Search Results for:

From the WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2014, a ‘humorous, bittersweet fiction, combin[ing] the fantastical realism of Marquez with the domestic comedy of Andrea Levy’ INDEPENDENT

It all begins with the theft of Tessa Walcott’s panties…

After the hurricane of 1974, Jamaica is devastated. Imelda Richardson is sent to England, without a place to stay or a plan of what to do. Luckily sheis taken in by Purletta Johnson, a member of the ex-pat bourgeoisie who has decided to become more Jamaican than any Jamaican: sucking her teeth, sporting a gold tooth, and growing ganja on her balcony.

But when her mother dies Imelda returns to Jamaica. When Tessa Walcott’s panties are stolen, she and Imelda set up a Neighbourhood Watch. But they haven’t counted on Pastor Braithwaite who denounces them in Church. The church-goers turn on Imelda, and when the river suddenly floods her home it is seen as a punishment from God. A Pentecostal fervour sweeps through the village of Watersgate, fuelled by Evangelist Millie. In her last great crusade, Miss Millie organises ‘fire to burn their sins away’, equipping the villagers with kerosene as they set about burning everything. Now they are marching on the gay man’s house and only Imelda can save him.

Nana Mouskouri, the Greek singer and one of the world’s most popular entertainers, tells her life story for the first time.

For more than 40 years Nana Mouskouri has been a global singing sensation, from her earliest childhood memories of mid-Thirties Greece to her unstoppable rise to the summit of her profession. She tells of life as a child, experiencing the horrors of war and privation, victimised by bitter parental discord, stigmatised by her father’s fatal addiction to gambling.

She was a shy inhibited teenager with a passion for singing, a girl compelled to choose between her love of classical music and her fascination with popular song. As a highly successful adult, she has been racked by uncertainty and the torments of love, a woman struggling to balance music – her raison d’etre – with her role as wife and mother.

Here she describes the life of the star we all know, from her beginnings in the nightclubs of Athens to her triumphs on the world’s most glittering stages. Nana launches us into her international tours, taking us to Canada, the United States, Japan and Australasia as well as every country in Europe. She describes how she fought to win over audiences everywhere. In Britain, for example, she enjoyed dazzling success after her first English album Over and Over was released. In quick succession, twenty-three of her titles appeared in the charts. In Australia, she achieved fourteen gold discs in 1974 alone.

Hers is a rich and astonishing life, studded with exceptional encounters and friendships: the incomparable trumpeter Quincy Jones, a musician Nana had secretely worshipped since childhood, introduced her to the United States and became her producer; Yvonne Littlewood, the BBC producer, made Nana a leading star of British television in the 1960s and remains one of her closest friends. Queen Elizabeth II, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, and the Empress Farah Diba of Iran are among the galaxy of extraordinary figures who played a vital part in Nana’s career.

Intimate, rich in humanity and music, a spotlit global tour, Nana’s book is an event.

From the author of The Reader, a mesmerising tale of discovery, identity and forgiveness

When thirteen-year-old Peter discovers an old manuscript in his family home it instantly captivates him. The manuscript tells the compelling story of a German soldier’s homecoming after escaping from a POW camp, but the document is incomplete.

Years later, the adult Peter rediscovers the text and goes in search of the missing pages – but far from unearthing an ending, he finds himself at the beginning of a quest that leads him across Europe to New York City, to the mystery of his father’s disappearance, a love story, and the question of his own identity…

‘A fine novel’ Guardian
‘A brave attempt at confronting Germany’s stained past and uncertain identity’ Daily Telegraph
‘An accomplished and intelligent writer’ Evening Standard
‘A novel of great density and power‘ Literary Review
‘An invigorating read’ Metro

A novel beloved by thousands of readers
‘Too good to finish’ *****
‘Highly recommended’ *****
‘A must read’ *****
‘Brilliant’ *****
‘Complex and profound’ *****

A prize-winning Cold War spy novel from the author of international megaseller THE READER

Young lawyer Georg Polger gives up a comfortable existence in Germany to work as a freelance translator in the South of France. But business in the picturesque village is far from booming, and Georg struggles to make ends meet. One day he is approached by a certain Mr Bulnakov, who wants Georg to take over a local translation agency. The previous owner has just died in mysterious circumstances.

Everything seems to be going perfectly: Georg falls in love with Bulnakov’s attractive secretary, Francoise, and takes on a lucrative project left unfinished by his predecessor, translating plans for military helicopters. But everything changes when Georg notices Francoise copying his plans. She tells Georg that Bulnakov has threatened to harm her brother, who lives in Poland, if she refuses to do his bidding. When Georg confronts Bulnakov Francoise disappears, and mysterious elements within the village try to hound him out. All he has left of Francoise is a picture she gave him of a church, which she told him was in Warsaw.

But when a friend tells him the church is actually in New York, Georg flies to America in a desperate bid to track down Francoise, and unravel the web of deceit. Tailed from his arrival, Georg quickly realises that he is stuck between the CIA and the KGB, and further out of his depth than he can begin to comprehend. But which side was he working for? Who is the mysterious Mr Bulkanoff? And did he ever know the real Francoise?

How the people of a typical English village lived and died in the worst epidemic in history.

The Black Death remains the greatest disaster to befall humanity, killing about half the population of the planet in the 14th century. John Hatcher recreates everyday medieval life in a parish in Suffolk, from which an exceptional number of documents survive. This enables us to view events through the eyes of its residents, revealing in unique detail what it was like to live and die in these terrifying times.

With scrupulous attention to historical accuracy, John Hatcher describes what the parishioners experienced, what they knew and what they believed. His narrative is peopled with characters developed from the villagers named in the actual town records and a series of dramatic scenes portray how contemporaries must have experienced the momentous events.

How the people of a typical English village lived and died in the worst epidemic in history.

The Black Death remains the greatest disaster to befall humanity, killing about half the population of the planet in the 14th century. John Hatcher recreates everyday medieval life in a parish in Suffolk, from which an exceptional number of documents survive. This enables us to view events through the eyes of its residents, revealing in unique detail what it was like to live and die in these terrifying times.

With scrupulous attention to historical accuracy, John Hatcher describes what the parishioners experienced, what they knew and what they believed. His narrative is peopled with characters developed from the villagers named in the actual town records and a series of dramatic scenes portray how contemporaries must have experienced the momentous events.

The third and final book in the bestselling CALL THE MIDWIFE series, the basis of the major BBC TV series.

This final book in Jennifer Worth’s memories of her time as a midwife in London’s East end brings her story full circle. As always there are heartbreaking stories such as the family devastated by tuberculosis and a ship’s woman who ‘serviced’ the entire crew, as well as plenty of humour and warmth, such as the tale of two women who shared the same husband! Other stories cover backstreet abortions, the changing life of the docklands, infanticide, as well as the lives of the inhabitants of Nonnatus House.

We discover what happens with the gauche debutant Chummy and her equally gauche policeman; will Sister Monica Joan continue her life of crime? Will Sister Evangelina ever crack a smile? And what of Jennifer herself? The book not only details the final years of the tenements but also of Jennifer’s journey as she moves on from the close community of nuns, and her life takes a new path.

The third and final book in the bestselling CALL THE MIDWIFE series, the basis of the major BBC TV series.

This final book in Jennifer Worth’s memories of her time as a midwife in London’s East end brings her story full circle. As always there are heartbreaking stories such as the family devastated by tuberculosis and a ship’s woman who ‘serviced’ the entire crew, as well as plenty of humour and warmth, such as the tale of two women who shared the same husband! Other stories cover backstreet abortions, the changing life of the docklands, infanticide, as well as the lives of the inhabitants of Nonnatus House.

We discover what happens with the gauche debutant Chummy and her equally gauche policeman; will Sister Monica Joan continue her life of crime? Will Sister Evangelina ever crack a smile? And what of Jennifer herself? The book not only details the final years of the tenements but also of Jennifer’s journey as she moves on from the close community of nuns, and her life takes a new path.

The Eagles wrote the soundtrack to the Seventies and Eighties – and even now their albums top the charts. But backstage, there were no peaceful, easy feelings…

Don Felder was just a poor boy from Florida, but when he joined the Eagles he soared into the stratosphere. Alongside former bandmates Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and Felder’s childhood friend Bernie Leadon, he sold tens of millions of records (Eagles: Their Greatest Hits: 1971-1975 is the bestselling album of all time), performed before countless adoring fans, and co-wrote the renowned hit ‘Hotel California’. His guitar-playing ability lifted the band from mere popularity to iconic status. And now Don Felder finally breaks the Eagles’ decades of public silence to take fans behind the scenes – where drugs, greed and endless acrimony threatened to tear the band apart almost daily.

“Maybe there was too much talent. Maybe the personalities clashed with the egos. Whatever the reason, there were always these explosive arguments going on while I sat silently in a corner. I never expected it to survive. Never once did I feel, ‘Hey, I got it made. This thing’s gonna last for years.'”

Felder was wrong about that, but he was also right: the band split up in 1980, only to reunite for 1994’s mega-selling ‘Hell Freezes Over’ album and tour. But tempers continued to flare, and in 2001, after 27 contentious years as an Eagle, Felder was summarily fired by the ‘board of directors’: Frey and Henley. Lawsuits and counter-suits followed. In ‘Heaven and Hell’, Felder takes us inside the pressurised recording studios, the trashed hotel rooms and the tension-filled courtrooms, where he, Frey, and Henley had their ultimate confrontation.

Two young lovers arrive for an idyllic holiday in Greece but find that they can’t escape their past – a brilliant new novel from the author of the acclaimed THE END OF SLEEP.

Max and Tine arrive on the Greek island of her childhood holidays. Both are in their mid twenties and this is their first serious relationship. Max is relatively inexperienced with women and his previous encounters have been predominantly sexual. With Tine he feels an emotional bond, and he wants to get to know her better, both sexually and emotionally. It ought to be perfect – a secluded house on a stunning cove; rich local food and wine; sunbathing. And yet the minute they arrive Tine seems tense. As the days progress, she seems increasingly distant and is obsessed that the house is being watched.

The present day is interspersed with scenes from Max’s childhood. A talented child from a relatively poor family, he received a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school but nothing has prepared the young boy for the loneliness and vulnerability of living away from his family. Max is dyslexic and soon this creates difficulties with his teachers and his classmates. But when things come to a head, Max finds a way of surviving.

Back in the present day, the idyllic holiday seems to be turning into a nightmare. But can Max find a way back to intimacy and overcome the demons of his past?

An Irishman goes in search of a tall tale in the backstreets of Cairo…

Fin, an Irish journalist with little more than a rumpled linen suit to his name, wakes at dawn with a fierce hangover and an excruciating bruise on his thigh.

As the first prayer call of the day sounds over Cairo, Fin stumbles into an exotic adventure that will take him to the very edge of his courage, his endurance and his sense of self. He seeks a story – a story about treasure – and to find it, he must first find his friend Farouk, the mercurial teller of tales, who alone knows what Fin needs to hear.

Fuelled by whisky and a thousand glasses of tea Fin pursues his quest under the shadow of the Great Pyramid, through crowded kebab shops and into the great emptiness of the desert itself.

A hard-hitting essay combined with factual reportage on the new anti-semitism throughout Europe.

This book argues that what the 21st century now faces is an ideological assault based on hatred of Jews which is as serious as any major threat to universal values as the world has faced. Anti-semitism is the visible language and action of a deeper threat to world peace, to the achievements of the human spirit we call the Enlightenment, and undermines vital work to address problems like poverty and the challenges of the environment.

Denis MacShane’s survey of 21st century anti-semitism is based on the All-Party Commission of Enquiry which was chaired by the author in the UK. His book considers examples in Europe and how anti-semitism is now a linking mechanism between different extremisms, usually but not exclusively of the Right. It lists in detail the anti-semitism in national party politics, including the European Parliament, and it examines how Holocaust denial is not a question of liberal free-expression issues but an organised ideological position. The new anti-semitism arises from three main sources: state-sanctioned anti-semitism; that of terrorist movements like Al Qaeda; and that of political movements like the Muslim Brotherhood and its off-shoots and spokesmen.

The book is both a cri de coeur for a new tolerance and a resolution to throw light on 21st century anti-semitism, which has left Europe to become a new form of mobilising politics across many continents.

The book that immerses the Cold War in the warm bath of nostalgia.

Q: Why, despite all the shortages, was the toilet paper in East Germany always 2-ply?
A: Because they had to send a copy of everything they did to Moscow.

Communist jokes are the strangest, funniest, most enchanting and meaningful legacy of the 80 years of political experimentation in Russia and Eastern Europe, known as Communism. The valiant and sardonic citizens of the former Communist countries – surrounded by an invisible network of secret police, threatened with arrest, imprisonment and forced labour, confronted by an economic system that left shops empty, and bombarded with ludicrous state propaganda – turned joke-telling into an art form. They used jokes as a coded way of speaking the truth.

HAMMER AND TICKLE takes us on a unique journey through the Communist era (1917-1989), and tells its real history through subversive jokes and joke-tellers, many of whom ended up in the gulags. It is also illustrated with a combination of rare and previously unpublished archive material, political cartoons, caricatures, photographs and state-sponsored propaganda. Humorous, culturally poignant and historically revealing, this is the story of a political system that was (almost) laughed out of existence.

The book that immerses the Cold War in the warm bath of nostalgia.

Q: Why, despite all the shortages, was the toilet paper in East Germany always 2-ply?
A: Because they had to send a copy of everything they did to Moscow.

Communist jokes are the strangest, funniest, most enchanting and meaningful legacy of the 80 years of political experimentation in Russia and Eastern Europe, known as Communism. The valiant and sardonic citizens of the former Communist countries – surrounded by an invisible network of secret police, threatened with arrest, imprisonment and forced labour, confronted by an economic system that left shops empty, and bombarded with ludicrous state propaganda – turned joke-telling into an art form. They used jokes as a coded way of speaking the truth.

HAMMER AND TICKLE takes us on a unique journey through the Communist era (1917-1989), and tells its real history through subversive jokes and joke-tellers, many of whom ended up in the gulags. It is also illustrated with a combination of rare and previously unpublished archive material, political cartoons, caricatures, photographs and state-sponsored propaganda. Humorous, culturally poignant and historically revealing, this is the story of a political system that was (almost) laughed out of existence.

A dazzling biography of the Eternal City – ‘A tour of the great city with a great guide: who could do this better?’ EVENING STANDARD.

For almost a thousand years, Rome held sway as the spiritual and artistic centre of the world. Hughes vividly recreates the ancient Rome of Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Nero, Caligula, Cicero, Martial and Virgil. With the artistic blossoming of the Renaissance, he casts his unwavering critical eye over the great works of Raphael, Michelangelo and Brunelleschi, shedding new light on the Old Masters. In the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when Rome’s cultural predominance was assured, artists and tourists from all over Europe converged on the city. Hughes brilliantly analyses the defining works of Caravaggio, Velasquez, Rubens and Bernini.

Hughes’ Rome is a vibrant, contradictory, spectacular and secretive place; a monument both to human glory and human error. In equal parts loving, iconoclastic, enraged and wise, peopled with colourful figures and rich in unexpected details, ROME is an exhilarating journey through the story of one of the world’s most glorious cities.

A dazzling biography of the Eternal City – ‘A tour of the great city with a great guide: who could do this better?’ EVENING STANDARD.

For almost a thousand years, Rome held sway as the spiritual and artistic centre of the world. Hughes vividly recreates the ancient Rome of Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, Nero, Caligula, Cicero, Martial and Virgil. With the artistic blossoming of the Renaissance, he casts his unwavering critical eye over the great works of Raphael, Michelangelo and Brunelleschi, shedding new light on the Old Masters. In the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when Rome’s cultural predominance was assured, artists and tourists from all over Europe converged on the city. Hughes brilliantly analyses the defining works of Caravaggio, Velasquez, Rubens and Bernini.

Hughes’ Rome is a vibrant, contradictory, spectacular and secretive place; a monument both to human glory and human error. In equal parts loving, iconoclastic, enraged and wise, peopled with colourful figures and rich in unexpected details, ROME is an exhilarating journey through the story of one of the world’s most glorious cities.

‘I owe, I owe, so off to work we go.’ A Grumpy perspective on the daily grind.

Whether we are celebrity chef or hapless waiter, engineer or oily rag, commissioning editor or TV producer, all of us have a whole daily wagon-load of s**t to deal with in the name of work. From boardroom to boredom, from ‘what’s the point?’ to Powerpoint, from 9 to 5 to P45. And that’s what this new book from uber-grump Stuart Prebble is all about; the utter everyday relentless crapulence of working for ‘the man’, or indeed ‘the woman’. The workplace is a piece of cake for someone of his curmudgeonly quality.

It’s not possible in a book of this size to include ALL the grumps arising from the working day – the office politics, the shortcomings of IT, the interminable meetings and some of your colleagues’ weirder habits, but he is giving it a go. Grumpy? I’ll say we are …

From that first date – and how it’s all downhill from there

We all know about the jungle of ‘dating’. But once you’ve found your ‘special’ friend you’ll have to pretend you like their taste in music, be nice to their mother and pick up their socks, and that’s only year one.

By the time you get into grumpy old middle-aged land, you’re firmly on farting terms and over-familiarity has bedded in. The only thing to do with the whole business is to laugh over it, which is the idea of this book.

From that first date – and how it’s all downhill from there

We all know about the jungle of ‘dating’. But once you’ve found your ‘special’ friend you’ll have to pretend you like their taste in music, be nice to their mother and pick up their socks, and that’s only year one.

By the time you get into grumpy old middle-aged land, you’re firmly on farting terms and over-familiarity has bedded in. The only thing to do with the whole business is to laugh over it, which is the idea of this book.

Two lives torn apart by the French Revolution…

1788. Asa Ardleigh, the impressionable daughter of a country squire, has travelled to Paris with her sister Philippa and Philippa’s new husband. In the heady days before the Revolution, they find a city fizzing with new ideas – and Asa meets and falls in love with a dashing revolutionary, Didier Paulin. When Asa is forced to return to England, their affair is curtailed, but they continue to exchange letters as storm clouds gather over France and war with England looms.

Back in England, no one knows of Asa’s liaison as the family’s financial worries put pressure on her to marry. But then disturbing news reaches Asa from France, and she must decide whether to follow her head or her heart…

A stainless steel rat for a stainless steel world …

Meet Slippy Jim, aka The Stainless Steel Rat, aka James Bolivar DiGritz. A man of many names and many talents … all of which add up to make one of the greatest con men of all time.

Charming, quick-witted, physically fit, a master of disguise, a skilled liar, an accomplished bank robber and exceptionally talented at breaking and entering, he’s everything a master thief should be. He’s also about to be caught, turned, and sent back out onto the streets as part of the Special Corps.

Join the adventure in this omnibus edition of the first three Stainless Steel rat adventures: The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat’s Revenge, and The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World.

A philosopher is given the task of teaching a mysterious child, but does not foresee the consequences for his protegee…

After crashing and burning during his PhD viva, Mason Ambrose is offered a large amount of money to go to a mysterious tropical island – Isla de Sangre. His employer is wealthy recluse Edwina Sabachtani whose daughter has supposedly lost her sense of right and wrong after a diving accident. Mason is to use his knowledge as a philosopher to instil a conscience, a moral compass in the child.

Mason happily instructs her in schools of thought, from the stoics to the epicureans, but it is when he introduces Londa to the Beatitudes that the seeds of a rampaging sense of justice are sown. Venturing from the confines of the island, Londa sets out to create a world that is more just. But when she takes her crusade too far, kidnapping a boat full of wealthy industrialists, Mason realises he must take desperate measures…

The Lost Voices of our ‘Forgotten Army’ in the war with Japan 1941-45.

Nearly a million strong by 1944, the British 14th Army fought and ultimately conquered the Japanese forces that invaded Burma and strove to break through into India. But the victory was hard won, with great suffering along the way. With priority given to defeating Germany, these troops were last in line for additional men and equipment, and they joked about being “The Forgotten Army.” Here is the story of these remarkable soldiers, whose monument at Kohima reads: ‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.’

The Lost Voices of our ‘Forgotten Army’ in the war with Japan 1941-45.

Nearly a million strong by 1944, the British 14th Army fought and ultimately conquered the Japanese forces that invaded Burma and strove to break through into India. But the victory was hard won, with great suffering along the way. With priority given to defeating Germany, these troops were last in line for additional men and equipment, and they joked about being “The Forgotten Army.” Here is the story of these remarkable soldiers, whose monument at Kohima reads: ‘When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.’