It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car & committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, & it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, & menace unleashed
- within his family & from the forces that have gathered to destroy it. His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying & elegiac
- as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly`s wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark.

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” Thrilling”. (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall). ” Authoritative & furious, urgent & persuasive”. (Sunday Times). ” Compelling... Roberts is that precious pearl: a practising scientist who not only knows his field inside out, but also understands how to write”. (Guardian). Oceans are the most mysterious places on earth. Their depths remain largely unexplored, yet ninety-five percent of the planet`s habitable space lies within them. & now the life they support is in the balance. Callum Roberts uses his lifetime`s experience working with the oceans to take us on a panoramic tour beneath the seas, exploring the richness of life in the deep & how it has altered over the centuries. He shows the catastrophic impact of humanity on the oceans, but also how we can restore them to life. ” For anyone who loves the sea, Ocean of Life is a wake-up call, an urgent alert”. (Daily Mail). ” At the heart of this book is a deep love of the ocean & a profound concern for its viability as a resource for us all”. (Nature). ” An impressive history.. .one of this book`s strengths is the many solutions Roberts outlines”. (Financial Times). ...

”[ An] absorbing survey of oceanography...[this] elegant study is an excellent resource.”
- ” Publishers Weekly”. This is a fascinating
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Can you spot the timid tortoise? & can you spy the shy little shrimp? The visual acuity fun gets more & more intricate with every one of these pull-out postcards, each featuring a different & gloriously detailed design from the original & much-loved Odd One Out. This lovely package, packed with ready-to-send postcards, comes with a linen-effect wrap-over cover, making it the perfect gift pack. ...

The Odditorium is a playful re-telling of history, told not through the lens of its victors, but through the fascinating stories of a wealth of individuals who, while lesser-known, are no less remarkable. Throughout its pages you`ll learn about the antics & adventures of tricksters, eccentrics, deviants & inventors. While their stories range from heroic failures to great hoaxes, one thing unites them
- they all carved their own path through life. Each protagonist exemplifies the human spirit through their dogged determination, willingness to take risks, their unflinching obsession &, often, a good dollop of eccentricity. Learn about Reginald Bray (1879-1939), a Victorian accountant who sent over 30, 000 singular objects through the mail, including himself; Cyril Hoskin (1910-1981), a Cornish plumber who reinvented himself as a Tibetan lama & went on to sell over a million books; & Elaine Morgan (1920-2013), a journalist who battled a tirade of prejudice to pursue an aquatic-based theory of human evolution, which is today being championed by David Attenborough. Elsewhere, we uncover the lesser-known obsessions of such historical giants as Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726), whose beloved alchemy led to a lifetime`s search for the philosopher`s stone & elixir of life; & philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650), whose obsession with cross-eyed ladies led him to seek a `cure` through the first recorded case of CBT. While many of us are content to lead a conventional life, with all of its comfort & security, The Odditorium reminds us of the characters who felt compelled to carve their own path, despite risking ostracism, failure, ridicule & madness. While history wouldn`t be the same without the likes of Shakespeare, Caesar & Einstein, it is when curiosity & compulsion meet that conventions are challenged, culture is re-invigorated & we find new ways to understand ourselves & the world around us.
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An epic & engrossing novel set at the beginning of the twentieth century, THE ODESSANS is the story of three families from Odessa in the Ukraine: the Russian Petrovs, the Jewish Geibers, & the Teslenkos, who are of Ukrainian & Polish descent. Throughout years of war, famine, political struggle & incredible hardship, their deep friendships sustain each of the families. Their lives are rent by tragedy; some friends are hounded by anti-Semites, while others join opposite sides in the Civil War or are forced to flee to Odessa. But through it all, their characteristic good humour & faith in each other enable their close circle to survive. ...

The epic tale of Odysseus & his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest & greatest works of Western literature. Confronted by natural & supernatural threats
- shipwrecks, battles, monsters & the implacable enmity of the sea-god Poseidon
- Odysseus must test his bravery & native cunning to the full if he is to reach his homeland safely & overcome the obstacles that, even there, await him.

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Penelope has been waiting for her husband Odysseus to return from Troy for many years. Little does she know that his path back to her has been blocked by astonishing & terrifying trials. Will he overcome the hideous monsters, beautiful witches & treacherous seas that confront him? This rich & beautiful adventure story is one of the most influential works of literature in the world. ...

The first great adventure story in the Western canon, The Odyssey is a poem about violence & the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty & power; about marriage, family & identity; & about travellers, hospitality & the changing meanings of home in a strange world. This vivid new translation-the first by a woman-matches the number of lines in the Greek original, striding at Homer`s sprightly pace. Emily Wilson employs elemental, resonant language & a five-beat line to produce a translation with an enchanting ”rhythm & rumble” that avoids proclaiming its own grandeur. An engrossing tale told in a compelling new voice that allows contemporary readers to luxuriate in Homer`s descriptions & similes & to thrill at the tension & excitement of its hero`s adventures, Wilson recaptures what is ”epic” about this wellspring of world literature. ...

By its evocation of a real or imaged heroic age, its contrasts of character & its variety of adventure, above all by its sheer narrative power, the Odyssey has won & preserved its place among the greatest tales in the world. It tells of Odysseus` adventurous wanderings as he returns from the long war at Troy to his home in the Greek island of Ithaca, where his wife Penelope & his son Telemachus have been waiting for him for twenty years. He meets a one-eyed giant, Polyphemus the Cyclops; he visits the underworld; he faces the terrible monsters Scylla & Charybdis; he extricates himself from the charms of Circe & Calypso. After these & numerous other legendary encounters he finally reaches home, where, disguised as a beggar, he begins to plan revenge on the suitors who have for years been besieging Penelope & feasting on his own meat & wine with insolent impunity. ...