>> Have a look at the 100 people. Some of this may surprise you!
Modelling his character on Coleridge and his sensibility on Wordsworth, de Quincey took over the poet's former cottage in Grasmere. Here, sustained by opium and increasingly detached from the world, he nurtured his growing hatred of his former idols. An outstanding prose stylist, de Quincey was a pioneer of the personal essay and of what we would now call psychogeography. He inspired generations of writers, including Dickens, Dostoevsky, Virginia Woolf and James Joyce, and his work is not dissimilar to that of the current generation of autofictioneers (Knausgaard, Heti, &c).
>>'On Murder, Considered as one of the fine arts'.
Featured Artists: Peter Peryer, Saskia Leek, Ngataiharuru Taepa; Writers: Nick Ascroft, Shelley Arlidge, Mark Young, C.K. Stead, Jodie Dalgleish, Jessie Puru, Liz Breslin, Claire Orchard, Rachael Taylor, Brian Turner, John Adams, Judy O'Kane, Vaughan Rapatahana, L.E. Scott, Antony Millen, Carin Smeaton, Erik Kennedy, Leilani Tamu, Allison Li, Rata Gordon, Victoria Broome, Siobhan Harvey, Ruth Arnison, Sam Keenan, Jillian Sullivan, Johanna Emeney, Heather McQuillan, Doc Drumheller, Wes Lee, Koenraad Kuiper, Caoimhe McKeogh, Madeline Reid, Stephen Coates, Helen Vivienne Fletcher, Martha Morseth, Joanna Preston, Owen Marshall, Christina Stachurski, Tom Weston, Elizabeth Smither, Piet Nieuwland, Bob Orr, Janet Charman, Will Leadbeater, Vivienne Plumb, Immi Paterson-Harkness, Elizabeth Welsh, Robert McLean, Mary Macpherson, Bill Direen, Ron Riddell, Victor Rodger. Unmissable (and there are reviews too).
When Toby Little was five years old, he decided to write to someone in every country in the world. With the help of his mum, Toby started handwriting and posting letters to everyone from research scientists in Antarctica to game-keepers in Chad and even the Pope. Not only did Toby achieve his goal but the world wrote back. Dear World, How Are You? is a collection of the most fascinating and heart-warming letters he sent and received. It shows that the world is only as big as your imagination and is full of potential friends, waiting to be discovered, no matter where you live.
Lift the lid on eight animal habitats to see the extraordinary natural stories that happen above and below the surface. From the rainforest to the ocean and the macro to the micro, lift the flap to explore the fascinating relationships occurring in each of the world's ecosystems.
The Am Spiegelgrund clinic, in Vienna, masqueraded as a reform school for wayward boys and girls and a home for chronically ill children. The reality, however, was very different: in the wake of Germany's annexation of Austria on the eve of World War Two, its doctors, nurses, and teachers created a monstrous parody of the institution's benign-sounding brief. The Nazi regime's euthanasia program would come to determine the fate of many of the clinic's inhabitants. This novel sees the institution trough the eyes of a child inmate, Adrian Ziegler, and a nurse, Anna Katschenka.
Seneca was one of the most contradictory figures in ancient Rome, embracing a stern ascetic morality while amassing a fortune under Nero and eventually committing suicide.
"This is a riveting and complete picture of Seneca's complex and compromised life. It is impeccably researched, carefully structured, and written with admirable brio. For good or ill, ours is a Senecan age." - Simon Critchley
Impossibly beautiful, disarmingly witty, and completely self-absorbed: meet Lady Susan Vernon, both the heart and the thorn of Love & Friendship. Recently widowed with a daughter who's coming of age as quickly as their funds are dwindling, Lady Susan makes it her mission to find them wealthy husbands. When her attempts to secure their futures result only in the wrath of a prominent conquest's wife and the title of 'most accomplished coquette in England', Lady Susan must rethink her strategy...
>> "Approved for appropriate audiences".
From the classical architecture of Newcastle station to the ceaseless traffic of Clapham Junction, from the mysteries of Brunel's atmospheric railway to the lost routines of the great marshalling yards, Simon Bradley explores the world of Britain's railways, the evolution of the trains, and the changing experiences of passengers and workers.
Robert Kaplan first visited Romania in the 1970s, when he was a young journalist and the country was a bleak Communist backwater. It was one of the darkest corners of Europe, but few Westerners were paying attention. What ensued was a lifelong obsession with a critical, often overlooked country - a country that, today, is key to understanding the current threat that Russia poses to Europe. Through the lens of one country, Kaplan examines larger questions of geography, imperialism, the role of fate in international relations, the Cold War, the Holocaust, and more.
The decision to go to war in 1914 had catastrophic consequences for Russia. The result was revolution, civil war and famine in 1917-20, followed by decades of communist rule.
"Not just one of the greatest historians on Russia, but also a great writer." - Antony Beevor
Moving between places and cultures, Comfort Food explores identity, sovereignty and the restless quest for love. Using food as her inspiration, van Neerven offers a cross-cultural vision of the exotic and the familiar.
>> Interview with the poet about her Yugambeh and Dutch heritage (and other things).
Available for the first time in English, here is an unforgettable portrayal of the physical and psychological devastation wrought in Germany by WWII. The war is over, yet Dr Doll, a loner and 'moderate pessimist', lives in constant fear. By night, he is haunted by nightmarish images of the bombsite in which he is trapped - he, and the rest of Germany. More than anything, he wishes to vanquish the demon of collective guilt, but he is unable to right any wrongs, especially in his position as mayor of a small town in north-east Germany that has been occupied by the Red Army. Dr Doll flees for Berlin, where he finds escape in a morphine addiction: each dose is a 'small death'. He tries to make his way in the chaos of a city torn apart by war, accompanied by his young wife, who shares his addiction. Fighting to save two lives, he tentatively begins to believe in a better future.
When he was 25 years old, budding journalist Rich Cohen got the assignment of a lifetime. He was sent by Rolling Stone magazine to Toronto to hang out with, get to know, and write about The Rolling Stones. The result was an epic adventure with some of the most fascinating people in the world: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, and Charlie Watts. Over the ensuing 15 years of friendship, reporting and collaboration, Rich got behind the scenes of the most wild soap opera of our time.
>> Watch out for the roses.
What happens when grief draws you to your partner's married brother? 28 year-old Djuna is without a foothold. The suicide of her partner has left her derailed and casting about for the joy she fears may be gone for good. Her parents' relationship has disintegrated, her family home is occupied by Burmese refugees, and she is drawn to the one man she must reject. In pursuit of a roving father and a renewed sense of belonging, Djuna wanders from Wellington to the natural beauty of New Zealand's remote East Cape. From the author of The Naturalist.
Zubaida Haque falls in love with Elijah Strong, a man she meets in a darkened concert hall. The two immediately connect despite their differences: Elijah belongs to a prototypical American family, whereas Zubaida is the adopted daughter of a wealthy family in Dhaka. But when a twist of fate sends her back to her hometown, the inevitable force of society compels her to take a very different path, and before she knows it she's married to her childhood best friend and discontentedly settled into a traditional Bangladeshi life. In a final bid to escape familial constraints, she moves to Chittagong to help make a documentary film about the infamous shipbreaking beaches, where ships are destroyed and their various parts put up for sale. Here she meets Anwar, a shipbreaker whose story holds a key that unlocks for Zubaida not only the mysteries of her past but the possibilities of a new life.
The dual coming-of-age story of a young man and a pine marten.
"Doyle's gorgeous new novel is a hypnotic, luxurious journey through our natural world, a mind-bending celebration of how sweet each day can be. A modern day Siddhartha set in the lush Pacific Northwest." - Carol Cassella
One mild summer evening in rural New Zealand, the lives of Carla Reid, a middle-aged farmer's wife, and Ben Toroa, an illiterate teen, brutally collide. Neither will be the same again, their futures forever linked.
Lucy Hone's beloved 12-year-old daughter Abi was killed in 2013 in a devastating car accident in Canterbury that also claimed the lives of Abi's friend Ella and Ella's mother Sally. When faced with the incomprehensible fact of Abi's tragic death Lucy knew that she was fighting for the survival of her sanity and her family unit. She developed ways to support her family in their darkest days, and to find a new way of living without Abi.
Elliot is on the run from a situation that's just too big to handle. Sooner or later, it's going to catch up with him. Elliot's in need of a fresh start, so he's dispatched to a new city to work as an apprentice electrician. His boss, Arnie, is an ex-naval officer whose bad temper and frequent advice don't make for easy living : but Elliot's out of options. Elliot is just settling into some sort of routine when a disturbing rumour surfaces about his ex-girlfriend, Lena. As Lena tries to track him down, Elliot dives for cover. But a problem this big only attracts more problems, and, after a shocking workplace accident, they're all going to catch up with him at once. The question is, will Elliot come out of hiding and face them head on?
Diane's perfect life is shattered is shattered by her husband's death A year later, can she develop a relationship with another man, also embittered by loss?
Investigates the contributions to the building of Jerusalem of three formative architects: Erich Mendelsohn, Austen St. Barbe Harrison and Spyro Houris.
Neo City, 2509. After a series of operational bungles, as well as the accidental death of his partner, special agent Blake Carter's career at the Planetary Bureau of Investigation is in trouble. To make matters worse, he's just been assigned a new partner - and the beautiful and brilliant Nicki Steel happens to be a cyborg. When universe-famous criminal Bartholomew Badde steals a weapon capable of destroying whole planets at a time, Blake and Nikki must work together to recover it, an investigation that takes them to all corners of the weird and wonderful galaxy. But things get serious when Badde kidnaps Blake's teenage daughter, Lisa. Can Blake prove he's still a first-rate agent - not to mention father - and save Lisa in time? Silly.
Twelve-year-old Sarah makes lists. It helps her remain in control when her life is on hold. But what sort of life does she want when the choice is between eccentric elderly aunts and her sophisticated glamorous stepmother?
Eleven years ago, six five-year-olds went missing without a trace. After all this time, the people left behind have moved on, or tried to. Until today. Now five of those kids are back. They're sixteen, and they are ... fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mother she barely recognises, and doesn't really know who she's supposed to be, either. But she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, but they can't recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max. He doesn't come back and everyone wants answers.
On the night Leo Stone returns - notionally from the dead, in reality from the Democratic Republic of the Congo - Cass Tuplin gets a call from Gary Kellett. A call about an actual dead person: Gary's daughter, killed in a car crash. Gary's adamant it wasn't an accident. Cass agrees to investigate. After all, not just Rusty Bore's only purveyor of fine fast food, Cass is also the closest thing to a private detective within a couple of hundred kilometers. The local police (Cass's son Dean) try to warn her off. It's true Cass's status as a celebrated yet non-licensed nobody doesn't entirely suit Dean. But Dean also believes Gary's a delusional, grieving father. Is that the case? Or did a young journalist die after asking too many questions?
A wonderful selection drawn from the gallery's collection of over 14,000 images, spanning more than 175 years.
Simon de Pury's roles have included curator of the world-famous Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Chairman of Sotheby's Europe, and founder and owner of Sotheby's rival Phillips de Pury. His exuberant style, showmanship and iconoclasm in a highly conservative profession saw him described as 'the Mick Jagger of auctions'.
>> Sold! To the woman scratching her nose.
In Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv spotlighted the alienation of children from the natural world, coining the term 'nature-deficit disorder' and outlining the benefits of a strong nature connection - from boosting mental acuity and creativity to reducing obesity and depression, from promoting health and wellness to simply having fun. Vitamin N is his comprehensive practical handbook, a companion to both Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle, a complete prescription for enjoying the natural world right now, with 500 activities, scores of informational websites and an abundance of down-to-earth advice.
Cassie is seventeen and she is unravelling. Even when she first meets him, the boy, the one, she can't begin to imagine that anything could happen between them. That he might be someone amazing. That in the course of one summer, she will go to the darkest places and back again, with him by her side. That she might have to hurt him to save herself.
If you loved Griffin and Sabine, you will want to find out more about them in this book, issued to mark their 25th anniversary!
The enemy is Other. The enemy is us. They're down here, they're up there, they're nowhere. They want the Earth, they want us to have it. They came to wipe us out, they came to save us. But beneath these riddles lies one truth: Cassie has been betrayed. So has Ringer. Zombie. Nugget. And all 7.5 billion people who used to live on our planet. Betrayed first by the Others, and now by ourselves. In these last days, Earth's remaining survivors will need to decide what's more important: saving themselves . . . or saving what makes us human.
This thrilling series comes to a thrilling close.
"Full of tomorrow's headlines, Crisis is a nerve-shredding thriller with an intimate knowledge of the world it portrays. This is intelligent, high-voltage story-telling of the very highest order and I would compare it to the best of John Le Carre and Robert Harris." - Tony Parsons
