Evelyn Atkins and her sister Babs were two middle-aged sisters who lived in suburban Surrey and led the humdrum life of so many commuters. Like others, Evelyn dreamed of owning an island. And Evelyn was a very determined daydreamer...Then Evelyn broke her leg and it meant an early retirement from her demanding job. The two sisters scraped together the money for a dilapidated cottage in Cornwall. From the cliffs they could see tiny Looe Island glimmering tantalisingly in the sunshine. Then came the momentous day when the island came up for sale. Needless to say, Evelyn and Babs were soon the proud - though somewhat bemused - owners. Life on an island certainly seemed to raise a lot of problems. But, while the locals looked on with scepticism, the two sisters, nothing daunted, rallied to meet the biggest adventure of their lives.

Originally published in 1937, Number in the Nursery and Infant School surveys the teachings of Froebel, Montessori and Dewey, the prevalent theories in education at the time, and takes elements from each in order to outline a new method. The author was closely associated with infant-school work over a number of years. She also trained teachers for that purpose, carefully observing the results of different methods of teaching. The method described was in full accord with modern psychological theory of the time, today it can be read and enjoyed in its historical context.

The metaphor of life as prison obsessed Edith Wharton, and, consequently, the theme of imprisonment appears in most of her 86 short stories. In the last several decades, critical studies of Wharton's fiction have focused on this theme of imprisonment, but invariably it is related to biographical considerations. This study, however, is not concerned with such insights and influences; rather, it concentrates on Wharton's skill as a craftsman in consciously and carefully fitting her narrative techniques to the imprisonment theme. Representative tales from Wharton's early period (1891-1904), her major phase (1905-1919), and her later years (1926-1937) have been examined and divided into four categories: individuals trapped by love and marriage, men and women imprisoned by the dictates of society, human beings victimized by the demands of art and morality, and persons paralyzed by fear of the supernatural.