Many of us have dreamed about upping sticks, leaving the humdrum of urban living for a new life of blue skies, warm sunshine & sparkling seas. For Anthony & Ivana Stancomb, moving from Fulham to Vis was an easy decision. But fitting in with the locals was one of the hardest things they have ever had to do. Under a Croatian Sun takes the reader on a journey from Grey Britain to a ramshackle village in Croatia
- a village proudly defined by its tragic history, its unique cafe culture, its fishing industry & its potent alcohol. Faced with a language barrier & not the friendliest of locals, little by little our undaunted couple become islanders in their own right, & melt a few hearts in the process. With the Adriatic Sea as a backdrop, we trace their transformation from foreigners to friends, taking in their adventures on the water, fierce grandmothers, star-cross`d lovers & the establishment of the island`s first ever cricket team. This heartwarming accounts of following your heart & not your head, shows how, with a bit of courage & an open mind, home is wherever you make it.
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The daughter of prosperous Jews, Heda Kovaly found her world turned upside down with the German annexation of Czechoslovakia. Deported to Lodz Ghetto in 1941 & then to Auschwitz, where her parents were murdered, in 1944, Kovaly made a miraculous escape from a column of prisoners being marched to Bergen-Belsen in early 1945. On reuniting with her husband in Prague after the war, things started to look more hopeful. Rudolf Margolius became a deputy minister of foreign trade. But in 1952 he & 13 other government officials were tried & 11 of those hanged in one of the era`s most notorious show trials. Heda Kovaly & her four year old son were hounded by the state & shunned by society. In this powerful & moving memoir, Kovaly describes her imprisonment by the Nazis during WWII & her persecution by the Communists in the 1950s
- a classic account of life under totalitarianism.
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` All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, & to, & why.` Rick Stein`s childhood in 1950s rural Oxfordshire & North Cornwall was idyllic. His parents were charming & gregarious, their five children much-loved & given freedom typical of the time. As he grew older, the holidays were filled with loud & lively parties in his parents` Cornish barn. But ever-present was the unpredicatible mood of his bipolar father, with Rick frequently the focus of his anger & sadness. When Rick was 18 his father killed himself. Emotionally adrift, Rick left for Australia, carrying a suitcase stamped with his father`s initials. Manual labour in the outback followed by adventures in America & Mexico toughened up the naive public schoolboy, but at heart he was still lost & unsure what to do with his life. Eventually, Cornwall called him home. From the entrepreneurial days of his mobile disco, the violet Tiger, to his first, unlikely unlikely nightclub where much of the time was spent breaking up drink-fuelled fights, Rick charts his personal journey in a way that is both wry & perceptive; engaging & witty. ...

` All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, & to, & why.` Rick Stein`s childhood in 1950s rural Oxfordshire & North Cornwall was idyllic. His parents were charming & gregarious, their five children much-loved & given freedom typical of the time. As he grew older, the holidays were filled with loud & lively parties in his parents` Cornish barn. But ever-present was the unpredicatible mood of his bipolar father, with Rick frequently the focus of his anger & sadness. When Rick was 18 his father killed himself. Emotionally adrift, Rick left for Australia, carrying a suitcase stamped with his father`s initials. Manual labour in the outback followed by adventures in America & Mexico toughened up the naive public schoolboy, but at heart he was still lost & unsure what to do with his life. Eventually, Cornwall called him home. From the entrepreneurial days of his mobile disco, the violet Tiger, to his first, unlikely unlikely nightclub where much of the time was spent breaking up drink-fuelled fights, Rick charts his personal journey in a way that is both wry & perceptive; engaging & witty. It is shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards 2013. ...

What had until recently been a police sergeant is now lying at Ghote`s feet bleeding its last. An accident it may have been, but Ghote saw exactly what happened, & it`s his duty to arrest the killer. Isn`t it? Or can the inspector better serve his beloved police force by disposing of the body, by concealing a crime? & if he does, will he manage to keep his terrible secret? As an Inquiry begins beneath the first torrents of monsoon rain
- will he even want to?
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Stef Penney, COSTA WINNING AUTHOR of THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES, returns to the Arctic with `A dazzling tale of romance & survival` (Guardian.) Perfect for fans of THE ESSEX SERPENT & TO THE BRIGHT EDGE OF THE WORLD. `[ Penney writes] with a persuasive & appealing hunger... there is a touch of Donna Tartt here` The Times` In the masterfully evoked Arctic landscape & in her depictions of sex... she finds her true, dazzling stride` Guardian Flora Mackie first crossed the Arctic Circle at the age of twelve. In 1889, the whaler`s daughter from Dundee
- dubbed by the press ` The Snow Queen`
- sets out to become a scientist & explorer. She struggles to be taken seriously but determination & chance lead her back to northern Greenland at the head of a British expedition, despite the many who believe that a young woman has no place in this harsh world of men. Geologist Jakob de Beyn was raised in Manhattan. Yearning for wider horizons, he joins a rival expedition, led by the furiously driven Lester Armitage. When Jakob & Flora`s paths cross, it is a fateful meeting. All three become obsessed with the north, a place where violent extremes exist side by side: perpetual night & endless day; frozen seas & coastal meadows; heroism & lies. Armitage`s ruthless desire to be the true leader of polar discovery takes him & his men on a mission whose tragic outcome will reverberate for years to come. Set against the stark, timeless beauty of northern Greenl&, & fin-de-siecle New York & London, Under a Pole Star is a compelling look at the dark side of the `golden age` of exploration, a study of the corrosive power of ambition, & an epic, incendiary love story. It shows that sometimes you have to travel to the furthest edge of the world in order to find your true place in it.

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The Sahel
- the `shore` of the Sahara
- is where cultures, customs & climates meet, merge & clash. Through the numerous

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This is shortlisted for the 2013 Samuel Johnson Prize. This is a book about the encounter with Roman Britain: about what the idea of ` Roman Britain` has meant to those who came after Britain`s 400-year stint as province of Rome
- from the medieval mythographer-historian Geoffrey of Monmouth to Edward Elgar & W.H. Auden. What does Roman Britain mean to us now? How were its physical remains rediscovered & made sense of? How has it been reimagined, in story & song & verse? Charlotte Higgins has traced these tales by setting out to discover the remains of Roman Britain for herself, sometimes on foot, sometimes in a splendid, though not particularly reliable, VW camper van. Via accounts of some of Britain`s most intriguing, & often unjustly overlooked ancient monuments, Under Another Sky invites us to see the British landscape, & British history, in an entirely fresh way: as indelibly marked by how the Romans first imagined, & wrote, these strange & exotic islands, perched on the edge of the known world, into existence.
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This is a book about the encounter with Roman Britain: about what the idea of ` Roman Britain` has meant to those who came after Britain`s 400-year stint as province of Rome
- from the medieval mythographer-historian Geoffrey of Monmouth to Edward Elgar & W.H. Auden. What does Roman Britain mean to us now? How were its physical remains rediscovered & made sense of? How has it been reimagined, in story & song & verse? Charlotte Higgins has traced these tales by setting out to discover the remains of Roman Britain for herself, sometimes on foot, sometimes in a splendid, though not particularly reliable, VW camper van. Via accounts of some of Britain`s most intriguing, & often unjustly overlooked ancient monuments, Under Another Sky invites us to see the British landscape, & British history, in an entirely fresh way: as indelibly marked by how the Romans first imagined, & wrote, these strange & exotic islands, perched on the edge of the known world, into existence.
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Following on from Mizielinski`s Under Earth Under Water comes this beautiful book packed with fascinating facts & activities ranging from mazes to complete the scene & colouring in. Will keep children entertained for hours. stunning artwork drawing on animals & objects found beneath the surface. ...