Everyday at least for that great patroness... loved not least because she paid her bills on time. This illustrated chronology of the porcelain, its commissioning and use, is a magnificent bo... read more
The role of our emotions in the light of recent research in multiple fields - psychology, neuroscience, biology. Mlodinow is a hugely popular science writer, and has written books with Steph... read more
A traditional rock climber for a decade or more, Fleming describes the dance between the self and the rock and its electrifying charge. It's also, for her, the ultimate way to connect with n... read more
A feminist polemic that looks at women's resistance to male domination, both historically and now, and the consequences of independence, education, knowledge and power.
An atmospheric, creepy thriller set in a remote valley in northern Italy, where a writer, investigating an apparent drowning many years before, is hampered by superstition.
100 recipes, 100 photographs: more than a traditional cookbook, this celebrates Lee Miller's polymathic approach to life - surrealist, photographer, model, cook, war correspondent... The aut... read more
A look at Nash's other work - illustration, book jackets, posters, set design, pattern papers, fabrics, glass, ceramics and photography. The author has previously written biographies of Nash... read more
An emergency to rival climate change: all of life on earth as we know it relies on insects, and their numbers are in free-fall. Unnerving and important reminder that global pollution and agr... read more
Rewarding as a study on Bacon - it gets closer to understanding his enigma than anything has since - this memoir is also a tribute to Sylvester's clarity and verve. A re-issue, this was firs... read more
A study of that curious phenomenon: the deification of explorers, politicians, rulers and mavericks, from Columbus to Prince Philip, the late volcano god. A smart take on empire too; provoca... read more
A memoir by the Egytian woman who set up an independent book shop with a friend and her sister in 2002 - ten years later it had grown to include ten shops and 150 employees. Full of the nois... read more
Translated from the French, a biography of the complex Swiss founder of the Red Cross, a devout Christian and social activist, but also an ambitious - and unsuccessful - businessman.
A powerful coming-of-age story - and its consequences for others - by the French-Mauritian writer who won the Prix Femina des Lyceens for The Tropic of Violence.
A foray into the rich but slender vein of European art history devoted to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. During the 50 years in question, the region experienced successive Tsarist rule, Germ... read more
Secular wisdom in an age of unbelief, from Montaigne, Akhmatova, Hume, Camus, Cicero, Job and many others who sought, lost or found consolation. Perceptive, intelligent, a giving of necessar... read more
A powerful novel set in the closing stages of WW2, in which a 12-year-old girl escapes to the German countryside with her mother and older sister. Translated from the German.
In 1864 the Austrian Archduke Maximilian went to assume a distant throne. The operatic episode ended in his death by firing squad, famously memorialised by Manet.