The days I had previously filled with the duties of chief cook and bottle-washer now lay strangely empty and stretched out before me like a blank canvas. I kept looking at it, but couldn't think of anything to paint . . . Preparing dinner for her husband’s colleagues, nervous, and listening to a woman complain about domestic slavery on the radio, Helen Robbins hits the bottle hard. For thirteen years she has lived a life of suburban predictability with Robert, bending to his boorish demands and allowing her once vital, independent spirit to retreat into the safety cage of mundane, dutiful routine. Over supper that evening she decides to throw off her role of domestic angel and hit him where it hurts: she dares to criticise his driving Riled by his wife’s comments over dinner an irate Robert sets out the next morning to prove himself and is killed in a freak accident. Helen’s life is about to transform. As she rekindles relationships with old friends and close family, Helen rediscovers the excitement of her former world. Tentatively stepping back into the fold, imbued with a new sense of power and adventure, she discovers for the first time the possibility of a relationship on her own terms - as well as certain thrill she never quite believed possible . . . and the surprises are only just beginning . . .

A novel about a young Englishman who experiences Karen village life in the mountains of Northern Thailand. He discovers how to see the lowlands from the viewpoint of the Karen people living in the mountains rather than the viewpoint of people who look up from the lowlands imagining they see barbarians living in primitive villages.

For thirteen years Helen has lived a safe suburban life with Robert, bending to his boorish demands and allowing her once independent spirit to all but vanish. But one evening she decides to throw off her role of domestic angel and hit him where it hurts - she dares to criticise his driving. Riled by his wife's comments, the irate Robert sets out the next morning to prove himself and is killed in a freak accident. Helen's life is about to transform. As she rekindles relationships with old friends and close family, Helen rediscovers the excitement of her former world. Tentatively stepping back into the fold, imbued with a new sense of power and adventure, she discovers for the first time the possibility of a relationship on her own terms.

For thirteen years, Helen has lived a life of suburban predictability, bending to Robert's boorish demands and allowing her once independent spirit to retreat into the safety cage of mundane, dutiful routine. Over supper that evening she decides to throw off her role of domestic angel and dares to criticise his driving. Riled by his wife's comments over dinner, an irate Robert sets out the next morning to prove himself and is killed in a freak accident. Helen's life is about to transform. As she rekindles relationships with old friends and close family, and is imbued with a new sense of power and adventure, she discovers for the first time the possibility of a relationship on her own terms - as well as certain thrill she never quite believed possible... and the surprises are only just beginning...

Come on Down represents an introduction to popular media culture in Britain since 1945. It discusses the ways in which popular culture can be studied, understood and appreciated, and covers its key analytical issues and some of its most important forms and processes. The contributors analyse some of popular culture's leading and most representative expressions such as TV soaps, quizzes and game shows, TV for children, media treatment of the monarchy, Pop Music, Comedy, Advertising, Consumerism and Americanization. The diversity of both subject matter and argument is the most distinctive feature of the collection, making it a much-needed and extremely accessible, interdisciplinary introduction to the study of popular media culture. The contributors, many of them leading figures in their respective areas of study, represent a number of different approaches which themselves reflect the diversity and promise of contemporary theoretical debates. Their studies encompass issues such as the economics of popular culture, its textual complexity and its interpretations by audiences, as well as concepts such as ideology, material culture and postmodernism.