Rural communities / rural life Books

Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER OF THE 2022 CWA JOHN CREASEY NEW BLOOD DAGGER ONE MURDER. FIFTEEN SUSPECTS. CAN YOU UNCOVER THE TRUTH? There is a mystery to solve in the sleepy town of Lower Lockwood. It starts with the arrival of two secretive newcomers, and ends with a tragic death. Roderick Tanner QC has assigned law students Charlotte and Femi to the case. Someone has already been sent to prison for murder, but he suspects that they are innocent. And that far darker secrets have yet to be revealed... Throughout the amateur dramatics society's disastrous staging of All My Sons and the shady charity appeal for a little girl's medical treatment, the murderer hid in plain sight. The evidence is all there, waiting to be found. But will Charlotte and Femi solve the case? Will you? 'Agatha Christie for the 21st century' THE TIMES 'Witty, clever and completely addictive' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'Gripping, ambitious and unusual' SOPHIE HANNAHTrade ReviewThis dazzlingly clever cosy crime novel in emails completely trumps Richard Osman... Hallett uses the epistolatory form to superb effect in this terrific debut * Sunday Times *Agatha Christie for the 21st century. A dazzlingly clever murder mystery, told via emails, about sinister goings-on in an amateur dramatics group * The Times *Witty, clever and completely addictive * Mail on Sunday *This witty thriller is giving Richard Osmond's Thursday Murder Club a run for its money in the cosy crime stakes, as it continues to charm readers. Hallett's debut, set in a sleepy town where an am-dram production of All My Sons is in the works, is funny and full of twists. Amateur sleuths and thespians alike will love it * Evening Standard *It's hilarious, intriguing and absolutely unputdownable * Stylist *This ingeniously conceived whodunnit encourages the reader to turn detective in a murder case set against the backdrop of an amateur dramatic club. Brain-twistingly clever * Metro *If you're looking for a crime novel that is very different but very satisfying I thoroughly recommend The Appeal by Janice Hallett. I loved it -- Elly Griffiths, bestselling author of THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERSThe whole thing is a delight... Teasing out the mystery in the madness is nearly as fun as searching for the solution * New York Times (Best Books of 2022) *A breath of fresh air in the thriller market. Cleverly constructed - because it is not only about what is being said, but also about what is not being said - it is peopled with characters who are both believable and relatable, including a murderer hidden in plain sight. A literary triumph -- B.A. Paris, author of BEHIND CLOSED DOORSVery gripping. I loved the ambitious and unusual approach -- Sophie Hannah, bestselling author of HAVEN'T THE GROWN[A] daring debut... Hallett will soon have you laughing out loud... The Appeal is clever and funny * The Times *This debut mystery from British author Hallett is a kick: a whodunit epistolary novel in which a pair of young lawyers sort through a mountain of emails, messages and letters to try to sort out a mysterious death in an amateur theatrical troupe * Seattle Times *I couldn't put it down. [Hallett's] take on the epistolary novel is so involving AND funny at the right moments. Puts the reader right in the thick of it, as we become the spyware eavesdropping on all these private emails and messages. Brilliant idea and SO cleverly executed -- Diane Setterfield, author of ONCE UPON A RIVERIf you're looking for something insanely gripping to take to the sofa with, then run to The Appeal by Janice Hallett. It's a brilliantly fresh, ingenious and original whodunnit that is heading to the top of the bestseller chart if there's any justice. So, so good -- India Knight, author of IN YOUR PRIMEThe Appeal grips from the start, expertly stage-managing emails and messages to create an intriguing mystery with a cast of vivid, memorable characters. Original, clever, devious - and never less than utterly compelling - this is a case you're about to become obsessed with. A real triumph -- Alex North, bestselling author of THE WHISPER MANTakes the whodunnit to a whole new level. Intriguing, clever and above all, wholly original. A rare feat indeed, and to be savoured -- Elizabeth Haynes, bestselling author of INTO THE DARKEST CORNEROne of the most enjoyable books I've read all year. Extremely addictive, it will reel you in, one piece of evidence at a time. Ingenious and highly original -- Alex Pavesi, author of EIGHT DETECTIVESWholly original, constructed as delicately as a spiderweb, and as heartfelt as it is intelligent, I could not stop reading The Appeal -- Catriona Ward, author of THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREETFiendishly clever, highly original and totally gripping -- Cass Green, bestselling author of IN A COTTAGE IN A WOODSly, funny, perfectly observed and clever. A superior and sophisticated Midsomer Murders packed with delicious red herrings -- Kate Griffin, author of KITTY PECK AND THE MUSIC HALL MURDERSWhat a book. It has galvanised me to do better! Exceptional -- Matt Wesolowski, author of SIX STORIESFresh, funny and impossible to put down. The Appeal is about an amateur dramatics group and an appeal to raise funds for a sick child and it's brilliant -- Mark Edwards, bestselling author of THE HOUSE GUESTBrilliantly crafted, The Appeal is a refreshingly different take on the modern crime novel. Full of suspicion and secrets, I raced my way to the end - and what an ending! -- Lisa Hall, author of THE PARTYWhat a cracking book. Fresh, original and very clever -- Mel Sherratt, author of TAUNTING THE DEADBrilliantly original, inventive and clever. I loved this book and you will too -- Phoebe Morgan, author of THE DOLL HOUSEIngenious and page-turning traditional crime given an original twist... like a modernised Agatha Christie -- Maxim Jakubowski, CRIME TIMEHighly original with characters that leap off the page. An addictive read -- Michelle Frances, author of THE GIRLFRIENDI loved this - it's utterly compulsive and unlike anything I've read in a while. It is such a cliché to say it, but I genuinely could NOT put it down. Bravo -- Katie Lowe, author of THE FURIESA very clever novel that puts you in the place of an investigator. A hugely enjoyable challenge and a most original book -- Jane Lythell, author of THE LIE OF YOUA totally original take on a thriller - intriguing and dark but with a dash of humour - I raced through it -- Catherine Cooper, author of THE CHALETA wonderfully revealing portrait of how we communicate - what we hide and show of ourselves. It's sharp, funny, a brilliant game, and once you start playing you won't be able to stop -- Rachel Elliot, author of WHISPERS THROUGH A MEGAPHONESo cleverly written. I felt like I was a trainee lawyer sifting through evidence and trying to discover the culprit. It was exciting, fresh, and forces the reader to be an active investigator. I loved it -- Louise Mullins, author of I KNOW YOUWhat a book. Right up there with the best I've read this year. Great characters, smart structure, and kept me guessing all the way to the end -- Dan Malakin, author of THE REGRETA brilliant hybrid of Agatha Christie and Silk -- Guy Morpuss, author of BLACK LAKE MANORI haven't enjoyed a book this much since Standard Deviation. Congratulations, Janice Hallett! -- Louise Voss, author of THE LAST STAGEFantastic. Gives you that deliciously satisfying feeling of reading other people's private emails -- S.V. Leonard, author of THE ISLANDERSAn utterly compelling whodunnit putting the reader at the centre of the action. A must read for thriller fans. A blistering, page-turner of a debut -- Michael Wood, author of THE SEVENTH VICTIMHighly original... for a first novel it is a tour de force * Crime Review *Will have you reading between the lines to discover whose hands are covered in blood * USA Today (Best Beach Reads) *

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Book Synopsis''The best portrait of rural life in England'' Roger Deakin''Exquisite'' John Updike''The finest contemporary writer on the English countryside'' ObserverRonald Blythe''s perceptive and vivid evocation of the rural Suffolk he had known since childhood was acclaimed as an instant classic when it was published in 1969. It reverberates with the voices of the village inhabitants, from the reminiscences of survivors of the Great War evoking days gone by, to the concerns of a younger generation of farm-workers and the fascinating and personal recollections of, among others, the local schoolteacher, doctor, blacksmith, saddler, district nurse and magistrate. Providing insights into the land, education, welfare, class, religion and death, Akenfield forms a unique document of a way of life that has, in many ways, disappeared.Trade ReviewA hundred years from now, anyone wanting to know how things were on the land will turn more profitably to Akenfield than to a sheaf of anaemically professional social surveys. * the Guardian *Blythe lovingly opens the curtains of legend and landscape, revealing the inner, almost clandestine, spirit of the village behind. His book consists of direct-speech monologues, delivered by 49 Suffolk residents, and interpretatively linked by the author. The effect is one of astonishing immediacy: it is as if those country people have looked up for a moment from their plow, lawnmower or kitchen sink, and are talking directly (and disturbingly frankly) to the reader -- Jan Morris * The New York Times *Exquisite -- John Updike

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Book SynopsisKnown as the 'grandmother of herbalism', Juliette de Bairacli Levy travelled throughout Europe and North America in pursuit of her passion for herbs and holistic medicine, living mostly in rural places whose nomadic communities helped expand her knowledge of plants and living from the land. In the early 1950s, she settled in a thatched 'cabin' in the New Forest for three years and raised her children in the woods.Originally published in 1958, Wanderers in the New Forest describes an extraordinary family life living wild: drawing spring water from Abbots Well, bathing in Windmill Hill Pond and sharing the water with their animal neighbours, foraging for fruits and fungi or tending to their forest garden of herbs, flowers and vegetables. Juliette's friendships within the local Gypsy community enabled her to record the impact that post-war modernisation was having on their traditions, ancient rights and intimate knowledge of the New Forest. This new edition is illustrated throughout with photographs taken by Juliette while living in the forest.

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEARThe new bestseller from the author of The Shepherd''s Life''A beautifully written story of a family, a home and a changing landscape'' Nigel Slater As a boy, James Rebanks''s grandfather taught him to work the land the old way. Their family farm in the Lake District hills was part of an ancient agricultural landscape: a patchwork of crops and meadows, of pastures grazed with livestock, and hedgerows teeming with wildlife. And yet, by the time James inherited the farm, it was barely recognisable. The men and women had vanished from the fields; the old stone barns had crumbled; the skies had emptied of birds and their wind-blown song. English Pastoral is the story of an inheritance: one that affects us all. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were loTrade ReviewRemarkable ... A brilliant, beautiful book ... Eloquent, persuasive and electric with the urgency that comes out of love -- Christine Patterson * The Sunday Times *It is a book full of love: of his grandfather, of his children and of the Lake District valley where he lives and farms ... Some books change our world. I hope this turns out to be one of them. -- Julian Glover * Evening Standard *A beautifully written story of a family, a home and a changing landscape. -- Nigel SlaterJames Rebanks's English Pastoral deserves to be called a masterpiece. Four generations of his family building on centuries of their farming in the Cumbrian Fells gives us a poetic, practical, raw and almost miraculously detailed picture of this ancient way of life struggling to survive and to be reborn. This wonderful book was waiting to be written. -- Melvyn Bragg * New Statesman Book of the Year *A wonder of a book, fierce, tender, and beautiful. Deeply personal but also global in significance, its pages course with love and concern so palpable I more than once wept while reading it. James Rebanks writes lyrically and passionately of the shadow that has fallen over our relationship with land, and how we might reconfigure the ways we think about it, relate to it, interact with it, and with each other. It's both a sobering, urgent read and a deeply inspiring, hopeful one. The book, and author, are to be treasured -- Helen Macdonald * author of H is for Hawk *Powerful, important and deserves every accolade. -- Raynor WinnOne of the most important books of our time. Told with humility and grace, this story of farming over three generations - where we went wrong and how we can change our ways - will be our land's salvation. -- Isabella TreeWhat a terrific book: vivid and impassioned and urgent--and, in both its alarm and its awe for the natural world, deeply convincing. Rebanks leaves no doubt that the question of how to farm is a question of human survival on this hard-used planet. He should be read by everyone who grows food, and by everyone who eats it -- Philip GourevitchJames Rebanks's story of his family's farm is just about perfect. It belongs with the finest writing of its kind -- Wendell BerryAmbitious, accomplished ... Rebanks is eloquent - scenes of mud and guts are interspersed with quotes ranging from Virgil to Schumpeter, Rachel Carson to Wendell Berry ... English Pastoral builds into a heartfelt elegy for all that has been lost from our landscape, and a rousing disquisition on what could be regained - a rallying cry for a better future. -- Laura Battle * Financial Times *Heartfelt, rich with detail ... James Rebanks writes with his heart, and his heart is in the right place. We should listen to him. -- Jamie Blackett * Telegraph *Marvellous and moving -- Richard Flanagan, Man Booker Prize winning author of Narrow Road to the Deep NorthIt moved me to tears, made me feel excited and optimistic, and said, so eloquently and succinctly, all the things I've been thinking and feeling ... It is not just a beautiful book to read, but so important and so timely. A wonderful, thought-provoking, heartlifting read. -- Kate HumbleRapturous ... For Rebanks writing and farming have proved complementary: while working long hours on the land he has produced a book in a pastoral tradition that runs from Virgil to Wendell Berry -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *I have never met anyone so roaringly, joyously in context and content as James Rebanks, belting around his farm in the rain ... The story of Rebanks and his family is the story of what farming has been in Britain but, also, the story of what it could become -- Caitlin Moran * The Times *Perfectly judged, it made me cry (twice) and left me with a new understanding of agriculture, and a real sense of hope. -- Melissa HarrisonWonderful ... I can't imagine anyone starting to read English Pastoral and not being eager to read it all at once, as I did -- Philip PullmanA heartfelt book and one that dares to hope. -- Alan BennettA home-grown Georgics for the twenty-first century * The Tablet *A wonderful and timely account of one farmer's lifelong effort to do right by his family, his land, his animals and his ecosystem -- Nick OffermanLyrical, evocative, generous ... Thank the gods of agriculture for James Rebanks -- Kristin Kimball * New York Times *A book of toil and beauty, rooted in a fell farm in the Lake District ... English Pastoral is a nuanced, hopeful, honest story. It is essential reading. * Geographical Magazine *The power of English Pastoral lies not just in the passion and eloquence of its prose or the clarity of its argument. It carries the authority of one who has not just thought about these problems, but lived them. It is a timely and important book. * TLS *Beautiful and shocking, but ultimately so gloriously hopeful. The book we should all read as we emerge from this latest strangeness. -- Paula HawkinsI can't remember a book I've wanted to press into people's hands more this year than this resonant, immensely thoughtful look back at three generations of a farming family ... Managing to cram the whole modern history of British farming and nature into 270 beautifully written pages, this is a gem that's moving and immensely informative. -- Andrew Holgate * The Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year *A rare and urgent book ... Its beauty is not only in the writing but in what is behind it: a gentle and wise sensibility that is alive to the human love affair with the land and yet also intimately cognisant of our collective and systematic cruelty towards it. -- Hisham MatarI think, genuinely, this is the best book I've read this year, and one of the most important books of recent years. It is about food and farming, and how we eat what we eat. It's about progress and nostalgia, without being prideful or mawkish, it's about families and tradition, and the passing of time. It made me simultaneously proud to be British, and sad for what we have become, but hopeful that we can change. -- Adam RutherfordJames Rebanks combines the descriptive powers of a great novelist with the pragmatic wisdom of a farmer who has watched his world transformed. This is a profound and beautiful book about the land, and how we should live off it. -- Ed CaesarThrough the eyes of James Rebanks as a grandson, son, and then father, we witness the tragic decline of traditional agriculture, and glimpse what we must now do to make it right again. As an evocation of British landscape past and present, it's up there with Cider With Rosie. -- Joanna BlythmanA beautiful and important book. -- Sadie JonesEnglish Pastoral is a work of art. It is nourishing and grounding to read ... this brave and beautiful book will shape hearts and minds. -- Jane Clarke, author of When the Tree FallsA wonderful, humane book told through the eyes of a man who has watched much vanish from his land, and now wants to put it back ... Moving and illuminating. -- Benedict Macdonald, author of RebirdingJames Rebanks describes the life of a Lakeland working farmer from the inside with a unrivalled truth and eloquence -- Tom Fort, author of Casting ShadowsVivid, accessible, inspiring - a story about one man's emerging land ethic, and an appreciation of the old ways in modern times. A vital book for anybody who eats -- Kathryn Aalto, author of Writing WildJames Rebanks is a beautiful writer, in a unique position to describe the challenges currently being faced by farmers throughout the world. English Pastoral is a joy to read and extremely moving - a book which should be read by every citizen. -- Patrick Holden, Sustainable Food TrustFarming, unlike almost any other job, is bound up in a series of complex ropes that Rebanks captures in his own story so beautifully: family pressure and loyalty, ego, loneliness, and a special kind of peer pressure...English Pastoral is going to be the most important book published about our countryside in decades, if not a generation -- Sarah LangfordA deeply personal account by a farmer of what has happened to farming in Britain. Everyone interested in food should read this compelling, informative, moving book -- Jenny LinfordRebanks is a rare find indeed: a Lake District farmer whose family have worked the land for 600 years, with a passion to save the countryside and an elegant prose style to engage even the most urban reader. He's refreshingly realistic about how farmed and wild landscapes can coexist and technology can be tamed. A story for us all. * Evening Standard, Best Books of Autumn 2020 *Moving, thought-provoking and beautifully written. -- James HollandEnglish Pastoral is one of the most captivating memoirs of recent years ...The traditional pastoral is about retreat into an imagined rural idyll, but this confronts very real environmental dilemmas. Like the best books, it gives you hope and new energy. -- Amanda Craig * Guardian *James Rebanks has a sharp eye and a lyrical heart. His book is devastating, charting the murderous and unsustainable revolution in modern farming ... But it is also uplifting: Rebanks is determined to hang on to his Herdwicks, to keep producing food, and to bring back the curlews and butterflies and the soil fertility to his beloved fields. Truly a significant book for our time. * Daily Mail – Books of the Year *Lyrical and illuminating ... will fascinate city-dwellers and country-lovers alike. * Independent – 10 Best Non-Fiction Books of 2020 *A lyrical account of Rebanks' childhood on the Lake District farm that he's made famous; an account of how he learned about stockmanship and community and the rhythms of the land from his father and grandfather. [...] His writing is properly Romantic, which is a high compliment [...] Rebanks is obviously a wonderful human as well as a splendid writer. -- Charles FosterA lament for lost traditions, a celebration of a way of living and a reminder that nature is 'finite and breakable.' Mr. Rebanks hits all the right notes and deserves to be heard * Wall Street Journal *The most important story, perfectly told -- Amy LiptrotMemorable, urgent, eloquent ... Rebanks speaks with blunt, unmatched authority. He is also a fine writer with descriptive power and a gift for characterisation ... English Pastoral may be the most passionate ecological corrective since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring -- Caroline Fraser * New York Review of Books *

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Book SynopsisLaurie Lee was born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 1914, and was educated at Slad village school and Stroud Central School. At the age on nineteen he walked to London and then travelled on foot through Spain, as described in his book As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning. In 1950 he married Catherine Polge and they had one daughter. Cider With Rosie (1959) has sold over six million copies worldwide, and was followed by two other volumes of autobiography: As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). Laurie Lee also published four collections of poems, The Sun My Monument (1944), The Bloom of Candles (1947), My Many-Coated Man (1955) and Packet Poems (1960) as well as The Voyage of Magellan (1948), a verse play for radio, A Rose for Winter (1955), which records his travels in Andalusia, The Firstborn (1964), I Can't Stay Long (1975), a collection of his writing, and Two Women (1983). Laurie Lee died in May 1997.Trade ReviewUtterly captivating * Four Shires *A classic of English literature * Good Book Guide *[Laurie Lee] froze a moment in time for us. You don’t forget the language and he is wonderful at detail -- Michael Morpurgo * Daily Express *Evocative memoir. * RTE Guide *So convincing and atmospheric… This magical book will captivate you with its richly painted images * Woman's Weekly *

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF A SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARD 2021 A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE A SUNDAY TIMES AND FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Marks the birth of a new star of non-fiction' William Dalrymple 'A beautiful account of immersion in an alien world' Philip Marsden, Guardian There is the Cornwall Lamorna Ash knew as a child – the idyllic, folklore-rich place where she spent her summer holidays. Then there is the Cornwall she discovers when, feeling increasingly dislocated in London, she moves to Newlyn, a fishing town near Land’s End. This Cornwall is messier and harder; it doesn’t seem like a place that would welcome strangers. But before long, Lamorna finds herself on a week-long trawler trip with a crew of local fishermen, afforded a rare glimpse into their world, their warmth and their humour. Out on the water, miles from the coast, she learns how fishing requires you to confront who you are and what it is that tethers you to the land. Dark, Salt, Clear is a bracing journey of discovery and a captivating portrait of a community sustained and defined by the sea for centuries.Trade ReviewAsh gets to the salty heart of why [commercial fishing] still matters, not just to the communities in Cornwall it sustains, but for the richness and cultural heritage it represents ... Beyond the beauty of her prose, Ash’s great strength lies in her ability to capture a sense of place -- Books of the Year * Sunday Times *Part coming-of-age memoir, part anthropological study, Dark, Salt, Clear glistens with deftly told snippets and character-rich stories … Cornwall’s harbourside cottages and ragged cliffs may look picturesque, but they hide an unsettling “anger and insularity”, she argues. With graceful lyricism and endearing humility, Ash gives this rage both voice and face -- Oliver Balch * Financial Times *Terrific ... A hugely moving but unsentimental account of not only today’s fishermen but also a salty, grafting, real-life England too rarely depicted in literature ... It is well-timed, feels rather important, and has excellent tips on the filleting of fish. What more could you want? -- Richard Benson * Mail on Sunday *Lamorna Ash conjures a remarkable sense of place, her book deftly woven with a profound empathy for the people she encounters, as well as great literature, past and present. I loved this book -- Sophy Roberts, author of 'The Lost Pianos of Siberia'One of Spring’s most hotly anticipated titles -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *A beautiful account of immersion in an alien world – the tightly bound fishing community of Newlyn ... Spending weeks with fishermen on small fishing boats, and amid their equally turbulent shore life, Ash offers a sharp and poignant portrait of men living an intense and peripheral existence -- Philip Marsden * Guardian *[An] outstanding travel writing debut … If you love Cornwall for its beaches and photogenic fishing villages, you should read this captivating, true-to-life portrait of a place that, while angry and insular at times, is also fiercely proud and community-minded … Newlyn is a place with much to teach us in these times -- Caroline Sanderson * Daily Express *Beautifully written … [Ash is] an empathetic writer who sees poetry in the everyday … If you read this thoughtful and observant chronicle, you’ll never look at Cornwall in the same way again * Daily Mail *Lamorna Ash is a beautiful prose stylist – precise, perceptive, humane and sensitive – who somehow manages to write in a way that is both earthy and poetic. Her debut book – full of fish and blood and salt and oilskins – marks the birth of a new star of non-fiction -- William DalrympleI love this town and I love this book – both are imbued with the unadorned lessons of hard earned lives -- Mark KurlanskyWith the heart of a novelist and the clarity of an ethnographer, Lamorna Ash reveals the Cornish fishing community of Newlyn in all its tension and hardship and wild joy. Dark, Salt, Clear is a book of deep immersion and a stunning debut -- Philip MarsdenLamorna Ash evokes the vigour and complexity of the country’s westernmost fishing port with a love only a granite heart could resist. As Cornwall’s fishing and farming communities hold their breath to see whether leaving the EU will save or savage them, Dark, Salt, Clear arrives at the perfect time and should be cherished by natives, incomers and emmets alike -- Patrick GaleLamorna writes with a maturity and wisdom that betrays her years and which took me to the very heart of Newlyn while questioning my sense of belonging ... Dark Salt, Clear is a captivating homage to Newlyn and its people -- Lara MaiklemLamorna Ash’s beautiful debut is a seductive, vivid reading experience. A portrait of the life and unique character of a community, it is also an exploration of the spaces around a person, that make up the person – a young woman’s search for her own identity and her self. You’ll love her characters, because they’ve been written with love, and that makes them live on the page -- Barney NorrisLamorna Ash's captivating debut charts her trawler trip with Cornish fishermen, and the lessons she learned about a dying tradition and what it takes to live at sea * Vogue *[Ash] tells the riveting tale of eight days spent at sea on a trawler with a crew of fishermen. Battling homesickness and seasickness, she sets herself to this toughest and most perilous of trades, learning to haul, gut and pack fish. It’s a portrait of a place that, while sometimes insular, is also community-minded -- Caroline Sanderson * Daily Mirror *All should make room in their luggage for this book, an illuminating depiction of the realities of life in the Cornish fishing port of Newlyn -- Summer Reading Picks * Financial Times *[A] wonderful debut ... The guts of the book is an unsentimental account of life on a trawler that feels particularly timely with fishing rights rarely out of the news -- Books of the Year * Mail on Sunday *Revealing the tension, grit and camaraderie of a community defined by the sea, she learns to gut fish and weather storms, confronting the looming shadow of globalisation with a raw, poetic sensitivity * Coast *

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Book Synopsis-- Stunning watercolour paintings by one of Sweden's best-loved artists-- Fascinating insight into Swedish rural and artistic life in the late nineteenth century-- Accompanied by an explanatory text giving more detail about his life and techniquesCarl Larsson is one of Sweden's best-loved artists. His stunning watercolours of his home and family from the end of the nineteenth century are acclaimed as one of the richest records of life at that time.The paintings in this book are a combined collection which depict Larsson's family -- his wife Karin and their eight children -- his home in the village of Sundborn, and his farm, Spadarvet. The accompanying text provides a fascinating insight into Larsson's family and farm life, and his painting techniques.Today, over 60,000 tourists a year visit Sundborn to admire Larsson's home and work.Also published as three separate volumes: A Home, A Family, and A Farm.

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Book SynopsisFrom farmer, lawyer and political activist John Klar comes a bold, solutions-based plan for Conservatives that gets beyond the fatuous pipe dreams and social-justice platitudes of the dominant, Liberal “Green” agenda – offering a healthy way forward for everyone. While many on the Left have taken up the mantle of creating a “green” future through climate alarmism, spurious new energy sources and technocratic control, many on the Right continue to deny imminent environmental threats while pushing for unbridled deregulation of our most destructive industrial forces. Neither approach promises a bright future. In a time of soil degradation, runaway pollution, food insecurity and declining human health, the stakes couldn’t be higher, and yet the dominant political voices too often overlook the last best hope for our planet – supporting small, regenerative farmers. In fact, politicians on all sides continue to sell out the interests of small farmers to the devastating power of Big Ag and failed ‘renewable energy’ incentives. It’s time for a new vision. It’s time for bold new agriculture policies that restore both ecosystems and rural communities. In Small Farm Republic, John Klar, an agrarian conservative in the mold of Wendell Berry and Joel Salatin, offers an alternative that puts small farmers, regenerative agriculture and personal liberty at the center of an environmental revival – a message that everyone on the political spectrum needs to hear.Trade Review“I have read at least 20 books a year for the past 25 years and Small Farm Republic is absolutely one of the very best that I have ever read. John Klar describes in great detail the fallacies of the current agricultural production model and the changes that need to be made for the sake of our natural resources and humanity. A must-read not only for those involved in all facets of agriculture but policy makers and consumers as well.”—Gabe Brown, regenerative rancher, author of Dirt to Soil“John Klar makes a strong case in Small Farm Republic that Republicans could use support of small farms as a way to shift the party’s identity toward improving the environment and reducing the dangers of climate change. In the process, he makes a refreshing case for conservative Republicans reclaiming their traditional role in the political mainstream.”—David E. Gumpert, author of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Food Rights“John Klar makes a compelling case for thoughtful Republicans to put aside their differences with Democrats on divisive political issues and to focus on solving the environmental, social, and economic problems caused by today’s corporately controlled, industrial agri-food system. The same case could be made for thoughtful Democrats to join forces with Republications to demand government programs and policies that incentivize and support small-scale, regenerative family farms and locally controlled, community-based food systems. Current US farm and food policies are the work of both Democrats and Republicans, and it will take a bipartisan consumer-taxpayer revolution to change them. Klar’s Small Farm Republic is a clarion call for the revolution to begin.”—John Ikerd, agricultural economist; professor emeritus, University of Missouri; author of Small Farms Are Real Farms

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Book SynopsisA PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST'Sweeping and quietly devastating' New York Times'A David and Goliath story for our times' O, the Oprah MagazineSet in the fictional African village of Kosawa, this is the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean-up and financial reparations are made - and broken. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. But it will come at a steep price - one which generation after generation will have to pay.How Beautiful We Were is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one community's determination to hold onto its ancestral land and a young woman's willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people's freedom.Trade ReviewSweeping and quietly devastating . . . In Kosawa, Mbue has created a place and a people alive with emotional range . . . Profoundly affecting * * New York Times * *The unforgettable story of a community on the wrong end of Western greed, How Beautiful We Were will enthral you, appal you and show you what is possible when a few people stand up and say "this is not right". A masterful novel by a spellbinding writer engaged with the most urgent questions of our day -- DAVID EBERSHOFF, New York Times bestselling author of THE DANISH GIRLImbolo Mbue would be a formidable storyteller anywhere, in any language. It's our good luck that she and her stories are American -- JONATHAN FRANZENA David and Goliath story for our times, a riveting tale of how people coming together to make change can topple even the fiercest, best-financed foe * * O, The Oprah Magazine * *How Beautiful We Were goes to the heart of one of the most urgent matters of the day. The highly suspenseful story of an African village's struggle for survival and justice in the face of ruthless American corporate greed is written with remarkable acuity and compassion. Mbue has given us a book with the richness and power of a great contemporary fable, and a heroine for our time -- SIGRID NUNEZ, author of THE FRIEND, winner of the National Book AwardImbolo Mbue's revelatory novel of a fictional African village ruined by Big Oil is a mighty addition to the stacks * * ELLE * *What a beautiful book! I can't tell you how many times I cried for these characters, their place and their story . . . Beautifully written with moving and vivid descriptions, engaging complex characters, interesting plots, and tension so tightly wound that at times I found myself holding my breath -- YVONNE BATTLE-FELTON, author of REMEMBEREDTells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Exploring what happens when the reckless drive for profit comes up against one community's determination to hold onto its ancestral land, it makes for unputdownable reading * * Glamour, Best new novel you won't want to put down * *Imbolo Mbue crafts an aching narrative about greed, community and perseverance * * Time * *A generation of narrative voices, many of them children, shape this sweeping, elegiac story of capitalism, colonialism and boundless greed, reminding us of the myriad ways we fail to make a better world for our children * * Esquire * *

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Book Synopsis'Poignant ... A meditation on life, love and the importance of nature' IRISH TIMES When they were in their twenties, Niall Williams and Christine Breen made the impulsive decision to leave New York City and move to Christine’s ancestral home in the town of Kiltumper in rural Ireland. In the decades that followed, the pair dedicated themselves to writing, gardening and living a life that followed the rhythms of the earth. In 2019, with Christine in the final stages of recovery from cancer and the surrounding land threatened by the arrival of turbines, Niall and Christine decided to document a year - in words and Christine's drawings - of living in their garden and in their small corner of a rapidly changing world. Proceeding month by month through the year, this is the story of a garden in all its many splendours, and a couple who have made their life observing its wonders.Trade ReviewMoving and surprisingly provocative ... This couple's narrative is more than a January-December chronicle, it is the result of decades of care ... In Kiltumper is as much a book about the cherishing of a marriage as it is about the love of a place ... A heartfelt paean to a disappearing way of life -- Dominique Browning * Wall Street Journal *A record, both honest and beautiful, of a sustainable but precarious way of life -- Claire Connolly * Times Literary Supplement *Poignant ... A meditation on life, love and the importance of nature -- Brian Maye * Irish Times *Beautifully written ... A wonderfully lyrical and uplifting read -- Dermot Bolger * Sunday Business Post *An absorbing and thought-provoking read -- Diarmuid Gavin * Irish Independent *An intimate, meditative garden memoir -- Hilary White * Sunday Independent *While the events chronicled rarely move beyond the garden, and while the descriptions are so intimate they almost elicit grief for the dying cherry tree and spark exhortations to the dahlias to hold on to their heavy heads, it is the gardeners’ personalities that bloom -- Caroline O'Doherty * Irish Independent *The small Kiltumper acreage is detailed with a sense of wonder and of pleasure ... Chapter after chapter is enhanced with exquisite pencil drawings ... Frequently quotable, always eloquent ... This is a book full of joy, warmly rich with accomplishment and wonder and a strong sense of mutual commitment -- Mary Leland * Irish Examiner *Arresting ... Remarkable ... This book, in Seamus Heaney's phrase, catches the heart off guard ... Uncommonly magical ... Read it and be restored to yourself -- Cahir O'Doherty * Irish Central *I loved their two voices, truthful and gentle and generous, so full of care for their land and for each other ... A record of how deeply life can be lived within a garden's walls -- GEORGINA HARDINGA beautiful story, with words at once uplifting and poignant. Full of the acceptance and the optimism that only a garden and the act of caring for it brings -- JO THOMPSONI read it with enormous pleasure … There were so many episodes I loved, whether they were heartbreaking or uplifting … It was a delight to step into Niall and Christine’s precious garden, into the rhythms of their way of living, and to be refreshed -- TIM PEARSThis is a book to whet one’s appetite — for reading, writing, gardening — and living. I loved the counterpoint of the two voices as they face age, cancer, the struggle to write, to garden — to keep at it — under the threat of wind turbines and the wild Atlantic wind; not to give up. A triumph -- Katherine SwiftA celebration of life in rural Ireland * Irish Times, Best books for Christmas 2021 *Including beautiful pen and ink drawings by Christine, this is the story of a garden in all its many splendours and a couple who have made their life observing its wonders * Countryside *Whether you like gardening or enjoy reflections on a life lived simply in harmony with nature, this book is a sheer joy ... Niall and Christine celebrate the challenges and joys in delightful detail, from feeding Harp beer to brassicas, to running writing workshops and sharing the good life with friends and family -- Zoë West * Woman & Home, Book Club Awards *Here, they record 12 months of work in their garden, capturing their love of the land – which has been in Christine’s family since the 18th century – and also reflecting on the past and anxiously contemplating what the future holds as climate change takes hold. Through everything, their garden is a lovingly nurtured constant * Sunday Express, S Magazine *Twelve months in a cherished garden ... The good life, with its ups and downs * Saga *A celebration of the solace of country life … Country living, Breen reflects, teaches “about darkness and stars, about sunlight and silence, about things out of your control”: about the inevitability of change. The book includes Breen’s elegant botanical drawings. A warm homage to a piece of beloved Irish land * Kirkus Reviews *The book will appeal to any devoted gardener, and it also serves as an inviting snapshot of a place -- Eric Liebetrau * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book SynopsisThe classic, No.1 bestselling and much-loved memoir by Hannah Hauxwell about life in remote Yorkshire in the 1970s.''The world''s favourite Daleswoman'' YORKSHIRE POST''She brings the reader back to the essentials'' MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS''Hannah''s humility, simplicity and strange accent - a mix of Yorkshire and Northumbrian with a Scandinavian lilt - touched many viewers ... Hannah''s attachment to Low Birk Hatt remained with her for life: My heart and soul will always be up on the Dales, ''COUNTRYFILE MAGAZINEHannah Hauxwell first came to the nation''s attention on Yorkshire television''s award-winning documentary TOO LONG A WINTER, when she captured the hearts and imaginations of millions who were captivated by her ability to single-handedly run her family''s farm in an isolated area in Yorkshire. Since the age of 35, following the deaths of her parents and uncle, she lived a self-sufficient life withTrade ReviewThe world's favourite Daleswoman * YORKSHIRE POST *When Hannah Hauxwell speaks, people listen. She possesses a quality which cannot properly be defined * THE JOURNAL *Yorkshire farmer and recluse, Hannah Hauxwell lived a hard life, alone on her small Pennine farm - until she became an unlikely TV star in the 1970s ... Hannah's humility, simplicity and strange accent - a mix of Yorkshire and Northumbrian with a Scandinavian lilt - touched many viewers ... Hannah's attachment to Low Birk Hatt remained with her for life: "My heart and soul will always be up on the Dales," * COUNTRYFILE MAGAZINE *Anyone who watched the amazing documentary will want to read SEASONS OF MY LIFE * LANCASHIRE MAGAZINE *She brings the reader back to the essentials * MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS *[Hauxwell] was living a harsh existence as a hill farmer in the Yorkshire Dales, without electricity or running water, when the 1973 television documentary Too Long a Winter turned her into a national celebrity * GUARDIAN *When Hannah Hauxwell speaks, people listen. She possesses a quality which cannot properly be defined. -- David Whetstone * The Journal (Newcastle) *

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1936, Agee and Evans set out on assignement for Fortune magazine to explore the daily lives of sharecroppers in the South. Their journey would prove an extraordinary collaboration and a watershed literary event when in 1941 Let Us Now Praise Famous Men was first published to enourmous critical acclaim. This unspairing record of place, of the people who shaped the land, and of the rhythm of their lives today stands as one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.

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Book Synopsis''A woven time-travelling book, about love, land, life ... Short stories that link together like trees in a forest'' Jackie MorrisOn a clear Kentucky night in 1888, a young woman risks her life to save a stranger from a drunken mob. Almost a hundred years later, her great-grandson Andy climbs a hill at the edge of town, and is flooded with memories of all he has lived, seen and heard of the past century - of farmers wooing schoolteachers and soldiers trudging home from war; of the first motor car, the Great Depression and Vietnam; of neighbourly feuds and family secrets; of grief and betrayal - and of great friendship that endures for a lifetime.These are Wendell Berry''s tales of Port William, a little farming community nestled deep in the Kentucky River valley. They unravel the story of a town over the course of four generations, lovingly chronicling the intertwined lives of the families who call it home. Affectionate, elegiac and wry, tTrade ReviewA woven time-travelling book, about all that it is to be human, about love, land, life. Just beautiful. What an amazing writer he is. Short stories that link together like trees in a forest -- Jackie Morris, co-author of THE LOST WORDSWhat a wise and inspiring collection this is, although 'collection' hardly does it justice, it sounds far too piecemeal and ephemeral for a book with such a meditative and singular focus. It's so full of life, expanding the horizon as you read, revealing a wider and a deeper way of looking at the quotidian. Like Denis Johnson, Marilynne Robinson, or Seamus Heaney, Wendell Berry shows us that sometimes looking deeply into one world can become a profound way of looking at the whole world. -- Barney Norris, author of FIVE RIVERS MET ON A WOODED PLAINPraise for Wendell Berry: One of America's finest prose writers * Publishers Weekly *Berry richly evokes Port William's farmlands and hamlets, and his characters are fiercely individual, yet mutually protective in everything they do. . . . His sentences are exquisitely constructed, suggesting the cyclic rhythms of his agrarian world * New York Times *Intricate and beautiful, sad but strong * Washington Post *A small treasure . . . part of a long line that descends from Chaucer to Katherine Mansfield to William Trevor. * Chicago Tribune *Berry is the master of earthy country living seen through the eyes of laconic farmers.... He makes his stories shine with meaning and warmth * Christian Science Monitor *What unites [these stories] is a deep humanity, compassion and a sense of recognition that our modern lives unfolded at some point on Earth from stories such as these * Seattle Times *No writer has written of a place better or more completely than Wendell Berry has written of Port William * Arkansas Democrat Gazette *Berry is an American treasure; this collection belongs in all literary fiction collections * Library Journal *Berry's writing is graceful, poignant and compassionate, and his feel for the inner lives of his quirky rural characters makes for many memorable portraits. A valuable work of literature and historical set piece, this collection vividly captures the fabric of a kind of all-American life * Publishers Weekly *Wendell Berry writes with a good husbandman's care and economy . . . His stories are filled with gentle humor * New York Times Book Review *This is the most complete-and the most powerful-vision of any American writer in my time. The stories of the Port William Membership are a delight, a goad, and a testament less to what was than to what could be. They will leave no reader unmoved and unchanged -- Bill McKibbenWendell Berry gives us an intimate portrayal of the mind and heart of rural America. His graceful prose is truthful and eloquent. His tone is reliable and steady, like a good rain, sober and serious-all this and at times he is so funny you have to stop and roll on the floor -- Bobbie Ann Mason[Berry's] essays, poetry and fiction have fertilized a crop of great solace in my life, and helped to breed a healthy flock of good manners, to boot. As I travel this unlikely road of opportunity, as a woodworker and writer, sure, but most often as a jackass, I have his writings upon which to fix my mind and my heart, to keep my life's errant wagon between the ditches, as it were. Mr. Berry's sentences and stories deliver a great payload of edifying entertainment, which I hungrily consume, but it is the bass note of morality thumping through his musical phrases that guides me with the most constant of hands upon my plow. -- Nick Offerman, New York Times bestselling author of Paddle Your Own CanoeThe local nature of their canny, comic tonalities [...] might lead browsers to take these Berry stories as merely quaint. That would be a mistake. In fact, like Isaac Bashevis Singer, Berry has been expanding by contraction, husbanding by close focus - in Berry's case, on the familiar demesne of Port William, Ky... A masterpiece...Berry moves way beyond nostalgia toward an immersion in other lives that expresses itself as a sense of intimate apartness; a willingness to follow his characters, but not necessarily to change them. Poetry nestled inside prose: startlingly and classically moving * Kirkus Reviews *The stories express a biblical reverence for life and community, yet they're funny, too, and so beautiful * Booklist *This bewitching book, a collage amounting almost to a novel, formed of 18 short stories linked to each other by people and place, nourishes deep-seated memories of the old country ways...Berry writes with such wisdom and understanding of the Kentucky countryside and its people that it scarcely seems like fiction. These are stories about the importance of memory and history in the life of a community...they celebrate the visceral links between man and Nature...acutely observed and beautifully wrought...gently humorous, full of eccentricity, sometimes wistful and occasionally sad, but unfailingly enjoyable, rewarding, even joyful. * Country Life *Berry is a thought-provoking writer who uses humour and sorrow to evoke memorable characters, atmosphere and setting * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Baillie Gifford PrizeThe Top Ten BestsellerWaterstones Non-Fiction Book of the MonthA Sunday Times Paperback of the Year ‘If you want to read a book that moves you both at the level of sentence and the quality of language and with the emotional depth of its subject matter, then A Fortunate Woman is definitely the book you should be reading’ - Samanth Subramanian, Baillie Gifford judgeWhen Polly Morland is clearing out her mother’s house she finds a book that will lead her to a remarkable figure living on her own doorstep: the country doctor who works in the same remote, wooded valley she has lived in for many years. This doctor is a rarity in contemporary medicine – she knows her patients inside out, and their stories are deeply entwined with her own.In A Fortunate Woman, with its beautiful photographs by Richard Baker, Polly Morland has written a profoundly moving love letter to a landscape, a community and, above all, to what it means to be a good doctor.‘Morland writes about nature and the changing landscape with such lyrical precision that her prose sometimes seems close to poetry’ - Christina Patterson, The Sunday Times‘Timely . . . compelling . . . a delicately drawn miniature’ - Financial Times‘This book deepens our understanding of the life and thoughts of a modern doctor, and the modern NHS, and it expands movingly to chronicle a community and a landscape’ - Kathleen Jamie, New StatesmanTrade ReviewMorland writes about nature and the changing landscape with such lyrical precision that her prose sometimes seems close to poetry . . . There has been no shortage in recent years of books about healthcare . . . With this gem, Morland has done something similar for general practice. Let’s just hope the policymakers listen. -- Christina Patterson * Sunday Times *The doctor's kindly, holistic approach - she makes time to investigate her patients' social as well as physical needs - seems to evoke a lost world . . . Morland's book contains a profound message for the future at a critical moment for general practice and us all. -- Wendy Moore * TLS *This book deepens our understanding of the life and thoughts of a modern doctor, and the modern NHS, and it expands movingly to chronicle a community and a landscape – “the valley” itself is a defining feature of people’s lives. -- Kathleen Jamie * New Statesman *Polly Morland and Richard Baker have more than done justice to the original John Berger book - and produced a work that stimulates the eye and mind in equal measure. -- Alain de BottonI was consoled and compelled by this book’s steady gaze on healing and caring. The writing is beautiful. -- Sarah Moss, author of Summerwater and Ghost WallSuperb - beautiful, enthralling, careful, tender, a humanitarian act in itself, deeply moral, moving, lucid and loving. -- Laura Cumming, James Tait Black-winner and bestselling Costa-shortlisted author of The Vanishing Man and On Chapel SandsAll human life is here in this evocative portrayal of the challenges and joys of rural family doctoring in modern times. Enthralling and uplifting. -- James LeFanu, author The Rise & Fall of Modern MedicineA Fortunate Woman is the best book I’ve read about general practice for a long time. Astonishingly perceptive, it shows how a committed GP can keep human values alive in an increasingly impersonal NHS – and why we urgently need more like her. -- Professor Roger Neighbour OBE. Past President, Royal College of General PractitionersA vibrant and authentic portrait of the rural family doctor in these difficult contemporary times. -- Trisha Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Care at the University of OxfordOne of the best books about medicine that I have read. The patients' stories are vivid, moving, often unforgettable. Polly Morland has written with incredible sensitivity, appreciation and descriptive ability about the valley and the people who live there -- Professor Roger Jones OBEA Fortunate Woman is grounded in a legacy of care and compassion for the community served, shared though a compelling narrative based on patient stories. I loved it. -- Prof Dame Helen Stokes-LampardI thought it was stunning in style and content and I hope it encourages all readers to reflect on what I agree is your key message – the importance of relationship-base care and the fact that it is under threat. -- Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of General PractitionersBeautifully and tenderly written, [A Fortunate Woman] also serves as a topical reminder of what is possible with continuity of care. -- Caroline Sanderson, 'Editor's Choice' * Bookseller *

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Book Synopsis‘Malcolm Alexander is to GPs what James Herriot is to vets’ – MATT GAW_____________________‘An ode to island life in all its glorious foibles’ – THE HERALD _____________________'A fascinating, funny and utterly heart-warming family adventure.’ – RUTH HOGAN_______________________An immensely heart-warming story of life on the frontline within extreme circumstances. When Malcolm Alexander saw the job advert, ‘urgent: island doctor needed’, he applied immediately. What he didn’t anticipate was how much Orkney would affect his family, for better or worse. In stories that range from the humorous to the deeply moving, Malcolm describes what it’s like adjusting to life without modern conveniences and to the extreme – and constantly changing – weather; and what it means to be providing the best medical care to the local population with limited resources. Which often includes the wildlife as well ... Malcolm’s journey evokes the awe that the Orkney landscape can inspire, as well as the challenges of island life and the demons that the dark, cold winter months can give birth to. Gripping and beautifully written, Close to Where the Heart Gives Out reminds us of the importance of listening to our heart, as well as to the rhythms of the landscape.Trade ReviewA fascinating memoir... an ode to island life in all its glorious foibles and heart-soaring delights * The Herald *Orkney, more than any other place that I've been, really did get under my skin... I love the descriptions of the landscape and everyday life in Close to Where the Heart Gives Out * Dolly Alderton *Wind-whipped and salt-stung, Malcom's account of island life is both grounding and immensely heart-warming. He is to GP's what James Herriot is to vets * Matt Gaw *A fascinating, funny and utterly heart-warming family adventure. Beautifully written and completely unforgettable * Ruth Hogan, author of 'The Keeper of Lost Things' *[An] utterly enchanting casebook * Daily Mail *A mesmerising read about a personal journey, this book is all versions of love (with the island of Eday in starring role) * Hannah Persuad *

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Book SynopsisIn 1966 John Berger spent three months in the Forest of Dean shadowing an English country GP, John Sassall. Sassall is a fortunate man - his work occupies and fulfils him, he lives amongst the patients he treats, the line between his life and his work is happily blurred.In A Fortunate Man, Berger's text and the photography of Jean Mohr reveal with extraordinary intensity the life of a remarkable man. It is a portrait of one selfless individual and the rural community for which he became the hub. Drawing on psychology, biography and medicine A Fortunate Man is a portrait of sacrifice. It is also a profound exploration of what it means to be a doctor, to serve a community and to heal.With a new introduction by writer and GP, Gavin Francis.Trade ReviewI only wish I could do justice in a few words to the richness that makes this book so compelling * * Guardian * *A miniature masterpiece of observation and a profound meditation on the nature and value of the doctor-patient relationship -- POLLY MORLANDIn 1967 A Fortunate Man marked the most significant step forward in the collaboration of a writer and photographer since Let us Now Praise Famous Men by Walker Evans and James Agee. Incredibly, it still does . . . A masterpiece -- GEOFF DYERA genuine tour de force . . . The intimate portrait of one man and his microscopic world reveals the faults and strains of a whole society * * Observer * *It's one of my favourite books in the world, an ongoing inspiration as to how books should be written (and photography used) -- ALAIN de BOTTONJohn Berger seems to me peerless; not since Lawrence has there been a writer who offers such attentiveness to the sensual world with responsiveness to the imperatives of conscience -- SUSAN SONTAGA book about caring that will make you care, and a book about deep healing that may heal your soul. It is also, almost 50 years on, uncannily timely -- SIMON GARFIELDThis disturbingly beautiful book will continue to haunt you long after you have set it aside -- RICHARD HOLLOWAYThis extraordinary book unravels the tangled branches of the everyday to reveal the brightness within. It inspires me to think more slowly, more deeply, to wear acquired knowledge lightly, to open my senses more fully to the wonders in the plain and close-at-hand -- JAMES MEEKA masterpiece of witness; a three-way meditation on humanity, society and the value of healing -- GAVIN FRANCIS

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Book SynopsisTen percent of the world’s population lives on islands, but until now the place and space characteristics of islands in criminological theory have not been deeply considered. This book moves beyond the question of whether islands have more, or less, crime than other places, and instead addresses issues of how, and by whom, crime is defined in island settings, which crimes are policed and visible, and who is subject to regulation. These questions are informed by ‘the politics of place and belonging’ and the distinctive social networks and normative structures of island communities.Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. Idylls (and Horrors) 3. Isolation 4. Invasion 5. Integration 6. Insularity 7. Industry 8. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisThe fourth novel in a historical series that began with the International Booker-shortlisted The Unseen "Taken together, Jacobsen has given us an epic of Norway's experience of the first half of the 20th century that is subtle and moving" David Mills, Sunday Times"Jacobsen can make almost anything catch the light . . . One of Norway's greatest writers on the working class" Times Literary SupplementA childless island is no island at all.Ingrid Marie Barrøy has returned to the island that bears her name, bringing up her daughter with the other children that came with the war, who will someday raise their own children until an island that was empty is singing once more with life.And soon another will arrive, a child of the war and an orphan of the peace, whom Ingrid will fight to make her own, and whose interests may, in time, collide with those of certain others on the island, forcing her to make a choice she will long regret.The sea brings the island all it has - herring for salting, eider ducks for down - but Ingrid knows, has alwaysknown, that one day it may wish to take something back. But until that day, she continues to live by one simple truth:There is no limit to what you can do with an island, the imagination sets the only limits, as with the sea.Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don ShawReviews for The Unseen"Even by his high standards, his magnificent new novel The Unseen is Jacobsen's finest to date, as blunt as it is subtle and is easily among the best books I have ever read" Eileen Battersby, Irish Times"A beautifully crafted novel . . . Quite simply a brilliant piece of work . . . Rendered beautifully into English by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, The Unseen is a towering achievement that would be a deserved Booker International winner" Charlie Connelly, New European."A profound interrogation of freedom and fate, as well as a fascinating portrait of a vanished time, written in prose as clear and washed clean as the world after a storm" Justine Jordan, Guardian"The subtle translation, with its invented dialect, conveys a timeless, provincial voice . . . The Unseen is a blunt, brilliant book" Tom Graham, Financial Times.

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Book Synopsis'Full of smugglers tales, childhood memories and the real-life struggles of living on a remote island.' - Touring Tales ***'In the January dark, a young man walks slowly into the sea. He can't see where he is going, but he knows the island is calling...'Mary and Patrick's dream was to live in London, have 2.4 children, the nice house, the successful jobs. But life had other plans, and in one traumatic year that all came crashing down.Bruised and battered, Mary finds herself pulled towards Cornwall and dreams of St George's Island, where she spent halcyon childhood summers. So, when an opportunity arises to become tenants if they renovate the old Island House, they grab it with both hands.Life on the island is hard, especially in winter, the sea and weather, unforgiving. But the rugged natural beauty, the friendly ghosts of previous inhabitants, and the beautiful isolation of island life bring hope and purpose, as they discover a resilience they never knew they had.

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Book Synopsis''We''re not Christians, Christ stopped short of here, at Eboli.'' Exiled to a remote and barren corner of Italy for his opposition to Mussolini, Carlo Levi entered a world cut off from history and the state, hedged in by custom and sorrow, without comfort or solace, where, eternally patient, the peasants lived in an age-old stillness and in the presence of death - for Christ did stop at Eboli.

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Book SynopsisA small-town judge meets her match in a rodeo star troublemaker, but soon they may both end up targets of the town's matchmakers in this delightful and heartwarming contemporary romance from a USA Today bestselling author.Widow Darcy Jones Harper finally has the chance to prove herself when she's appointed to replace her late husband as the town judge. But the last person she was expecting to see in her courtroom is the former rodeo star and Sunshine Valley bad boy. Even though she's always had a thing for his rugged charm, she's a new woman who's left her old desires -- and all the trouble that comes with them -- behind. Right?Jason Petrie is determined to clean up his act and settle down. But no matter what he does, his past seems to follow him, landing him in the court of the only woman he ever wanted. Thankfully, the town's matchmaking Widow's Club is on the case and they plan to lend Jason a helping hand. With their help, can Jason convince Darcy that maybe they both deserve a second chance?

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Book SynopsisAfter 20 years working as a professional biologist, the author decided to 'retire' to the Highlands, moving with his wife to a croft at the edge of a small and somewhat inaccessible village on the west coast. This was no romantic and idealistic aspiration for the Good Life, nor really an attempt to 'get away from it all'; rather a growing disaffection with living in the overpopulated south of England and a desire to return to his Scottish roots. Moving was like stepping back 50 years in time: most of the other residents of this tiny hamlet had been born and bred there, the majority were Gaelic-speaking and, with few of the conventional 'services', there was a strong sense of community that had been missed. This engaging story gives a collection of cameos from those first few years as they moved into and settled in their remote smallholding. It is developed as a series of short 'anecdotes' about life in this isolated west-coast Scottish community. Actual anecdotes are interwoven with snippets of natural history observation related to various topical wildlife issues. In the tradition of Lillian Beckwith's The Hills is Lonely, the stories revolve around the strong characters who made up this isolated community and became part of their everyday life. All the people and events described in this book are real, although places and names may have been changed. Enough clues remain that professional biologists or those with a keen interest in natural history will readily identify the peninsula. It is a joy to read and reveals Highland life with all its humour and character. Beautifullly illustrated by wildlife artist Catherine Putman.

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Book SynopsisWarm and funny and feel-good. The best sort of holiday read.' Katie FfordeFilled with warm and likeable characters. Great fun!' Jill MansellCan they make this a wedding to remember? Cal and Demi are preparing to turn their beloved Kilhallon Resort into a wedding venue. With the cliff-top setting and coastal views, it''s the perfect place for a magical ceremony.To launch the venue they need something special, and their first clients are no ordinary couple. The bridge and groom are internationally famous actors Lily Craig and Ben Trevone. And they have the demands to match their celebrity status.As the big day approaches and tempers soar, can Demi and Cal ensure that Kilhallon''s first wedding goes off without a hitch? One thing's for sure, this will be a Cornish celebration like no other A gorgeous romance from Sunday Times bestselling author Phillipa Ashley. Perfect for fans of Sarah Morgan, Karen Swan and Heidi Swain. Authors and readers can't get enough of Phillipa Ashley!:Warm and fTrade Review‘Warm and funny and feel-good. The best sort of holiday read’ Katie Fforde ‘Filled with warm and likeable characters. Great fun!’ Jill Mansell ‘An utterly glorious, escapist read from a one of the freshest voices to emerge in women's fiction today. I loved every gorgeous page.’ Claudia Carroll ‘A delicious festive treat with as many twists and turns as a Cornish country lane’ Jules Wake

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Book SynopsisPete Brown is simultaneously allergic to and obsessed by apples. He has written several books on food and drink, including Man Walks into a Pub, Three Sheets to the Wind, and Hops and Glory. His discriminating palate has led him to be a judge in the Great Taste Awards and the Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards, and a frequent contributor to Radio 4's Food Programme.Trade ReviewWonderful, revelatory ... very moving -- Sheila Dillon, BBC Radio 4An absorbing love letter to the English apple tree...lyrical and joyful * The Times Literary Supplement *His ability to laugh at himself, openness to wonder and willingness to go wherever the search takes him make Brown an engaging writer and The Apple Orchard an entertaining journey * Mail on Sunday *A delightful book * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisA look at the range of close relationships between humans and wild and domesticated animals in the Himalayas.

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Book Synopsis Nudinits is back with a guide to getting it all out in the open. Bernard and Barbara, from the eccentric village of Woolly Bush, deep in the English countryside, are here to give you some helpful reflections on outdoor life. Woolly Bush has all the standard features of a typical village – the cake shop, the vegetable show, the vicar – apart from two big differences: it’s all made of wool, and none of the characters have clothes on! With all the usual bare-bottomed fun from nudinits, brimming with double entendres and jollity, this outdoorsy set of pictures and comments will have you laughing out loud. Bursting with British eccentricity and the odd bare bottom, this enchanting book will appeal to humour-lovers and knitting fans alike. N.B. This book does not contain any knitting patterns. For nudinits knitting patterns, check out Nudinits: Bare-bottomed Fun from the Village of Woolly Bush and Nudinits: A Naughty Knitted Noel.Trade Review‘Filled to the brim with bare-bottomed fun, these knitted tales of village life, complete with hilarious captions, will be sure to get you giggling’ -- Let's Knit‘If you are looking for some cheeky fun, you need to grab a copy of Going Wild in Woolly Bush’ -- Knit Now‘A cheeky treat for any knitter. Keep calm, avert your eye if necessary and carry on crafting’ -- Knitting

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Book Synopsisonly after childhood ended was he aware of the price the adults had paid for life in this most romantic of settings.Navigating family tensions and the trials of growing up, Will describes the close-knit community of North Yorkshire and his family's place within it: the shepherd probing the head-high snowdrifts for his flock;Trade ReviewA love letter to a family defined by a desire to make beauty and a gift for telling stories. The Wolf Pit has more quietly desperate heroism than any book I’ve ever read. -- Brian Morton * Sunday Herald *Persuasive, atmospheric writing. A love letter to a past world * Sunday Times *Bittersweet * The Times *The book takes on an existential desire to understand who we really are * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisRADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEKTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER''I couldn''t put it down. . . an important book, raw and simple enough that you can''t help but feel it deeply'' James Rebanks, author of The Shepherd''s LifeTalented and ambitious, Monica Potts and her best friend, Darci, were both determined to make something of themselves. How did their lives turn out so different? Growing up gifted and working-class in the foothills of the Ozarks, Monica and Darci became fast friends. Bonding over a shared love of learning, they pored over the giant map in their classroom, tracing their fingers over the world that awaited them, vowing to escape their broken town. In the end, Monica left Clinton for university and fulfilled her dreams. Darci, along with many in their circle of friends, did not. Years later, working as a journalist covering poverty, Monica discovers what she already intuitively knew about the women in ArkanTrade ReviewThink Elena Ferrante and My Brilliant Friend. Potts is excellent at showing how the political sentiments that white, poorly educated women uphold ultimately circumscribe their lives. In many ways it's a universal story: rural Britain fits this mould too -- Francesca Angelini * The Sunday Times *The Forgotten Girls rings with authenticity, a powerful, personal analysis of how women in poor, white, religious societies suffer. This, it struck me, isn't just an American story; it's the American story -- Melanie Reid * The Times *A modern classic on deprivation and the fine margins that exist between a life of plenty and one of relentless hardship * Prospect Magazine, Best Books of the Year *A deeply moving story of growing up in America's Bible Belt. I thought about it for days afterwards -- Francesca Steele * I News *The Forgotten Girls is a lament for lost opportunities and wasted lives; a controlled expression of rage at a system that fails so many even as it exploits their despair -- Stephanie Merritt * The Observer *At its heart an intensely moving, personal story of unbreakable friendship, this, like Tara Westover's Educated, is a book that packs a much wider resonance at a time when the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider across the world. It asks vital questions about life chances; and the seeming randomness of who gets them, and who doesn't -- Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller, Non-Fiction Book of the Month *This is a patient, heartfelt description of the dark side of the American dream, a once vibrant community abandoned by global capitalism, and prey to any demagogue promising to 'Make America Great Again' * The Tablet *Not everyone can live the American Dream in the Land of the Free, as Monica Potts discovers when she returns to her Arkansas hometown to investigate the drop in life expectancy in women in rural areas. In The Forgotten Girls, she reconnects with an old friend who has fallen into a common cycle of poverty and opioid abuse. This autobiographical tale tells a very different American Story, rife with systemic injustices and societal constraints -- Rhiannon Thomas * Radio Times *Tender, perceptive, important - and heartbreaking -- Lee ChildI couldn't put it down. . . American culture has a toxic forgetting at its heart, a forgetting about communities that have lost their way and a blindness to why they fail. It made me think of so many people's lives in small towns and rural areas in Britain -- a powerful reminder that when you forget about people and consign them to eternity in failing places, then you create something deeply harmful for all of us. It is an important book, raw and simple enough that you can't help but feel it deeply -- James Rebanks, author of English PastoralA tender memoir of a lifelong friendship and a shocking account of hardship in rural America, The Forgotten Girls is beautifully written, painstakingly researched and deeply affecting -- Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the TrainThe Forgotten Girls is much more than a memoir; it's the unflinching story of rural women trying to live in the most rugged, ultra-religious and left-behind places in America. Rendering what she sees with poignancy and whip-smart analyses, Monica Potts took a gutsy, open-hearted journey home and turned it into art -- Beth Macy, author of DopesickBeautiful and hard, a deeply reported memoir of a place, a friendship, a childhood and a country riven by systemic injustices transformed into individual tragedies. Monica Potts is a gifted writer; I read this extraordinary story of friendship and sisterhood, ambition and loss in rural America in one sitting; it is propulsive, clear and really important -- Rebecca Traister, author of Good and MadMonica Potts tells a compelling story of grief and friendship rooted in the cycles of generational pain in rural Arkansas. Her story of growing up in Clinton, needing to leave, and the compulsion to return to a place of love and disappointment is a devastating tale of the suffering writ large across the dislocated American heartland. -- Helen Thompson, author of DisorderA deeply personal memoir of childhood. Potts has created a complicated tribute to her friend and to a generation 'set up for failure' -- Katy Guest * The Mail on Sunday *A troubling tale of heartland America in cardiac arrest, of friendship tested, of meth and Sonic burgers and every other kind of bad nourishment, of what we have let happen to our rural towns, and what they have invited on themselves. A personal and highly readable story about two women in a small cranny of America, but which offers an illuminating panorama of where our country stands -- Sam Quinones, author of DreamlandIn a landscape where writing grounded in true events is expected to be either objective reporting about events from which the writer is fully detached or confessional lived experience, Monica Potts has created a rare mix of reportage and memoir that brings the best of both forms to bear on an empathetic and nuanced examination, told from an insider's perspective, of what it means to be working class, white, and female in America today -- Emma Copley Eisenberg, author of The Third Rainbow GirlA masterly labour of love. In its unflinching exploration of character, circumstance and destiny, it's perfect. * Prospect Magazine *

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Book SynopsisA delightfully nostalgic novel set in the Cotswold village of Fairacre novel from the author of VILLAGE SCHOOL''Delicious wit, quirky characters, the colourful intrigues of daily life, and certainly love and laughter ... delightful'' bestselling author Jan Karon''No matter how devoted, dedicated, conscientious and altogether noble a teacher is, I feel pretty sure that each and everyone feels the same sense of freedom and relief from her chains when the end of term arrives...''So it is for Miss Read - but on the very first day of the long summer holiday she falls and breaks her arm. Instantly, all her plans for the holidays are in tatters.But Miss Read''s friend, Amy, comes up with an idea: and so it is that the two of them leave Fairacre for the island of Crete. The change of scene provides a welcome break for both women, giving Miss Read the opportunity to recuperate, and for them both to discuss the merits of single and married life. And when

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Book SynopsisVillage Housing examines frameworks and projects that address the needs of residents and communities in rural settlements in the UK and overseas.

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Book SynopsisThe border between Scotland and England is rich in history. It has been the site of battles, treaties, castles and crossroads. It is also a place where both countries display their nationalism: Saltires flying in the north, the Cross of St George to the south. But it can also be a lens through which to look at the changing history and identities of these two countries.Alistair Moffat is a life-long borderer and the ideal guide on this one-hundred-mile journey. We begin just north of the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Already the battlelines have been drawn - the town having been grabbed by the English from Berwickshire in 1482 and never given back. From here we will head west as our tour travels backwards and forwards through history. In all, we will walk through eight centuries before we reach our journey's end at the mouth of the River Sark.Between Britain is a history book, a travelogue, a personal reminiscence and a gently prodding examination of national identity. But above all it is a celebration of a place and the people who live there.Trade ReviewA study in nationalism . . . A journey of 100 miles but one that time travel[s] through 800 years of complex history * * Sunday Post * *Praise for Alistair Moffat: [To the Island of Tides] is often beautifully evocative of places, the past and the landscape . . . compelling and revealing * * The Times * *Extraordinary . . . There is a powerful, natural beauty in Moffat's writing * * Herald * *[Moffat] is a great teacher . . . Alert though he is to change and to the world we have lived into, he is forever in search of time that is lost and can be recovered. Enthralling . . . * * Scotsman * *Joyous . . . [The Secret History of Here] is a delightful meditation on a place, and on the role that humans played in its evolution * * Foreword * *Absorbing and thought-provoking * * Countryfile * *Truly fascinating * * Sunday Mail * *

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Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1948, and edited by the artist John Piper, An English Farmhouse is Geoffrey Grigson's careful survey of the old English farmhouse, and its associated buildings, whether made from sarsen, thatch, timber, tile or brick. Grigson paints a vivid and human picture of rural life in the preceding centuries and creates a delicate weave of social history.

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Book SynopsisRural England is a mythic space, a complex canvas on which people from many different backgrounds project all kinds of fantasies, prejudices, desires and fears. This book seeks to challenge many of these ideas, showing how the artificial divide between rural and urban works to conceal the underlying relationship between these two fundamental poles of human settlement. This investigation of rurality is oriented from a fixed point in north-west Hampshire, marked by a signpost that points in four directions to two towns, four villages and two hamlets. Through stories, interviews and reportage gathered over two decades, the book demolishes tired notions of rural England that cast it as a separate realm of existence, whether marooned in a perpetual time-warp, or reduced to a refuge for the retired, wealthy urbanites, extreme nature-lovers, and, more recently, anyone tired of waiting out the pandemic in towns and cities. It poses two simple questions: what does the word rural mean today? What will it mean tomorrow? The author is an ambivalent native, held captive to the land by an umbilical cord but always on the verge of fleeing home to the city. Both argument and narrative are propelled by the urgent need to reconsider the concept of ‘countryside’ in the context of the climate emergency and the patent collapse of ecosystems due to intensive farming which has poisoned the land. She writes from a feminist, postcolonial standpoint that is alert to the slow violence of historical processes taking place over many centuries; enslavement, colonialism, industrialisation, globalisation. Trade Review"This incisive work beautifully excavates the troubled, ultimately colonial, inheritance that haunts the making of modern British rural life.""A profoundly affecting and fierce case for re-finding the commons that once traversed and transcended the ownership mantras that have ousted and poisoned so much of the living world. Ware brings the world to bear on a hamlet, the smallest form of human settlement, and the hamlet, a piece of ground, to bear on the world and the planet.""A riveting environmental, historical and personal account, Return of a Native transforms our understanding of the local as Vron Ware reveals the complex connections of the land, its food and animal production and human and nonhuman inhabitants to global networks of agriculture, commerce and politics.""A thorough, enthralling and spirited reconstruction of what it took to be modern, Return of a Native is a gold mine. In this masterful exercise in retrospective geography, Vron Ware invites her reader to learn anew how touching the solid clay beneath our feet can yield such vibrant life, at least for the time being.""In traversing the English countryside, comes an account which thinks beyond local histories and provincial politics. Ware gives us a moving and often funny personal story which offers a fresh look at urgent questions relating to environmentalism, colonial legacies, class, culture and nationalism."“Return of a Native bears the compelling message that if you want to understand the world around you, look to the ground beneath your feet. Vron Ware excavates stories that shed new light on our own age, and should prompt us to rethink the way we relate to the land, to our histories and to one another.”"Like a twenty-first-century William Blake, Ware's view of England's 'green and pleasant land' is haunted by dark shadows and damage from its ruined soil, haunted colonial past, and national self-mutilations of Brexit. A brilliant, beautiful & chilling portrait of England's fateful present.""Ware's subtle and fascinating research steers us round rural twist after rural turn towards what we can only hope will be a more equitable future.""In the wake of the pandemic and as the borders between the rural and urban grow ever more porous, this illuminating anatomy of the English countryside is a timely read.""A sly, luminous, brutal, and funny excavation of rural place through time, Return of a Native brings to mind not only Hardy but also Saramago. The churn of consciousness haunts every page. Ware raises from the ground an English village’s interdependence with otherwises and elsewheres of imperial modernity."

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Book Synopsis'As a child I think we lived on rabbit - boiled, roasted or stewed, it was a staple diet for many families ...' Birdlip, Cold Slad, Crickey Hill and the Air Balloon Inn: growing up in a hamlet of only six houses, John Townsend's humble childhood is full of hardships and adventures in the rough Cotswold hills. His youthful talent for uncovering scrap metal is the beginning of a career in antiques - one which will bring its own surprises, including an encounter with a ghost ... Warm and full of character, this is an invaluable picture of life in rural Gloucestershire in the 1940s, 1950s and beyond

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Book SynopsisA 2-4 player card game of trains, tracks, and tricky decisions designed by the award-winning design duo Brett J. Gilbert and Matthew Dunstan.In the sleepy English countryside, life continues undisturbed as it has for centuries. It is up to you to travel to every corner of this land, bearing the promise of modernisation, accommodating the oddly specific demands of the locals, and ushering in the age of steam.In Village Rails, you will be criss-crossing the fields of England with railway lines, connecting villages together, and navigating the complex and ever-changing demands of rural communities. Connect stations and farmsteads to your local network while placing your railway signals and sidings ever so carefully. Meet the exacting standards of cantankerous locals planning strangely specific trips, and weigh their demands against your limited funding. There is much to balance in this tricky tableau-building card game of locomotives and local motives.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Downey challenges the ideas that schools are engines of inequality and that schools can be effectively transformed to substantially reduce inequality. Having completed some of the most influential recent work on the topic, he shows that most of the inequalities we observe are rooted in skills children do and do not possess on their very first day of school., and the evidence suggests that For the most part, schools keep differences from getting bigger. Schools can only get you part of the way If you want to have to a more equal opportunity structure for kids. If equality of opportunity is your goal, then you have to invest more heavily in solutions outside rather than inside of schools."--Eric Grodsky, University of Wisconsin-Madison "This book is a must-read for anyone interested in education equality and policy. How Schools Really Matter offers a much-needed corrective to the assumption that student achievement gaps are the product of woefully inadequate schools and teachers. Downey shows that schools compensate for out of school inequality much more than we give them credit for."--Janice Aurini, University of Waterloo "Downey's book takes on the widely held belief that our public schools are failing our neediest children, most especially children of low-income background. Critics on the left invoke underfunded schools, underqualified and undermotivated teachers, and hyper-segregation; for those on the right, and some on the left, it is the opening for charter schools and vouchers. Wrong, says Downey: our schools, on the whole, lift up poor children, not hold them back, implicating instead inequities experienced over the preschool years and in children's home lives outside of school. Read this important book with an open mind. It could very well change how you--how we all--think about schools and inequality." --Karl Alexander, co-editor of The Summer Slide: What We Know and Can Do About Summer Learning Loss "It's not often that a publication changes the way we think the world works. Communicated in remarkably clear prose, Downey's incisive empirically based analysis reveals that inequality increases significantly when children are out of, not while they are in, school. How School's Really Matter is an eye-opener, as well as a call to action--that is, a more focused endeavor to reduce the large disparities in children's social and physical environments, including those of their early childhood." --William Julius Wilson, Harvard UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction Part I: Why We Shouldn’t Be Blaming Schools So Much Chapter 1: The Forgotten 87 Percent Herbert Walberg’s outrageous claim Trying to understand how schools matter when you have an eight-hundred-pound gorilla problem Chapter 2: Chickens, Eggs, and Achievement Gaps When do achievement gaps emerge? Scaling matters Why the early years are so important Relative deprivation matters too Conclusion Chapter 3: One Very Surprising Pattern about Schools Soccer coaches and schools Trying to understand how schools matter Seasonal comparisons What do we learn from the few studies that have collected data seasonally? Conclusion Chapter 4: And Now a Second, Even More Surprising Pattern School achievement, growth, and impact Objections Conclusion Part II: A New Way to Think about Schools and Inequality Chapter 5: More Like Reflectors than Generators Schools generating inequality Two examples of schools reflecting broader society What about those high-flying schools? Underestimating early childhood Conclusion: A diminished role for schools, an enhanced role for early childhood Chapter 6: As Helping More than Hurting Schools as compensatory: The weak form Schools as compensatory: The strong form Conclusion Chapter 7: A Frida Sofia Problem Schools and inequality: Stuck within the traditional framing Our value for limited government Fear of “blaming the victim” Gender and the vulnerability of schools Conclusion Chapter 8: The Costly Assumption Rich guys trying to reduce achievement gaps The never-ending quest to reform schools The great distractor So what should we do? Acknowledgments Appendix A: The Early Childhood Longitudinal Datasets (ECLS-K:1998 and ECLS-K:2010) Appendix B: Limitations of Seasonal Comparison Studies Appendix C: How Should Social Scientists Study Schools and Inequality? Notes References Index

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisA unique collection of contributions from leading authorities on countryside and landscape history, this book honours the memory of Oliver Rackham. Ranging all over Europe from Bialowieza Forest in Poland to the Mediterranean, and across the world from New England to northern Japan, the many perspectives make for a diverse and cogent conversation.

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Book SynopsisThere’s more to life than being fabulous… but it’s a startRoz and Jamie have moved to leafy Suffolk from London in search of a quiet life, so it’s a shock to find the village embarking on its riotous annual drag competition. Fuelled by large quantities of alcohol and boisterous community spirit, they are soon caught up in a battle for the identity of the village itself against those who’d prefer to stay stuck in the past.Meanwhile in San Francisco, Drew is facing his own challenge to save his drag club and the livelihoods of his closest friends. When he finds out about a small English village putting on a drag competition, inspiration strikes – and worlds collide.Appearances are not everything and sometimes human connections can surprise us, but will these realisations be too late to save the village and Drew’s club?A gorgeously fun, heartwarming and tender story of unexpected friendships and acceptance.'This is like an edgy Jilly Cooper – lots of eccentric characters and a lot of fun!' Katie Fforde'Truly terrific...I love this book' Judy Astley'High jinks and high heels... Imagine The Archers in drag, with a huge heart and lots of laughs' Veronica Henry

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Book Synopsis'A beautiful and poetic meditation on loss, nature, and what matters in life.' - Nigel WarburtonFrom the BAFTA award-winning writer of The New Yorker short film, Heart ValleyKiran Sidhu never thought she could leave London, but when her mother passes away, she knows she has to walk out of her old life and leave her toxic family behind. She chooses fresh air, an auditorium of silence and the purity of the natural world - and soon arrives in Cellan, a small, remote village nestled in the Welsh valleys.At first, the barrenness and isolation is strange. But as the months wear on, Kiran starts to connect with the close-knit community she finds there; her neighbour Sarah, who shows her how to sledge when the winter snow arrives; Jane, a 70-year-old woman who lives at the top of a mountain with three dogs and four alpacas; and Wilf, the farmer who eats the same supper every day, and teaches Kiran that the cuckoo arrives in April and leaves in July. Tender, philosophical and moving, I Can Hear the Cuckoo is a story about redefining family, about rebirth and renewal, and respecting the rhythm and timing of the earth. It's a book about moving through grief and the people we find in the midst of our sadness - and what this small community in the Welsh countryside can teach us about life.

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Book SynopsisIt can be easy to assume nothing much happens beyond the city, if that''s all you''ve known. But that, of course, is far from the truth.Here, across six themed chapters, journalist Annabelle Hickson shares a different perspective on life in regional Australia, featuring stories from the coast to the farms, from the bush to the towns, from the rainforest to the outback. Annabelle brings together the best work from more than 50 leading writers, photographers and artists from her award-winning magazine, celebrating not only incredible landscapes and remarkable, beautiful places, but also the diversity, resourcefulness and creativity of the people that call the country home.

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Book SynopsisSet in and around the dark, misty canals of Lichfield, Stephen Booth''s incredible new novel is awash with mystery.When council officer Chris Buckley is approached by an odd old man demanding help in healing a decades-old family rift, he sends the stranger away.But then the old man is murdered, and the police arrive on the Chris''s doorstep asking questions to which he has no answers.As Chris begins to look into the circumstances of the murder, he uncovers a deadly secret in the silt and mud of the local canals that he''ll realise was better kept buried.PRAISE FOR STEPHEN BOOTH''Makes high summer as terrifying as midwinter''Val McDermid''A modern master''Guardian''Crime writing of the finest quality''Daily Mail''Ingenious plotting and richly atmospheric''Reginald Hill''A first-rate mystery''Sunday TelegraphTrade ReviewClever, beautifully written and superbly plotted, this is an entertaining page-turner with a compelling twist in the tail. * Lancashire Evening Post *The brooding presence of Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District, hangs over Stephen Booth'sfine novel Fall down Dead * Sunday Times *The historical details add fascinating depth to this big fat mystery * Evening Standard *Stephen Booth (of the Cooper & Fry police series) has written a crackerjack standalone novel in Drowned Lives * Winnipeg Free Press *The Peak District setting is as striking as ever . . . the ever-present threat of violence will get under your skin. * Real Crime *The master of this territory * Sunday Express *This is an enjoyable, very readable yet understated crime novel by an accomplished author. * Crime Fiction Lover *The highest of the Derbyshire peaks is the dramatic setting . . . Gripping * The Times *The underlying mystery and the moments of high drama place the novel firmly in the crime genre, but the mix of ingredients adds up to far more. Drowned Lives is Stephen Booth at the top of his game * Mystery People *An interesting and absorbing personal read that I enjoyed as a fan of Booth's many other crime thrillers. I am sure book clubs will love the theme and have much to discuss and unravel * NB *An elegant reflection of what's happening in the country at large. * The Book Bag *All through the book is a chilld atsmophere and it gives a tight edginess to the tale. Another excellent read from Booth * Sunday Sport *Packed with the misty atmosphere of the Saffordshire canals . . . I loved both the historical and modern storylines and the moody waterways' backdrop * Peterborough Evening Telegraph *I love reading about these characters. I love the world in which Ben moves and I really enjoy the cases with which he is confronted. I always look forward to the next installment of this wonderful series. * For Winter Nights *A compelling read with well-developed characters. Equally fascinating was the way the background to the group of hikers was revealed, and eventually the killer was unmasked. But I didn't guess who! Most highly recommended * Mystery People *As ever in Booth's long-running, award-winning and hugely popular Peak District series, it's the extraordinary landscape and its often violent history that most captivates the reader * Morning Star *The plot is good, with plenty of twists and a villain I didn't spot even though there were plenty of clues * The Book Bag (blog) *

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Book SynopsisThe sixth, fully updated edition of this bestselling guide links the theory and practice of community work in an insightful and relatable read for students and practitioners. The textbook features brand new sections on work in health, housing, with children, young people and those with disabilities and the changing role of IT.

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Book SynopsisSomething old, something new, something borrowed, something untrue…Edie has enough on her plate keeping her tyrannical boss happy at Moira’s Wedding Shop. So when society bride Tia begs Edie to design her wedding dress – and keep it a secret from the domineering mother-in-law to be – Edie reluctantly says ‘I will’ to making Tia’s dream come true. If her deception is found out, though, it would mean losing her job…Meanwhile best man James has his eye on Edie and he’s proving ever harder for her to resist. James is upper-crust and Edie’s one unexpected bill away from the breadline – they’re from completely different worlds and there’s no way it can ever work between them… right?A charming, feel-good romance for fans of Daisy James, Holly Martin and Portia MacIntosh.

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