Relationships and families: advice, topics and issues Books

Book SynopsisSteve Biddulph’s Raising Boys was a global phenomenon. The first book in a generation to look at boys’ specific needs, parents loved its clarity and warm insights into their sons’ inner world. But today, things have changed. It’s girls that are in trouble.Trade ReviewPraise for Steve Biddulph: ‘When you find a guru willing to change his mind when evidence and humanity prompt, you rejoice. For me, Steve Biddulph – one of the most popular [parenting gurus] in the world, with four million books sold – is the man.’Libby Purves, The Times ‘Biddulph… has a built-in feel good factor. Parenting books too often make one fell inadequate, but Biddulph’s left me refreshed and optimistic.’The Express ‘Steve’s advice is easy to follow – and more importantly, it works.’BBC Family Life Magazine Praise for Raising Boys:‘Packed full of pithy wisdom on what it is to move from boyhood to manhood and how to help your (not-so) little one on his way.’The Independent

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Book SynopsisEVENING STANDARD''S ''BEST FICTION BOOKS TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2022''What do you do, when you find the perfect family......and it''s not yours?''Rare and delightful . . . A beautifully crafted novel about female relationships. I couldn''t put this book down''Marie ClaireThe only thing Abi ever wanted was a proper family. So when she falls pregnant by an Australian exchange student in London, she cannot pack up her old life in Croydon fast enough, to start all over in Sydney and make her own family.It is not until she arrives, with three-week-old Jude in tow, that Abi realises Stu is not quite ready to be a father after all. And he is the only person she knows in this hot, dazzling, confusing city, where the job of making friends is turning out to be harder than she thought.That is, until she meets Phyllida, her wealthy, charming, imperious older neighbour, and they become aTrade ReviewRare and delightful . . . A beautifully crafted novel about female relationships * Marie Claire *The kind of book you pick up . . . and never want to put down . . . You will fall in love with this book * Lauren Sams, author of Crazy Busy Guilty and She’s Having Her Baby *A domestic drama with humour, charm . . . A love letter to motherhood in all its complexity. An impressive debut novel that finds the biggest drama in the smallest of actions * Better Reading *

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Book SynopsisA practical and transformative 5-step strategy to ensure the emotional wellbeing of yourself and your childThe mental wellbeing of children and adults is shockingly poor. Marc Brackett, author of Permission to Feel, knows why and what we can do. Marc Brackett is a professor in Yale University's Child Study Center and in his 25 years as an emotion scientist, he has developed a remarkably effective plan to improve the lives of children and adults - a blueprint for understanding our emotions and using them wisely so that they help, rather than hinder, our success and well-being. The core of his approach is a legacy from his childhood, from an astute uncle who gave him permission to feel. He was the first adult who managed to see Marc, listen to him, and recognise the suffering, bullying, and abuse he'd endured. In the decades since, Marc has led large research teams and raised tens of millions of dollars to investigate the roots of emotional wellbeing. His prescription for healthy children (and their parents, teachers, and schools) is a system called RULER, a high-impact and effective approach to understanding and mastering emotions that has already transformed the thousands of schools that have adopted it. RULER has been proven to reduce stress and burnout, improve school climate, and enhance academic achievement. This book is his way to share the strategies and skills with readers around the world. It is tested, and it works.Trade ReviewA compelling and complete journey that delivers on its promise of giving us permission to feel. Marc Brackett shows us that emotional intelligence is not a gift but a skill--one that we can all learn, and benefit from immensely. * Angela Duckworth, Author of Grit *Permission to Feel provides a framework for what parents and educators need to learn in order to support children in achieving social, academic, and life success. * Carmen Fariña, New York City Department of Education *Brackett (Creating Emotionally Literate Classrooms), founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor at the Yale Child Study Center, examines how acknowledging one's emotions can create confidence and promote mental health in this provocative, accessible work. While Brackett focuses on educational and child-based applications for his methods, his wise principles can easily be applied to adult situations as well. Readers looking for strategies for responding to stress, particularly in children, will find much guidance in this cogent, welcoming work. * Publisher's Weekly *Permission to Feel is a deeply insightful and compelling examination of one of the most important but ignored dimensions of the human experience. In his honest, funny, and illuminating way, Marc Brackett helps us to understand how emotions influence our health, performance, and overall well-being, and how we can leverage their power to transform our lives. * Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA. 19th Surgeon General of the United States *In business, we are often pressured to withhold or suppress emotions, ultimately creating toxic environments and interpersonal conflict. In Permission to Feel, Marc Brackett teaches essential skills and tools for bringing our best selves forward. The results? Enhanced personal and professional outcomes, and healthier and more engaging workplaces. A must-read for every entrepreneur - and their investors. * Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner GSV AcceleraTE Fund *We often create a false dichotomy between thinking and feeling. In this dichotomy, thinking is important, strong, and adaptive, but feeling is not. Marc Brackett shows us how emotions-and our ability to feel, understand, and use them-are key to fulfilling our potential. * Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and Professor of Psychology, Stanford University *

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Book SynopsisAs featured in The Guardian, How to Raise Kids Who Aren''t Assholes is a clear, actionable, sometimes humorous (but always science-based) guide for parents on how to shape their kids into honest, kind, generous, confident, independent, and resilient people . . . who just might save the world one day.As an award-winning science journalist, Melinda Wenner Moyer was regularly asked to investigate and address all kinds of parenting questions: how to potty train, when and whether to get vaccines, and how to help kids sleep through the night. But as Melinda''s children grew, she found that one huge area was ignored in the realm of parenting advice: how do we make sure our kids don''t grow up to be assholes?On social media, in the news, and from the highest levels of government, kids are increasingly getting the message that being selfish, obnoxious and cruel is okay. Hate crimes among children and teens are rising, while compassion among tTrade ReviewCrucial, timely, and wise. This is the parenting handbook for raising the next generation. * Carla Naumburg, PhD, author of How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t With Your Kids *It's one thing to say you don't want your kid to be an asshole. This book gives you data-driven, research-based tools to actually achieve it. -- Emily Oster, PhD, author of Cribsheet and Expecting BetterMoyer, a science journalist and parenting columnist, decided to go through the research and ended up writing a book with the pleasing title How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes. In the vast realm of parenting advice, there was plenty on diet, sleep and how to turn your child into a superhuman genius, but not a great deal on how to create a kind, compassionate person [...] Moyer's book highlights an uncomfortable truth: that we may have to confront our own asshole-ish tendencies - selfishness, unconscious biases, internalised misogyny, an inability or unwillingness to understand other people's perspectives - before we can expect the same from our children. * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisMovida por la tragedia de Sandy Hook Elementary School, Ferial Pearson se preguntÓ si un simple acto de amabilidad podrÍa cambiar una vida. PensÓ en la escuela donde enseÑaba y en los estudiantes a los que guiaba todos los dÍas y se preguntÓ ¿quÉ pasarÍa si comenzÁramos a realizar pequeÑos actos secretamente de bondad en la escuela? ¿PodrÍa un modesto acto de compasiÓn realmente cambiar el curso de una vida? Ella planteÓ la pregunta a sus estudiantes. No tenÍan las respuestas pero estaban dispuestos a descubrirlas. Y asÍ se convirtieron en los Secret Kindness Agents (Agentes Secretos de Bondad). Aprendieron lo que podrÍa ser la bondad, lo que se siente ser amable con los demÁs sin esperanza de reconocimiento, y los efectos gigantes de sus pequeÑas bondades, no solo en la vida de los demÁs, sino tambiÉn en las suyas. Su esperanza, su corazÓn y su voracidad para la felicidad lo inspirarÁn a cambiar su pequeÑo rincÓn del mundo, a su manera, para lo mejor. Deja que le muestren cÓmo lo hicieron y cÓmo puede hacer lo mismo.Trade Review"In an age where teens are passionately plugged into virtual reality, but tragically tuned out to the world revolving around them, the Secret Kindness Agents prove that it is possible to unplug, reconnect, and spread love and joy. Inspiring and heart-warming, Secret Kindness Agents will leave any reader feeling hopeful."Erin Gruwell, author of The Freedom Writers Diary , on the English-language edition

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Book SynopsisPrincess Marie-Chantal’s must-have parenting resource for the modern age, now fully revised and updated Manners Begin at Breakfast addresses rules of etiquette, including table manners, social media, fashion dos and don’ts, and party conversation. Covering children from infants to teens, it is an essential guide for all parents keen to raise polite, well-rounded children, equipped to thrive in society and develop into confident, successful adults. This updated edition captivates and enlightens, adding new insights on parenting in a post-pandemic world. By popular demand, each chapter is now peppered with delightful anecdotes and personal stories from Marie-Chantal’s experience putting her own advice into practice. Adorned with charming, specially commissioned illustrations and a fresh, updated introduction by leading pediatrician Dr. Perri Klass, Manners Begin at Breakfast is the quintessential guide to propriety for the modern family. The founder of a successful children’s clothing line, author of an influential parenting blog, and mother of five children, Marie-Chantal of Greece is constantly asked how she manages to do it all. So many of these queries—about proper etiquette for children in our fast-paced, technology-centered world—led her to recognize the need for a modern handbook on children’s manners. “Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, knows a thing or two about manners. (Queen Elizabeth II was a guest at her wedding.) But when it came to writing Manners Begin at Breakfast: Modern Etiquette for Families, she leaned on her experiences as a New Yorker, sister, daughter, mother of five, and founder of an incredibly charming children’s line, as much as her decades of navigating royal politesse.” –Goop

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Book SynopsisDr. William Glasser offers a new psychology that, if practiced, could reverse our widespread inability to get along with one another, an inability that is the source of almost all unhappiness. For progress in human relationships, he explains that we must give up the punishing, relationship-destroying external control psychology. For example, if you are in an unhappy relationship right now, he proposes that one or both of you could be using external control psychology on the other. He goes further. And suggests that misery is always related to a current unsatisfying relationship. Contrary to what you may believe, your troubles are always now, never in the past. No one can change what happened yesterday.

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Book SynopsisA Richard and Judy Book club selection.In the summer of 1990, Cathy's brother Matty was knocked down by a car on the way home from a night out. It was two weeks before his GCSE results, which turned out to be the best in his school. Sitting by his unconscious body in hospital, holding his hand and watching his heartbeat on the monitors, Cathy and her parents willed him to survive. They did not know then that there are many and various fates worse than death. This is the story of what happened to Cathy and her brother, and the unimaginable decision that she and her parents had to make eight years after the night that changed everything. It's a story for anyone who has ever watched someone suffer or lost someone they loved or lived through a painful time that left them forever changed. Told with boundless warmth and affection, The Last Act of Love by Cathy Rentzenbrink is a heartbreaking yet uplifting testament to a family's surTrade ReviewBeautiful, devastating and ultimately uplifting, intimate and universal all at once . . . Cathy Rentzenbrink has found a way to express the things that all of us wrestle with at times - knowing how to live and taking the risk to love; facing what has damaged us, and owning it as much as a person can. -- Jessie Burton, bestselling author of The MiniaturistProfoundly moving . . . The book's real power lies in Rentzenbrink's skill as a writer, her ability to unearth precise and agonising details quietly, with no self-pity or drama . . . it falls into a tradition of beautifully written accounts of grief, such as Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking . . . Rentzenbrink offers a message of enormous hope for anybody who is going through loss, grief or trauma . . . She emerges from this unflinching memoir with dignity, strength and an enormous heart * Sunday Times *Devastatingly honest and heartbreakingly raw, The Last Act of Love is not simply a book about grief or love or a family's unstinting hope to do the best for their son and brother. It's a book about courage. About the courage to face reality even at its most bleak. And for all the book's sadness it is, ultimately, a book about hope: about how even the darkest tunnels have a glimmer of light beckoning you at the other end. I defy anyone not to be moved by this remarkable and brave story. -- Hannah Beckerman, author of The Dead Wife's HandbookThis is a brilliant book. Harrowing and heartbreaking, but also warm and human and healing. It is about a rare kind of tragedy, but feels universal, as it is about love and loss and how we learn to live, in the face of what life throws at us. You may well cry, but you will feel better for having read it, which you absolutely must. A triumph of love. -- Matt Haig, author of Reasons To Stay AliveBrilliant. Moving, warm, agonising, unputdownable. One of the best memoirs I've read. -- Sophie Hannah, author of The CarrierThis is a touching and brave book, heartbreaking yet beautiful. -- S J WatsonThis lovely, tender, painful book speaks for anyone who has suffered loss, on a scale from minor to cataclysmic . . . which pretty well means us all. -- Deborah Moggach, author of the Best Exotic Marigold HotelExtraordinary . . . An honest, heartbreaking, uplifting account of family tragedy. Read it. -- Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before YouI never knew a story of grief could have so much joy in it. -- Nina Stibbe, author of Love, NinaThis is not only an unflinching and powerfully told account of an unimaginably painful family tragedy. It is also an unforgettable meditation on a close sibling relationship, on growing up with grief, on life, love and everything in between. I am in awe of how Cathy has managed to write so bravely and beautifully of something so devastating, and forge such a positive affirmation of familial love from such desperately bleak circumstances. * The Bookseller *There are only two ways that this book will be read: devoured in the middle of the night in one sitting, or eked out, only a few pages a day, because the feelings it prompts are simply too intense. Either way, it will both stick with you and have you grabbing the forearm of whoever asks you what to read next intensely, so they know how great this is . . . a gobsmacking memoir about family and love. Truly, it will inspire you to be your very best self for a long time after the final page. * The Debrief *Profoundly moving . . . It is a great achievement to transform such a terrible story - one of a kind with which, as a neurosurgeon, I am painfully familiar - into something rather beautiful and uplifting . . .This book should be read by everybody who has either personal or professional experience of severe head injury and, indeed, by anybody who is concerned by the way our society has such difficulty in accepting that meaningful life is about more than just a beating heart. -- Dr. Henry Marsh * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisFew experiences can compare to the trauma and pain of losing a baby; and the wall of silence that often surrounds that loss can make grieving even harder.Loving You From Here explores the traumatic impact of losing a baby through stillbirth and neonatal death. It features the moving stories of multiple families; some affected recently, some decades ago, but still living with the loss. This book is a practical guide for grieving parents in the grips of tragedy, and those around them who want to be able to offer support. From managing those initial feelings of shock, grief, guilt and anger, this book will also show families how it is possible to grow around that grief and eventually form an enduring bond with their baby.This profound and insightful book will help everyone impacted by the loss of a baby - before, during or after birth - including those who have suffered an early or a late miscarriage and those who have had an ectopic pregnancy, and provides sensitive and reassuring advice on all aspects of loss and bereavement, as well as practical advice on how to find a new normal.This groundbreaking book breaks through the suffocating silence that surrounds the death of a baby and gives a voice to all those affected by baby loss.

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Book Synopsis'Marvellous first aid for couples' Susie Orbach 'Good advice on how to navigate those tricky arguments' Mariella Frostrup If you feel like you have the same arguments with your partner over and over again ... you may be right. And you're not alone: Joanna Harrison believes there are five distinct issues that all couples have to work through if they are going to have a healthy, functioning relationship. Grounded in her experience as a couple therapist, she asks us to think about the difficulties we all have in our relationships - from how we communicate to what roles we take on and much more. Using sound advice and relatable case studies, she offers practical ideas and imaginative ways to think about ourselves and our partners. Kind, funny and rooted in real life, this is expert advice that anyone can use - and that everyone in a relationship needs.Trade ReviewA lightbulb moment -- Rosie Green * The Mail on Sunday *Drills down into the nitty gritty of domestic bliss -- Judith Woods * The Telegraph *Gives us good advice on how to navigate those tricky arguments -- Mariella Frostrup * Times Radio *There's no better way to be supported than to read this life-changing book. -- Rachel Kelly, author of Sunday Times bestseller Black RainbowA visionary book which shows you - in five different eloquent and convincing ways - that you need to break some eggs to create the best kind of relationship -- Kate Weinberg, journalist and author of 'The Truants'Jam packed with insight and wisdom ... I found this book a hugely rich and engaging read. -- Susanna Abse, Senior Fellow of The Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology and author of 'Tell Me the Truth about Love'[Joanna Harrison] knows her stuff! -- Lorraine Candy * Postcards from Midlife Podcast *Joanna Harrison's marvellous First Aid for couples shows how conflicts can become unstuck enough to be understood, accepted and even laughed about, so that each person can continue to develop and grow within their relationship. -- Susie Orbach * Susie Orbach *Like a steady, reliable friend, Five Arguments guides us through critical conversations about making love last I'm painfully divorced, but if I'd read and heeded Harrison's sage advice, I don't think I would be. -- Matthew Fray, author of 'This is How Your Marriage Ends'If I've learned anything from this book - it's that it's good to lean into arguments a little bit. -- Tim Dowling * Guardian *Vital * Irish Independent *Drawing from a number of case studies and her experience as a couples therapist, Joanna Harrison delivers an eye-opening, warm-hearted and immensely practicable read on five key issues that all couples have to work through to achieve a well-functioning relationship * Waterstones *It wouldn't be a disaster to give this to your partner; in fact, it might prevent future clashes. Couples therapist Harrison is direct and practical about how to be contentedly married, in spite of the individual differences * Welldoing Gifting Guide *This is a helpful book that gives a fascinating insight into the couple relationship and how we fall down familiar, predictable holes, with equally fascinating and helpful ways we can learn to look at them with new eyes and thereby find new and improved outcomes -- Julia Samuel, bestselling author of Every Family Has a Story * Julia Samuel *Arguing is good for your relationship. I get more worried when couples say we never argue. So I applaud Harrison for normalising arguments, teaching skills, offering up ideas for reflection and sharing what worked for her clients. Practical, compassionate and thought provoking -- Andrew G Marshall, Marital Therapist, author of 'I love you but I'm not in love with you' and host of 'The Meaningful Life' podcastA wise and hopeful guide to the true work of love, and why it's worth the effort. [Five Arguments] is a revelatory look at what pulls us together and pushes us apart ... every couple will find something useful in its pages -- Natasha Lunn, author of 'Conversations on Love'- -- -This book is jam packed with insight and wisdom. Joanna Harrison encourages the most important thing for better relationships -reflection and curiosity. Easy to navigate and divided into key themes such as Sex, Parenting and Communication, I found this book a hugely rich and engaging read. -- Susanna Abse, Senior Fellow of The Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology and author of 'Tell Me the Truth about Love'Joanna Harrison leverages her expertise as a relationship therapist and former divorce lawyer to outline the five biggest problem areas in romantic couples' lives, and like a steady, reliable friend, guides us through each of them. Effective conversations about how we communicate, our families of origin, sharing domestic responsibilities including parenting, as well as sex and intimacy are all critical to making love last. As many know, I'm divorced. Painfully. But if I'd read and heeded Harrison's sage advice about how to discuss what actually matters in marriage and relationships? I don't think I would be. -- Matthew Fray, author of "This is How Your Marriage Ends"'Harrison presents her insights with gentleness, wisdom and plenty of examples from real life - as well as delicious flashes of humour. There's no better way to be supported than to read this life-changing book' -- Rachel Kelly, author of Sunday Times bestseller Black Rainbow

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Book SynopsisA riveting collection of short stories by the French feminist Marie-Louise Gagneur. Much acclaimed amongst her contemporaries and yet all but forgotten today, Marie-Louise Gagneur was a defining voice in French feminism. These stories, translated into English for the first time, critique the restrictions of late nineteenth-century society and explore the ways in which both men and women are hurt by rigid attitudes towards marriage. In An Atonement, the Count de Montbarrey awakes one morning to find his wife dead, leaving him free to marry the woman he really loves. Could the Count have accidentally killed his wife? And how can he atone for his crime? Three Rival Sisters tells the story of the rivalry between Henriette, Renee and Gabrielle as they compete for the affections of one man. But marriage does not necessarily guarantee happiness, as the sisters are about to find out. Steeped in wit, empathy and biting social criticism, and with echoes of Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin, the stories show Gagneur to be worthy of renewed attention.Trade Review'A lively voice ... decidedly feminist for its time ... An extremely interesting discovery' Ricochet

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This new, updated edition of After the Affair is a must for anyone going through an affair, recovering from betrayal, or working with a couple who needs advice. If you want your relationship to book, buy this book. Her wisdom applies to all of us.” — Tammy Nelson, Ph.D., author of When You’re the One Who Cheats “Dr. Spring possesses a remarkable combination of clarity, wisdom, spirit, and heart. This is an extremely helpful and healing book—a gift to us all.” — Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger “The most comprehensive and balanced book I have ever read on the subject. It is” — Dr. Harville Hendrix “After the Affair is a wonderful guide for couples who want to reconstruct their relationship after one partner has been unfaithful. In clear, sparkling prose, Dr. Spring explains the sources of infidelity and offers sound, sensible guidelines for mending the relationship.” — Aaron Beck, M.D., founder of Cognitive Therapy and author of Love Is Never Enough “For married or cohabitating couples who want to rebuild their relationship after one partner has had an affair, this tough-minded, insightful manual will be eminently practical…This wise book fills a gap on the self-help shelf.” — Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisWhat makes a family happy? Why do some marriages ''succeed'' and others end in divorce? How can we free ourselves from the legacy of past mistakes and bring about positive change? Love, sex and marriage and parenthood, depression and sadness, independence and experience are just a few of the many issues explored in conversation by family therapist Robin Skynner and his former patient and comedian, John Cleese. Guiding us through the daily issues that confront us all, FAMILIES AND HOW TO SURVIVE THEM offers vital advice in helping each of us to maintain a happy, healthy family life. Looking candidly at everything from our relationships with our parents to why and how we choose our partners, no emotional stone is left unturned: jealousy, rage, fear, envy, love, obsession, hope and despair - all are featured-with practical advice on how to turn round a negative situation and bring about change for the better.

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Book SynopsisJohn Burnside was among the most acclaimed writers of his generation. His novels, short stories, poetry and memoirs won numerous awards, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial, Saltire Scottish Book of the Year and, in 2023, he received the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in literature. In 2011 Black Cat Bone won both the Forward and the T.S. Eliot Prizes for poetry.Trade ReviewCompelling and profoundly moving... This exquisitely written memoir is, literally, a journey into a heart of darkness - a darkness here lit up by beauty and truth * Independent *An exceptional book... A brilliant feat of sympathy and imagination * Financial Times *Burnside's prose is a delight...Memoir this good illuminates something larger than itself. It is an exercise in understanding compassion and forgiveness -- Melanie McGrath * Sunday Telegraph *[An] exquisitely written memoir -- Paul Bailey * Sunday Times *Destined to become a classic of Scots childhood... A beautiful read, but also a brutal one * Scotland on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisGabrielle Hamilton is the chef/owner of Prune restaurant in New York's East Village. She received an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Michigan, and her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, GQ, Bon Appétit, Saveur and Food & Wine. She has also authored the eight-week 'The Chef' column in the New York Times, and her work has been anthologized in six volumes of Best Food Writing. She has appeared on Martha Stewart and the Food Network, among other TV shows. She currently lives in Manhattan with her two sons.Trade ReviewMagnificent... Blood, Bones & Butter is the work of an uncompromising chef and a prodigiously talented writer. I am choked with envy -- Anthony BourdainMy favourite book of the past few years, a thrilling and visceral personal memoir * Financial Times *A rhapsodic, profane, wonderful, imperfect memoir... every bit as rich and satisfying as the marrow bones the author roasts at Prune * Wall Street Journal *The food memoir of the year * Guardian *Evocative... Dazzling... Beautifully written * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisAlison Bechdel is the author of the bestselling memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, which was named a Best Book of the Year by Time, Entertainment Weekly, the New York Times and People, among others. For twenty-five years, she wrote and drew the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, a visual chronicle of modern life - queer and otherwise - considered 'one of the pre-eminent oeuvres in the comics genre.' Alison Bechdel is guest editor of Best American Comics, 2011, and has drawn comics for Slate, McSweeney's, Entertainment Weekly, Granta, and the New York Times Book Review.http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/Trade ReviewSo much more than a comic strip... No one comes close to Alison Bechdel * The Times *This compendium is testament to a unique literary-graphic talent * The Times *For 25 years Bechdel's path-breaking Dykes to Watch Out For comic strip has been collected in award-winning volumes. Now, at last, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For gathers an irresistible selection from all 11 volumes * Chicago Tribune *Ms. Bechdel began her strips... partly to provide ''an antidote'' to culture's image of gay women as ''warped, sick, humorless and undesirable.'' Boy, has she succeeded. Her crazy lesbians seem saner than the rest of us, and beyond beautiful * The New York Times *The greatest lesbian soap opera... is Bechdels miraculously well-sustained chronicling of a circle of friends over the course of 20 years, Dykes to Watch Out For * Booklist *

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Book SynopsisSummer is the fourth volume of the Seasons quartet, a collection of short prose and diaries written by a father for his youngest daughter, with stunning artwork by Anselm Kiefer.'Knausgaard unearths the mysteries of the commonplace' Observer In Summer, Karl Ove Knausgaard writes about long days full of sunlight, eating ice cream with his children, lawn sprinklers and ladybirds. He experiments with the beginnings of a novel and keeps a diary in which the small events of his family's life are recorded. Against a canvas of memories, longings, and experiences of art and literature, he searches for the meaning of moments as they pass us by.'Wondrous... There are blissful glimpses of nature's mystery and balance' Financial TimesTrade Review[Knausgaard is] endlessly curious about the world… [and] his perceptions of it are so particular. * Observer *[Knausgaard] brings it all alive in his prose, makes it shimmer. Whether intellectually parsing for meaning or playing this existential video game of political turmoil, horror, and heartache, his writing flows easily from quiet, thoughtful engagement to ecstatic communion with the world… He may be done with this quartet, the My Struggle series, and autofiction altogether, but I still want more of it. That kind of passionate literary intimacy is rare. * Los Angeles Review of Books *Engrossing… Knausgaard’s prose evokes universal themes from intimate specifics. * Publishers Weekly *Knausgaard closes his quartet of autobiographical meditations on the seasons in an appropriately verdant and optimistic fashion. . . While interrogating the nature of storytelling, he’s priming readers for a powerful, straightforward yarn. Breezy reading that’s also a commentary on breezy reading. Some trick. * Kirkus *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“Bethany Webster is a true cheerleader for women embarking on the long, harrowing journey of birthing their authentic self. A helpful guide for recovering Good Girls laboring to do the heroic work of healing the Mother Wound.” — Jasmin Lee Cori, MS, LPC, author of The Emotionally Absent Mother “With soulfulness and grace, Bethany Webster encourages women to break the intergenerational ties that bind daughters to patriarchal mothers who could not and did not mother them positively, and who may feel betrayed or become enraged as their daughter dares to become her own self.” — Phyllis Chesler, author of Women and Madness and A Politically Incorrect Feminist “Webster has created a comprehensive mapping of the toxic mother-daughter dynamic, its shaping of the daughter’s ‘script,’ and how the daughter may rescue her journey and outgrow the limitations of her childhood experience by accessing her own ‘Inner Mother.’ This book is most insightful and urgently needed.” — James Hollis, Ph.D., Jungian analyst, and author of Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times "This book is essential for mothers who struggle to understand their own pain and for daughters who need to finally break free of the projections of their own wounded mothers. Bethany’s work has helped my own inner child to feel more deeply understood." — Lisa A. Romano, codependency recovery life coach "This has to be one of the most impactful, sincere, and enlightening books I have ever read." — Leslie Arreola-Hillenbrand, founder, Latinx Parenting "Disentangling ourselves from the traumas of patriarchy can paradoxically involve separating from mothers who bequeathed to us toxic resentments, frustrations and limitations, and dysfunctional survival mechanisms. Bethany Webster explores with nuance and sensitivity how we can free ourselves to become who we really are." — Perdita Finn, co-author (with Clark Strand) of The Way of the Rose “Discovering the Inner Mother is a powerful contribution to women’s leadership at a crucial historic moment.” — Ophira Edut, CEO and founder, Astrostyle, and author of Body Outlaws “Discovering the Inner Mother is smart, thoughtful and serves not only as a map on how to unpack and disrupt cycles of dysfunction, but it gives daughters a way to reframe the disappointments we’ve watched our mothers haul around on their backs for years and in turn, the gift of true compassion for us all. I loved Bethany Webster’s book.” — Chely Wright, songwriter, musician, and author of Like Me “Webster candidly shares her own transformative journey and offers questions for reflection and exercises to allow readers to better come to terms with their past… Those with estranged or difficult relationships with their mothers will find affirmation. ” — Library Journal

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Book SynopsisFrom Genevieve Howland, creator of the Mama Natural blog and YouTube channel, comes a ?must-read, comprehensive guide that empowers moms-to-be? (Vani Hari, New York Times bestselling author) with week-by-week support to natural pregnancy.For the last half-century, doctors have controlled childbirth. Many pregnancy guidebooks are conventional, fear-based, and written by male physicians deeply entrenched in the old-school medical model of birth. But change is underway. Women are taking back their pregnancy and childbirth and embracing a natural way. Now, Genevieve Howland, the woman behind the enormously popular Mama Natural blog and YouTube channel, has created an inspiring, fun, and informative guide that demystifies natural pregnancy and walks moms through the process one week at a time. In this revised and updated edition, Howland includes the latest research and weekly advice and tips for a healthy pregnancy, detailing vital nutrition information, natural remedies for common and troublesome symptoms, as well as the appropriate (and inappropriate) use of interventions. Peppered throughout are positive birth and pregnancy stories from women of all backgrounds along with insights from experts including registered nurses, certified midwives, doulas, and lactation consultants. Encouraging, well-researched, and fun, The Mama Natural?s Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth is an essential companion for women everywhere to embrace natural pregnancy and reap all the benefits for both baby and mama.

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Book SynopsisA sharp, fresh satire for the ruthless modern world - for fans of Dave Eggers, Ben Lerner and Gary Shtenygart''Mohsin Hamid is one of the best writers in the world, period. Only a master could have written this propulsive tale of a striver living on the knife''s edge, a noir Horatio Alger story for our frenetic, violent times'' Ben FountainThis book is a self-help book. Its objective, as it says on the cover, is to show you how to get filthy rich in rising Asia. And to do that it has to find you, huddled, shivering, on the packed earth under your mother''s cot one cold, dewy morning. Your anguish is the anguish of a boy whose chocolate has been thrown away, whose remote controls are out of batteries, whose scooter is busted, whose new sneakers have been stolen. This is all the more remarkable since you''ve never in your life seen any of these things . . .''Even more intriguing, compelling and moving than The Reluctant Fundamentalist. A marvelTrade ReviewDazzling, addictive, tremendous. A writer at the height of his powers with a hell of a story to tell * Guardian *Beautifully conceived and exquisitely executed * Sunday Times *The new voice of a changing continent. A writer at the top of his game * Metro *No story could be more of our time than this one. Conceptually brilliant and truly empathic -- Nell Freudenberger * Metro *An ultra-intelligent and knowing account of life in the developing world. Simply brilliant * Daily Mail *Isn't this the definition of great fiction, that even when it begins with a character . . . who's nothing like you, by the end you are convinced that it really is about you? That's a kind of miracle * Salon *Even more intriguing, compelling and moving than The Reluctant Fundamentalist. A marvellous book * Philip Pullman *A dazzling stylistic tour de force; a love story disguised as a self help parody freighted with sly social satire. As timely and timeless a novel as I've read in years -- Jay McInerney

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Book SynopsisThe order in which we are born has a powerful, far-reaching influence on the way we interact with others--at home, at work, with friends, and in the public square. Dr. Kevin Leman''s classic book on birth order is getting a new look, bringing his engaging, fascinating, and often funny observations to a new audience. With insight and wit, Dr. Leman shows readers how birth order affects personality, marriage and relationships, parenting style, career, and children. Anyone who wants to gain understanding about the ways they interact with others--and even overcome ingrained tendencies they never thought they''d be rid of--will love Dr. Leman''s insightful book.

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Book SynopsisRupi Kaur's Writing Prompts Relationships card deck is an invitation to dive deeper into the core of your most cherished relationships.Rupi Kaur encourages you to build more honest and fulfilling relationships with help from this thoughtfully curated deck of 70 writing prompts. While focusing on the theme of relationships, use this card deck as a part of your daily ritual to inspire connection and creativity. Examples of the prompts include: How do you want to receive and give love in a romantic relationship? Describe a time you let jealousy get the best of you. How did your family influence your definition of love? How would you end a toxic friendship? We hope it becomes a tool for you to continue discovering more about your inner and outer worlds, and a light to help navigate you through it all.

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Book SynopsisBuild healthy boundaries, manage difficult relationships, and live a happy life in accordance with your personal values with this unique, activity-based supplement to start or support your therapy practice.Setting boundaries can be tough—you don’t want to disappoint other people, but you also don’t want to be stuck in a situation that makes you uncomfortable or unhappy. The good news is that setting healthy boundaries is really a good thing that can make you happier and strengthen those relationships you were so worried about. So how do you get started? Setting boundaries is an important skill, and the only way to get better is by practicing. In this book, you’ll find 100 activities that will help you become better at setting boundaries. Dive into activities that will get you thinking about and practicing those boundaries that are most important to you. You’ll learn: -How to find your boundary-setting role model to encourage you in those tough moments -How to consider your authentic schedule…and then how to give up on tasks and activities that don’t match your values to set boundaries around your personal time -How to develop authentic holiday celebrations while navigating complicated family situations -How to say no gently -And much more! Whether you’re a recovering people pleaser or want to build new boundaries that match other changes in your life, these activities will give you the tools you need to get started. Boundaries are healthy, important, and even necessary to create the life you want—so start building your happier life today!

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Book Synopsis''My favourite Instagram account in the world'' DR RANGAN CHATTERJEEAre you ready to meet your Self?In recent years, Dr Nicole LePera has become the leading voice in psychological self-healing, helping millions of people around the world rise out of survival mode to consciously create authentic lives they love. In her first book, How to Do the Work, Dr Nicole offered readers a revolutionary holistic framework for self-healing. Now, in How to Meet Your Self, she shares an interactive workbook designed to help every reader uncover their authentic self. We all fall into conditioned habits and patterns - products of our past - that lead to cycles of stuckness, pain, and self-destruction. But as Dr. Nicole shares, we also have the innate ability to awaken to and change the behaviours that no longer serve us, allowing us to step into the highest versions of ourselves. By objectively and compassionately observing the physical, mental, and

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Book SynopsisA beautiful, funny and moving diary about trying to heal a broken marriage, overcome a mental health crisis and deal with a large marrow.

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Book SynopsisYou are chosen, loved, prized, wanted, and believed in by a perfect Father. In Seeing God as a Perfect Father, Louie Giglio invites us to experience God in a life-changing way: as a perfect Father who wants you to live under the waterfall of His blessing.How you view God informs everything about who you are and who you''re becoming. In this updated and retitled edition of the national bestseller Not Forsaken, Louie Giglio challenges our common perceptions of who God is and points us to know Him as a heavenly Father who is not absent or ambivalent but is available and ready to embrace us with His approval and blessing.Seeing God as a Perfect Father invites you to: see that God is the perfection of your earthly father, not a reflection of him discover how to walk in the freedom of your identity as a loved child, uniquely created by God break the chains of generational patt

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Book SynopsisA beautifully designed love and relationship guide that empowers you to consistently make the perfect choices in matters of the heart in a fun and interactive way.

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Book SynopsisAs used by Prince William himself, here's the basic training manual for fatherhood recruits!Attention! In your hand is an indispensable training manual for new recruits to fatherhood. Written by ex-Commando and dad of three Neil Sinclair, this manual will teach you, in no-nonsense terms, all the practical skills you need to be a top-ranking parent.Packed with easy-to-follow advice and Commando Dad Top Tips, this book will teach you how to be the ultimate protector to your newest recruit. As any Commando Dad knows, with the right preparation and planning, anyone can parent with military precision.In less time than it takes to shine your boots, learn how to:- Survive the first 24 hours- Prepare and Plan to Prevent Poor Parental Performance- Maintain morale in the ranks- Establish standing orders and implement daily routines- Feed, clothe and entertain your troops- Transport the troops successfully on manoeuvres- Pack a survival kit for everything from light missions to long-term deployments- Recognize common trooper ailments- Keep base camp tidy and square away tasks along the wayAnd much, much more.Let training commence!Trade ReviewA must-have for new dads * MADE Magazine *A no-nonsense guide to being an elite dad or carer, from birth to three years - great package. * The Bookseller *brilliant book * The Daily Telegraph *Neil Sinclair experienced many life and death situations during his six years as an Army Commando. But forget tracking drug traffickers through the jungles of Belize or clearing mines in Iraq while dodging sniper fire - the most daunting thing the dad of three has ever faced is bringing his newborn son, Samuel, home from hospital * Baby & Me Magazine *one of the best parenting books I've ever read * Lorraine Kelly *The advice, approved by healthcare professionals, is quick to read, easy to understand and simple to digest, delivered in short, unambiguous bullet points and, no-nonsense rules - and, pretty unarguably, spot on. * The Guardian - Jon Henley *

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Book SynopsisThis beautifully illustrated and colourful journal collates everything you need to host the best Christmas all in one place. Designed to guide you to be super organised, to help make sure the Christmas holiday season runs smoothly. This planner is divided into sections that help you to plan the festivities and helping you to find time to relax and enjoy yourself. The sections include: * Cards sent and received * Gifts to buy * Shopping lists * A Christmas diary / overview * Daily meal planner * Pages for favourite recipes * Christmas reflections A wonderful gift or self purchase, the Christmas Planner is all that is needed to ensure that Christmas is organised and stress free.

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Book SynopsisA toolkit for parents shares success stories and day-to-day exercises for improving parenting skills centered on positive, creative cooperation and fostering self-discipline in children of any age. Original.

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Book SynopsisUsing real stories, expert opinion, politics, psychology and the author’s own insights, Forgiveness explores the messy, complex and gripping subject of forgiveness. 'Cantacuzino's gift for empathy shines through her conversations... She tackles her complex [message] with clear prose and an open heart... This nuance feels like a cool breeze in a heatwave. If there is a message here, it's to listen more, think more and preach less'Sunday Times  ‘This is an utterly memorable book – beautifully written, fascinating in its insights, and extraordinarily moving. We all need to forgive, and this book, through its recounting of the stories of people who have something really significant to forgive, will be an inspiration to help us reach a state of forgiveness. This is a book that will stay with the reader for a very long time’Alexander McCall SmithTrade Review‘There have been few more appropriate and vital moments for this fascinating book to emerge than now as we bear witness to so many acts requiring forgiveness – the complexity of the practice of forgiveness, its meanings, its measure as a force for change are all here – and most of all, its power to prevent the repetition of the worst in our human behaviour and the possibility of finding freedom from hatred’ -- Emma Thompson'Cantacuzino's gift for empathy shines... A clear message, she suggests, is not possible without dangerous oversimplification. She tackles her complex one with clear prose and an open heart... This nuance feels like a cool breeze in a heatwave. If there is a message here, it's to listen more, think more and preach less' * Sunday Times *Tender, valuable, and often beautiful, Forgiveness shows how we can get tangled up in hate, and how we might cut ourselves free. -- Gavin Francis‘This is an utterly memorable book – beautifully written, fascinating in its insights, and extraordinarily moving. We all need to forgive, and this book, through its recounting of the stories of people who have something really significant to forgive, will be an inspiration to help us reach a state of forgiveness. This is a book that will stay with the reader for a very long time’ -- Alexander McCall Smith‘A wise and generous investigation of one of life’s most difficult but necessary experiences’ -- Richard Holloway‘This important book will speak to anyone who has ever suffered harm, or caused harm to others; which is all of us. The work is unflinching in its honesty and emphasis on forgiveness as a process that cannot be imposed; but it is also immensely hopeful as it invites us to see the possibilities of forgiveness as a human stance that offers hope and freedom from hatred. Anyone with a serious interest in human cruelty and suffering should read this book; it will stretch your mind’ -- Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know‘This reassuring and uplifting book testifies to the truth of forgiveness . . . Both provocative and full of hope’ -- Jon Snow‘A profoundly moving and important book’ -- Professor Anthony Costello‘It is absolutely remarkable how Marina Cantacuzino navigates the vast and complex terrain of forgiveness with such sensitivity, honesty and insight. By skilfully drawing together the threads of personal stories with their infinite nuance and seeming contradictions, she enables and inspires her readers to explore the option of forgiveness within their own lives. I cannot think of a more relevant subject for these challenging times in which humanity’s needs for hope, love and renewal seem stronger than ever’ -- Angela Findlay, author of In My Grandfather’s Shadow‘This is a book of compelling stories, beautifully told, illustrating the myriad aspects of forgiveness. What it is not is a self-help “how to forgive” manual. Rather it is something more subtle, gentle and ultimately more inspiring. It invites each of us to delve deep and investigate the contours of forgiveness in our own minds. The result is a revelatory read – one that might even be life-changing’ -- Rachel Kelly, mental health advocate and author of Sunday Times bestseller Black Rainbow‘This book is so profoundly for the current moment that I encourage you to read it without delay. What is forgiveness? Impossible yet necessary; difficult yet obvious; painful yet alive with promise. Compelling, convincing and compassionate, this book will make you to examine your relationship with yourself, with others, and with the world. A work as beautiful as it is important’ -- Tessa McWatt, author of Shame on Me‘This book is a beautiful tour de force about a very hard subject — an important read for everyone who has wrestled with forgiving, being forgiven, or both’ -- Sally Kohn, activist and author of The Opposite Of Hate: A Field Guide To Repairing Our Humanity‘What marks Marina Cantacuzino’s book on forgiveness is that it is an enquiry rather than a persuasion. With journalistic skill, she observes, questions and considers stories; offering insights, but never prescribing. She amplifies stories we never want to hear, but desperately need to hear, offering wisdom from a human tradition that is as embodied as it is enduring: how to survive what we think is unsurvivable. I’ve followed her work for years, and this brilliant book is a remarkable exploration of her decades-long fascination with Forgiveness, its complications and its gifts’ -- Pádraig Ó Tuama‘Not only is this book exceptional for its human interest and accessibility, it is full of profound insights into the complexity of forgiveness and its wide range of meanings, problems and benefits. Every page exudes the empathy-filled curiosity that has characterized Marina’s exploration of forgiveness over the last two decades. Few will be able to read it without catching some of the empathy or sharing the curiosity, and no one will read it without becoming a little wiser and more humane’ -- The Reverend Dr Stephen Cherry, Dean, King’s College, Cambridge‘A book of true beauty. A powerful reminder of how forgiveness can transform lives and restore hope. Important, moving and profoundly humane’ -- Francesca Martinez'Profound, spellbinding and deeply moving. Essential reading for anyone wanting to deepen their understanding of what it is to be human. Cantacuzino is a consummate storyteller weaving gold from the stories of those who’ve taken the courageous messy journey to the freedom that forgiveness ultimately yields. Inspiring, compelling and superbly written, I couldn't put it down’ -- Jennifer Nadel, author, broadcaster, campaigner and co-founder Compassion in Politics‘Marina Cantacuzino is a passionate advocate of the value of forgiveness. In this highly readable book she explores how individuals achieve forgiveness and how it can break the cycle of hate, revenge and retaliation, and how it can transform the lives of both the perpetrator and the victim or their loved ones.’ -- Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, Cambridge University and author of Zero Degrees of Empathy‘Forgiveness is a profoundly thought-provoking and beautifully written book. Cantacuzino leads us through stories of pain and stories of forgiveness with such a light footstep and so much nuanced reflection. She is never dogmatic; never moralises, never tells us what ought to be done, but creates a work in which we examine our own stance and feelings about the role of forgiveness in life. A wonderful, heart-breaking, elevating read’ -- Bea Setton, author of Berlin

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Book SynopsisA fresh new look brings this parenting classic up-to-date for a new generation of mothers and mothers-to-be. Taking an irreverent and humorous look at the trials and tribulations of motherhood, Radio 4's Libby Purves has created an invaluable survival guide so that even the most unpromising madonna can cope with the baby years.This is a parenting book with a difference- rather than a serious tome laying down the law, Libby Purves' lighthearted book shamelessly describes how to cut the corners and bend the rules that never mattered much anyway. Forget the other parenting books that hide the real truth- this is the true battle manual for mothers on the front line!This timeless guide to coping with motherhood has been revised, bringing it up-to-date for a whole new generation of mothers and mothers-to-be.Based on Libby Purves' own experience of domestic havoc with two babies and on the wit and wisdom of fifty like-minded mothers, this motherhood companion guide is full of down-to-earth tiTrade Review‘This book is a great antidote to the prevailing tendency to make a science of everything, even the most natural things, like raising children. Libby Purves has faith in people. As you read her book, your faith in yourself comes flooding back.’ Amazon reader, 2002

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Book SynopsisAn updated edition of the perfect do-it-yourself memoir that helps you record and preserve the experiences and knowledge of a lifetime for years to come.Divided into Early, Middle, and Later Years, this keepsake volume contains 201 questions that guide you through the process of keeping memories on subjects such as family and friends, learning and education, work and responsibilities, and the world around you. Created by a grandson and grandfather, The Book of Myself is the perfect way for you, or someone close to you, to remember the turning points and everyday recollections of a lifetime and share them with future generations.The new edition has been updated with reordered questions to start with more objective, easy-to-answer prompts, then move to reflective queries, followed by deeper interpretive questions. It also includes aunts, uncles, and those who did not have children.

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

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Book SynopsisThe PERFECT GIFT for that special grandparent you know so well and love with all your heart but whom you haven''t got a clue what to get her for a present. Not a bloody clue._______________________________________Grandparents are versatile. They are babysitters, weather forecasters, mother''s helpers, sweet collectors, child-minders, knitwear suppliers, au pairs, curators of G-plan furniture and providers of day-care for the under twelves.Retirement is an exhausting job._______________________________________Grandparents spend a lot of time in the garden making everything tidy and pretty, so they have something tidy and pretty to look at while they are doing the gardening_______________________________________ This delightful book is part of the Ladybird series specially planned to help grown-ups with the world about them. The large clear script, the careful choice of words, the frequent repetition and the thoug

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Book SynopsisThe one where I became a mother... Charlotte Crosby is a woman of many talents - reality TV star, CBB winner, businesswoman extraordinaire, social media queen, star of the BBC's Charlotte in Sunderland - and now a MAM ! Since her number 1 Sunday Times bestseller Brand New Me, she has travelled the world, started a new family business, met the love of her life, supported her mum through breast cancer, suffered the loss of her beloved Nana Jean, and had baby daughter Alba, her perfect bundle of joy. In Me, Myself and Mini Me, Charlotte talks us through the rollercoaster of these last few years and opens up about the realities of pregnancy and parenthood, with her trademark warmth and humour. Packed full of heartfelt poems, flashbacks to hysterical life plans from years gone by, and touching letters to her younger self, Charlotte invites you to join her for the latest chapter of life in Crosby Manor.

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Book Synopsis... And we''re back!Dads, we see you. In a perpetual state of Dad Mode, juggling work, family, an inexplicable desire to nap on the couch, and the sad notion that you''ve run out of corny jokes that seem to leave only you in stitches. But you couldn''t be more wrong. The Little Book of Epic Dad Jokes is a rib-tickling collection of the laugh-out-loud humour (otherwise known as the timeless art of dad jokes) that you''ve been waiting for. From classic one-liners to clever puns, this little book is packed with jokes that are guaranteed to make you chuckle (or groan) even more than last time. With more than 175 side-splitting jokes contained in this pocket-sized tome, this little book is powerfully packed with wholesome fatherly humour that will have Dads embracing their role as the king of jokes (even if it''s as cheesy as a slice of extra-large pizza).

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