This is a stunningly illustrated guide to Florence & Tuscany`s best gardens. This superbly illustrated volume takes readers on a grand tour of all the public gardens in Florence & throughout Tuscany as is divided into three sections: Florence Within the Walls
- 9 gardens; Florence Outside the Walls
- 28 gardens; &, Gardens in Tuscany
- 58 gardens. This superb volume provides a wealth of historical, botanical, & architectural information on these 95 gardens & the people who helped create them. Featuring travel info, maps, & visitor itineraries to help you make the most of your visit, plus photos, chronologies, & plans, this is a must-have volume for anyone wanting to discover the natural beauty of Florence & Tuscany.


...

In Japanese gardens, visitors find nature condensed & brought to perfection. Trees are trained & sculpted; the finest natural landscapes are reproduced in miniature; & the seasons are celebrated with spring blossom & the fiery leaves of autumn. The Gardens of Japan is the perfect introduction to Japanese gardens. Helena Attlee captures the essence of Japanese garden style, & outlines its history. She then explores 28 of the great Japanese gardens in detail, explaining their character & nature. Alex Ramsay`s superb photographs, specially taken for The Gardens of Japan, illustrate every aspect of the gardens. ...

Attracting over a million visitors each year, the island gardens of Madeira are unique. For centuries Madeira was at the crossroads of the world
- half-way between the tropics & the old continent. The islanders were poised to receive plants from far-flung empires & accommodate ideas from both north & south. In such a climate, growth is phenomenal & streets & squares are filled with magnificent trees (jacarandas, flame-trees & rosewoods) let alone the oozing dragon trees. Some thirty gardens in & around the capital, Funchal, & further afield as well as some of the unique native flora & landscape are expertly described. Luckhurst also explores the discovery & development of the island & its earliest gardens, & the role of Portuguese aristocrats & British wine merchants in creating the country estates known as quintas.
...

In 1929, a newly married M.F.K. Fisher said goodbye to a milquetoast American culinary upbringing & sailed with her husband to Dijon, where she tasted real French cooking for the first time. ” The Gastronomical Me” is a chronicle of her passionate embrace of a whole new way of eating, drinking, & celebrating the senses. As she recounts memorable meals shared with an assortment of eccentric & fascinating characters, set against a backdrop of mounting pre-war tensions, we witness the formation not only of her taste but of her character & her prodigious talent. ...

Between 1970 & 1975 Jon Swain, the English journalist portrayed in David Puttnam`s film, ” The Killing Fields”, lived in the lands of the Mekong river. This is his account of those years, & the way in which the tumultuous events affected his perceptions of life & death as Europe never could. He also describes the beauty of the Mekong landscape
- the villages along its banks, surrounded by mangoes, bananas & coconuts, & the exquisite women, the odours of opium, & the region`s other face
- that of violence & corruption.

...

Located at the western edge of the Eurasian steppe, Ukraine has long been the meeting place of empires
- Roman to Ottoman, Habsburg
...

From award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy, The Gates of Europe is the definitive history of Ukraine that helps us understand the country`s past & the current crisis. At the western edge of the Eurasian steppe, caught between Central Europe, Russia, & the Middle East, Ukraine has long been the meeting place of empires
- Roman to Ottoman, Habsburg to Russian
- that left their imprint on the landscape, the language & the people. The frontier between Islam & Christianity created a class of ferocious warriors known as the Cossacks, while the encounter between the Catholic & Orthodox churches led to a religious tradition that bridges Western & Eastern Christianity. Ukraine has been a home to millions of Jews, serving as the birthplace of Hassidism
- & as one of the killing fields of the Holocaust. In The Gates of Europe, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy examines the history of Ukraine`s search for its identity, bringing together some of the major figures in Ukrainian history: Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv, whose daughter Anna became queen of France; the Cossack ruler Ivan Mazepa, who was immortalized in the poems of Byron & Pushkin; Nikita Khrushchev & his protege-turned-nemesis Leonid Brezhnev; & the heroes of the Maidan protests of 2013 & 2014, who embody the current struggle over Ukraine`s future. As Plokhy explains, the recent conflict with Russia is a tragic case of history repeating itself, as Ukraine once again finds itself in the centre of a battle of global proportions. Fascinating & multilayered, The Gates of Europe is the essential guide to understanding not just Ukraine`s past but also its future.


...

The nine surviving children of the Hegarty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn`t the drink that killed him
- although that certainly helped
- it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother`s house, in the winter of 1968. ” The Gathering” is a novel about love & disappointment, about thwarted lust & limitless desire, & how our fate is written in the body, not in the stars.

...

” Evocative, muscular.”
- Kathleen Jamie. Karen Lloyd takes us on a deeply personal journey around the 60 miles of coastline that
...

Barcelona, city of mystery, & Antonio Gaudi, its most famous exponent are the subjects of this gripping new thriller for all lovers of religious conspiracy. As the Grand Master of an ancient religious brotherhood nears death, he chooses to entrust to Antonio Gaudi a sacred object whose existence has been a guarded secret since the early Christian era. The great architect protects the artefact by hiding it where he believes it might never be discovered! A new century, & a new danger. The granddaughter of Gaudi`s apprentice is now charged with finding the holy object. With the help of Miguel, her mathematician boyfriend, Maria unravels the clues Gaudi placed in his work. The prize, she believes, is the whereabouts of a sacred relic. But as mutilated bodies & sinister enemies follow in their wake, both realize that what`s at stake is of far greater importance! & their survivial is the key. ...