Category Archives: Travel Guides
Painter to the King
This is a portrait of Diego Velazquez, from his arrival at the court of King Philip IV of Spain, to his death 38 years and scores of paintings later. It is a portrait of a relationship that is not quite a friendship, between an artist and his subject. It is a portrait of a ruler,
To the Lake: A Balkan Journey of War and Peace
Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. Two vast lakes joined by underground rivers. Two lakes that seem to hold both the turbulent memories of the region`s past, and the secret of its enduring allure. Two lakes that have played a central role in Kapka Kassabova`s maternal family.As she journeys to her grandmother`s place of origin, Kassabova
To the Lake: A Journey of War and Peace
A BBC Radio 4 Book of the WeekLake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. Two vast lakes joined by underground rivers. Two lakes that have played a central role in Kapka Kassabova`s maternal family. As she journeys to her grandmother`s place of origin, Kassabova encounters a civilizational crossroads. The Lakes are set within the mountainous borderlands of
The Way to the Sea: The Forgotten Histories of the Thames Estuary
“Like the Thames itself, this book carries you along on a journey full of rich detail and fascinating insight” Madeleine Bunting”Atmospheric and movingly written…rich and haunting” the SpectatorRaised on its banks and an avid sailor, Caroline Crampton sets out to rediscover the enigmatic pull of the Thames by following its course from the river`s source
West
When Cy Bellman, American settler and widowed father of Bess, reads in the newspaper that huge ancient bones have been discovered in a Kentucky swamp, he leaves his small Pennsylvania farm and young daughter to find out if the rumours are true: that the giant monsters are still alive, and roam the uncharted wilderness beyond
All The Devils Are Here
Twenty years ago, in a series of mysterious, incandescent writings, David Seabrook told of the places he knew best: the declining resort towns of the Kent coast. The pieces were no advert for the local tourist board. Here, the ghosts of murderers and mad artists crawl the streets. Septuagenarian rent boys recall the good old
Texaco
`One of the major fictional achievements of our century` The Times On the edge of Fort de France, the capital of Martinique, squats a shanty town. It goes by the name of Texaco. One dawn, a stranger arrives – an urban planner, bearing news. Texaco is to be razed to the ground. And so he
This Golden Fleece: A Journey Through Britain`s Knitted History
Over the course of a year, Esther Rutter – who grew up on a sheep farm in Suffolk, and learned to spin, weave and knit as a child – travels the length of the British Isles, to tell the story of wool`s long history here. She unearths fascinating histories of communities whose lives were shaped
Ghost Wall
Longlisted for The Women`s Prize For Fiction 2019Shortlisted for The Ondaatje Prize 2019`This book ratcheted the breath out of me so skilfully, that as soon as I`d finished, the only thing I wanted was to read it again.` Jessie Burton Teenage Silvie and her parents are living in a hut in Northumberland as an exercise
The Wild Places
Are there any genuinely wild places left in Britain and Ireland? Or have we tarmacked, farmed and built ourselves out of wildness?In his vital, bewitching, inspiring classic, Robert Macfarlane sets out in search of the wildness that remains.
Undreamed Shores: The Hidden Heroines of British Anthropology
In the first decades of the 20th century, five women – Katherine Routledge, Maria Czaplicka, Winifred Blackman, Beatrice Blackwood and Barbara Freire-Marreco – arrived at Oxford to take the newly created Masters in Anthropology. Though their circumstances differed radically, all were intent on visiting and studying remote communities a world away from their own. Through
Strange Labyrinth: Outlaws, Poets, Mystics, Murderers and a Coward in London`s Great Forest
In litter-strewn Epping Forest on the edge of London, might a writer find that magical moment of transcendence? He will certainly discover filthy graffiti and frightening dogs, as well as world-renowned artists and fading celebrities, robbers, lovers, ghosts and poets. But will he find himself? Or a version of himself he might learn something from?Strange
The Mother of All Questions: Further Feminisms
Following on from the success of Men Explain Things to Me comes a new collection of essays in which Rebecca Solnit opens up a feminism for all of us: one that doesn`t stigmatize women`s lives, whether they include spouses and children or not; that brings empathy to the silences in men`s lives as well as
The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow
Ireland is flooded, derelict. It never stops raining. The Kid in Yellow has stolen the babba from the Earlie King. Why? Something to do with the King`s daughter, and a talking statue, something godawful. And from every wall the King`s Eye watches. And yet the city is full of hearts-defiant-sprayed in yellow, the mark of
Islander: A Journey Around Our Archipelago
Shortlisted for the 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award`s Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year`For all the islomaniacs out there, Patrick Barkham`s Islander looks unmissable` Robert Macfarlane`Brimming with nature, this is a fitting tribute to the strangeness and beauty of our British isles` Financial TimesThe British Isles are an archipelago made up of two
Certainty
In present-day Vancouver, Gail Lim, a producer of radio documentaries, is haunted by the mysterious events in her father`s childhood in war-torn Asia, and using her skills as a journalist is driven to unravel the mystery of his past. As a boy, Matthew Lim hid in the jungle fringe near Leila Road in Japanese-occupied Sandakan,
Wild Child: Coming Home to Nature
From climbing trees and making dens, to building sandcastles and pond-dipping, many of the activities we associate with a happy childhood take place outdoors. And yet, the reality for many contemporary children is very different. The studies tell us that we are raising a generation who are so alienated from nature that they can`t identify
Certain American States
Certain states are hard to shake, or so Catherine Lacey`s characters find in these twelve tales of love, loss and longing.A grieving wife gives away the shirts her husband has left behind. A flirtatious widow takes a honeymooning couple to see her husband`s grave. A businessman working for a shadowy organization known as `The Company`,
How the World Thinks: A Global History of Philosophy
“There to fill the `Sapiens`-size hole in your life” Observer In this groundbreaking global overview of philosophy, Julian Baggini travels the world to provide a wide-ranging map of human thought. One of the great unexplained wonders of human history is that written philosophy flowered entirely separately in China, India and Ancient Greece at more or
The Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard
In the archives of the Memorial International Human Rights Centre in Moscow is an extraordinary diary, a rare first-person testimony of a commander of guards in a Soviet labour camp.Ivan Chistyakov was sent to the Gulag in 1937, where he worked at the Baikal-Amur Corrective Labour Camp for over a year. Life at the Gulag
