A sweeping historical novel about the struggle of one woman and one village against war, racism and ecological devastation. Curon, 1920 In a small village in South Tyrol, Trina longs for a different life. She dedicates herself to becoming a teacher, but the year that she qualifies Mussolini's regime abolishes the use of German as a teaching language. In this new climate of fear and uncertainty Trina works for a clandestine network of schools in the valley, always with the risk of capture. Curon, 1939 Now married and a mother Trina's life is again thrown into uncertainty when Germany anounces the 'Great choice' and communities in South Tyrol are given the opportunity to move to Germany. The town splits and ever-increasing rifts form among its people. Those, like Trina and her family, who choose not to leave are seen as traitors and spies; they can no longer leave the house without suffering abuse. Then one day Trina comes home and finds that her daughter is missing...

'Happiness - was it right to name it without knowing it? It sounded shameless in my mouth, like when someone shows off about knowing a celebrity and just uses their first name, saying Marcello when they really mean Mastroianni ...' A young orphan boy grows up in Naples, playing football, roaming the city's streets and hidden places. The older boys call him 'monkey' because he can climb anywhere. He is alone, apart from Don Gaetano, the apartment caretaker, who feeds him, teaches him to play scopa, and tells him stories about women, history and the dark secrets of Naples' past. Then one day the boy sees a young girl standing at a window. It is an encounter that will haunt his life for years and, eventually, shape his destiny. Lyrical and exuberant, told with the simplicity of a fairy tale and the intensity of a memory, The Day Before Happiness is the story of friendship, a city and what makes us who we are.

Jane Austen found her sister Cassandra a locket. Joan Didion bought nail enamel and a toaster on impulse. Karyn Bosnak charged $20,000 on credit cards, and Elizabeth Wurtzel got caught shoplifting. George Eliot, for some reason, hated shopping. Jane Eyre cringes at Mr Rochester's pre-wedding excess, while Undine Spragg's spending drives her husband to despair. The Girl with a Pearl Earring turns up her nose at some stale meat, Tom Ripley lusts after Venetian leather, and Mrs. Dalloway chooses flowers on Bond Street. As people began to shop more, novelists imagined them doing it. The darker side of shopping is here in the letters, diaries, and memoirs of those who remember blackmarkets and rations. There are even records from the England's central criminal court of audacious and desperate five-finger discounts, and a recent account of brawling at IKEA. "The Virago Book of Shopping" revels in the lists, the etiquette, and the thrills of finding just the right thing.

A sweeping historical novel about the struggle of one woman and one village against war, racism and ecological devastation. Curon, 1920 In a small village in South Tyrol, Trina longs for a different life. She dedicates herself to becoming a teacher, but the year that she qualifies Mussolini's regime abolishes the use of German as a teaching language. In this new climate of fear and uncertainty Trina works for a clandestine network of schools in the valley, always with the risk of capture. Curon, 1939 Now married and a mother Trina's life is again thrown into uncertainty when Germany anounces the 'Great choice' and communities in South Tyrol are given the opportunity to move to Germany. The town splits and ever-increasing rifts form among its people. Those, like Trina and her family, who choose not to leave are seen as traitors and spies; they can no longer leave the house without suffering abuse. Then one day Trina comes home and finds that her daughter is missing...

Beatrix Potter wove one of her most malicious tales around the roly-poly pudding. Colette counted the nuts she would pick before falling asleep in the French countryside. Dorothy Wordsworth noted her pie-making sessions in her diary and Anne Frank observed the eating habits of her companions in hiding. Food is a constant in our lives, and it has always been a basic ingredient of women's writing - in household books, cookbooks, diaries, letters and fiction. In this, the first anthology to concentrate on international food writing by women, you can go on a picnic with Monica Ali, learn about Frida Kahlo's wedding feast and indulge your appetites with Edwidge Danticat and Barbara Pym. Try making Elisabeth Luard's Afghan Betrothal Custard, Martha Washington's marzipan birds or Nigella Lawson's favourite comfort food. And why not sneak into the literary kitchens of Banana Yoshimoto, Emily Bronte and Angela Carter? Something's cooking. . .