Taking the Great Rift Valley
- the geological fault that will eventually tear Africa in two
- as his central metaphor, Alex

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Fifteen-year-old Will Drake has made a career of breaking out from high-security prisons. His talents have landed him at the Rig, a specialist juvenile holding facility in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. No one can escape from the Rig. No one except for Drake... After making some escape plans & meeting the first real friends of his life, Drake quickly realises that all is not as it seems on the Rig. The Warden is obsessed with the mysterious Crystal-X
- a blue, glowing substance that appears to give superpowers to the teens exposed to it. Drake, Tristan & Irene are banking on a bid for freedom
- but can they survive long enough to make it? Drake is an action hero to rival Jason Bourne & the Cherub team in this debut author`s fantastically imagined sci-fi nightmare.

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Addressing the requirements of both modern rigging materials & traditional principles & practices, it is ideal for anyone inspecting & maintaining their own rig, & turning their own tailsplices & wire eyesplices. It is especially valuable for offshore sailors who want to feel secure in the knowledge that, should a shroud carry away at sea, they will be able to repair it. ...

All ghosts wear white sheets. That`s just what ghosts do. White sheets are good for haunting people & they make the ghosts feel like part of one big family. But one little ghost wants to wear something different. He tries all sorts of things
- a bag, a rug, a boot. Can he find the right one? A colourful picture book from talented debut author & illustrator, violeta Noy.
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From all points of the world I see man rising with the promptness of electricity, soaring in the air, & descending like a bird when & where he wishes The Right to Fly is part of ` Found on the Shelves`, published with The London Library. The books in this series have been chosen to give a fascinating insight into the treasures that can be found while browsing in The London Library. Now celebrating its 175th anniversary, with over 17 miles of shelving & more than a million books, The London Library has become an unrivalled archive of the modes, manners & thoughts of each generation which has helped to form it. ...

Fifty years ago Gavin Maxwell went to live in an abandoned house on a shingle beach on the west coast of Scotl&. A haven for wildlife
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In Italy`s impoverished south, choices are limited. Rules & traditions are more powerful than the lives of individuals, & young Italians who stand on the right side of the law still find themselves on the frontline. In ` The Opposite of Death`, Maria is a seventeen-year-old widow before she has even made it to the altar; her fiance enlisted & died in Afghanistan to avoid a life controlled by the mafia. In ` The Ring`, a tale of bloody vengeance, a young woman comes to visit from the north, bringing with her ignorance & prejudice. Two women at separate poles of experience. Roberto Saviano has become a symbol of a whole generation of lost young Italians; these stories demonstrate once more the commitment to truth & justice that made Gomorrah such an exceptionally brave book. ...

Few people have had as great an impact on Bath as Brunel. He changed the face of the city & brought the coaching trade
- the bedrock
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” The Rings of Saturn” begins as the record of a journey on foot through coastal East Anglia. From Lowestoft to Bungay, Sebald`s own story becomes the conductor of evocations of people & cultures past & present: of Chateaubri&, Thomas Browne, Swinburne & Conrad, of fishing fleets, skulls & silkworms. The result is an intricately patterned & haunting book on the transience of all things human. ...

For most people giving up the day job & moving to a beautiful area of France & living off the vines is an impossible but delicious dream. In 1990, Patricia Atkinson & her husband decided to sell up in Britain & emigrate to the Dordogne. Their idea was to buy a house with a few vines attached & employ someone to tend to the wine while they earned their living with some financial consultancy work. There followed a series of disasters: the stock market crashed leaving their small holding as their sole source of income; the first red wine harvest turned to vinegar; & Patricia`s husband returned to Britain, unable to cope with the stress. He never returned. Patricia Atkinson, whose only knowledge of wine up to that moment was `that it came from a bottle` & who had not a word of French, was left to salvage their life savings form the vineyards. What follows is a remarkable story of struggle & transformation whereby her tiny 4 hectare plot has become a major estate of 21 hectares, where her Clos d` Yvigne wines have won awards & been adopted by wine merchants throughout the world & where she has been hailed as a superstar by UK wine writers. ...