These aren’t abstract philosophies. They are living practices that integrate so seamlessly with modern secular life, even natives can forget they are there.

Reconnecting with them helped Hiroko find light after profound loss – and realise that they offer powerful tools for anyone seeking meaning, connection or peace in their own life.

Through vivid storytelling and immersive experiences – dancing at Shinto shrines, climbing sacred peaks, and meeting mystics – Hiroko shows how Japan’s flexible approach to spirituality helps kindle gratitude, connection and kinship with nature. What emerges are practical insights and gentle guidance to spark joy, find balance, and discover what truly matters.

Whether you’re grieving, searching, or simply curious, this book is a reminder: there are millions of ways to be happy. You just have to find yours.

As the year 2023 came to an end, and wistfulness filled the air with hopes for the new tidings; the whole world was left startled with the unfolding of the largest humanitarian crisis of this century.

While we lamented at the visuals of unimaginable destruction, loss, and unsurmountable pain, there were people living that reality.

Men, women, and children with plans for the weekend and dreams to fulfill; many wrapping their chores early to take a walk by the sea. Millions of such diverse individuals who were now only spoken of words wrapped in tragedy; all merged into one.

Surviving war isn’t a blanket experience; there are many facets which remain unheard. This collection is pertinent in bringing focus to the diverse human stories behind the crisis, the emotions that rang loudly in the silence of the night, when the shutters went down and the dust had settled.

Throughout the year, 30 people living in the Gaza strip, of varied ages and ethnographies, penned their feelings, fears, memories, thoughts, and hopes on the tempestuous days of war. Each story is a reminder of the world held within every person and how humanity at large was at stake with them.

Collected and compiled by Mahmoud and Mohammed, two prolific writers in Gaza, this collection stands as a testament to unparalleled resilience and unveils the unimaginable emotional scars of war; leaving us overcome with tenderness and compassion.

André is now head of the family, with a little brother to keep in line and a mother to translate for – for although she’s mute, she is nothing if not communicative. Equal parts transporting and beautiful, this coming of age memoir shares the luminous, fragile truth of life for a family forever in exile, living in Rome, but still yet to find a home.

After a false start in a town where machismo is ingrained, they find the small, lush, delightful island of Salina. Izzy and Juno grow up playing on the beach, learning to swim over volcanic bubbles, hearing tales of Aeolian witches and watching Stromboli erupt on the horizon. It is not entirely paradise, however.

The school is atrocious, there are power cuts and an earthquake, and property speculators threaten the island’s fragile beauty. But an eclectic community of islanders take them to their hearts, friendships are forged and Salina becomes home. Full of humanity, vitality, honesty and optimism, Children of the Volcano is for anyone unwilling to give up dreams of adventure and excitement simply because of parenthood, lack of money and not getting things right the first time.

His lively and very personal letters address an astonishing range of topics, from a deeply moving account of his uncle’s death in the eruption that engulfed Pompeii, to observations on the early Christians – ‘a desperate sort of cult carried to extravagant lengths’ – from descriptions of everyday life in Rome, with its scandals and court cases, to Pliny’s life in the country. Betty Radice’s definitive edition was the forst complete modern translation of Pliny’s letters. In her introduction she examines the shrewd, tolerant and occasionally pompous man who emerges from these letters.

Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (c. 61-113), better known as Pliny the Younger, and nephew of Pliny the Elder, was born in Como, Italy. Beginning his career at the bar when he was eighteen, Pliny managed to emerge unscathed from Domitian’s ‘reign of terror’, even being appointed an official at the treasury.

In 103 he was awarded a priesthood in recognition of his distinguished public service, and was prominent in several major prosecutions. His nine books of personal letters were selected by Pliny himself and published during his lifetime, while his official correspondence with Trajan was published as a tenth book after his death and contains a celebrated exchange of letters on the early Christians. If you enjoyed The Letters of the Younger Pliny, you might like Tacitus’ The Annals of Imperial Rome, also available in Penguin Classics.

I know – what an intriguing title!Basically, I have had an unexpectedly difficult decade – there have been surprising joys, but also deep revelations and challenging lows. I shall be honest about those, because what I discovered in the difficult times were my, what I call, treasures. Treasures – practical tools, values, ways, answers researched from some great scientists, neuroscientists, therapists, sociologists (all the ‘ists’) out there, that have genuinely led to a sense of freedom, joy, peace and physical recovery I never would have thought possible.

Life now, amazingly, with what I will share, is – SUCH FUN! (always important to quote your own catch phrases. . .) If you fancy having a read, then I hope my story might help your story.

After all, we are in this beautiful, mysterious, challenging life together. Rest assured there are funny stories along the way – we will have a laugh too, my dear reader chum. Oh, and I couldn’t possibly say if there is a love story in it… (There is – shush). Exciting.

A mountainous slither of land which creates a natural boundary between Europe and Asia, for centuries Chechnya had been a sharp bone in Russia’s throat. Three years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Yeltsin Administration, frustrated by the continued presence of the independence movement within Chechnya, Russia invaded.

It was a war of extraordinary brutality.

It turned Lana’s mother, Natalia Estemirova, from a teacher into a human rights investigator. As a member of MEMORIAL she was intent on exposing the kidnappings, bombings, torture and murders committed by Russian forces – and by Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen dictator now involved with the Russian army. Working hand-in-glove with Anna Politkovskaya and Stanislav Markelov, amongst many brave others, Natalia Estemirova also wrote for Novaya Gazeta, further focusing the world’s attention on what was happening.

Tragically, Anna Politkovskaya and Stanislav Markelov were each murdered in retaliation for their work, and on the 15th of July 2009 Natalia Estemirova was abducted from outside her Grozny apartment block and killed.

This is Lana’s story of growing up in a war. Of the intense bond between a mother and daughter, navigating a need to be together while knowing that safety meant living apart, often for months at a time. It is a book both about being brave and about being ordinary in extraordinary times.

It’s the fulfilment of a promise she made at her mother’s grave.

Just who was Satoshi Nakamoto? Tracking leads from coastal Australia – through London, Oslo and Los Angeles – to the Arizona desert, and exploring Bitcoin’s utopian origins and the world it eventually wrought, The Mysterious Mr Nakamoto takes readers through a rogues’ gallery tour of Nakamoto suspects – and the eleven-figure fortune in his Bitcoin wallet still waiting to be claimed.

Nell’ottobre 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto pubblicò un “libro bianco” che delineava “un sistema di moneta elettronica peer-to-peer” chiamato Bitcoin su una misteriosa Listserv popolata da cypherpunk. Nessuno nella comunità aveva mai sentito parlare di Nakamoto, e proprio quando la gente iniziava a chiedersi chi fosse, scomparve…

Chi era Satoshi Nakamoto? Seguendo piste dalla costa australiana, passando per Londra, Oslo e Los Angeles, fino al deserto dell’Arizona, ed esplorando le origini utopiche di Bitcoin e il mondo che alla fine ha creato, “Il misterioso signor Nakamoto” accompagna i lettori in un tour alla scoperta dei sospetti di Nakamoto e della fortuna a undici cifre nel suo portafoglio Bitcoin, ancora in attesa di essere reclamata.

What followed was a horrific act of violence that shook the literary world and beyond. Now, for the first time, Rushdie relives the traumatic events of that day and its aftermath, as well as his journey of healing and recovery. This an intimate meditation on life, loss, love, art – and finding the strength to stand up again