Why do we pick up pebbles on the beach? What is it we see in them, and why do we take them home to display on our shelves? Is it their inherent beauty, their infinite variation, or simply their associations with a happy time and place? In this book - part social history and part practical guide - writer and pebble collector Christopher Stocks unearths the sometimes surprising story of our love-affair with pebbles, and considers how the way we see them today has been influenced over the years by artists, authors and even archaeologists. Printmaker Angie Lewin is widely admired for her alluringly stylish images of the natural world. She celebrates the experience of walking and sketching along the British coastline, often incorporating pebbles in her limited edition prints and paintings. Many of these feature in the book alongside a series of new images.

The perfect countryside and armchair companion to the wild flowers of the British Isles. Illustrator Angie Lewin and author Christopher Stocks follow up the success of The Book of Pebbles with The Book of Wildflowers, a celebration of British wild flowers and their place in the landscape. Christopher Stocks reveals the interesting and unusual history and science of wild flowers, including guidance on where they can be found and also tips for cultivation. Designed in a similar format to The Book of Pebbles, it will focus on around 15 of Lewin's favourite wild flowers, and include reproductions of her paintings and illustrations, many of them created specially for the book. Sustaining our long-held affection for the British countryside, The Book of Wildflowers will appeal to anyone who loves British wild flowers, as well as fans of Angie Lewin, who is widely admired for her alluring images of the natural world. It is intended to be followed by a companion volume on cultivated flowers.

What's Charlie Bennett going to do now he's out of work - again? Useless with money and struggling to find a job in a declining industry, he's on a final written warning from his long-suffering wife Melissa. His money worries aren't helped by the discovery that his aged stepfather has been swept off his feet by a peroxide blonde gold-digger with four husbands behind her who is clearly out to steal Charlie's precious inheritance. And Melissa isn't quite as impressed as he'd imagined when he reveals that he has found a get-rich-quick solution through an online gambling website...A funny, bawdy and down-to-earth story about a hapless young man trying to keep his head above water in a world that seems to be out to make life as difficult as possible for him.

New York City, 1950 - Detective Naomi Blake sits in her office, craving a cigarette. Her phone rings. Mark Falco, owner of Falco Corporation, is in interrogation room one. Falco Corp. trucks have been spotted making late-night deliveries to an out-of-business warehouse, and the NYPD wants answers. Mark lawyers his way out. As always. A woman comes in to the station. Says her husband is missing, possibly kidnapped. Before she can say by whom, a mysterious man bursts through the doors and sinks three slugs into her head, then vanishes. Even picks up the shell casings. The work of a professional. Suspicious activity by Falco Corp., a missing husband, and a murdered woman. Three separate events? Or a concoction so vile it could mean the end of peace and justice in New York City?

THE HUNT FOR A MADMAN BEGINS... THE NEW WORLD - A group of elite soldiers known as the Black Powder Brigade patrol the world in secret, searching for strange and deadly creatures to ensure the natural order is safe. Victoria Sorrel, operating under the lie that she is a boy, joins these men in their hunt for unusual creatures in hopes that it will satisfy her hunger for adventure. But, things take a dark turn for Victoria and the Black Powder Brigade. Colonists come up missing, an unusual number of trade ships start to arrive at Boston Harbor, and the madman Isaac Carter escapes from prison. The colonies become overrun with monsters, murder, and betrayal. The New World hangs in the balance, and it's up to Victoria, The Black Powder Brigade, and some newly made friends to pry it from the clutches of evil.

In Forgotten Fruits, Christopher Stocks tells the fascinating - often rather bizarre - stories behind Britain's rich heritage of fruit and vegetables. Take Newton Wonder apples, for instance, first discovered around 1870 allegedly growing in the thatch of a Derbyshire pub. Or the humble gooseberry which, among other things, helped Charles Darwin to arrive at his theory of evolution. Not to mention the ubiquitous tomato, introduced to Britain from South America in the sixteenth century but regarded as highly poisonous for hearly 200 years. This is a wonderful piece of social and natural history that will appeal to every gardener and food aficionado.