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‘A tour de force of biography, history, politics, philosophy and experimental science’ ECONOMIST

The remarkable and inspiring story of how London was transformed after the Great Fire of 1666 into the most powerful city in the world, and the men who were responsible for that achievement.

‘Wonderfully rich and informative … a rare achievement’ Tom Holland

‘Fascinating’ Lucy Moore

‘An ingenious and fluent overview of extraordinary men at an extraordinary moment, with St Paul’s standing as its symbolic heart’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Opening in the 1640s, as the city was gripped in tumult leading up to the English Civil War, THE PHOENIX charts the lives and works of five extraordinary men, who would grow up in the chaos of a world turned upside down: the architect, Sir Christopher Wren; gardener and virtuosi, John Evelyn; the scientist, Robert Hooke; the radical philosopher, John Locke and the builder, Nicholas Barbon.

At the heart of the story is the rebuilding of London’s iconic cathedral, St Paul’s. Interweaving science, architecture, history and philosophy, THE PHOENIX tells the story of the formation of the first modern city.

*Perfect for fans of ITV’s epic drama series, THE GREAT FIRE*

Opening in the 1640s, as the city was gripped in tumult leading up to the English Civil War, THE PHOENIX charts the lives and works of five extraordinary men, who would grow up in the chaos of a world turned upside down: the architect, Sir Christopher Wren; gardener and virtuosi, John Evelyn; the scientist, Robert Hooke; the radical philosopher, John Locke and the builder, Nicholas Barbon.

At the heart of the story is the rebuilding of London’s iconic cathedral, St Paul’s. Interweaving science, architecture, history and philosophy, THE PHOENIX tells the story of the formation of the first modern city.

The unknown life of Alan Clark, celebrated diarist, womaniser, Tory MP and controversial minister in Mrs Thatcher’s governments.

Celebrated diarist, famous womaniser, Tory MP and controversial minister – a castle-owning toff and lecherous cad to some, to others a colourful and life-enhancing figure – Alan Clark was politically incorrect before the term was invented. He is best remembered for his sensational diaries – but what of the man? Alan Clark rarely spoke about his upbringing, even to his family. Was it as unhappy as he hinted?

Ion Trewin has had unrestricted access to extensive family papers (including twenty years of unpublished diaries). He has talked to politicians, to those who knew him at the prep school which burnt down, to friends at Eton and Oxford, and to some of the many women he found impossible to resist despite a loving marriage of forty-one years. From his struggles to teach himself to write to formidable historian and diarist, from his enthusiasm for Margaret Thatcher to the ‘drunk at the Commons dispatch box’ affair, ALAN CLARK THE BIOGRAPHY is a revealing and absorbing account of a remarkable and unforgettable man.

Memer is a child of rape; when the Alds took the beautiful city of Ansul, they descecrated or destroyed everything of beauty. The Waylord they imprisoned and tortured for years until finally he is freed to return to his home. Though crippled, he is not destroyed. His life still has purpose. Memer is the daughter of his House, the daughter of his heart.

The Alds, a people who love war, cannot and will not read: they believe that in words lie demons that will destroy the world. All the city’s libraries, the great treasure trove of knowledge of ages past, are burned, except for those few volumes secreted inthe Waylord’s hidden room.

But times are changing. Gry Barre of Roddmant and Orrec Caspro of Caspromant have arrived in the city. Orrec is a story-teller, the most famous of all: he has the gift of making. His wife Gry’s gift is that of calling; she walks with a halflion who both frightens and fascinates the Alds.

This is Memer’s story, and Gry’s and Orrec’s, and it is the story of a conquered people craving freedom.

Get to know ‘Not-so Great Britain’ in this crackingly acerbic collection of insulting and downright offensive quotations about cities, towns and other locations in the British Isles.

Towns, cities, counties and constituent countries all come in for a lambasting in this bad-tempered and thoroughly entertaining journey round the British Isles (or, as the Irish insist on calling them, the Hibernian Archipelago), from the nauseatingly Nordic Shetlands to the suspiciously Froggy Channel Islands, from ‘the arse end of the world’ (Wigan) to the ‘heaving Sodom of the south coast’ (Brighton).

And it’s not just the places that come in for a hammering – the people too are mocked and reviled, from the imbecilic, dimwitted folk of County Kerry to the inbred, turkey-fancying natives of Norfolk, from the tight-fistedness of the inhabitants of Aberdeen to the light-fingeredness and incessant whinings of the Scouser.

And – unlike Boris Johnson of The Spectator – Mr Plinth will not be saying ‘Oops. Sorry!’

Enchanting memoir of a struggling writer living and working in the eccentric Parisian bookshop, ‘Shakespeare and Company’
‘Completely riveting …a vivid picture of modern Paris’ OBSERVER

‘Shakespeare and Company’ in Paris is one of the world’s most famous bookshops. The original store opened in 1921 and became known as the haunt of literary greats, such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Bernard Shaw, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce.

Sadly the shop was forced to close in 1941, but that was not the end of ‘Shakespeare and Company’… In 1951 another bookshop, with a similar free-thinking ethos, opened on the Left Bank. Called ‘Le Mistral’, it had beds for those of a literary mindset who found themselves down on their luck and, in 1964, it resurrected the name ‘Shakespeare and Company’ and became the principal meeting place for Beatnik poets, such as Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, through to Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell.

Today the tradition continues and writers still find their way to this bizarre establishment, one of them being Jeremy Mercer. With no friends, no job, no money and no prospects, the thrill of escape from his life in Canada soon palls but, by chance, he happens upon the fairytale world of ‘Shakespeare and Co’ and is taken in.
What follows is his tale of his time there, the curious people who came and went, the realities of being down and out in the ‘city of light’ and, in particular, his relationship with the beguiling octogenarian owner, George.

Winner of the Costa Biography Award

What makes a Stalin? Was he a Tsarist agent or Lenin’s bandit? Was he to blame for his wife’s death? When did the killing start?

Based on revelatory research, here is the thrilling story of how a charismatic cobbler’s son became a student priest, romantic poet, prolific lover, gangster mastermind and murderous revolutionary. Culminating in the 1917 revolution, Simon Sebag Montefiore’s bestselling biography radically alters our understanding of the gifted politician and fanatical Marxist who shaped the Soviet empire in his own brutal image. This is the story of how Stalin became Stalin.

The story of Henry VIII’s queens – as seen through the eyes of Jane Rochford, sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and cousin to Katherine Howard.
‘Outstanding … fascinating and moving’ Amanda Foreman, bestselling author of THE DUCHESS

Jane Rochford was sister-in-law to Anne Boleyn and Lady of the Bedchamber to Katherine Howard, whom she followed to the scaffold in 1542. Hers is a life of extraordinary drama as a witness to, and participant in, the greatest events of Henry’s reign.

She arrived at court as a teenager when Katherine of Aragon was queen. Even before Henry’s marriage to Anne, her own marriage to George Boleyn brought her into the closest royal circles – and there she remained through the unfolding spectacle and tragedy of Henry’s succession of marriages. She survived the trauma of Anne and George’s executions and despite briefly being banned from Court managed to regain her place there to attend on Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves. Her supposed part in both Anne Boleyn’s and Katherine Howard’s downfall has led to her being reviled through centuries.

In this fascinating biography Julia Fox repudiates the idea of the infamous Lady Rochford and Jane emerges as a rather modern woman forced by brutal circumstance to fend for herself in a politically lethal world.

The first book to help you understand the mysteries and secret histories within the plot of Dan Brown’s bestselling ANGELS AND DEMONS.

SECRETS OF ANGELS AND DEMONS provides the curious reader with concise, authoritative explorations of the major themes that help propel the plot of Dan Brown’s new bestseller, ANGELS AND DEMONS.

Taking the same detailed approach as SECRETS OF THE CODE, Burstein and de Keijzer examine the provocative issues raised in the novel: the existence and scope of the Illuminati and their relationship to other ‘secret societies’; the ongoing, centuries-old debate between science and religion; the history and practices of the Vatican and pagan symbolism and its place within the Church. They also explore the world of Bernini, master artist of the Baroque era, and the secret meanings behind his symbolism; what really happened in the trial of Galileo; and the real state-of-the-art of anti-matter technology.

This book will delight and engage everyone who finished ANGELS AND DEMONS thinking, ‘I need to know more about this book’.

Biography of the most infamous woman of the early 20th century, the Dutch courtesan and alleged spy Margaretha Zelle (1876-1917), – Mata Hari

Mata Hari was the prototype of the beautiful but unscrupulous female agent who used sexual allure to gain access to secrets, if she was indeed a spy.

In 1917, the notorious dancer Mata Hari was arrested, tried, and executed for espionage. It was charged at her trial that the dark-eyed siren was responsible for the deaths of at least 50,000 gallant French soldiers. Irrefutably, she had been the mistress of many senior Allied officers and government officials, even the French Minister of War: a point viewed as highly suspicious. Worse yet, she spoke several European languages fluently and travelled widely in wartime Europe. But was she guilty of espionage?

For all the publicity Mata Hari and her trial received, key questions remain unanswered. These questions concern not only her inadequate trial and her unproven guilt, but also the events in her personal life. What propelled Margaretha Zelle, destined to be a Dutch schoolteacher, to transform herself into Mata Hari, the most desirable woman in early 20th-century Paris? She danced before enthusiastic crowds in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Monte Carlo, Milan and Rome, inspiring admiration, jealousy, and bitter condemnation.

Pat Shipman’s brilliant biography pinpoints the powerful yet dangerous attributes that evoked such strong emotions in those who met Mata Hari, for hitherto the focus has been on espionage, not on exploring the events that shaped her life and caused her to transform herself from rural Dutch girl to international femme fatale.

The author of THE READER returns with another thrilling case for sleuth Gerhard Self.

PI Gerhard Self is lured out of retirement by a seemingly straightforward assignment: to find the former sleeping partner at Welker & Welker, a prestigious private bank. But the case soon throws up many more questions than answers, and Self finds himself embroiled in a shady world of money-laundering, mafia and murder…

What secrets is the bank’s history hiding? Why are the institution’s enigmatic masters – Herr Welker and his steely Russian foster brother – trying to ensnare Self in their dangerous game, and just who is the stranger claiming to be Self’s long-lost son?

‘A compelling, wonderfully observed study of families and the histories from which they evolve … a strikingly resonant and emotive novel’ TIME OUT

‘Serene echoes of Ian McEwan’s SATURDAY’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Mesmerizing … a war novel that gives you a glimpse of what war might really mean … Trespass revels in truth’ WASHINGTON POST

Toby and Salome are a young, modern couple living in New York, but their backgrounds are world apart. He is a middle-class all-American boy from a family of academics; she is a Croatian refugee raised in New Orleans.

When Salome unexpectedly becomes pregnant, they decide to spend their lives together and hastily marry. But finding a way to reconcile their families and pasts proves a difficult task. Toby’s mother’s deep-seated mistrust of Salome causes tension, leaving her unable to accept her new daughter-in-law. But Salome’ s past, full of dangerous secrets, is more horrifying than any of them could imagine – and the violence that destroyed her homeland is far from over…

‘Spellbinding’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘Entrancingly good’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘A narrative gift that can raise the hairs at the top of the spine’ SUNDAY TIMES

In the six stories that make up The Unfinished Novel, Valerie Martin turns an unflinching eye upon artists – driven and blocked, desired and detested, infamous and sublime, as they struggle beneath the tyranny of Art to reconcile their audience with their muse.

A painter who owes his small success to a man he despises, discovers that his passivity has cost him the love that might have set him free. An actress struggles with the guilt she still feels twenty years after an affair with a young actor whose promise mysteriously vaporized after a performance of Hamlet. A starving artist inhabits a bleak netherworld, where pride is a luxury no one can afford. A writer of modest talents encounters the old love who once betrayed him; now she repels him, yet the unfinished novel she leaves in his hands may surpass anything he could ever produce himself.

The last stories in the collection take us to Rome and a room with a limited view, and to a Brooklyn studio where a window opens onto limitless space. In the Eternal City an American poet is forced to choose between her lover, a dancer who has outraged academe, and a world so alien it takes her voice away. In the final story, a print maker, who has reached a certain age, enters so deeply into the magical world of her imagination that she can never find her way back.

The struggle for the soul of England after the death of Henry VIII

In the death of Henry VIII, the crown passed to his nine-year-old son, Edward. However, real power went to the Protector, Edward’s uncle, the Duke of Somerset. The court had been a hotbed of intrigue since the last days of Henry VIII. Without an adult monarch, the stakes were even higher. The first challenger was the duke’s own brother: he seduced Henry VIII’s former queen, Katherine Parr; having married her, he pursued Princess Elizabeth and later was accused of trying to kidnap the boy king at gunpoint. He was beheaded. Somerset ultimately met the same fate, after a coup d’etat organized by the Duke of Warwick. Chris Skidmore reveals how the countrywide rebellions of 1549 were orchestrated by the plotters at court and were all connected to the (literally) burning issue of religion: Henry VIII had left England in religious limbo. Court intrigue, deceit and treason very nearly plunged the country into civil war.

Edward was a precocious child, as his letters in French and Latin demonstrate. He kept a secret diary, written partly in Greek, which few of his courtiers could read. In 1551, at the age of 14, he took part in his first jousting tournament, an essential demonstration of physical prowess in a very physical age. Within a year it is his signature we find at the bottom of the Council minutes, yet in early 1553 he contracted a chest infection and later died, rumours circulating that he might have been poisoned. Mary, Edward’s eldest sister, and devoted Catholic, was proclaimed Queen.

This is more than just a story of bloodthirsty power struggles, but how the Church moved so far along Protestant lines that Mary would be unable to turn the clock back. It is also the story of a boy born to absolute power, whose own writings and letters offer a compelling picture of a life full of promise, but tragically cut short.

The struggle for the soul of England after the death of Henry VIII

In the death of Henry VIII, the crown passed to his nine-year-old son, Edward. However, real power went to the Protector, Edward’s uncle, the Duke of Somerset. The court had been a hotbed of intrigue since the last days of Henry VIII. Without an adult monarch, the stakes were even higher. The first challenger was the duke’s own brother: he seduced Henry VIII’s former queen, Katherine Parr; having married her, he pursued Princess Elizabeth and later was accused of trying to kidnap the boy king at gunpoint. He was beheaded. Somerset ultimately met the same fate, after a coup d’etat organized by the Duke of Warwick. Chris Skidmore reveals how the countrywide rebellions of 1549 were orchestrated by the plotters at court and were all connected to the (literally) burning issue of religion: Henry VIII had left England in religious limbo. Court intrigue, deceit and treason very nearly plunged the country into civil war.

Edward was a precocious child, as his letters in French and Latin demonstrate. He kept a secret diary, written partly in Greek, which few of his courtiers could read. In 1551, at the age of 14, he took part in his first jousting tournament, an essential demonstration of physical prowess in a very physical age. Within a year it is his signature we find at the bottom of the Council minutes, yet in early 1553 he contracted a chest infection and later died, rumours circulating that he might have been poisoned. Mary, Edward’s eldest sister, and devoted Catholic, was proclaimed Queen.

This is more than just a story of bloodthirsty power struggles, but how the Church moved so far along Protestant lines that Mary would be unable to turn the clock back. It is also the story of a boy born to absolute power, whose own writings and letters offer a compelling picture of a life full of promise, but tragically cut short.

Third in Allan Massie’s celebrated Dark Ages series

A truly European monarch, Charlemagne was king of the Franks from 768 to 814 and for some of that time king of the Lombards, too. From 800, when at Mass on Christmas day in Rome, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Imperator Romanorum (Emperor of the Romans) he became the renewer of the Western Empire, which had expired in the 5th century. His dual role as Emperor and King of the Franks provided the historical link between the Imperial dignity and the Frankish kingdoms and later Germany. Today both France and Germany look to him as a founding figure of their respective countries.

His nephew, Roland, was also renowned for his prowess in battle and was the inspiration for the Chanson de Roland which recounts the story of the battle of Roncesvalles, in which he died.

1916, Calcutta. A man pauses for breath outside the ruins of Jheeter’s Gate station knowing he has only hours to live. Pursued by assassins, he must ensure the safety of two newborn twins, before disappearing into the night to meet his fate.

1932. Ben and his friends are due to leave the orphanage which has been their home for sixteen years. Tonight will be the final meeting of their secret club, in the old ruin they christened The Midnight Palace. Then Ben discovers he has a sister – and together they learn the tragic story of their past, as a shadowy figures lures them to a terrifying showdown in the ruins of Jheeter’s Gate station.

From the bestselling author of THE SHADOW OF THE WIND, this is the haunting story of a secret society and a labyrinthine railway station with a dark past.

From internationally acclaimed author Joseph Boyden comes a powerful novel about two native Canadian sisters and the forces that pull them apart.

Fifteen years after the death of their patriarch, the Bird Clan finds itself struggling to survive on the hardscrabble reservation they call home. On Christmas Day, the youngest of the clan, Suzanne, leaves with her boyfriend Gus Netmaker, against both families’ wishes, hoping to find purpose and a better life in Toronto. When word from Suzanne and Gus suddenly ceases, the Netmakers and Birds fear the worst and tensions between the two families escalate to violent levels. Suzanne’s sister Annie decides to search for them, leaving behind their uncle Will, a man haunted by loss. While Annie travels from Toronto to New York, from modeling studios to A-list parties, Will encounters dire troubles at home. Both eventually come to painful discoveries about the inescapable ties of family.

Canine conspiracies, spurned lovers, murderous greed, jealousy, politics, power and knitting: Pelagia and the White Bulldog marks the beginning of an addictively entertaining new crime series from the internationally bestselling author, Boris Akunin.

In the dying days of the nineteenth century, the small Russian town of Zavolzhsk is shaken out of its sleepy rural existence by the arrival from St Petersburg of a Synodical Inspector with a hidden agenda and a dangerously persuasive manner.

Meanwhile, in the nearby country estate of Drozdovka, one of the prized white Bulldogs – prized because of its one brown ear, and its propensity to drool – belonging to the cantankerous lady of the house has been poisoned. The old widow has taken to her bed, sick with fear that her two remaining dogs may face a similar fate, and the many potential beneficiaries of her will wait fretfully to see whether or not she will recover.

Sister Pelagia: bespectacled, freckled, woefully clumsy and astonishingly resourceful is summoned by the Bishop of Zavolzhsk to investigate the bulldog’s death. But her investigation soon takes a far more sinister turn when two headless bodies are pulled out of the river on the edge of the estate.

Ground-breaking biography of the creator of fiction’s best loved detective

Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s name is recognised the world over, for decades he was overshadowed by his creation, Sherlock Holmes – one of literature’s most enduring characters.

Conan Doyle was a man of many contradictions. Romantic, energetic, idealistic and upstanding, he could also be selfish and foolhardy. Lycett assembles the many threads of Conan Doyle’s life, including the lasting impact of his domineering mother and his alcoholic father; his affair with a younger woman while his wife lay dying; and his fanatical pursuit of scientific data to prove and explain various supernatural phenomena.

Lycett combines access to new material with assiduous research and penetrating insight to offer the most comprehensive, lucid and sympathetic portrait yet of Conan Doyle’s personal journey from student to doctor, from world-famous author to ardent spiritualist.

Ground-breaking biography of the creator of fiction’s best loved detective

Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s name is recognised the world over, for decades he was overshadowed by his creation, Sherlock Holmes – one of literature’s most enduring characters.

Conan Doyle was a man of many contradictions. Romantic, energetic, idealistic and upstanding, he could also be selfish and foolhardy. Lycett assembles the many threads of Conan Doyle’s life, including the lasting impact of his domineering mother and his alcoholic father; his affair with a younger woman while his wife lay dying; and his fanatical pursuit of scientific data to prove and explain various supernatural phenomena.

Lycett combines access to new material with assiduous research and penetrating insight to offer the most comprehensive, lucid and sympathetic portrait yet of Conan Doyle’s personal journey from student to doctor, from world-famous author to ardent spiritualist.

A gripping inside look at the Middle East and the future of our world from the former director of Israel’s Mossad.

‘Fascinating insight of what it is like to deal with the intriguing array of characters… of the modern Middle East’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘Mr Halevy gives a fresh twist to the story’ ECONOMIST

‘There are some darkly amusing vignettes… Halevy is enjoyably sharp on the EU’s obsession with Israel/Palestine… his material on Jordan is particularly insightful… This is an important book’ JEWISH CHRONICLE

From Operation Desert Storm to the beginning of US incursions into Iraq, Efraim Halevy was Deputy Director and then Director of Israel’s Mossad, arguably the most developed and, sometimes, ruthless intelligence service in the world. MAN IN THE SHADOWS is Halevy’s memoir of that period from his vantage point inside the Mossad, as well as a look at what lies ahead for a world transformed by Islamic terrorism. Having served as the secret envoy to Prime Ministers Rabin, Shamir, Netanyahu, Barak and Sharon, Halevy was privy to, and collector of, some of the most sensitive information coming out of the region. Beginning with a prologue that describes a visit he made to Jordan in 1993, Halevy looks back to Desert Storm, an event he calls ‘an epic of unfinished business’ and brings the reader up to the present day through 9/11 and the WMD crisis in Iraq.

Informed by his extraordinary access from the beginning of his Mossad career in 1961, he writes frankly of the Israeli PMs he worked under as well as most of the other major players in the region and around the world: Yasir Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Hafez Assad, Hosni Mubaraq, Crown Prince Abdullah, Mu’amar Qadaffi, Presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as former CIA director George Tenet and counter-intelligence chief James Angleton. Though Halevy looks to the past, he also looks to the future and talks bluntly about how the world might achieve peace in the region and elsewhere. Much of what he has to say will surprise and shock even those readers well versed in the complexities of the region.

The next great page-turner from the master of the noir spy novel.

By 1939, thousands of Italian intellectuals, teachers and lawyers, journalists and scientists, had fled Mussolini’s fascist government and found refuge in Paris. There, amidst the poverty and difficulty of émigré life, they joined the Italian resistance, founding an underground press that smuggled news and encouragement back to their lost homeland.
In Paris, in the winter of 1939, a murder/suicide at a lovers’ hotel hits the tabloid press. But this is not a romantic tragedy, it is the work of OVRA, Mussolini’s fascist secret police, and meant to eliminate the editor of Liberazione, a clandestine newspaper published by Italian émigrés. Carlo Weisz, who has fled from Trieste and found work as a foreign correspondent for the Reuters bureau, becomes the new editor.

Weisz is, at that moment, in Spain, reporting on the tragic end of the Spanish civil war, but, as soon as he returns to Paris, he is pursued by the French Surete, by agents of OVRA, and by officers of the British Secret Intelligence Service. In the desperate politics of Europe on the edge of war, a foreign correspondent is a pawn, worth surveillance, or blackmail, or murder.
The Foreign Correspondent is the story of Carlo Weisz and a handful of anti-fascists — the army officer known as Colonel Ferrara, who fights for a lost cause in Spain, Arturo Salamone, the shrewd leader of a resistance group in Paris, and the woman who becomes the love of his Weisz’s life, herself involved in a doomed resistance underground in Berlin, at the heart of Hitler’s Nazi empire.

The gripping personal story of a Falklands Fighter Ace.

David Morgan, RAF officer and poet, relives his experiences during the Falklands War in this vivid memoir. On secondment to the Royal Navy when the Argentine invasion of the Falklands began and personally credited with shooting down two Argentine Skyhawks as well as enemy helicopters, Morgan was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Here he recounts his involvement in the first British air-strike against Argentine positions around Port Stanley and describes being first on the scene when enemy jets bombed the landing ships SIR TRISTRAM and SIR GALAHAD.

Including the author’s heartfelt letters sent back to England to close family and friends, HOSTILE SKIES dramatically recalls what it was really like to fight, live and love during the Falklands War.