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Penguin Readers Level 2: Ballet Shoes (ELT Graded Reader)
by Noel StreatfeildPenguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.Ballet Shoes, a Level 2 Reader, is A1+ in the CEFR framework. Sentences contain a maximum of two clauses, introducing the future tenses will and going to, present continuous for future meaning, and comparatives and superlatives. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear on most pages.Sisters Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil do not have parents, but they have a very kind uncle. The sisters learn to dance, act and sing at a dancing school. But soon they have no money. What will happen to them?Visit the Penguin Readers websiteExclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.
Enbury Heath
by Stella Gibbons'Don't show proper feelin', does it, not turnin' up for 'is dad's funeral?'Siblings Sophia, Harry and Francis have lost both their parents in the last six months. Attending the funeral for their estranged father, they wonder what will become of them now that the last connection to their difficult childhood has been severed. What have they inherited - financially and emotionally - to guide them to adulthood, and build a new home together? Enbury Heath is a semi-autobiographical account of the years which Gibbons and her brothers spent living in a cottage in Hampstead Heath: a wonderfully astute, bittersweet novel about family, grief, money, and the pleasures of London.
Chedsy Place
by Richmal CromptonBringing together a memorable cast of characters, Chedsy Place is a warm and witty novel, filled with the humour, piercing observation and remarkable characterization that makes Richmal Crompton one of the world's best-loved writers.When Richard Beaton inherits Chedsy Place, he feels nostalgic as he returns to his beloved family home. For him it is locked in the past – a place of warm childhood memories – and he cannot afford to keep it. But for his wife, Celia, walking round the grand house sparks the kernel of an idea: to restore it to its former glory by opening its doors once more for Christmas – only this time, to paying guests.Horrified by the idea, Robert watches as the guests arrive from far and wide: the domineering Judith Kimball with her shy secretary Sidney Lattimer, and the chauffeur, who takes a shine to Sidney; the Paynter family with their excitable twin daughters, Cicely and Angela; Miss Nettleton, who travels indomitably about the British Isles seeing the sights; Mrs Stephenson-Pollitt, who retires 'into the silence' each afternoon to seek communion with the spirits, and her nephew, Brian, who is destined for the clergy but must battle with his conscience when he meets Angela. As the guests settle in for Christmas, Robert knows that Chedsy Place will never be the same again . . .
Peril at End House: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Poirot #8)
by Agatha ChristieAgatha Christie’s ingenious murder mystery, reissued with a striking cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers.
Milly-Molly-Mandy's Schooldays (The World of Milly-Molly-Mandy #2)
by Joyce Lankester BrisleyJoin the little girl in the candy-striped dress as Milly-Molly-Mandy gets to know a teacher, goes excavating and tries sledging – whatever she and her friends are up to, you're sure to have fun when they're around!The much-loved stories of Milly-Molly-Mandy and her everyday adventures in the countryside have charmed generations of children since their first publication in 1928. Perfect for reading aloud, the five stories in Joyce Lankester Brisley's Milly-Molly-Mandy's Schooldays will bring back happy memories for parents and grandparents, and introduce younger readers to an enduringly popular heroine and her friends little-friend-Susan, Billy Blunt and Toby the dog. Enjoy more of Milly-Molly-Mandy's fun adventures with More of Milly-Molly-Mandy and Milly-Molly-Mandy Again.
Castle Barebane
by Joan Aiken'Joan Aiken writes superbly, with a force, a colour and strength of imagination that one encounters all too rarely today. I loved every moment of it.' London Daily TelegraphStrong and independent Vahalla Montgomery, a heroine straight out of a Henry James novel, abandons her New York career as a journalist to search for her half-brother in Joan Aiken’s gothic novel, Castle Barebane.Wishing to escape from her pretentious New York fiancé, Valla is happy to have an excuse to travel to England, only to discover that her half-brother and his wife have disappeared from their London home – leaving their young two children all alone. Finding Victorian London a gloomy and sinister place, haunted by a series of Ripper style murders, Valla takes the children up to Scotland to a bleak family property known as Castle Barebane. In this Gothic ruin, perched on the edge of a cliff, the mystery surrounding her missing brother only gets darker, and more terrifying . . . This unforgettable tale of love, loss, and human nature is brought to life by Joan Aiken’s vivid story-telling and gripping plot. If you love Virginia Andrews or Nicola Cornick, Joan Aiken should certainly be your next read.
The Embroidered Sunset
by Joan Aiken'Miss Aiken’s book is immensely enjoyable – her gift for gothic romantic charm is as effectively deployed as ever' TLSLucy Culpepper doesn’t take no for an answer. An aspiring pianist she dreams of being taught by the renowned Max Benovek and will defy all odds – life threatening illness, a missing great aunt, and a disgruntled uncle – to achieve it.After finding out her Uncle Wilbie has used up her college fund, Lucy discovers a selection of enchantingly beautiful paintings in the attic. Being the miserly man he is, Wilbie wants to keep any possible profits for these paintings and bargains on sending Lucy to England to find the artist – Great-aunt Fennel. Knowing Benovek lives in London she snaps up the opportunity and undertakes the adventure of a lifetime. But though Benovek proves easy to find and immediately takes Lucy to heart, she sets off to Yorkshire only to find that her old aunt Fennel has vanished. Lucy’s search entangles her in a mystery of murder and deceit . . . can they discover who is the real aunt Fennel?Awardwinning author Joan Aiken brings a shocking finale to a witty and entertaining plot full of unexpected twists and turns in modern suspense novel, The Embroidered Sunset.
The Five-Minute Marriage
by Joan AikenDelphie Carteret is forced into a dangerous marriage of convenience in Joan Aiken’s stunning regency drama, The Five Minute Marriage. Delphie has been disinherited from her family’s life of luxury and wealth, and as her mother's health and wits deteriorate she has no choice but to seek help from distant relatives. However when she arrives at the family’s grand house she discovers part of their fortune is rightfully hers, and the only way to obtain her inheritance is through a sham marriage to her cousin.Unknowingly Delphie has tangled herself in a web of family rivalry and deceit which goes back for generations. Other members of the family are not just in debt but in the Marshalsea - the debtors' prison described by Dickens. Forced to maintain the charade of her marriage, Delphie is finally drawn into a dramatic fight for her life, and a surprisingly romantic finale on the roof of the family mansion . . .Joan Aiken has woven together an enchanting plot of romance and rivalry that will grip readers till the very end. Fans of Georgette Heyer should definitely make this novel their next read.
Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day: My Autobiography
by Captain Tom MooreEmbark on an enchanting journey into our country's past hundred years through the remarkable life of Captain Sir Tom Moore.'A wonderful life story with lessons for us all . . . beautifully written' DAILY TELEGRAPH'His upbeat nature shines through and reminds us how much worse this year would have been without him' EVENING STANDARDFrom his humble Yorkshire childhood, via the battlefields of Burma and the peaks of the Himalayas, to becoming the NHS and the nation's hero during Lockdown, this is a journey for all of us.__________ Who is Captain Sir Tom Moore? You've seen him on the television walking the length of his garden. A frail elderly man, doing his bit at a time of crisis. But he wasn't always like this.Where did he come from? Where was he made? From a childhood in the foothills of the Yorkshire Dales, Tom Moore grew up in a loving family, which wasn't without its share of tragedy. It was a time of plenty and of want. When the storm clouds of the Second World War threatened, he raised his hand and, like many of his generation, joined up to fight.His war would take him from a country he had never left to a place which would steal his heart, India, and the Far East, to which he would return many years later to view the sight he had missed first time around: the distant peak of Everest. Captain Tom's story is our story.It is the story of our past hundred years here in Britain.It's a time which has seen so much change, yet when so much has stayed the same: the national spirit, the can-do attitude, the belief in doing your best for others. In this rich, happy life packed with incident you will encounter time and again the curiosity, courage and generosity that saw Captain Tom look around him during our current crisis and decide that something had to be done . . .'Gloriously enthralling' Daily Mail
Defective Housing and the Growth of Children (Routledge Revivals)
by J. Lawson DickAfter World War I, housing was one of many pressing issues facing the country with multiple families often crowded in together in inadequate housing. This had a dramatic impact on health with increasing problems such as tuberculosis and malnutrition. Originally published in 1919, this study aimed to identify the ways in which defective housing impacted on health in the family with a particular focus on rickets in children in the East end of London and the developmental issues resulting from it. This title will be of interest to students of Medical History and Health and Social Care.
Defective Housing and the Growth of Children (Routledge Revivals)
by J. Lawson DickAfter World War I, housing was one of many pressing issues facing the country with multiple families often crowded in together in inadequate housing. This had a dramatic impact on health with increasing problems such as tuberculosis and malnutrition. Originally published in 1919, this study aimed to identify the ways in which defective housing impacted on health in the family with a particular focus on rickets in children in the East end of London and the developmental issues resulting from it. This title will be of interest to students of Medical History and Health and Social Care.
Hatter's Castle
by A. J. CroninA. J. Cronin’s famous story is a soul-stirring novel of pride and greed, and its terrible retribution. When her father forced her to leave school, and cut off all her contact with the past and future, Mary Brodie’s whole life became the narrow compass of her family’s cold, comfortless house in a small Scottish town. Her mean and ambitious father tyrannised over his timid, obliging wife, his cowed, overworked younger daughter and his spineless son. Four people were held in Brodie’s merciless grip until, like a breath of the outside world Brodie so much despised, came the young Irishman in whom Mary found a forbidden freedom, and who brought to her mother and sister much needed release… In the magnificent narrative tradition of The Citadel, The Stars Look Down and Cronin’s other classic novels, Hatter’s Castle is a great book by a much-loved author.
The Poor Little Rich Girl: A Play Of Fact And Fancy In Three Acts (Dover Children's Evergreen Classics)
by Eleanor GatesSeven-year-old Gwendolyn has every material comfort a girl could wish for, from dolls and fine clothes to a grand home and a pony of her very own. But all she really wants is love, attention, and the freedom to play with other children. Neglected by her self-absorbed and society-obsessed parents, Gwendolyn is left to the indifferent care of servants. When the lonely child falls ill, she plunges into a chaotic dream world.Eleanor Gates's popular play first appeared in novel form in 1912. The timeless tale of the child who has everything but what she really needs inspired film versions starring Mary Pickford and Shirley Temple, and it remains an ever-relevant reminder to parents of where their true treasure lies.
The Day of the Tortoise
by H. E. BatesThe Day of the Tortoise, a novella published in 1961, is a touching tale of a brief interlude of pleasure in the stale existence of Fred Tomlinson, a man nearing his sixties. A bachelor, Fred shops, cleans, cooks, and otherwise indulges the eccentric demands of his three spinster sisters until a chance meeting with the fun-loving Kitty who, without the sisters' knowledge, begins to disrupt the household's long-established routines. Penniless, heavy-drinking, and pregnant by a married man, Kitty introduces Fred to dance, drink, kisses, and song while lodging in the stable. With Kitty's inevitable departure, will Fred retain some of his newly-discovered capacity for rebelliousness and joy?
The Triple Echo
by H. E. BatesPublished in 1970, The Triple Echo was Bates's last significant novella, but one which he described as taking twenty-five years to complete.Set in the 1940s, the wife of a war prisoner lives in desperate loneliness and fear on an isolated farmstead. She encounters a young farmboy completely out of his element as a soldier, and the two carve out a relationship in defiance of the war around them. His decision to escape the military and to dress as his lover's sister to avoid detection eventually leads to tragedy. In a late essay Bates discusses the long evolution of the story's plot, conceived in 1943 with two sisters and completed in 1968 with just one, in what Bates calls 'an exceptional example of stumbling and groping or, if you will, of my own prolonged stupidity.' A film version starring Oliver Reed, Brian Deacon, and Glenda Jackson was premiered in November 1972, and issued in the United States with the title Soldiers in Skirts.
Caroline England
by Noel StreatfeildBorn into a very traditional family, Caroline Torry’s childhood is ruled by patriarchy and propriety. She grows up in the gorgeous Milton Manor which has belonged to her family for generations, but the pressure to produce a male heir gradually becomes too much for her mother . . .Despite her troubled upbringing, fifteen years later Caroline has a husband and children of her own. She’s grown into a caring mother and a devoted wife determined to give her family everything that was stripped from her own childhood. But when World War One breaks out things don’t quite go to plan . . .Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild navigates through three stages of Caroline’s life with expert skill and finesse in her wartime novel, Caroline England.
Grass in Piccadilly
by Noel StreatfeildOnce fashionable and plush with flowers, post-war Mayfair has lost its dazzling charm. But that didn’t stop Charlotte Nettel and her husband Sir John from swapping life in the quiet northern countryside to convert their roomy Mayfair townhouse into flats.Their tenants come in all shapes and sizes – from pregnant couple Jack and Jenny to German migrants Paula and Heinrich – and they provide a constant stream of both entertainment and anxiety. But it’s Charlotte’s stepdaughter Penny, a disillusioned young women born into the uneasy interwar world, who proves to be the most difficult and scandalous tenant . . .Flashing between the lives of each tenant Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild gives us a kaleidoscopic view of post-war London in her ingenious novel, Grass in Piccadilly. For fans of Muriel Spark’s A Far Cry From Kensington.
Judith
by Noel Streatfeild'Passionately, as other children collect shells, stamps or bus tickets, Judith collected kind words and kind looks dropped by Mother.'Twelve-year-old Judith has been brought up in Europe by her mother, governess and highbrow uncles and aunts. She’s had her hand held all the way through life – even though that hand has often been cold and distant. Now she’s about to board a plane to England all alone to visit the father who abandoned her . . .Although instead of despising her distant father, Judith finds she really likes him. He treats her as an adult, his side of the family seem to enjoy her company and she finally receives the appreciation she’s always craved from her mother. But is he really as wonderful as he seems?Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfield navigates through complicated family issues in this perceptive coming of age novel, Judith.
Luke
by Noel StreatfeildAndrew and Freda Dawson are enjoying a happy, second marriage in the English countryside with their collective brood of three children. But their idyllic existence is shattered when Freda finds her husband dead one evening . . .It becomes apparent his death was not from natural causes and all evidence points to suicide, but there are lingering doubts about Freda’s role in the death . . . and about the possible role her precocious son Luke could have played.Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild delves into the cracks of a seemingly perfect marriage in her interwar family novel, Luke.
Myra Carrol
by Noel StreatfeildMyra Carrol has it all – beauty, kindness and a loving marriage. One afternoon she is searching through her barn for objects which could be of help in the Second World War, when she comes across an old picture of herself . . .She is immediately transported back to the carefree days of her childhood. Raised to be a strong woman by her governess Connie, Myra’s honesty, confidence and angelically beautiful face gave her the best start in life . . . until her father’s death takes her to boarding school.Through nostalgic flashbacks we learn about the events that shaped Myra’s life in this heart-warming family wartime novel by Carnegie Medal winning author, Noel Streatfeild.
Shepherdess of Sheep
by Noel StreatfeildVibrant and vivacious, Sarah Onion takes it upon herself to find employment when she is orphaned at nineteen. She becomes an integral part of Charles and Ruth Lane’s household as governess to their four small children, but at what cost? The First World War soon unleashes calamity on the whole family. Charles enlists in the army and is sent to France, Ruth’s heart disease gets increasingly worse, their youngest daughter becomes increasingly difficult to deal with and all the while Sarah is falling in love.Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild plunges her reader into tragedy after tragedy but always keeps a light at the end of the tunnel in her wartime family novel, A Shepherdess of Sheep.
The Whicharts
by Noel StreatfeildYoung, naive and too kind for her own good, Rose falls for a young Brigadier with a colourful history. Soon after their fling ends he drops a baby off on her doorstep begging her to raise it for his latest mistress.Tender hearted Rosie nurtures the baby into a sophisticated young woman called Marmie – alongside two other baby girls dropped off by the Brigadier – Daisy, a natural born dancer, and Tania who aspires to be a mechanic. But raising three growing girls on very little money after the war is an impossible task, so the girls find a way to earn their keep through a life on the stage.Revealing the toil a dancer goes through backstage and the friendship and love needed to survive it, The Whicharts is an exceptional inter-war novel from Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild.
The Winter is Past
by Noel StreatfeildPicture a gorgeous English country house, surrounded by manicured lawns and sprawling oak trees. This is Levet, where the Laurence family have lived since the 18th century.Once full of children and excitement, the only Laurences left at Levet now are former actress Sara and her very upper class mother-in-law Lydia. That is until the Second World War erupts and Mrs. Vilder arrives with her three children after being evacuated from their home . . .Carnegie Medal winning author Noel Streatfeild fills Levet with authentic families facing undeniable tragedy in this heart-warming wartime novel, The Winter is Past.
Sleep in Peace
by Phyllis BentleyAlfred Armistead and Henry Hinchliffe are partners in Blackshaw Mills, a cloth-manufacturing firm in Yorkshire. The Armistead and Hinchliffe families differ in politics, in religion, in social outlook, but with their workmen they are representative architects of the modern social fabric. Henry Hinchliffe's children are Edward, the steady man of affairs; Frederick, the rebellious student; Grace, the reformer. The Armisteads are Gwen the enigma, Ludo the compassionate, Laura the artistic. The families intermarry; the war takes its toll. Meanwhile the partners in Blackshaw Mills quarrel, and reunite; enjoy prosperity, are hard hit by strike and slump, and presently pass on to their sons their unsettled problems. Now the third generation is rising: Geoffrey and Madeline, divergent children of divergent parents; Kay, illegitimate son. Every generation, as Feuchtwanger has observed, says in its turn to its parents: "Sleep in peace! I will be different from you". The generation of Grace and Laura has struggled passionately with the problems of duty and freedom, the common good and the individual achievement; the worth of their struggle will be revealed by the solutions of the next generation. Geoffrey looks to the right for his solution, Kay to the left; gradually the transition is accomplished. Sleep in Peace combines with deep understanding of men and women all the richness of the novelist's art.
In the High Valley (Katy #5)
by Susan CoolidgeThe final book in the Katy series focuses on Clover and Elsie as they make their homes in the High valley in the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. Follow their simple life that brings joy to all who visit! This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare's finesse to Oscar Wilde's wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim's Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library.