Classics / Collection
Looking for a lovely book gift for someone? Or you just like to own quality hardback books and limited edition designs? Have a browse at what is available. When we find something lovely, we try to include it here.
That Glimpse of Truth : 100 Finest Short Stories (softback)
£18.99
A fabulous collection of all time short story greats - including Dickens, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, Roald Dahl, Kate Atkinson and so much more. One to enjoy.
Due to be reissued in an updated format from 09 Dec 2021. Profound, lyrical, shocking, wise: the short story is capable of almost anything. This collection of 100 of the finest stories ever written ranges from the essential to the unexpected, the traditional to the surreal.
Wide in scope, both beautiful and vast, this is the perfect companion for any fiction lover. Here are childhood favourites and neglected masters, twenty-first century wits and national treasures, Man Booker Prize winners and Nobel Laureates. Featuring an all-star cast of authors, including Kate Atkinson, Julian Barnes, Angela Carter, Anton Chekhov, Richmal Crompton, Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl, Penelope Fitzgerald, Gustave Flaubert, Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham, Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, V.S.
Pritchett, Thomas Pynchon, Muriel Spark and Colm Toibin, That Glimpse of Truth is the biggest, most handsome collection of short fiction in print today.
Everyman’s Library Classics: hardback collector editions
£15.00
Beautiful gift edition - for example, Wedding Stories. Perfect for anyone contemplating a wedding. Short stories encompass engagements broken and mended, honeymoon adventures and glamorous and eccentric weddings.
Part of a collectors series - Horses / Dogs / Golf / Kitchen / Erotic/ Fishing / London / Love / Ghost / Detective
Compiled and edited by Diana Secker Tesdell.
* please note these are sometimes out of stock, I will be in touch if any problems arise from your order *
Penguin Clothbound Classics
£16.99
Part of Penguin’s hardback Clothbound Classics series, designer by the award winning Coralie Bickford Smith, these colourful and tactile editions feature a range of classic but very readable titles:
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
Pride and Prejudice
Great Expectations
Frankenstein
Persuasion
Please ask if your favourite title is available in a clothbound edition!
The Poetry Pharmacy, edited by William Sieghart ( clothbound hardback)
£14.99
Not just poems, but words of wisdom and solace for a whole range of spiritual ailments. A lovely thing indeed.
'Truly a marvellous collection ... There is balm for the soul, fire for the belly, a cooling compress for the fevered brow, solace for the wounded, an arm around the lonely shoulder - the whole collection is a matchless compound of hug, tonic and kiss' Stephen FrySometimes only a poem will do. These poetic prescriptions and wise words of advice offer comfort, delight and inspiration for all; a space for reflection, and that precious realization - I'm not the only one who feels like this.
In the years since he first had the idea of prescribing short, powerful poems for all manner of spiritual ailments, William Sieghart has taken his Poetry Pharmacy around the length and breadth of Britain, into the pages of the Guardian, onto BBC Radio 4 and onto the television, honing his prescriptions all the time. This pocket-sized book presents the most essential poems in his dispensary: those which, again and again, have really shown themselves to work. Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even from an excess of ego, there is something here to ease your pain.
New volume available from September 2019 'The Poetry Pharmacy Returns' with new reader chosen options and most popular requests.
The Boy: His Stories and How they Came to Be, by Oliver Jeffers ( 2018 hardback)
£25.00
A spectacular collection of four much-loved modern classics from the multi award-winning, internationally best-selling picture book creator, Oliver Jeffers, along with a captivating behind-the-scenes look at the making of each in four fascinating sketchbook sections. Oliver Jeffers is originally from NI, although now based in New York.
Contains the following stories: How to Catch a Star, Lost and Found, The Way Back Home, & Up and Down. Also within the pages of this exquisite collection is a special letter from Oliver Jeffers and more than 100 wonderfully distinctive sketches, notes and ideas, carefully chosen from his archives and revealed here for the first time. A real collectible edition.
Macmillan Collector’s Library
£9.99
We stock a comprehensive range of the Macmillan hardback classics, beautifully illustrated with quality fly leaf covers and ribbon bookmark.
Please ask if the title you are looking for exists in this format.
The Art of the Glimpse (hardback, October 2020)
£25.00
An anthology of the very best Irish short stories, selected by Sinead Gleeson, author of Constellations. There have been many anthologies of the short story as it developed in Ireland, but never a collection like this. The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and marginalised voices - women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, lost 19th-century voices and the first wave of 'new Irish' writers from elsewhere now making a life in Ireland.
Beautifully bound, with ribbon marker.
The collection paints a tremendous spectrum of experience: the story of a prank come good by Bram Stoker; Sally Rooney on the love languages of the new generation; Donal Ryan on the pains of ageing; Edna O'Brien on political entanglements; James Joyce on losing a loved one; and the internal monologue of a coma sufferer by Marian Keyes. List of contributing authors: Samuel Beckett, Sally Rooney, Melatu Uche Okirie, William Trevor, Marian Keyes, Kevin Barry, Edna O'Brien, Claire-Louise Bennett, Sheridan Le Fanu, Danielle McLaughlin, Mairtin O Cathain, Frances Molloy, Blindboy Boatclub, Elizabeth Bowen, Frank O'Connor, Chiamaka Emyi-Amadi, John McGahern, Anne Enright, Mike McCormack, Maeve Brennan, Oein de Bhairduin, Eimear McBride, Sean O Faolain, Cathy Sweeney.
Only a Few copies left as of Feb 2025
The Wind In The Willows - 90th Anniversary picture book version ( paperback)
£7.99
A stylish foiled picture book adaptation - celebrating 90 years of E. H. Shepard's iconic original illustrations!
Story beautifully abridged by Timothy Knapman, perfect for 3 -6 year olds to introduce them to the classic story.
"Don't you know?" grinned Rat. "Oh, Mole! There is nothing half so much fun as simply messing about in boats!" A world of wonders awaits Mole as he emerges from his little underground home one spring day.
He discovers the sights and delights of the river aboard Rat's rowing boat. He ventures into the Wild Wood, home to kindly Badger. In the company of fun-loving Toad, he feels the thrill of the open road.
But Mole soon learns that where there is Toad, there is trouble. Toad has a dangerous new hobby, and Mole and his friends must use all their wits and courage to keep him from disaster! Kenneth Grahame's delightful characters, Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad, have entertained generations of children.
The Letters of John McGahern ( hardback, Sept 2021 / paperback 2022)
£30.00
I am no good at letters. John McGahern, 1963
John McGahern is consistently hailed as one of the finest Irish writers since James Joyce and Samuel Beckett. This volume collects some of the witty, profound and unfailingly brilliant letters that he exchanged with family, friends and literary luminaries - such as Seamus Heaney, Sophia Hillen, Colm Toibin and Paul Muldoon - over the course of a well-travelled life. It is one of the major contributions to the study of Irish and British literature of the past thirty years, acting not just as a crucial insight into the life and works of a much-revered writer - but also a history of post-war Irish literature and its close ties to British and American literary life.
'One of the greatest writers of our era.' Hilary Mantel' McGahern brings us that tonic gift of the best fiction, the sense of truth - the sense of transparency that permits us to see imaginary lives more clearly than we see our own.' John Updike
Cazalet Chronicles, Elizabeth Jane Howard (series)
£10.99
A modern classic of twentieth-century English life, these are beautiful new reprints of Elizabeth Jane Howard's extraordinary, bestselling family saga The Cazalet Chronicles. Every summer, the Cazalet brothers - Hugh, Edward and Rupert - return to the family home in the heart of the Sussex countryside with their wives and children. There, they are joined by their parents and unmarried sister Rachel to enjoy two blissful months of picnics, games, and excursions to the coast.But despite the idyllic setting, nothing can be done to soothe the siblings' heartache: Hugh is haunted by the ravages of the Great War, Edward is torn between his wife and his latest infidelity, and Rupert is in turmoil over his inability to please his demanding wife. Meanwhile, Rachel risks losing her only chance at happiness because of her unflinching loyalty to the family. With cover artwork exclusively designed by artist Luke Edward Hall, this will be an edition to treasure.
The Light Years is followed by Marking Time, the second book in the series. 'Charming, poignant and quite irresistible . .
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte (Wordsworth Edition)
£9.99
These Wordsworth editions are streamlined, attractive hardback covers, perfect as a gift and to introduce readers to the classics.
Jane Eyre ranks as one of the greatest and most perennially popular works of English fiction. Although the poor but plucky heroine is outwardly of plain appearance, she possesses an indomitable spirit, a sharp wit and great courage. She is forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order.
All of which circumscribe her life and position when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic and attractive Mr Rochester. However, there is great kindness and warmth in this epic love story, which is set against the magnificent backdrop of the Yorkshire moors. Ultimately the grand passion of Jane and Rochester is called upon to survive cruel revelation, loss and reunion, only to be confronted with tragedy.
Bedside Companion for Gardeners ( hardback)
£25.00
A mix of fact and fiction, fantasy and experience, the Bedside Companion for Gardeners is a treasure trove of green-fingered inspiration where practical advice blends seamlessly with poetry and prose from intrepid gardeners past and present. Dip in and out of this collection with an entry for every day of the year that draws on writing through the ages and from across the globe. The Bedside Companion for Gardeners incorporates practical advice from the 17th-century gardening diarist John Evelyn; inspiring prose from Elizabeth von Arnim and John Milton; astute commentary from Horace Walpole on William Kent and Nancy Mitford on the vulgarity of a Surrey garden.Kipling offers practical advice, while Tennyson waxes lyrical on an Arabian night garden. The perfect gift for any gardener, this magical book is an invaluable source of inspiration and guidance to revisit throughout the year.
The Group, Mary McCarthy ( paperback 2009, first published 1963)
£9.99
When first published in 1963, The Group was on a bestseller for almost two years. This ground-breaking novel, with its frank depiction of friendship, sex, and women's lives, was a revelation, and continues to inspire today. Mary McCarthy's most celebrated novel portrays the lives and aspirations of eight Vassar graduates.'The group' meet in New York following graduation to attend the wedding of one of their members - and reconvene seven years later at her funeral. The women, fresh from college, vowed not to become stuffy and frightened like their parents, but to lead fulfilling, emancipated lives; who really achieved this - and what sacrifices and compromises had to be made?' McCarthy's characters confront many of the same issues as their modern counterparts: sex and contraception, career and marriage, love and lust, fidelity to one's husband versus loyalty to one's friends and the attempt to carve out a place for oneself unconstrained by the gender limitations of previous generations. Its continuing relevance is one of the book's most extraordinary attributes' ELIZABETH DAY
Treasury of Nursery Rhymes, Ed Frann Preston-Gannon
£14.99
Explore an enchanting world of 101 nursery rhymes, poems and songs, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon, illustrator of I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree, which won Waterstones Children's Gift of the Year. This is the fourth title in the Nosy Crow Classics series, which includes The Velveteen Rabbit, Peter Pan and Heidi, all beautiful cloth-bound editions with foiled jackets and covers, and ribbon markers. In this captivating collection, you'll meet favourite friends Humpty Dumpty, the Owl and the Pussy-cat and Little Miss Muffet, as well as mermaids, elves and a whole host of animals at a magical fair.Discover games for playtime, songs for supper time and star-filled lullabies for bedtime. This rich anthology will delight the whole family and is the perfect birthday, Christmas or christening gift to treasure. Julia Donaldson praised Frann's previous poetry collection I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree, saying "This is an absolutely beautiful book."As well as winning Waterstones Children's Gift of the Year, Frann won Red Magazine's Big Book award and was the first UK recipient of the Sendak Fellowship, awarded by Maurice Sendak, creator of picture book classic Where the Wild Things Are.
Welcome To The World, Julia Donaldon & Helen Oxenbury ( paperback April 2023 )
£7.99
From two bestselling and awardwinning creators comes a magical, lyrical celebration of babies' first experiences. From the comfort of home to the adventure of the great outdoors, from family to first encounters with nature, Welcome to the World revels in the joy that comes with sharing this new world with children, and seeing it through their eyes. A perfect read-aloud story for sharing from Julia Donaldson and Helen Oxenbury.
Puffin Book of Bedtime Stories ( paperback Sept 2022)
£7.99
5% of the RRP from this book will go towards helping the National Literacy Trust continue their life-changing work - from carrying out vital research, to delivering transformational programmes on the ground. This includes Puffin World of Stories, a programme funded by Puffin which aims to give primary schools the tools they need to help re-vitalise their school library as a hub of creativity and imagination.
Cat’s Cookbook : Tales from Acorn Wood ( series) Julia Donaldson
£6.99
Lift the flaps and join in the fun with Cat's Cookbook, a story in the bestselling Tales from Acorn Wood preschool series by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, creators of The Gruffalo. Cat wants to learn to cook. Will she find a book to help her in Acorn Library? Lift the flaps to find out, and then join Cat and all her friends for a special surprise!With sturdy flaps on every spread and rhyming stories that are a joy to read aloud, Cat's Cookbook joins the bestselling Tales from Acorn Wood which have been delighting parents and children for over twenty years.More lift-the-flap adventures from Acorn Wood: Squirrel's Snowman, Mole's Spectacles and Badger's Band.
Darling, by India Knight ( paperback May 2023)
£9.99
Marooned in a sprawling farmhouse in Norfolk, teenage Linda Radlett feels herself destined for greater things.She longs for love, but how will she ever find it? She can't even get a signal on her mobile phone. Linda's strict, former rock star father terrifies any potential suitors away, while her bohemian mother, wafting around in silver jewellery, answers Linda's urgent questions about love with upsettingly vivid allusions to animal husbandry. Eventually Linda does find her way out from the bosom of her deeply eccentric extended family, and she escapes to London.
She knows she doesn't want to marry 'a man who looks like a pudding', as her good and dull sister Louisa has done, and marries the flashy, handsome son of a UKIP peer instead. But this is only the beginning of Linda's pursuit of love, a journey that will be wilder, more surprising and more complicated than she could ever have imagined. A razor-sharp, laugh-out-loud novel that re-imagines the cast of Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love.
The Bell Jar, Illustrated Edition, Sylvia Plath ( hardback Oct 2022)
£14.99
I felt very still and empty, the way the eye of a tornado must feel, moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo. Sylvia Plath's groundbreaking semi-autobiographical novel offers an intimate, honest and often wrenching glimpse into mental illness. The Bell Jar broke the boundaries between fiction and reality and helped cement Sylvia Plath's place as an enduring feminist icon.Celebrated for its darkly humorous, razor sharp portrait of 1950s society, it continues to resonate with readers today as testament to the universal human struggle to claim one's rightful place in the world. A special illustrated edition - the second book in our collection of illustrated Faber classics.
The Boy Who Lost His Spark, Maggie O'Farrell ( hardback October 2022)
£14.99
The new children's book from multi-award-winning author of Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell, paired once more with Daniela Terrazzini's stunning illustrations. When Jem and his family move to the countryside, he doesn't like his new home one bit. It's an old cottage on the side of a hill, where strange things keep happening: shoes are filled up with conkers, the stairs become tangled in a woollen maze.
Jem's sister Verity is certain it is the work of a "nouka", an ancient creature from local folklore that lives deep down inside the hill. Jem, however, is adamant that there is no such thing. But this small mythical creature, so attuned to the hearts and minds of others, does exist.
And, what's more, it is determined, through mischief and mayhem, to help Jem reignite the spark within himself once more.
Those of you who know Maggie O'Farrell's soothing style of writing will know that this is a very special children's story - Linda
Leila And The Blue Fox, Kiran Millwood Hargrave ( paperback October 2023)
£12.99
Come with an Arctic fox on a breathtaking journey ... an enthralling story from the bestselling, award-winning creators of Julia and the Shark. With dazzling blue and black illustrations and presented as a deluxe hardback with tracing paper inserts, this is a perfect gift for 9+ fans of The Last Bear and A Wolf Called Wander. She was very tired.She lay down, her soft head on her soft paws. The sunset licked her face. The snow covered her like a blanket.
Fox wakes, and begins to walk. She crosses ice and snow, over mountains and across frozen oceans, encountering bears and birds beneath the endless daylight of an Arctic summer, navigating a world that is vast, wild and wondrous. Meanwhile, Leila embarks on a journey of her own - finding her way to the mother who left her.
On a breathtaking journey across the sea, Leila rediscovers herself and the mother she thought she'd lost, with help from a determined little fox. Based on the true story of an Arctic fox who walked from Norway to Canada in seventy-six days, a distance of two thousand miles, this compelling, emotional and beautifully illustrated story is the perfect gift for 9+ readers. Praise for Julia and the Shark:'A tale of courage, understanding and compassion' The Observer'Julia and the Shark is deep, beautiful and true.
The art shines and the writing soars. A classic from cover to cover' Eoin Colfer'
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse : The Animated Story, Charlie Mackesy( November 2022)
£20.00
The Animated Story....
A journey, in search of home. Charlie Mackesy's beloved The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse has been adapted into an animated short film, coming to BBC One and iPlayer this Christmas. This beautifully made hardback celebrates the work of over 100 animators across two years of production - with Charlie's distinctive illustrations brought to life in full colour with hand-drawn traditional animation and accompanying hand-written script. "I made a film with some friends about a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse - their journey together and the boy's search for home.
I hope this book gives you courage and makes you feel loved." Love Charlie x
The Faber Book of Bedtime Stories ( hardback)
£20.00
A comforting story tonight for a happy day tomorrow . . .A gorgeous gift to treasure for years to come, this collection of bedtime stories is brimming with hope and positivity as an antidote to the at times challenging world we live in. Fabulously illustrated by Sarah McIntyre, the stories promote modern-day messages of inclusivity, acceptance and bravery in the face of adversity. With brand new stories from: Aisha Bushby, Ann Jungman, Ayesha Braganza, Claire Barker, Emma Carroll, Hannah Lee, Ingrid Persaud, Kate Saunders, Kieran Larwood, Lou Kuenzler, Lucy Farfort, Martyn Ford, Michael Mann, Natasha Farrant, Pip Jones, Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Reba Khatun.
The World : A Family History, Simon Sebag Montefiore ( paperback August 2023)
£14.99
From the master storyteller and internationally bestselling author - the story of humanity from prehistory to the present day, told through the one thing all humans have in common: family. We begin with the footsteps of a family walking along a beach 950,000 years ago. From here, Montefiore takes us on an exhilarating epic journey through the families that have shaped our world: the Caesars, Medicis and Incas, Ottomans and Mughals, Bonapartes, Habsburgs and Zulus, Rothschilds, Rockefellers and Krupps, Churchills, Kennedys, Castros, Nehrus, Pahlavis and Kenyattas, Saudis, Kims and Assads.A rich cast of complex characters form the beating heart of the story. Some are well-known leaders, from Alexander the Great, Attila, Ivan the Terrible and Genghis Khan to Hitler, Thatcher, Obama, Putin and Zelensky. Some are creative, from Socrates, Michelangelo and Shakespeare to Newton, Mozart, Balzac, Freud, Bowie and Tim Berners-Lee.
This is world history on the most grand and intimate scale - spanning centuries, continents and cultures, and linking grand themes of war, migration, plague, religion, medicine and technology to the people at the centre of the human drama.
As spellbinding as fiction, The World captures the story of humankind in all its joy, sorrow, romance, ingenuity and cruelty in a ground-breaking, single narrative that will forever shift the boundaries of what history can achieve.
La Serenissima | The Story of Venice, Jonathan Keates (paperback Nov 2023)
£14.99
A stunningly illustrated history of Venice, from its beginnings as 'La Serenissima' - 'the Most Serene Republic' - to the Italian city that continues to enchant visitors today. 'Everything about Venice,' observed Lord Byron, 'is, or was, extraordinary - her aspect is like a dream, and her history is like a romance.' Dream and romance have conditioned myriad encounters with Venice across the centuries, but the city's story embodies another kind of experience altogether - the hard reality of an independent state built on conquest, profit and entitlement and on the toughness and resilience of a free people. Masters of the sea, the Venetians raised an empire through an ethos of service and loyalty to a republic that lasted a thousand years.In this new study of key moments in Venice's history, from its half-legendary founding amid the collapse of the Roman empire to its modern survival as a fragile city of the arts menaced by saturation tourism and rising sea levels, Jonathan Keates shows us just how much this remarkable place has contributed to world culture and explains how it endures as an object of desire and inspiration for so many.
The Ottomans : Khans, Caesars and Caliphs (paperback Nov 2022)
£12.99
The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic-Asian antithesis of the Christian-European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottomans' multiethnic, multilingual, and multireligious domain reached deep into Europe's heart. In their breadth and versatility, the Ottoman rulers saw themselves as the new Romans.Recounting the Ottomans' remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, Marc David Baer traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic and Byzantine heritage; how they used both religious toleration and conversion to integrate conquered peoples; and how, in the nineteenth century, they embraced exclusivity, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and the dynasty's demise after the First World War. Upending Western concepts of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration, the Reformation, this account challenges our understandings of sexuality, orientalism and genocide. Radically retelling their remarkable story, The Ottomans is a magisterial portrait of a dynastic power, and the first to truly capture its cross-fertilisation between East and West.
The Planet’s Most Spiritual Places, Quarto Publishing ed Malcolm Croft (HB)
£25.00
This illustrated and deeply insightful guide explores 100 of the most spiritually significant places throughout the world, seeking to understand what it is that defines these sites. Spirituality has a multitude of meanings for the many who seek deeper significance in their lives. From ancient religions with their timeless places of worship to modern, contemporary followers of faith and new age travellers seeking enlightenment and illumination, we are drawn to all kinds of places in the search for profound meaning.
From a Polish Catholic praying in a large cathedral to a Portuguese surfer speechless in wonder at the majesty of the ocean, spirituality knows no bounds. The Planet's Most Spiritual Places brings together all definitions to present some of the most important places of spiritual significance, in stunning and immersive detail. We recognize that one person's spirituality can inspire another no matter their origin, history or nationality. We have included sites of spirituality from all around the world, from the established to the exotic, determining a number of fundamental definitions for our spiritual destinations:
1.Ancient Monuments 2. Places of Worship 3. Natural Wonders 4.Centres of Enlightenment 5. Pilgrimage 6. Living Landmarks
As readers will discover, the complex history of the world often defines where - and how - spirituality can be found.
Little Cloth Bound Classics ( From Penguin)
£9.99
Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith.
Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. Today, George Orwell is perhaps most famous for his iconic novels - Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm - but in his own time it was his remarkable nonfiction writing which drew most attention.
Kind-hearted, intelligent, often funny, occasionally indignant, always insightful: his essays are some of the best ever written. Among others, this selection includes 'Shooting an Elephant', 'Such, Such Were the Joys' and 'Some Thoughts on the Common Toad'.
Wild Embrace : Connecting to the Wonder of Ireland's Natural World, Anja Murray
£14.99
Wild Embrace is about cultivating curiosity and awe in nature, in a time of eco-anxiety and overwhelm. As ecologist Anja Murray opens our eyes to the hidden bounty of the land, sea and sky around us, we head out on a unique journey through the Irish landscape.She explores the joy of foraging, the marvels of Irish birds, the roles of our native trees in environmental regeneration, nature at night and in the city, and much more - including fascinating insights into our ecological past. With beautiful illustrations by Jane Carkill (@lamblittle), Wild Embrace awakens our senses to the everyday environmental wonders within reach, as we set out on a path to empowered change into the future.
Exploring Ireland : A Guide To The Irish Outdoors, David Flanagan ( Dec 2022)
£30.00
Exploring Ireland is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the outdoors, from families looking for gentle Sunday strolls to experienced adventurers seeking out challenging hikes, paddles and cycles. This inspiring guidebook contains over 1700 things to do and places to see across the length and breadth of the island of Ireland. It's perfect for planning days out, weekends away and longer holidays.This book's 384 pages are packed with over 600 spectacular photos and detailed information on Ireland's beaches, signposted walks, mountain hikes, long-distance trails, blueways, greenways, cycle routes, forests, islands, rivers, lakes, heritage sites, parks and gardens, as well as a selection of interesting places to stay and eat.
The Forty Rules of Love, Elif Shafak ( paperback May 2023)
£8.99
The Forty Rules of Love is part of our Penguin Essentials series which spotlights the very best of our modern classics*One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped the World'*"Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven't loved enough..."Ella Rubinstein has a husband, three teenage children, and a pleasant home. Everything that should make her confident and fulfilled.Yet there is an emptiness at the heart of Ella's life - an emptiness once filled by love. So when Ella reads a manuscript about the thirteenth-century Sufi poet Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, and his forty rules of life and love, her world is turned upside down. She embarks on a journey to meet the mysterious author of this work.
It is a quest infused with Sufi mysticism and verse, taking Ella and us into an exotic world where faith and love are heartbreakingly explored. . .
'The past and present fit together beautifully in a passionate defence of passion itself' The Times'
The Analog Sea Review ( 4 EDITIONS)
£20.50
The Analog Sea Review is a small (18cm x 11.5cm) literary journal published between offices in Texas in the US and Freiburg, Germany. Around these poles this award-winning and universally praised journal aims to represent a community of writers and artists 'wishing to maintain contemplative life in the digital age.
Yes, this is a true print enterprise located firmly in offline culture – we had to write a letter to the publisher to secure our first copies! And we're glad we did, because this pocket collection of ingeniously interlinked essays, interviews, stories, and images is indeed a tonic for anyone seeking shelter from the multi-channel bombast that feels institutional to 21st century daily life.
Wild Kind, Ciara Tinney ( A5 landscape, hardback)
£17.99
A beautiful, hand produced book by local author. Proceeds go to a local refugee trust, and it's a gorgeously illustrated story for children and adults about how the weather and landscape can engage all ages.
The Illustrated Good Omens, Pratchett and Gaiman ( hardback July 2023)
£35.00
There is a hint of Armageddon in the air. According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded, thankfully, in 1655, before she blew up her entire village and all its inhabitants, who had gathered to watch her burn), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact.So the Armies of Good and Evil are massing, the four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world's last two remaining witchfinders are getting ready to Fight the Good Fight. Atlantis is rising. Frogs are falling.
Tempers are flaring, and everything appears to be going to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. They've lived amongst Humanity for millennia, and have grown rather fond of the lifestyle.
So if Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they've got to find and kill the AntiChrist (which is a shame, really, as he's a nice kid). There's just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him. This edition features a new revised text, approved by Neil Gaiman and the Pratchett Estate, which clears up many typos and errors from previous editions.
It also features twelve full colour illustrations from Paul Kidby - Terry Pratchett's artist of choice - and further pencil drawings.
Medusa, Jessie Burton ( paperback Feb 2023)
£8.99
If I told you that I'd killed a man with a glance, would you wait to hear the rest? The why, the how, what happened next? Monster. Man-hater. Murderess.Forget everything you've been told about Medusa. Internationally bestselling author Jessie Burton flips the script in this astonishing retelling of Greek myth, illuminating the woman behind the legend at last. Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair.
Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown apart, unleashing desire, love... and betrayal.
Adapted from the hardback illustrated by Olivia Lomenech-Gill, this paperback edition is perfect for readers who loved Circe and Ariadne, as Medusa comes alive in a new version of the story that history set in stone long ago.
The Iliad translated by Emily Wilson ( Paperback August 2024)
£14.99
Now in Limited Edition paperback with Deckled Edge binding.
When Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017-revealing the ancient poem in a contemporary idiom that "combines intellectual authority with addictive readability" (Edith Hall, The Sunday Telegraph)-critics lauded it as "a revelation" (Susan Chira, The New York Times) and "a cultural landmark" (Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English.
Now Wilson has returned with an equally revelatory translation of the first great Homeric epic: The Iliad. In Wilson's hands, this exciting and often horrifying work now gallops at a pace befitting its battle scenes, roaring with the clamour of arms, the bellowing boasts of victors and the anguished cries of dying men.
Wilson's unadorned but resonant language plumbs the poem's profound pathos and reveals its characters as palpably real, even "complicated", human beings. Capping a decade of intense engagement with Homer's poetry, Wilson's Iliad now gives us a complete Homer for our generation.
Halloween Picture Books !
£7.99
Some of the newest and most fun books to get in the mood for Halloween with your evening reading :)
- Sticker Dolly Dressing for some fun Halloween activity and decoration
- I am Bat - from the hilarious Scottish Morag Hood
- Room on the Broom - special H'ween edition from Julia Donaldson with extra actitivies in the back of the book
- Five Little Ghosts - rhyming story, with lift the flaps, to put the fun into ghosts and remove any fear!
Mountain Lion, Jean Stafford ( paperback edition August 2023)
£9.99
'One of the best novels about adolescence in American literature' (New York Times) two siblings come of age in a mountainous wilderness ... '
She would not feel safe until the beautiful animal was dead. Ralph and Molly are inseparable siblings: united against the stupidity of daily routines, their prim mother and prissy older sisters, the world of adult authority.
One summer, they are sent from their childhood home in suburban Los Angeles to their uncle's Colorado mountain ranch, where they write, hunt, roam. But this untamed wilderness soon becomes tainted by dark stirrings of sexual desire - and as the pressures of growing up drive an irrevocable rift between them, their innocent childhoods hurtle towards a devastating end . .
. 'Beautiful, and sensitive, and quickening.' Eileen Myles'A glimmer of genius.' Rumaan Alam'Breathtakingly original.
The Wild Verses : Nature poems on love, hope and healing - Helen Mort
£16.99
In a fast-paced world, The Wild Verses invites you to slow down, reflect and to seek solace through poetry and nature. From consoling words of hope and healing to meditations on love and friendship, this beautiful collection has a poem for every feeling. Accompanied by emotive illustrations of animals in the wild, this is a poetry collection to be returned to again and again.
With original words from acclaimed poet and writer Helen Mort ( The Illustrated Woman) plus some inspirational borrowings from other poetry. This is a lovely book.
A Stroke of the Pen, Lost Stories - Terry Pritchett ( paperback Sept 2024)
£20.00
A truly unmissable, beautifully illustrated collection of unearthed stories from the pen of Sir Terry Pratchett: award-winning and bestselling author, and creator of the phenomenally successful Discworld series. Twenty early short stories by one of the world's best loved authors, each accompanied by exquisite original woodcut illustrations.These are rediscovered tales that Pratchett wrote under a pseudonym for newspapers during the 1970s and 1980s. Whilst none are set in the Discworld, they hint towards the world he would go on to create, containing all of his trademark wit, satirical wisdom and fantastic imagination. Meet Og the inventor, the first caveman to cultivate fire, as he discovers the highs and lows of progress; haunt the Ministry of Nuisances with the defiant evicted ghosts of Pilgarlic Towers; visit Blackbury, a small market town with weird weather and an otherworldly visitor; and go on a dangerous quest through time and space with hero Kron, which begins in the ancient city of Morpork...
A STROKE OF THE PEN is a must-have collection for fans of all ages.
