One winter, Dervla Murphy, the four-footed Hallam (the mule) & her six-year-old daughter Rachel explored ` Little Tibet` high up in the Karakoram Mountains in the frozen heart of the Western Himalayas
- on the Pakistan side of the disputed border with Kashmir. For three months they travelled along the perilous Indus Gorge & into nearby valleys. Even when beset by crumbling tracks over bottomless chasms, an assault by a lascivious dashniri, the unnerving melancholy of the Balts
- the heroic highland farmers who inhabit the area
- & Rachel`s continual probing questions, this formidable traveller retained her enthusiasm for her surroundings & her sense of humour. First published in 1977, ” Where the Indus is Young” is pure Murphy. ` The grandeur, weirdness, variety & ferocity of this region cannot be exaggerated, ` she writes of the sub-zero temperatures, harsh winds & whipping sands that they faced. However much the region may have changed due to current day political situations her descriptions of the mountain splendour & cultures she explores are appropriately timeless.


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As a young boy, Raja Shehadeh was entranced by a forbidden Israeli postage stamp in his uncle`s album, intrigued by tales of a green land beyond the border. Impossible then to know what Israel would come to mean to him, or to foresee the future occupation of his home in Palestine. Later, as a young lawyer, he worked to halt land seizures & towards peace & justice in the region, & made close friends with several young Israelis. But as life became increasingly unbearable under Occupation, & horizons shrank, it was impossible to escape politics or the past, & friendships & hopes were put to the test. Brave, intelligent & deeply controversial, in Where the Line is Drawn award-winning author Raja Shehadeh explores the devastating effect of Occupation on even the most intimate aspects of life. Looking back over decades of political turmoil, Shehadeh traces the impact on the fragile bonds of friendship across the Israel-Palestine border, & asks whether those considered bitter enemies can come together to forge a common future. ...

As a young boy, Raja Shehadeh was entranced by a forbidden Israeli postage stamp in his uncle`s album, intrigued by tales of a green land beyond the border. He couldn`t have known then what Israel would come to mean to him, or to foresee the future occupation of his home in Palestine. Later, as a young lawyer, he worked to halt land seizures & towards peace & justice in the region. During this time, he made close friends with several young Jewish Israelis, including fellow thinker & searcher Henry. But as life became increasingly unbearable under in the Palestinian territories, it was impossible to escape politics or the past, & even the strongest friendships & hopes were put to the test. Brave, intelligent & deeply controversial, in this book award-winning author Raja Shehadeh explores the devastating effect of occupation on even the most intimate aspects of life. Looking back over decades of political turmoil, he traces the impact on the fragile bonds of friendship across the Israel-Palestine border, & asks whether those considered bitter enemies can come together to forge a common future. ...

For travellers seeking the most authentic experiences imaginable, Where the Locals Go provides inside information on the best ...

In June 2009, Caspar & Nichola created a plan to sail around the world with their young children. Most people thought they were crazy. But over the past seven years they`ve embraced every moment of this momentous chapter of their lives. Five years of planning
- the vision, the values, the practicalities, the realities, the excitement, the highs, the lows & the seemingly adventure-stopping obstacles
- led to two wonderful years of living their dream
- the magical & the scary; enjoying life & learning as a family. This is Caspar`s story. It`s a story of a fabulous sailing adventure but it`s also so much more than that
- it`s an inspirational tale for all those wishing they could do the same; it`s a practical guide to show you just how you can make it happen; it`s a motivational story of leadership & teamwork within a family; & it`s a funny, heart-warming tale of slightly unconventional family life. The fascinating narrative of Caspar`s story is accompanied by useful text features such as tip boxes, sidebars & chapter summaries, so that the reader can easily extrapolate the necessary nuggets about how they can make the dream a reality.



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` Nobody grows old living a number of years; people grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.` When Crispin Latymer hit 50 he had a ` What now?` moment
- & decided he wanted to sail the Atlantic solo. But he was no intrepid adventurer
- Latymer was an ordinary sailor, used to cruising the coasts of the UK, who wanted to do something memorable before he was too old. His voyage turned into an epic. Only two days into his trip, Latymer was caught by Tropical Storm Delta. During the following 23 days he also broke two ribs, was followed by pirates in a scary incident off the Mauritanian coast, & then broke a toe. He describes it all as `magical`. Writing in an understated, inspirational way that speaks to ordinary sailors just like himself, Crispin`s captivating story will encourage other cosy cruisers to break out of their comfort zone & dare to push their boundaries to where the ocean meets the sky.

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From New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, a memoir on her life as a writer, her childhood & the symbiotic relationship between fiction & emotional memory. In Where the Past Begins, bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club & The Valley of Amazement Amy Tan is at her most intimate in revealing the truths & inspirations that underlie her extraordinary fiction. By delving into vivid memories of her traumatic childhood, confessions of self-doubt in her journals & heartbreaking letters to & from her mother, she gathers together evidence of all that made it both unlikely & inevitable that she would become a writer. Through spontaneous storytelling, she shows how a fluid fictional state of mind unleashed near-forgotten memories that became the emotional nucleus of her novels. Tan explores shocking truths uncovered by family memorabilia
- the real reason behind an I.Q. test she took at age six, why her parents lied about their education, mysteries surrounding her maternal grandmother
- &, for the first time publicly, writes about her complex relationship with her father, who died when she was fifteen. Written with candour & characteristic humour, Where the Past Begins takes readers into the idiosyncratic workings of her writer`s mind, a journey that explores memory, imagination, & truth.

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Amid Iceland`s wild, volcanic landscape, rumours swirl of an eight-hundred-year-old manuscript inscribed with a long-lost saga about a ring of terrible power. A rediscovered saga alone would be worth a fortune, but, if the rumours can be believed, there is something much more valuable about this one. Something worth killing for. Something that will cost Professor Agnar Haraldsson his life. Untangling murder from myth is Icel&-born, Boston-raised homicide detective Magnus Jonson. Seconded to the Icelandic Police Force for his own protection after he runs afoul of a drug cartel back in Boston, Magnus also has his own reasons for returning to the country of his birth for the first time in nearly two decades
- the unsolved murder of his father. & as Magnus is about to discover, the past casts a long shadow in Icel&. Binding Iceland`s landscape & history, secrets & superstitions in a strikingly original plot that will span several volumes, Where the Shadows Lie is the first in a thrilling new series from an established master.
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See the dawn of modern Japan through the lens of the power players who helped shape it
- as well as those who fought against it
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Coffee is one of the largest & most valuable commodities in the world. This is the story of its origins, its history & the threat to its future, by the IACP Award-winning author of Darjeeling. Located between the Great Rift Valley & the Nile, the cloud forests in southwestern Ethiopia are the original home of Arabica, the most prevalent & superior of the two main species of coffee being cultivated today. Virtually unknown to European explorers, the Kafa region was essentially off-limits to foreigners well into the twentieth century, which allowed the world`s original coffee culture to develop in virtual isolation in the forests where the Kafa people continue to forage for wild coffee berries. Deftly blending in the long, fascinating history of our favorite drink, award-winning author Jeff Koehler takes readers from these forest beginnings along the spectacular journey of its spread around the globe. With cafés on virtually every corner of every town in the world, coffee has never been so popular--nor tasted so good. Yet diseases & climate change are battering production in Latin America, where 85 percent of Arabica grows. As the industry tries to safeguard the species` future, breeders are returning to the original coffee forests, which are under threat & swiftly shrinking. ” The forests around Kafa are not important just because they are the origin of a drink that means so much to so many, ” writes Koehler. ” They are important because deep in their shady understory lies a key to saving the faltering coffee industry. They hold not just the past but also the future of coffee.” ...