Bertie is a blackbird that lives in a tree in the garden. He tells stories of the past to all the different young birds that arrive. Bertie makes learning fun as he describes the changing seasons, weathers and how the times have changed since his younger days.
Investigating the death of an attorney whose demise has been marked by bizarre puzzles, barrister detective Father Anselm discovers a link between the dead woman and his own choices in a difficult case that he won two years earlier. By the author of The 6th Lamentation. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.
The reminiscences of Whittall's father covering; - His life in Constantinople before and after the First World War. - Exile in Athens and Rome during the First World War. - School, University and Teaching Hospital in the UK. - Life as a Doctor, pre and post National Health Service. - War time in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. - Marriage with a Russian emigre and the Russian Colony in London.
The Sunday Times bestseller by Jay Blades, the beloved star of hit BBC One show The Repair Shop. Making It is an inspirational memoir about beating the odds and turning things around even when it all seems hopeless. We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn’t have a lot of food and didn’t have a lot of money. But that didn’t stop me having the time of my life. In his book, Jay shares the details of his life, from his childhood growing up sheltered and innocent on a council estate in Hackney, to his adolescence when he was introduced to violent racism at secondary school, to being brutalized by police as a teen, to finally becoming the presenter of the hit primetime show The Repair Shop. Jay reflects on strength, weakness and what it means to be a man. He questions the boundaries society places on male vulnerability and how letting himself be nurtured helped him flourish into the person he is today. An expert at giving a second life to cherished items, Jay’s positivity, pragmatism and kindness shine through these pages and show that with care and love, anything can be mended.
A riveting novel about the remarkable life—and many loves—of author H. G. Wells H. G. Wells, author of The Time Machine and War of the Worlds, was one of the twentieth century's most prophetic and creative writers, a man who immersed himself in socialist politics and free love, whose meteoric rise to fame brought him into contact with the most important literary, intellectual, and political figures of his time, but who in later years felt increasingly ignored and disillusioned in his own utopian visions. Novelist and critic David Lodge has taken the compelling true story of Wells's life and transformed it into a witty and deeply moving narrative about a fascinating yet flawed man. Wells had sexual relations with innumerable women in his lifetime, but in 1944, as he finds himself dying, he returns to the memories of a select group of wives and mistresses, including the brilliant young student Amber Reeves and the gifted writer Rebecca West. As he reviews his professional, political, and romantic successes and failures, it is through his memories of these women that he comes to understand himself. Eloquent, sexy, and tender, the novel is an artfully composed portrait of Wells's astonishing life, with vivid glimpses of its turbulent historical background, by one of England's most respected and popular writers.
Michelle Freeman: Strong-willed and opinionated: feisty, determined and independent. Knows what she wants and goes after it. Mavis: Michelles stepmother: lacks formal education but possesses a sharp intelligence and innate common sense. Grandma Miriam: Michelles maternal grandmother and matriarch of the Campbell family. Richard Armstrong: Tall, good-looking; dreadlocked. Entirely too sure of himself in Michelles opinion, but captures her heart anyway. Michelle Freeman, affectionately known as Shell or Shellie, was born in Jamaica but migrated to England with her parents at the age of three. At age thirteen her life is thrown into turmoil when she accidentally discovers that her fathers wife, whom she had always taken for granted as being her mother, is in fact, not. This shocking discovery leads her to begin a search for her biological mother. The search eventually takes her to Jamaica where she finds a large extended maternal family and develops a deep and abiding love for the island of her birth. After leaving school and university in London, where she studied journalism, Shellie decides to leave the UK and practise her profession in Jamaica. However, all is not plain sailing, as she encounters culture shock, prejudice and jealousy and comes to the realisation that her beloved island is not the idyllic paradise she had supposed it to be. Set in South London and on the beautiful island of Jamaica, the story spans seventeen years, following the fiery and feisty young woman through her teenage years, young love and tragedy, and into adulthood and more conflicts and clashes.