Be careful what you wish for... Long ago, Andrew made a childhood wish, & kept it in a silver box. When it finally comes true, he wishes he hadn`t... Long ago, Ben made a promise & he had a dream: to travel to Africa to volunteer at a lion reserve. When he finally makes it, it isn`t for the reasons he imagined... Ben & Andrew keep meeting in unexpected places, & the intense relationship that develops seems to be guided by fate. Or is it? What if the very thing that draws them together is tainted by past secrets that threaten everything?A dark, consuming drama that shifts from Zimbabwe to Engl&, & then back into the past, The Lion Tamer Who Lost is also a devastatingly beautiful love story, with a tragic heart...`A stirring novel, beautifully written, reminiscent of the early work of Maggie O` Farrell` Irish Times` Fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will love it` Red Magazine` Quirky, darkly comic, heartfelt & original` Sunday Mirror` This achingly sad story has wonderful characters, including the spiky, sweary Catherine` Sunday People`A beautiful & compassionate read` Prima ...

In his “ Liquid Continent” trilogy, Nicholas Woodsworth combines travel narrative, history & reflection of the essence of life in the Mediterranean. Beginning in Alexandria, the author travels overland around the eastern rim of the sea. Behind the spread of modern apartment blocks, he encounters an older, sophisticated existence
- the city of Cleopatra; the city where renowned mathematicians corresponded with the Greek Archimedes & where great scholars such as Eratosthenes, a lover of all knowledge who was appointed by the Ptolemies as Chief Librarian, turned geography into the rational study it is today. This fluid & lively account unravels a mythic city whose grand historical reputation has sustained it through the ages, even if physically it has changed beyond recognition.
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This wonderful book is part of Nicholas Woodsworth’s “ Liquid Continent” trilogy, combining travel narrative, history & a reflection on the essence of life in the Mediterranean. Here, in Volume II, he comes to Venice; of all the great powers of the Mediterranean past, Venice was the most commercially ambitious. Her great wealth & sophisticated culture were products of a commercial empire that stretched from the Adriatic to the ports of the Levant, & her long history is studded with sea dramas of war, crusade & intrigue. Seeing maritime dominance as the foundation of Venice’s existence, the author abandons museums & tourist hordes to engage in the city’s ongoing love-affair with the sea. He investigates the heart of Venice’s marine activity, the Arsenale; prowls the corridors of the city’s mysterious State Archives; takes part in a celebrated rowing race; meets the city’s top gondola-builder. Signing on as a canal-boat delivery man, he discovers in the backwaters of Venice a magnificent but intimate city rarely seen by outsiders. ...

This wonderful book is part of Nicholas Woodsworth’s “ Liquid Continent” trilogy, combining travel narrative, history & a reflection on the essence of life in the Mediterranean. Volume III, the final chapter in the trilogy, sees Woodsworth go to Istanbul. As ever, he takes the road less travelled, through Albania towards the Aegean archipelago, visiting Lesbos & Dardanelles on the way to Istanbul. Under the Ottomans, who ruled the eastern Mediterranean for 500 years, cosmopolitan life in Istanbul, or Constantinople as it was then, took a particularly vigourous & productive form, creating a web of connection & identity that is conspicuously absent in our own era. Installing himself in a former Benedictine monastery overlooking the Golden Horn, Nicholas Woodsworth looks into the social life of a city that was once the capital of a vast & ethnically complex empire. He meets a diverse range of citizens, from fishermen of the Bosphorus to the remnants of the port-city’s Greek & Armenian communities. On the stage of a vital drama now being played out between modern secularism & traditional Islam, Nicholas Woodsworth finds in today’s Istanbul a city that offers solutions to the future of globalisation. Despite the seriousness of the book’s theme, he keeps his narrative lively & down-to-earth by letting Mediterraneans do their own talking, something they excel at in any case. ...

Combining history & travel narrative, Nicholas Woodsworth journeys around the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, the sea which gave birth to Western civilisation. This sea, he says, should not be seen as an empty space surrounded by Europe, Asia & Africa, but as a continent in its own right, a place from whose coastlines people look, not outwards to distant countries or that capitals but inwards across the water to each other. The Mediterranean has its own culture, its own life, its own way of being. Setting out from Alexandria, in a journey marked by lively & unpredictable encounters, Woodsworth discovershidden corners of Venice, before arriving at Istanbul, where he installs himself in a former Benedictine monastery. In all these places he finds traces of a vibrant & cosmopolitan heritage, & asks what these cities & their inhabitants owe to the sea. ...

Money can buy you freedom. But what about happiness? When Jocelyne looks at herself in the mirror, she sees a middle-aged, married woman who runs a dressmaking shop in a small provincial French town & lives a very ordinary existence. But what happened to all those dreams she had when she was 17? Then she wins millions on the lottery & has the chance to change her life for ever. So why does she find herself reluctant to accept the money? To help her decide what to do, she begins to compile a list of her heart`s desires, never suspecting for one moment that the decision might be taken out of her hands.. . ...

In her first ever story collection, Jansson revealed the clarity of vision & light philosophical touch that were to become her hallmark. From the good listener who begins to betray the secrets confided to her, to vignettes of a city storm or the slow halting of spring, these stories are gifts of originality & depth. ...

Mama Liszt, Papa Liszt, Winifred, Edward, Frederick & Grandpa Liszt make lists all day long. So does their cat. Then one day a visitor arrives. He`s not on anyone`s list. Will the Liszts be able to make room on their lists for this new visitor? What will they do when something unexpected happens? Kyo Maclear`s quirky, whimsical story is perfectly brought to life with the witty, stunning illustrations of debut picture book artist Júlia Sardà. Discover this humorous, poignant & unforgettable celebration of spontaneity. ...

For centuries, Edinburgh has been home, inspiration & muse to writers. Robert Louis Stevenson, Muriel Spark, Sir Walter Scott & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were born in the city. John Buchan, J.M. Barrie & Robert Burns lived there. Visiting literati who praised & condemned it include Dickens, Defoe, Tennyson, Thackeray, Dr Johnson & George Eliot, while poets Robert Garioch, Sorley Maclean, Norman Mac Caig, Alan Bold & Hugh Mac Diarmid drank Edinburgh pubs dry in the 1950s, '60s & '70s. The city has inspired classic & controversial works of literature such as The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Regeneration & the novels of Irvine Welsh & Ian Rankin. Edinburgh's main railway terminus, Waverley, was named after the novel by Sir Walter Scott, & how many other cities can boast a memorial to a native author that dominates its skyline as does the Scott Monument on Princes Street? Added to this, the Edinburgh International Book Festival is now the largest book festival in the world. Exploring Edinburgh's literary past & present is synonymous with exploring & traversing the great city itself
- a city which truly deserves the accolade World City of Literature.
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” The Literary Traveller in Scotland” opens up Scotland`s literary landscape for the first time in one concise volume. All prominent Scottish writers from the fourteenth to the twenty-first century are included & discussed in their literary, historical & cultural contexts, set in the landscapes where they were born & which inspired them. It details the birthplaces, childhoods, former homes & burial places of famous Scottish authors, uncovers sites, restaurants & pubs with a literary connection, & lists notable bookshops, literary museums & other places of relevance in the world of Scottish writing. This attractive tome will be lavishly illustrated with photographs, while maps will enhance many of the entries, including the Kidnapped trail, Boswell & Johnson`s Highland journey, Burns country, Richard Hannay`s 39 Steps trail, the Pentland walks of Robert Louis Stevenson, a plan of Rosslyn Chapel, Gavin Maxwell`s Sandaig, Compton Mackenzie`s Barra, the Ettrick Valley of James Hogg, the Mearns of Lewis Grassic Gibbon, J. M. Barrie`s Thrums & the ports & pubs of Para Handy, to name a few. There has never been a national literary guide for Scotland until now, & ” The Literary Traveller in Scotland” will be a welcome first for book lovers all over the country & beyond. ...