Recommendations based on "Call the Midwife A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times"

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. George Eliot's most ambitious novel is a masterly evocation of diverse lives and changing fortunes in a provincial community. Peopling its landscape are Dorothea Brooke, a young idealist whose search for intellectual fulfillment leads her into a disastrous marriage to the pedantic scholar Casaubon; the charming but tactless Dr Lydgate, whose marriage to the spendthrift beauty Rosamund and pioneering medical methods threaten to undermine his career; and the religious hypocrite Bulstrode, hiding scandalous crimes from his past. As their stories interweave, George Eliot creates a richly nuanced and moving drama, hailed by Virginia Woolf as 'one of the few English novels written for adult people'.

Why is it that men, and not women, have always had power, wealth, and fame? Woolf cites the two keys to freedom: fixed income and one’s own room. Foreword by Mary Gordon.

'A landmark of feminist thought and a rhetorical masterpiece' Guardian Ranging from the silent fate of Shakespeare's gifted imaginary sister to Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë and the effects of poverty and sexual constraint on female creativity, A Room of One's Own, based on a lecture given by Woolf at Girton College, Cambridge, is one of the great feminist polemics. Published almost a decade later, Three Guineas breaks new ground in its discussion of men, militarism and women's attitudes towards war. These two pieces reveal Virginia Woolf's indomitable spirit, sophisticated wit and genius as an essayist. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Michèle Barrett

Truth's landmark slave narrative chronicles her experiences as a slave in upstate New York and her transformation into an extraordinary abolitionist, feminist, orator, and preacher. Based on the complete 1884 edition, this volume includes the "Book of Life," a collection of letters and sketches about Truth's life written subsequent to the original 1850 publication of the Narrative, and "A Memorial Chapter," a sentimental account of her death.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

“A book that will leave no one indifferent, and no one affected in quite the same way.” —New York TimesA superb autobiography by one of the great literary figures of the twentieth centurySimone de Beauvoir's Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter offers an intimate picture of growing up in a bourgeois French family, rebelling as an adolescent against the conventional expectations of her class, and striking out on her own with an intellectual and existential ambition exceedingly rare in a young woman in the 1920s.Beauvoir vividly evokes her friendships, love interests, mentors, and the early days of the most important relationship of her life, with fellow student Jean-Paul Sartre, against the backdrop of a turbulent political time.

Each title in this series tells the life story of an eminent individual in simple language and with an array of photographs. Enid Blyton is undoubtedly a huge figure in children's literature and one whom inspires much loyalty and love. She is a favourite not just in the classroom but is one of the few authors that children will spend their own pocket money on. The mixture of text and photographs in this book tells the story of Enid's own childhood and what inspired her to become a writer of children's books.

The successful country-western star discusses her life, including her first visit to Nashville at age eighteen, marriage to the private Carl, difficult partnership with Porter Wagoner, business ventures, and personal relationships. Reprint.

Flora Thompson's immortal trilogy, containing "Lark Rise", "Over To Candleford" and "Candleford Green", is a heartwarming portrayal of country life at the close of the 19th century. This story of three closely related Oxfordshire communities - a hamlet, the nearby village and a small market town - is based on the author's experiences during childhood and youth. It chronicles May Day celebrations and forgotten children's games, the daily lives of farmworkers and craftsmen, friends and relations - all painted with a gaiety and freshness of observation that make this trilogy an evocative and sensitive memorial to Victorian rural England. With a new introduction by Richard Mabey

Product Description Elizabeth Allen is spoilt and selfish. When's she's sent away to boarding school she makes up her mind to be the naughtiest pupil there's ever been! But Elizabeth soon finds out that being bad isn't as simple as it seems ...Bonus material in these new editions include:A rare, complete serial story about avery special school.An interview with Enid Blyton about her school days.Enid Blyton's experiences as a teacher.A timeline of the author's life.Photos from Enid Blyton's younger days. Review A classic Enid Blyton story...perfect for Blyton fans Woking Advertiser About the Author Enid Blyton died in 1968 but remains one of the best-known and best-loved writers of children`s stories. She is consistently voted a children`s favourite in author polls. She has over 600 children`s books to her credit, including the Famous Five series, the Secret Seven series, the Naughtiest Girl series (all Hodder) and the Malory Towers and St Clare`s series (both available from Hodder on audio).

Simone Weil was one of the foremost thinkers of the twentieth century- a philosopher, theologian, critic, sociologist and political activist. This anthology spans the wide range of her thought, and includes an extract from her best-known work 'The Need for Roots', exploring the ways in which modern society fails the human soul; her thoughts on the misuse of language by those in power; and the essay 'Human Personality', a late, beautiful reflection on the rights and responsibilities of every individual. All are marked by the unique combination of literary eloquence and moral perspicacity that characterised Weil's ideas and inspired a generation of thinkers and writers both in and outside her native France.