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.





...

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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The most widely staged dramatist after Shakespeare, Chekhov left a deep mark both on the development of Russian literature & world theatre, with plays that were remarkable not just for their dialogue but their atmosphere & the tensions expressed between the lines. Collected in this volume are Chekhov s four most celebrated plays
- The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters & The Cherry Orchard
- in a br&-new translation by Hugh Aplin. In these personal stories of unfulfilled love, failed ambition & existential ennui, set against a background of unsettling social & economical change, the reader can appreciate the groundbreaking qualities of Chekhov s theatrical genius.

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In this delightful collection forty acclaimed writers explain what first made them interested in literature, what inspired them to read & what makes them continue to do so. First published in 1992 in hardback only, original contributors include Margaret Atwood, J. G. Ballard, Melvyn Bragg, A. S. Byatt, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Gray, Germaine Greer, Alan Hollinghurst, Doris Lessing, Candia Mc William, Edna O` Brien, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Sue Townsend & Jeanette Winterson. The new edition will include essays from five new writers, Emily Berry, Kamila Shamsie, Rory Stewart, Katie Waldegrave & Tom Wells. Royalties generated from this project will go to Give a Book, www.giveabook.org.uk, a charity set up in 2011 that seeks to get books to places where they will be of particular benefit. Give a Book works in conjunction with Age UK, Prison Reading Groups, Maggie`s Centres, which help people affected by cancer, & various schools & literacy projects, such as Beanstalk, where many pupils have never had a book of their own in their lives. ...

Stargazey pie, Cheshire cheese, toffee apples, fish & chips, Sussex pond pudding, Cumberland sausages, pasties, gingerbread, dumplings & Cox's orange pippins are just some of the edible delights in this glorious celebration of English food from across the country & its history. From the etiquette of afternoon tea to the origins of mince pies, from the best way to eat a Stilton to how to cook a proper Yorkshire pudding, here are both well-loved favourites & unsung heroes from the nation's mouth-watering culinary heritage. Generations of inhabitants have helped shape the English countryside
- but it has profoundly shaped us too. It has provoked a huge variety of responses from artists, writers, musicians & people who live & work on the land
- as well as those who are travelling through it. English Journeys celebrates this long tradition with a series of twenty books on all aspects of the countryside, from stargazey pie & country churches, to man's relationship with nature & songs celebrating the patterns of the countryside (as well as ghosts & love-struck soldiers).

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Kate Williams` first novel, ” The Pleasures of Men”, is a gothic thriller with a splash of brutal murder. Spitalfields, 1840. A murderer nicknamed The Man of Crows. A heroine with a mysterious past & a vivid imagination. Catherine Sorgeiul lives with her Uncle in a rambling house in London`s East End. When a murderer strikes, ripping open the chests of young girls & stuffing hair into their mouths to resemble a crow`s beak, Catherine is fascinated, & devours news of his exploits. As the murders cause panic throughout the city, she comes to believe she can channel the voices of his victims & that they will lead her to The Man himself. But she`s already far closer than she realises
- & lurking behind the lies she`s been told about her past are secrets more deadly & devastating than anything her imagination can conjure. Dark & compelling, ” The Pleasures of Men” marks Kate Williams as a stunning new voice in historical fiction. ” Wonderfully imaginative & gripping”. (” The Times”). ” Intense, intelligent & hugely entertaining”. (” Guardian”). ” Intoxicating & disturbing... Shows a soaring talent let loose”. (” Independent on Sunday”). ” Fans of Sarah Waters will love this”. (” Good Housekeeping”). ”A spine-tingling & seductive thriller”. (” Woman & Home”). Kate Williams is an academic & historian who specialises in social history. Her first two historical biographies, ” England`s Mistress”, & ” Becoming Queen”, were widely acclaimed & the ” Independent” called her `one of our finest young historians`. She discusses history regularly on TV & radio, including ” Newsnight”, ”BBC Breakfast”, ” The One Show” & the ” Today Programme”, covered the ” Royal Wedding” for the BBC & presented a ” Timewatch” programme on Queen Victoria. She is the social historian on Restoration Home with Caroline Quentin. Kate has a DPhil from Oxford & two MAs from London, & teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway.
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Epicure & gourmand Brillat-Savarin was one of the most influential food writers of all time. His 1825 book ” The Physiology of Taste” defined our notions of French gastronomy, & his insistence that food be a civilizing pleasure for all has inspired the slow food movement & guided chefs worldwide. From discourses on the erotic properties of truffles & the origins of chocolate, to a defence of gourmandism & why `a dessert without cheese is like a pretty woman with only one eye`, the delightful writings in this selection are a hymn to the art of eating well. ...