Oh William! By Elizabeth Strout
£14.99 Hardback, Penguin books.
This beautifully-bound, petite hardback novel is perfection on a page!
‘Oh William!’ revisits a character from two of Elizabeth Strout’s earlier books; writer Lucy Barton. But don’t let that put you off, this tender, poignant novel can be read as a standalone.
Lucy Barton is a successful novelist, navigating the second half of her life, newly widowed, and the parent of two adult daughters. An unexpected encounter leads her to reconnect with her first husband William, father of her daughters, and undertake a road trip with him, in search of a half-sister he has recently discovered through a genealogy website.
As they drive through the bleak Maine landscapes of farmland and foreclosed towns, they recall their college years, the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people.
With a deft touch, Elizabeth Strout illuminates the confusions and contradictions of relationships, in all their messy mystery!


A Cheesemonger’s Compendium of British & Irish Cheese by Ned Palmer.
£14.99 Hardback, Profile Books.
The perfect gift for the cheese-lover in your life – or simply your how-to guide for assembling the ripest, richest Christmas cheeseboard!
Cheese-monger (yes, really!) Ned Palmer taste-tests 150 British cheeses, serving up morsels of folklore and sprinkles of history alongside the detailed descriptions of each cheese, and peppering the book with stories of eccentric and colourful cheesemakers.
The book celebrates both traditional farmhouse and modern artisanal cheeses - fresh, mould-ripened, washed-rind, blue and hard.

Ned explains how to buy your cheese like a monger, how to cut and store it, and how best to match it with drinks.

The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English by Hana Videen.
£12.99 Hardback, Profile Books.
An etymological treasure-chest for word-hoarders!
The English language has long been a melting-pot of tongues, and even so-called ‘Olde English’ was brought to these shores by invaders from Germany and Scandinavia, mixed with leftover scraps of Latin.
This delicious thesaurus of Anglo-Saxon words is organised playfully around themes of daily activity: eating and drinking, reading and writing, travelling, the natural world, and shows the Anglo-Saxons to have been masters of the mash-up - devil-sickness, slaughter-mist, war-sweat being some of the delightful compound words they came up with!
Hana Videen reveals a world where choking on a bit of bread might prove your guilt, where fiend-ship was as likely as friend-ship, and you might grow up to be a laughter-smith.

These are the magical roots of our own language: you’ll never see English in the same way again.

For Children - Ages 3-5 years:

‘Oh No! Shark in the Snow!’ by Nick Sharratt.
£6.99 Paperback.
Nick Sharratt’s joyful books ‘Shark in the Park / Dark / Windy Day’ have been firm pre-schooler favourites for many years, and now there is a festive follow-up! Prepare for more rhyming delight as Timothy Pope, and his trusty telescope, check out what they can see… ‘Timothy Pope, Timothy Pope looks again through his telescope. As snowflakes fall without a sound, he looks left, he looks right, he looks all around. Wait, is that a SHARK?...’
With die-cut peep-through pages, and catchy rhymes, this will have your little ones chanting along!
We have signed copies available.

For Children - Ages 6-8 Years:

Not new, but just re-issued with a ‘film tie-in cover’ to coincide with the release of the soon-to-be box-office smash movie, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, this is simply THE BEST Christmas story ever, and is perfect for sharing with 6-9 year-olds in the lead-up to the Festive season!
Telling the magical story of how Father Christmas came to be … by believing in the IMPOSSIBLE! Also answers the following pesky questions: how did Santa gain his elf-magic, how does he fly, where does he live, and WHICH of those naughty reindeer likes to sprinkle pee over us as he flies overhead?

For Children - Ages 9-11 years:

The Chime-Seekers by Ross Montgomery.
£7.99 Walker books.
An enchanting, edge-of-your-seat magical fantasy novel, brimful with ancient British folklore.
When 11 year-old Yanni and his cousin are left to babysit Yanni’s baby sister, an unearthly visitor appears, and spirits the baby away to the Faerie realm, leaving a demonic changeling in her place. Yanni and Amy must pass through the fireplace portal into the Land of Fae, and are swept into a nerve-wracking race against time, and devious faerie trickery, to get baby Ari back.
Yanni doesn’t feel equipped for the challenge, but his cousin Amy has a few tricks up her sleeve, and Yanni discovers hidden reserves of strength and courage in himself along the way.

This exciting story has tricks and turns a-plenty, but is laced with humour and has a modern sensibility, too.