Category Archives: Travel Guides
Once On A Moonlit Night
A young woman hears the tale of a sacred text, written in an ancient language and inscribed on silk cloth many centuries ago. Puyi, the last emperor and owner of the relic, allegedly tore the silk in pieces with his teeth and threw it from a plane when he was taken by the Japanese to
Butcher and Bolt
Afghanistan has been a strategic prize for more than 200 years. Foreign invaders have continually fought across its beautiful and inhospitable terrain, in conflicts variously ruthless, misguided and bloody. A century ago, the common sneer about how British soldiers treated Afghan tribesmen was that they would `butcher` them, then `bolt`. “Butcher and Bolt” recounts this
Spillover: the powerful, prescient book that predicted the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Read this gripping, timely book about the transmission of deadly viruses from animal to human populations, and how we can fight the current Covid-19 pandemic. As globalization spreads and as we destroy the ancient ecosystems, we encounter strange and dangerous infections that originate in animals but that can be transmitted to humans. Diseases that were
Wild Cooking, Recipes, Tips and Other Improvisations
Richard Mabey`s sparky, offbeat book is about canny and inventive making-do, or `busking in the kitchen`. Whether creating a cassoulet which uses English ingredients, making bread from chestnuts or slow-cooking a Peking duck in front of an ancient fan heater, he encourages us to be daring and imaginative in our cooking and our approach to
The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance
A dazzling history of the modest family which rose to become one of the most powerful in Europe, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money and ambition. Against the background of an age which saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning – of humanism which penetrated and explored the arts and
In Siberia
In the bitter cold of Danish Jutland, where the sea freezes over and the Nazis have yet to invade, a young girl dreams of one day going on a great journey to Siberia, while her beloved brother Jesper yearns for the warmer climes of Morocco. Their home, with a pious mother who sings hymns all
Books Burn Badly
On 19 August 1936 Hercules the boxer stands on the quayside at Coruna and watches Fascist soldiers piling up books and setting them alight. With this moment a young carefree group of friends are transformed into a broken generation. Out of this incident during the early months of Spain`s tragic civil war, Manuel Rivas weaves
Family Planning
Mr Ahuja, Delhi`s Minister of Urban Development, has too much on his hands: thirteen children and another on the way. Lost among his sprawling, noisy brood he reaches out to Arjun, his eldest, and seemingly wisest, son. But Arjun has his own problems: how to tell the girl on the school bus that he`s crazy
The Opposite of Falling
At Niagara Falls, Toby O`Hara offers rides over the rushing water in a red and blue striped hot air balloon. The balloon is a day job for Toby, his night work is to continue to perfect his father`s design for a flying machine. On the other side of the Atlantic, Ursula Bridgewater, an independent woman
The American Future – A History
The American Future traces the history of a country whose most enduring trait is its capacity for self-renewal, especially at times of disaster. Examining issues of power, race and immigration, religious fervour and prosperity, this masterful portrait of the world`s most controversial superpower looks backwards and forwards to understand why now, more than ever, the
Wars, Guns and Votes
The world is in a mess. For more than a billion people, everyday life is played out against the backdrop of civil wars, military coups and failing economies. For them, the peaceful democracy taken for granted in the West seems an impossible pipe-dream. But solutions do exist – it is up to us to achieve
All Our Worldly Goods
Pierre and Agnes marry for love against the wishes of his parents and the family patriarch, the tyrannical industrialist Julien Hardelot, provoking a family feud which cascades down the generations. Even when war is imminent and Pierre is called up, the old man is unforgiving. Taut, evocative and beautifully paced, All Our Worldly Goods points
In Borrowed Light
Fourteen years after independence, the enduring childhood friendship of three women has carried them through times of violence and loss in Kenya, their chosen homeland. Hannah Olsen and her husband Lars own Langani Farm and Safari Lodge where they struggle to protect their wildlife and land from poachers and corrupt officials. But the developing relationship
In the Wake
Early one morning Arvid finds himself standing outside the bookshop where he used to work, drunk, dirty, with two fractured ribs, and no idea how he came to be there. He does not even recognise his face in the mirror. It is as if he has dropped out of the flow of life. Slowly, uncontrollably,
The Tall Man
When Cameron Doomadgee, a 36-year-old member of the Aboriginal community of Palm Island, was arrested for swearing at a white police officer, he was dead within forty-five minutes of being locked up. The police claimed he`d tripped on a step, but the pathologist likened his injuries to those received in a plane crash. The main
How to Read the Air
Jonas, fresh from a failed marriage, is desperate to make sense of the ties that have forged him. How can he dream of a future when he can`t make sense of his past? He hits the road, tracing the route that his parents – young Ethiopians in search of an identity as an American couple
Sucking Eggs
Recycling, buying locally-sourced food and vintage clothing, checking air miles and carbon footprints – our ever-growing obsessions with saving money and preserving the planet is beginning to affect the way many of us shop, travel and eat every day. After decades of plenty, we now face the credit crunch and climate change but the good
Unsafe Attachments
??i??Unsafe Attachments??i?? explores the relationships of a loosely interlinked group of Londoners. Caught off guard at key points, they face moments of sudden temptation in their busy, established lives, as well as increasingly difficult choices. Dinah, harried and pregnant, is haunted by images of death on her way to Heathrow. Abi, a senior civil servant,
London Lore – The Legends & Traditions of the World`s Most Vibrant City
London Lore sees leading folklorist Steve Roud bring together an astonishingly rich selection of the capital`s stories: fabled events, heroes and villains, tales of ghosts and witches, and accounts of local superstitions and beliefs. Few places are so steeped in folklore as London, a city with almost as many ancient legends and deep-rooted customs as
A Fiery & Furious People: A History of Violence in England
*Chosen as a Book of the Year by The Times, History Today and the Sunday Telegraph*’Wonderfully entertaining, comprehensive and astute.’ The Times’Genuinely hard to put down.’ BBC History MagazineFrom murder to duelling, highway robbery to mugging: the darker side of English life explored.Spanning some seven centuries, A Fiery & Furious People traces the subtle shifts
