Bøger udgivet af Quartet Books

Jeremy Clarke was first diagnosed with cancer in 2013. These columns cover the period from that shock diagnosis up until his death in May 2023. He chronicled his battle with the disease with humour and defiance, but never self-pity. He also met Catriona Olding in 2013. They would fall in love and eventually marry shortly before his death. He recounts this journey with tenderness and honesty. His columns cover life in Devon and then France, as well as drinking and occasional drug taking, his love of literature, and life itself, and are imbued with bathos, insight, and a finely honed sense of the absurd.

Backroads 3: Faces of Appalachia is the third in a five-book series by Lynn Coffey about the native people of Virginia's highlands and their customs. As with the first two Backroads books, Faces of Appalachia is chock full of old time subject matter such as making apple cider, scrub board washing, cutting winter firewood, gathering watercress, outdoor privies, tapping maple trees for syrup and the demise of the American Chestnut trees, which the mountain people said was "the worst lick the south ever had". Lynn writes the life stories of twenty-four of her close friends living in and around the mountain village of Love where she makes her home, giving new insight into the lives of those inappropriately dubbed "hillbillies" by the media. People like Lizzie Wyant Wood, the plucky little woman who raised nine children and at this writing is almost 111 years of age and still living in her own home, doing her laundry, cooking meals, planting garden and canning the harvest as well as beating anyone who sis down in the evenings to play a hand of Pollyanna. Take a ride with Junior Hatter, a rural mountain mail carrier who still delivers groceries to the older widows on his route or opens a mailbox with a Mason jar of sugar in it with a note, "Take this down to Annie Carr who is baking a cake and needs it". Or marvel at the love between Irvin and Melba Rosen who celebrated their sixty-seventh wedding anniversary and are still busy, active people, full of good humor and a zest for life than many envy.These and many more will entertain readers and give new respect for the rugged folks that call the Blue Ridge Mountains home.

In Backroads 2: The Road to Chicken Holler, Lynn Coffey is back with another remarkable journey into the lives of the elder people of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains. In her first book, Backroads: Plain Folk and Simple Livin', she revealed the charm of the "old ways" as she told the stories of the native residents living in and around the little hamlet of Love, Virginia, where the author makes her home. In her second volume, we are once again taken back to this beautiful country setting, beginning with an interview with Doris Giannini Hamner, the real "Olivia" of the popular TV series, The Waltons. From there, it's on to river baptizing, pickling beets, midwives and home births, bear hunting, mountain music and those wonderful recipes. Each story is enhanced with a multitude of photos of early ancestors, craftwork and breathtaking scenery that only the Blue Ridge Mountains can afford. No one tells the story of the Appalachian culture with such heart, warmth, and respect as Lynn Coffey because this is her life and these are her people. Or as Brad Herzog, the best-selling author of the American travel memoir, States of Mind, says, "Like its predecessor, this book is a celebration-of the people and pastimes of a bygone era and a magical place. It is a snapshot of a flickering candle before it burns out, and Lynn Coffey is the keeper of the flame."

A timely vision and theory of change for the future of humanity. Written with verve and a mordant wit, 'The Wheels of Society' is a vivid, cogent, ground-breaking proposal for us to re-think ourselves in order to steer civilisation back to safety.

A charming selection of writings by a twentieth century luminary. This selection of Lesley Blanch's early journalism, essays and travelling tales forms a brilliant sequel to On the Wilder Shores of Love.