' Pitched as an antidote to the 'modern slavery' of Blackberry's, mobiles etc, Jon Savage's memoir of navigating the pre-gentrification Docklands with Derek Jarman is a highlight, while poignant pieces about epic canoe trips, ice-skating through the Fens & innumerable idyllic tributaries constitute an extended billet-doux to the landscapes & idiosyncrasies of the British Isles'
- (4 STARS)
- Mojo magazine. From the Thames to the Telford, the Wear to the Wellsbourne; from canoe adventures to ice-skating, from angling to day-dreaming, Caught by the River is an exceptional new take on nature writing. Here, the writers take you on a journey down some of our most famous waterways & some of its best kept secrets. Funny, surprising, delightful & poignant, they all share one thing
- a passion for the rivers of Britain & Irel&. The result is a uniquely modern take on an age old writing tradition
- a rock 'n' rock nature book ever. The authors, many acclaimed & the rest soon to be, each contribute to a collection of writing as varied & unexpected as the rivers themselves. This evocative anthology of the best new nature writing is presented in a collection of essays on some of our favourite rivers, covering the entire length of the country.A diverse collection of authors share their thoughts, experiences & reminiscences on the river that means something special to them. Contributors include Gavin Pretor-Pinney who retraces a canoe trip his grandfather made 60 years ago, Roger Deakin writes about the history of ice skating in the fens, Jon Savage describes a trip down the Thames with the Sex Pistols, Irvine Welsh recounts the courtship rituals witnessed by the River Forth, plus there are many more contributors including Bill Drummond, Edywn Collins, John Niven, Jarvis Cocker, & Chris Yates to name a few.



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”A gripping, vivid, deeply researched chronicle of the Russian Revolution told through the eyes of a surprising, flamboyant cast of foreigners in Petrograd, superbly narrated by Helen Rappaport.” (Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs). Caught in the Revolution is Helen Rappaport`s masterful telling of the outbreak of the Russian Revolution through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold. Between the first revolution in February 1917 & Lenin`s Bolshevik coup in October, Petrograd (the former St Petersburg) was in turmoil
- felt nowhere more keenly than on the fashionable Nevsky Prospekt where the foreign visitors & diplomats who filled hotels, clubs, bars & embassies were acutely aware of the chaos breaking out on their doorsteps & beneath their windows. Among this disparate group were journalists, businessmen, bankers, governesses, volunteer nurses & expatriate socialites. Many kept diaries & wrote letters home: from an English nurse who had already survived the sinking of the Titanic; to the black valet of the US Ambassador, far from his native Deep South; to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, who had come to Petrograd to inspect the indomitable Women`s Death Battalion led by Maria Bochkareva. Helen Rappaport draws upon this rich trove of material, much of it previously unpublished, to carry us right up to the action
- to see, feel & hear the Revolution as it happened to a diverse group of individuals who suddenly felt themselves trapped in a `red madhouse.`

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Selected as a Book of the Year in the Telegraph & Evening Standard ”[ The] centenary will prompt a raft of books on the Russian Revolution. They will be hard pushed to better this highly original, exhaustively researched & superbly constructed account.” (Saul David, Daily Telegraph). ”A gripping, vivid, deeply researched chronicle of the Russian Revolution told through the eyes of a surprising, flamboyant cast of foreigners in Petrograd, superbly narrated by Helen Rappaport.” (Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs). Between the first revolution in February 1917 & Lenin`s Bolshevik coup in October, Petrograd (the former St Petersburg) was in turmoil. Foreign visitors who filled hotels, bars & embassies were acutely aware of the chaos breaking out on their doorsteps. Among them were journalists, diplomats, businessmen, governesses & volunteer nurses. Many kept diaries & wrote letters home: from an English nurse who had already survived the sinking of the Titanic; to the black valet of the US Ambassador, far from his native Deep South; to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, who had come to Petrograd to inspect the indomitable Women`s Death Battalion led by Maria Bochkareava. Drawing upon a rich trove of material & through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold, Helen Rappaport takes us right up to the action
- to see, feel & hear the Revolution as it happened.
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Dazzling, daring & full of original insight & wit, Henry Green offers a unique view of a class-ridden Britain enduring both war & its aftermath. In the apocalyptic atmosphere of the Blitz, so brilliantly evoked in Caught, gossip spreads like wildfire & the lives of two men are torn apart. In Back, Charley, an amputee, returns from a prison camp to his village & the grave of the woman he loved. Concluding was Green`s own favourite of his novels & tells the story of a summer`s day & a schoolgirl`s disappearance. The text of Caught used in this edition is based on Green`s original manuscript, which was censored by the publisher on first publication, but can be read now for the first time in unexpurgated form. ...

Get ready for more thrills, spills & spells in 2012! Max Pendragon is not looking forward to attending Morgana Le Fay`s summer Spell School. Not only is his battered cauldron producing slimy sludge instead of perfect spells, but ever since he & his sister Olivia foiled evil Morgana`s plot against King Arthur, they have been wary of her plans for revenge. Max & Olivia soon discover that Spell School has more in store for them than they ever imagined. With the help of Merlin & a mysterious bard, Caradoc, will they be able to outwit Morgana & save Arthur for a second time? ...

The Causeway Coast is one of the most interesting geological sites in North-West Europe; it is also full of interesting historical facts dating hack to the twelfth century. Nature has played her part in making it rich in flora, fauna, & marine life; because of its situation it has remained untouched for many years. ...

Causeway Coast Way & Moyle Way long-distance trails, part of the Ulster Way along the border & the coastline of Northern Irel&, presented by Rucksack Readers in handy A5 size, spiral-bound, waterproof guide with mapping at 1:85, 000. The 64-page guide provides general advice on when to go, availability of accommodation, etc, &

Includes:: a map of the bus & railway connections to/from Belfast, Ballymena & Londonderry. The guide also contains notes on the geology of the Giant’s Causeway & the wildlife of the region. Detailed route descriptions, arranged in daily stages, are preceded by a summary of each section of the route giving distance, terrain, grade & availability of food & drink. The guide is illustrated with numerous colour photos. The two routes are highlighted on contoured maps which also indicate various services & places of interest. No geographical coordinates for GPS users are provided. The publishers themselves recommend that their guide is used in conjunction with more detailed, contoured & GPS compatible maps from the Ordnance Survey of Northern Irel&. To see other titles in this series please click on the series link.

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Topographic survey of France at 1:25, 000 in IGN`s excellent TOP25 / Série Bleue series. All the maps are GPS compatible, with a 1km UTM grid plus latitude & longitude lines at 5’ intervals. Contours are at 5m intervals except for mountainous areas where the maps have contours at 10m intervals, vividly enhanced by hill shading & graphics for rocky terrain. Colouring with graphics indicates different types of vegetation or land use (deciduous or coniferous forests, moors, orchards, vineyards, etc). PLEASE NOTE: coverage of France at this scale is currently being revised – the format & the presentation of each title are indicated by the letters at the end of its Sheet Reference number (e.g. 0416ET, 3531ETR, 1923SB, etc.)MAPS WITH FULL TOURIST OVERPRINT & AN ENGLISH MAP LEGEND: all TOP25 maps & the SB editions of Série Bleue have an overprint highlighting waymarked walking trails including long-distance GR routes &, where appropriate, ski routes. Symbols indicate campsites, gîtes d’etape, refuges, equestrian centres & other recreational facilities or sites, tourist information centres, cultural heritage, etc. Towns & locations of particular interest are highlighted.- ET or OT = single-sided TOP25 map covering approx. 29x 21 km / 18x 13 miles.- ETR or OTR = waterproof & tear resistant TOP25 map covering the same area as the corresponding ET or OT number, but double-sided, printed on a smaller size sheet with a good overlap between the sides.- SB = Série Bleue map with full tourist overprint; these maps, first introduced in summer 2014, each cover approx. 29x 24km / 18x 15 miles.SÉRIE BLEUE maps with numbers ending in E (Est) or O (Ouest): most editions now indicate the GR routes, but do not show any other tourist information. Map legend is in French only. Each map covers approx. 14x 20km / 9x 12 miles. ...

Topographic survey of France at 1:25, 000 in IGN`s excellent TOP25 / Série Bleue series. All the maps are GPS compatible, with a 1km UTM grid plus latitude & longitude lines at 5’ intervals. Contours are at 5m intervals except for mountainous areas where the maps have contours at 10m intervals, vividly enhanced by hill shading & graphics for rocky terrain. Colouring with graphics indicates different types of vegetation or land use (deciduous or coniferous forests, moors, orchards, vineyards, etc). PLEASE NOTE: coverage of France at this scale is currently being revised – the format & the presentation of each title are indicated by the letters at the end of its Sheet Reference number (e.g. 0416ET, 3531ETR, 1923SB, etc.)MAPS WITH FULL TOURIST OVERPRINT & AN ENGLISH MAP LEGEND: all TOP25 maps & the SB editions of Série Bleue have an overprint highlighting waymarked walking trails including long-distance GR routes &, where appropriate, ski routes. Symbols indicate campsites, gîtes d’etape, refuges, equestrian centres & other recreational facilities or sites, tourist information centres, cultural heritage, etc. Towns & locations of particular interest are highlighted.- ET or OT = single-sided TOP25 map covering approx. 29x 21 km / 18x 13 miles.- ETR or OTR = waterproof & tear resistant TOP25 map covering the same area as the corresponding ET or OT number, but double-sided, printed on a smaller size sheet with a good overlap between the sides.- SB = Série Bleue map with full tourist overprint; these maps, first introduced in summer 2014, each cover approx. 29x 24km / 18x 15 miles.SÉRIE BLEUE maps with numbers ending in E (Est) or O (Ouest): most editions now indicate the GR routes, but do not show any other tourist information. Map legend is in French only. Each map covers approx. 14x 20km / 9x 12 miles. ...

The stories of Giovanni Verga (1840-1922) are wonderful evocations of ordinary Italian life, focusing in particular on his native, Sicily. In an original & dynamic prose style, he portrays such eternal human themes as love, honour & adultery with rich & colourful language. The inspiration for Mascagni`s opera, ” Cavalleria Rusticana” depicts a young man`s triumphal return home from the army, spoilt when he learns that his beloved is engaged to another man. Verga`s acute awareness of the hardships & aspirations of peasant life can be seen in stories such as ” Nedda”, ” Picturesque Lives” & ” Black Bread”, while others such as ” The Reverend” & ” Don Licciu Papa” show the dominance of the church & the law in the Sicilian communities he portrays so vividly. ...