Sleepily Ever After: Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups is a gorgeous little anthology of upbeat, touching, funny and inspiring stories that will help you relax and drift off to sleep. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by Zachary Seager. It’s hard to relax, to keep still and to stop our brains from whirring. We live in a world where lack of sleep is a common problem for many adults. This collection of stories will help to banish anxiety and to soothe stressed minds as they welcome you into a world of happy endings, gentle humour and good choices. Each classic story from authors including Oscar Wilde, Kate Chopin, Guy de Maupassant and H G Wells, has been carefully chosen for the quality of its writing, for great storytelling and to gently help you into the land of nod.

A selection of stories from your favourite classic authors that will make you smile, relax and fall gently to sleep

THE PERFECT NIGHTTIME READ - DESIGNED TO CALM YOUR MIND FOR A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP *Introduced by Lucy Mangan* Recommended by RED magazine * 'Dreamy' STYLIST 'Calm and restore an anxious mind before sleep... the most beautiful book that will, without a doubt, put you in the mood for some ZZZZs.' THE SUN Tales to soothe tired souls. A nighttime companion for frazzled adults, including calming stories and poems for a good night's sleep. This cheering book of best loved short tales, extracts and poems will calm and restore an anxious mind. Sleep is essential for our well being and our health, but in our busy lives it is often poor and overlooked. Now is the time to put down your smartphone, stop a while and find consolation and wonder in other worlds where all is well and sleep just a page or two away. From classic stories by Oscar Wilde, Guy de Maupassant and Katherine Mansfield, to friendly tales of our childhoods and poetry that reminds us of the simple joys of life, this lovingly curated book will soothe a tired mind and gently carry you to the peaceful land of sleep. So switch off, snuggle down and allow yourself to escape into new worlds and old; magical, mysterious and tender realms that will accompany you to your own sweet dreams. 'Hurrah for a book that draws us away from the cold blue light of the smart phone and into the soothing glow of poems, short stories and extracts' THE SIMPLE THINGS PICKED FOR WORLD BOOK NIGHT 2020

Soothing stories to help you fall and stay asleep, based on the popular podcast Busy minds need a place to rest. Whether you find yourself struggling to sleep, awake in the middle of the night, or even just anxious as you move through the day, in Nothing Much Happens, Kathryn Nicolai offers a healthy way to ease the mind before bed: through the timeless appeal of classic bedtime stories. Already beloved by millions of podcast listeners, the stories in Nothing Much Happens explore and expose small sweet moments of joy and relaxation: Sneaking lilacs from an abandoned farm in the spring. Watching fireflies from the deck in the summer. Visiting the local cider mill in the autumn. Watching the tree lighting in the park with friends in the winter. You'll also find sixteen new stories never before featured on the podcast, along with whimsical illustrations, recipes, and meditations. Using her decades of experience as a meditation and yoga teacher, Kathryn Nicolai creates a world for you to slip into, one rich in sensory experience that quietly teaches mindfulness and self-compassion, soothes frayed nerves, and builds solid habits for nurturing sleep. A PENGUIN LIFE TITLE

In a world where we’re more connected than ever, why is it that we’re also more lonely? Dip into this anthology of classic writing to reclaim the pleasure of your own company. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by writer and academic, Zachary Seager. The Art of Solitude shows some of the myriad ways in which people throughout history have understood their experiences of solitary life, or have counselled others to benefit from solitude. It contains poetry, essays, autobiographical pieces and short stories from writers such as Virginia Woolf, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Dickinson and Ralph Waldo Emerson. These diverse works can teach us how to think in freedom, how to enjoy a profound inner life and how best to cope with the fact that, as the novelist Joseph Conrad put it, we live, as we dream – alone. Above all, they show how we might truly connect with ourselves and, in the process, how we can meaningfully connect with those around us, including the earth itself. Looked at in this way, solitude is always focused both outward and inward, towards the self and towards the world. The cure for loneliness is, in the end, the art of solitude.

Round About the Christmas Tree is the perfect Christmas gift for booklovers, as all facets of the festive season are represented here in one gorgeous volume. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful hardbacks make perfect gifts for book lovers, or wonderful additions to your own collection. This edition is introduced by Ned Halley and features the classic, charming illustrations of Alice Ercle Hunt. This anthology reveals the inspiration Christmas gives so many writers, whether as a time for celebration, for family, or as a chance to remember those in hardship. There are heart-warming stories from Charles Dickens and E. Nesbit, comic fun from G. K. Chesterton and Saki, touching whimsy from Hans Christian Andersen, and even crimes to solve from Arthur Conan Doyle.

Poke the hedgehog's nature was to roll into a ball when threatened. But Poke longed to laugh at danger like his friends Ziggy the rabbit and Dash the squirrel. He practiced hopping and running but ended up with a sore knee and a snout covered in bee stings. Then The Mangy Mongrel, teeth bared, loomed over his friends, and only Poke could save them. What would the little hedgehog do WHEN POKE WOKE?

Cats, be they much loved pets or inscrutable creatures, lend themselves to stories and literary invention. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket size classics. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited by anthologist, editor and literary agent Becky Brown. Classic Cat Stories is a beautiful anthology that includes fairy tales and fables from the likes of Rudyard Kipling and Charles Perrault as well as comic tales from Saki and E. F. Benson. Cats, of course, have always had a dark and mysterious side which is explored to chilling effect by the likes of Edgar Allan Poe in The Black Cat and H. P. Lovecraft in The Cats of Ulthar. But above all, we love them and you’ll find here stories about all kinds of cats that tug at the heartstrings and which celebrate their curious ways.

Pour yourself a cup of cocoa, get those jim-jams on and prepare to escape into a world of adventure with this collection of life-affirming short stories from award-winning adventurer Anna McNuff.

Cat lovers cuddle, caress, and cater to their adorable but aloof feline friends. The cat, in fact, has become one of the country's most beloved pets, with some 90 million kitties claimed by doting owners. Now, Leigh Anne Jasheway's Bedtime Stories for Cats gives cat lovers everywhere new and inventive stories to lull their furballs to sleep. In "Rumpled Katzkin," for example, silky Phoebe the Cat impersonates Barbra Streisand, but longs not for riches but for more time with her nerdy owner. In "Kitty and the Beast," a not-so-beautiful cat adopts a young girl who subsequently learns that beauty is only fur deep. And in "Puss and the Missing Boots," feline detective Pussywillow Claudius Rex the Third ("The name's Puss") solves the mystery when Dollface Molloy's blue suede, over-the-knee boots are reportedly stolen by a cat burglar. Bedtime Stories for Cats is a humorous feline-oriented interpretation of some of America's favorite classics, from "The Three Alley Cats Gruff" to "Catpunzel." Jasheway has written a purrfectly delightful book guaranteed to make readers meow.