Clarke Books

Granny Brand was a society woman from London who almost single handedly transformed the culture of the "Mountains of Death" is southern India by her faithful and persistent medical and evangelistic work. This book is on the recommended reading list for the 250,000 members of Bible Study Fellowship

I was getting this book at 50% off on an Indian web site. Since I didn't find any reviews on Amazon.com ;-) I was wondering whether I should go ahead with the purchase. I took a chance and ordered the same. And what a nice pleasant little surprise it turned out to be. As with all National Geographic books, I check out all the photos on Round One and then get down to reading the stories. The photo of the yawning cheetah (in the African journey) itself is worth the price of the book! Then that the dawn shot of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the fire-eater from Rajasthan!

Great stuff; I am looking forward to Round Two.

Better than her previous novel " A love betrayed". We all know the Cinderella story and this is a "novel" spin on that story.

"When I got to the end of St. Matthias Gap, I would stand for a while and watch the drug store. The large bottles of glass that contained 'sweets' medicines and pills of all sorts of toughness and strength and sweetness."

Nobody does it better than Mr. Austin 'Tom' Clarke. Nobody can
take us back into those long ago times with literature so touching, so real, so magical, so painful, so peaceful and picturesque, and yet so lovely.

For Austin 'Tom' Clarke is a man for all seasons and beneath his humour and fun-poking there is a depth and intensity that makes his story so very arresting and captivating. I must say this book stimulated my mind to such an extent that it was not always easy to put it down just for a few moments. Giving an autobiographical account of his life as a youngster, we venture with him into his life at Combermere and how the school system worked at the time. Latin was a favourite with Clarke and his friends but unfortunately not having the money for the text books the information had to be handwritten from the textbooks of one of the privileged boys. Even for Scripture lessons when one would have thought that there would have been so many Bibles in the island, some guys had to write out Acts Of the Apostles in long hand. It was during wartime and things were terribly scarce and jobs hard to come by. Most of the people in the village worked for the Whites doing domestic work or at the Marine hotel in the same capacity. So it was the norm to emulate everything English.....studying English history, society and manners. After all the country was under Colonial control and Barbadians would have it no other way. They knew no other way.

Mr. Clarke doesn't fail to humour us as he recounts his days in the St. Michael's Cathedral or throw us into a fit of nostalgia as he reminisces of the Brilliantine shining on his hair the first day at Combermere......so real you can actually feel the broiling hot sun and smell the sweet hairdressing grease running down his youthful neck.

One of the things I loved about Austin Clarke's book came towards the end. He describes in detail his many walks on sunny afternoons along Hastings main road when the sun scorched the bottom of his feet leaving tar marks on the surface. He describes how quiet the area was in those days, with hardly anyone walking the streets or any vehicular traffic. He would always walk slowly as he approached the drug store for that was one of his favourite places where he stood outside and surveyed the place, looking at the sweets on display and inhaling the various potent medicines and of course the Lysol. The ever-faithful Lysol would always be wafting in the atmosphere; then as you extended your eyes towards the back of the store, there would be the druggist in white, and through the open window, the sea gleamed in the background. Clarke embraced a kind of peace in these surroundings.....a peace real tangible to my mind.

I would encourage all literature lovers to read this book and compare those old time days to the times we're living in now. The diversity in the culture and the innocence of what it was really like living under British rule.

In fact, this is a book for everyone.

Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 11-03-03)

We bought this title about a year ago and we use it regularly. The illustrations are excellent and the text is lucid and helpful. We have lots of bird guides, but this is the one we carry in our backpack while hiking.

This book has really great ideas/activities, and the book covers all the national standards! These concepts in this book can be applied to other materials and themes as well. Each theme concludes with children's book titles and additional activities you could add to a unit study/theme. This is a great interactive math book, I highly recommended it!

This book reveals more about Harry Clarke as an artist than any other. Some of his early sketches, his private drawings are outlined here giving useful insights on his man's work as well as the man behind the drawings and designs. They permit us to follow his development as one of Ireland's leading artists through his work. His reputation has always been assured as a stained glass artist but for a while it seemed his graphic art was not as widely recognised as they should be. This is no longer the case as his work is highly sought in Ireland, the UK and the States and elsewhere. I have a couple of first editions of books he illustrated and while alas they are only in fair condition they are treasured highly within my library. If you have only recently come across Clarke's brilliantly intricate work then this is the book for you. It is also invaluable for those who have, like myself, have long loved the artist's work. Nicola Gordon Bowe is the leading international expert on and biographer of Clarke. Her knowledge and passion for her subject comes across in her writing as she brings Clarke to life amongst the pages.

I would highly recommend this book to readers and students of gothic literature, fine art, design, theatre, illustration and graphics students. Collectors of illustrated books would also find this profile of one of the most endearing illustrators of the weird and wonderful a valuable addition to their libraries. His jewel like creations come to life not only in stained glass but also in his graphic art output. Today there are many of us who appreciate Clarke's work.

Nicola Gordon Bowe draws on his contemporaries to glean a profile of the man allowing us to feel that, we are at times, in his presence. We are indebted to her for explaining so aborbingly why his work reaches out to touch us in a way that eludes so many other illustrators and designers.

Why would you jack this book up. They sell in the stores for $25, all of Clarke's books are $25 or less, over that HAHA ridiculous, get a life.

This guide has helped me so much, the information about the different modalities is so complete that you feel really confident when choosing one modality over another. I was very impressed by the many different modalities there are! I'm very glad I bough this book, it has been the smartest thing I've done this year, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. :)

This book is wonderfully informative. It gives the correct herbs to grow for your particular part of the country. The pictures and descriptions of plantings are also excellent.