Free For All by Gavin Francis

Britain's best-loved institution is under greater threat than ever, besieged by a deadly combination of underfunding, understaffing and the predatory private sector. He introduces us to the inner workings of an institution that has never been perfect but which transformed the lives and health of millions, for free - and which has never been more important.

For those who believe in the future of the NHS and its founding principles, this is essential reading.

£7.99

Turning Points by Steve Richards

Every few weeks in British politics, a columnist will reach for the word 'unprecedented' as a cabinet minister resigns or yet another inquiry is called. We have become so accustomed to turmoil that it is impossible to take a breath and see where we are headed. In this magisterial history, respected broadcaster and journalist Steve Richards puts the recent chaos into context and takes a step back to explore ten critical moments that have shaped modern Britain.

£22

Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart

Tackling ministerial briefs on flood response and prison violence, engaging with conflict and poverty abroad as a foreign minister, and Brexit as a Cabinet minister, Stewart learned first-hand how profoundly hollow and inadequate our democracy and government had become. Cronyism, ignorance and sheer incompetence ran rampant. Uncompromising, candid and darkly humorous, this is his story of the challenges, absurdities and realities of political life; a new classic of political memoir and a remarkable portrait of our age.

£22

We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I by Raja Shehadeh

Aziz Shehadeh was many things: lawyer, activist, and political detainee. In this new and searingly personal memoir, Raja Shehadeh unpicks the snags and complexities of their relationship. As a young man, Raja fails to recognise his father's courage and, in turn, his father does not appreciate Raja's own efforts in campaigning for Palestinian human rights. When Aziz is murdered in 1985, it changes Raja irrevocably.

£10.99

The Earth Transformed by Peter Frankopan

Handmade by Siri Helle

Nightwalking by John Lewis-Stempel

Mother Tongue by Gurdeep Loyal

Of Cabbages and Kimchi by James Read

A Year Full of Veg by Sarah Raven

Stitch in Bloom by Lora Avedian

Simple Weave by Kerstin Neumuller

The Amur River by Colin Thubron

Rising in the Mongolian mountains and flowing through Siberia to the Pacific, the Amur River forms the tense border between Russia and China.

This is the most densely fortified frontier on Earth. Harassed by injury and by arrest from the local police, Thubron makes his way along both the Russian and Chinese shores. By the time he reaches the river's desolate end, a whole, pivotal world has come alive.

£10.99

Islands of the Evening by Alistair Moffat

Fourteen centuries ago, Irish saints journeyed to the Hebrides. They sought spiritual solitude in remote places, but their mission was also to spread the word of God to the peoples of Scotland. Columba was the most famous of these pioneers who rowed their curraghs towards danger and uncertainty in a pagan land, but the many others are now largely forgotten. Moffat sets off in search of these elusive figures. As he follows in their footsteps, he finds their traces not so much in tangible remains as in the spirit and memory of the places that lay at the very edge of their world.

£10.99

Why Women Grow by Alice Vincent

Alice Vincent is on a quest to understand what encourages women to go out, work the soil, plant seeds and nurture them, even when so many other responsibilities sit upon their shoulders. Why Women Grow is a much-needed exploration of why women turn to the earth, as gardeners, growers and custodians. This book emerged from a deeply rooted desire to share the stories of women who are silenced and overlooked.

£16.99

Twelve Words for Moss by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett

Glowflake, Rocket, Small Skies, Kind Spears, Marilyn . . .
Moss is known as the living carpet but if you look really closely, it contains its own irrepressible light. In Twelve Words for Moss, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett celebrates the unsung hero of the plant world with a unique blend of poetry, nature writing and memoir. Making her way through wetlands from Somerset to County Tyrone, Burnett discovers the hidden vibrancy and luminous beauty of these overlooked places.

£16.99

Nests by Susan Ogilvy

An exquisitely illustrated, one-of-a-kind celebration of the hidden beauty of nature and the ingenuity of birds Susan Ogilvy started painting bird nests almost by accident. One day, while tidying up her garden after a storm, she found a chaffinch nest - a strange, sodden lump on the grass under a fir tree. She carried it inside and placed it on a newspaper; over the next few hours, as the water drained out of it, the sodden lump blossomed into a mossy jewel.

She was amazed, and dropped everything to make a painting of the nest at exact life size. This was the start of an obsession; Ogilvy has since painted more than fifty bird nests from life, each time marvelling at its ingenious construction.

£20

Egyptian Mythology by Garry J. Shaw

The myths of ancient Egypt have survived in fragments of ancient hymns and paintings on the walls of tombs and temples, spells inked across coffins and stories scrawled upon scrolls.
Shaw not only retells these stories with his characteristic wit, but also reconnects them to the temples and monuments that still stand today, offering a fresh look at the most visited sites in Egypt.

£14.99

Scotland’s Wild Medicine by Lilia Sinclair & Clare Holohan

The book aims to be a guide to foraging in Scotland throughout the seasons. Holohan profiles three plants for each month of the year, describing in detail how they can be used both for medicinal purposes and in food. Sinclair concentrates on the feel good side of things, introducing simple ways to improve health and wellbeing from cold water immersion to breathwork and meditation, all firmly rooted in nature.

This stunning book also provides recipes and homemade remedies and is a must have for every home.

£20

Drawn to Nature by Simon Martin

Simon Martin has gathered joyful and beautiful images of the extraordinary array of wildlife described by Gilbert White and as seen through the eyes of British artists including Eric Ravilious, Clare Leighton, and John Piper. This fascinating account takes us from some of the earliest published depictions of birds and animals, to pioneering nature photography, the revival of wood-engraving in the 1920s and 30s, and responses to White's message about the natural world by contemporary illustrators such as Angie Lewin and Emily Sutton.

£25

Tenement Kid by Bobby Gillespie

Born into a working-class Glaswegian family in the summer of 1961, Tenement Kid begins in the district of Springburn, soon to be evacuated in Edward Heath's brutal slum clearances and making it to one of the world’s greatest bands. A book filled with the joy and wonder of a rock n roll apostle who would radically reshape the future sounds of fin de siecle British pop, Bobby Gillespie's memoir cuts a righteous path through a decade lost to Thatcherism and saved by acid house.

£9.99

A Cheesemonger’s Compendium of British and Irish Cheese by Ned Palmer

Each of the 150 cheeses on Palmer's cheeseboard is accompanied by a morsel of history or a dash of folklore, a description of its flavours, and an enticing illustration. Palmer peppers his book with stories of eccentric and colourful cheesemakers and celebrates both traditional farmhouse and modern artisanal cheeses.
£14.99

Hidden Hands by Mary Wellesley

Manuscripts teem with life. They are not only the stuff of history and literature, but they offer some of the only tangible evidence we have of entire lives, long receded. Hidden Hands tells the stories of the artisans, artists, scribes and readers, patrons and collectors who made and kept the beautiful, fragile objects that have survived the ravages of fire, water and deliberate destruction to form a picture of both English culture and the wider European culture of which it is part.

£12.99

A Tomb With a View by Peter Ross

Who are London's outcast dead and why is David Bowie their guardian angel? What is the remarkable truth about Phoebe Hessel, who disguised herself as a man to fight alongside her sweetheart, and went on to live in the reigns of five monarchs? Why is a Bristol cemetery the perfect wedding venue for goths? Push open the rusting gate, push back the ivy, and take a look inside...

£10.99

Windswept and Interesting by Billy Connolly

In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life. Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend.

£10.99

A Cook’s Book by Nigel Slater

This is a book for life… Diana Henry.

From the first jam tart Nigel made with his mum standing on a chair trying to reach the Aga, through to what he is cooking now, this is the ultimate Nigel Slater collection brimming with over 200 recipes.
He writes about how his cooking has changed from discovering the best way to roast a chicken to the trick to smoky, smooth aubergine mash. He gives the tales behind the recipes and recalls the first time he ate a baguette in Paris, his love of jewel-bright Japanese pickled radishes and his initial slice of buttercream-topped chocolate cake.
£30

Lazy Baking by Jessica Elliott Dennison

Fuss-free time-saving baking cookbook for any time of the day. Think one-cup pancakes for breakfast, sausage rolls for lunch, grapefruit drizzle loaf to fix that afternoon craving and impressive baked crispbreads for wine. There are also plenty of tips scattered throughout, including ideas of what ingredients can be substituted or how to fix issues that might occur. This recipe book is perfect for anyone looking to whip up modern and fresh treats, which are both foolproof and rewarding, and guaranteed to impress thanks to all the clever, useful hacks.

£16.99

Treasury of Folklore Woodlands & Forests

From the dark, gnarled woodlands of the north, to the humid jungles of the southern lands, trees have captured humanity's imagination for millennia. Filled with primal gods and goddesses, dryads and the fairy tales of old, the forests still beckon to us, offering sanctuary, mystery and more than a little mischievous trickery. From insatiable cannibalistic children hewn from logs, to lumberjack lore, and the spine-chilling legend of Bloody Mary, there is much to be found between the branches.

£12.99

Kiss Myself Goodbye by Ferdinand Mount

Aunt Munca never told the truth about anything. Calling herself after the mouse in a Beatrix Potter story, she was already a figure of mystery during the childhood of her nephew Ferdinand Mount. Half a century later, a series of startling revelations sets him off on a tortuous quest to find out who this extraordinary millionairess really was.
What he discovers is shocking and irretrievably sad, involving multiple deceptions, false identities and abandonments.

£10.99

The Ratline by Philippe Sands

In this riveting real-life thriller, Sands offers a unique account of the daily life of senior Nazi SS Brigadefuhrer Otto Freiherr von Wachter and his wife, Charlotte. Drawing on a remarkable archive of family letters and diaries, he unveils a fascinating insight into life before and during the war, as a fugitive on the run in the Alps and then in Rome, and into the Cold War. What happened to Otto Wachter while he was preparing to travel to Argentina on the 'ratline', assisted by a Vatican bishop, and what was the explanation for his sudden and unexpected death?

£9.99

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. They can change our minds, heal our bodies and even help us avoid environmental disaster; they are metabolic masters, earth-makers and key players in most of nature's processes.
In Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake takes us on a mind-altering journey into their spectacular world, and reveals how these extraordinary organisms transform our understanding of our planet and life itself.

£10.99

Nature Writing for Every Day of the Year

This beautifully illustrated daily anthology brings you the very best of nature writing from around the world and through the centuries, from Pliny the Elder's Natural History to modern authors such as Helen Macdonald and Robert Macfarlane. Encompassing fact and fiction, essays and field guides, letters and diaries, it's a rich banquet of prose, the perfect companion to help your mind escape into the world of nature every day.

£20

Wanderers by Kerri Andrews

This book describes ten women over the past three hundred years who have found walking essential to their sense of themselves, as people and as writers. For each, walking was integral, whether it was rambling for miles across the Highlands, like Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, or pacing novels into being, as Virginia Woolf did around Bloomsbury. Offering a beguiling view of the history of walking, Wanderers guides us through the different ways of seeing - of being - articulated by these ten pathfinding women.

£9.99

Field Work by Bella Bathurst

For many of us, Britain is countryside - drystone walls, stiles, sheep on a distant hillside. But farmers themselves often remain a mystery: familiar but unpredictable, a secretive industry still visible from space. Who are these people who shape our countryside and put food on our tables? And what does it take to pull a life out of earth? These shocking, raw, wise and funny accounts will open out a way of life now changing beyond recognition.

£10.99

The Story of China by Michael Wood

China is the oldest living civilisation on earth, but its history is still surprisingly little known in the wider world. Michael Wood's sparkling narrative, which mingles the grand sweep with local and personal stories, woven together with the author's own travel journals, is an enthralling account of China's 4000-year-old tradition. A portrait of a country that will be of the greatest importance to the world in the twenty-first century.

£12.99

Antlers of Water ed. by Kathleen Jamie

Bringing together contemporary Scottish writing on nature and landscape, this inspiring collection takes us from walking to wild swimming, from red deer to pigeons and wasps, from remote islands to back gardens, through prose, poetry and photography. Antlers of Water urges us to renegotiate our relationship with the more-than-human world, in writing which is by turns celebratory, radical and political.

£10.99

The History of Magic by Chris Gosden

From the curses and charms of ancient Greek, Roman and Jewish magic, to the shamanistic traditions of Eurasia, indigenous America and Africa, and even quantum physics today. Professor Chris Gosden provides a timely history of human thought and the role it has played in shaping civilization, and how we might use magic to rethink our understanding of the world.

£12.99

Splash! by Howard Means

Splash! dives into Egypt, winds through ancient Greece and Rome, flows mostly underground through the Dark and Middle Ages (at least in Europe), and then re-emerges in the wake of the Renaissance before taking its final lap at the modern Olympic Games. Revealing how its history spans religion, fashion, architecture, public health, colonialism, segregation, sexism, sexiness, guts, glory and much, much more.

£9.99

The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes

A journey over the walls of England, into the thousands of square miles of rivers, woodland, lakes and meadows that are blocked from public access. By trespassing the land of the media magnates, Lords, politicians and private corporations that own England, Nick Hayes argues that the root of social inequality is the uneven distribution of land. Weaving together the stories from all cultures this book will transform the way you see the land.

£9.99

Hungry by Grace Dent

Hungry traces Grace’s story from growing up eating beige food to becoming one of Britain's best-loved food writers. From cheese and pineapple hedgehogs and treats with your nan, to the exquisite joy of a chip butty covered in vinegar and too much salt in the school canteen on a grey day. This snapshot of how we have lived, laughed and eaten over the past 40 years reveals the central role food plays in either bringing us together or driving us apart.

£9.99

Red Sands by Caroline Eden

In a quest to better understand this vast heartland of Asia, Caroline navigates a course from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the sun-ripened orchards of the Fergana Valley. A book filled with human stories, forgotten histories and tales of adventure, Caroline is a reliable guide using food as her passport to enter lives, cities and landscapes rarely written about. Lit up by emblematic recipes, Red Sands is an utterly unique book, bringing in universal themes that relate to us all: hope, hunger, longing, love and the joys of eating well on the road.

£26

British Summer Time Begins by Ysenda Maxtone Graham

A delightful and nostalgic celebration of the mid-twentieth century summer holidays. It explores expectations, hopes, fears and habits, the rules or lack of rules under which children lived, their happiness and sadness.

£9.99

The Seaweed Collectors Handbook by Miek Zwamborn

In this short, exquisitely illustrated portrait Miek Zwamborn shares her discoveries of seaweed’s history, culture and use, from the Neolithic people of the Orkney Islands to sushi artisans in modern Japan.
With a fabulous series of recipes based around the 'truffles of the sea', this is a wonderful gift for every nature lover's home.

£9.99

Herb by Mark Diacono

Packed with ideas for enjoying and using herbs, Herb is much more than your average recipe book. Mark shares the techniques at the heart of sourcing, preparing and using herbs well, enabling you to make delicious food that is as rewarding in the process as it is in the end result. The book explores how to use herbs, when to deploy them, and how to capture those flavours to use when they might not be seasonally available.

£26

Britain at Bay by Allan Allport

In the bleak first half of the Second World War, Britain stood alone against the Axis forces. Isolated and outmanoeuvred, it seemed as though she might fall at any moment. Only an extraordinary effort of courage - by ordinary men and women - held the line. From the subtle moral calculus of appeasement to the febrile dusts of the Western Desert, Allport interrogates every aspect of the conflict - and exposes its echoes in our own age.

£10.99

Operation Pedestal by Max Hastings

In August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis, because its 300,000 people could no longer be fed. Churchill made a personal decision that at all costs, the 'island fortress' must be saved. The battle that ensued is the saga Max Hastings unfolds in his first full length narrative of the Royal Navy, which he believes was the most successful of Britain's wartime services.

£9.99

The Shortest History of War by Gwynne Dyer

Dyer chronicles the spread of warfare in the world's first cities; the rise of inequality and tyranny as human societies grow; the millennium-long classical age of combat ended by the the carnage of the Thirty Years' War; the brief ensuing interlude of 'limited' war before the popular revolutions of the 18th century ushered in an age of total war.

£12.99

River Kings by Cat Jarman

Dr Cat Jarman is a bioarchaeologist, specialising in forensic techniques to research the paths of Vikings who came to rest in British soil.
Told as a riveting story of the Vikings and the methods we use to understand them, this is a major reassessment of the fierce, often-mythologised voyagers of the north, and of the global medieval world as we know it.

£9.99

Blood Legacy by Alex Renton

Through the story of his own family's history as slave and plantation owners, Alex Renton looks at how we owe it to the present to understand the legacy of the past. Blood Legacy explores what inheritance - political, economic, moral and spiritual - has been passed to the descendants of the slave owners and the descendants of the enslaved.

£10.99

God’s Shadow by Alan Mikhail

The Ottoman Empire was a hub of flourishing intellectual fervour, geopolitical power, and enlightened pluralistic rule. At the helm of its ascent was the omnipotent Sultan Selim I (1470-1520).
Mikhail's ground-breaking account vividly recaptures Selim's life, radically reshaping our understanding of a world we thought we knew.

£10.99

Our Bodies Their Battlefield by Christina Lamb

This is the first major account to address the scale of rape and sexual violence in modern conflict. Christina Lamb has worked in war and combat zones for over thirty years. She uncovers incredible stories of heroism and resistance, including the Bosnian women who have hunted down more than a hundred war criminals and the Congolese doctor who has risked his life to treat more rape victims than anyone else on earth.

£9.99

Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn

This is a book about abandoned places: ghost towns and exclusion zones, no man's lands and fortress islands. From Tanzanian mountains to the volcanic Caribbean, the forbidden areas of France to the mining regions of Scotland, Flyn brings together some of the most desolate, eerie, ravaged and polluted areas in the world - and shows how, against all odds, they offer our best opportunities for environmental recovery. Beautiful, haunted and hopeful.

£9.99