Facets of Wuthering Heights

In his book Facets of Wuthering Heights Graeme Tytley examines Emily Bronte's masterpiece two centuries after her death.

It is a collection of essays based on a lifetime's study and work of this complex book and its equally complex author.

The essays examine the historical context of the novel but Tytler also demands that the reader pay close attention to the novelist herself.

He wants us, his readers, to develop an understanding of exactly how versatile and gifted she was as a writer.

He points out that she had a masterful way with the creation of the intricate plots that were at the very heart of the novel, the playful inventiveness that she employed to create a myriad of well-drawn characters of almost finite variety that she used to populate the incredible world that she created and crafted.

Not to mention the sparkling brilliance of her writing!

This is an extremely well-researched and well-crafted book of essays on both Emily Bronte and the work that she is most famous for.

It contains many points of which I was not aware and will make an excellent book for students of both the Bronte sisters and of 19th century literature, for that matter.

At only £9.99 this will make a superb present to any literature student.

It's published by Matador.

The Invitation to the Garden

The Invitation to the Garden In this book that was written over a period of a quarter century, Joanna Tulloch takes her readers on a spiritual journey depicted in both prose and poetry.

It describes her struggles as she worked through severe depression and anorexia and attempted to make sense of her faith.

It's a compelling story of self-development and personal growth as she worked her way through the issues that she faced, anorexia as a child and devastatingly difficult depression when she became an adult.

It is sub-titled a mystical journey in five paradoxes and it takes the reader along with Joanna as she accepts the invitation to the garden.

It is a moving and charming book, filled with hard earned insights and beliefs as she found herself on an epic journey of spiritual discovery as she follows the Lord into the beautiful garden.

It's published by Matador at £8.99 and will make a wonderful gift for the person in your life who is struggling and needs some insights to help them along the path of life.

Tadcaster and the Bullies

Tadcaster and the Bullies is a story by Richard Rutherford that carries an important message about bullying.

Tim and Mary meet a small dog in the playground and they are thrilled when their newfound tiny canine friend gives them a very friendly smile!

Unfortunately Tim and Mary are later set upon by two mean bullies, but when things are looking quite bad for them, they are saved by a voice. A mysterious voice that came from nowhere? Or so it seemed to the two children.

Later when the brother and sister are having fun flying their kites, the two mean bullies one again interrupt their fun and Tim accidentally lets the kite's string go, and it starts to fly away. But as quick as a flash their canine friends catches the kite and then shocks them by talking to them!

They agree to keep his secret, after all a talking dog is a rare thing!

After a third incident with the bullies the two siblings find that the little dog has been injured and they take him to the local vet who examines him, including his special vocal chords, and tends to his wounds.

Tim and Mary take the dog home so that he can recuperate and not only does he tell them the amazing story of his life, he also revealed that his name was Tadcaster.

Will Tadcaster be able to help Tim and Mary by defeating the two nasty bullies once and for all time?

And you'll be amazed at the outSTANdingly brilliant job that they arranged for him!

It has some lovely line drawings and will be a great book for any family, especially those bothered by bullies, I feel.

Go on, mum! Dad! Buy this book for your children, it's £7.99 from Matador.

Africa From East to West

Africa From East to West is an amazing book in which David Happold, a zoologist, shares with his readers, the story of his travels from the Red Sea all the way across the African continent to the coast of the might Atlantic Ocean.

This is the story of his journey from Massawa which ios on the coast of the Red Sea in Eritrea all the way over to Cape Verde in Senegal in West Africa.

Travel with him through the dry regions of semi-arid terrain which lie to the south of the Sahara desert, plus enjoy detours with David as he ventures to the south and finds himself fascinated by the rain forests and savannas of Western Africa.

You'll appreciate the map of the journey and the photographs that help to illustrate this most fascinating travel book.

The journey was undertaken back in the late 1960s, when Africa was enjoying a period of relative peace.

David travelled by whatever means he found at his disposal, walking, boats, cars, buses and trains.

The book is broken down into separate chapters each one covering a particular and different section of the journey, plus there are additional chapters about a special expedition to a remote volcanic crater in Sudan, plus living and working conditions in Sudan and Nigeria in the 1960s.

It's an ideal book for the armchair traveller or the person who know the area well and wants to go back there in their mind's eye.

It's published by The Book Guild at £10.99.

Gabriel's Journey

Gabriel's Journey tells the story of Gabriel. He awakes in a hospital bed with no memory of how he got there and he cannot understand why he is discharged into the care of a Japanese woman who he doesn't know.

Desperate to learn what happened, to make sense of the situation that he finds himself in, he suspects that the answers he seeks probably lies somewhere in his past, which he feels was probably quite unorthodox, if the dreams that keep happening to him  are truly a reflection of his past life.

His past life was hedonistic and adventure-filled and he sees a past world of different continents, of a lifestyle that brought him in contact with the world of espionage and treachery. 

But will his dreams help to bring him to the truth?

It's a very moving and compelling book as Mary Collis has employed the diaries in which he journalled his extensive travels round the world, of her own brother to form the basis for this book, plus many hours of later talks with her brother, after his diagnosis with Parkinson's disease, several years previously. 

It's a fictionalised account of a story that is, sadly, the truth for many people who have Parkinson's disease and their families and careers.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

Dora Annie

Dora Annie is an interesting look into life in service that many children had to go into even in fairly recent times.

It's a debut book by Patricia Stone and Brian Bone. It's aimed at children but will be enjoyed by everyone with an interest in social history.

It tells the real story of the grandmother of the author, how she began as a young girl and her hard but loving family life, how at the early age of eight she began her working life as a helper and companion to the sickly wife of a farmer.

How she subsequently went into service at the tender age of 14 as a Tweeny Maid, becoming a Nursery Maid and then, ultimately, as a Ladies Maid.

The book also shows her family life, too, so is not all about her working life, fascinating though that was.

It provides real insights into the lives of people like Dora and others like her, who worked in service,  the early starts to the day, making the kitchen ready for the cook and her staff, washing the dishes, family prayers and the reverence she felt for the house in which she worked.

Dora Annie's life was a very interesting one and she ended up travelling to Canada with the family she worked for.

The book is wonderfully illustrated throughout by Lawrence Cornes.

The book is published by Matador at £10.99 and is aimed primarily at children but will be loved by adults, too, especially those with their own family tales of life in service.

This book also needs to be in social history sections of public libraries and in school libraries, too.

The Seven Pillars of Nonsense

The Seven Pillars of Nonsense is a collection of 86 short stories from the outstandingly, err... outstanding, imagination/s of Michael Roselaar.

Some are so short that post-modernists would declare them to be flash fiction. Which is just a way to describe them as being very short stories or in some cases, very, very short stores.

We hear of as dog that doesn't bark, because it does, technically speaking, exist. Though can more than hold its own doggy end up in a conversation. There's moree from Dr Magnus Fell throughout the book, so do please pay attention!

There's Albert the independent scientific adviser, who waxes lyrical (or otherwise) about pogonophra, the restaurant that very commendably specialises in food, there's a murder in Colchester, or is there?

There's quite a lot from Clifford, a man of great erudition and even greater depth of thought, trips to see the window on the world by the wonders of Fenestrology,  the disadvantages of seeking out or worse, finding expert advise and what happens when historians go bad. Well, have you heard of Sidney "the World Wide" Webb? Did you know he never owned a computer? And what about the Fabians?

The interesting thing about this wonderfully bizarre collection of short stories is that they are written at a 45% degree angle to real life. You think you know some of the stories, but you can't actually be certain, it's like you are reading them in a fun house distorting mirror and suddenly realising that you know or think you know the story you are reading.

It's no good. I can't explain any more, but I do know that you'll love these stories as much, if not possibly more, than I have loved them. Especially the play Harry Stophanes and the Birds. And the copious and highly illuminating footnotes. So please buy as many copies as you can for yourself and your family.

 As an aside I think this will make an excellent book to take on holiday with you.

It's published by The Book Guild at a highly reasonably £8.99.