Edwardian London is the colourful backdrop to this portrait of a large, middle-class family and the stranger who charms them all, but who is to darken their lives with tragedy. At the centre of the family is Leonard Morley, proud of his house in Chepstow Villas and of his job at Whiteley's.

"...psychologically gripping..." Publishing News Plastic surgeon Peter Freeman is a life-saver to the people who need his skills. Twelve-year-old Annette, hideously burned in an accident depends on Peter not only for her looks, but also for her life. Mark, a neurotic young man with a minor facial scar, sees Peter as the one person with the power to mend his misfortunes. When Mark's requests for more and more surgery are refused, his obsession takes a chilling turn.

Being brought up by an overbearing mother intent on competing with her in every way has left Virginia with an altered view of men and relationships. Perhaps rushing in to marriage with Joe, even if he offers an escape from her mother, is not the wisest of choices. Joe is difficult and unpredictable, but Virginia is determined to make their relationship work. But soon he reveals a darker side that twists married life into something damaging. As he draws her into one humiliating situation after another, Virginia is forced to admit that her romantic dream has turned into a nightmare. First published in 1956, The Angel in the Corner is a book about suffering, endurance, and ultimately, strength.

Cottingham Park might be found in any of a dozen metropolitan boroughs. Blitzed during the war, it now bristles with new council flats and boasts new affluence. With all her sympathy and humour Monica Dickens shows us the rapidly changing face of London through the eyes of the people who live there...

What drives you to be a Samaritan? Is it the need to help others, or are you responding to a damaged part of yourself? The Listeners follows the stories of those in need, and those that answer their calls. Billie, drinking away her loneliness, dials the Samaritan number expecting little from a bunch of 'do-gooders'. Tim, lost and desperate, calls in a frantic plea for help. Jackie, a young-man with learning difficulties, phones just to hear a friendly voice. For all of the callers, the most vital thing is to hear that they are cared for, and that they are not alone. The importance of this resonates with each of them in different ways. But can you really save someone from themselves? This is something that Victoria, Paul, and Sarah – all Samaritans with very different reasons for wanting to help – will have to find out the hard way. In The Listeners , first published in 1970, Monica Dickens draws from her own experience as a Samaritan, creating a heart-warming look at the realities of hardship, and salvation.

Ever since they built the road through her family's farm, separating the big yellow house from the pastures of Sybil's youth, nothing has been the same. At least the house remains, full of her memories, which wander through the rooms like ghosts. When Jess moves to America to marry Laurie in a whirlwind romance, she soon learns that his Grandmother and her creaky old house come with him. Stubborn, ailing and no longer able to look after herself, Sybil must rely on this British girl who has come to steal her beloved grandson from her. The echoing spectres of dead loved ones follow Sybil as she travels farther along the road to senility, but will those same echoes drive Jess towards madness? In Sybil, Monica Dickens has produced a character rich in determination, dark humour, and resilience. First published in 1966, The Room Upstairs is a portrait of a woman's fight with time, who refuses to be forgotten, and who refuses to forget.

"Louise stayed in her room, making her bed and tidying up, and going to the door from time to time to see if she could hear sounds of life, or smell bacon frying. She thought about the years when Miriam was a child, and it was Louise who prepared breakfast, and served it out, and gently criticised table manners. How odd it was, the way their roles in life had become reversed, the mother's and the daughter's. For what a short time, it seemed, had Louise been able to look after Miriam. Now it was the other way round. Miriam was responsible for her mother. Louise was the child, and, absurd though she knew it to be, as anxious to be in Miriam's good graces as if her daughter had been an exacting parent."--description on inside of jacket.

Successful, admired, fairly happily married and ambitious, Steven Sheppard is very much a pillar of the community. But inside him lurks a little demon of boredom which prompts him to ask if there isn't more to life than this.

Excellent Book

Mordecai Kaplan, the co-founder of the Reconstructionist movement, defines that movement for the reader in this classic volume, which can serve as a contemporary account of the beginning of the Reconstructionist movement.

In the swinging culture of sixties' London, Canadian Mortimer Griffin is a beleaguered editor adrift in a sea of hypocrisy and deceit. Alone in a world where nobody shares his values but everyone wants the same things, Mortimer must navigate the currents of these changing times. Richler's eccentric cast of characters include the gorgeous Polly, who conducts her life as though it were a movie, complete with censor-type cuts at all the climactic moments; Rachel Coleman, slinky Black Panther of the boudoir; Star Maker, the narcissistic Hollywood tycoon who has discovered the secret of eternal life; and a precocious group of school children with a taste for the teachings of the Marquis de Sade. Cocksure is a savagely funny satire on television, movies, and the entertainment industry. This is Mordecai Richler at his most caustic and wicked best.

Young Noah Adler, passionate, ruthlessly idealistic, is the prodigal son of Montreal’ s Jewish ghetto. Finding tradition in league with self-delusion, he attempts to shatter the ghetto’s illusory walls by entering the foreign territory of the goyim . But here, freedom and self-determination continue to elude him. Eventually, Noah comes to recognize “justice and safety and a kind of felicity” in a world he cannot—entirely—leave behind. Richler’s superb account of Noah’s struggle to scale the walls of the ghetto overflows with rich comic satire. Son of a Smaller Hero is a compassionate, penetrating account of the nature of belonging, told with the savage realism for which Mordecai Richler’s fiction is celebrated.

Originally published in 1958, this volume has been reprinted in a paperback edition with a new preface. Contains an extended introduction by the editor followed by classic statements by the founders and leading spokesmen of the Conservative Movement. Included among the authors are: Cyrus Adler, Morris Adler, Jacob Agus, Louis Finkelstein, Zacharias Frankel, Israel Friedlander, Louis Ginzberg, Robert Gordis, Simon Greenberg, Mordecai Kaplan, Solomon Schechter, Milton Steinberg, and Henrietta Szold.

Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, the Rosh Yeshivah of Telshe, has trained thousands of students and helped guide the destiny of Torah Jewry. The public knows him best as an elegant thinker and eloquent orator. Now, his comments on the weekly parashah have been compiled in this beautiful Sefer. A feast for connoisseur and layman alike, this will surely be a well-thumbed companion whenever one is in search of a stimulating idea.

Looks at non-Arab and non-Muslim ethnic groups in the Middle East, describing their history, culture, and political struggles in the region.

Osip returns to Skender after many years, only to find the blood feud that wiped out so many families, including his own, is still tearing apart the island. On his first day back he meets Bostan and only narrowly escapes with his life. He discovers she is a 'designated man'. The pair fall in love.