Casablanca’s stinking alleys are the only home that nineteen-year-old Youssef El-Mekki has ever known. Raised by his mother in a one-room home, the film stars flickering on the local cinema’s screen offer the only glimmer of hope to his frustrated dreams of escape. Until, that is, the father he thought dead turns out to be very much alive.A high profile businessman with wealth to burn, Nabil is disenchanted with his daughter & eager to take in the boy he never knew. Soon Youssef is installed in his penthouse & sampling the gold-plated luxuries enjoyed by Casablanca’s elite. But as he leaves the slums of his childhood behind him, he comes up against a starkly un-glittering reality… ...

Fosco Maraini looks back at the world he first unfolded nearly 50 years ago in his classic account of the visits he made to Tibet. He brings back to life a world which will never be seen again. In the tradition of Italian travellers from the days of Marco Polo, Maraini went to Tibet to learn, to underst&, to give & to receive. His encounter with the people of Tibet, from princesses to peasants, aided as he was by a good knowledge of the language, is a true meeting of minds. The text, which attests to the disciplines of the scholar allied to the sensitivity of the poet, is enriched by the narrative value of the author`s photographs, including many Buddhist temple artefacts now forever lost. ...

A building that acts as a giant firewall, a secret city center canyon, a statue that cures warts, ultra-modern designer toilets, an extraordinary tree that helps you quit smoking, an electronic sunflower, a spectacular modern temple hidden in the heart of Shinjuku, a street that gives Tokyo taxi drivers nightmares, a massive building that looks like a warship, forgotten rivers... Far from the crowds & the usual cliches, Tokyo swings between modernity & tradition, preservation of its heritage, sophisticated aestheticism & eccentricity, offering countless off-beat experiences. The Japanese capital is home to any number of well-hidden treasures that are revealed only to residents & travellers who find their way off the beaten track. An indispensable guide for those who thought they knew Tokyo well or would like to discover the other face of the city.” ...

Coinciding with the hotly anticipated British Museum exhibition Sunken Cities: Egypt`s Lost Worlds in May 2016, this is the sensational story of two magnificent ancient aquatic cities which once stood at the mouth of the river Nile. Gateways to the land of the pharaohs, Thonis-Heracleion & Canopus were thriving, busy ports
- until a catastrophe caused them to sink beneath the water. Now the ruins, & the objects & artefacts found among them, reveal how their inhabitants lived, worshipped & interacted with their foreign visitors.
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The oak tree where Pinocchio hanged himself, a fifteenth-century stained glass window with an image of Mussolini, a forgotten statue by Leonardo da Vinci, a luxury hotel that is now a public lavatory, a 17th-century milk distributor, a wine-drinking frog, a unique astronomical phenomenon, a staircase in Siena bearing St. Catherine s teeth marks, a whale in Lucca, an authentic phial of Christ s blood, a faith that moves rocks, diamonds within marble, the location of the amphora from the Marriage Feast of Cana, an extraordinary anatomical theatre in Pistoia, Fata Morgana s spring of eternal youth, an unusual stroll along a marble quarry monorail Far from the crowds & the usual cliches, Tuscany still reserves any number of hidden treasures for those who know how to wander off the beaten track. This is a guide that is indispensable for those who think they know Tuscany or those who want to discover another side to the region.” ...

Far from the crowds & the usual cliches, Vienna offers countless off-beat experiences & is home to any number of well-hidden treasures that are revealed only to residents & travellers who find their way off the beaten track. Secret Vienna is an indispensable guide for those who thought they knew Vienna well, or would like to discover the other face of the city. ...

In December 1577, a fleet of five small ships left Plymouth with Sir Francis Drake in comm&. By the time the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean only one remained
- the Golden Hind. The adventures of Drake as he devastated Spanish treasure ships, charted unknown lands & became the first captain safely to circumnavigate the globe make this one of the most compelling of all human adventures, but Samual Bawlf adds more. He suggests that Drake had secret orders, which he fulfilled & which make him
- 200 years before Cook
- one of the greatest explorers the world has known.


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Examining the espionage & intelligence stories of World War II, on a global basis, bringing together the British, American, German, Russian & Japanese histories. Spies, codes & guerrillas played critical roles in the Second World War, exploited by every nation in the struggle to gain secret knowledge of its foes, & to sow havoc behind the fronts. In ` The Secret War`, Max Hastings presents a worldwide cast of characters & some extraordinary sagas of intelligence & Resistance, to create a new perspective on the greatest conflict in history. Here are not only Alan Turing & the codebreaking geniuses of Bletchley Park, but also their German counterparts, who achieved their own triumphs against the Allies. Hastings plots the fabulous espionage networks created by the Soviet Union in Germany & Japan, Britain & America, & explores the puzzle of why Stalin so often spurned his agents, who reported from the heart of the Axis war machine. The role of SOE & American`s OSS as sponsors of guerrilla war are examined, & the book tells the almost unknown story of Ronald Seth, an SOE agent who was `turned` by the Germans, walked the streets of Paris in a Luftwaffe uniform, & baffled MI5, MI6 & the Abwehr as to his true loyalty. Also described is the brilliantly ruthless Russian deception operation which helped to secure the Red Army`s victory at Stalingrad, a ruse that cost 70, 000 lives. ` The Secret War` links tales of high courage ashore, at sea & in the air to the work of the brilliant `boffins` at home, battling the enemy`s technology. Most of the strivings, adventures & sacrifices of spies, Resistance, Special Forces & even of the codebreakers were wasted, Hastings says, but a fraction was so priceless that no nation grudged lives & treasure spent in the pursuit of jewels of knowledge. The book tells stories of high policy & human drama, mingled in the fashion that has made international bestsellers of Max Hastings` previous histories, this time illuminating the fantastic machinations of secret war. ...

` As gripping as any spy thriller, Hastings`s achievement is especially impressive, for he has produced the best single volume yet written on the subject` Sunday Times ` Authoritative, exciting & notably well written` Daily Telegraph `A serious work of rigourous & comprehensive history.. .royally entertaining & readable` Mail on Sunday In ` The Secret War`, Max Hastings presents a worldwide cast of characters & extraordinary sagas of intelligence & Resistance to create a new perspective on the greatest conflict in history. The book links tales of high courage ashore, at sea & in the air to the work of the brilliant `boffins` battling the enemy`s technology. Here are not only the unheralded codebreaking geniuses of Bletchley Park, but also their German counterparts who achieved their own triumphs & the fabulous espionage networks created, & so often spurned, by the Soviet Union. With its stories of high policy & human drama, the book has been acclaimed as the best history of the secret war ever written. ...

Secret Washington in the Jonglez series of guides; profiling a range of European cities as well as thematic titles & designed to explore the undiscovered & hidden attractions usually hidden from tourists. The ‘ Secret’ titles present a range of sites
- including gardens, museums, squares, churches, parks & distinctive architecture
- that are often not covered by other guides. Double page spreads have a description of the site & a glossy full length photograph opposite. Addresses, opening times, contact details & relevant transport information is also provided. Jonglez also publish a range of “ Unusual…” titles, with an emphasis on thematic experiences, including hotels & shopping, to a range of destinations. Each guide has a similar format to the ‘ Secret’ series, with individual recommendations & suggestions accompanied by colour photographs throughout the text.

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