The End of an Old Song is the story of three young people; Alastair, a reckless careerist, Patrick, an artist, and Catherine, the self-centred girl from whom they can't break free. Set in the thirties, the war years and beyond, it also evokes the nostalgic passing of a way of life and the destruction of values symbolised by the decline of an old house, Kingisbyres. Scott's novel is one of those rare works in which life blows across the page, careless of time and space and convention, makin...

I Can Jump Puddles is Alan Marshall’s story of his childhood - a happy world in which, despite his crippling poliomyelitis, he plays, climbs, fights, swims, rides and laughs. His world was the Australian countryside early last century: rough-riders, bushmen, farmers and tellers of tall stories - a world held precious by the young Alan Marshall.

When young Sammy Squirrel heard the unmistakable sound of the trap door slamming shut behind him, his world turned upside down. Thrown into the pitch-black darkness of a car’s trunk and taken to the Squirrel Relocation Center (SRC), he has to survive on his own. At the SRC, he befriends a girl squirrel who shows him around the SRC and teaches him how to use the “airborne highway.” With what she teaches him, Sammy gains the courage he needs to try to find his way back home. But that road home ...

Prepare to be swept away by this enthralling story of love, war and one woman who survived them both…Lizzie Bishop’s humble beginnings as a dressmaker’s daughter see her hope for nothing more than a simple offer of marriage. Love, passion and romance are reserved for daydreams.But then into Lizzie’s quiet world comes two men – one reliable and kind-hearted, the other heartbreakingly handsome. Just as Lizzie’s made her choice, the ominous call of war sounds, and her life cha...

The twelfth book to feature the classic crime-solving detective, Chief Inspector Wexford.Wherever Reggie Wexford goes, death and intrigue are close on his heels. Having just returned from a once-in-a-lifetime holiday in China, Wexford finds himself haunted by memories of the old woman with bound feet who mysteriously followed him from one city to the next and the man who tragically drowned.Now, back in England, he finds himself investigating the murder of a fellow tourist. ...

The second volume of Helen Forrester’s powerful, painful and ultimately uplifting four-volume autobiography of her poverty-stricken childhood in Liverpool during the 1930s.The Forrester family are slowly winning their fight for survival. But life remains extremely tough for fourteen-year-old Helen. Along with caring for her younger siblings and suffering terrible hardships she is also battling with her parents to persuade them to allow her to earn her own living. Helen is desperate...

The third best-selling volume in the powerful story of Helen Forrester’s childhood and adolescence in poverty-stricken Liverpool during the 1930s.Helen has managed to achieve a small measure of independence. At seventeen, she has fought and won two bitter battles with her parents, the first for the right to educate herself at evening classes, the second for the right to go out to work.Though her parents are still as financially irresponsible as ever, wasting money while the...

Two can keep a secret - if one of them is dead...Inspector Archie Penrose invites crime writer Josephine Tey down to his family home in Cornwall so she can recover from a recent trauma. Josephine welcomes the opportunity, but her hopes of experiencing a period of rest are dashed when her arrival coincides with the mysterious death of a young man in the village.Soon, more people are going missing or turning up dead, and Josphine and Archie begin to ...

Ethan Frome Edith Wharton - Ethan Frome is a 1911 book by American author Edith Wharton. It is set in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The novel was adapted into a film, Ethan Frome, in 1993.The novel is a framed narrative. The framing story concerns an unnamed male narrator spending a winter in Starkfield while in the area on business. He spots a limping, quiet man around the village, who is somehow compelling in his demeanor and carriage. This is Ethan Frome, who is a li...

Graham Greene's masterful novel of love and betrayal in World War II London is "undeniably a major work of art" ( The New Yorker ).Maurice Bendrix, a writer in Clapham during the Blitz, develops an acquaintance with Sarah Miles, the bored, beautiful wife of a dull civil servant named Henry. Maurice claims it's to divine a character for his novel-in-progress. That's the first deception. What he really wants is Sarah, and wh...

The Plymouth Express Affair Agatha Christie - A dead heiress on a train, a murdered recluse, a wealthy playboy slain at a costume ball are but a few of the unfortunate victims of confounding crimes committed in the pages of Agatha Christies The Under Dog and Other Stories, a superior collection of short mystery fiction all featuring Hercule Poirot as the investigator.

'Genuine escapism - I couldn't put it down!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Best read on a cold winter night with hot chocolate' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'An instant favourite' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐The rambling house called Thornyhold is like something out of a fairy tale.Left to Gilly Ramsey by the cousin whose occasional visits brightened her childhood, the cottage, set deep i...