The second book in the quirky and enchanting Darwen Arkwright series, perfect for fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society! THE WORLD BEYOND THE MIRROR HOLDS MORE SECRETS. . . . Eleven-year-old Darwen Arkwright's life changed forever when he first set foot in Silbrica, the wondrous and magical world beyond the mirror. Now, he and his friends Rich and Alexandra--the Peregrine Pact--must journey to Costa Rica to save a boy who's been stolen by the Insidious Bleck, a giant tentacled creature that leaves destruction in its wake. But what at first seemed to be a single kidnapping turns out to be an elaborate conspiracy that threatens the very future of our world. And this time, old allies can't be trusted, and the danger runs deeper than Darwen could have ever imagined. Kirkus Reviews called the first Darwen book "Brilliant!" and we think you'll agree. It's a completely modern take on the kind of fantasy that has delighted middle-grade readers for generations.

For fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society--now in paperback! Eleven-year-old Darwen Arkwright has spent his whole life in a tiny town in England. So when he is forced to move to Atlanta, Georgia, to live with his aunt, he knows things will be different--but what he finds there is beyond even his wildest imagination! Darwen discovers an enchanting world through the old mirror hanging in his closet--a world that holds as many dangers as it does wonders. Along with his new friends Rich and Alexandra, Darwen becomes entangled in an adventure and mystery that involves the safety of his entire school. They soon realize that the creatures are after something in our world--something that only human children possess.

This book is not a scholarly work of history, nor is it truly a memoir or an autobiography, as I am under no illusions that my life merits that kind of treatment. My standpoint is that of the participant observer, and the backdrop is provided by the proud communities of Blackburn and Darwen, where my family lived, where I was educated, and where I worked before moving on to make my own way in life. I am sure that the experiences I describe will resonate with readers in many other once prosperous industrial areas. The key theme of this book is what is what like to grow up in working class communities during what I have called the Age of Affluence, the thirty years that followed World War Two in which the working people of the United Kingdom for the only time in our industrial history, experienced unbroken full employment and saw their lives transformed as a consequence.

The third book in the quirky and enchanting Darwen Arkwright series, perfect for fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society! THE FIGHT FOR BOTH OUR WORLDS MUST COME TO AN END. Mr. Peregrine has been kidnapped! Now it's up to Darwen, Rich, and Alexandra to rescue him. They'll embark upon a journey that will take them deeper into Silbrica than they've ever gone before, and there, on the other side of the mirror, they'll find the strangest sight of all: an exact replica of Hillside Academy. This is only the first of many connections that Darwen and his friends are about to discover between the human world and the world of Silbrica. And as the connections begin piling up, they'll be forced to confront the most horrifying realization of all: they've been lied to this entire time.

This book gives an insight into how our Lancashire ancestors lived and interacted with the environment in which they existed, over the centuries. Apart from a general history of Darwen life, this volume covers not only the very first ancestral tree but follows the story of one particular family branch through to the twentieth century and into living memory. The story includes detailed information of many other families which whom the Harwoods have intermingled over the centuries, and it would be a rare Darwener, who could not find some connection to his own ancestors within these pages. “Enthusiasm, in-depth research, and a unique authorial voice: this book is what genealogy should result in. It locates the Harwood family in a specific historical place and then watches them grow up and move out. Family journeys are explored from the paper mills of Kent to the goldfields of Ballarat and Maori massacres. “The sheer numbers of documents illustrated show both their value as evidence and the breadth of Mike’s research. There are fruitful and informative diversions into work, leisure, and religion, with excursions into the history of education, nonconformity, and workhouses, among many other things. It’s a story of Lancashire, and a Lancashire in the world. And it’s hard to argue with its announcement of itself not as a history but as the history of the Lancashire Harwoods. They are both typical and unique, and in tracing the development of Lancashire from a rural to an industrial economy, Mike never loses focus on his ancestors’ place in it.” —Neil Sayer, archive access manager, Lancashire Archives