Alone Through China and Tibet

Travel

Drysdale, Helena

Asia

Constable

Escaping dog-mess parks and conversations about childcare, Helena Drysdale and her husband Richard rented out their South London house and embarked on an epic eighteen-month journey across Europe. With them went their two infant daughters, Tallulah and Xanthe.They had no plans but they did have a goal; to probe the secrets of Western Europe's indigenous tribes. Over seven seasons Helena Drysdale and her family travelled from the Mediterranean to the Arctic, from the Atlantic to the Aegean. By living in a van 'on location' rather than flying in and out like foreign correspondents, the family got to know people, visited their homes, and through them explored the very basis of the cultures inhabiting Europe's ambiguous fringe.What drives the Basques' fight for independence? Why are the Corsicans so volatile and the Frisians so lonesome? Who are the Sami? The Alanders? The Ladin? Mother Tongues reveals the struggles of these peoples to stave off extinction in an increasingly homogenized world.This delves not only into the highs and lows of peripatetic family life, but digs deeper into the very nature of the powerful bond between language and identity that affects us all, whether we know it or not.

Mother Tongues: Travels Through Tribal Europe

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

MACMILLAN PUB. LTD.

In 1834, twenty-four-year-old Isabella Campbell left England for India, and within two weeks of joining her brother in Bengal had married his best friend. A dashing cavalry officer in the East India Company, Charles Gascoyne swept his young wife on a tour of garrisons, hill stations and vast military cavalcades, to battlefields and beyond.But after the birth of her ninth baby, Isabella fell ill, and Charles insisted the family should leave India. Not rich enough to buy land back Home, instead he persuaded her they should embark on a new life a pioneers in a nascent British colony on the other side of the world: New Zealand.For the sake of her health, Isabella was sent back to England, while Charles went ahead with the children and their governess. When Isabella joined them a year later she found that far from being welcomed, the governess had taken over both the household and Charles's heart. Buried in the bush, they were soon mired in scandal and a power struggle that would tear the family apart.While battle clouds massed over the Gascoyne family, so New Zealand itself disintegrated into war as British settlers fought the native Maori - and very nearly lost. For Isabella the public became personal when her son Fred was caught up in a massacre perpetrated by a notorious Maori warrior-prophet. When the Gascoynes were joined by their nephew Bamber, more terror lay in store.Now, a hundred and fifty years on, Helena Drysdale has uncovered a collection of surviving documents and woven together the facts and fabric of her cousins' lives to create a map of one family's journey. This romantic and ultimately tragic tale, set against the little-known turmoil of the Maori Wars (now known as the New Zealand Land Wars), traverses oceans and continents to touch three corners of the empire at the moment that empire was taking shape. Strangerland, a true story, spans two generations while illuminating the story of their times.

Strangerland: A Family at War

Biographies & Memoirs

Macmillan, UK

In 1834, Isabella Campbell left England for India, and within two weeks of joining her brother had married his best friend, a dashing cavalry officer named Charles Gascoyne. Twenty years and nine children later, Charles decreed the family should leave India for a nascent British colony on the other side of the world: New Zealand. He went ahead with the children and their governess; Isabella, who was unwell, returned to England. On landing in New Zealand a year later, she found herself ousted by the governess, and rejected by her children and her once-beloved husband. While battle clouds massed over the Gascoyne family, so New Zealand disintegrated into war between British settlers and the Maori. Bloodshed came close when Isabella's son Fred was embroiled in a massacre by a notorious Maori warrior-prophet. When the Gascoynes were joined by their nephew Bamber, more terror lay in store. One hundred fifty on, Helena Drysdale has woven together the facts and fabric of her cousins' lives to create an engrossing, intimate map of one family's journey, vividly illuminating the story of their times.

The author spent five months working her way from the lush hills of Hainan Island, across the wastelands of the north west to Tibet, and thence to Nepal. She gives a vivid and authentic picture of life in China today.

Alone Through China And Tibet (U) (Ulverscroft Large Print Series: Non-Fiction)

Ulverscroft

<p>Helena Drysdale was just about to leave for Madagascar when family papers in a crumbling house in Devon revealed that her ancestors had traded there during the nineteenth century. Madagascar was not their only haunt: there was also Zanzibar and the Comoro Islands. Helena and her photographer husband, Richard Pomeroy, set off to follow in their wake and seek out any lingering family connections. On dhows, cargo boats, dug-out canoes, in lorries and on foot, their journey took them from old colonial Mombassa to the winding alleys of Zanzibar, from Moslem ceremonies in the Comoro Islands to ancestor-worship in Madagascar and annual exhumations of the dead. Dancing with the Dead is intensely romantic and utterly delightful. Helena Drysdale writes with a freshness and vigour which make every page of this unusual and engaging travel book sparkle with pleasure.</p>

Dancing with the Dead - A Journey Through Zanzibar and Madagascar

Africa

The Long Riders' Guild Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Drysdale, Helena. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Drysdale, Helena

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Drysdale, Helena. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Alone Through China and Tibet

Mother Tongues: Travels Through Tribal Europe

Strangerland: A Family at War

Strangerland: A Family at War

Alone Through China And Tibet (U) (Ulverscroft Large Print Series: Non-Fiction)

Dancing with the Dead - A Journey Through Zanzibar and Madagascar