MUST READS: Out Now In Paperback
THE LAST RHINOS BY LAWRENCE ANTHONY (Pan £8.99)
It takes a remarkably brave and committed man to venture deep into the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, controlled by the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, to attempt to save the rare white rhino from extinction.
Such a man was Lawrence Anthony whose passion for the disappearing species led him to negotiate sensitive protection deals with the Army.
His account of the brutal slaughter of rhino for their horn includes the emotional scene in which he discovers his own rhino, Heidi, butchered while still alive.
An important tribute to a conservationist who died recently.
ESCAPE FROM CAMP 14 BY BLAINE HARDEN (Pan £8.99)
As the tension between North Korea and its immediate neighbours - as well as the U.S. - heightens, this remarkable story is a timely reminder of how the secretive and dictatorial regime operates.
Shin Dong-hyuk was born inside Camp 14, one of the massive political labour camps hidden in the mountains of North Korea.
The only escape is death - through execution, illness or physical exhaustion. But Shin did escape - the only known person to do so - and this terrifying account of his life and dangerous journey is barely credible except for the impartial research conducted by experienced Washington Post journalist, Harden.
HEDGE BRITANNIA BY HUGH BARKER (Bloomsbury £8.99)
The privet hedge has become a symbol of suburban domesticity, but as this delightful book explains, the rich variety of hedges in Britain explains much about our heritage and identity.
We are a nation of wild hedgerows, agricultural boundaries and trimmed garden decoration. Since the massive enclosure land grab of the mid-18th century, where private landowners marked out ownership of former common land by planting trees, the landscape has reflected our political and economic needs - and become the focus of occasional violent disputes, as many a Leylandii grower will testify. Rather charming.
