Set aside those think-pieces on how 24-hour access to Lego creates the happiest nation on earth & start learning why the Nordic nations are just as messed up as we are. Unless you`ve had your head buried in Stieg Larsson books or have been trapped in the bedroom department of Ikea for the last couple of years, you will have noticed that all things Scandinavian are getting a lot of love right now. Sure, the residents of Norway, Denmark, & Sweden may enjoy excellent public services, top most World Happiness Reports & possess chiselled cheek bones that would make even Mick Jagger look twice, but have you seen the price of a beer out there, or tried to stomach a slice of brunost cheese, or ever attempted shopping on a Saturday afternoon when EVERYTHING is shut? & don`t get us started on the weather: seemingly endless freezing winter days where the sun never rises & there`s only the Ingmar Bergman back catalogue to entertain you-it`s bleak! Suffice to say, being Scandinavian isn`t all it`s cracked up to be, so ignore the newspaper articles exalting the latest subtitled crime drama. Turn your back on the online features promoting a hygge lifestyle
- this fire-brigade-taunting combination of strong schnapps, cosy blankets & candlelight will only end in tears. Give up your hopes of securing a table at whatever the latest Michelin-starred restaurant is that serves live ants & reindeer moss ice cream. Instead, put down that Ace of Bass album & pick up this guide to discovering why adopting the Scandi lifestyle won`t make you a better person.
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From the No. 1 bestselling author of Watch Over Me, Take Me Home & Set Me Free, Daniela Sacerdoti returns to Glen Avich for her fourth book set in the magical & atmospheric Scottish Highlands. When you`ve forgotten how to live, help can arrive in mysterious ways... Successful artist Isabel Ramsay has never come to terms with the tragic death of her mother. Haunted by what happened, Isabel finds her own life spiralling out of control until, one winter s day, she gives up, unable to bear the pain of living any longer. Yet somehow she wakes up, remembering a vision of a mysterious woman who has saved her. But alone in a locked house, surely that`s impossible? With her family & friends worried out of their minds, her husband Angus finds a companion to watch over Isabel while he`s away from home. Warm, wise Clara can connect with Isabel in a way no one else can, helping her face up to her painful past, rediscover her passion for art & become brave enough to live her life again. But there s a mystery surrounding Clara: who is she, & why does Isabel feel she`s known her all her life? Don`t Be Afraid is a beautiful, life-affirming story of how even the most difficult struggles can be overcome & how help can arrive in mysterious ways. PRAISE FOR DANIELA SACERDOTI S GLEN AVICH SERIES ` The author, in her first novel, Watch Over Me, achieves what more experienced novelists always hope to. In Glen Avich she creates a world you wish you didn`t have to leave. THE SCOTS MAGAZINE on Watch Over Me ` The contemporary romance is beautifully balanced with elements of mystery & endearing characters that both break & capture the heart. A stunning talent, Sacerdoti writes beautiful fiction that feeds the soul. SHARI LOW, DAILY RECORD on Take Me Home ` An absolute joy to read, the story is engaging, the characters are believable & the writing is lovely...is definitely a book to add to the summer reading list, & one that you won`t be able to put down. THE PRESS & JOURNAL on Set Me Free ...

What`s an adorably small canine with a big personality to do? From Sean Taylor, the author of Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise, & Kate Hindley, illustrator of Worst in Show, comes a hilarious new picture book comedy starring a very small fed-up dog... This dog doesn`t want to be carried in a handbag (how embarrassing!) or eat heart-shaped Mini Puppy Treats (I mean, come ON!) & under no circumstances does he ever want to be called.. . Choochie Pooh! If only his owner understood. All he wants to do is play with the big dogs in the park
- chase sticks, jump in muddy puddles & be an ordinary, proper dog.
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The guard always follows the general`s orders without question. This time, the order is that no one must cross the line! The right-hand page of this book must be kept blank for the general. As the crowd builds up on the border, the guard is under pressure. If no one is allowed onto the next page, what will happen to the story? And then a ball bounces across the line... This slapstick postmodern tale is also a profound statement about dictatorship & peaceful revolution, from an award-winning author/illustrator team. ...

Dr. Siri Paiboun, the ex-national coroner of Laos, may have more experience dissecting bodies than making art, but when he manages to smuggle a fancy movie camera into the country he devises a plan to shoot a Lao adaptation of War & Peace with his friend Civilai. The only problem? The Ministry of Culture must approve the script before they can get rolling. That & they can`t figure out how to turn on the camera. ...

With an introduction by Anne Enright Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book award, a story of civil war & a family`s unbreakable bond. How you see a country depends on whether you are driving through it, or live in it. How you see a country depends on whether or not you can leave it, if you have to. As the daughter of white settlers in war-torn 1970s Rhodesia, Alexandra Fuller remembers a time when a schoolgirl was as likely to carry a shotgun as a satchel. This is her story
- of a civil war, of a quixotic battle with nature & loss, & of a family`s unbreakable bond with the continent that came to define, scar & heal them. Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award in 2002, Alexandra Fuller`s classic memoir of an African childhood is suffused with laughter & warmth even amid disaster. Unsentimental & unflinching, but always enchanting, it is the story of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.
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In Peter`s own words: These are the stories of a not particularly brave safari guide... As a child I knew that I was afraid of heights, & while uncomfortable admitting any phobia, was glad to have only one. Then I met my first crocodile. Now I know that there are at least two things in the world that unhinge my knees with fear, sour my breath, & overwhelm me with an urge to squeeze my eyes shut & wake up somewhere else. In this companion to ” Don`t Run, Whatever You Do”, Peter Allison encounters ravenous lions, stampeding elephants & lovesick rhinos. He recounts his hairy, & often hilarious, adventures in a private section of South Africa`s famous Kruger National Park & in Botswana`s Okavango Delta, where desert animals from the Kalahari make their homes next to aquatic creatures like hippos, & where the unusual becomes commonplace. It is written with a wonderful, gentle humour evocative of Gerald Durrell. One can almost feel the heat from the campfire flames as the stories are told. ...

John & Laura have come to Venice to try & escape the pain of their young daughter`s death. But when they encounter two old women who claim to have second sight, they find that, instead of laying their ghosts to rest, they become caught up in a train of increasingly strange & violent events. The four other haunting, evocative stories in this volume also explore deep fears & longings, secrets & desires: a lonely teacher who investigates a mysterious American couple; a young woman confronting her father`s past; a party of pilgrims who meet disaster in Jerusalem; & a scientist who harnesses the power of the mind to chilling effect. ...

` Don`t Need The Sunshine` is a humorous journey around Britain`s seaside holiday destinations. John Osborne has never been a fan of going abroad somewhere hot on holiday. He blames the bigging up of `abroad` on his parents
- or at least their generation. In the 60s & 70s they started going on holiday abroad & came back with a taste for the exoticism of a bottle of vin de pays & a pain au chocolat. Who wanted a stick of rock & a donkey ride in the rain when Provence beckoned? Things were simpler in the olden days
- those post-war years when Winston Churchill urged the nation to go on holiday. In need of an escape, but without the funds or inclination for two weeks in the sun, John makes the curious decision to spend a year tracing his family holiday history. If a day trip to Cleethorpes was good enough for his granny, then why should it not be good enough for him? & if his bank manager doesn`t stop him, he might even splash out on a week in the Isle of Wight.

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The entity known (in one of many variants) as the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS) has come to feature regularly in the news, & in our imaginations. The dreadful, Grand Guignol spectacle of beheadings, abductions, cages, flames & triumphalist proclamations arouses powerful emotions: disgust, rage, hatred, grief, a yearning for vengeance
- & the sense that something must be done. Yet, argues veteran political journalist Gwynne Dyer in this short, sharp, new book, the Western tendency is to overreact, time after time, to the threat posed by Islamist terrorists. ISIS is the most repellent of the bunch by far, yet the common perception that it is run by crazed madmen with no coherent strategy is sorely misleading. Even more difficult to accept is that the attacks they perpetrate actually have nothing to do with the West, & do not significantly increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks in Western countries, either; rather, they are designed to use Western overreaction as a stepping stone to seizing power in the states they are trying to overthrow. Intervening militarily will give ISIS precisely what it wants: a glue with which to bind its infernal project more tightly. In failing to recognise the ISIS phenomenon as a revolution calculated to court foreign intervention, the Western countries currently pondering the scale of their response risk playing into the hands of the extremists.` The revolution will eat its children, ` Dyer writes
- but only if the West resists the natural urge to do something big, & allows ISIS to play itself out. Intelligent & wryly articulated, Don`t Panic! is one of few new books on ISIS that will not date as events change.

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