'This book has found a special place in my heart. It's as strange, beautiful and unexpected, as precise and exquisite in its movings, as bees in a hive. I loved it' Helen Macdonald, author of H IS FOR HAWK `Everyone should own A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings, which moved and delighted me more than a book about insects had any right to ... Jukes is a gloriously gifted writer and her book ought to become a key text of this bright moment in our history of nature writing' Alex Preston, Observer `Finely written and insightful' Melissa Harrison, Guardian A fascinating, insightful and inspiring account of a novice beekeeper's year of keeping honeybees, which will appeal to readers of H is For Hawk and The Outrun Entering her thirties, Helen Jukes feels trapped in an urban grind of office politics and temporary addresses - disconnected, stressed. Struggling to settle into her latest job and home in Oxford, she realises she needs to effect a change if she's to create a meaningful life for herself, one that can accommodate comfort and labour and love. Then friends give her the gift of a colony of honeybees - according to folklore, bees freely given bring luck - and Helen embarks on her first full year of beekeeping. But what does it mean to `keep' wild creatures? In learning about the bees, what can she learn of herself? And can travelling inside the hive free her outside it? As Helen grapples with her role in the delicate, awe-inspiring ecosystem of the hive, the very act of keeping seems to open up new perspectives, deepen friendships old and new, and make her world come alive. A Honeybee Heart Has Five Openings is at once a fascinating exploration of the honeybee and the hive, the practices of honey-gathering and the history of our observation of bees; and a beautifully wrought meditation on responsibility and care, on vulnerability and trust, on forging bonds and breaking new ground. 'This is classic modern nature-writing; a synthesis of scientific learning, observation and the author's response. If you care for the wellbeing of bees and the planet and for the state of the human heart, then this book, with its deft and beautiful prose, is for you... And like all good nature writing, it also - quietly, clearly and insistently - requires us, too, to respond' Countryfile Magazine `An intimate exploration of the heart and home, and a tantalising glimpse into an alien culture. A brave and delicate book, rich and fascinating' Nick Hunt, author of Where the Wild Winds Are `Subtly wrought personal journey into the art and science of beekeeping. Helen Jukes evokes both the practical minutiae of the work, and the findings of researchers who have illuminated bee ethology over the centuries' nature 'A mesmeric, lovely, quietly powerful book. A gentle but compelling account of the redemption that comes from relationship and attention' Charles Foster, author of Being a Beast 'A profound, funny and sometimes deeply moving book that describes a year of inner city bee keeping, while dancing between the history of bees and us and what it means to be human in our modern world' Julia Blackburn, author of Threads: The Delicate Life of John Craske 'A very human story about the aliens gathering in her back garden - bees, fascinating but almost unknowable. Their wildness and her duty to them help open up a desk rat's uninspiring life to all the possibilities of love, care, connection and sheer wonder. It is a lovely, entirely personal journey into the very heart of the hive' Michael Pye `I raced through this really terrific, down-to-earth read. The existential threat to our entire ecosystem posed by the problems facing bees can be hard to grasp, but Helen manages to make this a very personal, human story that, hopefully, might inspire others to action' Luke Turner, The Quietus

A landmark historical investigation into crimes against humanity and the nature of evil that is over two decades in the making.

'The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.' Hannah Arendt

I You We Them is a study of the psychology of some of the least visible perpetrators of crimes against humanity, the ‘desk killers’ who ordered and directed some of the worst atrocities of the last two hundred years. It is also an exploration of corporate responsibility and personal culpability today, connecting the bureaucratic blindness that created desk killing to the same moral myopia that exists now in the calm, clean offices of global capitalism.

It is a journal of discovery, based on decades of research, interviews with hundreds of participants, and extensive first-hand experience. It encompasses extended investigations into a number of specific cases, moving from the brutalities of Empire to the scorched oil fields of the Niger Delta, from the industrial complex of Auschwitz to the empty sites of the Bosnian genocide; bearing witness, recording, and attempting to understand.

It is a synthesis of history, reportage and memoir, a sustained meditation on the nature of responsibility and injustice, and a book that will change the way we think about our past, present and future.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Colin O'Brady's awe-inspiring memoir spans his triumphant recovery from a tragic accident to his gripping 932-mile solo crossing of Antarctica. Prior to December 2018, no individual had ever crossed the landmass of Antarctica alone, without support and completely human powered. Yet, Colin O'Brady was determined to do just that, even if, ten years earlier, there was doubt that he'd ever walk again normally. From the depths of a tragic accident, he fought his way back. In a quest to unlock his potential and discover what was possible, he went on to set three mountaineering world records before turning to this historic Antarctic challenge. O'Brady's pursuit of a goal that had eluded many others was made even more intense by a head-to-head battle that emerged with British polar explorer Captain Louis Rudd-also striving to be "the first." Enduring Antarctica's sub-zero temperatures and pulling a sled that initially weighed 375 pounds-in complete isolation and through a succession of whiteouts, storms, and a series of near disasters-O'Brady persevered. Alone with his thoughts for nearly two months in the vastness of the frozen continent-gripped by fear and doubt-he reflected on his past, seeking courage and inspiration in the relationships and experiences that had shaped his life. Honest, deeply moving, filled with moments of vulnerability-and set against the backdrop of some of the most extreme environments on earth, from Mt. Everest to Antarctica-The Impossible First reveals how anyone can reject limits, overcome immense obstacles, and discover what matters most.

The inspiration behind the powerful new film starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson, this is the story of Dido Belle, whose adoption by an aristocratic family challenged the conventions of 18th century England. In one of the most famous portraits in the world, a pretty girl walks through the grounds of Kenwood House, a vision of aristocratic refinement. But the eye is drawn to the beautiful woman on her right. Pointing at her own cheek, she playfully acknowledges her remarkable position in eighteenth-century society. For Dido Belle was the illegitimate, mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain and a slave woman, adopted by the Earl of Mansfield. As Lord Chief Justice of England he would preside over the notorious Zong case - the drowning of 142 slaves by an unscrupulous shipping company. His ruling provided the legal underpinning to the abolition of slavery in Britain. From the privileged yet unequal lives of Dido and her cousin Elizabeth, to the horrific treatment of African slaves, Paula Byrne - the bestselling author of `The Real Jane Austen' - vividly narrates the story of a family that defied convention, the legal trial that exposed the cruelties of slavery and the woman who challenged notions of race at the highest rank.

'A wonderful book: Nancy Campbell is a fine storyteller with a rare physical intelligence. The extraordinary brilliance of her eye confers the reader a total immersion in the rimy realms she explores. Glaciers, Arctic floe, verglas, frost and snow - I can think of no better or warmer guide to the icy ends of the Earth' Dan Richards, author of Climbing Days A vivid and perceptive book combining memoir, scientific and cultural history with a bewitching account of landscape and place, which will appeal to readers of Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin and Olivia Laing. Long captivated by the solid yet impermanent nature of ice, by its stark, rugged beauty, acclaimed poet and writer Nancy Campbell sets out from the world's northernmost museum - at Upernavik in Greenland - to explore it in all its facets. From the Bodleian Library archives to the traces left by the great polar expeditions, from remote Arctic settlements to the ice houses of Calcutta, she examines the impact of ice on our lives at a time when it is itself under threat from climate change. The Library of Ice is a fascinating and beautifully rendered evocation of the interplay of people and their environment on a fragile planet, and of a writer's quest to define the value of her work in a disappearing landscape. 'The writer and poet offers reflections on ice and snow that draw on art, science and history... a dreamlike book.' - The Guardian 'It is a sparkling and wonderful meditation on a substance we must cherish' - The Independent 'It is a pleasant brew infused with elements not only of travel and history, but also of memoir and personal reflection'- Literary Review 'Ms Campbell, a penniless but intrepid traveller, braves miserable bus journeys, freezing rain, dark and intense cold, but still manages to write rapturously of the beauties of the Arctic'- The Economist 'The Library of Ice instantly transported me elsewhere... This luminous book is both beautifully written and astute in its observations, turning the pages of time backwards and revealing, like the archive of the earth's climate stored in layers of solidified water, the embedded meanings of the world's icy realms. It is a book as urgently relevant as it is wondrous' Julian Hoffman, author of The Heart of Small Things 'An extraordinary work not only for the perspicacity and innate experience of the author who leads the reader carefully across intertwined icy tracks of crystallised geographics, melting myths and frozen exploration histories, but through her own tender diagnostics of what reading ice can show us in these times ... Perilous in its scope, exacting in its observation, wild in intellect, The Library of Ice captures the reader's attention almost as if caught in ice itself' MacGillivray, author of The Nine of Diamonds: Sorroial Mordantless 'This is travel writing to be treasured. A biography of ice, the element that has another life, with hard facts thawed and warmed by a poet's voice. Campbell's writing is companionable, curious, deeply researched and with no bragging about the intrepidity that has taken her between winter-dark Greenland, Polar libaries, Scottish curling rinks, Alpine glaciers and Henry Thoreau's pond at Walden' Jasper Winn, author of Paddle 'The is not one inelegant or flabby line in the 300 pages of the best writing I have relished this year. W.G. Sebald would have loved, envied and recognised a fellow spirit.' Horatio Clare, The Spectator

'Wonderfully dramatic ... Probably the juiciest court scandal of the past 500 years' Christopher Hudson, Daily Mail 'A sordid yet fascinating story' Antonia Fraser, The Times In the autumn of 1615 the Earl and Countess of Somerset were detained on suspicion of having murdered Sir Thomas Overbury. The arrest of these leading court figures created a sensation. The young and beautiful Countess of Somerset had already achieved notoriety when she had divorced her first husband in controversial circumstances. The Earl of Somerset was one of the richest and most powerful men in the kingdom, having risen to prominence as the male 'favourite' of England's homosexual monarch, James I. In the coming weeks it was claimed that, after sending Sir Thomas Overbury poisoned tarts and jellies, the Somersets had finally killed him by arranging for an enema of mercury sublimate to be administered. In a vivid narrative, Anne Somerset unravels these extraordinary events, which were widely regarded as an extreme manifestation of the corruption and vice that disfigured the court during this period. It is, at once, a story rich in passion and intrigue and a murder mystery, for, despite the guilty verdicts, there is much about Overbury's death that remains enigmatic. Infinitely more than a gripping personal tragedy, the Overbury murder case profoundly damaged the monarchy, and constituted the greatest court scandal in English history.

At dawn on 27 April 1789 Fletcher Christian, master's mate on HMS Bounty, took a coconut to quench his thirst from the supply on the quarterdeck. This seemingly insignificant act resulted in mutiny, chaos and a chain of events that leads right up to the present day. With a story driven by hazardous and extraordinary sea voyages and a cast that includes the Bounty mutineers, an eccentric lesbian aristocrat, Pitcairn Island sex offenders and the narrator's ancient mother, this sparkling and original book weaves together fact and fiction, history and autobiography, humour and danger in inimitable style.

Woman. Wife. Smuggler. Spy . . . A thrilling and heart-wrenching novel inspired by the astonishing real life story of Nancy Wake. Perfect for fans of Suzanne Goldring's MY NAME IS EVA, Kate Quinn's THE ALICE NETWORK and Imogen Kealey's LIBERATION, soon to be a blockbuster movie. 'Lawhon breathes new life into Nancy Wake's extraordinary story. Rich and thoroughly researched, an exciting, well-written account of wartime valour and the protagonist's qualities shine through' The Times 'This is the next book I won't be able to stop talking about...so, so good!' 5 stars (Goodreads reviewer) 'Readers will be transfixed by this story of a woman who should be a household name' Library Journal 'A gripping thriller based on the life of Nancy Wake... Will keep readers turning the pages' Publishers Weekly In 1936, foreign correspondent, Nancy Wake, witnesses first-hand the terror of Hitler's rise in Europe. No sooner has Nancy met, fallen in love with and agreed to marry French industrialist Henri Fiocca, than the Germans invade France and force her to take on her first code name of many. The Gestapo call her the White Mouse for her remarkable ability to evade capture when smuggling Allied soldiers across borders. She becomes Helene when she leaves France to train in espionage with an elite special forces group in London. Then, when she returns to France, she is the deadly Madame Andree. But the closer France gets to liberation, the more exposed Nancy - and the people she loves - will become. Inspired by true wartime events, Code Name Helene is a gripping and moving story of extraordinary courage, unfaltering resolve, remarkable sacrifice - and enduring love. Just some of the 5-star reader reviews for Code Name Helene: 'I finished this a few weeks ago and I'm still thinking about Helene . . . exceptional' 5 stars (Goodreads reviewer) 'Will have you turning off phones and TVs and staying up late to read it' 5 stars (Goodreads reviewer)

A virologist's insight into how viruses evolve and why global epidemics are inevitable In 1993 a previously healthy young man was drowning in the middle of a desert, in fluids produced by his own lungs. This was the beginning of the terrifying Sin Nombre hantavirus epidemic and the start of a scientific journey that would forever change our understanding of what it means to be human. After witnessing the Sin Nombre outbreak, Dr Frank Ryan began researching viral evolution and was astonished to discover that it's inextricable from the evolution of all life on Earth. From AIDS and Ebola to the common cold, Ryan explores the role of the virus within every ecosystem on the planet. His gripping conclusions shed new light on the natural world, proving that what doesn't kill you really does make you (and your species) stronger.

READ THE PLOT - CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO - Paul McQueen has joined all the dots of the Brexit story bringing it to life, guiding you through the tales of treachery and skulduggery. But, with only 2 referendums in 45 years why didn't politicians have more faith in the voice of the people or is it that the EU redefined the word 'democracy'? Well researched and presented in an easy to understand format with links to footage of key speeches and newsreels, it gives the reader a clear understanding of how successive leaders led the UK toward an ever closer union until the people said no. Unbiased, accurate and up-to-date it catalogues UK/EU events that got us where we are today. It's probably the most important book on the subject to be released this year. The Brexit Chronicles is a book you will want to keep for your children and their children. Know why Brexit happened - and what to do next.

Two women. One secret. Will they be able to keep it under wraps? It was a stormy evening in 1920s London. When newly qualified almoner, Alice, stepped into the home of Charlotte, a terrified teenager who had just given birth out of wedlock, she did not expect to make a pact that would change her life forever. Thrown into secrecy after an unexpected turn, Alice was determined to keep bewildered Charlotte and her newborn baby safe. But when a threatening note appeared, she realised that Charlotte may need more protection than she first thought. But from who? Based on extensive research into the archive material held at the London Metropolitan Archives, and enriched with lively social history and excerpts from newspaper articles, LETTERS FROM ALICE is a gripping and deeply moving tale, which brings the colourful world of 1920s London to life. Full of grit, mystery and hope, it will have readers enthralled from the very first page.

In 1956, Clarence van Buuren was found guilty of the murder of Myrna Joy Aken and executed – despite insisting on his innocence right until the end. And despite evidence proclaiming that Van Buuren was a narcissistic psychopath and a sadist, women queued to attend his trial. What secret did Van Buuren take with him to the grave? Fifty years after the events, Chris Marnewick tries to solve this mystery.

Scientists have always kept secrets. But rarely in history have scientific secrets been as vital as they were during World War II. In the midst of planning the Manhattan Project, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services created a secret offshoot - the Alsos Mission - meant to gather intelligence on and sabotage if necessary, scientific research by the Axis powers. What resulted was a plot worthy of the finest thriller, full of spies, sabotage, and murder. At its heart was the 'Lightning A' team, a group of intrepid soldiers, scientists, and spies - and even a famed baseball player - who were given almost free rein to get themselves embedded within the German scientific community to stop the most terrifying threat of the war: Hitler acquiring an atomic bomb of his very own. While the Manhattan Project and other feats of scientific genius continue to inspire us today, few people know about the international intrigue and double-dealing that accompanied those breakthroughs. Bastard Brigaderecounts this forgotten history, fusing a non-fiction spy thriller with some of the most incredible scientific ventures of all time.

"Delightfully horrifying."--Popular Science
One of Mental Floss's Best Books of 2018
One of Science Friday's Best Science Books of 2018

· A mysterious epidemic of dental explosions…
· A teenage boy who got his wick stuck in a candlestick...
· A remarkable woman who, like a human fountain, spurted urine from virtually every orifice...

These are just a few of the anecdotal gems that have until now lain undiscovered in medical journals for centuries. This fascinating collection of historical curiosities explores some of the strangest cases that have perplexed doctors across the world.

From seventeenth-century Holland to Tsarist Russia, from rural Canada to a whaler in the Pacific, many are monuments to human stupidity – such as the sailor who swallowed dozens of penknives to amuse his shipmates, or the chemistry student who in 1850 arrived at a hospital in New York with his penis trapped inside a bottle, having unwisely decided to relieve himself into a vessel containing highly reactive potassium. Others demonstrate exceptional surgical ingenuity long before the advent of anaesthesia – such as a daring nineteenth-century operation to remove a metal fragment from beneath a conscious patient’s heart. We also hear of the weird, often hilarious remedies employed by physicians of yore – from crow’s vomit to port-wine enemas – the hazards of such everyday objects as cucumbers and false teeth, and miraculous recovery from apparently terminal injuries.

Blending fascinating history with lacerating wit, The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth will take you on a tour of some of the funniest, strangest and most wince-inducing corners of medical history.

'A masterpiece and a masterclass in investigative journalism' Christina Lamb, Sunday Times On 17 October 2013, teenage sisters Ayan and Leila Juma left their family home near Oslo, seemingly as usual. Later that day they sent an email to their unsuspecting parents, confessing they were on their way to Syria. They had been planning the trip for months in secret. Asne Seierstad - working closely with the family - followed the story through its many dramatic twists and turns. This is, in part, a story about Syria. But most of all it is a story of what happens to apparently ordinary people when their lives are turned upside down by conflict and tragedy. 'Meticulously documented, full of drama ... this is a tale fluently told, and a thriller as well' Kate Adie, Literary Review 'Asne Seierstad is the supreme non-fiction writer of her generation ... Two Sisters isn't only the story of how a pair of teenage girls became radicalised but an unsparing portrait of our own society - of its failings and its joys' Luke Harding 'A masterwork. Brilliantly conceived, scrupulously reported and beautifully written, this book is compulsive reading' Jon Lee Anderson

This is a book about expedition, adventure, our thirst for knowledge and pushing the limits of human endurance.

From the navigational instruments that have led us through unknown lands, to the advanced engineering that carried us into the depths of the ocean, to the rocket science that propelled us into space, science and adventure have always been inextricably linked. Both are at the heart of everything we now know about the complex universe we find ourselves in.

From the groundbreaking sea voyage in 1735 that settled the debate raging between Descartes and Newton about the shape of the earth to the balloon ride that led to the discovery of cosmic rays, we have pushed the limits of what's possible, both on our planet and beyond the clouds.

The Little Book of Big Explorations is a collection of some of the most daring and eye-opening adventures in history that have changed the way we view the world, as well as a look at what's still to be discovered. Our insatiable curiosity has driven our survival as a species and can be charted through the centuries by these incredible voyages of discovery.

A virologist's insight into how viruses evolve and why global epidemics are inevitable In 1993 a previously healthy young man was drowning in the middle of a desert, in fluids produced by his own lungs. This was the beginning of the terrifying Sin Nombre hantavirus epidemic and the start of a scientific journey that would forever change our understanding of what it means to be human. After witnessing the Sin Nombre outbreak, Dr Frank Ryan began researching viral evolution and was astonished to discover that it's inextricable from the evolution of all life on Earth. From AIDS and Ebola to the common cold, Ryan explores the role of the virus within every ecosystem on the planet. His gripping conclusions shed new light on the natural world, proving that what doesn't kill you really does make you (and your species) stronger.

'Jauhar weaves his own personal and family story into his history of the heart...very effectively... This gives a certain dramatic tension to the book, as it tells the fascinating and rather wonderful history of cardiology.' -Henry Marsh, New Statesman A Mail on Sunday Book of the Year The heart lies at the centre of life. For cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar it is an obsession. In this fascinating history he interweaves gripping scenes from the operating theatre with the moving tale of his family's history of heart problems - from the death of his grandfather to the ominous signs of how he himself might die. Jauhar looks at the pioneers who risked patients' lives and their own careers, and confronts the limits of medical technology, arguing that how we live is more important than any device or drug we may invent. Heart is the all-encompassing story of the engine of life.

'A wonderful book: Nancy Campbell is a fine storyteller with a rare physical intelligence. The extraordinary brilliance of her eye confers the reader a total immersion in the rimy realms she explores. Glaciers, Arctic floe, verglas, frost and snow - I can think of no better or warmer guide to the icy ends of the Earth' Dan Richards, author of Climbing Days A vivid and perceptive book combining memoir, scientific and cultural history with a bewitching account of landscape and place, which will appeal to readers of Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin and Olivia Laing. Long captivated by the solid yet impermanent nature of ice, by its stark, rugged beauty, acclaimed poet and writer Nancy Campbell sets out from the world's northernmost museum - at Upernavik in Greenland - to explore it in all its facets. From the Bodleian Library archives to the traces left by the great polar expeditions, from remote Arctic settlements to the ice houses of Calcutta, she examines the impact of ice on our lives at a time when it is itself under threat from climate change. The Library of Ice is a fascinating and beautifully rendered evocation of the interplay of people and their environment on a fragile planet, and of a writer's quest to define the value of her work in a disappearing landscape. 'The writer and poet offers reflections on ice and snow that draw on art, science and history... a dreamlike book.' - The Guardian 'It is a sparkling and wonderful meditation on a substance we must cherish' - The Independent 'It is a pleasant brew infused with elements not only of travel and history, but also of memoir and personal reflection'- Literary Review 'Ms Campbell, a penniless but intrepid traveller, braves miserable bus journeys, freezing rain, dark and intense cold, but still manages to write rapturously of the beauties of the Arctic'- The Economist

In this provocative and eye-opening classic of investigative journalism, the #1 New York Times bestselling author and "America's best true-crime writer" (Kirkus Reviews), Ann Rule, explores the nearly twenty-year long search for America's most prolific and horrifying serial killer. In 1982, the body of Wendy Coffield is discovered floating near the sandy shore of Washington's Green River. Authorities have no idea that this tragic and violent death is only the beginning of a string of murders that will rock and terrify the Seattle area for two decades. With her signature riveting prose and in-depth research, Ann Rule takes us behind the scenes of the search for the Green River Killer, a terrifying specter who ritualistically killed young women and eluded authorities for years. From seeking the help of incarcerated serial killer Ted Bundy to Ann Rule's horrifying realization that the killer she was writing about had attended her book signings, Green River, Running Red is the suspenseful and unforgettable "definitive narrative of the brutal and senseless crimes that haunted the Seattle area for decades" (Publishers Weekly).

Salmon, one of the most determined, single-minded creatures on earth, have for hundreds of thousands of years succeeded in returning from the sea to their birth rivers to spawn - no matter the conditions or obstacles. But in recent years increasingly fewer are returning due to steady incursions into their habitat from dams, industry, and climate change. The salmon of the Pacific Rim are set for near extinction, just like the salmon that once filled the Atlantic Ocean.

Stronghold is an enthralling account of an unlikely visionary, Guido Rahr, and his mission to protect the world s last bastion of wild salmon. The reader is taken on wild and at times dangerous adventure, as we follow him from Oregon to Alaska to one of the world s last remaining wildernesses, in the Russian Far East - a landscape of ecological richness and diversity that is rapidly being developed for oil, gas, minerals, and timber.

As Guido befriends and navigates scientists, conservationists, corrupt officials, Russian oligarchs, unexpected allies, and impenetrable bureaucracies, he reveals the astonishing natural history of the endangered salmon, a species whose demise will reverberate across the planet. And he sets into motion a plan that can secure their survival.

New York Times bestselling author Charles Graeber tells the astonishing story of the group of scientists working on a code that can enable the human immune system to fight ― and perhaps even cure ― cancer.

For decades, scientists have puzzled over one of medicine’s greatest mysteries: why doesn’t our immune system fight cancer the way it does other diseases? The answer is a series of tricks that cancer has developed to turn off normal immune responses ― tricks that scientists have only recently discovered, and now are learning to defeat. We are in the midst of a revolution in our understanding of cancer and how to beat it.

Groundbreaking, riveting, and expertly told, The Breakthrough is the story of the game-changing and Nobel Prize-winning scientific discoveries that unleash our natural ability to recognise and defeat cancer, as told through the experiences of the patients, physicians, and immunotherapy researchers who are on the front lines. This is the incredible true story of the race to find a cure, and the definitive account of a historic moment in medical science.

H.W. Tilman's Two Mountains and a River picks up where Mount Everest 1938 left off. In this instalment of adventures, Tilman and two Swiss mountaineers set off for the Gilgit region of the Himalaya with the formidable objective of an attempt on the giant Rakaposhi (25,550 feet). However, this project was not to be fulfilled. Not one to be dispirited, Tilman and his various accomplices - including pioneering mountaineer and regular partner Eric Shipton - continue to trek and climb in locations across China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other areas of Asia, including the Kukuay Glacier, Muztagh Ata, the source of the Oxus river, and Ishkashim, where the author was arrested on suspicion of being a spy ... Two Mountains and a River brims with the definitive Tilman qualities - detailed observations and ever-present humour - that convey a strong appreciation of the adventures and mishaps he experiences along the way. With a new foreword from prominent trekker, climber and lecturer, Gerda Pauler, this classic mountaineering text maintains Tilman's name as a unique and inquisitive explorer and raconteur.

In 1895 Mark Twain started out on a year-long around-the-world lecture tour that formed the basis for Following the Equator. A modern-day journalist re-creates Twain's passage through India and offers his own intriguing observations of the same sites a century later.