A man like Sherlock Holmes has many enemies. Violent murderers, deviant villains, ghosts of old loves, blackmailers and poisonous scribes, to to name but a few. But none are so deadly, so powerful, as Professor Moriarty. Moriarty - the only man who can compete with Holmes' genius. The only man who can, perhaps, ultimately defeat the great detective ...

    Using witty, observant commentary taken from Beatrix’s own diaries, the journal features a wealth of watercolor paintings, sketches, photographs, letters and period memorabilia to recreate the world in which she lived.

    A believer and an unbeliever, a socialist and a snob, an unhappy husband and a desolate widower, Hardy challenged the sexual and religious conventions of his time in his novels and then abandoned fiction to reestablish himself as a great twentieth-century lyric poet. In this acclaimed new biography, Claire Tomalin, one of today's preeminent literary biographers, investigates this beloved writer and reveals a figure as rich and complex as his tremendous legacy.

    S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the other members of the Inklings circle had a tremendous influence on one another; this book explains why. It also paints a lively and compelling picture of the way that writers, artists, and other innovators can (and should) challenge, correct, and encourage each other.

    Set in Ireland and Birmingham, this is the latest from emerging star of the genre Anne Bennett. Carmel Duffy is the eldest child of a brutal and abusive marriage, and she can’t wait to leave home. She’s equally determined to have no husband or children of her own – what she wants more than anything is to be a nurse. As soon as she turns eighteen, she heads for Birmingham and begins her training.With her beautiful auburn curls, she draws plenty of attention and her resolve to concentrate on her career is tested when Dr Paul Connolly comes onto her ward and into her life. Gradually he wins her heart, and they agree to marry, both certain that they want no children. They have valuable jobs to do – all the more so when World War Two looms. But those years will change everything: their relationship, their priorities, their very characters. Carmel will find that the future is very different to the one she thought she wanted for so long…

    1 of 2 After all, I need not give up the thought of doing that, too, in time; because even now, talking with whoever is worthy, I can give a reason for my faith in one and another excellence, the fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought; but in this addressing myself to you your own self, and for the first time, my feeling rises altogether. I do, as I say, love these books with all my heart - and I love you too. Do you know I was once not very far from seeing - really seeing you? Mr. Kenyon said to me one morning 'Would you like to see Miss Barrett?' then he went to announce me, - then he returned .. you were too unwell, and now it is years ago, and I feel as at some untoward passage in my travels, as if I had been close, so close, to some world's-wonder in chapel or crypt, only a screen to push and I might have entered, but there was some slight, so it now seems, slight and just sufficient bar to admission, and the half-opened door shut, and I went home my thousands of miles, and the sight was never to be? I thank you, dear Mr. Browning, from the bottom of my heart. You meant to give me pleasure by your letter - and even if the object had not been answered, I ought still to thank you. But it is thoroughly answered. Such a letter from such a hand!

    Here the author unearths the story of R.S. Thomas's life, and that of his household - one both comic, absurd and touching.

    It was there, on the edge of the dramatic landscape of the Yorkshire Moors, that they produced some of the most memorable, influential and best-loved novels in the English language. Ann Dinsdale paints a detailed picture of everyday life at Haworth in the 1840s, recounting the Brontë family history and describing the local village and surrounding countryside. She goes on to consider the Brontës' poetry and novels in the context of their socio-historic background. This book provides fascinating insight into the lives of the authors of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and will be a must for both literature students and Brontë admirers. It is illustrated with numerous rarely seen images from the Haworth archives, including drawings by Charlotte and Emily, together with evocative pictures by local photographer Simon Warner.

    In 1945 Ditha was living with her parents in the small town of Lossen, in Upper Silesia. Close Jewish friends had vanished, swastikas hung from every building, and neighbours were disappearing in the middle of the night. At the same time more than one thousand, five hundred British and Commonwealth airmen were being marched out of Stalag Luft VII, a POW camp in Upper Silesia. Twenty three of these prisoners managed to escape from the marching column and by chance hobbled into Lossen. One amongst them, Warrant Officer Gordon Slowey, was the man Ditha was destined to meet and fall in love with. This book tells the extraordinary story of Ditha and the escaped POWs she helped to save. Together they embarked on a dangerous and daring flight out of Germany. As they faced exhaustion, hunger, extreme cold and the constant risk of discovery, Ditha and Gordon’s love for one another intensified, and so did their determination to survive and escape together. Michael Hingston is a trained journalist. He spent twelve years working as a general news reporter, crime writer and industrial correspondent before turning to public relations. This book is based on his aunt Ditha’s vivid recollections recorded in over a hundred hours of conversation between the two of them, as well as exhaustive research in archives to verify the facts.

    Geoffrey Wellum's First Light was one example. The memoir of Timothy Vigors is another.Born in Hatfield but raised in Ireland and educated at Eton and Cranwell, Vigors found himself in France in 1940 flying Fairey Battle bombers. After the Fall he joined the fighters of 222 Squadron, with whom he saw frantic and distinguished service over Dunkirk and persevered through the dangerous days of the Battle of Britain, when he became an ace.Vigors transferred to the Far East in January 1941 as a flight commander with 243, then to 453 Squadron RAAF, and on December 10 of that year he led a flight of Buffaloes to cover the sinking Prince of Wales and Repulse. Dramatically shot down, burnt and attacked on his parachute, he was evacuated to Java, and from there, to India. As he describes these experiences in his handwritten account, the author provides a fascinating and valuable record, a newly discovered personal narrative of air combat destined to be seen as a classic.

    A man of extremes, Leonard Woolf was ferocious and tender, violent and self-restrained, opinionated and nonjudgmental, always an outsider of sorts within the exceptionally intimate, fractious, and sometimes vicious society of brilliant but troubled friends and lovers. He has been portrayed either as Virginia's saintly caretaker or as her oppressor, the substantial range and influence of his own achievements overshadowed by Virginia's fame and the tragedy of her suicide. But Leonard was a pivotal figure of his age, whose fierce intelligence touched the key literary and political events that shaped the early decades of the twentieth century and would resonate into the post-World War II era. Glendinning beautifully evokes Woolf 's coming-of-age in turn-of-the-century London. The scholarship boy from a prosperous Jewish family would cut his own path through the world of the British public school, contending with the lingering anti-Semitism of Imperial Age Britain. Immediately upon entering Trinity College, Cambridge, Woolf became one of an intimate group of vivid personalities who would form the core of the Bloomsbury circle: the flamboyant Lytton Strachey; Toby Stephen, "the Goth," through whom Leonard would meet Stephen's sister Virginia; and Clive Bell. Glendinning brings to life their long nights of intense discussion of literature and the vicissitudes of sex, and charts Leonard's course as he becomes the lifelong friend of John Maynard Keynes and E. M. Forster. She unearths the crucial influence of Woolf 's seven years as a headstrong administrator in colonial Ceylon, where he lost confidence in the imperial mission, deciding to abandon Ceylon in order to marry the psychologically troubled Virginia Stephen. Glendinning limns the true nature of Leonard's devotion to Virginia, revealing through vivid depiction of their unconventional marriage how Leonard supported Virginia through her breakdowns and in her writing. In co-founding with Virginia the Hogarth Press, he provided a secure publisher for Virginia's own boldly experimental works. As the éminence grise of the early Labour Party, working behind the scenes,Woolf became a leading critic of imperialism, and his passionate advocacy of collective security to prevent war underpinned the charter of the League of Nations. After Virginia's death, he continued to forge his own iconoclastic way, engaging in a long and happy relationship with a married woman. Victoria Glendinning's Leonard Woolf is a major achievement -- a shrewdly perceptive and lively portrait of a complex man of extremes and contradictions in whom passion fought with reason and whose far-reaching influence is long overdue for the full appreciation Glendinning offers in this important book.

    Rich, powerful and apparently above the law, he has everything his heart desires - except children. When one day a woman turns up in the tavern with an orphaned little girl for sale, Luther does not hesitate, he buys her. Little does he know that Lissie, with her great beauty and mysterious origins, whom his wife hates at first sight, will prove to be both his greatest joy and his deepest heartache - and finally his undoing.

    Yet there is an aspect to this myth which has been neglected, but which is perhaps its most potent part of all.  For central to the Arthurian stories are the mysterious, sexually alluring enchantresses, those spellcasters and mistresses of magic who wield extraordinary influence over Arthur's life and destiny, bestriding the Camelot mythology with a dark, brooding presence. Echoing the search for the Grail, Carolyne Larrington takes her readers on a quest of her own - to discover why these dangerous women continue to bewitch us.  Her journey takes in the enchantresses as they appear in poetry and painting, on the Internet and TV, in high culture and popular culture.  She shows that whether they be chaste or depraved, necrophiliacs or virgins, the Arthurian enchantresses  are manifestations of the feared, uncontainable Other, frightening and fascinating in equal measure.

    Complete two-part set of 24 30-minute lectures on twelve audio CDs with accompanying course guides in original hard cases.

    This work documents the transformation of the original Derry and Toms building into the 'superstore boutique'. It is illustrated floor by floor, showing the products for each department, from food to fashion, and bathrooms to the legendary 'rainbow room'.

    Trumpets should be blown, garlands made ... loquacious, playful, wildly comic ... poignant. His greatness is as certain as that of the poets he invokes' Daily Telegraph 'Whatever the densities of Hill's expression, or the powerful impacted forces in his syntax and rhythms, this poetry achieves a strength, memorability and precision beyond the abilities of any other poet writing in English' Peter McDonald, TLS

    His territory is the no-man's-land of threshold and margin, the charmed half-light of the liminal, a domestic world threaded through with mystery, myth and longing.In this Selected Poems we can see themes emerge and develop within the growing confidence of Burnside's sinuous lyric poise: the place of the individual in the world, the idea of dwelling, of home, within that community, and the lure of absence and escape set against the possibilities of renewal and continuity.This is consummate, immaculate work born out of a lean and agile craftsmanship, profound philosophical thought and a haunted, haunting imagination; the result is a poetry that makes intimate, resonant, exquisite music.

     Very early on, Kerrie-Ann begins to dream of the world beyond the rough council estate where she lives. Her father is nowhere to be found, her mother is a junkie, and she is left to care for her little brother. Clever, brave, and frighteningly independent, Kerrie-Ann has an unbreakable will to survive. She befriends her eccentric, elderly neighbor, who teaches her about butterflies, the Amazon, and life outside of her tough neighborhood. But even as Kerrie-Ann dreams of a better life she becomes further entangled in the cycles of violence and drugs that rule the estate. Brilliant, brutal, and tender, The Killing Jar introduces a brave new voice in fiction. Nicola Monaghan's devastating prose tells an unforgettable story of violence, love, and hope.

    Here he welcomes Kate, who has just lost her husband, and young Daisy Quin, a dancer recovering from a back injury. Roly’s son Nat lives not far away, and he must suffer visits of his unsympathetic mother Monica, Roly’s ex-wife. All seek peace and quiet, but the disclosure of a secret proves that life is not so simple. . . .Treating Marcia Willett’s ardent fans to a return visit with some of her most endearing characters from previous books, Echoes of the Dance is a gem of a story to be savored.

    Over the course of an intense summer, they each tell their own off-kilter version of events. Shawnie, just 13, dreams of a normal life: a lock on the bathroom door, clean clothes for school and no wild parties with her Ma as the star turn. A 'diamond of a girl', she tries to keep the family in order. But prostitution, drink and violence are eating away at them all, leading towards a horror that's almost too much to bear.

    A car accident brings a terrifying revelation. A stalker turns out to be far more than she appears… Unflinching, precise and seamed with a dry wit, Tracey Sinclair’s debut collection of stories is a darkly beautiful look at the pivotal moments in women’s lives.

    But luckily help is at hand in the form of a retired judge, a timid cabbagehead, and some very excitable boxtrolls.It's monsters to the rescue!This is the first part of the incredible Here Be Monsters saga - now published in paperback in three easy-to-digest volumes. Illustrated throughout with nearly two hundred incredible black and white drawings, this is the start of an astonishing journey into the unbelievably weird world of Ratbridge.

    Like Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, So Many Ways to Begin is rich in the intimate details that shape a life, the subtle strain that defines human relationships, and the personal history that forms identity. David Carter, the novel's protagonist, takes a keen interest in history as a boy. Encouraged by his doting Aunt Julia, he begins collecting the things that tell his story: a birth certificate, school report cards, annotated cinema and train tickets. After finishing school, he finds the perfect job for his lifetime obsession as curator at a local history museum. His professional and romantic lives take shape as his beloved aunt and mentor's unravel. Lost in a fog of senility, Julia lets slip a secret about David's family. Over the course of the next decades, as David and his wife Eleanor live out their lives - struggling through early marriage, professional disappointments, the birth of their daughter, Eleanor's depression, and an affair that ends badly, David attempts to physically piece together his past, finding meaning and connection where he least expects it.

    

    An exquisitely designed box set of the hardcover editions of A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong; The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood; Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith, Weight by Jeanette Winterson, as well as a four-page, beautifully designed insert of an essay by Philip Pullman, "A Word or Two About Myths,{" available only within the box set.

    The maiden Britomart, Queen Elizabeth's fictional ancestor, dons armor to search for a man whom she has seen in a crystal ball. While on this quest, she seeks to understand how one can be chaste while pursuing a sexual goal, in love with a man while passionately attached to a woman, a warrior princess yet a wife. As Spenser's most sensitively developed character, Britomart is capable of heroic deeds but also of teenage self-pity. Her experience is anatomized in the stories of other characters, where versions of love and friendship include physical gratification, torture, mutual aid, competition, spiritual ecstasy, self-sacrifice, genial teasing, jealousy, abduction, wise government, sedition, and the valiant defense of a pig shed.

    Woolf and other critics pointed out that early modern prose is full of things but bare of setting and description. Explaining how the empty, unvisualized spaces of such writings were transformed into the elaborate landscapes and richly upholstered interiors of the Victorian novel, Cynthia Sundberg Wall argues that the shift involved not just literary representation but an evolution in cultural perception. In The Prose of Things, Wall analyzes literary works in the contexts of natural science, consumer culture, and philosophical change to show how and why the perception and representation of space in the eighteenth-century novel and other prose narratives became so textually visible. Wall examines maps, scientific publications, country house guides, and auction catalogs to highlight the thickening descriptions of domestic interiors. Considering the prose works of John Bunyan, Samuel Pepys, Aphra Behn, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, David Hume, Ann Radcliffe, and Sir Walter Scott, The Prose of Things is the first full account of the historic shift in the art of describing.

    A selection of 165 letters from the owner of Strawberry Hill

    A touching and engaging novel which effortlessly captures the joy and pain of one’s first love affair, and that moment in life when we all must decide whose life to live: ours or the one others have chosen for us.” – Don Roos, writer-director, “The Opposite of Sex,” “Happy Endings”“An intense literary love story: elegant, urgent, and wonderfully romantic.” --Sarah Waters, author “The Night Watch”"A paean to youth, love, longing, and literature, Shakespeare's Sonnets is evocative and bittersweet."--Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of “Prep”"A poignant, provocative tale about the longings, conflicts and risks of first love in an era that condemns it... Park's writing exudes the authority of a scholar and the sensitivity of an artist, propelled by the searing force of truth, and signals the arrival of a bold new talent on the literary scene." - Barry Sandler, screenwriter, “Making Love”"Are Adam and Jean in 1948 living out Shakespeare's story? Or Wilde's? Or ours? A masterful story-teller, Sam Park put history, as well as us, in a state of suspense."--Bruce R. Smith, author of “Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England”First developed as a one-act play at Stanford University, this literate, intimate novel introduces a fresh new voice in gay fiction.The time is 1948. Adam Greenhurst is a student at Harvard with dreams of becoming a literary scholar. He’s from a rich and influential family and has become engaged to the perfect girl. His life plan is set, until he’s busted by campus police for having sex with another man in a public place.Threatened with expulsion, Adam refocuses his energies on a new class about Shakespeare’s sonnets. There he meets Jean Hoffman, a man with whom Adam shares much: love of language and love of men. As their relationship grows, Adam realizes he will have to make a choice: the life his family planned for him, or the life his heart wants.

    In the eyes of the public, they don't exist but what if you could find out what really makes them tick?Here, for the first time, is access to the highly confidential personnel files of eight of MI5's top officers. They tell you everything you want to know about your favourite characters from the cult BBC series Spooks: why they joined the Intelligence Service; how they were recruited; operational debriefings; psychological profiles; training they've given and endured.These files explore, in minute detail, the events that have shaped the characters' lives and the effect their profession has had on them personally.

    Please visit www.ArcManor.com for more books by this and other authors.

    They deal with eternal themes of transition, artifice and, above all, the cruel ravages of time - often depicting flowers, with their heady, perfumed beauty, as the embodiment of decay and desire. Decadent Poetry brings together the works of many fascinating writers - Oscar Wilde on tainted love and the torments of the human spirit, Arthur Symons on an absinthe-induced stupor and the mysteries of the night, Rosamund Marriott Watson on disenchantment and memory, W. B. Yeats on waning passion and faded beauty, Ernest Dowson on lust and despair and Lord Alfred Douglas on shame and secret love, among many others of this exhilarating poetic movement.

    He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa and America, as well as for his extraordinary knowledge of languages (purportedly he spoke 29 European, Asian and African languages) and cultures. His best known achievements include: a well-documented journey to Mecca in disguise at a time when Europeans were forbidden access on pain of death; an unexpurgated translation of One Thousand and One Nights (commonly called The Arabian Nights); the publication of the Kama Sutra in English; a translation of The Perfumed Garden (the Arab Kama Sutra); and his journey with John Hanning Speke as the first Europeans to visit the Great Lakes of Africa in search of the source of the Nile. The Land of Midian (Revisited), published in two volumes in 1879, describes Burton's second expedition to the region of 1877-78, his earlier expedition having been the subject of The Gold Mines of Midian (1878).