A merchant sailor works for a decade, captaining a yacht up and down the coasts of Malaysia, in the hope that his crooked employer will stay true to a promise...Years after a pandemic sweeps across Europe, wiping out its all-white population, a pilgrim returns to his Polish birthplace in search of the only other non-white kid he knew at school...An inscrutable hotelier loses his composure when a secret passage is discovered in his hotel, leading to a mysterious room and a p...

'Theatre, food, refugees: in Adrian's writing they're all linked up ... If you haven't read his book AA GILL IS AWAY, read it now. It was when he was away that he was at his best' Stephen DaldryA. A. Gill was probably the most read columnist in Britain. Every weekend he entertained readers of the SUNDAY TIMES with his biting observations on television and his unsparing, deeply knowledgeable restaurant reviews. Even those who objected to his opinio...

**'A sprinkling of delightful nuggets about the uses and abuses of the English Language'**Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year'[There are] myriad delights in Ben Macintyre's musings on language' The Times, Books of the Year_____________________Do you know your geek-speak from your geek-chic? Ever wanted to put Humpty Dumpty together again? Can you distinguish Spanglish from Chinglish?We adapt words from other l...

ORDER NONESUCH, THE NEW NOVEL FROM FRANCIS SPUFFORD, NOW'Anyone who reads or ever read children's books - read this. It's a joy.' Irish Times'Exhilarating.' New York Times Book Review'Sublime.' Peter Ackroyd, The TimesWhat would you find if you went back and re-read your favourite books from childhood?In The Child That Books Built Francis Sp...

The second collection of travel writing (and other essays) by Britain's funniest and most feared critic.A.A. Gill is probably the most read columnist in Britain. Every weekend he entertains readers of the Sunday Times with his biting observations on television and his unsparing, deeply knowledgeable restaurant reviews. Even those who want to hate him agree: A. A. Gill is hopelessly, painfully funny. He is one of a tiny band of must-read journalists and it is always...

They say that tourist ships to Antarctica, even more than ordinary human conveyances, are loaded down with aching hearts. Deceived wives and widowers, men who've never been loved and don't know why, Russian crew forced to leave their children behind for years at a time … And then there are the married couples: how calm the old ones, how eager the new! – but isn't a couple the greatest mystery of all?Regions of Thick-Ribbed Ice is the tale of a journey to Antarctic...

A Thunk is a beguiling question about everyday things that stops you in your tracks and helps you start to look at the world in a whole new light. The author guides you through the origins and uses of Thunks and demonstrates how this powerful little book can develop philosophical thinking for all ages ... remember there are no right or wrong answers to these questions. How liberating is that ...? Winner of The Author's Licensing and Collecting Society Award for Educational Writing by the S...

‘Wonky, idiosyncratic, fragmentary, paradoxical, drunk on words, the essay has … a uniquely human thumbprint.’ —Geordie WilliamsonIn The Best Australian Essays 2015, Geordie Williamson compiles the year’s outstanding short non-fiction. Read Helen Garner on condescension, DBC Pierre on travel, Ceridwen Dovey on autobiography, Tim Winton on injury, Anna Krien on first love, and Nicolas Rothwell on the northern coast. With bracing essays on politics, music, literature, histor...

When David Jordan, an extraterrestrial human in appearance, agrees to help U.N. Secretary General Nicholas Straka resolve an escalating nuclear crisis, he also learns he must defuse a horrifying plot to exterminate humanity by a hostile race of beings who despise human culture. Somehow, he must thwart both crises before a worldwide intervention is launched by his superiors, destroying human innocence in the process. In Reason for Existence, David learns the origins of human conflict, the n...

Stories and essays by Claire Aman, Tony Birch, Rjurik Davidson, Michael Giacometti, Marion Halligan, Andy Kissane, Jennifer Mills, Ryan O’Neill, Maria Takolander and Patrick West. With an Introduction by Amanda Lohrey.‘Cracking the spine is not just a deftly curated overview of the contemporary Australian short story, including pieces by ten of the best practitioners at work today. The auto-critical essays that accompany each work gesture even more widely. Literature, life, landsca...

A strange alien species forces us to question our definition of civilization in this biting satire from the Grand Master of Science Fiction.What would intelligent life‑forms on another planet look like? Would they walk upright? Would they wear clothes? Or would they be hulking creatures on six legs that wallow in their own excrement? Upon first contact with the Utod— intelligent, pacifist beings who feel no pain—mankind instantly views these aliens as animals becaus...

When DBC Pierre burst onto the scene in 2003, he arrived with no particular literary education. Finding he had something to say, he made the journey solo to that place where dreams and demons live, to try and turn feelings into words.Part biography, part reflection and part practical guide, Release the Bats explores the mysteries of why and how we tell stories, and the craft of writing fiction. DBC Pierre reveals everything he learned the hard way.