One of 1500 numbered copies of the first edition (unsigned), our review copy was an early number 167 which may make this Canongate November 2021 edition collectable in the future. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived - Lear's queen. Exiled to a nunnery years ago, written out of history, her name forgotten, now she can tell her story. Though her grief and rage may threaten to crack the earth open, she knows she must seek answers. Why was she sent away in shame and disgrace? What has happened to Kent, her oldest friend and ally? And what will become of her now, in this place of women? To find peace she must reckon with her past and make a terrible choice, one upon which her destiny, and that of the entire abbey rests. 'I am the queen of two crowns, banished fifteen years, the famed and gilded woman, bad-luck baleful girl, mother of three small animals, now gone. I am fifty five years old. I am Lear's wife. I am here.' A seductive, gorgeous and fresh perspective on an age-old tale, this novel won the Observer Best Debut Novelist of 2021. A beautifully lyrical novel, 328pp with decorated page edges. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.

"The swoon-worthy romance of Jane Austen meets the suspense of Charlotte Brontë." - Joy Callaway. In Regency England, one letter will alter a young woman's fate when it summons her to Briarton Park, an ancient place that holds the secrets of her past and the keys to her future. Cassandra Hale grew up knowing little about her parentage, but her world shifts when a shocking deathbed confession reveals a two year old letter from Mr. Clark, the master of Briarton Park, which hints about her family's identity. Stung by betrayal, Cassandra travels to the village of Anston only to learn that Mr. Clark has passed away. James Warrington is a widower and the new master of Briarton Park, where he lives with his two young daughters, his sister and his mother-in-law. When Cassandra appears at his doorstep with a letter from the previous owner, and then proceeds to assist his family in an unexpected way, he is honour-bound to help uncover the answers she seeks. The more time Cassandra spends in Anston, the more she begins to suspect not everything, or everyone, is as they seem. The danger surrounding her intensifies and she must use her wit and intuition to navigate the treacherous landscapes between reality and rumour, loyalty and deception if she is to find the place her heart can finally call home. The first in the Houses of Yorkshire series. 326pp, paperback.

It is 1938 and in the final days of the British Empire in a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon live the Ferguson family - Bella, a precocious eight year old and her father Henry, owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation, and her mother Virginia. The story centres around the Pavilion in the Clouds, nestled in idyllic grounds carved out of the wilderness. But all is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess Miss White's intentions and her intuition sparks off her mother's imagination. After an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation results in a gunshot ringing out through the valley. Years later Bella, now living back in Scotland at university in St Andrews, is faced once again with her past. Will she at last find out what happened between her Father and Miss White? And will the guilt she has lived with all these years be reconciled by a long over-due apology? '...This house would be shrouded with cool mist, like thin, attenuated rain, and in this way would be invisible from the plains far below.' A lyrical and enchanting tale. 224pp.

England 1348 and a gentlewoman flees an odious arranged marriage, a Scots proctor sets out for Avignon, and a young ploughman in search of freedom is on his way to volunteer with a company of archers. All come together on the road to Calais. Coming in their direction from across the Channel is the Black Death, the plague that will wipe out half of the population of Northern Europe. As the journey unfolds, overshadowed by the archers' past misdeeds and clerical warnings of the imminent end of the world, the wayfarers begin to confront the nature of their loves and desires. Fully imagined, James Meek is the bold creator of a world we can see, hear, smell and taste. A tremendous feat of language and empathy, this novel summons a medieval world that is at once uncannily plausible, utterly alien and eerily reflective of our own, a novel about love, class, faith, loss, gender and desire set against one of the biggest cataclysms of human history, and something we can relate to with the recent pandemic. 392pp, large paperback.

David Thomson is the film critics' critic, regularly hailed as one of the greats, and this stunning book expands the reach of his classic Dictionary of Film. Being a visual medium, film creates meaning through countless wordless moments, illustrated here in a series of stills from 74 different films, from 1887 with Edward Muybridge's groundbreaking sequence featuring two nude women to Robert Redford's All Is Lost of 2013. Some film moments are made by the dialogue, but "I'll have what she's having" (When Harry Met Sally, 1989) and "Round up the usual suspects" (Casablanca, 1942) would make no sense without the visual context. When Dietrich starred in Morocco (1930), wearing top hat and tails for her cabaret act and kissing a female audience member, she established a rich tradition of sexual ambiguity that extended far beyond her own transgressive roles, although according to Thomson, "Dietrich was never really a great actress". One shocking key moment in film history happened off-set, when Hattie McDaniel, the first black woman to win an Oscar, was relegated to a table in a corner at the awards ceremony for Gone With the Wind in 1939. Among great film endings, The Third Man (1949) stands out as Anna does the long walk down the tree-lined avenue and finally strides straight past Holly without a glance. At the end of John Wayne's The Searchers (1956), Ethan returns Debbie to her family and then turns back to the desert, perhaps having gone through too much to be domesticated again. Some performances are simply mesmerising, and although Moira Shearer was cast in the central role in The Red Shoes because she was an accomplished ballerina, it was her acting that raised the film to greatness. The shower scene in Psycho (1960) took a week to film and is full of visual traps for the viewer, while Blow-up, 1966, is about a photographer who looks at his stills and thinks he may have seen a murder. The illusory uncertainty of the image is in question, and Klute (1971) is yet another film about voyeurism and surveillance. The Shining, Blue Velvet, Burn After Reading all capture moments of shifting perceptions. 320pp, softback, colour and black and white photos on every double spread.
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Knitting is not an ancient technique, and the first known examples come from around the 8th century, now identified as 'nalbinding', a single technique practiced in Africa and Scandinavia. Prior to 1740, cotton was not generally available to knitters, and wool and silk were the fibres that were used. From beginner's basics to advanced techniques, this handbook with clear written instructions and helpful photographs is a complete resource from casting on through basic stitches, increasing and decreasing, reading patterns and fixing mistakes. Soon you will be mastering knitting in the round, Aran, Fair Isle, intarsia, lace knitting to pompoms and tassels, grafting and smocking on knitting, single shaker knitting and using sequins and more. Flexible square large softback, 160pp, packed with hundreds of colour photos.

A spectacular journey through space and time that shows the fundamentals of science in groundbreaking visuals, many with black or block colour backgrounds and colourful lines and squares in a superb graphic design book. Starting from the primary point of physical origin, the book moves through quarks, atoms, molecules and stars to planet building, organic chemistry, the emergence of life, sentience, and finally on to the human mind in its quest to understand the Universe through exploration and science. Spectacular visuals provide unexpected insights covering all the major areas - physics, cosmology, chemistry, earth science, biology, nano-science, medicine, engineering and computer technology with visually striking infographics to explain the universe around us. Taste, brain evolution, biosphere, bird migration, trees and forests, gills versus lungs, enzymes, water and aqueous chemistry, the solar system, metals and carbon and states of matter to Pi in a superb numbered grid graphic, this truly is a spectacular book to hold and behold. 256 large pages, colour illus.

Inside the elasticated folder is a large envelope containing 20 photocopiable practice sheets and a highly instructive and stylish guide. Discover the joy of calligraphy and creating beautifully formed characters using pen and ink. The renowned calligraphy expert Joyce Lee helps us flex your nib to discover old-fashioned cursive writing by simply varying the pressure exerted on your pen. She presents a 30 day challenge to motivate you to practice daily covering the basic strokes like the compound curve and oval, ascender and descender loops, and exceptions, then covering lower case and upper case and tips on stringing letter together into words to make simple banners, name cards, DIY plant labels, a digital monogram, a colourful splash artwork, glamorous gold acrylic gift tags, gold rings on handwritten envelopes, invitations from formal to varying your style and the use of coloured paper and elegantly handwritten envelopes. 'I found the movement of writing in cursive enchanting.' 128 page very large softback, colour photos.

Reduce what you consume and throw away and discover the joys of slowing down, living self-sufficiently the Good Life, and nourishing your mind, body and spirit with this guide to creating a natural, low-waste home. DIYs for helpful household items such as reusable drawstring bags, beeswax wraps, scrap apple cider vinegar and wool dryer balls. Tips for line-drying laundry, backyard composting, sourcing essential oils, easy recipes for non-toxic cleaners, zero waste kitchen and bathroom swaps, natural cleaning supplies and tools and stocking your wellness cabinet. Learn natural remedies to help stave off a cold, ease a headache, relieve stings and sunburns; homemade non-toxic package-free bath and body essentials and handmade gift ideas like peppermint lip balm, bath bombs, lemon-rosemary lotion bars, wild flower seed bombs and bird seed ornaments. Plus vegetable recipes like Sautéed Beet Greens with Pine Nuts and delicious vinegars or Chilled Cucumber-Avocado Soup. There is a herbal hair rinse, face washes and tea, a liquorice-thyme cough syrup and an easy fabric softener made with distilled white vinegar and drops of essential oil to avoid commercial fabric softeners which often contain chemicals that trigger asthma and damage the reproductive system. Dried Apple Rings, waste-free hummus, Coconut Yoghurt, and tons of tips for reducing household food waste like understanding date labels and serving smaller portions and eating up leftovers and creative uses for coffee grounds like deodorising your hands after chopping garlic or onions. Packed full of fascinating information, 272 very large and glamorous pages with beautiful design, practical checklists and full page colour photos.

'Venturing out with my camera to take photographs of the landscape and wildlife that surround my farm in the Derbyshire Peak District offers many rewards on a daily basis... We have three resident Robins in our garden but Bobbin Robin is my favourite. I have the pleasure of her company for the past three years, during which time I have witnessed her tirelessly bringing up four clutches of chicks... Just turn the pages to discover a mere fraction of those special moments I have captured with my camera.' Bobbin and her friends have a huge social media audience with tens of thousands of viewers from the RSPB and on Facebook following their adventures daily. Open up these pages to see these goings-on of wildlife friends, Jim's very best pictures taken in this beautiful setting, expressing the mood and spontaneous character of each individual shot. With humorous captions like 'Number 29 in the Miss Slim Legs Competition' and 'Don't mess with me, and no, you can't come in.' Shown with a rather grumpy looking face. And polishing up her moves for Strictly, and singing her little heart out all the time wondering what Jim is putting out for her today. In flight with wings outstretched, a bird on a wire, landing on Jim's shoe as he snoozes in the hammock, under beautiful flowers and on mossy branches or landing on Christmas decorations or like an angel on a cloud of snow, this is a very characterful subject from the BBC Countryfile and Springwatch competition winner. 128pp, 24.8 x 17.8cm, full page colour photos throughout.