Recommendations

Which nations have launched which animals into space?

Which countries have no sea views?

Where were our planet's now-extinct species last sighted?

Who is behind the great avocado boom?

Where can you hug the world's oldest trees?



With infographic maps covering the entire globe, Wild Maps will delight cartography fans and nature lovers, as well as anyone with an interest in all that is fascinating and awe-inspiring on Planet Earth (and beyond).



Beautifully designed and illustrated, Wild Maps is an eye-opening celebration of our world, and the plants and animals with whom we share it.

A Brief History of Time for the 21st Century

At the heart of our galaxy lies a monster so deadly, not even light can escape its grasp. Its secrets lie waiting to be discovered. It's time to explore our universe's most mysterious inhabitants





Black Holes



At the heart of the Milky Way lies a supermassive black hole 4 million times more massive than our Sun. A place where space and time are so warped that light is trapped if it ventures within 12 million km. According to Einstein, inside lies the end of time. According to 21st-century physics, the reality may be far more bizarre.







Black holes lie where the most massive stars used to shine and at the edge of our current understanding. They are naturally occurring objects, the inevitable creations of gravity when too much matter collapses into not enough space. And yet, although the laws of nature predict them, they fail fully to describe them.





Black holes are places in space and time where the laws of gravity, quantum physics and thermodynamics collide. Originally thought to be so intellectually troubling that they simply could not exist, it is only in the past few years that we have begun to glimpse a new synthesis; a deep connection between gravity and quantum information theory that describes a holographic universe in which space and time emerge from a network of quantum bits, and wormholes span the void.





In this groundbreaking book, Professor Brian Cox and Professor Jeff Forshaw take you to the edge of our understanding of black holes; a scientific journey to the research frontier spanning a century of physics, from Einstein to Hawking and beyond, that ends with the startling conclusion that our world may operate like a giant quantum computer.

'There is a fish on the sand; I see it clearly. But it is not on its side, lying still. It is partly upright. It moves. I can see its gills, off the ground and wide open. It looks as though it's standing up.'



A few decades into the twenty-first century, in their permanently flooded garden in Cornwall, Cathy and her wife Ephie give up on their vegetable patch and plant a paddy field instead. Thousands of miles away, expat Margaret is struggling to adjust to life in Kuala Lumpur, now a coastal city. In New Zealand, two teenagers marvel at the extreme storms hitting their island.



But they are not the only ones adapting to the changing climate. The starfish on Cathy's kitchen window are just the start. As all manner of sea creatures begin to leave the oceans and invade the land, the new normal becomes increasingly hard to accept.

From influential and iconic star Constance Wu, a powerful and poignant memoir-in-essays full of funny and intimate observations that will resonate with readers everywhere.



'Like her, the book is bold, emotional and unexpurgated; the story of an Asian American who always wanted to fit in, and ended up just wanting to be her true self.'Independent



'A startling insight into the reality of trials by social media and sexual exploitation in Hollywood... Most powerful is her #MeToo rallying cry, which will make your skin crawl and your blood boil.' Sunday Times



Growing up in the friendly suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, Constance Wu thought that girls were supposed to be reserved, graceful, and polite. Everyone around her praised ladylike behaviour while seeming to disapprove of the louder, rougher girls - the kind of girls who made scenes. And while she spent most of her childhood suppressing her bold, emotional nature, Constance found an early outlet in local community theatre. The stage was the one place where big feelings were okay - were good, even. As she continued to reconcile her personality with the expectations of daily life, acting became more than a hobby. It was her refuge, her touchstone, and eventually her vocation. She went to New York to study classical theatre and pursue an acting career while waiting tables, dating, despairing, and embracing city life. In 2015, she was cast in the ground-breaking TV sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, a touching, funny story about an Asian American family in the '90s. Another historic role followed when she starred in the smash hit film Crazy Rich Asians, which featured an entirely Asian cast. These two pivotal moments in Hollywood history opened up a new chapter for Constance, who continues to explore the complexities of Asian American representation.



Through raw, hilarious, and relatable stories, Constance fearlessly shares her experiences of growing up in suburban Virginia, scraping by as a struggling actress, falling in love again and again, confronting her identity and influence, and navigating the pressures and pleasures of existing in today's world.

Two sisters, two nuclear power stations, one child caught in the middle... When Helen, a self-taught prepper and single mother, leaves her young son Jack with her sister for a few days so she can visit Chernobyl's Exclusion Zone, they both know the situation will be tense. And Jack isn't like other five-year olds... as they will both discover with devastating consequences.

Smot plays in the snow - use the finger puppet to play too!

This is the story of the shy young boy from Tredegar who became one of the most important British politicians of the 20th century. Learn about how he fought for fairness and kindness, and his legacy - the founding of the NHS. Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan's story is presented with simple, clear prose and beautiful, detailed illustrations - perfect to be read aloud or for early readers.

Looking at Celtic legends, everyone wonders at the strength and bravery of the female characters. This collection of fifteen myths from seven countries demonstrates this. Welsh adaptations by Angharad Tomos, Haf Llewelyn, Mari George, Aneirin Karadog, Myrddin ap Dafydd, Anni Llŷn and Branwen Williams.

A mystery story with a twist. Betsan Morgan isn't looking forward to spending a week with her classmates at Plas yr Hydd. Her best friend is ill at home, and she has to go on her own, with strangers. But once she arrives, Betsan finds that she is able to travel to the past to live in the time of her great-great-great-grandmother.

This journal of the invasion, a collection of Andrey Kurkov's writings and broadcasts from Kyiv, is a remarkable record of a brilliant writer at the forefront of a 21st-century war.



Andrey Kurkov has been a consistent satirical commentator on his adopted country of Ukraine. His most recent work, Grey Bees, is a dark foreshadowing of the devastation in the eastern part of Ukraine in which only two villagers remain in a village bombed to smithereens. The author has lived in Kyiv and in the remote countryside of Ukraine throughout the Russian invasion. He has also been able to fly to European capitals where he has been working to raise money for charities and to address crowded halls. Kurkov has been asked to write for every English newspaper, as also to be interviewed all over Europe. He has become an important voice for his people.



Kurkov sees every video and every posted message, and he spends the sleepless nights of continuous bombardment of his city delivering the truth about this invasion to the world.

'A profound novel about friendship. I loved it to pieces' MADELINE MILLER

'A shining tour de force' ALI SMITH, Guardian Summer Reading



CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF 2022 BY THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, DAILY MAIL AND FINANCIAL TIMES



A dazzling new novel of friendship, identity and the unknowability of other people - from the international bestselling author of Home Fire, winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction



Sometimes it was as though the forty years of friendship between them was just a lesson in the unknowability of other people...



Maryam and Zahra.



In 1988 Karachi, two fourteen-year-old girls are a decade into their friendship, sharing in-jokes, secrets and a love for George Michael. As Pakistan's dictatorship falls and a woman comes to power, the world suddenly seems full of possibilities. Elated by the change in the air, they make a snap decision at a party. That night, everything goes wrong, and the two girls are powerless to change the outcome.



Zahra and Maryam.



In present-day London, two influential women remain bound together by loyalties, disloyalties, and the memory of that night, which echoes through the present in unexpected ways. Now both have power; and both have very different ideas of how to wield it... Their friendship has always felt unbreakable; can it be undone by one decision?



'A new Kamila Shamsie novel is always worth celebrating, but Best of Friends is something else: an epic story that explores the ties of childhood friendship, the possibility of escape, the way the political world intrudes into the personal, all through the lens of two sharply drawn protagonists' Observer, Books of the Year 2022

The perfect book to help every anxious little Worrysaurus let go of their fears and feel happy in the moment.