A breathtaking feat of scholarship` The Times. `I can do no more than praise, recommend, insist that you buy & read this book. It supersedes all other Dickens biographies` Anthony Burgess, Independent. In Peter Ackroyd`s abridged edition of his classic biography of Charles Dickens, the acclaimed biographer takes us to the heart of one of the world`s greatest writers. From Dickens`s birth in Portsmouth to his death at the age of just fifty-eight, Ackroyd explores the life of this renowned author & the hundreds of characters who were born with Dickens but didn`t die with him, living on for ever in the pages of his books, on the radio & the television & film screens. ...

Five story books, each a classic Dickens novel retold for younger readers, presented in a beautifully designed gift box. The stories are: Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, A Tale of Two Cities & Great Expectations. All titles are taken from the Usborne Reading Programme. ...

” Charles Dickens, Francais naturalise, et Citoyen de Paris.” This is how Dickens signed a letter from France to his friend John Forster in 1847. Behind the joke lay a fascination for French life & culture & a sense of affinity with the country that would take him back often & that would find expression in some of his finest work. ” Dickens on France” brings together short stories, extracts from novels & travel writing. Among its journalistic highlights, are accounts of a train journey from London to Paris, a rough Channel crossing, the pleasures of Boulogne, & Parisian life in the 1850s & 1860s. Extracts from the travelogue Pictures from Italy, take us by coach from Paris to Marseille. The selected short stories include ” His Boots”, a section of ” Mrs Lirriper`s Legacy” & ” The Boy at Mugby”, & there are extracts from ”A Tale of Two Cities”, ” Little Dorrit”, ” Dombey & Son”, ” Nicholas Nickleby”, & ” Our Mutual Friend”. Dickens was interested primarily in the character of places he visited, the behaviour of people he observed in them, & in the sensation & psychology of travelling. These preoccupations keep the writing fresh & accessible. It requires no leap through time to appreciate his musings on his fellow passengers, his reflections on sitting in a Paris cafe, his random exploration of city streets or small country towns, or his opposition to cultural bigotry. Infused with energy, perception & open-mindedness, this collection vividly evokes life in France & Britain in the nineteenth century & reminds us, however much progress we make, how little we change. ” Dickens on France” is extensively annotated to provide historical & autobiographical contexts, & to highlight literary & other allusions. Brief chapter introductions & a general introduction to the volume, highlight key aspects of the selections & discuss the nature of Dickens`s enduring relationship with France. ...

The sense of place was of the utmost importance for Dickens, & nowhere is more synonymous with his name than London. The most splendid of all his characters, the city was the subject of scrupulous research: Dickens spent several hours a day exploring its streets & inhabitants. The pieces collected here reveal London to be the primary inspiration for one of the geniuses of English literature. ...

Few novelists have written so intimately about a city as Charles Dickens wrote about London. A near-photographic memory made his contact with the city indelible from a very young age & it remained his constant focus. In the first half of this book Peter Clark illuminates the settings of Dickens`s London scenes as they feature in his writing. Outside London, Kent meant more to Dickens than any other part of Britain. He had an idyllic childhood in Chatham & Kent features in his first works of fiction
- Sketches by Boz & The Pickwick Papers & in his favourite novel, David Copperfield. In his last ten years he wrote two novels with strong Kentish themes
- Great Expectations & The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He had his honeymoon outside Gravesend, & often spent the summer months in Broadstairs. Returning from one of his regular visits to Europe, he was in a railway accident at Staplehurst; an event that left a psychological mark on him for the rest of his life. In 1856 he bought Gad`s Hill Place, near Rochester, & eventually died there. The second half of this book takes the reader to the places Dickens knew & imaginatively wove into the tapestry of his stories: Chatham & Rochester, Canterbury & Dover.

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Over 200 stunning archive photographs, most of which have never been published before, illustrate this mesmerising guide ...

One of the titles in the topographic survey of the Svalbard group published in a colour version, available for the western coast, central & southern part of Spitzbergen, plus two small islands of Svenskøya & Kongsøya. The map has contours at 25-metre intervals, bold relief shading & spot heights, & shows settlements, roads & tracks, working & disused mines, airfields, lighthouses & radio beacons, etc. A grid gives UTM co-ordinates plus latitude in steps of 10` & longitude in 20’. The rest of Spitzbergen, Nordaustlandet, Edgeøya & other small islands are covered by black & white maps with contours only. Most of these maps show no geographical names, as indicated in the individual descriptions of each title. ...

` Laws are silent in times of war.` Cicero There was a time when Cicero held Caesar`s life in the palm of his h&. But now Caesar is the dominant figure & Cicero`s life is in ruins. Exiled, separated from his wife & children, his possessions confiscated, his life constantly in danger, Cicero is tormented by the knowledge that he has sacrificed power for the sake of his principles. His comeback requires wit, skill & courage
- & for a brief & glorious period, the legendary orator is once more the supreme senator in Rome. But politics is never static & no statesman, however cunning, can safeguard against the ambition & corruption of others. Riveting & tumultuous, Dictator encompasses some of the most epic events in human history yet is also an intimate portrait of a brilliant, flawed, frequently fearful yet ultimately brave man
- a hero for his time & for ours. This is an unforgettable tour de force from a master storyteller.

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” Confirms Harris` undisputed place as our leading master of both the historical & contemporary thriller”. (Daily Mail). There was a time when Cicero held Caesar`s life in the palm of his h&. But now Caesar is the dominant figure & Cicero`s life is in ruins. Cicero`s comeback requires wit, skill & courage. & for a brief & glorious period, the legendary orator is once more the supreme senator in Rome. But politics is never static. & no statesman, however cunning, can safeguard against the ambition & corruption of others. ” The finest fictional treatment of Ancient Rome in the English language”. (Scotsman). ...

Literacy, long upheld as a standard bearer for progress, is not always a force for good. Had Stalin`s mother never sent him to the seminary he never would have learned to read & so never discovered the works of Marx or Lenin. Instead he probably would have ended up like his father
- a cobbler by trade & a drunk by vocation. Throughout the twentieth century dictators subjected captive audiences to soul-killing prose on a massive scale. They published theoretical works, spiritual manifestos, poetry collections, memoirs & even romance novels. Armed with nothing but a darkly humorous wit, Daniel Kalder journeys long into the literary night to discover what their tomes reveal about the dictatorial soul. From the staggeringly vile & incompetent Mein Kampf, & the `miracles` wrought by former librarian Mao`s Little Red Book, up to the ongoing exploits of North Korea`s Kim dynasty, Dictator Literature is an unforgettable look at the power of the pen.
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