Over half-a-century ago fanciful & exotic stories began to appear in the world`s press about settlers on the remote Galapagos island of Floreana. The tales were of nudism, free love communes, stainless steel dentures
- a latter-day Garden of Eden. But the truth was even stranger. Friedrich Ritter, an eccentric German intellectual, & his long-suffering companion Dora Strauch, were the first arrivals. Once established, they were soon joined by others. Most bizarre & dangerous was the self-styled Baroness Wagner-Bosquet. She ruled her three young male lovers with a riding crop, a pearl-handled revolver & insatiable sexual demands
- terrorising other settlers. Her mysterious disappearance & the discovery of unidentified bodies on a nearby island perplexed the world. Now The Galapagos Affair unravels the whole incredible story.

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Meet Charlie. People think he's crazy. But he's not. People think he's stupid. But he's not. People think he's innocent... He's the Gamal. Charlie has a story to tell, about his best friends Sinead & James & the bad things that happened. But he can't tell it yet, at least not till he's worked out where the beginning is. Because is the beginning long ago when Sinead first spoke up for him after Charlie got in trouble at school for the millionth time? Or was it later, when Sinead & James followed the music & found each other? Or was it later still on that terrible night when something unspeakable happened after closing time & someone chose to turn a blind eye? Charlie has promised Dr Quinn he'll write 1, 000 words a day, but it's hard to know which words to write. & which secrets to tell... This is the story of the dark heart of an Irish village, of how daring to be different can be dangerous & how there is nothing a person will not do for love. Exhilarating, bitingly funny & unforgettably poignant, this is a story like no other. This is the story of the Gamal. ...

With 16 well-researched chapters & 26 useful maps, this new thoroughly updated second edition of Bradt`s The Gambia remains the most comprehensive guide available in any language to what is the smallest country on mainland Africa. Significant development has taken place in recent years & this new edition offers all the latest updates, including new restaurants & hotels, detailed coverage of the many new eco lodges & camps that have sprung up, information on festivals, music workshops & opportunities to experience the unique local culture, & informed advice about birdwatching possibilities in a country very popular with first-time birders to Africa. As well as encompassing the popular coastal resorts, the guide also provides all the detailed information required to explore the relatively undeveloped interior, making it ideal for both visitors on organised packaged holidays & independent travellers alike. Bradt`s The Gambia reveals all the background & practical information needed to explore arguably Africa`s most welcoming & safest country with its plethora of beach resorts
- catering to all tastes & budgets
- that line the 80km stretch of tropical coastline running from the capital Banjul to the remote southern border. Small in size but rich in African character, The Gambia offers perhaps the closest English-speaking `winter sun` destination from Europe & is also an emerging destination for adventure activities such as kayaking, mountain bike tours, quad biking & parachuting. Justifiably popular with birdwatchers, the lush mangrove- & jungle-fringed river is also home to crocodiles, hippos, chimpanzees & a variety of monkeys. Historic attractions include the mysterious megalithic stone circles at Wassu & Ker Batch, & the fortified James Island & former slave-trading village of Juffureh (to where Alex Haley traced his ancestry in the book & TV programme Roots)
- all of which form part of the country`s two UNESCO World Heritage Sites & offer rich pickings to moderately adventurous travellers. All in all, Bradt`s The Gambia is the perfect companion for discovering this safe, welcoming & decidedly tourist-friendly English-speaking country which makes for an ideal short-stay introduction to the unique atmosphere of Africa.


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The Gambia in the Travel Guide series from Bradt; encompassing a comprehensive range of titles to destinations worldwide, with a particular focus on Africa, Central & South America. Bradt are one of the country’s leading independent publishers & have an ethos that focuses on responsible travel, in alliance with a philosophy of sustainability; both in the destinations the guides cover but also in encouraging tourists to limit the impact they have on the local environment. Bradt guides have a reputation for appealing to more independent travelers & often cover destinations that are not available from other publishers. Each guide opens with two comprehensive chapters on Background & Practical Information, covering details of the country’s geography, culture, natural history, government & politics, economy, people, language, religion, education & culture. Important practical advice

Includes:: when to visit, highlights, suggested itineraries, tour operators, red tape, embassies & consulates, getting there & away, health, safety, what to take, money, budgeting, getting around, accommodation, eating & drinking, public holidays, shopping, arts & entertainment, media & communications, business, travel culture & cultural etiquette. Individual sections are organized geographically by region & typically open with information on practicalities & orientation, before focusing on what to see & where to go. Information on what to see, where to stay, where to eat & how to find your way around is provided, with a range of budgets catered for. Simple black & white maps locate key visitor sites & places of accommodation. Bradt Travel Guides include appendices that provide an in-depth introduction to the language of each country, a glossary of terms & a listing of books & internet resources providing further information on the destination.

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The Gambler & Other Stories is Fyodor Dostoyevsky`s collection of one novella & six short stories reflecting his own life
- indeed,
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In the last two decades football in Britain has made the transition from a peripheral dying sport to the very centre of our popular culture, from an economic basket-case to a booming entertainment industry. What does it mean when football becomes so central to our private & political lives? Has it enriched us or impoverished us? In this sparkling book David Goldblatt argues that no social phenomenon tracks the momentous economic, social & political changes of the post-Thatcherite era in a more illuminating manner than football, & no cultural practice sheds more light on the aspirations & attitudes of our long boom & subsequent bust. ...

The H is for Hawk for lovers of the outdoors & wildlife. A fascinating memoir of Scotland`s first-ever qualified female gamekeeper. Portia Simpson grew up outdoors, always preferring to climb trees than play indoors. Talented & driven, she became the first female to graduate as a Gamekeeper & Wildlife Manager. In this wonderful memoir, Portia tells the story of how she first broke into a traditionally conservative, male-dominated profession & the skills, training & dedication that helped to set her apart. She gives an intimate account of a life filled with stunning landscapes, heart-wrenching lows & magnificent highs, & shares her expert insight into the world of game keeping. Offering a sense of wonder at the mystique & natural beauty of the wild, this is a fascinating & unique look at the life of the huntswoman. ` The vividness of Portia Simpson`s writing seduces you, evoking her passionate connection with the raw, violent beauty of nature` Libby Purves, Daily Mail ...

The Olympic Games have become the single greatest festival of a universal & cosmopolitan humanity. Seventeen days of sporting competition watched & followed on every continent & in every country on the planet. Simply, the greatest show on earth. Yet when the modern games were inaugurated in Athens in 1896, the founders thought them a ”display of manly virtue”, an athletic celebration of the kind of amateur gentleman that would rule the world. How was such a ritual invented? Why did it prosper & how has it been so utterly transformed? In The Games, David Goldblatt
- winner of the 2015 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award
- takes on a breathtakingly ambitious search for the answers & brilliantly unravels the complex strands of this history. Beginning with the olympics as a sporting side show at the great Worlds Fairs of the Belle Epoque & transformation into a global media spectacular care of Hollywood & the Nazi party, The Games shows how sport & the olympics been a battlefield in the global Cold War, a defining moment for of epoch social & economic change in host cities & countries, & a theatre of resistance for women & athletes colour once excluded from the show. Illuminated with dazzling vignettes from over a century of olympic completion
- this stunningly researched history captures the excitement of sporting brilliance & the kaleidoscopic experience of the Games. It shows us how this sporting spectacle has come to reflect the world we hope to inhabit & the one we actually live in.


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India is not simply a place; it is an experience. & the Ganges is not just a river: it is an aspect of the Divine. This is Raghubir Singh`s personal pilgrimage along the Ganges: from the Himalayas, where the river rises among snows, through the villages of the Gangetic Plain, past Banaras & through Bihar, to the Bay of Bengal, between India & Bangladesh. On the way he captures the essence of the river`s many different stages & moods, its strange & stunning beauty, its turbulence & ferocity during the monsoon, & the intimate daily lives of the people who live along it. He shows the river`s powerful religious significance, attested by the millions of Hindus who take part in the ageless pilgrimages & festivals held on its banks. Singh`s camera is as fine-tuned as his sensibility. To read his introductions to each area or aspect of the Ganges & then to look at these fascinating & infinitely various photographs is to see that what he notices with his mind he can catch to an amazing degree in a visual image. In these pictures there is more than the conventionally beautiful; in them we are brought face to face with Loknadi, the river of the world. ...

India's holiest river, the Ganges, winds some 1, 550 miles through the country, from its headwaters in the Himalayan glaciers past the villages & cities of the Gangetic Plain to the Delta's thousand fingers in the Bay of Bengal. Here, Aldo Pavan & his camera trace the route of this sacred river, capturing its beauty & its many different phases & moods. ...