{"title":"Books by Nicholas Jubber","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781529327700","title":"The Fairy Tellers","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"The general reader is unlikely to have met Mr. Jubber’s other subjects and may be amazed to learn the degree to which these unsung men and women have shaped the fairy-tale canon, an enthusiastic and enjoyable book—\u003cb\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ‘A carnival of a book, rigorously researched and jostling with life’\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Amy Jeffs, author of \u003ci\u003eStoryland\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWho were the Fairy Tellers?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In this far-ranging quest, award-winning author Nicholas Jubber unearths the lives of the dreamers who made our most beloved fairy tales: inventors, thieves, rebels and forgotten geniuses who gave us classic tales such as ‘Cinderella’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Baba Yaga’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e From the Middle Ages to the birth of modern children’s literature, they include a German apothecary’s daughter, a Syrian youth running away from a career in the souk and a Russian dissident embroiled in a plot to kill the tsar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Following these and other unlikely protagonists, we travel from the steaming cities of Italy and the Levant, under the dark branches of the Black Forest, deep into the tundra of Siberia and across the snowy fells of Lapland. In the process, we discover a fresh perspective on some of our most frequently told stories. Filled with adventure, tragedy and real-world magic, this bewitching book uncovers the stranger lives behind the strangest of tales.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204682580146,"sku":"9781529327700","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529327700_fc680bb8-1256-41a9-baf9-6ee27d54c283.jpg?v=1786022234"},{"product_id":"9780306818844","title":"Drinking Arak Off an Ayatollah's Beard","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn engrossing blend of travel writing and history, \u003cem\u003eDrinking Arak off an Ayatollah's Beard\u003c\/em\u003e traces one man's adventure-filled journey through today's Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, and describes his remarkable attempt to make sense of the present by delving into the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSetting out to gain insight into the lives of Iranians and Afghans today, Nicholas Jubber is surprised to uncover the legacy of a vibrant pre-Islamic Persian culture that has endured even in times of the most fanatic religious fundamentalism. Everywhere--from underground dance parties to religious shrines to opium dens--he finds powerful and unbreakable connections to a time when both Iran and Afghanistan were part of the same mighty empire, when the flame of Persian culture lit up the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhether through his encounters with poets and cab drivers or run-ins with \"pleasure daughters\" and mujahideen, again and again Jubber is drawn back to the eleventh-century Persian epic, the \u003cem\u003eShahnameh\u003c\/em\u003e (\"Book of Kings\"). The poem becomes not only his window into the region's past, but also his link to its tumultuous present, and through it Jubber gains access to an Iran and Afghanistan seldom revealed or depicted: inside-out worlds in which he has tea with a warlord, is taught how to walk like an Afghan, and even discovers, on a night full of bootleg alcohol and dancing, what it means to drink arak off an Ayatollah's beard.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56232681996661,"sku":"9780306818844","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780306818844_be6c5c71-53a7-473e-99d9-2f02ef03b14c.jpg?v=1786012392"},{"product_id":"9781473665804","title":"Epic Continent","description":"\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for the \u003ci\u003eStanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2020\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A thought-provoking treatise interwoven with blistered-feet-on-the-ground accounts of spots both pretty and gritty' \u003ci\u003eNational Geographic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Compelling, thought-provoking, and courageous, this epic-poetic journey peels back layers of collective emotional and imaginative inheritance. Jubber gets under the skin of our complicated continent and his timing is dead right' Kapka Kassabova\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A genuine epic' \u003ci\u003eWanderlust\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The prose is colourful and vigorous...Jubber's journeying has indeed been epic, in scale and ambition. In this thoughtful travelogue he has woven together colourful ancient and modern threads into a European tapestry that combines the sombre and the sparkling' \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e'Epic Continent\u003c\/i\u003e sets out on a physical and mythological journey to uncover what it means to be European' \u003ci\u003eGeographical\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese are the stories that made Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReaching back into the ancient and medieval eras in which these defining works were produced, and investigating their continuing influence today, Epic Continent explores how matters of honour, fundamentalism, fate, nationhood, sex, class and politics have preoccupied the people of Europe across the millennia. In these tales soaked in blood and fire, Nicholas Jubber discovers how the world of gods and emperors, dragons and water maidens, knights and princesses made our own: their deep impact on European identity, and their resonance in our turbulent times.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJourneying from Turkey to Iceland, award-winning travel writer Nicholas Jubber takes us on a fascinating adventure through our continent's most enduring epic poems to learn how they were shaped by their times, and how they have since shaped us.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301339083125,"sku":"9781473665804","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781473665804_a7ea59c9-102b-4130-b7b8-7796281a8a53.jpg?v=1786020697"},{"product_id":"9781473655447","title":"The Timbuktu School for Nomads","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A passionate paean to the Sahara.\" -- \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, Season's Best Travel Books\u003c\/b\u003eThe Sahara: a dream-like, far away landscape of \u003ci\u003eLawrence of Arabia\u003c\/i\u003e and Wilfred Thesiger, \u003ci\u003eThe English Patient \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eStar Wars\u003c\/i\u003e, and home to nomadic communities whose ways of life stretch back millennia. Today it's a teeth-janglingly dangerous destination, where the threat of jihadists lurks just over the horizon. Following in the footsteps of 16th century traveller Leo Africanus, Nicholas Jubber went on a turbulent adventure to the forgotten places of North Africa and the legendary Timbuktu.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnce the seat of African civilization and home to the richest man who ever lived, this mythic city is now scarred by terrorist occupation and is so remote its own inhabitants hail you with the greeting, \"Welcome to the middle of nowhere.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the cattle markets of the Atlas, across the Western Sahara and up the Niger river, Nicholas joins the camps of the Tuareg, Fulani, Berbers, and other communities, to learn about their craft, their values and their place in the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Timbuktu School for Nomads\u003c\/i\u003e is a unique look at a resilient city and how the nomads pit ancient ways of life against the challenges of the 21st century.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301416579445,"sku":"9781473655447","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781473655447_e5f43070-2869-4323-85bd-e0e3aa2b88f5.jpg?v=1786020602"},{"product_id":"9781915590299","title":"Monsterland","description":"Monsters, in all their terrifying glory, have preoccupied humans since we began telling stories. But where did these stories come from?In Monsterland, award-winning author Nicholas Jubber goes on a journey to discover more about the monsters we’ve invented, lurking in the dark and the wild places of the earth — giants, dragons, ogres, zombies, ghosts, demons — all with one thing in common: their ability to terrify.   His far-ranging adventure takes him across the world. He sits on the thrones of giants in Cornwall, visits the shrine of a beheaded ogre near Kyoto, travels to an eighteenth-century Balkan vampire’s forest dwelling, and paddles among the shapeshifters of the Louisiana bayous. On his travels, he discovers that the stories of the people and places that birthed them are just as fascinating as the creatures themselves.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682608619893,"sku":"9781917189361","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56309628666229,"sku":"9781915590299","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781917189361_e9e0ad7a-c625-440e-bc97-adb0efa18e30.jpg?v=1792511542"},{"product_id":"these-sorcerers-isles","title":"These Sorcerers’ Isles","description":"In the beginning, these islands seeped with magic. It floated on the rivers and trickled with the sap from the trees. Beloved writer and historian Nicholas Jubber guides us around the stories of Britain and Ireland and an alternative journey through their history. From the building of neolithic cairns and the age of the druids, through the so-called Dark Ages, the rise of Christianity, the Viking and Norman invasions and other key moments of medieval history, we travel through the centuries to the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century and beyond.   Featuring a ‘devil’s dozen’ of thirteen core figures and events, each of them rooted in history but rich in magical influence, we explore how wielders of magic influenced events and shaped these islands’ emerging nations. Amongst these figures, we encounter the druids who stood against the might of the Roman Empire, the historical origins behind the story of Merlin, the heartbreaking stories of the most beloved and most notorious of Britain’s witches, and scientist-occultists such as Queen Elizabeth I’s favoured confidante, Dr John Dee. We see how magical and scientific thinking coiled together over the centuries, and the significance of magical ideas such as second sight and alchemy to key figures of the Scientific Revolution such as Robert Boyle and, most importantly of all, Sir Isaac Newton.   Exploring the enduring legacy of sorcery through encounters with practitioners of the present, and showing how magical thinking can re-connect us with the natural world, These Sorcerers’ Isles uncovers a magical past that lies under the present like a secret vault under a mighty monument, waiting to be excavated.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57509983715701,"sku":"9781917189576","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-nicholas-jubber.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}