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A superbly crafted and humane portrait of the final days of the last Romanovs – Nicholas II of Russia and his wife Alexandra. Complementing his Pulitzer prize-winning Peter the Great, in this commanding book Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of imperial Russia to tell the story of the decline and fall of the ruling Romanov family: Tsar Nicholas II's political naivete; his wife Alexandra's obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin; and their son Alexis's battle with haemophilia.Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a family tragedy played out on the brutal stage of early twentieth-century Russian history – the tale of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.

Halloween has nearly arrived, but a young witch is in a pickle. She has cast a spell and shrunk herself by mistake! When a gust of wind blows her out to sea, her best friend, a little ghost, goes with her. They find themselves landing on Rubbish Island where the Tindims haven''t met witches or ghosts before, and the witch and ghost didn''t know the Tindims even existed. But Skittle, Brew, Pinch and the gang are soon helping their spooky new friends get back to the right size and home in time for their Halloween parade. And the Tindims give us their tips on how to celebrate Halloween the right way.Printed in dyslexia-friendly font with pictures on every page and perfect for the reluctant reader, the Tindims of Rubbish Island is an empowering series for 5-8 year olds inspiring conservation and inventive ways to recycle.

To celebrate the centenary of the publication of Ulysses, the most important literary work of the twentieth century, eighteen artists, writers and thinkers respond to an episode each of the great modernist text. Each essayist is an expert in one of the subjects treated in the novel, but what brings them together is a common love of Ulysses.Joseph O''Connor considers the music-saturated Sirens episode and David McWilliams writes about the bigotry and violence of nationalism on display in Cyclops. Irish obstetrician Rhona Mahony responds to Oxen and the Sun, set in a maternity hospital, journalist Lara Marlowe examines the Aeolus episode, which takes place in a newspaper office, and Irish philosopher Richard Kearney reflects on the erudite musings of Stephen Dedalus as he walks along Sandymount strand.The Book About Everything counters the perception of Ulysses as the sole preserve of academics and instead showcases readers'' responses to the book. It is a vivid, even eccentric collectio