48. The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud

ISBN: 0786836547 - Hyperion/Miramax, 2006

The second book of the Bartimaeus Trilogy follows the adventures of ambitous, young magician John Mandrake (born Nathaniel) and his djinni, Bartimaeus. Mandrake now works for the Ministry of the Interior and is charged with investigating the "Resistance" movement. A Golem is running amok in the centre of London. (Golem: In Jewish folklore, an image that comes to life. From the Middle Ages stories were told of wise men who could bring clay effigies to life by means of magic charms or sacred words. Golems began as perfect servants, whose only fault lay in fulfilling their master's commands too literally or mechanically. Later golems were imagined as protectors of the Jews in times of persecution, but also had a frightening aspect. Source: www.answers.com ) When the Resistance raid Gladstone's tomb, they unleash an insane foliot trapped inside the former Prime Minister's skeleton and further destruction ensues.

47. The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

ISBN: 0 7868 5255 0 - Hyperion/Miramax 2004
Nathaniel is a young magician's apprentice, taking his first lessons in the arts of magic. But when a devious hotshot wizard named Simon Lovelace ruthlessly humiliates Nathaniel in front of everyone he knows, Nathaniel decides to kick up his education a few notches and show Lovelace who's boss. With revenge on his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all: summoning the all-powerful djinni, Bartimaeus. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal the powerful Amulet of Samarkand, Nathaniel finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, blackmail, and revolt.

46. A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Penguin, 1932
Set in 26th Century London, Huxley's novel was written more as social commentary than science fiction. In this dystopian world, test-tube or rather bottled babies, promiscuity and mood altering drugs are the norm. Henry Ford becomes a messianic figure - his name is even used as a curse word as in, "Oh, Ford!" and the calendar based on his life span. The first part of the novel centres on Bernard Marx, a non-conformist whose physical appearance, ideas and behaviour make him an outcast. The true protagonist John the Savage, however, is not introduced until the second part of the novel when Marx visits the pueblo of Malpais in the New Mexican Savage Reservation and brings John and his ailing mother back to London.

45. Isobel Gunn by Audrey Thomas

ISBN 0864923317 - Penguin, 1999 (Audio Book)

In the summer of 1806, a young Orkney woman disguised herself as a man and signed on with the Hudson's Bay Company. For a year and a half she hid her identity and her deception was revealed only when she was giving birth to a baby boy. In less than an hour, she turned from John Fubbister into Isobel Gunn. Very little is known about the real woman. Audrey Thomas has taken the threads of Isobel Gunn's story and turned them into a compelling novel about an unusual woman, her short life, and the effect she had on those around her.

Narrated by Duncan Fraser.

44. The Trellis and the Seed by Jan Karon

ISBN 0-670-89289-0 - Penguin Group, 2003

A parable about how patience and quiet confidence can help achieve great things.

43. Shepherd's Abiding by Jan Karon

ISBN 0-670-03120-8 - Penguin Group, 2003
Father Timothy Kavanagh, of Mitford, North Carolina, discovers an antique Nativity scene that, with patience and care, could be restored to a thing of beauty. He secretly spends much of his free time at Oxford Antiques researching, cleaning, repairing and painting so that he can suprise his wife with a wonderful gift on Christmas Day.
Folk in the town of Mitford are preparing for the holidays in their varied ways. A host of familiar characters from the series are as delightfully heartwarming as in the previous seven books.

42. Tara Road by Maeve Binchy

ISBN 0-7528-1447-8 Audiobook - Orion, 1998
Set in Dublin and suburban Connecticut, this novel follows the interwoven lives of two women: Irish Ria Lynch, whose philandering husband has left her and her two children for a pregnant 22 year old waif and American Marilyn Vine who cannot come to grips with the tragic death of her teenage son. By a quirk of fate he two women, who had never met, exchange homes for two months that summer and their lives will never be the same.
It was made into a film, released in 2005, starring Olivia Williams and Andie MacDowell as Ria and Marilyn respectively.

41. The Christmas Mouse by Miss Read

ISBN 0 14 00.4178 8 - Penguin, 1973

Charming tale of a mother and daughter, both widowed, and two young grandaughters over the Christmas season. On Christmas Eve, Mrs Berry deals with two startling visiterswith kindness and old fashioned common sense: a vagrant field mouse and a young boy, with mouselike features, who has run away from his foster home.

40. Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea by Gary Kinder

ISBN 0-87113-717-8 Audio Book - Random House, 1998

Compelling yarn about the 1980s recovery of the cargo of the SS Central America , often referred to as the "Ship of Gold" by Tommy Thompson and the Columbus-America Discovery Group . "In September 1857, the SS Central America, a side-wheel steamer carrying nearly six hundred passengers returning from the California Gold Rush, foundered in a hurricane and sank two hundred miles off the Carolina coast. Over four hundred lives and twenty-one tons of California gold were lost. It was the worst peacetime disaster at sea in American history, a tragedy that remained lost in legend for over a century."
The value of the recovered treasure is inestimable - the gold alone being worth over $200 million US. The artifacts which include personal papers and belongings of the passengers and crew are priceless when one considers their historical significance.

39. Village Christmas by Miss Read

ISBN 0 14 007047 8 - Penguin, 1966
Elderly spinster sisters, Mary and Margaret Waters don't quite know what to make of their new neighbours the Emerys. The young mother of three girls and "one on the way", causes a stir in the village with her ebullient and friendly ways. It takes an emergency on Christmas Day to get the Fairacre villagers to rally round and finally welcome and appreciate the newcomers.

Miss Read - Dora Jessie Saint (b. 17 April 1913), best known by the pen name Miss Read, is an English novelist, by profession a schoolmistress. She wrote a series of novels from 1956 to 1996. Her work centred on two fictional English villages, Fairacre and Thrush Green. The principal character in the Fairacre books, "Miss Read", is an unmarried schoolteacher in a small village school, an acerbic and yet compassionate observer of village life. Miss Read's novels are wry regional social comedies, laced with gentle humour and subtle social commentary. Miss Read is also a keen observer of nature and the changing seasons. Source: answers.com

38. Tied up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh

ISBN 0 00 613215 4 - Fontana/Collins 1972
Hilary Bill-Tasman has hired staff for his English country mansion straight out of some of Britain's most notorious prisons - Wormwood Scrubs, Broadmoor and the (fictional?) Vale. Each man served time for a single murder/manslaughter and has adapted to a life in service to varying degrees. Superintendant Roderick Alleyn's wife Troy is at Halberd's Manor to paint Hilary's portrait over the Christmas Holiday and so is on the scene when Moult, visiting Colonel Forrester's much maligned manservant goes missing.
From answers.com: Marsh, Dame Ngaio (nī'ō) , 1899–1982, New Zealand detective story writer. She was an art student, actress, and theatrical producer before her first novel, A Man Lay Dead, was published in 1934. Her many mystery novels, acute in characterization and literate in style, reflect her knowledge of the art studio and the theater. They include Artists in Crime (1938), Died in the Wool (1945), False Scent (1959), Killer Dolphin (1966), Last Ditch (1978), Photo Finish (1980), and her last book, Light Thickens, published posthumously (1982). She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1966.

37. Mike and Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse

ISBN 0140124470 - A & C Black, 1909
You'd have to know a lot about the technical aspects of cricket to get the full shilling out of this typical Wodehouse yarn set at Sedleigh, a boys' school.
"Mike (1909) (originally published as two separate serials, Jackson Junior, set at Wrykyn school and not featuring Psmith, and The Lost Lambs, set at Sedleigh and introducing Psmith. The Lost Lambs was later republished as Enter Psmith (1935) and Mike and Psmith (1953).) " Source: answers.com
Wodehouse wrote three other comic novels that feature Psmith and Mike:
Psmith in the City (1910), Psmith, Journalist (1915), &Leave it to Psmith (1923) . They both feature in the Blandings series of novels as Mike Jackson married Phyliss Keeble, daughter of Joseph Keeble and step-daughter of his second wife Lady Constance Keeble - Lord Emsworth's bossiest sister and chatelaine at the castle.

36. Michael Faraday: Man of Simplicity by James Kendall

Faber and Faber, 1955
A biography of Michael Faraday that attempts to strike a balance between his personal and public lives. Much is made of the early influence of Sir Humphry Davy and Faraday's work at the Royal Institution. Interesting to read about his associations with other eminent scientists of his day which include: Ampère, Volta & Schönbein.
Faraday was a Sandemanian and his Christian values shaped his work ethic and social interactions. " This sect was named after Robert Sandeman, son-in-law and successor to John Glas, who was deposed by the Presbyterianan Courts in 1728 because he taught that the Church should be subject to no league or covenant, but be governed only by the doctrines of Christ and His Apostles. The Bible alone contained all that was necessary for salvation. Several tiny congregations were formed in Scotland and in England. Shortly after Faraday's death, [that] the London membership did not exceed twenty families, mostly quite poor." pp 170. "He (Faraday) held the position of elder, however, only for three years and a half. Trouble struck him in a most extraordinary way, as Thompson relates, ' One Sunday he was absent from church. When it was discovered that his absence was due to his having been "commanded' to dine with the Queen at Windsor, and that so far from expressing penitence, he was prepared to defend his action, his office became vacant. He was even cut off from ordinary membership. Nevertheless, he continued for years to attend meetings just as before." pp 172

35. A Proper Woman by Lillian Beckwith

ISBN 0-7126-9538-9 - Century Hutchinson, 1968
Life on a Hebredean Croft in the mid-Twentieth Century is characterized by endless work and few comforts. Anna Matheson is forced, by circumstance, into marriage with Black Fergus McFee, a man she grows to despise for his callous and immoral ways. When vengeful Fergus buys a mare named Solas(gaelic for Solace) he has no idea she and her foal will lead to his undoing.
Written in true Beckwith style, it is the characters as much as the plot that are engaging in "A Proper Woman".

34. Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb

ISBN 0385660189 - Random House, 2005
A compelling insight into life in the city of Harrar, Ethiopia in the 1970s and the plight of Ethiopian refugees in Thatcherite London. The protagonist, Lilly is the daughter of bohemian British parents who are murdered in North Africa leaving her to be raised as a Muslim by the "Great Abdal".
"As is so often the case, true love is doomed. Lilly's suitor, a soulful doctor-turned-political agitator, disappears in the killing madness that swept Ethiopia after Haile Selassie's overthrow in 1974. Triply exiled-from love, from family, and from community-Lilly retreats to the country of her birth, where she recovers all three in the unlikely setting of a London low-income-housing project." View source.
As often is the case, I wish the author had included a glossary of terms and more detailed maps.
"Khat (Catha edulis, family Celastraceae) pronounced "cot" and also known as qat, gat, chat, and miraa, is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa. Believed to originate in Ethiopia, it is a shrub or small tree growing to 5–8 m tall, with evergreen leaves 5–10 cm long and 1–4 cm broad. Khat has been grown for use as a stimulant for centuries in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. There, chewing khat predates the use of coffee and is used in a similar social context. Its fresh leaves and tops are chewed or, less frequently, dried and consumed as tea, in order to achieve a state of euphoria and stimulation." Source www.answers.com .
Thank you, Marieanna, for lending it to me.

33. Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot by Peter Brimacombe

ISBN 1-84165-161-3 - Pitkin Guides, Jarrold Publishing, 2005

This colourfully illustrated and informative guide probes into the failed attempt to blow up the British king and parliament in 1605. It provides biographical data on Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators and gives a step-by-step recount of the plot.

32. Lewes Bonfire Night by Jim Etherington

ISBN 1-85770-050-3 - S.B. Publications, 1993 (revised 2001)

This book provides excellent historical background to the November Fifth Celebrations and is written by an insider. Etherington, born in Lewes in 1947, was "brought up in bonfire" & served on the Cliffe society's committee for over twenty years. He traces the evolution of Lewes bonfire from its roots in the Gunpowder Plot through the centuries to present day controversy. In the last chapter, Etherington ponders the intriguing question - Why is Bonfire so big in Lewes when it has all but died out elsewhere in the country?

31. Streets of Fire: A Hymn to Lewes and the Bonfire Celebration by Andy Thomas

ISBN 1-85770-193-3 - S.B.Publications, 1999

I had the pleasure of meeting author Andy Thomas in the Rocket FM studio when he has interviewed along with Rocket Director General, also Andy Thomas by my husband Rupert Lloyd Thomas, pictured here.
Streets of Fire chronologically relates Lewes Bonfire of 1998 as the author's experience unfolds. I read this book both before and after my first Bonfire this year and can draw many parallels. Thomas, like myself, was raised a Catholic in Lewes and attended St. Pancras. We have both, in his words, "moved on". In the early years, anti-Catholic sentiments prevailed throughout Fifth of November commemorations of the Gunpowder Plot. Today, the only remnants of this are the "No Popery" banners and exploding effigy of Pope Paul V perpetuated by the Cliffe Bonfire Society.
Thomas reminisces about feasting on, "Jacket Potatoes, sausages and grated cheese ... the traditional Bonfire fare", (page 24) before bundling up to watch the Grand Procession march down the High Street. Thanks to the hospitality of my sister Helen, I was similarly fortified on the night.
If Lewes on Bonfire Night is the world's biggest party, the morning after is the world's biggest hang-over. You can scarcely believe that the surreal ecounters you had just hours before actually happened. "Returning to Lewes the morning after Bonfire is like trying to piece together the fragments of a lost dream", page 57.
In this book, Andy Thomas attempts the unobtainable - capturing the aura and magic of the celebration. Although he insightfully & creatively reconstructs the atmosphere in text and illustrations, the only way to get a real feel for Lewes Bonfire Celebrations is to experience it first hand.

30. Journey of Tapiola by Robert Nathan

Alfred A Knopf, 1938
Tapiola, a yorkshire terrier, and his friend Richard, a canary, embark on a journey to become heroes. They inadvertantly end up on a garbage barge in New York's harbour. "we are at sea; we are embarked upon an ocean voyage. At this moment we are passing a large lady holding a candle: she seems to be waiting for someone to come home, just as I have often seen Mrs. Sweeney waiting for Mr. Sweeney". They meet Jeremiah, a preacher rat, a kind white cat and other animals as they ultimately decide they would be better off at home.

29. Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh

ISBN 0-00-616530-3 - Fontana, 1954
This Roderick Alleyn mystery takes place in post World War II France where in infamous team of Mr Oberon and Dr Baradi use a cult as a front for a heroin factory and distribution network. Their own perverse egos are fed by recruiting young women into the fold.
While still in London, Alleyn's wife Agatha Troy receives strange letters form a distant relative - P. E. Garbel who lives near the Chateau de la Chevre d'Argent where Oberon leads his cult. As the plot unravels, Alleyn employes the aid of Raoul Milano who helps bring things to an intense climax during a bizarre ritual.