Category Archives: Travel Guides
Melmoth the Wanderer 1820: with an introduction by Sarah Perry
When a young Dublin student goes to pay his last respects to his dying uncle, he never imagines that he might chance upon a terrifying family secret. Who is the sinister old man in the portrait and why is his uncle so anxious for him to burn it? Why is the Spanish man who saves
Working with Nature: Saving and Using the World`s Wild Places
From cocoa farming in Ghana to the orchards of Kent and the desert badlands of Pakistan, taking a practical approach to sustaining the landscape can mean the difference between prosperity and ruin. `Working with Nature` is the story of a lifetime of work, often in extreme environments, to harvest nature and protect it – in
Notes from Deep Time: A Journey Through Our Past and Future Worlds
“Astounding … To call this a “history” does not to justice to Helen Gordon`s ambition” Daily Telegraph”Awe-inspiring … She has imbued geological tales with a beauty and humanity” Shaoni Bhattacharya-WoodwardThe story of the Earth is written into our landscape: it`s there in the curves of hills, the colours of stone, surprising eruptions of vegetation. Wanting
The Warlow Experiment
Longlisted for the 2020 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction”She is an original, with a virtuoso touch” Hilary Mantel”An extraordinary, quite brilliant book” C. J. SansomThe year is 1793 and Herbert Powyss is set on making his name as a scientist. Determined to study the effects of prolonged solitude on another human being, he advertises
Going Home: A Walk Through Fifty Years of Occupation
In Going Home, Orwell Prize winning author Raja Shehadeh travels Ramallah and records the changing face of the city. Walking along the streets he grew up in, he tells the stories of the people, the relationships, the houses, and the businesses that were and now are cornerstones of the city and his community. This is,
The Border: The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish Politics
“Anyone who wishes to understand why Brexit is so intractable should read this book. I can think of several MPs who ought to.” The TimesFor the past two decades, you could cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic half a dozen times without noticing or, indeed, turning off the road you were travelling.
My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru
In 1981 Tim Guest was taken by his mother to a commune in a small village in Suffolk. It was modelled on the teachings of the famous Indian “guru”, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who preached an eclectic doctrine of Eastern mysticism, chaotic therapy and sexual freedom. Both were given Sanskrit names, dressed entirely in orange and
The Professor and the Parson: A Story of Desire, Deceit and Defrocking
“I embarrassed myself by uncontrollable guffaws… This is a truly wonderful story” A. N. Wilson “An utterly mad, and wholly delightful story of chicanery and fantasy” Simon WinchesterOne day in November 1958, the celebrated historian Hugh Trevor-Roper received a curious letter. It was an appeal for help, written on behalf of a student at Magdalen
Confessions of a Bookseller
“Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?”Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. With more than a mile of shelving, real log fires in the shop and the sea lapping nearby, the shop should be an idyll for bookworms.Unfortunately, Shaun also
The Moon: A History for the Future
“An out-of-this-world read … brilliant and compelling. Morton is a high-octane British science journalist, and every chapter is littered with material that strikes, amazes or haunts … this is a book filled not just with a lifetime`s knowledge of its subject but with a lifetime`s suppressed excitement.” Sunday TimesEvery generation has looked up from the
War: How Conflict Shaped Us
New York Times 10 Best Books of 2020Sunday Times Best Books for Autumn 2020The time since the Second World War has been seen by some as the longest uninterrupted period of harmony in human history: the `long peace`, as Stephen Pinker called it. But despite this, there has been a military conflict ongoing every year
The Disaster Tourist
Yona has been stuck behind a desk for years working as a programming coordinator for Jungle, a travel company specialising in package holidays to destinations ravaged by disaster. When a senior colleague touches her inappropriately she tries to complain, and in an attempt to bury her allegations, the company make her an attractive proposition: a
Murder at Christmas: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season
Christmas is a season of overindulgence. For most of us, that means an extra mince pie, a second helping of turkey, or perhaps a third glass of mulled wine. But for some among us, the festive season is a time to settle old scores, dispatch new enemies and indulge… in murder.Here, ten masters of the
Hollow in the Land
“A magic portrayal of modern life in the peripheries” Amy Liptrot, author of `The Outrun`Out walking Ada Robinson`s dog while his wife drinks herself into a forgetful fug, Harry Maiden discovers an intricate system of caves beneath the wind turbines. Over at the Woolpack one night, Rosco re-encounters friendships he thought he`d left behind at
England`s 100 Best Views
England`s views are remarkable for their beauty and variety. With his usual insight and authority, bestselling author Simon Jenkins picks 100 of the very best from the white cliffs of Dover to Hadrian`s Wall – and explains the fascinating stories behind each. Jenkins` entertaining and erudite entries provide the rich historical, geographical, botanical and architectural
Where There`s A Will: Hope, Grief and Endurance in a Cycle Race Across a Continent
Shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year Non-Fiction Award 2020`Chappell is a gifted storyteller` – ObserverIn 2015 Emily Chappell embarked on a formidable new bike race: The Transcontinental. 4,000km across Europe, unassisted, in the shortest time possible.On her first attempt she made it only halfway, waking up suddenly on her back in a field,
Travel Light, Move Fast
When her father becomes gravely ill on holiday in Budapest, Alexandra Fuller rushes to join her mother at his bedside, where they see out his last days together and then carry his ashes back to their farm in Zambia.A master of time and memory, Fuller moves seamlessly between the days and months following her father`s
Darwin`s Most Wonderful Plants: Darwin`s Botany Today
Most of us think of Darwin at work on The Beagle, taking inspiration for his theory of evolution from his travels in the Galapagos. But Darwin published his `Origin of Species` nearly thirty years after his voyages and most of his labours in that time were focused on experimenting with and observing plants at his
Living with Buildings: And Walking with Ghosts – On Health and Architecture
`A remarkable book; surprisingly gripping and often very moving … at once disorientating and illuminating.` – Robert MacfarlaneOne of Britain`s finest writers embarks on a journey to explore the relationship between our health and the buildings that surround usWe shape ourselves, and are shaped in return, by the walls that contain us. Buildings affect how
Hungary: A Short History
The victors of the First World War created Hungary from the ruins of the Austro-Hungarian empire, but, in the centuries before, many called for its creation. Norman Stone traces the country`s roots from the traditional representative councils of land-owning nobles to the Magyar nationalists of the nineteenth century and the first wars of independence.Hungary`s history
