Category Archives: Travel Guides
The Story of Kew Gardens in Photographs
The Story of Kew Gardens in Photographs offers a collection of unique and rarely seen black-and-white images offering a nostalgic view of one of the capital’s best loved spaces. Informative photo captions and the introductory chapter on Constructing Kew describe the Garden’s history from the time of the great Victorian plant hunters, through the turmoil
The Great Cat Massacre: A History of Britain in 100 Mistakes
In 1914 a train pulled into a provincial British railway station. The porter, a curious chap, asked the regiment of soldiers where they were from. `Ross-shire,` one called down, but the porter heard `Russia`. And so began a rumour that led to Germany losing the First World War. Often the history we learn at school
One Life: My Mother`s Story
`Clear, authentic and utterly engaging …it is as successful as it is authentic` Independent on Sunday Born to an unhappy marriage and into a deeply sexist society, Nance Russell worked hard for everything she had, and while the world changed around her, she went on to university, to opening businesses and raising a family. One
Hamlet: Globe to Globe: Taking Shakespeare to Every Country in the World
NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2017Over two full years, Dromgoole, the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare`s Globe Theatre, and the Globe players toured all seven continents, and almost 200 countries, performing the Bard`s most famous play. They set their stage in sprawling refugee camps, grand Baltic palaces and heaving marketplaces – despite food
Dragon`s Green: Worldquake Book One
IF YOU HAD SECRET MAGICAL POWERS, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?After the Worldquake, Effie knows about magic – time in her grandfather`s library has made sure of that. But there`s still much she has to learn. About the Otherworld. And about the Diberi, a secret organisation with plans to destroy the entire universe.Effie and her school-friends
Hunger
Nineteenth-century Kristiania is an unforgiving place, and work is thin on the ground. Roaming the streets of Norway`s capital, a penniless young writer searches for inspiration whilst trying desperately to make ends meet. Driven to extraordinary lengths, sleeping under the stars with his stomach growling, the writer`s behaviour becomes increasingly irrational and his world spirals
White Sands: Experiences from the Outside World
SHORTLISTED FOR STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEARFrom a trip to The Lightning Field in New Mexico, to chasing Gauguin`s ghost in French Polynesia, White Sands is a creative exploration of why we travel. Episodic, wide-ranging and funny, Geoff Dyer blends travel writing, essay, criticism and fiction with a smart and cantankerous wit that
The Telling Room: Passion, Revenge and Life in a Spanish Village
In the medieval Castilian village of Guzman (population: 80), villagers have gathered for centuries in the `telling room` to share stories and drink the local wine. It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a compelling tale about a cheese made from an ancient family recipe that was
The Bachelors
The Bachelors displays the best of Sparkian satire, placing her at the heart of a great literary tradition alongside Waugh and Trollope, Wilde and Wodehouse. It demands rediscovery. `It`s easy to see why Waugh admired The Bachelors. On one level, it is a blithely carnivorous satire in the Waugh mould. The bachelors of the title
Gods of the Morning: A Bird`s Eye View of a Highland Year
`No one writes more movingly, or with such transporting poetic skill, about encounters with wild creatures. Its pages course with sympathy, humility, and wisdom` Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk From his home deep in a Scottish glen, John Lister-Kaye has watched and come to understand intimately the movements and habits of the
More Letters of Note: Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience: Volume 2
More Letters of Note is another rich and inspiring collection, which reminds us that much of what matters in our lives finds its way into our letters. These letters deliver the same mix of the heartfelt, the historically significant, the tragic, the comic and the unexpected. Discover Richard Burton`s farewell note to Elizabeth Taylor, Helen
The High Mountains of Portugal
Shortlisted for a 2016 Edward Standford Travel Writing Award.Lost in Portugal. Lost to grief. With nothing but a chimpanzee. A man thrown backwards by heartbreak goes in search of an artefact that could unsettle history. A woman carries her husband to a doctor in a suitcase. A Canadian senator begins a new life, in a
Out of Sheer Rage: In the Shadow of D. H. Lawrence
Sitting down to write a book about his hero D. H. Lawrence, Geoff Dyer finds himself compelled to write about anything else. He is in fact compelled to do more or less anything else instead of write. In Sicily he is too preoccupied by his hatred of seafood to follow the great writer`s footsteps; in
The Story Cure: An A-Z of Books to Keep Kids Happy, Healthy and Wise
The stories that shape our children`s lives are too important to be left to chance. With The Story Cure, bibliotherapists Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin have put together the perfect manual for grown-ups who want to initiate young readers into one of life`s greatest pleasures. There`s a remedy for every hiccup and heartache, whether it`s
Night Boat to Tangier – Longlisted for the 2019 Man Booker Prize
Longlisted for the 2019 Man Booker PrizeIt`s late one night at the Spanish port of Algeciras and two fading Irish gangsters are waiting on the boat from Tangier. A lover has been lost, a daughter has gone missing, their world has come asunder – can it be put together again?`Night Boat to Tangier` is a
Night Boat to Tangier
Longlisted for the 2019 Man Booker PrizeShortlisted for the Irish Times Book Awards Novel of the Year”A true wonder” Max Porter”Beautifully written” GuardianIt`s late one night at the Spanish port of Algeciras and two fading Irish gangsters are waiting on the boat from Tangier. A lover has been lost, a daughter has gone missing, their
You Have to Fucking Eat
From the author of the international bestseller GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP comes a book about the other great parental frustration: getting your little angel to eat something that even vaguely resembles a normal meal. Profane, loving and deeply cathartic, YOU HAVE TO FUCKING EAT breaks the code of child-rearing silence, giving new, old, grand-
Orphans of the Carnival
A life in the spotlight will keep anyone hidden Julia Pastrana is the singing and dancing marvel from Mexico, heralded on tours across nineteenth-century Europe as much for her talent as for her rather unusual appearance. Yet few can see past the thick hair that covers her: she is both the fascinating toast of a
The Sermon on the Fall of Rome
When the manager of the village bar absconds, a succession of would-be heirs descend – with disastrous results. One by one, they are seen off by adultery, insolvency or the outraged morals of the general community, until Matthieu and Libero, native sons disillusioned with their philosophical studies, return to take up the reins. At first
All Over Creation
Yumi Fuller hasn`t set foot in her parents` farm in Idaho since she ran away when she was fifteen. Now, twenty-five years later, the prodigal daughter – and now a struggling single mother of three – is returning home, desperate to win back the love of her ailing father and to confront her best friend
