The Help is the phenomenal international bestseller (that inspired the Oscar nominated film) by Kathryn Stockett. Enter a vanished & unjust world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren`t trusted not to steal the silver... There`s Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child & nursing the hurt caused by her own son`s tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; & white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared. Skeeter, Aibileen & Minny. No one would believe they`d be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend & rely upon one another. Each is in a search of a truth. & together they have an extraordinary story to tell... Penguin by Hand is a collection comprising six of Penguin`s most popular women`s fiction titles of recent years, all with new & beautiful craft-inspired jackets. ...

We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism ' The unexamined life is not worth living' may have originated twenty-five centuries ago, but it is a founding principle of modern life. Socrates lived & contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation
- democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought
- yet, as he wrote nothing in his lifetime, he himself is an enigmatic figure. The Hemlock Cup gives Socrates the biography he deserves, setting him in the context of the Eastern Mediterranean that was his home, & dealing with him as he himself dealt with the world. Socrates was a soldier, a lover, a man of the people. He philosophised neither in grand educational establishments nor the courts of kings but in the squares & public arenas of Golden Age Athens. He lived through an age of extraordinary materialism, in which a democratic culture turned to the glorification of its own city; when war was declared under the banner of democracy; &, when tolerance turned into intimidation on streets once populated by the likes of Euripides, Sophocles & Pericles. For seventy years he was a vigorous citizen of one of the greatest capitals on earth, but then his beloved Athens turned on him, condemning him to death by poison. Socrates' pursuit of personal liberty is a vibrant story that Athens did not want us to hear, but which must be told. Bettany Hughes has painstakingly pieced together Socrates' life, following in his footsteps across Greece & Asia Minor, & examining the new archaeological discoveries that shed light on his world. In The Hemlock Cup she reveals the human heart of the man, & relates a story that is as relevant now as it has ever been.

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We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did. His aphorism ` The unexamined life is not worth living` may have originated twenty-five centuries ago, but it is a founding principle of modern life. For seventy years Socrates was a vigorous citizen of Golden Age Athens, philosophising in the squares & public arenas rather than in the courts of kings, before his beloved city turned on him, condemning him to death by poison. Socrates lived in & contributed to a city that nurtured key ingredients of contemporary civilisation
- democracy, liberty, science, drama, rational thought
- yet, as he wrote almost nothing down, he himself is an enigmatic figure. In The Hemlock Cup, acclaimed historian Bettany Hughes gives Socrates the biography he deserves, painstakingly piecing together Socrates` life & using fresh evidence to get closer to the man who asked `how should we live?`
- a question as relevant now as it has ever been.


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An acknowledged classic of narrative nature-writing, Donald Watson`s The Hen Harrier was the culmination of a lifetime`s study of this beautiful upland bird. A gentle, warm & wonderfully written book, The Hen Harrier stems from an age of `amateur` conservation, from the pen of a man who cared deeply about birds & their habitats, especially of the Scottish borders where he conducted much of his research & painting. The book was among the last of a dying breed; it would be thirty years or more before writing on our natural history would again reach the heights of accessibility to nature-lovers exemplified by Donald Watson & his peers. The book starts with Watson setting down more or less everything known about harriers
- which at that time often consisted of information sent by letter to the author, rather than published in a journal
- before moving on to the story of Watson`s years studying nests in the south-west of Scotl&. With a foreword by conservation champion Mark Avery, this edition of Watson`s greatest work is particularly timely. The conflict between grouse-shooting interests, which has overseen the virtual extinction of the harrier as a breeding bird in England through illegal persecution, & an increasingly vocal conservationist lobby is the number one conservation issue in Britain today. Donald Watson`s narrative soars like a sky-dancing harrier throughout this book. Read it, & be taken back to a simpler age of nature conservation by a true master of the art.

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This is the practical, plot-to-plate guide to growing & cooking with herbs. From basil to vervain, ” The Cook`s Herb Garden” will teach you everything you need to know about nurturing, harvesting & cooking with herbs. Delve into this little book to find notes on herb flavours, the best growing conditions, storage & how to use them in the kitchen. There are inspirational planting schemes for window boxes & pots including Mediterranean, everyday essentials & salad herbs & a photographic catalogue of more than 130 culinary herbs. Packed with more than 70 delicious recipes for rubs & marinades, sauces & salsas, flavoured butters, cordials, syrups, teas & tisanes, plus charts on best herb-with-food flavour combinations, ” The Cook`s Herb Garden” is the perfect herb guide for any cook. ...

WINNER OF THE GLASS KEY AWARD
- previous winners include Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo, Karin Fossum, Stieg Larsson & Arnaldur Indridason
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Ruta de l` Ermità, the Hermitage Trail in the Catalan Pyrenees on a contoured GPS compatible map at 1:25, 000 from Editorial Alpina which highlights alternatives for the hiking (105km), mountain bike (168km) & horse riding (120km) variants of the route. The map has contours at 10m intervals with relief shading & colouring to indicate vegetation. The course of the trail is highlighted in different colours for the hiking, mountain bike & horse riding alternatives. Also marked are other waymarked long-distance & local hiking trails. Symbols indicate hermitages & accommodation facilities along the route, as well as various types of accommodation possibilities in other locations on the map, including campsites & youth hostels, restaurants, shops with local handicrafts or food, equestrian centres, petrol stations & car parks, interesting natural sites, etc. The map has a 1-km UTM grid. Map legend

Includes:: English. The accompanying booklet, in CATALAN only, provides details of accommodation along the route, suggested stages, & other information about the area. To see the list of all the maps from Editorial Alpina covering long-distance hiking routes please click on the series link.

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Tolkien`s Middle-earth has endured cataclysmic wars & critical battles, causing great men & women to arise & shape the course of its history. In his latest book, best-selling author & Tolkien expert David Day examines the complexities surrounding Tolkien`s portrayal of good & evil, analysing the most celebrated heroes from the creation of the world of Arda until the end of the War of the Rings. This work is unofficial & is not authorized by the Tolkien Estate or Harper Collins Publishers. ...

The Heroes` Welcome is the incandescent sequel to the bestselling R&J pick My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You. Its evocation of a time deeply wounded by the pain of WW1 will capture & beguile readers fresh to Louisa Young`s wonderful writing, & those previously enthralled by the stories of Nadine & Riley, Rose, Peter & Julia. LONDON, 1919 Two couples, both in love, both in tatters, come home to a changed world. When childhood sweethearts Riley & Nadine marry, it is a blessing on the peace that now reigns. But the newlyweds & their old friends Peter & Julia Locke wear the ravages of the Great War in very different ways. Where Nadine & Riley do their best to forge ahead & muster hope, Peter retreats into drink & nightmares, unable to bear the domestic life for which Julia pines. ...

` Exquisite... a classic tour de force` The New York Times ` It struggled to keep itself aloft, to gain height. But then it suddenly gave up, & dropped as though it were breaking into many pieces` Early on a cold Sunday morning, forty-five-year-old Edgardo Limentani gets up to join a shooting party in the countryside surrounding the town of Ferrara. As the day passes, he contemplates his past, his disappointments & how he has got here. Like the birds he shoots, he realizes, he is trapped, broken, waiting alone for the final coup de grace. Then he sees a way out. The fifth book in Bassani`s Novel of Ferrara sequence, & his final novel, The Heron is a taut, poignant portrait of a middle-aged man`s reckoning with his life. ...