This beautiful book reproduces in full the famous & rarely seen British Museum collection of drawings & watercolours made by John White, who in 1585 accompanied a group of English settlers sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to found a colony in ' Virginia', along the tidewaters of coastal North Carolina. White's duties included making visual records of everything then unknown in Engl&, including plants, animals & birds as well as the human inhabitants, especially their dress, weapons, tools & ceremonies. The collection also

Includes:: his watercolours of Florida & Brazilian Indians, & the Inuit encountered by Martin Frobisher. In this landmark catalogue, each work is reproduced in colour & is thoroughly described, supplemented by engravings by Thedor de Bry & other comparable works. The introduction is followed by three specially commissioned chapters covering John White himself, the indigenous inhabitants, & their historical context. The book explores White's role as a colonist, surveyor & artist who not only recorded the plants & animals but also provided a window on a now lost Native American culture & way of life.

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A New Zealand Photographic Journey is experienced photographer Jeff Drewitz's celebration of the landscapes & images of New Zeal&, where he has been taking photos for nearly 20 years. The book covers both of New Zealand's islands & is divided into sub-sections exploring different regions. It incorporates the northl&, central north isl&, lower north isl&, Nelson & Marlborough, the West Coast, Canterbury, Otago & Fiordland & Southl&. Each colour image also has a caption locating where the photograph was taken. ...

In 2005, a group of Afghan actors endeavored to create an unusual dramatic performance--one that would bring theater to a region wounded after years of war with the Taliban & offer hope for healing. ”A Night in the Emperor`s Garden” is the captivating account of their resulting play & a rich exploration of the region`s culture. In preparation, for five months, the group tirelessly reworked Shakespeare`s ” Love`s Labour`s Lost” into their own Dari language while the members brought their own experiences to the interpretation. One actor was a police detective & widow determined to create images of strong women. Another had trained at Kabul University before fleeing to Pakistan as a refugee. A third had played the title role in the acclaimed film ” Osama, ” yet was a beggar who could barely read & write. Joined by a French actress who served as director & several other enthusiasts, these actors performed before royalty & street vendors alike for one night amid the ruins of a magnificent garden laid out five centuries earlier by Emperor Babur. For the first time in thirty years, men & women stood on stage together as they worked toward a new era in Afghanistan. Qais Akbar Omar & Stephen Landrigan, both involved in the production, have captured its exuberance & optimism along with the actors` joys & sorrows in the decade following the play. Revealing a side of Afghanistan largely unknown to outsiders, ”A Night in the Emperor`s Garden” tells the magical story of an artistic achievement with universal appeal. ...

The Scottish poet Robert Burns has been idolised & eulogised. He has been sainted, painted, tarted-up & toasted. He is famous as the author of ` Auld Lang Syne`, & he has long been the patron saint of the heartsore & the hungover. But what about the poems? Beneath the cult of Burns Nights & patriotic yawps, there is the work itself, among the purest & most truthful created in any age. This is a Burns collection like no other, introduced, arranged & contextualised by the award-winning novelist & essayist Andrew O` Hagan. Above all, it is an accessible edition made for the pleasure of reading that brings Burns` timeless work to full, riotous, colourful life. ...

” There is no danger that Titanic will sink. The boat is unsinkable & nothing but inconvenience will be suffered by the passengers.” (Phillip Franklin, White Star Line Vice-President). On April 15th, 1912, Titanic, the world`s largest passenger ship, sank after colliding with an iceberg, claiming more than 1, 500 lives. Walter Lord`s classic bestselling history of the voyage, the wreck & the aftermath is a tour de force of detailed investigation & the upstairs/downstairs divide. ”A Night to Remember” provides a vivid, gripping & deeply personal account of the `unsinkable` Titanic`s descent. It comes with a new foreword by Julian Fellowes. ...

` Extraordinary. Timeless, funny & utterly absorbing` HILARY MANTEL In April 1925, Jean Lucey Pratt started a journal that she would keep for the rest of her life, producing over a million words in 45 exercise books. For sixty years, no one had an inkling of her diaries` existence, & they have remained unpublished until now. Jean wrote about anything that amused, inspired or troubled her, laying bare her life with aching honesty, infectious humour, indelicate gossip & heartrending hopefulness. She recorded her yearnings & disappointments in love. She documented the loss of a tennis match, her unpredictable driving, catty friends, devoted cats & difficult guests. With Jean we live through the tumult of the Second World War & the fears of a nation. We see Britain hurtling through a period of unbridled transformation & the shifting landscape for women in society. A unique slice of living, breathing British history, Jean`s diaries are a revealing chronicle of life in the twentieth century. ...

Four charming Paddington stories collected for the first time. Read by Stephen Fry & Jim Broadbent. Paddington Bear has been delighting adults & children alike with his earnest good intentions & humorous misadventures for over fifty years. This collection contains A Bear Called Paddington, More About Paddington, Paddington Here & Now, & Paddington Races Ahead. ...

After leaving for a religious community in Belgium, a young woman remembers her childhood in rural Irel&. She reflects on the rituals of village life, the people she encountered, & the enchanting beauty of the landscape. Her mind then turns to the shocking event that led to her departure. ...

From ` Morocco`s greatest living author` (The Guardian) comes a heartbreaking novel about parents & children, the powerful pull of home & the yearning for tradition & family. Mohammed has spent the past 40 years working in France. As he approaches retirement, he takes stock of his life
- his devotion to Islam & to his assimilated children
- & decides to return to Morocco, where he spends his life`s savings building the biggest house in the village & waiting for his children & grandchildren to come & be with him.

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In his highly acclaimed debut, ”A Pale View of Hills”, Kazuo Ishiguro tells the story of Etsuko, a Japanese woman now living alone in Engl&, dwelling on the recent suicide of her daughter. Retreating into the past, she finds herself reliving one particular hot summer in Nagasaki, when she & her friends struggled to rebuild their lives after the war. But then as she recalls her strange friendship with Sachiko
- a wealthy woman reduced to vagrancy
- the memories take on a disturbing cast.

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