Hotel On The Roof Of The World by Alec Le Sueur
Fawlty Towers meets The Shining in this absorbing tale of business management. Keen to unravel the mysteries of the East, Alec Le Sueur moves to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, to become the marketing manager for a major hotel chain.
But what seems like a dream job soon turns into a nightmare as events conspire against him. Rats plague the hotel and infest the air vents. Guests unexpectedly die when corpse storage space is at a premium. And his marketing master plan, the first ever Miss Tibet beauty contest, turns into a shambles when Chinese Communists crash the party.
Le Sueur's story is undeniably one of comedy; it is a tale, in fact, which teeters on the brink of farce. But this is by no means a slight on his work. Despite the burlesque tone, he never loses sight of the real Tibet, or of the people threatened for centuries by political instability. With consummate ease he unlocks the door to the Tibetan kingdom and celebrates the cultural treasures it contains. In all truth, it is an absolute delight to share in his fortune.
Resolution by Peter Aughton
In this glorious paean to maritime exploration, Peter Aughton, author of the best-selling book Endeavour, re-animates the second epic voyage of Captain James Cook. In 1772, destined for the uncharted waters of the South Pacific, Cook and his crew boarded the HMS Resolution and sailed from Plymouth harbour. In the three years that followed the ship remained at sea, docking only to replenish its stocks and undergo repairs on remote tribal islands such as Tonga and Samoa. Aughton retraces Cook's course and presents us with a vivid narrative of his arduous and painstaking journey. Using diary extracts and written accounts recorded by the ship's crew, he successfully highlights the suffering endured by Cook and his men. Isolation, disease, starvation and depression are all discussed in depth. And such close scrutiny allows the reader to experience these hardships vicariously, making the journey easier to visualise. Graphic and compelling, Resolution is an uplifting story which celebrates not only man's search for enlightenment, but also his desire to triumph in the face of adversity.
