Classic travel writing Books

Book SynopsisA brand-new edition of the vintage travel classic by Robert Louis Stevenson. First published in 1878 and now re-issued by Manderley Press, with an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith and a cover illustration by Iain McIntosh.

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Book SynopsisJon Krakauer is a mountaineer and the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, (which was on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and was made into a film starring Emile Hirsch and Kristen Stewart) Into Thin Air, Iceland, Under the Banner of Heaven and Where Men Win Glory. He is also the editor of the Modern Library Exploration series.Trade ReviewA fascinating story of idealism, fantasy, and the dark side of the wilderness experience -- Paul TherouxTerrifying . . . Eloquent . . . A heart-rending drama of human yearning. * New York Times *A narrative of arresting force. Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look. It's gripping stuff. * Washington Post *It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order. * Entertainment Weekly *An astonishingly gifted writer: his account of 'Alex Supertramp' is powerfully dramatic, eliciting sympathy for both the idealistic, anti-consumerist boy - and his parents. * Guardian *A compelling tale of tragic idealism. * The Times *A masterpiece of dramatic storytelling * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisA classic of travel writing, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush is Eric Newby's iconic account of his journey through one of the most remote and beautiful wildernesses on earth.It was 1956, and Eric Newby was earning an improbable living in the chaotic family business of London haute couture. Pining for adventure, Newby sent his friend Hugh Carless the now-famous cable CAN YOU TRAVEL NURISTAN JUNE? setting in motion a legendary journey from Mayfair to Afghanistan, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush, north-east of Kabul.Inexperienced and ill prepared (their preparations involved nothing more than some tips from a Welsh waitress), the amateurish rogues embark on a month of adventure and hardship in one of the most beautiful wildernesses on earth a journey that adventurers with more experience and sense may never have undertaken. With good humour, sharp wit and keen observation, the charming narrative style of A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush would soon crystallise Newby''s reputation as one of the greatest travel writers of all time.One of the greatest travel classics from one of Britain''s best-loved travel writers, this edition includes new photographs, an epilogue from Newby''s travelling companion, Hugh Carless, and a prologue from one of Newby''s greatest proponents, Evelyn Waugh.Trade Review'The master storyteller. He transformed travel writing' Independent 'One of the most enjoyable reads of the last century' Herald Tribune 'The most successful travel writer of his generation. It's impossible to read this book without laughing aloud' Observer 'Endlessly entertaining and self-deprecating' Daily Mail 'Full of serendipity and surprise' The Economist 'A total success' New Yorker 'Notable addition to the literature of unorthodox travel … tough, extrovert, humorous and immensely literate' Times Literary Supplement '”A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush” established him as a traveler who not only journeyed fruitfully but had the ability to bring his readers with him' William Trevor, Guardian 'I still think the last few sentences of “A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush” the funniest ending to any book I have read' Geoffrey Moorhouse, The Times 'The book that made [Newby's] reputation … typically ironic in its understatement' Observer 'Newby is easily the best of the bunch' Sunday Times 'All the lyricism, and spirit of adventure and discovery [in] Newby's work' The Times 'As good as its hype' Wanderlust

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Book SynopsisIsobel Wylie Hutchison was many things: a botanist, traveller, poet and artist. She travelled solo throughout the arctic collecting plant samples, wrote and published extensive volumes of essays and poetry, and was - in short - one of the most remarkable Scottish figures of her time. However, since her death in 1982 her legacy has been forgotten compared with her male counterparts. Now Isobel can speak for herself again. While better known for her solo journeys across the Arctic, these essays detail Isobel's journeys across Scotland, including visits to Skye, John O' Groats and the various literary shrines across the country. Written with characteristic wit and a keen interest in both science and myth and folklore, the essays serve as important cultural markers not just of Scotland as it was and has developed, but of a woman's experience of travelling alone and a testament to the importance of cultural connection, exploration and communication.

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Book Synopsis''A Latin American James Dean or Jack Kerouac'' Washington Post''It''s true; Marxists just wanna have fun... a revolutionary bestseller'' GuardianAt the age of twenty-three, Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado set out from their native Argentina to explore their continent, with only a single 1939 Norton motorcycle to carry them, nicknamed La Poderosa (''the powerful one''). They travelled not to visit the usual tourist attractions, but to meet ordinary people and understand Latin American life. In amidst the tales of youthful adventures - of women, wine, thrilling escapes and the power of friendship - the young Che also learns first-hand about poverty, philosophy and philosophy and forms himself into the man who would become the world''s most famous and admired revolutionary and freedom fighter. ''For every comic escapade of the carefree roustabout there is an equally eye-opening moment in the development of the future revolutionary leader. By the end of the journey, a politicized Guevara has emerged to predict his own legendary future'' TimeTrade ReviewIt's true; Marxists just wanna have fun...A revolutionary bestseller * Guardian *For every comic escapade of the carefree roustabout there is an equally eye-opening moment in the development of the future revolutionary leader. By the end of the journey, a politicized Guevara has emerged to predict his own legendary future * Time *The vision of the noble loner, whether freedom-fighter or biker...gives hope to world-weary revolutionaries and non-revolutionaries alike. * Telegraph *A Latin American James Dean or Jack Kerouac * Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisLose yourself in this dazzling travelogue of the idyllic Greek Islands by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. ''Incandescent.'' André Aciman''A magician.'' The Times''Invades the reader''s every sense ... Remarkable.'' Victoria Hislop ''Nobody knows the Greek islands like Durrell.'' New York Times White-washed houses drenched in pink bougainvillea; dazzling seascapes and rugged coastlines; colourful harbours in quaint fishing villages; shady olive and cypress groves; terraces bathed in the Aegean sun ... The Greek islands conjure up a treasure-chest of images - but nobody brings them to life as vividly as the legendary travel writer Lawrence Durrell. It was during his youth in Corfu - which his brother Gerald fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals, later filmed as The Durrells In Corfu - that his love affaiTrade Review'A magician.' - The Times'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' - Victoria Hislop'Charming ... Delightful.' - Sunday Times'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' - Richard Holmes'Like long letters from a civilized and very funny friend - the prose as luminous as the Mediterranean air he loves.' - Time

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Book SynopsisApsley Cherry-Garrard (1886-1959) was one of the youngest members of Captain Scott's final expedition to the Antarctic which he joined to collect the eggs of the Emperor penguin. After the expedition, Cherry-Garrard served in the First World War and was invalided home. With the zealous encouragement of his neighbour, George Bernard Shaw, Cherry-Garrard wrote The Worst Journey in the World (1922) in an attempt to overcome the horror of the journey. As the years unravelled he faced a terrible struggle against depression, breakdown and despair, haunted by the possibility that he could have saved Scott and his companions.Trade ReviewThe best polar book there is * Observer *Probably the best adventure yarn ever published * Independent *Remains the masterpiece of heroic travel * The Times *The finest book ever written about Antarctic exploration as well as a great literary classicOver the greater part of a lifetime I have worn out two copies of the Antarctic's classic, Apsley Cherry-Garrard's The Worst Journey in the World * William Trevor *

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Book SynopsisIn 1960, John Steinbeck set out in his pick-up truck with his dog Charley to rediscover and chronicle his native USA, from Maine to California.He felt that he might have lost touch with its sights, sounds and the essence of the American people. Moving through the woods and deserts, dirt tracks and highways to large cities and glorious wildernesses, Steinbeck observed - with remarkable honesty, insight and a humorous eye - the gamut of America and the people who inhabited it.His 10,000-mile journey took him through almost forty states, where he saw things that made him proud, angry, sympathetic and elated. A rugged and passionate adventure of self-identity, Steinbeck''s vision of the changing world still speaks to us prophetically through the decades.''Delightful. This is a book to be read slowly for its savor.'' The Atlantic

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Book SynopsisDeals with the underworld of society. In this book, the author documents a world of unrelenting drudgery and squalor - sleeping in bug-infested hostels and doss houses of last resort, working as a dishwasher in Paris' vile 'Hotel X', surviving on scraps and cigarette butts, living alongside tramps, a star-gazing pavement artist and more.

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Book SynopsisThis summer holiday vintage crime classic exploring the mystery of a buried Cornish hotel invites us to solve the puzzle as detectives: perfect for fans of Celia Fremlin''s Uncle Paul, Agatha Christie, or Richard Osman ...''I am loving it!'' Nigella Lawson''Hilarious and perceptive ... Perfect.'' Daily Mail''Entertaining, beautifully written, and profound.'' Tracy Chevalier''Tense, touching, human, dire, and funny ... A feast indeed.'' Elizabeth Bowen''Kennedy is not only a romantic but an anarchist.'' Anita Brookner''Oh boy, what a treat; wonderfully sharp and funny ... Page-turningly good!'' Lissa Evans''So full of pleasure that you could be forgiven for not seeing how clever it is.'' Cathy RentzenbrinkCornwall, Midsummer 1947. Pendizack Manor Hotel is buried in the rubble of a collapsed cliff. Seven guests have perished, but is it murder, and what brought this strange

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Book SynopsisReissue of J. A. Baker's extraordinary classic of British nature writing, with an exclusive new afterword by Robert Macfarlane.J. A. Baker's extraordinary classic of British nature writing was first published in 1967. Greeted with acclaim, it went on to win the Duff Cooper Prize, the pre-eminent literary prize of the time. Luminaries such as Ted Hughes, Barry Lopez and Andrew Motion have cited it as one of the most important books in twentieth-century nature writing.Despite the association of peregrines with the wild, outer reaches of the British Isles, The Peregrine is set on the flat marshes of the Essex coast, where J. A. Baker spent long winters looking and writing about the visitors from the uplands peregrines that spend the winter hunting the huge flocks of pigeons and waders that share the desolate landscape with them.This new edition of the timeless classic, published to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its first publication, features an afterword by one of the book's greatesTrade Review‘A masterpiece of natural history writing. I would recommend to anybody who loves the English language, let alone birds of prey’ Monty Don, Financial Times ‘Passionately fierce but also wonderfully tender’ Andrew Motion ‘…an inspiring example to future writers, and a gift to lovers of nature.’ The Times Literary Supplement ‘… a literary masterpiece, one of the 20th century’s outstanding examples of nature writing.’ Independent ‘The Peregrine should be known as one of the finest works on nature ever written' BBC Wildlife ‘… some of the most marvellous prose of the twentieth century.’ Literary Review ‘A tour de force … what can I do except praise writing which involves all the senses? This book goes altogether outside the bird-book into literature.’ The Sunday Times ‘A rapt and remarkable book … his phrases have a magnesium-flare intensity.’ Observer ‘… what is certain is that The Peregrine is the most precise and poetic account of a bird – possibly of any non-human creature – ever written in English prose.’ Daily Telegraph ‘J. A. Baker's poetic prose has a hard intensity and an exquisite lyric grace that takes it far beyond the stereotypical stuff of larks ascending and questing voles. Cruelly beautiful and brutally exact, it sees the countryside anew to give us nature in the wild and in the raw.’ The Scotsman ‘Including original diaries from which The Peregrine was written and its companion volume, The Hill of Summer, this is a beautiful compendium of lyrical nature writing at its absolute best […]. For those with an interest in the Peregrine Falcon or classic natural history writing. ‘ Guardian

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Book SynopsisA classic travelogue by Britain's foremost female surrealist painter, which immerses the reader in a dreamlike Cornwall where landscape and legend meetPainter Ithell Colquhoun arrives in Cornwall in the late 1940s, searching for a studio and a refuge from bombed-out London. So begins a profound lifelong relationship with Britain's westernmost county, a land surrounded by sea and steeped in myth, where the ancient Celtic past reaches into the present. Sacred and beautiful, wild and weird, Colquhoun's Cornwall is a living landscape, where every tree, standing stone and holy well is a palimpsest of folklore - and a place where everyday reality speaks to the world beyond.

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Book SynopsisAs I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning is the moving follow-up to Laurie Lee''s acclaimed Cider with RosieAbandoning the Cotswolds village that raised him, the young Laurie Lee walks to London. There he makes a living labouring and playing the violin. But, deciding to travel further a field and knowing only the Spanish phrase for ''Will you please give me a glass of water?'', he heads for Spain. With just a blanket to sleep under and his trusty violin, he spends a year crossing Spain, from Vigo in the north to the southern coast. Only the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War puts an end to his extraordinary peregrinations . . .''He writes like an angel and conveys the pride and vitality of the humblest Spanish life with unfailing sharpness, zest and humour'' Sunday Times ''There''s a formidable, instant charm in the writing that genuinely makes iTrade ReviewA beautiful piece of writing * Observer *The vivid sensitive, irresistibly readable story of what happened after he left home * Daily Mail *A poet's book * Sunday Times *He writes like an angel and conveys the pride and vitality of the humblest Spanish life with unfailing sharpness, zest and humour * Sunday Times *There's a formidable, instant charm in the writing that genuinely makes it difficult to put the book down * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisThe fascinating story of the first generation of 'Globetrotters' - leisure tourists with a keen interest in experiencing authentic culture, brought to life with first hand accounts and beautiful illustrations of the views and artefacts of their travels.

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Book SynopsisThe bestselling, much-loved classic account of an English couple escaping to enjoy the fruits of French rural summer living - an irresistible feast of humour and heart.Peter Mayle and his wife did what most of us only imagine doing when they made their long-cherished dream of a life abroad a reality: throwing caution to the wind, they bought a glorious two hundred year-old farmhouse in the Lubéron Valley and began a new life.In a year that begins with a marathon lunch and continues with a host of gastronomic delights, they also survive the unexpected and often hilarious curiosities of rural life. From mastering the local accent and enduring invasion by bumbling builders, to discovering the finer points of boules and goat-racing, all the earthy pleasures of Provençal life are conjured up in this enchanting portrait.''One of the most successful travel books of all time... Mayle created a new travel genre'' Guardian''Delightful'' Washington Post''Engaging, funny and richly appreciative'' New York Times Book Review''Stylish, witty, delightfully readable'' Sunday Times''I really loved this book'' Julia Child

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Book Synopsis''All those interested in South Asia and its complex politics and culture should read this book'' - Pankaj MishraThe demise of Pakistan - a country with a reputation for volatility, brutality and radical Islam - is regularly predicted. But things rarely turn out as expected, as renowned journalist Declan Walsh knows well. Over a decade covering the country, his travels took him from the raucous port of Karachi to the gilded salons of Lahore to the lawless frontier of Waziristan, encountering Pakistanis whose lives offer a compelling portrait of this land of contradictions.He meets a crusading lawyer who risks her life to fight for society''s most marginalised, taking on everyone including the powerful military establishment; an imperious chieftain spouting poetry at his desert fort; a roguish politician waging a mini-war against the Taliban; and a charismatic business tycoon who moves into politics and seems to be riding high - till he takes up the wrong cause. Lastly, Walsh meets a spTrade ReviewDeclan Walsh describes, with intellectual power and cool elegance, a much-misunderstood country. All those interested in South Asia and its complex politics and culture should read it -- Pankaj Mishra[A] thrilling, big-hearted book … a richly observed study of how humans respond to the extraordinary pressures of a sometimes-choking society -- Memphis Barker * Telegraph *A wonderful book that sets a new benchmark for non-fiction about the complex palace of mirrors that is Pakistan … as profoundly nuanced as it is sharply perceptive -- William DalrympleAn irresistible combination of storytelling panache and in-depth knowledge; Declan Walsh brings vividly to life characters and situations that illuminate some of the most significant phases of Pakistan’s history -- Kamila ShamsieCaptivating … What shines through is the relish with which Walsh throws himself into the far corners of Pakistan, into crowds, celebrations and rites, with a drive born of fascination with the land and its people -- Julian Borger * Guardian *Rarely have revelations about Pakistan made for such good reading -- Farzana Shaikh * Literary Review *If you want to read one book about contemporary Pakistan, it has to be The Nine Lives of Pakistan. An intimate yet sweeping account of Pakistan's contemporary history ... [it] left me breathless -- Mohammed Hanif, author of 'Red Birds'Clear-sighted and exhaustive, these dispatches paint a scrupulously layered portrait of a country that defies easy explanations * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisINTRODUCED BY JAN MORRIS'[This] gloriously ornate account of that epic journey is a classic' ROBERT MACFARLANE'The feeling of being lost in time and geography with months and years hazily sparkling ahead is a prospect of inconjecturable magic.' In 1933, aged eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on his 'great trudge', a year-long journey by foot from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul. Three decades later he wrote A Time of Gifts, the sparklingly original account of the first part of this youthful adventure, which took him through the Low Countries, up the Rhine, through Germany, down the Danube, through Austria and Czechoslovakia, and as far as Hungary.Alone, carrying only a rucksack and with a small allowance of only a pound a week, Fermor had planned to sleep rough - to live 'like a tramp, a pilgrim, or a wandering scholar' - but a chance introduction in Bavaria led to comfortable stays in castles, and provided a glimpse of the old Europe of princes and peasants.Hailed as a masterpiece, A Time of Gifts is in part a coming-of-age memoir, but it is also a rich and compelling portrait of a continent that - despite its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers and grand cities - was soon to be swept away by war, modernisation and profound social change. 'Not only is this journey one of physical adventure but of cultural awakening. Architecture, art, genealogy, quirks of history and language are all devoured -- and here passed on -- with a gusto uniquely his' COLIN THUBRON, SUNDAY TIMES'One of the most romantic books of the twentieth century, Patrick Leigh Fermor's account of a long walk across Europe is also a literary treasure, a rich blend of action and observation' GUARDIANTrade Review[Fermor's] gloriously ornate account of that epic journey is a classic of what we might call the 'literature of the leg' * Robert Macfarlane, Waitrose Weekend *

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Book SynopsisNobel Prize-winning author Canetti spent only a few weeks in Marrakesh, but it was a visit that would remain with him for the rest of his life. In The Voices of Marrakesh, he captures the essence of that place: the crowds, the smells - of spices, camels and the souks - and, most importantly to Canetti, the sounds of the city, from the cries of the blind beggars and the children''s call for alms to the unearthly silence on the still roofs above the hordes. In these immaculately crafted essays, Canetti examines the emotions Marrakesh stirred within him and the people who affected him for ever.Trade ReviewCanetti's feeling for the Orient is perceptible in The Voices of Marrakesh, a unique travel book -- John Bayley * London Review of Books *Cosmopolitan in the tradition of Goethe * New York Times *...this book takes on subtle dimensions as it ponders the inner meaning of new experience * Observer *One of his shortest, most beautiful and most approachable works * Independent *

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Book SynopsisLose yourself in this classic prize-winning memoir of life in 1950s Cyprus on the brink of revolution by the legendary king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu. ''Stunning.'' André Aciman ''Masterly ... Casts a spell.'' Jan Morris''Invades the reader''s every sense ... Remarkable.'' Victoria Hislop''These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.'' Elif Shafak''Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.'' Richard Holmes''Exceptional ... Revelatory ... A master.'' Observer''He writes as an artist, as well as a poet Profoundly beautiful.'' New StatesmanCyprus, 1953. As the island fights for independence from British colonial rule, ancient conflicts between Turkish and Greek Cypriots trouble the glittering Mediterranean waters. Into the brewing political storm enters Trade Review'Masterly ... Casts a spell.' - Jan Morris'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' - Victoria Hislop'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' - Richard Holmes'Exceptional ... Revelatory ... A master.' - Observer'He writes as an artist, as well as a poet . Profoundly beautiful.' - New Statesman

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Book SynopsisIn 1947 Simone de Beauvoir took a road trip across America. She travelled from coast to coast, from New York to Hollywood, taking in New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and Washington DC. She rode a pony through the Grand Canyon, listened to jazz in New Orleans and visited the nightclubs of Chicago. And she captured the entire experience in her journal. This captivating book is that journal and an immersive portrait of postwar America. Beauvoir was disturbed by the poverty and segregation she encountered and at the same time delighted by American energy and friendliness. Intimate, warm, and compulsively readable, this is travel writing from the great feminist and thinker, Simone de Beauvoir. On New York: 'I walk between the steep cliffs at the bottom of a canyon where no sun penetrates: it's permeated by a salt smell. Human history is not inscribed on these carefully calibrated buildings: They are closer to prehistoric caves than to the houses of Paris or Rome.'On Los Angeles: 'I watch the Mexican dances and eat chilli con carne, which takes the roof off my mouth, I drink the tequila and I'm utterly dazed with pleasure.'

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.''It happen''d one Day about Noon going towards my Boat, I was exceedingly surpriz''d with the Print of a Man''s naked Foot on the Shore.''Shipwrecked in a storm at sea, Robinson Crusoe is washed up on a remote and desolate island. As he struggles to piece together a life for himself, Crusoe''s physical, moral and spiritual values are tested to the limit. For 24 years he remains in solitude and learns to tame and master the island, until he finally comes across another human being. Considered a classic literary masterpiece, and frequently interpreted as a comment on the British Imperialist approach at the time, Defoe''s fable was and still is revered as the very first English novel.

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Book SynopsisA Waterstones Travel Book of the Year 2023A funny, warm and timely meditation on identity and belonging, following the scenic route along the EnglandWales border: Britain's deepest faultline.There is a line on the map: to one side Wales, small, rugged and stubborn; on the other England, crucible of the most expansionist culture the world has ever seen. It is a line that has been dug, debated, defined and defended for twenty centuries.All the Wide Border is a personal journey through the places, amongst the people, and across the divides of the border between England and Wales. Taking in some of our loveliest landscapes, and our darkest secrets, this is a region of immeasurable wonder and interest. It is here that the deepest roots and thorniest paradoxes of Britishness lie. The border between the countries, even as a concept, is ragged, jagged and many-layered.Garlanded author Mike Parker has adored and explored these places his entire life. Born in England but settled in Wales, he finTrade Review‘I loved this book. Mike Parker weaves together a great deal of wide reading, hard thinking and soulful tramping in his funny, thoughtful and evocative investigation of the Welsh–English border.’ Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession and Peep Show ‘Delightful and perceptive … Poses searching questions about identity, culture and political power.’ Waterstones Books of the Year ‘A joyful canter through the Marches. Delightfully engaging. Blending history, literature and personal anecdote, Mike Parker writes with energy and wit.’ TLS ‘No-one maps the secrets of the UK quite like Mike Parker.’ Ayesha Hazarika ‘A brilliant, fascinating book; Parker is funny and lyrical whilst always choosing brutal truth over sentimentality.’ Miles Jupp 'Classic Parker – a delicious, learned tour through a fascinating place.' Tom Bullough, author of Sarn Helen ‘Genuinely great.’ Adrian Chiles 'I gobbled this up.' Jude Rogers ‘A beautifully written journey through the history and landscape of the border country and a clear-eyed analysis of its physical and psychological dividing line – the best kind of travelogue.’ Richard King, author of Brittle with Relics: A History of Wales, 1962–97 ‘This enthralling journey beautifully celebrates our ancient frontier land and is a present-day reminder of its’ enduring duty.’ Tudur Owen, BAFTA winning comedian and presenter ‘I was often overcome by “fierce wonder”. Fine writing indeed.’ John Sam Jones, author of The Journey is Home ‘Engaging, entertaining and very readable.’ Nation.Cymru ‘A likeable, highly literate companion.’ New Welsh Review ‘A kind of mini-biography of the British psyche emerges from Parker's work, its learning lightly worn and its tales well told, full of interest and incident’ Horatio Clare

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Book SynopsisIn mid to late March 1913, as the storm clouds of the Great War which was to claim his life gathered, Edward Thomas took a bicycle ride from Clapham to the Quantock Hills. The poet recorded his journey through his beloved South Country and his account was published as In Pursuit of Spring in 1914. Regarded as one of his most important prose works, it stands as an elegy for a world now lost. What is less well-known is that Thomas took with him a camera, and photographed much of what he saw, noting the locations on the back of the prints. These have been kept in archives for many years and will now be published for the very first time in the book. Thomas journeys through Guildford, Winchester, Salisbury, across the Plain, to the Bristol Channel, recording the poet's thoughts and feelings as winter ends.

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Book SynopsisAgatha Christie's personal memoirs about her travels to Syria and Iraq in the 1930s with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan, where she worked on the digs and wrote some of her most evocative novels.Think you know Agatha Christie? Think again!To the world she was Agatha Christie, legendary author of bestselling whodunits. But in the 1930s she wore a different hat, travelling with her husband, renowned archaeologist Max Mallowan, as he investigated the buried ruins and ancient wonders of Syria and Iraq. When friends asked what this strange other life' was like, she decided to answer their questions by writing down her adventures in this eye-opening book.Described by the author as a meandering chronicle of life on an archaeological dig', Come, Tell Me How You Live is Agatha Christie''s very personal memoir of her time spent in this breathtaking corner of the globe, living among the working men in tents in the desert where recorded human history began. Acclaimed as a pure pleasure to rTrade Review‘Perfectly delightful… colourful, lively and occasionally touching and thought-provoking’Charles Osborne, Books & Bookmen ‘Good and enjoyable… she has a delightfully light touch’Marghanita Laski, Country Life ‘Agatha Christie has provided entertainment, suspense, and temporary relief from the anxieties and traumas of life both in peace and war for millions throughout the world.’P. D. James ‘Christie’s witty account of her yearly expeditions in Syria in the 1930s … is at once a captivating depiction of quotidian life at archaeological digs and a romantic portrait of adventurers and scholars in the interwar Middle East. Her relaxed narrative of the organization and effort in archaeological investigation and of the landscape and people in the region is engrossing—but what makes this book bewitching is the nostalgic glamour that infuses it.” The Atlantic (US)

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Book SynopsisThe extraordinary and enduring memoir of Axel Munthe, a travel bestseller since first published in 1929, captures the spirit and feel of an eraTrade ReviewOne of the most fascinating of books, wise in its appraisal of men, overflowing with humour and edged with irony, sharper than a surgeon's knife. There are chapters which are veritable de Maupassant plots in their concise and dramatic realism. * New York Herald Tribune *Told with a power and an honesty which makes this a very remarkable document. * TLS *The Story of San Michele has style, wit, humour, great knowledge of the world, mixed with that strange simplicity of mind that is often the attribute of genius. * Observer *Romantic, realistic, pitiful and enchanting, this is the record of a citadel of the soul ... all fantasy does it seem? Impossible? Absurd? But San Michele stands there on the hill for witness. A miracle? Well, every work of art is a miracle, and every beautiful thing the shrine of a realized dream. * Daily Telegraph *A most interesting and lovable revelation, enchantingly described. * Punch *I have found Dr Munthe's reminiscences intensely interesting and enjoyable, and it is hard to convey their charm of mingled pathos and humour or their multiplicity of appeal. * Illustrated London News *It is an amazing book: wonderfully beautiful at times, appallingly horrible at others. For horrors he rivals Poe, recounting his gruesome experiences with a quiet simplicity which is strikingly effective. * Western Mail *'A beautifully written series of episodes from Paris to Capri, ...recounting the author's struggle to discover what he desires from life.' - Matthew Linnecar * Geographical *There is enough material here to furnish the writers of sensational short stories with plots for the rest of their lives. * Daily News *

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Book SynopsisIbn Battutah - ethnographer, biographer, anecdotal historian and occasional botanist - was just twenty-one when he set out in 1325 from his native Tangier on a pilgrimage to Mecca. He did not return to Morocco for another twenty-nine years, travelling instead through more than forty countries on the modern map, covering seventy-five thousand miles and getting as far north as the Volga, as far east as China and as far south as Tanzania. He wrote of his travels, and comes across as a superb ethnographer, biographer, anecdotal historian and occasional botanist and gastronome.With this edition by Tim Mackintosh-Smith, The Travels of Ibn Battutah takes its place alongside other indestructible masterpieces of the travel-writing genre.Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

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Book SynopsisPresents travel writings which chronicle the author's perilous journeys through Japan and also capture his vision of eternity in the transient world around him.Table of ContentsThe Narrow Road to the Deep NorthAcknowledgmentsIntroductionThe Records of a Weather-Exposed SkeletonA Visit to the Kashima ShrineThe Records of a Travel-Worn SatchelA Visit to Sarashina VillageThe Narrow Road to the Deep NorthMap 1. Central JapanMap 2. Central JapanMap 3. Northern JapanNotes

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Book SynopsisIn 1914 Karen Blixen arrived in Kenya with her husband to run a coffee farm. Instantly drawn to the land, she spent her happiest years there until the plantation failed. Karen Blixen was forced to return to Denmark in 1931 and it was there that she wrote this classic account of her experiences. A poignant farewell to her beloved farm, Out of Africa describes her strong friendships with the people of her area, her affection for the landscape and animals, and great love for the adventurer Denys Finch-Hatton.Written with astonishing clarity and an unsentimental intelligence, Out of Africa portrays a way of life that has disappeared for ever.Trade ReviewCompelling...a story of passion...and a movingly poetic tribute to a lost land -- The Times

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Book SynopsisLose yourself in this glorious memoir of the island jewel of Corfu by the king of travel writing and real-life family member of The Durrells in Corfu.''In its gem-like miniature quality, among the best books ever written.'' New York TimesIn his youth, before he became a celebrated writer and poet, Lawrence Durrell spent four transformative years on the island jewel of Corfu, fascinated by the idyllic natural beauty and blood-stained ancient history within its rocky shores.While his brother Gerald collected animals as a budding naturalist - later fictionalised in My Family and Other Animals and filmed as The Durrells in Corfu - Lawrence fished, drank and befriended the local villagers.After World War II catapulted him back into a turmoiled world, Durrell never forgot the wonders of Corfu. Prospero''s Cell is his magical evocation of the blazing Aegean landscape, brimming with memories of the places and pTrade Review'Invades the reader's every sense ... Remarkable.' - Victoria Hislop'These days I am admiring and re-admiring Lawrence Durrell.' - Elif Shafak'Our last great garlicky master of the vanishing Mediterranean.' - Richard Holmes'Corfu could not have found a fitter chronicler.' - Daily Telegraph'A charming idyll ... Delightful.' - Sunday Times

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Book Synopsis''If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book.''William Godwin, the author''s future husband, was not alone in admiring Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Wollstonecraft''s most popular book during her lifetime. Not easy to categorize, it is both an arresting travel book and a moving exploration of her personal and political selves. Wollstonecraft set out for Scandinavia just two weeks after her first suicide attempt, on a mission from the lover whose affections she doubted, to recover his silver on a ship that had gone missing. With her baby daughter and a nursemaid, she travelled across the dramatic landscape and wrote sublime descriptions of the natural world, and the events and people she encountered. What emerges most vividly is Wollstonecraft''s courage and ability to look beyond her own suffering to the turmoil around her in revolutionary Europe, and a better future.This editioTrade ReviewThis collection brings to life a radical writer. * Katie Toms, The Observer *

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Book SynopsisGeorge Orwell set out 'to make political writing into an art', and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature - his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell's essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. Shooting an Elephant, the fifth in the Orwell's Essays series, tells the story of a police officer in Burma who is called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant. Thought to be loosely based on Orwell's own experiences in Burma, the tightly written essay weaves together fact and fiction indistinguishably, and leaves the reader contemplating the heavy topic of colonialism, with the words 'when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys' echoing from the page.Trade Review'A writer who can - and must - be rediscovered with every age.' (Irish Times) 'A remarkable piece.' (Jeremy Paxman)Table of ContentsShooting an Elephant, Note on the Text, Notes, A Brief Biographical Sketch of George Orwell

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Book Synopsis''One of the great books of our century . . . It speaks with a human voice'' Susan SontagTristes Tropiques begins with the line ''I hate travelling and explorers'', yet during his life Claude Lévi-Strauss travelled from wartime France to the Amazon basin and the dense upland jungles of Brazil, where he found ''human society reduced to its most basic expression''. His account of the people he encountered changed the field of anthropology, transforming Western notions of ''primitive'' man. Tristes Tropiques is a major work of art as well as of scholarship. It is a memoir of exquisite beauty and a masterpiece of travel writing: funny, discursive, movingly detailing personal and cultural loss, and brilliantly connecting disparate fields of thought. Few books have had as powerful and broad an impact.Trade ReviewA magical masterpiece -- Robert ArdreyOne of the great books of our century ... It speaks with a human voice -- Susan Sontag

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Book SynopsisIn 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson was suffering from poor health, struggling to survive on the income derived from his writings, and tormented by his infatuation with Fanny Osbourne, a married American woman. His response was to embark on a journey through the Cevennes with a donkey, Modestine, and a notebook, which he later transformed into Travels with a Donkey. Just a few months after publication, Stevenson was off again - this time crossing the Atlantic and the breadth of America in the hope of being re-united with Fanny, an experience he recorded in The Amateur Emigrant. Both pieces are classics of travel writings, which reveal as much about Stevenson''s character as the landscape he travels through.

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Book SynopsisA classic travelogue exploring the meeting point of Ireland''s landscape and legends, by Britain''s foremost female surrealist painter?Colquhoun has a very beguiling pen. . . To Irish landscapes she brings a painter''s eye, writing particularly beautifully about skies, twilights, river valleys, sea-frayed coasts and the intensive atmosphere of remote places? ? TatlerInto the world of 1950s Ireland?a lushly green, windswept landscape studded with holy wells and the decaying country houses of a vanished ruling class?arrives Ithell Colquhoun.An occultist and a surrealist painter, Colquhoun''s travels around the island are guided by her artist''s eye and her feeling for the world beyond our own, as well as her spikily humorous view of the people she meets. We encounter faeries and pagan rituals, ruined churches and Celtic splendour, rowdy bohemians and Anglo-Irish landowners fallen on hard times, as the author carouses through Dublin and tramps the hills of Connemara in this classic travelogue.Through her unique perceptions we discover a land that is fiercely alive and compelling. It is a place where the wind cries, the stones tell old tales and the mountains watch over the roads and those who travel on them. By intuiting the eerie magic of Ireland, Colquhoun casts her own spell. She offers up a land of myth and legend, stripped of its modern signs, at the same time offering herself to the reader in this portrait of the artist as a young woman.Richly visual and full of sly wit, this is an account of Ireland as only Colquhoun could see it, a land where myth and magic meet wind and rain, and the song of the secret kingdom is heard on city streets.

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Book SynopsisTreading Ancient Trails Seeking solace after the death of her husband, Kim Letson discovers a passion for long- distance walking. Through historical and cultural prisms, accompanied by memories, curiosity, and friends, Letson connects ancient and modern journeys. The Coast to Coast, Cornish Coastal Path, and Ridgeway in England offer opportunities for adventure. As a pilgrim, she explores a Portuguese Camino from Porto to Santiago, the Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester to Canterbury, and then the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome. Readers share both the wonders and challenges of the journeys, from mountain passes to wind-swept beaches, from Gothic cathedrals to mysterious stone henges. Kim Letson has created a curative elixir with Canterbury and Other Tales, a sumptuous blend of adventure-memoir, escape, loss and healing shared in concise, engaging vignettes. Letson’s prose shuttles us into each trek, as though granting exclusive peeks into the author’s personal travel diary. A series of stories you won’t want to end. Bill Arnott – poet and bestselling author. This book vividly brings back the joys of walking and riding many of the same pathways and facing some of the same challenges which Letson presents with unvarnished candour. While the journeys do not all carry the title of pilgrimage, they all share the pilgrim sense of an inner search – a need to fill the void of the tragic loss of her husband and mother with both a rationale for her own existence and her relationship with the world. Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed, The dear repose for limbs with travel tired; But then begins a journey in my head, To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired: William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 27,” 1609 Paul Chinn – author of the Lightfoot Guidebooks. Kim Letson has done it again. In this latest collection of journeys, she shares intimate moments, challenges of the terrain, encounters with both fellow travellers and those who host pilgrims such as her. Walking alongside shadows of the past, she describes intriguing details and the broad sweep of historical context for her travels and surroundings. Her insights are often humorous and sometimes wry, but it is her accomplishments and tenacity which leave us in awe and just a little envious. Christine Dickinson – historian and author. Like their namesake, these tales are much more than a guided tromp across some of Europe’s best treks and pilgrimages. They are also reflections on love, friendship, loss and what it means to be human. Letson shares lyrical glimpses of the landscapes and history she encounters: the uphill grinds, the wet boots, the soaring cathedrals and sweeping views. In her deft hands we are changed. Jeanette Taylor – historian and author.

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Book SynopsisWhen Dreams Collide is Nicholas Allan's intimate pilgrimage across the former states of Yugoslavia. Shedding the received knowledge of headlines, he explores the splintered co-evolution of these lands over the last ten centuries, guided by the inimitable Rebecca West's masterpiece, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. Written 80 years in the past, West's account serves as a fascinating reference for the optimistic interwar years of the 20th century between the Ottoman decline and the Nazi onset. The evolving balancing act of Tito's Yugoslav experiment and the atrocities following its break-up were still to come. Collapsing empires and proud young nations, monasteries and mosques, brotherhood, hatred, war, music, frescoes, food, costume, people, mountains, rivers and seas, the distant rumbles of the centuries take many forms. At a turning point in his own life, Allan is drawn to explore this complex area, through the lens of his part Eastern European heritage. He records personal encounters and richly drawn characters interwoven with history and art, politics and religion (too often one and the same). Enhanced with delightful hand-drawn maps of the Balkans including Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. 73 informative photograph's showing some the areas key historical figures including Ibrahim Rugova, Hitler, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, Tito, Draza Mihailovic, Slobodan Milosevic, Alecksandar Vucic, Alija Izetbegovic, Radovan Karadzic, Ante Pavelic, Franjo Tudjman, and Fitzroy Maclean.Table of ContentsAuthor's Note. Introduction. MONTENEGRO. KOSOVO. SERBIA. NORTH MACEDONIA. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. CROATIA. Epilogue. Acknowledgements. List of Key Events. List of Selected Rulers. Nemanjic Dynasty. Petrovic-Njegos Dynasty. Karadjordjevic Dynasty. Obrenovic Dynasty. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisThe classic story of four nineteenth-century women who, for different reasons, gravitated to the wildness of the Middle East and North Africa.Trade ReviewTheir true stories, first told grippingly by Blanch in 1954, are amazing...makes you realise that we, with our wimpish long-haul packages and compulsory travel insurance, don't know we're born. -- Val Hennessy * DAILY MAIL *

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Book SynopsisIn A Hero of Our Time, the first great Russian novel, a young officer, passionate and world-weary, is posted to the Caucasus and becomes involved in a series of adventures. A dazzlingly original work of fiction, the novel is newly translated together with Pushkin's travel narrative, A Journey to Arzrum, with introduction and notes.

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Book SynopsisFew literary masterpieces cast quite as awesome a shadow as Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Captain Ahab's quest for the white whale is a timeless epic a thrilling tale of vengeance and obsession, and a searing parable about humanity lost in a universe of moral ambiguity.Inspired by true events, Moby Dick is a work of astonishing psychological depth. It is perhaps the greatest sea story ever told and one of the great classics of literature.Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee'

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Book SynopsisPerhaps the funniest travel book ever written, Remote People begins with a vivid account of the coronation of Emperor Ras Tafari - Haile Selassie I, King of Kings - an event covered by Evelyn Waugh in 1930 as special correspondent for The Times. It continues with subsequent travels throughout Africa, where natives rub shoulders with eccentric expatriates, settlers with Arab traders and dignitaries with monks. Interspersed with these colourful tales are three ''nightmares'' which describe the vexations of travel, including returning home.Trade ReviewAn outrageously disdainful, wonderfully funny account ... he wrote like an angel - a fallen one * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisCharles Darwin's account of the momentous voyage which set in motion the current of intellectual events leading to The Origin of Species  When HMS Beagle sailed out of Devonport on 27 December 1831, Charles Darwin was twenty-two and setting off on the voyage of a lifetime. His journal, here reprinted in a shortened form, shows a naturalist making patient observations concerning geology, natural history, people, places and events. Volcanoes in the Galapagos, the Gossamer spider of Patagonia and the Australasian coral reefs - all are to be found in these extraordinary writings. The insights made here were to set in motion the intellectual currents that led to the theory of evolution, and the most controversial book of the Victorian age: The Origin of Species. This volume reprints Charles Darwin's journal in a shortened form. In their introduction Janet Brown and Michael Neve provide a background to Darwin's thought and work, and this edition also includes notTable of ContentsVoyage of the Beagle - Charles Darwin List of maps and illustrationsAcknowledgmentsChronologyIntroductionA note on this editionCharles Darwin's Journal of ResearchesAuthor's prefaceAppendix One: Admiralty instructions for the Beagle voyageAppendix Two: Robert FitzRoy's "Remarks with reference to the Deluge"Biographical guide

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Book SynopsisIn 922 AD, an Arab envoy from Baghdad named Ibn Fadlan encountered a party of Viking traders on the upper reaches of the Volga River. In his subsequent report on his mission he gave a meticulous and astonishingly objective description of Viking customs, dress, table manners, religion and sexual practices, as well as the only eyewitness account ever written of a Viking ship cremation.Between the ninth and fourteenth centuries, Arab travellers such as Ibn Fadlan journeyed widely and frequently into the far north, crossing territories that now include Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Their fascinating accounts describe how the numerous tribes and peoples they encountered traded furs, paid tribute and waged wars. This accessible new translation offers an illuminating insight into the world of the Arab geographers, and the medieval lands of the far north.Trade ReviewExceptional...a fascinating book, with a nugget of curious information on each page, adding up to a picture that turns preconceptions on their head...Delightful and intriguing * The Scotsman *

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Book Synopsis''They are memorials to times and countries whose best is probably past and gone . . . I was lucky to have known them when I did, before darkness began to fall from the air.''When Laurie Lee first left his country village aged nineteen, he discovered a delight in the outside world that remained undiminished throughout his writing life. This enchanting collection of his ''first loves and obsessions'' brings together pieces including recollections of his Gloucestershire childhood celebrated in Cider With Rosie; reflections on life, love and death, such as a moving report from the tragic Welsh village of Aberfan; and evocative travel writings on Tuscany, Mexico and the West Indies, amongst others, before they were transformed by mass tourism. Together they capture a world that is lost forever.''One of Britain''s finest writers'' Daily Mail''There''s a formidable, instant charm in the writing that genuinely makes it difficult to put the book

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Book SynopsisIn his classic book on London, H. V. Morton turns his traveller's intuition and his reporter's eye for detail on the city that fascinated him since childhood.Trade Review" 'The master of his genre, often imitated but never matched. His books are genuine classics.' Jan Morris"

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Book SynopsisColin Thubron is an acknowledged master of travel writing, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first writing was about the Middle East - Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled into the Soviet Union in an ancient Morris Marina, pursued by the KGB, a journey he recorded in Among the Russians. From these early experiences developed his classic travel books: Behind the Wall (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award), The Lost Heart of Asia, In Siberia (Prix Bouvier) and Shadow of the Silk Road (all available in Vintage). In 2010 Colin Thubron became President the Royal Society of Literature.Trade ReviewThubron writes very well indeed... He carries with him the talisman of erudition combined with intuition * Sunday Times *Thubron knows the real Cypriots... He evinces a never unsympathetic observation and a respect for the incongruous that put him in the category of Kinglake and Edward Lear * Daily Telegraph *Purchased by blistered and bleeding feet, this picture is extraordinarily detailed and vivid... An accomplished linguist and historian, his passionate concern for antiquity in all its aspects - mythological, architectural, conceptual - lends weight and warmth to every chapter * Financial Times *Colin Thubron is in a class of his own * Scotsman *Most memorable and full of insight * Lawrence Durrell *

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Book SynopsisHenrietta is a true original. Clever, vivacious and interested in everything, she managed to balance the demands of high profile public life with that of a caring mother. She was the home-schooled daughter of a bankrupt Earl and more than just a little bit in love with her handsome wayward brother, but had been married off to a plump pudding of a man, the nabob Edward Clive, governor of Madras. And her partial escape was to ride across southern India (in a vast tented caravan propelled by dozens of elephants, camels and a hundred bullock carts) and write home. For centuries this account, the first joyful description of India by a British woman, remained unread in a Welsh castle. Fortunately it was transcribed by a Texan traveller, who went on to splice this already evocative memoir with complementary sections from the diary of Henrietta's precocious daughter, the 12-year old Charly and images of their artist companion, Anna Tonelli. The resulting labour of love and scholarship is Birds of Passage, a unique trifocular account of three very different women travelling across southern India in the late 18th century, in the immediate aftermath of the last of the Mysore Wars between Tipoo Sahib and the Raj. Half a generation later, the well travelled Charly would be chosen as tutor for the young princess Victoria, the First Empress of India.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the André Simon Food Book Award 2020Fortnum & Mason’s Awards, shortlisted in ‘Food Book’ category (2021) "Caroline Eden is an extraordinarily creative and gifted writer. Red Sands captures the sights, tastes and feel of Central Asia so well that when reading this book I was sometimes convinced I was there in person. A wonderful book from start to finish." Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads "Caroline Eden, whose book Black Sea was showered with awards, is on the road again, this time travelling through the heart of Asia. It’s not your usual cookbook, it’s more a travel book with recipes, the recipes acting as postcards which she sends as she meets new characters, most of them involved with food... Eden travels quietly and lets you in on every encounter and every bite. A moving... as well as a fascinating read." Diana Henry, Telegraph "Red Sands follows in the footsteps of Caroline Eden's previous volume Black Sea. Both are pleasures to read, triangulating journalism, literary writing, and cookbookery. The recipes are part of the reporting, and Eden describes them as edible snapshots." Devra First, Boston GlobeRed Sands, the follow-up to Caroline Eden’s multi-award-winning Black Sea, is a reimagining of traditional travel writing using food as the jumping-off point to explore Central Asia. In a quest to better understand this vast heartland of Asia, Caroline navigates a course from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the sun-ripened orchards of the Fergana Valley. A book filled with human stories, forgotten histories and tales of adventure, Caroline is a reliable guide using food as her passport to enter lives, cities and landscapes rarely written about. Lit up by emblematic recipes, Red Sands is an utterly unique book, bringing in universal themes that relate to us all: hope, hunger, longing, love and the joys of eating well on the road. Trade ReviewGripping culinary travels. * New York Times *Caroline Eden takes us through the heart of Asia as she eats sweet winter melons in Uzbekistan, gaudy cream cakes in Kazakhstan and rich lamb and quince plovs in Kyrgyzstan. Every character she meets and every meal she shares leads to a deeper understanding of place and people, every recipe is a postcard from a world few of us know. Beautifully written, quietly personal, generous, rich with detail, I absolutely loved this book. * Diana Henry *Eden's beautifully observed travelogue includes essays on the connections she made and thorough examinations of the food she tried. It is as much a book for the bedside or coffee table as the kitchen counter. She has rightly won awards for her remarkable talent for telling stories that take the reader right to the heart of her experiences. * The Sunday Times Magazine *She is a great writer... If you want to lose yourself, I highly recommend this book. * Sheila Dillon, BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme, 'Cookbooks of 2020' *There is nobody writing about food at the moment who's committed to this level of immersion and it rings out in every line. * Financial Times *Eden writes beautifully, not just about food... but about what it means to live an unchanging way of life in a fast-changing world. * The Sunday Times Culture *A fascinating fusion of travel and food writing. * The Herald *If reading about exotic and colourful lands makes you feel better about not having any proper holidays this year, escape with this book. * The Scotsman *Rich, contemplative, and full of food that will enchant, it reports back from lands you may not be all that familiar with. * Press Association *Caroline Eden's prior work, The Black Sea, was one of the most awarded cookbooks of 2019, a sweeping travelogue told through the lens of food. This book moves east, roughly from the Caspian Sea to the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan, again telling stories of Eden's travels and histories of the region, studded with recipes. * Stained Page News *Contemplative and full of food that will enchant, it reports back from lands you may not be all that familiar with. * RTE *

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