From one of our greatest science writers, this biography of a beech-&-bluebell wood through diverse moods & changing seasons combines stunning natural history with the ancient history of the countryside to tell the full story of the British landscape. ` The woods are the great beauty of this country...A fine forest-like beech wood far more beautiful than anything else which we have seen in its vicinity` is how John Stuart Mill described a small patch of beech-and bluebell woodl&, buried deeply in the Chiltern Hills & now owned by Richard Fortey. Drawing upon a lifetime of scientific expertise & abiding love of nature, Fortey uses his small wood to tell a wider story of the ever-changing British landscape, human influence on the countryside over many centuries & the vital interactions between flora, fauna & fungi. The trees provide a majestic stage for woodland animals & plants to reveal their own stories. Fortey presents his wood as an interwoven collection of different habitats rich in species. His attention ranges from the beech & cherry trees that dominate the wood to the flints underfoot; the red kites & woodpeckers that soar overhead; the lichens, mosses & liverworts decorating the branches as well as the myriad species of spiders, moths, beetles & crane-flies. The 300 species of fungi identified in the wood capture his attention as much as familiar deer, shrews & dormice. Fortey is a naturalist who believes that all organisms are as interesting as human beings
- & certainly more important than the observer. So this book is a close examination of nature & human history. He proves that poetic writing is compatible with scientific precision. The book is filled with details of living animals & plants, charting the passage of the seasons, visits by fellow enthusiasts; the play of light between branches; the influence of geology; & how woodland influences history, architecture & industry. On every page he shows how an intimate study of one small wood can reveal so much about the natural world & demonstrates his relish for the incomparable pleasures of discovery.
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From one of our greatest science writers, this biography of a beech-&-bluebell wood through diverse moods & changing seasons combines stunning natural history with the ancient history of the countryside to tell the full story of the British landscape.` The woods are the great beauty of this country... A fine forest-like beech wood far more beautiful than anything else which we have seen in its vicinity` is how John Stuart Mill described a small patch of beech-and bluebell woodl&, buried deeply in the Chiltern Hills & now owned by Richard Fortey. Drawing upon a lifetime of scientific expertise & abiding love of nature, Fortey uses his small wood to tell a wider story of the ever-changing British landscape, human influence on the countryside over many centuries & the vital interactions between flora, fauna & fungi. The trees provide a majestic stage for woodland animals & plants to reveal their own stories. Fortey presents his wood as an interwoven collection of different habitats rich in species. His attention ranges from the beech & cherry trees that dominate the wood to the flints underfoot; the red kites & woodpeckers that soar overhead; the lichens, mosses & liverworts decorating the branches as well as the myriad species of spiders, moths, beetles & crane-flies. The 300 species of fungi identified in the wood capture his attention as much as familiar deer, shrews & dormice. Fortey is a naturalist who believes that all organisms are as interesting as human beings
- & certainly more important than the observer. So this book is a close examination of nature & human history. He proves that poetic writing is compatible with scientific precision. The book is filled with details of living animals & plants, charting the passage of the seasons, visits by fellow enthusiasts; the play of light between branches; the influence of geology; & how woodland influences history, architecture & industry. On every page he shows how an intimate study of one small wood can reveal so much about the natural world & demonstrates his relish for the incomparable pleasures of discovery.
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From `one of the best nature-writers of his generation` (Country Life) & 2017 winner of the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing, this BBC Radio 4 ` Book of the Week` is the story of a wood
- both its natural daily life & its historical times. Cockshutt is a particular wood
- three & half acres of mixed woodland in south west Herefordshire
- but it stands as exemplar for all the small woods of Engl&. For four years John Lewis-Stempel managed the wood. He coppiced the trees & raised cows & pigs who roamed free there. This is the diary of the last year, by which time he had come to know it from the bottom of its beech roots to the tip of its oaks, & to know all the animals that lived there
- the fox, the pheasants, the wood mice, the tawny owl
- & where the best bluebells grew. For many fauna & flora, woods like Cockshutt are the last refuge. It proves a sanctuary for John too. To read The Wood is to be amongst its trees as the seasons change, following an easy path until, suddenly the view is broken by a screen of leaves, or your foot catches on a root, or a bird startles overhead. Lyrical, informative, steeped in poetry & folklore, it is both very real & very magical.




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The Wooden Horse is legendary, but what exactly was it? Why did the Greek warriors construct such a thing in the first place? & what was it that made the Trojans believe the Greeks had sailed away & the ten-year Trojan War was over? All these questions are answered in this fifth booklet of the Put it in Your Pocket Series. ...

Kate Dowd`s mother raised her to be a lady but she must put away her white gloves & pearls to help save her family`s sheep farm in New South Wales. It is 1945, the war drags bitterly on & it feels like the rains will never come again. All the local, able-bodied young men, including Jack, the husband Kate barely knows, have enlisted & Kate`s father is struggling with his debts & his wounds from the Great War. He borrows recklessly from the bank & enlists two Italian prisoners of war to live & work on the farm. With their own scars & their defiance, the POWs Luca & Vittorio offer an apparent threat to Kate & Daisy, the family`s young Aboriginal maid. But danger comes from surprising corners & Kate finds herself more drawn to Luca than afraid of him. A scorned bank managers, snobbish neighbours & a distant husband expect Kate to fail & give up her home but over the course of a dry, desperate year she finds within herself reserves of strength & rebellion that she could never have expected. The Woolgrower`s Companion is the gripping story of one woman`s fight to save her home & a passionate tribute to Australia`s landscape & its people.”A heartbreaking tale, beautifully told. Magical.” (Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help). ...

Erin is 19. She`s never really left Engl&, but she has watched Bear Grylls & wonders why it`s always men who get to go on all the cool wilderness adventures. So Erin sets off on a voyage into the Alaskan wilderness, a one-woman challenge to the archetype of the rugged male explorer. As Erin`s journey takes her through the Arctic Circle, across the entire breadth of the American continent & finally to a lonely cabin in the wilds of Denali, she explores subjects as diverse as the moon landings, the Gaia hypothesis, loneliness, nuclear war, shamanism & the pill. Filled with a sense of wonder for the natural world & a fierce love for preserving it, The Word for Woman is Wilderness is a funny, frank & tender account of a young woman in uncharted territory. ...

A wealthy woman strangled six hours after she’s arranged her own funeral.A very private detective uncovering secrets but hiding his own.A reluctant author drawn into a story he can’t control. What do they have in common? Unexpected death, an unsolved mystery & a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz`s page-turning new thriller. SPREAD THE WORD. THE WORD IS MURDER. ...

SHE PLANNED HER OWN FUNERAL. BUT DID SHE ARRANGE HER MURDER? Buried secrets, murder & a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz`s page-turning new detective series. If you enjoyed BBC`s Sherlock, you`ll LOVE The Word is Murder! ` Actually the word is not murder, it`s ingenious.. . A masterful meta-mystery.` (Booklist)`A very clever & inventive mystery` (Bookbag)`A perfect detective novel in a unique style complete with an excellent twist!` (Life Has a Funny Way of Sneaking Up On You)` With its unorthodox protagonist, clever plotting, brilliantly imperfect characters, & escalating sense of urgency & intrigue, THE WORD IS MURDER is an instant crime classic that will keep you reading as fast as you can... one of the best & most compulsively readable mysteries of the year. Hugely satisfying on every level.` (Written by Sime)` Will undoubtedly exhilarate not only crime & Horowitz fans but anyone who enjoys the sense of metafiction & fourth wall breaking found in books by authors like Lemony Snicket, Bret Easton Ellis & Martin Amis.` (Fiendfully Reading)A wealthy woman strangled six hours after she`s arranged her own funeral.A very private detective uncovering secrets but hiding his own.A reluctant author drawn into a story he can`t control. What do they have in common? Unexpected death, an unsolved mystery & a trail of bloody clues lie at the heart of Anthony Horowitz`s page-turning new thriller. ...

`17th-century Amsterdam sparkles into life in this delightful, playful & beautifully written debut. I loved it!` Rachel Hore, bestselling author of A Week In Paris ` Guinevere Glasfurd`s writing is fresh & elegant. I loved the subject & the way she brings Amsterdam in the 1600s into vivid, believable life. A lovely book` Dinah Jefferies, bestselling author of The Tea Planter`s Wife The Words in My Hand is the reimagined true story of Helena Jans, a Dutch maid in 17th-century Amsterdam, who works for Mr Sergeant the English bookseller. When a mysterious & reclusive lodger arrives
- the Monsieur
- Mr Sergeant insists everything must be just so. It transpires that the Monsieur is Rene Descartes. This is Helena`s story: the woman in front of Descartes, a young woman who yearns for knowledge, who wants to write so badly she makes ink from beetroot & writes in secret on her skin
- only to be held back by her position in society. Weaving together the story of Descartes` quest for reason with Helena`s struggle for literacy, their worlds overlap as their feelings deepen; yet remain sharply divided. For all Descartes` learning, it is Helena he seeks out as she reveals the surprise in the everyday world that surrounds him. When reputation is everything & with so much to lose, some truths must remain hidden. Helena & Descartes face a terrible tragedy & ultimately have to decide if their love is possible at all.


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In the Gaza Strip, growing up on land owned by his family for centuries, eleven-year-old Yousef is preoccupied by video games, school pranks, & meeting his father`s impossibly high standards. Everything changes when the Second Intifada erupts & soldiers occupy the family home. Yousef`s father refuses to flee & risk losing the house forever, so the army keeps the family in a state of virtual imprisonment. Yousef struggles to understand how his father can be so committed to peaceful co-existence that he welcomes the occupying Israeli soldiers as `guests`, even in the face of unfair & humiliating treatment. Over time, Yousef learns how to endure his new life in captivity
- but he can`t anticipate that a bullet is about to transform his future in an instant. Shot by an Israeli soldier at the age of fifteen, & taken to hospital in Tel Aviv, Yousef slowly & painstakingly confronts the paralysis of his lower body. Under the ceaseless care of Israeli medical professionals, he gains a new perspective on the value of co-existence. These transformative experiences set Yousef on a difficult new path that leads him to learn to embody his father`s philosophy, & spread a message of co-existence in a world of deep-set sectarianism. The Words of My Father is a moving coming-of-age story about survival, tolerance & hope.
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