It begins with a body. One anonymous winter day, the corpse of Crispin Salvador is pulled from the Hudson River. Gone is the controversial giant of Asian literature. And missing is the only manuscript of his final book, an...

Anna Quindlen has visited London on numerous occasions and has written this account of London, based on her own literary map, tracing the footsteps of her favourite literary characters – where, for example, the bright young things of Evelyn...

Nora hasn’t seen Clare for ten years. Not since the day Nora walked out of her old life and never looked back. Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen party arrives. A weekend in a remote...

Jiangxi Province, China, 1941. Atop the fabled mountain of Lushan, celebrated for its temples, capricious mists and plunging ravines, perches a boarding school for the children of British missionaries. As her parents pursue their calling to bring the gospel...

Bryson travels around Australia, seeking the key to the uniquely Australian character. Bryson on form he comes upon critters, local characters, the history of the “discovery” … areal incentive to pack your bags and explore this beautiful part of...

Shortly after the 2005 London bombings, Tahir Shah was thrown into a Pakistani prison on suspicion of spying for Al-Qaeda. What sustained him during his terrifying, weeks-long ordeal were the stories his father told him as a child in...

Francis Wootton’s first memory is of Kurt Cobain’s death, and there have since been other hardships much closer to home. At fifteen years old he already knows all about loss and rejection – and to top it all off...

If no one knows you’re in danger, no one can save you… The Baxter house in the Lowther Hills, in Scotland, has been up for sale for decades. It’s dilapidated and near-derelict, and nobody is interested in it. But...

Flora has always adored her brother Billy. Born just eighteen months apart, their childhood was spent like two peas in a pod – no one could separate them. Now, as adults, they remain the best of friends. And as...