Author: Cull and Co. Ltd

Flint Books, an imprint of The History Press in the UK, has acquired rights to urban naturalist and nature writer Amanda Tuke’s first book.

In Wild Pavements, naturalist Amanda Tuke shares her delight in the overlooked and under-appreciated wildlife in our UK cities, finds the people who care for it, takes groups out to enjoy it and explores what the current thinking in ecology and conservation means for the future of urban nature. The author explores London from the City out to the suburbs and visits Manchester, Edinburgh, Belfast, Cardiff, Hull, Aberdeen and other cities in the British Isles, exploring the diversity of our urban nature and the surprising places you can find it.

With at least 85% of the UK population living in towns and cities, Wild Pavements encourages us all to experience the urban environment differently, through the eyes of urban naturalists, ecologists or even wildlife.

“Amanda Tuke is a standout among the new generation of urban nature writers. With beautifully written prose and practical advice, she makes nature and nature writing more inclusive and accessible to readers of all experience levels.” — Stephen Moss, author of 10 Birds That Changed the World, shortlisted for the 2023 Wainwright Nature Writing Prize

Amanda Tuke is a consultant botanist, urban plant walk leader, and associate lecturer for Bath Spa University’s MA in nature & travel writing. She writes a monthly column for Bird Watching Magazine on urban birds and has contributed to RSPB Magazine, BBC Countryfile Magazine, Resurgence Magazine, and the London Wildlife Trust Blog.

From 2021 to 2022, she was the nature-writer-in-residence for the London Wildlife Trust’s Great North Wood project.

Her work appears on her blog, The Urban Naturalist, and she shares updates on social media as @suburbanwilduk.

Cinto Press, an imprint of Bath Publishing, has signed Tom Gaisford’s “ambitious” debut novel, Sanctuary.

Alex Donovan is a young refugee lawyer in crisis.

Helping desperate clients reach safety is what gives his job meaning. But he now finds himself demoted, signed off sick for stress, and facing redeployment to the firm’s subterranean billing department.

Then there is Amy, the woman he adores. The irresistible junior barrister seems to be drifting away from him.

With little to lose and all to prove, Alex dreams up a madcap plan to restore his honour and secure Amy’s affection.

Chaplin commented: “When Tom’s debut novel landed in our inbox, we knew why his agent had sent it to us. The wit and insider knowledge he uses to construct such an ingenious, irresistible tale from the intricacies of immigration law immediately appealed, given our grounding in law. But Sanctuary is not just a riveting good read, it shines a light on the murky world of asylum in the UK—still a very live issue. We are delighted Tom has given us the chance to bring it to a wider public.”

Gaisford added: “Cinto Press’ growing fiction list, background in legal publishing and fearless interest in gritty stories about social justice made it the perfect fit. But it was also its appreciation of the novel’s lighter side, the humour and the love story, which permeate the narrative, that sealed the deal.”

‘Tom Gaisford’s insider knowledge makes his cleverly constructed legal thriller a compulsive and genuinely enlightening read. Alex’s passionate hope is that a story can change the public’s perception of asylum seekers. Maybe this one will.’
Suzi Feay, literary critic for The Financial Times

‘Tom Gaisford’s gripping novel explores an urgent subject – the UK’s inhumane treatment of asylum seekers…(it is) both affecting and memorable.’
Lucy Popescu, Chair of the Author’s Club and the Best First Novel Award

Tom Gaisford is a human rights barrister with over ten years’ experience working in immigration law. He lives on Guernsey with his wife and their two young daughters and Sanctuary is his first novel.

Rights to Melissa Butcher’s first trade book have gone to Manchester University Press.

Designed as a cultural map of contemporary America, The Trouble With Freedom will enable readers to navigate through this morass of vitriol, conspiracy theory and argument, understanding how, why and in what direction America is changing.

In conversation with Americans across the country, from all walks of life, the book is extremely timely, produced in the midst of a raging culture war and the run up to the 2024 Presidential election. However, the issues are timeless and relevant not only to the USA but other countries like the UK, subject to similar processes of change and where comparable social divisions are evident. Written as narrative non-fiction with an ‘outsider’s eye’, in the style of ‘Alexis de Tocqueville in the 21st Century’, the book will appeal to audiences with an interest in social and current affairs, using a blend of original research, reporting and personal narrative.

Professor Melissa Butcher is a social and cultural geographer at Cumberland Lodge and Royal Holloway, University of London. She has produced to date two monographs (2003, 2011), five edited collections, over 30 academic journal articles, as well as numerous pieces of journalism. She has had regular invitations to present her work at public events including in the past the Bloomsbury Festival and the Dublin Science Museum.