Wiffle Lever to Full!

'Dear Mama, I am having a lovely time here. We play football every day here. The beds have no springs . . .'So begins the first letter that a nine-year-old Roald Dahl penned to his mother, Sofie Magdalene, under the watchful eye of his boarding-school headmaster. For most of his life, Roald Dahl would continue to write weekly letters to his mother, chronicling his adventures, frustrations and opinions, from the delights of childhood to the excitements of flying as a World War II fighter pilot and the thrill of meeting top politicians and movie stars during his time as a diplomat and spy in Washington. And, unbeknown to Roald, his mother lovingly kept every single one of them.Sofie was, in many ways, Roald's first reader. It was she who encouraged him to tell stories and nourished his desire to fabricate, exaggerate and entertain. Reading these letters, you can see Roald practicing his craft, developing the dark sense of humour and fantastical imagination that would later produce such timeless tales as The BFG, Matilda, Fantastic Mr Fox and The Witches.The letters in Love from Boy are littered with jokes and madcap observations; sometimes serious, sometimes tender, and often outrageous. To eavesdrop on a son's letters to his mother is to witness Roald Dahl turning from a boy to a man, and finally becoming a writer.

The Owl at the Window is a dramatic, moving and funny memoir. An emotional, ultimately uplifting tale of loss and hope.'Amazing and completely compelling...both funny and sad, and so moving, I couldn't put it down.' - Alison Steadman'Devastatingly moving and hilarious in equal measure. I have laughed and cried during the reading of a single sentence.' - Caroline QuentinWinner of Best Memoir at the East Anglian Book Awards'She is dead. She was here just now and she was alive. How can she suddenly be dead? People in history are dead. Old people are dead. Grandparents are dead. Other people are dead. Not people like me. Not this person. The person I was married to. Had a child with. Not the person who was standing next to me. Chatting. Laughing. Being.'Shock is just one of many emotions explored in award-winning TV comedy writer Carl Gorham's account of his bereavement which is by turns deeply moving and darkly humorous.Part love story, part widower's diary, part tales of single parenting, it tells of his wife's cancer, her premature death and his attempts to rebuild his life afterwards with his six -year old daughter. Realised in a series of vivid snapshots, it takes the reader on an extraordinary journey from Oxford to Australia, from Norfolk to Hong Kong through fear, despair, pain and anger to hope, laughter and renewal.The Owl at the Window is a fresh and original exploration of what it means to lose a partner in your forties, and how Carl learned to live again.

SUSAN CALMAN AKA WONDER WOMAN & QUEEN OF DRAGONS AS SEEN ON STRICTLY COME DANCING 2017'DEEPLY HONEST, SURPRISINGLY HILARIOUS AND UPLIFTING' The Pool 'HEART-WARMING: UNMISSABLE' Damian Barr, Metro Susan Calman is a well-known comedian and writer who has appeared on countless radio and television programmes from The News Quiz and Just a Minute on BBC Radio 4, presented Armchair Detectives and Secret Scotland, hosts the podcast Mrs Brightside and stole the nation's hearts in STRICTLY COME DANCING 2017. Her solo stand up show, Susan Calman is Convicted, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and dealt with subjects like the death penalty, appearance and depression. It was the overwhelming and positive reaction to the show she wrote about mental health that made Susan want to write a more detailed account of surviving depression when you're the world's most negative and anxious person. The Crab of Hate is the personification of Calman's depression and her version of the notorious Black Dog. A constant companion all her life, the Crab has provided her with the best, and very worst of times. This is a very personal and affecting memoir of how, after many years and with a lot of help and talking, Susan has embraced her dark side and realised that she can be the most joyous sad person you'll ever meet. CHEER UP LOVE IS FUNNY, POIGNANT AND (HOPEFULLY) INFORMATIVE.IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO TALK AND TO REALISE YOU ARE NOT ALONE. *Susan Calman's new book, Sunny Side Up, publishes September 2018*

A Pointless History of the World is a complete[1] and meticulously researched[2] series of essays on our rich and glorious past. Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman, two of the world's foremost experts on Things Before Their Time[3] take you on a step-by-step journey through history.From the Big Bang to the Fall of the Roman Empire, from the Ice Age to the Evolution of Language, from Henry VIII to Last of the Summer Wine: all of civilisation is here. A publishing first, this thoroughly comprehensive and highly ambitious quest through Time and Space is interspersed with questions for all the family from TV's most popular tea-time quiz show, Pointless. This is Alexander and Richard's biggest book yet.The book no historian can afford to be without[4], it comes complete with introduction and footnotes[5]. [1] Highly selective[2] Largely cobbled together from what we can remember from school [3] That's not even a thing[4] Under no circumstances to be used for reference[5] Um...

Terry Waite's personal account of his harrowing experiences as a hostage in Beirut. This book gives a fascinating insight into human life on the edge - the things people are willing to do to each other, and what it feels like to be treated in that way. Terry's endurance in the face of unimaginable suffering and long days spent in solitary confinement makes for a compelling tale.This new edition includes an updated foreword and new final chapter conveying just a few of the many and varied experiences that came Terry's way post-release, and conveying his passionate engagement in Middle East issues since his release 25 years ago, an issue of just as much relevance today as ever.

It began when three people from three different moments in history discovered that they could travel through time when they clasped hands. But the mysteries surrounding them have only deepened.There are risks to tampering with established events... timelines become snarled, histories become tangled... and one false move could destroy time itself!Jana, Kaz and Dora have escaped from their mysterious enemy, Quil, wounded and scared. Taking refuge in a place outside of time, they devise a plan to change the past, altering Quil's life so that she never meets them.From the streets of Beirut in 2010 to the domed cities of Mars in 2155 and beyond, the three teenagers fight for their future, and that of all humanity, by trying to rewrite the history of the person who has sworn to destroy them.What could be more complicated - and important - than trying to save the world? As their feelings for each other grow stronger, though, Jana, Kaz and Dora find themselves at the centre of a different kind of battle. And when it comes to matters of the heart, there can be no real victors.*~*Readers love the TimeBomb series!*~*'A fast-paced, time-hopping thriller' SciFiNow'Tremendous fun... a riveting series opener... I finished the book in one sitting. If you enjoy fast-paced, action-driven time travel stories, this book is for you' A Fantastical Librarian'A rip roaring roller coaster ride of a read that keeps you on your toes and is a WHOLE lot of fun' Liz Loves Books'I was sucked into this book from the beginning and found it extremely hard to put down' Escapades of a Bookworm'Impeccably unique and mesmerising, Andrews takes an astoundingly interesting take on time travel' Once Upon a Moonlight Review'Executed perfectly, with likeable, intelligent and witty characters thrust into the mix of things' The Book Bag'Well-written, funny, sad and exciting... a rocket of a timeslip adventure, designed to appeal to adults young and old and it most certainly succeeds' For Winter's Nights

***SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD*** Imagine a nightmare from which there is no escape. Seventeen-year-old Chan's ancestors left a dying Earth hundreds of years ago, in search of a new home. They never found one. This is a hell where no one can hide. The only life that Chan's ever known is one of violence, of fighting. Of trying to survive. This is a ship of death, of murderers and cults and gangs. But there might be a way to escape. In order to find it, Chan must head way down into the darkness - a place of buried secrets, long-forgotten lies, and the abandoned bodies of the dead. This is Australia. Seventeen-year-old Chan, fiercely independent and self-sufficient, keeps her head down and lives quietly, careful not to draw attention to herself amidst the violence and disorder. Until the day she makes an extraordinary discovery - a way to return the Australia to Earth. But doing so would bring her to the attention of the fanatics and the murderers who control life aboard the ship, putting her and everyone she loves in terrible danger. And a safe return to Earth is by no means certain.

'...a heartbreaking tale of illicit love and religious persecution. Rod Nordland seamlessly weaves the personal and the political in urgent, effortless prose to tell a story that is not only beautifully written but also vitally important for our times.' Amanda Foreman, Chair of the Man Booker PrizeA riveting, real-life equivalent of The Kite Runner: A powerful and profoundly moving story of a young couple willing to risk everything for love."She is his Juliet and he is her Romeo, and her family has threatened to kill them both..."This is the heartrending account of Zakia and Mohammad Ali, a couple from opposing Islamic sects, who defying their society's norms have left behind everything they know and are quite literally risking their lives for their love.She is a Sunni, he is a Shia, but as friends from childhood Zakia and Mohammad Ali could never have predicted that their love would anger their families so much that they would be forced to leave their homes finding refuge in the harsh terrain of the Afghani mountains. Without money or passports they rely on the kindness of strangers to house them for a couple of days at a time as they remain on the run, never deterred.New York Times journalist, Rod Nordland, has chronicled the plight of the young lovers telling their extraordinary story of courage, perseverance and love in one of the world's most troubled countries. This moving love story is told against the bigger backdrop of the horrific but widespread practices that women are subjected to in Afghanistan.

A must-read for fans of Agatha Christie's Poirot and Margery Allingham's Campion Mysteries, Lord Peter Wimsey is the immortal amateur sleuth created by Dorothy L Sayers.Lord Peter Wimsey bent down over General Fentiman and drew the Morning Post gently away from the gnarled old hands. Then, with a quick jerk, he lifted the quiet figure. It came up all of a piece, stiff as a wooden doll . . .But how did the general die? Who was the mysterious Mr X who fled when he was wanted for questioning? And which of the general's heirs, both members of the Bellona Club, is lying?