Travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer Travel opens our minds to the world; it helps us to embrace risk & uncertainty, overcome challenges & understand the people we meet & the places we visit. But what happens when we arrive home? How do our experiences shape us? The Kindness of Strangers explores what it means to be vulnerable & to be helped by someone we`ve never met before. Someone who could have walked past, but chose not to. This is a collection of stories by accomplished travellers & adventurous souls like Sarah Outen, Benedict Allen, Ed Stafford & Al Humphreys, who have completed daring journeys through challenging terrain, adventuring from the Calais Jungle to the Amazon, from Land`s End to the Gobi Desert, from New Guinea to Iran & many other places in between. Each has a story to tell of a time when they were vulnerable, when they were in need & a kind stranger came to their rescue. These are stories that make our hearts grow, stories that will restore our faith in the world & remind us that, despite what the media says, the world isn`t a scary place
- rather, it is filled with Kind Strangers just like us. All royalties go directly to fund Oxfam`s work with refugees.
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Kinfolk
- launched to great acclaim & instant buzz in 2010
- is an independently owned quarterly magazine about understated,

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The story of Catholic Emancipation begins with the violent Anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in 1780, fuelled by the reduction in Penal Laws against the Roman Catholics harking back to the sixteenth century. Some fifty years later, the passing of the Emancipation Bill was hailed as a `bloodless revolution`. Had the Irish Catholics been a `millstone`, as described by an English aristocrat, or were they the prime movers? While the English Catholic aristocracy & the Irish peasants & merchants approached the Catholic Question in very different ways, they manifestly shared the same objective. Antonia Fraser brings colour & humour to the vivid drama with its huge cast of characters: George III, who opposed Emancipation on the basis of the Coronation Oath; his son, the indulgent Prince of Wales, who was enamoured with the Catholic Maria Fitzherbert before the voluptuous Lady Conyngham; Wellington & the `born Tory` Peel vying for leadership; `roaring` Lord Winchilsea; the heroic Daniel O` Connell. Expertly written & deftly argued, The King & Catholics is also a distant mirror of our times, reflecting the political issues arising from religious intolerance. ...

Meet a cat who is the king of his house, until something terrible happens! Someone else arrives & they are dribbly & disgusting. Will King Cat ever get used to having a dog around? A brilliantly observed, fantastically funny story about friendship, compromise & adjusting to change. Perfect for families about to welcome a new baby
- & cat & dog lovers alike. From the award-winning author-illustrator Marta Altes.
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A charismatic leader, a warrior whose prowess in battle earned him the epithet Whiteblade, an exiled prince who returned to claim his birthright, the inspiration for Tolkein`s Aragorn. Oswald of Northumbria was the first great English monarch, yet today this legendary figure is all but forgotten. In this panoramic protrait of Dark Age Britain, archaeologist & biographer Max Adams returns the king in the North to his rightful place in history. ...

Thailand`s Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only king ever born in the United States, came to the throne of his country in 1946 & at the time of his death, in October 2016, was the world`s longest serving monarch. Now out in paperback with a new preface by author Paul Handley, The King Never Smiles is the first independent biography of Thailand`s monarch, tells the unexpected story of Bhumibol`s life & seventy year rule-how a Western raised boy came to be seen by his people as a living Buddha, & how a king widely seen as beneficent & apolitical could in fact be so deeply political & autocratic. Paul Handley provides an extensively researched, factual account of the king`s youth & personal development, ascent to the throne, skillful political maneuverings, & attempt to shape Thailand as a Buddhist kingdom. Handley takes full note of Bhumibol`s achievements in art, in sports, & in jazz, & he credits the king`s lifelong dedication to rural development & the livelihoods of his poorest subjects. But, looking beyond the widely accepted image of the king as egalitarian & virtuous, Handley portrays an anti democratic monarch who, together with allies in big business & the corrupt Thai military, protected a centuries old, barely modified feudal dynasty. When at nineteen Bhumibol assumed the throne, the Thai monarchy had been stripped of power & prestige. Over the ensuing decades, Bhumibol became the paramount political actor in the kingdom, silencing critics while winning the hearts & minds of his people. The book details this process & depicts Thailand`s unique constitutional monarch-his life, his thinking, & his ruling philosophy. ...

Thailand`s Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only king ever born in the United States, came to the throne of his country in 1946 & is now the world`s longest-serving monarch. This book tells the unexpected story of his life & 60-year rule: how a Western-raised boy came to be seen by his people as a living Buddha; & how a king widely seen as beneficent & apolitical could in fact be so deeply political, autocratic, & even brutal. Paul Handley provides an extensively researched, factual account of the king`s youth & personal development, ascent to the throne, skilful political maneuverings, & attempt to shape Thailand as a Buddhist kingdom. Blasting apart the widely accepted image of the king as egalitarian & virtuous, Handley convincingly portrays an anti-democratic monarch who, together with allies in big business & the corrupt Thai military, has protected a centuries-old, barely-modified feudal dynasty. When at nineteen Bhumibol assumed the throne after the still-unsolved shooting of his brother, the Thai monarchy had been stripped of power & prestige. Over the ensuing decades, Bhumibol became the paramount political actor in the kingdom, crushing critics while attaining high status among his people. The book details this process & depicts Thailand`s unique constitutional monarch in the full light of the facts. ...

On a frosty winter evening, the Baron watches the snow fall. He is bored & worried. It will soon be Christmas & everything is too quiet. What can he do to bring excitement to the Manor? His wife, the Baroness, has an idea: he can appoint a King of Christmas, a peasant to take his place. & so begin twelve days of chaos, anarchy & merriment... Inspired by the medieval tradition of appointing a Lord of Misrule, Carol Ann Duffy`s warm & enchanting new Christmas poem takes us into a topsy-turvy world of festivity & celebration, where rules no longer apply. With beautiful full-colour illustrations by Lara Hawthorne throughout, The King of Christmas is the perfect gift this festive season. ...

Jean-Marie can`t believe his luck when he has a passionate triste with a beautiful young Englishwoman, Marjory, who is holidaying in the Cote d` Azur. However, when he discovers his lover is married he is crestfallen, & when she returns to her home in rainy Edinburgh he is heartbroken. He takes a fateful decision: to follow her. He arrives in Scotl&. but soon the jealous husband appears, & a deadly encounter is only the beginning of a nightmarish, disorienting drama. ...

Haile Selassie I, the last emperor of Ethiopia, was as brilliant as he was formidable. A descendant of King Solomon & an early proponent of African unity & independence, Haile Selassie fought with the Allies against the Axis powers during World War II & was a messianic figure for the Jamaican Rastafarians. Written by Asfa-Wossen Asserate, Haile Selassie s grandnephew, this is the first major biography on this final king of kings. Asserate introduces Haile Selassie as a reformer & an autocrat whose personal history with all of its upheavals, promises, & horrors reflects in many ways the history of the twentieth century itself. Chosen as ” Time” s Man of the Year in 1936 for resisting Mussolini s invasion of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie was celebrated by many as the anti-colonialist father of Africa. But the final years of his empire saw turmoil & revolution, & he was ultimately overthrown & assassinated in a communist coup. Asserate, who spent his childhood & adolescence in Ethiopia before fleeing the revolution of 1974, knew Haile Selassie personally & gained intimate insights into life at the imperial court. Using his own personal experiences & painstaking research in family & public archives, Asserate has achieved a colorful & even-handed portrait of the emperor & his tumultuous reign.” ...