'Unforgettable' - ROSAMUND LUPTON Virginia Wrathmell has always known she will meet her death on the marsh. One snowy New Year's Eve, at the age of eighty-six, Virginia feels the time has finally come. New Year's Eve, 1939. Virginia is ten, an orphan arriving to meet her new parents at their mysterious house, Salt Winds. Her new home sits on the edge of a vast marsh, a beautiful but dangerous place. War feels far away out here amongst the birds and shifting sands - until the day a German fighter plane crashes into the marsh. The people at Salt Winds are the only ones to see it. What happens next is something Virginia will regret for the next seventy-five years, and which will change the whole course of her life.

‘Focuses a razor light on the plight of one of our most iconic birds. Inspirational!’ Tim Birkhead Curlews are Britain’s largest wading bird, known for their evocative calls which embody wild places; they provoke a range of emotions that many have expressed in poetry, art and music.

The Tree of Misery is the first attempt by an Arab writer to adopt the western style of following the history of a family over more than one generation. In this book, written in 1944, Taha Hussein, who most passionately called for the preservation and unification of the classical Arabic language, nevertheless sought to enrich it by adopting those western elements which would suit and enhance it. He is not simply recounting a story or describing a period of life in the Egyptian provinces. He is calling for social, intellectual and religious reform. This novel is inspired from the real life experiences of the author during his childhood in Upper Egypt.

As soon as Greta, her husband Joel, and their three sons arrive at the rural Top End property where Joel grew up, she is filled with a sense of unease. There's the dam filled with poisoned water, the burned-out family home on the hill, the crude white stones marking the burial sites of his sister and mother, the irresistible pull and authority of the land itself. And, who is the mysterious girl living in a forlorn hut near the creek? Struggling in the intense humidity of the "buildup" as she plants a garden and helps Joel build a tourist cabin, Greta knows she is an outsider, both to the town and to the land. Using her camera, she tries to make the invisible visible. As she gets drawn into the silent mystery of Joel's family and the secrets of his past, memories from her own beach childhood down south stir in unexpected and sometimes frightening ways. Threading through Greta's experiences is the eerie cry of the curlew like the voice of the land itself, calling her to piece together the grief of the people and the place where she is living, and glimpses of her own past she has pushed aside.

The Silver Curlew is one of Eleanor Farjeon's finest works, an intriguing re-telling of the classic story Rumpelstiltskin. Mother Codling lives with her children in a small, Norfolk windmill. One day, the Codlngs receive a surprise visit from the king of Norwich, who insists that eighteen-year-old Doll Codling must spin a certain amount of flax for him, or he will cut off her head. Doll, terrified of dying, makes a deal with a spindle-imp, in order to save herself and her family. The only clincher is, that he returns to the castle when Doll's daughter is born and insists that he take the newborn child as payment for his work. Doll, and her younger sister Poll, try desperately to keep the baby...

The captivating story of the search through Europe for the Slender-billed curlew which stands on the brink of extinction.

"In this elegant narrative, celebrated naturalist Ted Floyd guides you through a year of becoming a better birder. Choosing 200 top avian species to teach key lessons, Floyd introduces a new, holistic approach to bird watching and shows how to use the tools of the 21st century to appreciate the natural world we inhabit together whether city, country or suburbs." -- From book jacket.

"Eerie and addictive. . . . Like Wuthering Heights, The Whispering House is a melancholy novel, its characters filled with dark longings." — The New York Times Book Review From the acclaimed author of The Orphan of Salt Winds It was like holding a couple of jigsaw pieces in my palm, knowing there was a whole picture to be made, if I could only find the rest. Freya Lyell is struggling to move on from her sister Stella’s death five years ago. Visiting the bewitching Byrne Hall, only a few miles from the scene of the tragedy, she discovers a portrait of Stella—a portrait she had no idea existed, in a house Stella never set foot in. Or so she thought. Driven to find out more about her sister’s secrets, Freya is drawn into the world of Byrne Hall and its owners: charismatic artist Cory and his sinister, watchful mother. But as Freya lingers in this mysterious, centuries-old house, her relationship with Cory crosses the line into obsession and the darkness behind the locked doors of the estate threatens to spill out. In prose as lush and atmospheric as Byrne Hall itself, Elizabeth Brooks weaves a simmering, propulsive tale of art, sisterhood, and all-consuming love: the ways it can lead us toward tenderness, nostalgia, and longing, as well as shocking acts of violence.