A special anniversary edition with an updated chapter set 25 years on by Chris Stewart. Over two decades ago we set up Sort of Books to help our friend, the some-time Genesis drummer Chris Stewart, bring his sunlit stories of life on a Spanish mountain farm to print. Ever the optimist, Chris hoped to earn enough money to buy a second-hand tractor for his farm. He got his tractor, as the book spent a year on the Sunday Times Top 10 charts and went on to sell a million and a half copies. His story is a classic. A dreamer and an itinerant sheep shearer, he moves with his wife Ana to a mountain farm in Las Alpujarras, an oddball region in the south of Spain. Misadventures gleefully unfold as Chris discovers that the owner had no intention of leaving. He meets their neighbours, an engaging mix of farmers, shepherds and New Age travellers, and their daughter Chloe is born, linking them irrevocably to their new life. The hero of the piece, however, is the farm itself - a patch of mountain studded with olive, almond and lemon groves, sited on the wrong side of a river, with no access road, water supply or electricity. Could life offer much better than that?

Through the centre of China's historic capital, Long Peace Street cuts a long, arrow-straight line. It divides the Forbidden City, home to generations of Chinese emperors, from Tiananmen Square, the vast granite square constructed to glorify a New China under Communist rule. To walk the street is to travel through the story of China's recent past, wandering among its physical relics and hearing echoes of its dramas. Long Peace Street recounts a journey in modern China, a walk of twenty miles across Beijing offering a very personal encounter with the life of the capital's streets. At the same time, it takes the reader on a journey through the city's recent history, telling the story of how the present and future of the world's rising superpower has been shaped by its tumultuous past, from the demise of the last imperial dynasty in 1912 through to the present day. -- .

The incredible memoir by international bestselling author of Where The Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens and her then partner Mark Owens', charting their time researching wildlife in the Kalahari Desert. Reissued and in full colour, for the first time since its original publication. In the early 1970s, carrying little more than a change of clothes and a pair of binoculars, Mark and Delia Owens caught a plane to Africa, bought a third-hand Land Rover, and drove deep into the Kalahari Desert. There they lived for seven years, in an unexplored area with no roads, no people, and no source of water for thousands of square miles. In this vast wilderness the Owenses began their zoology research, working alongside lions, brown hyenas, jackals, giraffes, and the many other creatures they came to know. Cry of the Kalahari is a gripping account of how two young Americans survived the dangers of living in one of the last pristine areas on Earth. Reissued for the first time since its original publication in 1984, this beautiful new edition contains never-seen-before, colour photographs of Mark and Delia on their adventure of a lifetime. 'A remarkable story beautifully told . . . Among such classics as Goodall's In the Shadow of Man and Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist' Chicago Tribune 'For anyone interested in animals or in real life adventure, this book is a must' Jane Goodall 'Extraordinary . . . How the couple overcome the hazards of the desert and came to appreciate its living richness makes fascinating reading . . . Read their remarkable book to be delighted, moved, and awed' People Magazine

Peter Mayne (1908-1979) is to Morocco what Peter Mayle is to Provence or Lawrence Durrell to Greece. This 1953 classic in a new edition captures the very essence of the people and place. Having already learned to appreciate Muslim life when he was in Pakistan, Mayne bought a house in the labyrinthine back streets of Marrakesh. He wanted to settle there, not as a privileged visitor in a hotel or grand villa, but as one of the inhabitants. He learned their language, made friends, took part in their festivals, and wrote their letters. This is not a travel book in the accepted sense of the word - it is a record of personal experience in a region of foreign life well beyond the tourist's eye. Mayne contrives in a deceptively simple prose to disseminate in the air of an English November the spicy odors of North Africa; he has turned, for an hour, smog to shimmering sunlight, woven a texture of extraordinary charm.

Bookshop Tours of Britain is a slow-travel guide to Britain, navigating bookshop to bookshop. Across 18 bookshop tours, the reader journeys from the Jurassic Coast of southwest England, over the mountains of Wales, through England's industrial heartland, up to the Scottish Highlands and back via Whitby, the Norfolk Broads, central London, the South Downs and Hardy's Wessex. On their way, the tours visit beaches, castles, head down coal mines, go to whiskey distilleries, bird watching, hiking, canoeing, to stately homes and the houses of some of Britain's best-loved historic writers - and last but not least, a host of fantastic bookshops.

This is the story of ordinary life in an extraordinary place. The beautiful city of Venice has been a fantasy land for people from around the globe for centuries, but what is it like to live there? To move house by boat, to get a child with a broken leg to hospital or set off for school one morning only to find that the streets have become rivers and the playground is a lake full of sewage? When Polly Coles and her family left England for Venice, they discovered a city caught between modern and ancient life - where the locals still go on an annual pilgrimage to give thanks for the end of the Black Death; where schools are housed in renaissance palaces and your new washing machine can only be delivered on foot. This is a city perilously under siege from tourism, but its people refuse to give it up - indeed, they love it with a passion. The Politics of Washing is a fascinating window into the world of ordinary Venetians and the strange and unique place they call home.

In Peter's own words: These are the stories of a not particularly brave safari guide . . . As a child I knew that I was afraid of heights, and while uncomfortable admitting any phobia, was glad to have only one. Then I met my first crocodile. Now I know that there are at least two things in the world that unhinge my knees with fear, sour my breath, and overwhelm me with an urge to squeeze my eyes shut and wake up somewhere else. In this companion to Don't Run, Whatever You Do, Peter Allison encounters ravenous lions, stampeding elephants and lovesick rhinos. He recounts his hairy, and often hilarious, adventures in a private section of South Africa's famous Kruger National Park and in Botswana's Okavango Delta, where desert animals from the Kalahari make their homes next to aquatic creatures like hippos, and where the unusual becomes commonplace. It is written with a wonderful, gentle humour evocative of Gerald Durrell. One can almost feel the heat from the campfire flames as the stories are told.

As America's finest writer, Mark Twain could make entertaining reading -- and great literature -- out of almost anything. Here we have a book begun out of adversity. The great novelist, satirist, and public celebrity was broke, ruined by various ill-advised investment schemes; but, being a man of honor on a public stage, he resolved to pay off every cent of his crushing debt. He did so by going on a two-year, round-the-world lecture tour, where he spoke to sold-out houses in Europe, India, and Australia, all the while gathering material for yet another best-selling travel book, filled with his trademark wit and brilliant observation. Even after more than a century this book is still a must-read. Whatever has been forgotten about the times and places Twain describes he has recreated for us, vividly and forever.

The Good Life goes on at El Valero. Find yourself laughing out loud as Chris is instructed by his daughter on local teenage mores; bluffs his way in art history to millionaire Bostonians; is rescued off a snowy peak by the Guardia Civil; and joins an Almond Blossom Appreciation Society. You'll cringe with Chris as he tries his hand at office work in an immigrants' advice centre in Granada, spurred into action by the arrival of four destitute young Moroccans at El Valero. And you'll never see olive oil in quite the same way again... In this sequel to 'Lemons' and 'Parrot', Chris Stewart's optimism and zest for life is as infectious as ever.

Chris Stewart's Driving Over Lemons (9780956003805) told the story of his move to a remote mountain farm in Las Alpujarras - an oddball region of Spain, south of Granada. Funny, insightful and real, the book became an international bestseller. A Parrot in the Pepper Tree, the sequel to Lemons, follows the lives of Chris, Ana and their daughter, Chloe, as they get to grips with a misanthropic parrot who joins their home, Spanish school life, neighbours in love, their amazement at Chris appearing on the bestseller lists . . and their shock at discovering that their beloved valley is once more under threat of a dam. A Parrot in the Pepper Tree also looks back on Chris Stewart's former life - the hard times shearing in midwinter Sweden (and driving across the frozen sea to reach island farms); his first taste of Spain, learning flamenco guitar as a 20-year old; and his illustrious music career, drumming for his school band Genesis (sacked at 17, he never quite became Phil Collins), and then for a circus.

It is the driest, flattest, hottest, most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all the inhabited continents and still Australia teems with life - a large portion of it quite deadly. In fact, Australia has more things that can kill you in a very nasty way than anywhere else. Ignoring such dangers - and yet curiously obsessed by them - Bill Bryson journeyed to Australia and promptly fell in love with the country. And who can blame him? The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging: their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life doesn't get much better than this...

Cook the simple and flavoursome food of the South of France with acclaimed chef Alex Jackson's Provencal. Provencal is the stunning reissue of Alex Jackson's widely acclaimed first book Sardine. This unique collection of recipes encapsulates the beauty and simplicity of Provencal French cooking and shows you how to recreate the flavours of the South of France at home. Provence and Languedoc are France's window onto the Mediterranean Sea and all that lies beyond, and the culinary influences that converge there make for a cuisine that is varied, rich and deep. The recipes are unpretentious and seasonal, highlighting Alex's belief that cooking the food of Provence is about simplicity, good ingredients and generosity of spirit. Lovingly described, the recipes evoke the South of France with their warmth and flavour; from Bouillabaisse and Autumnal Grand Aioli to a Tomato and Tapenade Tart and Nougat Ice Cream with Fennel Biscuits. The book is divided into seasons and each season contains a 'Grande Bouffe' - a set menu for a feast - so you can really impress your guests and celebrate many wonderful ingredients in one evening's cooking. Provencal promises to reignite a love affair with French provincial cooking, celebrating its multitude of influences, its focus on seasonal eating and, ultimately, an attitude to food which centres around sharing and enjoyment.

COLONSAY: ONE OF THE HEBRIDES. ITS PLANTS: THEIR LOCAL NAMES AND USES, LEGENDS, RUINS, AND PLACE-NAMES- GAELIC NAMES OF BIRDS, FISHES, ETC. CLIMATE, GEOLOGICAL FORMATION, ETC. by MURDOCH M C NEILL. First publshed in 1910. - PREFACE: A COLLECTION of the plants of his native island was begun by the writer in 1903, during a period of convalescence, and was continued as a recreation, from time to time, as occasion offered. In 1908 the idea of making use of the material accumulated and arranging it for publication was conceived, and to put it into effect a final endeavour was made that season to have the plant list of the island as complete as the circumstances would permit. In preparing the little volume for the press, the lack of works of reference was found a serious drawback. The following publications were found most helpful Bentham and Hookers British Flora Witherings English Botany Camerons Gaelic Names of Plants Hogans Irish and Scottish Gaelic Names ofHerbs, Plants, Trees, etc. Gregorys History of the West Highlands Oransay and its Monastery, by F. C. E. MXeill Colla Ciotach Mac Ghilleasbuig, by Prof. Mackinnon Celtic Monthly, Sept. 1903-Jan. 1904 Geikies Scenery of Scotland Notes on the Geology of Colon- say and Oransay, by Prof. Geikie The Two Earth-Movements of Colonsay, by W. B. Wright, B.A., F.G.S. Sketch of the Geology of the Inner Hebrides, by Prof. Heddle Journals of the Scottish Meteorological Society Address on the Climate of the British Isles, by A. Watt, M.A., etc... The writer trusts that much of the matter contained in the following pages may be regarded as typical of and applicable in many respects to the Western Islands as a whole. He would gladly have entered intogreater detail regarding the old-time industries, place-names, topography, traditions, and folk-lore of Colonsay, but the general reader may be of opinion that enough has been said on these matters in a work primarily intended to treat of the flora of the island. KILORAN, COLONSAY, . December 1909. M.M c . CONTENTS include: CHAP. PAGB 1. GENERAL DESCRIPTION . . . . . . 3 2. CLIMATE . . ... 45 3. GEOLOGICAL FORMATION . . . . . 54 4...

Over two decades of turmoil and change in the Middle East, steered via the history-soaked landscape of Palestine. This new edition includes a previously unpublished epigraph in the form of a walk. When Raja Shehadeh first started hill walking in Palestine, in the late 1970s, he was not aware that he was travelling through a vanishing landscape. These hills would have seemed familiar to Christ, until the day concrete was poured over the flora and irreversible changes were brought about by those who claim a superior love of the land. Six walks span a period of twenty-six years, in the hills around Ramallah, in the Jerusalem wilderness and through the ravines by the Dead Sea. Each walk takes place at a different stage of Palestinian history since 1982, the first in the empty pristine hills and the last amongst the settlements and the wall. The reader senses the changing political atmosphere as well as the physical transformation of the landscape. By recording how the land felt and looked before these calamities, Raja Shehadeh attempts to preserve, at least in words, the Palestinian natural treasures that many Palestinians will never know.

When Sybil Hall Nowell set off from San Francisco one February morning in 1935 on a round-the-world trip with her husband Jack, the energetic American couple fell into the embrace of the British Empire with great gusto. As they traveled through Australia and New Zealand and then through Africa up to Britain they delighted in the formality, civility, and good manners that defined at least the surface of the British imperial experience. During their four-month voyage, Sybil Nowell studiously wrote letters home at every stop, describing this calm and orderly world. Sybil Nowell's letters, introduced and edited here by Robert N. White (her grandson) who has provided useful historical and political commentary, portray the easy complacency of Empire that came with power, privilege, and prestige.

CONTENTS include: CHAPTER I. CHAPTER II. BETWEEN ROME AND NAPLES l6 CHAPTER III. NAPLES NAPOLI ... 65 CHAPTER IV. EXCURSIONS WEST OF NAPLES. . . . . . .152 CHAPTER V. EXCURSIONS EAST OF NAPLES IQ2 CHAPTER VI. NOLA, AVELLINO, AND BENEVENTUM 247 CHAPTER VII. IN THE ABRUZZI . 26 1 vni CONTENTS. IN APULIA . . . . ... CHAPTER VIII. CHAPTER IX. . PAGE . . 284 IN MAGNA GRAECIA EASTERN CALABRIA . . . . 335 CHAPTER X. IN THE BASILICATA AND WESTERN CALABRIA . . . 359 SICILY . . . CHAPTER XL . . . . . . . .371 CHAPTER XII. SICILY THE EASTERN COAST . . . . ... CHAPTER XIII. 384 GIRGENTI AND THE SOUTHERN COAST . . . . . 457 CHAPTER XIV. PALERMO AND THE NORTHERN COAST ., ... 476 SOUTHERN ITALY. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: THE attractions of Naples and its neighbourhood have always been familiar to travelling Englishmen, but, in publishing a book on the rest of Southern Italy, the author has an uncomfortable sense of sending forth what few will read, and fewer still will make use of on the spot. English travellers nearly always play at follow the leader, and there are probably not two hundred living who have ever explored the savage scenery of the Abruzzi, the characteristic cathe- drals of Apulia, or the historic sites of Magna Graecia. Except the admirable Unter-Italien of Gsell-fells, the Grande Grece of Frangois Lenormant, and the chapters on the Abruzzi, Apulia, and Naples, in the Italian Sculptors of C. C. Perkins, nothing of importance has been written about these places it has not been considered worth while even the beautiful illustrations in Lears Journal of a Landscape Painter have failed to attract a stream of travellers as far south as Calabria. The vastness and ugliness of the districts tobe traversed, the bareness and filth of the inns, the roughness of the natives, the torment of zinzare the terror of earthquakes, the insecurity of the roads from brigands, and the far more serious risk of malaria or typhoid fever from the bad water, are natural causes which have hitherto frightened strangers away from the south. But every year these risks are being mitigated, and some of the travellers along the southern railways to Sicily may perhaps now be induced to linger on the way, though, with the single exception of the hotel at Reggio, the inns in Calabria are still such as none but the hardiest tourists, will like to encounter, and all the lower sites are seldom free from fever. There is not, however, the same reason for hurrying through Apulia, which is generally healthy, and where the rapid improvement of the inns will soon permit archeologists to its explore wonderful old cities with comfort. Every year the glorious country between Rome and Naples is becoming better known. All the places near the Eternal City have been already fully described in Days near Rome, but they are more briefly noticed here, as all the cities north ofRome will henceforward be included in Cities of Central Italy. In the towns of the Alban, Sabine, Volscian, and Hernican hills, the accommodation is often poor, but the inns are for the most part clean, and travellers will almost always receive a genial and disinter ested welcome from the kind-hearted inhabitants. The Italy of artists is to be found more amongst these mountain districts than in any other part of the peninsula. Here the costumes still glow with colour, and the wonderful picturesqueness of the towns is only equalled by the exqui- sitebeauty and variety of the scenery. The way in which the national character alters, as Naples is approached, must be incredible to those who have not lived in Italy...

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** 'As a chronicle of an extraordinary friendship between man and animal, and its unexpected consequences, it's entirely delightful' DAILY MAIL 'This uplifting retelling of their adventures together proves a welcome tonic' THE SUN 'Heartwarming and utterly charming' GUARDIAN 'A heart-warming and captivating travelogue' THE i 'A gorgeous book about their adventures, complete with photos that will melt your heart' Lorraine Kelly, ITV *** Instagram phenomenon @1bike1world Dean Nicholson reveals the full story of his life-changing friendship with rescue cat Nala and their inspiring adventures together on a bike journey around the world. When 30-year-old Dean Nicholson set off from Scotland to cycle around the world, his aim was to learn as much as he could about our troubled planet. But he hadn't bargained on the lessons he'd learn from his unlikely companion. Three months after leaving home, on a remote road in the mountains between Montenegro and Bosnia, he came across an abandoned kitten. Something about the piercing eyes and plaintive meowing of the bedraggled little cat proved irresistible. He couldn't leave her to her fate, so he put her on his bike and then, with the help of local vets, nursed her back to health. Soon on his travels with the cat he named Nala, they forged an unbreakable bond - both curious, independent, resilient and adventurous. The video of how they met has had 20 million views and their Instagram has grown to almost 750k followers - and still counting! Experiencing the kindness of strangers, visiting refugee camps, rescuing animals through Europe and Asia, Dean and Nala have already learned that the unexpected can be pretty amazing. Together with Garry Jenkins, writer with James Bowen of the bestselling A Street Cat Named Bob, Dean shares the extraordinary tale of his and Nala's inspiring and heart-warming adventure together.