Dodie Smith Books

Successfully produced in London and New York. Dear Octopus is the family from which none of its members are either able or quite willing to escape. And on the occasion of a golden wedding anniversary the children and grandchildren gather to reminisce and acquaint each other more fully with their activities. The life of this English family is shown in terms of the chatter of the youngsters, the careers and nursery memories of the middle-aged and the sense of the swift passing of the years, the sweetness of an old nurse, the minor frictions and abiding loyalty of brothers and sisters, the feast-day toast and the benevolent tyranny of the grandmother, Woven throughout the proceedings is a love story between fenny, companion to Mrs. Randolph, and Nicholas Randolph.

When Missis and Pongo's puppies go missing, the two Dalmatian parents know the scary Cruella de Vil has had something to do with it. After all, she adores furs, and the Dalmatians have such beautiful coats... The dogs' pets, Mr and Mrs Dearly, don't understand them, so it is up to Pongo and Missis to rescue their pups.

I write this sitting at the kitchen sink' is the first line of a novel about love, sibling rivalry and a bohemian existence in a crumbling castle in the middle of nowhere. Cassandra Mortmin's journal records her fadingly glamorous stepmother, her beautiful, wistful older sister and the man to whom they owe both their isolation and poverty - Father. The author of one experimental novel, and a minor cause celebre, he has since suffered from writer's block and is determined to drag his family down with him. But if the iron has entered Father's soul it hasn't penetrated Cassandra's...

We first meet Roger and Dorothy at the unprepossessing hour of 8 a.m. when Vera wakes them with the early morning tea. We say farewell to them, less than sixteen hours later, as they turn out the lights and go to sleep. But in between there has been more excitement than most people manage to crowd into sixteen months. Roger falls in and out of love with an actress/client of his sober accountancy business in the Temple; Dorothy half yields her heart to a lonely rubber planter. One daughter quite yields hers to a philandering painter with a watchful wife, only to find it returned, battered, but unbroken. The other achieves the (momentary) desire of her life "a Rossetti drawing." Their son experiences love-at-first-sight with the new neighbor over the garden wall. And, all the time, below stairs, Cook and Vera not to mention the daily help are living and loving (occasionally breaking the china) with equal zest and joie de vivre.

A hundred and one dalmatians and more! This bumper Modern Classic edition includes the original Hundred and One Dalmatians and Dodie Smith's sequel, Starlight Barking. Cruella de Vil is enough to frighten the spots off a Dalmatian puppy. So when she steals a whole family of them, the puppies' parents, Pongo and Missus, lose no time in mounting a daring rescue mission. Will they be in time to thwart Cruella's evil scheme, or have they bitten off more than they can chew? Perfect for fans of the classic Disney film.

London's theatre world of the 1920's provides a glittering backdrop for Mouse, an eighteen-year-old Lancashire girl intent on a stage career. She tells the story herself with the utmost frankness and with an authenticity which derives from Dodie Smith's own wide experience as both actress and playwright. Mouse never felt that her nickname fully suited her; tiny she might be, but timid never. Within a day of her arrival in town she had bluffed her way into an audition at a famous theatre, infuriated its forceful young stage director, amused its kind if quite amoral actor-manager, Rex Crossway, and finally landed not a part but a toehold as a junior secretary. From then on she was involved in the engrossing affairs of the Crossway Theatre. She was also involved with her friends at the club where she lived -- Molly, a baby-faced six-footer, and elegant, ambitious LIlian who was fated to clash disastrously with Mouse, though even then they could find something to laugh at together. And later there was Zelle, rich, generous, enigmatic, and responsible for an outing to a Suffolk village pageant which proved a turning point for them all.

When they awake to find that every living creature in England, except the dogs, is asleep, Dalmatians Pongo and Missis discover unusual abilities that lead them to London where their daughter is assembling all breeds of dogs to await contact from Sirius, the Dog Star.

Reissue of this lost classic from an instantly recognised name in children's literature. Twins Pam and Tom embark on a night time adventure, when 4 mysterious kittens appear at midnight to drink the milk they've left out for the hedgehogs.

When Jane Minton arrives at Dome House as a secretary-housekeeper, she finds herself sharing the comfortable country home of four attractive young people. Their charming widower father, Rupert Carrington is too occupied with his London business to see very much of them. Jane is warmly welcomed into this happy household. schovat popis

During a summer festival in an English spa town Miles Quentin, a distinguished actor, and his devoted wife become friendly with the local MP Geoffrey Thornton, and his young daughters Robin and Kit. All of these people seem untroubled at first. But the surface of their lives conceals problems which start to come to light. schovat popis