Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church & the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials & the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved. But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege
- a black cockerel sacrificed on the alter, & the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic. Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer & long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery & death. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, & everything that he intrinsically believes.
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Edward has lost his short term-memory. He hopes it will return when he sees the cottage in which he lives. He recognizes his overcoat on the hook, his books, the double bed. The mystery however, is Naomi. Edward has no recollection of who she is or why she has left him a love letter. With Thubron's customary clarity he draws a bleak, amnesiac world in which a young man must face again old griefs & linger 'like a coward, just this side of knowing'. On the other side, the memory of a destructive, obsessive relationship looms. ...

Anna Schoene is a golden child. Her parents, Joseph & Genevieve, were rich American expats in Shanghai before the Japanese invaded, before the war intervened. The child of missionaries, Joseph Schoene has made his fortune on his wits; he is a man in love with China, his daughter, & with the idea of taking risks. For the young Anna, Shanghai is a magical world; she loves the city as much as her father does. But when the Japanese invade & when war comes, even Anna knows that their life in China is over. Joseph sends his wife & daughter back to America with the promise that they will soon be reunited, but, despite imprisonment by the Japanese & the loss of much of his fortune, for decades he cannot bring himself to follow them. Anna grows up half way across the world from her home & her father, & it is only over the years that she gradually learns Joseph's real story the story both of his Chinese past &, finally, that of his old age in California. ...

In Distant Snows, mountaineer John Harding recollects his worldwide adventures spanning sixty years across Europe, Iran, East Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand & the Arctic. He climbed many classic peaks including Mont Blanc, Mount Kenya, & Mount Cook, explored obscure ranges, & pioneered ski mountaineering expeditions in Turkey, Spain & Greece. Written with candour, a sharp eye for the tragicomic & with a sympathetic insight into the history & culture of indigenous mountain peoples, Harding`s compelling narrative proclaims the power of nature, the glory of landscape & the spirit of the mountains. Distant Snows is a window into the mind & passions of a mountaineer while faithfully preserving the memory of the many characters who accompanied him on his mountain odyssey. With a foreword by the celebrated explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison, Distant Snows offers tales of serious undertakings as well as more leisurely exploits, complemented by Harding`s personal photographs & h&-drawn maps. This is a must-read for mountaineers, lovers of the natural world & those with aspirations of adventure. ...

An unnamed narrator attempts to piece together the life & works of an enigmatic would-be poet turned military assassin during Pinochet`s regime in Chile. In the early 1970s Alberto Ruiz-Tagle was a little-known poet living in southern Chile. After the military coup of 1973 that brought in the dictatorship of General Pinochet, he embarked upon a new career that involved him in committing murder & other brutalities, & subsequently led to his emergence as a lieutenant in the Chilean air force under his actual name, Carlos Wieder. Some time later the narrator, now held in a prison camp, looks up & sees a World War II airplane writing the first words of the ” Book of Genesis” in smoke in the sky. The aviator is none other Carlos Wieder, launching his own version of the New Chilean Poetry. Roberto Bolano`s novel is a chilling investigation of the fascist mentality & the limits of evil, as seen in its effects on a literary sensibility, as well as a gripping intellectual thriller. It shows a great writer at the height of his powers. ...

We are able to source a wide range flags in many sizes, sewn or printed on 100% Ministry Of Defence Standard Woven & Knitted Polyester. Flags are supplied with rope & toggle. If you would like more information, have a custom size request or cannot find a desired product, please email us at maritime@stanfords.co.uk. We will be glad to help! ...

Buoyage/ Distress signals laminated card. Side One
- IALA Buoyage
- Region A & the Mediterranean, Port & Starboard Lateral

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John Lanchester, author of Whoops! & Capital takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Tube to show its secrets, just how much we take for granted about it, & what we're really talking about, since we so often do talk about it. In short, he shows what a marvel it is
- part of a series of twelve books tied to the twelve lines of the London Underground, as Tfl celebrates 150 years of the Tube with Penguin. Also available in a boxset: Perhaps best of all [in the series] is John Lanchester's essay, which gets the balance between humour & history just right, & made me feel a new fondness for the somewhat creaky & unreliable District line. (Observer). If ever you want a short book about the tube, its history & what it means today, then this is it. (A Common Reader). One of the most thoughtful of these new books... John Lanchester explains in his specially lucid way how the Underground is still shaping London. (Evening Standard). Authors include the masterly John Lanchester, the children of Kids Company, comic John O' Farrell & social geographer Danny Dorling. Ranging from the polemical to the fantastical, the personal to the societal, they offer something for every taste. All experience the city as a cultural phenomenon & notice its nature & its people. Read individually they're delightful small reads, pulled together they offer a particular portrait of a global city. (Evening Standard). Exquisitely diverse. (The Times). Eclectic & broad-minded.. .beautifully designed. (Tom Cox, Observer). A fascinating collection with a wide range of styles & themes. The design qualities are excellent, as you might expect from Penguin with a consistent look & feel while allowing distinctive covers for each book. This is a very pleasing set of books. (A Common Reader blog). The contrasts & transitions between books are as stirring as the books themselves...A multidimensional literary jigsaw. (Londonist). A series of short, sharp, city-based vignettes
- some personal, some political & some pictorial.. .each inimitable author finds that our city is complicated but ultimately connected, full of wit, & just the right amount of grit. (Fabric Magazine). A collection of beautiful books. (Grazia). Praise for John Lanchester: If you want to look like a rock of good sense, a person who is deep & wise & worried, then I suggest... John Lanchester. (Colm Toibin). Genius. (India Knight). Razor sharp. (John O' Farrell). John Lanchester is the best-selling author of, among others, Capital & Whoops!

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Balthazar Kovacs, a detective on Budapest`s murder squad, is on the trail of a dead man. Minutes ago, Kovacs received an anonymous SMS showing a body & an address: 26 Republic Square
- the former Communist Party headquarters & once the most feared building in the country. But now, amid the ruins of the demolished building, Kovacs finds no dead body, just six members of the Gendarmerie
- an elite police force reporting directly to the prime minister
- & an invitation to hand over his phone & cease his investigation. Kovacs has taken his first step on a journey deep into Budapest`s dark heart, towards a deadly intersection of the criminal underworld, the corridors of power & the ghosts of history. A journey that will force him to choose between the law & family loyalty. Review: ` This sophisticated thriller blends expert storytelling & social commentary.. . Written with authority & verve, it takes the reader on a chilling journey` The Lady. ` More than just a procedural crime, it`s a real novel with an interesting theme. I haven`t been to Budapest but will now` Frost magazine. ` The real joy about the novel comes in the descriptions of Budapest, which rival any guide book. Le Bor clearly knows every nook of the city & its various districts` Jewish Chronicle. ` The discipline necessary for a successful journalist comes through very clearly in his work.. . Everything he writes about is well researched, & essentially believable. He blurs fact & fiction in his stories` Trip Fiction. `A cleverly written crime thriller.. . the crime-reading public is in for a treat as District VIII satisfies every need on a crime story, heroism, villains, corruption & justice.. . You won`t regret picking this book up!` Books Books Books. ` Le Bor writes fiction with the scrupulous focus of the journalist.. . the world he creates is driven by the sharp edge of reality` Alan Furst. `A first-class crime thriller.. . with an original & engaging protagonist` Charles Cumming. ` Adam Le Bor reveals that crime fiction still has exciting new avenues to explore` Val Mc Dermid. Author Biography: Adam Le Bor is a veteran foreign correspondent who has covered Hungary & eastern Europe since 1990. He is the author of thirteen books, including Hitler`s Secret Bankers, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. He writes for the Economist, Financial Times & Monocle. He divides his time between Budapest & London.


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John Wilder is in his mid-thirties, a successful salesman with a place in the country, an adoring wife & a ten-year-old son. But something is wrong. His family no longer interests him, his infidelities are leading him nowhere & he has begun to drink too much. Then one night, something inside John snaps & he calls his wife to tell her that he isn`t coming home... ...