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73794 READER’S DIGEST ENERGY EFFICIENT HOME


MANUAL by Reader’s Digest The first task is to survey your home room by room assessing energy efficiency in all its aspects, for instance central heating in the living areas and ventilation in the kitchen and bathroom. The book’s “10 Ways to Conserve Energy”


reveal that leaving appliances on standby can represent as much as 10% of a home’s energy consumption. Radiators should be assessed not only for whether they are performing badly as a result of sediment but also for their distribution round the circuit. DIY double glazing and loft insulation are covered step-by-step and there are substantial sections on water-related installations such as taps, toilets, and guttering. 128pp, spiral-bound, colour illus and step-by-step diagrams. £9.99 NOW £4


73603 MEMORIES OF A LIFETIME: Borders


and Frames: Book and CD by Paige Hill This series provides paper and fabric crafters with a wealth of copyright-free decorative art that you can download from the enclosed CD, photocopy, or just use the perforated pages as they are. Here are pretty floral garlands, hearts, scrollwork and other sophisticated, inspiring designs. A sweet baby page, a memories notebook, a memory box, a flower thank-you card or a decorative handkerchief for a gift. 57 pages 28cm x 21.5cm in dazzling colour. FREE CD. £11.99 NOW £4


74091 COMPLETE BOOK OF PATCHWORK


QUILTING AND APPLIQUÉ by Linda Seward Known as ‘the quilter’s bible’, it is the most comprehensive reference work to the techniques of patchwork, quilting and appliqué, covering every process and answering every technical question. There are more than 1,000 easy-to-follow step-by-step illustrations. In the introduction, the basics are explained, with templates, machine stitches, details of fabric, equipment needed, cutting, hand sewing, machine sewing, pressing and finishing techniques. 184 softback pages 26cm x 25.5cm. Colour plates. £16.99 NOW £5


HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY


I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too.


- Queen Elizabeth I


75008 THE LADY IN THE TOWER: The Fall of Anne


Boleyn by Alison Weir Only in top biographer Alison Weir’s capable hands can readers learn the truth about the fate of one of the most important women in English history. Nearly 500 years after her violent death, Anne Boleyn, second wife to Henry VIII, remains one of the most controversial and tragic heroines in British history. Here is


her gripping, dark and chilling story of her final days. The tempestuous love affair between King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn scandalised Christendom and altered forever the religious landscape of England. Anne’s assent from private gentlewoman to Queen was astonishing, but equally compelling was her shocking and swift downfall. Charged with high treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London in May 1536, Anne met her terrible end and was beheaded, all the while protesting her innocence. There remains however much mystery surrounding her arrest and the events leading up to it. Were charges against her fabricated because she stood in the way of Henry’s third marriage and siring of an heir? Or was she the victim of a more complex plot fuelled by Tudor court politics and deadly rivalry? Weir unravels the tragic tale of her miscarriage of the son who would have saved her to the final horrors of her incarceration and the dramatic scene on the scaffold. Paperback, 441pp. Small remainder mark. $17 NOW £6


75029 THOMAS CROMWELL: The Rise and Fall of Henry VIII’s Most Notorious Minister


by Robert Hutchinson Vividly evoking the politics and personalities of an extraordinary era in the 16th century, the author tells the incredible story of ‘the most hated man in England’. Thomas Cromwell was the son of a brewer who manoeuvred his way to the top by intrigue, bribery and sheer force


of personality. He pursued the interests of Henry VIII single-mindedly. Given the daunting task of arranging the judicial murder of Anne Boleyn, after she had failed to give Henry a son and heir, and also because Henry had fallen in love with Jane Seymour and wanted to be rid of his second wife, he organised a ‘show trial’ of Stalinist efficiency, as a result of which Anne was beheaded. He also orchestrated the seizure of the monasteries and used their enormous wealth to cement the loyalty of the English nobility. Not only did he enrich the crown but made himself a fortune too, soliciting colossal bribes and binding the noble families to him with easy loans. Such was his reputation that, whenever Henry was dealt a knave (now known as a jack) during a bout of gambling, he would hold up the card and exclaim: I have been dealt a Cromwell!’ 360 paperback pages with illustrations in b/w, dramatis personae, chronology. £10.99 NOW £6


74960 GRAVEN WITH DIAMONDS: The Many Lives


of Thomas Wyatt by Nicola Shulman


For Henry VIII, poetry made things happen. It affected his wars, his diplomacy and his many marriages. It was at the root of his fatal attraction to Anne Boleyn, a source of her power and a means of her destruction. The master of English love poetry at that time, the king’s


most glamorous and enigmatic subject, was Sir Thomas Wyatt, poet, lover, statesman and spy in the Court of Henry VIII. The favourite of both the king and his sinister minister Thomas Cromwell, the brilliant Wyatt was admired and envied in equal measure. His love poetry began as risqué entertainment for ambitious men and woman in the top ranks of the court but, as Henry became more and more frustrated, disillusioned and vicious, and the number of people whom he beheaded increased, Wyatt’s poetic skills became a way to survive. He saw that a love poem was a place where secrets could hide. According to its author, this most unusual book ‘is not intended as a life of Thomas Wyatt, but as a life of his lyric poetry. It is not concerned with how or what he wrote… but why’. As an illumination of the function of literature under tyranny, this book is really intriguing. 378 soft back pages illustrated in b/w. $19.99 NOW £6


75028 WOMEN OF THE COUSINS’ WAR: The Duchess, the Queen and the King’s Mother


by Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin and Michael Jones The pre-eminent writer of historical fiction here teams with two acclaimed historians to explore some of the characters in the real-life world behind her Wars of the Roses


novels. These are three women who until now have been largely forgotten by history but are now vividly re- created. Using original documents, archaeology and histories of myth and witchcraft, Philippa Gregory writes the first ever biography of Jaquetta, the young Duchess of Bedford, who survived two reigns and two wars to become first lady at two rival courts. David Baldwin, an established authority on the Wars of the Roses, tells the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the first commoner to marry a king of England for love. Michael Jones describes Margaret Beaufort, the almost-unknown matriarch of the House of Tudor, and mother of Henry VII. As a bonus, Gregory also analyses the differences between history and historical fiction and asks: How much of a role does speculation play in writing each? How much fiction and how much fact should there be in a historical novel? How are female historians changing our view of women in history? A compelling 342 pages with rare illustrations in colour and b/w, family tree, timeline and map. $26 NOW £7


73893 MARY BOLEYN: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir


Everyone knows about Anne Boleyn, queen of King Henry VIII, who was beheaded. The story of her sister, however, is less well known but just as sensational. In this riveting book a noted British historian and author brings to bear detailed forensic research to explode much of the mythology that


surrounds Mary Boleyn and uncover the truth about her much-vaunted notoriety at the French court and her relations with King François I. She also brings forward new evidence regarding the reputation of Mary’s mother who was rumoured to have been an early mistress of Henry VIII. Revealed, too, is Mary’s role at the English court and how she became Henry’s mistress, tracking the course of their affair and presenting the most conclusive answer to date on the paternity of her children - long speculated to have been the king’s progeny. A gripping new angle on the so-called ‘great and infamous whore’. 364 pages with plates in colour and b/w, note on monetary values, genealogical tables of the Boleyns, the Careys and the Knollys, and two appendices: Of Her Grace’s Kin and Portraits of Mary Boleyn and William Carey. $28 NOW £8.50


74301 MY FAMILY AND OTHER STRANGERS:


Adventures in Family History by Jeremy Hardy One of our most perceptive comedians wanted to get to the bottom of his grandmother’s dubious claims that the family descended from a certain 17th century architect and that his great-grandfather was a royal bodyguard. Other legends ranged from the great aunt who ran illegal hooch during Prohibition to the wronged Victorian servant girl who bore an illegitimate Hardy, not to mention the family’s rightful claim to a large country estate. The author sets out to such diverse locations as the Croydon one-way system and the hostile waters around Malta in order to find vestiges of recognisable family traits. 305 paperback pages, colour photos. £11.99 NOW £3


72469 RAGLAN: From the Peninsula to the Crimea by John Sweetman


On the strength of his association with the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade, many historians have dismissed FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, first Baron Raglan as an incompetent commander. His achievements over a career spanning 50 years should not be judged so simplistically. It is true that, as Commander of the Expeditionary Force to the Crimea, but the fact remains that Raglan never lost a battle for which he was fully responsible. Commissioned in 1804, he served under Sir Arthur Paget and the Duke of Wellington throughout the Peninsular War, and lost an arm at Waterloo and served for an astonishing 25 years as Military Secretary and Master General of the Ordnance. 384 pages illus, maps and family tree. £25 NOW £6.50


72756 THE BARD: Robert


Burns, A Biography by Robert Crawford


The life and work of Robert Burns, Scotland’s greatest poet, continues to attract interest. He was in many senses the first of the great Romantics. Crawford employs a poet’s insight and sense of human drama to show how the boy steeped in rural Scotland’s peasant song combined this with a supreme


linguistic ability to become not only the world’s most popular love poet but also the controversial master poet of modern democracy. 466pp. £20 NOW £4


74412 SIX WIVES OF HENRY VIII by Antonia Fraser


Henry VIII changed the course of history with his exorbitant sexual appetite and his possibly genuine belief in the Protestant Reformation. The six wives were all exceptional women in their own right. Katherine of Aragon knew him when he was young. Anne Boleyn’s fierce Protestantism was allied with an aura of sexuality she could not control had she wished to, although most accusations against her were probably false. Jane Seymour achieved a permanent place in Henry’s volatile heart by dying quickly in childbirth. Humiliated by Henry for her ugliness, Anne of Cleves remained as a valued member of the court after the divorce. Katherine Howard was an independent young girl, coached by her relatives to attract Henry who was extremely happy with her. Catherine Parr was a woman of education, the author of several devotional works. 589pp, paperback. Colour. £9.99 NOW £4


74385 JANE AUSTEN by Marghanita Laski Jane Austen sprang from the upper middle class society of late 18th century southern England. Her environment provided her with material ideally suited to her talents: accurate observation of character, wit, dramatic intuition, and an ear for realistic dialogue. These gifts were already evident in the early and satirical novels, such as Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility but they later found their perfect expression in the great books of her maturity: Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion, all lovingly examined here. 143 paperback pages, 23cm x 18cm, 137 illus. ONLY £5


74415 STALIN: The Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore


In order to strike a balance between political narrative and personal biography, the author has travelled extensively, interviewing survivors, as well as mining newly opened archives. Here is a portrait of a simple boy from Georgia, at once attractive and repulsive, who rose to rule the Empire of the Tsars. In this history of his court, the fear, betrayal, privilege, debauchery and family life are brought to life. 720 paperback pages, photos, family tree, maps. £9.99 NOW £5


72272 TEA BY THE NURSERY FIRE: A


Children’s Nanny at the Turn of the Century by Noel Streatfeild


The author will be well-known to readers as the author of the Ballet Shoes. Here she takes quite a different tack by writing the compelling biography of a girl called Emily Huckwell who was born in a tiny Sussex village in the 1870s. She began as a nursery maid, progressed to under nurse and, finally, head nanny - looking after two generations of children. One of the children in her care was Noel Streatfeild’s father. An endearing portrait of Victorian and Edwardian life above and below stairs. 218 paperback pages. £6.99 NOW £3.50


72470 THE REAL FALSTAFF by Stephen Cooper


Here is the first full biography of one of the most famous English knights of the Hundred Years’ War which explores the connection between Fastolf and Shakespeare’s Sir John Falstaff. It brings insight into the French campaigns of Henry V and the Duke of Bedford and covers Fastolf’s later life - Caister Castle, the Paston family and his posthumous reputation. Sir John Fastolf was a famous military commander who spent almost 30 years fighting the French and lived long enough to witness both the triumphs of Henry V’s reign and the disasters of Henry VI. His role in holding on to Normandy and Maine, in the face of mounting French resistance and his rivalry with the more famous Talbot, are the central themes. 210pp, maps, illus. £19.99 NOW £5


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73088 THE FAIRY TALE OF MY LIFE: An Autobiography


by Hans Christian Andersen and Naomi Lewis The 19th century Danish poet and novelist is best known for his tragic and gruesome fairy tales. In 1855, at age 50, he wrote his first official volume and, in 1863, he continued his life story. This highly revealing self- portrait depicts the poverty of his provincial childhood, his extensive journeys from Portugal to Turkey, his friendships and lively encounters with Kierkegaard, Dickens, Hugo, the Brothers Grimm, Balzac and Liszt. 569 paperback pages. £15.95 NOW £3.50


73204 NAPOLEON by Alan Forrest Exiled to St. Helena following his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon set about the task of ensuring that his place in history was as glorious as he could make it. The memoirs he wrote in his final exile were bestsellers and established a Napoleonic cult which in 1840 led to his body being ceremonially brought back to France for re- interment in Les Invalides. Napoleon codified the rights and obligations of citizenship, appointing four legal luminaries to draft comprehensive legislation abolishing the old feudal aristocracy and establishing principles of liberty. He created a carefully selected group of élite Catholic bishops. By the time of Waterloo, Britain had generals of equal calibre and Napoleon’s war machine. 403pp, colour. £25 NOW £5


Historical Biography 23


73213 CHARLES DICKENS AT HOME by Hilary Macaskill


Charles Dickens is already revered as a storyteller, social campaigner and chronicler of his times, but this interesting volume tracks the many places in which he lived, from his Portsmouth birthplace and childhood home in Chatham, to his last house back in Kent, at Gad’s Hill Place near Rochester. It also vividly describes his various domiciles in London as can be seen in Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities. Includes locations like Nicholas Nickleby’s Yorkshire and the East Anglia of David Copperfield. 144 pages 26cm x 25.5cm, colour and b/w illus, timeline. £25 NOW £8.50


73309 JAMES IV by Norman MacDougall James IV of Scotland (1473-1513), who ascended the Scottish throne in 1488, is the best-known of the medieval Scottish rulers. He married wisely, selecting as his bride Margaret Tudor, the daughter of the first Tudor monarch, Henry VII, which kept relations with England cordial and confirmed the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between the two nations in 1502. But by also forming an alliance with the French, he was in a tricky situation when his brother-in-law, Henry VIII, declared war on them. Unfortunately for James, he backed the wrong horse, declaring war on England and, while Henry was occupied in France in September 1513, chose to invade England, the Scots meeting the English army at Flodden in Northumbria on the 9th and being annihilated in one of the greatest military disasters of Scottish history. James himself was killed. When Elizabeth I died leaving no heir it was his great-grandson, James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England. 339pp, 18 b/w plates. £16.99 NOW £7


73537 ADVENTURES OF ARTHUR CONAN


DOYLE: A Biography by Russell Miller During his lifetime, Conan Doyle wrote more than 1,500 letters to members of his family, revealing his innermost thoughts, fears and hopes. The doctor/writer/intelligence officer had a fascinating life. He grew up in relative poverty in Edinburgh, where the mental illness of his artistically gifted but alcoholic father cast a shadow over his early life, qualified as a doctor, tried to sell short stories, fought in the Boer War, fell in love with another woman while his wife was dying of tuberculosis, campaigned against injustice and eventually converted to Spiritualism. 516 pages, archive photos and chronology. £17.50 NOW £4.50


73664 QUEEN ANNE: The Politics of Passion by Anne Somerset


History has often depicted Queen Anne as a pitiable figure. A poorly educated and chronically shy invalid, she endured no less than 17 pregnancies, all of which resulted in either miscarriage or heartbreakingly short- lived, sickly offspring. Yet despite all this she proved to be the most successful Stuart ruler. In 1702, 14 years after she, her sister Mary II and her husband William III ousted her father from the throne, she inherited the thrones of England and Scotland. Her triumphs included the Act of Union with Scotland and glorious victories over France, but it was her relationship with Sarah, wife of her military genius general, the Duke of Marlborough, which was to have the greatest effect upon her life. It was Sarah’s public contention that the happily married Queen was in fact a lesbian, infatuated with another lady-in-waiting, Abigail Masham, that destroyed things. Losing the will to continue with the potentially ruinous war that the Marlboroughs and their allies wanted, Anne changed her ministers and embarked upon a peace process that many thought dishonourable but, with hindsight, was proved to be correct. 626pp, colour plates and family tree. £25 NOW £7.50


73724 MRS ROBINSON’S DISGRACE: The


Private Diary of a Victorian Lady by Kate Summerscale


Isabella Robinson’s husband travelled abroad very often and, when he was home, was cold and remote. Over five years, she recorded in passionate, sensual, suggestive detail her infatuation with a married man. Very unfortunately, her husband found and read the revealing diary and petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery. The trial became a cause célèbre. This account brilliantly re-creates the stifling, restrictive world in which Isabella lived and the avidity with which she tried to escape it. 303 pages with family trees, list of lawyers in the Robinson divorce trial. $26 NOW £6


HUMOUR


He was madder than Mad Jack McMad, winner of last year’s madman contest.


- Rowan Atkinson


74450 REST IN PIECES: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses by Bess Lovejoy


illustrated by Mark Stutzman The famous deceased have been impersonated, stolen, burned, sold, pickled, frozen, stuffed, and - you will not believe this one - even filed away in a lawyer’s office! Their fingers, teeth, toes, arms, legs, skulls, hearts, lungs and nether regions have embarked on voyages that criss- crossed the globe and stretched the imagination to its limits.


Counterfeiters tried to steal Lincoln’s corpse. Einstein’s brain went on a nationwide road trip. After Lord Horatio Nelson perished at the Battle of Trafalgar, his sailors submerged him in brandy - which they then drank. From Mozart to Hitler, the distinguished dead were not allowed to rest in peace but, in many cases, travelled farther, often in pieces, than they had ever done in their lifetime. A book to chuckle over, albeit rather guiltily.


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