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.
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In 1940s Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod, poet Toby Maytree falls in love with Lou Bigelow at first sight. His slow courtship gradually wins her over, & so begins a love story that lasts decades. But when a friend comes between them, they must each renegotiate what it means to love. ...

In 1992, Lucy Rees's journey on horseback across Arizona became a quest for spiritual enlightenment. A carving of a Cretan maze near Tintagel in Cornwall had always fascinated Lucy's companion Rick. In Arizona they were surprised to find from an illustration in a book, that this same carving could be found on a rock on one of three barren mesas in north-east Arizona where the last remaining Hopi native Americans had built their villages. The search for the maze announced itself as the purpose of their journey. But beyond their shared love of wild places, & this finishing point, they had a third, less clear purpose, an agenda only gradually revealed to them as events unfolded. They entered upon this journey in a spirit of exploration knowing that somewhere there was a centre, but uncertain as to what it was or what mysteries it might uncover. ...

1944. Sent to Spain to arrest a rogue spy, British agent Peter Cotton expects an easy first assignment. But he arrives to find his quarry dead & all of Cadiz awaiting his arrival. In a hotbed of scandal & murder, Cotton must navigate through a labyrinth of international conspiracies, shifting political allegiances & a mysterious local expatriate community to discover the truth. What he unearths could just tilt the emerging balance of post-war power & the course of history for ever. ...

When the doors of the lift crank open, the only thing Thomas remembers is his first name. But he`s not alone. He`s surrounded by boys who welcome him to the Glade
- a walled encampment at the centre of a bizarre & terrible stone maze. Like Thomas, the Gladers don`t know why or how they came to be there
- or what`s happened to the world outside. All they know is that every morning when the walls slide back, they will risk everything
- even the Grievers, half-machine, half-animal horror that patrol its corridors, to try & find out.


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The Kashmir Kidnapping that changed the face of modern terrorism. In July 1995, ten Western backpackers take a trip of a lifetime. hey have come in search of many things
- nirvana, exhilaration, a sense of self. But over the course of the next week, their holidays take a terrifying turn when they become entangled in a nail-biting hostage drama that will suck them into an alien world of jihad & Islamic fundamentalism. In the months that follow, their fates will become caught-up in a bloody struggle between India & Pakistan, fought out in the airless heights of Kashmir. With the world looking on, four of the captured travellers will vanish off the face of the earth, never to be seen again, creating one of the region`s great mysteries. Written with access to diaries, letters, unprocessed film & personal recollections from those enmeshed in the drama, drawing on classified police reports & secret tape recordings of Indian government negotiations, as well as interviews with the jihadis themselves & excerpts from their journals, Adrian Levy & Cathy Scott-Clark`s book is a real-life thriller, a startling but compelling story told from the perspective of all involved. The Meadow charts how the fates of two groups of young men from different hemispheres became inextricably entwined on the mountain trails they followed. It tells of the terrifying escape of one hostage, the heart-rending secret letters another wrote on birch bark & hid in his clothing as he contemplated his situation, & how, with a brutal beheading, the kidnappers took an irreversible step into the abyss. Packed with explosive revelations, The Meadow provides the first definitive answers as to what happened to the missing backpackers, revealing how the kidnapping of July 1995 changed the face of modern jihad, its architects going on to sow the seeds of a cold-hearted war against the West.
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The shocking true story of a brutal kidnapping high in the mountains of Kashmir that marked the beginning of modern terrorism. In July 1995, ten backpackers journeyed into the foothills of the Himalayas, trekking to an idyllic campsite known as the Meadow. But their search for tranquillity was savagely interrupted when they were taken hostage by Islamic extremists. Using diaries, letters, classified police reports & interviews with the jihadis themselves, The Meadow traces the escalating tension between kidnappers, victims & police, while examining the high-level conspiracies surrounding the abduction. It tells of the single escape attempt & how
- with a brutal beheading
- the hostage takers took an irreversible step into the abyss. The shocking true story of the crisis that foreshadowed a new epoch of global terrorism, this is the book that forced Intelligence & government authorities to uncover what really happened in the Meadow.

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Just five miles west of New York City, the Meadowlands is an untamed, vilified, half-developed & smelly tract of swampl&. It is home to rare birds & missing bodies, tranquil marshes & a major sports arena, burning garbage dumps & corporate headquarters, the remains of the original Penn Station & possibly those of more than one mafioso. Acclaimed writer Robert Sullivan proves himself to be the perfect explorer, historian & archaeologist for this fragile yet amazingly resilient region. He tramps through the muck on foot & navigates the polluted rivers in a canoe, all the while describing the industrial detritus with as much zeal as he observes the surprisingly rich diversity of wildlife. ” The Meadowlands” is an ode to an overlooked American borderl&, a delightfully incongruous battleground marking the ongoing struggle between the forces of progress & nature. ...

One of our most eloquent nature writers offers a passionate & informative celebration of birds & their ability to help us understand the world we live in. As well as exploring how birds achieve the miracle of flight; why birds sing; what they tell us about the seasons of the year & what their presence tells us about the places they inhabit, The Wisdom of Birds muses on the uses of feathers, the drama of raptors, the slaughter of pheasants, the infidelities of geese, & the strangeness of feeling sentimental about blue tits while enjoying a chicken sandwich. From the mocking-birds of the Galapagos who guided Charles Darwin toward his evolutionary theory, to the changing patterns of migration that alert us to the reality of contemporary climate change, Simon Barnes explores both the intrinsic wonder of what it is to be a bird
- & the myriad ways in which birds can help us understand the meaning of life.
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One of our most eloquent nature writers offers a passionate & informative celebration of birds & their ability to help us understand the world we live in. As well as exploring how birds achieve the miracle of flight; why birds sing; what they tell us about the seasons of the year & what their presence tells us about the places they inhabit, The Meaning of Birds muses on the uses of feathers, the drama of raptors, the slaughter of pheasants, the infidelities of geese, & the strangeness of feeling sentimental about blue tits while enjoying a chicken sandwich. From the mocking-birds of the Galapagos who guided Charles Darwin toward his evolutionary theory, to the changing patterns of migration that alert us to the reality of contemporary climate change, Simon Barnes explores both the intrinsic wonder of what it is to be a bird – & the myriad ways in which birds can help us understand the meaning of life. ...