Category Archives: Travel Guides
Al Dente
Imagine the River Tiber as an alimentary tract. Picture a hungry saint. Think of erotic Renaissance fruit paintings, transubstantiation and a tiramisu cafe where magic is surely on the menu…This highly original interpretation of Rome`s history, culture, art and religion takes the form of a book about food that`s not really about food at all.
Breverton`s Nautical Curiosities
Breverton`s Nautical Curiosities is about ships, people and the sea. However, unlike many other nautical compendiums, the focus of this book is on the unusual, the overlooked or the downright extraordinary. Thus, someone most of us do not know, Admiral William Brown, is given equal coverage to Admiral Nelson. Without Admiral Brown releasing Garibaldi, modern
A Line in the Sand: Britain, France and the Struggle that Shaped the Middle East
In 1916, in the middle of the First World War, two men secretly agreed to divide the Middle East between them. Sir Mark Sykes was a visionary politician; Francois Georges-Picot a diplomat with a grudge. The deal they struck, which was designed to relieve tensions that threatened to engulf the Entente Cordiale, drew a line
Anarchy & Old Dogs
When a blind, retired dentist is run down by a logging truck as he crosses the road to post a letter, Dr Siri Paiboun, official and only coroner of Laos, finds himself faced with his most explosive case yet. The dentist`s mortal remains aren`t nearly as intriguing as the letter in his pocket. Written in
Blood and Sand: Suez, Hungary and the Crisis That Shook the World
Over sixteen extraordinary days in October and November 1956, the twin crises of Suez and Hungary pushed the world to the brink of a nuclear conflict and what many at the time were calling World War III. Blood and Sand is a revelatory new history of these dramatic events, for the first time setting both
Myths of the Pagan North
This is an engaging account of the world of the Vikings and their gods. As the Vikings began to migrate overseas as raiders or settlers in the late eighth century, there is evidence that this new way of life, centred on warfare, commerce and exploration, brought with it a warrior ethos that gradually became codified
The Red Queen
The second book in Philippa`s stunning new trilogy, The Cousins War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and mysterious character in the first book of the series – The White Queen – but who now takes centre stage in the bitter struggle of The War of the Roses. The Red Queentells
Rainforest Safari
Rainforests are special places. Strung around the globe across five continents, they are natural cathedrals on the grandest scale, their lush, humid precincts not only places of great beauty but also home to more than fifty per cent of the world`s known wildlife species. This is biodiversity at its most dramatic: a bewildering variety of
The White Woman On The Green Bicycle
When George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England George instantly takes to their new life, but Sabine feels isolated, heat-fatigued, and ill at ease with the racial segregation and the imminent dawning of a new era. Her only solace is her growing fixation with Eric Williams, the charismatic leader of Trinidad`s new national
The Treasures of the Olimpic Games
The quadrennial summer Olympic Games is the biggest festival of sport on the planet, creating instant heroes and gallant losers, to say nothing of iconic moments of triumph and glory. Published in association with the official Olympic Museum in Lausanne, a foundation of the International Olympic Committee, “The Treasures of the Olympic Games” brings to
Kettering & Corby 1901-1902
Map No. 141, Kettering and Corby 1901-1902, in the Cassini Historical Series of old Ordnance Survey mapping of England and Wales at 1:50,000 in a format designed to offer a convenient comparison with the present day coverage from the OS, and most locations in three different editions. Old historical maps have been combined so that
Olivia Goes To Venice
In her latest adventure, Olivia, everyone`s favourite little pig, is off the Venice, the place of fine art, carnival and gondolas for a family holiday to remember. With her very own discerning eye for style, Olivia takes the beautiful city of Venice by storm. From dodging pigeons in the Piazza San Marco, to eating an
Bedlam: London and Its Mad
`Bedlam!` The very name conjures up graphic images of naked patients chained among filthy straw, or parading untended wards deluded that they are Napoleon or Jesus Christ. We owe this image of madness to William Hogarth, who, in plate eight of his 1735 Rake`s Progress series, depicts the anti-hero in Bedlam, the latest addition to
The Hunger Trace
The sudden death of David Bryant, the charismatic owner of a rambling Derbyshire wildlife park, leaves an indelible mark on three very different people. David`s young widow, Maggie, struggles to preserve the park and to forge friendships untainted by the suspicions of others. His old friend Louisa, a falconer who lives on the grounds, just
Under the Same Stars
It is late summer 2008 and forty-year-old Salinger Nash, who has been plagued since adolescence by a mercurial depression, leaves the north-west London house he shares with girlfriend for his older brother Carson`s home in New Orleans. It is Carson who has persuaded Salinger that they should visit their estranged father on his deathbed in
City of Sin – London and Its Vices
If Paris is the city of love, then London is the city of lust. For over a thousand years, England`s capital has been associated with desire, avarice and the sins of the flesh. Richard of Devises, a monk writing in 1180, warned that `every quarter [of the city] abounds in great obscenities`. As early as
Perks of Being a Wallflower
Charlie is a freshman. And while he`s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted
The General – Charles De Gaulle and the France He Saved
No leader of modern times was more unique and more uniquely national than Charles de Gaulle. As founder and first President of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle saw himself `carrying France on my shoulders`. When he first emerged on to the world stage in 1940, his insistence that he spoke for his nation might
Little Daughter: A Memoir of Survival in Burma and the West
Zoya Phan was born in a Karen village in the remote jungles of eastern Burma where she lived happily with her family until the age of fourteen when her life is devastated by an attack from the Burmese army. Forced out of their homes, Zoya found sanctuary at a Thai refugee camp across the border
1989 – The Year That Changed the World
`Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!` This declamation by president Ronald Reagan when visiting Berlin in 1987 is widely cited as the clarion call that brought the Cold War to an end. The West had won, so this version of events goes, because the West had stood firm. American and Western European resoluteness had brought
