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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` An epic adventure story set against the most awful war in history. Ridiculously good` Dan Snow` 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` Red Sky at Noon is an epic adventure story set against the backdrop of the most awful war in human history. The master historian shape-shifting into the brilliant novelist. Ridiculously good`. Dan Snow` 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`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` The gripping final instalment of the Moscow Trilogy tells of a man wrongly imprisoned in the Gulags & his fight for redemption. Love in dark times, 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



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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). ...

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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Growing up in Kenya in the early twentieth century, the brothers Matu & Muthegi are raised according to customs that, they are told, have existed since the beginning of the world. But when the red` strangers come, sunburned Europeans who seek to colonize their homel&, the lives of the two Kikuyu tribesmen begin to change in dramatic new ways. Soon, their people are overwhelmed by unknown diseases that traditional magic seems powerless to control. & as the strangers move across the l&, the tribe rapidly finds itself forced to obey foreign laws that seem at best bizarre, & that at worst entirely contradict the Kikuyu`s own ancient ways, rituals & beliefs. ...

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! ...

Unafraid of a challenge, Lois Pryce began the kind of adventure most of us could only ever dream of. She put on her sparkly crash helmet, armed herself with maps & a baffling array of visas, & got on her bike. Destination: Cape Town
- & the small matter of tackling the Sahara, war-torn Angola & the Congo Basin along the way
- this feisty independent woman`s grand trek through the Dark Continent of Africa is the definitive motorcycling adventure. Colourful & hilarious, ” Red Tape & White Knuckles” is an action-packed tale about following your dreams that will have you packing your bags & jetting off into the sunset on your own adventure before you know it.

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