Meet a pompous young prince, who believes he can do anything – without ever needing to practise! That is until he meets a wise, retired witch who teaches him the most magical lesson . . .Princes Don't Practise is an incredibly funny and relatable tale with an important message for all. Perfect for anyone who struggles with NOT being instantly perfect – which is most children!Prince Lupin has jousted and feasted and now he's BORED. ...

Meet a pompous young prince, who believes he can do anything – without ever needing to practise! That is until he meets a wise, retired witch who teaches him the most magical lesson . . .Princes Don't Practise is an incredibly funny and relatable tale with an important message for all. Perfect for anyone who struggles with NOT being instantly perfect – which is most children!Prince Lupin has jousted and feasted and now he's BORED. ...

When Tessa's best friend organises a surprise TV makeover, Tessa is horrified. It's the last thing she needs - her business is on the brink of collapse, her marriage is under strain and her daughter is more interested in beauty pageants than student politi. What's more, the 'Greenham Common angle' the TV producers have devised reopens some personal history Tessa has tried to hide away. Then Angela gets in touch, Tessa's least favourite member of the Greenham gang, and she's drawn back into...

Luminous and searching, tender and witty, The Visitations develops and deepens the themes that emerged in Kathryn Simmonds' acclaimed debut, Sunday at the Skin Launderette. Here are poems where the physical and metaphysical meet, where questions of new motherhood are set against those of faith and the larger conundrum of how to live. The tone is often simultaneously satirical and elegiac and the collection abounds with sudden moments of strange illumination: a lime tree strikes up a conver...

Twenty bears unpacking cases.Look at those excited faces!Ready to enjoy the sun…Holidays are so much fun!Get ready for a shot of pure counting fun, as twenty very excited bears set off for a holiday on the beach. Summer is here and it's time to RELAX – but are these silly bears up to the task?

What happens when an anxious sunflower seed named Vernon faces his fears—and decides to grow and bloom anyway?The children are planting sunflowers at school, and Carla is given a seed named Vernon. All the other children’s seeds are excited to get out of the packet and start growing, but not Vernon. He knows about slugs and birds and thunderstorms. He knows that the world is scary—and though Carla waters him lovingly, to her dismay, Vernon is the only seed that doe...

The funniest counting book of the year, featuring twenty VERY silly bears. Can you count them all?Twenty bears have been asleepLying in a snoring heap.Now it's spring and time to clean!Time to tidy, shine and sheen!Get ready for a shot of pure counting fun, as twenty very busy bears attempt to spring clean their cottage after winter hibernation. Spring is here and it's time to TIDY … but are these sil...

This anthology showcases the very best in humorous short story writing, by outstanding contemporary women writers, including Kathy Lette, Sadia Azmat, Lucy Vine, Josie Long, Paula Lennon, and many more.It includes the winning and shortlisted stories from the Comedy Women in Print Short Story Prize.From tales of a narcoleptic biscuit lover, con artists with a twist, and the accidental death of a hamster; to consequences of accidental gluing, the imagined world of extreme sho...

Featuring:Sarah Hall, Lucy Wood, Lisa Blower, Lavinia Greenlaw and Lionel Shriver.Edgar Allan Poe once claimed the greatest literary works were those that could be read ’in one sitting’. ‘Brevity must be in direct ratio of the intensity of the intended effect,’ he argued, once the effect has been established, of course.The stories shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2013 all use brevity with striking results, whether presenting a comp...

The Other Country was Carol Ann Duffy’s third collection, and as with her later books, takes its readers on journeys that seem initially similar – but soon prove anything but. This book leads our imagination to places our minds could not have suspected were there, or would not have dared to go alone. Some of its voices are disarmingly direct, while others blur the lines between fantasy and reality, confession and self-delusion, forcing us to re-examine everything we thought we kne...

Us: a brilliant, bittersweet novel about love and family, husbands and wives, parents and children | Longlisted for the Booker Prize'Perfect'INDEPENDENT'I honestly can't imagine loving a novel much more'SUNDAY TIMES'I loved this book. Funny, sad, tender: for anyone who wants to know what happens after the Happy Ever After'JOJO MOYESDouglas and Connie - scient...

It is barely three months since the murder of his wife and Thomas Lynley takes to the South-West Coast Path in Cornwall, determined to walk its length in an attempt to distract himself from his loss. On the forty-third day of this walk, he sees a cliff climber fall to his death, apparently witnessed by a surfer in a nearby cove. Shortly afterwards, Lynley encounters a young woman from Bristol whose personal history is a blank before her thirteenth year. These events propel him into a case ...