Category Archives: Travel Guides
Maidens` Trip: A Wartime Adventure on the Grand Union Canal
In 1943 Emma Smith joined the Grand Union Canal Carrying Company under their wartime scheme of employing women to replace the boaters. She set out with two friends on a big adventure: three eighteen-year-olds, freed from a middle-class background, precipitated into the boating fraternity. They learn how to handle a pair of seventy-two foot-long canal
Valeria`s Last Stand
In sixty-eight years, Valeria has never minced her words. Harrumphing through her isolated little village deep in the Hungarian steppes, she clutches her shopping basket like a battering ram and leaves nothing uncriticised – flaccid vegetables at the market; idle farmers carousing in Ibolya`s Nonstop Tavern; that gauche chimpanzee of a mayor and his flashy,
Au Revoir to All That: The Rise & Fall of French Cuisine
France is in a rut, and so is French cuisine. Twenty-five years ago it was hard to have a bad meal in France; now, in some cities and towns, it is a challenge to find even a decent baguette. For the first time in the annals of modern cuisine, the most influential chefs and the
Snow Falling on Cedars
In 1954 a fisherman is found dead in the nets of his boat, and a local Japanese-American man is charged with his murder. In the course of his trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than one man`s guilt. For on San Piedro, memories grow as thickly as cedar trees and
Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?: And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House
If your funny older sister were the former deputy chief of staff to President Barack Obama, her behind-the-scenes political memoir would look something like this… Alyssa Mastromonaco worked for Barack Obama for almost a decade, and long before his run for president. From the then-senator`s early days in Congress to his years in the Oval
Running in the Family
In ‘Running in the Family’ Michael Ondaatje returns to Sri Lanka, the home he left for Canada twenty five years earlier. A dream lures Ondaatje to revisit his childhood and the exotic family he never really understood. Born in Ceylon, into a privileged group of Sinhalese, Tamil and Dutch origins, Ondaatje has created a book
End to End
The End to End record is the longest place-to-place cycling record in Britain. It is a daunting 842 miles and for the men and women who attempt to break the record, there can be no second place, only the binary outcome of total success or failure. Paul Jones decided to ride from Land`s End to
Hedgerow (River Cottage Handbook No.7)
Hedgerows, moors, meadows and woods – these hold a veritable feast for the forager. In this hugely informative and witty handbook, John Wright reveals how to spot the free and delicious pickings to be found in the British countryside, and how to prepare and cook them. First John touches on the basics for the hedgerow
London, Burning
London, Burning is a novel about the end of the 1970s, and the end of an era. It concerns a nation divided against itself, a government trembling on the verge of collapse, a city fearful of what is to come, and a people bitterly suspicious of one another. In other words, it is also a
Age of Orphans
A nine-year-old Kurdish boy plays in his village in the Persian mountains, gazing over the land of his fathers and forefathers. But when messengers from the hills bring whispers of war and rumours that the Shah`s army is on the march, he must stand alongside his villagers and fight for their land. Years later, he
A Brief History of the Caribbean: Indispensable for Travellers
A concise history of the Caribbean`s long and fascinating history, from pre-contact civilisations to the present day This is a concise history, intended for travellers, but of inestimable value to anyone looking for an overview of the Caribbean and its mainland coastal states, with a focus on the past few centuries. The history of the
Audition
Documentary-maker Aoyama hasn`t dated anyone in the seven years since the death of his beloved wife, Ryoko. Now even his teenage son Shige has suggested he think about remarrying. So when his best friend Yoshikawa comes up with a plan to hold fake film auditions so that Aoyama can choose a new bride, he decides
The Last Mughal – The Fall of Delhi, 1857
The Last Mughal – The Fall of Delhi 1857 is William Dalrymple’s account of the life and death of Bahadur Shah Zafar II, the Seige of Delhi and the demise of Mughal rule and culture in India.’No vesting will remain to distinguish where the last of the Great Mughals rests.’So proclaimed the British Commissioner when,
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
“In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” illuminates a place and people as it describes the overlapping worlds of an extended Pakistani landowning family. Servants, masters, peasants and socialites, all inextricably bound to each other, confront the advantages and constraints of their station, the dissolution of old ways, and the shock of change. These richly textured stories
The Winter Vault
Egypt, 1964. The great temple at Abu Simbel must be dismantled and resurrected high above the rising waters of the Aswan Dam. This daunting task is overseen by Avery, a young engineer who, at the same time, is carefully building a life with his new wife, Jean. But not everything can be saved once the
Shanghai Girls
Shanghai, 1937. Pearl and May are two sisters from a bourgeois family. Though their personalities are very different – Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid – they are inseparable best friends. Both are beautiful, modern and living a carefree life until the day their
Lost World
Patricia Melo’s ‘Lost World” confirms just why Time magazine included her among their fifty ‘Latin American Leaders for the New Millenium”. A brilliant piece of noir fiction, ‘Lost World” is a hard-edged revenge story that takes the reader from downtown Rio to the depths of the Amazon jungle.Mรกiquel is an ex-contract killer who’s been a
The Last American Man
At the age of seventeen, Eustace Conway ditched the comforts of his suburban existence to escape to the wild. Away from the crushing disapproval of his father, he lived alone in a teepee in the mountains. Everything he needed he built, grew or killed. He made his clothes from deer he killed and skinned before
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – The Original Screenplay
At the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was captured in New York with the help of Newt Scamander. But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escapes custody and sets about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule
Let The Great World Spin
It`s New York, August 1974: a man is walking in the sky. Between the newly built Twin Towers, the man twirls through the air. Far below, the lives of complete strangers spin towards each other: Corrigan, a radical Irish monk working in the Bronx; Claire, a delicate Upper East Side housewife reeling from the death
