For me the sketches I produce now & then are shortish or longish chapters of a novel. The novel I am constantly writing is always the same one & it might be described as a variously sliced-up or torn-apart book of myself. One of the great writers of the twentieth century
- & an important influence on Kafka
- comes to light in this selection of the best of his short fictions. Through his protagonists
- young men of modest means famous artists society women animals endowed with the gift of speech
- Robert Walser captures the dislocated unease of life in early twentieth-century Europe.



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Combined in one block-buster of an omnibus now are Bryson's Down Under an account of his memorable walk across Australia & the irresistibly funny A Walk in the Woods that tells of his lengthy stroll in the Appalachian mountains of America with his old friend Stephen Katz. Bill Bryson traversed the length & breadth of Australia to bring us Down Under. A household name synonymous with laugh-out-loud humour sniggering & outbursts of chortling Down Under is what's commonly known as the perennial classic. In the very same volume is a story of his walk down the longest continuous footpath in the world. The Appalachian Trail stretches along the East Coast of the United States from Georgia to Maine through some of the most arresting & celebrated landscapes in America
- the Smoky Mountains Shenandoah National Park the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts & the Great North Woods of Maine. Read them both now together.
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Ahalya Ghai & her younger sister Sita are as close as sisters can be. But when a tsunami rips through their village on India's Coromandel coast their home is swept away & the sisters are the sole survivors of their family. Destitute their only hope is to find refuge at a convent many miles away. A driver agrees to take them. But the moment they get into that car their fate is sealed. The two sisters
- confused alone totally reliant on each other
- are sold. On the other side of the world Washington lawyer Thomas Clarke is struggling to cope after the death of his baby daughter & the collapse of his marriage. He takes a sabbatical from his high-pressure job & accepts a position with the Bombay branch of an international anti-trafficking group. Thomas is now on a desperate path to try & save not only himself & his marriage but also the lives of the two sisters.

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If holidays are about new experiences then this pocket-sized full-colour will add a further dimension to your stay on Kefalonia. It solves two problems where to walk & where to find good traditional food. The gastronomical touch extends a little further with recipes for some local dishes. There are strolls for hot days & longer walks to work up an appetite. & if you're just after some recommendations for where to eat look no further! The book describes two excursions plus 10 easy to moderate walks all illustrated with 1:35 000 topographical maps. Each excursion or walk recommends at least one restaurant en route serving local cuisine with photograph price guide opening times sample menus & recipes for some of their specialities. Other sections include: planning your trip getting about food shopping (including health foods & local markets) glossary of food terms & restaurant mini-vocabulary. A special feature is the emphasis on natural local foods suitable for those with food intolerances. All recipes have been made by the authors & are known to 'work'. On-line updates keep readers abreast of route/restaurant changes. ...

A pocket-sized full-colour guide designed for short-break holidays on Madeira with a gastronomic touch. Even non-walkers will appreciate the restaurant suggestions excursions & information about local food. The book describes 2 excursions (including how to tour the island inexpensively by bus) plus 13 easy to moderate walks all illustrated with 1:35 000 topo maps. Each excursion or walk recommends at least one restaurant en route serving local cuisine with photograph price guide opening times sample menus & recipes for some of their specialities. Other sections include: planning your trip getting about food shopping (including health foods & local markets) glossary of food terms & restaurant mini-vocabulary. A special feature is the emphasis on natural local foods suitable for those with food intolerances. On-line updates keep readers abreast of any route or restaurant changes. Sunflower have led the field for years with their brilliant Landscapes walking & car touring guides. Now they have raised their game even higher with a superb new Walk & Eat series." (Frank Barrett Mail on Sunday)" ...

Carofiglio writes crisp ironical novels that are as much love stories & philosophical treatises as they are legal thrillers."--" The New Yorker"" Part legal thriller part insight into a man fighting his own demons. Every character in Carofiglios fiction has a story to tell & they are always worth hearing. As the author himself is an anti-mafia prosecutor this powerfully affecting novel benefits from veracity as well as tight writing."--" Daily Mail""A novel as much about human nature & the passage of time as it is about law-breaking. Crisp laconic sentences subtle shifts in tone & a seamless translation that should be commended."--" The Times Literary Supplement" When Martina accuses her ex-boyfriend the son of a powerful local judge of assault & battery no witnesses can be persuaded to testify on her behalf & one lawyer after another refuses to represent her. Guido Guerrieri knows the case could bring his legal career to a premature messy end but he cannot resist the appeal of an apparently hopeless cause. Nor can he deny an attraction to Sister Claudia the young woman in charge of the shelter where Martina is living. Claudia shares his love of martial arts & his virulent hatred of injustice. Gianrico Carofiglio was an anti-Mafia prosecutor in Bari a port on the coast of Puglia for many years & is now a member of the Italian senate. He has sold over 2.5 million books of the Guerrieri series in Italy alone." ...

A sweet funny & romantic novel from the much-loved author which reached No. 4 in the Sunday Times hardback bestseller chart. It's been a while but Lara Carson's back in Bath & lives are set to change as a result. Because Lara left her family & boyfriend Flynn eighteen years ago without a word to anyone. Why has no one heard from her since? Her childhood best friend Evie is thrilled Lara's back & able to share her happiness. Evie's about to walk down the aisle with her dream man Joel. Or so she thinks... Then there's Flynn Erskine even more attractive now & stunned to see Lara again. The spark between them is as strong as ever but how's Flynn going to react when he discovers the secret she's been keeping from him? Oh yes there's a lot of catching up to be done... ...

An illustrated tour of fifty of Britain's greatest woodland walks with specialist tree photographer & writer Archie Miles published in association with the Woodland Trust. From beech woods oak woods & pine woods to ancient forest coastal woodland ravine woodland & the very best arboreta A Walk in the Woods ranges over twenty-five different topics & a wide geographical range &

Includes:: encounters with some of Britain's most ancient & characterful trees. Complementing & crowning the series of nine regional woodland walking guides already published by Frances Lincoln the book

Includes:: a Gazetteer with brief descriptive details & access information for the featured sites plus a shortlist of some of the best of the rest. The readable & deeply informed text describes the physical topography of each site in context with the regional characteristics incorporating information on vegetation flora wildlife habitats (with particular reference to rare endangered or site specific species) as well as a wealth of social cultural or industrial history. Spellbinding photographs taken throughout the seasons show the diverse interiors of the woodlands with a range of views into & out of the woods placing them in their landscape context. Also included are accompanying images of woodland details
- fungi flowers wildlife & historic features.




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The longest continuous footpath in the world the Appalachian Trail stretches along the East Coast of the United States from Georgia to Maine through some of the most arresting & celebrated landscapes in America. At the age of forty-four in the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There) Bill Bryson set off to hike through the vast tangled woods which have been frightening sensible people for three hundred years. Ahead lay almost 2 200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears moose bobcats rattlesnakes poisonous plants disease-bearing tics the occasional chuckling murderer &
- perhaps most alarming of all
- people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack. Facing savage weather merciless insects unreliable maps & a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel & watch The X-Files Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition
- not to die outdoors.


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The Appalachian Trail covers 14 states & over 2 000 miles. It stretches along the East Coast of the United States from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. It is famous for being the longest continuous footpath in the world. (Compare this with the Pennine Way which is a mere 250 miles long.) It snakes through some of the wildest & most spectacular landscapes in America as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken & primitive backwoods areas
- Redneck country
- Moonshine Lil Abner theres bears in them thar hills. Remember the film Deliverance? God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one to undertake this gruelling hike. Perhaps it was just a long-held ambition to lose weight: he has lost two stone so far. As he recently wrote from the trail to his publisher: Speaking of vigorous exercise boy have I just had some. Maine was a bitch. I want you to come back & walk it with me so that when you die if you go to hell you will be able to say: Call this hell? Try walking across Maine in August." Reared in the tradition of Mark Twain James Thurber & S.J. Perelman Bryson used his many years in Britain to soak up a peculiarly English sense of irony & humour & to hone a laugh-out-loud style that is uniquely hilariously his own."

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