` Has all the hallmarks of a classic summer read` The Times Anna`s friends & family think she is living the dream in her beautiful finca under the Spanish sun. But the reality is far from perfect. The handsome, complicated man she was building a life with has left with little more than a note to say goodbye & the future she imagined has crashed around her ears. Anna has secretly embarked on an ill-advised affair & lives above the dingy bar she runs in the sleepy beach town of Marea, surrounded by British expats as homesick & stuck as she is. When Simon, a local businessman, offers to rent the finca, Anna hopes it will pave the way for her escape. But there is more to him than meets the eye, & when a body washes up on the beach in mysterious circumstances, Anna realizes she may be the only one with the power to unravel the truth. But how can she prove that Simon is connected, & how can she reclaim her house? Anna is prepared to risk everything to get home
- even though she`s no longer sure where home really is. Urgent, gripping & brilliantly observed, Under the Sun is an exhilarating novel about heartbreak, identity, migration & finding a place to call home.
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Bruce Chatwin is one of the most significant British novelists & travel writers of our time. His books have become modern-day classics which defy categorisation, inspired by & reflecting his incredible journeys. Tragically, Chatwin`s compelling narrative voice was cut off just as he had found it. ` Bruce had just begun` said his friend, Salman Rushdie, `we saw only the first act`. But Chatwin left behind a wealth of letters & postcards that he wrote, from his first week at school until shortly before his death at the age of forty-eight. Whether typed on Sotheby`s notepaper or hastily scribbled, Chatwin`s correspondence reveals more about himself than he was prepared to expose in his books; his health & finances, his literary ambitions & tastes, his uneasiness about his sexual orientation; above all, his lifelong quest for where to live. Comprising material collected over two decades from hundreds of contacts across five continents, Chatwin`s letters are a valuable & illuminating record of one of the greatest & most enigmatic writers of the twentieth century. ...

A fascinating portrait of a pre-Gaddafi society on the verge of change. Tripoli in the 1960. A sweltering, segregated society. Hadachinou is a lonely boy. His mother shares secrets with her best friend Jamila while his father prays at the mosque. Sneaking through the sun drenched streets of Tripoli, he listens to the whispered stories of the women. He turns into an invisible witness to their repressed desires while becoming aware of his own. ` This is a fascinating portrait of a closed society. On the surface this quiet vignette of a story could be read as gently nostalgic, but underneath the author reveals the seething tensions of a traditional city coming to terms with our modern world. The book gives us privileged access to a place where men & women live apart & have never learned to respect each other.` Meike Ziervogel, Peirene Press ...

Hay-on-Wye is world famous as the Town of Books. But when travel writer Oliver Balch moved there, it was not just the books he was keen to read, but the people too. After living in London & Buenos Aires, what will he make of this tiny, quirky town on the Welsh-English border? To help guide him, he turns to Francis Kilvert, a Victorian diarist who captured the bucolic rural life of his day. Does anything of Kilvert`s world still exists? & could a newcomer ever feel they truly belong? With empathy & humour, Balch joins in the daily routines & lives of his fellow residents. What emerges is a captivating, personal picture of country life in the 21st century. Some things haven`t altered for centuries, while others are changing at an alarming pace. Written with his trademark vivid, reportage style, Balch`s journey sees him meet with a king & his courtiers, publicans, hippies, mayors, old widows & young farmers. In an increasingly mobile, urban world, Under the Tump is a timely, honest account of Balch`s attempt to put down roots in a community not yet his own. ...

Hay-on-Wye is world famous as the Town of Books. But when travel writer Oliver Balch moved there, it was not just the books he was keen to read, but the people too. After living in London & Buenos Aires, what will he make of this tiny, quirky town on the Welsh-English border? To help guide him, he turns to Francis Kilvert, a Victorian diarist who captured the bucolic rural life of his day. Does anything of Kilvert`s world still exists? & could a newcomer ever feel they truly belong? With empathy & humour, Balch joins in the daily routines & lives of his fellow residents. What emerges is a captivating, personal picture of country life in the 21st century. Some things haven`t altered for centuries, while others are changing at an alarming pace. Written with his trademark vivid, reportage style, Balch`s journey sees him meet with a king & his courtiers, publicans, hippies, mayors, old widows & young farmers. In an increasingly mobile, urban world, Under the Tump is a timely, honest account of Balch`s attempt to put down roots in a community not yet his own. ...

Twenty years ago, Frances Mayes
- widely published poet, gourmet cook & travel writer
- introduced readers to a wondrous new

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One day in 1968, at the height of the Biafran civil war, Ijeoma`s father is killed & her world is transformed forever. Separated from her grief-stricken mother, she meets another young lost girl, Amina, & the two become inseparable. Theirs is a relationship that will shake the foundations of Ijeoma`s faith, test her resolve & flood her heart. In this masterful novel of faith, love & redemption, Okparanta takes us from Ijeoma`s childhood in war-torn Biafra, through the perils & pleasures of her blossoming sexuality, her wrong turns, & into the everyday sorrows & joys of marriage & motherhood. As we journey with Ijeoma we are drawn to the question: what is the value of love & what is the cost? ...

It is the Day of the Dead. The fiesta in full swing. In the shadow of Popocatepeti ragged children beg coins to buy skulls made from chocolate...and the ugly pariah dogs roam the streets. Geoffrey Firmin, HM ex-consul, is drowning himself in liquor & Mescal, while his ex-wife & half brother look on powerless to help him. As the day wears on, it becomes apparent that Geoffrey must die. It is his only escape from a world he cannot underst&. ” Under The Volcano” is one of the century`s great undisputed masterpieces. ...

Under the Walnut Tree is an inspiring cookbook by mother & daughter team, Anna & Fanny Bergenstrom. Combining international & Scandinavian flavours, recipes are organised by ingredient, such as coconut, ginger, chillies, chocolate & vanilla. There are also menu suggestions covering everything from small, intimate dinners to large parties. Filled to the brim with 400 recipes & over 300 colour photographs, this is a cookbook to be used & relished year after year. Anna & Fanny Bergenstrom have previously collaborated on a number of best-selling titles in their native Sweden. ...

NOW A MAJOR FEATURE DOCUMENTARYDetermined to cover the Syrian regime`s brutal crackdown on dissent & the devastating impact of the war on Syria`s civilians, veteran photographer Paul Conroy & Marie Colvin, one of the foremost war correspondents of her generation, decided to smuggle themselves across enemy lines & into the blood & terror of Homs. But tragedy struck before the pair could finish documenting the slaughter. A rocket killed Colvin & ripped a hole in Conroy`s leg. As Syrian ground forces closed in on his position, Conroy was forced to make a terrifying last-ditch attempt to escape from a regime that appeared determined to murder him. Under the Wire is the epic, untold account of Conroy & Colvin`s last, tragic assignment together. A rare & touching portrait of an extraordinary woman driven by an unquenchable desire to `bear witness`, it is as much a tale of courage & survival as it is the poignant account of a friendship forged amid the carnage of war. ...