Louise Tondeur - Editor

Grandma’s stories, ‘…would always start in the place where we were,’ and so it is with Unusual Places. Human remains are concealed in the Greenwich Tunnel in a world where London is a prison; a market is the setting for sexual and sensual awakenings; a professional picnicker finds love. Louise Tondeur’s stories skip along, rich with detail and musical prose, only to trip us up with turns and surprises: the unusual lurks in the most ordinary of places.

A Small Steps Guide to Time Management and Goal Setting is a no-nonsense guide to discovering goals and making them concrete. It is ideal for goal setting for health, career, study, family, finances, travel or leisure. Written for those who want a straightforward guide to getting their dreams on track, with special sections for those who lack motivation or who never seem to have time, readers have access to the small steps method website for further tips and advice.

Rachel, Alex, Billy and Jemima: four women whose lives are changed for ever by the Haven, a home for unmarried mothers. Theirs are tales of sadness and heartbreaking loss, but also of discovery: of intense and magical friendships, chocolate sponges, unexpected kisses and the secret world of the Memory Lane café. When Erica, a young woman just out of prison, begins to stir up the past, she discovers that the Haven’s story is far from over.

After her mother dies, Rice, an awkward but highly imaginative teenager, is sent to live at the Water’s Edge, a gloriously ramshackle Bournemouth hotel. There she meets Beatrice, an old school friend of her mother’s, and her witchily beautiful daughter, Esther. Rice gradually falls for the world of the hotel – its rhythms and routines, its eccentric guests, and its rich history, which touches upon her own identity. She also begins to fall for Esther. Watching over her like a guardian angel is the figure of Persephone, who each year is washed up to Bournemouth from Hades, and who finds herself equally seduced by the Water’s Edge, which for her offers an intriguing window on the mortal world.

All four books in the series include lesson plans and ideas sheets for busy teachers. In this first book you’ll find the following four sections: Foundational Drama Skills, Storytelling, Communication, and Using Props and Costume. You’ll also get a bonus section on putting on a radio play using the Babushka story. There are forty sessions in this book, divided into four sections, enough material for you to run one drama session a week over the school year (plus the bonus section). You can turn the lesson plans and the individual activities into one off sessions, or use them to build schemes of work. They’re flexible, so you and your students can add your own topics, learning objectives, stories, or ideas throughout.

You are a writer if you make a habit of writing. Full stop. Using this book, you will to learn more about the habit of writing. You will think about how to write, and how to create, and you’ll to try out you lots of practical activities along the way. You will end up with your own writers’ toolkit – a set of tools you can use again and again in your writing life.

This book of writing prompts will kick-start your writing habit and challenge you to schedule your writing for 30 days. It’s more than a set of productivity tips for writers – it gives you writing briefs to follow until your writing habit is up and running. If you want to develop your writing skills, or learn to schedule regular writing time, or find out how to establish a writing habit, or if you need few or a whole bunch of writing prompts to get you going, you’re in the right place. Free on Amazon!