She’s dated Mr Darcy… After being hounded by the paparazzi ever since news of their engagement got out, Gemma and Dominic are flying to Scotland for a much-needed romantic getaway. But they didn’t expect to find Dominic’s ex, Natalie, and her husband Rhys, on the very same flight! Landing in a torrential blizzard and with only one hire car (let alone a limo!) between them, the four share a lift….but as the snowdrifts move in, stranding them in an isolated castle, it seems they’ll be reunited for longer than planned! Now it’s time to say ‘I do!’ In the face of adversity, Gemma does what any self-respecting celebrity fiancée would do: starts planning a last-minute wedding while she has Dominic to herself! After all, where better for a discreetly decadent wedding than in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest celebrity news desk? But marrying an A-lister away from prying eyes was never going to be easy. Will Gemma make it up the aisle? And, more importantly, now she’s miles away from Vera Wang, what is this fashionista going to wear?! And the Bride Wore Prada is the sensational first book in Katie Oliver’s long-awaited ‘Marrying Mr Darcy’ series, the follow-up to her best-selling ‘Dating Mr Darcy’ trilogy. Also by Katie Oliver: Prada and Prejudice Love and Liability Mansfield Lark and, coming soon: Love, Lies and Louboutins Manolos in Manhattan

The course of a celebrity marriage never did run smooth… Gemma Heath has finally managed to get her rock-star husband Dominic to settle down – and she has the ring to prove it! But when she sees photos of her brand-new husband escaping on his private jet with the latest pop sensation, Gemma can’t help but assume the worst: once a cheater, always a cheater… …but that doesn’t mean you can’t look fabulous! So when her old flame Jack Hawkins resurfaces, Gemma can’t resist engaging in some extra-marital flirtation of her own – purely for revenge purposes, of course. But she wasn’t prepared for her old attraction for bad-boy Jack to resurface! Gemma has a decision to make – and running away from her problems has never been her style. Especially not when she’s in sky-high stilettos! Love, Lies and Louboutins is the second book in Katie Oliver's fabulous 'Marrying Mr Darcy' series, to be followed in March by Manolos in Manhattan. Also by Katie Oliver: The Dating Mr Darcy series: Prada and Prejudice Love and Liability Mansfield Lark The Marrying Mr Darcy series: And the Bride Wore Prada and, coming soon, Manolos in Manhattan

All the Wolves You Were: A Play in Three Acts

Szép Versek 2012

Referindu-se la Pesc?ru?ul ?ntr-o scrisoare din octombrie 1895, Cehov nota, ?ntre altele: ?Scriu o pies? pe care probabil nu o voi termina p?n? la sf?r?itul lui noiembrie. O scriu nu f?r? pl?cere, de?i m? tem de conven?iile scenei. E o comedie, exist? trei roluri pentru femei, ?ase pentru b?rba?i, patru acte, peisaje (priveli?tea unui lac), o mul?ime de conversa?ii despre literatur?, pu?in? ac?iune, mult? iubire“. Premiera s-a dovedit dezastruoas?, editorul s?u aduc?ndu-i acuze ca, pild?, la?itatea evident?, caracterul din cale afar? de feminin. Con?tient de geniul s?u, Cehov riposteaz?: ?De ce aceast? calomnie? Dup? reprezenta?ie am luat cina la Romanovi. Pe cuv?ntul meu de onoare. Apoi m-am dus la culcare, am dormit s?n?tos ?i a doua zi am mers acas? f?r? a suspina vreo nemul?umire. Dac? a? fi fost un la?, a? fi alergat de la un editor la altul ?i de la un actor la altul, i-a? fi implorat s? fie ?ng?duitori ?i a? fi petrecut dou? trei s?pt?m?ni ?n Petersburg, agit?ndu-m? cu Pesc?ru?ul meu, cu emo?ie, cu o transpira?ie rece ?n lamenta?ii. Am ac?ionat at?t de rece ?i de responsabil precum un om care a f?cut o ofert? ?i apoi a fost ?nt?mpinat cu un refuz ?i nu mai are nimic altceva de f?cut dec?t s? plece. ?ntr-adev?r, vanitatea mea a fost n?ucit?, dar ?ti?i, nu a fost o lovitur? din senin. A?teptam un e?ec ?i m? preg?tisem pentru el precum te-am prevenit cu o absolut? sinceritate“.

Charles Dickens’ timeless story is brought to life in this vibrant new version by the award-winning playwright Neil Duffield. Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year! Well, it is for everyone except the miserable Scrooge. He prefers to spend Christmas all alone in his large house, instead of celebrating with mistletoe and merriment. Bah, humbug! But one cold, dark Christmas Eve Scrooge is surprised by the ghost of Marley, his former business partner. Marley warns Scrooge that he will be called upon by three spirits – each will take him on a mysterious and magical journey to show him the error of his ways… Can Scrooge discover the true wonder and meaning of Christmas before it’s too late?

In any military operation throughout history, few 24-hour periods have been as crucial as that of 6th June 1944. With the aid of specially commissioned maps, D-Day: The First 24 Hours series gives the dramatic history of the first 24 hours of the Normandy landings, and explains in detail the events that occurred in each landing zone. In this second volume of the series, the book describes the airborne landings by paratroopers and glider troops that secured the flanks of the Allied beachheads, including such famous encounters as Pegasus Bridge and Ste Mère Eglise, as well as the more secret operations carried out by the SAS, SOE and Maquis. With colour and black & white photographs and specially commissioned maps, the book is a guide to key events in the first 24 hours of the D-Day landings that saw the Allies successfully achieve a foothold in Northern Europe.

A collection of three enchanting plays adapted from popular fairy tales and suitable for family audiences:?Tin Soldier (adapted from The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen), A Tasty Tale (Hansel and Gretel), Hood in the Wood (Little Red Riding Hood). Acclaimed playwright Noel Greig, has recreated these well-known tales for the stage with wit and imagination. All three plays have been performed throughout the UK by Tangere Arts, winning a? Time Out Critics' Choice Award . Teachers, youth theatres and amateur groups working with young performers will use this collection time and again for productions, drama classes and workshops - whether for one performer or many. Suitable for children aged 7+ The simple form and language of the plays belie their theatrical and psychological sophistication. Tin Soldier ' a powerful poetic drama, an epic fable for our times.' **** ?Independent A Tasty Tale (Hansel and Gretel) ' Delicious moments... fashioned into a rhyming feast.' ****?Time Out Hood in the Wood (Little Red Riding Hood) ' a first-rate piece of storytelling that will make children squeal with terrified delight and parents shiver with recognition. ' **** ?Guardian

Candide is characterised by its sarcastic tone, as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel with a story similar to that of a more serious bildungsroman, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. Voltaire's men and women point his case against optimism by starting high and falling low. A modern could not go about it after this fashion.?He would not plunge his people into an unfamiliar misery. He would just keep them in the misery they were born to. But such an account of Voltaire's procedure is as misleading as the plaster cast of a dance. Look at his procedure again. Mademoiselle Cunégonde, the illustrious Westphalian, sprung from a family that could prove seventy-one quarterings, descends and descends until we find her earning her keep by washing dishes in the Propontis. The aged faithful attendant, victim of a hundred acts of rape by negro pirates, remembers that she is the daughter of a pope, and that in honor of her approaching marriage with a Prince of Massa-Carrara all Italy wrote sonnets of which not one was passable. We do not need to know French literature before Voltaire in order to feel, although the lurking parody may escape us, that he is poking fun at us and at himself. His laughter at his own methods grows more unmistakable at the last, when he caricatures them by casually assembling six fallen monarchs in an inn at Venice. A modern assailant of optimism would arm himself with social pity. There is no social pity in "Candide." Voltaire, whose light touch on familiar institutions opens them and reveals their absurdity, likes to remind us that the slaughter and pillage and murder which Candide?witnessed among the Bulgarians was perfectly regular, having been conducted according to the laws and usages of war. Had Voltaire lived today he would have done to poverty what he did to war. Pitying the poor, he would have shown us poverty as a ridiculous anachronism, and both the ridicule and the pity would have expressed his indignation. About Author: VOLTAIREFran?ois-Marie Arouet (1694 – 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.

A series of short, single voice plays by writers based in the North West of England. These powerful, contemporary monologues share the struggles, courage, conflicts and joys of different characters facing difficult decisions in their lives. Developed through consultation with young people, they offer a range of authentic, memorable voices to stimulate discussion and participatory drama work. ‘First Date’ by Anne-Marie O’Connor: Sometimes friendship comes with a heavy price tag. ‘Getting it Right’ by Peter Spafford: Luke can't choose between his shirts, let alone his parents. ‘Results Day’ by Aelish Michael: Karly’s mum thinks she’s an angel, but what if she flaps her wings? ‘Close to Home’ by Mary Cooper: Jay’s little sister is pregnant and he’s livid – who’s he going to punish? ‘Weighed Down’ by Carla Monvid-Jenkinson and Mary Cooper: When Claire’s dad left, she thought that he was all she would lose. ‘Giggsy’s Legs’ by Michael Harvey: Do you choose everything you are or does it choose you?

Liverpool, 1863: Newly arrived in England, wealthy liberals enlist Trinity, an escaped slave girl, in their campaign to abolish slavery and support Abraham Lincoln's Union. Jubal, a high-ranking Confederate officer, has just arrived in Liverpool to find supporters and raise funds for the opposing side. When Trinity discovers a high-stakes conspiracy there to help win the war for the Southern States, she must risk everything to stop it – including her new-found freedom. But who will believe a runaway slave? And who can she really trust?

Anna Karenina is one of the greatest novels written by Leo Tolstoy, often credited as the pinnacle of realist fiction, and described by Tolstoy himself as his first true novel.

Praised by Vladimir Nabokov as one of the greatest stories ever written, The Lady with the Dog follows an adulterous affair between a Russian banker and a young lady he meets while vacationing in Yalta. This volume of Chekhov stories also includes: A Doctor's Visit, An Upheaval, Ionitch, The Head of the Family, Volodya, An Anonymous Story, The Husband.

We were three quiet, lonely old men, and she was a lively, handsome young woman, and we were at our wits’ end what to do with her.

A futuristic satire on the trade in live organs from the Third World to the West. Om, a young man is driven by unemployment to sell his body parts for cash. Guards arrive to make his home into a germ-free zone. When his brother Jeetu returns unexpectedly, he is taken away as the donor. Om can’t accept this. Java, his wife, is left alone. Will she too be seduced into selling her body for use by the rich westerners? Harvest won first prize in the first Onassis Cultural Competition for Theatre and was premiered in Greek at the Teatro Texnis, Athens. It has also been performed by a youth theatre in the UK, broadcast by the BBC World Service and made into a feature film, directed by Govind Nihalani, titled Body, which was screened at the Regus London Film Festival.

One of the best examples of Woolf's modernist innovation, the story starts in Jacob's childhood and follows him through college at Cambridge, and then into adulthood. The narrative is told mainly through the perspectives of the women in Jacob's life, including the repressed Clara Durrant and the uninhibited young art student Florinda, with whom he has an affair. His time in London forms a large part of the story, though towards the end of the novel he travels to Italy, then Greece.

Walter Hartright, a young art teacher, meets a mysterious and distressed woman dressed in white. He helps her on her way, but later learns that she has escaped from an asylum. Next day, he travels to Limmeridge House in Cumberland, having been hired as a drawing master on the recommendation of his friend, Pesca, an Italian language master.

In this symbolic story we follow Charles Marlow as he recounts his adventure to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary from dusk through to late night. The passage of time and the darkening sky during Marlow's narrative parallels the atmosphere of the events he narrates.

I am an old woman now, and things are very different to what they were in my youth. Then we, who travelled, travelled in coaches, carrying six inside, and making a two days’ journey out of what people now go over in a couple of hours with a whizz and a flash, and a screaming whistle, enough to deafen one. Then letters came in but three times a week: indeed, in some places in Scotland where I have stayed when I was a girl, the post came in but once a month;—but letters were letters then; and we made great prizes of them, and read them and studied them like books. Now the post comes rattling in twice a day, bringing short jerky notes, some without beginning or end, but just a little sharp sentence, which well-bred folks would think too abrupt to be spoken. Well, well! They may all be improvements,—I dare say they are; but you will never meet with a Lady Ludlow in these days.

The story follows a young Russian landowner named Dimitry Sanin who falls deliriously in love for the first time while visiting the German city of Frankfurt. It is widely held as one Turgenev's greatest novels as well as being highly autobiographical in nature.

There was a time when a man in search of the pleasures of gossip sought the society of ladies. The man knows better now. He goes to the smoking-room of his club.