* Winner of the 2017 Strega Prize, the Strega Giovani Prize & the Prix Medicis etranger* The international sensation about two young Italian boys from different backgrounds who meet in the mountains every summer, & the men they grow to become. Pietro, a lonely city boy, spends his childhood summers in a secluded valley in the Alps. Bruno, the cowherd son of a local stonemason, knows the mountains intimately. Together they spend many summers exploring the mountains` meadows & peaks, discovering the similarities & differences in their lives. As time passes, the two boys come to find the true meaning of friendship & camaraderie even as their paths diverge, Bruno`s in the mountains & Pietro`s in cities across the globe. A modern Italian masterpiece, The Eight Mountains is a lyrical coming-of-age story spanning three decades; a novel about the power of male friendships & a meditation on loyalty, being in nature, & finding one`s place in the world. ...

The year is 1985. Kiwako is an ordinary office worker, in love with a married man, until an unwanted abortion causes her to snap. She kidnaps her lover`s six-month-old girl & runs away with her, eventually taking refuge in all-female commune controlled by a religious cult. Here she attempts to raise the girl. The year is 1985. Kiwako is an ordinary office worker, in love with a married man, until an unwanted abortion causes her to snap. She kidnaps her lover`s six-month-old girl & runs away with her, eventually taking refuge in all-female commune controlled by a ...

One Day: Saturday 13 July 1985, nearly two billion people woke up with one purpose. Nearly a third of humanity knew where they were going to be that day. Watching, listening to, attending: Live Aid. One Decade: Britain in the Eighties was different. The culture was different, the politics were different, & our engagement with the world was different. & it was just one day in 1985 that showed how different it was. In One Day, One Decade Dylan Jones tells the story of the Eighties through that day at Wembley, sweeping backwards to the end of the Seventies, & forward to the start of the Nineties. It draws on his personal reminiscences & perspective of music, media, fashion, politics & all forms of pop culture to frame the decade. This is a big book but not a exhaustive & dry social history. Live Aid was the decade`s pinch point, when a nation`s attitudes & expectations were somehow captured & changed forever. The author suggests that before Live Aid, Britain was one place, & after Live Aid it was another. Britain in the Eighties was a juxtaposition of militancy & profligacy, a country where industry was being broken down, societies were being demolished, & unemployment became an inevitable lifestyle choice: yet the Eighties was also the apotheosis of pop culture, a decade where entertainment, opinion & subjectivity were more important than ever before. Dylan Jones was at the heart of the 1980s editing the seminal magazines i-D & The Face. He was one of the Blitz Kids & was both a commentator & one of the style-makers of the time. This is a controversial book, a story told from the inside by one who was at the centre of events. ...

Map No. 759, The Elbe
- Elster Land
- Niederlausitzer Heidelandschaft, in a series of hiking maps from Kompass providing extensive

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Part of a new series Legends from the Ancient North, The Elder Edda is one of the classic books that influenced JRR Tolkien`s The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings. ”I was in the East, battling giants, wicked-hearted women, who wandered the fells; great would be the giant-race, if they all lived: mankind would be nothing under, middle-earth. What did you do meantime, Grey-beard?” (J.R.R). Tolkien spent much of his life studying, translating & teaching the great epic stories of northern Europe, filled with heroes, dragons, trolls, dwarves & magic. He was hugely influential for his advocacy of Beowulf as a great work of literature &, even if he had never written The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings, would be recognised today as a significant figure in the rediscovery of these extraordinary tales. Legends from the Ancient North brings together from Penguin Classics five of the key works behind Tolkien`s fiction. They are startling, brutal, strange pieces of writing, with an elemental power brilliantly preserved in these translations. They plunge the reader into a world of treachery, quests, chivalry, trials of strength. They are the most ancient narratives that exist from northern Europe & bring us as near as we will ever get to the origins of the magical landscape of Middle-earth (Midgard) which Tolkien remade in the 20th century. ...

Rene is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment building. She maintains a carefully constructed persona as someone uncultivated but reliable, in keeping with what she feels a concierge should be. But beneath this facade lies the real Rene: passionate about culture & the arts, & more knowledgeable in many ways than her employers with their outwardly successful but emotionally void lives. Down in her lodge, apart from weekly visits by her one friend Manuela, Rene lives with only her cat for company. Meanwhile, several floors up, twelve-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered & vacuous future laid out for her, & decides to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbours will dramatically alter their lives forever. By turns moving & hilarious, this unusual novel became the top-selling book in France in 2007. ...

Before Mrs Beeton there was Eliza Acton, whose crisp, clear, simple style & foolproof instructions established the format for modern cookery writing, leading to her being called `the best writer of recipes in the English language` by Delia Smith. Including such English classics as suet pudding, raspberry jam, lemonade & `superlative mincemeat` as well as evocatively-named creations like ` Threadneedle Street Biscuits`, ` Baron Liebig`s Beef Gravy` & ` Apple Hedgehog`, these recipes advocate using the best produce available to create wholesome, inexpensive dishes that are still a pleasure to cook & eat today. ...

` To a great mind, nothing is little` Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes has become such an iconic figure that he`s almost real. He`s on our TV screens, he`s in our films &, of course, the books are still as popular as ever. This fascinating little miscellany tells you everything you need to know about this enduringly popular figure, & lots of stuff you don`t! It contains the plots of all the novels, character descriptions, details of some of the plethora of Sherlock websites, & highlights the best films & TV adaptations. Entertaining & engrossing, The Elementary Sherlock Holmes will satisfy the curious & enlighten even the most dedicated Holmes fan. ...

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE ETYMOLOGICON Mark Forsyth presents the secret of writing unforgettable phrases, uncovering the techniques that have made immortal such lines as ` To be or not to be` & ` Bond. James Bond.` In his inimitably entertaining & witty style, he takes apart famous"ations & shows how you too can write like Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde or John Lennon. Crammed with tricks to make the most humdrum sentiments seem poetic or wise, The Elements of Eloquence reveals how writers through the ages have turned humble words into literary gold
- & how you can do the same. ` An informative but highly entertaining journey through the figures of rhetoric.. . Mark Forsyth wears his considerable knowledge lightly. He also writes beautifully.` David Marsh, Guardian
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In an age unhealthily obsessed with substance, this is a book on the importance of pure style, from the bestselling author of The Etymologicon & The Horologicon. From classic poetry to pop lyrics & from the King James Bible to advertising slogans, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase
- such as ` Tiger, Tiger, burning bright`, or ` To be or not to be`
- memorable. In his inimitably entertaining & witty style he takes apart famous lines & shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde. Whether you`re aiming for literary immortality or just an unforgettable one-liner, The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don`t need to have anything to say
- you simply need to say it well. ` An informative but highly entertaining journey through the figures of rhetoric.. . Mark Forsyth wears his considerable knowledge lightly. He also writes beautifully.` David Marsh, Guardian


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