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The Man Who Talked to the Wind
Swept by strong ocean currents and ferocious storms, Rathlin Island is mysterious and hauntingly beautiful. Lying just six miles off the north coast of County Antrim, it is the most northerly inhabited island of Ireland. Once home to prehistoric hunter-gatherers, its inhabitants have endured Viking raids, medieval massacres, famine and emigration. As farmers, fishermen and seafarers, they are resourceful, independent and proud – and they have always enjoyed a good story. Drawing on Irish and Scottish traditions, Rathlin has a rich folk heritage all its own. Much of it may have been lost but for one island man – Tommy Cecil. Best known for rescuing Sir Richard Branson after his hot-air balloon ditched into the sea off Rathlin, Cecil was also instrumental in saving many of the island's old stories. Taken from recordings held in the Ulster Folk Museum, this unique collection brings these stories to print for the first time.
Irish Folk Tales of Coast and Sea
A wild frontier of mighty headlands, sheer crags rising from the sea and miles of lonely golden sands – Ireland's coastline is foreboding, exhilarating and achingly beautiful. Men and women have lived and loved and died in this harsh but bountiful environment. Through it all they have told tales to entertain themselves, to pass on wisdom and to banish despair. It is little wonder that our richest folklore is woven into this island's rugged and romantic coastline. Brought together and reimagined by modern-day seanchaí Colin Urwin, this collection includes some of the most enchanting, strange and poignant folk tales to be found on this ancient isle.
Breakspear
'A highly lucid and readable account.' – Times Literary Supplement 'An impressive and absorbing book.' – Jonathan Phillips, Professor of Crusading History at Royal Holloway In over 2,000 years of Christianity, there has been only one pope from England: Nicholas Breakspear. Breakspear was elected pope in 1154, but his story started long before that. The son of a local churchman near St Albans, he would battle his way across Europe to defend and develop Christianity, facing turmoil in Scandinavia and the Moors in the Iberian Peninsula. But it was after he took the Throne of St Peter as Adrian IV that he would face his greatest threat: Frederick Barbarossa, who was determined to restore the Holy Roman Empire to its former greatness. In Breakspear: The English Pope Who Went to War, R.A.J. Waddingham opens the archives to tell the story of a man who rose from humble beginnings to glorious power – and yet has been all but forgotten ever since.
Exploring Rolt's Landscapes
L.T.C. Rolt played a crucial role in the revival of Britain's inland waterways and pioneered the first preserved narrow-gauge railway. He is still a towering figure in the fields of inland waterways, preserved railways and post-war conservation: a bridge and a locomotive have been named after him, and there is a Rolt Prize, Rolt Fellows and an annual Rolt Lecture. In this series of linked essays, Joseph Boughey explains aspects of Rolt's earlier life and work, and sets his writing and practice in a broader context, considering such themes as the landscapes Rolt knew; the nature of travel and 'country' writing; the organicist movement of the 1930s and '40s; English canals and navigable rivers from the 1930s to the '50s the background to early railway preservation; and the nature of craft, craftspeople and preservation. Exploring Rolt's Landscapes focuses on an earlier period of Rolt's life before he devoted his life to writing professionally. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the rich history of Britain's waterways.
The Little History of Lancashire
The Historic County of Lancashire once stretched from Coniston Water in the Lake District in the north to the River Mersey in the south. It was the scene of Georgian triumph and tragedy in the first Industrial Revolution, and philanthropy and civil rights struggles in the Victorian era, followed by decline, renewal and hope for the future. From the formation of the county's terrain in the Ice Age and its earliest occupation by the Celts, through Roman occupation, the arrival of the Normans and the turbulence of civil war, Hugh Hollinghurst guides us through the ups and downs of Lancastrian history. Complete with illustrations and photographs, The Little History of Lancashire is the story of those who suffered – and those that benefited.
Poor Bickerton
'An adroit, intelligent and painstaking social history ... Poor Bickerton offers us a luxurious tapestry from which everyone interested in English social history in the late-Georgian period can learn something new and surprising.' – Professor Jerry White, author of London in the Eighteenth Century: A Great and Monstrous Thing On 8 October 1833, Coroner Thomas Higgs opened an inquest into the death of John Bickerton, an elderly eccentric who, despite rumours of his wealth and high connections, had died in abject squalor, 'from the want of the common necessaries of life'. Over the coming hours, Higgs and his jury would unpick the details of Bickerton's strange, sad story: a story that began ...
Arm of Eve
Jack the Ripper is often called the world's most notorious unidentified killer, but he was not the first modern serial killer on the streets of London. Before him was another murderer who hunted from the River Thames – one arguably more sadistic and mercurial. The Thames Torso Killer has always lurked in the Ripper's shadow, despite the fact he murdered and dismembered at least four people over two years. He started to kill in 1887, over a year before the Ripper, and his last murder was in 1889, almost ten months after the death of Mary Jane Kelly, the Ripper's last victim. In Arm of Eve, Sarah Bax Horton conducts her own investigation and uses modern criminal profiling to come up with her own suspect – a known criminal who knew the Thames like the back of his hand.
Under the Sickle and the Sledgehammer
'A captivating story of courage, belief, and disillusionment under the persistent tyranny of Russian imperialism. Even after 90 years, Kirsti's story is a testament to the ongoing fight for Freedom.' - Ana Khizanishvili, Human Rights Lawyer Under the Sickle and the Sledgehammer was originally published in 1942, as war still raged between Finland and the Soviet Union. The author of this memoir, Kirsti Huurre (a pseudonym, since it was far too risky to reveal her real name), was a Finnish woman who immigrated to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, convinced the new egalitarian state and workers' paradise would provide a better life for her and her young son; she was hopeful that, once settled, she ...
Swedish Folk Tales
Humorous tales, cautionary tales, tall tales, fairy tales, heroic tales – the depths of Swedish folklore hold all of the above and more besides. From cunning folk and helpful Tomtar, to sinister Näcken and the Stallos of Sami legend (and with plenty of romance and derring-do in-between), this book covers centuries' worth of Sweden's folk tales, telling stories that have never been translated into English as well as several oral tales published in writing for the first time.
Regina
'A fantastic, feminist dance through history.' - JULIA QUINN What queens would England have had if firstborn daughters, not firstborn sons, had inherited the throne? We may think of princesses as dutiful and elegant, wearing long flowing dresses, but the eldest daughters of England's kings have been very different. Political intriguers. Abducted nuns who demanded divorces. Murderers. It's time we rediscovered the politicians we lost, the masterminds we see negotiating nunneries not armies, the personalities shining brilliantly even hundreds of years later: the queens who should have been. Let's meet them.
