Watch us Dance combines the youth, vibrancy and allure of Andre Aciman with the historical fiction force of Maggie Shipstead, and the exquisite sense of place and time of The Lost Daughter.

An urgent analysis of global gender inequality and a passionately argued case for change by a pioneer in the movement for women's economic empowerment.

There are tales of footballing bees and Viking mice, the beginning of the thesaurus and the end of the library of Alexandria. Spend just two minutes a day with this brilliant almanac of curious treasure and you'll end your year full of wonder and just that little bit wiser.

It was the summer of 1983. Barbara Kingsolver had a day job as a scientific writer spends her weekends cutting her teeth as a freelance journalist when she landed an assignment. Her mission: was to cover the Phelps Dodge mine strike.Over the year that followed Kingsolver stood with those miners and their families, increasingly engaged and heartbroken. She recorded stories of striking miners and their stunningly courageous wives, sisters and daughters. She saw rights she'd taken for granted de...