This pretty little book is guaranteed to charm & delight smaller members of the bridal party. As well as including plenty of useful information about being a little bridesmaid or flower girl & the preparations for the wedding the interactive sections have room for little attendants to record all the details of the big day. There is also ample space for sticking in favourite photographs & pictures & even two handy pockets to hold precious keepsakes & mementoes. ...

Of Marilynne Robinson Michael Arditti said that there is 'no contemporary novelist whose work I would rather read' However she is not only a writer of sharp subtly moving prose but also a rigorous thinker & incisive essayist. In this luminous new collection she returns to the themes which have preoccupied her bestselling novels: the place literature has in life the role of faith in modern living the contradictions inherent in human nature. Clear-eyed & forceful as ever Robinson demonstrates once again why she is regarded as one of our best-loved writers. ...

In When I Was a Nipper Alan Titchmarsh goes on a personal & nostalgic journey through post-War Britain in search of treasured values & traditions that were once the soul of society. With characteristic wit warmth & humour he draws on the experience of his own childhood & also takes a broader perspective creating a wonderfully detailed & evocative portrait of a way of life that is fast disappearing & asks what can we learn from this era of austerity to make our lives better today? Born in Yorkshire in 1949 & brought up in a Britain still recovering from World War 2 Alan remembers a time of relative calm when it was enough to return home at night knowing that the house would still be standing. We were known throughout the world for our patience resourcefulness & resilience. ' Mustn't grumble' was almost a national catchphrase & queuing was second nature. Peppered with wonderful archive photographs & advertisements When I Was a Nipper takes us back to those days down high streets & through farmyards on to trolley buses & into local pubs. As we move towards a global economy as communities fragment & customs are lost When I Was a Nipper captures a world that is fast receding into history. It's powerfully nostalgic for those who remember those days but it's also Alan's timely call to all recession-hit Brits to heed the lessons of austerity Britain: 'make do & mend'; 'look on the bright side' & 'take the knocks on the chin'. ...

Burton Rembrandt has the sort of perspective on life that is impossible for most adults to comprehend: the perspective of an eight-year-old boy. & to Burt his parents & teachers seem to be speaking a language he cannot underst&. When Burt meets Jessica he finds solace from the problems of growing up of dealing with parents & teachers & adults in general. But when he expresses the ardent love he feels for Jessica he is placed in an institution with autistic mentally retarded sociopathic & generally disturbed children. This is Burts story as written in pencil on the walls of the Quiet Room in The Childrens Trust Residence Center. It begins: When I was five I killed myself..." This strange funny & darkly touching tale explores the chasm between childhood & adulthood in the starkly honest words of a misunderstood little boy. " When I Was Five I Killed Myself" is considered a modern classic in France where it has sold over a million copies. Butens writing is compared with Hemingway & J.D. Salingers " The Catcher in the Rye"." ...

When Ty witnesses a stabbing his own life is in danger from the criminals hes named & he & his mum have to go into police protection. Ty has a new name a new look & a cool new image
- life as Joe is good especially when he gets talent spotted as a potential athletics star special training from an attractive local celebrity & a lot of female attention. But his mum cant cope with her new life & the gangsters will stop at nothing to flush them from hiding. Joes cracking under extreme pressure & then he meets a girl with dark secrets of her own. This wonderfully gripping & intelligent novel depicts Ty/ Joes confused sense of identity in a moving & funny story that teenage boys & girls will identify with
- a remarkable debut from a great new writing talent.

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* The sleeper hit of Christmas 2009
- more than 4 000 copies sold through Bookscan. * A book to send shivers down the spine of
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When I Were A Meerkat is an extension of the 100 000 selling Portico title When I Were A Lad. Already it has generated spin-offs: When I Were A School Lad & When I Were A Nipper. In Meerkat instead of raggedtrousered children scrabbling around the streets getting put in perilous positions
- the stock in trade of the previous books
- the north of England is populated with a small number of meerkats. They do their best to escape the grinding poverty & poor schooling to make a better life for themselves. Meerkats get put to work down the mines go to Blackpool for their holidays & mess about on trams. The meerkat world & the human world easily intermingle in a reworking of many of the photos first used in When I Were A Lad.

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The follow-up title to the soar-away success of When I Were A Lad... (9781906032845
- sales approaching 100 000) & When I Were
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When In Rome is a riotous hilarious gift book that highlights the varying differences between foreign etiquettes when you travel abroad. The book illustrates various nations cultural social etiquettes & customs & how funny confusing & downright ridiculous they are when compared to each other. The book is a rip-roaring guide to 50+ nations opposing gestures manners & ways of expressing themselves physically when their is a communication breakdown in the language barrier. For example never put your hands on your hips next to a Mexican (youre asking for a fight) & never give & Iranian a thumbs up (its rude). Trouble will ensue if you do! So your government urges you: take this amazing travel guide with you with you when abroad read it learn from it & if you happen to meet a foreign traveller (which will be inevitable) remember what youve learnt & please please please be on your best behaviour. Word count: 20 000 ...

Rome in the 1950s theres nowhere quite like it. The narrow stone streets the fountains & piazzas full of life in the heat of the day the cafes & bars full of music & desire by night... This is where Serafina calls home. Having grown-up with her sisters in a tiny apartment tucked in the top of a tumbledown building she has watched her mother get by on next to nothing & turn herself beautiful with a sweep of eyeliner & a h&-sewn dress. When her mother goes out Serafina & her sisters go singing in the nearest piazza busking for spare change & cinema tickets. The girls long to meet their matinee idols & Serafina daydreams of Mario Lanza & his spellbinding voice. But the sisters will grow up quickly & for Serafina a choice opens between the world she knows & the life she dreams of. A captivating tale of love & music food & passion let Nicky Pellegrino take you on a journey to a city of beauty & heartbreak at one of the most glamorous points in its magical history. ...