Category Archives: Travel Guides
The Novel Habits of Happiness
Isabel Dalhousie is one of Edinburgh`s most generous (but discreet) philanthropists – but should she be more charitable? She wonders, sometimes, if she is too judgmental about her niece`s amorous exploits, too sharp about her housekeeper`s spiritual beliefs, too ready to bristle in battle against her enemies. As the editor of the Review of Applied
The Lie of the Land
`Terrific, page-turning, slyly funny` India Knight`As satisfying a novel as I have read in years` Sarah Perry`Absolutely magnificent` Marian KeyesQuentin and Lottie Bredin, like many modern couples, can`t afford to divorce. Having lost their jobs in the recession, they can`t afford to go on living in London; instead, they must downsize and move their three
Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind
`If great books encourage you to look at the world in an entirely new way, then Dominion is a very great book indeed . . . Written with terrific learning, enthusiasm and good humour, Holland`s book is not just supremely provocative, but often very funny` Sunday Times History Book of the YearChristianity is the most
An Orchestra of Minorities – Shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker Prize
Shortlisted for the 2019 Man Booker Prize”Timely, portentous and powerful, Obioma`s second novel confirms his remarkable talent” Independent”Chigozie Obioma truly is the heir to Chinua Achebe” New York Times Book ReviewUmuahia, Nigeria. Chinonso, a young poultry farmer, sees a woman attempting to jump to her death from a highway bridge. Horrified by her recklessness, Chinonso
Prague Spring
It`s the summer of 1968, the year of love and hate, of Prague Spring and Cold War winter. Two English students, Ellie and James, set off to hitch-hike across Europe with no particular aim in mind but a continent, and themselves, to discover. Somewhere in southern Germany they decide, on a whim, to visit Czechoslovakia
Hangover Square
The seventy-fifth anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Anthony Quinn. London, 1939, and in the grimy publands of Earls Court, George Harvey Bone is pursuing a helpless infatuation. Netta is cool, contemptuous and hopelessly desirable to George. George is adrift in a drunken hell, except in his `dead` moments, when something goes click in
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WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018`Marvellously, endearingly, unexpectedly funny` Gary Shteyngart`Bedazzling, bewitching and be-wonderful` New York Times Book Review`A fast and rocketing read . . . a wonderful, wonderful book!` Karen Joy FowlerArthur Less is a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the post: it is from an
The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food
Based on ten years of surveying farming communities around the world, top New York chef Dan Barber`s The Third Plate offers a radical new way of thinking about food that will heal the land and taste incredible. The `first plate` was a classic meal centred on a large cut of meat with few vegetables. On
The Indian Empire At War: From Jihad to Victory, The Untold Story of the Indian Army in the First World War
Almost two million volunteers served the Indian army in the Great War, always under British regimental officers, high commanders and staff. 150,000 of them were long-serving pre-war professional soldiers; most of the remainder were wartime recruits, drawn from across South Asia. Half of the Indian soldiers were sent overseas, and those who returned did so
The Last Wolf: The Hidden Springs of Englishness
It is often assumed that the national identity must be a matter of values and ideas. But in Robert Winder`s brilliantly-written account it is a land built on a lucky set of natural ingredients: the island setting that made it maritime; the rain that fed the grass that nourished the sheep that provided the wool,
Precious and Grace
One bright morning, Precious Ramotswe – head of Botswana`s No. 1 Ladies` Detective Agency – receives a visitor: a woman from Australia. This woman asks Precious to take on a case: to find the nursemaid who raised her during her childhood in Botswana. The woman wants to thank her for being such an important part
The Dry
Amid the worst drought to ravage Australia in a century, it hasn`t rained in small country town Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are brutally murdered. Everyone thinks Luke Hadler, who committed suicide after slaughtering his wife and six-year-old son, is guilty. Policeman Aaron
The Lost Man: by the author of the Sunday Times top ten bestseller, The Dry
`I read it in 24 hours. It`s gripping, atmospheric and ultimately deeply satisfying` Val McDermidThe gripping new novel from the author of the Sunday Times top ten bestsellers, The Dry and Force of Nature. He had started to remove his clothes as logic had deserted him, and his skin was cracked. Whatever had been going
English Animals
I took off my belt and moved between the seats to look. We were at the top of a big hill. Below were squares and diamonds of green and brown fields all the way to the sunset. Then I saw the house. It was more perfect than the one I had been dreaming about. A
The Little Breton Bistro
From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Little Paris Bookshop, an extraordinary novel about self-discovery and new beginnings.`An enchanting, uplifting read` Independent on The Little Paris BookshopMarianne Messmann longs to escape her loveless marriage. On a trip to Paris, she throws herself into the Seine, but is rescued by a passer-by.
In Spite Of The Gods: the Strange Rise of Modern India
India is poised to become one of the world`s three largest economies in the next generation and to overtake China as the world`s most populous country by 2032. Well before then India`s incipient nuclear deterrent will have acquired intercontinental range and air, sea and land capabilities. India`s volatile relationship with its nuclear-armed neighbour, Pakistan, may
Does Santa Exist?
Metaphysics isn`t ordinarily much of a laughing matter. But in the hands of acclaimed comedy writer and scholar Eric Kaplan, a search for the truth about old St. Nick becomes a deeply insightful, laugh-out-loud discussion of the way some things exist but may not really be there. Just like Santa and his reindeer. Even after
The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking and the Future of the Global Economy
The past twenty years saw unprecedented growth and stability followed by the worst financial crisis the industrialised world has ever witnessed. In the space of little more than a year what had been seen as the age of wisdom was viewed as the age of foolishness. Almost overnight, belief turned into incredulity. Most accounts of
Target London
During the darkest days of the Second World War, the Allies listened intently to the messages of the enemy. Every whisper built a picture of the threat to come – weapons that were terrifying in their murderous capabilities. Target London is the dramatic tale of the inception of the German V-weapons, the Allies` epic race
Housman Country: Into the Heart of England
Why is it that for many people `England` has always meant an unspoilt rural landscape rather than the ever-changing urban world in which most English people live? What was the `England` for which people fought in two world wars? What is about the English that makes them constantly hanker for a vanished past, so that
