The Wordsworth Classics Shakespeare Series presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeares works. The textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal. King Lear has been widely acclaimed as Shakespeares most powerful tragedy. Elemental & passionate it encompasses the horrific & the heart-rending. Love & hate loyalty & treachery cruelty & self-sacrifice: all these contend in a tempestuous drama which has become an enduring classic of the worlds literature. In the theatre & on screen King Lear continues to challenge & enthral. This Wordsworth edition of King Lear provides a comprehensive integrated text of the play. ...

An ageing king makes a capricious decision to divide his realm among his three daughters according to the love they express for him. When the youngest daughter refuses to take part in this charade she is banished leaving the king dependent on her manipulative & untrustworthy sisters. In the scheming & recriminations that follow not only does the king's own sanity crumble but the stability of the realm itself is also threatened. ...

An ageing king makes a capricious decision to divide his realm among his three daughters according to the love they express for him. When the youngest daughter refuses to take part in this charade she is banished leaving the king dependent on her manipulative & untrustworthy sisters. In the scheming & recriminations that follow not only does the king's own sanity crumble but the stability of the realm itself is also threatened. ...

WINNER OF THE 1999 DUFF COOPER PRIZE. Brilliant.. this book must be read & re-read Neal Ascherson. A hundred years ago enlightened people in the western world were outraged by a holocaust in Africa which left millions dead. Denunciations thundered from speakers platforms around the US & Europe. One open letter to The Times was signed by 11 peers 19 bishops & 75 MPs. Viscount Grey Britains foreign secretary declared that no overseas issue had so intensely aroused the British public for 30 years. Conan Doyle wrote a pamphlet on the Congo atrocities which sold 25 000 copies in the first week alone. Yet today not one person in a thousand could say what the fuss was all about unless of course they have read this amazing book. Tariq Ali Financial Times Fascinating.. .brilliant & gripping Mail on Sunday An exemplary piece of history writing: urgent vivid & compelling Literary Review ...

Theseus the boy-king of Eleuisis is ritually preordained to die after one year of marriage to the sacred Queen but he defies the Gods' decree & claims his inheritance
- the throne of Athens. His friends are the young men & maidens slaves of the Gods chosen for death in the Bull Dance. His fabled enemy is the monstrous half-man half-bull Minotaur devourer of sacrificial human flesh. In her classic re-creation of a myth so powerful that its impact has survived down the centuries Mary Renault has brought to life the world of ancient Greece. For here is the true Atlantis legend with its culmination in the terrible fateful destruction of the great Labyrinth the palace of the house of Minos.
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Birmingham would definitely not be the place that it is today without Eddie Fewtrell. Born one of ten children in the 1930s in the backstreets of Aston much of Eddies childhood was spent keeping house & caring for his younger brothers. An alcoholic father & an invalid mother prevented him from attending school & leading a normal life
- a scenario a million light years away from the vast nightclub empire that he was destined to build. By the 1970s he had become the most powerful man in Birminghams Clubl&. With the support of his large family in particular his seven brothers he went on to achieve even greater success. Eddies first club the Bermuda Club was in Navigation Street Eddie moved to pastures new in the form of the Cedar Club on Constitution Hill. Over the next few years Eddie opened Rebeccas Abigails Boogies nightclub Boogies Brasserie Edwards No.7 Edwards No.8 the Paramount pub & Goldwyns. Barbarellas became the top showcase for many up & coming UK pop groups. In 1989 he sold his clubs to Ansells but he returned three years later to open a new wave of clubs. Professional success came at a high price; Eddie reveals how his millionaire lifestyle & the pursuit of wealth led to tragic consequences. Other contributors include Laurie Hornsby Kenny Lynch Patti Bell Tony Christie Raymond Froggatt & H. Cain Mike Alexander BBC WM presenter Phil Upton pop legends Bev Bevan Steve Gibbons & Chuck Botfield. Comedians Don Maclean Dave Ismay & Eddies good friend Bernard Manning interviewed shortly before his tragic death.
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David Swain is two years into his life sentence for murdering the lover of his ex-girlfriend Katya Osman. In the dead of night he escapes from prison. Hours later Katya is found murdered in her uncle's home Blackwater Hall. Having first brought Swain to justice two years earlier Inspector Trave of the Oxford police heads the manhunt. Once Swain is recaptured & put on trial for his life a guilty verdict seems guaranteed. But Trave's investigation has taken an unexpected turn. Katya's uncle is a rich diamond dealer with a grudge against Trave & his sinister brother-in-law has gone to great lengths to create a new identity. Now convinced that they have arrested the wrong man & with personal scores to settle Trave must risk everything he holds dear to bring his unlikely target to justice. ...

In the second instalment of The Conclave of Shadows. The Conclave demands its membership price from their new protege: Tal must gather information on the sinister magician Laso Varen. But to do this means service with the sorcerers master Duke Kaspar of Olasko
- the very man he suspects of killing his family. A POWERFUL NEW EPIC FANTASY SERIES FROM ONE OF THE GREAT MASTERS OF THE GENRE Talon orphan of the Orosini tribe & last of his people has been transformed by the Conclave of Shadows from a trusting young boy to the dashing young nobleman Talwin Hawkins: educated confident & now Roldems premier swordsman. The title won at the Masters Court in front of the King brought him a step closer to his desire
- to avenge the massacre of his family. Two participants in the slaughter are dead by his hand; Lieutenant Campaneal fell under his blade during the Masters Tournament & the other Raven died whilst attempting to butcher an Orodon village as he did Tals people. But still his lust for vengeance will not be sated until the reason for the massacres has been uncovered & their architect revealed & punished. The Conclave demands its price from Tal: he must gather information on Laso Varen a magician of terrible power & subtle craft dangerous beyond contemplation. To do this means service with the sorcerers master Duke Kaspar of Olasko
- & swearing loyalty to the very man he suspects of killing his family even if it means becoming the Dukes right-hand & tracking down his enemies
- the members of the Conclave & Talons own friends.



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Greece is a country in turmoil divided by feuding kingdoms desiring wealth power & revenge. When Eperitus a young exiled soldier comes to the aid of a group of warriors in battle little does he know that it will be the start of an incredible adventure. For he is about to join the charismatic Odysseus Prince of Ithaca on a vital quest to save his homel&. Odysseus travels to Sparta to join the most famous heroes of the time in paying suit to the sensuous Helen. Armed with nothing but his wits & intelligence he must enter a treacherous world of warfare & politics to compete for the greatest prize in Greece. But few care for the problems of an impoverished prince when war with Troy is beckoning.. . An epic saga set in one of the most dramatic periods of history King of Ithaca is a voyage of discovery of one man's journey to become a King -- & a legend. ...

Jackson Workman Pickens
- ' Work' to his friends
- an unambitious lawyer in a small Southern town has some serious baggage.

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