With an Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at CanterburyThis selection of Carroll's works includes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, both containing the famous illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. No greater books for children have ever been written. The simple language, dreamlike atmosphere, and fantastical characters are as appealing to young reader...

Introduction and Notes by Michael Irwin, Professor of English Literature, University of Kent at Canterbury.Set in Hardy's Wessex, Tess is a moving novel of hypocrisy and double standards. Its challenging sub-title, A Pure Woman, infuriated critics when the book was first published in 1891, and it was condemned as immoral and pessimistic.It tells of Tess Durbeyfield, the daughter of a poor and dissipated villager, who learns that she may be descende...

Michael Irwin’s The Skull and the Nightingale is a chilling and deliciously dark, literary novel of manipulation and sex, intrigue and seduction, set in 18th-century England.When Richard Fenwick returns to London, his wealthy godfather, James Gilbert, has an unexpected proposition. Gilbert has led a sedate life in Worcestershire, but feels the urge to experience, even vicariously, the extremes of human feeling: love, passion, and something much more sinister.It bec...

First published in 1979. Most of the great nineteenth century novelists strove to render in words the people and places that they invented and most readers of fiction picture in their imagination these characters and scenes. This book investigates both types of ‘picturing’, exploring the principles and problems concerned, and sheds light on the workings of fiction — reassessing a number of famous novels in the process. By so doing, this work relates the academic study of the novel to the w...

Children and Adolescents in Trauma presents a variety of creative approaches to working with young people in residential children's homes, secure or psychiatric units, and special schools.The contributors describe a wide range of approaches, including art therapy and literature, and how creative methods are applied in cases of abuse, trauma, violence, self-harm and identity development. They discuss the impact of abuse and mistreatment upon the mental health of 'looked after' child...

According to the media and some concerned parents, boys are having greater trouble than ever with schooling. this book takes the refreshing counter position that boys are generally fine, and not inherently toxic creatures that need 'fixing'. What does need fixing, however, are some of the parenting and teaching practices and environments boys are placed in for schooling and social development. In the vein of Celia Lashlie's Good Man Project, which became the basis for her international bes...

Michael Irwin’s The Skull and the Nightingale is a chilling and deliciously dark, literary novel of manipulation and sex, intrigue and seduction, set in 18th-century England.When Richard Fenwick returns to London, his wealthy godfather, James Gilbert, has an unexpected proposition. Gilbert has led a sedate life in Worcestershire, but feels the urge to experience, even vicariously, the extremes of human feeling: love, passion, and something much more sinister.It bec...

Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weatherbury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer Boldwood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in Wessex, Hardy's novel of ...

In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned." That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent pla...

Meet Detective Superintendent Roy Grace on his unforgettable first major case by award winning crime author Peter James, read by Daniel Weyman.It was meant to be a harmless stag-night prank. But a few hours later, the groom has disappeared and his friends are dead.With only three days to the wedding, Roy Grace is contacted by the man’s distraught fiancée to unearth what happened on that fateful night.The one man who ought to know of the groom’s wher...

A timeless exploration of post-World War I disillusionment and the "Lost Generation." Set in Paris and Spain, the novel follows a group of expatriates navigating love, desire, and existential uncertainty. Hemingway's spare prose captures the characters' emotional turmoil and the societal shifts of the era. A quintessential work of modernist literature, this novel delves into themes of identity, purpose, and the search for meaning in a changing world. A masterpiece of love, loss, and resili...

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a timeless masterpiece that paints a chilling portrait of a dystopian future. Through vivid storytelling and profound insights into human nature and society, Huxley explores the potential consequences of unchecked technological advancement and totalitarianism.As you delve into Brave New World, you'll find yourself questioning the nature of freedom, the role of technology in our lives, and what it means to be human. It's a thought-provoking read that will...