Uprooted from war-torn London, Alda Lucie-Brown & her three daughters start a new life at Pine Cottage in rural Sussex. Unsuited to a quiet life, Alda attempts to orchestrate
- with varying degrees of success
- the love affairs of her neighbours. Her unwilling subjects include an Italian POW, a Communist field-h&, a battery-chicken farmer & her intelligent friend Jean.

...

Bird courtship & display can be one of the most captivating events in the natural world. This attractive & informative book looks at natural selection & why birds have evolved different reproduction strategies, examining territories, birdsong, displays & dealing with rivals. It also looks at different bird lifestyles, including monogamy, polygamy, polyandry, promiscuity & communal arrangements, as well as the importance of plumage, including why males are usually brighter & how special plumage features have evolved.” The Mating Lives of Birds” then focuses on some of the most spectacular bird displays, including Bittern (`booming`, territorial & mating call); superb Lyrebird (amazing tail feathers, posture display in special arena); grouse (leks, special calls, plumage features); Golden Eagle (pendulum flight with both male & female); cranes (dancing displays); Ruddy Duck (drumming noises, bubbling effects); puffins (bill colours change for breeding season); egrets (elaborate display plumes); frigatebirds (inflatable throat-pouch display), birds-of-paradise (outrageous plumage, hanging displays, vocalization); Ruff (special breeding plumage, `jousting` between males at leks) & phalaropes (role reversal, female brighter & proactive in display). This evocatively written & richly illustrated title will be an essential addition to the library of any keen birdwatcher. ...

No other mountain in the world is as fascinating as the Matterhorn. Since the dramatic first ascent in 1865, the drama & the myths have created a unique interest in this mountain, which has probably caused the deaths of more mountaineers than any other. Each year, thousands of climbers attempt to reach the summit, but only one in five succeeds. & every season, the mountain claims the lives of ten to twenty climbers. Steffen Kjaer describes his & his climbing partner Brian Jorgensen`s attempt to make it to the summit of the Matterhorn. After careful preparation & perfect acclimatisation, they take off to face the challenge of their lives. On the descent, however, something goes wrong. All of a sudden, they find themselves caught in one of Matterhorn`s countless & lethal rockslides... Besides following the author`s struggles on the Matterhorn, this book also

Includes:: a range of short articles: it offers an account of the mountain`s history, including the legendary first ascent in 1865, as well as a factual description of the symptoms & mechanisms of altitude sickness. Moreover, it contains portraits of local mountain guides & an eyewitness account by the former American President, Theodore Roosevelt
- twenty years prior to his inauguration, he travelled to the Alps & climbed the Matterhorn. As a further bonus, the stories of the book are illustrated by spectacular photos taken by the author.


...

In the spring of 1901 a teenager stood on top of a hill, gazed out in wonderment at the Australian landscape & decided he wanted to be a mountaineer. Two decades later, the same man stood in a blizzard beneath the summit of Mount Everest, within sight of his goal to be the first to stand on the roof of the world. George Finch was at the highest point ever reached by a human being & only his decision to save the life of his stricken companion stopped him from reaching the summit. George Finch was a rebel of the first order, a man who dared to challenge the British establishment who disliked his independence, background, long hair & lack of an Oxbridge education. Despite this, he not only became one of the world`s greatest alpinists, earning the grudging respect of his rival George Mallory, but pioneered the use of the artificial oxygen that enabled Everest to finally be conquered thirty years after his own attempt. A renowned scientist, a World War I hero & a Fellow of the Royal Society, involved in the development of some of the twentieth century`s most important inventions, his skills helped save London from burning to the ground during the Blitz. Finch`s public accomplishments, however, were shadowed by his complicated private life & his fraught relationship with his son, the actor Peter Finch. Acclaimed biographer Robert Wainwright restores George Finch to his rightful place in history with this remarkable tribute to one of the twentieth century`s most eccentric anti-heroes. ` One of the two best Alpinists of his time
- Mallory was the other.` The Times
...

” In the spring of 1901 a teenager stood on top of a hill, gazed out in wonderment at the Australian landscape & decided he wanted to be a mountaineer. Two decades later, the same man stood in a blizzard beneath the summit of Mount Everest, within sight of his goal to be the first to stand on the roof of the world. George Finch, a boy from the bush, was at the highest point ever reached by a human being & only his decision to save the life of his stricken companion stopped him from reaching the summit. George Finch was a rebel of the first order, a man who dared to challenge the British establishment who disliked his independence, background, long hair & lack of an Oxbridge education. Despite this, he not only became one of the world`s greatest alpinists, earning the grudging respect of his rival George Mallory, but pioneered the use of the artificial oxygen that enabled Everest to finally be conquered thirty years after his own attempt. A renowned scientist, a World War I hero & a Fellow of the Royal Society, involved in the development of some of the twentieth century`s most important inventions, his skills helped save London from burning to the ground during the Blitz. Finch`s public accomplishments, however, were shadowed by his complicated private life & his fraught relationship with his son, the actor Peter Finch. Acclaimed biographer Robert Wainwright restores George Finch to his rightful place in history with this remarkable tribute to one of the twentieth century`s most eccentric anti-heroes.` One of the two best Alpinists of his time
- Mallory was the other.` The Times”
...

Get ready for Time Riders: The Mayan Prophecy, the 8th book in Alex Scarrow`s numbered 1 bestselling time-travel adventure series. Liam O` Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026. But all three have been given a second chance
- to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history... When Maddy finally unlocks fragments of the secret that Becks has been holding on to, the Time Riders start to piece together their true purpose. Racing through time to connect the clues, the team discover a Mayan tribe & an ancient relic provides a vital link to the past.. .and future. But not all the Time Riders can cope with the discovery, & one threatens to bring them all down if they can act out their revenge... Book eight in the bestselling Time Riders series by Alex Scarrow. It is perfect for fans of Doctor Who & Indiana Jones. Time Riders (Book 1) won the Red House Book Award older readers category, & was Penguin UK`s first ever number one on the i Bookstore. Alex Scarrow is a World Book Day 2013 author with Time Riders: The Nearly Girl on the WBD Movellas app. Alex Scarrow used to be a rock guitarist, then he became a graphic artist, then he decided to be a computer games designer. Finally, he grew up & became an author. He has written a number of successful thrillers & several screenplays, but it`s YA fiction that has allowed him to really have fun with the ideas & concepts he was playing around with designing games.
...

This globe measures 30 cm (12”) diameter & features clear political mapping, a wooden ring base & a brass effect stem. The countries are distinguished by different colour borders & the topography is represented by relief shading. The warm tonal red colour way is a more unique design feature that is sure to add something special to a room. Available to order on dem&. Please contact our sales team for more information: sales@stanfords.co.uk. ...

The voyage of the Mayflower & the founding of Plymouth Colony is one of the seminal events in world history. But the poorly-equipped group of English Puritans who ventured across the Atlantic in the early autumn of 1620 had no sense they would pass into legend. They had eighty casks of butter & two dogs but no cattle for milk, meat, or ploughing. They were ill-prepared for the brutal journey & the new land that few of them could comprehend. But the Mayflower story did not end with these Pilgrims` arrival on the coast of New England or their first uncertain years as settlers. Rebecca Fraser traces two generations of one ordinary family & their extraordinary response to the challenges of life in America. Edward Winslow, an apprentice printer born in Worcestershire, fled England & then Holland for a life of religious freedom & opportunity. Despite the intense physical trials of settlement, he found America exotic, enticing, & endlessly interesting. He built a home & a family, & his remarkable friendship with King Massassoit, Chief of the Wampanoags, is part of the legend of Thanksgiving. Yet, fifty years later, Edward`s son Josiah was commanding the New England militias against Massassoit`s son in King Philip`s War. The Mayflower Generation is an intensely human portrait of the Winslow family written with the pace of an epic. Rebecca Fraser details domestic life in the seventeenth century, the histories of brave & vocal Puritan women & the contradictions between generations as fathers & sons made the painful decisions which determined their future in America. ...

This is the ” Penguin English Library Edition” of ” The Mayor of Casterbridge” by Thomas Hardy. ` Here
- I am waiting to know about
...

The Mayor of Mogadishu tells the story one family`s epic journey through Somalia`s turmoil, from the optimism of independence to its spectacular unravelling. Mohamud ` Tarzan` Nur was born a nomad, & became an orphan, then a street brawler in the cosmopolitan port city of Mogadishu
- a place famous for its cafes & open-air cinemas. When Somalia collapsed into civil war, Tarzan & his young family joined the exodus from Mogadishu, eventually spending twenty years in North London. But in 2010 Tarzan returned to the unrecognisable ruins of a city largely controlled by the Islamist militants of Al-Shabaab. For some, the new Mayor was a galvanising symbol of defiance. But others branded him a thug, mired in the corruption & clan rivalries that continue to threaten Somalia`s revival. The Mayor of Mogadishu is an uplifting story of survival, & a compelling examination of what it means to lose a country & then to reclaim it.
...