In 2001, Rory Stewart set off from Herat to walk to Kabul via the mountains of Ghor in central Afghanistan. Caught between hostile nations, warring factions & competing ideologies, at the time, Afghanistan was in turmoil following the US invasion. Travelling entirely on foot & following the inaccessible, mountainous route once taken by the Mohgul Emperor, Babur the Great, Stewart was nearly defeated by the extreme, hostile conditions. Only due to the help of an unexpected companion & the generosity of the people he met on the way, did he survive to report back with unique insight on a region closed to the world by twenty-four years of war. This is literary travel writing, but with a greater element of adventure & danger. It is an account of what it is like to travel painfully & slowly on foot in an alien & hostile landscape. Stewart`s moving, sparsely poetic account of his walk across Afghanistan has been immediately hailed as a classic. The Places In Between won the Royal Society of Literature Oondatje Award & the Spirit of Scotland Award, & was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize & the Scottish Book of the Year Prize. ...

The Plagiarist in the Kitchen is an anti-cookbook. Best known as a provocative novelist, journalist & film-maker, Jonathan Meades has also been called `the best amateur chef in the world` by Marco Pierre White. His contention here is that anyone who claims to have invented a dish is delusional, dishonestly contributing to the myth of culinary originality. Meades delivers a polemical but highly usable collection of 125 of his favourite recipes, each one an example of the fine art of culinary plagiarism. These are dishes & methods he has hijacked, adapted, enhanced upon & made his own. Without assuming any special knowledge or skill, the book is full of excellent advice. He tells us why the British never got the hang of garlic. That a purist would never dream of putting cheese in a Gratin Dauphinois. That cooking brains in brown butter cannot be enhanced upon. & why
- despite the advice of Martin Scorsese`s mother
- he insists on frying his meatballs. Adorned with his own abstract monochrome images (none of which `illustrate` the stolen recipes they accompany), The Plagiarist in the Kitchen is a stylish object, both useful & instructive. In a world dominated by health fads, food vloggers & over-priced kitchen gadgets, it is timely reminder that, when it comes to food, it`s almost always better to borrow than to invent.

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The Plague is Albert Camus` world-renowned fable of fear & courage. The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift & horrifying death. Fear, isolation & claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, & a few, like Dr Rieux, resist the terror. An immediate triumph when it was published in 1947, The Plague is in part an allegory of France`s suffering under the Nazi occupation, & a story of bravery & determination against the precariousness of human existence. ”A matchless fable of fear, courage & cowardice”. (Independent). ” Magnificent”. (The Times). Albert Camus was born in Algeria in 1913. He studied philosophy in Algiers & then worked in Paris as a journalist. He was one of the intellectual leaders of the Resistance movement &, after the War, established his international reputation as a writer. His books include The Plague, The Just & The Fall, & he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. Camus was killed in a road accident in 1960. ...

Twenty years ago, the search for planets outside the Solar System was a job restricted to science-fiction writers. Now it`s one of the fastest-growing fields in astronomy with thousands of exoplanets discovered to date, & the number is rising fast. These new-found worlds are more alien than anything in fiction. Planets larger than Jupiter with years lasting a week; others with two suns lighting their skies, or with no sun at all. Planets with diamond mantles supporting oceans of tar; possible Earth-sized worlds with split hemispheres of perpetual day & night; waterworlds drowning under global oceans & volcanic lava planets awash with seas of magma. The discovery of this diversity is just the beginning. There is a whole galaxy of possibilities. The Planet Factory tells the story of these exoplanets. Each planetary system is different, but in the beginning most if not all young stars are circled by clouds of dust, specks that come together in a violent building project that can form colossal worlds hundreds of times the size of the Earth. The changing orbits of young planets risk dooming any life evolving on neighbouring worlds or, alternatively, can deliver the key ingredients needed to seed its beginnings. Planet formation is one of the greatest construction schemes in the Universe, & it occurred around nearly every star you see. Each results in an alien landscape, but is it possible that one of these could be like our own home world? ...

In the last 40 years the planets have been revealed in their full glory, unmasked by a fleet of satellites & interplanetary probes. & the closer we look, the more astonishing they are: Mars` deserts were once home to rivers & oceans; on Jupiter wind speeds reach 10, 000 kph (6, 000 mph) & storms rage for centuries; Saturn is surrounded by a swarm of 34 moons; & diamonds are believed to rain from Neptune`s blue skies. Moving out from the Sun, every planet & moon is visited in a journey that takes us a full light year into space, out to the fringes of the solar system where the Sun is no longer the brightest star in the sky. With 200 spectacular images, The Planets follows the tracks of robotic rovers over Mars, plunges through Titan`s atmosphere on the back of the Hugyens probe, smashes into a comet with Deep Impact, & voyages to the edge of our solar system to discover the frozen planets that lurk beyond the orbit of Pluto. ...

James is exactly what you`d expect from one of London`s most promising, young town planners. He`s cautious, respected by colleagues & performs well in team meetings. But while James understands the glitter & grime of the city better than almost anyone, he hasn`t actually experienced much of it. &, as he watches his university friends blossom bewilderingly into rich & successful adults, he has the nagging sense that he has somehow fallen by the wayside. That is, until he meets Felix, who navigates the glamorous & cynical capital with sophisticated ease. Felix introduces James to a London that he has never known, & which doesn`t feature in the planning manuals: a world of private clubs & executive football boxes; of book launches, contemporary art galleries, suburban drug dealers & dates with women even more exotic than the peculiar vodka shots they drink. But London is an expensive city in many ways, & the world Felix has opened up comes at a cost. James may know how to design housing estates & high streets, but is it really possible to redraw the masterplan for his own life? & what will he lose along the way? ...

James is exactly what you`d expect from one of London`s most promising, young town planners. He`s cautious, respected by colleagues & performs well in team meetings. But while James understands the glitter & grime of the city better than almost anyone, he hasn`t actually experienced much of it. &, as he watches his university friends blossom bewilderingly into rich & successful adults, he has the nagging sense that he has somehow fallen by the wayside. That is, until he meets Felix, who navigates the glamorous & cynical capital with sophisticated ease. Felix introduces James to a London that he has never known, & which doesn`t feature in the planning manuals: a world of private clubs & executive football boxes; of book launches, contemporary art galleries, suburban drug dealers & dates with women even more exotic than the peculiar vodka shots they drink. But London is an expensive city in many ways, & the world Felix has opened up comes at a cost. James may know how to design housing estates & high streets, but is it really possible to redraw the masterplan for his own life? & what will he lose along the way? ...

Carlos Magdalena of Kew Gardens is not your average botanical horticulturist. He`s a man on a mission to save the world`s most endangered plants from destruction & thieves hunting for wealthy collectors. He is a plant messiah. From the planet`s tiniest waterlily
- the Nymphaea thermarum
- to Huarango trees with roots over 50 metres long, Carlos has a miraculous ability to bring breathtakingly beautiful plants back from the brink of extinction. He has travelled to the most remote & dangerous parts of the world
- from the mountains of Peru to isolated Indian Ocean islands to the deepest Australian outback
- in search of the rarest exotic species. Then, back in the Tropical Nursery at Kew, he uses pioneering, left-field techniques to help them grow. Now he`s here to spread the gospel. The Plant Messiah is the inspirational story of a man who has devoted
- & risked
- his life to save incredible species, all in the name of making this Earth a greener & happier place. Amen to that.





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Carlos Magdalena of Kew Gardens is not your average botanical horticulturist. He`s a man on a mission to save the world`s most endangered plants from destruction & thieves hunting for wealthy collectors. He is a plant messiah. From the planet`s tiniest waterlily
- the Nymphaea thermarum
- to Huarango trees with roots over 50 metres long, Carlos has a miraculous ability to bring breathtakingly beautiful plants back from the brink of extinction. He has travelled to the most remote & dangerous parts of the world
- from the mountains of Peru to isolated Indian Ocean islands to the deepest Australian outback
- in search of the rarest exotic species. Then, back in the Tropical Nursery at Kew, he uses pioneering, left-field techniques to help them grow. Now he`s here to spread the gospel. The Plant Messiah is the inspirational story of a man who has devoted
- & risked
- his life to save incredible species, all in the name of making this Earth a greener & happier place. Amen to that.





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This brilliant new book explores the lives of eight generations of the greatest kings & queens that this country has ever seen, & the worst. The Plantagenets
- their story is the story of Britain. England`s greatest royal dynasty, the Plantagenets, ruled over England through eight generations of kings. Their remarkable reign saw England emerge from the Dark Ages to become a highly organised kingdom that spanned a vast expanse of Europe. Plantagenet rule saw the establishment of laws & creation of artworks, monuments & tombs which survive to this day, & continue to speak of their sophistication, brutality & secrets. Dan Jones brings you a new vision of this battle-scarred history. From the Crusades, to King John`s humbling over Magna Carta & the tragic reign of the last Plantagenet, Richard II
- this is a blow-by-blow account of England`s most thrilling age.

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