` 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.” ...

Nick Hunt sets off on an unlikely quest: to follow four of Europe`s winds across the continent. His wind-walks begin on Cross Fell, the highest point of the Pennines, as he chases the roaring Helm
- the only named wind in Britain. In southern Europe he follows the Bora
- a bitter northerly that blows from Trieste through Slovenia & down the Croatian coast. His hunt for the `snow-eating` Foehn becomes a meandering journey of exhilaration & despair through the Alpine valleys of Switzerl&, & his final walk traces an ancient pilgrims` path in the south of France on the trail of the Mistral
- the `wind of madness` which animated & tormented Vincent Van Gogh. These are journeys into wild wind, but also into wild landscapes & the people who inhabit them
- a cast of meteorologists, storm chasers, mountain men, eccentric wind enthusiasts, sailors & shepherds. Soon Nick finds himself borne along by the very forces he is pursuing, through rain, blizzards, howling gales, & back through time itself. For, where the wild winds are, there are also myths & legends, history & hearsay, science & superstition
- & occasionally remote mountain cabins packed with pickles, cured meats & homemade alcohol. Where the Wild Winds Are is a beautiful, unconventional travelogue that makes the invisible visible.




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Shortlisted for a 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award. Nick Hunt sets off on an unlikely quest: to follow four of Europe`s winds across the continent. His wind-walks begin on Cross Fell, the highest point of the Pennines, as he chases the roaring Helm
- the only named wind in Britain. In southern Europe he follows the Bora
- a bitter northerly that blows from Trieste through Slovenia & down the Croatian coast. His hunt for the `snow-eating` Foehn becomes a meandering journey of exhilaration & despair through the Alpine valleys of Switzerl&, & his final walk traces an ancient pilgrims` path in the south of France on the trail of the Mistral
- the `wind of madness` which animated & tormented Vincent Van Gogh. These are journeys into wild wind, but also into wild landscapes & the people who inhabit them
- a cast of meteorologists, storm chasers, mountain men, eccentric wind enthusiasts, sailors & shepherds. Soon Nick finds himself borne along by the very forces he is pursuing, through rain, blizzards, howling gales, & back through time itself. For, where the wild winds are, there are also myths & legends, history & hearsay, science & superstition
- & occasionally remote mountain cabins packed with pickles, cured meats & homemade alcohol. Where the Wild Winds Are is a beautiful, unconventional travelogue that makes the invisible visible.




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Every time a lad came fowling on the St Kilda stacs, he went home less of a boy & more of a man. If he went home at all, that is... In the summer of 1727, a group of men & boys are put ashore on a remote sea stac to harvest birds for food. No one returns to collect them. Why? Surely nothing but the end of the world can explain why they have been abandoned to endure storms, starvation & terror. & how can they survive, housed in stone & imprisoned on every side by the ocean? ...

In the summerof 1727, a group of men & boys from St Kilda are put ashore on a remote seastac to harvest birds for food. No one returns to collect them. Why? Surelynothing but the end of the world can explain why they have been abandoned toendure storms, starvation & terror. & how can they survive, imprisoned on every side by the ocean? Inspired by a true event, this is abreathtaking story of nine boys & the courage it takes to survive against theodds, from three-time winner of the Whitbread/ Costa Children`s Book Award Geraldine Mc Caughrean. ...

With 3 million copies in print in over 50 languages, Where There Is No Doctor is the most widely used health care manual in use in developing countries today. Using simple language & hundreds of drawings, the book provides information about recognising, treating & preventing common illnesses & injuries. But it is far more than simple first aid information. It covers a wide range of subjects that affect the health of the villager
- from diarrhoea to tuberculosis, from helpful & harmful home remedies to the cautious use of certain modern medicines. Special importance is placed on cleanliness, a healthy diet, vaccination, childbirth & family planning. The African edition covers diseases commonly found in Africa.
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