{"title":"sue25","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781399836852","title":"A Time of Gifts : On Foot to Constantinople: from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about A Time of Gifts \"\u003cspan data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"\u003eA truly inspiring example of travel writing and memoir combined,\u003c\/span\u003e about Fermor’s journey on foot across Europe in 1933. I was blown away by the writing and went on to read the other two parts of the trilogy. Incredible.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1933, aged eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on his 'great trudge', a year-long journey by foot from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul. Three decades later he wrote A Time of Gifts, the sparklingly original account of the first part of this youthful adventure. Alone, carrying only a rucksack and a small allowance, he travelled through the Low Countries, up the Rhine, through Germany, down the Danube, through Austria and Czechoslovakia, and as far as Hungary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHailed as a masterpiece, A Time of Gifts is in part a coming-of-age memoir, but also a rich and compelling portrait of a continent that - despite its resplendent domes and monasteries, great rivers and grand cities - was soon to be swept away by war, modernisation and profound social change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Fermor, Patrick Leigh\u003cbr\u003eEurope\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 16 July 2026 by John Murray Press (John Murray Publishers Ltd) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 384 pages, N\/A\u003cbr\u003e128 x 198 x 27 | 266g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fermor, Patrick Leigh","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976956711286,"sku":"9781399836852","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781399836852.jpg?v=1791886411"},{"product_id":"9781804944172","title":"Birdsong","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Birdsong: \"An unforgettable book about the First world war, and one that made a huge impact on me when I first read it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the heat of the French summer of 1910, young Englishman Stephen Wraysford arrives in Amiens to stay with the Azaire family. But soon a secret passion emerges that threatens to destroy the household. Six years later, Stephen finds himself on the Western Front with civilization itself in the balance. And in a maze of tunnels under the trenches he will fight for everything he has known and loved.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn epic of love, death and redemption, Birdsong has moved millions of readers all over the world to become a contemporary classic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Faulks, Sebastian\u003cbr\u003eModern \u0026amp;amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 15 June 2023 by Cornerstone (Penguin (Cornerstone)) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 512 pages\u003cbr\u003e126 x 197 x 34 | 354g\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Faulks, Sebastian","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976956744054,"sku":"9781804944172","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781804944172.jpg?v=1791886413"},{"product_id":"9780552772433","title":"Case Histories : (Jackson Brodie)","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Case Histories: \"The first in the Jackson Brodie Detective series. Brodie’s a flawed character with a cynical outlook, but for all that, he’s genuine and means well.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCambridge is sweltering, during an unusually hot summer. To Jackson Brodie, former police inspector turned private investigator, the world consists of one accounting sheet - Lost on the left, Found on the right - and the two never seem to balance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSurrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, his own life haunted by a family tragedy, Jackson attempts to unravel three disparate case histories and begins to realise that in spite of apparent diversity, everything is connected...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Atkinson, Kate\u003cbr\u003eModern \u0026amp;amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 1 June 2005 by Transworld Publishers Ltd (Black Swan) in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Jackson Brodie' series.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 432 pages\u003cbr\u003e198 x 129 x 28 | 296g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atkinson, Kate","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976956776822,"sku":"9780552772433","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780552772433.jpg?v=1791886414"},{"product_id":"9780141198934","title":"Far From the Madding Crowd","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Far From the Madding Crowd: \"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eThe perfect story - it’s Hardy at his best. I read all of Hardy’s novels in my late teens but this one I still re-read regularly. He writes female characters well and Bathsheba Everdene is one of the best!\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHardy's powerful novel of swift sexual passion and slow-burning loyalty centres on Bathsheba Everdene, a proud working woman whose life is complicated by three different men - respectable farmer Boldwood, seductive Sergeant Troy and devoted Gabriel - making her the object of scandal and betrayal. Vividly portraying the superstitions and traditions of a small rural community, Far from the Madding Crowd shows the precarious position of a woman in a man's world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Hardy, Thomas\u003cbr\u003eClassic fiction (pre c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 26 April 2012 by Penguin Books Ltd (Penguin Classics) in the United Kingdom as part of 'The Penguin English Library' series.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 496 pages\u003cbr\u003e197 x 130 x 23 | 344g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Hardy, Thomas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976956809590,"sku":"9780141198934","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780141198934.jpg?v=1791886415"},{"product_id":"9781509821921","title":"Selected Poems","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Gillian Clarke: \"National Poet of Wales 2008-2016 and for good reason. She writes beautifully about nature and belonging!\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSelected Poems gathers together the best of Gillian Clarke's poetry in a single volume. National Poet of Wales, winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry and the Wilfred Owen Association Poetry award, Clarke is one of the best-known names in UK poetry today, as well as one of the most popular poets on the school curriculum. Over the past four decades her work has examined nature, womanhood, art, music, Welsh history - and always with the lyric and imagistic precision by which her poetry is instantly recognisable. But perhaps her greatest inspiration is the Welsh landscape and all the human stories that it hosts: as UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has said, 'Gillian Clarke's outer and inner landscapes are the sources from which her poetry draws its strengths'. Selected Poems shows the great compass and interdependence of those two domains, and presents the finest work from one of the most important figures in poetry today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: CLARKE, GILLIAN\u003cbr\u003ePoetry by individual poets\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 31 May 2016 by PAN MACMILLAN (Picador) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 192 pages\u003cbr\u003e155 x 197 x 18 | 254g\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CLARKE, GILLIAN","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976956842358,"sku":"9781509821921","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781509821921.jpg?v=1791886417"},{"product_id":"9781529019292","title":"Shuggie Bain","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Shuggie Bain: \"A wonderful story about a young lad trying to save his mother from alcoholism - Shuggie is one of my favourite characters ever!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA heart-wrenchingly moving novel set in Glasgow during the Thatcher years, Shuggie Bain tells the story of a boy's doomed attempt to save his proud, alcoholic mother from her addiction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life, dreaming of greater things. But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and as she descends deeper into drink, her children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest. Shuggie is different, he is clearly no’ right. But Shuggie believes that if he tries his hardest, he can be normal like the other boys and help his mother escape this hopeless place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShuggie Bain lays bare the ruthlessness of poverty, the limits of love, and the hollowness of pride. For readers of A Little Life and Angela's Ashes, it is a heartbreaking novel by a brilliant writer with a powerful and important story to tell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Stuart, Douglas\u003cbr\u003eModern \u0026amp;amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 15 April 2021 by PAN MACMILLAN (Picador) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 480 pages\u003cbr\u003e131 x 196 x 30 | 330g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stuart, Douglas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976956973430,"sku":"9781529019292","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781529019292.jpg?v=1791886419"},{"product_id":"9781783784585","title":"The Butterfly Isles : A Summer In Search Of Our Emperors And Admirals","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about The Butterfly Isles: \"\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none\"\u003e“Reading this book inspired many happy butterfly hunting expeditions! It details Patrick Barkham’s search for all 59 species found in the British Isles.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a_GcMg font-feature-liga-off font-feature-clig-off font-feature-calt-off text-decoration-none text-strikethrough-none white-space-prewrap\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eButterflies animate our summers but the fifty-nine species found in the British Isles can be surprisingly elusive. Some bask unseen at the top of trees in London parks; others lurk at the bottom of damp bogs in Scotland. A few survive for months, while other ephemeral creatures only fly for three days. Several are virtually extinct. This bewitching book charts Patrick Barkham's quest to find each of them - from the Adonis Blue to the Dingy Skipper - in one unforgettable summer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWry, attentive, full of infectious delight and curiosity, written with a beautifully light touch, The Butterfly Isles is a classic of British nature writing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Barkham, Patrick (Y)\u003cbr\u003eUnited Kingdom, Great Britain\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 3 May 2018 by GRANTA BOOKS in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 304 pages\u003cbr\u003e130 x 197 x 35 | 298g\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Barkham, Patrick (Y)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976957038966,"sku":"9781783784585","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781783784585.jpg?v=1791886420"},{"product_id":"9781784870461","title":"The Enchanted April","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about The Enchanted April: \"A group of women rent a small castle in Italy and escape from overbearing husbands - this is a delightful and whimsical read.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMrs Wilkins and Mrs Arbuthnot, cowed and neglected by their husbands, make a daring plan: they will have a holiday. Leaving a drab and rainy London one April and arriving on the shores of the Mediterranean, they discover a flower-filled paradise of beauty, warmth and leisure. Joined by the beautiful Lady Caroline and domineering Mrs Fisher, also in flight from the burdens of their daily lives, the four women proceed to transform themselves and their prospects.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Von Arnim, Elizabeth\u003cbr\u003eClassic fiction (pre c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 9 July 2015 by Vintage Publishing (Vintage Classics) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 304 pages\u003cbr\u003e195 x 127 x 20 | 216g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Von Arnim, Elizabeth","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976957366646,"sku":"9781784870461","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781784870461.jpg?v=1791886422"},{"product_id":"9781783966332","title":"The Heeding : (Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize 2022 for Nature Writing)","description":"\u003cp\u003eA year of looking, listening and noticing across four unique seasons and thirty-five beautifully illustrated poems.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAcross home and town, allotment and moorland, The Heeding paints a picture of four unique seasons caught in the grip of history yet filled with moments of wonder close at hand. A sparrowhawk hunting in a back street; butterflies massing in a high-summer yard as death rates rise; the moon overhead with a loved one held tight – the everyday memories that shape a life and help us recall our own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Heeding leads us on a journey that takes its markers and signs from nature and a world filled with fear but beauty and joy too. Collecting birds and animals, land and people together, it helps us look again, to heed: to be attentive to this world we share, to grieve what’s lost and together seek a better and brighter tomorrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Cowen, Rob, Hayes, Nick\u003cbr\u003ePoetry by individual poets\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 31 March 2022 by Elliott \u0026amp;amp; Thompson Limited in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 112 pages, Illustrations, black and white\u003cbr\u003e131 x 197 x 13 | 130g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cowen, Rob, Hayes, Nick","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976957530486,"sku":"9781783966332","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781783966332.jpg?v=1791886423"},{"product_id":"9781444792799","title":"The Moth Snowstorm : Nature and Joy","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about The Moth Snowstorm: \"Michael McCarthy, journalist and writer on the environment, reflects on the joy and delight that nature brings us whilst also being clear about the way we’re damaging it and losing species.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNature has many gifts for us, but perhaps the greatest of them all is joy; the intense delight we can take in the natural world, in its beauty, in the wonder it can offer us, in the peace it can provide - feelings stemming ultimately from our own unbreakable links to nature, which mean that we cannot be fully human if we are separate from it. In The Moth Snowstorm Michael McCarthy, one of Britain's leading writers on the environment, proposes this joy as a defence of a natural world which is ever more threatened, and which, he argues, is inadequately served by the two defences put forward hitherto: sustainable development and the recognition of ecosystem services.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on a wealth of memorable experiences from a lifetime of watching and thinking about wildlife and natural landscapes, The Moth Snowstorm not only presents a new way of looking at the world around us, but effortlessly blends with it a remarkable and moving memoir of childhood trauma from which love of the natural world emerged. It is a powerful, timely, and wholly original book which comes at a time when nature has never needed it more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: McCarthy, Michael\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEnvironmentalist thought \u0026amp; ideology\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished on 7 April 2016 by John Murray Press (John Murray Publishers Ltd) in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 272 pages\u003cbr\u003e131 x 197 x 17 | 194g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"McCarthy, Michael","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976957563254,"sku":"9781444792799","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781444792799.jpg?v=1791886425"},{"product_id":"9780141030586","title":"The Old Ways : A Journey on Foot","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about The Old Ways: \"It can’t be a list of my favourite books without including Robert Macfarlane. \u003cspan data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"\u003eThis is my favourite of his, I enjoyed accompanying him on a journey around Britain and beyond via ancient tracks and byways.\u003c\/span\u003e It’s an inspiring book that’s often in my thoughts when walking myself.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFollowing the tracks, holloways, drove-roads and sea paths that form part of a vast ancient network of routes criss-crossing the British Isles and beyond, Robert Macfarlane discovers a lost world - a landscape of the feet and the mind, of pilgrimage and ritual, of stories and ghosts; above all of the places and journeys which inspire and inhabit our imaginations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Macfarlane, Robert\u003cbr\u003eTravel writing\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 30 May 2013 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 448 pages\u003cbr\u003e196 x 130 x 34 | 356g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Macfarlane, Robert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976957628790,"sku":"9780141030586","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780141030586.jpg?v=1791886426"},{"product_id":"9780571340385","title":"The Poems of Seamus Heaney","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about The Poems of Seamus Heaney: \"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eAnother I studied for A Level! \u003cspan data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"\u003eI've loved his poetry ever since and bought pretty much every volume that's been published.\u003c\/span\u003e  I particularly love his poems about nature, and my favourite is ‘Blackberry Picking’.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe long-awaited, definitive edition of Seamus Heaney's poetry. It encompasses all the poems Heaney published in his lifetime as well as the small number that appeared after his death: twelve single volumes, from Death of a Naturalist (1966) to Human Chain (2010), and those poems published in pamphlets, journals and magazines or with limited circulation. In addition, the book includes a selection of unpublished material chosen by the poet's family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Heaney, Seamus\u003cbr\u003ePoetry\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 9 October 2025 by FABER \u0026amp;amp; FABER in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHardback | 1296 pages\u003cbr\u003e171 x 247 x 59 | 1572g\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Heaney, Seamus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976958644598,"sku":"9780571340385","price":45.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780571340385.jpg?v=1791886428"},{"product_id":"9780571258246","title":"The Remains of the Day","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Remains of the Day: \"\u003cspan data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"\u003eThe first of Kazuo Ishiguro's novels that I read, a poignant but perfect story set in a country house during the 1930's about a butler who sets aside love in favour of service and duty.\u003c\/span\u003e\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA contemporary classic, The Remains of the Day is Kazuo Ishiguro's beautiful and haunting evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House. In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the countryside and into his past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Ishiguro, Kazuo\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReligious \u0026amp; spiritual fiction\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished on 1 April 2010 by FABER \u0026amp; FABER in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 272 pages\u003cbr\u003e194 x 116 x 18 | 224g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ishiguro, Kazuo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976958742902,"sku":"9780571258246","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780571258246.jpg?v=1791886429"},{"product_id":"9780099448921","title":"The Rings of Saturn","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about The Rings of Saturn: \"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eAn interesting story about a man walking the coast of Suffolk, and, inspired by the landscape, he muses on life, history, and philosophy. \u003cspan data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"\u003eIt inspired my first visit to Suffolk and we've returned regularly ever since.\u003c\/span\u003e\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat begins as the record of W. G. Sebald’s own journey on foot through coastal East Anglia, from Lowestoft to Bungay, becomes the conductor of evocations of people and cultures past and present. From Chateaubriand, Thomas Browne, Swinburne and Conrad, to fishing fleets, skulls and silkworms, the result is an intricately patterned and haunting book on the transience of all things human.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Sebald, W. G., Hulse, Michael\u003cbr\u003eModern \u0026amp;amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 7 November 2002 by Vintage Publishing (Vintage Classics) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 320 pages, 75\u003cbr\u003e195 x 127 x 25 | 214g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sebald, W. G., Hulse, Michael","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976958841206,"sku":"9780099448921","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780099448921.jpg?v=1791886430"},{"product_id":"9780099478461","title":"The Road Home","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSue says about The Road Home: \"\u003cspan data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"\u003eA story of migrants coming to London in search of work. A compelling tale with a cast of incredible characters, I actually missed them long after I'd finished the book!\u003c\/span\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWidowed migrant Lev comes to London for work, hoping to earn enough to save the daughter and village he left behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLev travels from Eastern Europe to Britain by coach, leaving behind his mother, his young daughter and the memory of his dead wife. He needs work, money and a way to imagine a future after the sawmill that sustained his village has closed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLondon greets him with strangeness and possibility. He finds help from fellow migrant Lydia, work in kitchens and care homes, and a brief, intense relationship with a chef, Sophie. Yet while he learns about the city and begins to dream of opening a restaurant back home, his village is facing a new threat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Road Home is a compassionate, witty and clear-eyed story of migration, labour, exile, grief and belonging. From the Sunday Times bestselling author Rose Tremain, it speaks to readers looking for contemporary social realism and a humane story about starting again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Tremain, Rose\u003cbr\u003eModern \u0026amp;amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 12 June 2008 by Vintage Publishing (Vintage) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 480 pages\u003cbr\u003e198 x 130 x 25 | 338g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tremain, Rose","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976958939510,"sku":"9780099478461","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780099478461.jpg?v=1791886431"},{"product_id":"9781783965045","title":"The Seafarers : A Journey Among Birds","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about The Seafarers: \"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eStephen Rutt travelled the wildest parts of our coasts, from Shetland to Pembrokeshire to unravel the lives of our island’s seabirds. Beautiful writing about nature and the environment!\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe British Isles are remarkable for their extraordinary seabird life: spectacular gatherings of charismatic Arctic terns, elegant fulmars and stoic eiders, to name just a few. Often found in the most remote and dramatic reaches of our shores, these colonies are landscapes shaped not by us but by the birds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2015, Stephen Rutt escaped his hectic, anxiety-inducing life in London for the bird observatory on North Ronaldsay, the most northerly of the Orkney Islands. In thrall to these windswept havens and the people and birds that inhabit them, he began a journey to the edges of Britain. From Shetland, to the Farnes of Northumberland, down to the Welsh islands off the Pembrokeshire coast, he explores the part seabirds have played in our history and what they continue to mean to Britain today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Seafarers is the story of those travels: a love letter, written from the rocks and the edges, for the salt-stained, isolated and ever-changing lives of seabirds. This beguiling book reveals what it feels like to be immersed in a completely wild landscape, examining the allure of the remote in an over-crowded world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Rutt, Stephen\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBritish Isles\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished on 4 June 2020 by Elliott \u0026amp; Thompson Limited in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 288 pages\u003cbr\u003e129 x 197 x 25 | 292g\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rutt, Stephen","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959267190,"sku":"9781783965045","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781783965045.jpg?v=1791886433"},{"product_id":"9781857022421","title":"The Shipping News","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSue says about The Shipping News: \"Another of my favourite authors from the nineties. Set in Newfoundland with a wonderful protagonist, Quoyle, who moves back to his family home after the death of his wife. A story of redemption but almost Hardyesque through its quirky cast of characters!\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat we have to get over, somehow we do. Even the worst things.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuoyle has endured a life of disappointment. A failed journalist and now a failed husband, he finds himself trapped in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful woman who despises him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen his wife is killed in a car accident, Quoyle makes the rash decision to retreat with his two daughters to their dilapidated, ancestral home on the remote island of Newfoundland. As three generations of his family cobble together new lives there amongst the unpredictable forces of nature and small town life, Quoyle confronts his private demons and is forced to chart a new course.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWinner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Shipping News is a rousing reminder of the power of second chances and the importance of finding your place in the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Proulx, Annie\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eModern \u0026amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished on 1 August 1994 by HarperCollins Publishers (4th Estate) in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 368 pages\u003cbr\u003e196 x 130 x 25 | 262g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Proulx, Annie","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959332726,"sku":"9781857022421","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781857022421.jpg?v=1791886434"},{"product_id":"9781912987191","title":"The Stone Diaries","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about The Stone Diaries: \"Carol Shields was one of my favourite authors in the nineties. A wonderful story about a woman’s life that I remember losing myself in. It led to me subsequently reading all of Shield’s works!\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWidely regarded as a modern classic, The Stone Diaries is the story of one woman's life; that of Daisy Goodwill Flett, a seemingly ordinary woman born in Canada in 1905. Beautifully written and deeply compassionate, it follows Daisy's life through marriage, widowhood, motherhood, and old age, as she charts her own path alongside that of an unsettled century. A subtle but affective portrait of an everywoman reflecting on an unconventional life, this multi-award-winning story deals with everyday issues of existence with an extraordinary vibrancy and irresistible flair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Shields, Carol\u003cbr\u003eModern \u0026amp;amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 22 October 2020 by World Editions Ltd in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 392 pages\u003cbr\u003e141 x 215 x 36 | 420g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Shields, Carol","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959365494,"sku":"9781912987191","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781912987191.jpg?v=1791886436"},{"product_id":"9780241963289","title":"Thomas Hardy : The Time-torn Man","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Thomas Hardy : The Time-torn Man: \"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eA fantastic biography of Thomas Hardy, quoting from both his poetry and novels and setting them against the backdrop of his life.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seminal biography of a great poet, novelist and sacred figure in English writing, Thomas Hardy, from bestselling author Clare Tomalin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParadox ruled Thomas Hardy's life. His birth was almost his death; he became one of the great Victorian novelists and reinvented himself as one of the twentieth-century's greatest poets; he was an unhappy husband and a desolate widower; he wrote bitter attacks on the English class system yet prized the friendship of aristocrats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the hands of Whitbread Award-winning biographer Claire Tomalin, author of the bestselling Charles Dickens: A Life and The Invisible Woman, Thomas Hardy comes vividly alive.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Tomalin, Claire\u003cbr\u003eBiography: literary\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 21 June 2012 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 528 pages\u003cbr\u003e198 x 133 x 33 | 370g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tomalin, Claire","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959463798,"sku":"9780241963289","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780241963289.jpg?v=1791886437"},{"product_id":"9781784700065","title":"Waterlog","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSue says about Waterlog: \"My first introduction to open water swimming, as Roger Deakin set out to swim around the British Isles via rivers, streams, lochs, lidos, and the sea. It tackles issues of land ownership and trespass, and our relationship to the water that surrounds us.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWaterlog celebrates the magic of water and the beauty of wild Britain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1996 Roger Deakin set out to swim the British Isles. He swam in the sea, in rivers, in streams, tarns, lakes, lochs, ponds, lidos, swimming pools, fens, dykes, moats, aqueducts, waterfalls, flooded quarries and even canals. This funny, wise, delightful book documents his journey. It inspired a movement, creating wild swimmers out of many readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDetained by water bailiffs in Winchester, intercepted in the Fowey estuary by coastguards, mistaken for a suicide on Camber sands, confronting the Corryvreckan whirlpool in the Hebrides, Deakin discovered just how much of an outsider the native swimmer is to his landlocked, fully-dressed fellow citizens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWaterlog is a personal journey, a bold assertion of the native swimmer's right to roam, and an unforgettable celebration of the magic of water.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Deakin, Roger\u003cbr\u003eCultural studies\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 7 August 2014 by Vintage Publishing (Vintage) in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 368 pages\u003cbr\u003e190 x 120 x 24 | 258g\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Deakin, Roger","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959496566,"sku":"9781784700065","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781784700065.jpg?v=1791886439"},{"product_id":"9781037205316","title":"Whistler : The new international bestseller from the author of Tom Lake and The Dutch House","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Whistler: \"Ann\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePatchett is one of my favourite authors and I absolutely loved this story about family, loyalty, love, and acceptance.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe internationally bestselling author of The Dutch House and Tom Lake returns with a moving, life-affirming novel that reminds us of the power of connection to defy time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf all people Daphne could imagine running into at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, low down on that list is Eddie, the beloved former stepfather she has not seen since she was a child.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut with this unexpected reunion the years seem to fall away, and a second chance to know one another appears – a chance to turn over the past and, just maybe, to face the future together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom a master of storytelling, Whistler is a luminous novel about the endurance of love, the small moments that can define a life, and how the feeling of being known by another person – even so briefly – might change everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Patchett, Ann\u003cbr\u003eModern \u0026amp;amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 2 June 2026 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC in the United Kingdom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHardback | 304 pages\u003cbr\u003e162 x 242 x 30 | 502g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Patchett, Ann","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959529334,"sku":"9781037205316","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781037205316.jpg?v=1791886440"},{"product_id":"9780141199085","title":"Wuthering Heights","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Wuthering Heights: \"\u003cspan\u003eI studied this for A Level and have loved it ever since. I’ve reread it several times and I love the fact that the Yorkshire landscape and its weather becomes a character in itself.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before: of the intense passion between the foundling Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and her betrayal of him. As Heathcliff's bitterness and vengeance is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Bronte, Emily\u003cbr\u003eClassic fiction (pre c 1945)\u003cbr\u003ePublished on 6 December 2012 by Penguin Books Ltd (Penguin Classics) in the United Kingdom as part of 'The Penguin English Library' series.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 384 pages\u003cbr\u003e129 x 197 x 23 | 262g\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bronte, Emily","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959562102,"sku":"9780141199085","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780141199085.jpg?v=1791886441"},{"product_id":"9781841154589","title":"Year of Wonders","description":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Year of Wonders: \"\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI can remember exactly where I was when I read this fantastic book and I have never forgotten it. Set in Eyam, the first place outside of London to be affected by the plague, this is my favourite genre: fiction written around fact.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ‘March’ and ‘People of the Book’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA young woman’s struggle to save her family and her soul during the extraordinary year of 1666, when plague suddenly struck a small Derbyshire village.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1666, plague swept through London, driving the King and his court to Oxford, and Samuel Pepys to Greenwich, in an attempt to escape contagion. The north of England remained untouched until, in a small community of leadminers and hill farmers, a bolt of cloth arrived from the capital. The tailor who cut the cloth had no way of knowing that the damp fabric carried with it bubonic infection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo begins the Year of Wonders, in which a Pennine village of 350 souls confronts a scourge beyond remedy or understanding. Desperate, the villagers turn to sorcery, herb lore, and murderous witch-hunting. Then, led by a young and charismatic preacher, they elect to isolate themselves in a fatal quarantine. The story is told through the eyes of Anna Frith who, at only 18, must contend with the death of her family, the disintegration of her society, and the lure of a dangerous and illicit attraction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGeraldine Brooks’s novel explores love and learning, fear and fanaticism, and the struggle of 17th century science and religion to deal with a seemingly diabolical pestilence. ‘Year of Wonders’ is also an eloquent memorial to the real-life Derbyshire villagers who chose to suffer alone during England’s last great plague.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Brooks, Geraldine\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistorical fiction\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished on 2 April 2002 by HarperCollins Publishers (HarperPerennial) in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 336 pages\u003cbr\u003e195 x 130 x 23 | 242g\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Brooks, Geraldine","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959627638,"sku":"9781841154589","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9781841154589.jpg?v=1791886443"},{"product_id":"9780241988558","title":"Zennor in Darkness","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSue says about Zennor in Darkness\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"I love Helen Dunmore’s books and this is one of her best. Set in Cornwall during the First World War, this is another novel written around fact that I loved. \u003cspan data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"\u003eI went on to read all her other novels and her poetry as a result of reading this one.\u003c\/span\u003e\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey stand by side on the rock, facing out to sea. They are hidden from land here. Even spies would see nothing of them. It is spring 1917 in the Cornish coastal village of Zennor, and the young artist Clare Coyne is waking up to the world. Ignoring the whispers from her neighbours, she has struck a rare friendship with D.H. Lawrence and his German wife, who are hoping to escape the war-fever of London. In between painting and visits to her new friends she whiles away the warm days with her cousin John, who is on leave from the trenches, harbouring secrets she couldn't begin to understand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut as the heat picks up, so too do the fear and the gossip that haunt the village. And the freedom to love will come at a steep price.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAuthor: Dunmore, Helen\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCornwall\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished on 3 June 2021 by Penguin Books Ltd in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback \/ softback | 320 pages, no pictures\u003cbr\u003e130 x 196 x 25 | 228g\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dunmore, Helen","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58976959955318,"sku":"9780241988558","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0362\/8423\/5908\/files\/9780241988558.jpg?v=1791886444"}],"url":"https:\/\/haslemerebookshop.co.uk\/collections\/sue25.oembed","provider":"The Haslemere Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}