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David Cairns weaves a brilliantly engaging narrative which puts Mozart s operas in the context of his life, showing how they illuminate his creativity as a whole. Mozart s unusual childhood as a musical prodigy touring Europe as a performer from an early age is well known. But even more remarkable is that the genius grew up, surviving his unnatural early years and producing works of increasing maturity and originality. Using the operas as his guide, Cairns traces the steady deepening of Mozart s musical style from his beginnings as a child prodigy, through his coming of age with what Cairns sees as the most Romantic and forward-looking of all Mozart s operas, Idomeneo, the later genius displayed in the three comic operas, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cos fan tutte, and in The Magic Flute, the final and greatest triumph of his career.

School is 'wet and weedy', according to Nigel Molesworth, the 'goriller of 3B', 'curse of St Custard's' and superb chronicler of fifties English life. Nothing escapes his disaffected eye and he has little time for such things as botany walks and cissy poetry with an assortment of swots, snekes and oiks. Instead he is very good at missing lessons, charming masters and putting down little brothers, in fact he is exceptional at most things except spelling. Wildly funny and full of sharp observations on life, the Molesworth tetralogy is magnificently complemented by the illustrations of Ronald Searle

Shaw began writing MAN AND SUPERMAN in 1901 and determined to write a play that would encapsulate the new century's intellectual inheritance. Shaw drew not only on Byron's verse satire, but also on Shakespeare, the Victorian comedy fashionable in his early life, and from authors from Conan Doyle to Kipling. In this powerful drama of ideas, Shaw explores the role of the artist, the function of women in society, and his theory of Creative Evolution.As Stanley Weintraub says in his new introduction, this is "e;the first great twentieth-century English play"e; and remains a classic expos of the eternal struggle between the sexes.

D. H. Lawrence: The Life of an Outsider is an illuminating and clear-sighted portrait of one of the twentieth century's most brilliant, radical and misunderstood writers.John Worthen follows Lawrence's from his awkward and intense youth in Nottinghamshire, through his turbulent relationship with Frieda and the years of exile abroad to his premature death at the age of 44. His account is an intimate and absolutely compelling reappraisal of a man who believed himself to be an outsider, in angry revolt against his class, culture and country, and who was engaged in a furious commitment to his writing and a passionate struggle to live according to his beliefs.

From the Booker Prize-winning and Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Silence of the GirlsA powerfully thought-provoking portrait of modern warfare from one of the modern masters of war fiction'Barker is one of our most significant contemporary novelists' Daily Telegraph'The characters grab hold at the beginning and never loosen their grip. Barker holds us by the sheer beauty of her writing' Financial Times 'Barker has a quite extraordinary ability to combine complexity and clarity and to make both seem parts of the same whole' Sunday TimesReturning to Afghanistan after his photographer friend is killed by a sniper, war reporter Stephen Sharkey seeks release from his nightmares in an England seemingly at peace with itself. Questioning man's inhumanity to man both abroad and at home, and whether love really can be the great redeemer, Double Vision is a searing novel of conflict in modern times.

Part of the Penguin History of Britain series, An Imperial Possession is the first major narrative history of Roman Britain for a generation. David Mattingly draws on a wealth of new findings and knowledge to cut through the myths and misunderstandings that so commonly surround our beliefs about this period. From the rebellious chiefs and druids who led native British resistance, to the experiences of the Roman military leaders in this remote, dangerous outpost of Europe, this book explores the reality of life in occupied Britain within the context of the shifting fortunes of the Roman Empire.

Describing Tolstoy's crisis of depression and estrangement from the world, A Confession (1879) is an autobiographical work of exceptional emotional honesty. By the time he was fifty, Tolstoy had already written the novels that would assure him of literary immortality; he had a wife, a large estate and numerous children; he was 'a happy man' and in good health - yet life had lost its meaning. In this poignant confessional fragment, he records a period of his life when he began to turn away from fiction and aesthetics, and to search instead for 'a practical religion not promising future bliss, but giving bliss on earth'.

FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF GIRL, WOMAN, OTHERThe funny and fabulous tale of two twentieth-century misfits and their adventure into European history...It is 1988, and Jessie, artiste, motormouth, ducker and diver, meets Stanley, angst-ridden banker and boffin. Jessie arrives like a guardian angel and lifts Stanley out of his soul-less life. He ditches his job, and together they set off across Europe. Destination -- unknown. Duration -- indeterminate. So begins an odyssey which turns into an adventure on the stage of European history featuring Shakespeare's "e;dark lady of the sonnets"e;, Pushkin's African great-grandfather, the composer Chevalier de St. Georges and other colourful characters from Europe's past.

What is the point of Kings and Queens? What do they do all day? And what does it mean to be one of them? Jeremy Paxman is used to making politicians explain themselves but royalty has always been off limits. Until now. In On Royalty he delves deep into the past and takes a long hard look at our present incumbents to find out just what makes them tick. Along the way he discovers some fascinating and little-known details. Such as: how Albania came to advertise in England for a king which English queen gave birth in front of 67 people how easy it is to beat up future kings of England and how meeting the Queen is a bit scary whoever you are No other book will tell you quite as much about our kings, queens, princes and princesses: who they are and what they re for.

Recorded in sacred Sanskrit texts, including the Rig Veda and the Mahabharata, Hindu Myths are thought to date back as far as the tenth century BCE. Here in these seventy-five seminal myths are the many incarnations of Vishnu, who saves mankind from destruction, and the mischievous child Krishna, alongside stories of the minor gods, demons, rivers and animals including boars, buffalo, serpents and monkeys. Immensely varied and bursting with colour and life, they demonstrate the Hindu belief in the limitless possibilities of the world - from the teeming miracles of creation to the origins of the incarnation of Death who eventually touches them all.

From the international No.1 bestselling author Lesley Pearse, comes Charlie the compulsive page-turner. She has to protect her parents . . . even if they are keeping secrets.Her family is threatened and only she can save it . . .When sixteen-year-old Charlie witnesses a brutal attack on her mother by two strangers she is shocked and terrified. But after talking to the police she realises that her father's business dealings can't be so innocent. With her father away it is left to Charlie to protect her mother. And somehow she must find out who wants to hurt her family - and why - without losing faith in her beloved parents. Can she unravel the mysteries of the past that haunt her family? Or will the truth wreck everything she loves?Santa Montefiore and Penny Vincenzi fans will swiftly fall for Lesley Pearse's spellbinding novels - you'll want to read them again and again . . .'With characters it is impossible not to care about ... this is storytelling at its very best' Daily Mail'Evocative, compelling' Sunday Express'Lose yourself in this epic saga' Bella'An emotional and moving epic you won't forget in a hurry' Woman's Weekly

The Sequence of event of the Second World War was altered forever at the very moment the task force of ultra-modern stealth warships emerged from a rip in the time-space continuum. Hurled back from 2021 to 1942 after a quantum experiment goes horribly wrong, no one could have predicted the impact of this futuristic fighting force. Chaos ensues...In the third and final gripping instalment of the Axis of Time trilogy, the revised history of the War is more alarming than ever. Hitler and the Japanese race towards atomic capability; Stalin plots to tear down the future and rebuild it in his own image; and the allies begin their Great Crusade, with the weapons of know-how of the twenty-first century.The final battle of the war is about to begin...

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars is the second delightful collection of stories and poems from Gervase Phinn.Following on from the terrific success of A Wayne in a Manger, Gervase Phinn has collected together from his bestselling Dales books his favourite stories about children, and included some poems from his popular Puffin poetry books. In this humorously illustrated book, the stories have one thing in common - the wonderfully funny (and usually innocent) things that children say. What makes Naomi's granny wobble? What's the secret ingredient in Richard's jam tarts? What is Billy's unconventional method for making babies?Whether they are stories about children who cannot read very well but know the names of many breeds of sheep or children who are more privileged (coming to school in a Wolls-Woyce), they are simply delightful. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars is a heart-warming book will enchant you, as Gervase Phinn helps you look at life through a child's eyes - and that's quite a special thing.'Gervase Phinn's memoirs have made him a hero in school staff-rooms' Daily TelegraphGervase Phinn is an author and educator from Rotherham who, after teaching for fourteen years in a variety of schools, moved to North Yorkshire to be a school inspector. He has written autobiographies, novels, plays, collections of poetry and stories, as well as a number of books about education. He holds five fellowships, honorary doctorates from Hull, Leicester and Sheffield Hallam universities, and is a patron of a number of children's charities and organizations. He is married with four adult children. His books include The Other Side of the Dale, Over Hill and Dale, Head Over Heels in the Dales,The Heart of the Dales, Up and Down in the Dales and Trouble at the Little Village School.

For most of his long reign (1953-1999) Hussein of Jordan was one of the dominant figures in Middle Eastern politics, its most continuous presence, and one of the most consistent proponents of peace with Israel. This is the first major account of his life and reign, written with access to many of his surviving papers, with the co-operation (but not approval) of his family and staff, and extensive interviews with policy-makers of many different nationalities.

William Burroughs work was dedicated to an assault upon language, traditional values and all agents of control. Produced at a time when he was at his most extreme and messianic, The Job lays out his abrasive, incisive, paranoiac, maddened and maddening worldview in interviews interspersed with stories and other writing. On the Beat movement, the importance of the cut-up technique, the press, Scientology, capital punishment, drugs, good and evil, the destruction of nations, Deadly Orgone Radiation and whether violence just in words is violence enough Burroughs insights show why he was one of the most influential writers and one of the sharpest, most startling and strangest minds of his generation.

Spain has had a long history of exiles. Since the destruction of the last Muslim territories in Granada in 1492, wave after wave of its people have been driven from the country. The Disinherited paints a vivid picture of Spain s diverse exiles, from Muslims, Jews and Protestants to Liberals, Socialists and Communists, artists, writers and musicians. Kamen describes the ways in which many of these expelled citizens have shaped Spanish culture or impoverished it by leaving and enriched their adopted homes through their creative responses to exile and to encounters with new worlds, Picasso, Mir , Dali and Bu uel among them. Henry Kamen s compelling and sympathetic account tells the story of their incalculable impact on the world.

Three heart-stopping stories of children trapped by their parents' pasts ... Craig, the little boy who can't speak English, isn't allowed to use his real name and hides food around his playschool, afraid he'll be hungry again. His parents are trying to make a fresh start, but their gangland bosses are about to catch up with the family and Craig will pay a terrible price...Edgar is a twelve-year-old boy who nobody wants, not even the staff at the residential unit where he lives. Just when it seems that there might be a way of getting through to Edgar, his mother reveals a secret that changes everything ...Vinnie is a teenage boy who knows exactly what his gangster father is capable of, of how he makes problems disappear. He also knows that he had become a very big problem for his father ...... One man's fight to give these children the future they deserve.

The death penalty is one of the most hotly contested and longest-standing issues in American politics, and no place is more symbolic of that debate than Texas.Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977, Texas has put more than 390 prisoners to death, far more than any other state. Texas Death Row puts faces to those condemned men and women, with stark and strangely engaging details on their crimes, sentencing, last meals, and last words.Definitive, objective, and compulsively readable, Texas Death Row will provide ample fuel for readers on both sides of the death penalty debate.

A man, dispirited by ageing, endeavours to steal a younger man s face; a doctor yearns for a virus that might eliminate his discomfort by turning everyone else into doubles of himself; a Colonel lays out the precepts of the life of DE (Do Easy); conspirators posthumously succeed in blowing up a train full of nerve gas; a mandrill known as the Purple Better One runs for the presidency with brutal results; and the world drifts towards apocalypses of violence, climate and plague. The hallucinatory landscape of William Burroughs compellingly bizarre, fragmented novel is constantly shifting, something sinister always just beneath the surface.

First issued in 1941, when the national crisis made it essential for every scrap of kitchen waste and spare time to be used for increasing the nation's food resources, this book enabled the meagre official wartime rations to be supplemented in thousands of homes by a regular supply of eggs and meat, at a minimum of trouble and expense.It now reappears, in response to many requests, to play its part in the hardly less urgent food-production drive of peacetime. Everything that the small-scale raiser of rabbits or of poultry, whether for egg-production or for table use, needs to know is here: buying, housing, feeding, breeding, diseases, are all fully dealt with by experts, the instructions being given in simple and practical language for the beginner.Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps was originally reissued after the war, in 1949. Here it is once again, a facsimilie edition with all the delightful original illustrations and advice to keep your chickens and rabbits happy, whether they be in a city garden or roaming in a farm yard.

1941. Britain is under some of the heaviest air raids of the Second World War. Concerns about Nazi paratroopers landing in Britain and invading take hold in the hearts of the British citizenry. The Home Guard has been mobilised to defend against airborne assault and it needs training. Yank Levy is brought in to Osterley Park to teach guerrilla warfare, from practical experience in the Spanish Civil War. Yank trains soldiers of the Home Guard how to use surveillance, defend against tanks and armoured vehicles, how to fight in towns and across country and against a well-supplied, highly-trained and mobile occupying force. His book, Guerrilla Warfare offers such sound advice as: Whether you go to a tea-party or to work on your allotment take your rifle with you. Don t leave it downstairs for a German to grab if he enters the house and 'Your motto should always be: Finish them! Then a quick get-away, and another ambush some place else

The Thrift Book is a guide to how to live well while spending less by bestselling writer India Knight.Feeling poor because of the credit crunch? Feeling guilty because of global warming? Feeling like you'd like to tighten your belt, but aren't ready to embrace DIY macram handbags? No need to panic. Put down the economy mince and buy this book instead - it's a blueprint for living beautifully, while saving money and easing your conscience. India Knight will show you:- How to make wonderful dinners with every little money- How to dress on a budget and still look fabulous- How to make friends and start sharing with your neighbours- How to holiday imaginatively - with barely a carbon footprintTry it - you have nothing to lose but your overdraft.'A blueprint for living well, however broke you are, with thrifty tips on looking fab, cooking, pampering and partying' Cosmopolitan'The Thrift Book might be the only sure-fire investment out there' Harper's Bazaar'A triumphant treat and a useful and sensible manual' IndependentIndia Knight is the author of four novels: My Life on a Plate, Don't You Want Me, Comfort and Joy and Mutton. Her non-fiction books include The Shops, the bestselling diet book Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet, the accompanying bestselling cookbook Neris and India's Idiot-Proof Diet Cookbook and The Thrift Book. India is a columnist for the Sunday Times and lives in London with her three children.Follow India on Twitter @indiaknight or on her blog at http://indiaknight.tumblr.com.

William Burroughs closed his classic debut novel, Junky, by saying he had determined to search out a drug he called 'Yage' which he believed transmitted telepathic powers, a drug that could be 'the final fix'. In The Yage Letters - a mix of travel writing, satire, psychedelia and epistolary novel - he journeys through South America, writing to his friend Allen Ginsberg about his experiments with the strange drug, using it to travel through time and space, to derange his senses - the perfect drug for the author of the wild decentred books that followed. Years later, Ginsberg writes back as he follows in Burroughs' footsteps, and the drug worse and more profound than he had imagined.

Cath and Si are best friends. Total opposites, always together, and both unlucky in love. Cath is scatty, messy, and emotionally closed. Si is impossibly tidy, bitchy, and desperate for a man of his own. When Portia steps back into their lives, her reappearance sets off a chain of events that tests them to the limit. Does Portia have a hidden agenda, or is she just looking for happy endings all round? Whatever the answers, none of them could ever predict the outcome ...

'We are Progress and the New Age. Nothing can stand in our way.' When Oxford-educated Emperor Seth succeeds to the throne of the African state of Azania, he has a tough job on his hands. His subjects are ill-informed and unruly, and corruption, double-dealing and bloodshed are rife. However, with the aid if Minister of Modernization Basil Seal, Seth plans to introduce his people to the civilized ways of the west - but will it be as simple as that?

This autobiography is about growing up in Egypt. It is also an investigation into childhood perception in which the author uses herself and her memories as an insight into how children see and know. It is a look at Eygpt up to, and including, World War II from a small girl's point of view, which is also, ultimately, a moving and rather sad picture of an isolated and lonely little girl.

***Special anniversary edition, with a new introduction by A. J. Finn***Someone's watching you. You don't know who. But he knows you . . .Zoe, Jennifer and Nadia are three women with nothing in common. Except for the man who wants to kill them. He sends them terrifying letters - promising to bring their lives to a violent, horrible end. But not before he has enjoyed himself. He delights in watching the women suffer, thrilled by his power to leave them utterly helpless, alone and in terror. Except they're not all as helpless as he thinks . . . 'Nicci French represent psychological suspense at its most searching and incisive' A. J. Finn, internationally No. 1 Bestselling Author of The Woman In The Window

The perfect heart-warming read for summer, for fans of Jill Mansell, Katie Fforde, and Carole Matthews. Nan, a widow whose family has flown the nest, is an independent, free-spirited woman who couldn't care less what people think about her living alone in her beloved beach house. But when she discovers that money is running out and she might lose her home, she knows it's time for a drastic change. She decides to rent out rooms for the summer and people start moving into the house, filling it with noise, laughter and tears. As the house comes to life again, Nan finds her family growing. Her son comes home for the summer and an unexpected visitor turns up, turning all their lives upside down . . .From the bestselling author of The Sunshine Sisters, Summer Secrets and Falling comes a heart-warming and compelling story of friendship, love and those moments that can change your life.____________'A corker of a story, sharply and elegantly told' Heat 'A delicious treat confirming that Green is still the queen of chick lit' In Style

Ostensibly written by an English knight, the Travels purport to relate his experiences in the Holy Land, Egypt, India and China. Mandeville claims to have served in the Great Khan's army, and to have travelled in 'the lands beyond' - countries populated by dog-headed men, cannibals, Amazons and Pygmies. Although Marco Polo's slightly earlier narrative ultimately proved more factually accurate, Mandeville's was widely known, used by Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci and Martin Frobisher, and inspiring writers as diverse as Swift, Defoe and Coleridge. This intriguing blend of fact, exaggeration and absurdity offers both fascinating insight into and subtle criticism of fourteenth-century conceptions of the world.

One of the major poets of Romanticism, Wordsworth epitomized the spirit of his age with his celebration of the natural world and the spontanous expression of feeling. This volume contains a rich selection from the most creative phase of his life, including extracts from his masterpiece, The Prelude, and the best-loved of his shorter poems such as 'Composed Upon Westminster Bridge', 'Tintern Abbey', 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud', 'Lucy Gray', and 'Michael'. Together these poems demonstrate not only Wordsworth's astonishing range and power, but the sustained and coherent vision that informed his work.