We had a wonderful evening hearing about our Book of the Month Four Points of the Compass Event: The Unexpected History of Direction by Jerry Brotton. He was joined by a special guest, the recipient of our 2024 Edward Stanford Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing Award, Nicholas Crane.
Read more about Four Points of the Compass.
Four Point of the Compass: The Unexpected History of Direction is available now for £20. We have signed copies available while stocks last.
Last night we hosted the book launch of our Book of the Month, Four Points of the Compass by Jerry Brotton.
Our Book of the Month for August is War & Peace & War: Twenty years in Afghanistan by the award-winning journalist and former BBC foreign correspondent Andrew North.
In early 2022, Andrew North was kidnapped by the Taliban. By the time he found himself imprisoned in a jail cell, he had been reporting from Afghanistan for two decades, coming to know hundreds of Afghans along the way. This book brings together both his and their stories.
Continue reading Book of the Month: War & Peace & War: Twenty years in AfghanistanOur Book of the Month for July is Storm Pegs: A Life Made In Shetland by Jen Hadfield.
In her late twenties, celebrated poet Jen Hadfield moved to the Shetland archipelago to make her life anew. A scattering of islands at the northernmost point of the United Kingdom, frequently cut off from the mainland by storms, Shetland is a place of Vikings and myths, of ancient languages and old customs, of breathtaking landscapes and violent weather. It has long fascinated travellers seeking the edge of the world.
Continue reading Book of the Month: Storm Pegs by Jen HadfieldLast week we hosted the launch of our June Book of the Month Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre.
From London via Paris, Naples, Nuremberg, the Swiss Alps, Budapest, Athens and into the furthest corners of Eastern Europe across Romania and Bulgaria, join Tom Chesshyre on his fascinating journey to Istanbul and back
Ever dreamt of dropping everything and adventuring cross-country to the edge of Asia? That’s just what rail enthusiast Tom Chesshyre did, hitting the tracks for a 4,570-mile adventure on 55 rides, shadowing the old Orient Express route.
Interrailing was once the realm of young backpackers setting off to “find themselves” – and for many, it still is. But it’s also a joyful and eco-friendly twenty-first century adventure that’s open to us all, no matter our age or agenda. Dodging striking train drivers in Germany, getting stuck by the Bulgarian-Greek border, and negotiating tricky passport officials in Turkey is all part of the fun in this illuminating and meandering journey around Europe.
Month Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre is available now for £20.
All our copies are signed by the author while stocks last.
Our Book of the Month is Slow Trains to Istanbul by Tom Chesshyre.
From London via Paris, Naples, Nuremberg, the Swiss Alps, Budapest, Athens and into the furthest corners of Eastern Europe across Romania and Bulgaria, join Tom Chesshyre on his fascinating journey to Istanbul and back.
Ever dreamt of dropping everything and adventuring cross-country to the edge of Asia? That’s just what Tom Chesshyre did, hitting the tracks for a 4,570-mile adventure on 55 rides, shadowing the old Orient Express route.
Interrailing was once the realm of young backpackers setting off to “find themselves” – and for many, it still is. But it’s also a joyful and eco-friendly twenty-first century adventure that’s open to us all, no matter our age or agenda. Dodging striking train drivers in Germany, getting stuck by the Bulgarian-Greek border, and negotiating tricky passport officials in Turkey is all part of the fun in this illuminating and meandering journey around Europe.
Europe by rail awaits. The freedom of the lines awaits. Why not hop on board?
Author Biography
Tom Chesshyre is the author of eleven travel books, the latest telling the story of a 379-mile hike around the Lake District. He has travelled 40,000 miles around the world for his train books; most recently for Slow Trains Around Spain: A 3,000-Mile Adventure on 52 Rides. His book writing has also taken him across North Africa after the Arab Spring, round the “dark side” of the Maldives on cargo ships, along the length of the River Thames and on a journey through “unsung Britain” (in To Hull and Back). He worked on the travel desk of The Times for 21 years and is now freelance, contributing to The Critic and New European magazines. He lives in London.
Watch Tom Chesshyre introduce his new book:
Our Book of the Month for May is A History of the World in 47 Borders: The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps by Jonn Elledge.
People have been drawing lines on maps for as long as there have been maps to draw on. Sometimes rooted in physical geography, sometimes entirely arbitrary, these lines might often have looked very different if a war or treaty or the decisions of a handful of tired Europeans had gone a different way. By telling the stories of these borders, we can learn a lot about how political identities are shaped, why the world looks the way it does – and about the scale of human folly.
From the Roman attempts to define the boundaries of civilisation, to the secret British-French agreement to carve up the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, to the reason why landlocked Bolivia still maintains a navy, this is a fascinating, witty and surprising look at the history of the world told through its borders.
‘Fascinating and hugely entertaining’ – Marina Hyde
‘By turns surprising, funny, bleak, ridiculous, or all four of those at once’ – Gideon Defoe.
A History of the World in 47 Borders is available now for £25. Our copies are signed by the author while stocks last.
Last night we hosted a sold out event with Hilary Bradt in conversation with Matthew Parris as they discussed her new book and our April Book of the Month Taking the Risk: My adventures in travel and publishing.
Our Children’s Book of the Month for April is The Royal Jewel Plot from award-winning author A.M. Howell.
Alice and Sonny investigate a stolen jewel, in this instalment of the bestselling Mysteries at Sea series.
Alice and Sonny are excited for their summer trip, sailing on the luxurious yacht the Lady Rose. They’re even more excited when they find out the King of England is going to be on board too.
Continue reading Children’s Book of the Month: The Royal Jewel Plot by A.M. HowellOur Book of the Month for April 2024 is Taking the Risk: My Adventures in Travel and Publishing by founder of Bradt Guides, former recipient of the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing and friend of Stanfords, Hilary Bradt.
Hilary Bradt signing copies of Taking the Risk
In Taking the Risk Hilary Bradt looks back on 50 years of escapades, surprises, mishaps, disasters… and success. From her first solo trip aged three (on a British beach), she revisits six decades of hitchhiking, feeding the travel habit by working abroad, and starting a successful travel publishing company where knowing nothing proved a surprising asset.
Continue reading Book of the Month: Taking the Risk by Hilary Bradt
