In the seventh century, during the Chinese Tang Dynasty, Tibetans began drinking fermented black tea, a valuable addition to their restricted diet of meat & milk. Beginning as an aristocratic delicacy, it quickly became a staple, but it had to be imported, first from southern Yunnan, with a secondary route from Ya'an in Sichuan. The Chinese on the other h&, had a need for war horses & the sturdy Tibetan horses were ideal. As a result a two-way trade route arose during the Song Dynasty & became known as the Cha Ma Dao, the Tea-Horse Road, a 2, 300 kilometre journey from southern Yunnan to Lhasa at its core. ...

Rudolf leaves his comfortable origins in Delft by ship for Java to help run the family`s estates there. He moves from plantation to plantation, attempting to understand the ways of the local peoples, their version of Islam & their relationship to their l&. On a visit to the capital, Jakarta, he falls in love with a teenage girl, Jenny, who he courts surreptitiously via his sister, with grave consequences for the reality of their relationships. Eventually they marry, & make a hard colonist-couple`s life theirs, bear, lose & raise children, before Jenny on her visit to the home country discovers all the comforts of which she has been deprived in Java. Back at the plantation homestead, as the back-breaking work of establishing & maintaining business takes its toll on Rudolf, Jenny becomes estranged from him, & the bitter resentments of relatives eat at her until a terrible solution is achieved. ...

Dinah Jefferies` unforgettable new novel, The Tea Planter`s Wife is a haunting, tender portrait of a woman forced to choose between her duty as a wife & her instinct as a mother... Nineteen-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper steps off a steamer in Ceylon full of optimism, eager to join her new husb&. But the man who greets her at the tea plantation is not the same one she fell in love with in London. Distant & brooding, Laurence spends long days wrapped up in his work, leaving his young bride to explore the plantation alone. It`s a place filled with clues to the past
- locked doors, a yellowed wedding dress in a dusty trunk, an overgrown grave hidden in the grounds, far too small for an adult... Gwen soon falls pregnant & her husband is overjoyed, but she has little time to celebrate. In the delivery room the new mother is faced with a terrible choice, one she knows no one in her upper class set will understand
- least of all Laurence. Forced to bury a secret at the heart of her marriage, Gwen is more isolated than ever. When the time comes, how will her husband ever understand what she has done? The Tea Planter`s Wife is a story of guilt, betrayal & untold secrets vividly & entrancingly set in colonial era Ceylon. ” Captivating, powerful & passionate.” (Deborah Rodriguez on The Separation). ”A richly detailed story...as intimate as a kiss & as sharp as the blade of a knife.” (David Gilham on The Separation). ”I simply didn`t want to put it down. Vivid & atmospheric
- you can smell the tropics, feel the drenching heat...” (Isabel Wolff on The Separation).


...

The Teacher`s Guide to Grammar is unique in focusing directly on the aspects of grammar that teachers need to know. Assuming little or no formal linguistic education, this concise & accessible book provides the necessary background knowledge required in the classroom context. There are detailed chapters on the nuts & bolts of language: words, morphology, sentences, phrases, verbs, & clauses. Other important educational issues concerned in the teaching of English are discussed: the grammatical variation that differentiates standard & non-standard English; how grammar varies in relation to the purpose & audience of a text; & the different grammatical characteristics of different languages. Throughout, illustrations are given using examples from the real spoken & written language produced by learners. Here are the essentials every English & literacy teacher needs to know about grammar in one practical & relevant guide. ...

From the no.1 team in cycling, this is the ultimate guide for enthusiasts & sports people of all stripes
- offering the tips &
...

The Tears of the Rajasis a sweeping history of the British in India, seen through the experiences of a single Scottish family. For a century the Lows of Clatto survived mutiny, siege, debt & disease, everywhere from the heat of Madras to the Afghan snows. They lived through the most appalling atrocities & retaliated with some of their own. Each of their lives, remarkable in itself, contributes to the story of the whole fragile & imperilled, often shockingly oppressive & devious but now & then heroic & poignant enterprise. On the surface, John & Augusta Low & their relations may seem imperturbable, but in their letters & diaries they often reveal their loneliness & desperation & their doubts about what they are doing in India. The Lows are the family of the author`s grandmother, & a recurring theme of the book is his own discovery of them & of those parts of the history of the British in India which posterity has preferred to forget. The book brings to life not only the most dramatic incidents of their careers
- the massacre at Vellore, the conquest of Java, the deposition of the boy-king of Oudh, the disasters in Afghanistan, the Reliefs of Lucknow & Chitral
- but also their personal ordeals: the bankruptcies in Scotland & Calcutta, the plagues & fevers, the deaths of children & deaths in childbirth. & it brings to life too the unrepeatable strangeness of their lives: the camps & the palaces they lived in, the balls & the flirtations in the hill stations, & the hot slow rides through the dust. An epic saga of love, war, intrigue & treachery, The Tears of the Rajas is surely destined to become a classic of its kind.

...

This is the author's first book in which he recounts the pursuit of his childhood dream of travelling to the far-flung outposts of Britain where red post boxes & Union Jacks still remain. In his personal voyage of discovery he meets the people of Tristan da Cunha, Ascension, St Helena, Pitcairn, the Falkland Islands & the British Indian Ocean Territories. ...

The first title in a relaunch of the best-selling bumper quick crossword series from the Telegraph, new for 2017. Entertaining, brain-teasing & utterly addictive, there are over 300 puzzles here for veteran puzzle enthusiasts & crossword novices alike. ...

For the record-breaking third time London will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2012. From the inception of Baron Pierre de Courbetin`s crusade to revive the Games of the ancient Greeks, in the 1890s, through the triumphs & disasters of twenty-nine Olympiads, The Daily Telegraph has been there to provide eye-witness accounts of the greatest sporting moments in history with characteristic authority. This comprehensive & colourful review of the summer Olympics takes you back to 1908, the first time London held the Games, with Dorando Pietri`s infamous disqualification in the marathon. Then to Fanny Blankers-Koen & Emil Zatopek lifeting the War-scarred capital in the Austerity Games of 1948. With more recent record-breaking moments from the Olympics of Sydney, Athens & Beijing, this is the perfect scene-setter for the Games` return to London. From Sebastian Coe & Steve Ovett to Jesse Owens & Carl Lewis, Kelly Holmes, Steve Redgrave, Ian Thorpe & Daley Thompson, the tears & the glory of all the heroes & villains from 116 years of Olympic history are collected here in this wonderful anthology of the greatest show on earth. ...

Impress all your friends at the next pub quiz by perfecting your knowledge of everything from history to sport, science & popular entertainment. This fantastic new collection of puzzles provides the perfect solitary entertainment for every quiet moment while allowing you to build a fantastic range of facts on the tip of your tongue. Covering a wide range of topics, these varied & challenging puzzles from Britain`s best-selling quality newspaper will provide hours of amusement for general knowledge & crossword enthusiasts alike. ...