Michael Slater

Charles Dickens was regarded as the great proponent of hearth and home in Victorian Britain, but in 1858 this image was nearly shattered. With the breakup of his marriage that year, rumors of a scandalous relationship he may have conducted with the young actress Ellen "Nelly" Ternan flourished. For the remaining twelve years of his life, Dickens managed to contain the gossip. After his death, surviving family members did the same. But when the author's...

Richly and precisely illustrated with many rare images, this masterly work on the complete Dickens, man and writer, offers an indispensable and comprehensive look at one of the greatest novelists of all time.

When his father dies, Nicholas is sent by his uncle to a school to be a teacher, but when Nicholas finds that the headmaster bullies the students, he must decide whether to stay, or leave and allow his uncle to cut off support.

After finding bones stripped of flesh around a strange rock dome, Alex discovers that he is being hunted by millions of creatures. As darkness descends, the ground is a living carpet capable of devouring flesh with every step. Hell has been unleashed ...

Father Brown returns for a twelfth series, derived from the classic short stories of G K Chesterton. One of the most quirky, genial and lovable characters to emerge from English detective fiction, the kindly cleric with his large umbrella and numerous brown paper parcels, possesses a sharp intelligence, and limitless knowledge of men's evil. He works using intuition, shaped by his experiences as a priest and confessor.