When it comes to Christmas stories, one typically thinks of those that embody the spirit of the season, such as Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. The Yuletide-themed murder mystery is not usually the first thing that comes to mind.A classic country-house murder mystery, The Santa Klaus Murder begins with Aunt Mildred declaring that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gathering at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, i...

When undergraduates from Oxford's all-girl Persephone College meet on a cold and dreary January afternoon by the River Cherwell, they are surprised by a canoe floating, apparently empty down the river.But as it passes close by beneath them they quickly realise that it is not empty and that there is someone lying in it. They pull it ashore only to discover that it is the body of their erstwhile bursar, Miss Myra Denning.It seems at first as though she had drowned for she was...

An unpleasant spinster meets her end on the stairs of the Belsize Park Tube station.All of the residents of the Frampton Private Hotel in Hampstead knew that Euphemia Pongleton was in the habit of walking one stop closer to the center of London to save a penny's fare on the Underground. But they hardly expected to hear that she was found on the stairs at Belsize Park, strangled to death with her terrier's leash on her way to a dental appointment. Her death sends shock waves through...

The highly eccentric Alfred Dillwyn Knox, known simply as 'Dilly', was one of the leading figures in the British codebreaking successes of the two world wars. During the first, he was the chief codebreaker in the Admiralty, breaking the German Navy's main flag code, before going on to crack the German Enigma ciphers during the Second World War at Bletchley Park.Here, he enjoyed the triumphant culmination of his life's work: a reconstruction of the Enigma machine used by the Abwehr,...

In stories of astonishing compression and insight, Mavis Gallant wrote of characters severed from their home, exiles disconnected from each other and from themselves. Tracing the fault lines of the post-war world in the intimate lives of her characters, she could conjure an entire worldview in a telling gesture or passing comment.This new volume, selected and introduced by Tessa Hadley, collects the finest work from across Gallant's career. Here are stories of young men returning f...

An elegant, melancholic novella about memory, family and the meaning of home. This is the tale of the fractured family life of Bonnie McCarthy, a glamorous American divorcée, and her daughter, Flor. Uprooted and unmoored, mother and daughter lead an itinerant existence, with Venice, Cannes and Paris as their backdrop. When Flor attempts to flee this untidy life and the oppressive rule of her eccentric mother, she instead succumbs to a gradual decline into a breakdown. Green Water, Green Sk...

This book contains a classic article on the patterns used in quilt making in southern Wales and Northern England. A fascinating exploration of the history of British quilting history, this volume will appeal to those with an interest in the development of the textiles industry, and would make for an worthy addition to any collection. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this book now in an affordable, high-quality edition compl...

Short stories, written from the soul and the heart. Because sometimes, only one sentence can have a big impact.

Families come in all different forms, and each one is unique. My family is a rainbow—what about yours? My Family is a Rainbow is intended to teach the whole family about diversity, inclusion, accepting and loving others for who they are. Brightly and beautifully illustrated and written in singsong rhyme, the upbeat story shows that families are made of all different characters. Whilst our differences make us special, they also bring us together.

Mavis Gallant’s only play, which premiered at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre on November 11, 1982, is a comedy that opens in 1942, in the heat of the battle against Fascism, when it was possible for Canadians to cheer for both Stalin and the Royal Family. At home in Montreal, Jenny (18) is impressed by her friend Molly’s copy of a political pamphlet written by V. I. Lenin entitled What Is To Be Done? The two young women are fascinated by the refugees who are flooding into the city from Europe,...

Sweet Home Alabama.Have a slice of Alabama Literature. This collection brings you over 20 authors from the Gulf Coast in Alabama, including USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHORS Carolyn Haines and Craig A. Price Jr., Award Winning author Jodie Cain Smith and several others, including some first time publications.This is a fantastic anthology with many types of short stories and poems incl...

Ten-year-old Emily Burman never expected her summer to begin with a scraped knee, a stern librarian, and a mysterious meadow full of star-shaped flowers. Fresh from a faraway home and adjusting to small-town life in Spring Hollow, Emily finds herself taken in by the retired librarian Adrienne Knight—whose garden hides more than just beautiful blooms.What starts as a simple act of kindness soon draws Emily into a world of discovery. Together, she and Miss Knight nurture caterpillars...