Greece, it has been said, is where art became inseparable from life. The country evokes a richly embroidered tapestry of images, from old monuments rife with history to idyllic isles of glass-blue sea and blinding-white stucco dwellings. Greece enchants its visitors with its beauty, tradition, and spirit. In this eloquent collection, women share firsthand experiences of the people, history, and landscapes of Greece. Their essays go beyond ordinary travelogue to capture the ways in which Greece has shaped lives and influenced decisions. In expressing their love for the country, these women share stories as visceral as they are poignant, as entertaining as they are endearing. Whether they are seasoned travelers or armchair adventurers, Greece aficionados or those just beginning to learn about the country, readers of this compelling collection will gain a better understanding of Greece and how experiences abroad can impact their lives.

From the author of the international bestseller "Zlata's Diary" comes a haunting testament to how war's brutality affects the lives of young people, spanning from World War I to the war in Iraq that continues today.

What is the experience of being an adopted person really like? An honest look at how adoption can affect the individual, families and partners. Claire Cashin was adopted. In her youth, she experienced many personal problems because her birth mother 'gave her away'. This led her in search of her biological mother. This is a true and very honest account of adoption, search and reunion. It examines in depth how adoption can affect the individual and their loved ones. It does not shy away from the reality of what a reunion can mean and how hard it can be at times, or indeed what joy it can add to peoples lives. The story describes in fascinating detail what the reality can be like for many adopted people and what challenges their families may face as they mature and wonder about the circumstances of their adoption. It attempts to offer advice to anyone considering searching for their own answers, from someone who has gone through the process, made the mistakes, learned some lessons along the way and is still smiling. This book describes the mistakes and triumphs she made along the way and how the news of a new birth family has affected her adopted family in Cork, and changed Claire forever. It gives hope and advice to families who wish to help and understand the dynamics involved in adoption and reunion.

"Blood Brothers" is M.J. Akbar's amazing story of three generations of a Muslim family - based on his own - and how they deal with the fluctuating contours of Hindu-Muslim relations. Telinipara, a small jute mill town some 30 miles north of Kolkata along the Hooghly, is a complex Rubik's Cube of migrant Bihari workers, Hindus and Muslims; Bengalis, poor and 'bhadralok'; and Sahibs who live in the safe, 'foreign' world of Victoria Jute Mill. Into this scattered inhabitation, enters a child on the verge of starvation, Prayaag, who is saved and adopted by a Muslim family, converts to Islam and takes on the name of Rahmatullah. As Rahmatullah knits Telinipara into a community, friendship, love, trust and faith are continually tested by the cancer of riots. Incidents - conversion, circumcision, the arrival of plague or electricity - and a fascinating array of characters - the ultimate Brahmin, Rahmatullah's friend Girija Maharaj, the workers' leader, Bauna Sardar, the storyteller, Talat Mian, the poet-teacher, Syed Ashfaque, the smiling mendicant, Burha Deewana, the sincere Sahib, Simon Hogg, and then the questioning, demanding third generation of the author and his friend Kamala - interlink into a narrative of social history as well as a powerful memoir. "Blood Brothers" is a chronicle of its age, its canvas as enchanting as its narrative, a personal journey through change as tensions build, stretching the bonds of a lifetime to breaking point and demanding, in the end, the greatest sacrifice. Its last chapters, written in a bare-bones, unemotional style, are the most moving as the author searches for hope amid raw wounds with a surgeon's scalpel.

"My Hand on the Tiller" is an account of the author's sailing experiences over his lifetime. Gordon Findlay is a classic boat enthusiast and has sailed on many different sailing vessels, from the smallest dinghies to the largest square riggers. He has owned a variety of different boats over the years and some of these are described in the text. Gordon also describes some of his favourite places on the West Coast of Scotland, as well as his experiences in Tall Ships and at Classic Yacht Festivals in different parts of Europe This book is for sailing enthusiasts with a particular interest in traditional boats and Scottish waters. There are many photographs and a large appendix with details of yachts and tall ships as well as a comprehensive glossary and a list of useful websites.

By Philip Clements

ISBN: 9781847471024
Published: 2007
Pages: 150
Key Themes: Christianity, manic depression, bi-polar disorder

Description

This book is the description of an Anglican priest's experience of manic depression. His illness is powerful and dehabilitating yet, through his faith and with a lot of determination, Philip avoids becoming overwhelmed and manages to live and achieve against all odds and expectations. In this book, Philip Clements adds his own personal testimony, a record which is also an account of aspects of his ministry as an Anglican priest and the effects of the illness on his work. This well-written and uplifting account puts manic depression in a new light and reveals how the church deals with the mentally ill

About the Author

Philip Clements was born in 1938 in Aldershot, Hampshire, he now lives near Sandwich, in Kent. Philip has devoted his life to his faith and following the completion of a degree in theology became an ordained Anglican priest. Now retired, Philip is a writer and broadcaster. He has had four books of poetry published and is currently writing his second novel. He is a regular features on BBC Radio 4 and local BBC radio where he is involved in programming discussing spirituality and mental health. He is Chaplain of St Bart's Hospital in Sandwich and works tirelessly for local churches and charitable organisations.

A Walk Against the Stream is a true story of love set against a background of war in Rhodesia.

Dark Dreams: Australian refugee stories is a unique anthology of essays, interviews, and stories written by children and young adults. The stories are the finest of hundreds collected through a nationwide schools competition in 2002. The essays and stories represent many different countries and themes. Some focus on survival, some on horrors, some on the experiences and alienation of a new world. This book will have a a key role to play in schools across Australia. Eva Sallis's first novel Hiam won The Australian Vogel and the Dobbie Literary Awards. She is co-founder of Australians Against Racism and is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. 'Stories to melt the hardest heart.' - Helen Garner 'We have not been allowed to know the (recent) refugees as human beings ...These stories change all that and force a personal response from the reader.' - Phillip Adams

The French Foreign Legion – mysterious, romantic, deadly – is filled with men of dubious character, and hardly the place for a proper Englishman just nineteen years of age. Yet in 1960, Simon Murray traveled alone to Paris, Marseilles, and on to Algeria to fulfill the toughest contract of his life: a five-year stint in the Legion. Along the way, he kept a diary.

Legionnaire is a compelling, firsthand account of Murray's experience with this legendary band of soldiers. Subjected to brutal sergeants, merciless training methods and barbaric punishments – all in the hostile, sun-baked North African desert – Murray and his fellow men were pushed to breaking point, and beyond.

Sixty years on, it remains a remarkable account of one of the most notorious military groups, a tale of true adventure and one man's determination never to surrender.

In Tales from the Scale, author Erin J. Shea - creator of the immensely popular "Lose the Buddha" weight-loss blog - puts together the best rants of some of the most prominent diet bloggers online today, creating a raw, real, and radically different look at losing weight. The Twinkie Defense: how they got fat in the first place; The Inner Fat Girl: the little voice that longs for an identity beyond her body; The Tenth Circle of Hell: Weight-in Day - facing the worst enemy: the scale; Fatty Clothes: for when you've given up

A young lad struggles through puberty, then fights hard to uphold a promise made to his father to remain a virgin until marriage which results in many humorous sexual scenarios requiring great self-discipline.

Danvers State gives an insider's view of what really went on at the state run insane asylum. The book provides details about the facility's dark past and the melancholy lives of her inhabitants. It brings to light the harsh treatment of mental illness in decades past.

For one hundred and one days Asne Seierstad worked as a reporter in Baghdad. Always in search of a story far less obvious than the American military invasion, Seierstad brings to life the world behind the headlines in this compelling- and heartbreaking-account of her time among the people of Iraq. From the moment she first arrived in Baghdad on a ten-day visa, she was determined to unearth the modern secrets of an ancient place and to find out how the Iraqi people really live. What do people miss most when their world changes overnight? What do they choose to say when they can suddenly say what they like? Seierstad reveals what life is like for everyday people under the constant threat of attack- first from the Iraqi government and later from American bombs. Displaying the novelist's eye and lyrical storytelling that have won her awards around the world, Seierstad here brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters, from foreign press apparatchikUday, to Zahra, a mother of three, to Aliya, the guide and translator who becomes a friend. Putting their trust in a European woman with no obvious agenda, these and other Iraqis speak for themselves, to tell the stories we never see on the evening news.

While searching for a home to buy, Cindy and her family settled for the house on the hill. It wasn''t long before Cindy was aware there was something other than her family in the house. It started with small occurrences that eventually turned into a nightmare. Every night at midnight, she would awake by being hit by something she could not see. No one was there yet her eyes would be fixed on the wall. Later when things began to materialize, she realized, the wall was an entrance to hell.

High-pitched childish screams explode into the air, unrelenting, shot through with blind terror. A wounded animal - A torture chamber - I know her well-oh, how well I know her I have heard her screams often. That child is me. Carolyn Bramhall grew up in what seemed to outsiders to be a normal home, with hard-working parents, surrounded by apparently caring relatives. She graduated from Bible college, married, found a job a youth worker. Then nightmares and panic attacks started to swamp her. Dhe, her husband and two small children moved to work in America, but the internal stresses grew worse - and a host of other personalities started to make their presence felt. In due course 109 separate entities, each created to carry some aspect of truly ghastly past pain, would identify themselves. What could she possibly do?

When an enigmatic stranger promises to cure a young Englishman's recurring bouts of asthma it seems too good an opportunity to miss. At the time there was no indication that in the process he would end up being possessed by a 1500 year old Hawaiian Kahuna with a mission. A Kahuna, or priest magician, well versed in the ancient arts of enacting the death spell, sorcery and the native healing rituals of the time. A man, whose life since birth, had been dedicated to the service of the gods, but who had miraculously found the love of a young island woman with whom he shared the secrets of his art. It soon becomes apparent that this powerful kahuna has travelled across time and space from the island of Kaua'i to fulfil a promise. A promise made over the dead body of his beautiful apprentice to somehow let her know of the depth of his unspoken love for her. To finally free his spirit, he is honour bound to make restitution for calling upon the gods to bring swift and violent death to the warriors who killed her, thus violating the code by which he had vowed to live. Helping him fulfil his promise, was to expose the Englishman, and those close to him, to a series of bizarre and magical events that took him close to the edge of madness.

In a series of thirty-one whimsical and poignant essays, the pop culture journalist records his search for love and his perfect soulmate, reflecting on his diverse experiences from mother love, through the yearnings of adolescence, and the perils of dating.

A food editor befriends a chicken in his Queens backyard. A ten- year-old child prodigy learns quantum physics. A thief in Rome steals 1,000 euros-from the bottom of an outdoor fountain. These are the stories that make us smile, wonder, and think. They are real-life stories about real-life people, all of which have appeared on the pages of The New York Times. A perfect primer on humanity, Tales from the Times will introduce young readers to people and places that captivate the mind. There are certain human-interest stories that people just can't stop talking about-twins separated at birth or a five-year-old taking his mother's car for a joyride. Now, in this wonderfully eclectic compilation of articles, readers will find many of the most talked about stories from The New York Times. With stories from Randy Kennedy, William Grimes, Charlie LeDuff, Nicholas D. Kristof, Lisa Belkin, Jane Gross, and many more favourite New York Times reporters and columnists.

This is a boisterous tale of the early years of MK and how, because of some rudimentary knowledge of explosives from World War II, he was the One to teach the comrades how to blow things up. Featuring a young Yoshke Slovo (aka Joe), Govan Mbeki and Ben Turok (and a cameo appearance of Tom Sharpe's jalopy), Strachan's account of his love of fishing, his time in jail, his release and his return to his family and to fishing for shad off the rocks at Patty's Groyne, is beautiful, hilarious and true form for one of South Africa's best satirical exponents.

By the time the zebra was skinned, darkness was fast approaching, so we selected a suitable tree in which to pass the night. Under it we built a goodly fire, made some tea, and roasted a couple of quails which I had shot early in the day and which proved simply delicious. We then betook ourselves to the branches -- at least, Mahina and I did; Moota was afraid of nothing, and said he would sleep on the ground. He was not so full of courage later on, however, for about midnight a great rhino passed our way, winded us and snorted so loudly that Moota scrambled in abject terror up our tree.

The Connecticut is New England's longest and most significant river. Author Jim Bissland, moving from Long Island Sound to the New Hampshire hinterlands, explores the river's cities and towns, gathering colorful anecdotes along his serendipitous journey and bringing to life the river's dramatic history and people.

This book is the story of just one newly graduated nurse told in her own words in her letters home saved by her parents and friends. All these collected letters, oppressed memories, and commentary, which spell out the details and background for Letters Home. It is one of the few stories of nurses in the Pacific area. drawings and documents - and a broken leg at the age of 19, came together here in a warm, honest, sometimes graphic description about a time in history that is slipping from our collective memory. clips and film, but the role of nurses has not until recently been well recorded. Nurses too are part of The Greatest Operation facing unknown places, unknown dangers, extreme physical discomfort and physical exhaustion. They served alongside America's finest troops, cared for them when they were sick and injured. They mourned for those who could not make it home. October 1997, are women who served and are serving in the uniform of the United States are being honored and remembered for their service in the many branches of the Armed Forces. This book gives a glimpse into the Southwest Pacific area in WWII through the eyes of one nurse who saw and recorded how it was.

" "A woman was sitting on the witness stand, and the lawyer asked her, 'Did you, or did you not, on the night of June 23rd have sex with a hippie on the back of a motorcycle in a peach orchard?' She thought for a few minutes, then said, 'What was that date again?'" -- from the book Lawyers have long been known as master storytellers, and those from Kentucky are certainly no exception. Veteran oral historian and folklorist Lynwood Montell has collected tales from dozens of lawyers and judges from throughout the Bluegrass State, ranging from the story about the tough Jackson County judge who fined himself for being late to court to unwelcome dogs in the courtroom. Recorded just as they have been told for generations, these stories are sometimes funny, sometimes sad or frightening, sometimes raw and harrowing, but always remarkable. Far more than collection of lawyer jokes, Tales from Kentucky Lawyers recounts the most insightful, entertaining, and occasionally heartbreaking stories ever told by and about Kentucky lawyers and their clients, covering the spectrum from arson to homicide, domestic disagreements to sexual abuse, and everything in between. Tales from Kentucky Lawyers is a valuable resource for folklorists as well as an entertaining and vivid account of the often-surprising legal world.