****A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR**'Quite simply, this book is a work of genius'** Matthew Parris, Spectator'An essential study of post-war gay London life... one of the best anthologies I have ever read' John Self, ObserverThe first part of a major new anthology which uncovers the rich reality of life for queer men in LondonIn the 1940s, it was believed that homosexuali...

**A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR**‘Wonderful … An anthology with an immense amount to tell us about its period, and our lives now ... unmissable’ Philip Hensher, SpectatorThe second in a major two-part anthology uncovering the rich reality of life for queer men in London, from the end of the Second World War to decriminalization in 1967In the 1940s, it was believed that ...

Why is it that for many people 'England' has always meant an unspoilt rural landscape rather than the ever-changing urban world in which most English people live? What was the 'England' for which people fought in two world wars? What is about the English that makes them constantly hanker for a vanished past, so that nostalgia has become a national characteristic?In March 1896 a small volume of sixty-three poems was published by the small British firm of Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner ...

"Parker's beautiful Housman Country tells you everything you want to know about the life and influence of England's most satirised but inimitable poets." — Evening StandardA New York Times Book Review Editor's ChoiceNominated for the 2017 PEN/Bograd Weld Prize for BiographyA. E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad made little impression when it was first published in 1896 but has since become one of t...

How did the delphinium get its name? Which parts of the body lend their names to auriculas and orchids? Who are the gentian, lobelia and heuchera named after? Why are nasturtiums and antirrhinums connected? What does an everlasting pea have to do with Indian miniature paintings?These are some of the questions answered in Peter Parker's adventurous exploration of the mysteries of Botanical Latin.Evolved over many centuries and often thought to belong to the rarefied world of...

Dear Reader,When I first began to think about success, I believed—like many of us do—that it was about speed. The faster you moved, the sooner you achieved. The world around us celebrates the "overnight star," the startup that scales in a year, the influencer who seems to rise from nowhere. It is tempting to think that speed is everything.But life taught me otherwise. Success, I discovered, is never truly instant. What looks like a sudden breakthrough is usually the result ...

This moving and timely book explores the way the First World War has been thought about and commemorated, and how it has affected its own, and later, generations.On 11 November 1920, huge crowds lined the streets of London for the funeral of the Unknown Warrior. As the coffin was drawn on a gun carriage from the Cenotaph to Westminster Abbey, the King and Ministers of State followed silently behind. The modern world had tilted on its axis, but it had been saved. Armistice Day was b...

We are all beggars — some with bowls, others with dreams.In Beggar's Paradise, author Peter Parker takes readers on a profound inner journey through the bustling marketplace of human desire. From the crowded streets of Varanasi to the quiet corners of New York, this book unveils the hidden truth behind our endless wanting — for success, love, recognition, and meaning.Through poetic storytelling, timeless parables, and cross-cultura...

Every book I've ever written has taught me something about the quiet corners of the human spirit, but this one—The Prison Monk – Light Behind Bars—has changed me in ways I did not anticipate.The story you are about to read is not merely a narrative about crime, punishment, or justice. It is a story about awakening. About what happens when light walks willingly into the darkest of places—and chooses not to flinch.Guru Shivram, the central figure of this story, came ...

Panda House – Short Stories for ChildrenBy Peter ParkerStep into a magical forest where kindness grows like bamboo, courage shines like fireflies, and every small panda learns a big life lesson.Panda House – Short Stories for Children is a heartwarming collection of 15 motivational and moral short stories for kids, designed to inspire young readers aged 6–12 years. Through gentle storytelling, lovab...

Reality That Wasn'tWhat if everything you believed to be real—your success, your possessions, even your body—was nothing more than an illusion?Reality That Wasn't is a powerful spiritual novel that follows Adrian Cross, a world-renowned tech innovator who seems to have it all—wealth, fame, and recognition. Yet beneath the glitter of achievement lies an emptiness he cannot escape. After a near-death experience shatters his perception of life, Adrian embarks...

This is a book about the invisible.Not the invisible world of mysticism or magic, but the invisible forces that shape our everyday lives—intuition, timing, synchronicity, people, choices, memories, fears, and the mysterious way life rearranges itself when we finally stop resisting.For centuries, ancient traditions—from India to Greece to Japan—have believed that nothing in our lives is random. Modern science is beginning to agree.Neuroscience tells us that the subcon...