British Trees

For years Charlie Burrell and his wife, Isabella Tree, farmed Knepp Castle Estate and struggled to turn a profit. By 2000, with the farm facing bankruptcy, they decided to try something radical. They would restore Knepp’s 3,500 acres to the wild. Using herds of free-roaming animals to mimic the actions of the megafauna of the past, they hoped to bring nature back to their depleted land. But what would the neighbors say, in the manicured countryside of modern England where a blade of grass out of place is considered an affront?

The FIRST BOOK in an irresistibly charming British village murder mystery series full of twists and turns… Meet Ellie Swan... an introverted bookworm with a history degree stuck at a crossroads. After putting her degree to work in a TV studio's historical continuity department for years, the studio merges with a giant streaming service and Ellie loses her dream job. She finds herself working in a coffee shop to make ends meet, and while waiting for the perfect opportunity to come along... she gets a phone call informing her that her dear Granny Maggie has broken her hip. Leaving the city ...

Percival Everett's The Trees is a must-listen that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist White townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till.

Meet Ellie Swan... a history-loving bookworm trying to rebuild her life in her childhood hometown. After solving the mystery of the missing manuscript and saving her grandmother’s beloved bookshop, Meadowfield Books, Ellie is slowly settling into her new role as manager. But just as life begins to feel stable, the quiet village of Meadowfield is shaken by another unexpected mystery. This time, the victim is Tim Baker, a promising young photographer whose life was tragically cut short in 1994. A hidden accusation pointing to a potential murderer has resurfaced under the wallpaper in the ...

Coming Spring 2025! The third instalment in the bestselling Meadowfield Mysteries series. As Ellie and Maggie prepare to officially reopen Meadowfiled Books, the buzz of their launch event grows: Meadowfield’s least romantic man, Benjamin Brown, is launching his first romance novel. The book’s debut is raising more eyebrows than hearts, but it’s Peter Cookson’s sudden return that truly steals the spotlight. Nervous, evasive, and clutching secrets from an old drowning in the village pond, Ellie is unsettled by her father's return, especially when he clashes publicly with Benjamin at ...

The Skipper Goes West is the second book in The Skipper Series.A top secret component has been stolen from a British mission to the United States. Captain Horace McDonald, of the Secret Intelligence Service, is tasked with recovering the stolen item. His main problem is that the operation must take place in the United States, still a neutral power in 1940. He knows he will need help, and the ability to recover the item if the Nazi network get it out of America means he needs the Skipper, his trusted ally. The Skipper's first task is to ferry replacement items over the North Atlantic, which ...

Brought to you by Penguin. In my home country, they call me a ‘bornfree’. Chasing Freedom is the story of the inheritance of violence, of struggle, of African liberation. It is guided by one central question: what does it mean to be truly free? As a member of the first generation born after...

In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the ‘Knepp experiment’, a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all...

Melior the Wisewoman lives in the woods near the Vale of Rollendri. When her companion and mentor, Old Agg, dies, she is approached by the denizens of the Faerie kingdom, who tell her that she is in great danger--that a barbaric King called Gorangon is on his way hence with an army to claim the entire shire as part of his kingdom. Melior is uncomfortable and afraid to listen, for Agg told her the Faefolk are amoral and not to be trusted...but the King with his warband and iron sword is equally fearsome, if not even worse . Reluctantly, she agrees to let the Fae help her against the might of...

Have you ever thought about your own surname? Wondered about the stories behind them, especially if they are unusual?This Amazon NUMBER 1 BESTSELLING BOOK (Genealogy) tells the engaging story of when our surnames first came into use, why they were necessary and how people acquired them. After spending decades writing and researching the history of names, William Lewis presents in ‘What’s in your Surname?’ a journey through the quite diverse origins of English surnames citing hundreds of examples along the way. On this engaging journey you will discover the origin of last names, from ...

The Trees is the story of an American family in the wilderness - a family that "followed the woods as some families follow the sea." The time is the end of the 18th century, the wilderness is the land west of the Alleghenies and north of the Ohio River. But principally, The Trees is the story of a girl named Sayward, eldest daughter of Worth and Jary Luckett, raised in the forest far from the rest of humankind, yet growing to realize that the way of the hunter must cede to the way of the tiller of soil.

In 1980s Britain, being gay isn’t just dangerous—it’s unspeakable. Under the shadow of Section 28, a law banning the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools, silence is enforced and survival means staying invisible. For Matt, a quiet teen just trying to understand himself, this world is suffocating. But when he forms unlikely friendships with Porter and Rupert, cracks begin to appear in the wall of silence. Together they endure the cruelty of bullies, the indifference of teachers, and a system determined to pretend they don’t exist. Amid fear and loneliness, they discover the ...

In Wilding, Isabella Tree tells the story of the ‘Knepp experiment’, a pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex, using free roaming grazing animals to create new habitats for wildlife. Part gripping memoir, part fascinating account of the ecology of our countryside, Wilding is, above all...

There came an elastic aftershock of creaks and groans and then, softly softly, a chinking shower of rubbled cement. Leaves calmed and trunks stood serene. Where, not a minute before, there had been a suburb, there was now only woodland standing amid ruins. There is no warning. No chance to prepare. They arrive in the night: thundering up through the ground, transforming streets and towns into shadowy forest. Buildings are destroyed.

Can you guess when trees stop growing–they don’t stop! Their massive roots keep them in the ground and require plenty of water, sunshine and nutrients from the soil to help them grow. Trees are the oldest, largest and tallest living things on Earth, with the oldest part of the tree being its strong, woody middle. Find out how a maple tree gets its start! How does a tree grow?

Read by the author, Paul Farley. A family cohabits with a horse; three riots are tucked up safely in their beds; a tumbleweed takes up a career in comedy; the giant flag crossing a football crowd has a strange effect on those underneath; a rampaging fifty-foot poem brings terror to a city… As...