-
Lonely Planet Fast Talk French
Although you can get by in France without speaking the language, knowing just a few essential phrases can help you make friends, enjoy service with a smile, and discover richer, more rewarding travel experiences. Fast Talk French is the concise language guide that is guaranteed to get you talking with confidence.
Taste your way around the cellars of Champagne, explore the sights of Paris, or grab that great shopping bargain.
Essential phrases to meet all your travel needs
How to get local recommendations
Easy-to-use pronunciation guides
Expert tips to boost your confidence
About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and phrasebooks for 120 languages, and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, videos, 14 languages, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more, enabling you to explore every day.
'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' New York Times
'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves; it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' Fairfax Media (Australia) -
Mavericks: Life Stories and Lessons of History's Most Extraordinary Misfits
In her first book, popular TikTok historian J Draper uses her characteristic wit and intellect to introduce us to extraordinary figures marginalized by history, and the lessons we can learn from them. Witty and engaging TikTok historian J.D. Draper digs out unusual stories of individuals that have shaped the world, and discovers the lessons their unique experiences can teach us. Breaking away from history as told through the lens of kings, queens and nobles, this book instead lifts the lid on 24 fascinating stories of little-known underdogs, mavericks, trailblazers and oddballs. Through these stories you will meet characters such as:- The Chevalier d'Eon - a fencing master, spy and diplomat who came out as a woman in 18th-century London
- Ellen and William Craft - a married couple who made a daring escape from slavery in the American south
- Peter the Wild Boy - a child found living in the woods in Germany who was taken to the royal court in England
- Caroline Herschel - the first British woman to be paid for scientific work, and a discoverer of comets
- William Buckland - the man who wrote the first account of a dinosaur - yet who also ate the heart of a French king
- Eleanor Rykener - a gender-bending sex worker from medieval England who spilled juicy gossip about her clients in the clergy Juliana Popjoy - a society beauty who lived in a tree for years
- Paul Robeson - athlete, singer, actor, polyglot, activist... and handsome to boot
- The Rebecca Rioters - a roving crowd of Welshmen who destroyed tollbooths dressed in skirts and bonnets.
These poignant and often hilarious true stories show us that the world as we know it was built by a wider array of historical figures than we experienced in our schoolbooks. -
Sold outVale of Dreams
Nia never imagined becoming the fake mistress of a terrifying Fey prince known as the Dream Stalker. But that's exactly what happens when she ventures into Brocéliande to rescue her lover, Raphael. Sometimes, fate has a twisted sense of humor.
Captured by the prince, Nia quickly learns he's a beautiful, living nightmare. He soon discovers her hidden talent-mind control-and gives her no choice but to serve him. Avalon Tower believes it's a good idea, too. Now, Nia is keeping secrets from everyone, and the Dream Stalker remains unaware that she is a spy. His plan? Manipulate ministers, overthrow his father, and annihilate humanity.
Seductive and complex, the prince is a constant threat, always on the verge of getting inside her head. In the Fey palace, courtly intrigue reigns. If Nia can't outsmart the prince, her neck will be the next on the execution block, and humanity will
Sold out -
Balkan Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of the Balkans
"The Balkan Kitchen is a treasure trove of delicious recipes, history and personal stories. A book to cook and learn from, to get lost in the beauty of a colourful diverse culture...and make you dream of visiting the region." - Olia Hercules "The Balkan Kitchen achieves what only the best recipe books can achieve...It is a book to come to for the food and stay with for the stories." - Tara Wigley "Irina's food is rich with history that tells of a region at the crossroads of myriad peoples and cultures." - Melissa Thompson In The Balkan Kitchen, Irina Janakievska gives a voice to the vast and varied dishes and cultural heritage of the Balkan region. Explore this diverse and expansive region of cuisine with recipes including everything from Aubergine in Walnut Sauce and Leek, Lemon, and Olive Salad to Easter Roast Lamb and Chicken Paprikash, and of course sweet treats such as Vanilici Cookies and Chocolate Baklava. Irina's food is as vibrant and joyful as the stunning location photography and evocative essays, and with over half of the recipes being vegetarian or vegan, this is a book for all to enjoy the flavours of the Balkans. With cultural anecdotes, history and personal stories, The Balkan Kitchen will be a book that inspires cooks around the world for years to come. -
Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth
NOW IN PAPERBACK WITH BONUS MATERIAL, this NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller is a sweeping survey of Black history shows how Black humanity has been erased and how its recovery can save the humanity of us all. You're also getting an exclusive bonus chapter: "The Biggest Lies in American History." "An innovative reading of Black history, gracefully joining it to the larger history of all humankind." -- Kirkus Starred Review Named by Essence Magazine as one of "31 Books You Must Read" in 2023. Using history as a foundation, The Humanity Archive uses storytelling techniques to make history come alive and uncover the truth behind America's whitewashed history. The Humanity Archive focuses on the overlooked narratives in the pages of the past. Challenging dominant perspectives, author Jermaine Fowler goes outside the textbooks to find recognizably human stories. Connecting current issues with the heroic struggles of those who have come before us, Fowler brings hidden history to light. Praise for The Humanity Archive: From the African Slave Trade to Seneca Village to Biddy Mason and more, The Humanity Archive is a very enriching read on the history of Blackness around the world. I was hooked by Fowler's storytelling and would recommend others who want to pore over a book that outlines critical moments in history--without putting you to sleep. -- Philip Lewis, Senior Editor, HuffPost Fowler sees historical storytelling and the sharing of knowledge as a vocation and a means of fostering empathy and understanding between cultures. A deft storyteller with a sonorous voice, Fowler's passion for his material is palpable as he unfurls the hidden histories. -- Vanity Fair Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Jermaine Fowler is a storyteller and self-proclaimed intellectual adventurer who spent his youth seeking knowledge on the shelves of his local free public library. Between research and lecturing, he is the host of the top-rated history podcast, The Humanity Archive, praised as a must-listen by Vanity Fair. Challenging dominant perspectives, Fowler goes outside the textbooks to find recognizably human stories. Connecting current issues with the heroic struggles of those who've come before us, he brings hidden history to light and makes it powerfully relevant. -
Ugliness
"A sweeping meditation on a subject rarely addressed . . . Hilal takes on our beauty-worshipping celebrity culture and the beauty industry for . . . keeping women in an expensive prison of self-doubt . . . Ugliness makes a 'big picture' argument, panning outward from one young woman's life to some of the largest issues we confront globally--hence to all of our lives."--Rhonda Garelick in The New York Times
How do power and beauty join forces to determine who is considered ugly? What role does that ugliness play in fomenting hatred? Moshtari Hilal, an Afghan-born author and artist who lives in Germany, has written a touching, intimate, and highly political book. Dense body hair, crooked teeth, and big noses: Hilal uses a broad cultural lens to question norms of appearance--ostensibly her own, but in fact everyone's. She writes about beauty salons in Kabul as a backdrop to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Darwin's theory of evolution, Kim Kardashian, and a utopian place in the shadow of her nose. With a profound mix of essay, poetry, her own drawings, and cultural and social history of the body, Hilal explores notions of repulsion and attraction, taking the reader into the most personal of realms to put self-image to the test. Why are we afraid of ugliness?
-
Neurodiversity Playbook: How Neurodivergent People Can Crack the Code of Living in a Neurotypical World
This book represents a summation of a decade's worth of therapy, research, workshops, and presentations around the unique aspects of social-emotional development in the neurodivergent community. The book grounds its approach in neuroscience and then applies those data to how our brains impact our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. As a child psychologist who specializes in working with this population, I pride myself on identifying the challenging aspects of having a different brain and empowering kids to manage those differences. As such, this book will contain sections that directly address the parts of being gifted that have traditionally been emphasized less: making friends, maintaining relationships, regulating emotions, communicating your feelings and needs appropriately, and being able to identify contextual factors to understand why people are acting the way they are. Naming the issues is one thing, but each section will contain case examples, clinical advice, and tangible skills that will help students grow in the areas of social-emotional learning (SEL). These skills are deliverable, generalizable, and appropriate for school, home, and the community. Most importantly, they work. I often say that I want my clients to have a little "pocket Dr. Matt" to help them navigate the world; this book is my attempt at creating that kind of external support. -
Necrology
"It's amazing what the spirit can cope with to preserve the body. My spirit is a mighty oak that just won't fall."
In a fantastical aftermath of the Salem witch trials, magical women known as the Dirty have signed a contract swearing off their innate magic in exchange for freedom from violence by non-magical Freemen. Two hundred years later, in a Catskills orphanage, headmistress Whitetail has sprouted antlers-proof of a violated contract. When her wealthy benefactor visits, proposing marriage, her appearance sparks abuse. Rushing to her teacher's defense, eight-year-old Rabbit curses the Beard dead, and Whitetail's arrested on trumped-up charges.
As Whitetail awaits her trial and execution, Rabbit is groomed as the Freemen's star witness and learns of the terrifying reality to which they aspire. With her magic at stake and a loose tooth in her mouth, Rabbit has little left to lose. And a revolution to gain.
-
DC Finest: Wonder Woman: Origins & Omens
Fan-favorite Wonder Woman stories written by Gail Simone are back in print as part of DC's major new line of collected editions! Welcome to DC Finest, a major new publishing initiative presenting comprehensive collections of the most in-demand and celebrated periods in DC Comics history, spanning genres, characters, and eras! This collection spotlights writer Gail Simone's beloved run on Wonder Woman starting in 2007 with "The Circle" storyline drawn by Terry Dodson, and continuing with "Ends of the Earth," "Rise of the Olympian," and "Warkiller," drawn by Aaron Lopresti! This volume collects Wonder Woman (2006) #14-35; Outsiders: Five of a Kind - Wonder Woman/Grace #1, and Brave & Bold #7. -
Cubs & Campfires
A cozy summer romance with low angst and high heat.
Luca Torres, struggling journalism graduate, never meant to take a vow of celibacy. It was just a dumb idea from a job interview gone wrong. He never thought they'd approve the article. Or make his future career conditional on delivering it.
Now, with no choice but to steer clear of temptation for the summer, he takes the most isolated job he can find: a fire lookout in the picturesque mountains of Washington State.
However, his goal becomes much harder with the arrival of the husky and flirtatious Artair Osmond, a musician and wilderness enthusiast who takes up camp nearby.
Now he must decide what he really desires: the career at the prestigious newspaper, or the big, bearded bear he can't get out of his head.
Cubs & Campfires is a sweet and spicy romance about chunky men, cozy woods, and cuddles under starlight.
-
Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories
The first-ever collection of Victorian Christmas ghost stories, culled from rare 19th-century periodicals
During the Victorian era, it became traditional for publishers of newspapers and magazines to print ghost stories during the Christmas season for chilling winter reading by the fireside or candlelight. Now for the first time thirteen of these tales are collected here, including a wide range of stories from a diverse group of authors, some well-known, others anonymous or forgotten. Readers whose only previous experience with Victorian Christmas ghost stories has been Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" will be surprised and delighted at the astonishing variety of ghostly tales in this volume.
"In the sickly light I saw it lying on the bed, with its grim head on the pillow. A man? Or a corpse arisen from its unhallowed grave, and awaiting the demon that animated it?" - John Berwick Harwood, "Horror: A True Tale"
"Suddenly I aroused with a start and as ghostly a thrill of horror as ever I remember to have felt in my life. Something--what, I knew not--seemed near, something nameless, but unutterably awful." - Ada Buisson, "The Ghost's Summons"
"There was no longer any question what she was, or any thought of her being a living being. Upon a face which wore the fixed features of a corpse were imprinted the traces of the vilest and most hideous passions which had animated her while she lived." - Walter Scott, "The Tapestried Chamber"
-
Do-It-Yourself Guide to Fighting the Big Motherfuckin' Sad
Self-described as an anti-depression guide/guide to a freer, more lawless life. Gnade's book looks at the root causes of sadness, anxiety, and general malaise/boredom and offers helpful point-by-point suggestions (in list form) and short essay pep-talks on how to move beyond your demons for a better, smarter, happier life. Like a letter from a trusted friend in the trenches, this guide will work with you through all phases of your life, thick and thin.Sold out -
In the Presence of Absence
Winner of the 2012 National Translation Award
"What Sinan [Antoon] has done with In the Presence of Absence is a kind of miraculous work of dedication and love. Reading this volume is sheer enjoyment and sublimity."
--Saadi Yousef
"There are two maps of Palestine that politicians will never manage to forfeit: the one kept in the memories of Palestinian refugees, and that which is drawn by Darwish's poetry."
--Anton Shammas
One of the most transcendent poets of his generation, Darwish composed this remarkable elegy at the apex of his creativity, but with the full knowledge that his death was imminent. Thinking it might be his final work, he summoned all his poetic genius to create a luminous work that defies categorization. In stunning language, Darwish's self-elegy inhabits a rare space where opposites bleed and blend into each other. Prose and poetry, life and death, home and exile are all sung by the poet and his other. On the threshold of im/mortality, the poet looks back at his own existence, intertwined with that of his people. Through these lyrical meditations on love, longing, Palestine, history, friendship, family, and the ongoing conversation between life and death, the poet bids himself and his readers a poignant farewell. -
Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh
A treasury of writings and teachings from the beloved Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. Since Thich Nhat Hanh's exile from his native Vietnam in 1966, this Zen Buddhist monk has gone on to become one of the most influential and beloved spiritual masters of our age. The seeming simplicity of his words belies the power of this teaching to touch the heart and mind and to inspire spiritual practice. These selections, taken from his many published works, together make up a concise introduction to all his major themes and distill his teachings on the transformation of individuals, relationships, and society. This book is part of the Shambhala Pocket Library series. The Shambhala Pocket Library is a collection of short, portable teachings from notable figures across religious traditions and classic texts. The covers in this series are rendered by Colorado artist Robert Spellman. The books in this collection distill the wisdom and heart of the work Shambhala Publications has published over 50 years into a compact format that is collectible, reader-friendly, and applicable to everyday life. -
Autistic's Guide to Self-Discovery: Flourishing as a Neurodivergent Adult
Live Authentically and Function Effectively in All Areas of Your Life In this first-of-its-kind book, Sol Smith combines current research, his personal experience as a late-diagnosed autistic adult, and lessons learned as an educator to show how you can transcend common mischaracterizations, overcome shame, and gain the skills to flourish. Sol knows that neurodivergent people often feel that nothing they have been taught relates to how they experience the world. To resolve this conflict, they try to change or mask who they are, which can cause isolation, depression, and anxiety. He advises the opposite: Understand yourself, accept yourself, and reduce conflict. Designed to help you peel away the shell of inadequacy and self-blame that often comes with neurodivergence, The Autistic's Guide to Self-Discovery offers the necessary tools and knowledge to function effectively at home, at work, and in the wider world. -
Heart Lamp: Selected Stories
Longlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
Winner of the PEN Translates Award
A monumental first collection in English from Banu Mushtaq: lawyer, activist, champion of Muslim women, and winner of India's highest literary honors.
In the twelve stories of Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq exquisitely captures the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India. Published originally in the Kannada language between 1990 and 2023, praised for their dry and gentle humor, these portraits of family and community tensions testify to Mushtaq's years as a journalist and lawyer, in which she tirelessly championed women's rights and protested all forms of caste and religious oppression.
Written in a style at once witty, vivid, colloquial, moving and excoriating, it's in her characters--the sparky children, the audacious grandmothers, the buffoonish maulvis and thug brothers, the oft-hapless husbands, and the mothers above all, surviving their feelings at great cost--that Mushtaq emerges as an astonishing writer and observer of human nature, building disconcerting emotional heights out of a rich spoken style. Her opus has garnered both censure from conservative quarters as well India's most prestigious literary awards; this is a collection sure to be read for years to come.