A life-changing journey from the wasteland of modern society to a place of nourishment and connection. Fifth anniversary edition, with new afterword for 2021.

'Mind-blowing. An anthem for all we could be . . . I sincerely hope every woman who can read has the time and space to read it.' Manda Scott, author of Boudica and A Treachery of Spies

'This is the core of our task: to respect and revere ourselves, and so bring about a world in which women are respected and revered, recognised once again as holding the life-giving power of the earth itself.'

If Women Rose Rooted has been described as both transformative and essential. Sharon Blackie leads the reader on a quest to find their place in the world, drawing inspiration from the wise and powerful women in native mythology, and guidance from contemporary role models who have re-rooted themselves in land and community and taken responsibility for shaping the future.

Beautifully written, honest and moving, If Women Rose Rooted is a passionate song to a different kind of femininity, a rallying, feminist cry for the rewilding of womanhood; reclaiming our role as guardians of the land.

'Powerful and inspiring.' Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley

Beautiful, rich short stories, drawing on myth and folklore to bring to life women's remarkable ability to transform themselves in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances.

'A book for all the wild women ... Foxfire, Wolfskin is simply the most perfect thing. I love each and every placement of each word. Love the wildness, the shapeshifting, the fearsomeness of it.' Jackie Morris, co-author of The Lost Words

'She lived fully, my fox, and I envied her with all my heart. I wanted to dance with her, sister or lover, across the snow-clad vastness of this land. Together, we'd create the Northern Lights. For that is what foxes do - racing over the fells, whipping up the snow with their tails, the friction of it sending up sparks into the midnight sky. This is what makes the aurora's glow. Revontulet, we call it: foxfire.'

Charged with drama and beauty, this memorable collection by a master storyteller weaves a magical world of possibility and power from female myths of physical renewal, creation and change. It is an extraordinary immersion into the bodies and voices, mindscapes and landscapes, of the shapeshifting women of our native folklore.

Drawing on myth and fairy tales found across Europe from Croatia to Sweden, Ireland to Russia, these stories are about coming to terms with our animal natures, exploring the ways in which we might renegotiate our fractured relationship with the natural world, and uncovering the wildness and wilderness within.

Beautifully illustrated by Helen Nicholson, Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women is Blackie's first collection of short stories.

'Sharon Blackie has wrought a new-old magic for our times: glorious, beautiful, passionate myths. They show who we could have been, and they give us a glimpse of a world-that-could-be.' Manda Scott, author of A Treachery of Spies and Boudica

'A deeply evocative and haunting collection... Part rally cry, part warning, part manifesto and all parts enchanting, Sharon Blackie's Foxfire, Wolfskin is a deeply evocative and haunting collection. I want to press this powerful book into the hands of everyone I know and say listen.' Holly Ringland, author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

Sometimes it takes a revolution to change the world,
sometimes it takes a relationship. The visionary new novel from Manda
Scott, author of the Boudica series.

When
Lan lies dying, she makes a promise that binds her long into the Beyond.

A
decade later Kaitlin, her teenage granddaughter, posts a message about the
sexual exploitation of girls her age that goes viral. For one shining fragment
of time the world is with her. But then the backlash begins: Kaitlyn's digital
privacy is breached, her friends attacked and soon she and her family are
besieged by the paparazzi, facing the all-powerful wrath of the old establishment.

Raised
to question authority, Kaitlyn persuades her now-massive social media following
to help her fight back. She and her brother unleash the rage of a whole, failed
generation for their youth.

Watching
over the growing chaos from the Beyond is Lan, the matriarch who taught her
grandkids to think independently, approach power sceptically and dream
deeply. She knows that more one generation's hopes are on the line. She
has to show this new generation that is only with courage and conviction, and
an inherited faith in ancient wisdom and the power of the land, that this new
uprising will survive and thrive to become the springboard for something much
greater: a movement to sweep us all through the crisis of our times.

Mrs Crocombe is the breakout star of English Heritage's wildly popular YouTube series, The Victorian Way. Millions of fans around the globe devour her historical cookery videos, and their hunger for her content shows no sign of abating. In delightful contrast to the high-octane hijinks of many YouTube celebrities, The Victorian Way offers viewers a gentle glimpse into a simpler time - an age when tea was sipped from porcelain, not from plastic cups; when mince pies were meaty and nothing was wasted; when puddings were in their pomp and no kitchen was complete without a cupboard full of copper pots and pans. Avis Crocombe really did exist - she was head cook at Audley End House in Essex from about 1878 to 1884. Although only a little is known about her life, her handwritten cookery book was passed down through her family for generations and rediscovered by a distant relative in 2009. It's a remarkable read, and from the familiar (ginger beer, custard and Christmas cake) to the fantastical (roast swan, preserved lettuce and fried tongue sandwiches), her recipes give us a wonderful window into a world of flavour from 140 years ago. How to Cook: The Victorian Way with Mrs Crocombe is the definitive guide to the life, times and tastes of the world's favourite Victorian cook. It features authentic do-it-yourself recipes chosen and tested by Dr Annie Gray alongside insights into daily life at Audley End from Andrew Hann, beautiful food photography and a foreword by the 'face' of Mrs Crocombe, Kathy Hipperson. It showcases the best recipes from Mrs Crocombe's own book, alongside others of the time, brought together so that every reader can put on their own Victorian meal. It's a moreish smorgasbord of social history - an absolute must for fans, foodies and anyone with an appetite for the past.

A wondrous journey with the world-renowned art curator Stephen Ellcock.

Designed to stimulate and inspire, All Good Things is an exciting, eclectic collection of over 200 images from world-leading museums as well as lesser-known collections. In a finely calibrated procession of image, quote and myth, Stephen Ellcock leads us through the Realms of Creation - from the Stars to the Seas, the Natural to the Supernatural - to give us his extraordinary world vision. A treasure trove of 3,000 years of artistic creation, scientific enquiry and pan-global magical, philosophical and religious traditions.

The best of the world's beauty, creativity and curiosity in a single book.

'Perfect for our time.' Adrian Searle, Guardian

'Stephen Ellcocks brightens our dark world.' Kara Walker, artist

DREAM DEEPLY. RISE UP STRONG. CHANGE IS COMING ...

'Instantly immersive and compelling, rich and strange, human and humane, and most of all inspiring ... an extraordinary story.' Lee Child

From the bestselling author of mythic, page-turning, world-building thrillers comes this present-day story of three generations thrown to the forefront of a political crisis and the uprising that follows. Virtual and real violence stalk the family's every move, yet between them their skills include digital mastery, political edge and roots sunk deep into the old, wild myths of the land. In the combination of these they might just find the key to the transformation they yearn for ...

As Lan lies dying, she makes a promise that binds her long into the beyond. Fifteen years later, her teenage granddaughter, Kaitlyn, triggers an international storm of outrage that unleashes the rage of a whole betrayed generation. For one shining fragment of time, the world is with her. But then the backlash begins and soon she and those closest to her find themselves facing the wrath of the old establishment, who will use every dirty trick in the book to fight them off. Watching over the growing chaos is Lan, who taught them all to think independently, approach power sceptically and dream with clear intent. She knows more than one generation's hopes are on the line. Nothing less than the future of humanity stands in the balance.

Grand in scope, rich in courageous characters who breathe new life into ancient wisdom, here is a dream of a better future: the story of a world we'd be proud to leave to our children and their children and on, generations down the line.

Cartomania was a photographic phenomenon that seized the public imagination at the beginning of the 1860s. Small portraits, dubbed cartes de visite, were avidly exchanged with friends and family, quickly earning a reputation as 'the paper currency of social intercourse'. Compiled into albums and prominently displayed in the home to peruse, assess and discuss, this first explosion of commercial portraiture proved a wildly popular craze, particularly once celebrities embraced the new format.

Paul Frecker's lavishly illustrated account brings fresh insight into the careers of the enterprising men and women who established studios and into the lives of those who passed before their cameras. With unparalleled depth of research and evocative prose, he vividly brings to life the photographers and many of their subjects. From reigning queens and visiting sultans to grieving mothers and nefarious criminals, all life lies within. Whether dressed in their best or in fancy dress, Cartomania's devotees and their often extraordinary stories are laid bare in this fascinating view of mid-Victorian society.

THE FIRST NOVEL BY THE AUTHOR
OF WORD-OF-MOUTH BESTSELLER IF
WOMEN ROSE ROOTED

'You and me against the
world, you used to sing. In the days before it became you and me against
each other.'

Cat Munro - who has never taken
a day off in her working life - quits her corporate job and starts flying
lessons in a small plane over the Arizona desert, confronting her fear not only
of death, but of life. Her mother, Laura, moves back to the Scottish village
where she spent the first years of her marriage to Cat's abusive father. Though
they are apart, the past connects mother and daughter, haunts them, binds them.

From the excoriating heat of
the Arizona desert to the misty flow of a Highland sea-loch, Sharon Blackie's
soaring first novel presents us with the transformative power of landscape, and
of storytelling, in women's lives.

Above all, The Long
Delirious Burning Blue is a story of courage, endurance and redemption.

'It is
that rarity, a first novel that smacks of not merely confidence, but authority
... The ending is powerful,
filmic, and achieving the kind of symmetry that novels often aspire to, but
rarely reach.' The Scotsman

A beautiful and delightfully handy art book that is designed to inspire, this collection of 150 beautifully reproduced Vincent Van Gogh images makes a stylish gift. His writings have been edited and selected to create an enlightening, uplifting, and helpful book for art lovers and creatives, amateur and professional alike.

One woman, one bike and one richly entertaining, perception-altering journey of discovery.

In 2015, as the Syrian War raged and the refugee crisis reached its peak, Rebecca Lowe set off on her bicycle across the Middle East. Driven by a desire to learn more about this troubled region and its relationship with the West, Lowe's 11,000-kilometre journey took her through Europe to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, the Gulf and finally to Iran.

It was an odyssey through landscapes and history that captured her heart, but also a deeply challenging cycle across mountains, deserts and repressive police states that nearly defeated her. Plagued by punctures and battling temperatures ranging from -6 to 48C, Lowe was rescued frequently by farmers and refugees, villagers and urbanites alike, and relied almost entirely on the kindness and hospitality of locals to complete this living portrait of the modern Middle East.

This is her evocative, deeply researched and often very funny account of her travels - and the people, politics and culture she encountered.

'Terrifically compelling ... bursting with humour, adventure and insight into the rich landscapes and history of the Middle East. Lowe recounts the beauty, kindnesses and complexities of the lands she travels through with an illuminating insight. A wonderful new travel writer.' Sir Ranulph Fiennes

The international bestseller - an uplifting story of cross-generational living and friendship.

Twenty-one-year-old nursing student Teun Toebes (both broke and curious) decided to move into a nursing home and experience the daily life of elderly residents, not as a nurse or a carer - but as a housemate. The experience was to change his life, as well as the lives of his new friends.

He initiated Friday drinks, trips out and camping evenings, and reintroduced pleasure in the small things in life: a laugh, a dance, a cup of good coffee, a chance to sit in the sun. As he became embedded in the community, however, Teun became more and more distressingly aware of how society and the care system diminishes the elderly and particularly people living with dementia - and he resolved to do something about it.

A number 1 bestseller in the Netherlands, The Housemates is Teun Toebes' story of his years of being a housemate, the friends who changed him and a heartfelt cry for change in how we care for the elderly.

On the eve of the 2024 election, a fascinating - and
frequently funny - tale of one man cycling the breadth of America.

'Finally, I emerged onto a sealed asphalt
walkway, with twigs in my hair and blood streaming down my legs. Feeling like
David Livingstone without a machete, I had tamed the impenetrable woodlands of
Eastern Mississippi. Hurrah! But then my sense of adventure sobered suddenly,
when a woman in yoga pants and flipflops wandered past, walking a Bichon
Frisé.'

Frustrated by the shallow headlines focusing only on Trump,
guns and divisions, award-winning travel writer Simon Parker decided that to
better understand the USA he would have to travel across it, slowly.

Did the America of his teenage dreams really exist? And was
it really as fractured as the headlines suggest? On his journey to find out,
Simon cycled 4,373 miles through eleven states and numerous extreme weather
events, via mountains and prairie lands, forests and freeways. Along the way he
visited homes, schools, churches and rodeos, meeting hundreds of
(extra)ordinary Americans behind the clickbait news posts to discover a nation
whose portrayal has become vastly oversimplified.

Praise for Simon Parker's previous book, Riding Out:

'A truly inspiring journey that celebrates the healing power
of adventure. A must-read.' - Levison Wood

'Simon's cycle ride around his own country is a fine
demonstration that adventure and transformation begins on your own doorstep.' -
Alastair Humphreys

Rooted in place, slipping between worlds - a rich collection of unnerving ghosts and sinister histories. Eight authors were given after hours freedom at their chosen English heritage site. Immersed in the history, atmosphere and rumours of hauntings, they channelled their darker imaginings into a series of extraordinary new ghost stories. Sarah Perry's intense tale of possession at the Jacobean country house Audley End is a work of psychological terror, while Andrew Michael Hurley's story brings an unforgettably shocking slant to the history of Carlisle Castle. Within the walls of these historic buildings each author has found inspiration to deliver a new interpretation of the classic ghost story. Relish the imagined terrors at these exhilarating locations: Kate Clanchy, Housesteads Roman Fort Stuart Evers, Dover Castle Mark Haddon, York Cold War Bunker Andrew Michael Hurley, Carlisle Castle Sarah Perry, Audley End Max Porter Eltham Palace Kamila Shamsie, Kenilworth Castle Jeanette Winterson, Pendennis Castle

A stylish gift and inspirational self-purchase that distills Van Gogh's extraordinary writings, artistic talent, creative insight and ambition.

With a flexibound cover and gold foiling, this beautiful book features more than 100 artworks from the Van Gogh Museum collection and quotes that bring affirmation, solace and spiritual guidance.

Well placed to share advice for the soul, Van Gogh worked in the face of extreme mental health problems for more than a decade and overcame extreme adversity to become one of history's most important and inspiring artists.

Other titles in this series include The Healing Power of Nature and Creative Inspiration.

Beautiful, rich short stories, drawing on myth and folklore to bring to life women's remarkable ability to transform themselves in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances.

'A book for all the wild women ... Foxfire, Wolfskin is simply the most perfect thing. I love each and every placement of each word. Love the wildness, the shapeshifting, the fearsomeness of it.' Jackie Morris, co-author of The Lost Words

'She lived fully, my fox, and I envied her with all my heart. I wanted to dance with her, sister or lover, across the snow-clad vastness of this land. Together, we'd create the Northern Lights. For that is what foxes do - racing over the fells, whipping up the snow with their tails, the friction of it sending up sparks into the midnight sky. This is what makes the aurora's glow. Revontulet, we call it: foxfire.'

Charged with drama and beauty, this memorable collection by a master storyteller weaves a magical world of possibility and power from female myths of physical renewal, creation and change. It is an extraordinary immersion into the bodies and voices, mindscapes and landscapes, of the shapeshifting women of our native folklore.

Drawing on myth and fairy tales found across Europe from Croatia to Sweden, Ireland to Russia, these stories are about coming to terms with our animal natures, exploring the ways in which we might renegotiate our fractured relationship with the natural world, and uncovering the wildness and wilderness within.

Beautifully illustrated by Helen Nicholson, Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Stories of Shapeshifting Women is Blackie's first collection of short stories.

'Sharon Blackie has wrought a new-old magic for our times: glorious, beautiful, passionate myths. They show who we could have been, and they give us a glimpse of a world-that-could-be.' Manda Scott, author of A Treachery of Spies and Boudica

'A deeply evocative and haunting collection... Part rally cry, part warning, part manifesto and all parts enchanting, Sharon Blackie's Foxfire, Wolfskin is a deeply evocative and haunting collection. I want to press this powerful book into the hands of everyone I know and say listen.' Holly Ringland, author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

RIDE THE TUBE LIKE NEVER BEFORE AND DISCOVER THE TOP 50 UNUSUAL THINGS TO DO AND SEE ON THE LONDON UNDERGROUND. Explore the rarest routes, take historic rides, visit abandoned stations, uncover secret shortcuts, discover letter-based odysseys and embark on unique Tube challenges with this lively, interactive book. You can: - Find secret staircases. - Take an escalator expedition. - Race the Tube between stops. - Find the Tube's strangest station. Bursting with facts and activities from YouTube train expert Geoff Marshall with additional sights to see from his co-creator of All the Stations, Vicki Pipe, this book will inspire children - and adults - to seize the moment and explore the hidden world of London's Underground.

'Sometimes I long so much to do landscape, just as one would for a long walk to refresh oneself, and in all of nature, in trees for instance, I see expression and a soul.'

Vincent van Gogh saw nature and art as inseparably linked. In The Healing Power of Nature, excerpts from his letters have been selected to show the inspiration he found in the beauty of nature. Paired with 125 sketches and drawings that illustrate these quotes, this beautiful book reveals the restorative balance and grounded resolution Van Gogh found when observing the natural world.

'How much good it does a person if one is in a gloomy mood to walk on the empty beach and look into the grey-green sea with the long white lines of the waves.'

ONE WOMAN, ONE BIKE AND ONE RICHLY ENTERTAINING, PERCEPTION-ALTERING JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY.

In 2015, as the Syrian War raged and the refugee crisis reached its peak, Rebecca Lowe set off on her bicycle across the Middle East. Driven by a desire to learn more about this troubled region and its relationship with the West, Lowe's 11,000-kilometre journey took her through Europe to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, the Gulf and finally to Iran.

It was an odyssey through landscapes and history that captured her heart, but also a deeply challenging cycle across mountains, deserts and repressive police states that nearly defeated her. Plagued by punctures and battling temperatures ranging from -6 to 48C, Lowe was rescued frequently by farmers and refugees, villagers and urbanites alike, and relied almost entirely on the kindness and hospitality of locals to complete this living portrait of the modern Middle East.

This is her evocative, deeply researched and often very funny account of her travels - and the people, politics and culture she encountered.

'Terrifically compelling ... bursting with humour, adventure and insight into the rich landscapes and history of the Middle East. Lowe recounts the beauty, kindnesses and complexities of the lands she travels through with an illuminating insight. A wonderful new travel writer.' Sir Ranulph Fiennes

Can we ever really know the truth about our parents? From the popular journalist, podcaster and tweeter about his rescue dog #SophiefromRomania comes a moving memoir in search of the truth behind his isolated childhood and absent father.

Rory Cellan-Jones knew he was the child of a brief love affair between two unmarried BBC employees. But until his mother died and he found a previously unknown file labelled 'For Rory' he had no idea of their beginnings or ending, and why his peculiarly isolated childhood had so tested the bond between him and his mother. 'For Rory, ' his mother had written on the file 'in the hope that it will help him understand how it really was ...'

This is a compelling account of what Rory uncovered in the papers, letters and diaries; a relationship between two colleagues (two romantics) and the restrictive forces of post-war respectability and prejudice that ended it. It is also an evocation of the progressive, centrifugal force at the centre of all their lives - the BBC itself.

Both tender and troubling, the drama moves from wartime radio broadcasts, to the glamour of 1950s television studios, to the golden era of BBC drama. His father may have directed The Forsyte Saga and Rory may have watched him from the corridors, but he would never actually meet him until much later in adulthood. Until then Rory's life was bound to the one-bedroom flat he shared with his mother in Ruskin Park ...

Praise for Rory Cellan-Jones's books:

'Delightfully insightful and intensely readable.' - Stephen Fry

'[A] superlative journalist.' - Miranda Sawyer, Observer

The Wheel follows a modern witch's journey to discover how pagan practice and witchcraft can heal and provide deep connection with the land around us. After leaving a busy office job with stress symptoms, Lane journeyed to reconnect with the pagan practices that so enchanted her as a teenager. The book follows a single year of her life, tracking the Pagan Wheel of the Year and its seasonal festivals. Through research, ritual, conversation and encounters with the natural world Lane takes us on an evocative, compelling exploration. She asks how twenty-first century witches and pagan spirituals are connecting with 'magick' in their lives and considers how we can refind our ancient selves amongst a world of addictive technology, global concerns and work pressures.