This volume opens in June 1945. The immediate postwar period produces many shocks & revelations
- some people have behaved better
...

The Rider has no memory of who he is, or how he came to be lying
- dying
- in the brutal heat of the North African desert.

...

It is the dead of night. Sixteen-year-old Tiuri must spend hours locked in a chapel in silent contemplation if he is to be knighted the next day. But, as he waits by the light of a flickering candle, he hears a knock at the door & a voice desperately asking for help. A secret letter must be delivered to King Unauwen across the Great Mountains
- a letter upon which the fate of the entire kingdom depends. Tiuri has a vital role to play, one that might cost him his knighthood. Tiuri`s journey will take him through dark, menacing forests, across treacherous rivers, to sinister castles & strange cities. He will encounter evil enemies who would kill to get the letter, but also the best of friends in the most unexpected places. He must trust no one. He must keep his true identity secret. Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter... The Letter for the King is the thrilling story of one boy`s battle against evil, set in an enchanted world of chivalry, courage & true friendship.
...

When sixteen-year-old Tiuri answers a desperate call for help, he finds himself on a perilous mission that could cost him his life. He must deliver a secret letter to the King who lives across the Great Mountains
- a letter upon which the future of the entire realm depends. It means abandoning his home, breaking all the rules & leaving everything behind
- even the knighthood that he has dreamed of for so long. The fate of a kingdom depends on just one person... He must trust no one. He must keep his true identity secret. Above all, he must never reveal what is in the letter.

...

`A truly original & enthralling novel. Ivor Punch is a magnificent creation & his story is mischievous, sad, funny & truthful`
-
...

The story of Britain's colourful maritime past seen through the changing fortunes of the Cornish port of Falmouth. Within the space of few years, during the 1560s & 1570s, a maritime revolution took place in England that would contribute more than anything to the transformation of the country from a small rebel state on the fringes of Europe into a world power. Until then, it was said, there was only one Englishman capable of sailing across the Atlantic. Yet within ten years an English ship with an English crew was circumnavigating the world. At the same time in Cornwall, in the Fal estuary, just a single building
- a lime kiln
- existed where the port of Falmouth would emerge. Yet by the end of the eighteenth century, Falmouth would be one of the busiest harbours in the world. ' The Levelling Sea' uses the story of Falmouth's spectacular rise & fall to explore wider questions about the sea & its place in history & imagination. Drawing on his own deep connection with Cornwall, award-winning author Philip Marsden writes unforgettably about the power of the sea & its ability to produce greed on a piratical scale, dizzying corruption, & grand & tragic aspirations.

...

The story of Britain`s colourful maritime past seen through the changing fortunes of the Cornish port of Falmouth. Within the space of few years, during the 1560s & 1570s, a maritime revolution took place in England that would contribute more than anything to the transformation of the country from a small rebel state on the fringes of Europe into a world power. Until then, it was said, there was only one Englishman capable of sailing across the Atlantic. Yet within ten years an English ship with an English crew was circumnavigating the world. At the same time in Cornwall, in the Fal estuary, just a single building
- a lime kiln
- existed where the port of Falmouth would emerge. Yet by the end of the eighteenth century, Falmouth would be one of the busiest harbours in the world. ` The Levelling Sea` uses the story of Falmouth`s spectacular rise & fall to explore wider questions about the sea & its place in history & imagination. Drawing on his own deep connection with Cornwall, award-winning author Philip Marsden writes unforgettably about the power of the sea & its ability to produce greed on a piratical scale, dizzying corruption, & grand & tragic aspirations.

...

Following orders from President Thomas Jefferson, Captains Meriwether Lewis & William Clark set out from their wintering camp in Illinois in 1804 to search for a river passage to the Pacific Ocean. In this riveting account, editor Gary E. Moulton blends the narrative highlights of the Lewis & Clark journals so that the voices of the enlisted men & of Native peoples are heard alongside the words of the captains. All their triumphs & terrors are here-the thrill of seeing the vast herds of bison on the plains; the tensions & admiration in the first meetings with Indian peoples; Lewis`s rapture at the stunning beauty of the Great Falls; the fear the captains felt when a devastating illness befell their Shoshone interpreter, Sacagawea; the ordeal of crossing the Continental Divide; the kidnapping & rescuing of Lewis’s dog, Seaman; miserable days of cold & hunger; & Clark`s joy at seeing the Pacific. The cultural differences between the corps & Native Americans make for living drama that at times provokes laughter but more often is poignant &, at least once, tragic. ...

An unidentified corpse is recovered from a Lewis peat bog; the only clue to its identity being a DNA sibling match to a local farmer. But this islander, Tormod Macdonald
- now an elderly man suffering from dementia
- has always claimed to be an only child. When Tormod`s family approach Fin Macleod for help, Fin feels duty-bound to solve the mystery.

...

Stephen Fry`s breathtakingly outrageous debut novel, by turns eccentric, shocking, brilliantly comic & achingly romantic. Adrian Healey is magnificently unprepared for the long littleness of life; unprepared too for the afternoon in Salzburg when he will witness the savage murder of a Hungarian violinist; unprepared to learn about the Mendax device; unprepared for more murders & wholly unprepared for the truth. The Liar is a thrilling, sophisticated & laugh out loud hilarious novel from a brilliantly talented writer. ...