“An interesting literary journey back in time, capturing — within the breathtaking stories — the joys and sorrows, thrills and disappointments of growing up in rural Punjab.” “Bhupendra’s stories bring out the simplicity, sensibilities, vibrancy, languor, humour and irony in lives from the Punjab countryside.” “Countryside Tales is the closest you can get to the Malgudi Days of Punjab.” “Bhupendra’s powerful narratives transport the readers back in time to that place and situation, where they become a part of the action and emotion. One can visualise the scenes so clearly that the feeling is of actually being present there.” “Great memories narrated with utter simplicity. Bhupendra really has an amazing talent for bringing alive the people he writes about — and that too with crystal clear precision.” “Bhupendra Dogra exhibits a great skill of transmuting personal memories into an impersonal and universal art. While reading the stories, I felt like a toddler once again in the company of my young and muscular dad, working in the fields in the village.” “Bhupendra’s stories capture the mood and aura of a bygone era perfectly. They remind me of R.K. Narayan’s short stories especially Swami & his Friends!” “Bhupendra is an amazingly gifted writer… a master story teller who is unbeatable in narrating and converting simple incidents into interesting stories.” “A raconteur par excellence.” “Bhupendra’s relationship with his father must have been very very special. His abiding love for his father peeps through every word he writes about him.” “Intensely engaging, some of the best short stories that I have ever read in my life.” “Bhupendra Dogra’s stories are fine examples of creating interesting artistic constructs out of some banal or commonplace experiences, interspersed with a subtle sense of humour and a mild critique of typical middle class Hindu family ethos and ethics.”

Deborah Alma's poems are gloriously pungent, teeming with colours, textures and smells. In'True Tales of the Countryside,' her debut collection, Alma writes vividly about sex, love and ageing in rural Shropshre and Wales, and reflects on her experiences as a mixed-race, Anglo-Indian woman.

The indispensable guide to everything we knew and loved before modern life got in the way. This gorgeous and beautifully illustrated countryside miscellany is the perfect purchase for anyone wanting to go back to their roots and rediscover a lost world... 'Beautiful book' -- ***** Reader review 'A delightful book with some lovely illustrations' -- ***** Reader review 'A heart-warming read, I love this book' -- ***** Reader review 'Magical' -- ***** Reader review 'Lovely book to just DELVE into' -- ***** Reader review 'A little gem!' -- ***** Reader review 'Sheer delight!' -- ***** Reader review **************************************************************************************************** Ever wondered how to predict the weather just by looking at the sky? Or wanted to attract butterflies to your garden? Is there a knack to building the perfect bonfire? And how exactly do you race a ferret? In this world of traffic tailbacks, supermarket shopping and 24-hour internet access, it's easy to feel disconnected from the beauty and rhythms of the natural world. If you have ever gazed in awe at stars in the night's sky, tried to catch a perfect snowflake or longed for the comfort of a roaring log fire, then this is the book for you. From spotting Britain's five kinds of owl to gardening by the phases of the moon, from curing a cold to brewing your own ale, and from navigating by the stars to making sloe gin, Red Sky at Night is packed with instructions and lists, ancient customs and old wives tales, making it an indispensable guide to countryside lore.

A collection of HE Bates stories of the countryside, containing 25 tales all set in the villages and market towns of the forgotten rural past.

Tales of adventure and fantasy set in the Irish countryside.

In The Emma Press Anthology of Love, that familiar four-letter word takes on a world of meanings. Love is written across the sky for the whole world to see, and whispered to a partner at the bus stop in the rain. Love is transcendent and love is everyday, found equally in steamy texts and shopping lists, and the only reliable thing about it is that it's never where you expected to find it. Building on the success of 2015's Mildly Erotic Verse, this book explores the diversity of modern romance. Often awkward, never perfect, romantic encounters and relationships are rooted in our own contemporary world of Tinder, Twitter and TV dinners. But they are also part of an enduring tradition: the cornerstone of our common humanity. In this book, thirty fresh, diverse and original voices speak to what love means right here, right now, bridging the gap between Hollywood imagery and modern lived experience.

What's so good about being fast? Sometimes a little patience goes a long way, and a slow thing can be just what you need. Slow walks, slow thoughts and slow afternoons in the sun provide inspiration for the poets in Slow Things, an anthology which celebrates taking life at a leisurely pace and existing in the present. As ice, traffic and a giant wooden boulder all advance with a soothing inevitability, the poets invite us to see the beauty in the accretion of tea-stains in a teapot and the unwavering stare of a loris.

A true-life Heartbeat for the twenty-first century. Yorkshireman Mike Pannett has just taken up a new posting as a local bobby in rural North Yorkshire. It's quite a change from the Met, where he dealt with riots on the capital's streets and drug gangs in Battersea, and found out what it was like to stare down the wrong end of a sawn-off shotgun. Now, instead of hunting down knife-wielding muggers, he's chasing runaway bullocks, holding up the Last Night of the Proms traffic to escort a lost mole across the road and combing the countryside for the villains who stole the Colonel's balls. Mike's first year on his new patch is told in seventeen chapters which interweave his escapades on the beat month by month together with his growing knowledge of a landscape that changes with the seasons and some snapshots from his off-duty life. Here is a wonderfully entertaining celebration of North Yorkshire, its breathtaking scenery and wide variety of characters and communities.