A compelling and colourful memoir that takes the reader inside the forgotten world of domestic service. Arriving at the great houses of 1920s London, fifteen-year-old Margaret's life in service was about to begin... As a kitchen maid - the lowest of the low - she entered an entirely new world; one of stoves to be blacked, vegetables to be scrubbed, mistresses to be appeased, and even bootlaces to be ironed. Work started at 5.30am and went on until after dark. Yet from the gentleman with a penchant for stroking the housemaids' curlers, to the heartbreaking story of Agnes the pregnant under-parlourmaid, fired for being seduced by her mistress' nephew, Margaret's tales of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation.

First in a trilogy, Merry Hall is the account of the restoration of a house and garden in post-war England. Though Mr. Nichols's horticultural undertaking is serious, his writing is high-spirited, riotously funny, and, at times, deliciously malicious.

A fictionalized account of the author's experiences in a sleepy British village, where he tends to the pleasures of gardening and garden writing after World War II

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From “one of the most acute and lasting writers of her generation” (The New York Times) comes a piercing novel of race, class, love, and war in America. Twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin, the daughter of a gentleman farmer, has come to a university town as a student. When she takes a job as a part-time nanny for a mysterious and glamorous family, she finds herself drawn deeper into their world and forever changed. “An indelible portrait of a young woman coming of age in the Midwest in the year after 9/11…. Moore has written her most powerful book yet.” —The New York Times

No more delightful garden-related books have ever been written than Nichols' accounts of the rescue and renovation of Merry Hall, a run-down Georgian mansion and its garden.

"Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the world's best-loved and most quoted gardening books. Ostensibly an account of the creation of a garden in Huntingdonshire in the 1930s, it is really about the underlying emotions and obsessions for which gardening is just a cover story. The secret of this book's success---and its timelessness---is that it does not seek to impress the reader with a wealth of expert knowledge or advice. Beverley Nichols proudly declares his status as a newcomer to gardening: "The best gardening books should be written by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckle's languid Latin name."As unforgettable as the plants in the garden are, the cast of visitors and neighbours who invariably turn up at inopportune moments are truly memorable. For every angelic Miss Hazlitt there is an insufferable Miss Wilkins waiting in the wings. For every thought-provoking Professor, there is an intrusive Mrs. M., whose chief offense may be that she is a "damnably efficient" gardener. From a disaster in building a rock garden---"It reminded me of those puddings made of spongecake and custard which are studded with almonds"---to a triumph in building an "avalanche" of chionodoxas---"Ah, but it was worth waiting for"---to further adventures with greenhouses, woodland gardens, not to mention cats and treacle, Nichols has left us a true gardening classic.

Portland has 196 public staircases, an irresistible asset to this pedestrian-friendly city. In The Portland Stairs Book, Portland's walking guru Laura Foster has gathered the best and most interesting in a handy pocket-sized guide. From Mount Tabor's epic 282 steps to the glass cupola atop 115 steps in Pioneer Courthouse, The Portland Stairs Book features details on twenty outdoor stairs that have amazing stories and something unique to offer an urban explorer. The stairs include the Willamette River Bridge Stairs, The Westover Terraces Steps, and Rocky Butte's Grand Staircase. The book also features indoor stairs that are perfect for a rainy Portland day and five Stair Trails that lead readers on urban treks that contain hundreds of steps in five different areas of town.

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Martin Dressler—hailed by The New Yorker as “a virtuoso of waking dreams”—comes a dazzling collection of darkly comic stories united by their obsession with obsession. "Remarkable ... Not just brilliant but prescient." —The New York Times Book Review In Dangerous Laughter, Steven Millhauser transports us to unknown universes that uncannily resemble our own. The collection is divided into three parts that fit seamlessly together as a whole. It opens with a bang, as “Cat ’n’ Mouse” reimagines the deadly ritual between cartoon rivals in a comedy of dynamite and anvils—a masterly prologue that sets the stage for the alluring, very grown-up twists that follow. Part one, “Vanishing Acts,” features stories of risk and escape: a lonely woman disappears without a trace; a high school boy becomes entangled with his best friend’s troubled sister; and a group of teenagers play a treacherous game that pushes them deep into “the kingdom of forbidden things.” Excess reigns in the vivid, haunting places of Part two’s “Impossible Architectures,” where domes enclose whole cities, and a king’s master miniaturist creates objects so tiny that soon his entire world is invisible. Finally, “Heretical Histories” presents startling alternatives to the remembered past. “A Precursor of the Cinema” proposes a new, enigmatic form of illusion. And in the astonishing “The Wizard of West Orange” a famous inventor sets out to simulate the sense of touch—but success brings disturbing consequences. Sensual, mysterious, Dangerous Laughter is a mesmerizing journey through brilliantly realized labyrinths of mortal pleasures that stretch the boundaries of the ordinary world to their limits—and occasionally beyond.

Inspired by the many frustrations of parenthood and the ever-present fear of failure, SHOES ON THE STAIRS centers around a mother's struggle to accept what she has left behind after her death. Unable to find the promised white light after her death, Claire Blackwell, a harried mother of three, is forced to watch her family crumble without her. But when her youngest sees her, Claire believes she's been given a chance to mend the holes she's created. She soon discovers she has no control over the physical world, and her time with her family is running out. But when her son's childhood bully threatens to destroy her delicate family she must find a way to save them before it's too late.

From the author of Rhyme Schemer, House Arrest, and Knockout! The Kids Under the Stairs: BenBee and the Teacher Griefer is a funny, clever novel-in-verse series about Ben Bellows—who failed the Language Arts section of the Florida State test—and three classmates who get stuck in a summer school class. But these kids aren't dumb—they're divergent thinkers, as Ms. J tells them: they simply approach things in a different way than traditional school demands. • Each chapter is told through the perspective of one of the four students, who each write in a different style (art, verse, stream of consciousness). • Celebrates different types of intelligence • A heartwarming, laugh-out-loud novel-in-verse Soon, the kids win over Ms. J with their passion for Sandbox, a Minecraft-type game. The kids make a deal with Ms. J: every minute they spend reading aloud equals one minute they get to play Sandbox in class. But when the administration finds about this unorthodox method of teaching, Ben B. and his buds have to band together to save their teacher's job—and their own academic future. The first in a series of complementary storylines, this is an honest, heartfelt book about friendship, videogames, and learning to love yourself. • Features a distinct and engaging cast of characters • Encourages even the most reluctant reader to embrace their own "divergent" self • Perfect for parents of kids age 10 and up who love Minecraft, educators and librarians, middle grade readers, new readers of poetry, and fans of videogames • You'll love this book if you love books like Ghost by Jason Reynolds, Patina by Jason Reynolds, and Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan.