Already a classic among sailors Nichols tell the true story of the inaugural 1968 Golden Globe sailing race: the first single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the world. One of the most gripping sea stories I have ever read." (Sebastian Junger). It lay like a gauntlet thrown down; to sail around the world alone & non-stop. No one had ever done it no one knew if it could be done. In 1968 nine men
- six Englishmen two Frenchmen & an Italian
- set out to try a race born of coincidence of their timing. One didnt even know how to sail. They had more in common with Captain Cook or Ferdinand Magellan than with the high-tech extreme sailors of today a mere forty years later. It was not the sea or the weather that determined the nature of their voyages but the men they were & they were as different from one another as Scott from Amundsen. Only one of the nine crossed the finishing line after ten months at sea. The rest encountered despair sublimity madness & even death."

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Brought to life with startling autobiographical detail Jean Rhys Good Morning Midnight" is a poignant portrait of a woman fighting to retain her integrity after being set adrift in a foreign country. This " Penguin Classics" edition

Includes:: an introduction by Carole Angier. It was as if a curtain had fallen hiding everything I had ever known says Anna Morgan eighteen years old & catapulted to England from the West Indies after the death of her beloved father. Working as a chorus girl Anna drifts into the demi-monde of Edwardian London. But there dismayed by the unfamiliar cold & greyness she is absolutely alone & unconsciously floating from innocence to harsh experience. Her childish dreams have been replaced by the harsher reality of living in a mans world where all charity has its price " Voyage in the Dark" was first published in 1934 but it could have been written today. It is the story of an unhappy love affair a portrait of a hypocritical society & an exploration of exile & breakdown; all written in Jean Rhys hauntingly simple & beautiful style. Jean Rhys (1894-1979) was born in Dominica. Coming to England aged 16 she drifted into various jobs before moving to Paris where she began writing & was discovered by Ford Madox Ford. Her novels often portraying women as underdogs out to exploit their sexualities were ahead of their time & only modestly successful. From 1939 (when " Good Morning Midnight" was written) onwards she lived reclusively & was largely forgotten when she made a sensational comeback with her account of " Jane Eyres" Bertha Rochester " Wide Sargasso Sea" in 1966. If you enjoyed " Voyage in the Dark" you might like James Joyces "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" also available in " Penguin Classics". "A wonderful bitter-sweet book written with disarming simplicity" (Esther Freud " Express"). " Her eloquence in the language of human sexual transactions is chilling cynical & surprisingly moving". (A.L. Kennedy)."

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Charles Darwins travels around the world as an independent naturalist on HMS Beagle between 1831 & 1836 impressed upon him a sense of the natural worlds beauty & sublimity which language could barely capture. Words he said were inadequate to convey to those who have not visited the inter-tropical regions the sensation of delight which the mind experiences. Yet in a travel journal which takes the reader from the coasts & interiors of South America to South Sea Islands Darwins descriptive powers are constantly challenged but never once overcome. In addition The Voyage of the Beagle displays Darwins powerful speculative mind at work posing searching questions about the complex relation between the Earths structure animal forms anthropology & the origins of life itself. ...

The Narnia Chronicles first published in 1950 have been & remain some of the most enduringly popular childrens books ever published. The best known The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe has been translated into 29 languages! Eustace found himself standing on the picture frame. In front of him was not glass but real sea. When Lucy Edmund & their awful cousin Eustace are suddenly swept into the picture of a sailing ship they find themselves in the magical kingdom of Narnia & on a voyage of discovery to the End of the World. This is the fifth adventure in the exciting Chronicles of Narnia. ...

Sable Keech is a walking dead man. Was he resurrected because he was infected by the Spatterjay virus or it took place late in a tank of seawater? Taylor Bloc wants to know the truth. He also wants more -- adulation power control -- & will go to any lengths to achieve them. An ancient hive mind has sent an agent to this uncertain world. Does it merely want to obtain the poison sprine that is crucial to immortality? Erlin still faced with the ennui of immortality is interrupted by an angry whelkus titanicus & begins a strange journey. Deep in the ocean the Spatterjay virus has wrought a terrible change that will affect them all. Something long-dormant is breaking free. & Sniper its Warden finally receives his new drone shell. Its better than his old one: powerful engines more lethal weapons thicker armour. Hes going to need them. ...

This is an epic historical novel following on from the bestselling Dragonfly in Amber." Their passionate encounter happened two centuries ago when the gallant renegade Jamie Fraser sent her back to her own time pregnant with his child believing he would be killed in the bloody Battle of Culloden in 1746. Now their daughter has grown up & Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Drawn back across the chasm of time she seeks once more the man she could never forget the destiny she cannot ignore..." ...

This inspirational & comprehensive handbook leads the reader step by step through choosing planning & following the voyagers life. Whether long distance sailor or armchair cruiser; contemplating a cruise for a few months or even a year; sailing on a shoestring or a CEOs pension; this new edition is the most comprehensive best organised & authoritative treatment of how to prepare & execute a major voyage under sail. Packed with detailed information on finding & equipping the right boat selecting crewmembers financing the voyage weather forecasting passage planning heavy-weather sailing staying healthy & sane & mid-ocean repairs The Voyagers Handbook is the ultimate resource for anyone planning preparing for or just dreaming about the adventure of a lifetime. Belongs on the bookshelf of every cruising vessel Blue Water Sailing If you are serious about that extended voyage read The Voyagers Handbook Sailing ...

Cooks three voyages of discovery which took place between 1768 & 1779 are among the most remarkable achievements in the history of exploration. Cook charted vast areas of the globe with astonishing accuracy & the voyages also made a significant contribution towards solving some of the great problems of cartography & navigation. With crews containing gifted sailors & navigators as well as botanists painters & scientists Cook provides the link between the speculative profit-hungry voyages of the Elizabethan seafarers & the scientific expeditions of the nineteenth & twentieth centuries. ...

This is a new unabridged edition of the beloved story of the doctor who can talk to animals has long enchanted children. Strikingly illustrated by Scott Mc Kowen this book is sure to find a treasured place in any familys library. It is suitable for children aged 10 years & up. Hugh Loftings beloved story of the doctor who can talk to animals has long enchanted children. Though his fondness for pets drives away all his human patients as a veterinarian Doctor Doolittle has the magic touch. Join him Polynesia Jip the dog Dab-Dab the duck & the rest of his furry & feathered friends as they face evil kings & treacherous pirates while handling their most important case ever. This handsome unabridged edition of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle" with striking illustrations by Scott Mc Kowen is sure to find a treasured place in any familys library." ...

' Tim & I both understood we had done something really stupid. We had underestimated the danger involved in going out to sea. We had no radio compass life raft or flares. In other words we were a couple of idiots'. This is the story of Shane & Timothy Spall & their Dutch barge The Princess Matilda. After a summer on the Thames they head out to sea with only a road atlas & a vast amount of ignorance
- & it is absolutely terrifying! On their travels memories are triggered of childhood trips to the seaside but also of more recent times. A decade before Tim had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia & was given only days to live. Shocked at how life can pass you by they decided that when & if Tim got better they would buy a boat. As Tim & Shane explore the coast from the Medway to Cornwall eventually they start to wonder could they make it out of England altogether? Could Matilda make it to.. . Wales? Taking over five years The Voyages of The Princess Matilda" is a minor epic charting a very personal moving & uplifting story of an everyday couple's adventure around their much loved homel&."
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