Biography Books

Book SynopsisKeith Farnsworth writes from the heart with the humour and honesty of an inverterate romantic who, despite a background and circumstances which were often far from ideal, finally achieved success and fulfilment as a writer and journalist. Whether recalling his grandfather''s mysterious disapperance at sea, or the injustice of being expelled from school, A Sheffield Boy tells a colourful and entertaining tale of life in this great city after the Second World War.

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Book SynopsisOliver Postgate is widely regarded as the greatest children's storyteller of the modern era. His work, which included The Clangers, Ivor the Engine, The Pogles, Noggin the Nog and, most famously, Bagpuss, is beloved by generations. In this delicious memoir Oliver Postgate describes how he came to create his stories and characters, developing innovative techniques of animation and puppetry alongside his friend and co-producer Peter Firmin. Amazingly, almost all of Oliver's films were made in a cowshed in Kent on a budget of next to nothing. The story of Oliver Postgate's extraordinary and adventurous life, and the wonderful characters who populated it - both real and imagined - is witty, charming, beautifully remembered and exquisitely told.Trade ReviewPostgate had one of the most distinctive, instantly recognisable voices in television, warm, avuncular but also tinged with an otherworldly quality that suited his strange, magical stories perfectly. * * Daily Telegraph * *Oliver Postgate was, for my money, the greatest children's storyteller of the last 100 years. Together, the team of Postgate and Peter Firmin were apparently incapable of creating anything less than timelessly wonderful whenever they sat down to work. * * Charlie Brooker * *Oliver Postgate created some of the most beautiful and understated children's television animation of the 1950s and beyond. Not only have we lost a great animator, but a singular performer and brilliant storyteller. * * Phil Jupitus * *He had a warmth and love for what he was doing and for the audience who were watching. * * Jonathan Ross * *He was one of the great storytellers on television. * * Michael Rosen * *Postgate's work has been a huge influence on me . . . Somehow, for me, [The Clangers] defines all that is cosy about childhood. From Postgate's warm, reassuring voice, to the curiously handknitted aliens, it gave me a sense that all was well with the world. * * Lauren Child * *A wise and warm book from Britains favourite surrogate uncle, proving he's just as good at storytelling for adults as he was for children. -- Claire Sawers * * List * *The Clangers, Bagpuss, Noggin The Nog . . . They're all here. He's one of the great artists and always imagining a better world. A proper genius and very punk rock. * * Frank Cottrell-Boyce * *Postgate beautifully recounts the story of his extraordinary and adventurous life, and how he came to create his stories and characters. * * Oldie * *

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Book SynopsisVilla Diodati. 1816.In a villa on the shore of Lake Geneva, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and his young wife Mary, gathered for the summer. For three glittering months, this party of young bohemians would share their lives, charged with sexual and artistic tensions. It was a period of extraordinary creativity from which would emerge some of the masterworks of the Romantic period, including Frankenstein. But there were two other guests at the villa that summer, for whom the season would not be so rosy. With Byron came his young physician, John Polidori, a man with literary aspirations of his own. And joining Mary was her step-sister, the beautiful Claire Clairmont. For Byron and the Shelleys, their stay by the lake would serve to immortalise them in the annals of literary history. But for Claire and Polidori, the Swiss sojourn would scar them forever.Trade ReviewThe Vampyre Family is a thrilling tale about the pursuit of love, sex and fame. Andrew McConnell Stott provides a dual portrait of the Romantic spirit during its most intense period of creativity, and uncovers the emotional devastation that was left in its wake -- AMANDA FOREMAN, the bestselling author of Georgiana, Duchess of DevonshirePraise for The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi:'Brilliant . . . As a portrait of London life in all its mutinous and anarchic variety this book would be hard to beat * * Spectator * *A fast-paced rumbustious biography . . . Stott evokes both the dizzying excitement and the harshness of theatrical life -- Jenny Uglow * * Observer * *[A] great big Christmas pudding of a book, almost over-stuffed with rich and colourful life * * Guardian 'Book of the Week' * *Stott's dynamic dramatization grabs our attention, and we, too, as outsiders [like Claire and Polidori], are cannily lured into the poetic celebrity's inner circle * * Times Literary Supplement * *

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Book SynopsisTHE GOOD AUDITION GUIDES: Helping you select and perform the audition piece that is best suited to your performing skills As an actor at any level – whether you are doing theatre studies at school, taking part in youth theatre, preparing for drama-school showcases, or attending professional acting workshops – you will often be required to prepare a duologue with a fellow performer. Your success is often based on locating and selecting a fresh, dynamic scene suited to your specific performing skills, as well as your interplay as a duo. Which is where this book comes in. This collection features twenty-five fantastic duologues for one man and one woman, all written since the year 2000 by some of our most exciting dramatic voices, offering a wide variety of character types and styles of writing. Playwrights featured include Howard Brenton, Jez Butterworth, Caryl Churchill, Sam Holcroft, Anna Jordan, Lucy Kirkwood, Rona Munro, Evan Placey, Jessica Swale and Jack Thorne, and the plays themselves were premiered at the very best theatres across the UK including the National Theatre, Manchester Royal Exchange, the Traverse in Edinburgh, Shakespeare's Globe, and the Almeida, Bush, Hampstead and Royal Court Theatres. Drawing on her experience as an actor, director and teacher at several leading drama schools, Trilby James equips each duologue with a thorough introduction including the vital information you need to place the piece in context (the who, what, when, where and why) and suggestions about how to perform the scene to its maximum effect (including the characters' objectives). The collection also features an introduction on the whole process of selecting and preparing a duologue, and how to present it to the greatest effect. The result is the most comprehensive and useful contemporary duologue book of its kind now available. 'Sound practical advice... a source of inspiration for teachers and students alike' Teaching Drama Magazine on The Good Audition Guides

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Book Synopsis150 Station Road, Wheeldon Mill - a short stride across the Chesterfield Canal in the heart of Derbyshire - was home to the Nash family and their corner shop, serving a small mining community with everything from Brasso to Dolly Blue, from cheap dress rings to Lemon Sherbets.However, this was no ordinary home and no ordinary family. Three generations were adopted - Lynn Knight's great grandfather, a fairground boy given away when his parents left for America in 1865, her great aunt, rescued from an Industrial School in 1909, and her mother, adopted in London as a baby and brought north in 1930. Their story spans centuries and the changing society of twentieth century Britain. But more than that it is a story of community and of love. Full of colour, light and life, Lemon Sherbet & Dolly Blue is a story of what it really means to be family.Trade ReviewA book to recommend with all one's heart... It's a book you want to hug at each turn of fortune... Knight tells her tale scintillatingly. * The Times *A warm, human and well-written book, a slice of social history which throws a strong light on personal experiences. * Hilary Mantel *A treasure trove... Lynn Knight's vivid evocation of people who started with nothing, but lived lives rich in generosity and love makes a fascinating and thought-provoking story * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisHardback book with ribbon which has been numbered. Comprising over 104 images. A volume of appreciation for the life and work of eminent psychiatrist David Enoch, and an appreciation of the work of all doctors and psychiatrists; all nurses and social workers; all charities and everyone that extends hand and heart to share love and expertise.

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Book SynopsisIan Buruma's maternal grandparents, Bernard and Winifred (Bun & Win), wrote to each other regularly throughout their life together. The first letters were written in 1915, when Bun was still at school at Uppingham and Win was taking music lessons in Hampstead. They were married for more than sixty years, but the heart of their remarkable story lies within the span of the two world wars.After a brief separation, when Bernard served as a stretcher bearer on the Western Front during the Great War, the couple exchanged letters whenever they were apart. Most of them were written during the Second World War and their correspondence is filled with vivid accounts of wartime activity at home and abroad. Bernard was stationed in India as an army doctor, while Win struggled through wartime privation and the Blitz to hold her family together, including their eldest son, the later film director John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday), and twelve Jewish children they had arranged to be rescued from Nazi Germany.Their letters are a priceless record of an assimilated Jewish family living in England throughout the upheavals of the twentieth century and a moving portrait of a loving couple separated by war. By using their own words, Ian Buruma has created a spellbinding homage to the sustaining power of a family's love and devotion through very dark daysTrade ReviewA fascinating story... The complexities of class, race and nationhood are subtly teased out -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *A gentle and intimate study of identity and love... It is to Buruma's credit that so much has been laid bare... This is rich material that still resonates today. On matters of identity, on the public and private, the more things change, the more they stay the same. -- Philippe Sands * Financial Times *This artful volume reveals a good deal about the world we live in today... Exceptional * Spectator *Their Promised Land is a carefully and admirably written, highly readable work of social history told charmingly in a most intimate way through a close perusal of family correspondence. Buruma writes of British-born Jews of the upper-middle class with a great, sympathetic perspicacity and sweetness - these are after all his grandparents who are his subject - and, most revealingly, he traces with precision the effect on their lives of being Jews of German origin in their beloved England during the two world wars. * Philip Roth *In this warmly affectionate, richly textured family chronicle, Ian Buruma draws on his own memories and a treasure trove of intimate letters, to uncover a moving love story, and paint a vivid picture of a seemingly idyllic world darkened by unexpected shadows... A fascinating, subtle, wonderfully readable book. * Eva Hoffman *From these letters, Ian Buruma has woven an utterly engrossing story of cultivated, upper class German Jews who grew up in England and made its values their own... At once family memoir and history, this is a book to linger over and savour. * Lisa Appignanesi *A distinguished historian, Mr Buruma approaches his subject with the loving eye of a grandchild and an awareness of the larger forces that shaped their lives. His sensitive portrayal of the immigrant's divided loyalties and divided identity is timely in light of Europe's current struggle with colliding national, religious and ethnic identities. * The Economist *In Their Promised Land, Ian Buruma offers a searching, tender memorial of his grandparents' marriage that is, at the same time, a clarifying study in the complicated pleasures and discontents of multiple identity. * Adam Thirlwell *Ian Buruma, the critic, is justly famous for his ferocious acuity. Ian Buruma, the grandson, brings that same clarity of observation to this exceptional memoir, but he also writes with an elegiac tenderness that may surprise - and will deeply move - both his fans, and those readers who have yet to discover his magisterial gifts. * Judith Thurman *Buruma impressively captures his grandparents' remarkable lives in this insightful narrative. The author shapes his family's labor of a lifetime into a scintillating work of art. * Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) *Ian Buruma's moving love letter to his grandparents' memory is evocative and absorbing... The memory these good people left behind is lovingly recorded in this volume. It left me tearful with nostalgia for the world of the Schlesingers and my grandparents -- Julia Neuberger * Jewish Chronicle *

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Book SynopsisI love you, no matter what.'An uplifting true story of an ordinary couple who build an extraordinary family, No Matter What describes how Sally and Rob Donovan embark upon a journey to adopt following a diagnosis of infertility.Sally Donovan brings to life with characteristic wit and honesty the difficulties of living with infertility, their decision to adopt and the bewildering process involved. Finally matched with young siblings Jaymey and Harlee, Sally and Rob's joy turns to shock as they discover disturbing details of their children's past and realise that they must do everything it takes to heal their children.By turns tragic, inspiring and hilarious, Sally and Rob's story offers a rare insight into the world of adoptive parents and just what it takes to bring love to the lives of traumatised children.Trade ReviewThis book should be compulsory reading for potential adoptive parents and for those professionals who touch their lives and pretend to understand what the whole experience is about. Sally Donovan's account touches upon the depth of despair, unbearable strain on a small family unit, incompetent or insensitive professionals, and fairly non-existent support. And yet it is full of optimism and hope for the human spirit. -- Young Minds MagazineFor those who already know the author through her adoption blog the brilliance of this book will come as no surprise... Sally Donovan seems to write as naturally as the rest of us breathe, with an eloquence and honesty that makes "No Matter What" totally absorbing. She has a fantastic story to tell that not only speaks to those who have their own adoption experiencer but to any reader who has an interest in rich, articulate personal stories and wants an insight into the life of a normal adoptive family... Much of what Sally writes will be all too familiar to other adoptive parents by the humanity, intelligence and humor of the writing captures the reality of adoptive family life in a truly enthralling way. -- Adoption TodayAs a post adoption social worker, who has also recently worked in a children in care team, this book struck a chord as to how our role impacts on children and adopters... I cannot recommend this book highly enough - it travels with me in my handbag and I sing its praises to whoever will listen! I urge everyone involved in adoption to read this book and to be inspired. -- Community Care Children's Services blogIf you've ever wondered what it's like to adopt, this book holds the answer: it's hard, sometimes traumatic, and far from "normal family life". It's also special, joyful, and utterly transformative - for parents as much as children. Yes our families are different; this book explains in both a moving and matter-of-fact way why we are proud to be so. -- Baroness Oona King, adoptive motherHonest, refreshing, heart-breaking, thought-provoking and inspiring - this is a valuable insight into adoption and the devastating effects of trauma. -- Lorraine Pascale, television presenter, chef and former model, adoptee and TACT patronThis book is sheer therapy for an adopter and enlightenment for anyone who comes into contact with adoption in any way. A must read for parents, schools and authorities. -- Carrie Grant Vocal Coach/TV Presenter, adoptive mother and BAAF adoption championSally Donovan has written a warm, humorous, hard-hitting and compelling story about her own adoption journey. What she says will resonate with the majority of those who have adopted children from care. Ultimately this is an overwhelmingly positive celebration of the transformation that adoption can bring to society's most damaged and vulnerable children, but it also clearly sets out the realities of parenting children affected by early childhood abuse and neglect. Every adopter will be able to recognise some aspect of their own experiences in Sally's story and I would urge every professional working with adopted children -- including health visitors and teachers, as well as social workers - to read this so they know what understanding and support those parenting adopted children need. -- Hugh Thornbery, Chief Executive, Adoption UKNo Matter What is by a long way the best account ever written of the experience of being an adoptive parent and carer of children traumatised by maltreatment. With heart-wrenching candour, it tells the story of a couple's journey through the pain of childlessness, the adoption process, and the lived experience of caring for Jaymey and Harlee whose early lives were 'almost unbearable to read about'. Sally Donovan evokes brilliantly the commitment, energy, therapeutic skill and humanity required to care for and heal children whose past abuse has left them distressed, feeling unworthy and acting out in often chaotic ways. This remarkable book is not only a major contribution to work on child welfare; such is the sheer power and brilliance of the writing that it triumphs as a work of literature, as art. Utterly compelling and humane, No Matter What is essential reading for all those who care for and about vulnerable children, adoption and fostering and who are open to being inspired by the healing power of love. -- Harry Ferguson, Professor of Social Work, University of NottinghamI found this book almost unbearably moving and, ultimately, uniquely uplifting. I have never before read, in a single book, such a compelling portrait of the horrors of child neglect and its consequences, alongside a portrait of the historical inadequacies of adoption assessment and post adoption support. This is a staggeringly vivid account of a heroic struggle by heroic adopters to heal the deep scars of neglect and abuse. I cannot recommend it warmly enough. -- Sir Martin Narey, Government Advisor on Children's Social Care and Visiting Professor, Durham and Sheffield Hallam UniversitiesEveryone should read this funny and deeply moving account of modern adoption: the highs, the lows, the risks and the rewards. Sally's writing is honest, insightful and beautiful to read.I am, and will remain, totally in awe of Sally and her husband Rob. Their empathy and resilience is sure to inspire anyone who reads this book, particularly those thinking about adopting a child.In the most modest, refreshing and unassuming way, Sally gives a voice to everyone struggling with infertility or learning to parent traumatised children. This book is a triumph in so many ways. -- Camilla Pemberton, Children and Families Editor, Community CareWith great humility Sally shares her journey of courage, hope and persistence in boldly loving her children despite the odds, no matter what...Throughout the book I laughed and cried, experiencing the highs and lows of loving children who have lived the unthinkable. For too long adopters walked this journey very much alone. We must now accompany them on this journey, in our neighbourhoods, communities and cities, and within our education, social care and health services. Together we can make a difference; each life is precious, however fragile and different. No Matter What communicates this truth, and is an important contribution at this time of policy change. -- Louise Michelle Bombèr, Adoption Support Teacher for Brighton and Hove, Attachment Support Teacher Therapist for The Yellow Kite Attachment Support ServiceIn No Matter What Sally has written about her adoption journey in a way which enables us to walk in her shoes and those of her children and which is informative and humbling. Anyone associated with children in the care system in any capacity could only benefit from reading this outstanding book. -- Jane Evans, Trauma Parenting and Behaviour Skills Specialist and TrainerNo Matter What pulls no punches in describing Sally and Rob's moving journey of adopting two siblings and the challenges of parenting them in great detail. It is beautifully written with humour and understanding.We learn from Sally that adopting children who have suffered neglect and abuse, requires not only resilient parents but expert advice, support and understanding from a range of professionals and from family and friends.This book is required reading for professionals such as social workers, health professionals, teachers and early years staff. It is also a must for those who want to adopt and for their families as it provides an honest account of the challenges but also the joys of falling in love with your adopted children. We can all learn so much from Sally and Rob's story. -- Sherry Malik, Director of Children and Adult Services in HounslowIt should be compulsory reading for all contemplating work within adoption, or indeed for any moving towards work with young children and their families, whether in social work or education, where children's behaviour can sometimes seem so hard to understand, by where change can only come about through real compassion, intense resilience and unending patience. -- Helen Bonnick, Practice Educator n East London * Professional Social Work *This book is a first-hand narration by Sally Donovan of her and her husband Rob's journey through infertility and the adoption... It is intensely individual story, but this story speaks to very many wider themes... In this book, we see the need for ongoing support for the family, both formal and informal...this book is not only recommended for adopters, social workers, teachers and health professionals (and I recommend it strongly for those groups), but for everyone. -- Sally Holland, CASCADE Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre * British Journal of Social Work *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. Author's Note. Part 1. Revelations: In the Bad House. Chapter 1. Part 2. Keeping Secrets: Hope and Disappointment. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Part 3. Planning a Future: Flip Charts and Handouts. Chapter 4. Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Part 4. In the Family Way: Early Days. Chapter 7. Chapter 8. Chapter 9. Part 5. Extreme Times: Life and Loss. Chapter 10. Chapter 11. Part 6. Getting Educated: Learning the Hard Way. Chapter 12. Chapter 13. Chapter 14. Part 7. A Time for Healing: No Matter What. Chapter 15. Chapter 16. Chapter 17. Chapter 18.

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Book SynopsisEric Liddell, the Scottish 400m Olympic champion from the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was immortalized in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. His refusal to race on a Sunday is now legendary. His story, however, goes far beyond the restrictions of a 2-hour movie. This vivid biography recounts the highs and lows of Liddell’s athletics career, and uncovers his life after the Olympics as a missionary, and internment camp prisoner, in war-torn China. Drawing upon interviews with Liddell’s surviving family and friends, Julian Wilson brings Eric to life through fascinating anecdotes, reminiscences, extracts from his letters and rare photographs. Discover the secret behind Eric Liddell’s enduring legacy - the complete surrender of his life to God.

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Book SynopsisSo this is surfing in Britain, I told myself as I grumpily walked up a slope of wet rocks and wispy beach grass, trying to keep a foothold as rain and wind both tried their utmost to send me skidding back down to the freezing beach below. Tom Anderson has always loved surfing – anywhere except the UK. But a chance encounter leads him to a series of adventures on home surf… As he visits the popular haunts and secret gems of British surfing he meets the Christians who pray for waves (and get them), loses a competition to a non-existent surfer, is nearly drowned in the River Severn and has a watery encounter with a pedigree sheep. All this rekindles his love affair with the freezing fun that is surfing the North Atlantic.Trade ReviewFunny and Sharp, it's a great insight into what makes surfers in the UK so dedicated. * Surf Girl *Funny, humbling and actually pretty inspiring. * Cooler *The vivid descriptions of grey skies and green waves, the freedom and the attitude of living life to the full combine to deliver a travel book with a twist and one that may have inspired a non-surfer to don a wetsuit and have a go, * Offshore *Tom Anderson learns to love the freezing fun [Britain's] waters offer... this book records his adventures around country's chilly coast. * Waterstone's Books Quarterly *Featured on BBC Radio 4 - Excess Baggage * BBC Radio 4 - Excess Baggage *

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Book SynopsisThis is theengrossing story of the seasons the author spent climbing 4000m mountains inthe different regions of the Alps. It is also about the people with whom heclimbed who found time out of their day-to-day routine for this extraordinaryactivity. He explains the reason for this fascination which resulted in theirspending decades pursuing their climbing objectives. The words and photos both encapsulate thealpine experience in all its beauty and suffering, pain and exhilaration,danger and humour which is shared with each climbing partner and open to anyonewith the same commitment. The author believes that climbing all the 4000mmountains is a realistic and achievable objective that will take mountaineersinto much wild and beautiful terrain. These are not just snow plods: everymountain has a worthwhile route on it and even those with long glacierapproaches can become superb ascents and descents on ski in an alpine spring. The many photos taken over the years were areminder of details that had escaped notice in the journals kept at the time.These numerous stunning and inspiring photographs tell their own story andenrich the author's account. The book is dedicated to all his climbing partnerswho made the completion of the quest possible.Trade Review`...his absorbing account... ...as the years and the adventures accrete the book achieves a quiet authority. It is richly illustrated, and his able eye records the changing fashions...this book offers a persuasive case to return'. The Alpine Journal 2017 -------------------- '...a detailed and compelling account... ...a very good impression of what Alpine climbing is all about... ...the excellent description of a moonlight traverse of Mont Blanc, which was clearly a very special experience. ...is an excellent read, even for non-climbers like me, and I am sure it will inspire others'. Scottish Mountaineer -------------------- '...includes stunning photography...' Fiona Russell, Sunday Mail, Seven Days -------------------- `...many good photos and informative interludes on tactics, techniques and practical advice...Wynne-Jones is clearly an able and determined alpinist... He can also write with passion and lyricism' Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal -------------------- `...lavishly illustrated book... with entertaining anecdotes... interspersed with helpful chapters on weather, huts, training, guides, navigation, acclimatisation, food and diet, dehydration and effects of sun, heat and cold.' The Rucksack Club Journal -------------------- `…His personal accounts of ascending all the major 4000m mountains are interspersed with many good photos and informative interludes on tactics, techniques and practical advice’. Moran Mountain Blog

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Book SynopsisThe compelling personal story of a teenage girl who stood against her family's faith to convert to Christianity and who gave up everything in her flight from religious persecution. In 2009 the story broke in national media of a teenage girl who had run away from her Ohio home, claiming that her Muslim father had threatened to kill her for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. Her parents denied the charges and fought to have her returned home, but she became a ward of the state, placed into foster care until she was emancipated at age 18. Today that girl is a young woman still living in an undisclosed location, still convinced her life is under threat, and still passionate about following Jesus, despite the risks. Teens and young adults will be moved by Rifqa's story of standing up to religious persecution, literally giving up everything to follow her faith.

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Book SynopsisBorn at a clifftop lighthouse in 1910, Archie's life was spent in the world of Scottish lighthouses - he was one of the third generation of his family in the service of the Northern Lighthouse Board. Archie's stories have gripped listeners of all ages and have now been compiled by Anne MacEachern. Written in Archie's words, this account portrays the man and reveals a past way of life. From peacetime through war, dealing with goats, shipwrecked sailors or German spies, the story brings vividly to life the challenges of living and working at a lighthouse, including raising a young family at such an isolated and potentially dangerous place. Many characters appear at various lights, each with their own personality and often annoying habits. Short-term transfers took place in and just after World War 2 when communications and transport were particularly difficult. There were hardships and rewards, and a mystery to solve: the well-known disappearance of three keepers at the Flannan Isles in 1900. The men had to be - and were - remarkably resourceful and courageous, although not all could stand the isolation and dangers at offshore pillar rock lights, especially in wartime. The sea ruled their lives - creating idyllic periods on sunny, calm days but being uncontrollably destructive for much of the time. Like his colleagues, Archie upheld to the best of his ability the ideal of their Service, `For the Safety of All', but in his younger days he was not afraid to speak up and press, with others, for better conditions. His service as a full-time keeper continued in part-time capacities, extended over a period of 67 years. Through this man's keen eye, the reader will meet people, birds, animals and situations from a lifetime of service; a revealing glimpse into this close-knit world. There is also humour, often that dry Highland humour, which adds spice to the telling; in Archie's case a fondness for wild places and dried figs helped.Trade Review‘Anne’s faithful recounting of her husband’s career shows the importance of oral histories and is a shining example of how to preserve ancestral knowledge and records of maritime service’. Nautilus International -------------------- `A work of enduring love and humanity... and so much more. ...Archie's Lights is a balm in its comforting cadences and its reassuring tones, which hark back to a world of unshakeable values and quietly understated wisdom. ...Anne MacEachern has brought forward a masterpiece. ...she has woven a spell that transports the reader into another world; a world of harsh and inhospitable places like Dubh Artach and Skerryvore...' Scottish Review -------------------- `Not only is the daily routine of a keeper brought vividly to life but so are the remote communities that generously welcomed Lighthouse families into their midsts. The book is littered with fascinating anecdotes and details that are unlikely to be recorded elsewhere. We owe much to Archie's wife Anne for sharing this important story'. NLB Journal -------------------- `The story brings vividly to life the challenges of living and working at a lighthouse, including raising a young family in isolated and potentially dangerous places. I am sure that all those who have an interest in lighthouses, their history and the lives of keepers will enjoy Archie's Lights as much as I have'. The Northern Scot -------------------- `...this is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read in years! There is so much material to enjoy both anecdotal and factual... ...this book is crammed full of detail and excitement. Surely a worthy addition to the swelling bibliography of today's lighthouse world. This book stands in top place for me, and I give it full marks!' Bellrock.org.uk -------------------- `Over the years, Archie's stories have gripped listeners of all ages and have now been beautifully compiled by Anne MacEachern in this wonderful book. Highly recommended'. Sea Breezes -------------------- `...this book takes one on a rich journey through the twentieth century as a lightkeeper. ...a compelling biography. ...offers a fascinating insight into the distinct way of life which no longer exists. Through Archie's memories, Anne has opened up a wealth of detail relating to the history of lighthouses, their keepers and the communities they served in twentieth-century Scotland'. LAMP -------------------- `...a wonderful book for anyone with the slightest interest in lighthouses, and especially in Scottish lighthouses. ...succeeds in bringing the lighthouses to life in a way we've never quite seen before, by focusing on the story of one remarkable man. It also succeeds in bringing vividly to life a man who was an integral part of that long-gone world...' Undiscovered Scotland

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Book SynopsisA revealing picture of a time when Britain was losing its empire. It draws on letters written at the period by an airman, his vivid memories and experiences from the Canal Zone, Kenya during Mau Mau times, Cyprus and Jerusalem. His time encompassed conducting church services, being shipwrecked, numerous wildlife encounters and the formation of many lifelong friendships. The Canal Zone was no easy life and 50 years later a medal was awarded when the government was forced to admit it was deserved and to confess its own political chicanery in the events. Hamish paints a picture of the highs and lows of RAF life, a station being run down in Egypt, working in oppressive heat and now and then being shot at! He saw the Windrush a week before it exploded and sank in the Mediterranean; both the Windrush story and that of building the Suez Canal are detailed in an appendix. There is much to find in this story including background histories to events and the politics of the time. As a whole it provides a fascinating account of the era.

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Book SynopsisLessons in living from the bestselling and beloved author of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGSA brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman' BARACK OBAMAThe woman warrior who is armed with wit and courage will be among the first to celebrate victory' says Maya Angelou, bestselling author of I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS and one of our best-loved writers. Here she writes about family, argues for spirit and grace, insists on the importance of laughter and style and reflects on brutality and crime. She has the courage to say the unfashionable: 'virtue, purity, temperance, goodness, worth or even moderation...we must return them to a vigorous role in our lives', and the wit to call for them with humour. As lessons in living, they are a unique inspiration.'She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds' OPRAH WINFREY 'She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate' TONI MORRISONTrade ReviewShe has the knack of guiding us along the seamier side of life while making us feel refreshed and restored like a terrific gospel blues singer * GUARDIAN *

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Book SynopsisFootsteps in the Snow recounts a life shaped and dominated by Antarctica, a multi-facetted account of a life dedicated to Antarctic science, policy and governance. It is also the story of growth from callow youth to Antarctic professional in the most challenging of environments. Joining the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) straight from university in 1966 meant two years as a scientist at an isolated British research station with all the challenges of wintering in the hostile environment half a century ago. After just two years he became one of the youngest men to be made a base commander, and as Sir Vivian Fuchs (then Director of BAS) recounts ‘proved himself one of the best we ever had under the most testing conditions’. The story recounts the many challenges of those testing conditions, while developing scientific ideas and accomplishing engineering feats with his team and on occasion looking death in the face and surviving. There were new developments in building research stations on the ice shelf, and the discovery of the ozone hole that gripped the world. Then followed the transition from research scientist to policy maker and diplomat when he became Deputy Director of BAS and advisor to the British delegation at the Antarctic Treaty. Tragedy struck at a base resulting in the author leading the first ever British midwinter flight into Antarctica. Since retiral, the author has become a polar historian “of repute”, and his efforts have been directed to writing and being a guide for Antarctic tourism. This book allows the reader to feel the wonder, awe, excitement and passion for Antarctica which drove John Dudeney throughout his career, and which is as fresh today as it was on first encounter half a century ago.

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Book SynopsisJOSSER is the powerful and moving account of Oxford-educated Nell Stroud's life in the circus. It is also the story of the people of the circus: the trapeze artists, the clowns, the high-wire acts, the grooms, the llamas, the elephants - their commitment and expertise, their hard, marginalised, miraculous lives. Following a terrible riding accident which left her mother permanently brain-damaged, Nell ran away to the circus. What she found there was a life which became more real to her than the one she left behind. She found people who had sacrificed their lives for their art, who worked in all weathers, perfecting some of the most dramatic and beautiful acts ever seen. She found third-generation show-people who travelled around forgotten parts of Britain to bring their abstract, polished, multi-layered show to ever dwindling audiences. She found herself in an art form that soon, if we are not careful, we will lose. Whilst she has lived and worked among the circus people for several years, she is not one of them: she was not born in the circus. In their words she is a 'josser' a person in the circus from the outside world. This is her story.'The circus does cast a spell over some people. I felt overwhelmed by it. The circus filled up existence and left room for nothing else. What was there to do?Trade ReviewA dream book * THE BOOKSELLER *She did something we all dream of doing. Her book is a brave attempt to keep this dream alive * Dea Birkett *Above all Stroud has written an elegy for the circus and its traditions...We are lucky to have the record of this book * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *JOSSER is a paean to the circus: an impassioned plea for understanding and tolerance of its performers, as well as an obsessive account of the daily hardships of life in the Big Top * TLS *

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Book SynopsisRoaming Wild details the unconventional and pioneering lives of Anna and Peter Roberts, a British couple who were instrumental in making the animal welfare movement a respectable, highly-impactful and worldwide organisation. This book explores the paths that led Anna and Peter to found and steward what is now the world's largest and most successful animal welfare charity from a backroom of their own home, with few funds, and at a time when caring for animals and our planet was seen as 'crankish' and 'sentimental'. This is the story of their family, their era, influence, their rebellion and prophetic ideas and the development of Compassion in World Farming. It spans the period from the early 1920s when they were born, throughout the decades of their childhoods and World War II, to their highly romantic meeting and marriage in the 1950s, and then the next years of their lives as dairy and chicken farmers in rural Hampshire. This 'ordinary' part of their story preceded their move to change everything by making the 'extraordinary' decision during the tumultuous 1960s, of risking their livelihood, going vegetarian (as animal farmers), and losing the approval of their peers, to found their compassion-driven campaign. This personal transformation was at a time when the British countryside was also transforming, irrevocably and for the worse, when intensive, polluting farms were just taking root, the cruel battery and broiler system had recently been developed, and the countryside's biodiversity was being destroyed with the implementation of monoculture and the profligate spraying of lethal biocides, such as DDT. The Roberts were at first rejected by the popular animal charities of the day; believing that the public cared only about companion animals or those in circuses, rather than those animals who suffer the most at human hands - those in the food chain - and so the Roberts family went out alone and set up CIWF in the face of much public derision. Then followed the highs and lows of campaign life, a court battle with an order of veal-farming Catholic monks, famine campaigns in Ethiopia, work alongside comedian Spike Milligan, model Celia Hammond and philosopher Peter Singer, challenging EU legislation, and battles with agricultural and chemical giant Monsanto. Corporate giants like McDonald's were influenced to go free-range, even the British Royal family was challenged to go free-range, and animals were put on the agenda of every major political party in the 1970s and much more. The story interweaves the personal with the political and documents the highs and lows of family life, the judgement faced when they chose to raise their three daughters as vegetarians in the 1960s, their myriad spiritual quests, including the couple's time spent in the Indian ashram of Sathya Sai Baba, their rewilding of the land near their family home, and the story of their fifty-year love. This is a tale of an 'ordinary couple with an extraordinary vision'.

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Book SynopsisWritten originally in 1936–38 by Admiral Cumberlege as a record of his life, Salt Horse was never published. The original manuscript has been expertly edited and made readable in terms of language to a modern audience. It now comprises chapters on Cumberlege’s naval career in the RN and Royal Australian Navy and also on the 1922–38 period when he lived year-round on two large sailing craft, cruising the coasts of France and Spain. Cumberlege writes with some verve. He has strong views, made numerous friends wherever he and his second wife Nora went, and lived a spirited, irreverent and fortunate existence in peace and war. Some of his stories (for instance, about WW1 in New Guinea, or about his 1905 lunch in Gibraltar as a young officer with Kaiser Wilhelm II) are historic and eye-catching. In many ways, the book describes a world, and a way of life, that has disappeared for ever. Salt Horse is complemented with a timeline, family tree and Introduction which trace Cumberlege’s background. An Afterword takes his life story from 1938–63 when he died. The numerous black-and-white images and short footnotes bring many of the people mentioned in the text to life.

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Book SynopsisWhen friends die, one's own credentials change: one becomes a survivor. Graham Greene has already had biographers, one of whom has served him mightily. Yet I hope that there is room for the remembrance of a friend who knew him - not wisely, perhaps, but fairly well - on an island that was "not his kind of place," but where he came season after season, year after year & where he, too, will be subsumed into the capacious story.' For millennia the cliffs of Capri have sheltered pleasure-seekers & refugees alike, among them the emperors Augustus & Tiberius, Henry James, Rilke & Lenin, plus hosts of artists, eccentrics & outcasts. Here in the 1960s Graham Greene became friends with Shirley Hazzard & her husband, the writer Francis Steegmuller; their friendship lasted until Greene's death in 1991. In GREENE ON CAPRI, Hazzard uses their ever volatile intimacy as a prism through which to illuminate Greene's mercurial character, his work & talk & the extraordinary literary culture that long thrived on this ravishing, enchanted island.Trade ReviewA little masterpiece of reminiscence... reading a personal sketch of this quality makes me think that perhaps the conventional biography is just a grandiose dump-bin for all those elements of life that do not matter MAIL ON SUNDAY Her observations are penetrating, her style is superb, and her range of literary reference is the equal of his. Marvellous TIME OUT Shirley Hazzard achieves an astonishing amount in less than 150 pages ... Her memoir, like the island it so fondly describes, is a real gem to which the reader will wish to return SUNDAY TELEGRAPH Shirley Hazzard is highly observant and alarmingly intelligent; she is also erudite, precise and morally scrupulous. Her short book is not only a joy to read for its lucid, thoughtful prose, but also a refreshing antidote to biographical overkill and presumption. As a picture of Graham Greene, it is like an Ingres portrait drawing: small, but miraculously clear Spectator An affectionate but not uncritical portrait of a companion who could be charming but also provocative... it is a convincing picture of a man who has been much and excellently written about but seldom with so astute and yet so warm an eye Times Literary Supplement Charming... succinct and satisfying... her memoir, like the island it so fondly describes, is a real gem to which the reader will wish to return Sunday Telegraph

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Book SynopsisExplore 500 years of the British royal family and how their portrayal has developed throughout the ages through beautiful artworks from the National Portrait Gallery's Collection. The Royals: Tudors to Windsors features some of the earliest works in the National Portrait Gallery's Collection alongside their most recent acquisitions. This beautiful publication includes a timeline of key events and is illustrated through photographs and paintings of the British royal family, from King Henry VIII to King Charles III. Discover how the monarchy have positioned themselves within images of strength, domesticity and love; from traditional paintings by Nicholas Hilliard and Joshua Reynolds, to modern-day photographs by Dorothy Wilding and Nadav Kander. An introduction by Rab MacGibbon explains the history of the British royal family and their continued relevance today. The Royals is a chronological, highly-illustrated book. Showcasing the Gallery's collection of royal portraiture, works are a

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Book SynopsisIn this collection, Rudolf Steiner deals wit h topics ranging from elephants to Einstein. He discusses, a mong other things, ants and bees, shells and skeletons, anim al and plant poisons, nutrition, the human eye and its colou r, and thinking '

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Book Synopsis`I send you fondest thoughts on your birthday. On this day I will think a lot of all the beautiful things which were, and are contained in our work together, and which now always stand so beautifully before my inner eye when I describe them. Let me assure you that I write this description with love.’ – Rudolf Steiner to Marie Steiner, 13 March 1925 Containing all the correspondence between Rudolf and Marie Steiner to be found in their respective estates, this volume provides unique insight into the couple’s pivotal relationship. The years 1901-25 were a time of struggle, as Rudolf Steiner – faithfully supported by the young Marie von Sivers (later to become Marie Steiner in 1914) – endeavoured to build a completely new spiritual movement on earth. Their letters cover everything from the esoteric view of evolution and human advancement to dealing with organizational details, challenging personalities and, of course, their own relationship. In addition to the correspondence, a number of documents have been inserted chronologically throughout the text. The famous `notes’ written by Rudolf Steiner for Edouard Schure, for example, provide a unique introduction to the volume, giving profound insights into the development of the anthroposophical movement. Also included are the many versions of Rudolf Steiner’s will. Comprehensive notes are provided, as well as an index of persons and an itinerary giving dates of relevant lectures and eurythmy performances.

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Book SynopsisAndrée Blouin—once called the most dangerous woman in Africa—played a leading role in the struggles for decolonization that shook the continent in the 1950s and ’60s, advising the postcolonial leaders of Algeria, both Congos, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and Ghana.In this autobiography, Blouin retraces her remarkable journey as an African revolutionary. Born in French Equatorial Africa and abandoned at the age of three, she endured years of neglect and abuse in a colonial orphanage, which she escaped after being forced by nuns into an arranged marriage at fifteen. She later became radicalized by the death of her two-year-old son, who was denied malaria medication by French officials because he was one-quarter African.In Guinea, where Blouin was active in Sékou Touré’s campaign for independence, she came into contact with leaders of the liberation movement in the Belgian Congo. Blouin witnessed the Congolese tragedy up close as an adviser to Patrice Lumumba, whose arrest and assassination she narrates in unforgettable detail.Blouin offers a sweeping survey of pan-African nationalism, capturing the intricacies of revolutionary diplomacy, comradeship, and betrayal. Alongside intimate portraits of the movement’s leaders, Blouin provides insights into the often-overlooked contribution of African women in the struggle for independence.

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Book SynopsisCharlotte Brontes years in Belgium (184243) had a huge influence both on her life and her work. It was in Brussels that she not only honed her writing skills but fell in love and lived through the experiences that inspired two of her four novels: her first, The Professor, and her last and in many ways most interesting, Villette. Her feelings about Belgium are known from her novels and letters her love for her tutor Heger, her uncomplimentary remarks about Belgians, the powerful effect on her imagination of living abroad. But what about Belgian views of Charlotte Bronte? What has her legacy been in Brussels? How have Belgian commentators responded to her portrayal of their capital city and their society? Through Belgian Eyes explores a wide range of responses from across the Channel, from the hostile to the enthusiastic. In the process, it examines what The Professor and Villette tell Belgian readers about their capital in the 1840s and provides a wealth of detail on the Brussels background to the two novels. Unlike Paris and London, Brussels has inspired few outstanding works of literature. That makes Villette, considered by many to be Charlotte Brontes masterpiece, of particular interest as a portrait of the Belgian capital a decade after the country gained independence in 1830, and just before modernisation and expansion transformed the city out of all recognition from the villette (small town) that Charlotte knew. Her view of Brussels is contrasted with those of other foreign visitors and of the Belgians themselves. The story of Charlotte Brontes Brussels legacy provides a unique perspective on her personality and writing.Trade ReviewWhile we may know plenty about what Charlotte Bronte made of Brussels and its people, what about the other way round? What did Brussels, and indeed Belgium as a whole, make of the shy young Englishwoman who, having been rejected by one of their countrymen, unleashed a stream of invective against their country? This is the question that long-time resident and Bronte scholar Helen MacEwan attempts to answer in this fascinating and important book [She] skilfully decentres the Bronte myth and re-reads it, this time through Belgian eyes.Kathryn Hughes, Times Literary Supplement, 18 May 2018

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Book SynopsisA reader-friendly, fully illustrated colour guide to Robert Burns' time in Edinburgh, with fresh research, maps and illustrations of the key people Burns met, with 27 relevant poems by Burns throughout. With over 100 illustrations by David Alexander and 80 photographs by Jerry Brannigan of key people and places Burns encountered. Easy to follow routes and walking guides in Edinburgh arranged by area and place/people. Tourist information about each site. Robert Burns came to Edinburgh in November 1786 and stayed for 14 months. His book, Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Kilmarnock Edition , went on sale on July 31, 1786 and was an immediate success throughout Scotland. Suddenly,he was being spoken of the length and breadth of the land. His plan to emigrateto Jamaica with any profit from the sales of the book was abandoned. Burns's life was about to change! Dr Thomas Blacklock, known as the Blind Poet, came to know of the book. Blacklock was a much respected poet and critic, acquainted with the cream of literary society in Scotland and he advised Burns to travel to the nation's capital where a larger edition was promised. Blacklock was sure it would have a more universal circulation than "anything else that had been published within his memory". So it was that on November 27, 1786 that Robert Burns, on a borrowed pony, set off on the two-day journey to Edinburgh. It was at the peak of the Scottish Enlightenment. Edinburgh at the time was home to great philosophers, world-renowned economists, engineers, scientists, writers and poets. Enterprise and industry were flourishing. Robert Burns was to find himself thrust into the midst of the social and academic whirlpool that was Edinburgh in 1786, establishing him as a vital part of the Scottish Enlightenment. This book chronicles the places he visited and the brilliant, eccentric, but always fascinating people he met during his stay. Places including Lodge Canongate Kilwinning No. 2, The Kirk of the Canongate, Old Calton Burial Ground, St. Cecilia's Hall, Pear Tree House, The Luckenbooths and many more. People including, The Duchess of Gordon, Lord Monboddo, James (Balloon) Tytler, Bishop John Geddes, (Indian) Peter Williamson and a host more. Learn of his meeting with a young Sir Walter Scott, and - let's not forget - Mrs Agnes McLehose, his Clarinda, and inspiration for Ae Fond Kiss. Robert Burns left Edinburgh on March 24, 1788. He was only 29. He was to die in Dumfries eight years later at the age of 37.

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Book SynopsisIn 'Hebridean Sharker' Tex Geddes describes his exploits during the 1950s as a hunter of basking sharks in the waters of the Minch, between the Inner and Outer Hebrides. His story is full of adventures and fantastic descriptions of a seagoing life in the islands. It has become a Hebridean classic.

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Book SynopsisThis story has its roots in the life of George Owen Millum, who at the turn of the 19th century was the head gardener at Maytham Hall in Kent, the home of Frances Hodgson Burnett, long celebrated for her timeless classic The Secret Garden. The garden in the story was based upon that at Maytham Hall, and George Millum was the model for Ben Weatherstaff, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s fictional gardener. George’s son, George Charles Millum, who like his father was born in the gardener’s cottage at Maytham, also grew up to be a country house gardener – hence the title of this book, written and compiled by his own son with detailed extracts from his diaries.Table of ContentsIntroduction: a life in gardening 1 The American writer and the English garden 3 George Charles Millum, Son of The Secret Gardener 15 Promotion and marriage 27 The diary for 1935 30 The war years and beyond 70 A new position 76 The diary for 1949 80 Epilogue 117 About the Author 118 Acknowledgement 119

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Book SynopsisHorse Stories corrals two centuries of short fiction about the most majestic of domesticated animals. From writers old and new come stories of magnificent stallions, broken-down nags, racehorses, ponies, cowboy's steeds, workhorses, and beloved companions, in a wide variety of literary styles. Rudyard Kipling transports us the polo fields of India, Bret Harte to the ranches of the Wild West. Arthur Conan Doyle makes a famous thoroughbred disappear (or does he?), while Saki spins an amusing yarn about a notorious bolter. Isaac Babel tells of the horrors of war; Raymond Carver has a vision of runaway horses in the mist; Ted Hughes, Margaret Atwood and Jane Smiley explore the human passions horses can unleash. From the rollicking racetrack humour of Damon Runyon to the poignant lyricism of John Steinbeck, these stories testify to our varied and timeless fascination with the noblest of animals. A perfect gift.

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Book SynopsisTo Aran, I recounts the adventurous journey of a young Welshman, who abandons a promising career and relationships to fulfill his dream of living on Inis Mór, blending farce, poetry, and social observation in a story of personal discovery and ambition.

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Book SynopsisHOMEGROUND: THE KATE BUSH MAGAZINE: ANTHOLOGY ONE: ''WUTHERING HEIGHTS'' TO ''THE SENSUAL WORLD'' HomeGround is a magazine devoted to Kate Bush (born in 1958), a British pop star best-known for hits such as ''Wuthering Heights'', ''Wow'', ''Hounds of Love'' and ''Running Up That Hill''. This book is pure heaven for music fans. The HomeGround anthology includes material inspired by all periods of Kate Bush''s musical progression. It is a book about the reaction to her work and how her unique music has touched the lives of so many people. This is a unique book, a labour of love for hundreds of music fans who have contributed to HomeGround over its thirty-year existence. The book includes an enormous amount of information about Kate Bush, accounts of every release, album, single, pop promo and appearance, as well as memories and accounts of music fandom (such as conventions, meetings, hikes, stage door encounters and video parties). It also includes material on many other pop acts and events. It features poetry, stories, letters, reviews, interviews, memoirs, cartoons, drawings, paintings and photographs. This is the first book of a two volume set, totalling over 1200 pages. The first book covers Kate Bush''s career from ''Wuthering Heights'' to ''The Sensual World'' (from the late 1970s to the late 1980s). The second book runs from ''The Red Shoes'' album to the present day. The first issue of HomeGround appeared in 1982, four years after Kate Bush''s dramatic debut with ''Wuthering Heights''. Starting with an ancient manual typewriter, and a pot of glue paste, the editors mounted articles on recycled backing sheets and added hand-drawn artwork to fill the gaps. The first issue was photocopied, the pages hand-stapled together and twenty-five copies were given away to fans they knew. Only later did they discover the magic of word processing, and desktop publishing. From those beginnings HomeGround became a cornerstone of the ''Kate-speaking world'', the editors going on to organise four official fan events at which Kate Bush and members of her family and band appeared, arrange at Bush''s request a team of fans to be extras in two of her videos and organise informal fan gatherings at Glastonbury and Top Withens, the storm-blown ruin on Haworth Moor. Years before the internet, HomeGround became a place where fans could discuss Bush''s music, and a place where they could publish creative writing and artwork that music inspired. Fully illustrated with hundreds of images, including rare photographs and original artwork. Includes a timeline of Kate Bush''s career, index and a who''s who. ISBN 97818617147945. 648pp. Volume Two of HomeGround, covering Kate Bush''s career from ''The Red Shoes'' to the present day, is also available: ISBN 9781861714817 (Pbk) and ISBN 9781861714824 (Hbk). www.crmoon.com (see for offers on buying both books together). Katebushnews.com - the website of HomeGround, the international Kate Bush magazine.

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Book SynopsisThe Vivaldi Compendium represents the latest in Vivaldi research, drawing on the author's close involvement with Vivaldi and Venetian music over four decades. The Vivaldi Compendium will serve as the most reliable and up-to-date source of quick reference on the composer Antonio Vivaldi and his music. This takes the form of a dictionary listing persons, places, musical works and many other topics connected with Vivaldi; its alphabetically arranged entries are copiously cross-referenced to guide the reader towards related topics. The Vivaldi Compendium also provides a gateway to further reading via an extensive bibliography, to which reference is made in most of the dictionary entries. These two sections are complemented by a biography of the composer and a carefully organized list of his works. Knowledge about Vivaldi and his music is still advancing at an incredible rate - many discoveries occurred while the book was in preparation - and every effort has been made to ensure that The Vivaldi Compendium represents the latest in Vivaldi research, drawing on the author's close involvement with Vivaldi and Venetian music over four decades. MICHAEL TALBOT is Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Liverpool and a Fellow of the British Academy. He isknown internationally for his studies of late-baroque Italian music, which include recent books on Vivaldi's chamber cantatas [2003] and the same composer's fugal writing [2007].Trade Review[A] a musicological masterpiece. It is also one of the most practical books ever published, a book that enables anyone [.] to find reliable and detailed information on almost every subject connected with Vivaldi within seconds. One cannot be grateful enough to the author for this painstaking and most helpful publication. * EARLY MUSIC *This fact-packed reference book incorporates the latest research on Vivaldi's life and music and is written in a terse, yet engaging, style. [...] this is an impressively wide ranging guide. * EARLY MUSIC TODAY *This amazingly comprehensive volume packs a huge amount of expert scholarship [...] into an extraordinarily small space. [...] an indispensable addition to the shelves of anyone with an interest in Vivaldi, whether scholar, student, performer or music lover. * THE CONSORT *[Ein] vorteffliches Buch [...], das durch Klarheit und Verstädlichkeit in bester Angelsächsischer Wissenschaftstradition besticht. * CONCERTO *It's called a compendium, but it could also be termed a dictionary or pocket (almost) encyclopedia dedicated to a composer whose present popularity worldwide far exceeds the actual knowledge of his life and works. The completeness of this realization [...] is praiseworthy. * MUSICA *[T]here is nobody internationally as well-placed as Talbot to provide such a versatile and friendly guide to Vivaldi [...] The Vivaldi Compendium will become an indispensable companion. * GRAMOPHONE *This compact volume by Talbot provides an excellent orientation and quick reference to the state of scholarship on the life and music of Antonio Vivaldi. [...] The scope of this bibliography is impressive [...] Highly Recommended. * CHOICE *[Talbot] is, at least as far as the Anglophone world is concerned, THE expert. ... I am sure that I will consult the Compendium frequently. * EARLY MUSIC REVIEW *The Vivaldi Compendium is an extremely useful encyclopaedia [...] All the subject matter is dealt with in a scholarly and expert way. It will provide the reader with an exhaustive and informative one-stop source for Vivaldi's life, music and world. The production of The Vivaldi Compendium, too, is well up to Boydell's high standards [...] For Vivaldi collectors and specialists The Vivaldi Compendium is almost a required item. Its scope exceeds anything otherwise currently available and is managed extremely well by an expert. Strongly recommended. * CLASSICAL.NET *

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Book SynopsisPerceforest is one of the largest and certainly the most extraordinary of the late Arthurian romances, and is almost completely unknown except to a handful of scholars. But it is a work of exceptional richness and importance, and has been justly described as "an encyclopaedia of 14th-century chivalry" and "a mine of folkloric motifs". Its contents are drawn not only from earlier Arthurian material, but also from romances about Alexander the Great, from Roman histories and from medieval travel writing - not to mention oral tradition, including as it does the first and unexpurgated version of the story of the Sleeping Beauty. Out of this, the author creates a remarkable prehistory of King Arthur's Britain, describing how Alexander the Great gives the island to Perceforest, who has to purge the island of magic-wielding knights descended from Darnant the Enchanter, despite their supernatural powers. Perceforest then founds the knightly order of the "Franc Palais", an ideal of chivalric civilisation which prefigures the Round Table of Arthur and indeed that of Edward III; but that civilisation is, as the author shows, all too fragile. The action all takes place in a pagan world of many gods, but the temple of the Sovereign God, discovered by Perceforest, prefigures the Christian world and the coming of the Grail and Arthur. Nigel Bryant has recently adapted this immense romance into English; even in his version, which gives a complete account of the whole work but links extensive sections of full translation with compressed accounts of other passages, it runs to nearly half amillion words. A Perceforest Reader is an ideal introduction to the remarkable world portrayed in this late flowering of the Arthurian imagination.

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Book SynopsisThe 'Greatest Black Briton in History' triumphed over the Crimea and Victorian England. "The Times" called her a heroine, Florence Nightingale called her a brothel-keeping quack, and Queen Victoria's nephew called her, simply, 'Mammy' - Mary Seacole was one of the most eccentric and charismatic women of her era. Born at her mother's hotel in Jamaica in 1805, she became an independent 'doctress' combining the herbal remedies of her African ancestry with sound surgical techniques. On the outbreak of the Crimean War, she arrived in London desperate to join Florence Nightingale at the Front, but the authorities refused to see her. Being black, nearly 50, rather stout, and gloriously loud in every way, she was obviously unsuitable. Undaunted, Mary travelled to Balaklava under her own steam to build the 'British Hotel', just behind the lines. It was an outrageous venture, and a huge success - she became known and loved by everyone from the rank and file to the royal family. For more than a century after her death this remarkable woman was all but forgotten. This, the first full-length biography of a Victorian celebrity recently voted the greatest black Briton in history, brings Mary Seacole centre stage at last.Trade ReviewThroughout history there have been women who deserve to be remembered for what they themselves achieved... Robinson gives them life once more. * Guardian *Utterly absorbing... every page jammed with catchy vignettes. * Observer *Useful and highly enjoyable. * Times Literary Supplement *A fine piece of work. * Daily Telegraph *Robinson's book is the first I have read that has opened my eyes to the true horrors of the Mutiny. * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisHOMEGROUND: THE KATE BUSH MAGAZINE: ANTHOLOGY TWO: ''THE RED SHOES'' TO ''50 WORDS FOR SNOW''?HomeGround is a magazine devoted to Kate Bush (born in 1958), a British pop star best-known for hits such as ''Wuthering Heights'', ''Wow'', ''Hounds of Love'' and ''Running Up That Hill''. This book is pure heaven for music fans. The HomeGround magazine anthology includes material inspired by all periods of Kate Bush''s musical progression. It is a book about the reaction to her work and how her unique music has touched the lives of so many people. This is a unique book, a labour of love for hundreds of music fans who have contributed to HomeGround over its thirty-year existence. The book includes an enormous amount of information about Kate Bush, accounts of every release, album, single, pop promo and appearance, as well as memories and accounts of music fandom (such as conventions, meetings, hikes, stage door encounters and video parties). It also includes material on many other pop acts and events. It features poetry, stories, letters, reviews, interviews, memoirs, cartoons, drawings, paintings and photographs. This is the second book of a two volume set, totalling over 1200 pages. The second volume covers Kate Bush''s career from ''The Red Shoes'' album to ''50 Words For Snow'' album (from the early 1990s to the present day). The first book runs from the origins of Bush''s career to the album ''The Sensual World''. The first issue of HomeGround appeared in 1982, four years after Kate Bush''s dramatic debut with ''Wuthering Heights''. Starting with an ancient manual typewriter, and a pot of glue paste, the editors mounted articles on recycled backing sheets and added hand-drawn artwork to fill the gaps. The first issue was photocopied, the pages hand-stapled together and twenty-five copies were given away to fans they knew. Only later did they discover the magic of word processing, and desktop publishing. From those beginnings HomeGround became a cornerstone of the ''Kate-speaking world'', the editors going on to organise four official fan events at which Kate Bush and members of her family and band appeared, arrange at Bush''s request a team of fans to be extras in two of her videos and organise informal fan gatherings at Glastonbury and Top Withens, the storm-blown ruin on Haworth Moor. Years before the internet, HomeGround became a place where fans could discuss Bush''s music, and a place where they could publish creative writing and artwork that music inspired. www.crmoon.com. Buy direct from Crescent Moon (at crmoon.com): we are cheaper than online sellers (including Amazon), and more of your money goes to the people who produced these amazing books. We also have offers on buying both books together. Fully illustrated with hundreds of images, including rare photographs and original artwork. Includes a timeline of Kate Bush''s career, index, and a who''s who. ISBN 9781861714817. 568pp. Volume One of HomeGround, covering Kate Bush''s early career, is also available: ISBN 9781861714794 (Pbk) and 9781861714800 (Hbk). Also available in hardback: ISBN 9781861714824. Katebushnews.com - the website of HomeGround, the international Kate Bush magazine.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a first. There has never been one entirely dedicated to the spiritual life of the Dalai Lama. Yet as one of the world's most recognised, and respected, spiritual leaders there is already great interest in such a work from His Holiness' thousands of friends and followers around the world. The Dalai Lama sees himself first and foremost as a human being, secondly as a monk and thirdly as the former political leader of Tibet. In this extraordinary autobiography we read many hitherto unknown stories from his childhood, his formation as a monk and his gradual development as a leader of his people. We are offered a view of his daily spiritual practise, invited to listen in on the dialogue he has been pursuing with other religions, with non-believers and with scientists in his search for ethical and environmental principles, and shown how he brings a sense of goodness and conscience to political life around the globe.In a world that is so profoundly interdependent, the Dalai Lama explains how he transforms himself through spiritual means in order to have a positive effect on the world, and he encourages us to do the same by working on ourselves first of all.Trade ReviewA symbol of serenity, a spiritual leader second only to the Pope * Independent *The Dalai Lama is the most influential person in the world * Time magazine *He draws crowds that no other spiritual leader or politician could hope to match...he seems to look at life in a different way to everyone else * The Times *A man of great intelligence and charm...He has become the lynch pin of hope for a great many people * Professor Robert Thurman, author of Infinite Life *A subtle, quick, complex and extraordinarily intelligent man who brings three qualities to a spiritual discourse - gentleness, clarity and laughter * Professor Robert Kieley, Harvard University *

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Book SynopsisIntroduced to the West by Paul Brunton, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) is widely hailed as the greatest Indian saint and sage in modern times, whose teachings continue to influence thousands around the world today. This intimate biography by his disciple Arthur Osborne interweaves the story of Ramana's life with his spiritual journey, from his awakening as a teenager to his later teachings and writings, offering a detailed account of a unique life.Osborne shares many of Ramana's lessons, including his emphasis on the importance of self-enquiry - that self-knowledge cannot be gained externally, but only through becoming aware of our own state of pure being. With his emphasis on the qualities of insight, simplicity and kindness, Ramana has much to offer us today.

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Book SynopsisHOMEGROUND: THE KATE BUSH MAGAZINE: ANTHOLOGY TWO: ''THE RED SHOES'' TO ''50 WORDS FOR SNOW''HomeGround is a magazine devoted to Kate Bush (born in 1958), a British pop star best-known for hits such as ''Wuthering Heights'', ''Wow'', ''Hounds of Love'' and ''Running Up That Hill''. This book is pure heaven for music fans. The HomeGround magazine anthology includes material inspired by all periods of Kate Bush''s musical progression. It is a book about the reaction to her work and how her unique music has touched the lives of so many people. This is a unique book, a labour of love for hundreds of music fans who have contributed to HomeGround over its thirty-year existence. The book includes an enormous amount of information about Kate Bush, accounts of every release, album, single, pop promo and appearance, as well as memories and accounts of music fandom (such as conventions, meetings, hikes, stage door encounters and video parties). It also includes material on many other pop acts and events. It features poetry, stories, letters, reviews, interviews, memoirs, cartoons, drawings, paintings and photographs. This is the second book of a two volume set, totalling over 1200 pages. The second volume covers Kate Bush''s career from ''The Red Shoes'' album to ''50 Words For Snow'' album (from the early 1990s to the present day). The first book runs from the origins of Bush''s career to the album ''The Sensual World''. The first issue of HomeGround appeared in 1982, four years after Kate Bush''s dramatic debut with ''Wuthering Heights''. Starting with an ancient manual typewriter, and a pot of glue paste, the editors mounted articles on recycled backing sheets and added hand-drawn artwork to fill the gaps. The first issue was photocopied, the pages hand-stapled together and twenty-five copies were given away to fans they knew. Only later did they discover the magic of word processing, and desktop publishing. From those beginnings HomeGround became a cornerstone of the ''Kate-speaking world'', the editors going on to organise four official fan events at which Kate Bush and members of her family and band appeared, arrange at Bush''s request a team of fans to be extras in two of her videos and organise informal fan gatherings at Glastonbury and Top Withens, the storm-blown ruin on Haworth Moor. Years before the internet, HomeGround became a place where fans could discuss Bush''s music, and a place where they could publish creative writing and artwork that music inspired. www.crmoon.com. Buy direct from Crescent Moon (at crmoon.com): we are cheaper than online sellers (including Amazon), and more of your money goes to the people who produced these amazing books. We also have offers on buying both books together. Fully illustrated with hundreds of images, including rare photographs and original artwork. Includes a timeline of Kate Bush''s career, index and a who''s who. ISBN 97818617144824. 568pp. Volume One of HomeGround, covering Kate Bush''s early career, is also available: ISBN 9781861714794 (Pbk) and 9781861714800 (Hbk). Also available in paperback: ISBN 9781861714817. Katebushnews.com - the website of HomeGround, the international Kate Bush magazine.

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Book SynopsisThe legacy of the greatest teacher the world has known, the greatest man to ever walk the Earth, the Messenger of Allah, is attested to by the greatness of his students: the Ṣaḥābah. None more so than his four successors, the four men famed as the Rightly Guided Caliphs. The Blessed Prophet’s words and deeds have reached us from across the centuries and still inspire billions. It was these men who were charged with carrying those teachings to others, and within one short century spread them across the breadth of the world.This book collects the teachings of these great men; their words and their actions; how they lived and how they died. Each of them was a giant upon whose shoulders the great scholars and sages; the orators and leaders; the warriors and heroes; the ascetics and mystics in every age of this Ummah have built their places in the halls of history. Each of them was shaped for greatness by the blessed hands of the Beloved in a singular and unique manner. Together, they built a community, an empire, and a legacy that shall inspire this Ummah until the end of time.

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Book SynopsisThe first ever book about Mary Lavin's 16-year working relationship with The New Yorker and a fascinating insight into the lives of two brilliant 20th-century literary women.

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Book SynopsisLudwig Wittgenstein, writes noted scholar Edward Kanterian, was a philosopher's philosopher'. He was one of the founders of modern analytic philosophy and is regarded as the greatest philosophical genius since Immanuel Kant. In this book, Kanterian traces the complex relationship between the philosopher's life, his work and his time. The author describes Wittgenstein's eventful life, his numerous trips, and his friendships with some of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century, including Bertrand Russell, John Maynard Keynes, George Edward Moore and Gilbert Royle. Kanterian also presents a careful account of Wittgenstein's notoriously abstract philosophical works, from his early masterpiece Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921) to the Philosophical Investigations, published posthumously in 1953. The author makes Wittgenstein's work comprehensible to lay readers, as well as offering original interpretations that further illuminate the writings. Emerging from the highly sophisticated Viennese upper class at the turn of the last century, Wittgenstein had intellectual and artistic aspirations going far beyond theoretical philosophy. In particular he took great interest in art and music, and during his entire lifetime was deeply tormented by ethical and religious questions. There is something about Wittgenstein's life and persona, the author believes, that captivates our collective imagination and seems to offer answers to the ethical problems of our own time. Kanterian sees Wittgenstein's life as the focal point of important conflicts and tensions of an entire age. A readable, concise account that uses many telling quotations from the philosopher's own writings, as well as numerous illustrations, this book will appeal to scholars and students of Wittgenstein, and the broad audience for introductions to philosophy.Trade Reviewbeautiful ... well produced, compact ... with outstanding illustrations Manna

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Book SynopsisCompelling and intimate, this collection of letters between the celebrated art critic and essayist John Berger and his son Yves, an artist, is a moving look at their musings on art, memory, life, death, and beyond. Composed of letters written between 2015 and 2016, some of the last written by John Berger, along with images of works by old masters and contemporary art and some of the Bergers' own drawings and watercolours, Over to You is an informal back-and-forth not unlike the ping-pong games father and son used to play in the barn of their house. It begins when John, who is in a Parisian suburb, sends Yves, who is in Haute-Savoie, an envelope of reproductions of art that have moved him. And so they begin to reveal their thoughts, looking at works by Goya, Watteau, Twombly, Joan Mitchell, Dürer, Caravaggio, Manet, and Euan Uglow, among many others. But the art is just a way to summon shared emotions and memories, as well as deepen their understanding of the world and its mysteries. John, at eighty-nine, is the more formal teacher; Yves, at thirty-nine, is the younger, philosophical artist. There are John's thoughts on everything from the use of colour, light and space in, say, a Dürer or a Beckmann to the question of 'staying fully alive.' Yves notes how much in life exceeds our understanding, the gap between our consciousness and our feeling, between the said and the unsaid. 'That's the zone where I would like us to meet. Are you coming?' he asks his father. 'I may need other eyes to confirm what is really there. Like your eyes always did.'This is an exceptional and moving tribute to a relationship between a father and a son, and between two artists, as well as a thought-provoking look at questions we all have about work, time, the universe, life and death.

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Book SynopsisTrailblazing women of Australian Public Broadcasting, 1945 – 1975 offers a compelling new perspective of Australian radio and television history. It chronicles how a group of female producers defied the odds and forged remarkable careers in the traditionally male domain of public-affairs production at the ABC in the post-war decades. Kay Kinane, Catherine King, Therése Denny and Joyce Belfrage were ambitious and resourceful producers, part of the vanguard of Australian broadcasters who used mass media as a vehicle for their social and political activism. Fiercely dedicated to their audiences, they wrote, directed and produced ground-breaking documentaries and current affairs programs that celebrated Australian life, while also challenging its cultural complacency, its racism and sexism. They immersed themselves in the ABC’s many networks of collaboration and initiated a range of strategies to expand their agency and authority. With vivid descriptions of life at the ABC, this book traces their careers as they crossed borders and crossed mediums, following them as they worked on location shoots and in production offices, in television studios, control rooms and radio booths. In doing so it highlights the barriers, both official and unofficial, that confronted so many women working in broadcasting after World War II.Trade Review‘Kylie Andrews’ fascinating book is a tour-de-force of feminist scholarship and media history. In rescuing the pioneering women of radio and television from the footnotes of history, it offers us not just a vivid panorama of highly talented programme-makers but an endlessly illuminating new take on post-war Australian broadcasting.’ — David Hendy, Emeritus Professor, University of Sussex, England.‘A lively, impressively researched, and informative look at barriers faced, and battles won, by a select group of talented female producers at the ABC and beyond – battles won not only for themselves, but for the status of all women who have confronted the same attitudes and obstacles. An inspiring read.’ — Michele Hilmes, Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.‘This is an important, overdue ‘remembering’ of women’s role in the creation of the ABC - an entertaining read to set the historical (‘herstorical’) record straight - with startling insights into the good old days when the boys ‘owned the game’. It’s an eye-opener for younger program-makers to meet the feisty women who paved the way for them.’ — Caroline Jones AO, Veteran ABC broadcaster and national patron of Women in Media.‘This compelling and impeccably researched book uncovers the story of four colourful individuals, Joyce Belfrage, Therese Denny, Kay Kinane and Catherine King, and their outstanding contribution to Australian, and transnational, broadcasting. Battling a culture that was largely unsupportive of working women, Andrews brings their careers and achievements vividly to life.’ — Dr Kate Murphy, Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Media and Communication, Bournemouth University, UK.‘This is a brilliant book unearthing the forgotten women of radio and television. Too often, male exploits take precedence in Australian historical recounts. Kylie Andrews has produced a work that is both entertaining and academic. Highly recommended!’ — Tracey Spicer, Broadcaster and Author.‘In the post-war years, the ABC carved out a distinctive role as a national broadcaster, both shaping and questioning Australian identity. Kylie Andrews’ passionate, highly engaging history tells the stories of groundbreaking women who worked for the ABC in those years, demonstrating that the ABC was not only ‘built by men’; it was built by women, too’. — Professor Michelle Arrow, Department of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, AUS.‘In this lively and accessible work of historical reclamation, Kylie Andrews brings vividly to life the careers of four indomitable women at the ABC in the decades after World War II.' — Professor Bridget Griffen-Foley, Macquarie University, Table of ContentsList of Figures; List of Abbreviations; Preface; 1. Introduction, Showrunners, Shot Callers and Flying Typewriters, Notes; 2. Career Snapshots, Kay Kinane, Catherine King, Therése Denny, Joyce Belfrage, Notes; 3. Welcome to the ABC, Ladies, How and Why ‘Women’s Work’ Was Marginalized at the ABC, Trapped in the Typing Pool, Acceptable Behaviour, Birds, Chicks and Old Ducks , Forbidden Domains, Contesting ‘Women’s Worlds’, Notes; 4. The New Nation-Builders, A Cuckoo in the ABC’s Nest, The Adelaide Legacy, The ‘Schoolie with the Motorbike’, The Scholarly Troublemaker, Nation-builders and Citizens but Not Feminists?, Notes; 5. Talent Was Not Enough, ABC Mentors and Gatekeepers, Opportunities Arising during Times of Disruption, Bargaining from a Position of Strength and Refusing to Be Bullied, Joyce and the ABC’s Transition to Television: A Cautionary Tale, Notes; 6. Thinking Outside the Box, Moving between Radio and TV , Manipulating the Message: Using the Press to Shape Public Personas, Embracing ‘Platform Agnostic’ Careers, Notes; 7. Timely Escapes and Bittersweet Homecomings, ‘New Ways of Living and Loving’, Notes; 8. International Adventures and Global Networking, Kay’s First Big Adventure: The Imperial Relations Trust, Some Benefits of Membership, Reversing the Tide: Taking Advantage of Polarities of Exchange, Joyce Makes the Most of Empire Employment Networks, Turning a Negative into a Positive: Therése Exploits Her Colonial Identity, Kay’s American Adventure, Networks of Collaboration and Support, Broadcasting Advocacy Goes Global, Notes; 9. Farewell to the ABC, Notes; 10. Epilogue, Revising Limited Historical Narratives, Notes; Reference List, Primary Sources, Industry Memos, Intra-ABC Communications and Reports, Personal Correspondence and Diary Entries, Audio and Audio-Visual Projects, Press, Newspaper and Magazine Articles, Interviews and Oral Histories, Industry Reports, Archive Reports and Legislation, Secondary Sources, Books and Book Chapters, Journal Articles, Conference Papers and Speeches, Websites; Index

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Book SynopsisWalter Benjamin, critic, essayist, translator, philosopher one of the twentieth century's most influential intellectuals continues to intrigue today. His work stimulates a profusion of responses in the form of new novels, operas, films and artworks, as well as a never-abating production of academic texts. In this new biography, the first to be written in over a decade, author Esther Leslie uses the recently published entirety of Benjamin's correspondence, drawing on his numerous diaries and autobiographical works, in order to provide a careful account of his circumstances and thoughts. Benjamin had many interests: he cherished childhood and its trappings; had a passion for the displacement and novelty of travel; toys; cities; trick-books; and, ships; all are given due attention as the author weaves Benjamin's wayward apperceptions into the narrative of a life lived. She follows Benjamin as he travels from Berlin to Capri, Ibiza, Riga, Moscow, Paris, and finally the Spanish border where he died in 1940. The author acknowledges Benjamin's thesis that personal histories can be traced only in the context of social milieus, economic forces, technological shifts, and historical events, and seamlessly interweaves biographical details with an accessible yet concentrated account of Benjamin's intellectual development, drawing a colourful portrait of a capacious intellect trapped in increasingly hostile circumstances. Leslie's meticulous attention to Benjamin's political, intellectual, geographical and cultural journeying challenges the populist depiction of the intellectual as a tragic and lonely figure. Walter Benjamin restores its subject to his proper place as an artistic combatant and a man desirous of and relishing experience.Trade Review... a brilliant digest of Benjamin's life ... It draws on a mass of texts, including his accounts of a privileged Berlin upbringing and travel diaries. [Leslie] presents a definitive portrait of Benjamin the materialist, lingers on his obsession with children's books, and makes excellent use of German sources to detail his movements and finances. The Independent Leslie has inhaled the author of The Arcades Project as Kazin inhaled Blake. Benjamin, in fact, seems more coherent in her page than in his own ... It is as if, by evoking the tactile vitality of all that he touched with his thought, Leslie brings him back alive and kicking from the last border he crossed. Argue if you wish with his idea of "aura," his "hierarchies of meaning," or whether mechanical reproduction is good for the masses. But the mind that put Kafka and Chaplin into the same conceptual frame is his very own Klee painting, an Angelus Novus - the angel of history. -- John Leonard Harper's Magazine

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