The Ratcatcher S Daughter

A remarkable story about a little-known tragedy in Australian history. It's 1900. thirteen-year-old Issy McKelvie leaves school and starts her first job - very reluctantly - as a maid in an undertaking establishment. She thinks this is about as low as you can go. But there's worse to come. Issy becomes an unwilling rat-catcher when the plague - the Black Death - arrives in Australia. Issy loathes both rats and her father's four yappy, snappy, hyperactive rat-killing terriers. But when her father becomes ill it's up to Issy to join the battle to rid the city of the plague-carrying rats. 'A brilliant and richly evocative insight into a fascinating and little-known aspect of our past.' -- Jackie French, Australian Children's Laureate.

A remarkable story about a little - known tragedy in Australian history. 'A brilliant and richly evocative insight into a fascinating and little - known aspect of our past.' Jackie French, Australian Children's Laureate It's 1900. Thirteen - year - old Issy McKelvie leaves school and starts her first job - very reluctantly - as a maid in an undertaking establishment. She thinks this is about as low as you can go. But there's worse to come. Issy becomes an unwilling rat - catcher when the plague - the Black Death - arrives in Australia. Issy loathes both rats and her father's four yappy, snappy, hyperactive rat - killing terriers. But when her father becomes ill it's up to Issy to join the battle to rid the city of the plague - carrying rats. Ages 10+

It's 1900. Thirteen-year-old Issy McKelvie leaves school and starts her first job -- very reluctantly -- as a maid in an undertaking establishment. She thinks this is about as low as you can go. But there's worse to come. Issy becomes an unwilling rat-catcher when the plague -- the Black Death -- arrives in Australia. Issy loathes both rats and her father's four yappy, snappy, hyperactive rat-killing terriers. But when her father becomes ill it's up to Issy to join the battle to rid the city of the plague-carrying rats.

Once upon a time a boy from a noble family fell in love with a girl from the gutter. It went as badly as you'd expect.Seventeen years later, Susan Lazarus is a renowned detective, and Templeton Lane is a jewel thief. She's tried to arrest him, and she's tried to shoot him. They've never tried to talk.Then Templeton is accused of a vicious double murder. Now there's a manhunt out for him, the ports are watched, and even his best friends have turned their backs. If he can't clear his name, he'll hang.There's only one person in England who might help Templeton now...assuming she doesn't want to kill him herself.

Ignored upon its publication in 1926 in a Russian émigré periodical, Marina Tsvetaeva's extraordinary narrative poem The Ratcatcher is today deemed by critics and readers to be the zenith of her impressive oeuvre. Written in Prague and Paris in the mid-1920s and now available in the United States for the first time, The Ratcatcher is at once a paean to literary tradition and a scathing attack on the materialistic, unspiritual lifestyle embraced by post-Bolshevik Russia.

*The book that inspired the big-hit new film starring Emilia Clarke, Himesh Patel, David Tennant, Hugh Laurie and Joe Sugg, coming 16th December. Read before you see! With amazing content, from scripts to film art* Even wizards produce leftovers. But a wizard's rubbish is laced with magic, and for the rats that forage this rubbish, the magic has changed them - they can speak and read, and have rather grand ambitions for a comfortable retirement. Which is perfect for a con-cat like Maurice. He has his own magical talents, and wants to get rich quick. Together with the rats, and young Keith, the 'piper', they work the towns to create their very own plague of rats - then lure them away for cash. But in the run-down town Bad Blintz, this little con goes wrong, and suddenly these educated rodents aren't playing to the piper's tune . . . 'An astonishing novel' Financial Times

Lord Alexander Pyne-ffoulkes, the younger son of the Duke of Ilvar, holds a bitter grudge against his wealthy father. The Duke intends to give his Duchess a priceless diamond parure on their wedding anniversary-so Alec hires a pair of jewel thieves to steal it. The Duke's remote castle is a difficult target, and Alec needs a way to get the thieves in. Soldier-turned-criminal Jerry Crozier has the answer: he'll pose as a Society gentleman and become Alec's new best friend.But Jerry is a dangerous man: controlling, remote, and devastating. He effortlessly teases out the lonely young nobleman's most secret desires, and soon he's got Alec in his bed-and the palm of his hand. Or maybe not. Because as the plot thickens, betrayals, secrets, new loves, and old evils come to light. Now the jewel thief and the aristocrat must keep up the pretence, find their way through a maze of privilege and deceit, and confront the truth of what's between them...all without getting caught.