The plot twist involving a doctor on his way to Phoenix, Arizona (above, in 1963) who picks up a young female hitchhiker in The Expendable Man (1963) by Dorothy B. Hughes makes the thriller impossible to film, so it must be read. Dorothy B. Hughes also wrote In a Lonely Place (1947) which was turned into a classic film noir in 1950 with Gloria Grahame and Humphrey Bogart.

Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca (1938) and the 1940 film adaptation can both be retrospectively described as outstanding examples of domestic noir. Joan Fontaine (1917-2013, above with Judith Anderson as Mrs Danvers) is perfect as the naive and unsophisticated heroine. She also stars in Suspicion (1941), another gaslighting classic directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with the charming but highly ambiguous Cary Grant.  

The Blank Wall (1947) by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding was filmed in 1949 as The Reckless Moment. It features Joan Bennett (above, with Geraldine Brooks as her daughter) who turns into a "heroine of rare mettle in this Max Ophuls masterpiece" together with a superb James Mason as the "doleful blackmailer slowly falling for his prey". We recommend reading the book then watching the film for an excellent double bill of domestic noir. 

We don't publish many thrillers, but we do have several classics of the genre. One could go further and describe them as 'domestic noir', a recently coined term for novels whose origins can be traced back to Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play Gas Light, and the 1944 film adaptation Gaslight in which an older husband (Charles Boyer) sets out to drive his wife (Ingrid Bergman) to madness in a claustrophobic domestic setting. This is also where the term 'to gaslight' comes from (it was Merriam-Webster's word of the year in 2022.)

Over the years, Ladybird Books covered a phenomenal range of subjects and series. This 1972 title was in the 'Learnabout' series; it was written by Maureen and Michael Harvey, and the marvellously detailed illustrations were by Eric Winter. After Bath, the Ladybird exhibition travels on to St Albans for the summer, then to Peterborough in Spring 2025.

From 1964, Ladybird Books published the Peter and Jane reading scheme, and it is estimated that more than eighty million people learned to read with it. The books were quickly updated in the 1970s to take into account changes in attitudes and family dynamics. This is from The Sweet Shop, illustrated by Martin Aitchison, which later became a greengrocer's with Peter and Jane buying apples. 

John Berry's work is also instantly recognisable, especially from the Ladybird 'People at Work' series. He illustrated many titles including The Nurse, The Farmer, The Miner, The Pottery Makers and, here, The Policeman (1963), written by Vera Southgate, renowned literacy specialist, with J. Havenhand.