Daunt Books

Your Basket

Shops

News Flash

The 2013 Winners are In!



Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Asia

• Subcontinent
• East Asia
• Southeast Asia

• 

  Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2010, this gripping yet deeply emotional book gives us a rare insight into life in North Korea. Built around a series of interviews conducted with exiles, Demick describes the lives of six ordinary people living in the only country in the world not connected to the internet.

• 

  Hermit of Peking by Hugh Trevor-Roper

  Price: £14.99    Add to Basket

  Sir Edmund Backhouse, considered to be one of the foremost oriental scholars of his day with unique access to the last Empress of China, was in fact discovered to be a fraudster, a debtor and a pornographic fantasist. Trevor-Roper builds a revised picture of the man, warts and all, and you can't help but be amazed at the gall and enchanted by the enthusiasm of this extraordinary, outrageous trickster.

• 

  The Sacred Willow by Duong Van Mai Elliott

  Price: £16.99    Add to Basket

  The perfect answer to anyone looking for a history of Vietnam with a more personal touch. Elliott recounts four generations of her family's history, from her great grandfather's role as a mandarin in the 19th century imperial court to her sister's decision to join the communist guerillas during the Vietnamese war.

• 

  Last Seen in Lhasa by Claire Scobie

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  This is Claire Scobie's inspiring account of the seven journeys she made to Tibet in search of a rare red lily and her remarkable friendship with a nomadic, Tibetan nun. A gentle, humorous, beautifully-written book which is both an insight into the country and into this affectionate, extraordinary relationship.

• 

  Shark's Fin & Sichuan Pepper by Fuchsia Dunlop

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Award-winning food writer Dunlop charts how she went to live in China in 1994, and resolved to eat everything she was offered. In the course of her journey, she undergoes an apprenticeship as a Sichuanese chef and attempts to persuade Chinese people that Western food is neither simple nor bland. A memoir, a travelogue and a cookbook in one, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper reveals Chinese culture and one woman's attempt to eat it.

• 

  Tibet, Tibet by Patrick French

  Price: £11.99    Add to Basket

  A history of Tibet which goes beyond the Dalai Lama, Tibetan exiles and famous western Buddhists. Patrick French explores a past which includes Tibetan imperialists and an eighteenth century poet-lama, and the present, grim reality of living under Chinese rule. Knowledgeable and unromantic, Patrick French's first-hand experience and genuine love for this country reveal the true face of Tibet.

• 

  The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  Told from the perspective of the Japanese, the Chinese and a German who tried to save them, this is the definitive history of the rape of Nanking. In 1937 Japanese soldiers invaded the ancient city and systematically raped, murdered and tortured over 300,000 of its citizens. An authoritative, intricately-researched and gripping account of this horrifying event.

• 

  Into the Silence by Wade Davis

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  Spangled with praise and prizes, Into the Silence is a majestic epic of literature, history and hope. While the quest for Everest may have begun as a grand and imperial gesture, it ended as a mission of revival for a country and a lost generation bled white by war. Davis's intrepid history of Mallory asks not whether he was the first to reach the summit, but rather why he kept climbing on that fateful day.

• 

  From the Ruins of Empire by Pankaj Mishra

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Perhaps the most erudite contribution to the 'West vs the Rest' debate set in motion by Ian Morris and Neill Fergusson, From the Ruins of Empire traces post-colonial Asia through the twentieth century, as modernisation schemes - from moderate plans picking policies from the western toolbox to the revolutions of Ataturk and Mao - succeed and fail. Mishra, better than any before, evokes the sense of place that exists in Asian nation-states, and looks to the future, and how 'Rising Asia' will cope with the negative effects of Western life, such as inequality and debt. An important book, but never lumpen or staid, and a pleasure to read.

• 

  A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East by Tiziano Terzani

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Warned by a fortune-teller not to fly in 1993, journalist Tiziano Terzani keeps his appointments by travelling across Asia by land. He also determines to meet an oracle, soothsayer or fortune teller in every place. An eccentric, extraordinary journey full of mayhem and magic.

• 

  An Indian Attachment by Sarah Lloyd

  Price: £13.99    Add to Basket

  A surprisingly modern traveller's account from Eland of Sarah Lloyd's two year stay in an impoverished Punjabi village, then in the community of a highly suspicious holy man, all for the love of an opium-addicted Sikh. Intriguing and eye-opening; Lloyd allows us a privileged glimpse into the poverty-stricken world of rural India while recounting her personal story with warmth and humour.

• 

  Trespassers on the Roof of the World by Peter Hopkirk

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  Peter Hopkirk chronicles the 19th and 20th century determination of western travellers to enter the Buddhist medieval kingdom of Tibet, and ultimately the sacred capital Lhasa. Whether Victorian explorers, soldiers, missionaries or pilgrims, their gradual erosion of Tibet's isolation would lead to the Chinese invasion of 1950. Hopkirk captures both the thrill and the tragedy of these stories, like the discovery of a precious, buried artifact which on exhumation is immediately destroyed.

• 

  Riding the Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  Like a terrier with a rat, Paul Theroux grabs hold of a subject and will not let it go until he has seen everything he can possibly see, hear everything he can possibly hear and learn everything there is to be learnt. In Riding the Iron Rooster, he travelled around China for a year on the railways and his exquisite prose recounts with honesty and vivid descriptive power the stories of people he meets and the effects of Communism on this vast country.

• 

  Stranger in the Forest by Eric Hansen

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  The first Westerner ever to walk across Borneo without any porters or provisions, Eric Hansen steps into 2,400 miles of untouched rainforest filled with flying snakes and carnivorous plants. A fascinating insight into the people, the jungle and the animals of this magnificent, perilous country.

• 

  If I Die in a Combat Zone by Tim O'Brien

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A day to day account of Tim O'Brien's tour of duty in Vietnam. Compelling and deeply personal, this book is a genuinely moving picture of the human cost of war.

• 

  Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  The story of Nathaniel Courthope, a member of the East India Company, his possession of the nutmeg-producing island of Run and the fierce and bloody competition for this precious commodity between the English and the Dutch during the 17th century. A beautifully written, enthralling and adventure-packed history.

• 

  The Age of Kali by William Dalrymple

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  The Age of Kali, in Hindu cosmology, is said to be an age of violence, strife and corruption and this is William Dalrymple's disturbing evaluation of contemporary India, the result of ten years spent travelling around the country. From interviews with members of the Tamil Tigers and drug barons, to horrifying cases of caste violence this is an honest, informative and captivating set of essays, obligatory for anyone interested in modern India.

• 

  The Gentleman in the Parlour by W. Somerset Maugham

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A rare piece of non-fiction from Somerset Maugham, which describes his journey from Rangoon to Haiphong, and his intention to become 'The Gentleman in the Parlour', an anonymous, unburdened stranger.

• 

  India: A Million Mutinies Now by V. S. Naipaul

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  Growing up in Trinidad, V. S. Naipaul believed that India was a unified country, here he travels anti-clockwise around this great nation and discovers a multitude of races, religions, castes and classes. Letting Indians speak for themselves, Naipaul has recorded conversations and interviews creating a fascinating and genuine representation of the many faces of contemporary India.

• 

  Begums, Thugs and White Mugals by Fanny Parkes

  Price: £13.99    Add to Basket

  A beautiful Eland edition of Fanny Parkes' brave, enthusiastic and independent adventure. These journals speak of her transformation into a Indophile during the years she lived there from 1822 until 1846. Her curiousity and enthusiasm give us a unique, in-depth glimpse into colonial India.

• 

  City of Djinns by William Dalrymple

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  William Dalrymple brings his hugely entertaining style to bear on the history, the art and the architecture of Delhi. From the mutiny of 1857 through to partition, all amid the bustle of contemporary Delhi, this is at once a scholarly history and entertaining traveller's tale. Once you've read one of his books, you'll want to read them all.

• 

  Modern China: A Very Short Introduction by Oxford University Press

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  A neat, scholarly introduction to the society, culture, economics, politics and art of modern China. Includes discussions on footbinding and the role of women, Communism and the last Emperors. Handy for those reluctant to take on the larger historical volumes by John Keay or Jonathan Fenby.

• 

  Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Easily one of the best books of 2012, Katherine Boo's expose of life in the slum of Annawadi (sandwiched between Mumbai's main airport and the 5-star Hyatt Hotel), will without a doubt leave you enraged, hopeful and never anything less than fully engaged and fascinated by this harrowing portrait of life among India's underclass. Written in a flowing narrative style that at time jars with the true life subjects Boo followed over the course of 9 months living by the sewerage lake at the centre of the slum, this remarkable book begs to be red in one wondrous, reflective sitting.

• 

  The Silk Road by Sven Hedin

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  This is the story of the original Silk Road explorer, Sven Hedin, a Swedish cartographer, photographer and illustrator who made the 10,000 mile journey in 1889 commissioned by the Chinese to map out a road linking China with the province of Xinjiang. A fascinating account newly published alongside Hedin's own remarkable photographs.

• 

  The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  One of the rare histories which presents the Indian perspective on the mutiny of 1857, the Last Mughal tells of the ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar II who built Delhi into a centre of culture and learning only to be crushed by the British after it became a centre of the anti-colonial uprising. Usual Dalrymple style make this an entertaining yet highly informative historical work.