This is one of the world's greatest stories of adventure survival & escape. Slavomir Rawicz was a young Polish cavalry officer. On 9th November 1939 he was arrested by the Russians & after brutal interrogation in Moscow's infamous Lubyanka prison & a farce of a trial he was sentenced to 25 years' hard labour in the Gulags for 'spying'. After a three-month journey to Siberia in the depths of winter he escaped with six companions realising that to stay in the camp meant almost certain death. In June 1941 they crossed the trans-Siberian railway & headed south climbing into Tibet & finally freedom nine months later in March 1942 after travelling on foot for 4 000 miles through some of the harshest regions in the world including the Gobi Desert. By the end he weighed just five stone & 3 of the 7 had died. ...

Young Mikey Quinn scavenging on the streets of Hull is thrown into prison for stealing a rabbit from the butcher. His chief accuser a well-to-do lawyer has a daughter Eleanor whom he badly mistreats. When Mikey is released he finds that his mother has died & his brothers taken into the workhouse
- determined to find a better life for his family he walks all the way to London to seek his fortune. There he finds that the grim realities of city life are even worse than they were in Hull & comes under the evil patronage of the sinister Tully first encountered when he was in prison. But he also meets Eleanor again & between them they face the dangers of London & gradually make a new life for themselves. Together they have to face journeying back to Hull
- the long walk home.

...

This is the story of how over a period of one hundred & ninety-two days I was torn away from the life I knew & loved & dragged down to the depths of despair; of how I endured enforced isolation & near-starvation at the hands of Somali pirates; & of how I made a choice to survive by any & all means that I could muster. In September 2011 Judith Tebbutt & her husband David set out on an adventurous holiday to Kenya. A couple for thirty-three years they had first met in Zambia: Africa had played a major part in their life together. After a joyous week on safari in the Masai Mara they flew on to a beach resort forty kilometres south of Somalia. & there in the early hours of 11 September tragedy struck them. Judith was torn away from David by a band of armed pirates dragged over sea & land to a village in the arid heart of lawless Somalia & there held hostage in a squalid room a ransom on her head. There too she learned the terrible truth that the responsibility of securing her release now rested with her son Ollie. But though she was isolated intimidated & near-starved Judith resolved to survive
- walking endless circuits of her nine-foot prison trying to make her captors see her as a human being keeping her faith at all times in Ollie. Powerful moving & at times quite devastating this is Judith Tebbutt's story in her own words. It is a memoir of the life she shared with her beloved husband an unflinching account of the ordeal that overturned her world & a testament to the inner resilience & familial love that sustained her through captivity. There is nothing so bad in life as to have no hope
- to believe you have been defeated to give in to that. Now that I found myself in confinement four thousand miles from home under a hostile sky I would not accept that fate for myself.

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At the peak of her fast-paced career as a news presenter & interviewer Selina Scott bought a house in the Tramuntana hills of Mallorca. It was a ramshackle old farmhouse without even mains electricity but the beauty & peace of the surroundings promised an idyllic escape from her high-pressure job. After several years of commuting between continents she decided to settle there & spend time renovating the house properly. Along the way a new rhythm & peaceful way of life would surely emerge? It was then that the adventure really began. In this funny elegantly written account of her Spanish years Selina tells us about the house that captured her heart the neighbours that became friends & those that didnt the hills & wildlife that enchanted her the building work that nearly broke her & crucially the dog that found her & changed every single one of her best laid plans! This title presents an uplifting story of escape change & friendship. ...

The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral & political leader of our time A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM brilliantly re-creates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela's destiny. Emotive compelling & uplifting A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship resilience & ultimate triumph told with the clarity & eloquence of a born leader. ' Burns with the luminosity of faith in the invincible nature of human hope & dignity.. . Unforgettable' Andre Brink ' Enthralling.. . Mandela emulates the few great political leaders such as Lincoln & Gandhi who go beyond mere consensus & move out ahead of their followers to break new ground' Donald Woods in the SUNDAY TIMES ...

After their fantastic trip round the world in 2004 fellow actors & bike fanatics Ewan Mc Gregor & Charley Boorman couldn't shake the travel bug. & after an inspirational UNICEF visit to Africa they knew they had to go back & experience this extraordinary continent in more depth. & so they set off on their 15 000-mile adventure experiencing some of the toughest terrain in the world
- & meeting some of the friendliest people. Containing over one hundred exclusive photographs
- including some taken by Ewan & Charley & many more by internationally renowned photographer Julian Broad
- this beautifully illustrated edition vividly documents a trip of a lifetime.


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The year is 1955. A time when international travel is reserved for the privileged few Andy Marshall an 18 year old National Service conscript from Plymouth finds himself posted to the other side of the world. Soon after his arrival at RAF Changi Singapore he is sent on detached duty to a staging post on a remote island in the South China Sea close to the mainland of Borneo. His nine month tour of duty there is filled with a succession of bizarre experiences as he attempts to adjust to living & working with the 30-strong complement of Airmen led by an eccentric Station Commander. Andy returns to Changi where his unusual exploits both on & off duty continue unabated. Throughout his service in the Far East he is left to reflect on the wisdom of a last-minute marriage proposal prior to his departure from Engl&. His two years of service for Queen & Country completed he returns home to re-adjust to civilian life only to discover the lengthy period of separation from his fiancee has had a profound effect on their relationship. Meanwhile his thoughts are filled with memories of the his time overseas particularly the camaraderie amongst his fellow men. A re-union of former colleagues takes place but with surprising consequences...A Long Way from Home is a work of fiction inspired by the authors personal experiences. It paints a wickedly humorous & perceptive picture from an era when National Service was accepted almost without question. Given the continuing debate of the desirability of re-introducing some form of compulsory military service this novel throws a light on how over half a century ago one young man coped a long way from home. ...

I ought to tell you at the beginning that I am not quite normal having had a violent experience at the age of nine Jessica Vyes violent experience colours her schooldays & her reaction to the world around her- a confining world of Order Marks wartime restrictions viyella dresses nicely-restrained essays & dusty tea shops. For Jessica she has been told that she is beyond all possible doubt a born writer. With her inability to conform her absolute compulsion to tell the truth & her dedication to accurately noting her experiences she knows this anyway. But what she doesnt know is that the experiences that sustain & enrich her burgeoning talent will one day lead to a new- & entirely unexpected- reality. ...

The first-person account of a 26-year-old who fought in the war in Sierra Leone as a 12-year-old boy. My new friends have begun to suspect that I havent told them the full story of my life. Why did you leave Sierra Leone?" " Because there is a war." " You mean you saw people running around with guns & shooting each other?" " Yes all the time." " Cool." I smile a little. " You should tell us about it sometime." " Yes sometime." This is how wars are fought now: by children hopped-up on drugs & wielding AK-47s. There are more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide & it is estimated there are some 300 000 child soldiers fighting. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them. What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists & novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell & survived. Ishmael Beah now twenty-five years old tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve in Sierra Leone he fled attacking rebels & wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen hed been picked up by the government army & Beah at heart a gentle boy found he was capable of truly terrible acts. This is a rare & mesmerizing account told with real literary force & heartbreaking honesty." ...

Michael Morpurgo is a master storyteller former Childrens Laureate & multi-award winner. This is a fresh reissue of a much-loved story with a beautiful new cover. This is another summer another foster family. George has already made up his mind to run away back to the childrens home. None of the previous families have wanted him. Why should the Dyers be any different? But George begins to feel at ease with Tom Dyer & his sister Storme even happy & changes his mind. He could even feel at home with them
- couldnt he?
...