HITLER'S CANARY

THE GLADYS SOCIETY

During high school in America, Sandi Toksvig was one of three girls chosen to play Gladys Antrobus, a character in a play. They formed the ‘Gladys Society’ and thirty years later Sandi returned to the US to find her fellow ‘Gladyses’.

MELTED INTO AIR

A theatrical impresario, Frances Angel’s production of Macbeth leaves a lot to be desired. Not helping matters any, her lover has ‘exited stage left’. Her cousin Gina suggests that she travels to Italy to try and find herself and confront her past.

PEAS AND QUEUES: THE MINEFIELD OF MODERN MANNERS

How should you eat peas, and behave in queues? How to behave, like how to punctuate, is an aspect of life that many are no longer taught. Thankfully, Sandi Toksvig has come to the rescue with her entertaining guide to modern manners, with characteristic wit and perceptiveness.

VALENTINE GREY

Valentine Grey arrives from India and finds damp and cold Victorian London insufferable. The only bright spot: her exciting cousin, Reggie. Then comes the Boer War and Reggie's father volunteers him; but it won't be Reggie who goes to war. Valentine takes her chance, puts on her cousin's uniform, leaving Reggie behind and heads off to war.

WHISTLING FOR THE ELEPHANTS

Dorothy, aged ten, moves from England to Sassaspaneck, New York in 1968. Her self-absorbed parents leave her to find her own entertainment during the summer. She comes across a small zoo run by a group of eccentric women and discovers a whole new world. Contains some offensive language.