It's two days before Christmas & Helsinki is battling ruthless climate catastrophe: subway tunnels are flooded; abandoned vehicles are burning in the streets. People are fleeing to the far north where conditions are still tolerable. Social order is crumbling & private security firms have undermined the police force. Tapani Lehtinen, a struggling poet, is among the few still willing to live in the city. When Tapani's wife Johanna, a journalist, goes missing, he embarks on a frantic hunt for her. Johanna's disappearance seems to be connected to a story she was researching about a serial killer known as ' The Healer'. Determined to find Johanna, Tapani's search leads him to uncover secrets from her past: secrets that connect her to the very murders she was investigating... Atmospheric & moving, The Healer is a story of survival, loyalty & determination. Even when the world is coming to an end, love & hope endure. ...

There are dramatic differences in health between countries & within countries. But this is not a simple matter of rich & poor. A poor man in Glasgow is rich compared to the average Indian, but the Glaswegian`s life expectancy is 8 years shorter. The Indian is dying of infectious disease linked to his poverty; the Glaswegian of violent death, suicide, heart disease linked to a rich country`s version of disadvantage. In all countries, people at relative social disadvantage suffer health disadvantage, dramatically so. Within countries, the higher the social status of individuals the better is their health. These health inequalities defy usual explanations. Conventional approaches to improving health have emphasised access to technical solutions
- enhanced medical care, sanitation, & control of disease vectors; or behaviours
- smoking, drinking
- obesity, linked to diabetes, heart disease & cancer. These approaches only go so far. Creating the conditions for people to lead flourishing lives, & thus empowering individuals & communities, is key to reduction of health inequalities. In addition to the scale of material success, your position in the social hierarchy also directly affects your health, the higher you are on the social scale, the longer you will live & the better your health will be. As people change rank, so their health risk changes. What makes these health inequalities unjust is that evidence from round the world shows we know what to do to make them smaller. This new evidence is compelling. It has the potential to change radically the way we think about health, & indeed society.


...

` Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, & in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.`
- Jonas Salk, inventor
...

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ALI SMITHA classic of fantastic literature, Leonora Carrington`s The Hearing Trumpet is the occult twin to Alice in Wonderl&, published with an introduction by Ali Smith in Penguin Modern Classics. One of the first things ninety-two-year-old Marian Leatherby overhears when she is given an ornate hearing trumpet is her family plotting to commit her to an institution. Soon, she finds herself trapped in a sinister retirement home, where the elderly must inhabit buildings shaped like igloos & birthday cakes, endure twisted religious preaching & eat in a canteen overlooked by the mysterious portrait of a leering Abbess. But when another resident secretly hands Marian a book recounding the life of the Abbess, a joyous & brilliantly surreal adventure begins to unfold. Written in the early 1960s, The Hearing Trumpet remains one of the most original & inspirational of all fantastic novels. Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) was a British born Surrealist painter & writer described, alongside people such as Pablo Picasso & Joan Miro, as one of the leading lights of the Surrealist movement. Born in Lancashire to a strict Catholic family, she first came into contact with surrealism through her lover, Surrealist painter Max Ernst, before moving to Mexico in 1942. The Hearing Trumpet, her most famous piece of writing, was first published in France in 1974. If you enjoyed The Hearing Trumpet, you might like Fernando Pessoa`s The Book of Disquiet, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.` Reading The Hearing Trumpet liberates us from the miserable reality of our days` Luis Bunuel` One of the most original, joyful, satisfying & quietly visionary novels of the twentieth century` Ali Smith` This book is so inspiring...I love its freedom, its humour & how it invents its own laws. What specifically do I take from her? Her wig` Bjoerk ...

Stan & Charmaine are a married couple trying to stay afloat in the midst of economic & social collapse. Living in their car, surviving on tips from Charmaine`s job at a dive bar, they`re increasingly vulnerable to roving gangs & in a rather desperate state. So when they see an advertisement for the Positron Project in the town of Consilience
- a `social experiment` offering stable jobs & a home of their own
- they sign up immediately. All they have to do in return for this suburban paradise is give up their freedom every second month, swapping their home for a prison cell. At first, all is well. But slowly, unknown to the other, Stan & Charmaine develop a passionate obsession with their counterparts, the couple that occupy their home when they are in prison. Soon the pressures of conformity, mistrust, guilt & sexual desire take over, & Positron looks less like a prayer answered & more like a chilling prophecy fulfilled.

...

” The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” was Carson Mc Cullers` first novel, written in 1940. Set in a small town in the American South, it is the story of a group of people who have little in common except that they are all hopelessly lonely. A young girl, a drunken socialist & a black doctor are drawn to a gentle, sympathetic deaf mute, whose presence changes their lives. This powerful exploration of alienation is both moving & perceptive. ...

This is the only book that covers the history & current production of the prestigious estates of Bordeaux`s Graves region. This beautiful & informative book reveals both the history & the distinctive characteristics of the 16 wines that comprise the Crus Classes (classified growths) of Bordeaux`s Graves region. Named for the area`s gravelly soil, Graves is known for its fine reds (primarily Cabernet Sauvignon) & whites (Sauvignon blanc & Semillon). With individual chapters on each of the chateaux, including Haut-Brion, Bouscaut, Olivier, Pape Clement, Smith Haut Lafitte, Domaine de Chevalier & 10 others, the book describes in detail the history of the estate & its wine production. Gorgeous photographs of the vineyards, the residences & the surrounding countryside are accompanied by archival material that gives a sense of the great history of this area. As an added bonus, ” The Heart of Bordeaux” features recipes created by some of the world`s great chefs
- Daniel Boulud, Pierre Gagnaire & Eric Ripert among them
- to complement one of the fine wines of Graves` classified growths.

...

A mass grave is uncovered in a devastated Croatian village, & the mutilated body of a young Englishwoman, Dorrie Mowat, is exhumed. Her mother, who detested Dorrie when she was alive, is determined to find out how her daughter died. But with civil war tearing apart the former Yugoslavia, none of the authorities are interested in what they view as a minor war crime. She employs private investigator, Bill Penn, a former MI5 officer, who anticipated a short trip to Zagreb where he will compile a meaningless report & receive a good fee at the end of it. But once he has seen the killing ground, Penn becomes determined to find the truth behind the young woman`s death. As Penn searches for evidence of war crimes, he finds himself pitted against a ruthless opponent who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks... ...

Today Orkney retains a vast archaeological treasury of buildings, artefacts & evidence from this time. In recognition of this, ” The Heart of Neolithic Orkney” was inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 1999. Because of their outstanding universal value, ” The monuments of Orkney, dating back to 3000-2000BC, are outstanding testimony to the cultural achievements of the Neolithic peoples of northern Europe.” This guide covers all of the monuments in the nominated area, as well as many contemporary places of interest throughout Orkney. The village of Skara Brae, stone circles of the Ring of Brodgar & the Standing Stones of Stenness, & Maeshowe Chambered Cairn are described in depth. Isolated standing stones, such as the Watchstone, chambered cairns, such as Unstan & more enigmatic sites all over Orkney are included. The major current excavations at the Ness of Brodgar & Links o` Noltland on Westray show that much remains to be discovered about Neolithic Orkney. Numerous smaller scale digs in various other places have elucidated the study of Neolithic houses. Small settlements & isolated homesteads were widespread across Orkney during the Neolithic, reaching a peak c.3000BC, before sharply falling until c.2800BC. There was a revival which peaked c.2500BC, followed by abandonment c.250 years later. ...

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JAMES WOOD. Scobie, a police officer serving in a wartime West African state, is distrusted, being scrupulously honest & immune to bribery. But then he falls in love, & in doing so he is forced to betray everything he believes in, with drastic & tragic consequences. ...