AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 WOMAN`S HOUR In this assured debut about loneliness & passion in Africa, Sue Eckstein enthrals with a deliciously intricate plot, compelling characters & razor-sharp dialogue. West Africa in the early 1990s. Isabel Redmond is tiring of her iconoclastic husband`s penchant for pendulous black breasts; the High Commissioner & his wife Fenella are both enjoying illicit affairs; an old English judge is wandering through the scrub following a tribe of Fulani herdsmen; Bob Newpin is about to make a killing in timeshares; & just what Father Seamus is up to is anyone`s guess. Enter new diplomat Daniel Maddison on his first posting abroad. Rebelling against the endless rounds of cocktail parties, golf & gossip, he finds himself drawn to people & places that lie way beyond the experience of his High Commission colleagues
- & specifically to the dusty warehouse in the heart of the city where a thin white woman is silently measuring out lengths of brightly coloured cloth.
...

By the author of THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET, David Mitchell`s bestselling & Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, one of Richard & Judy`s 100 Books of the Decade, CLOUD ATLAS has now been adapted for film. The major motion picture, directed by the Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer, stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Jim Sturgess, Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent & Hugh Grant. The novel features six characters in interlocking stories, each interrupting the one before it: a reluctant voyager crossing the Pacific in 1850; a disinherited composer blagging a precarious livelihood in between-the-wars Belgium; a high-minded journalist in Governor Reagan`s California; a vanity publisher fleeing his gangland creditors; a genetically modified dinery server on death-row; & Zachry, a young Pacific islander witnessing the nightfall of science & civilisation. The narrators of CLOUD ATLAS hear each other`s echoes down the corridor of history, & their destinies are changes in ways great & small. Mitchell`s other novels are GHOSTWRITTEN, BLACK SWAN GREEN & NUMBER9DREAM, all published by Sceptre. www.sceptrebooks.com Facebook: Sceptre Books Twitter: Sceptre Books ...

THE CLOUD COLLECTOR`S HANDBOOK fits into the pocket, allowing cloudspotters to identify cloud formations anytime & anywhere. All the common cloud types are represented, as are many of the rare ones, each fully described & illustrated with a range of photographs. Not only is THE CLOUD COLLECTOR`S HANDBOOK an invaluable resource for anyone who wants to be able to identify & understand every cloud that floats by, it also caters for the competitive cloudspotter. Points are awarded for each cloud type identified
- the rarer the cloud, the greater points
- & there`s space to fill in where & when it was sighted. Beautifully designed, in colour throughout, & full of the humour that made THE CLOUDSPOTTER`S GUIDE so engaging, the HANDBOOK is the essential reference for anyone with their head in the clouds.

...

Peter Mattiessen has long been known for his travels to some of the remotest lands on earth, most notably recorded in The Snow Leopard. The Cloud Forest brings to vivid life a South American journey that took him from the Sargasso Sea to the jungles of Amazonia, from the Inca city of Machu Picchu high in the Andes to the bleak rocks of Tierra del Fuego & the winds & vast skies of Patagonia. The result is an incisive & marvellously well-observed journal by a born writer & naturalist, a voyage of exploration among the people, places & fading wildlife of this most exotic & mysterious of continents. ...

Hunting the skies is not for the faint-hearted. In a world where water is scarce & deadly jellyfish swim through the sky, mollycoddled teenager Christien dreams of excitement & danger. When he meets the exotic & alluring Jenine & her family of Cloud Hunters, he becomes determined to fulfil that dream... In a richly imaginative tale, perfect for both boys & girls as they launch themselves into the world of fiction as independent readers, Alex Shearer creates a Dahl-esque fantasy that roams through realms of magic, wonder & adventure. ...

In these evocative & elegiac writings L.T.C. Rolt meditates on landscape, history, poetry, steam railways, vintage cars & the endless summer days of his childhood. He also recalls his many happy boating voyages on Britain's canals: the peace & tranquility, the wildlife & people, the changing scenery as he travelled from county to county, & the role he played in preserving the waterways for future generations. Generations of inhabitants have helped shape the English countryside
- but it has profoundly shaped us too. It has provoked a huge variety of responses from artists, writers, musicians & people who live & work on the land
- as well as those who are travelling through it. English Journeys celebrates this long tradition with a series of twenty books on all aspects of the countryside, from stargazey pie & country churches, to man's relationship with nature & songs celebrating the patterns of the countryside (as well as ghosts & love-struck soldiers).

...

This amusing book from the chairman & founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society does exactly what it says on the cover
- it’s a
...

For over 70 years, Clowns International
- the oldest established clowning organization
- has been painting the faces of its

...

A fascinating & funny guide to animals & their poo, & all the other tracks & traces they leave behind. You will be amazed (and perhaps a little revolted!) by the things that can be learned about wildlife from their deposits. Become a detective, find clues & learn all about animals from what they leave behind. From faeces to footprints, skins to shells & eggs, discover all there is to know about wild animals
- even those that are particularly dangerous to track like tigers & wolves! Whether you`re an armchair enthusiast or a forest forager, one thing`s for sure: this fully illustrated compendium of poops, pellets & prints is not to be sniffed at!
...

In the middle of the 1800s, Mrs Favell Lee Mortimer set out to write an ambitious guide to all the nations on Earth. There were just three problems: She had never set foot outside Shropshire; she was horribly misinformed about virtually every topic she turned her attention to; & she was prejudiced against foreigners. The result was an unintentionally hilarious masterpiece: ` The French like being smart but are not very clean.` ` The Japanese are very polite people
- much politer than the Chinese
- but very proud.` ` The Scotch will not take much trouble to please strangers.` In ” The Clumsiest People in Europe”, Todd Pruzan has gathered together a selection of Mrs Mortimer`s finest moments, celebrating the woman who turned ignorance into an art form.

...