Michael Hulse

Simon Rae

An anthology of poetry from the twentieth century features brief biographies and chronically arranged entries while providing insight into historical influences and the evolutions of various traditional and modernist forms.

The 20th Century in Poetry

W. G. Grace was the world's first superstar, whose staggering achievements as both batsman and bowler made him the greatest draw cricket had ever known. Simon Rae's best-selling W. G. Grace has been acclaimed as the definitive biography of the man behind the most famous beard in English history.

W. G. Grace

This ground-breaking anthology presents in chronological order over 400 poems written in the twentieth century. The authors, both published poets themselves, give an overview of each period of history, while notes to the poems place each one in its historical context and trace the century's poetic development. Concise biographies for each poet complete the anthology. By organizing the poems in chronological order, readers will see poets in a new light. Here A.E. Houseman, for example, rubs shoulders with T.S. Eliot, showing that traditional forms can hold their own against the modernist orthodoxy. Here are poets rescued from oblivion, such as the suffragette who wrote a compelling poem about her mistreatment in Holloway Prison in 1912 or the medical offer who went into Belsen with the British troops producing an eye-witness poem of lasting power. All the major events of the twentieth century are reflected in the choice of poems within these pages. This richly rewarding collection makes invaluable reading for poetry lovers all over the world.

Peter Matheson

Maurice Andrew

Essays in Honor of Albert C. Moore

Religious Studies in Dialogue

Richard J. Hand

Eric Robinson

Seamus Heaney

Ronald Blythe

Richard Mabey

Edward Strickland

Victoria Leatham

Mark Storey

John Wain

Alan Brownjohn

John Barrell

Trevor Hold

Edward Storey

Gavin Ewart

Sean Street

Lotte Kramer

Greg Crossan

George Dixon

Tom Bates

Bob Heyes

E.P. Thompson

William Westwood

Brian Blade

Andrew Motion 

Roger Frith

R.S. Thomas

The official Journal of the John Clare Society, published annually to reflect the interest in, and approaches to, the life and work of the poet John Clare.

John Clare Society Journal, 12 (1993)

J.L. Carr

Charles Causley

Johanne Clare

Margaret A. Powell

John Clare Society Journal, 6 (1987)

The first of three intriguing thrillers starring Inspector Dalliance. The most idyllic of villages can be the most deadly. The villagers of Little Bolton gather on the green one glorious Sunday afternoon for their weekly cricket match. With the game underway, nobody suspects that among the men in whites stands a killer. But when one of their number mysteriously collapses out on the field, Inspector Dalliance is sent in to investigate foul play. Soon enough he realizes that the rural idyll in which he finds himself is in fact a viper's nest of bitter feelings and intense rivalries. With the modern world encroaching on their traditional way of life, the stakes are higher for these people than Dalliance can imagine. He must root out the wrongdoers and heal this community in quiet turmoil, before it takes justice into its own hands once more.

Introducing Inspector Dalliance

Bodyline

A box is left on Marcus's doorstep in the rain. Fussy Aunt Hester has told Marcus not to open the front door under any circumstances. But she's out - and just this once can't hurt . . . can it? Except the parcel isn't embroidery supplies for Aunt Hester. Or fishing tackle for Uncle Frank. Whatever is in there, it's alive. And it's ANGRY. The thing in the box sends Marcus's life spinning horrifyingly out of control - controlling his mind and testing his will so that every moment is deadly. Can Marcus overcome the pull of the Gorgon's gaze, and use her power for good? Because he received that box for a reason - but he must find out what it is, before the terrible, beautiful Medusa turns everyone he holds dear to stone . . . and then comes for him. Laced with myth, this modern story positively writhes with horror and suspense. A terrifying, unputdownable read for fans of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter.

Medusa's Butterfly

A joyful yuletide anthology cloth-bound in exquisite Liberty Fabric.

The Faber Book of Christmas

W. G. Grace burst onto the cricket scene in the 1860s with spectacular force. He dominated the game until the end of the century, and influences it to this day. He was the world's first sporting superstar, rivalled as a public figure only by Gladstone and Queen Victoria herself. His staggering achievements as both batsman and bowler made him the greatest draw cricket had ever known. Though often depicted as an overgrown schoolboy, W. G. was extremely shrewd and ruthlessly exploited the power his immense popularity gave him. A notorious 'shamateur', he amassed great wealth through cricket, while remaining the standard-bearer for the Gentlemen against the Players for forty years. Researched in archives from Grimsby (where Grace once scored 400) to Australia, Simon Rae's new biography offers a radical analysis of Grace's career, and reviews the more controversial aspects of his conduct, including verbal and physical altercations, both on and off the field, and his kidnapping of an Australian cricketer from Lord's. But W. G. Grace: A Life provides more than a fresh look at the cricketer. It focuses on Grace's formative family background; his intensely competitive relations with his two famous brothers, 'E. M.' and Fred; his career as a doctor, and his ambitions and bereavements as a father. Drawing on little-known diaries and letters, and unique access to Grace's own library, Simon Rae builds up a convincing psychological portrait of the man behind the most famous beard in English history.

W. G. Grace: A Life

The Pillbox Murders is the second of Simon Rae's Inspector Dalliance series. Nestling in undergrowth by the bank of the Thames, an old wartime pillbox, relic of the nation's troubled past, finds itself at the heart of events that will haunt the idyllic village of Cardwell.

The Pillbox Murders

An eye-opening survey of cricket, from the crowd violence and blatant match-rigging of the eighteenth century, down to the twentieth century's glaring abuses of the spirit of the game. Written in the same lively style that won such praise for his W.G. Grace: A Life, Simon Rae's history of cheating will appeal to the cricket fan and general reader alike. Ranging from Thomas White, who notoriously arrived at the crease with a bat the size of the wicket, on through the Bodyline controversy and throwing, sledging, umpire baiting, and the recent disgrace of Hansie Cronje, It's Not Cricket makes us ask whether cricket really ever was the yardstick of all that is true, honest, pure and of good repute.

It's Not Cricket

Simon Rae

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