• How They Broke Britain

    04
    THE REVEALING, DEFINING ACCOUNT OF THE DARK NETWORK THAT BROKE OUR COUNTRY.
    ‘An exceptional broadcaster’ – Guardian | ‘Consistently, forensically, brilliant’ – Emily Maitlis

    Something has gone really wrong in Britain.

    Our economy has tanked, our freedoms are shrinking, and social divisions are growing. Our politicians seem most interested in their own careers, and much of the media only make things worse. We are living in a country almost unrecognisable from the one that existed a decade ago. But whose fault is it really? Who broke Britain and how did they do it?

    Bold and incisive as ever, James O’Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has created a broken Britain of strikes, shortages and scandals. He maps the web connecting dark think tanks to Downing Street, the journalists involved in selling it to the public and the media bosses pushing their own agendas. Over ten chapters, each focusing on a particular person complicit in the downfall, James O’Brien reveals how a select few have conspired – sometimes by incompetence, sometimes by design – to bring Britain to its knees.

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    £9.60£10.40

    How They Broke Britain

    £9.60£10.40
  • Baby with my Grumpy Boss: A Single Dad Fake Relationship Romance

    02

    Getting knocked up by my grumpy old boss was never my plan.

    Newly single, I treat myself to a night out and end up naked in a mysterious man’s bed.

    When I start a new job as an executive assistant to the CEO of a successful tech company, I’m horrified to find that my boss is the same jerk I just spent the night with.

    He tries to get rid of me by making me look inept in front of everyone but I’m determined to prove myself.

    I still can’t deny my overwhelming attraction to him.

    He’s always impeccably dressed with perfect hair that begs me to run my fingers through it.

    When he looks at me, I can feel those gorgeous blue eyes undressing me.

    His toxic ex shows up at the office and he tells her he’s dating me now.

    I reluctantly agree to this fake relationship, but the more time I spend with this hot single daddy, the more I am treasuring time spent with him and his charming little girl.

    As I’m kneeling in the bathroom puking my guts out, I hope there’s room in his heart for me and another bundle of joy.

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    £0.80
  • Instructions for Traveling West: Poems

    A vivid and inspiring poetry collection about what’s possible when we heed our instincts and honor our intuition, allowing ourselves to strike out for new territories of love, pleasure, and peace.

    First, you must realize you’re homesick for all the lives you’re not living. Then, you must commit to the road and the rising loneliness. To the sincere thrill of coming apart.

    So begins Joy Sullivan’s Instructions for Traveling West–a lush debut collection that examines what happens when we leave home and leap into the deep unknown. Mid-pandemic, Sullivanleft the man she planned to marry, sold her house, quit her corporate job, and drove west. This dazzling collection tells that story as it illuminates the questions haunting us all: What possible futures lie on the horizon? What happens when we heed the call of furious reinvention?

    A book for anyone flinging themselves into fresh starts, Instructions for Traveling West grapples with loss, loneliness and belonging. These poems teach us that naming our desire is profound alchemy. Each of us holds the power to set our own course forward.

    Expansive and heart-opening–exquisite in their specificity, galvanizing in their scope–the poems in Instructions for Traveling West speak to the longing that lives within us all. They remind us that “joy is not a trick.”

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    £13.00
  • Leave Taking: GCSE Student Guide

    An essential resource for anyone studying Leave Taking for GCSE English Literature – featuring a complete guide to the text, plus activities and advice to help you prepare for assessment.

    Get to grips with Leave Taking with expert, easy-to-follow breakdowns and analyses of key aspects of the play – including the characters, plot, structure, themes, setting and language – along with a clear explanation of the historical context.

    This guide is also packed with exercises and activities for use at home or in the classroom, to support your study and revision, track your progress and help you get great results in your exam.

    Featuring insights from playwright Winsome Pinnock and extensive quotes and extracts from the play, this GCSE Student Guide will strengthen your understanding, build your confidence and boost your chances of success.

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    £9.60£10.40
  • 10 Scotland Street

    This is a triumph. A love letter to the ghosts of Edinburgh. I feel its hand upon my shoulder. -Sara Sheridan

    As a writer of fiction, I found myself itching to lift some of these characters from the page into the fertile fields of my own imagination. -Val McDermid

    About the book

    10 Scotland Street – the story of an Edinburgh home and its cast of booksellers, silk merchants, sailors, preachers, politicians, cholera and coincidence and its widespread connections over two centuries across the globe.

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    £23.60
  • Brothers in Arms: Book Two in The Legend of Richard Keynes Series

    01
    A new home under threat…
    Family and friends in mortal danger…
    Will Richard be able to save everyone?

    Can Richard survive being plunged into the cut-throat world of medieval campaigning, complete with sieges, pitched battles and more.

    Book Two in The Legend of Richard Keynes series follows Richard as he struggles to assert authority over his new land, as well as his new wife. He will have to battle against bad omens, prejudice and the consequences of his actions.

    In his efforts to find his sister in England, Richard will trigger an unstoppable series of events that will take him from one end of France to another. He will face many tests of his prowess and character, from pirates, some familiar foes and his own promises.

    Now a fully fledged knight, Richard has entered a new world where he could come to the attention of powerful knights, or even kings.

    Featuring characters and a story set within real historical events, Brothers in Arms is a small window into the middle ages, a time when men had to stand up and fight for what they believed in.

    Continue your journey through this rich and captivating world to discover Richard’s fate.

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    £2.80
  • New GCSE English AQA Poetry Guide – Worlds & Lives Anthology inc. Online Edition, Audio & Quizzes (CGP AQA GCSE Poetry)

    This superb GCSE Poetry Guide for English Literature covers the entire Worlds and Lives poetry anthology for AQA – from William Wordsworth and Emily Brontë to Imtiaz Dharker and Grace Nichols. It includes every poem in full, with clear notes on meaning, form, structure, language and context. And since it’s important to compare the poems, we’ve included in-depth discussions grouped by the themes and poetic techniques found in the collection. There are both practice questions and exam-style questions at the end of each section, plus detailed exam advice at the end, including a section focused on how to get those top 8-9 grades. What’s more, we’ve included top tips based on real Examiner’s Reports, so students know exactly what markers are looking for! As the cherry on top, the CGP wizards have concocted some brilliant online extras: audio recordings of the Worlds and Lives poems, insightful discussions about each one and a digital quiz. Plus, a free Online Edition of this whole AQA poetry anthology is included – just use the code printed inside the book to unlock.

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    £6.20
  • Secret of the Thistle (Rainfallen Book 2)

    There’s nothing more dangerous than a paranoid king.

    Wickerton is in peril. Obsessed with the idea of an attack coming from the Bright Crown of Northumbria, the Unholy King keeps raising taxes to pay for an ever-expanding army. But such an attack will never come. With taxes on the rise, and no money to pay the collector, Fay must find a small fortune within a month or Wickerton’s canvas shelter will be torn down as punishment.

    While Galahad languishes in the dark of New London, a bloody letter arrives from the north: Elaine is in trouble. Despite everything that’s happened between them, Galahad can’t help but to rush to her aid. Now he must travel to the origin of the magic that stained his eyes the colour of whisky, and try to save the woman he both hates and loves.

    Each must do their best to slay new monsters, face old enemies, and reforge broken relationships.
    It’s time to fight for the things that matter.

    Praise for the Rainfallen series:

    “Aeveryn’s prose deserves a mention, as it is a strange mix that features some lyrical expressions, that are perfect for transmitting that knighthood feeling, and more plain language; a prose that feels like a reflection of the own Rainfallen world.” — JamReads

    “A mash-up of Grimdark fantasy and post-apocalyptic thriller, with clear horror and sci-fi influences. The combination works a treat, being glued together by a noir-esque tone. It’s gritty and sardonic, Abercrombie-like.” — Nick P (TheBookScene)

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    £2.80
  • Thinking Welsh: Signposts on the Road to Fluency

    Thinking Welsh focuses on how common English words, phrases and constructions map onto Welsh, and highlights the key areas of difference and difficulty in these mapping operations.

    150 English words and grammatical and communicative concepts are listed alphabetically, explained in clear and accessible language, and given ample exemplification to illustrate their meaning and use. All instances of mutation are marked with the usual typographic signs, and cross-references are given throughout to related entries. A list of essential grammatical terms and a Welsh index round off the manual.

    Thinking Welsh is a ground-breaking resource for post-beginner students wishing to explore lexical issues and master key syntactic structures as a way of attaining fluency of expression and comprehension in modern spoken and standard Welsh.

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    £31.10£33.20
  • Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art

    01

    ‘Destined to become a new classic’

    A dazzlingly original reassessment of women’s stories, bodies and art – and how we think about them.

    For decades, feminist artists have confronted the problem of how to tell the truth about their experiences as bodies. Queer bodies, sick bodies, racialised bodies, female bodies, what is their language, what are the materials we need to transcribe it?

    Exploring the ways in which feminist artists have taken up this challenge, Art Monsters is a landmark intervention in how we think about art and the body, calling attention to a radical heritage of feminist work that not only reacts against patriarchy but redefines its own aesthetic aims.

    Writing in the tradition of Susan Sontag, Hélène Cixous and Maggie Nelson, Lauren Elkin demonstrates her power as a cultural critic, weaving daring links between disparate artists and writers – from Julia Margaret Cameron’s photography to Kara Walker’s silhouettes, Vanessa Bell’s portraits to Eva Hesse’s rope sculptures, Carolee Schneemann’s body art to Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s trilingual masterpiece DICTEE – and shows that their work offers a potent celebration of beauty and excess, sentiment and touch, the personal and the political.

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    £11.40£12.30
  • November 1942: An Intimate History of the Turning Point of the Second World War

    01

    ‘An astonishing achievement’ ANTONY BEEVOR
    ‘Extraordinary’ JULIA BOYD

    An intimate history of the most important month of the Second World War – perhaps the century – as experienced by those who lived through it, completely based on their diaries, letters and memoirs.

    At the beginning of November 1942, it looked as if the Axis powers could win the war; at the end of that month, it was obviously just a matter of time before they would lose.

    In between came el-Alamein, Guadalcanal, the French North Africa landings, the Japanese retreat in New Guinea, and the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. In this innovatively kaleidoscopic and riveting historical marvel, Peter Englund reduces these epoch-making events to their basic component: the individual experience.

    In thirty memorable days we meet characters including a Soviet infantryman at Stalingrad; an Italian truck driver in the North African desert; a partisan in the Belarussian forests; a machine gunner in a British bomber; a twelve-year-old girl in Shanghai; a university student in Paris; a housewife on Long Island; a prisoner in Treblinka; Albert Camus, Vasily Grossman, and Vera Brittain – forty characters in all. We also witness the launch of SS James Oglethorpe; the fate of U-604, a German submarine; the building of the first nuclear reactor; and the making of Casablanca.

    Not since Englund’s own The Beauty and the Sorrow has a book given us one of the most dramatic periods of human history in all its immensity and emotional range.

    ‘Thought-provoking’ SUNDAY TIMES
    ‘Thoroughly worth reading’ TELEGRAPH

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    £10.40
  • Is This Love: A Family Story Based on the Song by Bob Marley

    Relive the magic of Bob Marley’s most beloved songs in this newest picture book adaptation!

    Is this love? Is this love that I’m feeling? Bob Marley’s music has captured the hearts and souls of families around the world. This sweet adaptation of one of his best loved songs is a heartwarming tale of an older child’s love for a younger sibling. From the moment she sees her baby sister, big sister knows just what she’s going to do: love her and treat her right, every day and every night. Playing together, watching over her, standing by her through thick and thin . . . big sister does it all, because yes, this is love that she’s feeling.

    Adapted by Cedella Marley, Bob Marley’s eldest child, and exuberantly illustrated by Alea Marley, Is This Love is a joyful ode to the unshakeable love shared by all those who call one another family.

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    £11.30£12.30
  • WHAT

    ‘Nothing short of dazzling’ – Alex Turner

    Dr John Cooper Clarke’s dazzling, scabrous voice has reverberated through pop culture for decades, his influence on generations of performance poets and musicians plain for all to see. In WHAT, the original ‘People’s Poet’ comes storming out of the gate with an uproarious new collection, reminding us why he is one of Britain’s most beloved writers and performers. James Brown, John F. Kennedy, Jesus Christ: nobody is safe from the punk rocker’s acerbic pen – and that’s just the first poem.

    Hot on the heels of The Luckiest Guy Alive and his sprawling, encyclopaediac memoir I Wanna Be Yours, the good Doctor returns with his most trenchant collection of poems yet. Vivid and alive, with a sensitivity only a writer with a life as varied and extraordinary as Cooper Clarke’s could summon, WHAT is an exceptional collection from one of our foremost satirists.

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    £13.60£16.10

    WHAT

    £13.60£16.10
  • Legacy of Time (The After Cilmeri Series Book 21)

    02

    September 1297. David and his family and friends have come to Carew Castle in Wales to participate in a tournament in the spirit of King Arthur. Two years have passed since the events in Hidden in Time. Questions remain not only as to the whereabouts of the traitor, Bogo de Clare, who is still at large, but the relationship of David’s family with Avalon.

    Can they still time travel?

    And, even if they can, would it be better if they didn’t?

    Join David and his friends and family for the next installment in the After Cilmeri series!

    Complete Series reading order: Daughter of Time, Footsteps in Time, Winds of Time, Prince of Time, Crossroads in Time, Children of Time, Exiles in Time, Castaways in Time, Ashes of Time, Warden of Time, Guardians of Time, Masters of Time, Outpost in Time, Shades of Time, Champions of Time, Refuge in Time, Unbroken in Time, Outcasts in Time, Hidden in Time, Legacy of Time. Also, This Small Corner of Time: The After Cilmeri Series Companion.

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    £4.70
  • Death Foretold: Words can kill… (Catrin Surovell Tudor Mysteries Book 2)

    A gripping murder mystery at the Elizabethan Court! For fans of S J Parris, Andrew Taylor, S W Perry and Andrew Swanston.

    Are courtly predictions leading to murder…?

    1561

    Queen Elizabeth is under pressure from all her advisors to marry, but no one can agree on a potential husband.

    The conflict is slowly eroding Elizabeth’s power and authority among the nobility, especially when a prophecy starts to spread that seems to predict the deaths of senior members of the queen’s court.

    Tension grows when one of the queen’s maids of honour, Mathilda, is killed and placed on a false altar of hawthorn branches.

    Her death follows the first lines of the prophecy, making people fearful about who could be next.

    Amid rising hysteria, the queen orders her trusted lady-in-waiting Catrin Surovell to investigate.

    Catrin soon learns that there is more to this mysterious death than anyone thought.

    Strange symbols and eerie events put her on the trail of the murderer.

    What do the symbols mean? Is someone using the guise of magic to destabilise the queen’s reign?

    Catrin has to figure it out and stop the murderer before he strikes again…

    DEATH FORETOLD is the second book in the Catrin Surovell Tudor Mystery Series. It is an exciting historical thriller set at the court of Elizabeth I.

    THE CATRIN SUROVELL TUDOR MYSTERY SERIES:
    BOOK ONE: Shades of Death
    BOOK TWO: Death Foretold

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    £0.90
  • Chaucer Here and Now

    The Geoffrey Chaucer of this book is not the Father of English Literature that you think you know. In this wide-ranging collection of essays you will find wartime Chaucer, postcolonial Chaucer, feminist Chaucer, misogynist Chaucer, radical Chaucer and conservative Chaucer, among many other interpretations. Featuring beautiful illustrations of early manuscripts and rare editions, Chaucer Here and Now gives a picture of how varied adaptations of and responses to his work have been, from fifteenth- century scribes who finished off incomplete tales, through early printers who constructed Chaucer as the Father of the Nation, to contemporary postcolonial writers such as Zadie Smith. The book moves through years of censorship, the creation of children’s Chaucer, Protestant Chaucer and imperial Chaucer – and the travels of Chaucer all around the world. It also explores Chaucer on film and Chaucer in the present moment. Today’s creative responses follow in a line of irreverent, partial responses that we can trace back to Chaucer’s very first readers and editors, showing that Chaucer is available for every here and now to remake, rework and reinvent.

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    £28.50
  • Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair

    Few contemporary writers ask the questions about faith, morality, and God that Christian Wiman does, and even fewer – perhaps none – do so with his urgency and eloquence. Wiman, the author of My Bright Abyss and an award-winning poet, lays the motion of his mind on the page in this genre-defying work, an indivisible blend of poetry, criticism, theology, and searing memoir. As Marilynne Robinson wrote, “[Wiman’s] poetry and his scholarship have a purifying urgency that is rare in this world . . . It enables him to say new things in timeless language, so that the reader’s surprise and assent are one and the same.” Zero at the Bone begins with Wiman’s preoccupation with despair, and through fifty brief pieces, framed by two more, he unravels its seductive appeal. The book is studded with the poetry and prose of writers who inhabit Wiman’s thoughts, and the voices of Wallace Stevens, Lucille Clifton, Emily Dickinson, and more join his own. At its heart and Wiman’s, however, are his family – his young children (who ask their own invaluable questions, like “Why are you a poet? I mean why?”), his wife, and those he grew up with in West Texas. Wiman is the rare thinker who takes up the mantle of our greatest mystics and does so with an honest, profound, and contemporary sensibility. Zero at the Bone is a revelation.

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    £23.70
  • The Crystal Text

    Clark Coolidge’s book-length meditation on a crystal—long considered a masterpiece of American avant-garde poetry—returns in a new edition.

    “No other poet ever has so exquisitely, and sometimes also turbulently, written sheer sonic wonder into poetry.”—Lyn Hejinian, author of My Life and My Life in the Nineties

    In the summer of 1982, Clark Coolidge received an unexpected gift of a crystal; small, clear, entirely unexceptional, the crystal nonetheless provoked the poet into writing what has long been considered his masterpiece, The Crystal Text (1986). A durational poem composed over the course of 10 months, in daybook-like entries of varying length, The Crystal Text is multifaceted and elusive, constantly interrogating itself. Is it a meditation on its titular object like Keats’s “Urn” or a radical investigation of the limits of language as a signifying system? Is the poet channeling the crystal to access its message or is the crystal channeling the poet, drawing language from him to fill its colorless emptiness? Is it dictation or improvisation? Is the poem a record of its own crystalline growth or does it capture the process of consciousness itself? 

    The Crystal Text refuses to resolve the questions it raises but rather inhabits its various possibilities simultaneously, resulting in one of the major works of late 20th century American avant-garde poetry. This new edition includes a preface by poet and scholar Peter Gizzi and an afterword in which Coolidge discusses the text with poet Jason Morris and City Lights editor Garrett Caples. 

    Associated with the New York School and subsequently inspiring the Language Poets, Coolidge remains one of the most singular and original American poets of our time.

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    £13.30
  • Hafiz’S Little Book of Life

    Have you heard the name “Hafiz”?! Here are soaring flights of fancy and solid life lessons, from one of the greatest poets of all time–made new by two award-winning translators. This is the perfect introduction to Hafiz for all lovers of poetry and seekers of love, spirituality, and meaning.

    “Hafiz’s poetry aims to close the gap between mortal humans and the divine, and this book opens a door to the poet’s gardens. From the first page, you are invited to settle into a sublime sanctuary and partake in enchantment until you feel the Beloved inside your beating heart and running through your veins.”
    –Ari Honarvar, author of A Girl Called Rumi

    I have this gem
    And it’s looking for a beholder

    Hafiz’s Little Book of Life is a lush collection of more than 250 selections from his lifework (his divan). Alongside a Quran, a copy of his divan can be found in average homes in Iran–where stars can be heard singing his poetry on the radio, and lines from his poems are quoted on the street. His poetry is sure to strike a chord in the hearts of readers everywhere.

    This vital collection of mystical poetry focuses on the issues we encounter in everyday life. Each brief poem may be savored as an oasis of clarity in the hurried literacy of our time, or the entire book enjoyed in one sitting, as a five-course meal–embracing the world, wine, love, wisdom, and ecstasy. Let the unforgettable words of Hafiz shine through you with their love, depth, and celebration of life.

    This book also includes a vivid portrait of the poet and his times, an extensive glossary, translators’ notes, a bibliography, and an appendix on Hafiz as an oracle.

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    £12.30
  • On Writing and Worldbuilding: Volume III

    Writing guides are often full of ‘tips’ and ‘tricks’ either too broad to be useful, so specific they don’t apply, or frustratingly vague. The On Writing and Worldbuilding series is here to change that. Volume III covers a whole new array of topics with applicable, clear, and practical discussions, be it writing character descriptions, compelling dialogue, or worldbuilding cities and towns for your world. While written with an edge for science fiction and fantasy, the help found in this book applies to all genres. Volume III stands entirely independent of the first two volumes with entirely new discussions.

    With all this and more, On Writing and Worldbuilding is a ‘must have’.

    ON WRITING

    • Character descriptions
    • Death scenes
    • Dialogue
    • Subtext in dialogue
    • Darkest hours
    • Plot armour
    • Environmental descriptions
    • Elemental magic systems
    • Antiheroes
    • Paragon heroes

    ON WORLDBUILDING

    • Death and the afterlife
    • Cities and towns
    • Mountains
    • Island civilisations
    • Fallen civilisations

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    £7.80
  • Novelist as a Vocation: ‘Every creative person should read this short book’ Literary Review

    08

    A unique look at the craft of writing from a bestelling master of storytelling.

    In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author shares with readers what he thinks about being a novelist; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.

    Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.

    ‘An insightful collection of essays on his work and methods… You end this collection of beautiful essays vowing to never let life, or writing, get so complicated again’ Guardian

    ‘Murakami is like a magician who explains what he’s doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers’ New York Times Book Review

    ‘A fascinating glimpse of the peculiar writerly life’ Sunday Times

    ** A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES and NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR**

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    £9.20£10.40
  • Truth Seeker: A LitRPG Adventure (Divine Progression Book 4)

    Book 4 of an action-packed LitRPG Adventure with strong-to-stronger progression, strategic battles, endearing characters, and slice-of-life elements.

    About the Series: Join Glenn as he shows just how large a small town can be, making new friends and supportive allies as he gains experience for everything from ‘Watching the Gate’ Quests to ‘Slay Attacking Monsters’. Have you ever wondered while playing Skyrim or other RPGs what the guards are up to when you’re not around? Probably not. But maybe you should have…

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    £4.70
  • Alchemy: The latest new gripping historical crime thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author: Book 7 (Giordano Bruno)

    08

    The new historical crime thriller in the No.1 Sunday Times bestselling series, perfect for fans of C. J. Sansom and Hilary Mantel

    Prague, 1588.

    A COURT IN TURMOIL
    The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, wants to expand the boundaries of human knowledge, and his court is a haven for scientists, astrologers and alchemists. His abiding passion is the feverish search for the philosopher’s stone and thus immortality. The Catholic Church fears he has pushed too far, into the forbidden realm of heresy – and the greatest powers in Christendom are concerned about the imperial line of succession.

    A MURDERED ALCHEMIST
    Giordano Bruno is sent to his court by Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I’s spymaster. His task: to contact the famous English alchemist and mystic John Dee, another of Walsingham’s spies. But Bruno’s arrival in Prague coincides with the brutal murder of a rival alchemist – and John Dee himself has disappeared.

    AN UNFORGIVING ENEMY
    Ordered by the emperor to find the killer, Bruno’s investigations bring him face to face with an old enemy from the Inquisition. But could the real danger lie elsewhere? Amidst the jostling factions at court and the religious tensions brewing in the city, Bruno has to track down a murderer as elusive as the elixir of life itself.

    ‘The clever twists and turns of Alchemy are assuredly plotted and Prague, a city in religious and political turmoil, makes for a powerful setting’ The Times

    ‘Over the past dozen years, S. J. Parris’s novels… have been among the most enjoyable of all historical thrillers’ Sunday Times

    ‘Breathless pace and acutely observed detail make for a story that confounds and surprises’ Observer

    S. J. Parris’s book Alchemy was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 03-07-2023

    S. J. Parris’ book ‘Alchemy’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 24-07-2023.

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    £8.70£9.50
  • Lobster: and other things I’m learning to love

    A brand-new collection from the award-winning poet, the companion piece to the Sunday Times bestselling Slug.

    This book is written out of both hate and love for the world

    As people, we are capable of both love and hate; amazement and disgust; fun and misery.

    So why do we live in a world that is constantly telling us to hate, both ourselves and others? We are told constantly to be repulsed by our own bodies, bodies that let us laugh and sweat and eat toast, amongst other activities; to be ashamed of pleasure; to be embarrassed by fun. In this brand-new collection, Hollie McNish brings her inimitable style to the question of what have been taught to hate, and if we might learn to love again.

    ‘Never have we needed her more’ Stylist

    ‘I’ve loved her work for years’ Jo Brand

    ‘She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love’ Kae Tempest

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    £16.60£18.00
  • Immediacy, Or The Style of Too Late Capitalism

    Why speed, flow, and direct expression now dominate cultural style

    Contemporary cultural style boosts transparency and instantaneity. These are values absorbed from our current economic conditions of “disintermediation”: cutting out the middleman. Like Uber, but for art. Immediacy names this style to make sense of what we lose when the contradictions of twenty-first-century capitalism demand that aesthetics negate mediation. Surging realness as an aesthetic program synchs with the economic imperative to intensify circulation when production stagnates. “Flow” is the ultimate twenty-first-century buzzword, but speedy circulation grinds art down to the nub. And the bad news is that political turmoil and social challenges require more mediation. Collective will, inspiring ideas, and deliberate construction are the only way out, but our dominant style forgoes them. Considering original streaming TV, popular literature, artworld trends, and academic theories, Immediacy explains the recent obsession with immersion and today’s intolerance of representation, and points to alternative forms in photography, TV, novels, and constructive theory that prioritize distance, impersonality, and big ideas instead.

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    £17.10
  • The Common Reader: Second Series (Collins Classics)

    01

    HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.

    The only advice, indeed, that one person can give another about reading is to take no advice, to follow your own instincts, to use your own reason, to come to your own conclusions.

    In her second volume of essays, Virginia Woolf delves deeper into the delights of reading. Here, she explores the novels of Thomas Hardy and Daniel Defoe, and recounts the fascinating lives of Christina Rossetti and Mary Wollstonecraft. In ‘ How Should One Read a Book?’ she offers sage advice for the common reader, and sheds light on the lessons and pleasures literature can provide.

    Published in 1932, The Common Reader: Second Series is a wise and illuminating companion collection to her 1925 First Series. Woolf’s enduring appeal and ideas continue to resonate with readers in the twenty-first century.

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    £2.80
  • Henry ‘Chips’ Channon: The Diaries (Volume 1): 1918-38

    03

    The Sunday Times bestselling edition of Chips Channon’s remarkable diaries.

    ‘The greatest British diarist of the 20th century. An astonishing achievement. By turns frivolous and profound.’ Ben Macintyre, The Times

    ‘Wickedly entertaining. Genuinely shocking, and still revelatory.’ Andrew Marr, New Statesman

    ‘An irresistible, saucy read . . . One of the most impressive editions of our time.’ The Telegraph

    ‘They’re among the most glittering and enjoyable diaries ever written’ Observer
    ____________________________________

    Born in Chicago in 1897, ‘Chips’ Channon settled in England after the Great War, married into the immensely wealthy Guinness family, and served as Conservative MP for Southend-on-Sea from 1935 until his death in 1958. His career was unremarkable. His diaries are quite the opposite.

    Elegant, gossipy and bitchy by turns, they are the unfettered observations of a man who went everywhere and who knew everybody. Whether describing the antics of London society in the interwar years, or the growing scandal surrounding his close friends Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson during the abdication crisis, or the mood in the House of Commons in the lead up to the Munich crisis, his sense of drama and his eye for the telling detail are unmatched. These are diaries that bring a whole epoch vividly to life.
    ________________________________

    ‘Fascinating and sometimes a key historical record. And the man could write.’ Daily Mirror

    ‘Fascinating stuff.’ The Spectator

    ‘Gripping reading.’ The Sunday Times

    ‘Chips perfectly embodied the qualities vital to the task: a capacious ear for gossip, a neat turn of phrase, a waspish desire to tell all, and easy access to the highest social circles across Europe.’ Jesse Norman, Financial Times

    ‘A masterpiece of storytelling and character assassination.’ Guardian

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    £14.00£15.20
  • Sad Happens: A Celebration of Tears

    A beautifully illustrated, celebratory anthology exploring sadness—and the transformative power of tears.

    When was the last time you cried? Was it because you were sad? Or happy? Overwhelmed, or frustrated? Maybe from relief or from pride? Was it in public or in private? Did you feel better afterwards, or worse? The reasons that we cry—and the circumstances in which we shed a tear—are often surprising and beautiful. Sad Happens is a collective, multi-faceted archive of tears that captures the complexity and variety of these circumstances.

    We hear from Mike Birbiglia on the role that grief and pain have in comedy; Jia Tolentino on how motherhood made her cry in both hormonal joy and fervent rage; and Hanif Abdurraqib on the intimacy of crying on planes. We hear from Phoebe Bridgers on poignant moments of departure and JP Brammer on the strange disappointments of success; Matt Berninger on becoming a crybaby in his adulthood and Hua Hsu on crying during a moment of public uncertainty. We also hear from everyday people in a range of professions: an actor on the tips she learned from drag queens about preserving a full face of makeup while crying; a zookeeper on mourning the animals who have died during her tenure; a bartender on crying in the walk-in; and a TV critic on the shows that have moved her.

    Brimming with humanity, this anthology is confirmation that sad happens—but so does joy, love, a sense of community, and a host of other emotions. By turns moving and affirming, Sad Happens is an emotional balm and visual delight.

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    £16.20£18.00
  • Firebrand 2: The Firetouched

    02
    Martel has begun his studies. He’s made a few friends, but most of all, his powers grow.

    While hesitant to use fire magic, it’s saved him more than once, and his gift for destruction is undeniable. But others take note, and protecting his secret only gets more difficult. Every day bears the risk that his talent is discovered, and the Empire will force him to fight their conflicts.

    Those same wars that flood Morcaster with problems and cause clashes between Asterians and Khivan immigrants, including Martel’s friends.

    With every battle on the distant front, the war grows closer, the dead and wounded return in numbers, and the anger threatens to boil over. As tempers become enflamed, the spark of a fire-touched could set the city ablaze – or save it.

    Continue the tale of Martel the reluctant fire mage in Book 2 of the Firebrand LitRPG Series.

    Join him from his humble beginnings as a hapless novice at a Magic Academy. This is character-focused and light-hearted progression fantasy at its finest, with a detailed magic system and a world filled with detail.

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    £4.70
  • The House of Doors: Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023

    08

    LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023
    A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

    It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer and his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert’s, comes to stay.

    Willie Somerset Maugham is one of the greatest writers of his day. But he is beleaguered by an unhappy marriage, ill-health and business interests that have gone badly awry. He is also struggling to write. The more Lesley’s friendship with Willie grows, the more clearly she see him as he is – a man who has no choice but to mask his true self.

    As Willie prepares to leave and face his demons, Lesley confides secrets of her own, revealing her connection to the case of an Englishwoman charged with murder in the Kuala Lumpur courts – a tragedy drawn from fact, and worthy of fiction.

    From Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors is a masterful novel of public morality and private truth a century ago. Based on real events it is a drama of love and betrayal under the shadow of Empire.

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    £9.50
  • Jakub: An MM Age Play Christmas Romance

    01

    Teddy bears, tea parties, melting hearts… oh my!

    Meet Jakub Wade, a little who has only yearned for one thing—a Daddy to call his own. With Christmas in the air, he clings to the hope of miracles. And when a mysterious box arrives, containing a plush brown teddy bear, his life changes in ways he never imagined.

    There’s just one catch—it wasn’t meant for him.

    Determined to ensure the gift reaches its rightful owner, Jakub embarks on a journey filled with unexpected twists and turns. It takes him to Chester Hanson, a toy-store owner resigned to the belief that love was temporary. In his forty-five years of life, he’d never really found it. At least, not until he witnesses Jakub’s pure joy and the heart-melting smile that accompanies it.

    Drawn to Jakub, Chester puts himself on a mission to keep that smile alive, showering him with gift after thoughtful gift. As the holiday season unfolds, they discover a miracle of their own—a teddy bear tea party that sparks a connection deeper than they ever thought possible.

    As Christmas approaches, a question looms: Will their newfound miracle fade once the holiday lights dim? Or can their bond grow stronger, and blossom into a love that transcends the season?

    Jakub is part of A Daddy for Christmas, a multi-author series. All the books are standalones, but each Daddy has a unique gift for his wonderful boy (or boys). Except all boys know that sometimes Santa gets it wrong, and it’s going to take a very special Daddy to make it right. So why not stay and read them all?

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    £3.80
  • Goblin Breeder 2: Goblin Adventurer: A Slice of Life Harem Fantasy

    Book 2 of the Goblin Breeder series!

    Having survived the Battle of Gillamoor, I now enjoyed the life of a hero. Honor has been heaped upon my name and I continued my efforts helping the goblins repopulate.

    But paradise is sometimes short-lived. The goblin military was a mess, so I had to train them into something that could survive another attack. In the midst of that, I had to find the time to start building my life in Gillamoor. With help from my companions, I began preparations for my journey to the south, to confront Odewyn, who held one of the keys to defeating Vogrim.

    I was an Army Ranger, so I knew I was tough. But I had never faced a necromancer before.

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    £3.90
  • My Chaos, His Calm (Men of Fairlake)

    04
    My world is chaos, and he’s my only peace—but at what cost?

    My scars are both visible and hidden. I’m lonely, but I do okay…I think. I’m still a bit of a disaster, but I have a job and a roof over my head, and the medication keeps my demons at bay. What I don’t need is a babysitter, but try telling my overprotective brother that.

    When I first saw Luke, I couldn’t stop staring—his beauty and strength captivated me. As I get to know him, I realize he’s the calm to my chaos—the light to my darkness. Of course, he’s straight, so I can’t have him. But all it takes is what I thought was a hot dream, and it appears we’re both open to change. The lines are blurred, and he doesn’t have a problem with that…or me. I don’t deserve him, but he doesn’t see it that way. He’s perfect.

    But he doesn’t know what I did. If he knew the ugly truth, I’d lose him. Luke and I can only ever be temporary, so I keep my secrets.

    When the past threatens to catch up with me, I have a choice…keep the secret for the sake of me and my brother…or take a chance and tell Luke everything. But damn it, I can’t even get that right.

    Is it too much to ask to love and be loved and have a chance at the future I desperately want…with Luke? The past is dead. So why won’t it stay buried?

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    £4.70
  • The Costumes of Downton Abbey (Downton Abbey Cookery)

    An Official Companion to the Downton Abbey Films and TV Series: An exclusive inside look at the intricate and glamorous costuming of the popular PBS series, with complete historical detail and beautiful imagery.

    An inside look at the intricate costuming of the popular PBS series, including character costume choices and the historic fashion trends characteristic of the aristocracy during the Edwardian era.

    Appealing to Anglophiles, costume and sewing aficionados, and fans of the hit series, The Costumes of Downton Abbey presents–with comprehensive historical detail and beautiful imagery–the design decisions and wardrobe intricacies that shaped the glamour and elegance of the characters of Downton Abbey.

    Featuring the fashion of both upstairs and downstairs cast members, this title explores the unique daytime, evening, special occasion, and wedding wardrobes that led to a 2011 Emmy and several Emmy nominations for Outstanding Costumes for a Series. Detailed photographs, fan-favorite stills from the television series, and designer notes and insights make this a delightful and informative guide to the role costumes played in the character portrayal, story development, and art direction of the series.

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    £33.00£45.60
  • On Writing and Worldbuilding: Volume III

    Writing guides are often full of ‘tips’ and ‘tricks’ either too broad to be useful, so specific they don’t apply, or frustratingly vague. The On Writing and Worldbuilding series is here to change that. Volume III covers a whole new array of topics with applicable, clear, and practical discussions, be it writing character descriptions, compelling dialogue, or worldbuilding cities and towns for your world. While written with an edge for science fiction and fantasy, the help found in this book applies to all genres. Volume III stands entirely independent of the first two volumes with its own discussions.

    With all this and more, On Writing and Worldbuilding is fundamental for anyone developing their skills in the writing craft.

    ON WRITING

    • Character descriptions
    • Death scenes
    • Dialogue
    • Subtext in dialogue
    • Darkest hours
    • Plot armour
    • Environmental descriptions
    • Elemental magic systems
    • Antiheroes
    • Paragon heroes

    ON WORLDBUILDING

    • Death and the afterlife
    • Cities and towns
    • Mountains
    • Island civilisations
    • Fallen civilisations

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    £12.30
  • Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems: A Collection of F**ked Up Fairy Tales

    07

    ‘A glimpse to the person behind the glamour and drama . . . you get a real sense of the beating soul of Megan Fox’ – Glamour

    Megan Fox showcases her wicked humor throughout a heartbreaking and dark collection of poetry. Over the course of more than 80 poems, Fox chronicles all the ways in which we fit ourselves into the shape of the ones we love, even if it means losing ourselves in the process.

    “These poems were written in an attempt to excise the illness that had taken root in me because of my silence. I’ve spent my entire life keeping the secrets of men, my body aches from carrying the weight of their sins. My freedom lives in these pages, and I hope that my words can inspire others to take back their happiness and their identity by using their voice to illuminate what’s been buried, but not forgotten, in the darkness,” says Fox.

    Pretty Boys Are Poisonous marks the powerful debut from one of the most well-known women of our time. Turn the page, bite the apple, and sink your teeth into the most deliciously compelling and addictive book you’ll read all year.

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    £9.50
  • poyums

    And I have done more than just simply get by
    So much more than escape or survive
    Through the galvanisation of love, time and patience
    I’ll take hold of my story and thrive.
    After life that was seldom what life ought to be
    Through laughter and love I’ll be whole
    This story is mine from the cover to spine
    And the narrative I will control

    Whether she’s writing letters to her younger self, advocating for women’s rights or adapting fairy tales to process an abusive relationship, Len’s voice is bold, unashamedly frank and unmistakably hers.

    The poems in this collection, both funny and fiercely feminist, announce a formidable new talent. Moving deftly between English and Scots, poyums is as approachable as it is affecting.

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    £12.60£14.20

    poyums

    £12.60£14.20
  • The Trouble With Friends: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

    08

    A country miss from a modest estate may destroy Fitzwilliam Darcy’s closest friendship!

    Darcy and his good friend Simon Lockhart are guests of Charles Bingley at Netherfield Park in Hertfordshire. When the otherwise sensible Lockhart becomes infatuated with Miss Elizabeth Bennet, who has neither wealth nor a renowned family name, Darcy attempts to make his friend see reason. But there is a complication—Darcy’s growing attraction for Miss Elizabeth.

    Elizabeth has an instant liking for the amiable Mr. Lockhart, whilst she deems the arrogant Mr. Darcy to be an undesirable entity. In time, though, she is coaxed into judging Mr. Darcy anew. But when an unexpected predicament forces her to make an undesirable choice, it seems all hope of a happy outcome is lost.

    In this Pride & Prejudice variation, Darcy faces a dilemma: Will he heed the yearnings of his heart—even at the expense of his principles?

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    £2.80
  • Blazer: A LitRPG Adventure (Divine Progression Book 3)

    Now counted among the top ranks of Adventurers, Glenn must find a new path.

    After two years standing vigil at the gates of his hometown, Glenn finally has a chance to fulfill his dream of joining the Blazers, traveling the world, adventuring with his childhood love, and helping people beyond Wolfpine. And all it cost was his best friend, his family, and a life with everyone he loves.

    Yet with a new zone to explore and new and dangerous threats to challenge, Glenn must look forward, not back. Alongside his new partner and his childhood sweetheart, Glenn will save lives, unravel conspiracies, and support his friends and the people of Evolan as he follows the path of a Blazer: elite Adventurers who towns and their leaders call upon when a normal Adventurer just won’t do.

    Now in hiding from the Church of Celes, Glenn finds himself unwittingly drawn into a conspiracy involving Deathcasters—Luxtera’s forbidden Class—and uncovers a conspiracy that will change everything he knows about the Gods, the church, and why the Deathcaster class is forbidden…

    Book 3 of a new action-packed LitRPG Adventure with strong-to-stronger progression, strategic battles, endearing characters, and slice-of-life elements.

    About the Series: Join Glenn as he shows just how large a small town can be, making new friends and supportive allies as he gains experience for everything from ‘Watching the Gate’ Quests to ‘Slay Attacking Monsters’. Have you ever wondered while playing Skyrim or other RPGs what the guards are up to when you’re not around? Probably not. But maybe you should have…

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    £4.70
  • My Paranormal Protectors: Menage Romance Box Set

    My protectors are two hot shifters.

    My mate rejected me.
    My family disowned me.
    Alone, I soon find myself in danger.

    Just as my life flashes before my eyes, they emerge.
    Broad-shouldered, mysterious Alpha shifters.

    The two of them smell of power.
    They promise their protection if I come with them.

    I should be afraid of these two bad boys.
    I should reject their proposal.
    But what choice do I have?

    They can give me safety.
    Plus, as much as I hate to admit it, they awaken my own beast.

    My lips ache for their bruising kisses.
    My body yearns for their touch.

    I want them to claim me.
    Make me theirs.

    One thing is clear:
    This menage is inescapable.

    The question is: Will it break me or rescue me?

    My Paranormal Protectors Box Set:
    Three fiery heroines. Six infuriatingly protective Alpha shifters. Three shifter romances by Lilly Wilder.
    No cheating. No cliffhangers. HEA guaranteed!

    Includes:
    Shifter Island
    My Dragon Protectors
    Alpha Dragon Protectors

    What Paranormal Romance fans are saying about these stories:
    ★★★★★ “Fantastic Books”
    ★★★★★ “Full of action, danger, surprises, and lots of steam.”
    ★★★★★ “Explosive and romantic”
    ★★★★★ “Fast paced read”
    ★★★★★ “A riveting read, great characters and wonderful story you’ll love every moment of”

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    £0.70

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