A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of UsherNew England, The 1890sWhen a young doctor begins work at an isolated mental asylum, he is expected to fall in with the shocking regime for treating the patients. He is soon intrigued by one patient, a strange amnesiac girl who is fascinated by books but cannot read. He embarks upon a desperate experiment to save her but when his own dark past begins to catch up with him, he reali...

A sinister Gothic tale in the tradition of The Woman in Black and The Fall of the House of UsherIn a remote and crumbling New England mansion, 12-year-old orphan Florence is neglected by her guardian uncle and banned from reading. Left to her own devices she devours books in secret and talks to herself – and narrates this, her story – in a unique language of her own invention. By night, she sleepwalks the corridors like one of the old house's many ghosts and is t...

On a remote South Pacific island paradise, an elderly tribesman is translating Hamlet into local Pidgin English. Much to his annoyance, his struggles with the Bard are interrupted by the arrival of an unexpected visitor. William Hardt is a young American lawyer, he has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and he has come to help. And from that moment on, nothing will ever be the same. For what (and who) he finds there will challenge both his and our values and our ideas about love, life ...

Thirty-somethings Nick and Laura have been married for 10 years and things aren't going well. She senses her biological clock ticking away and wants children while he doesn't. Not because he doesn't like children but because he feels a child would be just one responsibility too many.Nick's problem is his parents. He's devoted to them of course, but sometimes even he finds his patience wearing a little thin which in turn brings on the guilt. But they are rather a handful. They're con...

At fifty the guarantee runs out...About to hit the big five-oh, obsessed with sex, cocaine-fuelled and gripped by a crippling fear of death, Professor Michael Cole is finding life a bit of a struggle.It's finding the time to squeeze everything in, really. He's supposedly writing the definitive biography of his literary hero, John Donne, but barely manages three hundred words a week. His insatiable enthusiasm for his prettier female students might be partly to blame, but the...

This fascinating collection of entertaining stories from the seven seas reveals unusual and bizarre sailing trips, vessels and characters, and recounts perilous journeys in freak weather and other legendary tales.Within these pages you’ll find stories of pirates holding ships to ransom and the gruesome fates of some of the shipmates who dared cross them. The sailors forever lost in the Bermuda triangle, the poor family who were encircled by a school of sharks to the spooky tales of...

The history of flying is packed with incredible feats of bravery and endurance, human ingenuity and recklesness, mystery, romance and tragedy. From the first hot air balloons of the 18th century to the supersonic jet flights of today, magnificent men (and women) have taken their incredible flying machines ever higher, further and faster.This collection of wonderfully engaging tales of madness, bravery, inventiveness, disaster and triumph will take every aviation enthusiast on a whi...

Frank Barson's life story is one of hardship and hard-won fame, his tough tackling and prowess in controlled aggression earning him a reputation that lives on today. Rising from the factory floor to become a footballing giant, Barson lifted the fortunes of Aston Villa and Manchester United while earning more cautions than anyone before or since. Born in Sheffield's industrial district of Grimesthorpe, his no-nonsense football style was forged in the 20s when learning his trade with Barnsle...

Jack Kid Berg dominated boxing in the early 1930s like no other British-born boxer before or since. Born of immigrant Russian-Jewish parents, he grew up in the East End of London, gaining a fearsome reputation for scrapping in the streets of Whitechapel. Berg's American battles with Tony Canzoneri and Kid Chocolate gained him worldwide fame. His 1930 victory over Mushy Callahan made him world junior welterweight champion, and he won the British lightweight title at his first attempt in 193...

A unique chance to read these two chilling Gothic tales from the brilliant storyteller John Harding together. Modern Gothic classic Florence & Giles and it’s sequel The Girl Who Couldn’t Read are a must for fans of Edgar Allen Poe.A pair of Gothic novels that will chill and delight.FLORENCE & GILESNew England, 1891Alone in a crumbling mansion, 12-year-old orphan Florence is neglected by her guardian uncle and banned from reading. By day she secretly devours ...

For more than 100 years the Lonsdale Belt, first awarded in 1909 by the legendary National Sporting Club and since 1936 by the British Boxing Board of Control, has encircled the waists of all the great names in British boxing history: Freddie Welsh and Ted "Kid" Lewis; Benny Lynch and Jimmy Wilde; Freddie Mills, Randolph Turpin, and Terry Downes; Henry Cooper, Barry McGuigan, Lennox Lewis, and Joe Calzaghe. Drawing upon a wealth of sources—interviews and reminiscences, boxing-board minutes...

In Distant Snows, mountaineer John Harding recollects his worldwide adventures spanning sixty years across Europe, Iran, East Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Arctic. He climbed many classic peaks including Mont Blanc, Mount Kenya, and Mount Cook, explored obscure ranges, and pioneered ski mountaineering expeditions in Turkey, Spain and Greece.Written with candour, a sharp eye for the tragicomic and with a symp...