Throughout the East there runs a legend of a great mountain at the centre of the world, where four rivers have their source. Charles Allen traces this legend to Western Tibet where there stands Kailas, worshipped by Hindus & Buddhists alike as the home of their gods & the navel of the world. Close by are the sources of four mighty rivers: the sacred Ganges, the Indus, the Sutlej & Tsangpo-Brahmaputra. For centuries Kailas remained an enigma to the outside world. Then a succession of remarkable men took up the challenge of penetrating the hostile, frozen wastelands beyond the Western Himalayas, culminating in the great age of discovery, the final years of the Victorian era. A Mountain in Tibet is an extraordinary story of exploration & high adventure, full of the excitement & colour expected from the author of Plain Tales from the Raj. ...

”A Mountain of Crumbs” is the moving story of a young Soviet girl`s discovery of the hidden truths of adulthood & her country`s profound political deception. Elena, born with a desire to explore the world beyond her borders, finds her passion in the complexity of the English language
- but in the Soviet Union of the 1960s, such a passion verges on the subversive. Elena`s home is no longer the majestic Russia of literature or the tsars. Instead, it is a nation humiliated by its first faltering steps after World War II, putting up appearances for the sake of its regime & fighting to retain its pride. In this deeply affecting memoir, Elena re-creates the world that both oppressed & inspired her. She recounts stories passed down to her about the horrors of the Bolshevik Revolution & probes the daily deprivations & small joys of her family`s bunkerlike existence. Through Elena`s captivating voice, we learn not only the personal story of Russia in the second half of the twentieth century, but also the story of one rebellious citizen whose love of a foreign language finally transports her to a new world. ` This moving memoir made me cry`
- ” The New York Times.”

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Hemingway`s memories of his life as an unknown writer living in Paris in the twenties are deeply personal, warmly affectionate & full of wit. Looking back not only at his own much younger self, but also at the other writers who shared Paris with him
- James Joyce, Wyndham Lewis, Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald
- he recalls the time when, poor, happy & writing in cafes, he discovered his vocation. Written during the last years of Hemingway`s life, his memoir is a lively & powerful reflection of his genius that scintillates with the romance of the city.

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Published posthumously in 1964, A Moveable Feast remains one of Ernest Hemingway`s most beloved works. Since Hemingway`s personal papers were released in 1979, scholars have examined & debated the changes made to the text before publication. Now this new special restored edition presents the original manuscript as the author prepared it to be published. Featuring a personal foreword by Patrick Hemingway, Ernest`s sole surviving son, & an introduction by the editor & grandson of the author, Sean Hemingway, this new edition also

Includes:: a number of unfinished, never-before-published Paris sketches revealing experiences that Hemingway had with his son Jack & his first wife, Hadley. Also included are irreverent portraits of other luminaries, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald & Ford Madox Ford, & insightful recollections of his own early experiments with his craft. Sure to excite critics & readers alike, the restored edition of A Moveable Feast brilliantly evokes the exuberant mood of Paris after World War I & the unbridled creativity & enthusiasm that Hemingway himself experienced. In the world of letters it is a unique insight into a great literary generation, by one of the best American writers of the twentieth century.

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A Moveable Feast is Lonely Planet’s collection of food-related tales from around the world provided by a range of contributors, including Simon Winchester, Mark Kurlansky & Ruth Rabin. A range of food stories feature: from bat on the island of Fais to chicken on a Russian train, to barbeque in the American heartl&, & from mutton in Mongolia to couscous in Morocco to tacos in Tijuana. A total of 38 food-related stories are recounted, awful & ambrosial, in a collection of travel writing dedicated to food. ...

Agatha Christie`s most ingenious murder mystery, reissued with a striking new cover designed to appeal to the latest generation of Agatha Christie fans & book lovers. The villagers of Chipping Cleghorn, including Jane Marple, are agog with curiosity over an advertisement in the local gazette which reads: `A murder is announced & will take place on Friday October 29th, at Little Paddocks at 6.30 p.m.` A childish practical joke? Or a hoax intended to scare poor Letitia Blacklock? Unable to resist the mysterious invitation, a crowd begins to gather at Little Paddocks at the appointed time when, without warning, the lights go out... ...

A murder mystery in the finest tradition of English detective novels, John le Carre`s A Murder of Quality is an ingenious puzzle featuring his best-loved character George Smiley, published in Penguin Modern Classics. Stella Rode has twice disturbed the ancient cloisters of Carne School: firstly by being the wrong sort, with her doilies & china ducks, & secondly by being murdered. George Smiley, who has his own connection with the school, is asked by an old Service friend to investigate. Smiley knows that Stella feared her husband would murder her, but as he probes further beneath Carne`s respectable veneer, he uncovers far more than a simple crime of passion. In his second George Smiley novel, le Carre moves outside the world of espionage to reveal the secrets at the heart of another particularly English institution. The result is a pitch-perfect murder mystery, with Smiley as master detective. If you enjoyed A Murder of Quality, you might like le Carre`s Call for the Dead, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. ` Beautifully intelligent, satiric & witty` Daily Telegraph ...

A Naturalist`s Guide to the Mammals of South-East Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Thail&, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Java, Sumatra, Bali, Borneo & The Philippines contains high quality photographs from some of the area`s top nature photographers. With detailed species descriptions which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habits & habitat, as well as interesting snippets of information about the mammals. The user-friendly introduction covers geography & climate, vegetation, opportunities for naturalists & the main sites for viewing the listed species. Also included is an all-important checklist of all of the mammals of South-East Asia encompassing, for each species, its common & scientific name, IUCN status as at 2011. ...

Tom has always known exactly the person he is going to be. A successful footballer. A man others look up to. Now, though, the bright future he imagined for himself is threatened. The Premier League academy of his boyhood has let him go. At nineteen, Tom finds himself playing for a tiny club in a town he has never heard of. But as he navigates his isolation & his desperate need for recognition, a sudden & thrilling encounter offers him the promise of an escape, & Tom is forced to question whether he can reconcile his supressed desires with his dreams of success. Leah, the captain`s wife, has almost forgotten the dreams she once held, for her career, her marriage. Moving again, as her husband is transferred from club to club, she is lost, disillusioned with where life has taken her.A Natural delves into the heart of a professional football club: the pressure, the loneliness, the threat of scandal, the fragility of the body & the struggle, on & off the pitch, with conforming to the person that everybody else expects you to be. ...

This is a guide to hedgerows past & present. John Wright describes their origins & long history in the life of the countryside, their natural history, the crafts involved in their planting & maintenance, & the huge variety in their ages, sizes, shape, composition & functions. He looks too at the drystone walls of Scotl&, Devon, Cornwall, the Cotswolds, & the north of Engl&, some of which date back thousands of years. John Wright is one of Britain`s best known naturalists. His account is a fascinating amalgam of natural & cultural history brought vividly to life by his intimate knowledge of the countryside. The characteristic landscapes of the British regions, the hedgerow & dry-stone crafts, & every species described in the book are illustrated with photographs, almost all taken by the author. The book is informative, practical & entertaining, something to read by the fire in winter & to stuff into your pocket for country walks in every season. ...