In 1921 a publishing phenomenon began with the publication of The Mysterious Affair at Styles" a sophisticated murder mystery with a protagonist by the name of Hercule Poirot. It was the first of more than 60 crime novels by Agatha Christie & heralded the career of an author who went on to outsell even Shakespeare. Agatha Christies works remain a literary phenomenon & many of her mysteries have been immortalized through sumptuous television & cinema adaptations. Christie herself was a discreet private & ladylike person. Yet her life was far from dull: she travelled widely & in 1926 she hit the headlines when she disappeared creating a mystery around her life as intriguing as any plot she had ever written. " The World of Agatha Christie" looks at this & other factors that have shaped her life providing a colourful & informative look at the originator of the ingeniously constructed "whodunits". Revised & updated for 2012 & highly illustrated " The World of Agatha Christie" is the perfect companion to the work of this most popular of mystery writers." ...

Arthur Ransome is most famous as the author of Swallows & Amazons but he was also a literary critic a foreign correspondent a fisherman & a sailor. The World of Arthur Ransome explores the places that shaped the writer. It tells the story of his childhood his friendships his two wives & daughter. It also describes how & where he wrote each of his twelve classic children's books & the people & books that inspired them. There is no doubt that Ransome's spiritual home was the ' Lake in the North' where he set five of his twelve iconic books for children. He holidayed on the banks of Coniston Water as a boy & camped there as a young man but his most important & longest-lasting home was Low Ludderburn on the slopes of Cartmel Fell & close to Lake Windermere. There he wrote Swallows & Amazons & three of its sequels. Another four of his books were set in East Anglia where he moved so that he could sail on the Norfolk Broads & the east coast rivers around Pin Mill. Here shipboard domestic arrangements came to the fore: all the cabins of his boats were equipped with writing desks & a bookcase. He was never happier than when writing while afloat in his favourite little yacht the Nancy Blackett immortalized as Goblin in We Didn't Mean to Go To Sea. With a keen & affectionate eye Christina Hardyment places this most loved of English authors in the settings which so richly define his work. ...

A Blandings Omnibus. In this wonderfully fat omnibus which seems to span the

Dimensions of the Empress of Blandings

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David Riggs evokes the atmosphere & texture of Marlowes life from the stench & poverty of a childhood spent near Canterburys abattoirs to the fanatical pursuit of classical learning at school. Marlowe won a place at Cambridge University where he entered its world of 18-hour working days religious intrigue & twilight homosexuality tolerated but unspoken. The gifted student was not immune to the passions & fears of the wider society & Riggs describes the mood of England in those years when Elizabeths crown was anything but secure & Spain & the Papacy were determined to overthrow her regime. Looming above everything is the Elizabethan state & its spy rings with which Marlowe was already involved by the time he left Cambridge. His undercover missions brought him into contact with Catholic conspirators who were plotting to kill the Queen; yet as a playwright & thinker he was attracted to the most unorthodox & threatening idea of all
- atheism. Marlowes brief life was enigmatic contradictory & glorious
- & this magisterial work of reconstruction & scholarship illuminates it with immense richness.

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Gabrielle Coco Chanel is an icon of fashion & can lay claim to having invented the look of the 20th century. At the height of the Belle Epoque she stripped women of their corsets & feathers bobbed their hair put them in bathing suits & sent them out to get tanned in the sun. She introduced the little black dress; trousers for women; costume jewelry; the exquisitely comfortable suit that became her trademark. Early in the Roaring Twenties Chanel made the first ever couture perfume
- No. 5
- presenting it in the famous little square-cut flagon that inspired by Picasso & Cubism became the arch symbol of the Art Deco style. No. 5 remains the most popular scent ever created. Chanel knew instinctively that the road to success lay in being absolutely at one with her own time. & what a time! The era of Picasso Diaghilev Stravinsky Cocteau Jean Renoir Visconti
- all of whom Coco knew & collaborated with even as she matched their modernist innovations by liberating women from the prison of 19th-century fashion & creating a whole new concept of elegance. Chanel went everywhere & knew everyone & as this sumptuously illustrated volume clearly shows her life & accomplishment
- even her chronic failure in love
- constitute one of the great stories of the modern age. Her life is eminently suited to the lavish visual treatment of this handsome volume which features more than 600 illustrations from an extraordinary collection amassed over the years by Edmonde Charles-Roux Chanels official biographer & close friend. An authoritative & practised writer Charles-Roux has used careful research & vivid eyewitness accounts to set the pictures in their context of time & place. She makes Chanel live again!




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FOUR hilarious & moving novels from Sport Relief swim champion & bestselling critically acclaimed author David Walliams. THE BOY IN THE DRESS: Dennis was different. Why was he different you ask? Well a small clue might be in the title of this book...MR STINK: Mr Stink stank. He also stunk. & if it was correct English to say he stinked then he stinked as well...BILLIONAIRE BOY: Joe has a lot of reasons to be happy. About a billion of them in fact. He has absolutely everything he could possibly want. But theres just one thing he really needs: a friend...GANGSTA GRANNY: Bens grandma is the boringest grandma ever: all she wants to do is to play Scrabble & eat cabbage soup. But there are two things Ben doesnt know about her. 1) She was once an international jewel thief. 2) All her life she has been plotting to steal the crown jewels & now she needs Bens help... ...

This is an international selection of 15 short stories by distinguished modern writers including Peter Carey Zadie Smith & Bernard Malamud. Featuring the theme of 'difference' each story has something to say about cultural encounters often arising from experiences of migration or uprooting. It is presented with biographic & photographic portraits. ...

The official companion to series 1 & 2. Downton Abbey portrays a world of elegance & decadence a world of duty & obedience & a world of romance & rivalry: this companion book full of rich historical detail takes fans deeper into that period than ever before. Step inside one of the most beautiful houses in Britain past Carson the butler at the front door & into the grand hallway. Catch a glimpse of the family having drinks in the drawing room before dinner dressed in their evening finery whilst Lord Grantham finishes writing a letter in his study. Then climb the grand sweeping staircase to the maze of rooms upstairs & peak through Lady Marys open door to see Anna her maid tidying scent bottles & jewellery on the ornate dressing table. Follow Anna down the servants stairs & into the kitchens to watch Mrs Patmore frantically preparing dinner. Mrs Hughes keeps a watchful eye from her study & the world of Downton comes alive before you. Experience the inner workings of the downstairs life & be dazzled by the glamour of upstairs life with profiles of all the major characters interviews with the actors behind the scenes insights & in-depth information on costumes & props. ...

Downton Abbey has captured the imagination of the nation. Written by Oscar-winning writer Julian Fellowes the show has become the benchmark for quality drama & a commentary on all things British. Downton Abbey portrays a world of elegance & decadence a world of duty & obedience & a world of romance & rivalry: this companion book full of rich historical detail takes fans deeper into that period than ever before. Step inside one of the most beautiful houses in Britain past Carson the butler at the front door & into the grand hallway. Catch a glimpse of the family having drinks in the drawing room before dinner dressed in their evening finery whilst Lord Grantham finishes writing a letter in his study. Then climb the grand sweeping staircase to the maze of rooms upstairs & peak through Lady Marys open door to see Anna her maid tidying scent bottles & jewellery on the ornate dressing table. Follow Anna down the servants stairs & into the kitchens to watch Mrs Patmore frantically preparing dinner. Mrs Hughes keeps a watchful eye from her study & the world of Downton comes alive before you. Experience the inner workings of the downstairs life & be dazzled by the glamour of upstairs life with profiles of all the major characters interviews with the actors behind the scenes insights & in-depth information on costumes & props. ...

Everything you could ever want to know about Jacqueline Wilson & her books in one adorable small pink package. This is a must-have for fans bursting with new titbits from Jacky herself info about the characters & plots artwork from Nick Sharratt & more. ...