” There is, ” said the marzipan pig, ”such sweetness in me!” From the inimitable team of Russell Hoban & Quentin Blake, the pair behind Captain Najork & The Twenty Elephant Restaurant, comes an enchanting story of a little pig made from marzipan. Fallen behind the sofa, nobody hears the lost marzipan pig`s cries for help. &, after many months, a mouse discovers him & eats him up, having never known such sweetness. But a longing to be loved passes from the marzipan pig to the mouse.. . & so begins a curious chain of events featuring a dancing owl, a glowing taxi meter, a buzzing bee & a pinky-orange hibiscus flower
- all triggered by the little lost marzipan pig. Each encounter more wonderful & more romantic than the last, just how far will the marzipan`s sweetness travel?
...

English crime novelist Charles Latimer is travelling in Istanbul when he makes the acquaintance of Turkish police inspector Colonel Haki. It is from him that he first hears of the mysterious Dimitrios
- an infamous master criminal, long wanted by the law, whose body has just been fished out of the Bosphorus. Fascinated by the story, Latimer decides to retrace Dimitrios` steps across Europe to gather material for a new book. But, as he gradually discovers more about his subject`s shadowy history, fascination tips over into obsession. &, in entering Dimitrios` criminal underworld, Latimer realizes that his own life may be on the line.
...

Colette lives with her mother, making beautiful dresses for the rich women of Venice. She`s never known her father, & her mother won`t speak of him
- but Colette`s embroidery moves & dances, & she`s sure that there`s magic in her blood.. . And then Colette discovers the truth: her father is a famous maskmaker & a powerful magician. But when he`s ordered to create a mask that will bend others to its will, the magic becomes too strong for him to resist. Can Colette, with the help of a talking alley cat called Max, save him?
...

Moving beyond travelogue, The Masque of Afric” considers the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity & Islam, the cults of leaders & mythical history) upon the progress of African civilization. Beginning in Uganda, at the centre of the continent, Naipaul`s journey takes in Ghana & Nigeria, the Ivory Coast & Gabon, & ends, as the country does, in South Africa. Focusing upon the theme of belief
- though sometimes the political or economical realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account
- Naipaul examines the fragile but enduring quality of the old world of magic.

...

Reportage resists easy definition & comes in many forms
- travel essay, narrative history, autobiography
- but at its finest

...

Mikhail Bulgakov`s ” The Master & Margarita” is a fiercely satirical fantasy that remained unpublished in its author`s home country for over thirty years. This ” Penguin Classics” edition is translated with an introduction by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky, the acclaimed translators of Tolstoy`s Anna Karenina. In Soviet Moscow, God is dead, but the devil
- to say nothing of his retinue of demons, from a loudmouthed, gun-toting tomcat, to the fanged fallen angel Koroviev
- is very much alive. As death & destruction spread through the city like wildfire, condemning Moscow`s cultural elite to prison cells & body bags, only a madman, the ” Master & Margarita”, his beautiful, courageous lover, can hope to end the chaos. Written in secret during the darkest days of Stalin`s reign & circulated in samizdat form for decades, when ” The Master & the Margarita” was finally published it became an overnight literary phenomenon, signalling artistic freedom for Russians everywhere. This luminous translation from the complete & unabridged Russian text is accompanied by an introduction by Richard Pevear exploring the extraordinary circumstances of the novel`s composition & publication, & how Bulgakov drew on carnivalesque folk traditions to create his ironic subversion of Soviet propaganda. This edition also contains a list of further reading & a note on the text. After finishing high school, Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) entered the Medical School of Kiev University, graduating in 1916. He wrote about his experiences as a doctor in his early works ” Notes of a Young Country Doctor”. His later works treated the subject of the artist & the tyrant under the guise of historical characters, but ” The Master & Margarita” is generally considered his masterpiece. If you enjoyed ” The Master & Margarita”, you might like Jonathan Swift`s ” Gulliver`s Travels”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” One of the great novels of the 20th century, a scary, darkly comic allegory”. (” Daily Telegraph”).

...

` Manuscripts don`t burn`. In Soviet Moscow, God is dead, but the devil
- to say nothing of his retinue of demons, from a loudmouthed,
...

THE ORIGINAL & BEST TRANSLATION BY MICHAEL GLENNY 50th Anniversary Edition. Afterwards, when it was frankly too late, descriptions were issued of the man: expensive grey suit, grey beret, one green eye & the other black. He arrives in Moscow one hot summer afternoon with various alarming accomplices, including a demonic, fast-talking black cat. When he leaves, the asylums are full & the forces of law & order are in disarray. Only the Master, a man devoted to truth, & Margarita, the woman he loves, can resist the devil`s onslaught. Brilliant & blackly comic, The Master & Margarita was repressed by Stalin`s authorities & only published after the author`s death. The Vintage Classic Russians Series: Published for the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, these are must-have, beautifully designed editions of six epic masterpieces that have survived controversy, censorship & suppression to influence decades of thought & artistic expression. ...

The K Apartments for Ladies in Tokyo conceals a sinister past behind each door; a woman who has buried a child; a scavenger mad by ill-health; a wife mysteriously guarding her late husband`s manuscripts; a talented violinist tortured by her own guilt. The master key, which opens the door to all 150 rooms, links their tangled stories. But now it has been stolen, & dirty tricks are afoot. ...

Master painter Hans Memling is without peer in the artistic world of fifteenth-century Bruges. But when he falls in love with the Princess Marie, daughter of his powerful patron, the Duke of Burgundy, his life begins to unravel. Made reckless by his passion for Marie, Hans accepts an invitation to visit old allies in London. But there he will find himself plunged into the final stages of the War of the Roses & embroiled in one of the greatest political mysteries of all time. At once a spellbinding historical thriller & a vivid examination of the artistic impulse, The Master of Bruges is an enthralling debut. 'A stunning debut.. . An intelligent & exciting new voice in historical fiction'
- Lancashire Evening Post.
...