Biography: writers Books

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER''This is my kind of history: carefully researched but so vivid that you are convinced Lucy Worsley was actually there at the party - or the parsonage.'' Antonia Fraser''A refreshingly unique perspective on Austen and her work and a beautifully nuanced exploration of gender, creativity, and domesticity.'' Amanda ForemanLucy Worsley ''is a great scene-setter for this tale of triumph and heartbreak.'' Sunday TimesOn the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen''s death, historian Lucy Worsley leads us into the rooms from which our best-loved novelist quietly changed the world.This new telling of the story of Jane''s life shows us how and why she lived as she did, examining the places and spaces that mattered to her. It wasn''t all country houses and ballrooms, but a life that was often a painful struggle. Jane famously lived a ''life without incident'', but with new research andTrade ReviewThis is my kind of history: carefully researched but so vivid that you are convinced Lucy Worsley was actually there at the party - or the parsonage. * Antonia Fraser *Jane Austen at Home offers a fascinating look at Jane Austen's world through the lens of the homes in which she lived and worked throughout her life. The result is a refreshingly unique perspective on Austen and her work and a beautifully nuanced exploration of gender, creativity, and domesticity. * Amanda Foreman *A vivid portrait of Jane Austen. A must for any Austenite. * Red magazine *Brilliant and very moving, this book is a fascinating and original exploration of Jane Austen with lots of new material - Worsley brings Austen to life superbly, through her pages she is a flesh and blood woman, intelligent, powerful, contradictory, loving, loved. A magnificent book. * Kate Williams *Rarely, if ever, will you encounter a historian so in command of their material. Truly, this is a dazzling exercise in persuasion, written with sense and sensibility. * Saturday Express *A deep, prolifically researched dive into the houses, vacation homes, and schools where the author spent her life. * Vogue magazine *Worsley offers us much that Austen's admirers wish to know... [she] is entirely convincing. * New York Times *An interesting portrait of Georgian and Regency material culture. There's much intriguing historical detail. * Literary Review *A sprightly new take on Austen's life. * Mail on Sunday *Lucy Worsley 'is a great scene-setter for this tale of triumph and heartbreak' * Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis'A smart and highly entertaining portrait of a literary powerhouse'- THE TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR'A riveting portrait'- GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR***'Worsley's sparkling biography brings a fresh eye to Christie's life and work, firmly busting the myth that she, or her novels, were cosy.' Daily Mail'Every Christie fan should read this' - The Times'Shows the Queen of Crime in a new light.' - Daily Telegraph'Worsley's book excels in bringing a broader historical perspective to Christie's life and work, and her enthusiasm is infectious.' - Observer'Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.'Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was 'just' an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn't? As Lucy Worsley says, 'She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern'. She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness. So why - despite all the evidence to the contrary - did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure? She was born in 1890 into a world which had its own rules about what women could and couldn't do. Lucy Worsley's biography is not just of an internationally renowned bestselling writer. It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman. With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley's biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realise what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was - truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.Trade ReviewEvery Christie fan should read this. * The Times *Shows the Queen of Crime in a new light. * Daily Telegraph *Worsley's sparkling biography brings a fresh eye to Christie's life and work, firmly busting the myth that she, or her novels, were cosy. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisI looked around and people''s faces were distorted...lights were flashing everywhere...the screen at the end of the room had three or four different films on it at once, and the strobe light was flashing faster than it had been...the band was playing but I couldn''t hear the music...people were dancing...someone came up to me and I shut my eyes and with a machine he projected images on the back of my eye-lids...I sought out a person I trusted and he laughed and told me that the Kool-Aid had been spiked and that I was beginning my first LSD experience...Trade ReviewThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is not simply the best book on the hippies, it is the essential book...the pushing, ballooning heart of the matter * New York Times *A life-changer, a rabble-rouser, a mind-blower, a gathering of the tribes, a call to arms, a manifesto for a new society, a car repair manual, a fly-on-the-paisley-patterned-wall account of a cultural revolution – a masterpiece! -- Jarvis CockerElectrifying * San Francisco Chronicle *An amazing book... A book that definitely gives Wolfe the edge on the nonfiction novel * The Village Voice *Every word seems placed with a care and a skill of contrivance... A major journalistic contribution to the future analysis of our own and America's strange period of this century * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisOver sixty years after Virginia Woolf drowned in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing set out one midsummer morning to walk its banks, from source to sea. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology and folklore.Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape - and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.Trade ReviewA beautifully written, elegant and subtle debut * * Financial Times * *A gentle, wise and riddling book -- ROBERT MACFARLANEMagical . . . By turns lyrical, melancholic and exultant, To the River just makes you want to follow Olivia Laing all the way to the sea -- PHILIP HOARE * * Daily Telegraph * *A beautifully written meditation on landscape * * The Sunday Times * *Wonderfully allusive . . . The book's subject and structure fuse pleasingly, weaving and meandering, pooling into biographical, mythical or historical backwaters * * Observer * *Without wanting to sound gushing, her writing at its sublime best reminds me of Richard Mabey's nature prose and the poetry of Alice Oswald . . . Laing seems to lack a layer of skin, rendering her susceptible to the smallest vibrations of the natural world as well as to the frailties of the human psyche * * The Times * *Has a Sebaldian edge to it that lifts it out of memoir and biography and into something far more tantalizing and suggestive * * Guardian * *This hugely accomplished first book draws on local lore and history, a vast range of research and some soaring lyrical writing * * Sunday Times * *Olivia Laing joins the best nature writers . . . Laing is a brilliant wordsmith and this is a beautifully accomplished book * * Independent * *Brave, distinctive, and deeply intelligent . . . The book has an intense, humming, cumulative effect * * Literary Review * *

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Book SynopsisA 1000-PIECE PUZZLE inspired by the life and works of the Brontë family. The perfect challenge for book lovers - or anyone who loves a good jigsaw.ALL YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTERS can be found hidden in this detailed puzzle, as well as some real-life historical figures who played a part in their lives.INCLUDES A PULL-OUT POSTER identifying all the characters and telling their talesTHE WORLD OF... JIGSAWS are a fun way of celebrating the lives and works of creative greats. Also available in the series: The World of Frida Kahlo, The World of Shakespeare, The World of Jane AustenSCREEN-FREE FUN from one of the world''s leading publishers of books and gifts on the creative arts. Laurence King Publishing works with some of the world''s best illustrators, designers, artists, and photographers to create beautifully produced books and gifts which are acclaimed for their inventiveness, beautiful design and a

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Book SynopsisBreaking Down Six Decades of James Bond Movies#1 New Release in Action & Adventure Movies & Video, and Movie ReferenceHosts Mike Kalinowski and Brad Gilmore team up in this comprehensive examination of the longest running film series in the history of cinema. In Bond, James Bond, they explore the cinematic history of the James Bond collection to celebrate everything it got right and reflect on everything it got wrong.The complete cinematic biographies of James Bond. Since his initial portrayal by Sean Connery, James Bond has become a timeless icon worldwide. Now, comes the first-ever era-by-era breakdown of the much loved international spy—on and off the silver screen. Following the men who portrayed James Bond—Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, and Sean Connery—readers will discover the characteristics that made him resonate, as well as the less glamorous relics that made him evolve.For fans of the Ian Fleming James Bond novels and movies. Cinephiles and fans can finally unscramble some of the best action movies of all time. Covering everything from cars to court cases, Bond, James Bond looks at the evolution of the 007 movies from all angles.Featuring bonus chapters on Bond women and musical scores, inside, you’ll also find: The origins of 007 in the early James Bond books Off-screen politics, drama, and movements that shifted the series trajectory The “other” James Bond, comic books, and animated series If you’re looking for Father’s Day gifts, gifts for men, or James Bond gifts—and enjoyed books like Some Kind of Hero, Nobody Does it Better, or Shaken—then you’ll love Bond, James Bond.Trade Review“Roger Moore was always my favorite Bond. James Bond could handle a weapon, knew how to fight and always got the girl—he was the ultimate man’s man! Brad and Mike excellently lay out the origins of Bond and how the character has evolved over the years. I, for one, can most certainly dig that!” —Booker T., author of My Rise to Wrestling Royalty“Brad and Mike found the perfect blend of childlike wonder and thoughtful analysis. They have knowledge and an endless array of interesting tidbits, but see everything through the eyes of the fans, which is ultimately what makes this so enjoyable.”—Peter Rosenberg, Hot97 & ESPN“Eureka! Brad and Mike provide a detailed historical account to one of America's most endeared entertainment franchises!”—Cedric Duplechain, co-star on AMC’s The Son, starring Pierce Brosnan“James Bond is one of the greatest movie characters of all time, and Brad Gilmore and Mike Kalinowski do an incredible job of celebrating why 007 has left such an indelible mark on pop culture, regardless of the actor playing him. From the villains, to the drinks and the gadgets, this will make you love the Bond franchise even more!”—Chris Van Vliet, four-time Emmy-Award-winning TV hostTable of ContentsWorking Table of Contents: 1. I Admire Your Courage (Sean Connery Era) 2. Grand Slam (importance of Goldfinger) 3. The Other Fellow (the unbelievable story of Lazenby) 4. Good Moorening (The Roger Moore Era) 5. Quartermaster (q’s best gadgets) 6. Penny & Dimes (untangling the history of the Bond women) 7. Underneath the Mango Tree (songs of Bond) 8. Perfectly Formed (the style of bond) 9. Timothy Dalton Era 10. Pierce Brosnan Era 11. Never Say Never (McClory case) 12.You Know His Name (Craig era) 13. Everything or Nothing (future of bond and growing as a character with progressive minds)

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Book Synopsis1917. Virginia Woolf arrives at Asheham, on the Sussex Downs, immobilized by nervous exhaustion and creative block. 1930. Feeling jittery about her writing career, Sylvia Townsend Warner spots a modest workman's cottage for sale on the Dorset coast. 1941. Rosamond Lehmann settles in a Berkshire village, seeking a lovers' retreat, a refuge from war, and a means of becoming a writer again'. Rural Hours tells the story of three very different women, each of whom moved to the country and was forever changed by it. We encounter them at quiet moments pausing to look at an insect on the windowsill; jotting down a recipe; or digging for potatoes, dirt beneath their nails. Slowly, we start to see transformations unfold. Invigorated by new landscapes, and the daily trials and small pleasures of making homes, they emerge from long periods of creative uncertainty and private disappointment; they embark on new experiments in form, in feeling and in living. In the country, each woman finds

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Book Synopsis 1000-PIECE PUZZLE: The 1000-piece puzzle reimagines Dickens'' life and scenes from his novels in glorious detail BEAUTIFUL, INTRICATE ILLUSTRATIONS: Spot famous fictional characters, fellow writers, and historical characters as you build the puzzle POSTER INCLUDED: Includes fun Dickens facts on a fold-out poster EASY HANDLING: The 1000 puzzle pieces are thick and sturdy. The completed puzzle measures A2 in size and the jigsaw puzzle box measures 267 x 267 x 48 mm GIFT: The perfect gift for Dickens fans or those who want to spend time away from their screensThe 1000-piece The World of Charles Dickens jigsaw puzzle by Laurence King Publishing is a puzzler''s dream. Jigsaw puzzles are back as a wellness trend and this beautifully illustrated one is sure to help you relax while immersing yourself in Dickens''s legendary London. Will you brave the back alleys to find Fagin''s den, or risk Scrooge''s scowl at the counting hou

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisDeals with the underworld of society. In this book, the author documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor - sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses of last resort, working as a dishwasher in Paris' vile 'Hotel X', surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps, a star-gazing pavement artist and more.

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Book SynopsisTwo modern classics in one volume.Trade Review Animal Farm ‘[Orwell’s] wit is both edged and human. Few writers of any period have been able to use the English language so simply and accurately to say what they mean, and at the same time to mean something’ The New Republic (1946) ‘Animal Farm remains our great satire on the darker face of modern history’ Malcolm Bradbury ‘The book for everyone and Everyman, its brightness undimmed after fifty years’ Daily Telegraph ‘The book it’s writer called “a little squib” is the finest prose satire in English after Gulliver’s Travels’ Julian Symons ‘Orwell … has written in a prose so plain and spare, so admirably proportioned to his purpose, that Animal Farm even seems very creditable if we compare it with Voltaire and Swift’ The New Yorker ‘A prophet who thought the unthinkable and spoke the unspeakable, even when it offended conventional thought’ Daily Express ‘Matchlessly sharp and fresh … The clearest and most compelling English prose style this century’ Sunday Times Nineteen Eighty-Four ‘His final masterpiece … enthralling and indispensable for understanding modern history’ New York Review of Books ‘A profound, terrifying and wholly fascinating book … Orwell’s theory of power is developed brilliantly’ The New Yorker ‘Brilliantly constructed and told’ Guardian ‘There is not a smile or a jest that does not add bitterness to Orwell’s utterly depressing vision of what the world may be in 35 years’ time’ TIME

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Book SynopsisFrom bestselling author Bill Bryson comes this compelling short biography of William Shakespeare, our greatest dramatist and poet.Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson makes sense of the man behind the masterpieces. As he leads us through the crowded streets of Elizabethan England, he brings to life the places and characters that inspired Shakespeare's work. Along the way he delights in the inventiveness of Shakespeare's language, which has given us so many of the indispensable words and phrases we use today, and celebrates the Bard's legacy to our literature, culture and history.Drawing together information from a vast array of sources, this is a masterful account of the life and works of William Shakespeare, one of the most famous and most enigmatic people ever to have lived not to mention a classic piece of Bill Bryson.Trade Review‘A delight…A gem of a book.’ Mail on Sunday ‘Witty and infectiously enthusiastic.’ Spectator 'A brilliantly funny and gently insightful travel guide to 16th century England. Bryson is great at picking out of the morass of Elizabethan fact the small details that illuminate and amuse…he also uncovers from the world that surrounded the theatre some fascinating examples of Elizabethan eccentricity…As an abbreviated tour around the world of Shakespeare, this could hardly be bettered.' Sunday Times ‘Bryson uses an inimitably light touch and squeezes a vast subject down to manageable proportions…he is a warm and funny guide through the whole complicated morass of Shakespearean scholarship.’ Financial Times

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Book SynopsisElizabeth Gaskell''s biography of her close friend Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857 to immediate popular acclaim, and remains the most significant study of the enigmatic author who gave Jane Eyre the subtitle An Autobiography. It recounts Charlotte Brontë''s life from her isolated childhood, through her years as a writer who had ''foreseen the single life'' for herself, to her marriage at thirty-eight and death less than a year later. The resulting work - the first full-length biography of a woman novelist by a woman novelist - explored the nature of Charlotte''s genius and almost single-handedly created the Brontë myth.

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Book Synopsis **A Sunday Times top ten bestseller****Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award 2023****Shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize for Non-Fiction 2023****Shortlisted for the Slightly Foxed First Biography Prize 2023**Masterly.' ObserverWonderful, joyous.' Maggie O'FarrellFrankly brilliant.' Sunday TimesUnmissable.' Simon JenkinsEvery page sparkles.' Claire TomalinA triumph.' Matt HaigStylish, scholarly and gripping.' Rose TremainJohn Donne lived myriad lives. Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, Donne was incapable of being just one thing.He was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, an MP, a priest, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language.In Super-Infinite, Katherine Rundell shows us the many sides of Donne's extraordinary life, his obsessions, his blazing words, and his tempestuous Elizabethan times unveiling Donne as the most remarkable mind and as a lesson in living.Katherine Rundell''s book Super-Infinite was a Sunday Times Bestseller w/c 16-04-2022Trade Review'Fascinating and incisive: spellbinding.' - John Carey'A wonderful, joyous piece of work . . . with fierce, interrogative intelli-gence. it is fantastic to have this most elusive and mysterious of men brought out into the light, for all to see. I just loved it.'- Maggie O'Farrell

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Book Synopsis''Truly wonderful... Anna Funder has written another brilliant human portrait.'' - Claire Tomalin A BLAZING, GENRE-BENDING MASTERPIECE FROM ONE OF THE MOST INVENTIVE WRITERS OF OUR TIMELooking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own . . .When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it''s a revelation. Eileen O''Shaughnessy''s literary brilliance shaped Orwell''s work and her practical nous saved his life. But why - and how - was she written out of the story?Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwells'' marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and WW II in London. As she rolls up the screen concealing Orwell''s private life she is led to question what it takes to be a writer - and what it is to be a wife.Compelling and utterly original, Wifedom speaks to the unsung work of women everywhere today, while offering a breathtakingly intimate view of one of the most important literary marriages of the 20th century. It is a book that speaks to our present moment as much as it illuminates the past.''Simply, a masterpiece. Here, Anna Funder not only re-makes the art of biography, she resurrects a woman in full. And this in a narrative that grips the reader and unfolds through some of the most consequential moments - historical and cultural - of the twentieth century.'' Geraldine Brooks, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

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Book SynopsisFrom the beaches of Cornwall to the streets of Bloomsbury and from Hogarth House to the colleges of Cambridge, spot Leonard Woolf, Clive and Vanessa Bell and Vita Sackville-West, along with Clarissa Dalloway, Orlando and the Ramsay family. Plus, discover the places that formed Woolf''s character and inspired her pioneering books that helped shape our understanding of modernity.1000-PIECE PUZZLE that makes a perfect gift for fans of Virginia Woolf and her work. The completed puzzle measures 48.5 x 68 cm (19 x 27 in.)INCLUDES A PULL-OUT POSTER so you can spot all the characters and read their stories.''THE WORLD OF...'' JIGSAWS are a fun way of celebrating the lives and works of creative greats. Also available in the series: The World of Frida Kahlo, The World of Jane Austen, The World of the Brontës, The World of James Joyce and more.

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Book SynopsisThe complex and fascinating life of Mark Twain, as told by a Pulitzer prizewinning biographerBorn in 1835, the man who would become America's first, and most influential, literary celebrity spent his childhood dreaming of piloting steamboats on the Mississippi. But when the Civil War interrupted his career on the river, the young Mark Twain went west and accepted a job at the local newspaper, writing dispatches that attracted attention for their brashness and humour. It wasn't long until the former steamboat pilot from Missouri was recognized across the country for his literary brilliance.In this rich and nuanced portrait of Twain, Ron Chernow brings his powers to bear on a man who shamelessly sought fame and fortune, and crafted his persona with meticulous care. After establishing himself as a journalist, satirist, and performer, and a family man, Twain went on to write The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He threw himself into the epicentre of American culture, emerging as the nation's most notable political pundit and the only white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery. At the same time, his madcap business ventures eventually bankrupted him and led him and his family to nine years of exile between London, France, Germany and Italy. During this time, he lost his wife and two daughters the last stage of his life marked by heartache, political crusades, and eccentric behaviour that sometimes obscured darker forces at play.Drawing on Twain's bountiful archives, including thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow here captures the magnificent and often maddening life of one of the most original characters in literary history, reminding us why Twain's writing continues to be read, debated and quoted over a hundred years after his passing.

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Book SynopsisA TOP 12 BOOK OF THE YEAR PICK IN THE TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMESTHE BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB PICK FOR NOVEMBER 2024''This book is magic. It''s all I ever needed'' LENA DUNHAMEve Babitz died on December 17, 2021. Found in the wrack, ruin and filth of her apartment, a stack of boxes packed by her mother decades before. The boxes were pristine, the seals of duct tape unbroken. Inside, a lost world, centred on a two-story rental in a down-at-heel section of Hollywood in the sixties and seventies. 7406 Franklin Avenue was the making of one great American writer: Joan Didion, a mystery behind her dark glasses and cool expression, an enigma inside her storied marriage to John Gregory Dunne. Franklin Avenue was also the breaking and then the remaking - and thus the true making - of another great American writer: Eve Babitz, goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky, nude of Marcel Duchamp, consort of Jim Morrison (among many, many others), a woman who burned so hot she finally almost burned herself alive. Didion and Babitz formed a complicated alliance, a friendship that went bad, amity turning to enmity. With deftness and skill, journalist Lili Anolik uses Babitz, Babitz''s brilliance of observation, Babitz''s incisive intelligence and, most of all, Babitz''s diary-like letters - letters found in those sealed boxes, letters so intimate you don''t read them so much as breathe them - as the key to unlocking Didion.

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Book SynopsisJames Herriot grew up in Glasgow and qualified as a veterinary surgeon at Glasgow Veterinary College. Shortly afterwards he took up a position as an assistant in a North Yorkshire practice where he remained, with the exception of his wartime service in the RAF, until his death in 1995. He wrote many books about Yorkshire country life, including some for children, but he is best known for his memoirs, beginning with If Only They Could Talk. The books were televised in the enormously popular series All Creatures Great and Small.Trade ReviewBulls with sunstroke, pigs on the run and a cake-eating Peke with a betting habit . . . I grew up reading James Herriot's book and I'm delighted that thirty years on they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then. -- Kate HumbleThe attraction of Herriot's ever popular memoirs of a country vet . . . is their alternating highs and lows, humour and pathos, and gripping anecdotes about delivering lambs, grumpy farmers, hypochondriac pet-owners, stroppy cows and blunt Yorkshire characters. And, of course, there's a powerful nostalgia element in these stories about our green and pleasant land in the day before the ravages of ribbon development. * Daily Mail *On original release in the 1970s, James Herriot's insights into the life of a working vet were so popular and enchanting to readers that the area of the Yorkshire Dales in which he practised became known as 'James Herriot country'. * Yorkshire Ridings Magazine *

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Book SynopsisThe original authorised biography, and the only one written by an author who actually met J.R.R. Tolkien, reissued to mark Tolkien's 125th Anniversary.In more than 40 years since Tolkien's death in September 1973, millions have read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion and become fascinated about the very private man behind the books.Born in Bloemfontein in January 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was orphaned in childhood, brought up in near-poverty and almost thwarted in adolescent romance. He served in the First World War, surviving the Battle of the Somme, where he lost some of his closest friends, and returned to academic life, achieving high repute as a scholar and university teacher, eventually becoming Merton Professor of English at Oxford.Then suddenly his life changed dramatically. One day while marking essay papers he found himself writing In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit' and worldwide renown awaited him.Humphrey Carpenter was given unrestricteTrade Review‘One of the most interesting and readable biographies of a literary figure.’ The Times ‘The story is rich and beautifully told.’ Sunday Times ‘Absolutely fascinating.’ Daily Mail ‘A painstaking and often moving account.’ Times Literary Supplement ‘Humphrey Carpenter’s plain, unvarnished tale is absolutely gripping.’ Times Literary Supplement

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Book Synopsis 54 CARD DECK - A set of playing cards featuring illustrations of Austen's most famous characters. Features standard playing card suits, numbers and court cards: can be used in exactly the same way as normal playing cards FUN, COLOURFUL ILLUSTRATIONS: Illustrator Barry Falls perfectly captures some of Austen's most loved characters. Suits are themed on character traits, with hearts for the Heroines and Heroes and spades for the Fools and Bores BOOKLET INCLUDED: The accompanying booklet includes the rules to Regency card games and their mentions in Austen's novels EASY HANDLING: The cards will not crack or bend when shuffled or flexed due to their weight. Held within a box these cards are perfect for taking anywhere on the go GIFTS: The playing cards make the perfect gift for any bookworm, or fan of Jane AustenPlay cards with Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet as King and Queen of Hearts, Henry Crawford as Ace Rogue, and many more of Jane Austen's most memorable characters. Add some 19th-century drama to your favourite card games or learn to play the ones featured in Austen's stories with the help of the accompanying booklet.

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Book SynopsisShot through with Stoppard's voice, and illuminating all his plays, Lee's gripping narrative draws on unprecedented access to archive material, interviews and long conversations with Stoppard himself. She traces the dramatic story of his family's flight from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, his sudden leap to fame, his personal life and his dazzling successes. A riveting account of a very public and very private man.

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Book SynopsisA GROUNDBREAKING EXPLORATION OF GENDER AND DESIRE FROM THE PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING ESSAYIST AND CRITIC

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Book SynopsisCritically acclaimed, award-winning biography of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and the brilliant group of writers to come out of Oxford during the Second World War.C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and their friends were a regular feature of the Oxford scenery in the years during and after the Second World War. They drank beer on Tuesdays at the Bird and Baby', and on Thursday nights they met in Lewis' Magdalen College rooms to read aloud from the books they were writing; jokingly they called themselves The Inklings'.C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien first introduced The Screwtape Letters and The Lord of the Rings to an audience in this company and Charles Williams, poet and writer of supernatural thrillers, was another prominent member of the group.Humphrey Carpenter, who wrote the acclaimed biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, draws upon unpublished letters and diaries, to which he was given special access, in this engrossing story.Trade Review‘A constantly enjoyable volume’ John Carey, Sunday Times ‘A triumph of skill and tact… not one dull or slack sentence’ Kingsley Amis, New Statesman ‘It must be technically very difficult to write a biography of more than one person at a time: it is still more difficult to capture the atmosphere of a group… Mr Carpenter has managed both things admirably’ Mary Warnock, Sunday Telegraph

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Book SynopsisThe romantic novelist Ethel M. Dell was a recluse, and actively avoided marketing herself as a personality in any way, but her formula was successful. She reached a very large audience publishing 98 titles and earning, at the height of her career, about 4M annually in today's values. Her plots included a popular and heady mix of heterosexual, implicit same-sex relationships, sexual deviances, gratuitous violence, death and exoticised notions of Empire and masculinity. Although being publishing alongside literary giants she was vilified by the establishment no doubt jealous of her substantial earnings. With an escapist and non-literary appeal to a lower middle class reader universe Ethel used a very successful multi-media marketing strategy with magazine serialisation, hard copy books, film, theatre and radio to reach this audience in the UK, the United States, Europe and the British colonies. A forerunner to Mills and Boom's success Ethel was very influential in setting the scene for m

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Book SynopsisFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA'Daphne du Maurier has no equal' DAILY TELEGRAPH'Miss du Maurier has brought to the art of the biography the narrative urgency' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ' . . . she is unravelling a long distorted mystery' KIRKUS REVIEWS Pursued by the twin demons of drink and madness, Branwell Bronte created a private world that was indeed infernal. As a bold and gifted child, his promise seemed boundless to the three adoring sisters over whom his rule was complete. But as an adult, the precocious flame of genius distorted and burned low. With neither the strength nor the resources to counter rejection, unable to sell his paintings or publish his books, Branwell became a spectre in the Bronte story, in pathetic contrast with the astonishing achievements of Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Daphne du Maurier concentrates all her biographer's skill on the shadowy figure of Branwell Bronte. No reader could fail to be intensely moved by Branwell's final retreat into laudanum, alcohol and death. Trade ReviewMiss du Maurier has brought to the art of the biography the narrative urgency which gives such animation to her storytelling * New York Times Book Review *Daphne du Maurier has no equal * Daily Telegraph *Her craftsmanship has made of the material something more than a case of literary research; almost one feels that she is unravelling a long distorted mystery * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisA beautifully illustrated account of the letters and correspondence of Jane Austen. It has been said that Jane Austen the woman and Jane Austen the author are all of a piece, and nowhere is this more evident to the lovers of her novels than in the pages of her letters. This handsome celebration of Austen's letters is illustrated with portraits, facsimile letters, topographical engravings and fashion plates, all helping to bring to life the world Jane Austen inhabited. The letters, with an accompanying commentary by Penelope Hughes-Hallett, are separated into six periods of Jane Austen's life, between the years 1796, when she was twenty, and 1817, the year of her death. They celebrate Jane Austen's talent for expressing exactly what she perceived, making this an illuminating companion to her novels. Although the book follows a broadly chronological scheme, the letters are arranged round visual themes, including the Hampshire countryside, social life in Bath and London, domestic pursuits, paying visits and travelling by carriage. The author, who was born in Jane Austen's Hampshire village of Steventon, lectured on English Literature for the Open University and the Oxford University Department of External Studies. Trade Review‘It’s a fascinating insight into [Jane Austen’s] life and what influenced her.’ * The People's Friend *'Thoughtful and Attractive.' * Best of British *'This is a wondrous mixture of personal opinion, informed commentary and illuminating illustrations... a volume to dip into and enjoy again and again' * Jane Austen’s Regency World Review *

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Book SynopsisBeatrix Potter is one of the world's bestselling, most cherished authors, whose books have enchanted generations of children for over a hundred years. Yet how she achieved this legendary status is just one of several stories of Beatrix Potter's remarkable and unexpected life. Inspired by the twenty-three 'tales', Matthew Dennison takes a selection of quotations from Potter's stories and uses them to explore her multi-faceted life and character: repressed Victorian daughter; thwarted lover; artistic genius; formidable countrywoman. They chart her transformation from a young girl with a love of animals and fairy tales into a bestselling author and canny businesswoman, so deeply unusual for the Victorian era in which she grew up. Embellished with photographs of Potter's life and her own illustrations, this short biography will delight anyone who has been touched by Beatrix Potter's work.Trade ReviewFor fans who cherish the books, and anyone who has ever been in thrall to the intricately conceived world of bunnies * Sunday Times *Finely written and dancingly quick * TLS *This fresh approach is most effective for the early books, with Dennison providing a persuasive account of how the best Potter tales grew out of the oppressive frustrations of Bolt Gardens * The Guardian *One suspects that Potter would approve of the elegant subjectivity of Mr Dennison's account as he recasts the constraints of her era and milieu as priceless fuel for personal reinvention... this beautifully produced biography unveils Potter as ahead of her time' * Country Life *Fascinating... Dennison's clever, searching account of her life shows the incredible fight she had to make herself into the kind of woman she wanted to be' * The Times *The Potter that emerges from his pages is complex, contradictory, fully faceted... Dennison's attentiveness, intelligence and lack of sentimentality make it a work of weight and substance that carries the distinction of seeing its subject whole... Potter once referred to "the deepest me, the part one has to be alone with". Dennison's achievement is to have sounded those depths, and to have shown us something of their scale' * The Irish Times *Cleverly designed to resemble one of her iconic children's books * Christmas pick, Choice Magazine *Enjoyable, thoughtful, impressionistic... enhanced by Dennison's laconic narration' * The Tablet *Charming, affectionate and warm * This is England. *The story of the extraordinary boom in children's literature over the last 100 years could be bookended with a 'Tale of Two Potters' – Beatrix and Harry. The adventures of the latter have sold millions, but the foundations of his success were laid by the former, whose series of 'little tales' Matthew Dennison estimates in his equally condensed new biography 'are purchased somewhere in the world every 15 seconds' * The Spectator. *Dennison has had the brilliant idea of telling Beatrix Potter's life story through her work * Daily Mail *A carefully written and perceptive drawing together of Beatrix Potter's life and art... A valuable and beguiling introduction to a fascinating story' * The Beatrix Potter Society magazine *Embellished with photographs of Potter's life and her own illustrations, this short biography will delight anyone who has been touched by Beatrix Potter's work * Westmorland Gazette *A fascinating read * Choice Magazine *

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