Saraband – serie

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 GORDON BURN PRIZE'A page-turning blast.' Times'Genuinely affecting … a very funny book.' Guardian'Burstingly alive and engaging.' TelegraphFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED HIS BLOODY PROJECT.'I have decided to write down everything that happens, because I feel, I suppose, I may be putting myself in danger.'London, 1965. An unworldly young woman suspects charismatic psychotherapist Collins Braithwaite of involvement in a death in her family. Determined to find out more, she becomes a client of his under a false identity. But she soon finds herself drawn into a world in which she can no longer be certain of anything.In Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnet presents both sides: the woman’s notes and the life of Collins Braithwaite. The result is a dazzling, page-turning and wickedly humorous meditation on the nature of sanity, identity and truth itself, by one of the most inventive novelists writing today.

“The best nature writer working in Britain today.” – The Los Angeles Times. Eagles, more than any other bird, spark our imaginations. These magnificent creatures encapsulate the majesty and wildness of Scottish nature. But change is afoot for the eagles of Scotland: the golden eagles are now sharing the skies with sea eagles after a successful reintroduction programme. In ‘The Eagle’s Way’, Jim Crumley exploits his years of observing these spectacular birds to paint an intimate portrait of their lives and how they interact with each other and the Scottish landscape. Combining passion, beautifully descriptive prose and the writer’s 25 years of experience, ‘The Eagle’s Way’ explores the ultimate question - what now for the eagles? - making it essential reading for wildlife lovers and eco-enthusiasts.

The islands of Orkney are distinct, perhaps that bit wild. Remote, surrounded by an endless ocean and dominated by an infinite sky, which brings either brilliant light or days of wind that makes everything taste of salt. This remarkable landscape has the power to bewitch people, and Robin Noble has been in its thrall for a lifetime. In Sagas of Salt and Stone he takes us on a personal voyage of adventure and discovery of the archipelago, its history, nature and people – from its seabird colonies and startling rock formations to its fishermen’s huts and the Ring of Brodgar. Robin reflects on what has changed and is changing in Orkney, sharing stories of golden summer days and relentless winter storms, of past friendships and family travails. He highlights the best that Orkney has to offer and elucidates its power to inspire and to provide succour for troubled souls. Sagas of Salt and Stone is nothing less than his love letter to Orkney and its people.

Even in the brick and concrete heart of our cities, nature finds a way. Birds and mammals, insects, plants and trees – they all manage to thrive in the urban jungle, and Bob Gilbert is their champion and their chronicler. He explores the hidden wildlife of the inner city and its edgelands, finding unexpected beauty in the cracks and crannies, and uncovering the deep and essential relationship that exists between people and nature when they are bound together in such close proximity. Beginning from Poplar, the East End area in which he lives, Bob explores, in particular, our relationship with the trees that have helped shape London; from the original wildwood through to the street trees of today. He draws from history and natural history, poetry and painting, myth and magic, and a great deal of walking, observing and listening. Beautifully written, passionate and defiant, Ghost Trees tells the secrets and stories of the urban wildscape, of glorious nature resilient and resurgent on our very doorsteps.

Light is changing, dramatically. Our world is getting brighter – you can see it from space. But is brighter always better? Artificial light is voracious and spreading. Vanquishing precious darkness across the planet, when we are supposed to be using less energy. The quality of light has altered as well. Technology and legislation have crushed warm incandescent lighting in favour of harsher, often glaring alternatives. Light is fundamental – it really matters. It interacts with life in profound yet subtle ways: it tells plants which way to grow, birds where to fly and coral when to spawn. It tells each and every one of us when to sleep, wake, eat. We mess with the eternal rhythm of dawn-day-dusk-night at our peril. But mess with it we have, and we still don’t truly understand the consequences. In Incandescent, journalist Anna Levin reveals her own fraught relationship with changes in lighting, and she explores its real impact on nature, our built environment, health and psychological well-being. We need to talk about light, urgently. And ask the critical question: just how bright is our future?

David Howe tells the story of the Lake District, England’s most dramatic landscape. Home to vistas of stunning beauty and a rich heritage, it is an area of England that fascinates, inspires – and has bewitched David for a lifetime. With passion and an endless curiosity, he reveals how half a billion years of shifting ice, violent volcanoes and (of course) falling rain have shaped the lakes and fells that have fired the imaginations of the great sons and daughters of the area, the poets and the scientists. He shows that Lakeland is a seamless web where lives and landscape weave together, where the ancient countryside has created a unique local history: of farming and mining, of tightknit communities, of a resilient and proud people. The Lake District is a place of rocks and rain, reason and romance, wonder and curiosity. And this book celebrates it all: the very character of Cumbria.

Scotland is a nation of dramatic weather and breathtaking landscapes – of nature resplendent. And, over the centuries, the people who have lived, explored and thrived in this country have developed a rich language to describe their surroundings: a uniquely Scottish lexicon shaped by the very environment itself. A Scots Dictionary of Nature brings together – for the first time – the deeply expressive vocabulary customarily used to describe land, wood, weather, birds, water and walking in Scotland. Artist Amanda Thomson collates and celebrates these traditional Scots words, which reveal ways of seeing and being in the world that are in danger of disappearing forever. What emerges is a vivid evocation of the nature and people of Scotland, past and present; of lives lived between the mountains and the sky.

'I’d always known that I was Brown. Black was different though; it came announced. Black came with expectations, of rhythm and other things that might trip me up.'Imani is a foundling. Rescued as a baby and raised by nuns on a remote Northumbrian island, she grows up with an ever-increasing feeling of displacement. Full of questions, Imani turns to her shadow, Amarie, and her friend, Harold. When Harold can’t find the answers, she puts it down to what the nuns call her “greater purpose”.At nineteen, Imani answers a phone call that will change her life: she is being called to Accra after the sudden death of her biological mother.Past, present, faith and reality are spun together in this enthralling debut. Following her transition from innocence to understanding, Imani's experience illuminates the stories we all tell to make ourselves whole.

Nestled between the Pennines and the Lake District Fells, the beautiful Eden Valley combines lush green countryside, abundant wildlife in hedgerows and woodlands, fertile farmland, ancient landmarks, and historic market towns and villages. Much like the valley itself, this book is a meeting of the natural world, the people who inhabit it, and their stories, history and skills – traditional and modern. Dick Capel takes us on a series of introspective ramblings from the source of the river in Mallerstang to the Solway Firth at Carlisle. He follows the Poetry Path, the Eden Benchmarks and the Goldsworthy Sheepfolds, and ventures into history with enchanting stories of old churches, hidden artefacts, and signs of ancient cultivation. As a long-time countryside manager for the Eden Valley, few people know this area quite as intimately as Dick Capel – and even fewer have worked as hard to protect the natural and built heritage of this unspoiled part of Cumbria. Covering natural history, myth and legend, this is an unrivalled companion to an unspoiled gem of the English countryside.

A New York Times Editor’s Pick. Shortlisted for the Bookmark Festival Book of the Year and the McIlvanney Prize"I wasn’t sure there could be a great pandemic novel. Here it is." Ian RankinMy name is Haley Cooper Crowe and I am in lockdown in a remote location I can’t tell you about.It’s five years after the pandemic, and for most people life has returned to normal—but not for Haley Cooper Crowe and her brother Ben. Children of divorce, they live with their mother, but their dad believes there’s a new, much deadlier virus spreading out of control, and that he can only save his kids by kidnapping them and hiding them in his remote prepper hideaway.Once confined to their off-grid “safe house”, Haley and Ben are completely cut off from civilisation. Will they make it out alive? How can they save their mother? How can they discover what’s happening on the outside?Propulsive, electrifying, tense, and often visceral and funny, How to Survive Everything is one teenage girl’s guide to navigating the imminent collapse of her world, family and sanity.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BOOKER PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 GORDON BURN PRIZE'A page-turning blast.' Times'Genuinely affecting … a very funny book.' Guardian'Burstingly alive and engaging.' TelegraphFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED HIS BLOODY PROJECT.'I have decided to write down everything that happens, because I feel, I suppose, I may be putting myself in danger.'London, 1965. An unworldly young woman suspects charismatic psychotherapist Collins Braithwaite of involvement in a death in her family. Determined to find out more, she becomes a client of his under a false identity. But she soon finds herself drawn into a world in which she can no longer be certain of anything.In Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnet presents both sides: the woman’s notes and the life of Collins Braithwaite. The result is a dazzling, page-turning and wickedly humorous meditation on the nature of sanity, identity and truth itself, by one of the most inventive novelists writing today.

The Lake District is one of our busiest national parks. Many people believe that wildness is long gone from the fells, lakes, tarns and becks, yet, within its boundaries, Jim Crumley sets out to prove them wrong – to find “a new way of seeing and writing about this most seen and written about of landscapes".With a naturalist’s eye and a poet’s instinct he is drawn to Lakeland’s turned-aside places where nature still thrives, from low-lying shores to a high mountain oakwood that’s not even on the map. Through backwaters and backwoods, Crumley traces this captivating land’s place in the evolution of global conservation and pleads the case for a far-reaching reappraisal of all of Lakeland’s wildness.

A new collection of vibrant essays to inform, stimulate and inspire every nature lover.Times of darkness offer opportunities to reflect. In Mistletoe Winter, Roy Dennis offers his reflections on the natural world from the past year – from the welcome signs of change to the ongoing problems we are posing for nature, and what humankind can and must do about them.As in his companion volume, Cottongrass Summer, Roy Dennis balances his alarm at the crisis confronting the natural world with his own sense of optimism that new generations can make crucial changes for the future. One of our most prominent advocates for our planet and its species, he writes with insight and originality. This volume will provide inspiration and ideas for everyone who cares about our planet and its species.

When twelve-year-old Sherrie-Lee witnesses a failed bank robbery in her neglected town, she seizes an opportunity to claim a new identity for herself. Escaping her troubled home life, she tries out a new name and invents stories and personas to cover her tracks.Sherrie-Lee finds both possibility and loneliness in this new freedom, as well as an unusual friendship which she nurtures. But harsh realities close in, and she’s plagued with foreboding – from her vulnerable brother at home to the climate crisis. While she dreams of a kinder world, it won’t be long before her own deceits start catching up with her.This arresting debut challenges assumptions and captures the powerless yearning of adolescence with a voice that is fresh, magnetic and often funny – one that pulls you in and won’t let go.

“Curlews give their liquid, burbling call, a call of pure happiness, the music of the fells.” Ella Pontefract, 1936, WensleydaleThe North of England abounds with beauty, from unspoiled beaches in Northumberland to the dramatic Lakeland Fells, for so long celebrated by writers and artists. Wide estuaries, winding rivers, sheer cliffs, rushing waterfalls, ancient woodland, limestone pavements, and miles of hedgerows and drystone walls sustainably built and rebuilt over centuries – all form part of its rich heritage.But these are, too, contested and depleted landscapes. Today the curlew's call is isolated, and many other species are in decline. Industry, urban sprawl and climate chaos threaten our environment on a previously unimagined scale. And while stereotypes persist – of dark satanic mills or “bleak” moorland – the imperative of conservation is all too often overlooked for short-term economic interests.This essential volume reminds us how and why Northern people have risen to the challenge of defending their open spaces, demanding action on pollution and habitat loss. Contemporary writers including Sarah Hall, Lee Schofield, Benjamin Myers and Lemn Sissay take their place alongside those who wrote in previous centuries. Together, the voices in this one-of-a-kind anthology testify that North Country is a place apart.

'I’d always known that I was Brown. Black was different though; it came announced. Black came with expectations, of rhythm and other things that might trip me up.'Imani is a foundling. Rescued as a baby and raised by nuns on a remote Northumbrian island, she grows up with an ever-increasing feeling of displacement. Full of questions, Imani turns to her shadow, Amarie, and her friend, Harold. When Harold can’t find the answers, she puts it down to what the nuns call her “greater purpose”.At nineteen, Imani answers a phone call that will change her life: she is being called to Accra after the sudden death of her biological mother.Past, present, faith and reality are spun together in this enthralling debut. Following her transition from innocence to understanding, Imani's experience illuminates the stories we all tell to make ourselves whole.

The personal collides with the political in this literary tour-de-force. In the 1950s, an eminent British writer pens a novel questioning the ethics of the nuclear destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki—but soon he’s trying to outrun his own past. Hakone, Japan, 2003. An eminent British writer in his seventies, Sir Edward Strathairn, returns to a resort in the Japanese mountains where, in his youth, he spent a beautiful, snowed-in winter. It was there he wrote his best-selling novel, The Waterwheel, accusing America of being in denial about the horrific aftermath of the Tokyo firebombings and the nuclear destruction at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. London, England, 1952. A young Edward falls in love with an avant-garde American artist, Macy. After their tumultuous relationship and breakup, he heads for Japan, where he meets someone else and becomes smitten again as he writes the novel that makes him famous. This is as much a thrilling romance as it is a sensitive exploration of blame, power and guilt in post-war America, Japan and Britain. With a narrator whose behaviour strikes the national conscience as much as his own, An Exquisite Sense of What is Beautiful will stay with readers long after the final page is turned.

"Evocative, muscular." - Kathleen Jamie. Karen Lloyd takes us on a deeply personal journey around the 60 miles of coastline that make up ‘nature’s amphitheatre’. Embarking on a series of walks that take in beguiling landscapes and ever-changing seascapes, Karen tells the stories of the places, people, wildlife and history of Morecambe Bay. So we meet the King's Guide to the Sands, discover forgotten caves and islands that don’t exist, and delight in the simple beauty of an oystercatcher winging its way across the ebbing tide. As we walk with Karen, she explores her own memories of the bay, making an unwitting pilgrimage through her own past and present, as well as that of the bay. The result is a singular and moving account of one of Britain’s most alluring coastal areas.

Shortlisted for the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards 2024“Outstanding … among the most important books about whisky ever written.” Charles MacLean BRINGING TOGETHER LANDSCAPES, geology, history, people and their whisky, and addressing the key role of peatlands in mitigating climate change, Peat and Whisky: The Unbreakable Bond is a love letter to Scotland and the unique substance that forms part of the DNA of Scotch whisky.Through epic journeys around Scotland and back in time, Mike Billett dives deep into the science and stories of ancient peatlands and bogs, capturing the spirit of places where whisky has been distilled for centuries. He sheds light on how peat imparts its distinctive aroma and flavour to the world’s finest single malts. He looks back to tradition and heritage, as well as forward to a future in which the dark matter will remain part of the recipe for liquid gold, while at the same time becoming an increasingly precious living sponge for atmospheric carbon. He takes us to places where the bond between peat and whisky is growing around the world.Whether you’re a whisky connoisseur, a lover of Scotland’s environment and beautiful landscapes, an armchair traveller or a history buff, this unforgettable book will deepen your appreciation for the land itself and help you to understand the profound connection between peat and the unmistakable character of uisge beatha, the water of life.

'This book is a must read ... a uniquely raw and authentic voice.' Maxine PeakeA killer stalks the streets of Leeds. Every man is a suspect. Every woman is at risk. But in a house on Cleopatra Street, women are fighting back.It’s the eve of the 1980s. PC Liz Seeley joins the squad investigating the murders. With a violent boyfriend at home and male chauvinist pigs at work, she is drawn to a feminist collective led by the militant and uncompromising Rowena. There she meets Charmaine – young, Black, artistic, and fighting discrimination on two fronts.As the list of victims grows and police fail to catch the killer, women across the north are too terrified to go out after dark. To the feminists, the Butcher is a symptom of wider misogyny. Their anger finds an outlet in violence and Liz is torn between loyalty to them and her duty as a police officer. Which way will she jump?Ajay Close combines the tension of a police procedural with the power and passion of the women’s lib movement. By turns emotional, action-packed and darkly funny, What Doesn’t Kill Us reveals just how much the world has changed since the 1970s – and how much it hasn’t.

Illustrated edition of Darwin's Beagle journals, with commentary and features, on the observations that led to one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of science and human thought.

Explores how the art of the civilization can be the key to understanding the rites, thoughts and daily life of the mysterious ancient Egyptians. This book decodes fifty works, from wall paintings from Nebamun's tomb to Tutankhamun's grave goods, with hieroglyphs and symbols of ancient practices, beliefs, magic and religion.

Is it possible to 'send' thoughts into someone else's brain? Can random number generators predict future events? Why does a placebo work like a drug? Might our minds be components of a universal collective consciousness? Astonishingly, the answer to more than one of these questions might be 'yes'. The same goes for many more, every bit as fantastical-sounding. Such questions about the human psyche have inspired thinkers in the field of noetics to attempt to understand the individual mind and spirit and the collective consciousness in a remarkable range of new and amazing ways. Even in this age of neurological discovery, the mind is still largely uncharted territory. What if there is more to the power of thought than we have yet realised? Do these views represent a paradigm shift? Are we on the verge of a radically new way of looking at the world? Or are noetic scientists no more than charlatans or naifs? This enthralling introduction to a fascinating and relatively new field takes in an extraordinary breadth of topics, from well-established phenomena like the placebo effect and brainwashing to the possible effects of a global collective consciousness.Even-handed in its approach, it sifts fact from fantasy-and fraud-casting a searching, no-nonsense light into some of the most shadowy corners of contemporary thought. Whilst encompassing the ideas of the greatest minds in Western intellectual and scientific history-Aristotle, Descartes, Newton, Einstein and more-it ventures far beyond the confines of that tradition to address Eastern thought and other ways of knowing. Offering a unique tour through the mysteries of the mind as far as they are currently known, it also explores some of the enigmas that might conceivably be unlocked in the near future.

Centuries before European explorers 'discovered' the Americas, the ancient Maya flourished in thriving cities like Palenque and Chichen Itza, where they tracked the stars and created elaborate cosmic calendars, built temples to their gods, performed human sacrifices - and drank chocolate. Incoming priests did their best to stamp out the indigenous ways, but the sculptures, cities, murals and even books, highlighted in brilliant Mayan Blue, survived to tell the true story of a vanished civilisation. This lavishly illustrated book goes beyond the apocalyptic 2012 predictions surrounding the end of the Long Count calendar: it delves deep into the mysterious Maya world to uncover the true story of an empire by studying its artefacts. As the players on the cosmic ball court knew, the survivor is the winner.

Shortlisted for the prestigious Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown Award, 2014. Edinburgh, 1942. As war tightens its grip on Britain, Agnes Thorne discovers that her new husband’s obsession with Home Rule in a time of national crisis is threatening to land him in prison. His stand against conscription makes Agnes a reluctant participant in the nascent nationalist movement. As hidden forces of state break cover and strain the marriage to breaking point, Agnes is caught up in a triangle of passion, politics and secrecy.

Revised edition of this biography with a twist about Emily Brontë, the subject of major 2022 film Emily starring Emma Mackey.Brontë scholar Claire O'Callaghan conjures a new image of Emily Brontë and rehabilitates her reputation by exploring the themes of her life and work. We discover that Emily was a thoroughly modern woman.Emily Brontë occupies a special place in the English literary canon. And rightly so: the incomparable Wuthering Heights is a novel that has bewitched us for almost 200 years, and the character of Heathcliff is, perhaps, the ultimate romantic hero—and villain. But Emily herself remains an enigmatic figure, often portrayed as awkward, as a misanthrope, as no normal being. That's the conventional wisdom on Emily as a person, but is it accurate? Is it fair?It's time for the real Emily Brontë to please stand up.

Anne Brontë: for so long underestimated, from her own day to modern times. But why exactly has this remarkably talented and pioneering author been so overlooked? Anne’s writing has often been compared harshly with that of Charlotte and Emily – as if living in her sisters’ shadows throughout her life wasn’t enough. But her reputation, literary and personal, has changed dramatically since Agnes Grey was first published in 1846. Then, shocked reviewers complained of her ‘crudeness’ and ‘vulgarity’ – words used to this day to belittle women writing about oppression. Her second and most famous work, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, was groundbreaking in its subject matter: marital and alcohol abuse and the rights of married women. A book that refused to sweep difficult truths under the carpet. A book so ahead of its time that even her sisters weren’t ready for it, Charlotte being one of its harshest critics. And yet could this even be the best of all the Brontë works? With such a contradictory life and legacy: who was Anne, really? It’s time to find out.

Helen Moat sets out to cycle across Europe, with her teenage son, on her sit-up-and-beg bike – aka ‘The Tank’. She’s not sure whether she is running away from the past or pedalling towards it. As she cycles the Rhine and Danube through the days of unfolding spring, the sky filled with birdsong, she senses her bird-loving father is by her side. Increasingly, she loses herself in her surroundings and memories of a childhood spent in the outdoors of rural Northern Ireland. Gradually, the natural beauty of Europe’s great waterways bring healing, as does the kindness of friends and strangers along the way. She feels a sense of belonging on a continent shaped by war and peace, peoples divided and reunited, a shared history. But when the birdsong fades across the parched, late-summer landscapes of Bulgaria and Turkey, Helen finds herself recalling the Troubles and confronting a suppressed secret. This is her life-affirming account of an unforgettable, if sometimes bumpy ride.