Title: Neverwhere
Genre: Fantasy - T.v. & Film
Format: Leather-bound (Limited Edition - Printed By Neil's Request)
Postage: Free Global.

Website: https://www.neilgaiman.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/neilhimself

The Book:
'I love doors. Anything that leads to possibilities' NEIL GAIMAN

---

Under the streets of London lies a world most people could never dream of.

When Richard Mayhew stops to help a girl he finds bleeding in the street, his unremarkable life changes in an instant.

This act of kindness leads him to a place filled with murderers and angels, pale girls in black velvet, a Beast in a labyrinth and an Earl who holds Court in a tube train. It is strangely familiar yet utterly bizarre.

Here is London Below, the city of people who have fallen between the cracks. And for Richard Mayhew, it's just the beginning.

The Author:
Neil Gaiman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books, including Norse Mythology, Neverwhere, and The Graveyard Book. Among his numerous literary awards are the Newbery and Carnegie medals, and the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Will Eisner awards. He is a Professor in the Arts at Bard College.

Title: Neverwhere
Genre: Fantasy - Sci-Fi - T.V. & Film - Y/A
Format: Paperback (Book signed by Chris Riddell)
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

*Chris will be adding an original ink drawing on a separate piece of paper placed inside his book*

Neverwhere Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfBaC-O0amY

Website: https://chrisriddellblog.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisriddell50

The Book;
Under the streets of London there's a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere.

The Author:
Chris Riddell, the 2015-2017 UK Children's Laureate, is an accomplished artist and the political cartoonist for the Observer. He has enjoyed great acclaim for his books for children. His books have won a number of major prizes, including the 2001, 2004 and 2016 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medals. Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse won the Costa Children's Book Award 2013. His work for Macmillan also includes the bestselling Ottoline books, The Emperor of Absurdia, and, with Paul Stewart, the Muddle Earth books, the Scavenger series and the Blobheads series. Chris has been honoured with an OBE in recognition of his illustration and charity work. He lives in Brighton with his family.

Title: Bring Me The Head of the Taskmaster
Genre: Humour - T.V. & Film
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Postage: Free UK only.

Bring Me The Head of The Taskmaster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A4DwqqlmtI

Website: http://alexhorne.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlexHorne

The Book;
Fastest wins. Your adventure starts now ...

This is a race.

It is not a race against the clock, because that would be a far easier race. Clocks can be fast, but clocks never win races. It's nearly always humans, sometimes horses, and occasionally dogs.
This is a race against your fellow Taskmaster players.

You are competing against everyone else who is reading this book. All you've got to do is find The Taskmaster's Head first. This is a race with many twists and turns, that requires very little running, much sideways thinking and quite a lot of patience.

Thankfully, there will be a shedload of tasks along the way to distract you. There are tasks to do on your own, tasks to do with your family and friends, and tasks for bigger groups too. Some of these distractions may slow you down, but some may help you get where you need to go. As always, enjoy them, do your best, make good choices.

So get going. Take on the tasks. All the information you need is in the book...

Alex Horne, Taskmaster's Assistant

The Author:
Award-winning comedian Alex Horne is the creator and co-host of the BAFTA-winning hit TV show Taskmaster (Dave/Channel 4). The show won Best Comedy Entertainment Programme at the 2020 BAFTAs, has been Emmy-nominated and has also won the Royal Television Society and Broadcast Awards for Best Entertainment Programme. The success of the show has led to Alex publishing The Taskmaster Book, and the release of The Taskmaster Board Game. UK lockdown saw Alex devise the hugely successful interactive Home Tasking on the Taskmaster YouTube channel, setting Taskmaster-style tasks online and inviting households across the world to take part on Twitter with the hashtag #HomeTasking.

Alex is the creator and frontman of The Horne Section, a six-piece band of multitalented musicians who put a stupidly unique twist to musical comedy. Alex Horne Presents: The Horne Section played to sold-out audiences for five consecutive years at the Edinburgh Fringe, and continued for three series as a BBC Radio 4 show. This led to The Horne Section Podcast, which reached number one in the iTunes charts on the first day of its release and regularly releases new episodes. The band has made several appearances on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (Channel 4) and is the only band ever to host Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC2). They are the house band on The Last Leg (Channel 4) and Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer (BBC One), which Alex also co-hosts. They starred in their own one-off special, The Horne Section Television Programme (Dave), in 2018.

As a solo act, Alex has been nominated for the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award and the Perrier Newcomer Award. He has released two books based on his critically-acclaimed Edinburgh shows, Birdwatchingwatching and Wordwatching.

Title: Little Bear's Christmas Fun Book
Genre: Children - Christmas
Format: Picture Book
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Website: https://www.janehissey.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janehissey

The Book:
This Christmas themed activity book from acclaimed, BAFTA award winning author\illustrator Jane Hissey features the beloved characters from the Old Bear series.
It contains a host of fun and stimulating activities for young readers to complete, as well as press-out models and stickers. The press-out models include Old Bear themed Christmas decorations, such as bunting, Christmas crackers, and paper crowns, as well as images from the Old Bear books. Activities include spot the difference, connect the dots, drawing and coloring images, and a recipe for snowflake biscuits. It's the perfect gift to keep children entertained during the Christmas period.

Author:
Jane has always loved writing and drawing. Throughout much of her childhood she lived in Norfolk and wandered the fields and lanes with pencil and sketchbook.

She studied illustration and design in Brighton, where she met her husband, Ivan, who is also an illustrator. After college, they settled in Sussex and Jane taught art for a few years before leaving to have her first child, Owen. Since then she has had two more children; Alison and Ralph, and has written and illustrated over 20 picture books.

She prepares a dummy book of rough sketches before she begins the finished drawings. For these she draws first in pencil then, using coloured pencils, she builds up layers of colour, adding details towards the end. Each drawing takes many, many hours and a whole book can take a year.

Title: Old Bear and Elsie ; Bedtime Story
Genre: Children - T.V. & Film
Format: Illustration
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Website: https://www.janehissey.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/janehissey

The Illustration:
A unique special illustration drawn specifically for The Authors' & Illustrators' Auction for The BBC Children in Need Appeal 2021
The illustration measures approx 28cm x 33cm

The Illustrator:
Jane has always loved writing and drawing. Throughout much of her childhood she lived in Norfolk and wandered the fields and lanes with pencil and sketchbook.

She studied illustration and design in Brighton, where she met her husband, Ivan, who is also an illustrator. After college, they settled in Sussex and Jane taught art for a few years before leaving to have her first child, Owen. Since then she has had two more children; Alison and Ralph, and has written and illustrated over 20 picture books.

She prepares a dummy book of rough sketches before she begins the finished drawings. For these she draws first in pencil then, using coloured pencils, she builds up layers of colour, adding details towards the end. Each drawing takes many, many hours and a whole book can take a year.

Title: Bob Mortimer The Autobiography - And Away
Genre: Autobiography - Humour - T.V. & Film
Format: Hardback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Bob Mortimer does his Robert Deniro for Paul Whitehouse on Gone Fishing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwostxAfxms

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealBobMortimer

The Book;
The long-awaited first autobiography by national treasure Bob Mortimer.

Bob Mortimer's life was trundling along happily until suddenly in 2015 he was diagnosed with a heart condition that required immediate surgery and forced him to cancel an upcoming tour. The episode unnerved him, but forced him to reflect on his life so far. This is the framework for his hilarious and moving memoir, And Away...

Although his childhood in Middlesbrough was normal on the surface, it was tinged by the loss of his dad, and his own various misadventures (now infamous from his appearances on Would I Lie to You?), from burning down the family home to starting a short-lived punk band called Dog Dirt. As an adult, he trained as a solicitor and moved to London. Though he was doing pretty well (the South London Press once crowned him 'The Cockroach King' after a successful verdict), a chance encounter in a pub in the 1980s with a young comedian going by the name Vic Reeves set his life on a different track. And now, six years on, the heart condition that once threatened his career has instead led to new success on BBC2's Gone Fishing.

Warm, profound, and irrepressibly funny, And Away... is Bob's full life story (with a few lies thrown in for good measure).

The Author:

Title: Doctor Who - The Witchfinder
Genre: Science Fiction - T.V. & Film
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Website: http://www.joywilkinson.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/joyofse19

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQwfVBZXnvc

The Book;
‘ I am an expert on witchcraft, Doctor, but I wish to learn more. Before you die, I want answers.’

The TARDIS lands in the Lancashire village of Bilehurst Cragg in the 17th century, and the Doctor, Ryan, Graham and Yaz soon become embroiled in a witch trial run by the local landowner. Fear stalks the land, and the arrival of King James I only serves to intensify the witch hunt.

But the Doctor soon realises there is something more sinister than paranoia and superstition at work. Tendrils of living mud stir in the ground and the dead lurch back to horrifying life as an evil alien presence begins to revive. The Doctor and her friends must save not only the people of Bilehurst Cragg from the wakening forces, but the entire world

The Author:
Joy is an award-winning writer and director working across film, television, theatre, radio and fiction. She has been a Screen International Star of Tomorrow, a two-time Brit List nominee, one of Den Of Geek’s ‘50 Brilliant Screenwriters To Watch Out For’, a Verity Bargate Award winner, and she was mentored by Sir Kenneth Branagh on the prestigious BFI/Lighthouse Guiding Lights scheme. Joy is currently writing on LOCKWOOD & CO for Netflix, and developing original projects in the UK and US. Previous TV credits include DOCTOR WHO and BBC1’s critically-acclaimed five-parter NICK NICKLEBY. Her stage plays have been produced world-wide, and she is a highly experienced radio dramatist. Joy’s directing debut MA’AM won Bumble’s International Female Film Force Award in 2020 and has been selected for festivals world-wide. Her new short film THE EVERLASTING CLUB will be released in 2021.

Title: Victoria & Abdul
Genre: History - Film & TV
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Website: https://shrabanibasu.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shrabanibasu_

The Book;
The tall, handsome Abdul Karim was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. An assistant clerk at Agra Central Jail, he suddenly found himself a personal attendant to the Empress of India herself. Within a year, he was established as a powerful figure at court, becoming the queen's teacher, or Munshi, and instructing her in Urdu and Indian affairs. Devastated by the death of John Brown, her Scottish gillie, the queen had at last found his replacement. But her intense and controversial relationship with the Munshi led to a near-revolt in the royal household. Victoria & Abdul examines how a young Indian Muslim came to play a central role at the heart of the Empire, and his influence over the queen at a time when independence movements in the sub-continent were growing in force. Yet, at its heart, it is a tender love story between an ordinary Indian and his elderly queen, a relationship that survived the best attempts to destroy it.

The Author:
Shrabani Basu graduated in History from St Stephen’s College, Delhi and completed her Masters from Delhi University. In 1983, she began her career as a trainee journalist in the bustling offices of The Times of India in Bombay.

Since 1987, Basu has been the London correspondent of Ananda Bazar Patrika group --writing for "Sunday, Ananda Bazar Patrika, "and "The Telegraph."

Basu has appeared on radio and TV in the UK and founded the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust for a memorial for the Second World War heroine which was unveiled in 2012. She is the author of "Curry: The Story of the Nation's Favourite Dish," "Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan," and "Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant."

Two Books
Title 1: Deep Water : Just What Kind of Mother Are You?
Genre: Crime Thriller - Tv & Film
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Title 2: Deep Water : The Mistake I Made
Genre: Crime Thriller - Tv & Film
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Paula discusses her books and the TV series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-oIE-J2B5o

Website:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaulaDalyAuthor

The Book 1; Just What Kind of Mother Are You?
A searing and sinister thriller for readers who liked Gone Girl.

What if your best friend's child disappears? And it was all your fault.

A searing and sinister thriller for readers who liked Gone Girl.What if your best friend's child disappears? And it was all your fault. This is exactly what happens to Lisa Kallisto, overwhelmed working mother of three, one freezing December in the English Lake District. She takes her eye off the ball for just a moment and her whole world descends into the stuff of nightmares. Because, not only is thirteen-year-old Lucinda missing, and not only is it all Lisa's fault, but she's the second teenage girl to disappear within this small tightknit community over two weeks. The first girl turned up stripped bare, dumped on a busy high street, after suffering from a terrifying ordeal.

Wracked with guilt over her mistake and after being publicly blamed by Lucinda's family, Lisa sets out to right the wrong. But as she begins peeling away the layers surrounding Lucinda's disappearance, Lisa learns that the small, posh, quiet town she lives in isn't what she thought it was, and her friends may not be who they appear, either.
The Book 2: The Mistake I Made
No family is perfect.

A husband, three children and a full-time job, so many plates to keep spinning.

No wonder you forgot you were supposed to be looking after your friend's daughter.

But no one has seen her since yesterday.

And she's not the first to go missing from your small town.

The Author:
Paula Daly is the acclaimed author of six novels. She has been shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Crime Novel of the Year award, and her books have been developed for the ITV television series, DEEP WATER, starring Anna Friel. She was born in Lancashire and lives in the Lake District with her family.

Title: Joan of Arc
Genre: History - T.V. & Films
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Title: She-Wolves
Genre: History - T.V. & Films
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Postage: Free UK only.

Website: https://www.faber.co.uk/tutors/helen-castor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hrcastor

Book 1: Joan of Arc
We all know the story of Joan of Arc. A peasant girl who hears voices from God. A warrior leading an army to victory, in an age that believes women cannot fight. The Maid of Orleans, and the saviour of France. Burned at the stake as a heretic at the age of just nineteen. Five hundred years later, a saint. Her case was heard in court twice over. One trial, in 1431, condemned her; the other, twenty-five years after her death, cleared her name. In the transcripts, we hear first-hand testimony from Joan, her family and her friends: a rare survival from the medieval world. What could be more revealing?

Book 2: She-Wolves
When Edward VI - Henry VIII’s longed-for son - died in 1553, extraordinarily, there was no one left to claim the title King of England. For the first time, all the contenders for the crown were female.

In 1553, England was about to experience the ‘monstrous regiment’ - the unnatural rule - of a woman. But female rule in England also had a past. Four hundred years before Edward’s death, Matilda, daughter of Henry I and granddaughter of William the Conquerer, came tantalisingly close to securing her hold on the power of the crown. And between the 12th and the 15th centuries three more exceptional women - Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France, and Margaret of Anjou - discovered, as queens consort and dowager, how much was possible if the presumptions of male rule were not confronted so explicitly.

The stories of these women - told here in all their vivid humanity - illustrate the paradox which the female heirs to the Tudor throne had no choice but to negotiate. Man was the head of woman; and the king was the head of all. How, then, could a woman be king, how could royal power lie in female hands?

The Author:
Helen Castor is a historian of medieval England and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. She directed studies in History at Sidney for eight years before deciding to concentrate on writing history for a wider readership.

Her book Blood & Roses (Faber, 2004, published in revised form in the US by HarperCollins, 2006) is a biography of the fifteenth-century Paston family, whose letters are the earliest great collection of private correspondence surviving in the English language. Blood & Roses was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction in 2005, and was awarded the Beatrice White Prize (for outstandingly scholarly work in the field of English Literature before 1590) by the English Association in 2006.

Her next book, She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, will be published in the UK by Faber and in the US by HarperCollins.

She lives in London with her husband and son.

The Land Girls Trilogy

Title 1: The Homecoming
Title 2: The Promise
Title 3: Christmas on the Home Front

Genre: Historical Fiction - TV & Film - Christmas
Format: Paperbacks
Dedications: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Land Girls Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mEzb_x17E

Website: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/roland-moore
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RolandMooreTV

Book 1: The Homecoming
The Land Girls are back in a brand new story from the creator and writer of the popular, award-winning BBC drama.

Land Girl Connie Carter thought she’d finally left her past behind once and for all when she married Henry Jameson, Helmstead’s vicar and the love of her life. Bold Connie and mild-mannered Henry might be different as night and day, but she’s determined to be the best wife she can be and prove the village gossips wrong! Only Connie knows she doesn’t fit into Henry’s genteel world of tea-drinking and jam-making, and the cracks are already starting to show.

When Connie’s heroism makes her front page news, her past comes back to haunt her in a terrifying way. A different kind of war has come to Helmstead, and soon it’s a fight for both their marriage and their lives…

Book 2: The Promise
The Land Girls are back in a brand new story from the creator and writer of the popular, award-winning BBC drama

‘I’ll come for you, Iris. Mark my words!’

When a murder rocks the quiet village of Helmstead, seventeen-year-old Land Girl, Iris Dawson, is determined to prove her friend and local gamekeeper Frank Tucker’s innocence. But when she exposes Vernon Storey, the real murderer, her once happy life at Pasture Farm soon becomes a nightmare. Already running from the ghosts of her past back home in Northampton, Iris is now haunted by Vernon, who is out there somewhere and has promised to have his revenge.

Iris has never forgiven herself for the tragedy that destroyed her family and how, as a child, she failed her mother, and now the new surrogate family she has at Pasture Farm is fracturing around her. No one believes she is in danger, or that those she loves could also be Vernon’s targets in his bid to escape the law, so she must face this battle on her own. A battle that this time, Iris cannot afford to lose, culminating in a desperate race against time to save another innocent life, and to take back her own, once and for all.

Book 3: Christmas on the Home Front
It’s the last Christmas of the war but will things ever be the same again?

Christmas 1944

Despite the food rationing and the bitterly cold weather, the land girls of Pasture Farm, Connie Carter, Joyce Fisher and Esther Reeves, are determined to celebrate this Christmas in style. The fighting might still be raging, but they all hope this could be the last Christmas of this dreaded war.

But as the day approaches, word spreads in sleepy Helmstead that two German Airmen are on the run. With everyone on high alert, the mood is tense and the women take no chances. Until the German airmen find them…

Trapped at Pasture Farm with the enemy, the women are determined to find a way to freedom and overpower the airmen. But it means risking everything…including their lives.

The Author:
Roland Moore is a scriptwriter and novelist who created the award-winning BBC1 series Land Girls. He also adapted The Witch of Grich for television as a twelve-part international series and created a comedy drama for Chinese television. His film credits include 2:hrs and White Oak. He lives just outside London.

Title: The Making of Swallows and Amazons (1974)
Genre: TV & Film Biography
Format: Paperback (First Edition)
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Book Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chXkQ8m8tKM

Website: https://sophieneville.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sophie_Neville

The Book;
In 1973 Sophie Neville was cast as Titty alongside Virginia McKenna, Ronald Fraser and Suzanna Hamilton in the film Swallows & Amazons. Made before the advent of digital technology, the child stars lived out Arthur Ransome's epic adventure in the great outdoors without ever seeing a script. Encouraged by her mother, Sophie Neville kept a diary about her time filming on location in the lakes and mountains of Cumbria. Bouncy and effervescent, extracts from her childhood diary are interspersed among her memories of the cast and crew as well as photographs, maps and newspaper articles, offering a child's eye view of the making of the film from development to premiere - and the aftermath.

The Author:
Award-winning author Sophie Neville became inadvertently well known as a child when she starred as Titty in the 1974 feature film of Arthur Ransome's book Swallows and Amazons.

After that sunshiny time she went on to work for the BBC behind the camera on television programmes such as Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, Doctor Who and Eastenders. Having produced her own Inset series for BBC2 she was busy directing her second drama serial for children when disaster struck in the form of a mystery illness.

Fully recovered, Sophie now lives on the south coast of England with her husband. Every year she disappears for a while to ride in different parts of the world and has also been known to go sailing, but only when the sun shines.

Title: Cirque Du Freak Manga Omnibus Volume 1
(Contains books 1 and 2 of the Manga series)
Genre: Fantasy - TV & Film
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free Universal.

cirque du freak manga 1 chapter 1/3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwOD1i9cIM8

Website: https://darrenshan.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/darrenshan

The Book;
Darren Shan's an ordinary schoolboy, until he and his best friend Steve get tickets to the Cirque Du Freak, a bizarre freak show featuring such arcane performers as Hans Hands, Gertha Teeth, the Wolf Man and Rhamus Twobellies. In the midst of the ghoulish excitement, true terror raises its head when Steve recognises that one of the performers -- Mr Crepsley -- is in fact a vampire!

Steve remains after the show finishes, to confront the vampire -- but his motives are anything but ordinary! In the shadows of a crumbling theatre, a horrified Darren eavesdrops on his friend and the vampire, and is witness to a monstrous, disturbing plea.

Later, in a moment of insane daring, Darren sets out to steal the vampire's magnificent performing tarantula, an act which will have severe, tragic consequences for both Darren and Steve. Their lives will never be the same again...

The Author:
Darren Shan's real name is Darren O’Shaughnessy. Although he is Irish, he was born on July 2, 1972, in St. Thomas’ Hospital, London — directly across the river from the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, which may explain his fascination with evil bloodsuckers! He lived in South East London, near the Elephant & Castle. He started school at the early age of three (he was such a wild child, no pre-school facility would have him!), in English Martyrs. At the age of six, he moved to Limerick in Ireland, with his parents and younger brother, and has lived there ever since.

Title: Wizards of Once Never and Forever
Genre: Fantasy - TV & Film
Format: Hardback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Book Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSP4lDxXufM

Website: https://www.cressidacowell.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CressidaCowell

The Book;
The final book in the Wizards of Once quartet - the No.1 bestselling series from the author of How to Train Your Dragon. Warriors and Wizards combine forces against the dreadful power of the Kingwitch, whose searing evil threatens not only the Wildwoods, but all its creatures.

Xar and Wish are on the final leg of their journey. First stop: The Mines of Unhappiness. Here, starvation is never far away for the Magical creatures who toil in its horrible depths. Xar and Wish must escape and fast; Xar needs to take control of his ever-growing Witchstain, and Wish must achieve her Destiny. But the Tazzelwurm is in their way, a grotesque monster who threatens to block every entrance.

Time is not on their side, but the forests are calling them. Will their combined strength be enough for the BIGGEST quest so far; to defeat the Kingwitch once and for all?

The Author:
Cressida Cowell grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland. She was convinced that there were dragons living on this island, and has been fascinated by dragons ever since. She has a BA in English Literature from Oxford University, a BA in Graphic Design from St Martin's and an MA in Narrative Illustration from Brighton. Cressida loves illustrating her own work, but also loves writing books for other people to illustrate as the end result can be so unexpected and inspiring. Cressida has written and illustrated eight books in the popular Hiccup series. The unique blend of child centred humour and sublime prose made Hiccup an instant hit. How to Train Your Dragon is now published in over 30 languages. A DreamWorks Animation feature film is out in March 2010. Also the author of picture books, Cressida has won the Nestle Children's Book Prize 2006 and has been shortlisted for many others. Cressida lives in Hammersmith with her husband and three children.

Title: Horrid Henry Rules the World
Genre: Children (Middle Grade)
Format: Hardback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Website: https://www.francescasimon.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/simon_francesca

The Book;
In his dreams Henry is King Henry the Horrible and everyone does just what he says, but he knows that life's not like that. This title features ten side-splitting stories revolving around Henry's school days as he tries to sabotage Miss Impatience Tutu's dance class and star in the Christmas play, among other things.

The Author:
Francesca Simon grew up in California and attended both Yale and Oxford Universities, where she specialised in Medieval Studies. How this prepared her to write children’s books she cannot imagine, but it did give her a thorough grounding in alliteration.

She then threw away a lucrative career as a medievalist and worked as a freelance journalist, writing for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Mail on Sunday, Telegraph, and Vogue (US). After her son Joshua was born in 1989, she started writing children’s books full time. One of the UK’s best-selling children’s writers, Francesca has published over 50 books, including the immensely popular HORRID HENRY series, which has now sold over twelve million copies.

Francesca won the Children’s Book of the Year in 2008 at the British Book Awards for Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman. HORRID HENRY is published in 24 countries and is also an animated CITV series. She lives in London with her husband, son, and Tibetan Spaniel, Shanti.

Title: Cook, Eat, Repeat
Genre: Food and Drink - T.V. & Film
Format: Hardback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

Book Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNGnYnQQGUI

Website: https://www.nigella.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nigella_Lawson

The Book;
“Food, for me, is a constant pleasure: I like to think greedily about it, reflect deeply on it, learn from it; it provides comfort, inspiration, meaning, and beauty…More than just a mantra, ‘cook, eat, repeat’ is the story of my life.”

Cook, Eat, Repeat is a delicious and delightful combination of recipes intertwined with narrative essays about food, all written in Nigella Lawson’s engaging and insightful prose. Whether asking “what is a recipe?” or declaring death to the “guilty pleasure,” Nigella brings her wisdom about food and life to the fore while sharing new recipes that readers will want to return to again and again.

Within these chapters are more than a hundred new recipes for all seasons and tastes from Burnt Onion and Eggplant Dip to Chicken with Garlic Cream Sauce; from Beef Cheeks with Port and Chestnuts to Ginger and Beetroot Yogurt Sauce. Those with a sweet tooth will delight in desserts including Rhubarb and Custard Trifle; Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake; and Cherry and Almond Crumble.

“The recipes I write come from my life, my home,” says Nigella, and in Cook, Eat, Repeat she reveals the rhythms and rituals of her kitchen through recipes that make the most of her favorite ingredients, with inspiration for family dinners, vegan feasts, and solo suppers, as well as new ideas for cooking during the holidays.

The Author:
Nigella Lawson is one of the UK's most influential food writers, with a growing international reputation and several bestselling books to her name as well as the television series, Nigella Bites.

Nigella read Medieval and Modern Languages at Oxford and went on to pursue a successful career in journalism, becoming Deputy Literary Editor of The Sunday Times. This was followed by a successful freelance career writing for a range of publications, from The Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Times Magazine in the UK to Gourmet and Bon Appetit in the USA.

Nigella's love of cooking and food started at home, becoming part of her working life when she started the restaurant column in The Spectator and later wrote the food column for Vogue. Her first book, How To Eat: The pleasures and principles of good food was published to critical acclaim in 1998. It established Nigella's relaxed attitude to food and eating and won her a wide and dedicated audience.
Nigella has now sold more than 3 million cookery books worldwide.

Three Books: Emmerdale Series

Title 1: Christmas at Emmerdale
Genre: T.V. & Film Saga
Format: Hardback
Dedication: Available

Title 2: Spring Comes to Emmerdale
Genre: T.V. & Film Saga
Format: Hardback
Dedication: Available

Title 3: Emmerdale at War
Genre: T.V. & Film Saga
Format: Hardback
Dedication: Available

Postage: Free UK only.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorFlora

Book 1; Christmas at Emmerdale
A wonderful Christmas gift for fans of ITV's Emmerdale and readers who love heartwarming and heartbreaking stories set in wartime.

August 1914, and a terrible war begins, one that will affect the lives of everyone in the village of Beckindale. For Maggie Sugden, left to run Emmerdale Farm on her own while her husband, Joe, is at the front, it will bring grief and loss but also independence and the chance to find a place to belong - and perhaps even to love again.

Christmas At Emmerdale is the first in a sweeping new saga series, exploring the lives of Emmerdale's much-loved families during the run up to the Great War.

Book 2: Spring Comes to Emmerdale
'Enthralling. Spring Comes to Emmerdale is beautifully written and researched' - Lancashire Evening Post

A must for fans of ITV's Emmerdale, and readers who love heartwarming and heartbreaking stories set during wartime.

'Amazing! All the familiar names here, not least, the Dingles!' - Amazon reviewer, 5 stars World War I wages on, and the families of Emmerdale are trying their best to move on from tragedy, while the effects of war still resonate throughout the village of Beckindale. Though grief and loss permeate, Maggie Sugden, Rose Haywood and the other inhabitants of the village are finding independence, the chance to make their own happiness - and even opening themselves up to find love. Featuring firm fan favourites like the Dingles, The Woolpack Pub and Emmerdale Farm itself, this will be a delight for any Emmerdale fan.'Totally brilliant and gripping - didn't want it to end' - Amazon reviewer on Christmas at Emmerdale Like the first in the series, Christmas At Emmerdale, the second novel explores the lives of Emmerdale's much-loved families during the Great War and beyond, and how the nation's favourite village copes with the loves and lives lost.

Book 3: Emmerdale at War
Emmerdale at War is a must for fans of ITV's Emmerdale, and readers who love heartwarming and heartbreaking stories set during wartime.

The third novel in the Emmerdale series transports us to the Yorkshire Dales in the midst of World War II, exploring the lives of Emmerdale's much-loved families. Will the nation's favourite village overcome adversity to deal with the loves and lives lost?

The Author:
Pamela Bell began writing over 30 years ago to fund a PhD on waste disposal in Tudor York and has juggled fact and fiction ever since. As Jessica Hart or Pamela Hartshorne, she has written over 70 books, including novels and non-fiction, across a wide range of subjects, from importing cars to royal palaces and from category romance to historical fiction. Pam lives in York and continues to be fascinated by the relationship between the past and the present, whatever she happens to be writing.

Title: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
Genre: T.V. & Film Historical Fiction Y/A
Format: Hardback

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue - Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grJGkovpF5I

Postage: Free UK only.

Website: https://www.veschwab.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/veschwab

The Book;
A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

The Author:
V.E. Schwab is the name Victoria Schwab publishes her adult books under.

Victoria has stated that books published under V.E. Schwab are adult releases and those under Victoria Schwab are YA.

Five Books:

Title 1: Starter for Ten
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Title 2: The Understudy
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Title 3: One Day
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Title 4: Us
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Title 5: Sweet Sorrow
Genre: Young Adult
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available

Postage: Free UK only.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DavidNWriter

Book 1: Starter for Ten
The year is 1985. Brian Jackson, a working-class kid on full scholarship, has started his first term at university. He has a dark secret—a long-held, burning ambition to appear on the wildly popular British TV quiz show University Challenge—and now, finally, it seems the dream is about to become reality. He's made the school team, and they've completed the qualifying rounds and are limbering up for their first televised match. (And, what's more, he's fallen head over heels for one of his teammates, the beautiful, brainy, and intimidatingly posh Alice Harbinson.) Life seems perfect and triumph inevitable—but as his world opens up, Brian learns that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Book 2: The Understudy
Recently divorced actor Stephen C. McQueen (no relation, unfortunately) seems to have a knack for bad luck. But a failed marriage, a stalled career, a judgmental ex-wife, a distant daughter, a horrid little studio apartment in the far reaches of the London suburbs-all these pathetic elements seem to pale in the chiseled face of his newest tormentor: the Twelfth Sexiest Man in the World, Josh Harper.

Josh is the star of Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know, a biographical play about Lord Byron-and Stephen is his understudy. Not only is Josh fantastically, infuriatingly good-looking, internationally renowned, and remarkably talented, he's also frustratingly healthy. No matter how many all-night booze-and-coke benders Josh goes on, he always shows up at the stage door for his call like clockwork. Stephen doubts he'll ever get his chance to slip on the puffy shirt and tight breeches of Byron and tread the boards in the role that would certainly be the break he's always waited for.

And just when Stephen's sure he couldn't resent Josh more, he meets Josh's witty, restless American wife, Nora . . . and discovers he likes her a little too much. Another man might curse his luck at finding that his potential dream woman is a rival's wife, but at this point, Stephen would expect nothing else. Caught between his stirring feelings for Nora, the demands of an insistent and secretive Josh, and his lifelong desire for a real career in show business, Stephen must make a terrible decision: Will it be the girl or the fame?

A hapless, bumbling bloke in love, an arrogant megastar with a potpourri of addictions, a sexy married woman out of her element in the fast lane-David Nicholls brings them all together in this knockout romantic comedy.

Book 3: One Day
15th July 1988: Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways.

So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that?

And every year that follows?

Book 4: Us
Douglas Petersen may be mild-mannered, but behind his reserve lies a sense of humor that, against all odds, seduces beautiful Connie into a second date and eventually into marriage. Now, almost three decades after their relationship first blossomed in London, they live more or less happily in the suburbs with their moody seventeen-year-old son, Albie; then Connie tells him she thinks she wants a divorce.

The timing couldn’t be worse. Hoping to encourage her son’s artistic interests, Connie has planned a month-long tour of European capitals, a chance to experience the world’s greatest works of art as a family, and she can’t bring herself to cancel. And maybe going ahead with the original plan is for the best anyway. Douglas is privately convinced that this landmark trip will rekindle the romance in the marriage and might even help him bond with Albie.

Narrated from Douglas’s endearingly honest, slyly witty, and at times achingly optimistic point of view, Us is the story of a man trying to rescue his relationship with the woman he loves and learning how to get closer to a son who’s always felt like a stranger.

Book 5: Sweet Sorrow
One life-changing summer
Charlie meets Fran...

In 1997, Charlie Lewis is the kind of boy you don't remember in the school photograph. His exams have not gone well. At home he is looking after his father, when surely it should be the other way round, and if he thinks about the future at all, it is with a kind of dread.

Then Fran Fisher bursts into his life and despite himself, Charlie begins to hope.

But if Charlie wants to be with Fran, he must take on a challenge that could lose him the respect of his friends and require him to become a different person. He must join the Company. And if the Company sounds like a cult, the truth is even more appalling.

The price of hope, it seems, is Shakespeare.

Poignant, funny, enchanting, devastating, Sweet Sorrow is a tragicomedy about the rocky path to adulthood and the confusion of family life, a celebration of the reviving power of friendship and that brief, searing explosion of first love that can only be looked at directly after it has burned out.

The Author:
David Nicholls is a British author, screenwriter, and actor. A student of Toynbee Comprehensive school and Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, he Graduated from the University of Bristol having studied English Literature and Drama.

After graduation, he won a scholarship to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, before returning to London in 1991 and finally earning an Equity card. He worked sporadically as an actor for the next eight years, eventually earning a three year stint at the Royal National Theatre, followed by a job at BBC Radio Drama as a script reader/researcher. This led to script-editing jobs at London Weekend Television and Tiger Aspect Productions.

During this period, he began to write, developing an adaptation of Sam Shepard’s stage-play Simpatico with the director Matthew Warchus, an old friend from University. He also wrote his first original script, a situation comedy about frustrated waiters, Waiting, which was later optioned by the BBC.

Simpatico was turned into a feature film in 1999, and this allowed David to start writing full-time. He has been twice nominated for BAFTA awards and his first novel, Starter for Ten was featured on the first Richard and Judy Book Club

Title: A House Through Time
Genre: History - T.V. & Film
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK only.

House Through Time - Interview with Melanie Backe-Hansen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqpvyPdDN78

Website: http://www.house-historian.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HouseHistorian

The Book:
A very readable history of the British way of life viewed through its homes’ Choice Magazine

In recent years house histories have become the new frontier of popular, participatory history. People, many of whom have already embarked upon that great adventure of genealogical research, and who have encountered their ancestors in the archives and uncovered family secrets, are now turning to the secrets contained within the four walls of their homes and in doing so finding a direct link to earlier generations. And it is ordinary homes, not grand public buildings or the mansions of the rich, that have all the best stories.

As with the television series, A House Through Time offers readers not only the tools to explore the histories of their own homes, but also a vividly readable history of the British city, the forces of industry, disease, mass transportation, crime and class. The rises and falls, the shifts in the fortunes of neighbourhoods and whole cities are here, tracing the often surprising journey one single house can take from an elegant dwelling in a fashionable district to a tenement for society’s rejects.

Packed with remarkable human stories, David Olusoga and Melanie Backe-Hansen give us a phenomenal insight into living history, a history we can see every day on the streets where we live. And it reminds us that it is at home that we are truly ourselves. It is there that the honest face of life can be seen. At home, behind closed doors and drawn curtains, we live out our inner lives and family lives.

The Author:
Melanie Backe-Hansen is an independent historian, writer, and speaker, specialising in the social history of houses across the United Kingdom. Melanie is a research consultant for the popular BBC programme, A House Through Time, and to accompany the series Melanie has co-written the new book, A House Through Time, with historian David Olusoga, released in paperback on 2 September 2021. She was series historical consultant and on-screen expert for Phil Spencer’s History of Britain in 100 Homes (More4). She is also the author of House Histories: The Secrets Behind Your Front Door and Historic Streets and Squares: The Secrets on Your Doorstep.

The main focus of Melanie’s work involves original research for homeowners across the country to provide research reports and bespoke house history books. Melanie regularly contributes to national media and appears on television, radio, and online media. She is also a regular speaker at events and festivals, as well as universities and history groups. Melanie is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Member of the Royal Historical Society, and an Honorary Teaching Fellow at the University of Dundee. 

Title: Planet Omar Epic Hero Flop
Genre: Children - TV & Film
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available
Postage: Free UK Only

Website: https://www.sweetapplebooks.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Zendibble

The Book:
When Omar's best friend Daniel messes up at school, Omar decides to take the blame to save him from getting in trouble - which makes him feel like a hero!

With this taste of heroism, Omar takes the blame for a couple of small things other kids in the class have done - without realising that when something more serious happens, the signs will point to him since he's been so unusually troublesome.

The teachers are SURE the culprit must be Omar. Can his friends prove his innocence and show that he wasn't responsible for the chaos?

The Author:
Zanib Mian’s books have featured on BBC’s Cbeebies Bedtime Stories and The Guardian for their contribution to diversity in children’s literature. Zanib studied Molecular Cell Biology at University College London and went on to teach Science in secondary schools before she made the decision to give up the career to create change within children’s publishing. She felt that diverse characters from all minorities and backgrounds weren’t being fully represented in books for young children. She launched Sweet Apple Publishers with a clear commitment to publishing inclusive books, many of which she has authored herself. She regularly features in the Bradford Literature Festival, was commissioned to write an opera for The Mahogany Opera Group, and is also on the panel of judges for the prestigious Young Muslim Writers Awards.

Title: Life Lessons From The Amazon
Genre: True Life Adventure
Format: Paperback
Dedication: Available
Postage: UK Only

Video: https://vimeo.com/248136099
Website: https://www.phillippastewart.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PipStewart

The Book:
This is the tale of an epic three-month adventure through unexplored jungle terrain - and it might even change your life

Fuelled by a zest for life and the desire to explore the world around her, Pip Stewart took on a world-first challenge: following Guyana's Essequibo River from source to sea. With the help of guides from the Wai Wai indigenous community, Pip and her teammates journeyed through the rainforest, facing peril every day as they kayaked rapids, traversed waterfalls and hacked their way through the mountainous jungle of the Guiana Shield, before finally reaching the Atlantic Ocean.

Survival skills and a flesh-eating parasite weren't the only things Pip took home from the rainforest. From contending with snakes to learning about the value of community, forgiveness and self-belief, in Life Lessons from the Amazon Pip shares many pearls of wisdom that we can all apply to our own lives. Her hard-won insights invite us to embrace the wildness within ourselves and live more every day.

The Author:
Pip Stewart is a mother, partner, writer and chronic over-thinker. She has a degree in History and Politics from Oxford and a Masters in Journalism from The University of Hong Kong. Pip has cycled halfway around the world and completed a world-first paddle through the Amazon Jungle. On one of her adventures she got a bit too up-close-and-personal with a sandfly and found a flesh-eating parasite munching through her neck as a result. After contracting leishmaniasis, Pip now campaigns to raise awareness of neglected tropical diseases. When not writing, she can usually be found outside with her partner, Charlie, and daughter, Willow.

Title: The Importance of Being Interested
Genre: Comedy - Educational
Format: Hardback
Dedication: Available
Postage: UK Only

Book Promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxrAYLO3HKU
Website: https://robinince.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinince

The Book:
Comedian Robin Ince quickly abandoned science at school, bored by a fog of dull lessons and intimidated by the barrage of equations. But, twenty years later, he fell in love and he now presents one of the world's most popular science podcasts. Every year he meets hundreds of the world's greatest thinkers.

In this erudite and witty book, Robin reveals why scientific wonder isn't just for the professionals. Filled with interviews featuring astronauts, comedians, teachers, quantum physicists, neuroscientists and more - as well as charting Robin's own journey with science - The Importance of Being Interested explores why many wrongly think of the discipline as distant and difficult. From the glorious appeal of the stars above to why scientific curiosity can encourage much needed intellectual humility, this optimistic and profound book will leave you filled with a thirst for intellectual adventure.

The Author:
I am the co-host of the long running Radio Four series The Infinite Monkey Cage with Brian Cox and have been a stand up comic for pretty much my whole adult life. Having written a book about my favourite giant killer crabs novels, edited a couple of horror anthologies and co-written a book on how to build a universe, I decided to write a book on how we end up being the humans we are and how we then go on to deal with those problems. It is not a self help book, but I hope it might be helpful.
I was winner of the Time Out Outstanding Achievement in Comedy award, Francis Crick Science Journalism award, Three Chortle awards, British Comedy Award nominee for best live show and the Infinite Monkey Cage has won the Rose d' Or and Sony Gold awards.
In my spare time I like doing impersonations of Brians, including Brian Sewell, Brian Cox and Brian Blessed.
My favourite quote from a giant killer crab book is "Crabs. CRABS. Crabs the size of beach donkeys."