When their son Rowan was born, Rupert & Kristin's dream had come true. But the dream became a nightmare when their beautiful boy developed a disorder that left him incapable of communication, tormented by raging fits, requiring 24-hour care
- & shattering their lives. Then, one day, father & son were walking in the woods near their house & stumbled across their neighbour's old brown horse, Betsy. What happened next was unlike anything Rupert had ever seen. Certainly, the effect on Betsy was extraordinary: she went stock-still & bowed her head, wide-eyed & quivering before the child. But when Rupert lifted Rowan onto Betsy's back, the effect on his son was nothing short of miraculous: Rowan started to speak... Shaken but exhilarated, Rupert proposed that the family make a journey to the ancient homeland of the horse, deep in the wilds of Mongolia, where he'd heard astonishing stories of healing & transformation. So began an epic journey on horseback, from their home in Texas to the furthest reaches of the planet
- a journey that would test their love, challenge their beliefs, & change their lives.

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Rupert Isaacson`s ” The Horse Boy” is one family`s epic journey to rescue their son. Rupert & Kirstin Isaacson were heartbroken when they learned that their two-year-old son Rowan was autistic. & with each passing day, Rowan`s growing isolation, his uncontrollable fits, each failed treatment, filled them with despair. Then one day Rowan escaped & ran into a field of horses. Rupert watched in horror
- but saw a miracle occur. The horses responded lovingly to Rowan
- & he to them. Could Rowan`s affinity with these animals save their son from his condition? The Isaacsons left their home in Texas & travelled to the plains & mountains of Mongolia
- the spiritual home of the horse
- risking everything
- their happiness, future & sanity
- on an arduous epic horseback journey in search of a cure for Rowan...” An elegant, affecting narrative.. .a triumph of the human spirit”. (” Daily Telegraph”). ” Captivating, incredible, a magical journey, an impossible dream”. (” Telegraph Weekend”). ” It is probably only once in a critical lifetime that one will be moved almost to tears by [such] an account.. .the excellence of his writing [creates an] elegant, affecting narrative.. .a triumph of the human spirit”. (” Telegraph”). ” Magical, miraculous, uplifting”. (” Daily Mail”). Rupert Isaacson is British but lives with his family in Texas, USA. He is an ex-professional horse trainer & founding director of the Indigenous Land Rights Fund. He is the author of ” The Healing Land: A Kalahari Journey” & his journalism & travel writing has appeared in the ” Daily Telegraph”, ” Esquire”, ” National Geographic”, ” Independent on Sunday”, ” Conde Nast Traveller”, ” Daily Mail” & ” The Field”.





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Roughly half the world`s population speaks languages derived from a shared linguistic source known as Proto-Indo-European. But who were the early speakers of this ancient mother tongue, & how did they manage to spread it around the globe? Until now their identity has remained a tantalizing mystery to linguists, archaeologists, & even Nazis seeking the roots of the Aryan race. ” The Horse, the Wheel, & Language” lifts the veil that has long shrouded these original Indo-European speakers, & reveals how their domestication of horses & use of the wheel spread language & transformed civilization. Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia`s steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European, & shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, & the warrior`s chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, & cultural exchange. He explains how they spread their traditions & gave rise to important advances in copper mining, warfare, & patron-client political institutions, thereby ushering in an era of vibrant social change. Anthony also describes his fascinating discovery of how the wear from bits on ancient horse teeth reveals the origins of horseback riding. ” The Horse, the Wheel, & Language” solves a puzzle that has vexed scholars for two centuries
- the source of the Indo-European languages & English
- & recovers a magnificent & influential civilization from the past.

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From the prize-winning author of In the Place of Fallen Leaves comes a hypnotic pastoral novel about an unexpected friendship between two children, set in Devon in 1911 1911. In a forgotten valley on the Devon-Somerset border, the seasons unfold, marked only by the rituals of the farming calendar. Twelve-year old Leopold Sercombe skips school to help his father, a carter. Skinny & pale, Leo dreams of a job on the estate`s stud farm. He is breaking a colt for his father when a boy dressed in a Homburg, breeches & riding boots appears. Peering under the stranger`s hat, he discovers Miss Charlotte, the Master`s daughter. & so begins a friendship between the children, bound by a deep love of horses, but divided by rigid social boundaries
- boundaries that become increasingly difficult to navigate as they approach adolescence.
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From the prize-winning author of In the Place of Fallen Leaves comes a beautiful, hypnotic pastoral novel reminiscent of Thomas Hardy, about an unexpected friendship between two children, set in Devon in 1911 1911. In a forgotten valley, on the Devon-Somerset border, the seasons unfold, marked only by the rituals of the farming calendar. Twelve-year-old Leopold Sercombe skips school to help his father, a carter. Skinny & pale, with eyes as dark as sloes, Leo dreams of a job on the Master`s stud farm. As ploughs furrow the hard January fields, the Master`s daughter, young Miss Charlotte, shocks the estate`s tenants by wielding a gun at the annual shoot. Spring comes, Leo watches swallows build their nests, hedgerows thrum with life & days lengthen into summer. Leo is breaking a colt for his father when a boy dressed in a Homburg, breeches & riding boots appears. Peering under the stranger`s hat, he discovers Charlotte. And so a friendship begins, bound by a deep love of horses, but divided by rigid social boundaries
- boundaries that become increasingly difficult to navigate as they approach adolescence... Hallucinatory, beautiful & suffused with the magic of nature, this tale of an unlikely friendship & the loss of innocence builds with a hypnotic power. Evoking the realities of agricultural life with precise, poetic brushstrokes, Tim Pears has created a masterful, Hardyesque pastoral novel. The first in a dazzling new trilogy, The Horseman is his greatest achievement.
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In this gripping blend of reportage, memoir, & analysis, a journalist & daughter of one of the world`s most famous hostages, Terry Anderson, takes an intimate look at her father`s captivity during the Lebanese Hostage Crisis & the ensuing political firestorm on both her family & the United States-as well as the far-reaching implications of those events on Middle Eastern politics today. In 1991, six-year-old Sulome Anderson met her father, Terry, for the first time. While working as the Middle East bureau chief for the Associated Press covering the long & bloody civil war in Lebanon, Terry had been kidnapped in Beirut & held for her entire life by a Shiite Muslim militia associated with the Hezbollah movement. As the nation celebrated, the media captured a smiling Anderson family joyously reunited. But the truth was far darker. Plagued by PTSD, Terry was a moody, aloof, & distant figure to the young daughter who had long dreamed of his return-and while she smiled for the cameras all the same, she absorbed his trauma as her own. Years later, after long battles with drug abuse & mental illness, Sulome would travel to the Middle East as a reporter, seeking to understand her father, the men who had kidnapped him, & ultimately, herself. What she discovered was shocking-not just about Terry, but about the international political machinations that occurred during the years of his captivity. The Hostage`s Daughter is an intimate look at the effect of the Lebanese Hostage Crisis on Anderson`s family, the United States, & the Middle East today. Sulome tells moving stories from her experiences as a reporter in the region & challenges our understanding of global politics, the forces that spawn terrorism & especially Lebanon, the beautiful, devastated, & vitally important country she came to love. Powerful & eye-opening The Hostage`s Daughter is essential reading for anyone interested in international relations, this violent, haunted region, & America`s role in its fate. ...

For aficionados of hot, spicy food, the humble chilli inspires near-fanatical devotion. Chillies come in a variety of shapes, sizes & colours
- from long & thin to round & berry-like, & from green to fiery orange
- & there is a huge variation in the degree of hotness (measured on the Scoville scale). There are some 400 varieties of chillies, ranging in strength from the mild jalapeno to the blisteringly hot habanero. Chillies are grown all over the world, & are an essential ingredient (fresh or dried) in many world cuisines. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a curry, mole poblano or fajitas without the hot stuff. The Hot Book of Chillies is an essential companion to enjoying chillies, & covers the history & biology of the plants, how hotness is measured, chillies & health, nutritional & medicinal value & how to preserve & use chillies. A gallery of chillies presents Approx. 100 of the most popular chilli varieties, & the book

Includes:: a selection of recipes for salsas, hot sauces, jams & chutneys.



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These were the balmy days of the 1920s. The English, liberated from one long war & not yet faced with the next had
- at least
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Established in 1898 in the heart of Paris on the Place Vendome, the Hotel Ritz instantly became an icon of the city frequented by film stars & celebrity writers, American heiresses & risque flappers, politicians, playboys, & princes. In June 1940, when France fell to the Germans, orders from Berlin specified that the Hotel Ritz would be the only luxury hotel of its kind in occupied Paris. Tilar J. Mazzeo traces the history of this cultural landmark from its opening in fin-de-siecle Paris to the modern era. The Hotel on Place Vendome chronicles life at the Ritz during wartime, when the hotel simultaneously served as headquarters to the highest-ranking German officers, such as Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring, & home to wealthy patrons (and the spies among them) who stayed on in Paris. Mazzeo takes us into the grand palace`s suites, bars, dining rooms, & wine cellars, revealing a hotbed of illicit affairs & deadly intrigue, as well as stunning acts of defiance & treachery, in which refugees were hidden in secret rooms, a Jewish bartender passed coded messages for the German resistance, & Wehrmacht officers plotted to assassinate the Fuhrer. The result is the story of The Hotel on Place Vendome--a singular season at the world-class hotel, an intimate & riveting portrait of the last days of the Second World War. ...

The very aptly named Mr Pong had the kind of breath that could stun at over ten feet... This wasn`t just bad
- there was something
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