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England: A Natural History: John Lewis-Stempel (Signed)

£25.00

Signed by the author.

Our countryside is iconic: a series of distinctive habitats that unite to create a landscape that is unique for the rich diversity of our flora and fauna. In England, his most magisterial book to date, John Lewis-Stempel explores each in turn, taking us from coast to moor, from downs to field, from the park to the village to create a vivid living portrait of our natural history. In his trademark lyrical prose, Lewis-Stempel reveals the hidden workings of each habitat: the clear waters and dragonflies; the bluebells, badgers and stag beetles; wild thyme; granite cliffs; rock pools and sandy beaches; red deer standing at ancient oaks; the wayside flowers of the lane; hedgehogs and hares; and snow on the high peak.

Each landscape – be it calm green or wild moor, plunging cliff or flatland fen – has shaped our idea of ourselves, our sense of what it is to be in England. In a stunning package, complete with decorated boards, endpapers, chapterheads and a map, England: A Natural History is the definitive volume on the English landscape and the capstone of John Lewis-Stempel’s nature writing.

Impossible Creatures – Katherine Rundell (Signed)

£14.99

Signed by the author.

Christopher is stunned when he discovers a passage to the Archipelago: a cluster of magical islands where all the creatures of myth still live and breed and thrive in their thousands. There he meets Mal: a girl from the islands, who is in possession of a flying coat and a baby griffin, and who is being pursued by a killer. Together they embark on an urgent quest to discover why the creatures are suddenly perishing, voyaging across the wild splendour of the Archipelago, where sphinxes hold secrets and centaurs do murder, in a bid to save both the islands and the world beyond them from a rising evil – before it’s too late.

Rare Singles – Benjamin Myers (Signed)

£18.99

Signed by the author.

Dinah has always lived in Scarborough. Trapped with her feckless husband and useless son, her one release comes at her town’s Northern Soul nights, where she gets to put on her best and lose herself in the classics. Dinah has an especial hero: Bucky Bronco, who recorded a string of soul gems in the late Sixties and then vanished off the face of the earth.

When she manages to contact Bucky she can’t believe her luck. Over in Chicago, Bucky Bronco is down on his luck – and has been since the loss of his beloved wife Maybelle. The best he can hope for is to make ends meet, and try and stay high.

But then an unexpected invitation arrives, from someone he’s never met, to come to somewhere he’s never heard of. With nothing to lose – and in need of the cash – Bucky boards a plane. And so Bucky finds himself in rainy Scarborough, where everyone seems to know who is – preparing to play for an audience for the first time in nearly half a century.

Over the course of the week, he finds himself striking up new and unexpected friendships; and facing his past, and its losses, for the very first time.

The Only Way Is Up: How to Take Britain from Austerity to Prosperity – Polly Toynbee & David Walker (Signed)

£14.99

Signed by the author, Polly Toynbee.

Labour have won their most decisive victory in decades. But what damage has been done to the country and how do Labour fix it? Political change has arrived. But the new Westminster government’s inheritance looks grim.

We’re all in it together, the Tories used to claim, but they left behind sharper social divisions and vastly greater inequality with widening gaps in class, wealth and income. Collapsing public services at home, coupled with threats from a scorching earth and war in Europe, have left our country with gaping unfulfilled commitments. The Only Way is Up gives us a ready reckoner on how to repair the damage and set the UK on the path to sustainable growth.

Combining the latest data with expert analysis across health, children’s services, the economy, environment, policing and defence, Polly Toynbee and David Walker tell the story of what went wrong during the Tories’ wild ride and what must now be remedied.