Olivier is a French aristocrat, the traumatized child of survivors of the Revolution. Parrot the son of an itinerant printer who always wanted to be an artist but has ended up a servant. Born on different sides of history, their lives will be brought together by their travels in America. When Olivier sets sail for the New World, ostensibly to study its prisons but in reality to save his neck from one more revolution
- Parrot is sent with him, as spy, protector, foe & foil. As the narrative shifts between the perspectives of Parrot & Olivier, & their picaresque travels together & apart
- in love & politics, prisons & the world of art
- Peter Carey explores the adventure of American democracy, in theory & in practice, with dazzling wit & inventiveness.


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Rumi was a thirteenth century poet, philosopher & mystic whose works have been studied for centuries, & still speak to us today. Some of his songs have been put to music by contemporary Western artists, & now this book brings a wise story about true love into the English language in book form. ...

There is nothing quite like parrot pie for breakfast. First one must catch one`s parrot, of course, & build the hearth to bake it, but that is all in a days work for the woman pioneer. This riveting anthology tells the story of over 100 such women spanning four centuries, from the lowliest kitchen skivvy to ambassadors` wives: emigrants who settled the wildernesses of the world in search of new & better lives. Many were lured abroad by the promise of work or fortune; some went because imperial duty called, while for others it was a most unfeminine lust for adventure that drew them away. But all faced challenges in their homes from home that were to test to the limit their spirits, their resourcefulness, even their survival. ...

Parrots have always captured the imagination of humans thanks to their bright plumage & ability to mimic speech. This beautifully illustrated book on the world`s parrots explores all aspects of their lives, as well as the various parrot families & showcases beautiful photography from around the world. It will also look at threats facing parrots & conservation issues that are relevant. The text will be serious but also readable & accessible to a wide audience. The introduction

Includes:: sections on feeding, courtship, breeding & adaptations. There is a chapter on each parrot family, from the huge macaws & cockatoos to the diminutive hanging-parrots & parrotlets & including everything from the familiar budgerigar, which is known as a popular family pet around the world, to those species & families with special features, such as the Kea, Burrowing Parrot & Night Parrot. Closing chapters look at parrots & humans (banding, the pet trade etc), threats & conservation & give a comprehensive checklist of Parrot species & subspecies. In short this will be the best & most up to date book of its size available on the subject. It will appeal to all birdwatchers & nature-lovers everywhere, as well as to the people who keep parrots as pets & to the general public as a gift book.

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Parsloes in 1915 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. The map covers the eastern part of Barking, the western part of Dagenham, but in 1915 the area was entirely rural. The only significant feature is Parsloes Trotting Track in the centre of the map. The LTS railway runs west-east across the map, still with no stations here. Gale Street & Hallbutt Street are the principal roads. Soon, however, the vast Becontree housing estate would be built & this area would change for ever. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

Topographic survey of France at 1:25, 000 in IGN`s excellent TOP25 / Série Bleue series. All the maps are GPS compatible, with a 1km UTM grid plus latitude & longitude lines at 5’ intervals. Contours are at 5m intervals except for mountainous areas where the maps have contours at 10m intervals, vividly enhanced by hill shading & graphics for rocky terrain. Colouring with graphics indicates different types of vegetation or land use (deciduous or coniferous forests, moors, orchards, vineyards, etc). PLEASE NOTE: coverage of France at this scale is currently being revised – the format & the presentation of each title are indicated by the letters at the end of its Sheet Reference number (e.g. 0416ET, 3531ETR, 1923SB, etc.)MAPS WITH FULL TOURIST OVERPRINT & AN ENGLISH MAP LEGEND: all TOP25 maps & the SB editions of Série Bleue have an overprint highlighting waymarked walking trails including long-distance GR routes &, where appropriate, ski routes. Symbols indicate campsites, gîtes d’etape, refuges, equestrian centres & other recreational facilities or sites, tourist information centres, cultural heritage, etc. Towns & locations of particular interest are highlighted.- ET or OT = single-sided TOP25 map covering approx. 29x 21 km / 18x 13 miles.- ETR or OTR = waterproof & tear resistant TOP25 map covering the same area as the corresponding ET or OT number, but double-sided, printed on a smaller size sheet with a good overlap between the sides.- SB = Série Bleue map with full tourist overprint; these maps, first introduced in summer 2014, each cover approx. 29x 24km / 18x 15 miles.SÉRIE BLEUE maps with numbers ending in E (Est) or O (Ouest): most editions now indicate the GR routes, but do not show any other tourist information. Map legend is in French only. Each map covers approx. 14x 20km / 9x 12 miles. ...

Partick area of Glasgow in 1894 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. Coverage stretches from Bures Road & Saltoun Street westward to Balshagray Avenue, & from Westbourne Gardens southward to Yorkhill station. Features include the River Kelvin & a small part of the Clyde, with Meadowside Shipbuilding Yard & nearby graving dock, Pointhouse Shipbuilding Yard, Partickhill, NBR Stobcross Branch with Partick station, Hyndland Branch with Hyndland station, Western Infirmary, Partick Saw Mills, Lanarkshire & Dumbartonshire Railway under construction, part of Victoria Park, Broomhill Drive, etc. Top right, within Glasgow, is Dowanhill with Hyndland church, observatory, etc. Extracts from a street directory are on the reverse. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

Up till 2006 a British Ambassador leaving his post was encouraged to write what was known as a valedictory despatch, to be circulated to a small number of influential people in government. This was the parting shot, an opportunity to offer a personal & frank view of the host country, the manners & morals of its people, their institutions, the state of their cooking & their drains. But it was also a chance to let rip at the Foreign Office itself & to look back on a career spent in the service of a sometimes ungrateful nation. Combining gems from the archives with more recent despatches obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, ” Parting Shots” is a treasure trove of wit, venom & serious analysis. Astute & often gloriously non-politically, they shed light on Britain`s place in the world, & reveal the curious cocktail of privilege & privation which make up the life of an ambassador. ...

The International Bestseller ` Barney White-Spunner`s book stands out for its judicious & unsparing look at events from a British perspective.` Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times Review` This book is at its most powerful in its month-by-month narrative of how Partition tore apart northern & eastern India, with the new state of Pakistan carved out of communities who had lived together for the past millennium.` Zareer Masani BBC History Magazine `A highly readable account... ` Times Literary Review Between January & August 1947 the conflicting political, religious & social tensions in India culminated in independence from Britain & the creation of Pakistan. Those months saw the end of ninety years of the British Raj, & the effective power of the Maharajahs, as the Congress Party established itself commanding a democratic government in Delhi. They also witnessed the rushed creation of Pakistan as a country in two halves whose capitals were two thousand kilometers apart. From September to December 1947 the euphoria surrounding the realization of the dream of independence dissipated into shame & incrimination; nearly 1 million people died & countless more lost their homes & their livelihoods as partition was realized. The events of those months would dictate the history of South Asia for the next seventy years, leading to three wars, countless acts of terrorism, polarization around the Cold War powers & to two nations with millions living in poverty spending disproportionate amounts on their military. The roots of much of the violence in the region today, & worldwide, are in the decisions taken that year. Not only were those decisions controversial but the people who made them were themselves to become some of the most enduring characters of the twentieth century. Gandhi & Nehru enjoyed almost saint like status in India, & still do, whilst Jinnah is lionized in Pakistan. The British cast, from Churchill to Attlee & Mountbatten, find their contribution praised & damned in equal measure. Yet it is not only the national players whose stories fascinate. Many of those ordinary people who witnessed the events of that year are still alive. Although most were, predictably, only children, there are still some in their late eighties & nineties who have a clear recollection of the excitement & the horror. Illustrating the story of 1947 with their experiences & what independence & partition meant to the farmers of the Punjab, those living in Lahore & Calcutta, or what it felt like to be a soldier in a divided & largely passive army, makes the story real. Partition will bring to life this terrible era for the Indian Sub Continent. ...

As India is rent overnight into two nations, sectarian violence explodes on both sides of the new border, with tidal waves of refugees fleeing the blood & chaos. Fighting to board the last train to Delhi, Shankar & Keshav, six-year-old Hindu twins, lose sight of their mother & plunge into the whirling human mass to find her. A young Sikh woman, Simran Kaur, flees her father, who would rather poison his daughter than see her defiled. & Ibrahim Masud, an elderly Muslim doctor driven from the town of his birth, limps towards the new Muslim state of Pakistan. As the displaced face a variety of horrors, this unlikely quartet come together, defying every rule of self-preservation to forge a future of hope. A luminous story of families & nations broken & formed, Partitions introduces an extraordinary novelist who writes with the power & lyricism of poetry. ...