An evocative exploration of the impact of the Mediterranean on British culture, ranging from the mid-eighteenth century to today Ever since the age of the Grand Tour in the eighteenth century, the Mediterranean has had a significant pull for Britons-including many painters & poets-who sought from it the inspiration, beauty, & fulfillment that evaded them at home. Referred to as ” Magick Land” by one traveler, dreams about the Mediterranean, & responses to it, went on to shape the culture of a nation. Written by one of the world`s leading historians of the Mediterranean, this book charts how a new sensibility arose from British engagement with the Mediterranean, ancient & modern. Ranging from Byron`s poetry to Damien Hirst`s installations, Robert Holland shows that while idealized visions & aspirations often met with disillusionment & frustration, the Mediterranean also offered a notably insular society the chance to enrich itself through an imagined world of color, carnival, & sensual self-discovery. ...

In this eloquent meditation on ageing, Marie de Hennezel guides us through a true `art of growing old`. She recalls her encounters as a clinical psychologist with extraordinary people who `grow old gracefully`
- & through her experience shows us how to make the most of this time in our lives, to avoid depression & to stay happy. She believes that wherever we grow old & whatever our circumstances, if we can maintain energy in our hearts & believe in the power of joy & human warmth, this can transform us & the way we look at the world. This is a wonderful book with a powerful message that applies to everyone no matter how old they are.
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The Wars Against Saddam is a startling frontline depiction of conflicts that few journalists have been as close to as John Simpson. He has spent more that twenty years reporting from Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, most recently in defiance of the Iraqi authorities, who barred him after the Gulf War of 1990-1. This is his compelling & cogent analysis of the West’s troubled relationship with the country. He examines the period leading up to the first Gulf War, the increasing tyranny of Saddam’s regime in the years that followed, & the reality of his weapons programme. With characteristic candour he addresses the apparent threat from iraq in the wake of 11 September, showing in detail how & why the US, with the support of Tony Blair & the British forces, went to war in March 2003. Taking us right up to the arrest of Saddam & its aftermath, this is the definitive account of the rise & fall of a regime from the journalist who has experienced it first-h&. ...

Plans: King's Lynn Wells-next-the-Sea Brancaster Harbour & Overy Staithe Blakeney Boston Wisbech Yacht Harbour Current edition revised using the latest depth surveys (changes in Boston Deep, Wainfleet Sand & the approaches to King's Lynn). Also displays the latest windfarm details, plus has revised sketch plans of Wells & Blakeney. ...

` Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different reasons than I`d disposed of Blyth, & then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim. That`s my score to date. Three. I haven`t killed anybody for years, & don`t intend to ever again. It was just a stage I was going through.` Enter
- if you can bear it
- the extraordinary private world of Frank, just sixteen, & unconventional, to say the least.

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Acclaimed naturalist Alex Shoumatoff issues a worldwide call to protect the drastically endangered rainforests of Borneo In his eleventh book, but his first in almost two decades, seasoned travel writer Alex Shoumatoff takes readers on a journey from the woods of rural New York to the rain forests of the Amazon & Borneo, documenting both the abundance of life & the threats to these vanishing Edens in a wide-ranging narrative. Alex & his best friend, Davie, spent their formative years in the forest of Bedford, New York. As adults they grew apart, but bonded by the ”imaginary jungle” of their childhood, Alex & Davie reunited fifty years later for a trip to a real jungle, in the heart of Borneo. During the intervening years, Alex had become an author & literary journalist, traveling the world to bring to light places, animals, & indigenous cultures in peril. The two reconnect & spend three weeks together on Borneo, one of the most imperiled ecosystems on earth. Insatiable demand for the palm oil ubiquitous in consumer goods is wiping out the world`s most ancient & species-rich rain forest, home to the orangutan & countless other life-forms, including the Penan people, with whom Alex & Davie camp. The Penan have been living in Borneo`s rain forest for millennia, but 90 percent of the lowland rain forest has already been logged & burned to make way for vast oil-palm plantations. Among the most endangered tribal people on earth, the Penan are fighting for their right to exist. Shoumatoff condenses a lifetime of learning about what binds humans to animals, nature, & each other, culminating in a celebration of the Penan & a call for Westerners to address the palm-oil crisis & protect the biodiversity that sustains us all. ...

Following a desperate night-long battle, a group of beleaguered soldiers in an isolated base in Kandahar are faced with a lone woman demanding the return of her brother's body. Is she a spy, a black widow, a lunatic or what she claims to be: a grieving sister intent on burying her brother according to local rites? As she persists, single-minded in her mission, the camp's tense, claustrophobic atmosphere comes to a boil as the men argue about what to do next. The Watch takes an age-old story
- the myth of Antigone
- & hurls it into present-day Afghanistan. The result is an unputdownable, deeply affecting book that brilliantly exposes the realities of war. It is also our most powerful expression to date of the nature & futility of this very contemporary conflict.

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A mysterious toymaker who lives as a recluse in an old mansion, surrounded by the magical beings he has created...A sickly wife locked away in a hidden room... An enigma involving strange lights that shine out from the small island on which an old, disused lighthouse stands...A shadowy creature that hides deep in the woods... These are the elements of a mystery will bind 14-year-old Irene to Ismael during one magical summer spent in Blue Bay when her mother takes a job as a housekeeper for the enigmatic toymaker, Lazarus Jann. A novel of mystery, intrigue & romance from the author of THE PRINCE OF MIST & THE SHADOW OF THE WIND. ...

A chilling tale based on true events from the bestselling author of The Ghost Hunters
- now a major ITV drama starring Rafe Spall
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The acclaimed & enthralling story of the dark side of Elizabethan rule, from Stephen Alford Elizabeth I`s reign is known as a golden age, yet to much of Europe she was a ` Jezebel` & heretic who had to be destroyed. The Watchers is a thrilling portrayal of the secret state that sought to protect the Queen; a shadow world of spies, codebreakers, agent provocateurs & confidence-men who would stop at nothing to defend the realm. Reviews: ” Forget Le Carre, Deighton & the rest
- this is more enthralling than any modern spy fiction”. (Daily Telegraph). ” Absorbing & closely documented... Alford vividly evokes this murky world of codes, ciphers, invisible ink, intercepted letters, aliases, disguises, forgeries & instructions to burn after reading.. .flowing narrative [and] crisp judments.. .engrossing”. (Guardian). ”[ Alford] has brought a dash of le Carre to the 16th century”. (The Times (Book of the Week)). ”A vivid & staggeringly well-researched portrait of the sinister side of Elizabethan Engl&... This is a spectacular book. It sheds new light on plots that most historians have ceased to explore & brings less famous conspiracies to the attention of the general reading public”. (Herald). ” Fascinating... If you want to know the inside story of this struggle, the dark heart of calculation & the fight for survival, then this is the book to read. I know no better”. (Spectator). About the author: Stephen Alford is the author of the acclaimed biography Burghley: William Cecil at the Court of Elizabeth I & a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He taught for fifteen years at Cambridge University, where he was a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of History & a Fellow of King`s College. He is now Professor of Early Modern British History in the University of Leeds.
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