Recent Review Coverage
GALAPAGOS: Through Writers’ Eyes
Edited by John Hickman
‘[This] stylish guided tour ranges from the Incas via Alexander Selkirk, the original Crusoe … to a creepy tale of real-life murder on Charles’ Island in the thirties, described as “worthy of Agatha Christie at the top of her form.” Though war, piracy, colonial jostling and tourism all left their mark, Darwin’s awed appreciations of the archipelago’s unique natural assets is the most significant and readable chapter.’ The Independent
‘The Galapagos archipelago is one of the few places on earth that was free of human settlement and interference until the 19th century. The islands had been known about for 450 years but those who actually visited were explorers, pirates or shipwreck victims. Hickman suggests that the unusual human visitors to the islands have been almost as interesting as the wildlife, and calls on the writings of Charles Darwin, Herman Melvin, Fray Tomas, Lord Byron and others to tell the human history of the Galapagos. Infused as it is with the wild and beautiful spirit of the islands, this is eminently readable and utterly fascinating.’ The Good Book Guide
‘Float away to the ultimate island escape with Galapagos.’ Wanderlust
JAPAN: Through Writers’ Eyes
Edited by Elizabeth Ingrams
‘Just as Lost in Translation extracts humour from present-day culture shock in Tokyo so did the Dutch voyager Engelbert Kaempfer in the 17th century. He had to approach the Shogun “crouching with head to the floor like a lobster” before “performing innumerable monkey tricks”… This lively anthology will be equally enjoyed by Japanophiles and the merely curious.’ The Independent
ABOUT THIS MAN CALLED ALI
By Amal Ghandour
‘This vivid account of the life of the Arab artist Ali Jabri is more than a fascinating biography: it is a history of the Middle East told through the fortunes of a powerful Syrian family.’ Helena Kennedy, QC
‘The worlds of Lawrence of Arabia, of Cavafy and of contemporary art come together in this life of Ali Jabri, the first biography of a modern Arab artist.’ Philip Mansel
‘Ali was a scion of the ancient and decaying aristocracy in Aleppo, Syria, who sometimes styled himself, improbably and ironically, “the last descendant of Saladin”. ..his was a life of “parallel universes.” He found in these contrasting worlds ecstasy and inspiration, but also injury, frustration and fear…it’s sadly ironic that Ghandour’s amicable but unflinching work… should be coming out in Britain now, only weeks after Amnesty International denounced the murder of dozens of homosexuals in what the Bush administrations used to refer to as liberated Iraq.’ Newsweek
‘Ghandour paints a thrilling, infuriating, thought-provoking portrait of a family in decline and a people in chaos…Our encounter with Jabri is broad-brush, impressionistic…Beginning at the end, the book re-casts Jabri’s life as an epic clash between a doting aunt and her brilliant nephew whose love is soured by unfathomable grief…her chaotic, opinionated exploration of Jabri’s life brings us much closer to the artist than any objective, comprehensive summation ever could.’ The Daily Star, Beirut
‘Amal Ghandour does a stupendous task in piecing together the puzzle of Ali’s life using…anecdotes, artworks and letter from diaries … she [reveals] the lasting effects of colonial attitudes and how the twin brutalities of the Arab world – Islamic fundamentalism and nationalistic military regimes – have waged war against the cultural and political possibilities of the region.’ Qind
HOPEFUL MONSTERS
By Nicholas Mosley
First published in 1990, Hopeful Monsters was awarded the Whitbread Book of the Year
Quite simply, the best English novel to have been written since the Second World War. A. N. Wilson, The Evening Standard
A novel of enormous ambition … a book that takes on just about every major idea, every dominant social movement, every significant political event of our time – a virtual intellectual anthology of the 20th century, in fictional form.
Daniel Stern, New York Times Book Review
The most ambitious English novel written in the past
50 years … an amazing achievement. Washington Post
A rich panorama of 20th century politics and ideas and an affecting love story, the novel combines the epic sweep and narrative drive of popular fiction and the intellectual authority of the best of Milan Kundera or Saul Bellow. Newsday
HONEYMOONS: Journeys from the Altar
Edited by Roger Hudson and Rose Baring
‘Honeymoons are a nervous time. Even for couples who’ve been together for years, that dramatic move forward, that formalised commitment, shifts things. The period immediately afterwards is one whose very emphasis on romance and starry-eyed joy inevitably also invites the opposite. Happily, this anthology acknowledges that if the course of true love never did run smooth, it is especially bumpy during the holiday after marriage…the fiction is well-chosen, the factual fascinates’. Wendy Holden, Daily Mail
‘The differences between people rather than times are what give primal zest to these extracts – some from letters and diaries, others from novels, short stories, poems and even (the delicious Private Lives) a play. What happens when two individuals who hardly know each other are suddenly left alone together? Sometimes the results are comic … sometimes, they are ominous, even appalling …and sometimes they are provocatively contradictory… nuggets of innocence, ignorance, revelation and the shock of the morning after… James Fergusson, Country Life
‘Honeymoons is a wedding gift with a hidden barb… There are beguiling romantic interludes here… and lush descriptions of the tentative path to sexual abandonment… but Roger Hudson and Rose Baring’s selection of literary glimpses into the early days of connubial bliss deliberately drags the reader, naughtily, into dicey territory.’ The Observer
‘A honeymoon is one of the most significant journeys many people will take, and so it’s a holiday loaded with anticipation, and the potential for disappointment. Not surprisingly, such trips provide rich material for a writer and this fine anthology includes extracts both from the trips of real people, as well as passages from some of the great and more obscure works of literature…. It makes for gripping reading with vivid descriptions of place…and moving and funny extracts from the emotional journey couples take following marriage.’ The Sunday Telegraph
‘the potential for blissful happiness or bitter disappointment is covered in stories from Yorkshire to Switzerland.’ Traveller Magazine
‘Extracts, short stories, letters and poems from many of the literary world’s best-known authors, spanning several centuries and much of the world.’ Wanderlust
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