‘He held the detached tooth in front of his face. It was white and cracked, with roots dangling beneath, festering in gore… then he placed the tooth back into his mouth and rolled it around, before swallowing it whole.’The Painter awakes naked and injured. Where are his clothes, what is his name, and, more importantly, why is the chair talking to him?So begins The Painter’s disquieting journey into the heart of darkness at the centre of the contemp...

Eighteenth century Cornwall. A fifteen-year-old boy is convicted of the murders of two children, and suspected of a third, but her body is never found. Local people gather to see the boy hanged, believing this to be the end of his evil.In 1980s Bristol, a troubled young man attacks his sister, but believes he was possessed by a malevolent spirit. Unable to take the guilt, he runs away.Years later, Jenna Thornleigh and her friend move into the house where the attack took pla...

Charles Goldforbes is the new Latin teacher at Rydon Hall, the third best boys' prep school in Churley, south-west London.Along with the job come two related problems. One is the hideous Florian Bavington, aged 13 but already a master of low-level disruption. The other is the disturbingly alluring Natasha Bavington, Florian's mother.Drama unfolds as Charles accompanies Florian and the rest of Year 8 on the annual school trip to Egypt, a country which just happens to be on t...

Charles Goldforbes is the new Latin teacher at Rydon Hall, the third best boys' prep school in Churley, south-west London.Along with the job come two related problems. One is the hideous Florian Bavington, aged 13 but already a master of low-level disruption. The other is the disturbingly alluring Natasha Bavington, Florian's mother.Drama unfolds as Charles accompanies Florian and the rest of Year 8 on the annual school trip to Egypt, a country which just happens to be on t...

A mesmerizing debut novel about a concert pianist who fears he is losing his mindMr. Field wants a new life, a life cleansed of the old one’s disappointments. A concert pianist on the London scene, his career is upended when the train he is travelling on crashes into the wall at the end of a tunnel. The accident splinters his left wrist, jeopardizing his musical ambitions. On a whim, he uses his compensation pay-out to buy a house he has seen only once in a newspap...

Producing Children imagines the possibility, indeed the inevitability, of a creative relation between children as producers and consumers by revising the long-established, hierarchical relation between adults and children. The chapters in this collection reveal that studying child-produced culture complicates our received understandings of children’s culture as culture by adults, for children, about children. They also underscore “children’s literature” as a cultural phenomenon th...

Depression is a devastating illness, both for those affected and for their loved ones, and the road to recovery can appear very long and winding indeed. However, for those who are slowly feeling their way towards a life of greater equanimity, this encouraging book will prove a reassuring guide and Katharine Smith an empathetic companion.A complete cure from depression might not always be possible. Yet Katharine's experiences over the past few years have led her to ...

July 2005. London is hit by a coordinated terrorist attack. Jamie’s boyfriend disappears without a trace. Hundreds of miles away in Cornwall, how can Jamie find out what has happened to him?The initial impact of that terrible day is followed by a slow but sure falling apart of the life Jamie believed was settled and secure.A betrayal by her best friend.A threat to her job and beloved career.All the while, a gang of teenagers is wreaking havoc i...

Christmas is a time of joy, love and togetherness... until it's not. Ruth's family are coming to terms with their first Christmas, and life, without her.As they gather at the long barrow, where Ruth's ashes are interred, husband Graham and their three grown-up children, Annie, Kitty and Tom (plus Ruth's beloved dog Mavis - and Annie's slightly less beloved husband, Alex) try to get to grips with the new, delicate balance of their family.Their story is told by Ruth herself, ...

Everyone needs to feel they fit in somewhere, and Stasia hadn’t found that place yet. Nobody is more surprised than her to find it in a world of goblins, trolls and faeries, and that some of them would become her best friends.Through danger at the waterfall, tragedy at a funeral and getting trapped in a burning building, Stasia has her new friends by her side. But when her mum is being held hostage by gangster goblins, she knows that she is the only one who can save her.

Four friends from university, approaching their 40s. One dead celebrity. Three days in Las Vegas. One million pounds to spend. What could possibly go wrong?Jack, Charlie, Piers and Tom have all gone their separate ways since university and life has dealt kinder hands to some than to others. Nevertheless, when Michael Jackson dies it signals the culmination of a game begun nearly two decades earlier and the friends must meet again, for the trip of a lifetime.

In 1965, Alan Scriven's life was changed forever by ten days in the Shropshire hills.The Longmynd Adventure Camp was set up in the 1950s by Shropshire policeman Bill Williams, to provide a small group of boys from the poorer areas of the industrialised West Midlands with fun, adventure, and experience of the countryside.Alan Scriven was one such boy and his first experience of Camp in 1965 changed his life. He went on to volunteer at the Longmynd Adventure ...