Category Archives: Travel Guides
Seahenge
A lively and authoritative investigation into the lives of our ancestors, based on the revolution in the field of Bronze Age archaeology which has been taking place in Norfolk and the Fenlands over the last twenty years, and in which the author has played a central role. One of the most haunting and enigmatic archaeological
Paddington in the Garden
For Paddington, one of the nicest things about being a bear and living with the Brown family is being able to share their lovely garden. But gardens don`t just happen, and the one at number thirty-two Windsor Gardens keeps the whole family busy, so Paddington is only too pleased to lend a paw when they
The Frozen Water Trade
The story of the 19th-century ice trade, in which ice from the lakes of New England, valued for its incredible purity it revolutionised domestic life around the world. In the days before artificial refrigeration, it was thought impossible to transport ice for long distances. But one man, Frederic Tudor, was convinced it could be done.
Among Insurgents – Walking Through Burma
An adventure story of real risk-taking and the heroic age of travel. Ten years ago, at the age of 53, Shelby Tucker set out to cross Burma on foot from China to India when land access to Burma was forbidden. Tucker had a rucksack, a diary and some inaccurate maps. He recruited a 6ft 4in
Means of Escape
A collection of Penelope Fitzgerald`s short stories. Penelope Fitzgerald was one of the most highly-regarded writers on the English literary scene. Apart from Iris Murdoch, no other writer has been shortlisted so many times for the Booker. Her last novel, `The Blue Flower`, was the book of its year, garnering extraordinary acclaim in Britain, America
Road of Bones
Winner of the British Army Military Book of the Year 2011 The story of one of the most brutal battles in modern history — fought at a major turning point of the Second World War. Kohima. In this remote Indian village near the border with Burma, a tiny force of British and Indian troops faced
Collins Flower Guide – The Most Complete Guide To Flowers
Featuring all flowering plants, including trees and grasses, and ferns, this brand-new field guide to the flowers of Britain and northern Europe is the most complete illustrated, single-volume guide ever published. Leading botanical artists have been specially commissioned to ensure accurate, detailed illustrations. Species are described and illustrated on the same page, with up-to-date authoritative
Reindeer People
A voyage of discovery into the life of a remote aboriginal community in the Siberian Arctic, where the reindeer has been a part of daily life since Palaeolithic times. The reindeer, along with the dog, was probably the first species to be drawn into a close relationship with man. This book, by an eminent British
Mad About the Mekong
The story of both a dramatic journey retracing the historic voyage of France`s greatest 19th-century explorer up the mysterious Mekong river, and a portrait of the river and its peoples today. Any notion of sailing up the Mekong in homage to Francis Garnier has been unthinkable until now. From its delta in Vietnam up through
Mulberry Empire
The bestselling novel from the Man Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Northern Clemency and King of the Badgers. `The Mulberry Empire` recounts an episode in the Great Game in central Asia – the courtship, betrayal and invasion of Afghanistan in the 1830s by the emissaries of Her Majesty`s Empire, which is followed by the
In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs – Memoir of Iran
Few historians and journalists writing in English have been able to meaninfully examine post-revolutionary Iranian life. Years after his death, the shadow of Ayatollah Khomeini still looms over Shi`ite Islam and Iranian politics, the state of the nation fought over by conservatives and radicals. They are contending for the soul of a revolutionary Islamic government
Tamerlane
A powerful account of the life of Tamerlane the Great (1336-1405), the last master nomadic power, one of history`s most extreme tyrants, and the subject of Marlowe`s famous play. Marozzi travelled in the footsteps of the great Mogul Emperor of Samarkland to write this wonderful combination of history and travelogue. The name of the last
From the Land of Green Ghosts-A Burmese Odyssey
The astonishing story of a young man`s upbringing in a remote tribal village in Burma and his journey from his strife-torn country to the tranquil quads of Cambridge. In lyrical prose, Pascal Khoo Thwe describes his childhood as a member of the Padaung hill tribe, where ancestor worship and communion with spirits blended with the
Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie`s most famous murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it
Death on the Nile
Agatha Christie`s most exotic murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans and book lovers. The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a
Salonica, City of Ghosts
Salonica City of Ghosts is Mark Mazower’s history of Christians, Muslims and Jews in Salonica (modern day Thessaloniki in Greece) between 1430 and 1950. Salonica was, for five centuries, a Mediterranean port where East met West, home to one of the most extraordinarily diverse societies in Europe. A microcosm of world history, Salonica’s Roman ruins
Two in a Boat
In her forties Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis decided to trade in her landlubber life — a nice house in Cardiff and a sensible job at the BBC — for life aboard a small yacht with her husband Leighton, a former bosun with the Merchant Navy and now in his mid-sixties. “We bought our first sailing
Sea of Glory
A fascinating account of Lieutenant Charles Wilkes`s 19th Century exploration of vast tracts of the Pacific Ocean, including the new southern continent of Antarctica. During the voyage they surveyed 280 islands, encountered murder and cannibalism, and returned with more specimens than all three of James Cook`s voyages combined, but the expedition ended with an acrimonious
The Gates of Africa
The African Association, founded in 1788, was the worldยฟs first geographical society. Its aim was to explore the interior of Africa, a region known only through legend and vague report. What followed included dramatic crossings of the Sahara, the exploration of the Niger and the Nile and the search for the legendary city of gold
White Mughals
William Dalrymple’s fifth book, White Mughals, does not follow his usual technique of travelling and discovering and storytelling. Rather this work is a social history, an account of the much unknown warm relations that existed between the British and Indians in the 18th and early 19th centuries.During that time one in three British men living
