new life into the place. Now a hotel with a big warm kitchen & log fires it provides a welcome few can resist. Winnie is generally able to make the best of things until she finds herself on the holiday from hell. John arrived on an impulse after he missed a flight at Shannon. & then there's Henry & Nicola burdened with a terrible secret who are hoping the break at Stone House will help them find a way to face the future.. .A WEEK IN WINTER is full of Maeve's trademark warmth humour & characters you want to spend time with.
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