This volume records in detail the dramatic events of an episode which grabbed headlines across the world. Having left St Katharine's Dock, London, to sail around the world, Peter & Shirley Billing were taken at gunpoint from their yacht in the Red Sea. Fortunately they were keeping a regular radio schedule with other voyagers so their disappearance from the radio waves was noticed immediately. Accused of spying, the Billings protested their innocence at every turn, yet it was the efforts made on their behalf by fellow sailors, friends & relatives in Engl&, press coverage & assistance from British authorities that achieved their release a month later, when they were eventually returned to their yacht & could continue their circumnavigation. This account tells how the innocent cruisers were arrested on spying charges, & shows cruisers the dangers of sailing in many areas of the Third World. ...

One of the well-known series of Imray Pilots, designed specially for the leisure sailing market. These books contain detailed charts of the main harbours & anchorages, & in some cases photos of the approaches or even aerial views. Each entry

Includes:: information on approaches & port facilities & also some general information for visitors. Covers the entire Red Sea from Aden to the Suez Canal.

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Red Sea Wall Map at 1:2, 000, 000 from Gizi Map with lists of diving sites & wrecks along its shores, an enlargement of southern Sinai & its coastal waters, plus street plans of Sharm el Sheikh & Hurghada with tourist information. Coverage extends from Port Said & the Suez Canal beyond the Bab-el-Mandeb Straights to Djibouti City & Aden (Adan). On land in its northern section the map extends west to include the whole of the Nile Valley from Cairo to Aswan & Abu Simbel, & east to Tel Aviv & Amman. All place names are in Latin alphabet, with names of main towns also shown in Arabic.* Information on sea:* The map has bathymetric colouring with additional sea depths. Numerous small islands are shown & named, as well as coral reefs & marine parks or other protected areas. Overprint highlights & names locations of numerous diving sites & famous wrecks.* Information on land:* Excellent presentation of the topography, with altitude colouring, spot heights & names of mountain ranges, etc. The map shows road & rail networks, airports & internal administrative boundaries with names of the provinces. Places of interest, including numerous sights along the Nile Valley & on Sinai, are highlighted. Also marked are oil & gas extraction sites. The map has latitude & longitude lines at intervals of 1º. Map legend

Includes:: English & Arabic.* Additional
Features:* An enlargement at 1:800, 000 covers central & southern Sinai with the Gulfs of Suez & Aqaba plus Hurghada & its coastal waters. Also provided are street plan of the coastal strips around Sharm El Sheikh & Hurghada, each with a more detailed plan of the central area. All highlight tourist accommodation & various places of interest. The map also

Includes:: an index of diving sites in each country, plus a list of famous wrecks, each with a brief description in English.




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Ever wondered how to predict the weather just by looking at the sky? Or wanted to attract butterflies to your garden? Is there a knack to building the perfect bonfire? & how exactly do you race a ferret? In this world of traffic tailbacks, supermarket shopping & 24-hour internet access, it`s easy to feel disconnected from the beauty & rhythms of the natural world. If you have ever gazed in awe at stars in the night`s sky, tried to catch a perfect snowflake or longed for the comfort of a roaring log fire, then this is the book for you. From spotting Britain`s five kinds of owl to gardening by the phases of the moon, & from curing a cold to brewing your own ale, ” Red Sky at Night” is packed with instructions & lists, ancient customs & old wives tales, making it an indispensable guide to countryside lore. ...

` The black earth was already baking & the sun was just rising when they mounted their horses & rode across the grasslands towards the horizon on fire.. .` Imprisoned in the Gulags for a crime he did not commit, Benya Golden joins a penal battalion made up of Cossacks & convicts to fight the Nazis. He enrols in the Russian cavalry, & on a hot summer day in July 1942, he & his band of brothers are sent on a desperate mission behind enemy lines. Switching between Benya`s war in the grasslands of Southern Russia, & Stalin`s plans in the Kremlin, between Benya`s intense affair with an Italian nurse & a romance between Stalin`s daughter & a journalist also on the Eastern Front, this is a sweeping story of passion, bravery & human survival where personal betrayal is a constant companion, & death just a heartbeat away. Praise for Red Sky at Noon` The gripping final instalment of the Moscow Trilogy tells of a man wrongly imprisoned in the Gulags & his fight for redemption. Meticulously researched.. . In this searing tale of love & war, most moving is the redemptive relationship between a soldier & a nurse that blooms amid the brutality. An homage to the author`s favourite Russian writers & the Western masterpieces of Larry Mc Murtry, Cormac Mc Carthy & Elmore Leonard, such influences pervade this atmospheric tale told in the author`s distinct own voice.`
- Observer` Mythic & murderous violence in Russia...there are power-drunk Nazis & Soviet traitors, including a particularly memorable villain.. . Written with brio & deep knowledge of its fascinating subject matter... a deeply satisfying pageturner.`
- Book of the Month, The Times` In this third volume of The Moscow Trilogy, the fate of combatants & civilians is often harsh. With his feel for vivid & immediate drama & impressive research, the author evokes the extreme turbulence & violence impacting on individuals. Writing with passion, Montefiore makes the point that, up against the huge forces of war, the struggle for personal resolution can be tragic
- but never wasted.`
- Daily Mail` The final instalment of Montefiore`s loosely connected Moscow Trilogy: amidst the killing & the chaos, a group of prisoners are offered a chance of redemption on a secret mission behind enemy lines on horseback. Montefiore has a keen sense of place & an eye of unexpected details. Switching between the frontline on the Russian steppes & Stalin in the Kremlin, this is an EXCITING FAST-PACED ADVENTURE & A LAMENT FOR LOVE IN DARK & BRUTAL TIMES.`
- Mail on Sunday`I devoured Red Sky at Noon. A heartstopping, heartbreaking, technicolour epic. A grand homage to the Russian masters Babel & Grossman, echoes of Hemingway & Dostoevsky, & a propulsive delight that is entirely Montefiore`s own. Gripping storytelling allied with intimate, unsqueamish knowledge of Russian history
- a special combination.`
- AD Miller, author of Snowdrops`A GRIPPING tale.. . Montefiore is BRILLIANT at depicting the BROODING MENACE.. . the [penal battalions] are given increasingly risky missions, it is Benya`s journey on horseback that we follow behind enemy lines in the grasslands of southern Russia.. . An EPIC tale.. . The language is arresting.. . It`s beautifully done: a WESTERN ON THE EASTERN FRONT.`
- Daily Telegraph`DISPATCHES FROM THE DAYS OF BLOOD & THUNDER.. . There are atrocities on all sides & a smidgen of love as Benya falls for a brave Italian nurse. A subplot follows the ill-starred affair between Stalin`s daughter & a Jewish writer. But Benya`s struggle to keep his humanity is the memorable spine of the book.`
- Best of Summer reading, The Times` Exhilarated & terrified.. . Golden is plunged into a world where violent death could arrive at any moment & any pleasures that present themselves (an unexpected affair with an Italian nurse, for example) must be seized immediately. Sebag Montefiore PAINTS HIS VERBAL PICTURES of the WAR IN BOLD PRIMARY COLOURS.. . SHEER ENERGY OF STORYTELLING & GRAND SWEEP OF NARRATIVE.`
- Sunday Times









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Red Sky at Sunrise is Laurie Lee's celebrated autobiographical trilogy in one fascinating volume. Beginning with Cider with Rosie, Laurie Lee writes evocatively of his idyllic childhood in the Cotswolds of the twenties, a world of rich sensuousness & native innocence. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning picks up the story as he leaves his valley for London & then for Spain. There, equipped only with a violin & his wits, he crossed the dramatic landscape of a vibrant & still almost medieval Spain for which he developed an abiding affection. In the winter of 1937 he returned to a country now in the grip of Civil War & joined the International Brigade, describing in A Moment of War his journey into the dark side of Spain with unsparing honesty & poignancy. Stirring stuff that will stay with you long after you've put it down. ...

This is a beautiful new edition of Laurie Lee`s celebrated autobiographical trilogy: Cider with Rosie, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning & A Moment of War. `I was set down from the carrier`s cart at the age of three; & there with a sense of bewilderment & terror my life in the village began.` ` This trilogy is a sequence of early recollections, beginning with the dazzling lights & sounds of my first footings on earth in a steep Cotswold valley some three miles long. For nineteen years this was the limit of my world, then one midsummer morning I left home & walked to London & down the blazing length of Spain during the innocent days of the early thirties. Never had I felt so fat with time, so free to go where I would. Then such indulgence was suddenly broken by the savage outbreak of the Civil War...” (Laurie Lee). ...

Red Snow is the eagerly awaited follow-up to Dark Pines, selected for ITV`s Zoe Ball Book Club TWO BODIESOne suicide. One cold-blooded murder. Are they connected? & who`s really pulling the strings in the small Swedish town of Gavrik?TWO COINSBlack Grimberg liquorice coins cover the murdered man`s eyes. The hashtag Ferryman starts to trend as local people stock up on ammunition.TWO WEEKSTuva Moodyson, deaf reporter at the local paper, has a fortnight to investigate the deaths before she starts her new job in the south. A blizzard moves in. Residents, already terrified, feel increasingly cut-off. Tuva must go deep inside the Grimberg factory to stop the killer before she leaves town for good. But who`s to say the Ferryman will let her go? ...

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton & Jeremy Irons. Dominika Egorov, former prima ballerina, is sucked into the heart of Putin`s Russia, the country she loved, as the twists & turns of a betrayal & counter-betrayal unravel. American Nate Nash, idealistic & ambitious, handles the double agent, codenamed MARBLE, considered one of CIA`s biggest assets. He needs to keep his identity secret for as long as the mole can keep supplying golden information. Will Dominika be able to unmask MARBLE, or will the mission see her faith destroyed in the country she has always passionately defended? `A great & dangerous spy-game is being played today between Russian intelligence & the CIA. Very few people know about it, including many of our politicians in Washington. But Jason Matthews does, & his thrilling Red Sparrow takes us deep inside this treacherous world. He`s an insider`s insider. He knows the secrets. & he is also a masterful story-teller. I loved this book & could not put it down. Neither will you` Vince Flynn ` Not since the good old days of the Cold War has a classic spy thriller like Red Sparrow come along. Jason Matthews is not making it up; he has lived this life & this story, & it shows on every page. High-level espionage, pulse-pounding danger, sex, double agents & double crosses. What more can any reader want?` Nelson De Mille ...

The first Westerner to meet Mao Tse-tung & the Chinese Communist leaders in 1936, Edgar Snow came away with the first authorised account of Mao`s life, as well as a history of the famous Long March & the men & women who were responsible for the Chinese revolution. Out of that experience came Red Star Over China, a classic work that remains one of the most important books ever written about the birth of the Communist movement in China. This edition

Includes:: extensive notes on the military & political developments in China, further interviews with Mao Tse-tung, a chronology covering 125 years of Chinese revolution & nearly a hundred detailed biographies of the men & women who were instrumental in making China what it is today.

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