Aged twenty-two, Charlie Walker left home in search of adventure. Fleeing the boredom that comes with comfort, he set off on a secondhand bicycle. The aim was simple: to pedal to the furthest point in each of Europe, Asia and Africa. He didn't train or plan. He just started. The journey was an escape from an unremarkable existence, a pursuit of hardship, and a chance to shed the complacency of middle England. From the brutality of winter on the Tibetan plateau, to the claustrophobia of the Southeast Asian jungle, the quest provided Charlie with ample opportunity to test his mettle. Ultimately, though, the toughest challenge was entirely unforeseen.
What would you do if you were allergic but really wanted a dog? In this whimsical picture book, a young girl uses her crafty nature and imagination to create four-legged friends each season as the weather changes. She builds a dog out of snow in winter, sand in summer, leaves in fall, and flowers in spring!
Pittsburgh, PA is affectionately known as The Steel City and The ‘Burgh to locals, but there’s so much more to the renaissance city than just nicknames—and that includes all of the weird, wonderful, and obscure locations that make it an ideal place to visit and call home. Where can you find a road paved solely with wood or public steps that have actual street names? Is there a place in The Golden Triangle where 1 + 1 = 1? And what about putting french fries on a sandwich or pancakes fit for a U.S. President? Filled with tales of culture, history, and, of course, the bizarre, readers will delve into what makes Pittsburgh unique including an official name for the color of its prominent bridges, an acorn from space, the story behind the Pittsburgh parking chair, and even a museum dedicated to the macabre. Secret Pittsburgh is all about the stuff you simply can’t make up but would make for amazing fiction if it wasn’t. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a true “Yinzer,” travel writer and Pittsburgh resident Karyn Locke will help you find truth behind the stories and tales that keep folks coming back—and staying put.
"Snow and Sand" tells the extraordinary true story of the fate of a Russian family fighting to keep their values against a destructive force that drives them into exile and the unexpected hospitality of an Egyptian king. Author Vicka Markov Surovtsov shares the entire story of her family in three parts, telling the story of her parents prior to leaving Russia, an account of her family's life in Egypt, and a description of her return visit to Russia as an adult. Shortly before the death of her father in 1961, Vicka Markov Surovtsov made a promise to him that she would visit Russia when the Communist regime ended. She had her doubts that the time would ever come, but after the 1991 overthrow of the Soviet Government she is finally able to keep her promise. Both her mother and father kept diaries of their lives, and much of the book is based upon them, along with her own memories. "Snow and Sand" fulfills her promise to her father and documents her own experiences in present-day Russia.
Nineteen-year-old Frank Friedmaier lives in a country under occupation. Most people struggle to get by; Frank takes it easy in his mother’s whorehouse, which caters to members of the occupying forces. But Frank is restless. He is a pimp, a thug, a petty thief, and, as Dirty Snow opens, he has just killed his first man. Through the unrelenting darkness and cold of an endless winter, Frank will pursue abjection until at last there is nowhere to go. Hans Koning has described Dirty Snow as “one of the very few novels to come out of German-occupied France that gets it exactly right.” In a study of the criminal mind that is comparable to Jim Thompson’s The Killer Inside Me, Simenon maps a no man’s land of the spirit in which human nature is driven to destruction—and redemption, perhaps, as well—by forces beyond its control.
The inaugural winner of The Novel Prize, an international biennial award established by Giramondo (Australia), Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK) and New Directions (USA). Cold Enough for Snow was unanimously chosen from over 1500 entries. A novel about the relationship between life and art, and between language and the inner world – how difficult it is to speak truly, to know and be known by another, and how much power and friction lies in the unsaid, especially between a mother and daughter. A young woman has arranged a holiday with her mother in Japan. They travel by train, visit galleries and churches chosen for their art and architecture, eat together in small cafés and restaurants and walk along the canals at night, on guard against the autumn rain and the prospect of snow. All the while, they talk, or seem to talk: about the weather, horoscopes, clothes and objects; about the mother’s family in Hong Kong, and the daughter’s own formative experiences. But uncertainties abound. How much is spoken between them, how much is thought but unspoken? Cold Enough for Snow is a reckoning and an elegy: with extraordinary skill, Au creates an enveloping atmosphere that expresses both the tenderness between mother and daughter, and the distance between them. 'So calm and clear and deep, I wished it would flow on forever.' — Helen Garner 'Rarely have I been so moved, reading a book: I love the quiet beauty of Cold Enough for Snow and how, within its calm simplicity, Jessica Au camouflages incredible power.' — Edouard Louis 'Au’s prose is elegant and measured. In descriptions of bracing clarity she evokes ‘shaking delicate impressions’ of worlds within worlds that are symbolic of the parts of ourselves we keep hidden and those we choose to lay bare. Put simply, this novel is an intricate and multi-layered work of art — a complex and profound meditation on identity, familial bonds and our inability to fully understand ourselves, those we love and the world around us.' — Jacqui Davies, Books+Publishing
Valor is under arrest for the attempted murder of the crown prince. Her parents are outcasts from the royal court, her sister is banished for theft of a national treasure, and now Valor has been sentenced to life imprisonment at Demidova, a prison built from stone and ice. But that's exactly where she wants to be. For her sister was sent there too, and Valor embarks on an epic plan to break her out from the inside. No one has escaped from Demidova in over three hundred years, and if Valor is to succeed she will need all of her strength, courage and love. If the plan fails, she faces a chilling fate worse than any prison ... An unforgettable story of sisterhood, valour and rebellion, Prisoner of Ice and Snow will fire you up and melt your heart all at once. Perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell, Piers Torday and Cathryn Constable.
This book is a compilation of extracts from letters written by Sayadaw U Jotika, a Burmese Buddhist monk, to his Western students - ten to fifteen years ago. These letters have been collated under the topics as indicated by the chapter headings below. Chapter 1. Mind, Mindfulness and Meditation Chapter 2. Solitude Chapter 3. Parental Love and Guidance Chapter 4. Life, Living and Death Chapter 5. Learning and Teaching Chapter 6. Value and Philosophy Chapter 7. Friendship, Relationships and Loving-kindness "Dhamma is in living your life, not in books. If you don’t understand your life, meaning your experience at this moment, you don’t understand Dhamma, no matter how much book knowledge you have. Without understanding your life, talking about Dhamma is just an intellectual game."
Legend has it that a magical spring lies dormant in the heart of the Khuzar desert. Said to be a gift from the gods, the spring holds the cure to all mortal woes. As mercenaries from everywhere try in vain to find the mystical spring, 17-yearold Desert Rose is on the run after her chieftain father is overthrown and captured by rebel clans. Now out for revenge, she sets out alone to the Oasis Capital to assassinate the person instigating the rebellion: the corrupt Emperor Zhao, who will stop at nothing to possess the elixir of life from the spring. To infiltrate the Imperial Guard, Desert Rose must pass a series of trials to test her wit, mettle, and her loyalty. But the real test lies in navigating the cut throat court politics with no ally but a rogue prince and a latent magic stirring in her - magic that can bring a kingdom to its knees or destroy her from within.
