RHS Little Book of Small Space Gardening

by Kay Maguire
£12.99

RHS Little Book of Small-space Gardening is packed with practical information and inspirational ideas for anyone who wants to grow plants in a variety of outside spaces, from balconies to stairways, windowsills to doorsteps. Look inside to discover a host of creative step-by-step projects, such as speedy salads, wildlife pots, fragrant baskets and green garden walls. Handy plant profiles tell you what’s best to grow in a variety of conditions, such as wind, shade and drought.

Whether you choose to start with a simple pot or tackle a more ambitious project, with this beautifully illustrated book you’ll soon see how even the smallest spaces can be amazing growing spaces.

The Mitford Murders

by Jessica Fellowes
£7.99

It’s 1919, and Louisa Cannon dreams of escaping her life of poverty in London, and most of all her oppressive and dangerous uncle. Louisa’s salvation is a position within the Mitford household at Asthall Manor, in the Oxfordshire countryside.

There she will become nurserymaid, chaperone and confidante to the Mitford sisters, especially sixteen-year-old Nancy – an acerbic, bright young woman in love with stories.

But then a nurse – Florence Nightingale Shore, goddaughter of her famous namesake – is killed on a train in broad daylight, and Louisa and Nancy find themselves entangled in the crimes of a murderer who will do anything to hide their secret…

Drawing on the real life eccentricities of one of Britain’s most notorious and glamorous families, this is historical detective fiction at its best.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

by Yuval Harari
£9.99

In this bold and provocative book, Yuval Noah Harari explores who we are, how we got here and where we’re going. Sapiens is a thrilling account of humankind’s extraordinary history – from the Stone Age to the Silicon Age – and our journey from insignificant apes to rulers of the world.

A specialist in World History, military history and medieval history, Yuval Noah Harari is best known for his investigations into macro-historical questions concerning the relationship between history and science, the origins of mankind and its future. Amongst his publications is the bestselling book companion book Homo Deus.

The Trick to Time

by Kit de Waal
£12.99

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018

Mona is a young Irish girl in the big city, with the thrill of a new job and a room of her own in a busy boarding house.

On her first night out in 1970s Birmingham, she meets William, a charming Irish boy with an easy smile and an open face. They embark upon a passionate affair, a whirlwind marriage – before a sudden tragedy tears them apart.

Decades later, Mona pieces together the memories of the years that separate them. But can she ever learn to love again?

Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8

by Naoki Higashida
£8.99

Naoki Higashida met international success with THE REASON I JUMP, a revelatory account of life as a thirteen-year-old with non-verbal autism. Now he offers an equally illuminating insight into autism from his perspective as a young adult. In concise, engaging pieces, he shares his thoughts and feelings on a broad menu of topics ranging from school experiences to family relationships, the exhilaration of travel to the difficulties of speech. Aware of how mystifying his behaviour can appear to others, Higashida describes the effect on him of such commonplace things as a sudden change of plan, or the mental steps he has to take simply to register that it’s raining. Throughout, his aim is to foster a better understanding of autism and to encourage those with disabilities to be seen as people, not as problems.

With an introduction by David Mitchell, Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight includes a dreamlike short story Higashida wrote for this edition. Both moving and of practical use, the book opens a window into the mind of an inspiring young man who meets the challenges of autism with tenacity and good humour. However often he falls down, he always gets back up.

Home Fire

by Kamila Shamsie
£8.99

Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2018

Shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Book Awards Novel Award

Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017

From the Orange and Baileys Prize-shortlisted author comes an urgent, explosive story of love and a family torn apart.

Isma is free.

After years spent raising her twin siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she is finally studying in America, resuming a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London – or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream: to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew.

Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Handsome and privileged, he inhabits a London worlds away from theirs.

As the son of a powerful British Muslim politician, Eamonn has his own birthright to live up to – or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation?

Two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined in this searing novel that asks: what sacrifices will we make in the name of love? A contemporary reimagining of Sophocles’ Antigone, Home Fire is an urgent, fiercely compelling story of loyalties torn apart when love and politics collide – confirming Kamila Shamsie as a master storyteller of our times.

Kamila Shamsie grew up in Karachi and lives in London, her novels include: In the City by the Sea, Kartography, Burnt Shadows which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and A God in Every Stone, which was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize.

Shakespeare’s London on 5 Groats A Day

by Richard Tames
£8.99

A light hearted and novel way to revisit the London of ShakesThis intriguingly addictive guide, based on the works of Tudor authors and contemporary ephemera, provides and insiders view of Elizabethan London, Europe’s ‘City of the Future’.

The Secret Barrister

by Various
£16.99

I’m a barrister, a job which requires the skills of a social worker, relationship counsellor, arm-twister, hostage negotiator, named driver, bus fare-provider, accountant, suicide watchman, coffee-supplier, surrogate parent and, on one memorable occasion, whatever the official term is for someone tasked with breaking the news to a prisoner that his girlfriend has been diagnosed with gonorrhoea.

Welcome to the world of the Secret Barrister. These are the stories of life inside the courtroom. They are sometimes funny, often moving and ultimately life-changing.

How can you defend a child-abuser you suspect to be guilty? What do you say to someone sentenced to ten years who you believe to be innocent? What is the law and why do we need it?

And why do they wear those stupid wigs?

From the criminals to the lawyers, the victims, witnesses and officers of the law, here is the best and worst of humanity, all struggling within a broken system which would never be off the front pages if the public knew what it was really like.

Both a searing first-hand account of the human cost of the criminal justice system, and a guide to how we got into this mess, The Secret Barrister wants to show you what it’s really like and why it really matters.

The Otter’s Tale

by Simon Cooper
£9.99

Shortlisted for THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE 2017 `The best popular account of the lives of otters written so far’ Richard Shelton, Times Literary Supplement

When Simon Cooper bought an abandoned water mill that straddles a small chalkstream in southern England, little did he know that he would come to share the mill with a family of wild otters. Yet move in they did, allowing him to begin to observe them, soon immersing himself in their daily routines and movements. He developed an extraordinary close relationship with the family, which in turn gave him a unique insight into the life of these fascinating creatures.

Cooper interweaves the personal story of the female otter, Kuschta, with the natural history of the otter in the British Isles, only recently brought back from the brink of extinction through tireless conservation efforts. Following in the footsteps of Henry Williamson’s classic 1920s tale Tarka the Otter, readers are taken on a journey through the calendar year, learning the most intimate detail of this most beautiful of British mammals. Cooper brings these beloved animals to life in all their wondrous complexity, revealing the previously hidden secrets of their lives in this beautifully told tale of the otter.

The Cows

by Dawn O’Porter
£8.99

Three women. A whole world of judgement.

Tara, Cam and Stella are very different women. Yet in a society that sets the agenda, there’s something about being a woman that ties invisible bonds between us.

When one extraordinary event rockets Tara to online infamy, their three worlds collide in ways they could never imagine – and they discover that one woman’s catastrophe might just be another’s inspiration.

Through friendship and conflict, difference and likeness, they’ll learn to find their own voices.

Because sometimes it’s OK not to follow the herd.

Stiff Upper Lip

by Alex Renton
£9.99

This is the story of generations of parents, Britain’s richest and grandest, who believed that being miserable at school was necessary to make a good and successful citizen. Childish suffering was a price they accepted for the preservation of their class, and their entitlement. The children who were moulded by this misery and abuse went on – as they still do – to run Britain’s public institutions and private companies.

Confronting the truth of his own schooldays and the crimes he witnessed, Alex Renton has revealed a much bigger story. It is of a profound malaise in the British elite, shown up by tolerance of the abuse of its own children that amounts to collusion. This culture and its traditions, and the hypocrisy, cronyism and conspiracy that underpin them, are key to any explanation of the scandals over sexual abuse, violence and cover-up in child care institutions that are now shocking the nation.

As Renton shows, complicity in this is the bleak secret at the heart of today’s British elite.

Pizarro: Spanish Flavours

by Jose Pizarro
£16.99

Following on from Seasonal Spanish Food, Pizarro takes a closer look at the regions of Spain and the exceptional local ingredients that make each area so special. With these ingredients, Pizarro uses his knowledge and flair to create alluring dishes that not only showcase Spanish flavours but are also simple and quick to prepare. No complicated techniques, no ingredients that are difficult to find, no tampering of flavours, just simple, stylish recipes for any occasion. Serve chorizo with juicy grilled peppers, make sauteed artichokes with cockles and Iberico ham, grill squid to accompany saffron baby potatoes and toasted almonds, wow your guests with a manchego ice cream with quince or create little pine nut biscuits for an after-dinner treat. This is no-fuss cooking that results in delicious dishes packed with flavour and texture.

Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World

by Penelope Bagieu
£17.99

Immerse yourself in the captivating adventures of some of history’s unsung heroines, whose stories are told through engaging voices, dazzling drawings and with startling wit. Discover the life of an apache warrior dubbed “strong as a man and braver than most of them”, the only female Empress of China, three rebel sisters who toppled a fascist regime, a dancer who escaped poverty in America to become the darling of the Paris jazz scene and a resistance fighter, and a little girl who grew up to realise that being a witch is better than being a princess. Take in the stories of volcanologists, astronauts, animal whisperers, activists and explorers and feel ready to take on the world. Illustrated by award-winning Parisian artist Penelope Bagieu, humorous dialogue and uncommon true tales make Brazen an ideal book for anyone who loves trail blazers and courageous women.

Biscuiteers Book of Iced Gifts

by Biscuiteers
£20.00

This book is just bursting with perfect iced gifts for everyone. Brimming with famous Biscuiteers designs, along with exclusive creations you won’t have seen before, this beautiful book shows how easy it is to bake, ice and assemble your own delicious biscuits and cakes at home.

Bake a wreath for your door; baubles for the tree; candles for a birthday cake; and favours for a wedding.

Whatever you’re celebrating, with the award-winning Biscuiteers by your side, you can create perfect biscuit gifts for every special moment.

Bring Me Back

by B A Paris
£7.99

The Disappearance
Twelve years ago Finn’s girlfriend disappeared.

The Suspicion
He told the police the truth about that night.
Just not quite the whole truth.

The Fear
Now Finn has moved on.
But his past won’t stay buried…

The Wood: The Life & Times of Cockshutt Wood

by John Lewis-Stempel
£14.99

Cockshutt is a particular wood – three and half acres of mixed woodland in south west Herefordshire – but it stands as exemplar for all the small woods of England.

For four years John Lewis-Stempel managed the wood. He coppiced the trees and raised cows and pigs who roamed free there.

This is the diary of the last year, by which time he had come to know it from the bottom of its beech roots to the tip of its oaks, and to know all the animals that lived there – the fox, the pheasants, the wood mice, the tawny owl – and where the best bluebells grew.

For many fauna and flora, woods like Cockshutt are the last refuge. It proves a sanctuary for John too.

To read The Wood is to be amongst its trees as the seasons change, following an easy path until, suddenly the view is broken by a screen of leaves, or your foot catches on a root, or a bird startles overhead.

Lyrical, informative, steeped in poetry and folklore, it is both very real and very magical.

Norse Mythology

by Neil Gaiman
£8.99

“As I retold these myths, I tried to imagine myself a long time ago, in the lands where these stories were first told, during the long winter nights perhaps, under the glow of the northern lights or sitting outside in the small hours, awake in the unending daylight of midsummer.” – Neil Gaiman

The great Norse myths are woven into the fabric of our storytelling – from Tolkien, Alan Garner and Rosemary Sutcliff to Game of Thrones and Marvel Comics. They are also an inspiration for Neil Gaiman’s own award-bedecked, bestselling fiction.

Now our greatest living fantasist reaches back through time to the original source stories in a thrilling and vivid rendition of the great Norse tales.

Gaiman’s gods are thoroughly alive on the page – irascible, visceral, playful, passionate – and the tales carry us from the beginning of everything to Ragnarök and the twilight of the gods. Galvanised by Gaiman’s prose, Thor, Loki, Odin and Freya are irresistible forces for modern readers and the crackling, brilliant writing demands to be read aloud around an open fire on a freezing, starlit night.

The Origin of (Almost) Everything

by New Scientist
£12.99

Introduction by Professor Stephen Hawking.

When Edwin Hubble looked into his telescope in the 1920s, he was shocked to find that nearly all of the galaxies he could see through it were flying away from one another. If these galaxies had always been travelling, he reasoned, then they must, at some point, have been on top of one another. This discovery transformed the debate about one of the most fundamental questions of human existence – how did the universe begin?

Every society has stories about the origin of the cosmos and its inhabitants, but now, with the power to peer into the early universe and deploy the knowledge gleaned from archaeology, geology, evolutionary biology and cosmology, we are closer than ever to understanding where it all came from. In The Origin of (almost) Everything, New Scientist explores the modern origin stories of everything from the Big Bang, meteorites and dark energy, to dinosaurs, civilisation, timekeeping, belly-button fluff and beyond.

From how complex life evolved on Earth, to the first written language, to how humans conquered space, The Origin of (almost) Everything offers a unique history of the past, present and future of our universe.

Platters and Boards

by Shelley Westerhausen
£18.99

This visual cornucopia of a cookbook is the guide to entertaining with effortless style. Celebrated author and food blogger Shelly Westerhausen shares the secrets to creating casually chic spreads anyone can make and everyone will enjoy (and envy). Organized by time of day, 40 contemporary arrangements are presented with gorgeous photography, easy-to-prepare recipes, suggested meat and drink pairings, and notes on preparation and presentation. Helpful advice includes tips on portioning, picking surfaces and vessels, pairing complementary textures and flavors, plus a handy chart featuring board suggestions for a variety of occasions (from holiday parties to baby showers). Platters and Boards is an inspiring housewarming or hostess gift and resource for throwing unforgettable get-togethers.

The Garden Visitor’s Handbook 2018

by The National Garden Scheme (NGS)
£13.99

Published annually in spring, The Garden Visitor’s Handbook 2018 lists nearly 4,000 gardens open for visiting. It is packed with full-colour photographs and informed comment.

Fully updated and supported by an online database, The Garden Visitor’s Handbook 2018 is now easier to use than ever. Look out for sensory gardens, those offering accommodation and delicious treats, and learn how to create your own patch.

Find a garden to visit near you and support the NGS’s vital charity work.