This book contains more than seventy accounts of big adventures in small boats. In ”A Speck on the Sea”, William Longyard reaches back through five centuries to gather a collection of sea adventures in which the smallest, unlikeliest craft
- & the daring individuals aboard them
- completed extraordinary voyages against great odds. From canoes & small sailboats to a pair of strap-to-your-feet pontoons, the watercraft in these true stories make nearly as varied a collection as the mariners who piloted them. The intrepid seafarers & their feats of seamanship include: Ed Gillet`s kite-powered transpacific kayak voyage Gladys Gradely`s 1902 quest to become the first woman to solo the Atlantic; Ben Lecomte`s swim across an ocean for love; Hugo Vihlen`s 1968 ocean crossing in the 6-foot sailboat, April Fool; Peter Bird`s tragic attempt to row across the Pacific; &, scores more. Whether driven by desperation, adventure, or a desire for fame & fortune, the risktakers in these stories show what vast oceans can be crossed in tiny contrivances by those who dare. ` Great fun to read`
- ” Cruising World”. ` Very few reference books make for such riveting reading`
- ” Good Old Boat”.` Re-creates these awe-inspiring adventures in fascinating detail`
- ”NW Yachting”. ` Seagoing heroes & scalawags come alive with rich detail in Longyard`s volume of salty tales`
- Judy Blumhorst, Commodore Emeritus, Northern California Association of West Wight Potter Owners & Webmaster, www.trailersailer.com. William H. Longyard has spent twenty-five years paddling, rowing, & sailing small boats of all kinds. He has published several books & written numerous articles for boating journals.





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The Sunday Times Bestseller Longlisted For The Man Booker Prize Shortlisted For The Baileys Women`s Fiction Prize. ` It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-&-green afternoon...` This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she & Red fell in love that summer`s day in 1959. The whole family on the porch, half-listening as their mother tells the same tale they have heard so many times before. From that porch we spool back through the generations, witnessing the events, secrets & unguarded moments that have come to define the family. From Red`s father & mother, newly arrived in Baltimore in the 1920s, to Abby & Red`s grandchildren carrying the family legacy boisterously into the twenty-first century
- four generations of Whitshanks, their lives unfolding in & around the sprawling, lovingly worn Baltimore house that has always been their home.
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` It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-&-green afternoon...` This is the way Abby Whitshank always begins the story of how she & Red fell in love that day in July 1959. The whole family on the porch, relaxed, half-listening as their mother tells the same tale they have heard so many times before. & yet this gathering is different. Abby & Red are getting older, & decisions must be made about how best to look after them & their beloved family home. They`ve all come, even Denny, who can usually be relied on only to please himself. From that porch we spool back through three generations of the Whitshanks, witnessing the events, secrets & unguarded moments that have come to define who & what they are. & while all families like to believe they are special, round that kitchen table over all those years we also see played out our own hopes & fears, rivalries & tensions
- the essential nature of family life. ” She`s changed my perception on life.” (Anna Chancellor). ” One of my favourite authors.” (Liane Moriarty). ” She spins gold.” (Elizabeth Buchan). ” Anne Tyler has no peer.” (Anita Shreve). ” My favourite writer, & the best line-&-length novelist in the world.” (Nick Hornby). ”A masterly author.” (Sebastian Faulks). ” Tyler is not merely good, she is wickedly good.” (John Updike). ”I love Anne Tyler.” (Anita Brookner). ” Her fiction has strength of vision, originality, freshness, unconquerable humour.” (Eudora Welty).
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When Hazel Wong`s beloved grandfather passes away, Daisy Wells is all too happy to accompany her friend (and Detective Society Vice President) to Hazel`s family estate in beautiful, bustling Hong Kong. But when they arrive they discover something they didn`t expect: there`s a new member of the Wong family. Daisy & Hazel think baby Teddy is enough to deal with, but as always the girls are never far from a mystery. Tragedy strikes very close to home, & this time Hazel isn`t just the detective. She`s been framed for murder! The girls must work together like never before, confronting dangerous gangs, mysterious suspects & sinister private detectives to solve the murder & clear Hazel`s name
- before it`s too late...
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At fifty-seven, George is settling down to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his garden, reading historical novels, listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie, his tempestuous daughter, announces that she is getting remarried, to Ray. Her family is not pleased
- as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has `strangler`s hands`. Katie can`t decide if she loves Ray, or loves the way he cares for her son Jacob, & her mother Jean is a bit put out by the way the wedding planning gets in the way of her affair with one of her husband`s former colleagues. & the tidy & pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, & quietly begins to lose his mind.
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New & uncollected tales of murder, mischief, magic & madness. Ruth Rendell was an acknowledged master of psychological suspense: these are ten (and a quarter) of her most chillingly compelling short stories, collected here together for the first time. In these tales, a businessman boasts about cheating on his wife, only to find the tables turned. A beautiful country rectory reverberates to the echo of a historical murder. A compulsive liar acts on impulse, only to be lead inexorably to disaster. & a wealthy man finds there is more to his wife`s kidnapping than meets the eye. Atmospheric, gripping & never predictable, this is Ruth Rendell at her inimitable best. The stories are: Never Sleep in a Bed Facing a Mirror; A Spot of Folly; The Price of Joy; The Irony of Hate; Digby`s Wives; The Haunting of Shawley Rectory; A Drop Too Much; The Thief; The Long Corridor of Time; In the Time of his Prosperity; & Trebuchet. Introduction from Sophie Hannah. ...

The next in our Spotter`s Guide series reveals 120 of the world`s great human constructions & where to find them, from cloud-piercing skyscrapers & ancient sites to classic buildings & contemporary designs. Packed with facts, maps & photos, it`s a fun & fascinating introduction to the sublime, the strange & everything in between. When we travel it`s often to see a building
- the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower. They`re things of beauty, symbols of their age & emblems of human endeavour. Sometimes, buildings are the reason we decide to go somewhere; think of an icon such as Bilbao`s Guggenheim & Cambodia`s Angkor Wat temple complex. Other times, buildings help make a visit more enriching & rewarding, like discovering the old district of Pelourinho in Salvador, Brazil & the majestic Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Amazing Architecture: A Spotter`s Guide is perfect for anyone interested in learning about many of the world`s greatest architectural sites. Each entry

Includes:: a brief introduction, who designed it & when it was built, plus a map to help you plan a visit. Famous, weird & wonderful places include: Bran Castle in Transylvania, Romania The Crooked House in Sopot, Poland Shah Mosque in Esfahan, Iran Skara Brae in Orkney, Scotland Towers of San Gimignano, Italy Roman Baths in Bath, UKAyutthaya temple complex, Thailand The Winter Palace, St Petersburg, Russia Millau Viaduct, southern France Chrysler Building, New York, USAQatar Faculty of Islamic Studies The mud-made Agadez Mosque, Niger


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Beautiful, bored & bourgeoise, Sabina leads a double life inspired by her relentless desire for brief encounters with near-strangers. Fired into faithlessness by a desperate longing for sexual fulfilment, she weaves a sensual web of deceit across New York. But when the secrecy of her affairs becomes too much to bear, Sabina makes a late night phone-call to a stranger from a bar, & begins a confession that captivates the unknown man & soon inspires him to seek her out ...

In `this remarkable book` (as intelligence historian Nigel West describes it in his Foreword), the reader will be struck by the vibrancy of history made real. Author Roy Berkeley has gone behind the facades of ordinary buildings, in the city that West calls `the espionage capital of the World`, to remind us that the history of intelligence has often been made in such mundane places. With his evocative photographs & compelling observations, Berkeley ensures that we will never see the streets of London
- or these particular actors on the stage of history
- in quite the same way again. The 136 sites are organised into 21 manageable walks. Among the sites: the modest hotel suite where an eager Red Army colonel poured out his secrets to a team of British & American intelligence officers; the royal residence where one of the most slippery Soviet moles was at home for years; the London home where an MP plotting to appease Hitler was arrested on his front steps in 1940.

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Aimed at the sail training sector, this practical handbook explains how the introduction of new materials has influenced design & operation. Advice is given on voyage planning, operations & safety. The different training & equipment needs for vessels with modern technology, rather than those constructed to traditional design, is covered. It is aimed at those who serve, or wish to serve, as Master, mate or boatswain on a square rigger or large fore-andaft schooner. ...