Morrisons memoir of the life and death of his father was one of the best-reviewed books of 1995, and promises to be an enduring classic of family literature--a work that explores the deepest emotions of being a father and a son.

SuperScripts are tried and tested plays that will appeal to 11 - 16 year olds. Mostly written by professional playwrights and performed in public to popular acclaim, these plays are ideal for the English classroom and drama studio and are accompanied by an extensive range of original activities.

A Chronicles of St Mary's short story that is sure to entertain. If you love Jasper Fforde or Ben Aaronovitch, you won't be able to resist Jodi Taylor. **Includes bonus St Mary's escapades Desiccated Water and Markham and the Anal Probing and original introductions from the author** When Did You Last See Your Father? 'Max, your father is here. He's come to take Matthew away' Have you ever wondered what would happen if Max's husband met Max's father? What would Leon do? They're normally a fairly amiable bunch, but this is the story of what to expect if St Mary's doesn't like someone. As in, really doesn't like someone. Warning: contains a unit-wide criminal enterprise, a great deal of illegal activity and a sad misuse of public resources. All the things a father will do to protect his family. It is also a story of revenge. Because this is payback - St Mary's style. Desiccated Water Professor Rapson breaks astonishing new ground with his latest feat of scientific invention. Markham and the Anal Probing When Markham disappears in the middle of nowhere, Max jumps to the logical conclusion - alien abduction. Readers love Jodi Taylor: 'Once in a while, I discover an author who changes everything... Jodi Taylor and her protagonista Madeleine "Max" Maxwell have seduced me' 'A great mix of British proper-ness and humour with a large dollop of historical fun' 'Addictive. I wish St Mary's was real and I was a part of it' 'Jodi Taylor has an imagination that gets me completely hooked' 'A tour de force'

"In a book that will change the ways we think about autobiography and criticism, Nancy K. Miller produces poignant revelations about what it means to live with a dying parent--as a son or daughter, as well as the difference that gender makes in such a painful situation. In Bequest and Betrayal, she develops an original feminist perspective by counterpointing lyrical introspection about her own grief with critical insights into memoirs by Simone de Beauvoir, Philip Roth, Art Spiegelman, Susan Cheever, Carolyn Steedman, and Annie Ernaux." --Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar, co-authors of The Madwoman in the Attic, No Man's Land, and The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women "Miller's use of the memoir form offers a new model of serious criticism, and a way of imagining community through 'bonds of paper' as well as 'bonds of blood.'" --Elaine Showalter, London Review of Books Melding the details of her own experience with the familial biographies of well-known contemporary writers, Miller recreates a common experience--the loss of a father or a mother--and exposes the often tortuous paths of mourning and attachment that we follow in the wake of loss. In the process, she offers pieces of personal history, revealing the mixed emotions provoked by her mother's sudden death from cancer and her father's painful struggle with Parkinson's disease. Memoirs about the loss of parents show how enmeshed in the family plot we have been and the price of our complicity in its stories. The death of parents forces us to rethink our lives, to reread ourselves. We read for what we need to find. Sometimes, we also find what we didn't know we needed.

The dramas of mid-life are dramas of abandonment and freedom, of highly charged sexual engagements in real time or in fantasy, and of sudden encounters with mortality and loss. The details are as varied as people's lives are diverse but similar themes reappear with unerring regularity over and over in mid-life. It is a time when everything - from the most fundamental questions of identity and meaning to the daily experience of our own bodies and sexuality - is thrown into upheaval, making mid-life transition for many people the most disturbing period since the onset of adolescence.Recognizing that many of us feel, sometimes very much to our surprise, that we have lost our way at mid-life, Polden explores compassionately and sensitively the origins and experiences of mid-life crisis. Regeneration is a fundamentally optimistic book that argues that, while deep-seated changes are often painful, there are great gains to be made at mid-life. By helping readers toward improved self-awareness and a better understanding of the demands and choices of mid-life, Regeneration shows how we can begin to lead lives more truly informed by the values that will serve us best in the second halves of our lives.

"A book club gives the opportunity to meet up with friends and wake the brain up a bit with lively and often quite aggressive discussion" Dawn French How do you keep your reading groups discussions lively and focussed? If you want to gain new insight into literature and share your passion with friends this book offers readers guides for 75 of the very best reads - guaranteed to provoke spirited debate! Each of the readers guides includes a summary of the book, a brief author biography, discussion points to spark debate, and a set of titles for further reading that deal with similar themes. A `background' section provides pointers to more material about the book online and as well as further thought-provoking material: Where did the author come from? What made them write the book? How did the context in which they wrote influence them? If you'd like further insight, debate, discussion and analysis to underpin your understanding and enjoyment of reading - then look no further than this guide. New titles in this edition include: The Long Firm, Leper's Companions, By the Sea, The Ninth Life of Louis Drax, Buddha of Suburbia, The Icarus Girl, Black and Blue, The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, The Cutting Room, Shadow of the Wind, Giving up the Ghost...and many more!

For years, a middle-aged, middle-of-the-road couple, Max and Amanda, had enjoyed each other's company in their modest home. With adult children, the two seemed to have everything they could want: health, some wealth and happiness. Until one day when they vanish, leaving behind no trace. Called in for the case, Detective Inspector George Hennessey, whose own life bespeaks horrible tragedy, automatically suspects foul play. His hunch proves a keen one when the bodies of the missing couple turn up in a shallow grave. But this macabre discovery is only the beginning of a case that will test the mettle of the entire police force. For one thing, no murderer would have killed them for their money since the couple had lost a small fortune right before their death. For another, the couple, apparently unbeknownst to the other, had been involved in illicit liaisons. For some reason, their only son has been acting strangely and to top these off, in the midst of the fracas a family secret arises. In search of a road to answers, Hennessey instead finds a maze littered with conflicting clues and misinformation. And instead of lacking any suspects at all, the detective finds there are all too many people who had wished the deceased couple harm. A compelling and grittily authentic novel from the author of the acclaimed P Division series.