A moving WWII tale of shame, courage, and resilience, where one young man must fight prejudice on the home front after receiving a white feather of cowardice.

When the Blitz begins in September 1940, Elsie Harcourt, thirty-two, runs Harcourt’s Bakery alone after her husband, Arthur, is killed during a training accident with the Auxiliary Fire Service. With flour rationed and sugar scarce, Elsie keeps the doors open by resourcefulness and routine: reusing tea leaves, stretching dough with mashed potato, bartering for drippings to make pasties. The shop becomes a community anchor—air-raid wardens pop in for a bun, mothers for yesterday’s loaves, children for broken biscuits.

When former food stylist Tamsin Bell swaps London deadlines for the sleepy lanes of Bracken Hollow, she plans on nothing more dangerous than perfecting her lemon-poppy scones and minding her aunt’s crooked-eaved tearoom. But on the morning of the village Bake & Bloom fête, the star judge—celebrity chef and local heart-throb Rowan Greaves—takes one bite of a rival baker’s scone and collapses into the pansies. The police mutter “accident.” The WI whispers “sabotage.” And the tearoom’s cash tin now holds a note that reads: Some recipes are better left secret.

From the crackle of garlic hitting hot oil to the fragrant swirl of noodles and soy, the wok brings the world’s most exciting flavours to life — fast.

In Wok Recipes: 100 Fast, Fresh & Flavourful Dishes from East to West, Robin Wickens celebrates the sizzling versatility of this timeless pan. Discover 100 inspired recipes from across Asia and beyond — from fragrant Thai basil chicken and smoky beef chow fun to zingy lemongrass tofu and even wok-caramelised desserts.

Each dish includes cultural origins, wine or beer pairings, nutritional panels, and UK-friendly substitutions. With chapters spanning Chinese classics, Thai street favourites, Korean comfort dishes, Indian spice fusions, vegetarian vibrance, seafood feasts, and quick modern British wok suppers, this collection proves one thing: the wok is not just a tool — it’s a way of cooking.

Fast, fresh, and utterly flavourful, these recipes invite you to master the heat, the sound, and the art of wok hei — the breath of the wok.

Cook faster. Eat better. Stir-fry your way around the world.

Throw a party, not a panic. Christmas Party Food gives you 100 crowd-pleasers that bake on standard trays, reheat like a dream and sit happily on a buffet. Written in British English for UK supermarkets and measures, every recipe comes with allergens and swaps, diet notes, make-ahead/freezer guidance and quick pairings. Build a menu that balances hot bites, cold platters, dips, salads and a few little puddings—then run it with our oven rota, labelling templates and portion planner. From mini shepherd’s pies and cured salmon to jewel rice, whipped feta and sticky toffee brownie bites, this is festive food that behaves. Cook once, party twice.

The sky over London wasn’t just orange—it was bleeding. Flames leapt from rooftops like devils climbing out of chimneys, turning the low-hanging smoke into a dense, breathing monster. Bethnal Green Hospital stood like a defiant old soldier in the middle of it all, bricks blackened by weeks of soot and shockwaves, windows boarded and bandaged like the patients inside.
Inside the main corridor, Nurse Nora Ellwood darted past cots lined with moaning men and children clutching at sheets. Her boots slapped against stone floors slick with rain and ash. She clutched a cloth to her mouth, partly to muffle the smoke, partly to muffle the sound of her own heart.
A boy was screaming.

September 1940. Sirens wail, the river glows with embers, and the night sky blooms with fire. As the Blitz descends, Londoners learn to live between the drone of engines and the faint, saving note of the all clear. In streets veined with sandbags and stirrup pumps, ordinary people find themselves doing extraordinary things.

At the heart of it is Ivy Mercer, a library assistant turned ARP volunteer who keeps calm with catalogues and courage. Across the city, tram driver George Patel learns to steer hope as deftly as his route; seamstress Lillian O’Rourke stitches parachute silk by day and fractured families by night; teenage messenger Alfie Pike pedals through shrapnel with notes that might save a street; and Dr Yusuf al-Khatib turns a church crypt into a surgery lit by guttering candles.

Step into the shadows of Britain’s most haunted pubs, where every creaking floorboard and flickering candle tells a story. Pints & Phantoms gathers over 100 full-page ghostly tales, from Cornwall’s storm-battered inns to Scotland’s moorland taverns. Discover spectral landladies, phantom coaches, dripping sailors, and echoes of laughter that never quite fade.

Perfect for lovers of folklore, history, and ghost stories, this eerie collection invites you to raise a glass with the spirits that never left.