Second in a series of hardcover box sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dust jackets—one side featuring artwork by John Howe, and the original graphic treatment on the other. Set 2 contains The Lays of Beleriand, The Shaping of Middle-earth, and The Lost Road (Books 3–5 of The History of Middle-earth).

The Lays of Beleriand gives us a privileged insight into the creation of the mythology of Middle-earth, through the alliterative verse tales of two of the most crucial stories in Tolkien’s world—those of Turin and Luthien. Accompanying the poems are commentaries on the evolution of the history of the Elder Days. Also included is the notable criticism of The Lay of Leithian by C.S. Lewis, who read the poem in 1929.

In The Shaping of Middle-earth, the chronological and geographical structure of the legends of Middle-earth and Valinor is spread before us. We are introduced to the hitherto unknown Ambarkanta or “Shape of the World,” the only account ever given of the nature of the imagined Universe, accompanied by maps and diagrams of the world before and after the cataclysms of The War of the Gods and the Downfall of Numenor.

The Lost Road completes the examination of Tolkien’s writing before he began The Lord of the Rings, presenting later forms of the annals of Valinor and Beleriand, the legend of the downfall of Numenor, and the abandoned “time-travel” story “The Lost Road,” linking the world of Numenor and Middle-earth with the legends of many other times and peoples.

Published together for the first time, these three books collect a fascinating period of Christopher Tolkien’s forty-year career devoted to presenting his father J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings on Middle-earth, a unique accomplishment that celebrates the greatest invented world in all of fantasy literature.

The first in the Abbeyford Trilogy, Abbeyford is a heart-warming historical romance by Margaret Dickinson. Joseph Miller is a proud man, so when his daughter, Sarah, becomes lady's maid to Lady Caroline up at Abbeyford Grange, he is very resentful - just at the time when local landowners are planning to destroy the last vestiges of villagers' independence by enclosure of the common land. And when Sarah falls in love with the squire's son it seems that their romance can only end in a tragedy which will destroy the Miller family. Meanwhile, Lady Caroline's wilful nature leads her into a clandestine romance with gentle Thomas Cole. Nothing and no one must stand in her way, not even Lynwood, the fourteen-year-old boy who loves her devotedly. But, like Sarah, will she bow to the pressures of family and friends, or will she take what she wants, regardless of the consequences? Continue the popular Abbeyford Trilogy with Abbeyford Inheritance.

From the internationally bestselling author of A Woman of Substance comes the continuing story of indomitable heroine, Emma Harte Emma Harte is now eighty years old and ready to hand over the reins of the vast business empire she has created. To her favourite grandchild, Paula McGill Fairley, Emma bequeaths her mighty retailing empire with these heartfelt words: 'I charge you to hold my dream.' A towering international success, this is the powerfully moving tale of one woman's determination to 'hold the dream' which was entrusted to her, and in so doing find the happiness and passion which is her legacy.

Once upon a time, Michael had a great career and a wonderful family-until his sudden death. Worse yet, when he arrived at the pearly gates, he was denied entrance. Now, given the chance to redeem himself as a Guardian Angel, Michael intervenes in the lives of people who are in peril.

Winter is pounding its way through Indianapolis, and trouble for Michael follows swiftly on the howling winds. A serial killer has just taken the life of another homeless victim, and One-eyed Bob, Michael's closest friend in the homeless community, has gone missing, putting everyone on edge and uncertain of who to trust. Meanwhile, as the bad economy takes its toll, the shelter director, Pastor Steve, is forced to partner with another congregation to keep the refuge open. As tension, drama, and the threat of a killer on the loose hang like a dark cloud over the shelter, Michael soon discovers he has another problem: the demon he defeated over a year ago may be back to seek revenge.

In this continuing series, a Guardian Angel on a journey of redemption must find his homeless friend before a serial killer strikes again and his demonic nemesis satisfies his grudge.

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Science raises questions only love can answer in this moving and thought-provoking novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "heart-tugging and emotional" (Romantic Times Book Reviews) life-changing fiction. One frozen embryo. Two families with life-long secrets. And a guy who never planned to fall in love again. Maddie Baxter West is shaken to the core when she finds out everything she believed about her life was a lie. Her parents had always planned to tell her the truth about her past: that she was adopted as an embryo. But somehow the right moment never happened. Then a total stranger confronts Maddie with the truth and tells her something else that rocks her world-Maddie had a sister she never knew about. Betrayed, angry, and confused, Maddie leaves her new job and fiance, rejects her family's requests for forgiveness, and moves to Portland to find out who she really is. Dawson Gage's life was destroyed when London Quinn, his best friend and the only girl he ever loved, is killed. In the hospital waiting room, London's mother reveals that London might have had a sibling. The frozen embryo she and her husband donated decades ago. When Dawson finds Maddie and brings her to Portland, the Quinns-her biological parents-welcome her into their lives and hearts. Maddie is comforted by the Quinns' love and intrigued by their memories of London, who was so much like her. Is this the family and the life she was really meant to have? Now it will take the love of Dawson Gage to help Maddie know who she is...and to help her find her way home.

London, 1944.

Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While the world remains at war, in East London Clara has created the country's only underground library, built over the tracks in the disused Bethnal Green tube station. Down here a secret community thrives: with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café and a theatre offering shelter, solace and escape from the bombs that fall above.

Along with her glamorous best friend and library assistant Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war drags on, the women's determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to the limits when it seems it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.

Based on true events, The Little Wartime Library is a gripping and heart-wrenching page-turner that remembers one of the greatest resistance stories of the war.

A comforting story set against the nation's favourite holiday camp, from bestselling author of The Woolworths Girls 'Molly Missons gazed around in awe. So this was Butlin's. Whitewashed buildings, bordered by rhododendrons, gave a cheerful feeling to a world still recovering from six years of war. The Skegness holiday camp covered a vast area, much larger than Molly expected to see.' Molly Missons hasn't had the best of times recently. Having lost her parents, now some dubious long-lost family have darkened her door - attempting to steal her home and livelihood... After a horrendous ordeal, Molly applies for a job as a Butlin's Aunty. When she receives news that she has got the job, she immediately leaves her small home town - in search of a new life in Skegness. Molly finds true friendship in Freda, Bunty and Plum. But the biggest shock is discovering that star of the silver screen, Johnny Johnson, is working at Butlin's as head of the entertainment team. Johnny takes an instant liking to Molly and she begins to shed the shackles of her recent traumas. Will Johnny be just the distraction Molly needs - or is he too good be to be true?

Behind the grimy wharves of Londons dockland lies Conner Street, home to a close-knit community where women stand gossiping in doorways, small boys play marbles on the cobbles and the dockers pop down to the Eagle for a quick pint. Corner shops nestle beside the tiny terraced houses and two minutes away is the lively Tower Road market, where it is said, if you can't buy something then it's not made. Once World War Two breaks out, however, life in Conner Street changes dramatically - for ever...

September 1905. At the heart of the Ottoman Empire, in the ancient city of Smyrna, Scheherazade is born to an opium-dazed mother. At the very same moment, an Indian spy sails into the golden-hued, sycamore-scented city with a secret mission from the British Empire. When he leaves, 17 years later, it will be to the smell of kerosene and smoke as the city, and its people, are engulfed in flames. Told through the intertwining fates of a Levantine, a Greek, a Turkish and an Armenian family, this unforgettable novel reveals a city, and a culture, now lost to time. 'Fiercely intelligent, finely textured and achingly beautiful' Elif Shafak 'Utterly delightful' Buki Papillon 'This rich tale of love and loss gives voice to the silenced, and adds music to their histories' Maureen Freely, Chair, English PEN 'A must-read' Ayse Arman, Hu rriyet 'A symphony of literature' Acik Radyo 'Defne Suman is a story-teller. She tells the story of how love, emotions and identities are influenced by socio-political events of a lifetime' Cumhuriyet Newspaper 'A wonderfully braided story of family secrets set in the magical city of Smyrna, told in luminous prose' Lou Ureneck, author of Smyrna, September 1922

A Marriage and a Sudden Move to a New Town Won't Slow This Mischievous Writer Down

Barbara Buncle: bestselling novelist, new wife...new neighbor?

In this charming follow-up to Miss Buncle's Book, the intrepid writer moves to a new town filled with fascinating folks...who don't even know they might become the subjects of her next bestselling book.

Miss Buncle may have settled down, but she has already discovered that married life can't do a thing to prevent her from getting into humorous mix-ups and hilarious hijinks.

A beloved author who has sold more than seven million books, D. E. Stevenson is at her best with the stories of Miss Buncle.

"Completely charming."

"And funny, in a way that's intelligent without being difficult and cozy without turning sticky-sweet."--Reader Review for the Miss Buncle books