Böcker av David Elias

"Elias's use of language to re-create the period is striking... A highly readable telling of a royal fall from grace." -- Kirkus Reviews "Lively and engrossing... Rich with historical detail and political intrigue, Elizabeth of Bohemia is a complex portrait of a reluctant yet captivating queen." -- Foreword Reviews October 1612. King James I seeks to expand England's influence in Europe and offers Prince Frederic of the Palatinate his sixteen-year-old daughter Elizabeth's hand. The fierce and intelligent Elizabeth moves to Heidelberg Castle with her new husband, where she turns a daughter's duty into a wife's ambition. When the Hapsburg emperor is weakened, Elizabeth encourages Frederic to take over the royal duties in Prague, and in the process she becomes Queen of Bohemia. But the reign is brief. Within the year, Catholic Europe unites to take back the Hapsburg throne. Frederic, Elizabeth, and the children are forced to flee, and the exiled queen must summon all her strength to keep her family intact through tumultuous seasons of separation and heartache in The Hague. With richly rendered characters and dialogue both penetrating and nuanced, Elizabeth of Bohemia offers a rare and delightful window into the Stuart period. David Elias is an author based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He travelled extensively in the footsteps of Elizabeth of Bohemia to visit historical sites and examine artifacts in places such as the British Library, Heidelberg Castle, and St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague.

What can one Welsh hill farm tell us about how we can help nature to thrive?In recent times, farming has often been viewed as harmful to nature and the environment, causing friction between those wanting to protect wildlife and the farmers whose livelihoods depend on upon the land. Conservationists and governments frequently propose well-meaning ideas and policies to enable farming and conservation to work together, but all-too-often these do not have the intended results. At the heart of this is a lack of understanding about the realities of farming life and managing the land for nature. In this captivating debut, conservationist David Elias explores a farm in the Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park and unpacks what it shows us about the gritty reality of trying to reconcile hill farming and caring for nature. Visiting through the seasons, he forms a deep relationship with the land and the people who work it, coming to understand their particular way of life, history and concerns about the future. It is also a farm rich in nature and he brings his experienced eye to how its habitats and wildlife have been shaped by changing farming practices over the generations. Through lyrical prose and first-hand conversations with farmers, Elias also shows what current government policies have achieved ‿ or not achieved ‿ and why it is so important for us to understand what it really takes ensure farming families remain on the land while simultaneously allowing nature to flourish.