{"title":"Oliver Balch","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"under-the-tump-book-oliver-balch-9780571311965","title":"Under the Tump","description":"Hay-on-Wye is world famous as the Town of Books. But when travel writer Oliver Balch moved there, it was not just the books he was keen to read, but the people too.  After living in London and Buenos Aires, what will he make of this tiny, quirky town on the Welsh-English border? To help guide him, he turns to Francis Kilvert, a Victorian diarist who captured the bucolic rural life of his day. Does anything of Kilvert's world still exists? And could a newcomer ever feel they truly belong?  With empathy and humour, Balch joins in the daily routines and lives of his fellow residents. What emerges is a captivating, personal picture of country life in the 21st century. Some things haven't altered for centuries, while others are changing at an alarming pace.  Written with his trademark vivid, reportage style, Balch's journey sees him meet with a king and his courtiers, publicans, hippies, mayors, old widows and young farmers.  In an increasingly mobile, urban world, Under the Tump is a timely, honest account of Balch's attempt to put down roots in a community not yet his own.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49535619334417,"sku":"GOR008458168","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730604400913,"sku":"NGR9780571311965","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52642263695633,"sku":"GOR008453393","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571311962.jpg?v=1771498401"},{"product_id":"under-the-tump-book-oliver-balch-9780571311958","title":"Under the Tump","description":"Hay-on-Wye is world famous as the Town of Books. But when travel writer Oliver Balch moved there, it was not just the books he was keen to read, but the people too. After living in London and Buenos Aires, what will he make of this tiny, quirky town on the Welsh-English border? To help guide him, he turns to Francis Kilvert, a Victorian diarist who captured the bucolic rural life of his day. Does anything of Kilvert's world still exists? And could a newcomer ever feel they truly belong? With empathy and humour, Balch joins in the daily routines and lives of his fellow residents. What emerges is a captivating, personal picture of country life in the 21st century. Some things haven't altered for centuries, while others are changing at an alarming pace. Written with his trademark vivid, reportage style, Balch's journey sees him meet with a king and his courtiers, publicans, hippies, mayors, old widows and young farmers. In an increasingly mobile, urban world, Under the Tump is a timely, honest account of Balch's attempt to put down roots in a community not yet his own.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49539971318033,"sku":"GOR013611376","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49584564863249,"sku":"GOR007473166","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49631754223889,"sku":"GOR008445310","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51311034106129,"sku":"GOR008265750","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571311954.jpg?v=1750783006"},{"product_id":"viva-south-america-book-oliver-balch-9780571237043","title":"Viva South America!","description":"\"Viva South America!\" sets out to discover if the dream of Simon Bolivar - for independence, freedom and equality - lives on in modern South America. Armed with a reporter's notebook and an open mind, Oliver Balch hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Bolivar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into people's homes and into inmates' prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South America's contemporary fight for freedom.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49555296452881,"sku":"GOR001904937","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51073116307729,"sku":"GOR010480413","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52621451165969,"sku":"GOR003636601","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52955434909969,"sku":"GOR004646522","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571237045.jpg?v=1751392220"},{"product_id":"viva-south-america-book-oliver-balch-9780571312467","title":"Viva South America!","description":"Simón Bolívar once inspired a continent to rise from serfdom and throw off the shackles of Spanish rule. Viva South America! sets out to discover if the dream of Simón Bolívar - for independence, freedom and equality - lives on in modern South America.  Armed with a reporter's notebook and an open mind, Oliver Balch hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Simón Bolívar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into people's homes and into inmates' prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South America's contemporary fight for freedom.   Oliver Balch is a UK freelance journalist, whose work has appeared in a wide range of international publications, including the Guardian, the Financial Times and the Traveller. Viva South America! was shortlisted as 'Book of the Year' at the UK Travel Press Awards.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49556317438225,"sku":"GOR006359721","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50354267914513,"sku":"CIN0571312462G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":50354270437649,"sku":"CIN0571312462LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50985491988753,"sku":"GOR009180388","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51745715978513,"sku":"GOR008581930","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571312462.jpg?v=1772274541"},{"product_id":"viva-south-america-book-oliver-balch-9780571237036","title":"Viva South America!","description":"Simon Bolivar once inspired a continent to rise from its serfdom and throw off the shackles of Spanish rule, setting the course for independence, freedom and equality. \"Viva South America!\" sets out to discover if that dream lives on. Is it fair to describe a land as 'independent' while poverty still enslaves millions, where violence lurks in the shadows and where lawlessness gnaws away at progress? Did the Liberators fail? Or are leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales resurrecting those long-ago ideals?Armed with a reporter's notebook and an open mind, the author hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Bolivar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into people's homes and into inmates' prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South America's contemporary fight for freedom.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49558022258961,"sku":"GOR001453204","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49667560636689,"sku":"GOR001470636","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52882745753873,"sku":"GOR005610040","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0571237037.jpg?v=1751293939"},{"product_id":"india-rising-book-oliver-balch-9780571259267","title":"India Rising","description":"India is on the up. Historically derided as the lumbering elephant of Asia, this vast sub-continent has quickened its pace. The economy is booming. Tens of millions have been pulled out of poverty. Software and service companies abound. Millionaire entrepreneurs are springing up at every turn. Bollywood is going global and Indian expats are flooding back home. What's more, these changes are occurring within the world's largest democracy - a far cry from neighbouring China. But who and what lies behind India's apparent ascendency?  In India Rising Oliver Balch takes the voices and stories of everyday Indians and presents a fresh, vivid, highly personalised account of the changes as they are unfolding.Travelling the length and breadth of the country, Balch leads readers off the tourist trail and onto the streets of modern day India. Through Mumbai, Dehli and Chennai, from Bollywood to cricket stadiums, from shopping malls to rural schools and shanty towns, the book blends the best of reportage and travel writing to get under the skin of this nation in transition.  What emerges is a captivating portrait of a country at a crossroads. Old versus New. Global versus local. India's march into the twenty-first century is full of tensions and uncertainties. But so too is it brimming with optimism and hope. With over half of its billion plus population under the age of twenty-five, India's future will be written by its youth. In describing their hopes and exploring their fears, India Rising unpicks what makes this vast nation tick and asks where it's heading.   Oliver Balch is a UK freelance journalist, whose work has appeared in a wide range of international publications, including the Guardian, the Financial Times and the Traveller. His first book Viva South America! 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