Spanning almost a hundred years, this rich & evocative true story recounts the lives of three generations of remarkable Chinese women. Their extraordinary journey takes us from the brutal poverty of village life in mainland China, to newly prosperous 1930s Hong Kong & finally to the UK. Their lives were as dramatic as the times they lived through. A love of food & a talent for cooking pulled each generation through the most devastating of upheavals. Helen Tse's grandmother, Lily Kwok, was forced to work as an amah after the violent murder of her father. Crossing the ocean from Hong Kong in the 1950s, Lily honed her famous chicken curry recipe. Eventually she opened one of Manchester's earliest Chinese restaurants where her daughter, Mabel, worked from the tender age of nine. But gambling & the Triads were pervasive in the Chinese immigrant community, & they tragically lost the restaurant. It was up to Helen & her sisters, the third generation of these exceptional women, to re-establish their grandmother's dream. Sweet Mandarin shows how the most important inheritance is wisdom, & how recipes
- passed down the female line
- can be the most valuable heirloom.

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Superintendent Lascano is drawn into a war between the Buenos Aires Chief of Police & the Apostles, drug-dealing cops who want to control the city. When the Chief of Police is murdered Lascano becomes the Apostles` next target. His only way out of the country is to retrieve the loot from a bungled bank robbery. Mallo paints a scathing portrait of Argentina where the Junta`s generals are paraded in court in civilian clothes, treated like mere petty thieves. The mothers & grandmothers of The Plaza de Mayo A” see the people who have stolen their children go unpunished; corruption & violence continue to rule. But at the centre of the novel is a touching portrayal of two broken men, a cop & a robber, whose humanity is sorely tested by the times & events racking this proud country. ...

Any Parisian will tell you that theirs is the city of romance, light & delicious sweets that are like no others on earth. Take your tastebuds on a tour of Paris in this sumptuous collection of sweet pastries, magnifique desserts & chocolates to die For. Michael Paul`s stunning photography captures the real ambience & joie de vivre of this remarkable city. Saunter past traditional pattiseries, sit with artists sipping chocolat chaud in Montmartre & savour the delights of the local chocolatier. With over 30 classic & modern recipes, from comforting pains au chocolate to irresistible macaroons, Sweet Paris is more than a cook book: it`s a sweet-toothed flaneur`s guide to Paris; a city where even the desserts are chic. ...

Any Parisian will tell you that theirs is the city of romance, light & delicious sweets that are like no others on earth. Take your tastebuds on a tour of Paris in this sumptuous collection of sweet pastries, magnifique desserts & chocolates to die for. Michael Paul`s stunning photography captures the real ambience & joie de vivre of this remarkable city. Saunter past traditional pattiseries, sit with artists sipping chocolat chaud in Montmartre & savour the delights of the local chocolatier. With over 30 classic & modern recipes, from comforting pains au chocolate to irresistible macaroons, Sweet Paris Mini is more than a cook book: it`s a sweettoothed fl neur`s guide to Paris; a city where even the desserts are chic. ...

When Joe tasted a mouthful he was amazed how delicious it was
- a dense taste, better than any pasta he`d eaten before. Food was
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In 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, Robert Gibbings launched his home-made punt on the River Thames & began a slow journey downstream, armed with a sketchpad & a microscope. From the river`s source at the edge of the Cotswold Hills to the bustle of London`s docks, Sweet Thames Run Softly is a charming, often eccentric, account of an artist-naturalist adrift in English waters. First published as the Battle of Britain raged overhead, this gentle boating tale was an antidote to the anxieties of wartime & became an immediate best-seller. Our new edition

Includes:: the original engravings Robert Gibbings made from his journey.

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Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an Anglican bishop, has a brief affair with an older man during her final year at Cambridge, & finds herself being groomed for the intelligence services. The year is 1972. Britain, confronting economic disaster, is being torn apart by industrial unrest & terrorism & faces its fifth state of emergency. The Cold War has entered a moribund phase, but the fight goes on, especially in the cultural sphere. Serena, a compulsive reader of novels, is sent on a 'secret mission' which brings her into the literary world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First she loves his stories, then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life? & who is inventing whom? To answer these questions, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage
- trust no one. Mc Ewan's mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft & witty story of betrayal & intrigue, love, & the invented self.
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”A web of spying, subterfuge, deceit & betrayal... Acute, witty.. .winningly cunning”. (” Sunday Times”). The year is 1972. The Cold War is far from over. Britain is being torn apart by industrial unrest & terrorism. Serena Frome, in her final year at Cambridge, is being groomed for MI5. Serena is sent on a secret mission
- Operation Sweet Tooth
- which brings her into the world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First she loves his stories, then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life? & who is inventing whom? To answer these questions, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage
- trust no one.


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The pages of Guatemala's telephone directory are perhaps an indication of the character of this elusive Central American republic. The names & numbers of some of the most infamous military dictators & deposed politicians are listed alongside the thousands of missionary societies, grocery stores & faith healers. The author of this book
- the sceptical doctor, as he styled himself in an earlier book
- intended to pay only a short visit to this volatile, violent country, but he ended up spending eight months there & left regarding it as a second home. Guatemala's affairs are complex, unpredictable & often beyond categorization. In addition to being a travel book, this is a work of politics, history, religion & philosophy, set in a bemusing & dangerous l&. The author's previous travel books include Coups & Cocaine & Zanzibar to Timbuktu.

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Sweet Water & Bitter is the extraordinary sequel to Britain`s abolition of the slave trade in 1807. The last legal British slave ship left Africa that year, but other countries & illegal slavers continued to trade. When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, British diplomats negotiated anti-slave-trade treaties & a ` Preventive Squadron` was formed to cruise the West African coast. In six decades, this small fleet liberated 150, 000 Africans & lost 17, 000 of its own men doing so. This is the tale of their exciting & arduous campaign. It is a story of unforeseen consequences & a swashbuckling naval adventure, full of sensational, first-hand accounts of life at sea; of the grim `barracoons`, the slave-brokers` luxurious compounds & the lonely garrisons dotting the coast. Combining flawless research with an intimate & dramatic narrative, this is a voyage that no one will forget. ...