NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The iconic singer-songwriter and three-time Grammy winner opens up about her traumatic childhood in the Deep South, her years of being overlooked in the music industry, and the stories that inspired her enduring songs in this “bracingly candid chronicle” (The Wall Street Journal). “[Williams’s] memoir transmutes the wisdom, pain, and hard-won joy of her life into stories that stick with you.”—Vogue A WASHINGTON POST AND ROLLING STONE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Lucinda Williams’s rise to fame was anything but easy. Raised in a working-class family in the Deep South, she moved from town to town each time her father—a poet, a textbook salesman, a professor, a lover of parties—got a new job, totaling twelve different places by the time she was eighteen. Her mother suffered from severe mental illness and was in and out of hospitals. And when Williams was about a year old, she had to have an emergency tracheotomy—an inauspicious start for a singing career. But she was also born a fighter, and she would develop a voice that has captivated millions. In Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You, Williams takes readers through the events that shaped her music—from performing for family friends in her living room to singing at local high schools and colleges in Mexico City, to recording her first album with Folkway Records and headlining a sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall. She reveals the inspirations for her unforgettable lyrics, including the doomed love affairs with “poets on motorcycles” and the gothic southern landscapes of the many different towns of her youth, including Macon, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. Williams spent years working at health food stores and record stores during the day so she could play her music at night, and faced record companies who told her that her music was not “finished,” that it was “too country for rock and too rock for country.” But her fighting spirit persevered, leading to a hard-won success that spans seventeen Grammy nominations and a legacy as one of the greatest and most influential songwriters of our time. Raw, intimate, and honest, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You is an evocative reflection on an extraordinary woman’s life journey.
When eleven year old Emily and her mother are forced to move from their house into a cramped, third-floor flat, she has to return the new puppy she has always longed for. To make matters worse, when her mother becomes ill shy Emily is sent to stay with Gertie Pink, the lollipop lady and her boisterous twins. Emily soon finds herself swept up in the extraordinary events of the Pinks’ household with the dramatic arrival of their eccentric Uncle Wilf whose house has been washed into the sea during a storm. While he is recovering from pneumonia, Emily is thrilled to be given charge of his talking parrot, Autolocus but dreads having to tell the old man when the bird unexpectedly disappears. However, Wilf has a confession of his own to make: he has brought with him Tobias, the ghost of a 17th century pirate who haunted his house in Devon. Visible only to Wilf and Emily, this terrifying buccaneer has a tale of his own to tell. Autolocus at last returns and the family are amazed when he lays an egg! But one night the priceless, magical egg is stolen, and the parrot is grief-stricken. Emily and the twins must find it quickly, but which of the story’s colourful characters is responsible? And will they rescue it in time?
In this final instalment of Emily's adventures, two problems face her and the Pinks. First: Raphus, world-famous half-parrot, half-dodo is dangerously ill due to the absence of his mother, Tolly, the parrot. She is holidaying on Worango Island back in the 17th Century with Tobias and cannot be contacted. Nothing can save Raphus unless Tolly returns. Second: Hendrik is finding it impossible to settle into life in the 21st century. When a stranger arrives from Worango and tells the children that Tobias is desperate for their help, they are suspicious. But Hendrik, on hearing his father is there, searching for him, agrees to return with the stranger and the others can't let him go alone. But nothing is as it seems on Worango. Who can they trust? Have all the pirates drowned, or are some still looking for the precious beans from the Medicine Tree? Where are Tobias and Tolly? Where is Hendrik's father? And where is the cloak which will take them safely home?
When Emily’s mother becomes dangerously ill again, in this sequel to ‘Tolly and the Pirate Ghost’,Emily and the twins, Laura and Harry, time travel with Tobias, the pirate ghost, and his parrot, Tolly, to a tropical island in the year 1660. Their goal is to find the legendary Medicine Tree said to cure any illness, but there are thousands of trees on the island. How can they possibly find the right one? Tobias is reassuring but mysteriously disappears with Tolly, shortly after their arrival, leaving the children to fend for themselves under a scorching sun, with little to eat or drink and no means of getting home. Their problems multiply when they realise a band of ruthless pirates is also hunting for the Tree, and will stop at nothing to gain the prize and make their fortune. Time is running out to save Emily’s mother and dangers press in on all sides. As the situation becomes desperate, the children start to quarrel and then to lose hope. More complications arise and their spirits are in turn raised and then dashed. Can they think of some means of escape or will they be trapped forever on a tropical island hundreds of years in the past?
Join Little Lydia and her new friends as they all strive to be their best AND work together as a team. Another wonderful picture book about the joy and friendships to be found in sport, written by a genuine superstar of international sport. Little Lydia moves from the desert to the big city. Leaving her animal friends behind is hard - but before long she's meeting new ones at the zoo. At first she can't keep up with Tiger, Bear and Gibbon - their skills are amazing. But soon Lydia discovers that learning from others is the best way to improve AND have fun. A joyous and triumphant picture book about friendship, sport, and teamwork by Lydia Williams, goalkeeper for the Australian Matildas.
Little Lydia learns to be the best that she can be as she competes in a variety of sports against very unusual competitors. An inspiring celebration of self-belief, the joy to be had in sport, and the importance of persistence. Little Lydia loves sport. She lives in the outback and is friends with all the animals. When she asks Emu, Kangaroo and Koala to play sport with her, she soon discovers that each of them has a special talent. But does Lydia have a gift for sport too? And if she does, how will she discover it? A funny and triumphant picture book by Lydia Williams, goalkeeper for the Matildas.
Emily really did not want to go and stay with Laura and Harry Pinks. But with Mum about to go into hospital, she had no choice. Her fears would prove unfounded as living with the Pinks was going to be anything but dull and ordinary. In fact, Emily's life would never be the same again. The arrival of a bedraggled, rain-soaked Uncle Wilf late one stormy night, with his parrot, Autolocus in tow, would dramatically change the course of the summer. For Uncle Wilf had also brought along another not-so-welcome visitor - the fearsome pirate ghost, Tobias. Soon after, some very odd things begin to happen and piratey pandemonium and magical mayhem ensue. Caught up in the whirlwind, Emily quickly feels like part of the family and doesn't want the adventure to end - ever. But Mum would soon be well and she'd have to go back to that grotty third-floor flat with no pets allowed...wouldn't she?
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The iconic singer-songwriter and three-time Grammy winner opens up about her traumatic childhood in the Deep South, her years of being overlooked in the music industry, and the stories that inspired her enduring songs in this “bracingly candid chronicle” (The Wall Street Journal). “[Williams’s] memoir transmutes the wisdom, pain, and hard-won joy of her life into stories that stick with you.”—Vogue A WASHINGTON POST AND ROLLING STONE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Lucinda Williams’s rise to fame was anything but easy. Raised in a working-class family in the Deep South, she moved from town to town each time her father—a poet, a textbook salesman, a professor, a lover of parties—got a new job, totaling twelve different places by the time she was eighteen. Her mother suffered from severe mental illness and was in and out of hospitals. And when Williams was about a year old, she had to have an emergency tracheotomy—an inauspicious start for a singing career. But she was also born a fighter, and she would develop a voice that has captivated millions. In Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You, Williams takes readers through the events that shaped her music—from performing for family friends in her living room to singing at local high schools and colleges in Mexico City, to recording her first album with Folkway Records and headlining a sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall. She reveals the inspirations for her unforgettable lyrics, including the doomed love affairs with “poets on motorcycles” and the gothic southern landscapes of the many different towns of her youth, including Macon, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. Williams spent years working at health food stores and record stores during the day so she could play her music at night, and faced record companies who told her that her music was not “finished,” that it was “too country for rock and too rock for country.” But her fighting spirit persevered, leading to a hard-won success that spans seventeen Grammy nominations and a legacy as one of the greatest and most influential songwriters of our time. Raw, intimate, and honest, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You is an evocative reflection on an extraordinary woman’s life journey.
When eleven year old Emily and her mother are forced to move from their house into a cramped, third-floor flat, she has to return the new puppy she has always longed for. To make matters worse, when her mother becomes ill shy Emily is sent to stay with Gertie Pink, the lollipop lady and her boisterous twins. Emily soon finds herself swept up in the extraordinary events of the Pinks’ household with the dramatic arrival of their eccentric Uncle Wilf whose house has been washed into the sea during a storm. While he is recovering from pneumonia, Emily is thrilled to be given charge of his talking parrot, Autolocus but dreads having to tell the old man when the bird unexpectedly disappears. However, Wilf has a confession of his own to make: he has brought with him Tobias, the ghost of a 17th century pirate who haunted his house in Devon. Visible only to Wilf and Emily, this terrifying buccaneer has a tale of his own to tell. Autolocus at last returns and the family are amazed when he lays an egg! But one night the priceless, magical egg is stolen, and the parrot is grief-stricken. Emily and the twins must find it quickly, but which of the story’s colourful characters is responsible? And will they rescue it in time?
In this final instalment of Emily's adventures, two problems face her and the Pinks. First: Raphus, world-famous half-parrot, half-dodo is dangerously ill due to the absence of his mother, Tolly, the parrot. She is holidaying on Worango Island back in the 17th Century with Tobias and cannot be contacted. Nothing can save Raphus unless Tolly returns. Second: Hendrik is finding it impossible to settle into life in the 21st century. When a stranger arrives from Worango and tells the children that Tobias is desperate for their help, they are suspicious. But Hendrik, on hearing his father is there, searching for him, agrees to return with the stranger and the others can't let him go alone. But nothing is as it seems on Worango. Who can they trust? Have all the pirates drowned, or are some still looking for the precious beans from the Medicine Tree? Where are Tobias and Tolly? Where is Hendrik's father? And where is the cloak which will take them safely home?
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