At the age of thirty, Amy Liptrot finds herself washed up back home on Orkney. Standing unstable on the isl&, she tries to come to terms with the addiction that has swallowed the last decade of her life. As she spends her mornings swimming in the bracingly cold sea, her days tracking Orkney`s wildlife, & her nights searching the sky for the Merry Dancers, Amy discovers how the wild can restore life & renew hope. ...

` Masterly.. .gloriously well-written & deeply imagined` Jim Crace Jeannie is nineteen when the world changes, Kip only fourteen. The sudden accident that robs them of their mother leaves them adrift, with only their father to guide them. Jeannie seeks escape in work & later marriage to a man whose social connections propel her into an unfamiliar world of wealth & politics. Ill-equipped & unprepared, Jeannie finds comfort where she can. Meanwhile Kip`s descent into a life of petty crime is halted only when he volunteers for the Marines. By 1968, the conflict in Vietnam is at its height, & with the anti-war movement raging at home, Jeannie & Kip are swept along by events larger than themselves, driven by disillusionment to commit unforgiveable acts of betrayal that will leave permanent scars. The Outside Lands is the story of people caught in the slipstream of history, how we struggle in the face of loss to build our world, & how easily & with sudden violence it can be swept away. With extraordinary skill & accuracy, Hannah Kohler takes us from 1960s California to Vietnam, capturing what it means to live through historic times. This powerful debut novel announces Kohler as a remarkable new literary talent. ...

` Astonishing
- jagged, fresh & startlingly alive` Daily Mail Jeannie is nineteen when the world changes, Kip only fourteen.
...

Who does this footprint belong to? What is this worm up to? What is the name of this tree? Even if we live in the city, nature is still all around us: clouds & stars, trees & flowers, rocks & beaches, birds, reptiles or mammals. What are we waiting for? Let`s jump off the couch & begin exploring! Created in collaboration with a team of Portuguese experts, this book, which won the coveted Bologna Regazzi award, aims to arouse your curiosity about fauna, flora & other aspects of the natural world. It

Includes:: suggestions for activities & many illustrations to help the whole family get started, leave the house, & go out to discover
- or simply admire
- the amazing world that exists outdoors.



...

` My mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don`t know.` In The Outsider (1942), his classic existentialist novel, Camus explores the alienation of an individual who refuses to conform to social norms. Meursault, his anti-hero, will not lie. When his mother dies, he refuses to show his emotions simply to satisfy the expectations of others. & when he commits a random act of violence on a sun-drenched beach near Algiers, his lack of remorse compounds his guilt in the eyes of society & the law. Yet he is as much a victim as a criminal. Albert Camus` portrayal of a man confronting the absurd, & revolting against the injustice of society, depicts the paradox of man`s joy in life when faced with the `tender indifference` of the world. Sandra Smith`s translation, based on close listening to a recording of Camus reading his work aloud on French radio in 1954, sensitively renders the subtleties & dream-like atmosphere of L` Etranger. Albert Camus (1913-1960), French novelist, essayist & playwright, is one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. His most famous works include The Myth of Sisyphus (1942), The Plague (1947), The Just (1949), The Rebel (1951) & The Fall (1956). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957, & his last novel, The First Man, unfinished at the time of his death, appeared in print for the first time in 1994, & was published in English soon after by Hamish Hamilton. Sandra Smith was born & raised in New York City & is a Fellow of Robinson College, University of Cambridge, where she teaches French Literature & Language. She has won the French American Foundation Florence Gould Foundation Translation Prize, as well as the PEN Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize. ...

When an eleven-year-old boy is found murdered in a town park, reliable eyewitnesses undeniably point to the town`s popular Little League coach, Terry Maitl&, as the culprit. DNA evidence & fingerprints confirm the crime was committed by this well-loved family man. Horrified by the brutal killing, Detective Ralph Anderson, whose own son was once coached by Maitl&, orders the suspect to be arrested in a public spectacle. But Maitland has an alibi. & further research confirms he was indeed out of town that day. As Anderson & the District Attorney trace the clues, the investigation expands from Ohio to Texas. & as horrifying answers begin to emerge, so King`s propulsive story of almost unbearable suspense kicks into high gear. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy but there is one rock-hard fact, as unassailable as gravity: a man cannot be in two places at the same time. Can he? ...

Frederick Forsyth has seen it all. & lived to tell the tale. ` We all make mistakes, but starting the Third World War would have been a rather large one. To this day, I still maintain it was not entirely my fault. But I`m getting ahead of myself. During the course of my life, I`ve barely escaped the wrath of an arms dealer in Hamburg, been strafed by a Mi G during the Nigerian civil war, & landed during a bloody coup in Guinea-Bissau. The Stasi arrested me, the Israelis regaled me, the IRA prompted a quick move from Ireland to Engl&, & a certain attractive Czech secret police agent
- well, her actions were a bit more intimate. & that`s just for starters. All of that I saw from the inside. But all that time I was, nonetheless, an outsider.` Trained first as a pilot, then as a journalist, Frederick Forsyth finally turned to fiction & became one of the most lauded thriller writers of our time. As exciting as his novels, Forsyth`s autobiography is a candid look at an extraordinary life lived to the full, a life whose unique experiences have provided rich inspiration for thirteen internationally bestselling thrillers.
...

In Ponyboy`s world there are two types of people. There are the Socs, the rich society kids who get away with anything. Then there are the greasers, like Ponyboy, who aren`t so lucky. Ponyboy has a few things he can count on: his older brothers, his friends, & trouble with the Socs, whose idea of a good time is beating up greasers like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect
- until the night things go too far...
...

` If an Outsider wields the blade, the House of Koronos burns...` Hylas is only a boy but he knows three things: The Gods exist. Magic is real. Somebody wants him dead. Hunted & alone, Hylas is desperate to find his missing sister. His quest takes him across the hostile mountains & treacherous seas of Ancient Greece. His only friend is a girl on the run. His only guide is a wild dolphin. & his murderous enemies are closing in...” Electrifying”. (Independent on Sunday). ” The reader`s attention is caught from the first line.. .spellbinding”. (Telegraph). ” Set to become another children`s classic”. (Books for Keeps). Michelle Paver was born in Malawi in 1960 & moved to England when she was three. After gaining a degree in biochemistry from Oxford, she became a partner in a City law firm, but gave that up to write full-time. To research her stories about animals & the distant past, she has travelled in the Arctic, the Mediterranean & Egypt, swum with dolphins & killer whales, & encountered bears, boars & wolves. She is the author of the internationally bestselling Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, the final book of which won the 2010 Guardian Children`s Fiction Prize. ...

These stories are linked by common themes of belonging, dislocation & identity, & together they take the pulse of a country in turmoil. In ' The Opposite of Death' Roberto Saviano writes about a town in southern Italy haunted by the war in Afghanistan, where one by one its sons are dying. Carlo Lucarelli (' Ferengi') explores the colonial war in Eritrea through the eyes of a maid working for a sick man who begs her to end his suffering. Piero Colaprico's ' Grade C' is a breathless Milanese crime thriller in miniature, while Valeria Parrella's ' The Prize', set during World War II, reminds us that revenge is a dish best served cold. Contains stories by Roberto Saviano, Carlo Lucarelli, Valeria Parrella, Piero Colaprico, Wu Ming, & Simona Vinci. ...