Step inside the magic of the ballet with six beloved ballet stories, bound together into one beautiful new edition. Including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Coppelia & The Wayward Daughter, The Nutcracker & Other Stories is both a perfect introduction to these enchanting tales & a treasurable gift book. ...

Follow Clara on a magical Christmas adventure in this retelling of the classic ballet story. Watch the Nutcracker battle the Mouse King, meet the Sugar Plum Fairy & journey to the Land of Sweets, where wonder & excitement await... Including music from: ` The Dance of the Reed Flutes`, ` The Waltz of Flowers` & ` The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy`. ...

Begun in 1984, the oak collection of Chevithorne Barton is the largest & most comprehensive in Britain & almost certainly in the world, with 380 named oaks & over 220 species. This beautifully illustrated book describes & shows oaks from Europe, North Africa, Persia, Tibet, China, Japan, Mexico & the US flourishing deep in the Devon countryside. This book is a must for all tree lovers. It is presented with a preface by Michael Heseltine. ...

This is a very long map indeed! Rolled up along its width in an elegant green tube, once opened up to its full length this map from 1893 measures nearly three metres! Alongside are notes on locks, water mills, towing paths & ferries & tides. Ideal to hang on the wall & follow the course of the river from its origins to its estuary. ...

A haunting tale of loss & discovery, ” The Oatmeal Ark” is the story of one remarkable family & a candid, beautifully rendered portrait of the country that defined it. After the death of his father, Beagan Gillean finds himself stranded on a wild Scottish isl&, alone except for a trunk full of three generations of family history. Immersing himself in the lives & dreams of his forefathers, Gillean decides to retrace the journey his great-grandfather made two-hundred years before to the promised land of Canada. A wave-rocked, wind-tossed travel adventure unfolds, carrying him into his family`s past & across the world`s second-largest country. In his wake trail three ghosts: his great-grandfather, his grandfather & his father. Together they navigate the rivers, lakes & waterways that ribbon through Canada & as they travel Gillean discovers that his ancestors` struggles, achievements & failings mirror Canada`s own. ...

In March 2003, Patrick Cockburn traveled secretly to Iraq just before the invasion, & has covered the war from Baghdad ever since. In The Occupation, Cockburn describes the fighting on the ground as Saddam Hussein's armies collapsed, the looting of Baghdad, the failure of the US occupation, the emergence of the resistance into uprising. Explaining how the three main Iraqi communities-the Kurds, the Shia & the Sunni-responded to the growing conflict, Cockburn paints a nuanced portrait of daily life in Baghdad under siege. ...

Involved for over thirty years in the politics of Iraq, Ali A. Allawi was a longtime opposition leader against the Baathist regime. In the post-Saddam years he has held important government positions & participated in crucial national decisions & events. In this book, the former Minister of Defence & Finance draws on his unique personal experience, extensive relationships with members of the main political groups & parties in Iraq, & deep understanding of the history & society of his country to answer the baffling questions that persist about its current crises. What really led the United States to invade Iraq, & why have events failed to unfold as planned?” The Occupation of Iraq” examines what the U.S. did & didn`t know at the time of the invasion, the reasons for the confused & contradictory policies that were enacted, & the emergence of the Iraqi political class during the difficult transition process. The book tracks the growth of the insurgency & illuminates the complex relationships among Sunnis, Shia, & Kurds. Bringing the discussion forward to the reconfiguration of political forces in 2006, Allawi provides in these pages the clearest view to date of the modern history of Iraq & the invasion that changed its course in unpredicted ways. ...

` Brisk, smart, witty, elliptical.. . Recalls the directors of the New Wave.. . Bracing & brilliant` Independent When Patrick Modiano was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature he was praised for using the `art of memory` to bring to life the Occupation of Paris during the Second World War. Born in 1945, Modiano`s brilliant, angry writings burst onto the Parisian literary scene & caused a storm. His first, ferociously satirical novel, La Place de l` Etoile, was remarkable in seriously questioning both Nazi collaboration in France & the myths of the Gaullist era. The Night Watch tells the story of a man caught between his work for the French Gestapo & for a Resistance cell. Ring Roads recounts a son`s search for his Jewish father, who disappeared ten years previously. These brilliant, almost hallucinatory, evocations of the Occupation attempt to exorcise the past by exploring the morally ambiguous worlds of collaboration & resistance. ...

When the Aurora is torpedoed, all on board must abandon ship. Curtain, a sailor, finds himself stranded in a lifeboat on the open sea. On board with him are four men, one of them an old priest. The differences in the strength & weakness of character of the five men, their relations with one another, & their private thoughts & dreams are explored as the days pass, the water runs low, the priest's health fades, & no sign of rescue appears. James Hanley presents human frailty in the face of the demoralizing power of the sea in this beautifully written, grim masterpiece. ...

The mysterious world beneath the ocean`s surface has captivated man for centuries
- the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans & ancient Chinese
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