In a remote cottage in Wales two urban couples are spending their holiday with the idealistic owner and his protege. The beginning is idyllic but catastrophe lurks behind every tree.

First published in 1929, this is the tale of Miss Ursula Brett, known to her friends as Noodles, who gets sent back to her seaside school by her miserly uncle after apparently encouraging improper advances from the persistent and slimy Mr Fitzgibbon. But her vivacious beauty and kind-heartedness lead her into further trouble and she runs away to join the seafront Pierrot players. Luckily, her brother (with his best friend 'Snubs'), her aunt Mrs Millet, and her uncle's neighbours Sylvia Shirley and Mrs Shirley, are all in Newcliff-on-Sea for the bank holiday weekend.

The Wood Burn Book teaches you everything you need to know to master the art of pyrography.

From the author of Earth: An Intimate History, an exuberant "biography" of four acres of woodland, evoking a cosmos of living and inanimate things and imagining its millennia of existence A few years ago, award-winning scientist Richard Fortey purchased four acres of woodland in the Chiltern Hills of Oxfordshire, England. The Wood for the Trees is the joyful, lyrical portrait of what he found there. With one chapter for each month, we move through the seasons: tree felling in January, moth hunting in June, finding golden mushrooms in September. Fortey, along with the occasional expert friend, investigates the forest top to bottom, discovering a new species and explaining the myriad connections that tie us to nature and nature to itself. His textured, evocative prose and gentle humor illuminate the epic story of a small forest. But he doesn't stop at mere observation. The Wood for the Trees uses the forest as a springboard back through time, full of rich and unexpected tales of the people, plants, and animals that once called the land home. With Fortey's help, we come to see a universe in miniature.

What makes a story a story? What is style? What’s the connection between realism and real life? These are some of the questions James Wood answers in How Fiction Works, the first book-length essay by the preeminent critic of his generation. Ranging widely—from Homer to David Foster Wallace, from What Maisie Knew to Make Way for Ducklings—Wood takes the reader through the basic elements of the art, step by step. The result is nothing less than a philosophy of the novel—plainspoken, funny, blunt—in the traditions of E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel and Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style. It sums up two decades of insight with wit and concision. It will change the way you read.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Beatty comes a spooky, thrilling new series set in the magical world of Serafina. Move without a sound. Steal without a trace. Willa, a young nightspirit of the Great Smoky Mountains, is her clan's best thief. She creeps into the homes of day-folk in the cover of darkness and takes what they won't miss. It's dangerous work—the day-folk kill whatever they do not understand. But when Willa's curiosity leaves her hurt and stranded in a day-folk man's home, everything she thought she knew about her people—and their greatest enemy—is forever changed.

Rin, Razo's little sister, is haunted by the forest she has always loved. When Razo invites her back to the city to be one of Queen Ani's waiting women, she happily accepts . . . only to end up on the adventure of her lifetime, following the queen, Enna and Dasha into the countryside in search of a fire-starting enemy that no one can see. As she learns more about the three women's magical talents, she finds her own strength comes from places both expected - the forest - and unexpected - the sound of her own voice. A brilliant addition to the Books of Bayern, this book is a treat for fans of this series, and stands alone for readers who might be discovering the joys of Shannon Hale's writing for the first time.

An enchanted wood poisoned at the roots. A girl bound by an inherited duty. And the lost traveler from another time who might help her uncover the truth. From debut author Chelsea Bobulski comes The Wood, a YA novel filled with dark mystery and atmospheric fantasy. Winter didn't ask to be the guardian of the wood, but when her dad inexplicably vanishes, she's the one who must protect travelers who accidentally slip through the wood's portals. The wood is poisoned, changing into something more sinister. Once brightly colored leaves are now bubbling inky black. Vicious creatures that live in the shadows are becoming bolder, torturing lost travelers. Winter must now put her trust in Henry—a young man from eighteenth century England who knows more than he should about the wood—in order to find the truth and those they've lost. Bobulski's beautiful and eerie young adult debut, is a haunting tale of friendship, family, and the responsibilities we choose and those we do not.

Chronicles the forest in New England from the Ice Age to current challenges