A brief meeting with a Buddhist nun in India made a deep impression on Christine Toomey. It sent her on a two-year, 60,000-mile odyssey to learn more about the contemporary women choosing in their thousands to become part of a long tradition of female spirituality that stretches back through the centuries and now embraces the radical possibility that the next Dalai Lama could be female. In The Saffron Road, Toomey follows in the footsteps of earlier generations of Buddhist nuns to trace the routes by which the philosophy has spread from a solitary order in a remote area of India in the 5th century BC, via 1950s San Francisco where Zen was popularised by the Beat generation, to the globally-renowned practitioners of mindfulness of today. Beginning her journey in the Himalayas, close to the birthplace of the Buddha, Toomey travels from Nepal, to India, through Burma, Japan and on to North America and Europe, along the way visiting contemporary nunneries to meet the women who practise there. Amongst those she talks to are a group of "kung fu" nuns, an acclaimed novelist, a princess, a concert violinist, a former BBC journalist, and a one-time Washington political aide. Through these conversations, the daily reality of the Buddhist existence is gradually revealed, together with the diverse spiritual paths leading these women towards nirvana. Combining travelogue, history, interviews and personal reflection, The Saffron Road opens the door to a rarely glimpsed world of ritual, discipline and enlightenment.

Nell has come to feel very at home in her beautiful corner of Wiltshire with her partner Angus. What she could do with, however, is a challenge, and the prospect of bringing life back to an abandoned row of houses, Saffron Lane, is just what she's looking for.Stacy, lost and alone after a divorce she didn't see coming, is trying her best to start over. And Elise, battling her nieces who would force her into residential care, longs for a home where she can get back to her painting. When their paths cross, the future starts to look brighter although not all goes according to plan.

A 60,000-mile odyssey in search of Buddhist nuns—hailed as “inspiring and necessary” (Kirkus), “ambitious” (Tricycle), and “compelling” (Financial Times) They come to the monastic Buddhist life from every faith and career: a policewoman, a princess, a Bollywood star, a violinist. Out of the public eye, despite hardship and even persecution, they vow to seek enlightenment in a world full of noise. Who are these women? What motivates them, and what stands in their way? Award-winning journalist Christine Toomey investigates. From Nepal to California, she encounters unforgettable nuns who reveal the blessings—and perils—of carrying a 2,500-year tradition into the twenty-first century. Often denied equal status with monks, they are nonetheless devoted—to their faith, and to change.

Felix Holt, the True Story is a critical examination of Felix Holt, the Radical (1866) by George Eliot. Since the novel's publication, it has automatically been assumed that the fictional East Midlands market town of Treby Magna (where the novel is set) "must" be based upon the Nuneaton of George Eliot's childhood. However, this assumption has made the novel largely "unreadable." Whilst Eliot's childhood and her earlier novels are informative towards the construction of Felix Holt, the Radical, this study proposes that the Treby community is based upon the East Midlands market town of Leicester - by far the oldest East Midlands community. It is also proposed that Eliot wanted to write a novel with a similar impact to Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (1851 - 1853) in which the community finally pulls together. Hence, it is determined that Eliot wrote Felix Holt, the Radical, as a means of unifying the varying rifts of "Christian eclecticism" into her mode of Humanism.

In the thirty years following the end of the Second World War Leicester underwent some of the most dramatic changes in its history. Along with the rest of Britain it saw the austerity of the late 1940s and '50s, the shortages and rationing, followed by the boom period of the '60s, when full employment brought an interlude of prosperity. During these postwar decades sweeping changes were made to the physical structure of Leicester: areas of bomb damage and slum housing were cleared from the old city centre, and an intensive building programme in both the public and private sectors resulted in people moving out to new housing estates on the edges of the city. Ben Beazley vividly describes the story of everyday life in Leicester during this period. Illustrated with more than 120 photographs, maps and plans, Postwar Leicester will capture the imagination of anyone who knows the city today, and will rekindle memories for those who lived through the years of redevelopment and change.

100 accessible, stress-free recipes to make plant-forward cooking more streamlined than ever, from the bestselling author of The Weekday Vegetarians. Jenny Rosenstrach’s bestselling cookbook, The Weekday Vegetarians, introduced home cooks to the idea that you don’t have to be a vegetarian to eat like one. In Get Simple, she shares 100 new recipes that make eating meat-free even easier, even tastier. Jenny focuses on solutions to common misconceptions and roadblocks—like “Vegetarian cooking is so complicated!” which she counters with the skillet and sheet pan dinner chapter and recipes like a cozy Sheet Pan Gnocchi with Butternut Squash. Or, “Vegetarian dinners just aren’t filling!” which became the comfort food chapter, rich with recipes for hearty dishes like a Golden Greens Pie and Mushroom-Chard Bread Pudding. And, “I don’t want to eat pasta every single night!” as a driver for showcasing dinner-worthy bowls like Crispy Eggplant Bowls with Pistachios & Basil and Farro Piccolo with Crispy Mushrooms & Parm. If you’re new to eating less meat and need an easy “just start here” option, go straight to Jenny’s vegetarian starter kit that mixes and matches 15 ingredients into 8 different meals, from Carbonara with Cabbage & Miso to Tostada with Eggs & Pickled Onions. And like in her first Weekday Vegetarians cookbook, home cooks will find a whole new battery of hooks, sauces, and sides that will leave you loving your meat-free nights.