'Extraordinary. A fabulous read' SIMON SCHAMA'Wonderful. He writes with eloquence and wit' NICHOLAS HYTNERSimon Russell Beale is one of Britain's most recognisable and well-loved actors. He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio - ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin, George Smiley to King Arthur. But ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes that rendered him half-bl...

Simon Russell Beale is one of Britain's most recognisable and well-loved actors. He has played many roles on stage, film, television and radio - ranging from Winston Churchill to Stalin, George Smiley to King Arthur. But ever since his appearance at school as a glamorous Desdemona, complete with false eyelashes that rendered him half-blind, he has been captivated by Shakespeare.In A Piece of Work, Russell Beale tries to get under the skin of the playwright and find out wha...

Simon Russell Beale discusses playing Cassius in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in this ebook taken from Shakespeare On Stage: Volume 2 - Twelve Leading Actors on Twelve Key Roles.In each volume of the Shakespeare On Stage series, a leading actor takes us behind the scenes of a landmark Shakespearean production, recreating in detail their memorable performance in a major role. They lead us through the choices they made in rehearsal, and how the character wor...

Time is running out for Charlie Bone . . .Charlies hopes that the new term at Bloor's Academy will hold no nasty surprises. But then Henry Yewbeam appears, twisted through time from the icy winter of 1916.With the scheming Yewbeam aunts on the prowl, and the Bloors out to catch him, Henry will need Charlie's help just to stay alive. Bloor's Academy can be a very dangerous place . . .Book Two in The Children of the Red King series!

The next installment in the New York Times bestselling series, CHARLIE BONE AND THE HIDDEN KINGIn Charlie’s most perilous adventure yet, the shadow from the Red King’s portrait has escaped. Strange things start to happen at Bloor’s Academy. But, with the help of a mysterious force, Charlie and his friends are closer to discovering the truth about Charlie Bone’s father.Children of the Red King SeriesBook 1: Midnight for Charlie BoneBook 2: Charlie ...

This semester at Bloor's Academy brings a few changes. There is a new art teacher, Mr. Boldova, and a new student, Belle, who lives with the Yewbeam aunts and seems to have a strange power over them.Emma and Charlie soon discover Mr. Boldova's secret identity: He is the older brother of Ollie Sparks, the boy who lives in the attic of Bloor's Academy. Ollie had always been prying into matters that didn't concern him, so Ezekiel Bloor made him invisible. When Charlie and his friends ...

Charlie Bone’s power takes on a new dimension at Bloor’s Academy in Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors. There is a new cast of characters, including Mr. Pilgrim’s replacement, Tantalus Ebony, and the mysterious new student Joshua Tilpin, who appears to be magnetic. Billy has been adopted by a mysterious couple and is locked up in an odd place called The Passing House. Meanwhile, Charlie and Olivia discover the secret of the Castle of Mirrors, and along with Uncle Paton, they m...

What's happening to Charlie Bone?Charlie doesn't want to believe it when he discovers that he can hear the thoughts of people in photographs. But his horrible aunts are delighted – it means that he is one of the chosen and must attend the Bloor's Academy for gifted children. Once there, Charlie realizes that some of his classmates have equally mysterious powers, and soon Charlie is involved in uncovering the mysterious past of one of them.Book One in The Children of the Red...

"The trilogy is trying to tell something about the parts of war that don't get into the official accounts" –Pat BarkerThe first book of the Regeneration Trilogy and a Booker Prize nomineeIn 1917 Siegfried Sasson, noted poet and decorated war hero, publicly refused to continue serving as a British officer in World War I. His reason: the war was a senseless slaughter. He was officially classified "mentally unsound" and sent to Craiglockhart W...

In this haunting second installment of the Regeneration Trilogy, a World War I officer grapples with the complex realities of PTSD, identity, sexuality, and society’s perceptions of mental illness.It is the spring of 1918, and Britain is faced with the possibility of defeat by Germany. A beleaguered government and a vengeful public target two groups as scapegoats: pacifists and homosexuals. Many are jailed, others lead dangerous double lives, the “the eye in the do...

The final book in the Regeneration Trilogy, and winner of the 1995 Booker PrizeThe Ghost Road is the culminating masterpiece of Pat Barker's towering World War I fiction trilogy. The time of the novel is the closing months of the most senselessly savage of modern conflicts. In France, millions of men engaged in brutal trench warfare are all "ghosts in the making." In England, psychologist William Rivers, with severe pangs of conscience, treats the mental c...

Following the success of their first two adventures, the intrepid pair join Betsy's mum, Myrtle the mermaid, beneath the waves.Crumble cakes! When Betsy joins Myrtle the mermaid in her underwater world, she discovers there may be monsters ... shipwrecks, lost treasure and secret cities. A seapig's prize seahorse, Pudding Pie, has been stolen by a cantankerous giant octopus and Betsy and Mr Tiger must go to the rescue in their new submarine. But what happens when a tiger's whiskers a...