Pauline, Petrova and Posy are found as orphaned babies in different parts of the world by eccentric fossil collector and explorer Gum. He adopts them, takes them to his London home and leaves them in the care of his niece Sylvia and the family Nurse. Then off he goes to continue his exploring, saying that he'll be back in five years' time. When the three little girls are old enough, they choose the surname Fossil for themselves and vow to make the name famous.At first they lead privileged and sheltered lives. But when Gum fails to return after five years, Sylvia's money begins to run out. First she is forced to take in some boarders - an engaging and eclectic mix of characters - but then she decides that the girls should go to acting school. This way they will be able to earn some money before they grow up.Pauline adores the school, as she dreams of becoming an actress. Petrova hates it, all she wants to do is learn about cars and planes and engines. Posy loves it too - she is born to be a dancer and the school is the perfect place for her.

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Brutally honest and fearless, Poverty Safari is an unforgettable insight into modern Britain, and will change how you think about poverty.The Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller.Winner of the Orwell Prize.Named the most 'Rebellious Read of the 21st Century' in a Scottish Book Trust poll.Darren McGarvey has experienced poverty and its devastating effects first-hand. He knows why people from deprived communities all around Britain feel angry and unheard. And he wants to explain . . .So he invites you to come on a safari of sorts. But not the kind where the wildlife is surveyed from a safe distance. This book takes you inside the experience of poverty to show how the pressures really feel and how hard their legacy is to overcome.Arguing that both the political left and right misunderstand poverty as it is actually lived, McGarvey sets out what everybody – including himself – could do to change things.'Another cry of anger from a working class that feels the pain of a rotten, failing system. Its value lies in the strength it will add to the movement for change.' - Ken Loach, director of Kes

'This book is just about my favourite book of all time ... I'm not entirely convinced I could like somebody who didn't like this book ... it's funny and moving and gives you an insight into this extraordinary moment as the war is about to begin ... it's so vivid, and what's more, it's incredibly current' Robert Rinder, BBC Radio 4'Wonderfully funny and very poignant' Philip Toynbee'More than an extremely amusing autobiography ... she has evoked a whole generation. Her book is full of the music of time' SUNDAY TIMES'Whenever I read the words "Peer's Daughter" in a headline,' Lady Redesdale once sadly remarked, 'I know it's going to be something about one of you children.' The Mitford family is one of the century's most enigmatic, made notorious by Nancy's novels, Diana's marriage to Sir Oswald Mosley, Unity's infatuation with Hitler, Debo's marriage to a duke and Jessica's passionate commitment to communism. Hons and Rebels is an enchanting and deeply absorbing memoir of an isolated and eccentric upbringing which conceals beneath its witty, light-hearted surface much wisdom and depth of feeling.

In 2002, the University of Michigan Press published Rodney Merrill's translation of Homer's Odyssey, an interpretation of the classic that was unique in employing the meter of Homer's original. Praising Merrill's translation of the Odyssey, Gregory Nagy of Harvard wrote, "Merrill's fine ear for the sound of ancient Greek makes the experience of reading his Homer the nearest thing in English to actually hearing Homer. The translator's English renders most faithfully the poet's ancient Greek---not only the words and meaning but even the voice."Merrill has now produced an edition of Homer's Iliad, following the same approach. This form of rendering is particularly relevant to the Iliad, producing a strong musical setting that many elements of the narrative require to come truly to life. Most notable are the many battle scenes, to which the strong meter gives an impetus embodying and making credible the "war-lust" in the deeds of the combatants.For many years, until his retirement, Rodney Merrill taught English composition and comparative literature at Stanford and Berkeley. In addition to his translation of Homer's Odyssey, he is the author of "Chaucer's Broche of Thebes."Jacket photograph © 2007 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston"Other competent translations of Homer exist, but none accomplish what Merrill aims for: to convey to the reader-listener in translation the meaning and the sounds of Homer, coming as close as possible to the poetry of the original. Merrill accomplishes this virtuosic achievement by translating Homer's Greek into English hexameters, a process requiring not only a full understanding of the original Greek, but also an unusual mastery of the sounds, rhythms, and nuances of English."---Stephen G. Daitz, Professor Emeritus of Classics, City University of New York"This is a faithful and powerful rendition of the original Greek. With his deep understanding of the language, [Merrill] has succeeded in capturing the heroic essence of the Homeric Iliad."---Gregory Nagy, Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University, and author of Poetry as Performance: Homer and Beyond

From the author of The Railway Children and Five Children and It comes this tale of six siblings and their adventures in Victorian London. The Bastable children are deeply saddened by the death of their mother, and to make things worse, they're impoverished when their father's business fails. Determined to restore both the family's fortune and its good name, the young Bastables embark on a variety of hilarious get-rich-quick schemes.Each chapter details a new adventure, from digging for treasure and becoming detectives and highway robbers, to writing a newspaper and selling wine. The children accost a nobleman on Blackheath and are mistaken for blackmailers, pay a visit to a moneylender, encounter a royal princess in Greenwich Park, and earnestly pursue other comic ventures. Their courage and determination provide a heartwarming complement to the droll narrative, and their hopes, disappointments, and triumphs remain as real and moving today as they were a century ago.

“Every time I meet someone who also loves I Capture the Castle, I know we must be kindred spirits.” —from the new foreword by Jenny Han, the New York Times bestselling author of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.A beautiful, deluxe edition of Dodie Smith’s beloved novel, I Capture the Castle, featuring a new foreword by New York Times bestselling author Jenny Han, a stunning new cover, and designed endpapers that is perfect for devoted readers and those discovering this timeless story for the first time.Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and her family may live in a ramshackle old English castle, but that’s about as romantic as her life gets. While her beautiful older sister, Rose, longs to live in a Jane Austen novel, Cassandra knows that meeting an eligible man to marry isn’t in either of their futures when their home is crumbling and they have to sell their furniture for food. So Cassandra instead strives to hone her writing skills in her journals. Until one day when their new landlords move in, which include two (very handsome) sons, and the lives of the Mortmain sisters change forever.Through Cassandra’s sharply funny, yet poignant, journal entries, she chronicles the great changes that take place within the castle’s walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has “captured the castle” – and the heart of the reader – in one of literature’s most enchanting novels.“This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met.” —J.K. Rowling, bestselling author of the Harry Potter series

Edited and with an introduction by Robert PhelpsThe hundred short stories collected here include such masterpieces as 'Bella-Vista', 'The Tender Shoot' and 'Le K-pi', Colette's subtle and ruthless rendering of a woman's belated sexual awakening. Shot through with the colours and flavours of the Parisian world and fertile French countryside, these short stories reverberate with the fine-spun desire, wit and psychological acuity that made Colette unique.

This carefully created P. G. Wodehouse collection includes this notable humorist's greatest novels and satirical short stories. This book has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Jeeves & Wooster Series Novels Right Ho, Jeeves Short Stories Leave It to Jeeves Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg Absent Treatment Helping Freddie Rallying Round Old George Doing Clarence a Bit of Good The Aunt and the Sluggard Jeeves Takes Charge Jeeves in the Springtime Aunt Agatha Takes the Count Scoring off Jeeves Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch Jeeves and the Chump Cyril Comrade Bingo The Great Sermon Handicap The Purity of the Turf The Metropolitan Touch The Delayed Exit of Claude and Eustace Bingo and the Little Woman Jeeves and the Unbidden Guest Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg Bertie Changes His Mind Psmith Series Mike Mike and Psmith Psmith in the City The Prince and Betty Psmith, Journalist Other Novels The Pothunters A Prefect's Uncle The Gold Bat The Head of Kay's Love Among the Chickens The White Feather Not George Washington The Swoop! The Intrusion of Jimmy The Little Nugget Something New Uneasy Money Piccadilly Jim A Damsel in Distress The Coming of Bill Indiscretions of Archie The Little Warrior Three Men and a Maid The Adventures of Sally The Girl on the Boat Short Story Collections Tales of St. Austin's The Clicking of Cuthbert The Man with Two Left Feet Other Short Stories The Politeness of Princes Shields' and the Cricket Cup An International Affair The Guardian A Corner in Lines The Autograph Hunters Pillingshot, Detective When Papa Swore in Hindustani Tom, Dick, and Harry Disentangling Old Duggie Poems Damon and Pythias: A Romance The Haunted Tram Articles Some Aspects of Game-captaincy An Unfinished Collection The New Advertising The Secret Pleasures of Reginald My Battle With Drink In Defense of Astigmatism Photographers and Me A Plea for Indoor Golf

Miss Emma Woodhouse of Hartfield lives in the small town of Highbury, and is young, pretty, and rich. Though she has decided she will never marry, Emma takes credit for matchmaking her friend and former governess, Miss Taylor, to the widower Mr. Weston. Emma decides to organize marriages for others of her acquaintance, despite friendly warnings not to meddle from Mr. Knightley, who is both an old friend, her brother-in-law, and the wealthy owner of Donwell Abbey. Emma resolves to marry her new friend, a pretty orphan named Harriet Smith, to the young parish priest Mr. Elton. This fails once Emma realizes to her horror that Elton desires to marry her instead. New arrivals come to Highbury, including young orphan Miss Fairfax and Elton's new pretentious wife. Frank Churchill, the handsome son of Mr. Weston, also arrives generating interest and gossip. Emma, so sure of her ability to judge the feelings of others, believes that Frank wishes to marry her. Eventually the town discovers that Frank and Miss Fairfax have been secretly engaged, while Emma comes to recognize her true feelings for Mr. Knightley ...