|
Books > Fiction > True stories > General
'A do-er, not a dreamer, Gow has become one of our most outspoken
rewilders.' Countryfile Magazine 'In this warm and funny
autobiography, [Gow] writes with a whimsical fluency about the
moments of humour and pathos in an unusual life.' Country Life 'Gow
reinvents what it means to be a guardian of the countryside.'
Guardian 'Courageous, visionary, funny.' Isabella Tree, author of
Wilding Tearing down fences literally and metaphorically, Birds,
Beasts and Bedlam recounts the adventures of Britain's most
colourful rewilder, Derek Gow. How he raised a sofa-loving wild
boar piglet, transported a raging bison bull across the UK, got
bitten by a Scottish wildcat and restored the ancient white stork
to the Knepp Estate with Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree. After a
Shetland ewe captured a young Derek's heart, he grew up to become a
farmer with a passion for ancient breeds. But when he realised how
many of our species were close to extinction, even on his own land,
he tore up his traditional Devon farm and transformed it into a
rewilding haven for beavers, water voles, lynx, wildcats, harvest
mice and more. Birds, Beasts and Bedlam is the story of a rewilding
maverick and his single-minded mission to save our wildlife.
In the wake of Texas enacting a bill to deny abortions after 6
weeks, Loved and Wanted shines a light on motherhood and the right
to choose. For readers of Educated and Hillbilly Elegy. In 2017,
after becoming unexpectedly pregnant, Christa Parravani requested a
termination. With two children already to care for and a history of
ectopic pregnancies, she was worried she would not be able to find
adequate medical care. However, when she asked for help, her doctor
refused. The only doctor who would perform an abortion made it
clear that this would be illicit, not condoned by her colleagues or
their community. In exploring her own choice, or rather in
discovering her lack of it, Christa reveals the desperate state of
female healthcare in contemporary America, and examines her own
reckoning with life, death and choice.
'Clear, dispassionate and selfless' Spectator 'Exhaustive in her
research, tenacious in spotting errors, indignant in denouncing
lies.' Guardian 'A compelling account of an extraordinary political
scandal, written from inside the Stonehouse family'. Martin Bell
The authoritative account of the infamous runaway MP, by his
daughter. On 20 November 1974, British Labour MP and Privy
Counsellor John Stonehouse faked his death in Miami and, using a
forged identity, entered Australia hoping to escape his old life
and start anew. One month later his identity was uncovered and he
was cautioned; the start of years of legal proceedings. In a tale
that involves spies from the communist Czechoslovak secret service,
a three-way love affair and the Old Bailey, John's daughter
examines previously unseen evidence, telling the dramatic true
story for the first time, disputing allegations and upturning
common misconceptions which are still in circulation. The story was
never far from the front pages of the press in the mid-70s, and yet
so much of the truth is still unknown. A close look at the
political dynamics of the time; paced like a thriller, it's time
for the world to know the real John Stonehouse. 'No book before
this has delved into this fascinating political scandal in so much
detail and with empathy.' Reaction
This book offers an intimate portrait of early twentieth-century
Harbin, a city in Manchuria where Russian colonialists, and later
refugees from the Revolution, met with Chinese migrants. The deep
social and intellectual fissures between the Russian and Chinese
worlds were matched by a multitude of small efforts to cross the
divide as the city underwent a wide range of social and political
changes. Using surviving letters, archival photographs, and rare
publications, this book also tells the personal story of a
forgotten city resident, Baron Roger Budberg, a physician who,
being neither Russian nor Chinese, nevertheless stood at the very
centre of the cross-cultural divide in Harbin. The biography of an
important city, fleshing out its place in the global history of
East-West contacts and twentieth-century diasporas, this book is
also the history of an individual life and an original experiment
in historical writing.
|
|