All the best armchair travellers are sceptics. Those of the fourteenth century were no exception: for them, there were lies, damned lies, & Ibn Battutah`s India. Born in 1304, Ibn Battutah left his native Tangier as a young scholar of law; over the course of the thirty years that followed he visited most of the known world between Morocco & China. Here Tim Mackintosh-Smith retraces one leg of the Moroccan`s journey
- the dizzy ladders & terrifying snakes of his Indian career as a judge & a hermit, courtier & prisoner, ambassador & castaway. From the plains of Hindustan to the plateaux of the Deccan & the lost ports of Malabar, the author reveals an India far off the beaten path of Taj & Raj. Ibn Battutah left India on a snake, stripped to his underpants by pirates; but he took away a treasure of tales as rich as any in the history of travel. Back home they said the treasure was a fake. Mackintosh-Smith proves the sceptics wrong. India is a jewel in the turban of the Prince of Travellers. Here it is, glittering, grotesque but genuine, a fitting ornament for his 700th birthday.
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Dan promised he`d look after his siblings, but he hadn`t bargained on his scientist parents dying on a jungle research trip. The children decamp to crumbling Daundelyon Hall. Horrible Aunt Grusilla reigns supreme, tending her mysterious graveyard garden. But why are Aunt Grusilla & her servants each missing a finger? What are the hungry ` Cabbages` in the greenhouse? As Dan struggles to solve the mystery he encounters one final question: what`s the price of everlasting life? ...

Over 2, 000 place names are included. The text is clear & each country is given a different colour with a darker tone around the borders to accentuate the political mapping. In the oceans, undersea ridges & basins are named & the clever use of shading in the oceans gives a stunning effect when the globe is illuminated. Mains operated. ...

The Hammer & the Cross, Robert Ferguson’s new history of the Vikings, sheds light on some of the most characteristic aspects of the Vikings’ culture, including their heathen religion, their shipbuilding & architectural skills, & the literary & poetic culture that celebrated the deeds of such thought provoking named leaders as Harald Bluetooth & Ivar the Boneless. ...

The recorded history of Hampstead goes back a thousand years. but it was only in the 18th century, with the first Hampstead Spa, that it became fashionable. Building took place on part of the heath l&, but local opposition stopped further exploitation of this picturesque open space favoured by artists & the general public. Hampstead retains many of its 18th century buildings & still has much charm, liveliness & distinctive character. This is a well illustrated book written by an eminent Hampstead expert & resident. ...

A new translation of George Simenon`s taut, devastating psychological novel set in American suburbia. The inspiration for the new play by award-winning playwright David Hare. `I had begun, God knows why, tearing a corner off of everyday truth, begun seeing myself in another kind of mirror, & now the whole of the old, more or less comfortable truth was falling to pieces` Confident & successful, New York advertising executive Ray Sanders takes what he wants from life. When he goes missing in a snow storm in Connecticut one evening, his closest friend begins to reassess his loyalties, gambling Ray`s fate & his own future. ` The romans durs are extraordinary: tough, bleak, offhandedly violent, suffused with guilt & bitterness, redolent of place.. .utterly unsentimental, frightening in the pitilessness of their gaze, yet wonderfully entertaining` John Banville ` One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.. . Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories` Guardian `A supreme writer.. .unforgettable vividness` Independen ...

Snared between two cultures & two loves, one man is forced to choose...1564, the Kingdom of Granada. After years of Christian oppression, the Moors take arms & daub the white houses of Sierra Nevada with the blood of their victims. Amidst the conflict is young Hernando, the son of an Arab woman & the Christian priest who raped her. He is despised & regularly beaten by his own step-father for his `tainted` heritage. Fuelled with the love of the beautiful Fatima, Hernando hatches a plan to unite the two warring faiths
- & the two halves of his identity...
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What happens when an urban girl swaps her kitten heels in the city for karma in the country? It is a big year for Lucy
- she has
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Whether you want to learn some loops or practise plaits, this guide reveals everything you need to know about knot tying. With clear instructions & step-by-step photographs, you can be sure that you will select the correct type of rope. From fishing to camping, sailing to mountaineering, this handy guide will show you which knot to use. ...

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire
- neither Offred`s nor that of the two men on which her future hangs. Brilliantly conceived & executed, this powerful evocation of twenty-first century America gives full rein to Margaret Atwood`s devastating irony, wit & astute perception.
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