` Quite simply a masterpiece.. . I am completely bowled over by it; by the power of its writing, by the vividness of its scene painting & by the stories it tells` A. N. Wilson` Where there is great love there are always miracles` Two French priests have been sent to New Mexico to reawaken the faith. There, they must contend with unforgiving landscapes, danger, rebellion & loneliness. But through their many years together they are sustained by faith, friendship & the awe-inspiring majesty that surrounds them. A work of great simplicity & sublime beauty, Willa Cather`s acclaimed novel asks, what is a life well lived? Death Comes for the Archbishop is a masterpiece by the author of O Pioneers! & the great novelist of American frontier life.` Its whole effect works slowly & mysteriously.. . a major, & rare, artistic achievement` A. S. Byatt ...

The Trials are over. WICKED have collected all the information they can. Now it`s up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test. But something has happened that no-one at WICKED has foreseen: Thomas has remembered more than they think. & he knows WICKED can`t be trusted.. . The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than anyone could have imagined. With the Gladers divided, can they all make it? ...

London: 1883. Sidney Grice is London`s foremost personal detective. Called away to Yorkshire, he leaves his ward, March Middleton, to run his house. But hearth & home hold little charm for March, who harbours dreams of becoming London`s foremost, & first, lady detective. So, when a mysterious letter arrives from her long-lost uncle, she accepts his invitation to stay at the palatial Saturn Villa. Her new Uncle Tolly is sweet, eccentric &
- come the morning
- very, very dead. But March is not called upon to solve the case, instead she`s in the frame for murder. THE GOWER STREET DETECTIVE SERIES: The Mangle Street Murders. The Curse of the House of Foskett. Death Descends on Saturn Villa.

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Chris Pascoe is fascinated by the English Civil War. He also likes beer. So when the thought came to him to set out on a pub crawl around the sites of the English Civil War, it was an idea too good to ignore. Helped (or should that be hindered) by his best mate Pete, Chris sets out to see for himself the sites of five years of English carnage, & their nearest watering holes. Their trek might not be as bloody as the war they are following, but with ghosts, skinheads & drunken friends to deal with, Chris has still got a battle on his hands to reach the journey`s end. ...

Set in 1933, with Germany sliding under Gestapo’s control, Marek Krajewski’s Death in Breslau is a powerful thriller bringing to life this interesting city which 12 years later would pass to Poland & become Wroclaw. Mutilated bodies of a young woman & her ladies’ maid are found dead on a train. Scorpions writhe in their slashed stomach
- a horrifying image that becomes crucial to the investigation. Inspector Eberhard Mock is called in to deal with the case, & is assigned an assistant, Herbert Anwaldt, an orphan. The investigation leads them deep into the city’s dirty underbelly, where perverted aristocrats cavort with prostitutes, corrupt ministers torture confessions from lowly Jews & Freemasons guard their secrets with blackmail & daggers. As Mock & Anwaldt unravel a mystery of ritual killing that dates back to the time of the Crusades, the elderly Mock & the young, fatherless Anwaldt become close. But the dark, occult aspect of this most macabre of cases might prove too much for Anwaldt’s sanity before a solution is secured. Krajewski`s evocative tale is uncommonly powerful, particularly in the stifling atmosphere he conjures of a city in the grip of the Gestapo. His depiction of the sinister, beautiful, corrupt city of Breslau is not only the vehicle for his dark & gripping stories but a notable literary achievement in itself. The book is part of Marek Krajewski’s series of thrillers featuring Inspector Mock (the remaining titles are yet to be translated into English). The end of the Communist rule in Poland ushered in a wave of interest in the history of regions which before World War II belonged to Germany, particularly of Wroclaw & Gransk, & produced several outstanding novels describing both the pre-war days & the painful change of identity under the new regime.
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Lorenzo de` Medici: The embodiment of Florence`s most powerful family, a brutal man who ruled the city with an iron fist, whilst protecting it from the shifting mire of Italian politics. Fra Girolamo Savonarola: An unprepossessing provincial monk whose sermons, filled with Old Testament fury, resonated with the disenfranchised population of the city. The battle between these two men would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events
- including a mighty foreign invasion, trial by fire, the ` Bonfire of the Vanities`, terrible executions & mysterious deaths
- featuring a cast of the most important & charismatic Renaissance figures.

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By the end of the fifteenth century, Florence was well established as the home of the Renaissance. As generous patrons to the likes of Botticelli & Michelangelo, the ruling Medici embodied the progressive humanist spirit of the age, & in Lorenzo the Magnificent they possessed a diplomat capable of guarding the militarily weak city in a climate of constantly shifting allegiances between the major Italian powers. However, in the form of Savonarola, an unprepossessing provincial monk, Lorenzo found his nemesis. Filled with Old Testament fury & prophecies of doom, Savonarola's sermons reverberated among a disenfranchised population, who preferred medieval Biblical certainties to the philosophical interrogations & intoxicating surface glitter of the Renaissance. Savonarola's aim was to establish a ' City of God' for his followers, a new kind of democratic state, the likes of which the world had never seen before. The battle which this provoked would be a fight to the death, a series of sensational events
- invasions, trials by fire, the ' Bonfire of the Vanities', terrible executions & mysterious deaths
- featuring a cast of the most important & charismatic Renaissance figures. This famous struggle has often been portrayed as a simple clash of wills between a benign ruler & religious fanatic, between secular pluralism & repressive extremism. However, in an exhilaratingly rich & deeply researched story, Paul Strathern reveals the paradoxes, self-doubts & political compromises which made the battle for the soul of the Renaissance city one of the most complex & important moments in Western history.

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Florence, October 1966. The rain is never-ending. When a young boy vanishes on his way home from school the police fear the worst, & Inspector Bordelli begins an increasingly desperate investigation. Then the flood hits. During the night of 4th November the swollen River Arno, already lapping the arches of the Ponte Vecchio, breaks its banks & overwhelms the city. Streets become rushing torrents, the force of the water sweeping away cars & trees, doors, shutters & anything else in its wake. In the aftermath of this unimaginable tragedy the mystery of the child`s disappearance seems destined to go unsolved. But obstinate as ever, Bordelli is not prepared to give up. ...

Capital punishment in London, its history & basis, is the theme of this new book on a darker side of London's history. London had many sites of execution, Tyburn, of course, but also Clerkenwell, Wapping, Kennington & Tower Hill among others. The spectacle, in the opinion of the authorities, provided deterrence, though more often it was a grisly form of public entertainment. The author has researched archives for accounts of executions & the book is well illustrated. ...

Can the US president really just disappear into thin air...? Helen Barclay, the first female of the United States, has been kidnapped on a state visit to Norway: it is up to the FBI & the Norwegian police to work together to find her. But their enemy is far more powerful than they could ever imagine. The President`s abduction represents the biggest threat to homeland security since 9/11. However, as Johanne Vik assists on the investigation she learns that the private life of President Barclay is also under attack. There are those who would stop at nothing to destroy the leader of the free world. & in a twist of fate, secrets from Johanne`s own past are at risk of being revealed, jeopardising all she has worked for & endangering the lives of those she loves most... The third instalment in the gripping Vik/ Stubo series. ...