The View From The Corner Shop

A lively diary chronicling the ups and downs of running a grocery shop in a Yorkshire town during the rationing years of the Second World War Kathleen Hey spent the war years helping her sister and brother-in-law run a grocery shop in the Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. From July 1941 to July 1946 she kept a diary for the Mass-Observation project, recording the thoughts and concerns of the people who used the shop. What makes Kathleen's account such a vivid and compelling read is the immediacy of her writing. People were pulling together on the surface ('Bert has painted the V-sign on the shop door…', she writes) but there are plenty of tensions underneath. The shortage of food and the extreme difficulty of obtaining it is a constant thread, which dominates conversation in the town, more so even than the danger of bombardment and the war itself. Sometimes events take a comic turn. A lack of onions provokes outrage among her customers, and Kathleen writes, 'I believe they think we have secret onion orgies at night and use them all up.' The Brooke Bond tea rep complains that tea need not be rationed at all if supply ships were not filled with 'useless goods' such as Corn Flakes, and there is a long-running saga about the non-arrival of Smedley's peas. Among the chorus of voices she brings us, Kathleen herself shines through as a strong and engaging woman who refuses to give in to doubts or misery and who maintains her keen sense of humour even under the most trying conditions. A vibrant addition to our records of the Second World War, the power of her diary lies in its juxtaposition of the everyday and the extraordinary, the homely and the universal, small town life and the wartime upheavals of a nation.

"Rosa Larkin is down on her luck in London, so when she inherits a near-derelict corner shop in a quaint Devon village, her first thought is to sell it for cash and sort out her life. But nothing is straightforward about this legacy. While the identity of her benefactor remains a mystery, he - or she - has left one important legal proviso: that the shop cannot be sold, only passed on to somebody who really deserves it. Rosa makes up her mind to give it a go: to put everything she has into getting the shop up and running again in the small seaside community of Cockleberry Bay. But can she do it all on her own? And if not, who will help her succeed - and who among the following will work secretly to see her fail? There is a handsome rugby player, a sexy plumber, a charlatan reporter and a selection of meddling locals. Add in a hit and run incident and the disappearance of a valuable engraved necklace - and what you get is a journey of self-discovery and unpredictable events. With surprising and heartfelt results, Rosa, accompanied at all times by her little sausage dog Hot, will slowly unravel the shadowy secrets of the inheritance, and also bring her own, long-hidden heritage into the light."--Publisher description.

The only way to secure her dream is to marry a handsome stranger . . . When Rose and Jack meet, she has just lost her uncle, and with him her dream of owning a coffee shop. Rose wanted nothing more than to open a café in her uncle’s building. But her uncle’s will is clear – the building goes to Rose’s husband. Not to her. Then, his lawyer, Jack, offers an unusual solution… she can marry him. She’ll get the café and he’ll get the building. For some reason, Rose agrees. It might be a marriage of convenience but it’s anything but simple. Despite it being his idea, Jack is unbearably surly... But then he does something that shows Rose he might just have a softer side. Maybe love can start with a contract… but will Rose still feel that way when she learns the full terms of their deal?

This delightful novel in verse follows the adventures of a brother and sister around the neighborhood, and especially at the corner grocery store! Race you to our corner grocery store! Stanstones’ corner store is the heart of the neighborhood for the brother and sister in this story. They help to close the store every Saturday and save their pennies to buy candy. The store is the source of many adventures, where they spend a memorably spooky Halloween, play tricks on Mr. and Mrs. Stanstones, and form a search party to find Toby the store cat when he goes missing. What will happen to their beloved corner store when a brand-new supermarket opens up in town? Full of humor and playful language, this novel in verse is a sweetly nostalgic celebration of a time when children had more freedom and a mom-and-pop corner store might be the center of a kid’s world. Based on Robert Heidbreder’s childhood, this follow-up to Rooster Summer can be read as a sequel or a stand-alone story. Chelsea O’Byrne’s vibrant illustrations bring the corner store and its colorful cast of characters to life. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Looking for quick healthy meal ideas using ingredients from your local shop? The Cornershop Cookbook has the answers! From yam to Spam and greens to sardines, these mouthwatering recipes reveal the wealth of culinary creativity to be unlocked in your local shop. There are dead simple recipes for a quiet night in like Linguine with Tinned Crab; vibrant alternative takeaway offerings like Twice-Cooked Aubergine with Vietnamese Sauce; solutions for weeknights, from simple Smoked Salmon Baked Eggs to the larger-scale Fish Finger Tacos; there is comfort food, from nourishing Thyme, Chorizo and Leek Broth to a down-and-dirty Meatball Sub; and finally there are sweet treats like Frostie Florentines. Using easily available ingredients, this book will inspire you to create delicious meals for the whole family. ‘Filled with simple and tasty dishes conjured from easy-to-find humble ingredients’ Crumbs

Nina Redmond is a librarian with a gift for finding the perfect book for her readers. But can she write her own happy-ever-after? In this valentine to readers, librarians, and book-lovers the world over, the New York Times-bestselling author of Little Beach Street Bakery returns with a funny, moving new novel for fans of Nina George’s The Little Paris Bookshop. Nina is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more. Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile — a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling. From helping her grumpy landlord deliver a lamb, to sharing picnics with a charming train conductor who serenades her with poetry, Nina discovers there’s plenty of adventure, magic, and soul in a place that’s beginning to feel like home… a place where she just might be able to write her own happy ending.

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK 'Nuanced, human and engaging' Nikesh Shukla, Observer 'Full of life, characters, gossip and all the richness of the local community' Sir David Jason 'A delightful story of growing up "above the shop"' Nigel Slater, Observer 'Cleverly links her own memories of shop-bound life with the last 50 years of British history' Spectator 'I come from a hidden world: I am the daughter of shopkeepers. I've seen you on a Sunday morning, nipping out to get a pint of milk or to grab a newspaper. I came to know a lot about you; whether your politics leaned to the right or left, whether you were gay or straight, and whether you were plagued by cash-flow problems or had enough disposable income to indulge your penchant for Cadbury's Crème Eggs.' Babita Sharma was raised in a corner shop in Reading, and over the counter watched a changing world, from the clientele to the products to the politics of the day. Along with the skills to mop a floor perfectly and stack a shelf, she gained a unique insight into a shifting landscape - and an institution that, despite the creep of supermarkets, online shopping and delivery, has found a way to evolve and survive. The Corner Shop is the remarkable human story of these little institutions that have changed the course of our history. From the general stores of the first half of the 20th century (one of which was run by the father of a certain Margaret Thatcher), to the reimagined corner shops run by immigrants from India, East Africa and Eastern Europe from the 60s to the noughties, the corner shop has shaped the way we shop, the way we eat, and the way we understand ourselves. 'A triumph' Radio Times 'A compelling, full selection box of a story' Sanjeev Kohli 'One of the best books I've read on the immigrant experience in this country' Daily Mail 'I loved it cover to cover' Angela Clutton, author of The Vinegar Cupboard

Lucille Abbey runs her London secretarial agency with utmost efficiency. When, therefore, a certain Professor Hallam rejects three girls sent by her to apply for the post of his secretary and they each pronounce him “impossible”, Lucille herself sets out to interview the Professor at his home in Hampshire. He is, she finds, eccentric—even impossible; but he represents a challenge and, what is more, an excuse to delay what promises to be a trying holiday in Paris. She stays on to tame and to organize him—a less formidable task than she had imagined; in fact, she grows fond of him. But the atmosphere is somewhat disturbed first by the arrival of a debonair French art expert in search of paintings left to the Professor by his mother, and the next by a hysterical girl on the track of her runaway fiancé. The paintings have unaccountably disappeared; the mystery is still unsolved by the time Lucille’s work for the Professor comes to an end and she has to set off for Paris. At her aunt’s shop in the Rue des Dames, the arrival there of the indomitable art expert, the hysterical girl, the Professor, and a persistent suitor to boot, throw Lucille’s normally orderly life into complete upheaval. *Note, these titles contain the original, unabridged, text exactly as the author first wrote it. Many later editions of Elizabeth Cadell's works were heavily abridged or changed. We hope you enjoy the re-issue of these timeless books. Watch for more to come in the near future!