Category Archives: Travel Guides
Azazeel
Set in the 5th century AD, Azazeel is the exquisitely crafted tale of a Coptic monk`s journey from Upper Egypt to Alexandria and then Syria during a time of massive upheaval in the early Church. Winner of the Arab Booker Prize, Azazeel highlights how the history of our civilization has been warped by greed and
Mckie`s Gazetteer – A Local History of Britain
McKie`s Gazetteer takes its readers on a journey through the hidden history of Great Britain. From Castle Dangerous in South Lanarkshire to Defiance Platform in Cornwall, David McKie relates the anecdotes and arguments, heroes and villains that comprise Britain`s rich local history. Read of the tragic demise of Mr Marvell (Andrew`s father) in the Humber;
Snowdrops
Snowdrops. That`s what the Russians call them – the bodies that float up into the light in the thaw. Drunks, most of them, and homeless people who just give up and lie down into the whiteness, and murder victims hidden in the drifts by their killers. Nick has a confession. When he worked as a
Kehua
Your writer, in conjuring this tale of murder, adultery, incest, ghosts, redemption and remorse, takes you first to a daffodil-filled garden in Highgate, North London, where, just outside the kitchen window, something startling shimmers on the very edges of perception. Fluttering and chattering, these are our kehua – a whole multiplying flock of Maori spirits
My Chocolate Redeemer
Bella is a teenage chocolate junkie – fashion-mad and God-haunted – who lives in the lakeside village of La Frisette in France with her aristocratic grandmother. When an exotic black stranger turns up and takes an entire floor in the grandest hotel in her small community, there is considerable dismay amongst the local populace. Worse
S.I.D Snake in Disguise
Sid really wants to make some friends but they all get scared whenever they see him. He`s sure it`s got nothing to do with the way he unexpectedly jumps out of bushes or slithers out of holes, so he comes up with a plan: he`ll go in disguise! This time the animals are much happier
Heaven Forbid
In the sunny jacaranda-leafed garden of his Johannesburg home, six year old Martin Donally is king of a small and perfect world. It is 1948 and life is full of childish rhymes and his colourful extended family. There`s exuberant Grandpa, who sings and races horses; chain-smoking Auntie Fee, who always sides with the ogres in
Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil
`Extra Virginity` is a rich, fluid and evocative account of the history and alchemy of olive oil, and of how the finest artisanal oil-manufacturers – in the deep south of Italy, around the Mediterranean, in California, Down Under and beyond – are endangered by the widespread fraud of one of mankind`s oldest and most versatile
Blood, Iron and Gold – How Railways Transformed the World
Christian Wolmar’s Blood, Iron and Gold is an innovative history of how railways have shaped and transformed the modern world. The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway in 1830 marked the beginning of a transport revolution which saw railways rapidly spread across the world.Wolmar shows how the rise of the train stimulated daring feats
The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyages of Vasco De Gama
The Last Crusade puts the reader on da Gama`s ships in the midst of a perplexing, terrifying, yet exciting new world and in doing so traces the ancestry of antagonism between the world`s two dominant faiths, Christianity and Islam. In 1498 a young captain sailed from Portugal, circumnavigated Africa, crossed the Indian Ocean, and discovered
Engines of War
Engines of War tells the dramatic story of how the railways revolutionized the nature of warfare, ushering in an age of industrialized conflict in which wars were fought on a previously unimaginable scale. From the moment of its first appearance, the `iron road` not only rendered armies more mobile, but also massively increased the power
Tony and Susan
Fifteen years ago, Susan Morrow left her first husband Edward Sheffield. One day, comfortable in her home, and her second marriage, she receives, entirely out of the blue, a parcel containing the manuscript of her ex-husband`s first novel. He writes asking her to read the book; she was always his best critic, he says. As
To The End Of The Earth
This is the gripping true story of how Briton Tom Avery led three men, one woman and sixteen dogs to the North Pole in just under thirty-seven days, in doing so breaking the world record and solving the greatest mystery of polar exploration. The electrifying true story of a race against time to solve the
An Expensive Education
An Expensive Education cuts between the African bush and Harvard – taking its readers deep inside this iconic university and the inner workings of the American intelligence service. An army roadblock. An American intelligence agent. A jetlagged afternoon on the Somalian plain. Michael Teak is not afraid of mercenaries. Life here comes at a price
Waltz with Bashir – A Lebanon War Story
The stunning graphic novel of the highly acclaimed animated film, Waltz with Bashir follows one man on a quest to uncover his hidden memories and face the truth about his involvement in the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut in 1982.One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in
Generosity: From the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of `Bewilderment`
By the author of the Booker Prize Shortlisted `Bewilderment` and `The Overstory`It all begins when a young Algerian woman, Thassa, arrives in Russell Stone`s writing class. Her stories reveal a horrific past, but her presence sends spirits soaring. This glimpse of pure happiness in the most improbable of guises leaves Russell feeling as troubled as
The Secret History of Italy`s Most Powerful Mafia
In the early hours of an August morning a gunfight broke out in an Italian restaurant in Duisburg; in less than five minutes over seventy shots were fired into the bodies of six men. Both victims and assassins were members of the `Ndrangheta crime organization; Calabria`s Mafia had extended the savage tentacle of its influence
The Honoured Society: My Journey to the Heart of the Mafia
Vividly and beautifully told, often deeply shocking, The Honoured Society is the true story of one woman`s personal journey to the dark heart of the Mafia. In 1979, having been fascinated by Coppola`s masterpiece The Godfather, twenty-year-old Petra Reski jumped into her car and drove from her home in Germany to the Mafia-stronghold of Sicily;
Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance: From the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of `Bewilderment`
By the author of Booker Prize Shortlisted `Bewilderment` and `The Overstory`In the spring of 1914, renowned German photographer August Sander takes a photograph of three young men on their way to a country dance. This haunting image, capturing the last moments of innocence on the brink of World War I, provides the central focus of
Prisoner`s Dilemma: From the Booker Prize-shortlisted author of `Bewilderment`
By the author of the Booker Prize Shortlisted `Bewilderment` and `The Overstory`Something is wrong with Eddie Hobson Sr., father of four, sometime history teacher, quiz master, black humourist and virtuoso invalid. His recurring fainting spells have worsened, and with his ingrained aversion to doctors, his worried family tries to discover the nature of his sickness.
