It captures the moving reunion of two young men and their pet lion Christian, after they had left him in Africa with Born Free’s George Adamson to introduce him into his rightful home in the wild.A Lion Called Christian tells the remarkable story of how Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall, visitors to London from Australia in 1969, bought the boisterous lion cub in the pet department of Harrods. For several months, the three of them shared a flat above a furniture shop on London’s King’s Road, where the charismatic and intelligent Christian quickly became a local celebrity, cruising the streets in the back of a Bentley, popping in for lunch at a local restaurant, even posing for a fashion advertisement. But the lion cub was growing up—fast—and soon even the walled church garden where he went for exercise wasn’t large enough for him. How could Ace and John avoid having to send Christian to a zoo for the rest of his life? A coincidental meeting with English actors Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, stars of the hit film Born Free, led to Christian being flown to Kenya and placed under the expert care of “the father of lions” George Adamson. Incredibly, when Ace and John returned to Kenya to see Christian a year later, they received a loving welcome from their lion, who was by then fully integrated into Africa and a life with other lions. Originally published in 1971, and now fully revised and updated with more than 50 photographs of Christian from cuddly cub in London to magnificent lion in Africa, A Lion Called Christian is a touching and uplifting true story of an indelible human-animal bond. It is is destined to become one of the great classics of animal literature.

    This is a true account of his hike from Georgia to Maine, bringing to the reader the life of the towns and the people he meets along the way.

    A free spirit, she broke away from the conventions that others imposed upon her and lived a life that has seemed to some scandalous, to others liberating.It was Margaret who had an illicit love affair with jazz musician Robin Douglas-Home and letters from that relationship are reprinted here. When Douglas-Home was rejected by Margaret, he killed himself and was replaced by another lover.It is stories such as this, revealed in this book, that paint a portrait of one of the most secretive members of Britain's royal family.

    A new mom embracing her body. A cashier inadvertently teaching a young girl a lesson about patience. A bagel from a stranger that saved a homeless man’s life.From long overdue adoptions to military heroes returning home; from a fireman’s touching 9/11 tribute to what an old dinner plate found at a bake sale can teach us all about life—these are the moments that matter. They are genuine. Authentic. Raw.And they are perfect in their imperfection—just like all of us.You will no doubt experience goosebumps and tears, but this mosaic of life’s moments will leave you with something even more profound: a reminder that, in the end, love always wins.

    There he met a fellow adventurer named Jeff, an enigmatic wanderer and expert on reptiles. With funding from Australian Geographic magazine, the two devised a plan to explore the remote Prince Regent River, Australia's Grand Canyon, in a trek so dangerous it had never been attempted before. They crossed the inland desert to reach the tropical northwest coast, home to the saltwater crocodile, a predator descended virtually unchanged from the age of dinosaurs and a man-eater--recently, a young American woman visiting the coast had been taken by a croc exactly where the two expected to end their hike. But they learned that in the wild, chance or the smallest miscalculation can lead to disaster. Passing through harsh, primeval country, shadowed by Aborigines whose sacred sites they may have violated, and physically worn down, they found themselves locked in a life-and-death struggle when their food ran out and, unable to leave, they were stalked by a hungry crocodile. In the tradition of Into the Wild, Swimming with Crocodiles is the riveting story of a young man seeking his own truth and finding adventure within the awesome, unforgiving power of nature. Filled with fascinating detail about Australia's strange and sometimes deadly wildlife, it is at once the affecting account of a journey into adulthood and a hair-raising epic of survival.

    The birds stop singing, the dogs choke back their barks, and cats pause mid-stride. Everything waits. Its in this vacuum that a man working alone has the best chance of finding truffles. The plot of land was perfect, just what they'd been looking for, offering expansive views across the valley and within walking distance of the local village. There was only one small problem ,there was no house. And yet the land was affordable and came, the agent promised, with a possible income from a copse of truffle oaks. Just after the birth of their first daughter, after leaving the London rat race behind, here was a chance for Jamie and his wife to finally realise their dream of owning a property. With one final salivating glance at the oak trees the decision was made. All they needed now was a dog. And their quest to find and train a truffle dog turns out to be as full of hidden discoveries as a truffle hunt itself. With delicious humour and superb storytelling, Ten Trees and a Truffle Dog is sure to delight anyone who loves dogs, food and rural France.

    Together, these women—linked not by friendship or field, but by their choice to break with convention—showed what one person speaking truth to power can do. Jane Jacobs fought for livable cities and strong communities; Rachel Carson warned us about poisoning the environment; Jane Goodall demonstrated the indelible kinship between humans and animals; and Alice Waters urged us to reconsider what and how we eat. With a keen eye for historical detail, Andrea Barnet traces the arc of each woman’s career and explores how their work collectively changed the course of history. While they hailed from different generations, Carson, Jacobs, Goodall, and Waters found their voices in the early sixties. At a time of enormous upheaval, all four stood as bulwarks against 1950s corporate culture and its war on nature. Consummate outsiders, each prevailed against powerful and mostly male adversaries while also anticipating the disaffections of the emerging counterculture.All told, their efforts ignited a transformative progressive movement while offering people a new way to think about the world and a more positive way of living in it.

    O'Brien was undeterred and has since created a body of work that bears comparison with the best writing of the twentieth century. Country Girl brings us face-to-face with a life of high drama and contemplation.Starting with O'Brien's birth in a grand but deteriorating house in Ireland, her story moves through convent school to elopement, divorce, single-motherhood, the wild parties of the '60s in London, and encounters with Hollywood giants, pop stars, and literary titans. There is love and unrequited love, and the glamour of trips to America as a celebrated writer and the guest of Jackie Onassis and Hillary Clinton. Country Girl is a rich and heady accounting of the events, people, emotions, and landscape that have imprinted upon and enhanced one lifetime.

    Something so old and so deep, it has no words, no shape, no logic. Every memoir is a battle between reality and invention - but in her follow up to Clothes, Music, Boys, Viv Albertine has reinvented the genre with her unflinching honesty.To Throw Away Unopened is a fearless dissection of one woman's obsession with the truth - the truth about family, power, and her identity as a rebel and outsider. It is a gaping wound of a book, both an exercise in blood-letting and psychological archaeology, excavating what lies beneath: the fear, the loneliness, the anger. It is a brutal expose of human dysfunctionality, the impossibility of true intimacy, and the damage wrought upon us by secrets and revelations, siblings and parents.Yet it is also a testament to how we can rebuild ourselves and come to face the world again. It is a portrait of the love stories that constitute a life, often bringing as much pain as joy. With the inimitable blend of humour, vulnerability, and intelligence that makes Viv Albertine one of our finest authors working today, To Throw Away Unopened smashes through layers of propriety and leads us into a new place of savage self-discovery.

    With a child’s uncluttered eye, she describes the small details—shopping in the market, men waiting for work at the dock gates, the rituals of washday, and the sights, sounds, and smells of the old East End of London. She also describes the fear—of illness, of unemployment, of the workhouse—that hung over her family and thousands like them, and her determination that her own children would never know the kind of poverty she had experienced.

    A political power in her own right, she was born into the powerful and ambitious Lorraine family, spending her formative years at the dazzling and licentious court of Francois I. Although briefly courted by Henry VIII, she instead married his nephew, James V of Scotland, in 1538.James' premature death four years later left their six day old daughter, Mary, as Queen and presented Marie with the formidable challenge of winning the support of the Scottish people and protecting her daughter s threatened birthright. Content until now to remain in the background and play the part of the obedient wife, Marie spent the next eighteen years effectively governing Scotland, devoting her considerable intellect, courage and energy to safeguarding her daughter s inheritance by using a deft mixture of cunning, charm, determination and tolerance.The last serious biography of Marie de Guise was published in 1977 and whereas plenty of attention has been paid to the mistakes of her daughter s eventful but brief reign, the time has come for a fresh assessment of this most fascinating and under appreciated of sixteenth century female rulers."

    She is fifty, asthmatic, overweight, with arthritic knees. And like so many married women with children, she’s lost herself.When she decides to hike the John Muir Trail, considered by many to be the most challenging and beautiful part of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, she’s sure it will help her reconnect with the adventurous girl inside.But by the end of the first day, Lori realizes she may have made a huge mistake.Monstrous bleeding blisters oozing with pus line the backs of her heels. It soon becomes painfully apparent her hiking partner, Debra, can hardly stand her. She can’t breathe and is using her asthma inhaler with alarming frequency. Trudging along, Lori walks most of the trail alone, and eventually loses her way.Lost on the trail Lori is forced to dig deep into her soul to find the strength to go on. But will inner strength be enough? Given her grim circumstances, she chooses to believe her husband’s words: even ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

    Sometimes grizzlies kill people, and in exceptionally rare cases they even eat them. Those incidents are the focus of this book because that's what makes bears so interesting, such a huge part of our culture and our collective imagination.

    From spring and through a year in his home patch in Northern Ireland, Dara spent the seasons writing. These vivid, evocative and moving diary entries about his connection to wildlife and the way he sees the world are raw in their telling. "I was diagnosed with Asperger's/autism aged five ... By age seven I knew I was very different, I had got used to the isolation, my inability to break through into the world of talking about football or Minecraft was not tolerated. Then came the bullying. Nature became so much more than an escape; it became a life-support system." Diary of a Young Naturalist portrays Dara's intense connection to the natural world, and his perspective as a teenager juggling exams and friendships alongside a life of campaigning. "In writing this book," Dara explains, "I have experienced challenges but also felt incredible joy, wonder, curiosity and excitement. In sharing this journey my hope is that people of all generations will not only understand autism a little more but also appreciate a child's eye view on our delicate and changing biosphere."

    And here, he imagines, he will finally fulfil his childhood fantasy of mastering the piano, all the while overlooking spectacular views as the troubles of the world pass by unnoticed.However, Tony's hopelessly ill-prepared stumbling into the world of overseas home ownership is perhaps best read as a useful manual of how not to go about buying a house abroad. Yet as Tony and his small group of friends haplessly attempt to integrate themselves into local village life, they learn more about themselves and each other than they ever thought possible.And for at least one of them, love is found at last, in the most unexpected of places...