More than 300 years ago, Taiwan was a controversial topic in London thanks to a stupendous fraud perpetrated by a Frenchman claiming to have been born there. He made up an entire fantasy for the island with a fake history, a fake language & long list of outrageous claims that made his book, A Description of Formosa, a publishing sensation in London in 1704. Even the Bishop of London swallowed Psalmanazar`s story & invited him to teach his (fake) Formosan language at Oxford University. The Formosa fantasy world he created, including elephants & camels, gold mines & outlandish religious sacrificial ceremonies, almost rivals Tolkein`s Middle Earth, with the crucial difference that many people believed it to be real. This is the story of one of the great frauds in literary history. ...

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN`S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013 Dorothy Forrest is immersed in the sensory world around her; she lives in the flickering moment. From the age of seven, when her odd, disenfranchised family moves from New York City to the wide skies of Auckl&, to the very end of her life, this is her great gift & possible misfortune. Through the wilderness of a commune, to falling in love, to early marriage & motherhood, from the glorious anguish of parenting to the loss of everything worked for & the unexpected return of love, Dorothy is swept along by time. Her family looms & recedes; revelations come to light; death changes everything, but somehow life remains as potent as it ever was, & the joy in just being won`t let her go. In a narrative that shifts & moves, growing as wild as the characters, The Forrests is an extraordinary literary achievement. A novel that sings with colour & memory, it speaks of family & time, dysfunction, ageing & loneliness, about heat, youth, & how life can change if `you`re lucky enough to be around for it`. ...

When a man is found stabbed & floating beneath the cliffs of the Newfoundland coast, the small outpost of Hampden is swept up in a storm of suspicion & paranoia. Grief-stricken & still struggling to cope with the death of one of their own a year earlier, the troubled Now family are among the first to be suspected of the killing. As the mystery around the murdered man unfolds, the lies spiral, the stakes rise & the once close-knit town becomes a prison that no one can escape. ...

Ah Ling: son of a prostitute & a white `ghost`, dispatched from Hong Kong as a boy to make his way alone in 1860s California. Anna May Wong: the first Chinese film star in Hollywood, forbidden to kiss a white man on screen. Vincent Chin: killed by a pair of Detroit auto workers in 1982 simply for looking Japanese. John Ling Smith: a half-Chinese writer visiting China for the first time, to adopt a baby girl. Inspired by three figures who lived at pivotal moments in Chinese-American history, & drawing on his own mixed-race experience, Peter Ho Davies plunges us into what it is like to feel, & be treated, like a foreigner in the country you call home. Ranging from the mouth of the Pearl River to the land of golden opportunity, this remarkable novel spans 150 years to tell a tale of familial bonds denied & fragmented, of tenacity & pride, of prejudice & the universal need to belong. ...

Ah Ling: son of a prostitute & a white `ghost`, dispatched from Hong Kong as a boy to make his way alone in 1860s California. Anna Mae Wong: the first Chinese film star in Hollywood, forbidden to kiss a white man on screen. Vincent Chin: killed by a pair of Detroit auto workers in 1982 simply for looking Japanese. John Ling Smith: a half-Chinese writer visiting China for the first time, to adopt a baby girl. Inspired by three figures who lived at pivotal moments in Chinese-American history, & drawing on his own mixed-race experience, Peter Ho Davies plunges us into what it is like to feel, & be treated, like a foreigner in the country you call home. Ranging from the mouth of the Pearl River to the land of golden opportunity, this remarkable novel spans 150 years to tell a tale of familial bonds denied & fragmented, of tenacity & pride, of prejudice & the universal need to belong. ...

Elif Shafak's compelling novel, The Forty Rules of Love, follows Ella Rubinstein on a journey of self-discovery as she examines her life & the concept of love through Sufi mysticism. Discover the forty rules of love... Ella Rubinstein has a husb&, three teenage children, & a pleasant home. Everything that should make her confident & fulfilled. Yet there is an emptiness at the heart of Ella's life
- an emptiness once filled by love. So when Ella reads a manuscript about the thirteenth-century Sufi poet Rumi & Shams of Tabriz, & his forty rules of life & love, her world is turned upside down. She embarks on a journey to meet the mysterious author of this work. It is a quest infused with Sufi mysticism & verse, taking Ella & us into an exotic world where faith & love are heartbreakingly explored... Enlightening, enthralling. An affecting paean to faith & love. (Metro). Colourfully woven & beguilingly intelligent. (Daily Telegraph). The past & present fit together beautifully in a passionate defence of passion itself. (The Times). Elif Shafak has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in both English & Turkish contemporary literature; her novels, The Bastard of Istanbul, The Flea Palace, The Gaze & Honour, are consistently at the top of bestseller lists across the globe. Elif Shafak's examination of national identity, The Happiness of Blond People is available as part of the Penguin Specials series
- a digital only series of shorts designed with commuters in mind.

...

From the author of The Architect`s Apprentice & Honour, The Forty Rules of Love is Elif Shafak`s compelling & profound novel following Ella Rubinstein on a journey of self-discovery, examining life & love through Sufi mysticism. Discover the forty rules of love... Ella Rubinstein has a husb&, three teenage children, & a pleasant home. Everything that should make her confident & fulfilled. Yet there is an emptiness at the heart of Ella`s life
- an emptiness once filled by love. So when Ella reads a manuscript about the thirteenth-century Sufi poet Rumi & Shams of Tabriz, & his forty rules of life & love, her world is turned upside down. She embarks on a journey to meet the mysterious author of this work. It is a quest infused with Sufi mysticism & verse, taking Ella & us into an exotic world where faith & love are heartbreakingly explored...” Enlightening, enthralling. An affecting paean to faith & love.” (Metro). ” Colourfully woven & beguilingly intelligent.” (Daily Telegraph). ” The past & present fit together beautifully in a passionate defence of passion itself.” (The Times). Elif Shafak is the acclaimed author of nine novels including The Bastard of Istanbul, The Architect`s Apprentice & Honour, & is the most widely read female writer in Turkey. Her work has been translated into more than forty languages & she contributes to numerous international publications, including the New York Times, Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, La Repubblica, Newsweek & Time magazine. She is also a public speaker working with The London Speaker Bureau & is a TED Global speaker. Elif Shafak has previously been longlisted for the Orange Prize, the Baileys Prize & the IMPAC Dublin Award, & shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. She is based in London with her two children & can be found on her website.
...

Since ancient times, the column has stood as a functional & decorative standard. This all metal globe base is reminiscent of that form, yet it is crafted to reflect modern design. The three round black-metal legs are supported & capped by tiered discs wrought from the same steel. This globe is an elegant addition to any living room, study, office or reception area. ...

The Forward Book of Poetry 2019 brings together the best poetry published in the British Isles over the last year, including the winners of the 2018 Forward Prizes. In showcasing the range & ambition of today`s fresh voices alongside new work by familiar names, this anthology is a perfect introduction to contemporary poetry.` The Forward Prizes are invaluable in finding the most essential, exciting voices, highlighting the contemporary poets who are at the top of their game & whose words will travel far & reach many readers.` Bidisha, chair of judges, Forward Prizes for Poetry 2018. ...

A follow-up to Andrea Wulf`s award-winning & critically acclaimed history of British gardening, this is the story of how George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams & James Madison`s passion for nature, plants, agriculture & gardens shaped the birth of America. Through a series of vignettes spanning the Declaration of Independence to the death of Adams & Jefferson exactly fifty years to the day afterwards, these stories that weave the political, the personal & the botanical & are in turns funny, fascinating & moving. The Founding Gardeners shows that it is impossible to understand these visionary men & the American nation without considering their love of gardening. ...