Today, translated crime fiction is in vogue
- but this was not always the case. A century before Scandi noir, writers across
...

Peter Hopkirk’s “ Foreign Devils on the Silk Road” details the tales & adventures of western explorers who uncovered & claimed the lost treasures of Central Asia. The Silk road, which linked imperial Rome & distant China, was once the greatest thoroughfare on earth. Along it traveled precious cargoes of silk, gold & ivory as well as revolutionary new ideas. Its oasis towns blossomed into thriving centres of Buddhist art & learning. In time it began to decline. The traffic slowed, the merchants left & finally its towns vanished beneath the desert sands to be forgotten for a thousand years. But legends grew up of lost cities filled with treasures & guarded by demons. In the early years of the twentieth century foreign explorers began to investigate these legends, & very soon an international race began for the art treasures of the Silk Road. Huge wall paintings, sculptures & priceless manuscripts were carried away, literally by the tone, & are today scattered through the museums of a dozen countries. This book tells the story of the handful of intrepid men who, at great personal risk, led these long-range archeological raids, incurring the undying wrath of the Chinese. Peter Hopkirk is a veteran journalist & is widely recognized as an authority on the complex history of Central Asia. This is one of several books he has written on the region. ...

Cassie & Rona. Rona & Cassie. Two women on a driving holiday in Northern France. A caustic, coruscating & deeply funny account of morality, dysfunctional relationships & women abroad, Foreign Parts is that rare hybrid: a strikingly original novel about real life, told with accuracy, compassion & a truly saturnine delight. ...

Converts most 2 & 3 pin foreign plugs to the UK electrical system. Also suitable for: Irel&, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Seychelles, Singapore & Sri Lanka. Fully tested to BS5733.N.B. This adaptor does not convert voltage, therefore ensure any appliance is compatible with UK voltage (240V). ...

Converts most 2 & 3 pin foreign plugs to the UK electrical system. Also suitable for: Irel&, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Nigeria, Pakistan, Seychelles, Singapore & Sri Lanka. Fully tested to BS5733.N.B. This adaptor does not convert voltage, therefore ensure any appliance is compatible with UK voltage (240V). ...

This beautiful book takes a wholly new approach to the description of the thirty-five species of trees which make up ninety per cent of the woodland & forest trees in Britain. The introductory section & illustrated identification key are followed by tree-by-tree information on origins, history, natural range & distribution, growth & management requirements, & uses of each species, written in a straightforward, non-technical style so as to be accessible to both the general reader & foresters & arboriculturalists. The exquisite colour photographs & line drawings are all taken for this book by the author, & range from vignettes of leaves & shoots to facilitate use of the key, to colour photograpghs of whole trees, flowers, & fruits, line drawings & winter silhouettes, & some unique photographs of split timber taken after the 1987 storm. A glossary of technical terms is included. This book is intended for general readers with an interest in natural history; students of forestry, arboriculture, landscape design, & environmental studies; schools; timber industry. ...

From the bestselling, twice Orange Prize-shortlisted, National Book Award-nominated author comes a vibrant tale of transformation: of a man in his later years & a woman novelist, each drawn to the Levant on a journey of self-discovery Jules Epstein has vanished from the world. He leaves no trace but a rundown flat patrolled by a solitary cockroach, & a monogrammed briefcase abandoned in the desert. To Epstein`s mystified family, the disappearance of a man whose drive & avidity have been a force to be reckoned with for sixty-eight years marks the conclusion of a gradual fading. This transformation began in the wake of Epstein`s parents` deaths, & continued with his divorce after more than thirty-five years of marriage, his retirement from a New York legal firm, & the rapid shedding of possessions he`d spent a lifetime accumulating. With the last of his wealth & a nebulous plan, he departs for the Tel Aviv Hilton. Meanwhile, a novelist leaves her husband & children behind in Brooklyn & checks into the same hotel, hoping that the view of the pool she used to swim in on childhood holidays will unlock her writer`s block. But when a man claiming to be a retired professor of literature recruits her for a project involving Kafka, she is drawn into a mystery that will take her on a metaphysical journey & change her in ways she could never have imagined. Bursting with life & humour, this is a profound, mesmerising, achingly beautiful novel of metamorphosis & self-realisation
- of looking beyond all that is visible towards the infinite.
...

CHOSEN AS BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE OBSERVER, NEW YORKER, NEW YORK TIMES BOOKS REVIEW, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT & THE TIMES` Lucid & exhilarating. A great gift` New York Review of Books` Tantalizes & compels.. . A welcome reminder of how a novel can be defiantly & brilliantly novel` Douglas Kennedy, New Statesman Jules Epstein has vanished: first slowly, then all at once. He begins divesting himself of all of his worldly possessions. Now he`s fallen off the face of the earth, & all the search parties can find is his empty monogrammed briefcase, abandoned in the Judean foothills. In her room at the Tel Aviv Hilton, an American novelist has also left home to undergo a transformation. But when a stranger recruits her for a project involving Kafka, she is drawn into a mystery that will take her on a metaphysical journey & change her in ways she could never have imagined. ...

te Neues London City Journal

Includes:: 184 blank & lined pages, a few contact numbers & websites for tourist

...

Forest Gate in 1894 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. Two versions of this map have been published to show how the area developed across the years, as reflected by the change of the title. The maps cover an area stretching from Fairland Road & West Ham Park eastward to Woodgrange Park Cemetery, & from the GER railway southward to Plashet Road. The 1894 map is more built up & features now include Forest Gate School, Forest Gate Junction, Woodgrange Park station, tramway along Romford Road, & the northern fringe of Upton Park. Churches include St Anthony`s RC church, St James`s Forest Lane, All Saints Romford Road. Streets (many only half built up in 1894) include Romford Road, Red Post Lane, Earlham Grove, Gipsy Lane, Boleyn Road & many more. Each map has selected extracts from a contemporary street directory. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...