Bøker utgitt av Saraband / Contraband

The best of contemporary nature writing from the winners of the second international Nature Chronicles Prize. Founded in 2020 to mark the global pandemic and serve those who witnessed it, The Nature Chronicles Prize is an international, English-language, biennial literary award for unique, essay-length non-fiction that responds to the time we are in and the natural world as it is. The prize is also a memorial to Prudence Scott, a lifelong nature diarist who died in 2019. Contained within this volume are the outstanding shortlisted entries for the second iteration of the prize. These winning works address the feelings of responsibility, anxiety and hope that come with living at this time on this planet, and celebrate the species we share the earth with - from insects to blue whales. Together, the essays represent the freshest, most exciting contemporary nature writing by emerging and established authors. The anthology is introduced by nature writer Marchelle Farrell, winner of the 2021 Nan Shepherd prize for nature writing.

Laurence Mitchell uncovers the stories that flint has to tell us in this celebratory journey through the natural and cultural history of the stone. The East of England is characterised by the flint that makes up its world-famous architecture, beaches and landscape. The stone is so ubiquitous, in fact, that it can be easy to overlook how remarkable it is. Here, long time Norfolk resident Laurence Mitchell uncovers its extraordinary history and significance for East Anglia and beyond. Flint Country takes us on a tour around the flint regions of England, documenting how flint was formed, what we can learn from fossil records, and how flint has been used through millennia: from our prehistoric ancestors, to the Romans building roads and forts, and through to the present day. Whether it is thanks to the seismic geological events that have shaped our landscape, the stone we rely on for our homes, or simply the joy of picking up pebbles on the beach, this book shows how flint continues to be a touchstone in our lives.

There she goes brings together seventeen women writers - of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry - in an anthology of travel tales to inspire, encourage and empower women adventuring through the world in different ways and stages of life. There she goes celebrates the stories of women getting on with getting from one place to another - the grit, courage and determination of moving through the world with babies, with periods, with grief and loss, with the menopause, with magic and humour, with bodies that are ill or disabled or seen as foreign and Other. These are stories so often shared between women verbally but - despite the drama, excitement and humour they contain- are rarely printed. This is a book offering a new perspective on what it means to be adventurous. In times where fear and worry seem so prevalent, it is a gift of courage and celebration.

From a Costa Book of the Year winner, Booker nominee and double Granta-selected Best Young British novelist comes a searing portrayal of trauma, police abuse and the power of hope.Teaching nine-year-olds on Zoom. A relationship interrupted by enforced distance. A teenaged son who cannot leave the house. Anna McCormick is already struggling to cope with the unwanted twists 2020 has served up. But when an unstamped envelope arrives overnight, her past begins to cast its own long shadow on the present.With an uncaring government compounding her woes and a hostile threat drawing closer, Anna must dig deep to keep hope alive for herself and those around her.This is a twisty, heart-racing page-turner and viscerally rendered portrayal of abuse of power by the state, by the police and by the villains much closer to home.

Introducing Detective Georges Gorski...From twice Booker-listed author of His Bloody Project and Case Study. Manfred Baumann is a loner. Socially awkward and ill at ease, he spends his evenings surreptitiously observing Adèle Bedeau, the sullen but alluring waitress at his local bistro. But one day, she vanishes into thin air. When Detective Georges Gorski begins investigating her disappearance, Manfred's repressed world is shaken to its core and he is forced to confront the dark secrets of his past. The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau effortlessly conjures up an otherworldly atmosphere that simultaneously intrigues and unsettles. A compelling psychological portrayal of a peculiar outsiderpushed to the limit by his own feverish imagination, it is byturns haunting, strange and mesmeric - Graeme Macrae Burnet's acclaimed debut, a literary mystery novel that is well on its way to achieving cult status.

"Every year for as long as I could remember, I dreaded the shortening days, the fog and the rain. But what if I went outdoors instead?" Helen Moat used to hide from winter: she would hunker down inside, yearn for the sun, and wait it out. So when she heard others call it their preferred season, she went on a mission to discover what they saw in the months she found so difficult. Trying to understand why some of the darkest and coldest countries in the world have the lowest rates of seasonal depression, she dives into cultural practices from warming winter food to traditional book gifting and finds that forcing herself her outside in the harshest conditions unexpectedly pushes her into deepened human connections. Journeying across Finland, Iceland, Wales and, just once, escaping to the warmth of Spain, While the Earth Holds its Breath nurtures resilience and determination. Ultimately, it finds a positivity that does not ignore the darkness, but finds something to love there.

A pocketful of nature poetry in all its green glory from the In the Moment seriesTaking time for nature poetry is an act of reverence for the natural world, and a path to understanding our part in it. The poems in this pocket sized anthology will transport you, sending you into the garden, forests, mountains, and shores with searching hands and open eyes.Through centuries of storytelling, nature poetry has shapeshifted through the major upheavals in our relationship with the landscapes, plants and other species with whom we share the Earth. As our environment is destabilized and threatened by the climate crisis today, we find renewed meanings in these poems once again.  They become sources of joy or hope, and catalysts for action.Together, they show what we have in common across countries and centuries: an undeniable kinship with nature and a fierce will to protect it.

New from the popular In the Moment series-in search of the darkest night skies, Anna Levin uncovers a sense of wonder about the universe that will help you to understand more about our own pale blue dot.The darkness of the night represents something unknowable and mysterious. But when we look up, we can find celestial light shows, whole galaxies, and even a new perspective on our Earthly concerns. The night sky offers us an essential connection to something bigger than ourselves, a vast, timeless expanse that extinguishes our individual concerns.Humans have tried to make sense of the night sky since ancient times. From physicists and meteorologists to astrologists, artists, philosophers and poets, it has been a source of inspiration, wonder, and exploration. But now, our relationship to the night sky is changing as our access to darkness is under threat. Light pollution all over Earth can be seen from space, altering the landscape and outlining the coasts. And if we look from Earth into space, we can see artificial light there, too.In this concise volume, Anna Levin looks at how we can learn from and nurture our relationship with the night sky, even-especially-in the context of our changing world.

The President is dead. Cal Drummond is hiding out deep in the woods of the American South when he hears the news. Once a famous talk show host, he is now a disgraced man living a solitary existence in a cabin, drinking Jack Daniels, enjoying the cover of the trees, and getting on with life as Hank MacPhearson. But this news - and the journalist who delivers it - will have consequences that reach far back into Cal's past. They threaten his new life and identity, but they also throw him one final chance: it was an interview that brought about his downfall, but could it be another one, this time with him in the hotseat, that could bring him back to life? Taking the reader from Scotland to Mexico and from California to Georgia, The Interview is a novel not only about speaking truth to power, but also about speaking truth to oneself.

Community. It's a word we are used to hearing everywhere from political speeches to fast-food advertisements. But can we really define it?Using her own experiences, joyful or painful, in communities, as well a strong analysis of political and cultural shifts, Casey Plett shows how overuse of the word has caused it to become disconnected from the reality it signifies. Here, Plett suggests an alternative, moving towards a definition that acknowledges community as necessary for our existence - a source of comfort, knowledge and love - even while it has the potential to become dogmatic, cliquey or outright harmful. On Community does crucial work in pushing harder on words and ideas we take for granted. It invites us to be more careful and intentional with our language, to consider how we relate to those we know - and to those we don't know at all.

'Hearing you say my name was a way of seeing myself as I had never seen myself ... you gave my name new meaning, new weight.'Nerdy and shy, scholarship student Daniel de La Luna arrives at college nervous to meet his golden-haired, athletic roommate, whose Facebook photos depict a boy just like those who made Daniel's school years hell. Sam Morris is not what he had imagined, though. As the two settle into college life they drink tequila under the stars, go on long runs through snow-covered hills, explore freshman nightlife, and inch closer until they find themselves in love. But their blissful first year is over all too soon. Daniel's summer in his ancestral homeland of México becomes a rollercoaster of revelations, before his life is brutally upended by the unimaginable. How We Named the Stars is a tale of love, heartache and learning to honour the dead. Daniel and Sam will leave you forever changed.

Past and present converge as Linda Cracknell doubles back to walk in the footsteps of others.Across Norway, Kenya, and the northerly islands of Skye in Scotland and Lindisfarne in England, Doubling Back traces the contours of history. Following paths long mythologized by writers and relatives gone before, Linda Cracknell charts how places immortalized in writing and memory create portals; wrinkles in time and geography that allow us to recreate journeys of others moving at a slow and steady pace, on foot.Join Linda as she traverses the dangerous crevasses of the Swiss Alps to retrace the mountaineering past of the father she barely knew. Walk with her as she follows the escape route of a Norwegian scientist on the run in the Second World War, or as she simply celebrates the joy found in the 'friendly paths' of her local, regular terrain, and the rhythms and ritual of returning home.Published in the UK to rave reviews and serialized on BBC radio, this beautifully rendered account of walking and memory helps us to locate ourselves in time and space and to reflect on our future on this fragile Earth.

Poet, novelist and essayist Kenneth Steven takes us on a series of meditative quests in search of “atoms of delight”—treasures, both natural and spiritual.In this captivating collection of short pieces, each documenting a different journey through some of Scotland's most beautiful landscapes, Steven invites readers to accompany him as he seeks out crystal-clear waters, delicate orchids, plump berries, and pebbles polished by time and tide. Appreciative of the gift of silence and the value of solitude and simplicity, he takes journeys that prompt introspection, as we pause, breathe, and discover alongside him the transformative power of nature's wild places.Exploring the profound connections and peace we can find in the natural world and within ourselves, this is an evocative book that will inspire you to make your own pilgrimages, to discover the extraordinary in your surroundings when you take time for contemplation.

1567, Scotland: no place for a woman. Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son. She can rely only on the loyalty of her ladies-in-waiting, chiefly Marie Seton. Meanwhile the political turmoil in the country is mirrored behind the walls of beautiful Fyvie Castle. Lilias's marriage to Marie's nephew, the ruthlessly ambitious Alexander Seton, goes awry after the birth of yet another daughter. He blames her, and contemplates drastic action. To what lengths will a man go to secure a son and heir? The Green Lady is a shocking tale of intrigue, secrets, treachery and murder, based on true events, but seen from a different perspective than is found in most history books. Casting a fascinating light on the ruthless nature of power, the story highlights the precarious position of sixteenth-century women, even those in the most privileged of circumstances.