Ireland’s Trees, Niall Mac Coitir (paperback, first published 2015)
£15.99
Name the five Great Trees of Ireland? What trees are most often found beside holy wells or cemeteries? Which tree gave the Red Branch Knights of Ulster their name? Ireland was once so heavily wooded it was said a squirrel could travel from Cork to Killarney without touching the ground. So it is no surprise that, in ancient Ireland, mythology and folklore were a part of the people's general knowledge about trees. Many of the myths and legends and much of the folklore associated with native trees persists to this day and are gathered together in this book. A detailed and fascinating book.You might also like
Four Shots in the night, by Henry Hemming ( hardback March 2024)
£22.00
HOW THE DEATH OF A SPY IN THE IRA LED TO ONE OF THE BIGGEST MURDER INVESTIGATIONS IN BRITISH HISTORY.
'Henry Hemming wears his extensive research very lightly and manages to shape a great narrative from a complex and dark episode from our recent history. An important and skilfully crafted book.' JOHN O'FARRELL.
On 26th May 1986, the body of an undercover British agent was found by the side of a muddy lane, with a rope tied around its wrists and tape over each eye.
Years later, it was reported that this murder might have been carried out by another undercover British agent, known as 'Stakeknife'. In 2016, a detective began to investigate this case, and would soon find himself running the largest murder investigation in British history. In a compulsive blend of investigative journalism and true crime thriller, Henry Hemming exposes the parallel worlds of the IRA and British intelligence through the lives of those inextricably bound up in both.
He reveals the bravery of those who were crucial in ending the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the bloodiest and longest-running conflict in recent British history, and the determination of one detective in his dogged search for justice and the truth.
The Secret Lives of Numbers, Kitagawa and Revell ( hardback August 2023)
£20.00
The Secret Lives of Numbers : A Global History of Mathematics & its Unsung Trailblazers
by Kate Kitagawa (Author) , Timothy Revell (Author)
Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. But despite its reputation as the study of fundamental truths, the stories we have been told about it are wrong. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, historian Kate Kitagawa and journalist Timothy Revell introduce readers to the mathematical boundary-smashers who have been erased by history because of their race, gender or nationality.
From the brilliant Arabic scholars of the ninth-century House of Wisdom, and the pioneering African American mathematicians of the twentieth century, to the 'lady computers' around the world who revolutionised our knowledge of the night sky, we meet these fascinating trailblazers and see how they contributed to our global knowledge today. Along the way, the mathematics itself is explained extremely clearly, for example, calculus is described using the authors' home baking, as they pose the question: how much cake is in our cake? This revisionist, completely accessible and radically inclusive history of mathematics is as entertaining as it is important.
Witchcraft in 13 Trials, Marion Gibson ( hardback June 2023)
£20.00
We often hear 'witch-hunt' in today's media, and the misogyny that shaped witch trials is all too familiar.
Three women were prosecuted under a version of the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 2018. In Witchcraft, Professor Marion Gibson uses thirteen significant trials to tell the global history of witchcraft and witch-hunts. As well as exploring the origins of witch-hunts through some of the most famous trials from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century, it takes us in new and surprising directions.
It shows us how witchcraft was reimagined by lawyers and radical historians in France, how suspicions of sorcery led to murder in Jazz Age Pennsylvania, the effects of colonialism and Christian missionary zeal on 'witches' in Africa, and how even today a witch trial can come in many guises. Professor Gibson also tells the stories of the 'witches' - mostly women like Helena Scheuberin, Anny Sampson and Joan Wright, whose stories have too often been overshadowed by those of the powerful men, such as King James I and 'Witchfinder General' Matthew Hopkins, who hounded them. Once a tool invented by demonologists to hurt and silence their enemies, witch trials have been twisted and transformed over the course of history and the lines between witch and witch-hunter blurred.
For the fortunate, a witch-hunt is just a metaphor, but, as this book makes clear, witches are truly still on trial.
(paperback Sept 2024)
I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy ( Hardback 2022)
£20.00
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor-including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother.
Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother's dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy.
So she went along with what Mom called "calorie restriction," eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income. In I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail-just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true.
Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame, bringing with it a host of personal issues. These only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer.
Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants. Told with refreshing candour and dark humour, I'm Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair. An astonishing read.
