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Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain by Amy Jeffs
It only seems like a short while since the fantastic Storyland was released, but a whole year has passed and Amy Jeffs returns with a new book entitled Wild: Tales from…
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A Village in the Third Reich: How Ordinary Lives Were Transformed By the Rise of Fascism by Julia Boyd & Angelika Patel
Since the end of the second World War in 1945, we've heard various accounts of life under the Nazis, predominantly from leading historians telling about the brutality of the regime…
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Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation by Kris Manjapra
“Voids are complex because they are nothing at all, and yet everything at once,” writes Kris Manjapra in his new book, Black Ghost of Empire: the Long Death of Slavery and…
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Three Women of Herat by Veronica Doubleday
I think I share a common conception, or misconception, of Afghanistan, a country that has always seemed distant, alien and mysterious to many of us, which is more likely to…
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Birds and Us by Tim Birkhead
For me, a new title by Tim Birkhead has been a must-read ever since I came across his The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Birds a few years…
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Magic at the Minack
All eyes turned to the sea where, just to the left of the actor’s head, a basking shark was swimming, quite leisurely, past. Welcome to the Minack Theatre in the…
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Thunderstone by Nancy Campbell
Lockdown wasn’t easy for most people, but Nancy Campbell left her home and relocated to a caravan on the outskirts of Oxford. This may sound idyllic, but Campbell’s account of…
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Rhythms of Nature by Ian Carter
Yesterday I was in the marvellous Etches Collection in Kimmeridge. Along the walls are examples of marine fossils and explanations about what we know about the lives of the animals…
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The Hill of Devi by E. M. Forster
To my shame I hadn't read anything by E.M. Forster, but there was something about The Hill of Devi that I found encapsulating, enigmatic in its description that encouraged me…
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Pears and heirs
There is a gothic beauty to Gregg’s Pit orchard in early April. Filigree branches, pregnant with buds, are etched against a bruised sky. Perry pear trees tower over their cider…