In Consolations of the Forest" Sylvain Tesson explains how he found a radical solution to his need for freedom one as ancient as the experiences of the hermits of old Russia: he decided to lock himself alone in a cabin in the middle taiga on the shores of Baikal for six months. From February to July 2010 he lived in silence solitude & cold. His cabin built by Soviet geologists in the Brezhnev years is a cube of logs three meters by three meters heated by a cast iron skillet six-day walk from the nearest village & hundreds of miles of track. To live isolated from the world while retaining one's sanity requires a routine Tesson discovered. In the morning he would read write smoke or draw & then devoted hours to cutting the wood shoveling snow & fishing. Emotionally these months proved a challenge & the loneliness was crippling. Tesson found in paper a valuable confidant the notebook a polite companion. Noting carefully almost daily his impressions of the silence his struggles to survive in a hostile nature his despair his doubts but also its moments of ecstasy inner peace & harmony with nature Sylvain Tesson shares with us an extraordinary experience. Writer journalist & traveler Sylvain Tesson was born in 1972. After a world tour by bicycle he developed a passion for Central Asia & has travelled tirelessly since 1997. He came to prominence in 2004 with a remarkable travelogue Axis of Wolf (Robert Laffont). Editions Gallimard have already published his "A Life of a Mouthful" (2009) & with Thomas Goisque & Bertrand de Miollis " High Voltage" (2009). In 2009 he won the Prix Goncourt for "A Life of a Mouthful" & in 2011 won the Prix Medicis for non-fiction for " Consolations of the Forest: Alone in Siberia"." ...

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was the Second World War's most numerous Allied heavy bomber &
- at over 18 000 made
- the

...

Throughout history some books have changed the world. They have transformed the way we see ourselves
- & each other. They have
...

THE ROMAN EMPIRE IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE CHURCH OF ROME! 609 AD. Rome is torn apart by war plague & internal power struggles between the Emperor the aristocracy & the Church. Into this morass stumbles the young & handsome Briton Aelric. His father was murdered his inheritance stolen. Forcibly separated from the woman he loves he is determined to win back all that he has lost. Through his naivety & ambition he unwittingly becomes involved in a heretical plot that will lead to fraud high treason & murder. Introducing the most compelling anti-hero since Flashman CONSPIRACIES OF ROME takes you back to one of the darkest & least known periods of history. ...

Jack Norton is a Ghost Walker a genetically enhanced sniper with a merciless sense of justice a phantom welcomed by the anonymity of the night. But a mission to rescue his brother in the jungle has left him vulnerable to rebel forces. His only salvation is his power of telepathy. Then he meets Briony an unusual beauty on a mission of her own. But they share more than the sweltering heat.. . Briony shares the Ghost Walker powers. Yet she's different. She doesn't know what she is or what she's capable of. But her enemies do. & Jack & Briony's flight will take them into frightening conspiracy of mind & body
- across the globe & into the heart of darkness where the shocking truth is something neither of them could have foreseen
- or can escape...

...

Corduroy Mansions Pimlico is an oasis of old-fashioned civilisation its inhabitants considerate & peace-loving. But beneath the polite exterior seismic change is stirring. Barbara Ragg makes an eye-popping discovery about her stolid Scottish suitor's past while Oedipus Snark
- newly appointed & tirelessly self-interested Government Minister
- has a close encounter in Switzerland that leaves him a new man all together. Then plucky canine Freddie de la Hay goes missing & his owner widower William French is so shaken by an unexpected declaration of love that he seriously considers making a disappearance himself. Goodhearted well-intentioned but often to be found barking up the wrong tree the residents of Corduroy Mansions remain a thoroughly entertaining example to us all.

...

Tracing family histories is a popular pursuit & everyone loves the idea of discovering where they really come from. But when Bobbie Neate began to investigate her own family's past she made some shocking discoveries which would cause shockwaves within her own family as well as on a much wider national scale. The result of Bobbie's quest is an enthralling journey not only into her own past but also into the history of this country & its leaders. It was after the death of her beloved mother that Bobbie started to question strange events from her childhood. From hazy recollections grew firm lines of enquiry & eventually she was able to match her memories with actual historical data. Her discoveries were mind-blowing. Her stepfather
- & indeed the man she had referred to as 'father' for most of her life
- had kept a huge secret & had lied about who he really was. In this intriguing biographical detective story the author reveals that Louis T Stanley well known in Formula One racing circles had hidden his true backgroud from his wife & from the public. He was not the man he pretended to be but was the illegitimate son of an elderly serving Prime Minister HH Asquith & the young Venetia Stanley an aristocrat's daughter. One hundred years after these events took place the truth behind one of the biggest cover-ups in British political history can be revealed. As well as serving as an important historical document which will challenge commonly-held opinions of modern British history. Conspiracy of Secrets is equally a revealing personal memoir which uncovers what kind of a man Louis T Stanley really was. His stifling influence over the author & her family is explored as are the extraordinary lengths he went to in order to cover up his past & his true identity. This wonderfully researched book is a gripping story of forbidden love betrayal & identity.

...

The dour days of Cromwell are over. Charles II is well established at White Hall Palace his mistress at hand in rooms over the Holbein bridge the heads of some of the regicides on public display. London seethes with new energy freed from the strictures of the Protectorate but many of its inhabitants have lost their livelihoods. One is Thomas Chaloner a reluctant spy for the feared Secretary of State John Thurloe & now returned from Holland in desperate need of employment. His erstwhile boss knowing he has many enemies at court recommends Thomas to Lord Clarendon but in return demands that Thomas keep him informed of any plot against him. But what Thomas discovers is that Thurloe had sent another ex-employee to White Hall & he is dead supposedly murdered by footpads near the Thames. Chaloner volunteers to investigate his killing: instead he is despatched to the Tower to unearth the gold buried by the last Governor. He discovers not treasure but evidence that greed & self-interest are uppermost in men's minds whoever is in power & that his life has no value to either side. ...

Did Michael Jackson fake his own death in a bid to escape financial ruin? Is swine flu a dastardly plot by global pharmaceutical companies or a scare campaign created by the pork industrys competitors? Are the British Royal Family really reptilian shape-shifting aliens? Youll discover startling evidence on these topics & many more in this compelling compendium of the worlds scariest & wackiest conspiracy theories. This guide leaves no stone unturned as it delves into such conundrums as the mysterious circumstances of Alexander Litvinenkos death the alleged withheld evidence pertaining to the 7 July bombings & whether global warming is a hoax. Whether youre a sceptic or a self-confessed conspiracy junkie youll find a cover-up for every occasion. & remember just because youre paranoid doesnt mean theyre not after you... ...

Would British scientists really test sarin never poison on young volunteers & tell them it was research for a cure for colds? Would they really release E coli in Swindon & Southampton to try out germ warfare techniques? Even 50 years on on-ones telling the whole story. Conspiracies & cover-ups real or imagined have shaped our world. Now leaked cables & declassified papers are rewriting the history of our times. More information must be good but how do you tell truth from fiction? In this fresh readable look at 50 conspiracy theories Ian Shircore cuts through the fog & misinformation to deliver a balance analysis of the key facts behind the unsettling suspicions that litter our recent past. Todays new evidence
- from Wiki Leaks freedom of information requests & declassified archives
- has solved some classic mysteries. Yet it raises more questions than ever about the assassinations of the 1960s the dirty secrets of the late 20th century & the earth-shaking events of recent years. Once youve see what Wiki Leaks has revealed about the radioactive poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko you wont be so sure about the British secret service. Once youve weighed the evidence yourself you may well decide there was a Second Yorkshire Ripper that cricketing hero Bob Woolmer was murdered & that rock icon Jim Morrisons death in Paris was anything but straightforward.

...