A few years ago, the author went to live in Horden, a mining village on the bleak east coast of Durham. Horden had been the biggest colliery in Britain, & among the men who had worked there were Hudson's great-grandfather & grandfather. The pit is now closed, & remains alive only in the memories of its old people. In search of his forebears, Hudson listened to the tales of how it once was, of the hardships & traditions of the miner's life, & of the struggles & triumphs of trade unionism. He also heard tales of his ancestors, although these tales flicker & fluctuate; the only certainty is the pit. In this book, Hudson portrays a world that has gone for ever, & offers an angry indictment of what has taken its place. The author won the Thomas Cook Award & the Somerset Maugham Award for Our Grandmothers' Drums. ...

One of the Europe`s most celebrated rivers, the Seine stretches from the fertile plains of Burgundy to the English Channel at Le Havre. Starting at its source near Dijon, writer & engraver Robert Gibbings follows the river`s 400-mile course as it develops from a tranquil stream into the mighty waterway that links Rouen to the sea. The journey takes different forms: on foot, in a tiny boat `hardly more than a coracle`, on a barge, & on a boat used for transporting books. Throughout this leisurely voyage during one summer Gibbings records his impressions, visual & verbal, of places & people as well as explaining how the river has played a vital role in French history. In part an evocation of the Seine`s changing landscapes & rural beauty, this is also an account of towns & cities-Troyes, Rouen, Paris-and their relationship with the river. Looking at writers & painters as well as historic figures who have left their mark on the Seine, Gibbings presents an affectionate picture of this great river & the people who live & work on its banks. Discussing the vineyards of Champagne, the paintings of Sisley & Utrillo, the rituals of Parisian cafe life, the author conveys an irresistible enthusiasm not just for boats & river life, but for all things French. First published in 1953, Coming Down the Seine is illustrated with more than fifty of Gibbings` delightful engravings. ...

Sefton Goldberg: mid-thirties, English teacher at Wrottesley Poly in the West Midlands; small, sweaty, lustful, defiantly unappreciative of beer, nature & organised games; gnawingly aware of being an urban Jew islanded in a sea of country-loving Anglo-Saxons. Obsessed by failure
- morbidly, in his own case, gloatingly, in that of his contemporaries
- so much so that he plans to write a bestseller on the subject. In the meantime he is uncomfortably aware of advancing years & atrophying achievement, & no amount of lofty rationalisation can disguise the triumph of friends & colleagues, not only from Cambridge days but even within the despised walls of the Poly itself, or sweeten the bitter pill of another`s success... From the winner of the Man Booker Prize 2010.

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It is a story about Case Vecchie, the most notable cooking school in Sicily, the foods it produces & the loyal staff. It



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Andy Fanshawe begins & ends this book on a winter climb in the Alps. Between come two contrasting & successful expeditions, to Chogolisa & to Menlungtse. In the summer of 1986 & newly appointed National Officer of the British Mountaineering Council, he led a five-man team on the first traverse of the twin summits of Chogolisa & Bride Peak, at 7654 metres one of the most elegant of the summits rising above the Baltoro Glacier on the route to K2. He describes the world of the Karakoram & revels in the challenge of new climbing as well as in the mountaineering history that is all around them. It is the summer of disaster on K2. But for them the weather is kind & they reach their summit on its razor-edge ridge. The traverse is accomplished. Tragedy only strikes later, in a mirror image of the death of Hermann Buhl, when the three Scottish members of the team go on to attempt Broad peak. Coming to terms with the death of a friend in the mountains is something Andy Fanshawe has to attempt again for himself before his next expedition, this time to Menlungtse, a hard unclimbed peak of 7180 metres just over the Tibetan border in the Rolwaling Himalaya. In the expedition organized by Chris Bonington the climbing would be serious, but the media are mainly interested in the incidental yeti-hunting. With Alan Hinkes, Andy Fanshawe reaches the 7023-metre summit of Menlungtse West. Reaching summits & knowing when to give up on them, leads to some closing reflections as he retreats from Makalu, but he ends his climbing odyssey with a successful winter ascent of the North Face of the Eiger. ...

Years in insurance & marriage to the joyless Hilda have been no more than death in life to George Bowling. This & fear of another war take his mind back to the peace of his childhood in a small country town. But his return journey to Lower Binfield brings complete disillusionment. ...

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. ...

” Sensitive, thoughtful & poetic. Rob Cowen rakes over a scrap of land with forensic care, leading us into a whole new way of looking at the world.” Michael Palin. `I am dreaming of the edge-land again` After moving from London to a new home in Yorkshire, Rob Cowen finds himself on unfamiliar territory, disoriented, hemmed in by winter & yearning for the nearest open space. So one night, he sets out to find it
- a pylon-slung edge-l&, a tangle of wood, meadow, field & river on the outskirts of town. Despite being in the shadow of thousands of houses, it feels unclaimed, forgotten, caught between worlds, & all the more magical for it. Obsessively revisiting this contested ground, Cowen ventures deeper into its many layers & lives, documenting its changes through time & season & unearthing histories that profoundly resonate & intertwine with transformative events happening in his own life. Blurring the boundaries of memoir, natural history & novel, Common Ground offers nothing less than an enthralling new way of writing about nature & our experiences within it. We encounter the edge-land`s inhabitants in immersive, kaleidoscopic detail as their voices & visions rise from the fields & woods: beasts, birds, insects, plants & people
- the beggars, sages & lovers across the ages. Startlingly personal & poetic, this is a unique portrait of a forgotten realm & a remarkable evocation of how, over the course of a year, a man came to know himself once more by unlocking it. But, above all, this is a book that reasserts a vital truth: nature isn`t just found in some remote mountain or protected park. It is all around us. It is in us. It is us.

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Justin Trudeau`s candid memoir reveals for the first time the experiences that have shaped him over the course of his life, revealing how his passion for politics took root. From his childhood at the prime ministerial residence of 24 Sussex to his leadership of the Liberal party, Trudeau captures the formative moments of his upbringing, including the influence of his father, Pierre, who was prime minister before him, & the tragic death of his brother, Michel. Filled with anecdotes, personal reflections, & never-before-seen photographs from his own collection, Common Ground is an intimate portrait of the man who has thrust Canada back onto the world stage. Not only this, but it also presents a moving case for a better kind of politics at a time when people are more disillusioned with politics than ever before. ...

This book is short listed for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize ` Part detective story, part Dickensian saga, part labour history. ”A thrilling & unnerving read.” (Observer). ” Mesmeric & deeply moving.” (Daily Telegraph). ” Remarkable, haunting, full of wisdom.” (The Times). Family history is a massive phenomenon of our times but what are we after when we go in search of our ancestors? Beginning with her grandparents, Alison Light moves between the present & the past, in an extraordinary series of journeys over two centuries, across Britain & beyond. Epic in scope & deep in feeling, Common People is a family history but also a new kind of public history, following the lives of the migrants who travelled the country looking for work. Original & eloquent, it is a timely rethinking of who the English were
- but ultimately it reflects on history itself, & on our constant need to know who went before us & what we owe them.
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