Black Swan Endurance. A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery Kelly Scott

In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world • Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack • Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors

In 1954, in the cookhouse of a logging and sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, a twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable's girlfriend for a bear. Both the twelve-year-old and his father become fugitives, pursued by the constable. Their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them • In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River - John Irving's twelfth novel - depicts the recent half-century in the United States as a world 'where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course.' • From the novel's taut opening sentence to its elegiac final chapter, what distinguishes Last Night in Twisted River is the author's unmistakable voice, the inimitable voice of an accomplished storyteller

Kate Atkinson's dazzling Life After Life, one of the top selling adult books of 2014, explored the possibility of infinite chances, as Ursula Todd lived through the turbulent events of the last century again and again. In A God in Ruins, Atkinson turns her focus on Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy - would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband and father - as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have. A God in Ruins is a masterful companion to Life After Life, and will prove once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age

Winner of the 2015 Costa Novel Award • A God in Ruins relates the life of Teddy Todd - would-be poet, heroic World War II bomber pilot, husband, father, and grandfather - as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge will be to face living in a future he never expected to have • This gripping, often deliriously funny yet emotionally devastating book looks at war - that great fall of Man from grace - and the effect it has, not only on those who live through it, but on the lives of the subsequent generations. It is also about the infinite magic of fiction. Those who loved the bestselling Life After Life will recognize Teddy as Ursula Todd's adored younger brother - but for those who have not read it, A God in Ruins stands fully on its own

What happens when 'I do' turns into 'I don't know'? • Jeannie always wanted to fall in love, and now she's finally got the whirlwind romance she dreamed of. Dan's gorgeous, he's a successful young vet, and he flew her to New York and proposed on Brooklyn Bridge. Jeannie has to remind herself this is actually her life. It seems too perfect, too magical, to be real. Yet it is • But now she's on her way to the wedding she can't shake off the tight sensation crushing her chest. Is it just nerves . . . or is this all happening a bit too fast? • Jeannie has one last chance to shout, 'Stop!' But just as she grabs it, a twist of fate throws everything she knows into the air like confetti. What Jeannie learns about Dan, about her own heart, and about the power of love itself, will change her world for ever

To those who think they know her, Eliza Curran has it all: two healthy children, a stunning home and a wealthy, adoring husband. No one would guess the reality of her life: trapped in an unhappy marriage to a controlling man, she longs for a way out • When she takes on a new tenant, her life changes unexpectedly. Dan Jones is charming and perceptive, and quickly becomes a close friend to the whole family • But Dan's arrival threatens to tip Eliza's fragile world out of balance. And when someone has as many secrets as Eliza does, the smallest slip could destroy everything

Пруды: небольшие водоемы, как естественного, так и искусственного происхождения, где обитают удивительные, разнообразные формы жизни. Пруды определяют наше детство: лягушачью икру, золотых рыбок, кормление уток, а также нашу деревенскую жизнь, наши фермы, наш ландшафт. И они многослойны - от карпа, кружащего у дна, до водяных лодочников, лысухи и птиц-стрекоз над головой. В книге "Тихая вода. Глубинная жизнь пруда" Джон Льюис-Стемпел погружается в темные глубины, как в буквальном, так и в переносном смысле, чтобы исследовать тихие воды британской сельской местности в течение каждого месяца года • Книга на английском языке • Great nature writing needs to be informative, detailed, accurate, lyrical, and, above all, to instil a sense of gratitude and wonder

"Лес. Жизнь и времена Кокшатт Вуда", написанный в формате дневника, - это история английских лесов, меняющихся в зависимости от времени года. Лиричный и информативный, пропитанный поэзией и фольклором, Лес населяет разум и трогает душу • В течение четырех лет Джон Льюис-Стемпель управлял Кокшатт-вудом, особым лесом - тремя с половиной акрами смешанного леса на юго-западе Херефордшира, - который является образцом для всех небольших лесов Англии. Джон посадил деревья и разводил коров и свиней, которые свободно бродили там • Это дневник за прошлый год, за который он успел изучить его от корней бука до верхушек дубов и узнать всех животных, которые там обитали - лису, фазанов, лесных мышей, неясыть - и где лучше всего росли колокольчики. Для многих представителей фауны и флоры леса, подобные Кокшатту, являются последним убежищем

Не так-то просто рассказать в двух словах об этой удивительной книге. Обычно аннотация дает читателю понять, о чем пойдет речь, но в данном случае мы опасаемся, что любые предварительные выводы или подсказки только помешают ему. Нам представляется очень важным, чтобы вы начали читать, не ведая, что вас ждет. Скажем лишь, что вас ждет необычное и завораживающее путешествие вместе с девятилетним мальчиком по имени Бруно. Вот только сразу предупреждаем, что книга эта никак не предназначена для детей девятилетнего возраста, напротив, это очень взрослая книга, обращенная к людям, которые знают, что такое колючая проволока. Именно колючая проволока вырастет на вашем с Бруно пути. Такого рода ограждения достаточно распространены в нашем мире. И нам остается только надеяться, что вы лично в реальной жизни не столкнетесь ни с чем подобным

From bestselling author Amanda Owen come more stories of life at Ravenseat, the remote Yorkshire hill farm she shares with husband Clive, eight children and 1,000 sheep. In A Year in the Life of the Yorkshire Shepherdess she describes the age-old cycles of a farming year and the constant challenges the family faces, from being cut off in winter to tending their flock on some of Yorkshire's highest, bleakest moors - land so inaccessible that in places it can only be reached on foot • Writing with her trademark warmth and humour, Amanda takes us into her life as nine-year-old Miles gets his first flock, Reuben takes up the flugelhorn and she gives birth to a new baby girl. She is touched by the epic two-day journey of a mother sheep determined to find her lamb and gives a new home to an ageing and neglected horse

In the aftermath of Ireland’s financial collapse, dangerous tensions surface in an Irish town. As violence flares, the characters face a battle between public persona and inner desires. Through a chorus of unique voices, each struggling to tell their own kind of truth, a single authentic tale unfolds • The Spinning Heart speaks for contemporary Ireland like no other novel. Wry, vulnerable, all-too human, it captures the language and spirit of rural Ireland and with uncanny perception articulates the words and thoughts of a generation. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town life is witty, dark and sweetly poignant

The startling discovery that the weirdness of quantum mechanics provides the vital spark that ignites life • Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how does it work? Even in this age of cloning and synthetic biology, the remarkable truth remains: nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we missing a vital ingredient in its creation? • Like Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene, which provided a new perspective on evolution, Life on the Edge alters our understanding of life's dynamics as Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe Macfadden reveal the hitherto missing ingredient to be quantum mechanics. Drawing on recent ground-breaking experiments around the world, they show how photosynthesis relies on subatomic particles existing in many places at once, while inside enzymes, those workhorses of life that make every molecule within our cells, particles vanish from one point in space and instantly materialize in another