Category Archives: Travel Guides
Birdcage Walk
Lizzie Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol’s housing boom, and he has everything to lose from social upheaval and the prospect of war. Soon his
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
This is a mesmerising mystery story about friendship from the internationally bestselling author of Norwegian Wood and 1Q84. Tsukuru Tazaki had four best friends at school. By chance all of their names contained a colour. The two boys were called Akamatsu, meaning `red pine`, and Oumi, `blue sea`, while the girls` names were Shirane, `white
St Petersburg: Three Centuries of Murderous Desire
`This extraordinary book brings to life an astonishing place. Beautiful prose renders brutality vivid` The Times – BOOK OF THE WEEK From Peter the Great to Putin, this is the unforgettable story of St Petersburg ‘“ one of the most magical, menacing and influential cities in the world. St Petersburg has always felt like an
Wind/ Pinball: Two Novels
Wind/Pinball includes Haruki Murakami`s first two novels, published back-to-back, available for the first time in English outside Japan. With a new introduction by the author.`If you`re the sort of guy who raids the refrigerators of silent kitchens at three o`clock in the morning, you can only write accordingly. That`s who I am.` Hear the Wind
Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day
In Roman Londinium the city was dotted with lupanaria (`wolf dens` or public pleasure houses), fornices (brothels) and thermiae (hot baths). Then came the Emperor Constantine, with his bishops, monks and missionaries. And so began an endless loop of alternating permissiveness and censure.Ackroyd takes us right into the hidden history of the city; from the
The Murder Bag
This is the gripping first novel in an explosive new crime series by Tony Parsons, bestselling author of Man and Boy. If you like crime-novels by Ian Rankin and Peter James, you will love this. Twenty years ago seven rich, privileged students became friends at their exclusive private school, Potter`s Field. Now they have started
The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe
Armed only with a counterfeit 100-Euro note, Ajatashatru the fakir arrives in Paris. His mission? To acquire a splendid new bed of nails. His destination? IKEA. Once there he finds an obliging wardrobe in which to lay his head, only to discover on waking that he is locked in and headed for England in the
A Stain in the Blood: The Remarkable Voyage of Sir Kenelm Digby
“A thrilling account”. (The Times). “As heroic as Digby himself, Moshenska has defied the tyranny of genre and made his own absorbing account”. (Observer). “A master storyteller. Full of exquisite details, but with the grandest themes…this is a gripping adventure story”. (Zia Haider Rahman). “A brilliant account of one of the seventeenth century`s most dashing
One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest
In 1941, Richard Evans Schultes took a leave of absence from Harvard University and disappeared into the Northern Amazon of Colombia. The world`s leading authority on the hallucinogens and medicinal plants of the region, he returned after twelve years of travelling through South America in a dug-out canoe, mapping uncharted rivers, living among local tribes
The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club
“If you loved Under the Tuscan Sun, you`ll love this.” (Red Magazine). Pull up a chair for the true story of the Umbrian Thursday night supper club. Every week on a Thursday evening, a group of four Italian rural women gather in a derelict stone house in the hills above Italy`s Orvieto. There – along
The Shore
This title was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2015. It was also shortlisted for the Times/Peters Fraser & Dunlop Young writer of the Year Award. It is longlisted for the Baileys Women`s Prize for Fiction 2015. The Shore. A collection of small islands sticking out from the coast of Virginia into the Atlantic
Common Ground
“Sensitive, thoughtful and poetic. Rob Cowen rakes over a scrap of land with forensic care, leading us into a whole new way of looking at the world.” Michael Palin. `I am dreaming of the edge-land again` After moving from London to a new home in Yorkshire, Rob Cowen finds himself on unfamiliar territory, disoriented, hemmed
The House by the Lake
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2015. LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2016. A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK. “A passionate memoir.” (Neil MacGregor). “A superb portrait of twentieth century Germany seen through the prism of a house which was lived in, and lost, by five different families. A remarkable book.” (Tom Holland). “Personal
Ancient Worlds: An Epic History of East and West
Acclaimed historian and TV presenter Michael Scott guides us through an epic story spanning ten centuries to create a bold new reading of the classical era for our globalised world. Scott challenges our traditionally western-focused perception of the past, connecting Greco-Roman civilisation to the great rulers and empires that swept across Central Asia to India
The Sunlight Pilgims
From the highly acclaimed author of The Panopticon and one of Granta`s Best Young British Writers comes the new novel THE SUNLIGHT PILGRIMS. Set in a Scottish caravan park during a freak winter – it is snowing in Jerusalem, the Thames is overflowing, and an iceberg separated from the Fjords in Norway is expected to
Moor`s Last Sigh
What do we do when the world`s walls – its family structures, its value-systems, it political forms – crumble? The central character of this novel, `Moor` Zogoiby, only son of a wealthy, artistic-bohemian Bombay family, finds himself in such a moment of crisis. His mother, a famous painter and an emotional despot, worships beauty, but
Belonging: The Story of the Jews 1492-1900
A passionate history of Judaism; a world unfolding across many continents and five centuries by one of our greatest and internationally bestselling historians.Belonging is a magnificent cultural history abundantly alive with energy, character and colour. From the Jews` expulsion from Spain in 1492 it tells the stories not just of rabbis and philosophers but of
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. In just a fraction of that time, one species among countless others has conquered it. Us. We are the most advanced and most destructive animals ever to have lived. What makes us brilliant? What makes us deadly? What makes us Sapiens? In this bold and provocative book, Yuval
Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World: Shortlisted for the 2020 Wainwright Prize
Shortlisted for the 2020 Wainwright Prize”Hugely ambitious and beautifully written…destined to become a modern classic” Bee WilsonHow we search for, make and consume food has defined human history. It transforms our bodies and homes, our politics and our trade, our landscapes and our climate. But by forgetting our culinary heritage and relying on cheap, intensively
A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Rossellis and the Fight Against Mussolini
Mussolini was not only ruthless: he was subtle and manipulative. Black-shirted thugs did his dirty work for him: arson, murder, destruction of homes and offices, bribes and intimidation. His opponents – including editors, union representatives, lawyers and judges – were beaten into submission. But the tide turned in 1924 when his assassins went too far,
