The Sheep-pig is one of Dick King-Smith`s most famous tales. It shot to further fame when the film adaptation, Babe, was released in 1995. ` Why can`t I learn to be a Sheep-Pig?` When Babe, the little orphaned piglet, is won at a fair by Farmer Hogget, he is adopted by Fly, the kind-hearted sheep-dog. Babe is determined to learn everything he can from Fly. He knows he can`t be a sheep-dog. But maybe, just maybe, he might be a sheep-pig. ” An unexpectedly thrilling, funny charmer of a book”. (Guardian). ” Dick King-Smith is a huge favourite with children”. (Observer). Winner of the Guardian Fiction Award. Dick King-Smith served in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War, & afterwards spent twenty years as a farmer in Gloucestershire, the country of his birth. Many of his stories are inspired by his farming experiences. He wrote a great number of children`s books, including The Sheep-Pig (winner of the Guardian Award & filmed as Babe), Harry`s Mad, Noah`s Brother, The Queen`s Nose, Martin`s Mice, Ace, The Cuckoo Child & Harriet`s Hare (winner of the Children`s Book Award in 1995). In 2009 he was made an OBE for services to children`s literature. Dick King-Smith died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight. ...

Elizabeth Bowen`s classic story of the famous Dublin landmark, the Shelbourne Hotel, is a wonderfully evocative account of Dublin life through more than a century. Looking out on Dublin as if from the windows of the Shelbourne, & then turning inward to witness the impact of events on the hotel, its guests & staff, Elizabeth Bowen presents a skilful picture or what was, in the hotel`s earlier days, the second city of the Empire, then the battleground of Irish independence & Irish civil strife, & eventually the capital of a republic. ...

When is the best time to spot a shooting star or a glow worm? Where does a `ha-ha` get its name? Why were yew trees planted in churchyards? Where would you find a green man or a Sheila-na-gig? In the 1960s Geoffrey Grigson, a poet & author, travelled around Britain writing the story of the secret landscape all around us. This book, his exquisite classic of the countryside, is the result. From weathercocks to rainbows, place names & poets to mazes, dene-holes, crypts & sham ruins, via avenues, Roman roads, dewponds & village greens, The Shell Country Alphabet will help you look beyond the familiar sights of our landscape & discover the hidden, magical world that remains, just off the motorway. ...

Some journeys are best left unmade. Kit & Port Moresby are Americans abroad. Struggling to save their marriage, they resolve to trade civilization for the wilderness of the Sahara. At first, the pair are seduced by the desert's beauty. But beneath the exquisite landscape lurk the dark undercurrents of an alien culture, & the relentless dangers of a hostile natural world. & as they travel deeper, they might not only lose their way, they could lose their lives. ...

`” The Sheltering Sky” is a book about people on the edge of an alien space; somewhere where, curiously, they are never alone`
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Tiffany Aching has finally got her wish. She is a witch (and a respected one, at that). Overworked & underpaid, that`s for certain, but a witch nonetheless. Help is at hand though. In the form of young Geoffrey & his goat. Geoffrey wants to be a witch too, & thinks he can save the world by building sheds. Well, everyone has to start somewhere. But as new friends are made, & old ones return, enemies are stirring. With her beloved chalk in jeopardy, Tiffany will face the toughest challenge of her life. There will be a reckoning. ...

`A page-turning heartbreaker` Emma Donoghue, author of Room ` Wonderful. Brutal, agonizing, tender` Sarah Winman, author of When God Was a Rabbit For years Jaxie Clackton has dreaded going home. His beloved mum is dead, & he wishes his dad was too, until one terrible moment leaves his life stripped to nothing. No one ever told Jaxie Clackton to be careful what he wishes for. & so Jaxie runs. There`s just one person in the world who understands him, but to reach her he`ll have to cross the vast saltlands of Western Australia. It is a place that harbours criminals & threatens to kill those who haven`t reckoned with its hot, waterless vastness. This is a journey only a dreamer
- or a fugitive
- would attempt. Fierce & lyrical, The Shepherd`s Hut by Tim Winton is a story of survival, solitude & unlikely friendship. Most of all it is about what it takes to keep hope alive in a parched & brutal world.

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This is the Sunday Times Number One Bestseller. Some people`s lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks` isn`t. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he & his family have lived & worked in & around the Lake District for generations. Their way of life is ordered by the seasons & the work they dem&, & has been for hundreds of years. A Viking would understand the work they do: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer & making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the gruelling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, & the light-headedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born & the sheep get ready to return to the fells. ...

From James Rebanks, the Herdwick Shepherd, comes The Shepherd`s Life, a story of the Lake District & its people which could redefine the literature of rural life. Some people`s lives are entirely their own creations. James Rebanks` isn`t. The first son of a shepherd, who was the first son of a shepherd himself, he & his family have lived & worked in & around the Lake District for generations. Their way of life is ordered by the seasons & the work they dem&, & has been for hundreds of years. A Viking would understand the work they do: sending the sheep to the fells in the summer & making the hay; the autumn fairs where the flocks are replenished; the gruelling toil of winter when the sheep must be kept alive, & the light-headedness that comes with spring, as the lambs are born & the sheep get ready to return to the fells. These modern dispatches from an ancient landscape tell the story of a deep-rooted attachment to place, describing a way of life that is little noticed & yet has profoundly shaped this landscape. In evocative & lucid prose, James Rebanks takes us through a shepherd`s year, offering a unique account of rural life & a fundamental connection with the land that most of us have lost. It is a story of working lives, the people around him, his childhood, his parents & grandparents, a people who exist & endure even as the world changes around them. Many stories are of people working desperately hard to leave a place. This is the story of someone trying desperately hard to stay. James Rebanks is the Herdwick Shepherd. His family has farmed in the same area for more than six hundred years. ...

An elegant solid-wood stand with brass claw feet & antique brass-plated meridian enhance the rich antique ocean of the classic 16” diameter raised-relief Sherbrook globe. Special features include decorative cartouches & ornate compass roses. Truly a beautiful furniture accessory. ...