Evelyn Waugh was born in Hampstead in 1903 and educated at Hertford College, Oxford. In 1928 he published his first novel, Decline and Fall, which was soon followed by Vile Bodies (1930), Black Mischief (1932), A Handful of Dust (1934) and Scoop (1938). During these years he also travelled extensively and converted to Catholicism. In 1939 Waugh was commissioned in the Royal Marines and later transferred to the Royal Horse Guards, experiences which informed his Sword of Honour trilogy (1952-61). His most famous novel, Brideshead Revisited (1945), was written while on leave from the army. Waugh died in 1966.

Evelyn Waugh

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Jonny Bealby

While in Islamabad investigating the possibilities of setting up an adventure travel company, Jonny Bealby met the woman of his dreams. Not only that, but Rachel was the person with whom he could live out his dream -- to travel the Old Silk Road on horseback. On his return to Pakistan that Christmas, however, Jonny was faced with those dreadful words: 'I've met somebody else...' 
 
With his heart fixed on this journey and the possibility of a TV deal, Jonny set out to find a Quixotic stranger as his companion. In no time he found Sarah -- attractive, warm and funny -- the perfect candidate for a possible romance. Unfortunately, though, during their search for the Heavenly Horses that would carry them across the Mountains of Heaven, their fledgling friendship was beset by problems of communication, inexperience and the difficulty of adapting to radically different cultures and surroundings. 
 
A breathtaking travelogue, and an intriguing and heart-warming illustration of human relationships as they are tested to their limits.

Silk Dreams, Troubled Road

Jennifer Cox

They say there's someone for everyone. 
 
But what if 'The One' lives in Winnipeg rather than Wimbledon? Or Port Stanley instead of Livingstone? Or, even in Eden... New South Wales? 
 
How far would you go to find them? Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco? 
 
As a seasoned travel writer and broadcaster, Jennifer has embarked on plenty of epic adventures before and explored some of the world's most remote regions. She's bonded with people the world over - but she can't, for the life of her, seem to find a soul mate in London. She's tried every dating technique known to womankind, all to no avail. And so she decides to set out on the trip of a lifetime, dating her way around the globe to find the man of her dreams. And date them she does: From the Skate Date in Paris to the High Roller in Vegas, from the Love Professor in Sweden and the Dead Date in Italy to the Penguin Ranger in Australia. But just as she crosses the international dateline one more time, juggling doubts and excess baggage, the impossible happens - has she finally met Mr Right?

Around The World In 80 Dates

Lois Pryce

Young and beautiful, Lois Pryce was a rising star at the BBC. Unbeknownst to her co-workers, Lois lived a parallel life as a biker babe with an overwhelming sense of wanderlust. So she packed in her career to ride her motorcycle on her own from the northernmost tip of Alaska to the southernmost tip of South America. Alone. Armed only with the Spanish words for 'caution' and 'cheese', Lois was rather under-prepared for multiple bear sightings, bribing her way through borders, spending a night in a Mexican brothel and crashing her bike in the wilds of Patagonia. 
 
She most certainly got the adventure she craved, and her pulse-pounding, soul-searching adventure has already attracted fans worldwide - a weblog that she kept whilst on her travels was receiving more than two-thousand hits a day. 
 
Her hilarious, brilliantly written travelog will appeal to anyone who's ever dreamt of jacking-it-all-in and running away to see the world.

Lois on the Loose

Patricia Atkinson

For most people giving up the day job and moving to a beautiful area of France and living off the vines is an impossible but delicious dream. In 1990, Patricia Atkinson and her husband decided to sell up in Britain and emigrate to the Dordogne. Their idea was to buy a house with a few vines attached and employ someone to tend to the wine while they earned their living with some financial consultancy work. There followed a series of disasters: the stock market crashed leaving their small holding as their sole source of income; the first red wine harvest turned to vinegar; and Patricia's husband returned to Britain, unable to cope with the stress. He never returned. Patricia Atkinson, whose only knowledge of wine up to that moment was 'that it came from a bottle' and who had not a word of French, was left to salvage their life savings form the vineyards. What follows is a remarkable story of struggle and transformation whereby her tiny 4 hectare plot has become a major estate of 21 hectares, where her Clos d'Yvigne wines have won awards and been adopted by wine merchants throughout the world and where she has been hailed as a superstar by UK wine writers.

The Ripening Sun

Unafraid of a challenge, Lois Pryce began the kind of adventure most of us could only ever dream of. She put on her sparkly crash helmet, armed herself with maps and a baffling array of visas, and got on her bike. Destination: Cape Town - and the small matter of tackling the Sahara, war-torn Angola and the Congo Basin along the way - this feisty independent woman's grand trek through the Dark Continent of Africa is the definitive motorcycling adventure. 
 
Colourful and hilarious, Red Tape and White Knuckles is an action-packed tale about following your dreams that will have you packing your bags and jetting off into the sunset on your own adventure before you know it.

Red Tape and White Knuckles

One Woman's Motorcycle Adventure through Africa

Tony Rocca

Following an extended bout of hard city life, Tony Rocca and his wife, Mira, decided that some of the really important things were missing - good food, plenty of sunshine and a relaxed approach to life. Despite Tony's name, however, their decision to move to Chianti was not based on heritage, nor any knowledge of the Italian language or spirit that had failed to pass down the line to him. 
Hardly expecting things to be straightforward, Tony and Mira set about raising a loan to purchase Collelungo, the dilapidated property they had set their hearts on converting into an 'agriturismo' hotel. Complications and misinterpretations followed hot on the heels of each other, and before long they found themselves in trouble with the Monte dei Paschi bank with a debt of one billion Lire. 
Finding drumming-up business to be a tougher task than they had anticipated, it was not long before the Roccas realised that alternative avenues would have to be explored to increase their income. Keeping on the hospitality business, Tony was persuaded by Mira to experiment with the vines that had been part of the property purchase. Sceptical though he was about the investment involved, the success of these wines was unprecedented. 
What follows is a heart-warming story of success and integration into a community through persistence, good humour, and sheer hard work.

Catching Fireflies

Belinda Jones

'If adventures do not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad' Jane Austen 
 
Belinda loves America. Her best friend Emily loves men. So when they decide it's time to shake up their lives, they combine their two greatest passions in a fantastic road trip taking them from Eden to Valentine - via Climax - in pursuit of the American Dream Guy. 
 
There's no shortage of men - a Casanova from Cazenovia, a male cheerleader from Darling and a tattooed trucker from Kissimmee. But is romance really the answer to their problems? And is two women in search of the perfect man such a great idea anyway? 
 
Theirs is a journey of revelations and surprises, of cactus kisses and errant snowploughs, but above all it's a journey in seach of love. And you think Thelma and Louise had an eventful trip...

On The Road To Mr Right

Jacqueline Simpson

Why do British pubs have such curious names? What tales lie behind the Moonrakers, the Hooden Horse, the Derby Tup? And why does the Green Man come in different shapes and sizes? 
 
In Green Men &amp; White Swans, leading folklorist Jacqueline Simpson explores the fascinating stories behind pub names, uncovering the myths and legends, euphemisms and wordplays, heroes and even ghosts that have inspired pub landlords over the centuries. Spanning beloved locals from the Three Witches to the Three Nuns, from the Ashen Faggot to the Twa Corbies, this book is both an intriguing insight into the history of the British pub and a captivating journey through the country's dramatic past.

Green Men & White Swans

The Folklore of British Pub Names

James Dodson

Celebrating the wonder, comedy and adventure to be found in the most unlikely places, best-selling author James Dodson takes his young son Jack on a once-in-lifetime trip through the great cities and eccentric byways of Europe. 
 
There are two kinds of travel, someone once said: first class and with children. During the summer of 2001, Jim Dodson discovers that travelling with a kid can almost make a grown man feel - and behave - like a child again. Two battered bags and an old baseball glove in hand, father and son set out to circle the globe and spy the wonders of the world. But the best-laid plans usually tend to go awry and Jim and Jack encounter a myriad of unforeseen obstacles during their journey - some hilarious and others heartbreaking. What they discover, on the busy marketplaces and sightseeing hot spots, the country inns and dusty back roads of Western Europe, are not the knights and dragons young Jack had once dreamed of, but something far more valuable: each other's company and a world where, at the end of the day, unexpected laughter and pain can make us all friendly small-town neighbours. With humour, warmth and wisdom, James Dodson explores the meaning of father-son relationships and the importance of finding and savouring friendship, beauty and wonder - especially when you least expect them.

The Road To Somewhere

Michael Williams

This beautifully-packaged book will take the reader on the slow train to another era when travel meant more than hurrying from one place to the next, the journey meaning nothing but time lost in crowded carriages, condemned by broken timetables. On the Slow Train will reconnect with that long-missed need to lift our heads from the daily grind and reflect that there are still places in Britain where we can stop and stare. It will tap into many things: a love of railways, a love of history, a love of nostalgia. 
 
This book will be a paean to another age before milk churns, porters and cats on seats were replaced by security announcements and Burger King. These 12 spectacular journeys will help free us from what Baudelaire denounced as 'the horrible burden of time.' 
 
Updated for the paperback.

On The Slow Train

Twelve Great British Railway Journeys

How often have you eaten a mushroom that you picked yourself that morning? Or sat on a boat opening and eating oysters as you lift them from the sea? Or partaken of a seven course feast of game to celebrate the success of the chasse? 
 
When Patricia Atkinson - bestselling author of The Ripening Sun - first moved to France, her intention was simply to establish a vineyard. Over the years, however, she found herself becoming integrated into a way of life that, had she stayed in England, she would hardly have believed existed. Grounded in the rhythms of the land and the seasons, daily life in Patricia's south-western corner of France is dictated by a series of rituals and celebrations that we have long lost in our supermarket age. 
 
La Belle Saison is Patricia's eulogy to this way of life: a testament to the timelessness of the beautiful French countryside, the bounty of the land, and the generous-hearted French neighbours who showed Patricia that a simple life has many rewards. In France, every season is 'la belle saison', offering up its gifts to those willing to appreciate and look after the land.

La Belle Saison

John Gimlette

Paraguay - the name conjures up everything most exotic and extreme in South America. It's a place of hellish jungles, dictators, fraudsters and Nazis, utopian experiments, missionaries and lurid coups. It's not a place for the timid tourist. It doesn't even have its own guidebook. But Paraguay, as revealed in this outstanding new travel book, is among the most beautiful and captivating countries in the world. The beguiling Paraguayans, despised and feared by their neighbours, are unfathomable.  They adore Diana, Princess of Wales, as if she were still alive and hundreds volunteered to fight for Britain in the Falklands War. Their politics are Byzantine but when the Vice-President is murdered, they call in Scotland Yard. Discover more about the unique traditions of South American culture through this fascinating piece of travel journalism.

At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig

Travels through Paraguay

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