Category Archives: Travel Guides
Royal Renegades: The Children of Charles I and the English Civil Wars
The fact that the English Civil War led to the execution of King Charles I in January 1649 is well known, as is the restoration of his eldest son as Charles II eleven years later. But what happened to the king`s six surviving children is far less familiar. Casting new light on the heirs of
Slow Burn City: London in the Twenty-First Century
With a new introduction for the paperback. London is a supreme achievement of civilization. It offers fulfilments of body and soul, encourages discovery and invention.It is a place of freedom, multiplicity and co-existence. It is a Liberal city, which means it stands for values now in peril. London has also become its own worst enemy,
The Places In Between
In 2001, Rory Stewart set off from Herat to walk to Kabul via the mountains of Ghor in central Afghanistan.Caught between hostile nations, warring factions and competing ideologies, at the time, Afghanistan was in turmoil following the US invasion. Travelling entirely on foot and following the inaccessible, mountainous route once taken by the Mohgul Emperor,
The Last Legion
The story opens on the day that the Western Roman Empire collapses finally in 470AD, as the Last Emperor of Rome is encamped protected by the Nova Invicta Legion. All is lost in the space of a few minutes as a horde of Barbarians sweep through the camp in the fog, kill the Imperial family
Civil War: The History of England: Volume III
In Civil War, Peter Ackroyd continues his dazzling account of England`s history, beginning with the progress south of the Scottish king, James VI, who on the death of Elizabeth I became the first Stuart king of England, and ends with the deposition and flight into exile of his grandson, James II. The Stuart dynasty brought
The Living and the Dead in Winsford
A woman arrives in the village of Winsford on Exmoor. She has travelled a long way and chosen her secluded cottage carefully. Maria`s sole intention is to outlive her beloved dog Castor. And to survive the torrent of memories that threaten to overwhelm her. Weeks before, Maria and her husband Martin fled Stockholm for Morocco,
Skybound: A Journey In Flight
Shortlisted for the 2019 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award`s Travel Memoir of the Year`A soaring gift of a book` Owen Sheers`Remarkable` Mark Vanhoenacker, author of `Skyfaring`Stunning . . . a love letter to nature` Cathy Rentzenbrink, author of `The Last Act of Love`In her mid-thirties Rebecca Loncraine was diagnosed with breast cancer. Two years later,
The Ladies of the House
On a hot July day, three elderly people are found dead in a dilapidated house in Primrose Hill. Reading the story in a newspaper as she prepares to leave the country, Marie Gillies has an unshakable feeling that she is somehow to blame. How did these three people come to live together, and how did
The Londoners
Magnolia Square in South London was a friendly and vibrant place to live, not least for Kate Voigt and her father. Carl Voigt had been a WWI prisoner of war who had married a cockney girl and never gone back. Now widowed, he and Kate were part of the London life of the square with
Don`t Let`s Go to the Dogs Tonight
With an introduction by Anne Enright Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book award, a story of civil war and a family`s unbreakable bond. How you see a country depends on whether you are driving through it, or live in it. How you see a country depends on whether or not you can leave it, if
Magnolia Square
1945: The war was over, and the families who lived in Magnolia Square could look forward to their men coming home and their lives returning to normal. But for some, the end of the war brought serious problems. Kate Voigt was at last able to marry Leon Emmerson, the man she loved, a Londoner like
Cloudstreet: Picador Classic
With an introduction by Philip Hensher Winton`s Miles Franklin award-winning masterpiece. Will you look at us by the river! The whole restless mob of us on spread blankets in the dreamy briny sunshine skylarking and chiacking about for one day, one clear, clean, sweet day in a good world in the midst of our living.
Coronation Summer
It is early summer in 1953, and the friends and neighbours of Magnolia Square are looking forward to celebrating the Coronation. The war has become a memory; the future seems rosy. Kate Emmerson looks on with pride at her growing family, including Matthew, whose father was killed during the war. But Matthew`s wealthy relations have
The Snow Geese
With an introduction by Robert Macfarlane Shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize and winner of the Hawthornden Prize. “I had attached myself to the birds. I couldn`t move on until the birds moved on, and the birds couldn`t move on without the spring.”One winter, after an enforced period of recuperation, William Fiennes finds himself restless
The Year of the Runaways
Shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize `All you can do is surrender, happily, to its power` Salman Rushdie The Year of the Runaways tells of the bold dreams and daily struggles of an unlikely family thrown together by circumstance. Thirteen young men live in a house in Sheffield, each in flight from India and
Inspector Montalbano: the First Three Novels in the Series
The first three novels in Andrea Camilleri`s bestselling Inspector Montalbano series. This three-book compilation features: The Shape of Water: On a waste ground in Vigata, the Sicilian town`s dark underbelly flourishes: drug dealers and prostitutes plying their trade. But when the body of Silvio Luparello, one of the local movers and shakers, is discovered there,
Hello! London
Push, pull and slide the London scenes to explore the sights of the busy city. Turn the London Eye, open and close Tower Bridge, even raise the flag at Buckingham Palace. This big, bright board book has easy-to-use mechanisms that are designed for toddlers. The colourful illustrations are packed with detail and things to spot,
A Season of Secrets
Sweeping from the Great War, through the Jazz Age to the 1940s, this unforgettable tale follows the entwined lives of the Fentons, an aristocratic family from Yorkshire. Thea, the eldest daughter of Viscount Gilbert Fenton, flouts the unwritten rules of her class by embarking on a love affair with Hal, the fiercely socialist son of
At the Pillars of Hercules
First published to great acclaim in 1979, At the Pillars of Hercules (a title taken from a certain Soho pub) confirmed Clive James`s place as a writer of immense talent. This new paperback edition is as entertaining and elegant as ever. His main topics are contemporary poetry, aesthetics and the theory and practice of criticism,
The Miniaturist
There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed …On an autumn day in 1686, eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman knocks at the door of a grand house in the wealthiest quarter of Amsterdam. She has come from the country to begin a new life as the wife of illustrious merchant trader Johannes Brandt, but instead she
