With their children grown & flown, Mike & Jo Hannan discover that its never too late to live the dream & embark on an epic tour of Europe & beyond on a 1150cc BMW motorbike called Elephant. With a limited budget, & all the essentials packed, they hit the road. Journeying through sunshine & rain, over good roads & bad, they explore France, Spain, North Africa, Russia & other former Soviet countries, as well as Mongolia & Korea, taking in all kinds of sights & meeting all kinds of people. Along the way they also learn the difference between a tourist & a voyageur, & come to understand the deep universal significance of their journey. This book is a record of that journey, & your ticket to ride with the Hannans for the adventure, sharing the observations & reflections, tasting the fine local food & drink (and a few dishes that were not so fine!), & experiencing all the delightful surprises & unforeseen obstacles such as mechanical faults, visa problems, & very nasty weather! It is an unforgettable journey that will leave you thirsting to live your own dream. ...

This fabulous, far-reaching book breathtakingly captures the tumult, ambition, hardship & serenity that mark modern India. Theroux`s characters risk venturing far beyond its well-worn paths to discover woe or truth or peace. A holidaying middle-aged couple veer heedlessly from idyll to chaos. A buttoned-up Boston lawyer finds relief in Mumbai`s reeking slums. A young woman befriends an elephant in Bangalore. We also meet Indian characters as distinctive as they are indicative of their country`s subtle ironies: an executive who yearns to become a holy beggar, an earnest young striver whose personality is transformed by acquiring an American accent, a miracle-working guru, & more. ” The Elephanta Suite” urges us towards a fresh, compelling, & often inspiring notion of India & its effect on those who try to lose
- or find
- themselves there.

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This title is a treasure trove of Indian animal stories for children to enjoy again & again. These eight individual stories form a magical collection of India`s best-loved animal folk tales. Taken from the three books of Indian folk tales
- ” Hitopadesha Tales”, ” Jataka Tales” & ” Panchantra Tales”
- the stories are beautifully illustrated & packed with humour & warmth. The very best Ancient Indian folktales presented with Marcia Williams` trademark warmth. It offers graphic storybook format that will appeal to readers of all ages & abilities. It is ideal for school children studying India or folktales.

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For two years Solomon the elephant has lived in Lisbon. Now King Dom Joao III wishes to make him a wedding gift for a Hapsburg archduke in Vienna. The only way for Solomon to get to his new home is to walk. So begins a journey that will take the stalwart elephant across the dusty plains of Castile, over the sea to Genoa & up to northern Italy where, like Hannibal`s elephants before him, he must cross the snowy Alps. Based on a true story, Saramago`s tale is an enchanting mix of fact, fable & fantasy. ...

Is the nation really dumbing down? Are exams really easier than they were in the good old days? Now`s the chance to find out, with this nostalgic collection of exam questions from the 1940s & 50s. The perfect book to contrast the schooling of yesteryear with modern-day practices & settle the age-old debate about which is best. Every generation can attempt questions on a number of subjects from English & arithmetic to general knowledge & composition, with hundreds of authentic exam questions from the 1940s & 50s Eleven-Plus papers
- as well as all the answers. Gorgeously packaged with a retro design, The Eleven-Plus Book is a fantastic, nostalgic look back for all those who experienced the daunting exam the first time round, & a great way for the younger generation to prove that they have the wits to outsmart their elders!
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This is an eye witness account of one of the darkest episodes of the late twentieth century, the era of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. From 1975 to 1979 ` Comrade` Duch was in charge of S 21, the security prison at the heart of Pnomh Penh where 12, 380 people were tortured & executed, having confessed to imaginary betrayals of the regime. After his film ”S21”, which brought survivors & executioners from the Khmer Rouge era together, Rithy Panh decided to film Duch in prison. During 300 hours of filming he confronts the man in charge of the campaign of extermination, tries to understand his personal history, his ideology, his methods. He talks to him about how he recruited his torturers, but also about his passion for numbers, for order. The process of confronting Duch every day, his cruelty, his evasions, his laugh draws Rithy Panh back to the past & the horrors of the Khmer Rouge era. Exhausted & despairing, he decides to tell his own story & that of his family. Against the evil of Duch he holds up the good embodied in the person of his own father, who believed in & fought for justice & education, & who perished in the Khmer Rouge genocide. ...

Back on the terrain of NW, The Embassy of Cambodia is another remarkable work of fiction from Zadie Smith. ` The fact is, if we followed the history of every little country in the world
- in its dramatic as well as its quiet times
- we would have no space left in which to live our own lives or apply ourselves to our necessary tasks, never mind indulge in occasional pleasures, like swimming...` First published this Spring in the New Yorker, The Embassy of Cambodia is a rare & brilliant story that takes us deep into the life of a young woman, Fatou, domestic servant to the Derawals & escapee from one set of hardships to another. Beginning & ending outside the Embassy of Cambodia, which happens to be located in Willesden, NW London, Zadie Smith`s absorbing, moving & wryly observed story suggests how the apparently small things in an ordinary life always raise larger, more extraordinary questions. Praise for NW: ”A triumph.. .modern London is explored in a dazzling portrait.. .every sentence sings”. (Guardian). ” Intensely funny, richly varied, always unexpected. A joyous, optimistic, angry masterpiece. No better English novel will be published this year”. (Philip Hensher, Daily Telegraph). ” Absolutely brilliant... So electrically authentic, it reads like surveillance transcripts”. (Lev Grossman, Time). Zadie Smith was born in north-west London in 1975. She is the author of the novels NW, White Teeth, The Autograph Man & On Beauty, & of a collection of essays, Changing My Mind. She is also the editor of The Book of Other People.

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This is the first thrilling book in the most exciting children`s fantasy series since Harry Potter. They were taken from their beds one frozen night, when the world was covered in snow. The silhouette of a tall, thin man has haunted Kate ever since. Ten years on, Kate, Michael & Emma have grown up in a string of miserable orphanages, & all memories of their parents have faded to a blur. Arriving at Cambridge Falls, the children quickly realise there is something different about this place
- & Kate feels sure she has seen the dark, crooked house before. As they explore, they discover an old, empty leather book. The moment they touch it, an ancient magical prophecy is set irrevocably in motion, & the children are thrown into a dangerous alternate reality of dark enchantments & terrifying monsters. Only they can prevent the terrible event that will ruin Cambridge Falls
- & stop the world from falling into complete devastation.

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It is late August 1939: Britain is on the brink of war, & preparations are under way to evacuate London`s children to the countryside. When twelve-year-old Tilly & her best friend Rosy find out that they will not be able to take their beloved dog & cat with them
- & that, even worse, their pets will, along with countless other animals, be taken to the vet to be put down
- they decide to take action. The two girls come up with the idea of hiding them in a derelict hut in the woods &, when other children find out & start bringing their rabbits, guinea pigs & hamsters, their secret den turns into an emergency zoo. Inspired by real events during the Second World War, Miriam Halahmy`s novel is a touching tale of courage, resourcefulness & camaraderie in desperate times, as well as a stirring defence of animal welfare.

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At first ” The Emigrants” appears simply to document the lives of four Jewish emigres in the twentieth century. But gradually, as Sebald`s precise, almost dreamlike prose begins to draw their stories, the four narrations merge into one overwhelming evocation of exile & loss. Written with a bone-dry sense of humour & a fascination with the oddness of existence ” The Emigrants” is highly original in its heady mix of fact, memory & fiction & photographs. ...