A Luscious Historical Novel About Robert Burns` wife, Jean Armour. The Jewel is set largely during the dramatic years of their courtship in Mauchline, their married life at Ellisland & in Dumfries, & Robert`s early death, all against a background simmering with political intrigue & turmoil. Jean
- a beautiful young woman with the voice of a nightingale
- has been inexplicably neglected by biographers & historians. At first, her stonemason father tried to protect the young Jean from the advances of the mercurial ploughman-poet, whose roving eye & even delusions of grandeur were notorious. Nevertheless, she fell for him & accepted his proposal. Their extraordinary marriage was passionate, tempestuous, & enduring against all odds, & its rocky course reveals Jean`s indomitable strength & character. How she lived with, & frequently without, Scotland`s most famous son tells us much about the life & times of Burns himself, & is a compelling story in itself.

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In The Jewelled Table, Bethany Kehdy takes classic & traditional recipes & demystifies them, in turn reinterpreting them for a modern cook, without sacrificing authenticity. Over 80 ancient & every day recipes from the Middle East are reinterpreted & made accessible for cooking in a Western kitchen without losing their integrity. Find out the secret to nailing hummus once & for all, whip up a Persian herb frittata & make an impressive, delicious Ox cheek, shallot & rhubarb stew. From simple weeknight suppers to lazy brunches, Sunday roasts, celebratory feasts & last-minute mayhem, Bethany illustrates that with a few key ingredients, Middle Eastern food is the perfect fit for every occasion. Featuring menu plans, detailed instructions on how to cook the recipes, as well as charming anecdotes throughout from Bethany`s own experiences in the Middle East, all set to the backdrop of beautiful location shots, The Jewelled Table is an essential cookbook for anyone who loves the flavours of the Middle East. ...

Caterina Pellegrini is a young Venetian musicologist hired by two competing cousins to find the truthful heir to an alleged treasure concealed by a once-famous, but now almost forgotten, baroque composer. Sworn to secrecy, Caterina can solve the mystery only by searching through the papers contained in the composer`s two chests that have not been opened for centuries. As she delves into all quarters of his life, from professional to personal, she is drawn into one of the most scandalous affairs of the baroque era. When her research takes her in unexpected directions, she begins to wonder what dark secrets these chests hold & just whom can she trust? ...

This is from the bestselling author of the Brunetti crime series comes. The Jewels of Paradise, a gripping tale of intrigue, music, history & greed & Donna Leon`s first st&-alone novel. Caterina Pellegrini is a young Venetian musicologist hired to find the rightful heir to an alleged treasure concealed by a once-famous, but now almost forgotten, baroque composer. Sworn to secrecy, Caterina can solve the mystery only by searching through the papers contained in two chests that have not been opened for centuries. As she delves into all quarters of his life, she is drawn into one of the most scandalous affairs of the baroque era. What dark secrets do these chests hold, & just whom can she trust? ...

The Joke, Milan Kundera`s first novel, gained him a huge following in his own country & launched his worldwide literary reputation. In his foreword Kundera explains why this completely revised translation is the definitive edition of his work. ` It is impossible to do justice here to the subtleties, comedy & wisdom of this very beautiful novel. The author of The Joke is clearly one of the best to be found anywhere.` Salman Rushdie, Observer ...

Celebrate the twentieth anniversary Allan Ahlberg`s award-winning, seasonal children`s picture book ” The Jolly Christmas Postman!” Children can take each colourful gift out of its envelope & discover for themselves what well-known fairy-tale characters are sending to one another for Christmas! It`s Christmas Eve & the Jolly Postman is delivering greetings to various fairy-tale characters
- there`s a card for Baby Bear, a game appropriately called ` Beware` for Red Riding Hood from Mr Wolf, a get-well jigsaw for hospitalised Humpty Dumpty & three more surprise envelopes. Allan Ahlberg has published over 100 children`s books & with his late wife Janet, created many award-winning children`s picture books, including ” It Was a Dark & Stormy Night”, ” Funnybones”, ” Each Peach Pear Plum” & ” Peepo!” ” The Jolly Christmas Postman” is the seasonal sequel of, the Kate Greenaway Medal winning, ” The Jolly Postman” which has sold over five million copies worldwide & remains one of the most innovative & interactive children`s books available.
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The Jolly Postman delivers cards & letters to various fairy-tale characters. He has a letter of apology for the three bears from Goldilocks, a postcard from Jack for the giant, a solicitor`s letter on behalf of Little Red Riding-Hood for the wolf who ate grandma, & so on. There are six envelopes in the book, each containing letters, cards, etc. ...

In the spirit of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters stars Jaundice & Kale Bl&-two sisters who avoid excitement at any cost. Instead, they eat tasteless oatmeal, rarely venture into bright sunlight, & read only Dr. Snoote`s Dictionary, because storybooks are just too thrilling. Together, they await the return of their parents, who left for an errand years ago & have never come back. One day, a knock on the door leads to the Bland sisters` kidnapping by an all-female band of pirates-but this is only the beginning of their escapades. Filled with Roald Dahl-esque humour, hilarious high jinks, & swashbuckling, The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters: The Jolly Regina will appeal to middle-grade readers looking for an anything-but-bland adventure. ...

The Solovetski Islands are a remote, lonely archipelago in the south of Russia`s White Sea. Isolated & unknown, they represent Russia in miniature. The Polish journalist Mariusz Wilk, whose surname translates as ` Wolf`, retreated to these glaciated wastelands for several years to observe Russia & contemplate its nature, history, people & events in an attempt to touch the essence of the country. What resulted are a sequence of strong, haunting vignettes that explore the quintessence of soulful, village-orientated Russia, which exists outside of historical events & chronology. Once a craddle of the Orthodox faith & home to a fifteenth century monastry, the islands became a dumping ground for political prisoners, an experimental Gulag & a military test site. Much of the landscape is desolate & the islands languish in a state of decay & delapidation. Many of the 1000 or so inhabitants are unemployed, undernourished & alcoholic, trapped here by circumstances & poverty. However, Wilk discovers a bleak type of beauty on the islands & his descriptions of the smells, tastes & colours present throughout the landscape enrich the text. This unusual book opens up a very diferent Russia. Infused with empathy for the place & its people, this is an emotionally powerful account of life in an area that has largely dropped off most Western observers mental maps of the world. Stanfords Book of the Month September 2003 ...

Cook led three famous expeditions to the Pacific Ocean between 1768 & 1779. In voyages that ranged from the Antarctic circle to the Arctic Sea, Cook charted Australia & the whole coast of New Zeal&, & brought back detailed descriptions of the natural history of the Pacific. Accounts based on Cook`s journals were issued at the time, but it was not until this century that the original journals were published in Beaglehole`s definitive edition. ” The Journals” tells the story of these voyages as Cook wanted it to be told, radiating the ambition, courage & skill which enabled him to carry out an unrivalled series of expeditions in dangerous waters. ...