An alternative view of the North West of England that delves into its stranger past. I Hate the Lake District offers a different vision of the rural environment from those found in much contemporary nature writing. Based on the author's trips around North West England, the book engages with nuclear power and nuclear war, slavery, imperialism, ghosts, love, God, cockroaches, and the sheer violence and contingency of “nature” itself—of which the human presence is merely a part. Each chapter starts with an account of a visit to a place in this remote part of England, the deep north, but digresses and wanders through multifarious themes and subjects. Among the sites Gere visits are the defunct nuclear power station at Sellafield, home of all British nuclear waste; Lake Coniston, where Donald Campbell died trying to break the water speed record; Hadrian's Wall, furthermost reach of the Roman Empire; the mysterious and deathly Morecambe Bay; sites of slavery in the North West; places where UFOs have been sighted, avant-garde artists created work, and Islamic terrorists trained; shantytowns where the navvies who built the railways lived with their families; and even the remains of Blobbyland in Morecambe. In I Hate the Lake District, Gere challenges the bourgeois pastoralism of popular nature writing and reveals the landscape of North West England as profoundly unnatural and strange.
Luke flung the light of his torch full onto the face of the immobile figure. Then he had the shock of his life. The man had no face! Where his face should have been was a sort of inhuman, uniform blank!' When a body is found at an isolated garage, Inspector Meredith is drawn into a complex investigation where every clue leads to another puzzle: was this a suicide, or something more sinister? Why was the dead man planning to flee the country? And how is this connected to the shady business dealings of the garage? This classic mystery novel is set amidst the stunning scenery of a small village in the Lake District. It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s with an introduction by the award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards.
A huge funeral for Windermere's popular resident, Barbara Dodge, is taking place and florist Persimmon 'Simmy' Brown and her new assistant, Bonnie Lawson are busy compiling wreaths in preparation. There's word of a series of sinister dognappings occurring in nearby Troutbeck and whilst taking a walk up Wansfell Pike, Simmy and her father, Russell, stumble on a dog, strangled to death - it's not long before Simmy reluctantly finds herself caught up in a murder investigation .
A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2017 One of NPR Fresh Air's "Books to Close Out a Chaotic 2017" NPR's Book Concierge Guide To 2017’s Great Reads “How lucky for us readers that Shapiro has been listening so perceptively for decades to the language of food.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR Fresh Air Six “mouthwatering” (Eater.com) short takes on six famous women through the lens of food and cooking, probing how their attitudes toward food can offer surprising new insights into their lives, and our own. Everyone eats, and food touches on every aspect of our lives—social and cultural, personal and political. Yet most biographers pay little attention to people’s attitudes toward food, as if the great and notable never bothered to think about what was on the plate in front of them. Once we ask how somebody relates to food, we find a whole world of different and provocative ways to understand her. Food stories can be as intimate and revealing as stories of love, work, or coming-of-age. Each of the six women in this entertaining group portrait was famous in her time, and most are still famous in ours; but until now, nobody has told their lives from the point of view of the kitchen and the table. What She Ate is a lively and unpredictable array of women; what they have in common with one another (and us) is a powerful relationship with food. They include Dorothy Wordsworth, whose food story transforms our picture of the life she shared with her famous poet brother; Rosa Lewis, the Edwardian-era Cockney caterer who cooked her way up the social ladder; Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady and rigorous protector of the worst cook in White House history; Eva Braun, Hitler’s mistress, who challenges our warm associations of food, family, and table; Barbara Pym, whose witty books upend a host of stereotypes about postwar British cuisine; and Helen Gurley Brown, the editor of Cosmopolitan, whose commitment to “having it all” meant having almost nothing on the plate except a supersized portion of diet gelatin.
Simmy has been adjusting to life in Windermere, running her florist shop, Persimmon's Petals, and trying to put her tragic past behind her. But just when she thinks her life is quietly coming together, it starts to unravel at the seams. She delivers a bouquet of flowers with a mysterious message attached to an elderly lady that brings sinister secrets to light. And when another old woman is found murdered in her own home, Simmy is drawn into the center of the investigation after the prime suspect names her as an alibi. As the murky lives of her neighbors tangle and swirl around her, Simmy must uncover the motive behind the murder before the killer strikes again …
When two writers meet at a retreat, the chemistry is instant, and they begin a sinister relationship ... or do they? An exquisitely tense, twisty She Said/She Said psychological thriller from number one bestselling author Sarah Stovell... ***The Times BOOK OF THE MONTH*** ***Telegraph BOOK OF THE YEAR*** 'Slickly claustrophobic, this arch story of obsessive, forbidden love taken to the extreme will have you squirming in your seat' Sarah Pinborough 'Whip-smart, lushly written and truly page-turning ... Sarah Stovell is a thrilling talent' Holly Seddon 'A moving, gripping story ... twists keep coming till the very last page. I loved it' Erin Kelly ____________________ Bo Luxton has it all – a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name. Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. When they meet at a writers' retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops... Or does it? Breathlessly pacey, taut and terrifying, Exquisite is a startlingly original and unbalancing psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page. ____________________ 'The characters are so untrustworthy you wont know what to believe, but you won't put it down till you've found out. A superb debut' Sunday Mirror 'Cunningly constructed and gorgeously written, this is outstanding' Express 'It's a remarkable debut in the crowded psychological thriller field, written with great sureness of touch and tone' The Times 'Addictive, terrifying and beautifully written, Exquisite is up there with the best psychological thrillers I've ever read. Fucking awesome' Chris Whittaker 'Sarah Stovell writes beautifully' Essie Fox 'Beautifully written and perfectly twisted, I was sucked deeply into the intertwined worlds of Alice and Bo and found myself reading through my fingers, compelled yet terrified at what the outcome might be...' Susi Holliday 'I bloody loved it. So clever, so beautifully written, such brilliant characterisation and THAT ENDING!' Lisa Hall 'Beautifully written, atmospheric and sexy' Cass Green 'A dark, sensual and twisted character study, rife with murky motivations and sinister revelations ... hard to put down' Foreword Reviews 'Kept me reading long into the night ... a majestic debut and utterly compelling' James MacManus, TLS 'The characters are untrustworthy so you won't know what to believe. But you won't be able to put the book down until you find out' Sunday People 'An alarming novel: infuriating at times, appalling, even frightening, and always a page-turner' Shots Mag 'Beautifully written, gripping and utterly believable' Crime Review 'A psychological thriller that will simply blow your mind' New Books Magazine 'If you're looking for a new and exciting psychological thriller that's packed with unexpected twists, Exquisite won't disappoint' CultureFly
Tristan Gooley ... shows how it is possible to achieve a level of outdoors awareness that will enable you to sense direction from stars and plants, forecast weather from woodland sounds and predict the next action of an animal from its body language - instantly. Although once common, this now rare awareness would be labelled by many as a 'sixth sense'. We have become so distanced from this way of experiencing our environment that it may initially seem hard to believe that it is possible, but Tristan Gooley uses a collection of 'keys' to show how everyone can develop this ability and enjoy the outdoors in an exciting way - one that is both new and ancient.
Liam has always felt a bit like he's stuck between two worlds. This isprimarily because he's a twelve-year-old kid who looks like he's about thirty. Sometimes it's not so bad, like when his new principal mistakes him for a teacher on the first day of school or when he convinces a car dealer to let him take a Porsche out on a test drive. But mostly it's just frustrating, being a kid trapped in an adult world. And so he decides to flip things around. Liam cons his way onto the first spaceship to take civilians into space, a special flight for a group of kids and an adult chaperone, and he is going as the adult chaperone. It's not long before Liam, along with his friends, is stuck between two worlds again—only this time he's 239,000 miles from home. Frank Cottrell Boyce, author of Millions and Framed, brings us a funny and touching story of the many ways in which grown-upness is truly wasted on grown-ups.
When a nice girl asks twelve men to get naked, is it decent exposure or indecent exploitation? Emma Tremayne has left her high-powered PR job and moved to the Lake District. She was expecting to find some much-needed peace and quiet, not to end up cavorting on a hillside with a naked guy. Emma thinks she's being community-minded when she agrees to help the local mountain rescue team put together a 'tasteful' nude calendar in order to fundraise for their new headquarters. Unfortunately, quite a lot of the community seems to mind what she's up to. Including the extremely handsome Mr July, Will, who appears to have got completely the wrong impression about Emma's intentions. So how does she convince him that he's more than just Flavour of the Month...? Sassy, funny and smart, Decent Exposure is a gorgeous read from a sparkling new voice in romantic fiction.
