1DSE Archives - Duckworth Books

In Green

‘A classic adventure narrative in the vein of Patrick Leigh Fermor and Robert Louis Stevenson… life-changing’ CAL FLYN, author of Islands of Abandonment

In his mid-twenties, city-bound and restless, Louis D. Hall found himself uncertain. How to create a life he wanted to lead? Inspired by Don Quixote, he decided to fulfil a childhood dream – to make an uncharted journey on horseback.

After finding his horse, Sasha, in Italy’s Apennine Mountains, Louis set off and headed west. His destination: Cape Finisterre, ‘the end of the land’. For three weeks Louis and Sasha survived storms, snow, wolves and the untrodden partisan paths of the Ligurian Alps. But then a young woman arrived with her horse, Istia, and their solitary world was broken. Kiki, adrift with the death of her sibling, joined the journey, and the duo continued together.

With every step and every fall, the pair are forced to unfold and trust in their horses and, eventually, each other. Using old and forgotten routes, guided by strangers and nature’s clues, the travellers unravel into a wilder way of life; united by the mysteries of the horse, enticed by the illusions of adventure.

Black Girl from Pyongyang

The extraordinary true story of a West African girl’s upbringing in North Korea under the guardianship of President Kim Il Sung.

In 1979, aged only seven, Monica Macias was sent from West Africa to the unfamiliar surroundings of North Korea by her father, the President of Equatorial Guinea, to be educated under the guardianship of his ally, Kim Il Sung.

Within months, her father was executed in a military coup; her mother became unreachable. Effectively orphaned, she and two siblings had to make their life in Pyongyang. At military boarding school, Monica learned to mix with older children, speak fluent Korean and handle weapons on training exercises.

Reaching adulthood, she went in search of her roots. Spending time in Madrid, Malabo, New York, Seoul and finally London, at every step she had to reckon with others’ perceptions of her adoptive homeland. Optimistic yet unflinching, Monica’s astonishing and unique story challenges us to see the world through different eyes.

Staying On

A late in life coming-of-age story…

Retired expat, Tony Metcalfe, is going through a three-quarter-life crisis. Viva España, his bar in a mountain village beyond Spain’s Costa Blanca, is failing. Tony started the bar for the English post-war babies who retired early on good pensions – the por favors, as the Spanish call them – flocking to the dream of wine, rest and sun around the pool. But now their retirement paradise is shadowed by Brexit: the pound has fallen, pensions are frozen and the property crash happened long ago.

Tony wants to move back to enjoy the remainder of his life in his childhood home, but his tenacious wife Laney wants to stay in the happy valley and forget about England and the dark, unresolved feelings it provokes in their marriage. Sod it – he couldn’t go home even if he tried; nobody would buy an ailing bar during a recession.

But Tony’s luck is about to change when his son Nick arrives for a surprise visit with his self-possessed wife, Jo, and their son. With the extra help, Tony thinks things are on the up, but Jo has brought along more baggage than just their family’s suitcases.

Staying On is a compelling story of little and greater family secrets come to light and what it means to find home, wherever you are.

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