'A daring blend of romance, crime and history, and an intelligent exposé of the inherent injustice and consequences of all forms of oppression' Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions Opening with the shooting of Lady Virginia 'Ginie' Courtauld in her tranquil garden in 1950s Rhodesia, The Dragon Lady tells Ginie's extraordinary story, so called for the exotic tattoo snaking up her leg. From the glamorous Italian Riviera before the Great War to the Art Deco glory of Eltham Palace in the thirties, and from the secluded Scottish Highlands to segregated Rhodesia in the fifties, the narrative spans enormous cultural and social change. Lady Virginia Courtauld was a boundary-breaking, colourful and unconventional person who rejected the submissive role women were expected to play. Ostracised by society for being a foreign divorcée at the time of Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson, Ginie and her second husband ,Stephen Courtauld, leave the confines of post-war Britain to forge a new life in Rhodesia, only to find that being progressive liberals during segregation proves mortally dangerous. Many people had reason to dislike Ginie, but who had reason enough to pull the trigger? Deeply evocative of time and place, The Dragon Lady subtly blends fact and fiction to paint the portrait of an extraordinary woman in an era of great social and cultural change.

Meet Grant the genie, and his best friend – the puppy, Teeny... The first in a series of magical adventures from the renowned illustrator, Steven Lenton, winner of Waterstones Picture Book of the Month and the Times Children’s Book of the Week.

Be careful what you wish for… Samantha Blaine is about to make a fateful discovery. A tall, dark, handsome, ohmygosh kind of fateful discovery… Kal is very pleased to meet his attractive new master—especially since he intends to seduce her into granting him freedom. But when seriously dark magic spells trouble for both of them, Kal can’t help himself from falling for the woman who holds his fate in her hands…

She’s all bottled up. Jeannie Carlyle is a caterer extraordinaire, more than ready to handle any challenge thrown at her. But when her client asks her to open up a rare bottle of gin for a party, Jeannie is shocked when a guy in poofy pants pops out and she gets sucked inside. Trapped in the bottle, Jeannie does the only thing she can think of and uses her cell phone to search the term “paranormal” and finds the number for OOPS—Out in the Open Paranormal Support. Until he sets her free. Werewolf Sloan Flaherty isn’t keen on dealing with distraught women, especially since his sister-in-law Marty basically forced him to man the OOPS phones. But when Jeannie calls in a panic, Sloan is the only one available to find Jeannie’s bottle. After giving it a good rub, Jeannie emerges dressed like a character from Arabian Nights and starts calling Sloan “Master.” Now, they need to figure out how to break their unwanted bond, before the wishes Jeannie can’t stop granting get them into more trouble than even the OOPS girls can handle…

Eight--year-old Emma and her little dog, Tristan, take a magic carpet ride to the distant land of Barakash to help a genie recover his stolen magical nose ring.

Grab your magical sword and take the place of your favorite fantasy character with this fun and historically accurate how-to guide to solving epic quests. What should you ask a magic mirror? How do you outwit a genie? Where should you dig for buried treasure? Fantasy media’s favorite clichés get new life from How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages, a historically accurate romp through the medieval world. Each entry presents a trope from video games, books, movies, or TV—such as saving the princess or training a wizard—as a problem for you to solve, as if you were the hero of your own fantasy quest. Through facts sourced from a rich foundation of medieval sources, you will learn how your magical problems were solved by people in the actual Middle Ages. Divided into thematic subsections based on typical stages in a fantastical epic, and inclusive of race, gender, and continent, How to Slay a Dragon is perfect if you’re curious to learn more about the time period that inspired some of your favorite magical worlds or longing to know what it would be like to be the hero of your own mythical adventure.

The first two volumes of Patricia C. Wrede's beloved, bestselling Enchanted Forest Chronicles!

Throughout time and across cultures, dragons have existed as part of our collective imagination, breathing fire, guarding treasure, and embodying magic. Some are evil, some are kind, and all are fascinating. The Walt Disney Company has had a long-standing fascination with dragons, and this book, conceived as a sketchbook handed down through generations of Disney artists, chronicles the impact that dragons have had on Disney films, parks, and resorts. Inside these pages are the bold storyboards of Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent, color concepts of Epcot's Figment (who was green before he became purple!), and playful studies of Mulan's Mushu. The illustrators are a wide variety of animators, live-action studio artists, and Imagineers, including Tim Burton, Rolly Crump, Marc Davis, Eric Goldberg, Bill Justice, John Hench, Joe Rohde, Chuck Ballew, and more. Tom Bancroft, who has worked in animation for more than twenty-five years, offers memories and insights from his tenure as Mushu's lead animator, during which he character designed, and later refined, the look of Mulan's feisty little dragon.

When a poor fisherman casts his net out into the Arabian Sea -- and pulls in a genie in a bottle -- he expects three wishes.... But this genie isn't like other genies.... Three interwoven stories-within-a-story illustrate that good deeds should never be rewarded with evil, a lesson the genie will not soon forget.