After the trauma of the Blitz & wartime restrictions, London embraced the arrival of a new decade. Austerity was slow to loosen its grip, but the Festival of Britain pointed a tentative way forward. Two years later saw the birth of a new Elizabethan era that was greeted with an almost naive enthusiasm. This was a time where class still dominated & divided. Despite the introduction of the welfare state, grinding poverty still existed. The rich were also suffering under a barrage of punitive taxation. The artistic community set out to challenge the bounds of perceived decency. As always, London spearheaded change. Twin sets & pearls gave way to a new elegance in women`s fashion, whilst young men ditched their cloth caps in favour of Teddy Boy suits. A new teenage culture arrived along with coffee bars & rock `n` roll. To a background of grisly murders & organised crime, often shrouded in fog, London lurched into the unknown. It was loud, brash, yet also sophisticated, but chaotic. It set the agenda for others to follow. A city of opportunity & dangerous temptation. Huge success & degrading humiliation, of passing interest only as the world`s greatest city hurled itself restlessly forward seeking its next distraction. ...

” Every age has its own special difficulties & dangers. The disease which specially threatens this generation is restlessness, distraction, dissipation of intellectual & moral power. Its consequence is exhaustion & nervous collapse. & its symptom is Hurry” Life in a Bustle: Advice to Youth is part of ` Found on the Shelves`, published with The London Library. The books in this series have been chosen to give a fascinating insight into the treasures that can be found while browsing in The London Library. Now celebrating its 175th anniversary, with over 17 miles of shelving & more than a million books, The London Library has become an unrivalled archive of the modes, manners & thoughts of each generation which has helped to form it. ...

In this wonderful gardening journal, which accompanies the BBC2 series of the same name, Carol Klein, with characteristic warmth & eloquence, tells us the story of a year in her beautiful garden at Glebe Cottage. With superb photography throughout, she takes us on a procession through the seasons, as she plans & plants, sows seeds & nurtures cuttings, tends the borders, & harvests her crops. Her energy, knowledge & enthusiasm are an inspiration in every month of the year. ...

From acclaimed historians Frances & Joseph Gies comes the reissue of their classic book on day-to-day life in medieval cities, which was a source for George R.R. Martin`s Game of Thrones series. Evoking every aspect of city life in the Middle Ages, Life in a Medieval City depicts in detail what it was like to live in a prosperous city of Northwest Europe in the twelfth & thirteenth centuries. The year is 1250 CE & the city is Troyes, capital of the county of Champagne & site of two of the cycle Champagne Fairs-the ” Hot Fair” in August & the ” Cold Fair” in December. European civilization has emerged from the Dark Ages & is in the midst of a commercial revolution. Merchants & money men from all over Europe gather at Troyes to buy, sell, borrow, & lend, creating a bustling market center typical of the feudal era. As the Gieses take us through the day-to-day life of burghers, we learn the customs & habits of lords & serfs, how financial transactions were conducted, how medieval cities were governed, & what life was really like for a wide range of people. For serious students of the medieval era & anyone wishing to learn more about this fascinating period, Life in a Medieval City remains a timeless work of popular medieval scholarship. ...

`I wake to the sun striking gold on a stone wall. If I lean out of the window I can see Mount Canigou newly iced with snow. It is wonderful to live in a building with windows all around, to see both sunrise & sunset, to be constantly aware of the passage of the sun & moon.` In 1988, Rosemary Bailey & her husband were travelling in the French Pyrenees when they fell in love with, & subsequently bought, a ruined medieval monastery, surrounded by peach orchards & snow-capped peaks. Traces of the monks were everywhere, in the frescoed 13th century chapel, the buried crypt, the stone arches of the cloister. For the next few years the couple visited Corbiac whenever they could, until in 1997, they took the plunge & moved from central London to rural France with their six-year-old son. Entirely reliant on their earnings as freelance writers, they put their Apple Macs in the room with the fewest leaks & sent Theo to the village school. With vision & determination they have restored the monastery to its former glory, testing their relationship & resolve to the limit, & finding unexpected inspiration in the place. Life in a Postcard is not just Rosemary Bailey`s enthralling account of the challenges of life in a small mountain community, but also a celebration of the rugged beauty of French Catalonia, the pleasures of Catalan cooking, & an exploration of an alternative, often magical world. ...

A stunning, vibrant & energetic celebration of photography & colour from National Geographic. Edited by Annie Griffiths who ...

From her childhood spent moving around to escape her mother`s string of boyfriends & husbands to pressures to mold her body to a dancer`s ideal, every challenge Misty faced was met with the same perseverance, passion, & drive that brought her dreams to life. A true prodigy, Misty was dancing en pointe within two months & performing professionally in just over a year: a feat unheard of for any classical dancer. Recognizing her talents, Misty`s white ballet teachers soon took her in so she could continue training at a high level. Caught between the calm, control, & comfort she found in the world of elite ballet & the harsh realities of her own life, Misty became involved in a highly publicized custody battle instigated by her mother to bring her home-a struggle which Misty talks about in detail for the first time. She also reveals how it felt to be the only black woman in the American Ballet Theatre`s corps de ballet as she spanned the globe in world-renowned performances. As unique as Misty herself, Life in Motion transcends the bounds of the traditional ballet biography to tell a uniquely American story of perseverance & achievement in the face of extreme challenges. This is a beautiful memoir of identity, of passion, & of grace for anyone who has dared to dream of a different life. ...

Seven years after the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43, Londinium was created. It would rise to become one of the most important Roman cities in northern Europe. ” Life in Roman London” approaches the history of Roman London in an entirely new way. Rather than focusing upon a handful of important figures such as Procurators & statesmen, this book explores the lives & concerns of the ordinary citizens. Unlike many books about Roman history which are preoccupied with the basilicas, palaces, grand houses, statues & mosaics, ” Life in Roman London” looks instead at the shops, houses & streets in which the majority of the sixty thousand inhabitants of the city spent their lives. In doing so, it reveals a city very different from the clean, white, classical metropolis familiar from the books of our childhood. ...

A licentious woman coerces her son-in-law into agreeing to an illicit affair; a young boy, forced to work down a mine to make his living, is robbed of his childhood & ultimately his life; a returning soldier toys with the affections of local girls, & unleashes a sea of passion & vengeance from within the village folk
- read together, these stories form a remarkable chronicle of country life, in all its harsh reality.
...

The two central activities in my life
- alongside writing
- have been reading & gardening. Penelope Lively has always been a

...