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Every time I write about my heart, I write about walking. Every time I write about walking, I write about my heart. What is it like to be born with a congenital heart defect? What does it mean to live knowing your heart will one day fail you? How do you walk without moving a muscle? In Pacemaker, poet David Toms deftly blends creative nonfiction, poetry and diary in an account of resisting, confronting, and living with a rare heart condition. His experience, including his hospitalisation during the Covid-19 pandemic, speaks to all of us in its exploration of what it means to live in a fragile yet resilient body, to walk multiple challenging paths, and to always a find a way to keep moving. ISBN 9781838312657 -
Who says you can't bake every day? Inside this book Nadiya shows you how to let your oven take the strain to create simple bakes, bursting with flavour, every day of the week. From beautiful celebration bakes to effortless weeknight dinners, easy sweet and savoury tray bakes to quick-fix lunches and snacks, Nadiya's Everyday Baking is filled with simple and mouth-watering bakes such as: Meringue cake* White chocolate and raspberry puff bar* Cheats almond croissant rolls* No-knead bread* Coconut fish noodles* Dump-it-all-in Mexican dinner* Aubergine brioche burgers. Above all, Nadiya's incredible, stress-free recipes will show you that anyone can reap the benefits of baking, all you need is an oven. ISBN 9780241453247 -
Lachlan was sixteen when he found his father dead on the side of a dirt road in North Queensland, Australia. He had suffered a heart attack and died alone, without warning, in the middle of nowhere. This tragedy motivated Lachlan to train as a doctor and specialise in providing medical care for people living in remote, resource-deprived locations. Lachlan's work has since taken him to over thirty countries, from the islands of the Pacific that are sinking as a result of climate change to civil war zones in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this no-holds-barred memoir, Lachlan recounts his experiences of caring for his patients and tackling health problems in some of the world's most extreme environments. We see him delivering babies in makeshift operating theatres by the light of a head torch; treating patients ravaged by tropical diseases; and helping care for patients with infected wounds, from bullets and bomb blasts, that are resistant to all known antibiotics. We follow Lachlan as he is evacuated with his Medecins Sans Frontieres colleagues to a safe house in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when it is revealed that members of their team have been kidnapped by the local militia. Lachlan's experiences also give us an invaluable insight into the devastating effects of climate change on impoverished communities. Tackling such impossible problems day in and day out takes a personal toll. Along the way, Lachlan faces his own personal battles with depression, alcohol abuse and bankruptcy. Life and Death Decisions is a deeply human look at the personal cost of our broken global health system and a vital call to action. ISBN 9781913068790 -
Some people live to walk. Raynor and Moth walk to live.. Raynor Winn knows that her husband Moth's health is declining, getting worse by the day. She knows of only one cure. It worked once before. But will he - can he? - set out with her on another healing walk? The Cape Wrath Trail is over two hundred miles of gruelling terrain through Scotland's remotest mountains and lochs. But the lure of the wilderness and the beguiling beauty of the awaiting glens draw them northwards. Being one with nature saved them in their darkest hour and their hope is that it can work its magic again. They embark on an incredible thousand-mile journey from Scotland back to the familiar shores of the South West Coast Path. From Northumberland to the Yorkshire moors, Wales to the South West, Raynor and Moth map with each step the landscape of an island nation facing an uncertain path ahead. In Landlines, she records in luminous prose the strangers and friends, wilderness and wildlife they encounter on the way - it's a journey that begins in fear but can only end in hope. ISBN 9780241484562 -
The world's best-selling annual wine guide. Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book is the essential reference book for everyone who buys wine - in shops, restaurants, or on the internet. Now in its 46th year of publication, it has no rival as the comprehensive, up-to-the-minute annual guide. This latest edition of Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book includes a color supplement: How Wine Ages (And Why), which covers questions such as whether aged wine is necessarily better wine and how to store wine to ensure it ages well. It provides clear succinct facts and commentary on the wines, growers and wine regions of the whole world. It reveals which vintages to buy, which to drink and which to cellar, which growers to look for and why. Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book gives clear information on grape varieties, local specialities and how to match food with wines that will bring out the best in both. ISBN 9781784728144 -
"People have this idea that in every Italian family there are secret recipes that get passed down the generations. And it's 100 per cent true! This book is my way of celebrating the amazing women in all our families. I want to show my love and appreciation for everything they have done for me." Drawing on the wisdom of his late mother, his fifteen bossy aunties, and a whole nation of home-cooking nonnas, Gino shares the secrets to making the very best version of much-loved Italian classics. Recipes include:* Grilled scallops with parsley and hazelnut butter* Oozing baked risotto* Slow-cooked pork shoulder with super-crispy crackling* Biscoff and espresso cheesecake. With over 80 recipes for the ultimate Italian classics, ranging from quick weeknight meals to classic blowouts, this is Gino's most iconic book yet. ISBN 9781526632630 -
The Premier League is the most watched sports league in the world, broadcast into 188 countries and watched by 3.2 billion people worldwide. It revolutionised football, transforming the beautiful game into a multi-billion-pound business and making its biggest stars millionaires. Fever Pitch tells the inside story of the formation of the league, from the early discussions with Rupert Murdoch about how Sky could be at the heart of this new league, to the bitter rivalries and radical new managers who changed the face of football forever. With insight from football's biggest names, this is the inside track on the Premier League as you've never heard it before. From David Beckham to Eric Cantona, Peter Schmeichel to Gary Neville, this book is full of exclusive interviews that give fascinating insight into the biggest sports league in the world from the people who made it happen. 'The recognition our game gets is astonishing and the love of the Premier League is undeniable' Alan Shearer 'It's what it should be about - enthralling, exciting, magic, taking risks, playing attacking football' Gary Neville ISBN 9781408727188 -
Dublin did not escape the Great Famine: many of its inhabitants experienced acute poverty and illness, while the capital witnessed an influx of the rural poor seeking refuge and relief. However, Dublin has remained largely neglected in popular and scholarly narratives of the Famine. This collection of essays breaks new ground and reconsiders the Famine and its historiography by locating Dublin city and its inhabitants at the centre of its focus. This volume, containing work by established and emerging scholars, presents some of the most recent research into life in Dublin during this period of unprecedented distress. As such, it constitutes the most detailed analysis to date of the impact of the Great Famine on Dublin and its inhabitants, and is the first monograph wholly devoted to this subject. This pioneering volume offers an interdisciplinary approach and a range of perspectives from its thirteen contributors. Featuring an introductory overview by Cormac Ó Gráda and including a comprehensive overview of Famine scholarship on Dublin to date, its twelve additional essays cover such diverse topics as business life and industry in the city, the impact of the Famine on Dublin’s charity and welfare landscapes, suicide and trauma at this time of acute crisis, experiences of the marginalised within prisons and hospitals, and cultural representations of Famine-era Dublin. It examines both direct and indirect impacts of the Famine on the city, noting promising future areas of research, and arguing for the reinvigoration of urban histories with Famine studies. This volume of essays will appeal to students, scholars and general enthusiasts of 19th-century Irish history, especially those interested in the history of the Great Famine and of Dublin. Generously illustrated, it illuminates an overlooked but essential dimension of Irish history. ISBN 9781910820773 -
The long-awaited diary from Whitehall's most scandalous MP... From Brexit to Covid, parties to pig culling, the Conservative government has lurched from crisis to crisis. With a front-row seat on the, erm, backbenches, the Secret Tory MP has picked up on all the petty rivalries, bad decision-making and scandalous affairs that Whitehall has to offer. And he's got no qualms about sharing it. All. Join the mystery MP as he drunk-texts Liz Truss after a crate of WKD, accompanies Jacob Rees-Mogg (and his kids) to picket a foodbank, takes on the French in the 'Trawler Wars', and euthanises Rishi Sunak's dog - and that's just October. The Diary of a Secret Tory MP is an outrageous spoof of the classic political journal that pulls back the Lulu Lytle curtains to expose extraordinary goings-on at Westminster across a tumultuous twelve months. Parody book. ISBN 9780008535179 -
In China After Mao, award-winning historian Frank Dikotter explores how the People's Republic of China was transformed from a backwater economy in the 1970s into the world superpower of today. His account is the first to be based on hundreds of previously unseen archival documents, from the secret minutes of top party meetings to confidential bank reports. Unfolding with great narrative sweep, this riveting, richly detailed chronicle recasts our understanding of an era that both the regime and foreign admirers celebrate as an economic miracle. In charting four decades of so-called Reform and Opening Up and China's emergence as a world power, Dikotter tells a fascinating tale of contradictions and illusions, of shadow banking, anti-corruption drives and extreme state wealth standing alongside everyday poverty. He examines China's approach to the 2008 financial crash, the country's increasing hostility towards perceived Western interference and its development into a thoroughly entrenched dictatorship, one equipped with a sprawling security apparatus and the most sophisticated surveillance system in the world. Ultimately, the book concludes, the communist party's goal was never to join the democratic sphere, but to resist it and then defeat it. ISBN 9781526634290 -
A captivating A-Z from the bestselling author of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher. Do you recoil in arachnophobic horror at the sight of a spider - or twitch with nomophobia when you misplace your mobile phone? Do your book-buying habits verge on bibliomania? Perhaps you find yourself mired in indecision and uncertainty? (Would it be reassuring to give this a name: aboulomania?) Our phobias and manias are contradictory and multiple: deeply intimate, yet forged by the times we live in - the commonest form of anxiety disorder, but rarely given a formal diagnosis. Plunge into this rich, surprising and fascinating A-Z compendium to discover how our fixations have taken shape, from pre-history to the present day, as award-winning author Kate Summerscale deftly traces the threads between the past and present, the psychological and social, the personal and the political. ISBN 9781800813359 -
'The bookiest book about books you'll ever read - I loved it' Lucy Mangan 'Truly delightful...I couldn't have had more fun' Benjamin Dreyer 'Very funny, erudite and profound. A delight!' Nina Stibbe This is the outside story of books. From blurbs to titles, quotes to (checks jacket) cute animal designs - via author feuds, writing tricks, classic literature, bonkbusters, plot spoilers and publishing secrets - discover why it's good to judge a book by its cover. Maybe even this one... ISBN 9780861542178 -
bandit country, the much-anticipated debut poetry collection from James Conor Patterson, is a rollicking, hyper-literate and at times deeply troubling account of a young man's navigation of the semi-lawless borderlands between the north of Ireland and the Republic - the 'bandit country' of the Troubles - and the criss-crossed sea border to England and beyond. Patterson shows us how the militarised boundary line of old has morphed into an invisible and semi-wild frontier, where the ghosts of a thirty-year war continue to haunt the 'ceasefire generation'. Patterson writes in a hybrid dialect of Newry street and Scots and Irish-inflected English - and in a virtuosic variety of forms: these poems crackle with vernacular wit and the rhythms of everyday speech, absorbing the influence of the poet's Belfast mentor, Ciaran Carson, and the radical poetics of Tom Leonard. Already a rising star and Eric Gregory award-winner, James Conor Patterson is an extraordinary talent at the forefront of a new wave of poets exploring the linguistic inheritance of region and community. ISBN 9781529092776 -
Of Ochre and Ash, Eleanor Hooker's third collection of poems, lends to her familiar themes of family, place and memory a trademark uncanny, even otherworldly atmosphere, in which the glimpsed, the intuited and the half-known provide a great deal of the interest. The desire to "see my home from the other side" is a constant, but so too is immersion in the moment and, indeed, the ever-present nearby "darkening lake". "Eleanor Hooker's voice guides her reader through large metaphoric visions and the consolations of ordinary life. This is a collection full of urgent, haunted poems with a subtle range of approach; they are many-faceted works, reflecting the fragmented strangeness of experience. We face wild gothic moments, whose counterweight is the familiar, calm or stormy, world of the lake she lives beside and the people whose life is shared with hers." - Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin ISBN 9781910251904 -
Attainable, reliable, and inspirational recipes for the home baker from the acclaimed pastry chef at the iconic Ballymaloe House in Ireland. Ballymaloe House, in County Cork, Ireland, is heralded as the birthplace of modern Irish cuisine. There, visitors are treated to acclaimed pastry chef JR Ryall's daily array of seasonally inspired treats, wheeled through the dining room on a vintage dessert trolley. In Ballymaloe Desserts, Ryall presents 130 recipes for his award-winning confections, tested and perfected for the home baker. Eye-catching, elegant, and a bit magical, these inspiring yet accessible recipes range from the delightfully retro Ice Cream Bomb to the showstopping Irish Coffee Meringue Gateau to a Classic Strawberry Shortcake made modern with an edgy geometric presentation. Ryall is an excellent teacher, providing clear, detailed instructions for each dish. Recipes are built to be adaptable, highlighting Ballymaloe's commitment to seasonality and fresh local ingredients. His thoughtful advice appears throughout the book, revealing the best method for whisking egg whites, serving tips for adding major & 'wow' factor, and more. Chapters and recipes include: Fruit : Compote of Green Gooseberry and Elderflower; Sugared Peaches Meringues : Almond Meringue Gateau with Chocolate and Rum Cream Mousses, Set Creams, Jellies and Fruit Fools : Orange Mousse with Chocolate Wafers Puddings : Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding Some Biscuits and Petit Fours : Strawberries Almandine Frozen Desserts : Blackcurrant Ice Cream; Blood Orange and Passion Fruit Sorbet Pastries : Rhubarb and Custard Tart Cakes : Irish Apple Cake : Chocolate Mousse Gateau & more. ISBN 9781838665272 -
Jayne A. Quan writes with honesty and humour about key moments in their life and transition. With lyric insight and quiet clarity, Quan navigates the intersection of loss, grief, memory and the power of love and healing through the lens of a body in motion. Courageous and poignant, this debut collection of essays deftly explores what it takes to live your own truth and carve a place for yourself in a world that offers no blueprint. "Jayne Quan has built a cathedral of love and grief and acceptance; of bodies and faith, of loss and desire. A book that’s alive with truth and possibility, looking inwardly to our private sorrows while engaging politically with the world. A superb, deeply moving and unforgettable work." — Sinéad Gleeson "Jayne is just a lovely writer, and these searching, beautifully cadenced essays are filled with abiding truths." — Anne Enright ISBN 9781915017017 -
The encyclopaedia once shaped our understanding of the world. Created by thousands of scholars and the most obsessive of editors, adults cleared their shelves in the belief that wisdom was now effortlessly accessible in their living rooms. Contributions from Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Orville Wright, Alfred Hitchcock, Marie Curie and Indira Gandhi helped millions of children with their homework. But now these huge books gather dust and sell for almost nothing on eBay, and we derive our information from the internet, apparently for free. What have we lost in this transition? And how did we tell the progress of our lives in the past? All the Knowledge in the World is a history and celebration of those who created the most ground-breaking and remarkable publishing phenomenon of any age. It tracks the story from Ancient Greece to Wikipedia, from modest single-volumes to the 11,000-volume Chinese manuscript that was too big to print. It looks at how Encyclopaedia Britannica came to dominate the industry and how an army of ingenious door-to-door salesmen sold their wares to guilt-ridden parents. It explains how encyclopaedias have reflected our changing attitudes towards sexuality, race and technology, and exposes how these ultimate bastions of trust were often riddled with errors and prejudice. With his characteristic ability to tackle the broadest of subjects in an illuminating and highly entertaining way, Simon Garfield uncovers a fascinating and important part of our past, and wonders whether the promise of complete knowledge - that most human of ambitions - will forever be beyond our grasp. ISBN 9781474610780 -
The moving story of an Irish immigrant's life, from a poverty-stricken childhood in Ireland to becoming a captain of industry, After the Roof Caved In is a powerful, poignant look at how hard work and education enabled one young man to change his life and circumstances completely. Today, Michael J. Dowling is president and CEO of Northwell Health, New York state's largest healthcare provider and private employer, with over 68,000 employees and over 700 facilities. But he grew up in deep poverty in the village of Knockaderry in rural Ireland, in a small home without running water or a stable roof, in a family with little hope for improvement and a place with little opportunity-and he overcame it all to become wildly successful. After the Roof Caved In is Dowling's rags-to-riches story of his life and journey from his destitute youth to his realization of the power of education and his eventual departure from his home to attend university in Cork, and onward through his life as he gradually improved himself and his circumstances. Full of memories both fond and painful, this powerful memoir examines the family dynamics of his childhood-including the lives of his deaf mother and arthritic father-as well as the social systems of the time, the politics and concerns of the day, and the way a variety of disparate events came together to help Dowling change his life completely. Most importantly, it chronicles his lifelong effort to rise above the circumstances into which he was born and to create the sort of life he dreamed possible. For anyone interested in the stories of immigrants, the experiences of the Irish in the mid-20th century, or the value of hard work and education in changing one's life, After the Roof Caved In is an essential read, and a heartfelt, deeply moving meditation on an extraordinary life. Published 11th May 2023 - Order Now. ISBN 9781956763775
