"A great fund of comic invention." - Times Literary Supplement"Written with great spirit . . . very funny . . . fresh, unhackneyed and excellently observed." - Listener"[A] bustling kaleidoscope of a book, by an author fertile in expedient, keenly observant and occasionally probing the heart of darkness." - Sunday TimesCharles Lumley feels that he has been born in captivity - the captivity of his smugly conventional bourgeois upbringing. Now he has just graduated fr...

'[A] triumph of mature observation and art.' - Daily Telegraph'A winter's tale of light and laughter.' - Sunday Times'What is especially enjoyable is the rough-edged tenderness and kindness of Mr Wain's concern ... probably his most substantial achievement to date.' - Robert Nye, Saturday Times Review'[S]ubstantial and serious ... sustains a vigorous narrative line - he has always been an excellent storyteller.' - Times Literary Supplement'[A] love affair be...

These plays cover one thousand years of the ancient world from the golden age of Athens to 5th century Alexandria. The protagonists are Anaxagoras, Archimedes and Hypatia, scientists, mathematicians, philosophers. All three of them came into conflict with the prevalent views of the time. Anaxagoras maintained that the sun was a big burning rock of the size of the Peleponnesus. He was condemned to death on the charge of impiety. Archimedes, the first example of the efficacy of technology co...

First published in 1908, The Old Wives' Tale affirms the integrity of ordinary lives as it tells the story of the Baines sisters--shy, retiring Constance and defiant, romantic Sophia--over the course of nearly half a century. Bennett traces the sisters' lives from childhood in their father's drapery shop in provincial Bursley, England, during the mid-Victorian era, through their married lives, to the modern industrial age, when they are reunited as old women. The setting moves fro...

She’s trying to tell you—if only you’d listen…About to break the news to his wife, Diane, that he’s infertile, criminology expert Harper Penn gets a call to say she’s been rushed to hospital with a miscarriage. Five days later, when Diane fails to return from the village shop, police think she must have taken off with a secret lover, but Harper is convinced the online messages are not from her.In the same Hampshire village, plucky seven-year-old Clara has retreated into a m...

This edition of Dark Place to Hide is enhanced with a musical soundtrack from Booktrack for an immersive listening experience!She’s trying to tell you—if only you’d listen…About to break the news to his wife, Diane, that he’s infertile, criminology expert Harper Penn gets a call to say she’s been rushed to hospital with a miscarriage. Five days later, when Diane fails to return from the village shop, police think she must have taken off with a secret lover, but Har...

Salmonella remains a major cause of economic loss in domestic livestock and human food poisoning worldwide. In the last 10 years there have been major advances in understanding the salmonella organism, meaning a compiled source of the new research is urgently needed. With fully updated chapters and new coverage of genome structure, virulence, vaccine development, molecular methods for epidemiology and exotics, this second edition is an invaluable resource for researchers of animal and huma...

Author and journalist Arnold Bennett was born in the Potteries district of Staffordshire in England's West Midlands area. So named because of its long-time association with pottery and ceramics production, the Potteries communities exerted a strong influence on Bennett's literary career. Many of his novels, including the action-packed The Card, are set in and around the area.

"Riceyman Steps" is indeed a novel written by Arnold Bennett. Published in 1923, it's a realistic portrayal of lower-middle-class life in London during the early 20th century. The story revolves around the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Riceyman, an elderly couple who live in a decrepit house near Riceyman Square.The novel delves into the intricacies of their relationship, their struggles with money and health, and the challenges they face in their day-to-day lives. The title "Riceyman Step...

Winesburg, Ohio (1919) is a landmark cycle of interlinked stories portraying the inner lives of inhabitants in a Midwestern town at the turn of the twentieth century. Centered loosely on the young reporter George Willard, Anderson's "group of tales" replaces conventional plot with psychological revelation, rendering loneliness, frustrated desire, and spiritual deformity in spare, lyrical prose. Its modernist fragmentation and compassionate attention to ordinary people place it between Amer...

Michel de Montaigne was one of the most influential figures of the Renaissance, singlehandedly responsible for popularising the essay as a literary form. In 1572, Montaigne retired to his estates in order to devote himself to leisure, reading and reflection. There he wrote his constantly expanding 'essays', inspired by the ideas he found in books from his library and his own experience. He discusses subjects as diverse as war-horses and cannibals, poetry and politics, sex and religion, lov...

Kidnapped' is an historical fiction adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in the magazine Young Folks in 1886. The story is set around 18th-century Scottish events, notably the "Appin Murder", which occurred near Ballachulish in 1752 in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Many of the characters were real people, including one of the principals, Alan Breck Stewart. The political situation of the time is portrayed from multiple viewpoints...