It's 1977. A 22-year-old finds herself ensconced in a place of dust and history: the archives room of a second-rate college. She's re-shelving Victorian etiquette books when the door opens and in walks a fabulous, seductive, larger-than-life writer of historical romances--and the young woman's life will never be the same. Set against 25 years of cultural evolution, the love between the two women--the younger librarian and the grande dame of cheesy literature--outlasts a 28-year age difference, romantic dalliances, illness, and the confines of the closet. Along the way, the librarian ponders the nature of life, death, religion, and philosophy with the help of the imaginary counterparts of Socrates, Hildegard of Bingen, and Suzanne Pleshette; samples casseroles with names like Vegetables Psychosis and The Tubers Karamazov; and forges a family with her best friend, Jeff, and assorted quirky characters who wander into their lives.

*A 2018 BOOK OF THE YEAR* ‘An inspirational must-read.’ Evening Standard ‘A very important book.’ Will Gompertz, BBC ‘A motivational, inspirational oral history.’ Nikesh Shukla, iNews ‘Don’t sleep on it... the future is looking #Merky.’ Metro ______________________ ‘It’s been a long time coming, I swear...’ In four years Stormzy has risen from one of the most promising musicians of his generation to a spokesperson for a generation. Rise Up is the story of how he got there. It’s a story about faith and the ideas worth fighting for. It’s about knowing where you’re from, and where you’re going. It’s about following your dreams without compromising who you are. Featuring never-before-seen photographs, lyrics and contributions from Team #Merky, Rise Up is the #Merky story, and the record of a journey unlike any other. ______________________ Edited and Co-written by Jude Yawson Contributions by Team #Merky Images by Kaylum Dennis

Everything happens for a reason.’ It’s 1972.Raymond Mann is seventeen. He is fearful of life and can’t get off buses. He says his prayers every night and spends too much time in his room. He meets Ernest Gardiner, a gentleman in his seventies who’s become tired of living and misses the days of chivalry and honour. Together they discover a love of sunflowers and stars, and help each other learn to love the world. Ernest recounts his experiences of 1917 war-torn France where he served as a photographer in the trenches … of his first love, Mira, and how his life was saved by his friend Bill, a hardened soldier. But all is not as it seems, and there is one more secret that will change Raymond’s life for ever. Cold Sunflowers is a story of love. All love. But most of all it’s about the love of life and the need to cherish every moment.

Declutter every aspect of your life - from your wardrobe, exercise schedule and food budget to your phone, bookshelves and beauty regime - with this realistic guide to getting neat and keeping things that way. Anna Newton is just trying to balance work, her friends, her family, her husband Mark, a growing handbag habit and a love for takeaway pizza. Over the past 8 years of running the blog and corresponding YouTube Chanel ‘The Anna Edit’, she’s grown a loyal viewership who tune in for her weekly videos on everything from house renovations to the best summer foundation. Anna is a typical Virgo – she loves being organised. She’s Marie Kondo’d her house, nearly throwing away her TV remote in the process. She’s waved goodbye to her things with Fumio Sasaki. She’s minimized and bullet-journalled her schedules down to the finest detail. Along the way, she’s realised something key: there’s no one prescription for an organized life, a tidy home and calm mind. Instead, it’s all about editing. Learn how to edit your home, calendar, exercise regime, social life, me-time, wardrobe, household budget, digital detox, beauty routine and office space. It's about how to utilise your time and spend more of it doing what makes you happy.

Play therapy can be a very appropriate way of facilitating this kind of expression. This book describes the work of nine play therapists through the narratives of children - and some adults - whose stories emerge during their play therapy sessions.

Five talented boys, with one common dream: to make it to the top in the music industry. This is the story of Harry, Zayn, Liam, Louis and Niall, who all auditioned as individual competitors for the X Factor in 2010 and formed the boy band One Direction – aka 1D – under the guidance of the British television show. Thanks to talent, hard work, social media, and the popularity of the show and its live tour, this British-Irish boy band has proved that they have what it takes to reach the top of the charts. The X Factor was in its seventh season when the UK's newest pop icons first appeared on screen. From five young guys who didn't know each other, One Direction quickly established themselves as an up-and-coming band and now has an impressive devoted fan base of Directioners, a #1 debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful," and the debut album "Up All Night," which started at #2 on the UK Albums Chart and became the fastest-selling debut album of 2011 in the UK. In the US it did even better and it debuted at #1. This epic rise made One Direction the first UK group in history to hit the top spot on the US Billboard 200 with a debut album! Each pack includes a 64 page One Direction book with illustrated storage sleeve and six 8 x 10 inch prints.

It's been an unorthodox road to the top for Gervais, who was brought up the youngest of four brothers in rough public housing in the early 1960s. He studied philosophy at London University and, after graduation, worked for the university as entertainments manager before embarking on several other short-lived jobs that included managing nascent Brit-pop stars Suede. Gervais became a presenter on London alternative radio station XFM in 1996, where he met his writing partner and long-term collaborator, Stephen Merchant. Television rungs on the stepladder to fame includedComedy Laband an unsuccessful chat show,Meet Ricky Gervais, all in the late 1990s. ThenThe Officebecame the talk of the water cooler in offices all over, andExtrasfollowed in 2005, attracting guest stars of the caliber of Ben Stiller, Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Stewart, and Kate Winslet. This biographynbsp;is a must read for all fans of the man and his work. Michael Heatley has written numerous books on the rock and pop world with subjects that include Elton John, Guns N' Roses, David Gray, Queen, Justin Timberlake, Eminem, and Robbie Williams.

This important collection showcases the most sensitive short fiction on the subject of the girl child by some of India's finest writers. The stories cut across social, economic and regional divides to reveal what life is like for a girl growing up in India. And they raise a crucial question: will our society ever rise above its innate hypocrisies and change the way it regards its women? To read these stories is to feel pain, bewilderment, outrage, compassion and a sudden surge of hope at finding love and tenderness where one least expects it.

From award-winning physicist, public intellectual, and the bestselling author of A Universe from Nothing Lawrence Krauss, comes “a masterful blend of history, modern physics, and cosmic perspective that empowers the reader to not only embrace our understanding of the universe, but also revel in what remains to be discovered” (Neil deGrasse Tyson, American Museum of Natural History). In this grand poetic vision of the universe, Lawrence Krauss tells the dramatic story of the discovery of the hidden world that underlies reality—and our place within it. Reality is not what you think or sense—it’s weird, wild, and counterintuitive, and its inner workings seem at least as implausible as the idea that something can come from nothing. With his trademark wit and accessible style, Krauss leads us to realms so small that they are invisible to microscopes, to the birth and rebirth of light, and into the natural forces that govern our existence. His unique blend of rigorous research and engaging storytelling invites us into the lives and minds of remarkable scientists who have helped unravel the unexpected fabric of reality with reasoning rather than superstition and dogma, and to explain how everything we see—and can’t see—came about. A passionate advocate for reason, Krauss gives the rationale for the seemingly irrational—and the mysteries and apparent contradictions of quantum physics, and explores what that means for our lives here on Earth—and beyond. At its core, The Greatest Story Ever Told—So Far is about the best of what it means to be human—an epic history of our ultimately purposeless universe that addresses the question, “Why are we here?”

“Eccentric, dazzling…the literary conversation piece of the year.” –San Francisco Chronicle An American short story writer and novelist acclaimed for his playful, postmodern style of short fiction, Barthelme’s first novel, Snow White, is a countercultural, experimental reconstruction of the Disney version of the traditional fairytale. In Barthelme’s modern day world, Snow White is a seductive woman waiting for her prince to return to New York. Pushing the bounds of fiction and form, Barthelme subverts the classic tale, prompting The New York Times to call him “a splendid practitioner at the peak of his power” and inspiring a new generation of authors including Charles Baxter, Dave Eggers, and David Gates.