” Compelling, elegant & insightful”. (Observer). ” Beautifully wrought, tender, heartbreaking”. (Sunday Express 5/5). ” Moving, fascinating”. (Times). ”A tender & absorbing love story”. (Daily Mail). ” Unsentimental & affecting”. (Sunday Times). ” Exquisitely good”. (Metro). 1911: Inside an asylum at the edge of the Yorkshire moors, where men & women are kept apart by high walls & barred windows, there is a ballroom vast & beautiful. For one bright evening every week they come together & dance. When John & Ella meet it is a dance that will change two lives forever. Set over the heatwave summer of 1911, the end of the Edwardian era, THE BALLROOM is a historical love story. It tells a page-turning tale of dangerous obsession, of madness & sanity, & of who gets to decide which is which. ...

Alan Palmer’s “ The Baltic” deals with the nations & individuals who have shaped this vitally important geopolitical zone from ancient history right through to the present day. From the trading cities of the Hanseatic League to the great Templar castle at Marienburg, the Baltic’s medieval Golden Age is evoked in this clearly written & definitive history. Palmer also examines the role of the Baltic States in the Twentieth century as the setting of the Eastern Front in the Second World War & as occupied territory during Nazism. The present era finds the Baltic as a region home to some of Europe’s most progressive democracies, & Palmer skilfully debates the future that lies in store for these countries. ...

The nine countries bordering the Baltic Sea offer an immense variety of cruising grounds, people & cultures. There are thousands of harbours & innumerable anchorages, & it would take an entire bookshelf, to cover them all in detail. The information contained in this book is therefore selective. It has been chosen for its value both at the planning stages
- preparing the yacht, choosing the most suitable route, timing & communications etc
- & again on arrival, when a general overview of each individual country is followed by specific harbour information. Where detailed cruising information is readily available
- effectively Germany, Denmark, Sweden & Finland
- only selected harbours are covered, chosen, with a few exceptions, as fulfilling certain key needs. Where cruising information is more limited
- Pol&, Kaliningrad, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia & Russia
- many smaller harbours are also featured in detail. In addition to comprehensive suggestions for further reading (and sources in each country from which they may be ordered) more than 200 websites are listed, again chosen for their relevance both at the planning stages & en route. In order to facilitate the latter, as well as for general communication, details of internet access points are included for most major harbours. This 3rd edition has been produced by a team from the Royal Cruising Club & contains substantial changes. Coverage of the West Coast of Sweden, the Gota Canal & the Gulf of Bothnia has been extended & there is more detailed information on the Baltic states. Throughout there are new plans & photographs & the technical data on countries & navigation has been thoroughly revised. Beautiful, secluded anchorages, picturesque canals, bustling marinas, dramatic cities
- all await those considering a Baltic cruise.






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NOVEMBER 24, 2004 The day of the tragedy. The end of a brotherhood. The Baltimore Boys. The Goldman Gang. That was what they called Marcus Goldman & his cousins Woody & Hillel. Three brilliant young men with dazzling futures ahead of them, before their kingdom crumbled beneath the weight of lies, jealousy & betrayal. For years, Marcus has struggled with the burdens of his past, but now he must attempt to banish his demons & tell the true & astonishing story of the Baltimore Boys. The stunning new novel from the author of the global bestseller, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair Translated from the French by Alison Anderson ...

NOVEMBER 24, 2004 The day of the tragedy. The end of a brotherhood. The Baltimore Boys. The Goldman Gang. That was what they called Marcus Goldman & his cousins Woody & Hillel. Three brilliant young men with dazzling futures ahead of them, before their kingdom crumbled beneath the weight of lies, jealousy & betrayal. For years, Marcus has struggled with the burdens of his past, but now he must attempt to banish his demons & tell the true & astonishing story of the Baltimore Boys. The stunning new novel from the author of the global bestseller, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair Translated from the French by Alison Anderson ...

Greg Marinovich & Jaro Silva’s “ Bang-Bang Club” doesn’t have a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for no reason – this is a searing, at times uncomfortable & above all honest look at apartheid as soon the through the eyes of photo-journalists who were there. The Bang-Bang Club was a group of photographers who covered the last years of apartheid in South Africa. Two surviving members tell the story of the four remarkable young men who made up the original group, the relations between them, & also the story of the end of apartheid. Recently made into a Hollywood film with some very questionable South African accents, the original & true story contained within these pages couldn’t be more highly recommended. ...

Bangladesh is the world`s eighth most populous country. It has more inhabitants than either Russia or Japan, & its national language, Bengali, ranks sixth in the world in terms of native speakers. Founded in 1971, Bangladesh is a relatively young nation, but the Bengal Delta region has been a major part of international life for more than 2, 000 years, whether as an important location for trade or through its influence on Buddhist, Hindu, & Muslim life. Yet the country rarely figures in global affairs or media, except in stories about floods, poverty, or political turmoil. The Bangladesh Reader does what those portrayals do not: It illuminates the rich historical, cultural, & political permutations that have created contemporary Bangladesh, & it conveys a sense of the aspirations & daily lives of Bangladeshis. Intended for travelers, students, & scholars, the Reader encompasses first-person accounts, short stories, historical documents, speeches, treaties, essays, poems, songs, photographs, cartoons, paintings, posters, advertisements, maps, & a recipe. Classic selections familiar to many Bangladeshis
- & essential reading for those who want to know the country
- are juxtaposed with less-known pieces. The selections are translated from a dozen languages; many have not been available in English until now. Featuring 100 images, including seventeen in color, The Bangladesh Reader is an unprecedented, comprehensive introduction to the South Asian country`s turbulent past & vibrant present.

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In 2008 I came back to England after ten years away & was horrified at the extent of the clampdown on Civil Liberties. To me the effects were visible. People looked small, depressed & tamped down. They looked like children who`d just been slapped. Vast tracts of British existence that had been just fine before were suddenly regulated, restricted or illegal. Signs & lines were everywhere, kids were being searched at airports, & Health & Safety was wringing the life out of anything with a heart. So when I saw the queue for the Banksy v Bristol Museum show start looping round the block, I rushed down to the People`s Republic of Stokes Croft H.Q., & said to Chris Chalkley: No art show by one artist has ever attracted so much interest, because they`re not really queuing for art, they`re queuing to see the work of an outlaw who has the balls to say the things they`re all thinking. They`re queuing for voice!
- I`m going to ask them to draw or write something while they wait.A” I was a bit hysterical, but Chris liked the idea, & we made a special card for the people to express themselves on. About three thousand five hundred queuers were kind enough to contribute. This book contains just a few of those images. All of the cards will be exhibited at the PRSC in November 2010. This book is dedicated to all those who queued.
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The extraordinary narrator of The Banner of the Passing Clouds is born on the day Stalin dies & is given his name
- Iosif Dzhugashvili
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Preising, Swiss industrialist & garrulous fusspot, finds himself in Tunisia, attending the wedding of two City traders from London. At an old Berber oasis transformed into a luxury resort, the bride rides in on a camel to take her vows. The ludicrous excesses of these braying, young, high-flying wealth-creators knows no bounds. But as they carouse the night away, sterling stands on the brink of collapse & Britannia looks set to slip beneath the waves of bankruptcy & chaos. Next morning, with thumping heads & their credit cards maxed out, & as the first rumblings of the Arab Spring grip their host country, the Bright Young Neo-Thatcherites stage a revolt of their own with unimaginably grotesque & blackly humorous consequences. ...