British Life

Mary, Queen of Scots continues to intrigue both historians and the general public - but the story of her mother, Marie de Guise, is much less well known. A political power in her own right, she was born into the powerful and ambitious Lorraine family, spending her formative years at the dazzling, licentious court of François I. Although briefly courted by Henry VIII, she instead married his nephew, James V of Scotland, in 1538.

Someone is killing the women folk of Oakwell, and the body count is growing. The moorland that surrounds the town has begun to relinquish some of its morbid past. Inspector Abaline has been drafted onto the case, to breathe new life into the faltering investigation. Can he unlock the secret of the Devil's Tourniquet before deaths shadow casts its cloak once more over the already terrified residents of Oakwell? Excitement, suspense and mystery. If Hard-Boiled, Traditional British Detective Crime Thrillers, with a light sprinkling of the Occult and Supernatural are your vice. Then welcome to ...

Inspired by the real-life murder of a British army soldier by religious fanatics, and the rampant burning of mosques that followed, Guy Gunaratne’s In Our Mad and Furious City is a snapshot of the diverse, frenzied edges of modern-day London. A crackling debut from a vital new voice, it pulses with the frantic energy of the city’s homegrown grime music and is animated by the youthful rage of a dispossessed, overlooked, and often misrepresented generation.

The life and adventures of Thomas Cochrane, a young man who rose from midshipman to admiral, are so extraordinary that, to paraphrase Patrick O'Brian, one has to suspend disbelief. In fact, O'Brian admitted to using Cochrane as the model for his character Jack Aubrey. Second only to Nelson among the heroes of the Royal Navy, Cochrane became a household name in Britain during the 1800s as the Admiralty called upon his extraordinary skill as a sailor, his mastery of gunnery, and his daring use of ruses...

When DI Allie Shenton is called out to a murder suicide, it quickly becomes clear that it's a double slaying, and there is a killer on the loose. The bodies are found in a property owned by local entrepreneur/drug dealer Kenny Webb. Several young women are staying there, they are refusing to talk and one of them is missing. While she waits on forensic evidence, Allie decides to do what she does best. She takes to the community to see who will talk. Right now, she's the only one who can get answers. But then a third murder rattles everyone.

The Wang family is hiding a secret—they all have the ability to time travel. When parents Joshua and Lily depart for the past and never return, their children Tommy and Eva are forced to deal with their grief alone. Eva tries to find her place in the present, while Tommy is pulled further and further into a past that he hopes holds the truth. When he falls in love with a woman from 1930s London Chinatown, his inability to confront his own history has serious ramifications for the people who can truly bring him happiness.

Such is our task, and such lies before us all: Liberty or death. In the summer of 1775, fleeing from a death sentence, Octavian and his tutor, Dr. Trefusis, escape through rising tides and pouring rain to find shelter in British-occupied Boston. Sundered from all he knows Octavian hopes to find safe harbor. But in the midst of war, no place is safe. The city of Boston itself is under siege. What follows is a tale of skirmish and flame, flight and fury, and battle on sea and land.

A gorgeous ginger boyfriend, a busy job, and a happy social life - Kirsty's perfect beginning couldn't be better. So why is she still chaotically lurching through her life? Kirsty is kept busy managing Cupid's Sting dating agency and enjoying her time with Ben. However, his unwillingness to commit is a sticking point although Kirsty suspects her insecurities relate to her own troubled relationship with her father. Arguments arise, but could better communication be the key? On top of everything else, Kirsty's mother and father are trying to work out the rules of life themselves while making ...

Affectionately dubbed "the Jewel in the Crown of the Tetbury Advertiser" by its ever-patient editor, Debbie Young has been a regular columnist for this award-winning community magazine since 2010. In its ten issues per year, she shares her homespun philosophy and wry English humour with its loyal readers. This collection brings together her columns from 2010-2015, charting history in the making as it affects local residents, and giving her whimsical perspective on the wider world from the heart of the Cotswolds.

Worried About Your Teen’s Financial Future in the UK? Equip Them with the Skills to Succeed Today! As a parent, the thought of your teen's future can be overwhelming. Are you confident they can manage their finances independently, or do you find yourself worrying about their ability to make smart financial decisions without falling into debt? While it's natural to offer support during tough times, it’s crucial to empower them with the financial skills they’ll need to thrive—especially as they prepare for adulthood. This comprehensive guide to personal finance in the UK will provide ...

Ró finds school impossible. She knows people think she's shy - and stupid. But when she goes to the bay each afternoon to watch the dolphin leap through the water, she finds the strength to keep going. Then the dolphin disappears, and everything starts falling apart. How much is Ró willing to risk to find him?

Discover the remarkable life of Virginia Woolf.... Virginia Woolf ranks among the most influential writers of the 20th century. Embracing the Post-Impressionist times in which she lived, her novels reflect the artistic shift from romanticism to abstract. Plot mattered very little to Woolf. Her writing was a stream of consciousness outside of time and place. Her novels, including her best-known work, Mrs. Dalloway, invariably dwell on gender roles and the concept of reality.

If someone was in your house, you’d know...wouldn’t you? But the Hunter family are deaf and don’t hear a thing when a shocking crime takes place in the middle of the night. Instead, they wake up to their worst nightmare: the murder of their daughter. The police call Paige Northwood to the scene to interpret for the witnesses. They’re in shock, but Paige senses the Hunters are hiding something. One by one, people from Paige’s community start to fall under suspicion. But who would kill a little girl?

For many, she was simply the last of King Henry VIII’s many wives, but Catherine Parr was much more than that. She had a unique and incredible history all of her own. Catherine was a dynamic figure who survived more than her fair share of hardship. Even before she married Henry, she found herself caught up in the drama of England’s Reformation, and at one point, she was even held hostage in her own home by religious radicals.

In The People's War, John Willis unearths untold stories of everyday bravery, moments of terror, and tales of life-affirming community, that guide us through the years of the Second World War. From soldiers in North Africa and prisoners of war in East Asia, to evacuees in the British countryside and women in the factories, The People's War is a truly ambitious and comprehensive journey through a devastating and pivotal period of our history, as you've never read before.

This is the story of the author’s two paternal great-great-grandfathers, both of whom spent over forty years helping to save lives on the Isles of Scilly: Edwin Lewis Davis as the keeper of St Agnes Lighthouse and John Grenfell Moyle as the islands’ only doctor. It also follows the mariners, miners, preachers and teachers of the Moyle and Davis families as they become part of the great Cornish diaspora. We accompany them over the seven seas aboard speedy clippers, to the Antipodes during the gold rush, to the industrial north of England, to lighthouses along rugged coastlines and to the...

Glancing sideways, she was intrigued by his flawless profile. He had bronzed skin and a straight nose, with tousled blond hair that was effortlessly stylish. Lounging in his chair elegantly, he looked like the type of guy you could place anywhere and he would look at ease. He turned suddenly and caught her staring at him. Their eyes locked and suddenly she felt lost. They were the bluest eyes she had ever seen… Lydia Kelly is in a good place. Determined to pursue her dream of being a writer, she enrols to do a Master’s degree in English. It means being separated from her handsome ...

J. R. R. Tolkien, an orphan in love with words, spent most of his life as an unassuming Professor of Literature at Oxford studying and teaching old languages. During his time there, he created his very own languages and a mythological world, Middle-earth. Middle-earth was inhabited by Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, and other fascinating creatures. It was a world that became almost more real to Tolkien than the one he lived in. Tolkien’s two masterpieces, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, have set the standard in mythological literature.

In 1605, Guy Fawkes was one of over a dozen conspirators in the famous Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to assassinate England's King James I. When the plot was discovered on the 5th of November, Fawkes and other conspirators were quickly convicted and executed, and the King asked his subjects to remember the 5th November as "the joyful day of deliverance".

January 2001: A small ship, led by wealthy Scotsman Daniel Hamilton, arrives in the Sundarbans, a vast archipelago of islands in the mythical river Ganges, a half-drowned land where the waters of the Himalayas merge with the incoming tides of the sea.