For millennia, we have tried to explain ourselves using the raven as a symbol. It occupies a unique place in British history & has left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape. The raven`s hulking black shape has come to represent many things: death, all-seeing power, the underworld, & a wildness that remains deep within us. Legend has it that the fate of the nation rests upon the raven, & should the resident birds ever leave the Tower of London then the entire kingdom will fall. While so much of our wildlife is vanishing, ravens are returning to their former habitats after centuries of exile, moving back from their outposts at the very edge of the country, to the city streets from which they once scavenged the bodies of the dead. In A Shadow Above, Joe Shute follows ravens across their new hunting grounds, examining our complicated & challenging relationship with these birds. He meets people who live alongside the raven in conflict & peace, unpicks their fierce intelligence, & ponders what the raven`s successful return might come to symbolise for humans in the dark times we now inhabit. ...

A Shadow Falls takes its rightful place in Nick Brandt’s ongoing photographic project to memorialize the vanishing natural grandeur of East Africa & to portray a mythic Africa struggling against tragic forces. Majestic images of wildlife & regal visions of wide screen panoramas capture both a verdant & parched world. Fifty eight recent images are reproduced here in oversized tritone plates, whilst Brandt offers a personal account of his experiences photographing in Africa. Art critic Vicki Goldberg places Brandt’s iconic work in the history of the medium, & philosopher Peter Singer explains why Brandt’s photographs speak to an increasing human moral conscience. ...

Andrew Beatty lived with his family for two & a half years in a village in East Java. When he arrived, he was entranced by a strange & sensual way of life, an unusual tolerance of diversity. Mysticism, Islamic piety & animism coexisted peacefully; the ancient traditions of the shadow play, of spirit beliefs & were-tigers seemed set to endure. Java appeared a model for our strife-ridden world, a recipe for multiculturalism. But a harsh & puritanical Islamism, fed by modern uncertainties, was driving young women to wear the veil & young men to renounce the old rituals. The mosque loudspeakers grew strident, cultural boundaries sharpened. As a wave of witch-killings shook the countryside, Beatty & his family began to feel like vulnerable outsiders. Set among Java's rice fields & volcanoes, this is the story of how one of the biggest issues of our time plays out in ordinary lives. ...

In 1915, the Turkish government systematically organised the wholesale slaughter of a complete race, the Armenians. Under the cover of World War I, through the secret organisation of unofficial gangs of Kurds, released prisoners, German officers & Turks who had lost their lands in the war against the Balkans, over 1 million Armenians were murdered, starved, raped & left to die. Following the War, as the Nationalist movement began to rise up from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, the allies tried to persecute the perpetrators of the genocide, in a series of trials where the term `crimes against humanity` was first used, Turkey was allowed to hide its recent history. It has remained hidden ever since. As the nation attempts to enter the European Union, the question of 1915 has become ever more important with the arrest of writers such as Orhan Pamuk, & the introduction of Turkey into the EU. ...

Winner of the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize Auntie Mei is a live-in nanny for newborns & their mothers. She has worked for a hundred & twenty-six families & looked after a hundred & thirty-one babies, one set of clients easily replaced by the next. But the hundred & thirty-second baby & his mother Chanel prompts a crisis in Auntie Mei`s life
- a tremor that threatens to destroy her resolute detachment.
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Tapas & sherry bars are everywhere: Berlin, London, LA, Paris, Munich. Now it`s time to bring the trend home & serve this glorious marriage of flavours to friends. In A Sherry & A Little Plate of Tapas Kay Plunkett-Hogge tells the story of tapas & its beloved companion, sherry, & offers 80 easy-to-cook-at-home recipes. The book begins by exploring the mysteries of sherry, one of the world`s oldest wines, considering the five key types, how they`re made & how they`re served, with tips on the best food & sherry matches & a selection of sherry cocktails. Kay then plunges into the tapas, with chapters on cold tapas
- hams & olives & their like
- & latillas; montaditos or `mounted` tapas; pintxos, or `things on sticks`; & on cooked tapas, with chapters on vegetables, eggs & dairy, seafood & meat. Kay has even created some delicious sherry-based desserts.

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Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune hopes an overseas birding trip will hold some clues to solving his fugitive brother`s manslaughter case. Meanwhile, in Jejeune`s absence his long-time nemesis has been drafted in as cover to investigate an accountant`s murder. & unfortunately Marvin Laraby proves just a bit too effective in showing how an investigation should be handled. With the manslaughter case poised to claim another victim, Jejeune learns an accident back home in Britain involving his girlfriend, Lindy, is much more than it seems. Lindy is in grave danger, & she needs Jejeune. Soon, he is faced with a further dilemma. He can speak up on a secret he has discovered relating to Laraby`s case, knowing it will cost his job on the north Norfolk coast he loves. Or he can stay silent, & let a killer escape justice. Turns out that sometimes the wrong choice is the only one there is. ...

May, 1810
- & thirty-nine-year-old Captain Horatio Hornblower has been handed his first ship of the line... Though the seventy-four-gun
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This short book introduces the reader to the key concepts in art from ancient times to the present day. Unlike many previous publications, in which non-Western art is a mere add-on to the great artists & movements of the Western canon, this tells the story of art from a fresh perspective, integrating previously marginalised aspects of artistic creation into the principal narrative. The text focuses on illustrated examples, ranging from the iconic to the unusual, providing a stimulating & throught-provoking introduction to a complex & challenging subject. Concise & informative, the book is written in a clear, jargonfree style. While it is ideal for first-year students of art, art history & related subjects, it will also be invaluable for general readers wanting to know & understand more about art & culture. ...

After spending his childhood & school years in Albania, imagining that the mini-skirts & quiz-shows of Italian state TV were the reality of life in the West, & fantasizing accordingly about living on the other side of the border, the death of Hoxha at last enables Gazmend Kapllani to make his escape. However, on arriving in the Promised L&, he finds neither lots of willing leggy lovelies nor a warm welcome from his long-lost Greek cousins. Instead, he gets banged up in a detention centre in a small border town. As Gazi & his fellow immigrants try to find jobs, they begin to plan their future lives in Greece, imagining riches & successes which always remain just beyond their grasp. The sheer absurdity of both their plans & their new lives is overwhelming. Both detached & involved, ironic & emotional, Kapllani interweaves the story of his experience with meditations upon border syndrome
- a mental state, as much as a geographical experience
- to create a brilliantly observed, amusing & perceptive debut.

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