Shimamura is tired of the bustling city. He takes the train through the snow to the mountains of the west coast of Japan, to meet with a geisha he believes he loves. Beautiful & innocent, Komako is tightly bound by the rules of a rural geisha, & lives a life of servitude & seclusion that is alien to Shimamura, & their love offers no freedom to either of them. ” Snow Country” is both delicate & subtle, reflecting in Kawabata`s exact, lyrical writing the unspoken love & the understated passion of the young Japanese couple. ...

A snowy day, a deserted school & the teacher you least want to see. Welcome to Snow Day, the most magical day of the year... When Danny goes to school one quiet, snowy morning, the last thing he expects to find is a deserted school & his least favourite teacher. But that`s exactly what he does find. & what starts as the worst day imaginable, ends as the most life-affirming & magical day of the year. It is an incredibly moving story about finding friendship in the most unexpected of places. ...

A snowy day, a deserted school & the teacher you least want to see. Welcome to Snow Day, the most magical day of the year... When Danny goes to school one quiet, snowy morning, the last thing he expects to find is a deserted school & his least favourite teacher. But that`s exactly what he does find. & what starts as the worst day imaginable, ends as the most life-affirming & magical day of the year. An incredibly moving story about finding friendship in the most unexpected of places. ...

” It`s going to be woof-onderful!” There is nothing Nicky wants more in the world than a dog to play with. But Mum & Dad don`t want a dog. Then Granddad has an idea
- he & Nicky can make a dog: a snow-dome dog. Even better, he has some special clay, found at the end of a rainbow, so that the dog will be extra-special. Maybe even magic... Colour First Readers are perfect for new readers & include notes be reading specialist Prue Goodwin, honorary fellow of the University of Reading.
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In 1954 a fisherman is found dead in the nets of his boat, & a local Japanese-American man is charged with his murder. In the course of his trial, it becomes clear that what is at stake is more than one man`s guilt. For on San Piedro, memories grow as thickly as cedar trees & the fields of ripe strawberries
- memories of a charmed love affair between a white boy & a Japanese girl; memories of land desired, paid for, & lost. Above all, San Piedro is haunted by the memory of what happened to its Japanese residents during World War II, when an entire community was sent into exile while its neighbours watched.
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” Join Jane Lawson as she takes you on a culinary journey through the magnificent cold-climate cuisines of the snow-cloaked regions of northern, central & eastern Europe. Celebrate the season of winter & enjoy this irresistible selection of simmering soups, hearty meals & indulgent desserts that will warm you to the core. From humble & satisfying classics to glamorous feasts worthy of a celebration, you are sure to be inspired by the mythical winter wonderland of Snowflakes & Schnapps. ` Get cosy on the couch with this opulently styled new release & remind yourself of all the good things cold weather brings.`
- delicious. ` This is winter comfort fare at it`s best`
- Vogue Entertaining + Travel ”

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Lily is the daughter of a humble farmer, & to her family she is just another expensive mouth to feed. Then the local matchmaker delivers startling news: if Lily`s feet are bound properly, they will be flawless. In nineteenth-century China, where a woman`s eligibility is judged by the shape & size of her feet, this is extraordinary good luck. Lily now has the power to make a good marriage & change the fortunes of her family. To prepare for her new life, she must undergo the agonies of footbinding, learn nu shu, the famed secret women`s writing, & make a very special friend, Snow Flower. But a bitter reversal of fortune is about to change everything. ...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE The stories of Kseniya Melnik`s debut collection are small-town miracles, each a miniature epic. Their focus is Magadan, a town in the Northern Far East of Russia, & the unvisited lives of its inhabitants & emigrants
- schoolchildren, doctors, teachers, mothers, daughters. Some characters span several stories. Some of their stories span decades & continents. The measure of their telling, though, is invariably the measure of everyday existence. Their dramas, too, are made from"idian stuff, each life with its own sly or suppressed tragedies, & its brief, often unexpected ecstasies. Kseniya Melnik`s sensibility is sober & humorous; her stories are moving & funny. In their patient, deliberate unfolding
- at once surprising & convincing
- & in the fitness of their details
- vital because they are suggestive
- we sense, above all, an assurance that is dazzling.




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Smuggling has been a way of life in Galicia for millennia. The Romans considered its windswept coast the edge of the world. To the Greeks it was from where Charon ferried souls to the Underworld. Since the Middle Ages, its shoreline has scuppered thousands of pirate ships. But the history of Cape Finisterre is no fiction & by the late twentieth century a new & exotic cargo flooded the cape`s ports & fishing villages. In Snow on the Atlantic, the book the Spanish national court tried to ban, intrepid investigative journalist Nacho Carretero tells the incredible story of how a sleepy, unassuming corner of Spain became the cocaine gateway into Europe, exposing a new generation of criminals, cartels & corrupt officials, more efficient & ruthless than any who came before. ...

` To those who went to the War straight from school & survived it, the problem of what to do afterwards was peculiarly difficult.` For H.W. ` Bill` Tilman, the solution lay in Africa: in gold prospecting, mountaineering & a 3, 000-mile bicycle ride across the continent. Tilman was one of the greatest adventurers of his time, a pioneering climber & sailor who held exploration above all else. He made first ascents throughout the Himalaya, attempted Mount Everest, & sailed into the Arctic Circle. For Tilman, the goal was always to explore, to see new places, to discover rather than conquer. First published in 1937, Snow on the Equator chronicles Tilman`s early adventures; his transition from East African coffee planter to famed mountaineer. After World War I, Tilman left for Africa, where he grew coffee, prospected for gold & met Eric Shipton, the two beginning their famed mountaineering partnership, traversing Mount Kenya & climbing Kilimanjaro & Ruwenzori. Tilman eventually left Africa in typically adventurous style via a 3, 000-mile solo bicycle ride across the continent-all recounted here in splendidly funny style. Tilman is one of the greatest of all travel writers. His books are well-informed & keenly observed, concerned with places & people as much as summits & achievements. They are full of humour & anecdotes & are frequently hilarious. He is part of the great British tradition of comic writing & there is nobody else quite like him. ...