Showing results by narrator "Natalie Pela" in All Categories

In Elixir, in a wild river valley and amid the three mountains that define it, Kapka Kassabova seeks out the deep connection between people, plants, and place. The Mesta is one of the oldest rivers in Europe and the surrounding forests and mountains of the southern Balkans are an extraordinarily rich nexus for plant gatherers.

1939: On the eve of war, young English heiress Grace Grey travels from London to the wilderness of Tasmania. Coaxed out of her shell by the attentions of her Irish neighbour, Daniel - Grace finally learns to live. 1975: Artist Willow Hawkins, and her new husband, Ben, can't believe their luck when an anonymous benefactor leaves them a house on the remote Tasmanian coast. 2004: Libby Andrews has always been sheltered from the truth behind her father Ben's death.

In the summer of 1942, the Rabinowitz family narrowly escaped the Nazi ghetto in their Polish town by fleeing to the forbidding Bialowieza Forest. They miraculously survived two years in the woods—through brutal winters, Typhus outbreaks, and merciless Nazi raids—until they were liberated by the Red Army in 1944. After the war, they trekked across the Alps into Italy, where they settled as refugees before eventually immigrating to the United States.

France, 1942. At the end of the day, the schoolteacher releases her pupils. She checks they have their identity passes and warns them not to stop until the German guards have let them through the barrier that separates occupied France from Free France. As the little ones fly across the border and into their mothers' arms, she breathes a sigh of relief. No one is safe now. Not even the children.

When Matt and Imogen move out of the city, they're hoping for a much-needed fresh start. Matt throws himself into his new job, but Imogen struggles to adjust to life in quiet Surrey. She's grateful for the kind welcome from new neighbour Nancy, and they soon become close friends. So when Nancy makes a shocking accusation, Imogen doesn't know who to trust. This isn't the first time Matt has found himself on the wrong end of a false accusation...but is Nancy hiding secrets of her own?

In Anima, Kapka Kassabova introduces us to the "pastiri" people—the shepherds struggling to hold on to an ancient way of life in which humans and animals exist in profound interdependence. Following her three previous books set in the Balkans, and with an increasing interest in the degraded state of our planet and culture, Kassabova reaches further into the spirit of place than she ever has before. In this extraordinary portrayal of pastoral life, she investigates the heroic efforts to sustain the oldest surviving breeds of our domesticated animals,.

Everyone in town knows Copper Lodge, that designer home with floor-to-ceiling windows that looms over the small red-brick houses on Connelly Close. And the couple who live there, Elizabeth and Lucas Huxley, with their two blonde-haired, cherubic children, are seemingly perfect, plucked right out of a magazine. But meet Heather, the gardener’s daughter, arriving from the coast in her beat-up little car to spend the summer helping to prepare for the most important night of the Huxleys’ lives. Heather grew up in the grounds of this magnificent house, she knows its secrets...

All Fliss wants is to see two blue lines telling her she is pregnant with her much longed for second baby. But as the negative tests stack up, dreams of completing her perfect family feel more hopeless every day. After years of disappointment, Fliss’s husband Ben is spending more time at the office than in their marital bed, and Fliss finds herself wondering who could be responsible for their inability to conceive another child. Yet, where do you lay the blame when it comes to having a child – and can anyone really be at fault …

I Can Run is not a running book for 'runners' - it's the must-have running book for every woman who has ever experienced a moment of defeatism and had the little voice in their head make the excuse 'I can't run'. In 12 chapters, you will discover that you can. You will dig deep to find your inner athlete. You'll learn how to train smart, recover well, sync your runs to your menstrual cycle and fuel right.

Ten lucky people have won a place at the most exclusive launch event of the century: the grand opening of the Hotel Artemis, the first hotel on the moon. It's an invitation to die for. As their transport departs for its return to Earth and the doors seal shut behind them, the guests take the next leap for mankind. However, they soon discover that all is not as it seems. The champagne may be flowing, but there is no one to pour it. Room service is available, but there is no one to deliver it. Besides the ten of them, they are completely alone.

No matter how busy or stressful your day, with ten-minute steps and quick exercises you can better understand your experiences and learn how to survive setbacks. The book covers everything from dealing with worry and anxiety and building your confidence, to creating healthy life habits and positive relationships. It includes questions to reflect on and things to try out in your everyday life. Using evidence-based approaches like CBT and mindfulness, 10 Minutes to Better Mental Health will help you to get the best out of life and become the person you want to be.

Help yoga students to access a deep state of relaxation with this guided meditation handbook. Offering yoga teachers scripts for guided meditations, students can learn how to cultivate positive emotions and let go of negative ones. Including practical information on how to set the scene for meditation in a yoga class, using music, lighting and props, the book also advises on how to introduce a meditation practice to yoga students. It explores the benefits of meditation for people from all walks of life, including sleep-deprived parents and those suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Over several seasons, Kassabova spends time with the people of this magical region. She meets women and men who work in a long lineage of foragers, healers and mystics. She learns about wild plants and the ancient practice of herbalism, and experiences a symbiotic system where nature and culture have blended for thousands of years. Through her captivating encounters we come to feel the devastating weight of the ecological and cultural disinheritance that the people of this valley have suffered. Yet, in her search for elixir, she also finds reasons for hope.

Mother-of-three Emelie is in a tough spot in life. Since the father of her children moved out, she has struggled to make ends meet. Budgets are tight, work is boring and she's reluctant to start dating again. She's just not ready. When things seem at their darkest, she receives an unexpected letter - and the content will change her life forever.

Seven friends gather at a castle in the Scottish Borders. One last girls' weekend before Georgina's wedding. Near the castle, through a path in the woods, is a loch. After a few bottles of Prosecco, the girls head down to the water to take photos. The loch is wild, lonely and stunningly beautiful. They set their camera to self-timer and take some group shots. Later, looking back at the pictures, they see something impossible.

Edie lives quietly in a crumbling country house in Broadstairs with her partner Joanna. They have spent two decades together since the death of Harry, the third member of their marriage. It’s a bohemian existence, but a happy one – and yet conversations about the mother who abandoned her have recently awoken in Edie. Edie reflects on her childhood as part of the post-war Jewish Diaspora in Maida Vale, and the heady, hedonistic years of 1960s London when she experienced her sexual awakening. Now approaching fifty, she wonders if there’s still time to become the woman she once yearned to be.

Jenna has spent the last twenty-five years trying to forget what happened to her as a teenager. Trying to forget what they did. But it has always been there - the mistake the four friends made. Now it has taken another life, Jenna has the opportunity to make amends. But if she comes forward now, the truth could shatter her marriage, her family and the friendships she's held onto all these years. And what if she's about to make the biggest mistake of all?

Anima is an extraordinary portrayal of pastoral life, where humans and animals exist in profound interdependence. Kassabova conjures the spirit of this remarkable place with intimacy and empathy, and helps us imagine how we might all begin to heal our broken relationship with the natural world.

This is the story of the greatest funambulist who ever lived. Born into a postwar circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. Until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus. Now an adult, haunted by an incident in which a child was lost from the circus, our narrator, a tightrope artiste, weaves together her spellbinding tales of circus legends, earthy magic and folklore, all in the hope of finding the child. But will her story be enough to bring the pair together again?

While Pilot Officer Geoffrey Myers was caught up in the Battle of Britain, his French wife and two half-Jewish children were trapped in increasingly dangerous circumstances in Nazi-occupied France. In intimate, frank, and powerful letters, Myers kept a record of his war, his deep love for his wife Margot and their children, and his heart-wrenching fear for their safety as they tried to escape. Secret Letters: A Battle of Britain Love Story is an incredibly rare personal account of some of the major turning points of WWII.