Friday, February 10

• Karaoke, The Albert, Douglas, 9pm,

• Walter Ego at The Creek, Peel.

• Brown Sugar at The Queens, Douglas.

• Sharr Live at Jaks, Douglas.

• Thai Night, authentic food and music, The Railway, Douglas, 6pm. Also Wednesday.

• Manx Music session, Tynwald Inn, St John’s, 8.30pm.

• Irish Traditional Music session, The Mitre, Ramsey, 9pm.

• Kiaull as Gaelg, The Albert, Port St Mary, 9pm.

• Full On Fridays, Fiesta Havana, Douglas. Also ‘Alternative Havana’ on Thursday.

• Dickie Kelly at the Whitehouse 9pm.

Saturday, February 11

• Little Miss Dynamite at Manx Arms in Onchan.

• Seversyn at The Clarendon, Douglas.

• Valentines disco with DJ Donald, Falcons Nest Hotel, Station Road, Port Erin.

• AM Frequency at Jaks, Douglas.

• Manx Music session, The White House, Peel, 10pm.

• Karaoke with Dobbo at the Decks Liverpool Arms, Baldrine.

• Karaoke at the Central Hotel, Ramsey.

• Age of Steam on at the Mitre, Kirk Michael.

Sunday, February 12

• Karaoke at The British, Douglas.

• Ray Sloak Karaoke at Jaks, Douglas.

• One Wo/Man One Guitar One Night features Tony Archibald and Dickie Kelly at the Raven Ballaugh 8pm.

• Karaoke at The Crescent, 8pm-midnight, Queen’s Promenade, Douglas.

Tuesday, February 14

• Acoustic Sing -a- Round, The Manor, Willaston.

• Soundcheck, live bands, Basement Youth Arts Centre, Kensington Road, Douglas, 6.30pm. Also Rock Choir. Singing 6pm-7pm. Also Thursday and Saturday.

• The What You Want Acoustic Music Club, The Manor, Willaston, 8.30pm.

Wednesday, February 15

• Karaoke at The British, Douglas.

• Blues Club, The Railway Hotel, Douglas, 9pm.

Thursday, February 16

• Soundcheck, local youth bands, Promenade Suite, Villa Marina, Douglas, 7pm.

• Karaoke at Guys and Dolls, Douglas.

• Ramsey Folk Club at The George Hotel, Ramsey, 8pm.

• Karaoke with Ray Sloane at The Saddle Inn, Douglas.

• Session of guitar practise on Thursdays 5.45-6.45pm. Held in the Archibald Knox Meeting Rooms. Free for all levels.

Friday, February 10

• Chocolate for Charity! The Children’s Centre event for Valentine’s Day at The Villa Arcade. 10am until 5pm. Bookings available- call Susie on 631944.

• Age Concern Isle of Man free computer sessions, Ramsey Town Hall, down stairs, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3.30pm, also Tuesday 10am-12.30pm, Also Wednesday and Thursday Southlands Port St Mary, 2pm-4.30pm, Also Monday 10am-12.30pm, Wednesday and Thursday new iMuseum, Douglas, 10am-12.30pm.

• Community coffee morning, Willaston Methodist Church, Barrule Road, 10am-midday.

• Drop in for coffee and a chat, Sulby Methodist Church, 10am-midday.

• Coffee morning in aid of Port St Mary branch of IOM Anti-Cancer, Shore Hotel, Gansey, 10am.

• Parents and Tots, upper room, Sulby Methodist Church, 10.30am. Call 897364.

• Storybox, Family Library, Westmoreland Road, Douglas, 10.30am. Also Saturday, Sticky Finger Craft for 6 years and over, 10.30am; Wednesday, Busy Bee Time for pre-schoolers, 1.45pm. Call 673123.

• The Manx Aviation and Military Museum, 10am-4.30pm. Also Saturday and Sunday. 10-4.30pm. Free admission. Donations welcome.

• Coffee and chat, Onchan Methodist Church lounge, opposite commissioners’ office, 10.30am-midday.

• Learn Manx with Adrian Cain, beginners midday-1pm, intermediates 1pm-2pm, Manx Museum, Douglas. Admission free, Email greinneyder@mhf.org.im 838527 or 451098.

• Meditation at The Refinery, Duke Street, Douglas, 7pm. Call 467818.

• MADF One Act Plays Festival, Adjudicator, Ben Humphries 7.30pm. Also Saturday 7.30pm.

Saturday, February 11

• The Art Market, Strand Shopping Centre, Douglas, 9am-5pm.

• Winter Woodland Workshop with the Manx Wildlife Trust, Close Sartfield Nature Reserve, Ballaugh Curraghs, 10am-2pm. Call 844432. www.manxwt.org.uk

• Chocolate heart decorating session, Davison’s Ice-cream Parlour, Douglas, 10am-4pm. In aid of The Children’s Centre. Places limited, call 676076.

• Children’s Health Day, Ramsey Town Hall, 11am-3pm. Story-telling in the library every half hour.

• Isle of Man Farmers Market, at Northern Lights Community Centre, Ramsey, 10am-1pm.

• Bride Methodist Ladies, Valentine Lunch, Ramsey Methodist Centre. 12-3pm. Call 880692.

• Baby/Kids Boot Sale, Auldyn School. 1-3pm. Call 478477/482583.

• Inner Wheel club of Rushen and western Mann Baby and Toddler Boot Sale at 2pm in Moreton Hall, Castletown. Call 835756 or 823361.

• Sheean Prash, Music to Watch Shoppers Buy. 2pm. The Strand, Douglas.

• Valentine lunch, Ramsey Methodist Centre, noon-2pm. Organised by Bride Methodist Ladies, tickets £8, call 880692/451692.

• World Manx Association Manx Tay with guest speaker Des Robinson, St Andrew’s, Douglas, 2.30pm. Call 429536.

• Maughold Social Club 40 years old this month. Evening of fun plus hot pot supper. Maughold Church Hall from 7.30-11pm. Call 813104.

• Valentine’s disco 7.30pm till late, at the Falcons Nest, Port Erin. Tickets available from reception.

• Little Taste of Italy in aid of Hospice Isle of Man, Strand Shopping Centre, Douglas, 8pm. Tickets £20, call 647432.

Sunday, February 12

• Cathedral Church of St. German, Peel. BCP Eucharist 8.30am Corrin Hall, Cafe Church 10.30am. Corrin Hall.Evening prayer 6.30pm Corrin hall. Also Wednesday BCP Eucharist 9.30am Corrin Hall. The Voice – Youth Group 6pm. Corrin Hall.

• Fun Day, Onchan Scout Hut, 11am-3pm.

• Car boot sale, The Pavilion, Laxey Glen Gardens, 11am-5pm.

• Car boot sale, Morton Hall, Castletown, 2pm.

• Old Kirk Braddan Snowdrop (afternoon). Teas served in the Church from 2.30pm to 4pm cost £5.

• Fishing workshops for beginners, includes both river and sea, bait, spinning and fly fishing, at Adventurous Experiences lecture room, Patrick Road, St John’s, by Kelvin Tastagh, owner of Kelvin’s Tackle, 2pm. Entry £3 donation to RNLI. Call Kelvin, 478224.

• Colby Football Club Quiz Night at the Colby Glen from 6.30pm. Call 498617

• Castletown Metropolitan Silver Band rehearsals, Queen Street Mission Hall, 7pm.

Monday, February 13

• Action Songs and Rhymes, from birth upwards, The Children’s Centre, Woodbourne Road, Douglas, 1.30pm. Also Tuesday, Sulby School, 9.30am; Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 2pm; Wednesday, Auldyn School Community Room, 9.15am and 10.30am.

• Michael Miniatures’ parents and tots, Ebenezer Hall, Kirk Michael, 2pm. £1.50 per family, Call 491592.

• Vannin Bridge, Onchan Pensioners Hall, 2pm. Also Thursday.

• Onchan Silver Band practice, The Band Room, off Main Road, Onchan, beginners, 6.30pm and seniors 7.30pm.

Tuesday, February 14

• MRA Southern Coffee Morning at the Cherry Orchard Hotel, Port Erin at 10.30am; also 15th Peel Coffee Morning at the Peel Castle Hotel, Market Square, Peel at 10.30am: Also 17th Monthly luncheon at the Palace Hotel, Douglas at 12.30pm.

• M.E. SUPPORT (IOM) meet for tea, coffee, cake & chat at 10.30am at Café Relish, Peter Luis, Lord Street, Douglas. Lift available to top floor.

• Manx Cancer Help drop-in day, Lisa Lowe Centre, Woodbourne Road, Douglas, 11am-4pm.

• Autumn Break, lunch, tea and cakes, St Mary’s on the Harbour, Castletown, midday-1pm. Free admission but donations welcome.

• Valentines Love Train, Douglas Railway Station, 12.10pm. Tickets £10 (rail only) or £29.95 (rail, champagne and love lunch for two). Call 662525.

• A talk by Roger Phillips, Clerk of Tynwald at Ramsey Probus lunch, Ramsey Golf Club 12.30pm. Call 816404.

• Manx Gaelic conversational class with Adrian Cain, The Rovers, Douglas, 1pm. Also Manx Gaelic class with Brian Stowell at Isle of Man College, Douglas, 7pm. Call 623821.

• Foxdale mums and tots, community hall, Foxdale School, 2pm. Call 420234.

• Abbey Acorns, ages four and above, the Abbey Church, Ballasalla, 3.30pm.

• Peel Footlights Youth Theatre, children aged eight-16, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 4pm. Also Thursday. Call 843819.

• EFT group for therapists, looking after the healers by Bill Tucker, Healing of Mann, Ramsey, 7.30pm. Email www.healingofmann.com £6 per session.

• Valentines Evening of Entertainment with the Regal Singers at Trinity Church, Douglas (Upper Hall). 7.30pm. Admission £5. Refreshments and raffle.

• Jabberwocky, Duke Street, Douglas. Isle of Man Literary Society, talk entitled Writing Lies about the problems facing the biographer, given by Dr Jennifer Kewley Draskau. 7.30pm. For details, contact John Canavan on 812442.

Wednesday, February 15

• Parents and tots, Salvation Army Citadel, Lord Street, Douglas, 9.30am. Call 627742.

• Mini Club for parents and tots, Anagh Coar School, Douglas, 10am. Also 2pm at Kirk Braddan Church. Call 675523.

• Ballabeg Busy Bugs for under fives, Arbory Parish Hall, Ballabeg, 10am. Call 429676 or email BusyBugs2009@manx.net

• Mums and tots, Marown Hall, Peel Road, Crosby, 10.15am. £1.50 per family.

• Carers and tots, St James’ Schoolrooms, Dalby, 10.30am-noon. Call 843471 or cherylcousins@manx.net

• Independent Living Centre, Open Day, Ballakermeen Rd. 9.30-3.30. Call 642511.

• Busy Bees parents and tots, Beehive Kindergarten, Onchan, 1.30pm. Also Thursday. Call 674655.

• Parent and toddler group, Castletown Youth Centre, Arbory Street, Castletown, 2pm.

• Bereavement support group, friendly get together for anybody feeling isolated or lonely after a bereavement, however or whenever it occurred, tea, coffee and a chat, Scholl Centre, Hospice Isle of Man, 5pm-7pm. Call 647443, 668192 or 647449.

• Samba percussion workshop, no previous musical experience necessary, Onchan Silver Bandroom, off Onchan Commissioners car park, 7pm. Cost £3, contact sambamann@manx.net

• Manx Gaelic class with James O’Meara, St John’s House, 7.30pm. Call 843436.

• Bingo, South Douglas Old Friends Association, Finch Road, Douglas, 8pm.

• Bingo Quiz, Archibald Knox, Onchan, 9pm.

Thursday, February 16

• Quiz Night at The Railway, Douglas from 8.30pm. Call 670773.

• Happy Tots, Main Hall, Willaston School, 9.45am £1 per family including refreshments. Call 621577.

• Storytime for pre-schoolers, Henry Bloom Noble Library, Victoria Street, Douglas, 10am. Call 696461.

• Step-In for tea, coffee, chat and music, Onchan Baptist Church, 10.30am.

• Isle of Man Farmers Market, at Tynwald Mills, St John’s, 11am-3pm.

• Parents and tots, Auldyn Infants School Community Room, Ramsey, 1.30pm.

• Arbory Tots, from birth upwards, Parish Hall, Ballabeg, 2pm. Cost £1 per family. Call 832394.

• Toddler Tunes, Community Room, Michael School, 2pm. Call 878090.

• The Children’s Centre Parent Support Group, informal chat with family support workers, at Douglas Family Centre, Woodbourne Road, 7-9pm.

• Manx Gaelic class with Cathy Clucas, Arbory Commissioners’ Hall, 7.30pm. Call 838527.

• Bingo Quiz, Manor Hotel, Willaston, 9pm.

Friday, February 10

• The Muppets (U) Nightly from 7pm. Also Saturday and Sunday 1.30pm, 4pm.

• Star Wars - The Phantom Menace - 3D (U) Nightly from 7.30pm. Also Saturday and Sunday 2pm.

Broadway Cinema

• Chronicle (12a) nightly at 7.30pm. Also Monday-Wednesday, 7pm; Wednesday 2.30pm.

• Alvin and the Chipmunks – Chipwrecked (U). Saturday and Sunday, noon.

• Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Friday-Tuesday 4.30pm. Also Thursday; Wednesday, 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 2.30pm.

• Pretty Woman, Monday-Wednesday, 9.30pm.

Patchwork Cinema Supper Club

• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011).

Limited seats available for: February 10, February 17. Call 836418 or join the film club www.patchwork.im Doors open 7pm, film 7.30pm.

Will Silver is the archetypal inspirational teacher, a classic combination of Mr Chips, Muriel Sparks’ Jean Brodie and John Keating of the Dead Poets’ Society.

He’s a hero to his impressionable and wealthy, mainly American, teenage students at an international high school in Paris where he brings lessons alive, sets imaginations on fire and offers youngsters their first heady taste of freedom.

Silver’s heroes are Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway and the French existentialist writers Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, but the 33-year-old English teacher falls short of his own ideals when he launches into an illicit affair with a student at the school, a beautiful and vulnerable 17-year-old girl called Marie de Cléry...

Alexander Maksik’s impressive debut novel is as intellectually and emotionally stimulating as it is wry, entertaining and utterly gripping.

The constant wrestling with ideas, the tensions between ambition and reality, our dreams and our limits, our public faces and our private thoughts are standard existential territory.

But You Deserve Nothing is also an intimate examination of the nature of sexual temptation and the emotional battle between desire and action, all set against the simmering political tensions in Paris during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The novel plays out through three voices – Will, Marie and quiet, introverted Jewish student Gilad Fisher who regards Silver as a mentor and father figure as replacement for an unhappy home life.

This narrative device adds depth, dimension and diversity to the plot by allowing back stories to emerge and ambiguities and cracks to appear in the testaments of the three major protagonists voiced four years after the disastrous affair.

In the exciting atmosphere of Paris, Silver’s lessons provide added glamour to the lives of his pupils so when he is invited to a student’s party at an upmarket apartment where the wine flows freely, it seems almost inevitable that he might be ‘seduced’ by one of his adoring fans.

Marie’s version of what happened is somewhat different; she wasn’t one of his students and claims she ‘barely knew who the guy was.’ Ominously, she also cannot resist telling her school friend Ariel what has happened...

Maksik’s spare and unpretentious prose lends a subtle simplicity to this challenging tale about the relationship between teachers and pupils, the unravelling of moral certainties and the advent of adulthood.

He allows us no objective view of the teacher/pupil affair ... each character has a different and totally subjective take on relationships and events, thus opening up a typical Modernist ideological dilemma.

Sad, haunting and piquantly perceptive, You Deserve Nothing is a brilliant first novel.

(John Murray, paperback, £7.99)

It’s September 9th 2007 and student Jackson Meyer knows for sure that October 30th 2009 is going to be the worst day of his life.

His beautiful girlfriend Holly will be shot by two ruthless gunmen and it will all be his fault... unless he can go back to the future and save her.

This intriguing dilemma is the launch pad for Tempest, the first of a thrilling new young adult trilogy from debut novelist Julie Cross, and it comes as no surprise that readers are already chomping at the bit for the next instalment.

A complex and captivating mix of time-travel, romance, action, suspense and mystery form the basis of this amazing sci-fi epic which blends the love elements of Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveller’s Wife with the computer-hacking antics of The Matrix.

Cross has a fresh and invigorating writing style which makes her dialogue fizz and enables an engaging cast of distinctive characters to become palpably real.

Coupled with a unique, morally and socially aware time-travel plot, fascinating science theories, ingenious twists and turns and plenty of tender and tear-jerking emotion, this is a book guaranteed to keep teens and adults alike on the edge of their seats.

Jackson Meyer is 19 years old – he’s clever, funny, has a tendency to step in where angels fear to tread and has a bad habit of saying the wrong thing, particularly to his long-suffering girlfriend Holly.

He also has a secret, one that he only shares with his unlikely friend Adam Silverman, a science geek who is also a ‘bad-boy-hacking-into-government-websites kinda geek.’

Jackson has discovered that he can travel backwards through time ... he can’t go into the future so he can’t do anything really exciting like find out who wins the big sporting occasions and the most he’s ever ‘jumped’ is about six hours into the past.

Adam is interested in all the hard-core science of time travelling while Jackson finds it useful for having fun with girls.

That is until his girlfriend Holly is shot when two men break into her college room in an attempt to kidnap Jackson. Before he knows what is happening, he has jumped back two years and this time there is no way to get back.

He’s back at high school and has to start courting Holly all over again ... with the complication of knowing that two years down the line she will be gunned down in cold blood unless he can find a way to rescue her.

As Jackson explores his time-travel powers, he discovers that his father has a secret involvement with a sinister government agency called Tempest and that there are evil forces who want to harness Jackson’s powers to alter the course of history.

The teenager has no idea who he can and cannot trust and if he makes the wrong decision, the repercussions will be too terrible to contemplate...

Tempest’s original plot allows a broad canvas on which Cross can paint a diverse and diverting story with plenty of room for pulsating action, wry humour and moments of heart-breaking pathos.

It’s a winning formula and one which is sure to make this series a reading sensation.

(Macmillan, hardback, £9.99)

A PIECE of land in Peel has sold for £465,000.

Mark Andrew Watterson and Christine Ann Kelly sold a parcel of land abutting Peveril Road, Peel, for £465,000 to Peel Hill Investments Ltd, Dalemount, Peveril Road, Peel.

Other property transactions at the registry:

Stamford Investments Ltd, Ballayonaigue Farm, Lamb Hill, Bride, sold 8 Ballanard Road, Douglas, for £290,000 to Somerset Properties Ltd, Ballastowell Farm, Braddan.

Philip Norman Caine sold Little London Farmhouse, Little London, Kirk Michael, for £350,000 to Mark James Houseman and his wife, Ballakerky Cottage, Shore Road, Glen Maye, Patrick.

The representative of the estate of Rita Coventry sold 4 Grammah Avenue, Port Erin, for £270,000 to Paul Andrew Sykes and Nicola Joanne Sykes, 60a Friary Park, Ballabeg, Arbory.

The executors of the estate of Margaret Anne Wilkinson sold Fy Yerrey, Beach Road, Baldrine, for £250,000 to Paula Vivienne Harrison and David William Wilson, 2 Victoria Terrace, Glen Road, Laxey.

Florence Joan Kelly Skelly sold 2 Thorny Road, Douglas, for £231,000 to Matthew Edward Collister and his wife, 31 Harcroft Meadows, Douglas.

The Adminstrators of the Estate of John Walter Cubbon sold 10 Rosedene, Onchan, for £213,000 to Karl James Coulson and Sarah Elizabeth Coulson, 26 Ballanoa Meadows, Santon.

Ricky Rajiv Behl sold 103 Anagh Coar Road, Douglas, for £192,000 to Sarah McGuire, Shee Ghee, Braddan Road, The Strang, Braddan.

•Please note: We publish details of all house sales unless we receive a written request from the police or probation service.

Sponsored by Cowley Groves. Follow them on {http://twitter.com/#!/CowleyGrovesiom|Twitter} and {http://www.facebook.com/CowleyGrovesiom|Facebook}.

In the Machiavellian world of the Tudor court, there is always room to take liberties.

So why not speculate that the teenage Elizabeth I might have secretly given birth to a daughter after what we know was a real-life dalliance with her lecherous guardian Thomas Seymour?

Ella March Chase takes this rather daring and ambitious theory as the premise for her intriguing and entertaining debut novel, an enjoyable romp through history real and imagined.

The possibility that the Virgin Queen could actually have had a child to the traitorous husband of her stepmother Queen Katherine Parr is based on a rumour circulating at the time that a midwife claimed to have delivered a baby ‘to a very fair lady’ thought to be 14-year-old Elizabeth Tudor.

It’s a fascinating thought and one that the author uses here to open the proverbial palace doors onto a turbulent tale of politics, romance, mystery and suspense.

By intertwining real events and real people with a cast of fictional characters and what might just have been possible, we are given a thrilling and dramatic new perspective on a familiar story...

Elinor de Lacey has been raised by Lord and Lady Calverley at their country estate in Lincolnshire. An honest, loving and intelligent girl, she has no idea that she is the illegitimate daughter of a Tudor princess.

Elizabeth, whose very existence has always courted controversy, could not afford for the scandal to be made public and has always believed the baby was ‘disposed of.’

Nell, as Elinor is affectionately known, first meets Elizabeth by chance when the princess is being held in the Tower of London and pledges to one day become her lady in waiting.

Sure enough, when Elizabeth takes the throne, Nell is summoned to court but her distinctive red hair and her obvious resemblance to the queen sets in motion new rumours about a missing portion of Elizabeth’s past.

There are those at court who would love to topple Elizabeth and with strong evidence to connect her to Nell, the truth could send them all to the scaffold...

The Virgin Queen’s Daughter paints a vibrant portrait of a vulnerable and occasionally vicious young queen plagued by the insecurity and loneliness of being a woman in a man’s world.

Her life and times form a colourful backdrop to the dangerous love affair between Nell and her suitor Gabriel Wyatt who must use all their wit and guile if they are to survive.

A captivating story with an exhilarating blend of fact and fiction...

(Ebury, paperback, £6.99

Powerful women are always irresistible ... think Elizabeth I, Cleopatra, Boudicca, Eleanor of Aquitaine and the ‘queen’ of them all, Catherine the Great of Russia.

Eva Stachniak knows only too well the magnetic pull of feisty females and her sizzling and sensuous novel set at the dangerous heart of the St Petersburg court features no less than three amazing women.

Two of them are real – the notoriously ruthless Russian empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great. The third is a fictional Polish girl who becomes a court spy for both rulers, their secret ‘eyes and ears.’

The other star of this 18th century thriller is the Winter Palace itself, the place where nothing is impossible but where every word you say may be repeated and used against you, where every friend you trust may betray you and where being invisible is the best possible virtue.

It’s an epic story and one that reaches far beyond the parameters of a standard historical novel. There’s fascinating political and social detail, the incredible revelations of how Catherine grabbed the throne from her husband, a recounting of the events that shaped Russia’s future and all seen through the eyes of a girl groomed to be a spy.

Indeed, the sexual mores, the scandals and the scheming which accompanies the claustrophobic monarchical rule we witness in The Winter Palace makes Elizabeth Tudor’s battles seem no more than playground spats.

When 16-year-old Varvara, an orphan girl from Warsaw, is brought to serve as a seamstress at Empress Elizabeth’s glittering court, it looks increasingly likely she will never be more than a ‘Polish stray.’

But her ability to read, to listen and to watch convinces the ‘slippery eel’ Count Bestuzhev, the Russian Chancellor, that she would serve well as the Empress’s ‘tongue,’ the ‘teller of the most important stories.’

To this end, she is schooled by the Chancellor himself in skills from lock-picking to love-making, learning above all else to stay silent. He shows her the palace’s hidden drawers, the spy-holes in the panelling, the hidden corners of chimneys, cushions and books, and the maze of secret corridors.

‘Spying,’ Bestuzhev tells her, ‘is the art of using people who do not believe in loyalty, whose appetites are enormous and unpredictable, and whose motives are always suspect.’

But Varvara’s own hitherto unquestionable loyalties are divided when Sophie, a vulnerable young princess, arrives from Prussia as a prospective bride for Peter, Elizabeth’s nephew and heir.

Set to spy on her by the Empress, Varvara soon becomes her friend and confidante, and helps her navigate the illicit seductions and the treacherous shifting allegiances of the court.

But Sophie’s destiny is to become the notorious Catherine the Great. Ambitious and sometimes cruel, she will she stop at nothing to achieve absolute power for herself, even if that means abandoning the friendships that have helped her rise to power...

Stachniak’s sensationally dramatic story is brimming with court detail from the foods and fashions of the empresses to life in the servants’ quarters where guile and cunning are as rampant as in the opulent salons above.

She fills the pages with the dramas of human relationships, the paranoia of subterfuge and the perils of absolute power.

Written with descriptive flair and a superb intensity, The Winter Palace is a dazzling display of historical novel writing and makes us hungry for the much-anticipated sequel.

(Doubleday, hardback, £12.99)

Friday, February 17

• Parents and Tots, upper room, Sulby Methodist Church, 10.30am. Call 897364.

• Age Concern Isle of Man free computer sessions, Ramsey Town Hall, down stairs, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3.30pm, also Tuesday 10am-12.30pm, Also Wednesday and Thursday Southlands Port St Mary, 2pm-4.30pm, Also Monday 10am-12.30pm, Wednesday and Thursday new iMuseum, Douglas, 10am-12.30pm.

• Community coffee morning, Willaston Methodist Church, Barrule Road, 10am-midday.

• Drop in for coffee and a chat, Sulby Methodist Church, 10am-midday.

• Mums and Tots, Laxey Working Men’s Institute, 10am-midday. Call 479839.

• Tiddlers, parents and tots, Elim Church, Second Avenue, Onchan, 10am. Call 434933.

• Prayers with Bears Tots group, All Saints Church Vestry, Alexandra Drive, Douglas, 10am. Contact 483248.

• Parents and tots, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 10am.

• Storybox, Family Library, Westmoreland Road, Douglas, 10.30am. Also Saturday, Sticky Finger Craft for 6 years and over, 10.30am; Wednesday, Busy Bee Time for pre-schoolers, 1.45pm. Call 673123.

• Coffee and chat, Onchan Methodist Church lounge, opposite commissioners’ office, 10.30am-midday.

• Learn Manx with Adrian Cain, beginners midday-1pm, intermediates 1pm-2pm, Manx Museum, Douglas. Admission free, Email greinneyder@mhf.org.im 838527 or 451098.

• Onchan carers and tots, Parish Hall, Onchan, 1.15pm. Call 625328.

• Tiny Tunes, music time for 0-3s, Family Library, Westmoreland Road, Douglas, 1.30pm. Cost £2.50. Call 673123.

• Meditation at The Refinery, Duke Street, Douglas, 7pm. Call 467818.

• The Manx Aviation and Military Museum, 10am-4.30pm. Also Saturday and Sunday. 10-4.30pm. Free admission. Donations welcome.

• Curating the TT Races with Matthew Richardson, Manx Museum, 7pm. Tickets £5, concessions available. Call 648000.

• Motorcycle Night at the Races, Douglas Golf Club, 7.30pm. In aid of Manx Grand Prix Helicopter Fund. Call 897240/431249.

• Manx: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow with Adrian Cain for Sulby & Lezayre Heritage Trust, Sulby Community Hall, Clenagh Road, 7.30pm.

Saturday, February 18

• Launch of Give Up Plastic Bags For Lent campaign with SambaMann, Green Centre, Chester Street Complex, Douglas noon-2pm. Come and collect your free morsbag.

• The Art Market, Strand Shopping Centre, Douglas, 9am-5pm.

• Ultimate Sports Science! Manx Museum, 10am. Tickets £7.50 per adult, £5 per child/student, £20 per family (2 adults and 2 children). Call 648000.

• Coffee morning in aid of the Port Erin branch of IOM Anti-Cancer, Cherry Orchard Hotel, Port Erin, 10am. Includes raffle prize of two hospitality tickets for the football between Manchester United and Aston Villa.

• Theatre Tours, Gaiety Theatre, Douglas, 10am. Tickets for adults £7.50, children £4, family £20. Call 600555.

• Laxey Woollen Mills, Glen Road Laxey, 10am-5pm. Also open weekdays.

• Coffee and chat, St Mary’s on the Harbour, Castletown, 11am.

• Isle of Man Farmers Market, at Northern Lights Community Centre, Ramsey, 10am-1pm.

• Traditional Manx ‘Spuds & Herrin’ evening with traditional entertainment, Ballacreggan Farm, Glen Maye, 7.30pm. Tickets £7.50 including supper.

• Michael Heritage AGM, Michael AFC Clubhouse, 7.30pm. Followed by ‘Past Royal Visits’ with Hampton Creer. All welcome.

Sunday, February 19

• Cathedral Church of St. German, Peel. BCP Eucharist 8.30am, Eucharist 10.30am Corrin Hall, Evensong 6.30pm Corrin Hall, Also Monday Half term Holiday Club 10.30-12 Corrin Hall, Youth Outreach 7.30-10pm Corrin Hall; Shrove Tuesday. 10.15pm, The School Rooms, Patrick. Ash Wednesday BCP Eucharist 9.30am Corrin Hall, Lent Lunch 12.15pm, The Voice Youth Group 6pm Corrin Hall, Eucharist 6pm Holy Trinity, Patrick. All Fridays ibn Lent Stations of the Cross 7.30pm St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, Peel.

• Fishing workshops for beginners, includes both river and sea, bait, spinning and fly fishing, at Adventurous Experiences lecture room, Patrick Road, St John’s, by Kelvin Tastagh, owner of Kelvin’s Tackle, 2pm. Entry £3 donation to RNLI. Call Kelvin, 478224.

• Gardeners’ Social and Seed Swap, Laxey Sailing Club, 3-5pm.

• Castletown Metropolitan Silver Band rehearsals, Queen Street Mission Hall, 7pm.

Monday, February 20

• Parents and tots, Dhoon Church Hall, 9.30am. Call 426395.

• Noah’s Ark Tots Group, Church on the Rock, behind Ramsey Bus Station, 9.30am. Call 459890.

• Out2Play with The Children’s Centre, Onchan Kick about Field, 10am-noon. Also, Rushen School, 2.4pm; Tuesday, BMX track behind cricket club, Marown, 10am-noon and Pulsom Park, Castletown, 2-4pm; Wednesday, Peel Clothworkers School playing field, 10am-noon and Jurby School playing field, 2-4pm; Thursday, Foxdale School playground, 10am-noon and Coronation Park, Ramsey, 2-4pm.

• Breastfeeding Buddies, The Salvation Army Citadel, Ridgeway Street, Douglas. 10.30am. Call 656030.

• Parents and tots, St Olave’s Church, Ramsey, 1pm.

• Coffee and chat with Arthritis Care Ellan Vannin, Industrial Unit 7a, Union Mills, 1pm-4pm. Call 852664.

• Michael Miniatures’ parents and tots, Ebenezer Hall, Kirk Michael, 2pm. £1.50 per family, Call 491592.

• Vannin Bridge, Onchan Pensioners Hall, 2pm. Also Thursday.

• Onchan Silver Band practice, The Band Room, off Main Road, Onchan, beginners, 6.30pm and seniors 7.30pm.

Tuesday, February 21

• Manx Cancer Help drop-in day, Lisa Lowe Centre, Woodbourne Road, Douglas, 11am-4pm.

• Toddle Inn, mums and tots group, Port St Mary Baptist Church, 9.30am. Also Wednesday, Living Hope Community Church, Lancashire House, Santon, 9.30am. Call 835091.

• Progress report exhibition on the development of wind farms in the Irish Sea, Ramsey Town Hall, 11am-4.30pm. Also Wednesday, Scoill Phurt le Moirrey, 2-8pm; Thursday, Strand Shopping Centre, Douglas, 11am-4.30pm and Java Lounge, Duke Street, Douglas, 6.30-8.30pm.

• Autumn Break, lunch, tea and cakes, St Mary’s on the Harbour, Castletown, midday-1pm. Free admission but donations welcome.

• Laxey mums and tots, Laxey Pavilion, 1pm. Call 438408.

• Manx Gaelic conversational class with Adrian Cain, The Rovers, Douglas, 1pm. Also Manx Gaelic class with Brian Stowell at Isle of Man College, Douglas, 7pm. Call 623821.

• Foxdale mums and tots, community hall, Foxdale School, 2pm. Call 420234.

• Abbey Acorns, ages four and above, the Abbey Church, Ballasalla, 3.30pm.

• Peel Footlights Youth Theatre, children aged eight-16, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 4pm. Also Thursday. Call 843819.

• EFT group for therapists, looking after the healers by Bill Tucker, Healing of Mann, Ramsey, 7.30pm. www.healingofmann.com

• Shrove Tuesday whist drive, Bride Church Hall, 7.30pm.

Wednesday, February 22

• Calamity Jane - The Panto-by Marown Youth and Community Players, Marown Primary School, Glen Vine, Curtain up at 7.30pm. Until 25th

• Parents and tots, Salvation Army Citadel, Lord Street, Douglas, 9.30am. Call 627742.

• Mini Club for parents and tots, Anagh Coar School, Douglas, 10am. Also 2pm at Kirk Braddan Church. Call 675523.

• Ballabeg Busy Bugs for under fives, Arbory Parish Hall, Ballabeg, 10am. Call 429676 or email BusyBugs2009@manx.net

• Mums and tots, Marown Hall, Peel Road, Crosby, 10.15am. £1.50 per family.

• Bereavement support group, friendly get together for anybody feeling isolated or lonely after a bereavement, however or whenever it occurred, tea, coffee and a chat, Scholl Centre, Hospice Isle of Man, 5pm-7pm. Call 647443, 668192 or 647449.

• Billown: A Prehistoric Landscape – seminar with Prof. Timothy Darvill, Upper Seminar Room, The Stable Building, The Nunnery, Douglas, 6pm. Free admission, call 695777.

• Samba percussion workshop, no previous musical experience necessary, Onchan Silver Bandroom, off Onchan Commissioners car park, 7pm. Cost £3, contact sambamann@manx.net

• Bingo Night, St James’ Schoolroom, Dalby, 7pm. Admission £2.50 for adults, £1 for children.

• Manx Gaelic class with James O’Meara, St John’s House, 7.30pm. Call 843436.

• Bingo, South Douglas Old Friends Association, Finch Road, Douglas, 8pm.

• Bingo Quiz, Archibald Knox, Onchan, 9pm.

Thursday, February 23

• Quiz Night at The Railway, Douglas from 8.30pm. Call 670773.

• Happy Tots, Main Hall, Willaston School, 9.45am £1 per family including refreshments. Call 621577.

• Storytime for pre-schoolers, Henry Bloom Noble Library, Victoria Street, Douglas, 10am. Call 696461.

• Step-In for tea, coffee, chat and music, Onchan Baptist Church, 10.30am.

• Isle of Man Farmers Market, at Tynwald Mills, St John’s, 11am-3pm.

• Parents and tots, Auldyn Infants School Community Room, Ramsey, 1.30pm.

• Arbory Tots, from birth upwards, Parish Hall, Ballabeg, 2pm. Cost £1 per family. Call 832394.

• Toddler Tunes, Community Room, Michael School, 2pm. Call 878090.

• The Children’s Centre Parent Support Group, informal chat with family support workers, at Douglas Family Centre, Woodbourne Road, 7-9pm.

• Manx Gaelic class with Cathy Clucas, Arbory Commissioners’ Hall, 7.30pm. Call 838527.

• Bingo Quiz, Manor Hotel, Willaston, 9pm.

Friday, February 17

• Sequence dancing, Onchan Pensioner’s Social Club, Morton Hall, Onchan, 2pm.

• Acrobatics, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 4.30pm.

• Modern Dance, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 5.45pm. Also Thursday at 4.30pm.

• Tap Jnr, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 6.45pm. Also Tap Adv at 7.30pm. Also Beginners Tap, Tuesday at 4.30pm.

• Argentinian Tango beginners class, St Paul’s Hall, Ramsey, 7pm. Call 880650 or 324110.

• Line Dancing, Ebenezer Hall, Kirk Michael, 7pm. Beginners welcome, adults £3.50, children £1.50 including tea and biscuits. Call 878687.

Saturday, February 18

• Dance Time for children, Port Erin Methodist Hall, sessions from 9.30am. £2.50 per half hour session. Call 835696.

• Ballroom dancing for children of all ages, Royal British Legion Hall, Port Erin, sessions from 10am.

• Irish Dance Mixed, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 3pm. Also Prim/Int on Monday at 4.30pm and Tuesday at 6.15pm. Beginners on Tuesday at 5.15pm.

• Stage Snr, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 4pm. Also Stage Int at 5pm.

Sunday, February 19

• Perree Bane Manx folk dancing, Ballasalla village hall, 7pm.

Monday, February 20

• Ballet, Viking Works, Riverside, Peel, 5.45pm. Also Thursday at 4.30pm.

• Irish Dance Prim/Int, Viking Works, Riverside, Peel, 6.30pm. Also Wednesday at 5.45pm. Beginners, Wednesday at 5pm.

• Modern, street and stage dance classes at Rinkey Studios, Mill Road, Peel from 6pm.

• Country dancing, Willaston Hall, 7pm-9pm. Contact 628521.

• Ceroc Dance night, Masonic Hall, Woodbourne Road, Douglas, 7.30pm until 10.30pm.

• Line dancing, Port Erin Methodist Church hall, 8.15pm. Call 436219.

• Modern line dancing, Legion Hall, Onchan. Also Wednesday and Thursday, Call 670308.

Tuesday, February 21

• Oriental Dance Exercise. 10am Peel, Genas Dance Academy. Also Wednesdays 10am Ramsey , The Gym

Call Petra on 300020.

• Sequence dancing and social, South Douglas Old Friends Assoc, 7.30pm. Admission £1.50.

• Beginners Line Dance, St John’s Football Club, 7.30pm-9pm. Call 462104.

• Sequence dancing with Port Erin Dancing Club, Port Erin Methodist Church hall, 8pm. Admission £1.50.

Wednesday, February 22

• Sequence dancing, Morton Hall, Castletown, 2pm. Admission £1.

• Ballroom dancing for children, Centenary Centre, Peel, 4pm. Call 450688.

• Ballet, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 4.30pm.

• Modern Line Dance-exercise class for beginners, Legion Hall, Onchan, 7.15pm. £3.50 Ballroom dancing, Villa Marina, Douglas, 8pm. Call Ellis Killey 623414.

• Rhythmic dance, St Ninian’s Dance Studio, Douglas, 8pm.

Thursday, February 23

• Tea dance, South Douglas Old Friends Association, Finch Road, Douglas, 2pm.

• Dance classes for children, Centenary Hall, Peel, 4pm. Call 450688.

• Shake It classes, combines Latin moves with karate, tango and hip hop moves 7pm to 8.15pm.

• Strictly Come Dancing for beginners, Royal British Legion, Port Erin, 8pm. £3.50 per person.

• Irish set dancing Douglas Old Friends’ Club, Douglas, 8pm. Call David on 457268.

Friday, February 17

• Friends Exhibition, Garretts Gallery, Unit 11, Kirby Farm Industrial Estate, Vicarage Road, Braddan, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, 10am-6pm. Until February 29.

• Over The Rainbow by Lorraine Cleasby, textile art exhibition, Erin Arts Centre, Port Erin. Until March 2.

• Forms, Movement and Flow, Jelena Benson exhibition, Sayle Gallery, Douglas. Monday, 1-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm, Sunday, 1.30-4pm. Until March 4.

• REVEAL: Andi Howland photography exhibition, Villa Marina Gallery Space. Until March 19.

• Past Times in the Parish of Patrick, photographic exhibition, Patrick Church, 10am-4pm daily. Until March 31.

Friday, February 17

• Pilates, St John’s Methodist Church Hall, 9.30am. Contact Liz on 427401. Also Wednesday 6.15pm,Thursday, 6.15pm and Friday 9.30am.

• Walk and talk, NSC, Douglas, 10am. Also Monday, Pulsom Park, Castletown, 10.30am and Noble’s Park, Douglas, 5.30pm; Tuesday, NSC, Douglas, 10am; Wednesday, Ramsey Rugby Club, 10am; Thursday, Harbour Lights Cafe, Peel, 10am. Call 688592.

• Walk and talk, Earroo Nane House, 1 Snaefell View, Threshold Estate, Jurby, 10am.

• Chair based exercise sessions, Port Erin Methodist Church hall, 2pm; Monday, Ramsey Town Hall, 10.30am; Tuesday, Castletown Sandfield residents lounge, 2pm; Wednesday, Westland’s Residents Lounge, Peel, 10.30am; Thursday, Onchan Youth and Community Centre, 1.30pm. Call 642668.

• Manx ABC Boxing, Palace Terrace, Douglas. Juniors, 6pm. Seniors (age 16+), 7pm. Beginners welcome. Also Monday and Wednesday.

• Tai chi chuan, Murrays Road School, 7.30pm. Call 612305.

• Indoor bowls, Legion Hall, Port St Mary, 7.30pm. No experience necessary.

• Yoga, Morton Hall, Onchan, 6.30pm. Call 494489.

Saturday, February 18

• Pregnancy yoga, All Saints Hall, Douglas, 10am. Call 461461.

• Yoga, Laxey Working Men’s Institute, 10.15am. Also Monday.

• Yoga, Arbory Parish Hall, 10.30am. Call 494489.

• St Mary’s AFC mixed under 11s training, Pulrose Football Fields, 10.30am. Call 405859.

• Tae Kwondo beginners, Pinewood Complex, Pulrose, 10.45am. Also 6-7yrs, Wednesdays at 5.30pm and Monday and Wednesday, 8-13yrs at 6pm, all ages at 7.15pm. Text 432152.

• Gentle Circuits, NSC, Douglas, 11am. Also Thursday. Call 688588.

• Gymnastics and dance, St Ninian’s School, Douglas, 2pm. Also Wednesday, Call 254499.

Monday, February 20

• Ladies’ activity morning, NSC, Douglas, 9.30am. Call 688556.

• Pilates, St. John’s Methodist Church Hall, 9.30am Call 427401.

• Aquafit, NSC, Douglas, midday. Also Tuesday midday and Wednesday at 6pm. Call 688556.

• Fencing for ages 7 and up, Andreas Parish Hall, 4.30pm. Also Tuesday, Arbory Parish Hall, 4pm and Ebenezer Hall, Kirk Michael, 6.30pm; Wednesdays, Scoill Ree Gorree Sports Hall, Ramsey, 5pm; Thursdays, Onchan Community Hall, 7.30pm. Call 880863.

• Circuit Training, NSC, Douglas, 6pm. Also Wednesday at 7pm. Call 688588.

• Beginners Pilates, Rushen Primary School, Port Erin, 6.15pm. Also Improvers at 7.30pm; Beginners Wednesday at Victoria Road Primary School, Castletown, 7.30pm. Call 491963.

• Zumba, NSC, Douglas, 6pm. Call 688588.

• Exercise Boot Camp, Corrin Hall, Peel, 6.15pm. Also Wednesday, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 6pm; Thursday, Glen Vine Church Hall, 9.15am.

• Zumba Fitness, Morton Hall, Castletown, 3.30pm. Also Tuesday, Glen Helen Inn, 7pm; Wednesday, Corrin Hall, Peel, 6.30pm; Thursday, Jurby Parish Hall, 6.30pm. Call 230369.

• Cardiotone, Laxey Working Men’s Institute, 7pm. Also Thursday. Call 452729.

• Aerobics and body toning, bring your own mat, Park View Hall, Kirk Michael, 7pm. Also Thursday, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 7pm. Call 455924.

• Deep Water Aquafit, NSC, Douglas, 7.15pm. Call 688588.

• Women’s self-defence classes, British Legion Hall, Port Erin, 7.30pm.

• Zumba Toning, Morton Hall, Castletown, 7.40pm. Also Wednesday, Corrin Hall, Peel; Thursday, Jurby Parish Hall. Call 230369.

• Kirk Michael Badminton Club, Park View Hall, Kirk Michael, 8pm. Call 878536.

• Zumba, Carrefour Health Club, Douglas, 8pm. Aso Wednesday at 9.45am; Thursday at 6.30pm.

Tuesday, February 21

• Thighs, Bums and Tums, Laxey Working Men’s Institute, 9.30am. Also Thursday. Call 335635.

• Aquafit, Western Swimming Pool, Peel, 1.15pm. Also Thursday, 7pm.

• Southern Gymnastics Club, Castle Rushen High School, from 5pm. Also Thursday, Ballasalla School, from 4pm. Call 473741.

• Pilates for Horse Riders, Ballaugh, 5.15pm and 6.30pm, Call 465115.

• Pilates, The Hall at Church on The Rock, Ramsey, 6.15pm. Call 491449.

• Tai Chi Chuan, Lezayre Parish Community Hall, 7pm.

• Badminton club, Arbory School, Ballabeg, 8pm. Call Liz on 832904.

• Zumba, The Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 7.30pm. Call 425270. Also Thursday.

• Qigong, Community Hall, Clenagh Road, Sulby, 7pm. £5 per session, Call 878607.

• Body Toning, NSC, Douglas, 7pm. Also Wednesday at 11am. Call 688588.

• IOM Karate Federation, Murrays Road School, Juniors 7pm, Seniors, 7.30pm. Call 612305.

• Arbory Badminton Club, Arbory School Hall, 8pm. Call 832094.

Wednesday, February 22

• Gentle yoga, ladies class, Gena’s Dance Academy, Peel, 9.30am. Call 456782.

• Pilates, NSC, Douglas, 12.10pm. Call 688588.

• Pilates, Braddan Church Hall, 5.30pm and 6.45pm. Call Suzanne 465115.

• Thompson Travel Netball Club junior training, Braddan School, 6pm. For ages 10-14.

• Yoga (Iyengarinspired) Every Wednesday 6pm to 7.30pm.

• Valkyrs Hockey Club training, QEII Astro pitch, Peel. Juniors (8 and up), 6pm; Seniors (13 and up), 7.30pm. Call 801802 or cathkilley@manx.net

• Bowling club night, Port Erin Bowling Club, Breagle Glen, 6.30pm.

• Beginners yoga, St Ninians Dance Studio, Douglas, 6.30pm.

Thursday, February 23

• Fitness league exercise class, Ballafesson Church hall, Port Erin, 10.30am. Call 832759.

• Tai Chi Chuan, Lezayre Parish Hall, 2pm. Call 813222.

• Northern Gymnastics Club, Ramsey Grammar School, 5pm.

• Braaid Fencing Club, Foxdale School, 5.45pm. Call 801832.

• Aqua Zumba, NSC, Douglas, 6pm. Call 688588.

• Western Athletics Club, QEII High School, 6.30pm.

• Peel Badminton Club, Corrin Hall, Peel, 7pm.

• Yoga, Cooil Methodist Hall, 7.15pm. Call 494489.

Friday, February 17

• Little Miss Dynamite at The Rosemount, Douglas.

• Trevor Nelson singing live at The Ginger Hall, Sulby.

• Dickie Kelly at The Whitehouse Peel, 9pm.

• Bowie Tribute with Dave from Soul Suspects at Jaks.

• Karaoke, The Albert, Douglas. 9pm,

• Thai Night, authentic food and music, The Railway, Douglas, 6pm. Also Wednesday.

• Manx Music session, Tynwald Inn, St John’s, 8.30pm.

• Irish Traditional Music session, The Mitre, Ramsey, 9pm.

• Kiaull as Gaelg, The Albert, Port St Mary, 9pm.

• Full On Fridays, Fiesta Havana, Douglas. Also ‘Alternative Havana’ on Thursday.

• Wind & Brass weekend with Colin Touchin and Isle of Man Wind Orchestra, St John’s School, 7.30-9.45pm. Also Saturday and Sunday, 10am-6pm; Social evening, Saturday, The Courthouse, Douglas, 7.30pm; Informal concert, Sunday, St John’s School, 2.30pm. www.iomwo.com

• Final Cut at The Creek, Peel.

Saturday, February 18

• Bree fiddle and workshop day, Douglas Youth Arts Centre, Kensington Road, Douglas, 10am-4pm. manxmusicspecialist@mhf.org.im

• Sounds of the Sixties with Steve at The Mines Tavern, Laxey.

• Little Miss Dynamite at The Sidings, Castletown.

• Green Ginger at The Swan, Ramsey.

• Dickie at The Tynwald Inn, St Johns, 9pm.

• Brown Sugar at Jaks, Douglas.

• Manx Music session, The White House, Peel, 10pm.

• Karaoke with Dobbo at The Decks Liverpool Arms, Baldrine.

• Karaoke at The Central Hotel, Ramsey.

• Final Cut at The Creek, Peel.

Penthouse Dive, Manx Arms in Onchan, 9.30pm,

Sunday, February 19

• Karaoke at The British, Douglas.

• DJ Karaoke & Disco at Jaks, Douglas.

• Karaoke at The Crescent, 8pm-midnight, Queen’s Promenade, Douglas.

• Show Willing and Blue John & Papa Cass at The Whitestone, Ballasalla.

Tuesday, February 21

• Acoustic Sing -a- Round, The Manor, Willaston.

• Soundcheck, live bands, Basement Youth Arts Centre, Kensington Road, Douglas, 6.30pm. Also Rock Choir. Singing 6pm-7pm. Also Thursday and Saturday.

• The What You Want Acoustic Music Club, The Manor, Willaston, 8.30pm.

Wednesday, February 22

• Karaoke at The British, Douglas.

Thursday, February 23

• Soul Suspects at The Creek, Peel.

• Karaoke at Guys and Dolls, Douglas.

• Ramsey Folk Club at The George Hotel, Ramsey, 8pm.

• Acoustic Open Mic, The Rosemount Hotel, Douglas, 8pm.

• Karaoke with Ray Sloane at The Saddle Inn, Douglas.

• Open Mic Night, The Mines, Laxey, 8.30pm.

• Brown Sugar at Outback, Douglas.

• Guitar Practise, Archibald Knox Meeting Room, Onchan, 5.45pm. Free for all levels.

Friday, February 17

• MS Society Southern coffee social afternoon. The Cherry Orchard, Port Erin, 1.30pm.

• World Ship Society Isle of Man Branch meeting with the Manx Model Boat Club, Christian Spiritualist Church Hall, Lower Dukes Road, Douglas, 7.45pm.

Sunday, February 19

• Isle of Man Poetry Society, Archibald Knox meeting room, Onchan, 8pm. Call 664796 or 897815.

Monday, February 20

• Gym time active play for pre-school children, Manx Gymnastics Centre, Glencrutchery Road, Douglas, 9.30am. Call 625636. Also Wednesday and Thursday.

• Daniel’s Den, Methodist Church, Arbory Street, Castletown, 10am. Admission £1, Call 822374.

• Mannin Art Group, St Paul’s Hall, Ramsey, 10am. For further details email mailbox@manninart.org

• Onchan Ladies’ Choir, Methodist Hall, 1.30pm. Call 673453.

• Onchan Pensioners Club, bridge, 2pm; bingo 7pm, Morton Hall, Onchan. Also Tuesday, coffee morning, 10.30am-midday; Wednesday, Onchan Ladies Club, 2pm, whist, 7pm; Thursday, coffee morning, 10.30am-midday; bingo, 7pm; Friday, sequence dancing, 2pm.

• Peel Craft Club, the family room, Peel Methodist Chapel, 2pm-4pm.

• Onchan Rotary Club, The Max Restaurant, Groudle Road, Onchan, 6.30pm.

• Onchan Silver Band practice, The Band Room, off Main Road, Onchan, beginners 6.30pm and Seniors 7.30pm.

• Do Drop Inn Drama Club, children aged 10 and above, St Paul’s Hall, Ramsey, 7pm.

• Foxdale WI, Foxdale Community School, 7.30pm. Call 818194.

• Marown WI, Millennium Hall, Crosby, 7.30pm. Call 818194.

• Laxey Minorca WI, Laxey Football Club, 7.45pm. Call 818194.

Tuesday, February 21

• St John’s Art and Craft Group, Methodist Hall, St John’s, 9.40am. Bring your own art and craft with you. Call 851364.

• Onchan Pensioners’ Social Club, Morton Hall, 10.30am. Also Thursday.

• Now You See It, Now You Don’t – The Art of Deception: Optical Illusion, Camouflage and Trompe L’Oeil – talk by Bertie Pearce for IOM Decorative and Fine Arts Society, Manx Museum Lecture Theatre, Douglas, 11.30am. Call 843940.

• The Tuesday Group, flexible learning room to try your hand at basic crafts, have a chat, coffee and fun, Peel Clothworkers’ School 1.15pm. Pre-school children catered for. Call 614180.

• Computers for Beginners. One to one sessions at Onchan Library. 10am - 12. Call 621228 or e-mail onchan.library@onchan.org.im to book.

• Braddan WI, Methodist Church Hall, Union Mills, 2pm. Call 818194.

• Peel Footlights Youth Theatre for ages eight-16, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 4pm. Contact 843819. Also Thursday.

• MRA Whist afternoon at the Cat with No Tail, Douglas at 2pm. Also Thursday Stretch & Flex at the NSC at 10am and Indoor flat green bowling at the NSC Douglas from 2pm to 3.30pm.

• Cheerleading, All Saints Church Hall, 4.30pm. Call 254499 or email gengym@manx.net

• Isle of Man Chess Club, Belsfield Hotel, Church Road Marina, Douglas, 7.30pm. Call 495097 or email Zahed.miah@gov.im

• Army Cadets, Scout Hall, Peel, 7pm. Also Thursday.

• Castletown Metropolitan Silver Band rehearsals, Queen Street Mission Hall, 7.30pm.

• Rotary Club of Rushen and Western Mann meet, Falcons’ Nest Hotel, Port Erin, 7.30pm.

• Kirk Andreas WI, Andreas Church Hall, 7.30pm. Call 818194.

• St John’s WI, St John’s Church Hall, 7.30pm. Call 818194.

• Mannin Quilters, Ballabeg Methodist Hall, 7.30pm. Call 628921 or 628655.

Wednesday , February 22

• Ballaugh WI, Ballaugh Bowling Club, 7.30pm. Call 803804.

• Isle of Man Photographic Society Open Competition. Thie Ellyn, off Withington Road, Douglas. 7.30pm.

• Peel Pensioners Club, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 7.30pm. Call Elaine on 844972.

• Port St Mary WI, Mount Tabor School Room, Port St Mary, 7.45pm. Call 818194.

Thursday, February 23

• Port Erin WI, Port Erin Methodist Church Hall, 9.30am. Call 818194.

• The Dalby Art Group, St James’ schoolrooms, Dalby, 2pm. Bring your own equipment. Call Cheryl on 843471.

• Guitar Lessons, Meeting Rooms, Archibald Knox, 5.45-6.45pm.

• Good News Club for primary school children, Living Hope Community Church, Bayview Road, Port St Mary, 6pm. Email weirfamily55@hotmail.co.uk

• Ramsey WI, St. Paul’s Church Lounge, Market Place, Ramsey, 7.30pm.

Friday, February 17

• ‘Knot Guilty’ by Rushen Players, Erin Arts Centre, Port Erin, 8pm. Also Saturday and Sunday.

Wednesday, February 22

• Calamity Jane - The Panto by Marown Youth and Community Players, Marown School, 7.30pm. Tickets £6, call 851397 or 851783. Until Saturday.

A PORT St Mary home has sold for £470,000.

Douglas Charles Couper and Margaret Couper sold 25 Perwick Bay, Fistard, Port St Mary, for £470,000 to Christopher Couper Harris and Louise May Harris.

Januba Ltd, 5 Athol Street, Douglas sold 4 Ballagill, Croit-e-Caley, Colby, for £450,000 to Edwin Charles Lockwood and Claire Louise Lockwood of 4 Ballagill.

John Graham Harrison and Gwinith Winifred Harrison sold Thalloo yn Trooan, Cornelly, German, for £380,000 to Barry Peter McGaw and his wife, Bramble Cottage, Richmond Hill, Braddan. Mr and Mrs McGaw sold Bramble Cottage for £350,000 to Gwinith Winifred Harrison, c/o Simcocks, Ridgeway Street, Douglas.

Janet Dorsman sold 29 Whitebridge Road, Onchan, for £270,000 to Peter Edward Helwich and Lea Theresa Helwich, 77 Barrule Drive, Onchan.

Silverdale Services Ltd, 4 Woodbourne Square, sold that property for £238,000 to Joseph Michael Evans and Claire Elizabeth Evans, 20 Marlborough Court, Central Promenade, Douglas.

The trustees of the estate of Margaret Kneale sold Dalgonar, Queen’s Drive West, Ramsey, for £220,000 to Mark Glyn Halkyard and his wife, Hayfield, Brookfield Crescent, Ramsey.

Linda Mary Dawson sold Glen Robin Cottage, Spaldrick, Port Erin, for £198,000 to Samuel Neil Skelton and Barbara Dian Skelton, 28 Turnberry Avenue, Onchan.

Dorothy Hyatt sold 6 Tuppence Terrace, Shore Road, Laxey for £49,000 to Jessie Gregory, Sliue Roy, Highfield Drive, Lonan.

• Please note: We publish details of all house sales unless we receive a written request from the police or probation service.

Sponsored by Cowley Groves. Follow them on {http://twitter.com/#!/CowleyGrovesiom|Twitter} and {http://www.facebook.com/CowleyGrovesiom|Facebook}.

Restoration London is a dangerous place for a former Parliamentarian spy, but who better to brazen it out than the wily Thomas Chaloner?

The Piccadilly Plot is Susanna Gregory’s seventh novel featuring Queen Katherine of Bragnaza’s trusty turncoat whose adventures and misadventures have become cult reading for fans of historical crime novels.

The books excel in their clever plotlines and the remarkable evocation of the teeming, malodorous and dangerous streets of 17th century London and the restless, factional court of Charles II.

Gregory always creates a cast of well-drawn characters, some real and some fictional, using a crisp, lively dialogue and an intriguing mystery to keep the pages turning.

Her understanding and knowledge of the Restoration period helps her to bring to life the capital city and its people as well as creating a story that is both exciting and authentic.

In 1664, the royal House of Stuart has been restored, Charles II is on the throne ... but all is not well behind the palace doors at White Hall.

Plots abound and when the resourceful ‘intelligencer’ Thomas Chaloner is summoned back to London from an investigation into corruption he is conducting in Tangier, he witnesses the assassination of the ship’s captain on the quayside in Queenhithe.

Still, he is relieved to be home and to be reunited with his new wife Hannah who is a lady-in-waiting to the king’s wife Queen Katherine.

The reason he has been summoned by his vain and selfish master, the Earl of Clarendon, seems annoyingly trivial – the theft of building materials from the site of Clarendon’s opulent new residence near Piccadilly.

But when death threats are made against Clarendon’s self-important architect Roger Pratt, it becomes increasingly likely that they may be linked to the thefts.

Chaloner finds himself thrown into investigations involving murder, a stolen corpse and a scheme to frame the Queen for treason. Yet, as he delves deeper into the mysteries, it seems there are connections from all of them which can be traced back to the unfinished Clarendon House and to events on the north African coast...

The Piccadilly Plot sees Gregory at her very best ... a nail-biting plot featuring codes, corpses and corruption is perfectly offset by moments of wry comedy.

The prickly relationship between Chaloner and Clarendon never fails to entertain ... the gentleman spy needs a job, and his master needs the former Cromwellian’s unorthodox skills which help to keep one step ahead of any rivals.

Plenty of laughs, suspense and surprises in this exciting new Chaloner chapter...

(Sphere, hardback, £19.99)

Whether your children are tots or teens, there’s plenty of exciting titles available from Random House Children’s Books this month.

From colourful picture books to sophisticated suspense novels for young adults, there’s a book with your child’s name written all over it!

Top of the teenage selection must be the hard-hitting and mesmerising Desert Angel by US author Charlie Price (Corgi, paperback, £6.99), a brutal and heart-thumping tale of murder and abuse.

This is young adult fiction of the grown-up kind, portraying life in all its stark reality. We see humans at their worst and best as we travel across the Californian desert on a terrifying cat-and-mouse chase.

Fourteen-year-old Angel has had a tough start to life. Dragged around by her mother as she moves from one abusive relationship to the other, they have never stayed anywhere for very long.

But the latest boyfriend Scotty is in a different league to the others and when Angel discovers her mother murdered one morning, she becomes his next target.

Fleeing their trailer in the Californian desert, Angel embarks on a journey of survival. With no money, food or shelter and in harsh and unwelcoming surroundings, she must escape Scotty before he finds her and kills her too.

Scotty has one very big and devastating advantage – he’s an illegal hunter and Angel has become the prey. Her only chance of survival is to enlist the help of strangers but by doing so, she also brings danger on them.

Angel can only see one way out…get Scottie before he gets her first.

Price’s fast-paced thrilling story paints a bleak and depressing picture of American ‘trailer’ life set against an unforgiving landscape.

The relentlessness of an increasingly desperate Scotty contrasts with the emotional rollercoaster experienced by the teenage Angel as she finds friendship in the most unexpected places.

Desert Angel is revealing, raw and shocking but it’s also moving, uplifting and totally unmissable.

Sisters ...who’d have ’em?! Certainly not tomboy Marta whose older, frillier sister Melissa likes everything she doesn’t.

As always in Jacqueline Wilson’s brilliant books, she gets right to the heart of all those things that kids love and hate and The Worst Thing About My Sister (Doubleday, hardback, £12.99) is full of fun, frolics and little pearls of wisdom.

Here she focuses on that old family chestnut – sibling rivalry – and gives quarrelling sisters plenty of food for thought.

Marty and older sister Melissa couldn’t be more different. Marty loves her Converse trainers, playing football, hiding in her secret den and helping her dad with his DIY while Melissa loves Justin Bieber and all things pink, girly and pretty.

The sisters can manage to live together, despite their occasional scraps but then Mum tells them they have to share a room. Her dream of making dresses is at last going to come true and she needs another room – Marty’s Room.

Both sisters are thrown together and the arguments soon increase to horrid tricks. For Marty, having to share her bunk beds and lose her private sanctuary turns out to be the very worst thing about having a sister.

But the girls soon discover that being too close for comfort can have unexpected consequences, and when an accident happens, the sisters realise they are closer than they thought.

Wilson entertaining and yet thoughtful book is accompanied by reading notes ideal for children’s reading groups or classroom discussions and Nick Sharratt’s fantastic illustrations are the icing on the cake.

Perfect for young readers aged seven and over.

And what about a picture book that will have the youngest members of the household laughing their little socks off?

Award-winning children’s illustrator and author Nick Sharratt has teamed up with fellow author Elizabeth Lindsay to produce Socks (David Fickling Books, hardback, £10.99), a brilliantly clever picture book which celebrates the nation’s favourite footwear.

We’re talking big and bold here... big pictures, big writing and big, barmy adventures! There’s a smiling sockodile, a dozing hipposockamus, an eight-legged socktopus and even a Sock Ness Monster enjoying a summer holiday.

Pages of silly big words containing socks such as Socywockydoodah, Sockywockychoochoo train will enchant little ones who can work their way through a series of sock animals, storytime characters, objects, transport and even greedy-guts Goldisocks.

The rhyming story is full of sockywocky fun, socks of every design and colour and will keep kids (and grown-ups) in stocking stitches for hours on end!

Jezebel – most recognise her as the notorious Biblical figure synonymous with power but forever tainted by her reputation as a treacherous ‘painted lady.’ Is her Old Testament story the truth, partly the truth or just a pack of lies?

The Book of Kings tells us that the Princess of Tyre who became Queen of Israel set off a period of bitter religious and political strife when she persuaded her husband to abandon the Jewish God Yahweh and worship the Phoenician god Baal.

By angering the vengeful Israelite priests, she signed her own death warrant...

Jezebel is the second sweeping and seductive Biblical saga from Eleanor de Jong who has found fertile territory in the ancient Holy Land for epic tales about some of the most controversial women of all time.

She specialises in taking female figures demonised by a history recorded predominantly by men and reimagining their loves and lives for a modern audience.

De Jong’s first novel, Delilah, featured the woman who famously seduced and betrayed Israelite leader Samson, and now she sets her sights on the beautiful and much-maligned Jezebel.

Jezebel, headstrong and determined, is destined to be married by her father King Ithbaal of Tyre as a pawn in a political game.

Led to believe that handsome Jehu, a Judean prince, will be chosen as her husband, she begins an illicit and passionate affair with him when he stays at her father’s court.

But when Jezebel is told she must instead marry Ahab, the middle-aged and shabby King of Israel, Jehu believes she has cruelly betrayed him.

Her destiny now lies with Ahab in Samaria, a city built on a great flattened mountain, where she is resented by her husband’s first wife and the Israelite priests who regard her as a ‘gaudy Phoenician harlot’ with ‘false gods.’

The years pass, and both Jezebel and Jehu nurse their secret. Jehu, unable to relinquish his love for Jezebel, grows bitter and twisted. But he is unaware of Jezebel’s greatest secret – that he is father to her eldest son, Ahaziah, the heir to Israel′s throne.

As her husband’s health deteriorates, Jezebel gradually assumes control of Israel but hatred of her is being fanned by firebrand prophet Elijah, one of the towering figures of the Old Testament, and his terrifying disciple Elisha.

And as they plot her downfall, Jehu circles closer and it seems the die has been cast. Can Jezebel finally take control of her own destiny or has her time already passed?

Grand in its scope and enthralling in its evocation of a courageous and doomed queen, Jezebel will delight fans of both history and romance.

(Avon, paperback, £7.99)

If any film-makers out there have never curled up with a Jill Mansell book, then perhaps now is a good time to start.

A Walk in the Park is just the latest of her trademark romantic comedies which seem to gravitate to the top of the best-seller lists like a compass point to magnetic north.

And judging by this sparkling little number, she’s just getting better and better...

Wryly funny, wise and always deliciously on-song, her stories feature the kind of characters we have all met ... or would like to meet.

Take Lara Carson – at the tender age of 13, she was understandably hacked off when her father installed his new love Janice in their home just six months after Lara’s mother died.

It was clear from the start that Lara wasn’t welcome there any more. ‘Why can’t she just join the army or something,’ the lovely Janice was overheard confiding to a friend.

Three years later, life was still grim but she did have the consolation of Flynn Erskine, the handsomest and ‘best boyfriend’ in the world who made up for a lot of the misery in her life.

That is until her father chucked her out for being late home one night and she ended up on the doorstep of Aunt Nettie in Keswick who welcomed her with a big, warm maiden aunt hug and the promise of a new home with her.

There was just one problem... Lara had brought an extra ‘item’ with her baggage, the baby she was expecting to the blissfully unaware and now ex-boyfriend Flynn.

Fast forward over 18 years and Lara and her beautiful and bubbly daughter Gigi have returned to Bath for the funeral of Lara’s father and the unexpected news that his house is now theirs.

Of course, Lara’s return is causing a stir – not least with former best friend Evie who has a lot to catch up on and is on the verge of marrying her ‘bad boy’ dream lover Joel Barber.

There’s also the not insignificant and disturbing re-acquaintance with once adored boyfriend Flynn, now a handsome, mature and be-suited man rather than the dishevelled teenager in a T-shirt that she remembers.

The spark between them is as strong as ever, but how will Flynn react when he discovers the secret she has been keeping from him? There’s a lot of catching up to be done, that’s for sure...

Mansell knows all about life and love, how to make us laugh, how to make us cry and how to keep us reading long after the clocks have struck midnight.

Resourceful Lara, the lovable Gigi and ever-resilient Evie make a terrific starring threesome in a story as full of surprises and drama as it is of comic capers and true romance.

Now turn all these gorgeous goings-on into a film and the likes of Notting Hill and Love Actually would really get a run for their money!

(Headline Review, hardback, £14.99)