Bird Norman

Howard Norman’s The Bird Artist, the first book of his Canadian trilogy, begins in 1911. Its narrator, Fabian Vas, is a bird artist: he draws and paints the birds of Witless Bay, his remote Newfoundland coastal village home. In the first paragraph of his tale, Fabian reveals that he has murdered the village lighthouse keeper, Botho August. Later, he confesses who and what drove him to his crime—a measured, profoundly engrossing story of passion, betrayal, guilt, and redemption between men and women. The Bird Artist is a 1994 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction.

This strong and beautiful bird is a symbol for an entire country. It is the bald eagle, and Americans made it their national emblem more than 200 years ago. Join Bill the bird keeper to see how this bird lives and how it became a symbol of the United States.

Bernd Heinrich involves us in his quest to get inside the mind of the raven. But as animals can be spied on only by getting quite close, Heinrich adopts ravens, thereby becoming a "raven father", as well as observing them in their natural habitat. He studies their daily routines and, in the process, paints a vivid picture of the ravens' world. At the heart of this book are Heinrich's love and respect for these complex and engaging creatures, and through his keen observation and analysis we become their intimates, too.

Mild-mannered Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen committed one of the most notorious English murders of the 20th century. In early 1910, he dismembered his wife's body and buried the remains in the coal cellar of the house they shared in Hilldrop Crescent, London. Arrested with his lover, Ethel Le Neve, who was disguised as his son, as they tried to escape to Canada aboard the SS Montrose. His subsequent trial at the Old Bailey was expected to be a mere formality, but Dr Crippen pleaded 'not guilty!', and so begins this strangely moving tale of passion and despair.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then let Britain's best-loved storytellers take you through some of their funniest, strangest, and most embarrassing moments in this rib-tickling collection. From Sir Ranulph Fiennes' adventures in the Special Forces and Barry Norman's encounter with the Iron Duke, to Dickie Bird's brush with the monarchy and Donald Sinden's brush with the law, these stories will make you laugh and make you think.

Jeden Morgen um halb sieben steht der kleine Pinguin mit den anderen Pinguinen am Flughafen. Warum? Weil Pinguine das eben so machen: durch die Welt fliegen, Sachen verkaufen, Geld verdienen. Dabei muss der kleine Pinguin noch viel lernen: wie man sein soll, welche Socken man tragen darf und welche Fragen man besser nicht stellt. Doch bei dem Versuch, so wie die anderen zu sein und erwachsen zu werden, wird der kleine Pinguin vor allem eins: unglücklich. Wie gut, dass ihm da noch rechtzeitig einfällt, dass er schon mal glücklich war.