NEW MAP: Women’s History London Map

This new map has conveniently arrived on our shelves just in time for International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Explore London through the lens of women’s history. This Women’s History London Map highlights 50 statues, sculptures, blue plaques, gravestones, buildings and monuments – dedicated to women such as Millicent Garrett Fawcett, ​​Virginia Woolf, Aphra Benn, Ada Lovelace and Phillis Wheatley. 

With an introduction and descriptions by Katie Wignall, author, city history tour guide and Londoner, and original photography by Jo Underhill, the map guide is a companion to begin exploring the lives of some of London’s most impactful women, and to inspire the next generation to continue their work.

Women’s History London Map is available now for £9.95

Book of the Month: Save Me from the Waves

Our Book of the Month for March 2024 is Save Me from the Waves by Jessica Hepburn.

An adventure story – with a difference. Jessica Hepburn is an unlikely athlete – she was labelled the ‘arty’ not the ‘sporty’ one in school. She hates exercise and believes the only reason to do it is for food, booze and box-sets on the sofa. However, in her forties, following a succession of hard and sad life experiences she started to try and exercise her way out of heartbreak.

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Inside Ukraine – discover the hidden treasures of this beautiful country

Seven years ago, a group of intrepid Ukrainians set out to explore their home country with the aim to document its nature, people and customs. And so, the volunteer-led multimedia project Ukraïner was born. The product of several years and 100,000 km of travel is showcased in their newly published book Inside Ukraine: A Portrait of a country and its people.

 ‘Ukraïner began as an attempt to express what characterized Ukraine to the people I met as I travelled around the world’ explains Bogdan Logvynenko, one of the founding members of Ukraïner. He continues: ‘I found myself describing my country and hometown … After I returned home from my journeys around the world, I wanted to find a description of this modern-day country; a short but eloquent answer to the question, ‘Where are you from?’’

 ‘In June 2016, a group of other like-minded people and I set off on an adventure, or as we decided to call it, an expedition. We announced our idea to explore Ukraine and unveil it to the world on social media. Within a few days we received hundreds of messages and several thousand subscribers. With this, our multimedia project Ukraïner was launched.’

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What is Travel Fiction? by Janice Pariat

Janice Pariat is the award-winning author of Boats on Land: A collection of Short Stories, Seahorse, and the international best-seller The Nine-Chambered Heart. Her new novel Everything the Light Touches is out with Borough Press, HarperCollins UK. She lives in India. Here she discusses travel fiction:

“What is travel fiction?” a friend asked. 

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Extract: The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World by James Crawford

In this extract from The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World, James Crawford goes in search of the Grafferner glacier in the Italian-Austrian Alps. Straddling the border between the two nations, when this glacier moves, the border moves too. It is what is known in Italian as a confine mobile – constituted in law by Italy and Austria as a ‘moving border’. A border defined and shaped by gravity, and now melting at an alarming rate due to the impacts of climate change…

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AmazingWorld Children’s Maps

The latest addition to our map department are these seven new AmazingWorld children’s A2 wall maps.

These lovingly crafted maps introduce little ones to the many wonders awaiting them around the world. Spark up conversations and fuel their curiosity to guide them as they discover more about the animals, foods, people, places, cultures, and plants across the globe.


Build their knowledge and develop an understanding of the similarities and differences that connect them to people & places around the world.

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London Clay: Journeys in the Deep City

London Clay is an exploration of the stories that make a city. Written in rich and vivid prose, Tom Chivers leads us on a journey to find the source of his memories, and to discover lost rivers, secret woodlands, the marshes and islands long buried beneath the city he loves.

Here, Tom explains the importance of mapping in his work:

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Black London: London’s Black Events

London is a city justly proud of its cultural diversity, yet for too long tourists and Londoners alike have had to rely on guides focusing on its white history and landmarks. Now Black London allows us to see this familiar city anew, gathering together the places that tell the story of its Black inhabitants, stretching back to Tudor times.

From Cleopatra’s Needle sitting on the Victoria Embankment, carved in Egypt three and a half thousand years ago, to the Black Lives Matters mural in Woolwich, the city is rich with features that symbolise its Black history.

Here are places worth visiting and revisiting. Get your bearings, revise your history, and be inspired by the work of some remarkable individuals who made London a truly global, modern city.

As well as historical information and recommendations on where to go, there are lots of Black events in London throughout the year. Here are some dates for you to add to diary from Black London by Avril Nanton & Jody Burton:

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Monuments and Markers along the Great North Road

Are you the kind of person who can’t walk past a plaque or a monument without reading every single word? Here, Steve Silk, the author of The Great North Road, talks us through his five favourites along the 400 miles between London and Edinburgh. 

As a crucial route linking London to Edinburgh, the Great North Road has been Britain’s backbone for centuries. Kings, queens, soldiers, rebels, mail coaches and highwaymen used the road to get from A to B. One hundred years later journalist Steve Silk went on pilgrimage by bike to explore its history. At a slower pace it’s easier to notice key markers and signs of the past that surround us…

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Waypoints: a Journey on Foot by Robert Martineau

Waypoints: a Journey on Foot is the story of a 1,000 mile walk in Ghana, Togo and Benin, West Africa. I’d been unhappy in my life before I left, and, aged 27, I believed a long walk could help me. The book explores the psychology and folklore of escape, and the ways a long walk can be a healing experience. 

Before the journey, I was inspired by many books about walking, solitude, and escape. In this blog I look at four journeys explored in Waypoints that taught me something about the power of walking. 

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