When Lucy s father dies, she is forced to take a job in service as a scullery maid at Windthorpe House, home to the aristocratic Hetheringtons, who lost three of their sons in the Great War. When their only remaining son, Clive returns home, he and Lucy strike up an immediate bond but Clive, much to his family s alarm, decides to volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, though when he returns, he is injured. With the outbreak of war ever more certain, the two fall in love. But Hitler s troops are gathering and fate has something very different in store for both of them

The seeds of irreverent humour that inspired the likes of Wayne and Shuster and Monty Python were sown in the trenches of the First World War, and The Dumbells—concert parties made up of fighting soldiers—were central to this process. Soldiers of Song tells their story. Lucky soldiers who could sing a song, perform a skit, or pass as a “lady,” were taken from the line and put onstage for the benefit of their soldier-audiences. The intent was to bolster morale and thereby help soldiers survive the war. The Dumbells’ popularity was not limited to troop shows along the trenches. The group also managed a run in London’s West End and became the first ever Canadian production to score a hit on Broadway. Touring Canada for some twelve years after the war, the Dumbells became a household name and made more than twenty-five audio recordings. If nationhood was won on the crest of Vimy Ridge, it was the Dumbells who provided the country with its earliest soundtrack. Pioneers of sketch comedy, the Dumbells are as important to the history of Canadian theatre as they are to the cultural history of early-twentieth-century Canada.

In 2013, at the age of sixty-nine, with some time on my hands, I decided to learn to play a musical instrument (again); this time, I decided on the harmonica. Thank goodness that I did. I have since learned the beauty and versatility of the harmonica. I started by buying a set of DVDs over the Internet and started my journey into the harmonica. At the end of the lessons on the DVDs, I met my first hurdle. Where do I go from here? I searched music stores and bookstores for books of songs in the key of C and of the kind of songs I wished to play (standards, classics, easy-listening)no luck there. With my limited computer knowledge, I turned to the Internet. I found hundreds of songs for the harmonica, with quite a few in the key of C, but not too many in the genre of choice. It took me quite a while to put together a number of songs in the key of C with tabs added, as I could not read music. I then practiced these twenty or so songs until I became proficient enough (and confident enough) to go busking. While busking, several people talked to me about their attempts to learn to play the harmonica and how they had given up. From these conversations, I discovered many people had experienced the same hurdles as myself. In order to help people to discover (or rediscover) just how easy it is to learn to play the harmonica, given the right tools at the right time of learning, I decided to publish this book. I am certain it will help you as much as it did me.

A name from the murkiest corners of Britain's secret war in Ireland: Serpentine. At first it's just gossip and fearful whispers. But then people begin to die and all hell breaks loose from Palestine to the remote Highlands of Scotland. Fresh from the toughest assignments in the mercenary world comes former SAS officer Murricane. Can he find Serpentine before it's too late and before the horrific secrets of the past threaten to cause chaos not just in Ireland but in the Middle East too? In a trail of mayhem that leads through Scotland, Gaza and Ireland, Murricane battles his own demons, as well as a monstrous former RUC officer, a disgraced policeman and a series of unreliable Land Rovers, until Serpentine plays his final, devastating game . . . Serpentine is an explosive, bitterly funny journey into the darkest heart of the Irish Troubles and the violence that lurks in Scotland's most scenic Highland communities.

From the bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors and A Cornish Summer comes a funny and heart-warming look at what happens when your whole world is turned upside-down . . . 'Like a breath of fresh air. Warm, funny and has a lovely storyline' 5***** Reader Review 'Giggle out loud funny. Well written and very entertaining' 5***** Reader Review 'Funny and unpredictable. Like listening to a friend tell a good story' 5***** Reader Review ___________ Evie Hamilton's biggest worry in life is whether or not she can fit in a manicure on her way to fetch her daughter from clarinet lessons. Little does she know that her charmed and happy life is about to be turned upside-down . . . For one sunny morning a letter lands on Evie's immaculate doormat. It's a bombshell, knocking her carefully arranged and managed world completely askew as it threatens to sabotage all she holds dear. What will be left and what will change forever? Is Evie strong enough to fight for what she loves? And can her entire world really be as fragile as her best china? . . . ___________ Praise for Catherine Alliott: 'Classy, wonderfully gossipy and breathless' Red 'We defy you not to get caught up in Alliott's life-changing tale' Heat 'Alliott at her best' Daily Telegraph

A collection of short stories from celebrated author William Trevor in which he shines a light on the day-to-day life of Ireland and its citizens. From his debut collection, “The Day We Got Drunk on Cake,” published in 1968, to “Family Sins” (1990), William Trevor has crafted the short story to perfection, giving us brilliant and subtle stories full of the reversals, surprises, and shadowy truths we discover in life itself. To read this volume is not just to encounter an extraordinary literary stylist, but to understand life as surely as though we were looking through the eyes of his protagonists and—deeper still—into their hearts. William Trevor: The Collected Stories includes the tales from his seven previous books, as well as four stories that have never appeared in book form in America. They depict the comforts and frustrations of life in rural Ireland, the complexities of family relationships, and the elusive grace of love. They portray the almost invisible strands that bind people to each other as well as the chains that imprison them in solitary yearning.