Health & Self
FENG SHUI MODERN, Cliff Tan (hardback 2022)
£12.99
** please note, this book is currently being reprinted and the date I have for new stock is currently 24 / 07/ 24. This can sometimes change! My apologies for the wait **
In an increasingly cramped world, a modern guide to opening up your living space - and your life - using the ancient principles of feng shui.
How do you place a bed in an awkward room? How can your space help you be more focused and more productive? How do you set up your room to make you ready for romantic love? Our homes have an outsized impact on our wellbeing, so answering these questions is more important than ever. Luckily, interior design expert and TikTok sensation Cliff Tan is here to help! Cliff has become an internet sensation with his videos demonstrating the principles of feng shui from chi (energy) to the command position - and he has put his wisdom into a book for the first time.
In Feng Shui Modern, Cliff explains the concepts of feng shui and then uses expert tips and practical diagrams to show - room by room - how our own styles, colour palettes and furniture can be used to maximise any environment. More importantly, Cliff gives you the tools to apply feng shui yourself, whether you live in a dorm or a five-bedroom house. As long as you understand the logic, there is no room too challenging, no problem feng shui can't unravel.
Ponies At the End of the World, Catherine Munro ( paperback August 2023)
£11.99
The Ponies At The Edge Of The World : A story of hope and belonging in Shetland.
A meditation on connection between humans and animals, and the homes we make in wild places. I was completely immersed' Katherine May, bestselling author of Wintering
Catherine Munro transforms her life when she moves to Shetland to study the hardy ponies who call this archipelago home. Over the course of her first year, she is welcomed into the rhythms and routines that characterise life at the edge of the world.
When faced with personal loss, Catherine finds comfort and connection in the shared lives of the people, animals and wild landscapes of Shetland. Ponies at the Edge of the World is a heartfelt love letter to the beauty and resilience of these magical ponies and their native land. This is a stunning book on community, hope and finding home.
The Good Drinker : How I Learned to Love Drinking Less by Adrian Chiles (paperback June 2023)
£9.99
The popular broadcaster and columnist sets out to discover the unsung pleasures of drinking in moderation. The recommended alcohol limit is 14 units a week. Adrian Chiles used to put away almost 100.Ever since he was a teenager, drinking was his idea of a good time - and not just his, but seemingly the whole nation's. Still, it wasn't very good for him: the doctor made that clear. If you lined them up, Adrian must have knocked back three miles of drinks.
How many of them had he genuinely wanted? A mile?There's an awful lot of advice out there on how to quit booze completely. If you just want to drink a bit less, the pickings are slim. Yet while the alcohol industry depends on a minority of problem drinkers, the majority really do enjoy in moderation.
What's their secret? Join the inimitable Chiles as he sets out around Britain and plumbs his only slightly fuzzy memories of a lifetime in pubs in a quest to find the good drinker within.
Harpy, Caroline Magennis ( hardback May 2024)
£18.99
Harpy is a tonic; a tongue-in-cheek manual for dealing with Spanish Inquisition-style questioning about saying pass to procreation and building an enriching life beyond the nuclear family' VOGUE'
Harpy made me nod in recognition, and shake my head with sorrow, and then it made me laugh out loud' EMILIE PINE, author of NOTES TO SELF and RUTH & PEN
Each generation has more childfree women than the one before. For many, it is an active decision made for a wide range of reasons. Despite this growing trend, we continue to live in a society where women are often judged for deciding to remain childfree - for not conforming to narrow expectations.
For being a Harpy. In this timely and thoughtful book, Caroline Magennis looks beyond the often-divisive conversation around women who choose to be childfree and offers an alternative message of hope and celebration. With humour and intelligence, she explores why motherhood isn't right for everybody and how any woman - whether a parent or childfree - can live a full life, while also reminding the reader that your freedoms and the right to autonomy should never be taken for granted.
One Day At a Time, Hilary Scott ( paperback April 2022)
£11.99
Hilary Scott is a psychologist and bereavement counsellor. Her book is based on years of personal experience and training, supporting the bereaved through a structure and pace that offers practical and psychological support on a day by day basis.
A thoughtful gift for anyone going through the different phases of grief, to understand that this range of emotions is normal and part of the healing process. A really practical and comforting guide.
Notes to Self, by Emilie Pine (pb)
£10.99
The extraordinary #1 bestseller - a word-of-mouth literary phenomenon'
Do not read this book in public: it will make you cry' Anne Enright'
I am afraid of being the disruptive woman. And of not being disruptive enough. I am afraid.But I am doing it anyway. In this dazzling debut, Emilie Pine speaks to the business of living as a woman in the 21st century - its extraordinary pain and its extraordinary joy. Courageous, humane and uncompromising, she writes with radical honesty on birth and death, on the grief of infertility, on caring for her alcoholic father, on taboos around female bodies and female pain, on sexual violence and violence against the self. Devastatingly poignant and profoundly wise - and joyful against the odds - Notes to Self offers a portrait not just of its author but of a whole generation.
Winner of the Bord Gais Non Fiction Irish Book Award in 2018.
Paperback, June 2019 ( pls note picture is of hardback)
You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Maggie Smith ( paperback May 2024)
£10.99
In her long-awaited debut memoir, award-winning poet Maggie Smith explores in lyrical vignettes the end of her marriage and the beginning of a surprising new life. It is a story about a mother's fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman's love and regard for herself. Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility.
Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.
" This is quite a remarkable, refreshing and powerful book to empower and console - highly recommended" - Linda
The Teenage Guide to Digital Wellbeing, Tanya Goodin ( paperback May 2024)
£12.99
A useful guide to digital wellbeing and living your best life – offline and on! Digital wellbeing is all about finding the balance between the digital world and the real world – and making sure we use smartphones and other digital devices in a healthy way, while living fulfilling lives beyond the screen. This guide helps tweens and teens do exactly that, inspiring them to set their devices aside (sometimes anyway!) and start living in the here and now. Written by digital wellbeing expert Tanya Goodin, it’s packed with positive prompts, thought-provoking science, and hands-on activities to encourage healthy habits around screen use – including nostalgic crafts, retro tech scavenger hunts, and phone-free nature excursions, plus practical tips on how to deal with digital challenges like comparison culture, cyberbullying, trolling, and much more.
This book is not about teenagers giving up their devices forever; it’s about being more mindful of how they use them, so they can live their best lives – on and off the screen. Teenagers will discover how to: Develop healthy habits, identify priorities, and set achievable goalsKnow their own screen limits and deal with digital distractionsStay safe and savvy on the internetFocus on the positive and productive uses of smartphones (no more doom-scrolling!)Combat comparison culture on social media and quieten their inner criticsNurture friendships and family relationships offline and onBuild resilience and self-confidence to live healthily and happily with their digital devices.
Slow Seasons : A Creative Guide to Reconnecting with Nature the Celtic Way by Rosie Steer
£16.99
In her late-twenties, feeling utterly overwhelmed by the pace of modern city life, Rosie Steer found solace in the traditions she had been brought up with, influenced by her Scottish roots, that celebrated nature and observed the small steady shifts in the seasons. The Celtic Wheel of the year is an ancient seasonal cycle that aligns with solar events - the solstices, equinoxes and their midpoints.For each mini-season, Rosie shares nature notes for what we can look out for as the days get warmer or cooler, the nights longer or shorter, alongside activities, things to make, flowers or fruit to forage, seasonal recipes to enjoy and a modern take on the traditional celebrations. As the Wheel turns towards Imbolc on 1st February, we can make hand poured candles to welcome the return of the light, embrace the chill of a wintery walk with a flask of hot chocolate, and fill our homes with the scent of citrus making batches of marmalade. By slowing down and paying attention to the ebbs and flows of nature, we can find moments of calm whenever we need them.
Toes In The Water : Stories of lives changed by wild swimming, Rachel Jones ( paperback )
£14.99
Compiled and edited by Rachel Jones, Toes in the Water explores the life-affirming and healing power of wild swimming. With insights from a wide range of swimmers, the book explores the community around wild swimming, interwoven with the mental and physical health benefits which swimmers gain from it. The featured swimmers share the connection they feel with the natural world, and how this can lead to a positive impact on the environment around them.Packed full of inspiring stories, Toes in the Water is a book that could change your life. The featured swimmers include open-water coach and year-round outdoor swimmer Ella Foote, who describes how the swimming community has supported her and given her skills and confidence in the outdoors; meanwhile, Beth Pearson, co-director of the Outdoor Swimming Society, explains the motivation behind and evolution of creating a wild swimming community. Also, Yorkshire-based wild swimming guide Les Peebles reflects on how healing he finds being in the water and how much joy he finds in helping others to discover wild swimming; and Lindsey Cole, mermaid, adventurer and environmental campaigner, explains how she raises awareness of river pollution through storytelling and activism.
The Flow : Rivers, Water and Wildness - by Amy-Jane Beer (Author)
£10.99
WINNER OF THE 2023 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITING
A visit to the rapid where she lost a cherished friend unexpectedly reignites Amy-Jane Beer's love of rivers setting her on a journey of natural, cultural and emotional discovery. On New Year's Day 2012, Amy-Jane Beer's beloved friend Kate set out with a group of others to kayak the River Rawthey in Cumbria.
Kate never came home, and her death left her devoted family and friends bereft and unmoored. Returning to visit the Rawthey years later, Amy realises how much she misses the connection to the natural world she always felt when on or close to rivers, and so begins a new phase of exploration. The Flow is a book about water, and, like water, it meanders, cascades and percolates through many lives, landscapes and stories.
From West Country torrents to Levels and Fens, rocky Welsh canyons, the salmon highways of Scotland and the chalk rivers of the Yorkshire Wolds, Amy-Jane follows springs, streams and rivers to explore tributary themes of wildness and wonder, loss and healing, mythology and history, cyclicity and transformation.
The Art of Living, Thich Nhat Hanh ( paperback)
£13.99
Nobel Peace Prize nominee, internationally renowned Zen master and bestselling author Thich Nhat Hanh shares his mindful techniques in mastering the art of living. 'Thich Nhat Hanh is a holy man, for he is humble and devout...a scholar of immense intellectual capacity' -- Martin Luther King
Master the art of living from one of the world's most revered spiritual leaders. Thich Nhat Hanh, the world's most renowned Zen master, turns his mindful attention to the most important subject of all - the art of living.
The bestselling author of The Miracle of Mindfulness presents, for the first time, seven transformative meditations that open up new perspectives on our lives, our relationships and our interconnectedness with the world around us. He reveals an art of living in mindfulness that helps us answer life's deepest questions, experience the happiness and freedom we desire and face ageing and dying with curiosity and joy instead of fear. Stimulating and inspiring, this book teaches us the importance of looking inside ourselves and developing compassion, before we can turn to our relationships at home and in the wider world.
Full of remarkable stories from Thich Nhat Hanh's own experiences and mindful practices for engaging with life, this will be a book that will help us generate happiness, understanding and love so we can live deeply in each moment of our life, right where we are.
The Joy of Wild Swimming ( Lonely Planet) Sept 2023
£19.99
Dive into 60 of the world's most joyous wild swimming spots and discover a further 120 ideas for uplifting bathing experiences. Packed with inspirational expert insights, immersive photography, and essential trip planning tips, this remarkable book explores the open-water swims guaranteed to exhilarate, rejuvenate, restore and above all, spark joy. Wade into Hawaii's crystal clear sea where tropical fish weave through the coral reefs of the Kona coast; or experience the magnificence of Slovenia's Lake Bled, where swimmers tread through the other-worldly Alpine blue waters to reach the iconic island at its heart.With 60 mesmerising wild-swimming wonders to tour, readers will soon be immersed in the culture, landscape and characteristics of each life-affirming swim. Inside The Joy of Wild Swimming:- 60 in-depth profiles of wild swimming spots, organised by region and accompanied by beautiful photography, plus first-hand accounts from writers who have experienced the joy of each swim- 120 extra must-visit natural water destinations-
India Knight’s Beauty Edit (hardback Nov 23)
£20.00
'India Knight is a LEGEND in the beauty industry. I am OBSESSED with her column because you can trust her to get it right every single time!' Charlotte Tilbury
With beauty, as with so much else, knowledge is power. Here's all of mine. Why has my favourite eyeliner stopped looking flattering? What can I do about the skin on my neck?Am I too old for contour? What is contour? Every week, tens of thousands of women turn to India Knight's beauty column in the Sunday Times Style Magazine, to be directed to beauty products that really work by someone they can trust - and who understands how much this stuff matters. It matters because looking, and therefore feeling, like yourself at every stage of life is fundamental. In this brilliant, essential, reassuring book, India has distilled her beauty wisdom into practical advice for every part of the face and beyond: from tips for thinning lips and thinning hair, to the best skincare for older faces, to the make-up products that really make a difference, to demystifying the scientific jargon beloved by the beauty industry.
If you would rather not use 35 products on your face every morning or watch how-to videos on TikTok, or if you have ever looked in the mirror and found yourself thinking 'Who is that?', then India Knight's Beauty Edit is the book you've been waiting for. It is a glorious and indispensable celebration of how to be old(er) with minimum fuss and a generous helping of grace, confidence and style.
The Electricity of Every Living Thing, Katherine May ( paperback 2019)
£9.99
A Woman's Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home
Perfect for fans of The Salt Path and The Outrun, this book is a life-affirming exploration of wild landscapes, what it means to be different and, above all, how we can all learn to make peace within our own unquiet minds. 'A windswept tale, beautifully told' Raynor Winn - The Salt Path 'A manifesto for the value of difficult people. I loved it' Amy Liptrot - The OutrunIn August 2015, Katherine May set out to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path.
She wanted to understand why she had stopped coping with everyday life; why motherhood had been so overwhelming and isolating, and why the world felt full of inundation and expectations she can't meet. Setting her feet down on the rugged and difficult path by the sea, the answer begins to unfold. It's a chance encounter with a voice on the radio that sparks a realisation that she has Asperger's Syndrome.
The Electricity of Every Living Thing tells the story of the year in which Katherine comes to terms with her diagnosis. It leads to a re-evaluation of her life so far - a kinder one, which finally allows her to be different rather than simply awkward, arrogant or unfeeling. The physical and psychological journeys become inextricably entwined, and as Katherine finds her way across the untameable coast, she also finds the way to herself.
A Fortunate Woman : A Country Doctor's Story, Polly Morland
£9.99
Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize ( Best British Non Fiction)
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 judge.
When 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'
The Korean Book of Happiness, Barbara J Zitwer ( hardback March 2023)
£12.99
The Korean Book of Happiness : Joy, resilience and the art of giving.
Along the way she regales us with hilarious anecdotes of her cultural faux pas, top travel tips and local recipes as well as magical moments of understanding and connection. The Korean Book of Happiness invites you to explore a beguiling culture and learn how the Korean way can make your life happier and more fulfilled.
Life Is Hard : How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way, Kieran Setiya (Paperback, 2023)
£10.99
Reading this book is like speaking with a thoughtful friend who never tells you to cheer up, but, by offering gentle companionship and a change of perspective, makes you feel better anyway" The New York Times Book Review'From personal trauma to the injustice and absurdity of the world, sometimes simply going on can feel too much. But could there be solace - and even hope - in acknowledging the hardships of the human condition? Might doing so free us from the tyranny of striving for our "best lives" and help us find warmth, humanity, and humour in the lives we actually have? Could it inspire in us the desire for a better world? In this profound and personal book, Kieran Setiya shows how philosophy can help us find our way. He shares his own experience with chronic pain and the consolation that comes from making sense of it.
He asks what we can learn from loneliness and loss about the value of human life. And he explores how we can fail with grace, confront injustice, and search for meaning in the face of despair. Drawing on ancient and modern philosophy, as well as fiction, comedy, social science and personal essay, Life is Hard is a book for this moment - a work of solace and compassion.
Winter Swimming : The Nordic Way Towards a Healthier and Happier Life, by Susanna Soberg (Hardback Sept 2022)
£25.00
A beautifully illustrated exploration of cold-water traditions in Scandinavia and around the world, and a thorough account of why winter swimming gives such a boost to body and soul. Whether in lake, lido, river or sea, we know the benefits of swimming outdoors and in nature - environmentally friendly and accessible, it can influence our happiness, our energy and our inner tranquility, and give us that winter glow. Danish scientist Dr Susanna Soberg leads us step by step into the icy water and explains the "cold-shock response", the massive endorphin rush as our body reacts and adapts to very cold temperatures through the winter season.Not only do our circulation, heart, lungs and skin respond positively, but our immune system, metabolism and mental health too. In particular she explains how our "brown fat" is activated to benefit multiple health conditions. Winter swimming is fast becoming one of our most popular pastimes.
This beautifully illustrated exploration of cold-water traditions in Scandinavia and around the world shows how it can have a significant positive impact on our physical and mental health, confidence and well-being, providing such a boost to body and soul. Translated from the Danish by Elizabeth DeNoma
Jellyfish Age Backwards, Nicklaus Brendborg ( paperback Feb 2023)
£10.99
Jellyfish Age Backwards : Nature's Secrets to Longevity
"In a field characterised by overclaiming and wishful thinking, it is judicious, sensible and refreshingly clear. And fascinating." Sunday TimesA deep-dive into the astonishing nature and true science of longevity Molecular Biologist Nicklas Brendborg takes us on a journey from the farthest reaches of the globe to the most cutting-edge research to explore everything the natural world and science have to offer on the mystery of aging. From the centuries-old Greenland shark and backwards-aging jellyfish to the man who fasted for a year and the woman who successfully edited her own DNA, this book follows the thread of every experiment, story, and myth in the search for immortality.
With mind-bending discoveries and physiological gifts that feel closer to magic than reality, Jellyfish Age Backwards will reshape everything you thought you knew about aging - and offer nature's secrets to unlocking your own longevity.
No Cure For Being Human, Kate Bowler ( paperback October 2022)
£10.99
The bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved) asks, how do you move forward with a life you didn't choose?
Hailed by Glennon Doyle as 'the Christian Joan Didion', Kate Bowler used to accept the modern idea that life is an endless horizon of possibilities, a series of choices which if made correctly, would lead us to a place just out of our reach. A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner.
A promotion on the horizon. But then at thirty-five she was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, and now she has to ask one of the most fundamental questions of all: How do we create meaning in our lives when the life we hoped for is put on hold indefinitely?In No Cure for Being Human, Kate searches for a way forward as she mines the wisdom (and absurdity) of our modern 'best life now' advice industry, which offers us exhausting positivity, trying to convince us that we can out-eat, out-learn and out-perform our humanness. With dry wit and unflinching honesty she grapples with her cancer diagnosis, her ambition and her faith and searches for some kind of peace with her limitations in a culture that says that anything is possible.
Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate's irreverent, hard-won observations in No Cure For Being Human chart a bold path towards learning new ways to live.
Age Proof : The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life The No 1 International Bestseller
£10.99
Did you know that we can lead longer and healthier lives by making simple changes right now?Professor Rose Anne Kenny has 35 years of experience at the forefront of ageing medicine. In Age Proof, she draws on her own pioneering research and the latest evidence to demystify why we age and shows us that 80% of our ageing biology is within our control: we can not only live longer lives but become happier and healthier deep into our later years. Effortlessly distilling scientific theory into practical advice that we can apply to our everyday lives, Professor Kenny examines the impact that food, genetics, friendships, purpose, sex, exercise and laughter have on how our cells age.This illuminating book will show you the steps you can take to stay younger for longer - and will prove that you really are just as young as you feel.
