This is the enthralling story of an extraordinary & courageous woman. Her bravery stoicism & African upbringing were critical to the early career of world-renowned explorer & missionary David Livingstone. In the history books Mary Livingstone is a shadow in the blaze of her husband's sun a whisper in the thunderclap of his reputation. Yet she played an important role in Livingstone's success & her own feats as an early traveller in uncharted Africa are unique. She was the first white woman to cross the Kalahari which she did twice
- pregnant
- giving birth in the bush on the second journey. She was much more rooted in southern Africa than her husband: he has a tomb in Westminster Abbey London; she has an obscure & crumbling grave on the banks of the Zambezi in a destitute region of Mozambique. In the thrall of Africa the author has travelled extensively over several years in the footsteps of Mary Livingstone from her birthplace in a remote district of South Africa to her grave on the Zambezi. She explores the places the Livingstones knew as a couple & above all explores the detail of the life & family of this little-known figure in British
- but not African
- history.



...

Joy sorrow jealousy & awe
- these & other feelings are the stuff of our daily lives. Presumed to be too private for science to
...

The book traces Conor Jamesons travels in search of the Goshawk a magnificent yet rarely seen (in Britain at least) raptor. Each episode of the narrative arises from personal experience investigation & the unearthing of information from research exploration & conversations. The journey takes him from an encounter with a stuffed Goshawk in a glass case through travels into supposed Goshawk territories in Britain to Berlin
- where he finds the bird at ease in the city. Why he wants to know is the bird so rarely seen in Britain? He explores the politics of birdwatching the sport of falconry & the impact of persecution on the recent history of the bird in Britain & travels the length of Britain through central Europe & the USA in search of answers to the goshawk mystery. Throughout his journey he is inspired by the writings of T H White who told of his attempts to tame a Goshawk in his much-loved book. Its a gripping tale on the trail of a most mysterious & charismatic bird.
...

Noo Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England but every summer she was dragged back to Nigeria
- a country she viewed as an annoying
...

Life at The Keep changes forever when Fliss Mole & Susannah arrive in the summer of 1957. Their parents & elder brother have been killed in Kenya so the children are sent to their grandmother Freddy in Devon. Freddy is no stranger to grief but she would be lost without her devoted helpers Ellen & Fox who enable her to cope with this latest tragedy. & above all she looks to her brother-in-law Theo to guide her while the children heal their wounds & embark on the treacherous journey to adulthood ...

ONE SINGLE ACT OF KINDNESS BECOMES AN ENDLESS REIGN OF TERROR... Tom Bryce did what any decent person would do. But within hours of picking up the CD that had been left behind on the train seat next to him & attempting to return it to its owner he is the sole witness to a vicious murder. Then his young family are threatened with their lives if he goes to the police. But supported by his wife Kellie he bravely makes a statement to the murder enquiry team headed by Detective Superintendent Roy Grace; a man with demons of his own to contend with. & from that moment the killing of the Bryce family becomes a mere formality -- & a grisly attraction. Notice of Kellie & Tom's deaths has already been posted on the internet. You can log on & see them on a website. They are looking good dead. ' Full of gripping twists & turns' Guardian ' Will have you glued to your deckchair' Observer ...

Babies will love lifting the flaps in this delightful board book to find out all about themselves! Focusing on different aspects of babies features this book encourages interaction & discussion. Designed to support the Health & Well-being strand of Every Child Matters. ...

Brilliantly written compelling & highly original The Looming Tower" is the first book to tell the full story of Al Qaeda from its roots up to 9/11. Drawing on astonishing interviews & first-hand sources it investigates the extraordinary group of idealogues behind this organization
- & those who tried to stop them. There is the tormented resentful Egyptian Sayyid Qutb who was horrified by the godlessness & decadence he perceived in America in 1948 & whose subsequent writings turned him into a martyr for Islamic extremists. There is Ayman al-Zawahiri: a devout student who by the age of fifteen had already helped to form an underground jihadist cell. There is the deeply contradictory Osama bin Laden: Saudi multimillionaire turned muhajideen commander whose interests merged with al-Zawahiris to form a global terror coalition. & there is the FBIs counterterrorism chief the flamboyant cigar-smoking John ONeill who found his warnings that something big was coming continually ignored & would finally meet his fate in the shadow of the Twin Towers. Interweaving this extraordinary story with events including the Israeli-Palestine conflict the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan & the first attack on the World Trade Center Lawrence Wright takes us into training camps mountain hideouts & top secret meetings to explore how it all fed into the planning & execution of 9/11
- & reveals the real complex origins of Al Qaedas hatred of the West. Wrights brilliantly acclaimed book now

Includes:: a new Afterword which covers events that have unfolded since publication including the death of Osama Bin Laden."



...

This is the Loon who lives on the moon. Every night he collects children's dreams to make the moon glow. But then one night the light of the moon goes out & the Loon must go in search of new dreams... Full of whimsy & wonder this beautiful picture book is a celebration of the power of stories & the magic of dreams
- perfect for sharing at bedtime.
...

Helen Ross a twenty-nine-year-old biologist is sent to a sleepy Rocky Mountain ranching town to defend a pack of wolves from those who want to destroy them. For in Hope Montana a century ago the wolf was slaughtered to extinction & though now protected by law as an endangered species the old hatred runs deep. Alone in this hostile place bruised by a broken love affair Helen struggles for self-esteem & survival embarking on a dangerous alliance with the son of her most ferocious opponent the brutal & charismatic Buck Calder. ...