Nigeria is a country where petroleum prices & polio are both booming, where small villages challenge giant oil companies, & scooter drivers run their own mini-state. The oil-rich Delta region at the heart of it all is, as Peel shows us, a troublespot as hot as the local pepper soup. Through a host of characters, from the prostitutes of Port Harcourt to the Area Boys of Lagos, from the militants in their swamp forest hideouts to the oil company executives in London, Peel tells the story of this extraordinary country, which grows ever more wild & lawless by the day as its crude oil pumps through our cities. ...

Bittersweet & startling, A SWEET OBSCURITY is a novel of childhood, love & the consequences of how lives are lived. ` Intriguing & impressive. A memorable study of a child forced cruelly, even tragically, to grow up too soon` Sunday Times Since her mother`s death, nine year old Dido has been living with her eccentric aunt, acting as peacekeeper between Eliza, her estranged husband Giles & his girlfriend. They are each cruelly burdened in different ways. Chance draws them down to Cornwall, where a country idyll offers to lighten their urban cares. Eliza falls in love with local farmer, Pearce, an event that causes the four adults to re-assess their lives, with some painful & unforeseen consequences for adults & child alike. ...

A Guardian ` Readers` Choice` Best Book of 2017; Birdsong is the soundtrack to our world. We have tried to capture its fleeting, ephemeral beauty, & the feelings it inspires, for millennia.; In this captivating & lively account, Richard Smyth explores science, music, literature, landscape & the thousand different ways in which birdsong has moved us. A bright song on a lonely street can lift our mood, bringing comfort, wonder or joy. But can we learn to listen, really listen, to what the birds are saying? Or do they just tell us back our own tales? ...

`A real & rare gem, this is the must-have book on Venice & its cooking`
- Anna del Conte Skye Mc Alpine, author of the successful
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` Hi! My name is Nao, & I am a time being. Do you know what a time being is? Well, if you give me a moment, I will tell you.` Ruth discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed up on the shore of her beach home. Within it lies a diary that expresses the hopes & dreams of a young girl. She suspects it might have arrived on a drift of debris from the 2011 tsunami. With every turn of the page, she is sucked deeper into an enchanting mystery. In a small cafe in Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao Yasutani is navigating the challenges thrown up by modern life. In the face of cyberbullying, the mysteries of a 104-year-old Buddhist nun & great-grandmother, & the joy & heartbreak of family, Nao is trying to find her own place
- & voice
- through a diary she hopes will find a reader & friend who finally understands her. Weaving across continents & decades, & exploring the relationship between reader & writer, fact & fiction, A Tale for the Time Being is an extraordinary novel about our shared humanity & the search for home.

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We are a nation that loves its ancient woods & trees. We prize our sturdy oaks, craggy pines, bluebells & primroses, badgers & dormice. We value the history & heritage of places that have been woodland since before the Norman Conquest. But only a generation ago we were all set to wipe them out. It was said that in the space of just 30 years, nearly half of our ancient woods were destroyed. How & why did this happen? & who prevented them all being lost? A Tale of Trees features the voices of those who cut down the woods & those who saved what was left. It is a story full of tragedy & heroism, ingenuity & blindness. & it will inspire the reader to go out & explore more ancient woods, & delight in our natural treasures. ...

Lucie Manette has been separated from her father for eighteen years while he languished in Paris` most feared prison, the Bastille. Finally reunited, the Manettes` fortunes become inextricably intertwined with those of two men, the heroic aristocrat Darnay & the dissolute lawyer Carton. Their story, which encompasses violence, revenge, love & redemption, is grippingly played out against the backdrop of the terrifying brutality of the French Revolution. ...

Charles Dickens` ”A Tale of Two Cities” portrays a world on fire, split between Paris & London during the brutal & bloody events of the French Revolution. This ” Penguin Classics” edition of is edited with an introduction & notes by Richard Maxwell. ` It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...` After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille the aging Dr Manette is finally released & reunited with his daughter in Engl&. There, two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, & Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil lanes of London, they are all drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror & soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine. This edition uses the text as it appeared in its first serial publication in 1859 to convey the full scope of Dickens`s vision, &

Includes:: the original illustrations by H.K. Browne (” Phiz”). Richard Maxwell`s introduction discusses the intricate interweaving of epic drama with personal tragedy. Charles Dickens is one of the best-loved novelists in the English language, whose 200th anniversary was celebrated in 2012. His most famous books, including ” Oliver Twist”, ” Great Expectations”, ”A Tale of Two Cities”, ” David Copperfield” & ” The Pickwick Papers”, have been adapted for stage & screen & read by millions. If you enjoyed ”A Tale of Two Cities”, you might like Dickens` ” The Old Curiosity Shop”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”.

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Charles Darnay & Sydney Carton are alike in appearance, different in character & in love with the same woman. In the midst of the French Revolution, Darnay, who has fled to London to escape the cruelty of the French nobility, must return to Paris to rescue his servant from death. But he endangers his own life & is captured. Carton may be able to help, but will his resemblance be enough to save Darnay`s life? This title provides an enticing introduction by bestselling author, Roddy Doyle. ...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.... These well-known & loved lines begin Dickens`s most exciting novle, set during the bloodiest moments of the French Revolution. When former aristocrat Charles Darnay learns that an old family servant needs his help, he abandons his safe haven in England & returns to Paris. But once there, the Revolutionary authorities arrest him not for anything he has done, but for his rich family`s crimes. Also in danger: his wife, Lucie, their young daughter, & her aged father, who have followed him across the Channel. The world`s greatest works of literature are now available in these beautiful keepsake volumes. Bound in real cloth, & featuring gilt edges & ribbon markers, these beautifully produced books are a wonderful way to build a handsome library of classic literature. These are the essential novels that belong in every home. They`ll transport readers to imaginary worlds & provide excitement, entertainment, & enlightenment for years to come. All of these novels feature attractive illustrations & have an unequalled period feel that will grace the library, the bedside table or bureau. ...