The distinguished archaeologist looks at 15 'scenes' in Britain over the last million years, to understand the changing daily routines of people and their impact on the landscape.
A work of self-investigation by a remarkable and versatile writer, which explores why an artist would respond to the world without being invited to do so. Essays about voice, finding it and ... read more
Petterson has not been kind to his protagonist, removing from him by traumatic means his wife, three daughters, parents and brothers. It is no surprise that he is pole-axed by grief; will Pe... read more
Draws on his own family's experience of emigrating from India to Britain and America to show how the West is being destroyed not by immigrants but by its fear of immigrants.
Parini really did travel around Scotland with Borges in an old Morris Minor, his ears flapping, heart opening and mind sharpening all the way. The result is a wonderful work of autofiction -... read more
A rollicking account of the pursuit of love among the Good, the Bad and the Beautiful; abridged from 3 large volumes of memoirs that he left on his death in 2011.
A biography of Mildred Harnack (by her great-great-niece), the American woman who worked with political activists in Berlin1930s and then, when WW2 broke out, with the German resitance. She ... read more
From its source to the sea: its wildlife, geography, natural history, people and history. Good non-fcition, imaginatively illustrated and conceived, for ages 7-10.
First published in 1901, Mawson's book was hugely influential for decades, both for garden designers and landscape gardeners. Large format, handsomely produced in dark green cloth, many ill... read more
Berberova was one of the great Russian emigrée writers, best known for her short stories and memoir. This novel - about the experiences of a group of exiles, is its first translation into E... read more
The buildings that are falling into disuse and ruin all around the UK were once essential in their communities. This study - from the Anglo-Saxons to the mid-C16th shows how they worked.
Satisfyingly creepy crime novel from the acclaimed Icelandic author: a doll caught in a fishing net, dead bodies, cold cases... an atmospheric and well-plotted chiller to read in sunlight!
Soon after her husband leaves her, Pru goes to a friend's funeral - but it's the wrong one. She has such fun that she buys a black dress and starts attending strangers' funerals quite delibe... read more
A powerful exploration of illicit desire, in which a 17-year-old girl has a crush on a friend of her parents that turns on some dark events of 24 years previously.
Friends are hard to find for Jon Swift, an aging journalist whose career is on the ropes. A chance encounter with an old friend from Tiananmen Square days leads to power games in China, with... read more
New edition of these wonderful, open-eyed letters by the wife of the British ambassador to the Sublime Porte; fascinating glimpses of the world of Ottoman women, not least their practice of ... read more
A delightful extended riff on books and reading from a man with various pseudonyms (Jennie Walker, Jack Robinson...). Its subtitle is 'A book about books, mostly. And bonfires, cliches, dyst... read more