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Slap bang in the middle of the coldest Friday of the coldest week of the year, the central heating breaks down at Melton Mowbray Zoo. The system needs a new flange but flanges can't be obtained on Fridays in Melton Mowbray, so Mr Pickles the head keeper asks all the other keepers to take the animal they are in charge of home for the weekend. The results range from disastrous to successful: when the penguin (who 'always hankered after the good life') decides to eat his tea in Mr Pumbles' bed, and the lion succeeds in scaring off Mr Leaf's mother-in-law to such an extent that she doesn't come back to lunch for three years...

The first of Shakespeare's four plays about the Wars of the Roses, dramatizing the rivalry between power-hungry noble houses, divided by grievances inherited from the past. This Penguin Shakespeare edition is edited by Norman Sanders with an introduction by Jane Kingsley-Smith.'Send between the red rose and the whiteA thousand souls to death and deadly night'After the death of Henry V, the French revolt and threaten to reclaim their country from English rule. Guided by his Lord Protector, the young King Henry VI journeys to Paris to reaffirm his rule over France. But while the British battle Joan of Arc abroad, discontent is also breeding at home between the two ancient Houses of York and Lancaster.This book contains a general introduction to Shakespeare's life and Elizabethan theatre, a separate introduction to the play, a chronology, suggestions for further reading, an essay by Rebecca Brown discussing performance options on both stage and screen, and a commentary.Shakespeare's first tetralogy, about the Wars of the Roses, is continued by Henry VI, Parts II and III, and Richard III, all available in Penguin Classics.

The sweet scents of rural life infuse Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life, a collection of Roald Dahl's country stories - but there is always something unexpected lurking in the undergrowth . . .Whether it is taking a troublesome cow to be mated with a prime bull; dealing with a rat-infested hayrick; learning the ways and means of maggot farming; or describing the fine art of poaching pheasants using nothing but raisins and sleeping pills, Roald Dahl brings his stories of everyday country folk and their strange passions wonderfully to life. Lacing each tale with dollops of humour and adding a sprinking of the sinister, Dahl ensures that this collection is brimful of the sweet mysteries of life.'A sophisticated account of village life. The rural characters are moulded by Dahl's dark, inquisitive imagination. Compelling and very funny' Time Out'Roald Dahl is one of the few writers I know whose work can accurately be described as addictive' Irish TimesRoald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.

Creative Lives and Works: Frank Kermode, George Steiner, Gillian Beer and Christopher Ricks is a collection of interviews conducted by one of England’s leading social anthropologists and historians, Professor Alan Macfarlane. Filmed over a period of 40 years, the four conversations in this volume, are part of a larger set of interviews that cut across various disciplines, from the social sciences, the sciences and to even the performing and visual arts. The current volume on four of England’s foremost literary critics is the first in the series of several such books. Sir Frank Kermode, in James S. Shapiro’s (Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University who specializes in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period) words is, ‘the best living reader of Shakespeare anywhere, hands down’, George Steiner, in an article in The Guardian is described as a ‘polyglot and polymath’, Gillian Beer is quoted in The Guardian as saying, ‘I am historical remnant of free education: I was carried through by the state’, and W.H. Auden, one of the greatest 20th century poets, described Sir Christopher Ricks as ‘exactly the kind of critic every poet dreams of finding’. Immensely riveting as conversations, this collection takes one into the exciting world of literary criticism. The book will be of enormous value to those interested in Literature, History and Culture Studies.Please note: This title is co-published with Social Science Press, New Delhi. Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

How does it feel to live and work in the world's most beautiful and luxurious tropical island resort, surrounded by white sandy beaches and aquamarine seas? How does it feel to be in the lap of luxury when you're thousands of miles from anywhere else? And when the guests are some of the richest and most demanding people in the world, where do you find the energy every day to smile, smile and smile again? Beach Babylon takes you behind the scenes at a five-star tropical island resort. Do all the stories which take place behind the closed doors of the exclusive spa have happy endings? What do the world's richest people expect from room service during their fortnight in paradise? What does the windsurfing instructor do to keep sane after hours?In the bestselling tradition of her previous Babylon books, Imogen Edwards-Jones investigates the rivalries and alliances between the staff at a resort where pandering to the guests' most extravagant whims is de rigueur. With a cast of millionaires, celebrities, hangers-on and prostitutes, Beach Babylon takes you to a world where extreme luxury is the norm and where excess somehow isn't always enough...

In Quest of the Hero makes available for a new generation of readers two key works on hero myths: Otto Rank's Myth of the Birth of the Hero and the central section of Lord Raglan's The Hero. Amplifying these is Alan Dundes's fascinating contemporary inquiry, "The Hero Pattern and the Life of Jesus." Examined here are the patterns found in the lore surrounding historical or legendary figures like Gilgamesh, Moses, David, Oedipus, Odysseus, Perseus, Heracles, Aeneas, Romulus, Siegfried, Lohengrin, Arthur, and Buddha. Rank's monograph remains the classic application of Freudian theory to hero myths. In The Hero the noted English ethnologist Raglan singles out the myth-ritualist pattern in James Frazer's many-sided Golden Bough and applies that pattern to hero myths. Dundes, the eminent folklorist at the University of California at Berkeley, applies the theories of Rank, Raglan, and others to the case of Jesus. In his introduction to this selection from Rank, Raglan, and Dundes, Robert Segal, author of the major study of Joseph Campbell, charts the history of theorizing about hero myths and compares the approaches of Rank, Raglan, Dundes, and Campbell.

Seldom in history has there been a city with a more sordid reputation than Edinburgh. Beneath the surface respectability of the jewel in the Scottish crown lies a warren of filth-ridden alleys and stairs where thieves, murderers and ghouls of every description planned and carried out their foul deeds. In this book we meet them all. Major Weir, the devil-worshipping black magician and his wicked sister Grizel; Captain Porteous, the corrupt official who inspired the population to mob justice; Jessie King, the notorious Stockbridge baby farmer; wife poisoner Eugene Chantrelle; Deacon Brodie, the inspiration behind Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; and of course, worst of all, Mr Burke and Mr Hare, who plied their swift trade in corpses for the dissection table of Dr Knox.

The Sunday Times Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2025A Sunday Times, Irish Times, Financial Times, Independent, Daily Mail, TLS, Economist, Prospect, Evening Standard and New Statesman Book of the Year 2024*The perfect Christmas gift for booklovers*'A MARVEL' PHILIP PULLMANThe stories we read as children matter a great deal. The best ones are indelible in our memories; reaching far beyond our childhoods, they are a window into our deepest hopes, joys and anxieties. They reveal our past – collective and individual, remembered and imagined – and invite us to dream up different futures.In a pioneering history of the children’s literary canon, The Haunted Wood reveals the magic of childhood reading, from the ancient tales of Aesop, through the Victorian and Edwardian golden age to new classics. Excavating the complex lives of our most beloved writers, Sam Leith offers a humane portrait of a genre and celebrates the power of books to inspire and console entire generations.***'A DELIGHT' JULIA DONALDSON'A JOY' MICHAEL ROSEN'GLORIOUSLY ENTERTAINING' TOM HOLLAND

The explosive Orphan X thriller from bestselling author Gregg Hurwitz.'HURWITZ FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS' GUARDIANTO THOSE WHO TRAINED HIM, HE'S ORPHAN-X. TO THOSE WHO NEED HIM, HE'S THE NOWHERE MAN.Once a secret government assassin, Evan Smoak walked away to help others.But when his old handler calls with a warning - the Orphans are being killed off - he also receives a final mission.A young girl - the last Orphan recruit - is in danger. First, Evan must find her. Then he must protect her.But those tasked with her elimination will not stop.And leading them is one of Evan's fellow Orphans - who'll do anything to see him dead . . ._______________'WONDERFUL' THE TIMES'MEMORABLE AS HELL' JAMES PATTERSON

A propulsive tour through a fantastical London, where history and myth collide, murder stalks the streets and the mundane becomes very magical indeed…The year is 1949, the city London. Amidst the smog of the capital is Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen-year-old employed by a second-hand bookshop. One day, on an errand to acquire books for sale, Dennis discovers a novel that simply does not exist. It is a fictitious book, a figment from another novel. Yet it is physically there in his hands. How?Dennis has stumbled on a book from the Great When, a magical version of London beyond time and space, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous, terrible beings. But this other, magical London must remain a secret: if Dennis cannot find a way to return this book to where it belongs, he risks bizarre and disastrous repercussions, such as his body being turned inside out (or worse).So begins a journey delving deep into the city’s occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers – some from legend, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. Soon Dennis finds himself at the centre of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons forever.Thrilling, lyrical and sparkling with dark humour, The Great When is the first book in a new series by Sunday Times-bestseller and icon, Alan Moore.'A breathless time-travelling classic. Savage, humane, comic, terrifying' Iain Sinclair‘Brilliant and so powerfully imaginative’ Adam Curtis'A weird book and a complete joy' Mariana Enríquez‘A masterful step from one of our very best, uncompromising storytellers; Moore peels back the layers of London and reveals not only the history we know, but the histories that could have been, and, underneath it all, both the dark and beautiful truths about who we are as a nation.’ Heather Parry

The Sunday Times Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2025A Sunday Times, Irish Times, Financial Times, Independent, Daily Mail, TLS, Economist, Prospect, Evening Standard and New Statesman Book of the Year 2024'A MARVEL' PHILIP PULLMANThe stories we read as children matter a great deal. The best ones are indelible in our memories; reaching far beyond our childhoods, they are a window into our deepest hopes, joys and anxieties. They reveal our past – collective and individual, remembered and imagined – and invite us to dream up different futures.In a pioneering history of the children’s literary canon, The Haunted Wood reveals the magic of childhood reading, from the ancient tales of Aesop, through the Victorian and Edwardian golden age to new classics. Excavating the complex lives of our most beloved writers, Sam Leith offers a humane portrait of a genre and celebrates the power of books to inspire and console entire generations.***'A DELIGHT' JULIA DONALDSON'A JOY' MICHAEL ROSEN'GLORIOUSLY ENTERTAINING' TOM HOLLAND