Peter Hopkirk’s “ On Secret Service East of Constantinople” tells the history, in thrilling style, of the least-remembered front of the First World War, the German-Turkish attempt to weaken the British & Russian empires in Central Asia & India. Here, told in epic detail & for the first time, is the true story behind John Buchan’s classic wartime thriller “ Greenmantle”, recounted through the adventures & misadventures of the secret agents & others who took part in it. It is an ominously topical tale today in view of the continuing turmoil in the volatile region where the “ Great Game” has never really ceased. Peter Hopkirk is a veteran journalist & is widely recognized as an authority on the complex history of Central Asia. This is one of several books he has written on the region. ...

Why do we keep sheep? Alex Linden ruminates as he watches his sheep ruminating. Naive & inexperienced, he has ditched his doctoral studies in order to move to a fully working farm in the country with his family, where he is tasked with the responsibility of caring for a herd of sheep. Linden records his new life in his diary, as he tries to manage life on the farm, the ever-escaping sheep & the trials & tribulations that come with being a shepherd
- shearing, lambing & confronting the slaughterhouse. As time passes & he gradually settles into the rhythm of shepherding, his naivete fades away & is replaced with stark realisations about what is now his everyday life. He finds himself applying his experiences of animal husbandry to consider our place
- as individuals & as a collective organism
- in the universe. Is he really the one caring for the sheep, or are they the ones keeping him? Linden finds both companionship in his flock & a sound, if complex, moral framework for examining the lives we lead. The result is a sensitive & entertaining meditation on the small wonders in our world. Translated by Frank Perry.


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Longlisted for the 2015 Thwaites Wainwright Prize
- Silbury Hill in Wiltshire has inspired & perplexed people for generations.
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Stalin was the unchallenged dictator of the Soviet Union for so long that most historians have dismissed the officials surrounding him as mere yes-men & political window dressing. On Stalin`s Team overturns this view, revealing that behind Stalin was a group of loyal men who formed a remarkably effective team with him from the late 1920s until his death in 1953. Drawing on extensive original research, Sheila Fitzpatrick provides the first in-depth account of this inner circle & their families, vividly describing how these dedicated comrades-in-arms not only worked closely with Stalin, whom they both feared & admired, but also constituted his social circle. Readers meet the wily security chief Beria, whom the rest of the team quickly had executed following Stalin`s death; Stalin`s number-two man, Molotov, who continued on the team even after his wife was arrested & exiled; the charismatic Ordzhonikidze, who ran the country`s industry with entrepreneurial flair; Andreev, who traveled to provincial purges while listening to Beethoven on a portable gramophone; & Khrushchev, who finally disbanded the team four years after Stalin`s death. Among the book`s surprising findings are that Stalin almost always worked with the team on important issues & that after his death the team managed a brilliant transition to a reforming collective leadership. Taking readers from the cataclysms of the Great Purges & World War II to the paranoia of Stalin`s final years, On Stalin`s Team paints an entirely new picture of Stalin within his milieu--one that transforms our understanding of how the Soviet Union was ruled during much of its existence. ...

Stalin was the unchallenged dictator of the Soviet Union for so long that most historians have dismissed the officials surrounding him as mere yes-men & political window dressing. On Stalin`s Team overturns this view, revealing that behind Stalin was a group of loyal men who formed a remarkably effective team with him from the late 1920s until his death in 1953. Drawing on extensive original research, Sheila Fitzpatrick provides the first in-depth account of this inner circle & their families. She vividly describes how these dedicated comrades-in-arms not only worked closely with Stalin, but also constituted his social circle. Stalin`s team included the wily security chief Beria; Andreev, who traveled to provincial purges while listening to Beethoven on a portable gramophone; & Khrushchev, who finally disbanded the team four years after Stalin`s death. Taking readers from the cataclysms of the Great Purges & World War II to the paranoia of Stalin`s final years, On Stalin`s Team paints an entirely new picture of Stalin within his milieu--one that transforms our understanding of how the Soviet Union was ruled during much of its existence. ...

This is a moving love story & a vivid depiction of Berlin in the 1870s, from Germany`s greatest nineteenth-century novelist Theodor Fontane. Lene is a beautiful, orphaned young seamstress, & Botho is a handsome, aristocratic cavalry officer. They are in love, yet know they have only a short time together as society deems their relationship impossible & refuses to acknowledge the seriousness of their feelings. But while Botho appears to have a glittering life ahead of him, the love he feels may yet be his undoing. Published in 1887, On Tangled Paths caused a scandal on publication with its portrayal of a sexual affair across the classes, & is a taut, flawless masterpiece. Theodor Fontane was born in the Prussian province of Brandenburg in 1819. After qualifying as a pharmacist, he made his living as a writer. From 1855 to 1859, he lived in London & worked as a freelance journalist & press agent for the Prussian embassy. While working as a war correspondent during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1 he was taken prisoner, but released after two months. His first novel, Before the Storm, was published when he was fifty-eight & was followed by sixteen further novels, of which Effi Briest, No Way Back & On Tangled Paths are all published in Penguin Classics. He died in 1898. Peter James Bowman completed a Ph D on Fontane at Cambridge University, & now works as a writer & translator. ” On Tangled Paths has the flawless logic & beautiful design of the novella at its best”. (Paul Binding, The Spectator). ” There is an undertow of sadness to this novel, yet to read it is a joy, for its humanity, subtlety & visual immediacy”. (Ruth Pavey, The Independent). ” Theodor Fontane`s first true masterpiece; it has a perfect beginning, a perfect ending, & no superfluous sentence in between”. (Henry Garland). ...

After the war is over, a radioactive cloud begins to sweep southwards on the winds, gradually poisoning everything in its path. An American submarine captain is among the survivors left sheltering in Australia, preparing with the locals for the inevitable. Despite his memories of his wife, he becomes close to a young woman struggling to accept the harsh realities of their situation. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up, transmitting from the United States & the submarine must set sail through the bleak ocean to search for signs of life. ” On the Beach” is Nevil Shute`s most powerful novel. Both gripping & intensely moving, its impact is unforgettable. ...

On the Black Hill is an elegantly written tale of identical twin brothers who grow up on a farm in rural Wales & never leave home. They till the rough soil & sleep in the same bed, touched only occasionally by the advances of the 20th century. In depicting the lives of Benjamin & Lewis & their interactions with their small local community Chatwin comments movingly on the larger questions of human experience. ...

Estienne Barbier, born in the Loire Valley in 1699, lays claim to service in the armies of the kings of France & Prussia, but he is an inveterate liar, & the truth is less glorious: irate husbands have made the Lowlands too hot to hold him, & he has deserted his pregnant wife to stow away for the Cape of Good Hope. An expedition to the hinterland opens his eyes to the majesty of the African landscape & its wondrous animals & he is enchanted by the rumour of a fabled city of gold. But he also begins to see clearly the sordid dealing that underlies the self-righteous pomposity of the East India Company. It is a vision that makes him powerful enemies. Taking cover on a remote farm, & energetically consoling sundry widows, Barbier finds himself, to his own surprise, fomenting rebellion. ...

Couchsurfing? Surely a sofa would sink on the open sea? Couchsurfing is a global community of over a million people in 232 countries that offers couches, beds & body-sized horizontal surfaces via the internet for fellow members to bunk down on for the night. Couchsurfing is everywhere, from Kazakhstan, where there are 124 empty couches for the daring traveller, to Antartica where 30 cold couches are available. It`s free, it`s friendly & it`s the new way to travel. Fleur Britten, Sunday Times features writer is about to lose her couchsurfing virginity. Starting out in Moscow & taking the Trans-Siberian Railway with a couple of stops in Siberia & Ulan Ude, she`ll then fly to Beijing & travel through China, crossing into Kazakhstan, followed by Ubekistan. Finding couches in the unlikeliest of places finally arriving back in London to play host to other couchsurfers. With the promise of `couch available` rarely entailing a couch alone, with stories of meals, unofficial local tours & a family-like welcome, she will explore the unique couchsurfing community & so-called `couchsurfing spirit`. What motivates people to invite strangers to sleep on their sofas? How is it possible to couchsurf & stay safe & what is it that is it that has made couchsurfing such a phenomenon? This is an adventure of kindness that will lead Fleur to meet the most unusual people & visit the most unexpected places. Combined with revealing, candid images this promises to be much, much more than your average travelogue. ...