A collection of the most fascinating & picturesque cottages from the National Trust. We all dream of escaping to a hideaway in the country
- a green & pleasant idyll of country lanes with hawthorn hedges, a garden filled with hollyhocks & rosebushes, a cosy, flagstoned interior with a fire burning in the hearth... A Cottage in the Country presents a glorious collection of the most fascinating & picturesque small dwellings from the National Trust. From rustic workers` cottages to the inspirational homes of Thomas Hardy & Virginia Woolf, from the prettiest thatches to solid stone follies, this inspiring book celebrates the very best of cottage life. Unlock your escapist fantasies with A Cottage in the Country, a visual delight showcasing 38 gorgeous cottages inside & out, along with the fascinating stories of their history & the lives of the people who have called them home.
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In A Country in the Moon, Michael Moran gives an insider`s view of Poland
- what was once the largest country in Europe; one that
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A Country of Refuge, compiled & edited by human rights writer & activist Lucy Popescu, is an acutely relevant & tremendously thought-provoking anthology of brand new fiction, memoir, poetry & essays exploring what it really means to be a refugee. These powerful writings will change people`s perspectives on the plight of those seeking asylum from conflict, poverty & terror. This testament to the strength of the human spirit features some of Britain & Ireland`s most renowned writers: Monica Ali, Sebastian Barry, William Boyd, Amanda Craig, Moris Farhi MBE, Elaine Feinstein, Tim Finch, Aminatta Forna, Hanif Kureishi, Marina Lewycka, Courttia Newl&, Ruth Padel, Katharine Quarmby, Noo Saro Wiwa, Joan Smith, Roma Tearne & Alex Wheatle MBE, & more. Articulating truths through the power of their words, they will challenge the way people think about & act towards those who are simply seeking a safe place to call home. ...

BY THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LONGBOURNSHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2017SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE 2017 ` Skilful... daring... extraordinary` The Guardian`A fascinating fictional account of Samuel Beckett`s wartime years` IAN RANKIN` Beautifully written, empathetic & unflinching, it is very, very good` Daily Mail` Marvellous, spare, moving` FRANCIS SPUFFORD` Insightful... beautifully paced... authentic` The Irish Times Paris, 1939: The pavement rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs Elysees. A young writer, recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon, he will put is own life & those of his loved ones in mortal danger by joining the Resistance... Spies, artists, deprivation, danger & passion: this is a story of life at the edges of human experience, & of how one man came to translate it all into art. Sunday Express Book of the Month Praise for Jo Baker`s LONGBOURN:` Intoxicating` Guardian` Engrossing` Sunday Times` Audacious` New York Times ...

BY THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LONGBOURN. Paris, 1939: The pavement rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs Elysees. A young writer, recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon, he will put is own life & those of his loved ones in mortal danger by joining the Resistance... Spies, artists, deprivation, danger & passion: this is a story of life at the edges of human experience, & of how one man came to translate it all into art. Praise for Jo Baker`s LONGBOURN: ” Intoxicating”. (Guardian). ” Engrossing”. (Sunday Times). ” Audacious”. (New York Times). ...

The rural fuse has been lit. The countryside is tinder-dry. Post offices & banks, shops & schools are closing. Farmers are going out of business. Houses are becoming unaffordable as prices soar ad poverty grows. Pollution & over-exploitation are destroying landscapes. Many rural communities are on the verge of collapse. Some fear the foot- &
- mouth crisis will prove to be the last straw. This book offers disturbing evidence of the background to the crisis. ”A Countryside For All” is a rallying cry for action, pointing ways towards a prescription for the future. This volume tackles many of the issues in a variety of new & original ways. Possibly the most controversial & radical call is for the creation of a Department for the Countryside, with a Secretary of State for the Countryside
- who would be responsible for setting a coherent set of policies to reverse the decline of rural Britain. This timely book outlines the main problems facing the countryside, & starts to bring together a balanced range of proposals. Thought-provoking, filled with common sense, often controversial but always fascinating, it points the way forward for the countryside, & for town & country as a whole.

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This informative & entertaining small volume contains engravings by contemporary artists & a foreword by Prince Charles. Twelve chapters endeavour to capture the atmosphere of successive months, encompassing the minutiae of plant & wildlife behaviour in the garden & hedgerow. The author celebrates the intimacies of a rural world in an idyllic setting, but with an eye to modern existence & an appreciation of progress. ...

A companion tale to Sarah J. Maas`s 1 New York Times bestselling A Court of Thorns & Roses series that takes place several months after the explosive events of A Court of Wings & Ruin Told from the perspectives of Feyre, Rhys & other key characters, this story bridges the events in A Court of Wings & Ruin & the upcoming novels in the series. Feyre, Rhys & their companions are still busy rebuilding the Night Court & the vastly changed world beyond. But Winter Solstice is finally near, & with it a hard-earned reprieve. Yet even the festive atmosphere can`t keep the shadows of the past from looming. As Feyre navigates her first Winter Solstice as High Lady, she finds that those dearest to her have more wounds than she anticipated
- scars that will have a far-reaching impact on the future of their court.
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A burgeoning new city is built on the dreams of the American gold rush. It is also built upon a landscape that has been stretching, sliding & breaking apart for millennia. In 1906 the dreams of this city came crashing down beneath the wave of a horrifying earthquake that turned roads into great rippling rivers, that set buildings ablaze for days on end, that made homes collapse upon themselves. Simon Winchester`s breathtaking story delves deep beneath the surface of the earth & explains to us why the world moves as it does, & breaks apart with such devastating results. At the same time he never lets us forget the human story. As he vividly portrays the lives of the people who suffered & survived the devastation he also tells a universal story: the hubris of man as he ignores the warnings of nature & how we respond & try to understand the world around us. Compelling, moving & enlightening, Simon Winchester reveals the world beneath our feet & through the story of this one terrifying event one hundred years ago, begins to make sense of our world now. ...

A memoir of brutality, heroism & personal discovery from Europe`s dark heart, revealing one of the most extraordinary untold stories of the Second World War. In the spring of 1945, at Rechnitz on the Austrian-Hungarian border, not far from the front lines of the advancing Red Army, Countess Margit Batthyany gave a party in her mansion. The war was almost over, & the German aristocrats & SS officers dancing & drinking knew it was lost. Late that night, they walked down to the village, where 180 enslaved Jewish labourers waited, made them strip naked, & shot them all, before returning to the bright lights of the party. It remained a secret for decades, until Sacha Batthyany, who remembered his great-aunt Margit only vaguely from his childhood as a stern, distant woman, began to ask questions about it.A Crime in the Family is Sacha Batthyany`s memoir of confronting these questions, & of the answers he found. It is one of the last untold stories of Europe`s nightmare century, spanning not just the massacre at Rechnitz, the inhumanity of Auschwitz, the chaos of wartime Budapest & the brutalities of Soviet occupation & Stalin`s gulags, but also the silent crimes of complicity & cover-up, & the damaged generations they leave behind. Told partly through the surviving journals of others from the author`s family & the vanished world of Rechnitz, A Crime in the Family is a moving & revelatory memoir in the vein of The Hare with the Amber Eyes & The House by the Lake. It uncovers barbarity & tragedy but also a measure of peace & reconciliation. Ultimately, Batthyany discovers that although his inheritance might be that of monsters, he does not bear it alone ...