Born the `wrong way` & thrust into a world that greeted him with little more than a bad omen, Mohun Biswas has spent his forty-six years of life striving for independence. But his determined efforts have met only with calamity. Shuttled from one residence to another after the drowning of his father, for which he is inadvertently responsible, Mr Biswas yearns for a place he can call home. He marries into the domineering Tulsi family, on whom he becomes indignantly dependent, but rebels & takes on a succession of occupations in an arduous struggle to weaken their hold over him & purchase a house of his own. Heartrending & darkly comic, A House for Mr Biswas has been hailed as one of the twentieth century`s finest novels & this triumph of resilience, persistence & dignity masterfully evokes a man`s quest for autonomy against the backdrop of post-colonial Trinidad. ...

A House in Corfu is the story of one of the most beautiful places on earth, still astonishingly unspoilt, on the west coast of Corfu. In the early 1960s, Emma Tennant`s parents, on a cruise, spotted a magical bay & decided to build a house there. This book is the story of that house, Rovinia, set in 42 hectares of land above the bay where legend has it Ulysses was shipwrecked & found by Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous. It is also the story of the people who have been at Rovinia since the feast in the grove at the time of putting on the roof
- Maria, a miraculous cook & the presiding spirit of the house, & her husband Thodoros
- & of the inhabitants of the local village, high on the hill above the bay. Full of colour & contrast, A House in Corfu shows the huge changes in island life since the time of the building of the house, & celebrates, equally, the joy of belonging to a timeless world; the world of vine, olive & sea.

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When Suzanna Clarke & her husband bought a dilapidated house in the Moroccan town of Fez, their friends thought they were mad. Located in a maze of donkey-trod alleyways, the house
- a traditional riad
- was beautiful but in desperate need of repair. Walls were in danger of collapse, the plumbing non-existent. While neither Suzanna nor her husband spoke Arabic, & had only a smattering of French, they were determined to restore the building to its original splendour, using only traditional craftsmen & handmade materials. But they soon found that trying to do business in Fez was like being transported back several centuries in time & so began the remarkable experience that veered between frustration, hilarity & moments of pure exhilaration. But restoring the riad was only part of their immersion in the rich & colourful life of this ancient city.”A House in Fez” is a journey into Moroccan culture, revealing its day-to-day rhythms, its customs & festivals; its history, Islam, & Sufi rituals; the lore of djinns & spirits; the vibrant life-filled market places & the irresistible Moroccan cuisine. And above all, into the lives of the people
- warm, friendly, & hospitable. Beautifully descriptive & infused with an extraordinary sense of place, this is a compelling account of one couple`s adventures in ancient Morocco.


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Near Mount Etna in Sicily lies Casa Cuseni, a beautiful house built in golden stone
- & the home which Daphne Phelps was astonished
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An intimate portrait of Stephen Spender`s extraordinary life written by Matthew Spender, shifting between memoir & biography, with new insights drawn from personal recollections & his father`s copious unpublished archives. Stephen Spender`s life is a vivid snapshot of the twentieth century. Making friends with Auden & Isherwood while at Oxford, together they enjoyed adventures in Europe, becoming early opponents of the rise of fascism. Whilst pioneering modern poetry, Stephen later produced propaganda for the war effort
- establishing an enduring reputation for mysterious activity. Despite marrying Natasha Litvin, an ambitious young concert pianist, Stephen was often entangled with young men & never able to reveal his secrets, leaving her to introspective questions, as the artistic world of London circled them. In this elegant memoir, his son Matthew offers an intimate portrait of a father, a marriage & an extraordinary life.
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A House in the Sky is the dramatic & redemptive memoir of Amanda Lindhout, a woman whose curiosity led her to the world`s most beautiful & remote places, its most imperiled & perilous countries, & then into fifteen months of harrowing captivity
- an exquisitely written story of courage, resilience, & grace. As a child, Amanda Lindhout escaped a violent household by paging through issues of National Geographic & imagining herself in its exotic locales. At the age of nineteen, working as a cocktail waitress, she began saving her tips so she could travel the globe. Aspiring to understand the world & live a significant life, she backpacked through Latin America, Laos, Bangladesh, & India, & emboldened by each adventure, went on to Sudan, Syria, & Pakistan. In war-ridden Afghanistan & Iraq she carved out a fledgling career as a television reporter. & then, in August 2008, she traveled to Somalia
- ”the most dangerous place on earth.” On her fourth day, she was abducted by a group of masked men along a dusty road. Held hostage for 460 days, Amanda converts to Islam as a survival tactic, receives ”wife lessons” from one of her captors, & risks a daring escape. Moved between a series of abandoned houses in the desert, she survives on memory
- every lush detail of the world she experienced in her life before captivity
- & on strategy, fortitude, & hope. When she is most desperate, she visits a house in the sky, high above the woman kept in chains, in the dark, being tortured. Vivid & suspenseful, as artfully written as the finest novel, A House in the Sky is the searingly intimate story of an intrepid young woman & her search for compassion in the face of unimaginable adversity. For fans of the award-winning blockbuster Captain Phillips & readers of Kate Mc Cann`s Madeleine, Natasha Kampusch`s 3, 096 Days & Greg Mortenson`s Three Cups of Tea. Amanda Lindhout is the founder of the Global Enrichment Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports development, aid & education initiatives in Somalia & Kenya. Sara Corbett is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine. Her work has also appeared in National Geographic; Elle; Outside; O, the Oprah magazine; Esquire; & Mother Jones.



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Whether it's yearning to run away & join a Mexican circus or simply to settle in a quiet rural village somewhere in a Mediterranean l&, the dream of a pied a terre in an exotic locale is almost universal. Don George has been a pioneer travel writer & journalist in the travel field for more than two decades. He has won numerous writing awards including one for Best Travel Web Site & has edited two travel anthologies. Anthony Sattin is a travel writer, critic & broadcaster. He is the author of many books including the novel Shooting the Breeze. ...

What happens when Dad`s a calamitous boozer & spends all his money down the pub, when Mum has five other children & spends most her free-time on a sewing machine making clothes to pay the rent, when you don`t know where you`ll be living from one day to the next, when bombs are raining down & disease is everywhere, & when you come out of school, chances are you`ll have to go out scrounging to earn your next meal?. A. S. Jasper answers all these questions & more with animated gusto (and without a whimper) in A Hoxton Childhood, a thin volume of memoirs depicting life in a London slum during the First World War, seen through the eyes of a child. ...

Matt Hopwood set off with just a small bag & a walking stick, no possessions & an open mind to walk many hundreds of miles the length & breadth of the country. He relied entirely on the generosity of strangers for shelter & asked people to tell him their transforming stories. They did. All of these deeply enthralling, profoundly honest stories weave a web of tenderness, connection, compassion & community. For some people their love story will span decades & tell a tale of romantic love evolving through the passing years. Others` stories express fleeting moments of connection, care, concern. Most love stories are marked by sadness & loss. Some stories are concerned with maternal & paternal love, others with a love of place, a visceral connection with spirit through landscape. Love stories also connect deeply with our identities, in how we belong & how we are welcomed in society. Each story is different. Each beautiful. Each valuable. ...

In January 2003 Asne Seierstad entered Baghdad on a ten-day visa. She was to stay for over three months, reporting on the war & its aftermath. A Hundred & One Days is her compelling account is her account of life in Baghdad in the lead up to, during & aftermath of the American invasion, & a fascinating insight into the life of a foreign correspondent. An award-winning writer, Seierstad brilliantly details the frustrations & dangers journalists faced trying to uncover the truth behind the all-pervasive propaganda. She also offers a unique portrait of Baghdad & its people, trying to go about their daily business under the constant threat of attack. Seierstad`s passionate & erudite book conveys both the drama & the tragedy of her one hundred & one days in a city at war. ...