Many decisions which have had enormous historical consequences have been made over the dinner table, & have been accompanied (and perhaps in influenced) by copious amounts of food & wine. In this book Struan Stevenson brings to life ten such moments, exploring the personalities, the issues & of course the food which helped shape the course of history. From the claret consumed on the eve of the Battle of Culloden, through the dinners which decided the fates of George Washington, Archduke Ferdinand & Adolf Hitler, to the diplomatic feasts that decided future relations with Russia, China & the Middle East, each chapter covers every detail, character, decision & morsel which decided the course of history. ...

In many ways the history of civilization is a history of our relationship with nature & landscape. Christophe Girot sets out to chronicle this intimate connection, drawing on all aspects of mankind`s creativity & ingenuity, & bringing together the key stories that have shaped our man-made landscapes. Starting from the dual inclination to clear land for cultivation & to enclose space for protection there emerges a vital & multifaceted narrative that describes our cultural relationship to, & dependence on, the landscape, right up to the present day. Organized chronologically, the chapters consist of a thematic essay that ties together the central developments, as well as a case study illustrated with specially commissioned photographs & meticulously detailed 3D re-creations showing the featured site in its original context. The result of over two decades of teaching experience & academic research at the world`s leading landscape institutes & universities, this masterful & hugely ambitious new interpretation of human intervention in the landscape will be essential reading for students & professionals worldwide. ...

At dinner parties & over coffee, Rabih & Kirsten`s friends always ask them the same question: how did you meet? The answer comes easily
- it`s a happy story, one they both love to tell. But there is a second part to this story, the answer to a question their friends never ask: what happened next? Rabih & Kirsten find each other, fall in love, get married. Society tells us this is the end of the story. In fact, it is only the beginning. From the first thrill of lust, to the joys & fears of real commitment, to the deep problems that surface slowly over two shared lifetimes, this is the story of a marriage. It is the story of modern relationships & how to survive them. Playful, wise & profoundly moving, The Course of Love is a delightful return to the novel by Alain de Botton, twenty years after his debut Essays in Love.
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A brilliant new novel about love & marriage in the modern world
- from the author the bestselling novel Essays in Love. Modern
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Tina isn`t like the other cows. She believes that the sky is the limit, that everything is possible. But her sisters aren`t convinced & when Tina tells them she has climbed a tree & met a dragon, they decide that her nonsense has gone too far. Off they go into the woods to find her.. .and soon discover a world of surprises! A richly atmospheric, thoughtful & funny picture book from rising star Gemma Merino. Her debut picture book, The Crocodile Who Didn`t Like Water, has won a string of awards & many fans all over the globe. Her deliciously expressive artwork is created using monoprint, coloured digitally. ...

The Cowal Way runs for 57 miles (92 km) across the Cowal peninsula, which lies west of Glasgow. The route starts at Portavadie on Loch Fyne & ends at Inveruglas on Loch Lomond. It's connected by ferry both to the Kintyre Way & to the West Highland Way, & thence to the Great Glen Way. It's the missing link that enables Scotland's ultimate long-distance walk, from the Mull of Kintyre all the way to Inverness. The trail is waymarked & undulating, with rugged terrain & glorious views over Bute & the Firth of Clyde. The area is rich in history & heritage, with wildlife sightings including red squirrel, red deer & golden eagle. This essential trail guide contains all you need to plan & enjoy your holiday, with detailed route descriptions, background information, side-trips & planning information for travel by car, ferry, bus & plane. The book is in full colour, with over 60 photographs & it has a dropdown route map (1:110, 000), all printed on waterproof paper. ...

The boy Laddy Merridew, sent to live with his grandmother, stumbles off the bus into a small Welsh mining community, where he begins an unlikely friendship with Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins, the town beggar-storyteller. Ianto is watchman over the legacy of the collapse many years ago of Kindly Light Pit, a disaster whose echoes reverberate down the generations of the town. Through Ianto's stories Laddy is drawn into both the town's history & the conundrums of the present. Why has woodwork teacher Icarus Evans striven most of his life to carve wooden feathers that will float on an updraft? Why is the undertaker Tutt Bevan trying to find a straight path through the town? Why does James Little, the old gas-meter emptier, dig his allotment by moonlight? & why does window cleaner Judah Jones take autumn leaves into a disused chapel? These & other men of the town, & the women who mothered them, married them & mourned them, are bound together by the echoes of the Kindly Light tragedy & by the mysterious figure of Ianto Jenkins, whose stories of loyalty & betrayal, loss & love, form an unforgettable, spellbinding tapestry. The Coward's Tale is a powerfully imagined, poetic & haunting novel, spiked with humour. It is a story of kinship & kindness, guilt & atonement, & the ways in which we carve the present out of an unforgiving past. ...

The Cowards (1958) is Josef Skvorecky`s blackly comic tale of post-war politics that was immediately banned on publication. In 1945, in Kostelec, Danny is playing saxophone for the best jazz band in Czechoslovakia. Their trumpeter has just got out of a concentration camp, their bass player is only allowed in the band since he owns the bass, & the love of Danny`s life is in love with somebody else. But Danny despairs most about the bourgeoisie patriots in his town playing at revolution in the face of the approaching Red Army
- not least because it ruins the band`s chance of any good gigs.
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` My name is Laddy Merridew. I`m a cry-baby. I`m sorry.` ` And my name is Ianto Jenkins. I am a coward. & that`s worse.` The boy Laddy Merridew, sent to live with his grandmother, stumbles off the bus into a small Welsh mining community, where he begins an unlikely friendship with Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins, the town beggar-storyteller. Ianto is watchman over the legacy of the collapse many years ago of Kindly Light Pit, a disaster whose echoes reverberate down the generations & blight the lives of many in the town. Through Ianto`s stories Laddy Merridew is drawn into both the town`s history & the conundrums of the present. Why has woodwork teacher Icarus Evans striven most of his life to carve wooden feathers that will float on an updraft? Why is the undertaker Tutt Bevan trying to find a straight path through the town? Why does James Little, the old gas-meter emptier, dig his allotment by moonlight? & why does window cleaner Judah Jones take autumn leaves into a disused chapel? These & other men of the town, both past & present, & the women who mothered them, married them & mourned them, are bound together by the echoes of the Kindly Light tragedy & by the mysterious figure of Ianto Passchendaele Jenkins, whose stories of loyalty & betrayal, loss & love, form an unforgettable, spellbinding tapestry. ...

Fearlessly frank & funny, the debut adult novel from Dawn O` Porter needs to be talked about. COW [n.] /kau/ A piece of meat; born to breed; past its sell-by-date; one of the herd. Women don`t have to fall into a stereotype. Tara, Cam & Stella are strangers living their own lives as best they can
- though when society`s screaming you should live life one way, it can be hard to like what you see in the mirror. When an extraordinary event ties invisible bonds of friendship between them, one woman`s catastrophe becomes another`s inspiration, & a life lesson to all. Sometimes it`s ok not to follow the herd. The Cows is a powerful novel about three women
- judging each other, but also themselves. In all the noise of modern life, they need to find their own voice.

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