Announcing the changing of the seasons and the coming of summer, Lilacs are ubiquitous both within gardens and as a wild flower. Their scented flowers are well-known to many with whorls of fragrant blossom sitting perfectly at nose-height. Symbolising first love, their fleeting bouquet can provoke a sense of nostalgia. As a garden flower they became a popular choice in the eighteenth century, particularly across North America, and lingering shrubs and blooms in the wild are a telltale indication of where earlier dwellings might have been. Naomi Slade explores a wide range of different Lilacs, drawing our attention to the varying shades of pink, lavender, mauve, burgundy and of course, lilac, and also to white, blue and yellow varieties. Lilacs are durable plants and this book offers advice on how to care for and propagate your flowers, how to identify rare species and practical tips for how to get the most glorious blooms and the most bountiful cut flowers.

There is always a sense of adventure when going on a railway journey. Whether it is aboard the Orient Express from London to Istanbul, or travelling the Transcontinental railroad through the Canadian Rockies to the Pacific coast, or riding the Serra Verde Express through the Brazilian rainforest, Rail Journeys takes the reader on a journey through some of the most unusual, romantic and remarkable landscapes in the world. Find out about the Coast Starlight, which carries passengers from Los Angeles along the Pacific coast to Seattle and all points in between; or the 7,000 kilometre Trans-Siberian, crossing the entirety of Mongolia and Russia from Beijing to Moscow; or 'El Chepe', the Mexican Copper Canyon railway, a line which took 90 years to build and negotiates 87 tunnels, 36 bridges and sweeping hairpin bends as it climbs from sea level to the rim-top views it offers at 2,400m; or enjoy the engineering excellence of the Konkan Railway in India, connecting Mumbai with the port of Mangalore via some 2,000 bridges and 90 tunnels; or experience the Shinkansen 'Bullet Train' as it races at speeds of more than 300 km/h between Tokyo and Kyoto, passing the iconic Mount Fuji on the way. With 200 outstanding colour photographs, Rail Journeys takes the reader to some of the most historic, spectacular and remotest locations in the world, places where trains still offer romantic and astounding experiences of rail travel at its best.