The fourth Little Village School novel. Love is in the air in the little village of Barton-in-the-Dale. Anyone can see that Ashley Underwood and Emmet O'Malley are made for each other. They've just got to admit it to themselves . . . But as the saying goes, the course of true love never did run smooth. While romance blossoms on one side of the village, an angry young boy struggles to believe in love. But when tragedy strikes, he learns that comfort and care can come from the most unexpected of places. Meanwhile, head teacher Elisabeth Stirling faces a new challenge for the start of the school year. An eccentric teacher joins the staff, and there's also a worrying case of potential negligence to answer. In the village too, a puritanical new vicar stirs up trouble. But as always, mixed in with the drama there's plenty of gossip, laughter, friendship - and love - in Barton-in-the-Dale.

'[Gervase Phinn is] a worthy successor to James Herriott, and every bit as endearing.' - Bestselling author Alan Titchmarsh She was wearing red shoes! With silver heels! Elisabeth Devine causes quite a stir on her arrival in the village. No one can understand why the head of a big inner city school would want to come to sleepy little Barton-in-the-Dale, to a primary with more problems than school dinners. And that's not even counting the challenges the mysterious Elisabeth herself will face: a bitter former head teacher, a grumpy caretaker and a duplicitous chair of governors, to name but a few. Then there's the gossip. After all, a woman who would wear red shoes to an interview is obviously capable of anything . . . Warm, funny and poignant, Gervase Phinn's first novel creates a fictional world that's as real as can be. It will delight all his fans, and win him many more. Readers are loving THE LITTLE VILLAGE SCHOOL! 'A jolly good read.' - 5 STARS 'Superb, easy reading.' - 5 STARS 'I completely fell in love with all the characters in this book.' - 5 STARS 'Will definitely go on to read more of Gervase Phinn's works.' - 5 STARS 'Wonderful storytelling, believable characters.' - 5 STARS

'[Gervase Phinn is] a worthy successor to James Herriott, and every bit as endearing.' - bestselling author Alan Titchmarsh Love is in the air in the little village of Barton-in-the-Dale. Anyone can see that Ashley Underwood and Emmet O'Malley are made for each other. They've just got to admit it to themselves . . . But as the saying goes, the course of true love never did run smooth. While romance blossoms on one side of the village, an angry young boy struggles to believe in love. But when tragedy strikes, he learns that comfort and care can come from the most unexpected of places. Meanwhile, head teacher Elisabeth Stirling faces a new challenge for the start of the school year. An eccentric teacher joins the staff, and there's also a worrying case of potential negligence to answer. In the village too, a puritanical new vicar stirs up trouble. But as always, mixed in with the drama there's plenty of gossip, laughter, friendship - and love - in Barton-in-the-Dale. Readers are loving A LESSON IN LOVE! 'When you pick up one of his books you don't want to put it down.' - 5 STARS 'A beautiful book.' - 5 STARS 'The best book ever.' - 5 STARS 'A charming, lovely book' - 5 STARS 'A great, colourful, packed-with-character read.' - 5 STARS

Fourteen-year-old Prue and her sister Grace have been educated at home by their controlling, super-strict father all their lives. Forced to wear Mum's odd hand-made garments and forbidden from reading teenage magazines, they know they're very different to 'normal' girls - but when Dad has a stroke and ends up in hospital, unable to move or speak, Prue suddenly discovers what it's like to have a little freedom. Sent to a real school for the first time, Prue struggles to fit in. The only person she can talk to is her kindly, young - and handsome - art teacher, Rax. They quickly bond, and Prue feels more and more drawn to him. As her feelings grow stronger, she begins to realise that he might feel the same way about her. But nothing could ever happen between them - could it?

Ann Cleeves Classic Crime - engaging mysteries to savour, beloved characters to meet again. A Lesson in Dying is the first mystery novel in the Inspector Ramsay series by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope crime series. Who hung the headmaster in the playground on the night of the school Halloween Party? Almost everyone in Heppleburn either hated or feared the viper-tongued Harold Medburn. Inspector Ramsay is convinced it was the headmaster’s enigmatic wife but Jack Robson, school governor and caretaker, is determined to prove her innocence. With the help of his restless daughter Patty, Jack digs into the secrets of Heppleburn, and uncovers a cesspit of lies, adultery, blackmail and madness . . . Continue the classic whodunit series with Murder in My Backyard.

It isn’t that Abby Carson can’t do her schoolwork. She just doesn’t like doing it. And in February a warning letter arrives at her home. Abby will have to repeat sixth grade—unless she meets some specific conditions, including taking on an extra-credit project to find a pen pal in a distant country. Seems simple enough. But when Abby’s first letter arrives at a small school in Afghanistan, the village elders agree that any letters going back to America must be written well. In English. And the only qualified student is a boy, Sadeed Bayat. Except in this village, it is not proper for a boy to correspond with a girl. So Sadeed’s younger sister will write the letters. Except she knows hardly any English. So Sadeed must write the letters. For his sister to sign. But what about the villagers who believe that girls should not be anywhere near a school? And what about those who believe that any contact with Americans is . . . unhealthy? Not so simple. But as letters flow back and forth—between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of central Asia, across cultural and religious divides, through the minefields of different lifestyles and traditions—a small group of children begin to speak and listen to one another. And in just a few short weeks, they make important discoveries about their communities, about their world, and most of all, about themselves.

This contemporary parable about spiritual empowerment shares a timeless truth: God has a special purpose for you which can be unlocked through the instruction manual for how you operate which he has left for you. You can fulfill that purpose through the help of His Spirit. A powerful lesson based on Acts 1:8 perfectly told for little hearts.

'Beautifully researched account, full of humour and personal insight' David Crystal, author of Making Sense: The Glamorous Story of English Grammar 'A witty, wise, and wonderfully weird journey that will change the way you think . . . This book is a delight' Bianca Bosker, author of Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste 'Delightfully engrossing, charmingly and enthusiastically well-written history of the crossword puzzle' Benjamin Dreyer, author of Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style 'Full of treasures, surprises and fun . . . richly bringing to life the quirky, obsessive, fascinating characters in the crossword world' Mary Pilon, author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game 'A gold mine of revelations. If there is a pantheon of cruciverbalist scholars, Adrienne Raphel has established herself squarely within it' Mary Norris, author of Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen Equal parts ingenious and fun, Thinking Inside the Box is a love letter to the infinite joys and playful possibilities of language, a treat for die-hard cruciverbalists and first-time crossword solvers alike. The crossword is a feature of the modern world, inspiring daily devotion and obsession from millions. It was invented in 1913, almost by accident, when an editor at the New York World was casting around for something to fill some empty column space for that year's Christmas edition. Almost overnight, crosswords became a phenomenal commercial success, and have been an essential ingredient of any newspaper worth its salt since then. Indeed, paradoxically, the popularity of crosswords has never been greater, even as the world of media and newspapers, the crossword's natural habitat, has undergone a dramatic digital transformation. But why, exactly, are the satisfactions of a crossword so sweet that over the decades they have become a fixture of breakfast tables, bedside tables and commutes, and even given rise to competitive crossword tournaments? Blending first-person reporting from the world of crosswords with a delightful telling of the crossword's rich literary history, Adrienne Raphel dives into the secrets of this classic pastime. At the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, she rubs shoulders with elite solvers from all over the world, doing her level best to hold her own; aboard a crossword-themed cruise she picks the brains of the enthusiasts whose idea of a good time is a week on the high seas with nothing to do but crosswords; and, visiting the home and office of Will Shortz, New York Times crossword puzzle editor and US National Public Radio's official Puzzlemaster, she goes behind the scenes to see for herself how the world's gold standard of puzzles is made.

New York Times bestselling author Cathy Maxwell’s delicious Logical Man’s Guide to Dangerous Women series continues with this provocative romance between a reprobate earl and a sensible spinster who agree to marry under scandalous circumstances. Perfect for fans of Sophie Jordan and Sabrina Jeffries. Lesson #1: A man, even titled and handsome, cannot be careless forever. The Earl of Marsden—better known as Mars to all—has lived his life by his own rules…until he is presented with a very big problem in a very tiny package—a baby girl, his daughter cast off by his ex-mistress. Mars won’t let his child be cast adrift, except he doesn’t know the first thing about babies. Panicking, he turns to a woman for help. Not just any woman, but Clarissa Taylor, village spinster, matron-in-training, and Mars’s greatest critic. Still, who better to tend a motherless child than a woman who was abandoned as a babe herself? Lesson #2: Life always plays the upper hand—especially when it comes to love. Clarissa desperately wishes to not to be beholden to anyone. She has spent a lifetime being pitied by the village. Her plan is simple—to use what the intolerable earl will pay her to become her own woman. It all sounds so straightforward until the threat of scandal sends her and the one man she can’t abide toward . . . marriage? Mars and Clarissa are about to learn the greatest lesson of all—that sparks always fly when the iron is hot.

'[Gervase Phinn is] a worthy successor to James Herriott, and every bit as endearing.' - bestselling author Alan Titchmarsh 'It's a small village is Barton-in-the-Dale, Mrs Stirling,' said the shopkeeper. 'You ought to know that by now. Nothing can be kept secret for too long. News travels fast.' In the little village of Barton-in-the-Dale, long-hidden secrets are bubbling to the surface. Ashley Underwood and Emmet O'Malley are set to tie the knot, when a revelation from the handsome Irishman's past returns to haunt him. The town's resident nosey-parker discovers some juicy gossip about the primary school's dishy new staff-member, and head teacher Elisabeth Stirling has a very special secret of her own. As the wedding day draws closer, brewing secrets threaten to boil over. But along with the skeletons tumbling out of the closet comes plenty of laughter, drama, friendship and love. One thing's for sure: for some, life in Barton-in-the-Dale will never be the same again. Readers are loving SECRETS AT THE LITTLE VILLAGE SCHOOL: 'Wonderful' - 5 STARS 'Perfect light summer reading' - 5 STARS 'Just as good as his previous book in the series.' - 5 STARS 'I so enjoy the trials and tribulations of this Yorkshire school. Gervase is a fine writer.' - 5 STARS 'It's like having a gossip with a good friend - a beautiful series of books.' - 5 STARS