Whiffy Wilson doesn`t know how to hold a pen & has never looked in a book, but fortunately his friend Dotty is on hand to show him that school is fun. Soon, Whiffy is in his element, & when he gets a gold star for all his work he realises that school is the BEST THING EVER! Multi-award-winning author Caryl Hart, & artist Leonie Lord reunite in this fantastic companion title to Whiffy Wilson the Wolf Who Wouldn`t Wash. With Caryl Hart`s funny story & Leonie Lord`s fabulous art, schooldays have never been such fun! ...

Armed with a field guide & a half-decent pair of binoculars, Charlie Elder travels the length & breadth of the British Isles to spot forty bird species in serious decline
- the UK`s Red List. He looks at why their numbers have fallen, what efforts are being made to encourage their recoveries & meets experts & enthusiasts who are working to make a difference. He also examines just why birds matter in the first place & considers the role of the birdwatcher
- one species that is certainly not in decline.

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` It sounds dreadful, ` I said to him one day. ` But actually the war is the best thing that ever happened to me.` Helena`s mother always said she was a born poetess. It was not a compliment. Now an old woman, Helena looks back on her life & tries to capture the past, filling notebook after notebook with memories of her respectable, rigid upbringing, her unyielding mother, her loyal father, her golden-haired brother. She remembers how, at their uncle`s country house in the summer of 1914, their stately bourgeois life of good manners, white linen & afternoon tea collapsed into ruins. & how, with war, came a kind of liberation amidst the mud & rubble-and the appearance of a young English photographer who transformed her existence. Lyrical & tender, filled with images of blazing intensity, While the Gods Were Sleeping asks how it is possible to record the dislocation of war; to describe the indescribable. It is a breathtaking novel about the act of remembering, how the past seeps into our lives & how those we have lost leave their trace in the present. ”A beautifully unorthodox novel of the Great War...a kaleidoscopic palette” Independent ” Almost too beautiful a writer...the footprint of Proust visible on every page” Financial Times ” Sumptuously imagined” Independent Best Translated Fiction 2014 ” Visceral & heart-stopping...deeply & painfully moving...one of the finest war stories ever written” New Books ” Mortier writes so well that you are inclined to see everything else as of secondary importance” NRC Handelsblad ”A monumental, phenomenal book” De Morgen ” If Marcel Proust had a descendant somewhere in Flanders, he must have been born in Ghent.” Knack Erwin Mortier (1965) made his mark in 1999 with his debut novel Marcel, which was awarded several prizes in Belgium & the Netherlands, & received acclaim throughout Europe. In the following years he quickly built up a reputation as of one the leading authors of his generation. His novel While the Gods were Sleeping received the AKO Literature Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the Netherlands. His latest work, Stammered Song Book, a mother`s book of hours, ` a raw yet tender elegy about illness & loss, was met with unanimous praise. Mortier`s evocative descriptions bring past worlds brilliantly to life. ...

Love & marriage brought American anthropologist Elizabeth Enslin to a world she never planned to make her own: a life among Brahman in-laws in a remote village in the plains of Nepal. As she faced the challenges of married life, birth, & childrearing in a foreign culture, she discovered as much about human resilience, & the capacity for courage, as she did about herself. While the Gods Were Sleeping: A Journey Through Love & Rebellion in Nepal tells a compelling story of a woman transformed in intimate & unexpected ways. Set against the backdrop of increasing political turmoil in Nepal, Enslin`s story takes us deep into the lives of local women as they claim their rightful place in society--and make their voices heard. ...

Celebrated as one of the greatest writers of his time, Javier Marias is best known for his spy trilogy, Your Face Tomorrow, which has been compared to Proust & hailed as one of the great modern European novels. In his first short story collection for fifteen years, he brings together tales which span his entire writing career: haunting tales from the very edges of life. An obscenely fat man obsessed with his much younger lover endlessly videotapes her every move, a ghost is condemned to repeatedly resign from his job, & a man of impeccable refinement meets his doppelganger at a work dinner, resulting in ghoulish life changes for both men. ...

Whiskeytown
- Shasta
- Trinity National Recreational Area in northern California on a series of detailed, contoured maps from

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Island whiskies have long held a fascination & a powerful emotional draw on whisky drinkers the world over. Their special combination of heritage, mystique, & remote location captures the imagination; their highly distinctive flavours are often imitated but seldom bettered. There have been few books on island whisky & none written in recent years. But Whiskies Galore is not your average whisky book. It is not simply a catalogue of distilleries, but a story of discovery & adventure. Join Ian Buxton on a personal journey across Scotland`s islands, where he learns to fish with high explosives, ends up hurling his dinner into the sea, & comes face to face with a basking shark. Combining an expert`s knowledge of whisky with a travel writer`s fondness for anecdote, & with a keen description of place, he provides a special treat for all who love the islands` magical drams. ...

Island whiskies have long held a fascination & a powerful emotional draw on whisky drinkers the world over. Their special combination of heritage, mystique, & remote location captures the imagination; their highly distinctive flavours are often imitated but seldom bettered. There have been few books on island whisky & none written in recent years. But Whiskies Galore is not your average whisky book. It is not simply a catalogue of distilleries, but a story of discovery & adventure. Join Ian Buxton on a personal journey across Scotland`s islands, where he learns to fish with high explosives, ends up hurling his dinner into the sea, & comes face to face with a basking shark. Combining an expert`s knowledge of whisky with a travel writer`s fondness for anecdote, & with a keen description of place, he provides a special treat for all who love the islands` magical drams. ...

This is in the opinion of many whisky writers & experts the finest whisky book ever written. It is certainly the first written from the point of view of the consumer & is thus hugely historically significant. But more than that, poetic & polemic in style & with its emphasis on the importance of single malt whisky & its concern to protect & inform the consumer, it remains fresh & relevant to the interests of today`s whisky drinker. It is a remarkably prophetic book, & with Ian Buxton`s shrewd commentary & analysis, combined for the first time with period illustrations, it is brought bang up to date for today`s generations of whisky aficionados. ...

` Whisky, A Very Peculiar History` takes a sideways look at this most inebriating beverage from its simplistic origins to its pride of place in the drinks cabinets of the world. When Henry VIII disbanded the monasteries & let those brewing monks out into the wilderness, he had no idea of the kind of beast he`d unleashed. Whisky was used as a medicine, giving `the glow of apparent well-being` & even horses were known to be given a dram here & there (although via the kneecaps). Featuring quirky tales of whisky`s development & refining through the ages & detailed stories about its effect on the common man & woman, ` Whisky, A Very Peculiar History` delivers a warm aftertaste of hilarity with every shot of fact. ...