A classic bestselling resource for every household, Home Comforts helps you manage everyday chores, find creative solutions to domestic dilemmas, and enhance the experience of life at home. “Home Comforts is to the house what Joy of Cooking is to food.” —USA TODAY Home Comforts is an engaging and comprehensive book about housekeeping. It is a lively and readable guide for both beginners and experts in all the domestic arts. From keeping surfaces free of germs, watering plants, removing stains, folding a fitted sheet, cleaning china, tuning a piano, lighting a fire, setting the dining room table—this guide covers everything that people might want to do for themselves in their homes. Further topics include: making up a bed with hospital corners, expert recommendations for safe food storage, reading care labels (and sometimes carefully disregarding them), keeping your home free of dust mites and other allergens, this is a practical, good-humored, philosophical guidebook to the art and science of household management.

For Cheryl Mendelson, laundering is the best part of housekeeping. It’s full of physical pleasures—the look of favorite clothes restored to freshness and beauty, the tactile satisfaction of crisp linens in beautifully folded stacks. Good laundering preserves things you love and protects your pocketbook. It doesn’t take much time or effort. What it takes is knowledge, and Laundry is the comprehensive, entertaining, and inspiring book on the art of laundering. Culled from the bestselling Home Comforts, with revised and updated information and a new introduction, Laundry is an indispensable guide to caring for all the cloth in one’s home: from kitchen rags to bedding, hand-washables, and baby clothes to vintage linens. Mendelson offers detailed guidance on when to disregard labels, removing stains, making environmentally informed choices, sewing, and storing clothing and fabrics. A much-needed antidote to the standard-issue how-to manual, Laundry celebrates the satisfactions of ironing, folding, and caring for clothes and linens. Both pragmatic and eloquent, Mendelson provides beginning and veteran homemakers with a seamless combination of reliable instruction, time-tested advice, and fascinating personal narrative. As a farm girl in Pennsylvania, Mendelson—who is a philosopher, lawyer, and professor, as well as a homemaker, wife, and mother—received a classic domestic education from her grandmothers, aunts, and mother. Laundry combines the best of the traditional lore they taught her with the latest in technical and scientific information. Writing with infectious love and respect for her subject, Mendelson is sure to instill in readers a newfound affection and appreciation for the art of laundering.

Susan Hill—the Man Booker Prize nominee and winner of the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham, and John Llewellyn Rhys awards—returns with a hair-raising new novel, the ninth book in one of the most acclaimed mystery series of our time. Featuring the enigmatic and brooding chief police inspector Simon Serrailler, this intricate and pulse-pounding series follows a collection of grisly crimes plaguing the city of Lafferton—and The Comforts of Home is the most chilling and unputdownable installment yet.In this gripping new thriller, Simon, eager to be back at work after recovering from a near-fatal injury, takes on a cold-case review for the Lafferton police about a girl who disappeared some years before. Meanwhile, his family adjusts to changes of its own; namely his sister’s marriage to Chief Constable Kieron Bright. But when events take an unfavorable turn for the Chief Constable and an arsonist goes on a deadly rampage in Lafferton, Simon’s personal and professional lives intertwine in more complex and devastating ways than ever before.In the tradition of the fabulous mysteries of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James, The Comforts of Home is Susan Hill’s best work yet—a heart-pounding new addition to a highly-applauded and “elegant†? (The New York Times) series.

Complete Home Comforts contains over 150 of James Martin’s favourite recipes from his hit TV show. This is James in his comfort zone, cooking the food he loves best. This irresistible collection of recipes ranges from fancy dinners to impress friends, to those times when you just need to make a satisfying lunch for two. The chapters reflect this and are divided into Little Lunches, Family Favourites, Weekends, Spice Suppers, Food with Friends, Summer Nights, Sunday Night Bites, Sweet Treats and Posh Puds. Much-loved for his trademark wholesome, hearty British food, James’s recipes are all accessible and easy to follow. The mouth-watering temptations include childhood comforts such as Fish pie or Classic chicken kiev, as well as comforts to share, such as Lamb belly with bbq sauce and pickled red onions, Dahl chicken, chilli paneer and naan, and Keralan prawns. James is famous for his fabulous puddings and this book does not disappoint. Try the mouth-watering Steamed chocolate and clementine sponge with orange sauce, or bake Lavender shortbread to eat with Lavender crème caramel. Beautifully shot in James’s own home, this is a book of favourite recipes to use every day for years to come.

A collection of decadent, crave-worthy baked goods featuring beloved classics and new flavor pairings. Includes favorite recipes from top bakeries and bloggers from across the country. In this book you’ll discover just how fun it is to transform the simplest ingredients—flour, sugar, eggs, butter—into irresistible baked foods. With over 100 recipes, starring family favorites and tempting creations from seasoned bakers and popular baking bloggers, this enticing book will become your go-to source for the baked treats you crave. Whether you are new to baking or a pro, or lean toward sweet or savory, there’s something inside for everyone. Sample recipes include: -Bite-size bacon and cheese scones -Lemon-blueberry drizzle bread -Whoopie pies -Cherry pot pies -Savory goat cheese soufflés

The word home inspires the senses and awakens sweet memories of yesterday. This warm tribute to hearth and home explores how each of the five senses--sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell--enhances the family experience. Showcasing well-known artist Susan Winget, each page holds a scene as cozy and warm as the memory it depicts.Stirring quotes, a few delicious recipes, and many time-tested ideas, several from Susan herself, encourage readers to create their own welcoming settings and memorable experiences to savor through the years. This lovely book makes a wonderful gift of appreciation for friends and family in addition to a wedding or housewarming gift.

A gentle, engaging novel about the complexities and joys of friendship, in the style of Maeve Binchy and Josephine Cox. Tom and Stephen’s lives are very different. Tom is a good looking man of fifty. Once he’d had it all; his own business, his own home and money in the bank. Then one day it was all gone and he was left homeless, jobless and friendless. He desperately needs someone to give him back his sense of worth; his sense of pride. Stephen is a pompous, overweight little man. He means well, but things never turn out right for him. He is also in his fifties but, unlike Stephen, he’s not bothered about how he looks. He tries to do his best running his company, but his best simply isn’t good enough for his wife, Maura. He isn’t good enough for Maura.Maura is not a woman to cross; one of her withering looks could emasculate any man who does. She’s had time to repent in leisure after marrying in haste twenty three years before. With rich parents, good looks and brains to burn, Maura appears to have it all. Everything she’s turned her hand to has succeeded – except her marriage. In fact, the only thing missing in her life is love. Even her two children were conceived without love. Home Comforts gives the reader an insight into what happens when two men’s lives are changed forever after striking up an unlikely friendship. It is a tale of pride, hope, loneliness and despair.