Category Archives: Travel Guides
20,000 Miles for a Glass of Champagne: The Cambridge 1960 Indo-African Expedition
LEAVING University, Christopher Fenwick and two friends were invited to a wedding in Johannesburg, South Africa. Already committed to driving to India, they lengthened their journey by crossing to Kenya and motoring down Africa. Nobody had ever undertaken such a journey before in a small family saloon. Opportunity was provided by the `political window` of
Archipelago
When a flood destroys Gavin Weald`s home, tearing apart his family and his way of life, he doesn`t know how to continue. A year later, he returns to his rebuilt home and tries to start again, but when the new rainy season arrives, so do his daughter`s nightmares about the torrents, and life there becomes
Wogan`s Ireland
In a magical mix of the personal and the political, the humorous and the tragic, the historic and the modern, we follow Terry Wogan on his return to his native land. Terry left Ireland in the late 1960s, after a childhood in Limerick and early career in Dublin. In Wogan`s Ireland we see through Terry`s
Pomegranates and Roses
Ariana`s family roots are firmly planted in Persian soil. She inherited her love of food and cooking from her grandparents – who grew cherries, plums, apricots, apples, sugar beets, wheat and barley, bred sheep and goats for dairy, and had beautiful vineyards producing prized grapes – and from her father, who owned and ran the
The State of Africa
Africa is forever on our TV screens, but the bad-news stories (famine, genocide, corruption) massively outweigh the good (South Africa). Ever since the process of de-colonialisation began in the mid-1950s, and arguably before, the continent has appeared to be stuck in a process of irreversible decline. Constant war, improper use of natural resources and misappropriation
The Dovekeepers
The lives of four sensuous, bold and remarkable women intersect in the year 70 AD, in the desperate days of the siege of Masada, when supplies are dwindling and the Romans are drawing near. All are dovekeepers, and all are keepers of secrets – about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them,
For You Are A Kenyan Child
Imagine you live in a small Kenyan village, where the sun rises over tall trees filled with doves. When the rooster crows, it`s time to wake up and after greeting Mama `Hodi`, you step into her hut for some porridge. Your task today is to watch over grandfather`s cows. But while they are grazing you
The Long Shadow: The Great War and the Twentieth Century
In Britain we have lost touch with the Great War. Our overriding sense now is of a meaningless, futile bloodbath in the mud of Flanders — of young men whose lives were cut off in their prime for no evident purpose. But by reducing the conflict to personal tragedies, however moving, we have lost the
The Shape of the Ruins
“Like Don DeLillo`s JFK-themed Libra, the novel is an intoxicating blend of fact and fiction” Glasgow Herald”A masterful writer” Nicole Krauss”A highly sophisticated, fast-moving political thriller set in Colombia and an excellent read” Alan Furst”A dazzlingly choreographed network of echoes and mirrorings” T.L.S.It takes the form of personal and formal investigations into two political assassinations
One Clear Ice-cold January Morning at the Beginning of the 21st Century
“A highly original and often hypnotic work . . . exactly the type of book that readers in search of striking European voices should embrace” John Boyne, author of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMASA contemporary Berlin fairy tale that bristles with urban truths – the first novel of Germany`s best-known contemporary playwright One clear,
The Office of Gardens and Ponds
The village of Shimae is thrown into turmoil when master carp-catcher Katsuro suddenly drowns in the murky waters of the Kusagawa river. Who now will carry the precious cargo of carp to the imperial palace and preserve the crucial patronage that everyone in the village depends upon?Step forward Miyuki, Katsuro`s grief-struck widow and the only
Sovietistan: A Journey Through Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan
“A mesmerising trip across Central Asia . . . A fascinating travelogue” Financial TimesSHORTLISTED FOR EDWARD STANFORD/LONELY PLANET DEBUT TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR 2020Erika Fatland takes the reader on a journey that is unknown to even the most seasoned globetrotter. The five former Soviet Republics` Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan all became independent
The Border – A Journey Around Russia: SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020
Erika Fatland travels along the seemingly endless Russian border – from North Korea in the Far East through Russia`s bordering states in Asia and the Caucasus, crossing the Caspian Ocean and the Black Sea along the way.The Border is a book about Russia and Russian history without its author ever entering Russia itself; a book
The Border – A Journey Around Russia: Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway and the Northwest Passage
Shortlisted for the 2021 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards, Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year in association with the Authors` Club.Erika Fatland travels along the seemingly endless Russian border – from North Korea in the Far East through Russia`s bordering states in Asia and the Caucasus, crossing the Caspian Ocean and the Black Sea
The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles
Set in Finland in 1939, this is the story of one man who remains in his home town when everyone else has fled, burning down their houses in their wake, before the invading Russians arrive. Timo remains behind because he can`t imagine life anywhere else, doing anything else besides felling the trees near his home.
Lord of All the Dead
`Lord of All the Dead` is a courageous journey into Javier Cercas` family history and that of a country collapsing from a fratricidal war. The author revisits Ibahernando, his parents` village in southern Spain, to research the life of Manuel Mena. This ancestor, dearly loved by Cercas` mother, died in combat at the age of
Abigail
A teenage girl`s difficult journey towards adulthood in a time of war. Of all her novels, Magda Szabo`s Abigail is the most widely read in her native Hungary. Now, fifty years after it was written, it appears for the first time in English, joining Katalin Street and The Door in a loose trilogy about the
The Capital
The prize-winning satirical bestseller – more than 500,000 copies sold worldwide.”I enjoyed The Capital so much… A major book” New York Times”First-class satire” Guardian”A deliciously vicious and timely satire” Financial Times”Mischievous yet profound” Economist`The Capital` is a brilliantly entertaining satire, a crime story, a comedy of manners… and a wild pig chase. This is the
