The most ambitious & daring novel novel yet from Booker Prize-shortlisted Philip Hensher. `A novel that`s almost fizzy to the touch.. .A performance of extraordinary flair & majesty from a writer who seems capable of anything` Guardian ` The Emperor Waltz` is a single novel with three narrative strands: fourth-century Rome, 1920s Germany, & 1980s London. In each place, a small coterie is closely connected & separated from the larger world. In each story, the larger world regards the small coterie & its passionately-held beliefs & secrets with suspicion & hostility. It is the story of eccentricity, its struggle, its triumph, its influence
- but also its defeat.
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The Emperor`s Tomb is a magically evocative, haunting elegy to the vanished world of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, & to the passing of time & the loss of youth & friends. Prophetic & regretful, intuitive & exact, Roth`s acclaimed novel is the tale of one man`s struggle to come to terms with the uncongenial society of post-First World War Vienna & the first intimations of Nazi barbarities. ...

Paul Koudounaris` ” Empire of Death” is a dark, macabre, & intriguing look into Ossuaries & Charnel Houses. Visitors to the Paris catacombs were once greeted with a sign telling them that they were entering ”THE EMPIRE OF DEATH”, & this book goes some way in explaining why. This riveting book takes the reader on a tour of these macabre masterpieces with specially taken photographs & a commentary meticulously researched from a a variety of sources. Starting in the early modern period & continuing to the 19th century, elaborately decorated charnels, tombs & chapels were constructed with the focus on human bone.A fascinating look at a side of cultures not usually seen by all. ...

The Roman Empire was the largest & most enduring of the ancient world. From its zenith under Augustus & Trajan in the first century AD to its decline & fall amidst the barbarian invasions of the fifth century, the Empire guarded & maintained a frontier that stretched for 5, 000 kilometres, from Carlisle to Cologne, from Augsburg to Antioch, & from Aswan to the Atlantic. Far from being at the periphery of the Roman world, the frontier played a crucial role in making & breaking emperors, creating vibrant & astonishingly diverse societies along its course which pulsed with energy while the centre became enfeebled & sluggish. This remarkable new book traces the course of those frontiers, visiting all its astonishing sites, from Hadrian`s Wall in the north of Britain to the desert cities of Palmyra & Leptis Magna. It tells the fascinating stories of the men & women who lived & fought along it, from Alaric the Goth, who descended from the Danube to sack Rome in 410, to Zenobia the desert queen, who almost snatched the entire eastern provinces from Rome in the third century. It is at their edges, in time & geographical extent, that societies reveal their true nature, constantly seeking to recreate & renew themselves. In this examination of the places that the mighty Roman Empire stopped expanding, Philip Parker reveals how & why the Empire endured for so long, as well as describing the rich & complex architectural & cultural legacy which it has bequeathed to us. ...

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) is the most important woman in Chinese history. She ruled China for decades & brought a medieval empire into the modern age. At the age of sixteen, in a nationwide selection for royal consorts, Cixi was chosen as one of the emperor`s numerous concubines & sexual partners. When he died in 1861, their five-year-old son succeeded to the throne. Cixi at once launched a palace coup against the regents appointed by her husband & made herself the real ruler of China
- behind the throne, literally, with a silk screen separating her from her officials who were all male. In this groundbreaking biography, Jung Chang vividly describes how Cixi fought against monumental obstacles to change China. Under her the ancient country attained virtually all the attributes of a modern state: industries, railways, electricity, telegraph, & an army & navy with up-to-date weaponry. It was she who abolished gruesome punishments like `death by a thousand cuts` & put an end to foot-binding. She inaugurated women`s liberation, & embarked on the path to introduce parliamentary elections to China. Jung Chang comprehensively overturns the conventional view of Cixi as a diehard conservative & cruel despot. Cixi reigned during extraordinary times & had to deal with a host of major national crises: the Taiping & Boxer Rebellions, wars with France & Japan
- & the invasion by eight allied powers including Britain, Germany, Russia & the United States. Jung Chang not only records the Empress Dowager`s conduct of domestic & foreign affairs, but also takes the reader into the depths of her splendid Summer Palace & the harem of Beijing`s Forbidden City, where she lived surrounded by eunuchs
- with one of whom she fell in love, with tragic consequences. The world Jung Chang describes here, in fascinating detail, seems almost unbelievable in its extraordinary mixture of the very old & the very new. Based on newly available, mostly Chinese, historical documents such as court records, official & private correspondence, diaries & eye-witness accounts, this biography will revolutionise historical thinking about a crucial period in China`s
- & the world`s
- history. Packed with drama, fast-paced & gripping, it is both a panoramic depiction of the birth of modern China & an intimate portrait of a woman: as the concubine to a monarch, as the absolute ruler of a third of the world`s population, & as a unique stateswoman.




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The Empty Stocking is a brilliantly funny Christmas story by Richard Curtis & Rebecca Cobb. In this fantastically funny & heartwarming story by Richard Curtis, scriptwriter of Four Weddings & a Funeral & Love Actually, it`s Christmas Eve & there`s one very important question on everyone`s mind
- have you been good this year? For twins Sam & Charlie this is a big worry. Charlie has been especially naughty & everyone is sure that she won`t get any presents at all. But when Santa makes a mistake, it`s up to Charlie to put things right... Richard Curtis is an award-winning & international film-director & scriptwriter, & the creator of Four Weddings & a Funeral, Love Actually, Notting Hill & Mr Bean. Rebecca Cobb graduated from Falmouth College of Arts in 2004. She has collaborated with the Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson & Orange-Prize-winner Helen Dunmore. Rebecca has been shortlisted for the 2013 Waterstones Prize & the prestigious Kate Greenaway Award.
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A notice in ” The Times” addressed to ` Those who Appreciate Wistaria & Sunshine` advertises a `small mediaeval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be let furnished for the month of April`. Four very different women take up the offer, escaping dreary London for the sunshine of Italy. Among the party are Mrs Wilkins & Mrs Arthuthnot, both fleeing unappreciative husbands; beautiful Lady Caroline, sick of being `grabbed` by lovestruck men; & the imperious Mrs Fisher, who spends her time remembering the bearded `great men` she knew in her Victorian childhood. By the end of their holiday, all the women will fall completely under the spell of Italy in this funny, insightful & very charming novel. ...

With an introduction by Brenda Bowen. A notice in The Times addressed to ` Those Who Appreciate Wistaria & Sunshine` advertises a `small medieval Italian Castle to be let for the month of April`. Four very different women take up the offer: Mrs Wilkins & Mrs Arbuthnot, both fleeing unappreciative husbands; beautiful Lady Caroline, sick of being `grabbed` by lovesick men; & the imperious, ageing Mrs Fisher. On the shores of the Mediterranean, beauty, warmth & leisure weave their spell, & nothing will ever be the same again. Published alongside a modern version of the same story entitled Enchanted August. ...

Originally penned as a travelogue, Melville's writings form a series of evocative sketches of each of these equatorial islands. Recounting their myths & stories of old, he conjures up the spirit of each in astonishing detail. Read together they create a timeless classic, perfectly capturing the islands' eternal charm & mystery. ...

Leskov`s stories of Russian life are explosions of imagination. Peopled by outsized characters including serfs, princes, Gypsy girls, horse dealers, nomadic Tartars & garrulous storytellers, Leskov`s writing exuberantly fables the national character of his age. For the first time, Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky`s translation brings Leskov`s original storytelling & irresistible voice to life. ...