First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Neighbours, 20 years on Ramsay Street, is an entertaining and comprehensive history of this very popular Australian television series, a favourite with British TV audiences for two decades. Through its pages, fans will relive the highs and lows of their favourite families, individual characters and evergreen cast members. The book is highly pictorial and includes year-by-year plot synopses, previously unpublished photographs of cast and crew and other behind the scenes material that will enthral the more than three million UK fans of the show. It includes revealing first person recollections from some of the biggest stars, past and present, and enough facts to keep a dedicated trivia buff happy for months!

Rain Woodrow is an entrepreneur, both at heart and by profession. Shes not afraid to do whatever it takes to make her company a success. Its a work ethic that is about to come in handy at home too. One night, she and her boyfriend, Cullen Dangsi, notice something remarkable happen. At a gathering of their neighbours, each stands up and pledges to work towards their highest aspirations and goals. There is power in numbers, they realise, and soon the neighbours are working together for both individual and community objectives. This cooperative spirit does not go unnoticed by the media, and soon the spotlight of public attention shines brightly on Sunlit Avenue. But that attention comes at a cost. It draws focus to those who arent quite as dedicated to the communal projects, as well as those who are jealous of what others are achieving. Why cant everyone be supportive of this initiative to make each others lives better? Rain and Cullen work to solve the mystery, so that they can achieve their dreams, with or without the naysayers. The neighbours have a decision to make: do they allow themselves to be pulled down by toxic peopleor do they work even harder to accomplish their goals with renewed ambition?

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year: A deliciously entertaining account of expatriate life in a small village just outside Verona, Italy. Tim Parks is anything but a gentleman in Verona. So after ten years of living with his Italian wife, Rita, in a typical provincial Italian neighborhood, the novelist found that he had inadvertently collected a gallery full of splendid characters. In this wittily observed account, Parks introduces readers to his home town, with a statue of the Virgin at one end of the street, a derelict bottle factory at the other, and a wealth of exotic flora and fauna in between. Via Colombare, the village’s main street, offers an exemplary hodgepodge of all that is new and old in the bel paese, a point of collision between invading suburbia and diehard peasant tradition. It is a world of creeping vines, stuccoed walls, shotguns, security cameras, hypochondria, and expensive sports cars. More than a mere travelogue, Italian Neighbors is a vivid portrait of the real Italy and a compelling story of how even the most foreign people and places gradually assume the familiarity of home. “One of the most delightful travelogues imaginable . . . so vivid, so packed with delectable details.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review