DescriptionWhat Lila wants to be more than anything else in the world is...a Firework-Maker! But firework-making is not just about being able to make Crackle-Dragons and Golden Sneezes. There is also one special secret: every Firework-Maker must make a perilous journey to face the terrifying Fire-Fiend! Not knowing that she needs special protection to survive the Fire-Fiend's flames, Lila sets off alone. Her friends Chulak and Hamlet, the King's white elephants, race after her. But can they reach her in time?
DescriptionAward-winning travel broadcaster Pete McCarthy tells of his hilarious journey around Ireland in search of the roots he always wanted to claim. McCarthy's Bar is the result of a lifelong love affair with Ireland. Written and read by the presenter of Channel 4's Travelog, it is both an entertaining journey and a personal investigation into a past, and a country populated by hundreds of McCarthys, where Christian Brothers rub shoulders with Van Morrison and Saint Patrick, and a perfect pint of Guiness is a joy that's always worth waiting for.
DescriptionTaran, the assistant pig-keeper who wants to be a hero, goes questing for knowledge of his parentage, hoping that his journey will ennoble him in the eyes of Eilonwy, the princess with the red-gold hair. Accompanied by several loyal friends, Taran begins his search when three wily enchantresses of the Marshes of Morva send him to consult the Mirror of Llunet for the answers he is seeking, cryptically promising that "the finding takes no more than the looking". During his adventures he meets Craddoc, the shepherd, and the common people of Prydain, whom he comes to respect and admire. With their help, he continues his mission to learn the secret of the Mirror and the truth about himself.
DescriptionEdith and Frances, living with their mother on a tiny farm in the south-east of Australia, are visited by their cousin Leopold and his Armenian friend Aram. The two young men are taking the long way home after working on an archaeological dig in Iraq. It is 1937. The modern world, they say, is waiting to erupt. Among the tales they tell is the story of Gilgamesh, the legendary king of Uruk, in ancient Mesopotamia. Gilgamesh's great journey of mourning after the death of his friend Enkidu, and his search for the secret of eternal life, is to resonate through all of their lives. In 1939, Edith and her young child set off on an impossible journey of their own, to find themselves trapped by the outbreak of war. The story of this journey is the story of encounters and escapes, of friendship and love, of loss and acceptance.
DescriptionUnlike the other arts, American literature has been a powerful, influential, and leading aspect of American culture. By turns sedate and mercurial and possessing a moral mind set of various social values, the American short story reveals in its pages the…
