From the earliest solstice festivals to the jolly fellow's film career, The Santa Map: A Cultural Geography of the World's Most Beloved Man surveys the abiding magic of the eternal winter visitor. So follow the bootprints of a Christmas legend with this delightful panoramic map unravelling the mystery
- & the history
- of jolly old St Nick. Designed for both children & adults, this double-sided map tracks the Santa Claus myth from its beginnings to today; speculates on the itinerary followed on Christmas Eve; & highlights places around the world where Santa's figure & personality are linked to particular local traditions. Also included is a dissection of a Christmas stocking with an explanation of the meaning of every object it carries! You & your family will love tracing Santa's travels across time & continents with this giant fold-out map. Designed to warm hearts & open minds...

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” Whenever I was asked: ` Why did you go to Santiago?`, I had a hard time answering. How could I explain to those who had not done it that the way has the effect
- if not the virtue
- to make you forget all reasons that led you to become involved in it in the first place.” Each year, tens of thousands of backpackers (Christian pilgrims & many others) set out from either their front doorstep or from popular starting points across Europe, to Santiago de Compostela. Most travel by foot, others ride a bicycle, & a few of them travel as did some of their medieval counterparts, on horseback or with a donkey. In addition to those who undertake a religious pilgrimage, the majority are hikers who walk the way for non-religious reasons: travel, sport, or simply the challenge of spending weeks walking in a foreign l&. Also, many consider the experience as a spiritual adventure, with a view to removing themselves from the bustle of modern life. Jean-Christophe Rufin followed this ” Northern Way” to Santiago de Compostela by foot, on over eight hundred kilometers. Much less crowded than the usual pilgrimage route, this one runs along the Basque & Cantabrian coasts in Spain & through the wild mountains of Asturias & Galicia.

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” Whenever I was asked: ` Why did you go to Santiago?`, I had a hard time answering. How could I explain to those who had not done it that the way has the effect
- if not the virtue
- to make you forget all reasons that led you to become involved in it in the first place.” Each year, tens of thousands of backpackers (Christian pilgrims & many others) set out from either their front doorstep or from popular starting points across Europe, to Santiago de Compostela. Most travel by foot, others ride a bicycle, & a few of them travel as did some of their medieval counterparts, on horseback or with a donkey. In addition to those who undertake a religious pilgrimage, the majority are hikers who walk the way for non-religious reasons: travel, sport, or simply the challenge of spending weeks walking in a foreign l&. Also, many consider the experience as a spiritual adventure, with a view to removing themselves from the bustle of modern life. Jean-Christophe Rufin followed this ” Northern Way” to Santiago de Compostela by foot, on over eight hundred kilometers. Much less crowded than the usual pilgrimage route, this one runs along the Basque & Cantabrian coasts in Spain & through the wild mountains of Asturias & Galicia. Translated from the French by Malcolm Imrie & Martina Dervis

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A sweeping, breath-taking story of love & betrayal from the Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of The Tea Planter`s Wife Ceylon, 1935. Louisa Reeve, the daughter of a successful British gem trader, & her husband Elliot, a charming, thrill-seeking businessman, seem like the couple who have it all. Except what they long for more than anything: a child. While Louisa struggles with miscarriages, Elliot is increasingly absent, spending much of his time at a nearby cinnamon plantation, overlooking the Indian ocean. After his sudden death, Louisa is left alone to solve the mystery he left behind. Revisiting the plantation at Cinnamon Hills, she finds herself unexpectedly drawn towards the owner Leo, a rugged outdoors man with a chequered past. The plantation casts a spell, but all is not as it seems. & when Elliot`s shocking betrayal is revealed, Louisa has only Leo to turn to...`A sweeping tale, beautifully written in a wonderful setting, heartrending yet ultimately uplifting. Gorgeous.` Katie Fforde` The sights, smells & atmosphere of Ceylon are beautifully depicted. This is Dinah Jefferies at her best` Lucinda Riley` Dinah Jefferies has a remarkable gift for conjuring up another time & place with lush descriptions, full of power & intensity` Kate Furnivall ...

As the countdown to Mma Makutsi`s wedding begins, all is not as it should be at the No.1 Ladies` Detective Agency. While investigating unpleasant occurrences on a southern cattle-post, Mma Ramotswe, always on the side of the weak against the strong, has reason to reflect on Rule No.3 of The Principles of Private Detection: never lie to the client. Apprentice mechanic Charlie seems to be avoiding certain important responsibilities. & as Mma Makutsi`s big day approaches, her nemesis violet Sephotho is casting her net wider: by standing for election which could spell trouble for the entire nation. But as friends & family gather under starry African night skies, it turns out that even the most perplexing of apparitions
- & the most shocking of crimes
- may yield to rational explanation. &, of course, to Mma Ramotswe`s inimitable way with love, intuition & redbush tea.

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Before Stieg Larsson, there was Asa Larsson...” The Savage Altar” is a truly absorbing, atmospheric & fast-paced thriller featuring lawyer Rebecka Martinsson, a fantastic character in the mould of ” The Silence of the Lambs”` Clarice Starling. A church in the glittering frozen wastes of northern Sweden. Inside, a sacrifice: the body of a man
- slashed to pieces, hands severed, eyes gouged out. The victim`s sister, Sanna, is first to discover the body & immediately finds herself the police`s only suspect. Terrified & confused, she calls on a friend: got-shot city lawyer Rebecka Martinsson. Rebecka hardly wants to return to Kiruna
- the small town she fled in disgrace years ago. But Sanna is frightened & she needs a loyal friend to clear her name. Someone not scared to dig deep & find the true killer. Yet Rebecka is not especially welcomed into the closed-lipped community. She might know the town, the people & how suspicious they can be of strangers but she has still to find out how dark the town`s secrets have become in her absence. ”A chilling plot knee-deep in blood-spattered snow”. (Jim Kelly). ”A labyrinthine conspiracy, superlative storytelling”. (” Independent”).”A nail biting, suspense-filled mystery”. (” Sunday Telegraph”). Asa Larsson was born in 1966 & lives in Sweden. Her second novel, ” The Blood Spilt”, is available from Penguin now & she is the winner of Sweden`s best first crime novel award.

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New Year`s Eve, 1975: Arturo Belano & Ulises Lima, poets & leaders of a movement they call visceral realism, leave Mexico City in a borrowed white Impala. Their mission: to track down the poet Cesarea Tinajero, who disappeared into the Sonora desert
- & obscurity
- decades before. But the detectives are themselves hunted men, & their search for the past will end in violence, flight, & permanent exile. In this dazzling novel, Roberto Bolano tells the story of two modern-day Quixotes on a twenty-year, multi-continent, tragicomic quest through a darkening universe.

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For centuries before the arrival in Australia of Captain Cook & the so-called First Fleet in 1788, intrepid seafaring explorers had been searching, with varied results, for the fabled ” Great Southl&.” In this enthralling history of early discovery, Graham Seal offers breathtaking tales of shipwrecks, perilous landings, & Aboriginal encounters with the more than three hundred Europeans who washed up on these distant shores long before the land was claimed by Cook for Engl&. The author relates dramatic, previously untold legends of survival gleaned from the centuries of Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, French, & Indonesian voyages to Australia, & debunks commonly held misconceptions about the earliest European settlements: ships of the Dutch East Indies Company were already active in the region by the early seventeenth century, & the Dutch, rather than the English, were probably the first European settlers on the continent. ...

Travel is one of our favourite activities. From the hustle of bustle of the mega-cities to sleepy mountain towns to the tranquillity & isolation of tropical islands, we love to get out there & explore the world. But globe-trotting also comes with its pitfalls. Wherever there are travellers, there are swindlers looking to relieve individuals of their money, possessions & sometimes even more. To avoid such troubles, & to get on with enjoyable & fulfilling trips, people need to get smart. This book shows you how. The Savvy Traveller Survival Guide offers practical advice on avoiding the scams & hoaxes that can ruin any trip. From no-menu, rigged betting, & scenic taxi tour scams to rental damage, baksheesh, & credit card deceits
- this book details scam hotspots, how the scams play out & what you can do to prevent them. The Savvy Traveller Survival Guide will help you develop an awareness & vigilance for high-risk people, activities, & environments. Forewarned is forearmed!
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