Category Archives: Travel Guides
The Tidal Wife
Kaddy Benyon`s second collection, The Tidal Wife, is concerned with islands: both as physical landforms and as emotional states; the need to retreat and be cut off as much as the need to reconnect and come to trust the pulse of one`s internal tide. The poems address the day-to-day realities of being wife, mother, daughter,
Enver Hoxha: The Iron Fist of Albania
Stalinism, that particularly brutal phase of communism, came to an end in most of Eastern Europe with the death of Josef Stalin in 1953 or at least with the Khrushchev reforms that began in the Soviet Union in 1956. However, in one country – Albania – Stalinism survived virtually unscathed until 1990. The regime that
The Bitter Sixteen
Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize for new writers A Times Children`s Book of the Week A Guardian Top Teen Read of 2015 “Happy birthday, Stanly. We hope you like your present…” Cynical, solitary Stanly Bird is a fairly typical teenager – unless you count the fact that his best friend is a talking beagle
Dead of Winter
A fast-paced, darkly funny crime novel set in Interior Alaska that follows down-on-his-luck cabbie, Mike Fisher, as he searches for his daughter. Her step-father has been shot in her bathroom, and Fisher thinks she killed him and fled. In a panic he tries to hide the body, but that`s not easy when it`s fifty-below outside.
Tangier: From the Romans to the Rolling Stones
Hamilton`s next book will be a cultural history of Tangier, something not done before. Tangier is perennially fascinating and experiencing a major renaissance. It`s a popular travel destination once again and people are interested in the city`s extraordinarily rich history – from ancient beginnings suffused with myth and legend, through years of invasion and conquest,
Trio: Screens Jets Heaven: New and Selected Poems
Northumberland: the winter of 1937. In a remote moorland cottage, Steven Coulter, a young history teacher, is filled with sadness and longing at the death of his wife. Through a charismatic colleague, Frank Embleton, and Frank`s sister, Diana, he is drawn into the beguiling world of a group of musicians, and falls gradually under their
Greece: A Literary Guide for Travellers
“If in the library of your house you do not have the works of the ancient Greek writers then you have a house with no light” George Bernard ShawThere is so much in the modern world which has its origins in Greece, most notably language and literature. As Shelley once said, “We are all Greeks”.
Ace of Spiders
Stanly is frustrated. Having set himself up as London`s protector, he`s finding that the everyday practicalities of superheroism are challenging at best, and downright tedious at worst. So it`s almost a relief when an attempt is made on his life and Stanly finds himself rushing headlong into a twisted adventure, with enemies new and old
The Art of Exile: A Vagabond Life
By the time he was six, John Freely had crossed the Atlantic four times. His childhood was spent on the mean streets of 1930s Brooklyn, where he scavenged for junk to sell and borrowed money for books; his first love being Homer`s Odyssey. He was 15 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and 17 when he
Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands
The unfolding crisis in Ukraine has brought the world to the brink of a new Cold War. As Russia and Ukraine tussle for Crimea and the eastern regions, relations between Putin and the West have reached an all-time low. How did we get here? Richard Sakwa here unpicks the story of Russo-Ukrainian relations and traces
Athos: The Holy Mountain
Athos, the Holy Mountain of Greece, is one of the most mysterious places in the world. A rugged pyramid that rises up from the Aegean Sea, this mountain is wreathed in myth, legend and ancient traditions that to this day remain largely hidden from view. The heart of Athos started to beat at the dawn
Babushka`s Journey: The Dark Road to Stalin`s Wartime Camps
This is the story of a grandmother, and what happened to her and to Eastern Europe in World War II. Following the tracks of his grandmother Cacilie, Cilly for short, into her vanished homeland of East Prussia and to the labour camps of the Soviet Union, Marcel Krueger has interwoven contemporary landscape and family history
Churchill`s Last Stand: The Struggle for Europe
After the Second World War, with much of Europe in ruins, the victorious Winston Churchill swore to build a peace across Europe that would last a generation. Fighting against the new `Iron Curtain` which had fallen across the world, and battling the personal disappointment of losing the 1945 election in Britain, Churchill dedicated the rest
Finding Eden: A Journey into the Heart of Borneo
The expedition triggered the global rainforest movement and highlighted, for the first time, how rich, diverse and ecologically important rainforests are. But since then, Borneo has gone from being a garden of Eden to a dry monocultural desert, where the traditional way of life of the indigenous people of the rainforests is being slowly eroded.Here,
Frontline Turkey: The Conflict at the Heart of the Middle East
Turkey is on the front line of the war which is consuming Syria and the Middle East. Its role is complicated by the long-running conflict with the Kurds on their Syrian border – a war that has killed as many as 80,000 people over the last three decades. In 2011 Erdogan promised to make a
Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan
`Dark Shadows` is a compelling portrait of Kazakhstan, a country that is little known in the West. Strategically located in the heart of Central Asia, sandwiched between Vladimir Putin`s Russia – its former colonial ruler which sees Kazakhstan as its own backyard – and Xi Jinping`s China – the rising global superpower on its eastern
CEO, China: The Rise of Xi Jinping
China has become the powerhouse of the world economy, its incredible boom overseen by the elite members of the secretive and all-powerful communist party. But since the election of Xi Jinping as General Secretary, life at the top in China has changed. Under the guise of a corruption crackdown, which has seen his rivals imprisoned,
Thames Mudlarking: Searching for London`s Lost Treasures
A beautifully illustrated introduction to mudlarking which tells the incredible, forgotten history of London through objects found on the foreshores of the River Thames.Often seen combing the shoreline of the River Thames at low tide, groups of archaeology enthusiasts known as `mudlarks` continue a tradition that dates back to the eighteenth century. Over the years
Church Curiosities: Strange Objects and Bizarre Legends
In churches and cathedrals across Britain, tucked away among ordinary items such as pews, screens and pulpits, sit a plethora of fascinating and unexpected objects. From dragon-slaying spears and the ribs of monstrous cows, to pagan altars, reindeer horns and mummified skulls, these curiosities have intrigued generations of visitors. In this captivating history, David Castleton
