Category Archives: Travel Guides
How We Lived Then
Although nearly 90% of the population of Great Britain remained civilians throughout the war, or for a large part of it, their story has so far largely gone untold. In contrast with the thousands of books on military operations, barely any have concerned themselves with the individual`s experience. The problems of the ordinary family are
Charles Darwin Power of Place
This concluding volume of Janet Browne`s biography covers the transformation in Darwin`s life after the first unexpected announcement of the theory of evolution by natural selection and the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859. Always a private man, Darwin found himself a controversial figure, reviewed and discussed in circles that stretched far
Nikolaus Pevsner
Born Nikolai Pewsner into a Russian-Jewish family in Leipzig in 1902, Nikolaus Pevsner was a dedicated scholar who pursued a promising career as an academic in Dresden and Gottingen. When, in 1933 Jews were no longer permitted to teach in German universities, he lost his job and looked for employment in England. Here, over a
The Decline and Fall of the British Empire
No empire has been larger or more diverse than the British Empire. At its apogee in the 1930s, 42 million Britons governed 500 million foreign subjects. Britannia ruled the waves and a quarter of the earth`s surface was painted red on the map. Yet no empire (except the Russian) disappeared more swiftly. Within a generation
Travels With Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf had a lively sense of place and delighted in `lighting accidentally…upon scenes which would have gone on, have always gone on, will go on, unrecorded, save for this chance glimpse. Following Virginia`s footprints from her beloved Sussex and Cornwall to wartime London, Italy and the Riviera to Greek mountains and the wilds of
Bright Paradise
`A fabulously rich, anecdotal and gripping account of those men and women who ventured out from Britain into the swamps and jungles of the tropics in search, knowingly or not, of the missing link. Through their stoical-sometimes crack-brained-voyages, the shape of the world, geographically and biologically, was elucidated. Never have more significant journeys been made…Enthusiastic,
A World By Itself
Scholarship on the history of the British Isles is currently experiencing a golden age. The breakdown of modernism and the eclipse of both the Marxist tradition and the `Whig interpretation` that sees all history as progress, combined with the trajectories of nationalism in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, have generated unprecedented intellectual activity. Nor has the
The Cornish Coast Murder
`Never, even in his most optimistic moments, had he visualised a scene of this nature – himself in one arm-chair, a police officer in another, and between them – a mystery.` The Reverend Dodd, vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen, spends his evenings reading detective stories by the fireside – but heaven forbid
Captives
Ranging over a quarter of a millennium and four continents, Captives uncovers the experiences and writings of those tens of thousands of men and women who took part in Britain`s rise to imperial pre-eminence, but who got caught and caught out. Here are the stories of Sarah Shade, a camp follower imprisoned alongside defeated British
Murder Underground
`This detective novel is much more than interesting. The numerous characters are well differentiated, and include one of the most feckless, exasperating and lifelike literary men that ever confused a trail.` Dorothy L. Sayers, Sunday Times, 1934 When Miss Pongleton is found murdered on the stairs of Belsize Park station, her fellow-boarders in the Frampton
Resorting to Murder: Holiday Mysteries
Holidays offer us the luxury of getting away from it all. So, in a different way, do detective stories. This collection of vintage mysteries combines both those pleasures. From a golf course at the English seaside to a pension in Paris, and from a Swiss mountain resort to the cliffs of Normandy, this new selection
Capital Crimes: London Mysteries
With its fascinating mix of people – rich and poor, British and foreign, worthy and suspicious – London is a city where anything can happen. The possibilities for criminals and for the crime writer are endless. London has been home to many of fiction`s finest detectives, and the setting for mystery novels and short stories
Calamity in Kent
In the peaceful seaside town of Broadgate, an impossible crime occurs. The operator of the cliff railway locks the empty carriage one evening; when he returns to work next morning, a dead body is locked inside – a man who has been stabbed in the back. Jimmy London, a newspaper reporter, is first on the
Murder in the Museum
When Professor Julius Arnell breathes his last in the hushed atmosphere of the British Museum Reading Room, it looks like death from natural causes. Who, after all, would have cause to murder a retired academic whose life was devoted to Elizabethan literature? Inspector Shelley`s suspicions are aroused when he finds a packet of poisoned sugared
The Writer Abroad: Literary Travels from Austria to Uzbekistan
From the grand tour to the global village, novelists and poets have made particularly observant travellers. Many writers have been prone to wanderlust, eager to explore the world and draw inspiration from their travels. They recorded their notes in letters, journals, essays and books.In some cases, these became celebrated examples of travel writing, but there
Death of Anton
`There`s more crime going on in Carey`s Circus than in the whole underworld of London. Theft, immorality, blackmail – you`ll find all the pretties here.`Seven Bengal tigers are the star attraction of Carey`s Circus. Their trainer is the fearless Anton, whose work demands absolute fitness and the steadiest of nerves. When Anton is found lying
Quick Curtain
Quick Curtain is a witty detective story, originally published in 1934. It is one among many books that enjoyed brief popularity during the “Golden Age of murder” between the two world wars but subsequently fell out of sight. The author, Alan Melville, was a successful playwright and man of the theatre, and he uses his
Murder in Piccadilly
`Scores of men and women died daily in London, but on this day of days one of them had died in the very midst of a crowd and the cause of his death was a dagger piercing his heart. Death had become something very real.` When Bobbie Cheldon falls in love with a pretty young
The Sussex Downs Murder
`Already it looked as if the police were up against a carefully planned and cleverly executed murder, and, what was more, a murder without a corpse!` Two brothers, John and William Rother, live together at Chalklands Farm in the beautiful Sussex Downs. Their peaceful rural life is shattered when John Rother disappears and his abandoned
The Hog`s Back Mystery
Dr James Earle and his wife live in comfortable seclusion near the Hog`s Back, a ridge in the North Downs in the beautiful Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears from his cottage, Inspector French is called in to investigate. At first he suspects a simple domestic intrigue – and begins to uncover a web of
