The delightful, gossipy diaries of James Lees-Milne describe his encounters with the owners of country houses
- from eccentric
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This is the story of rise of the summer holiday as Britain's most popular leisure activity. From pre-war through to the 1950s were the boom years for the British seaside resorts, but by the mid 1960s jet airliners were in widespread service, leading to package holidays & the mass invasion of the Rivieras & Costas. Some Like it Hot looks at the trends in holidays favoured by the British & examines the history of each, featuring first person tales of the highs & lows of the annual break. ...

The first novel in a dazzling new epic trilogy from the winner of the Pulitzer Prize; a literary adventure that will span a century in America. 1920. After his return from the battlefields in France, Walter Langdon & his wife Rosanna begin their life together on a remote farm in Iowa. As time passes, their little family will grow: from Frank, the handsome, willful first-born, to Joe, whose love of animals & the land sustains him; from Lillian, beloved by her mother, to Henry who craves only the world of his books; & Claire, the surprise baby, who earns a special place in her father`s heart. As Walter & Rosanna struggle to keep their family through good years & hard years
- to years more desperate than they ever could have imagined, the world around their little farm will turn, & life for their children will be unrecognizable from what came before. Some will fall in love, some will have families of their own, some will go to war & some will not survive. All will mark history in their own way. Tender, compelling & moving from the 1920s to the 1950s, told in multiple voices as rich as the Iowan soil, Some Luck is an astonishing feat of storytelling by a prize-winning author writing at the height of her powers.
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On 17 April 1986 John Mc Carthy was kidnapped in Beirut. For the next five years he was cut off from everything & everybody he knew & loved, from family, friends, &, perhaps above all, from Jill Morrell, the girl he was going to marry. For five years, John Mc Carthy had to endure the deprivation
- both physical & psychological
- of captivity; the filth & squalor of the cells in which he was kept; the agony of isolation & repeated self-examination; & the pain of ignorance, of not knowing if those he loved even realized he was alive. For Jill Morrell, the five years of John`s captivity were a different kind of hell: the initial shock & disbelief; the gradual acceptance that John had been taken & that her life had changed irrevocably, that all their plans had been shattered. But Jill refused to give up hope. For five years she & a group of friends worked ceaselessly on behalf of John & all British hostages in the Middle East, until the extraordinary day in August 1991 when John Mc Carthy stepped down from an aeroplane at RAF Lyneham. A day when they could begin again. This is their story, a remarkable account of courage, endurance, hope & love.

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The marriage of Kaname & Misako is disintegrating: whilst seeking passion & fulfilment in the arms of others, they contemplate the humiliation of divorce. Misako`s father believes their relationship has been damaged by the influence of a new & alien culture, & so attempts to heal the breach by educating his son-in-law in the time-honoured Japanese traditions of aesthetic & sensual pleasure. The result is an absorbing, chilling conflict between ancient & modern, young & old. ...

Jeff Brouws & Wendy Burton have been collecting American vernacular railway photographs for many years, poring through boxes of snapshots at train shows & enthusiasts` gatherings. Seeking out the unusual, the lyrical, the pastoral & the urban, they have assembled a collection that

Includes:: railway landscapes, locomotives, bridges & people primarily during the age of steam. This fascinating assemblage is accompanied by an essay that

Includes:: a brief discussion of the aesthetic evolution of railway photography in the early to mid-twentieth century & the phenomenon of the International Engine Picture Club, which acted as a clearing house & swapping mechanism for rail fans.



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` The death was an odd one, it was true; but there was after all no very clear reason to assume it was anything but natural.` In the winter of 1942, England lies cold & dark in the wartime blackout. One bleak evening, Councillor Grayling steps off the 6.12 from Euston, carrying GBP120 in cash, & oblivious to the fate that awaits him in the snow-covered suburbs. Inspector Holly draws up a list of Grayling`s fellow passengers: his distrusted employee Charles Evetts, the charming Hugh Rolandson, & an unknown refugee from Nazi Germany, among others. Inspector Holly will soon discover that each passenger harbours their own dark secrets, & that the councillor had more than one enemy among them. First published in 1943, Raymond Postgate`s wartime murder mystery combines thrilling detection with rich characters & a fascinating depiction of life on the home front. ...

This is a biographical study of Arthur Rimbaud`s ”lost years”, the years after he turned his back on poetry, fame & France, for a life of wandering & obscurity in the wilds of East Africa. Charles Nicholl pieces together the story of Rimbaud`s life as a trader, explorer & gun-runner in Africa. We follow his trail across the Somali desert, through the backstreets of Djibouti, & into the highlands of Ethiopia. We glimpse him with his Abyssinian mistress in Aden, walking the ”souks” of Cairo with 20 pounds of gold around his waist, & crossing the desert with a camel-train of Remington rifles. The journey leads also into the strange psychological terrain of Rimbaud`s desire to escape. ...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKBrave, illuminating & inspiring, Somebody I Used to Know gets to the very heart of what it means to be human. What do you lose when you lose your memories? What do you value when this loss reframes how you`ve lived, & how you will live in the future? How do you conceive of love when you can no longer recognise those who are supposed to mean the most to you? When she was diagnosed with dementia at the age of fifty-eight, Wendy Mitchell was confronted with the most profound questions about life & identity. All at once, she had to say goodbye to the woman she used to be. Her demanding career in the NHS, her ability to drive, cook & run
- the various shades of her independence
- were suddenly gone. Philosophical, profoundly moving, insightful & ultimately full of hope, Somebody I Used to Know is both a heart-rending tribute to the woman Wendy once was, & a brave affirmation of the woman dementia has seen her become.

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It is summer 1990, only months after the border dividing Germany has dissolved. Maria, nearly seventeen, moves in with her boyfriend on his family farm. A chance encounter with enigmatic loner Henner, a neighbouring farmer, quickly develops into a passionate relationship. But Maria soon finds that Henner can be as brutal as he is tender
- his love reveals itself through both animal violence & unexpected sensitivity. Maria builds a fantasy of their future life together, but her expectations differ dramatically from those of Henner himself, until it seems their story can only end in tragedy. Someday We`ll Tell Each Other Everything is a bold & impressive debut in which love & violence, conflict & longing, are inextricably entwined.
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