Vienna, 1948. The war is over, & as the initial phase of de-Nazification winds down, the citizens of Vienna struggle to rebuild their lives amidst the rubble. Anna Beer returns to the city she fled nine years earlier after discovering her husband`s infidelity. She has come back to find him &, perhaps, to forgive him. Traveling on the same train from Switzerland is 18-year-old Robert Seidel, a schoolboy summoned home to his stepfather`s sickbed & the secrets of his family`s past. As Anna & Robert navigate an unrecognizable city, they cross paths with a war-widowed American journalist, a hunchbacked young servant girl, & a former POW whose primary purpose is to survive by any means & to forget. Meanwhile, in the shells of burned-out houses & beneath the bombed-out ruins, a ghost of a man, his head wrapped in a red scarf, battles demons from his past & hides from a future that is deeply uncertain for all. In The Crooked Maid, Dan Vyleta returns to the shadows of war-darkened Vienna, proving himself once again `a magical storyteller, master of the macabre` (David Park). ...

The Second World War is over
- & yet it lives on. As the initial phase of denazification draws to a close, people across Vienna
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The Cross & the Crescent is a highly praised account of relations between Christians & Muslims – the ‘peoples of the book’ – from the emergence of Islam after the death of Muhammad in 632 AD to the European Reformation. Links forged through conquest, diplomacy, pilgrimage & trade brought peoples of both faiths into frequent contact – sharing inventions such as paper & the abacus, while merchants travelled throughout the Mediterranean trading textiles, furs, spices, incense, ivory & even slaves. Yet despite these fruitful interactions, Christians viewed Muslims as bloodthirsty pagans, & Islam looked on Christendom with scorn as a jumble of confused sects. As Richard Fletcher argues, it was this failure to understand each other that spurred them into frequent & bloody conflicts. Fletcher provides a clear-sighted & illuminating description of the ways in which Islam & Christianity have coexisted & clashed since their earliest encounters – a story that has lasting implications for our own time. ...

When James Cracknell & Ben Fogle decided to compete in the Atlantic Rowing Race, they thought they knew what awaited them: nearly three thousand miles of empty ocean, stormy weather & colossal physical stress. But as the security of dry land became a distant memory, the full enormity of what they had committed themselves to became apparent: they were surrounded by ocean on all sides, hundreds of miles from home, trapped together in a tiny space for every waking moment. & as their epic journey would became at times a living hell testing the strength of every fibre of their being, winning the race was clearly the least of their worries... Yet, forty seven days later, James & Ben were the first pair to cross the finishing line, overtaking one of the fourman teams in the process, & becoming the first British pair ever to win the race. They had pushed themselves physically, psychologically & emotionally to the limit. They survived without water rations, lost the few clothes they had, capsized, hallucinated, wept, fought, played games, grown beards, nursed blisters & rowed a staggering 2, 930 miles. The Crossing is the extraordinarily honest account of James & Ben`s epic race. From cooking in a force eight gale & rubbing cream into one another`s blisters to swimming with whales & believing your partner has drowned. They are never going to be the same again. ...

She is sailing. She is alone. Ahead of her is the world`s curve & beyond that, everything else. The known, the imagined, the imagined known. Who else has entered Tim`s life the way Maud did? This girl who fell past him, lay seemingly dead on the ground, then stood & walked. That was where it all began. He wants her
- wants to rescue her, to reach her. Yet there is nothing to suggest Maud has any need of him, that she is not already complete. A woman with a talent for survival, who works long hours & loves to sail
- preferably on her own. A woman who, when a crisis comes, will turn to the sea for refuge, embarking on a voyage that will test her to the utmost, that will change everything.. . From the Costa Award-winning author of Pure comes a viscerally honest, hypnotic portrait of modern love & motherhood, the lure of the sea & the ultimate unknowability of others. This pitch-perfect novel confirms Andrew Miller`s position as one of the finest writers of his generation.

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The first crossing of Antarctica in 1957/58 by the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by Sir Vivian ` Bunny` Fuchs, was one of the twentieth century`s great triumphs of exploration. Sir Ernest Shackleton famously attempted to cross the great white continent during his ill-fated Endurance voyage, & now, one hundred years after he set out, this beautifully illustrated volume celebrates the men who succeeded where he had failed & rewrote the history books. With exclusive access to the spectacular images & private archives of key member George Lowe, photographer & Everest veteran, & items from the Fuchs family collection, there has never been a book on Antarctica quite like this. An outstanding team of explorers & polar experts also provide their reflections & tributes, contributing to a remarkable visual & personal testimony of this historic event. ...

After centuries of prominence as a world power, Armenia has withstood every attempt during the 20th century to destroy it. With a name redolent both of dim antiquity & of a modern world & its tensions, the Armenians founded a civilization & underwent a diaspora that brought many of the great ideas of the East to Western Europe. Today, shrunk to a tenth of its former size & wracked by war with Azerbaijan & by earthquakes, its people still retain one of the world`s most fascinating & misunderstood cultures. This book is a passionate & dramatic portrait of this country
- the people & their massive exodus, as well as of the unique society that remains tentatively attached to the CIS. Travelling from Venice to Istanbul, passing through Eastern Europe, Beirut & Syria, & crossing the Black Sea to the Caucasus & into Armenia, the author takes us on a journey through time & history as we come to know this closed society.
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A revised & updated edition of Philip Marsden`s classic travel book, published to coincide with the centenary of the Armenian massacres. After centuries of prominence as a world power, Armenia has withstood every attempt during the 20th century to destroy it. With a name redolent both of dim antiquity & of a modern world & its tensions, the Armenians founded a civilization & underwent a diaspora that brought many of the great ideas of the East to Western Europe. The Crossing Place is Philip Marsden`s gripping account of his remarkable journey through the Middle East, Eastern Europe & the Caucasus in a quest to discover the secret of one of the world`s most extraordinary peoples. Caught between opposing empires, between warring religions & ideologies
- at the crossing place of history
- the Armenians have somehow survived against the odds. This is their story
- told by one of the finest travel writers at work today.


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Samar Yazbek was well known in her native Syria as a writer & a journalist but, in 2011, she fell foul of the Assad regime & was forced to flee. Since then, determined to bear witness to the suffering of her people, she bravely revisited her homeland by squeezing through a hole in the fence on the Turkish border. In The Crossing, she testifies to the appalling reality that is Syria today. From the first innocent demonstrations for democracy, through the beginnings of the Free Syrian Army, to the arrival of ISIS, she offers remarkable snapshots of soldiers, children, ordinary men & women simply trying to stay alive... Some of these stories are of hardship & brutality that is hard to bear, but she also gives testimony to touches of humanity along the way: how people live under the gaze of a sniper...how principled young men try to resist orders from their military superiors...how children cope in the bunkers... Yazbek`s portraits of life in Syria are very real, her prose is luminous. The Crossing will undoubtedly become a classic: as both a historical document & a work of literature. ...

”ONE OF THE FIRST POLITICAL CLASSICS OF THE 21st CENTURY”. (Observer). ”EXTRAORDINARILY POWERFUL, POIGNANT & AFFECTING. I WAS GREATLY MOVED”. (Michael Palin). FOREWORD BY CHRISTINA LAMB. Journalist Samar Yazbek was forced into exile by Assad`s regime. When the uprising in Syria turned to bloodshed, she was determined to take action & secretly returned several times. The Crossing is her rare, powerful & courageous testament to what she found inside the borders of her homel&. From the first peaceful protests for democracy to the arrival of ISIS, she bears witness to those struggling to survive, to the humanity that can flower amidst annihilation, & why so many are now desperate to flee. ...