When potter Edmund de Waal first came across the 264 minute wood & ivory carvings in the Tokyo apartment of his great uncle Iggie, he was entranced. Later, when Edmund inherited the `netsuke` carvings, they unlocked a story far larger than he could ever have imagined... The Ephrussis came from Odessa, & at one time were the largest grain exporters in the world; in the 1870s, Charles Ephrussi was part of a wealthy new generation settling in Paris. Marcel Proust was briefly his secretary & used Charles as the model for the aesthete Swann in Remembrance of Things Past. Charles` passion was collecting; the netsuke, bought when Japanese objects were all the rage in the salons, were sent as a wedding present to his banker cousin in Vienna. Later, three children
- including a young Ignace
- would play with the netsuke as history reverberated around them. The Anschluss & Second World War swept the Ephrussis to the brink of oblivion. Almost all that remained of their vast empire was the netsuke collection, smuggled out of the huge Viennese palace (then occupied by Hitler`s theorist on the ` Jewish Question`), one piece at a time, in the pocket of a loyal maid
- & hidden in a straw mattress. The Hare with the Amber Eyes is an elegant & original memoir; Edmund de Waal travels the world to stand in the great buildings his forebears once inhabited. He traces the network of a remarkable family against the backdrop of a tumultuous century & tells the story of the unique netsuke collection which passed from hand to hand
- & which, in a twist of fate, found its way home to Japan.



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This is a special illustrated edition of Edmund de Waal’s stunning memoir, now filled with new photography & full-colour images ...

Covering a span of over thirty years in the life of the Darcy family, these three iconic novels from Ruth Park take us from first love to hardship via outback Australia & the streets of Surry Hills. In Missus, we read about the adolescence & courtship of Hughie Darcy & the innocent Margaret in the dirt & dust of rural Australia. We next meet the pair in The Harp in the South, where they run a flea-bitten boarding house in Surry Hills with their two daughters, Roie & Dolour. Making ends meet is hard in the slums of Sydney, & love is not kind to Roie as she takes her first steps into adulthood. Lastly we watch Dolour grow up all too fast in Poor Man's Orange, as Hughie & Margaret struggle to keep their relationship alive after so many years together. At times confronting, often affectionate, this is a remarkable portrait of an Australian working-class family of the time. ...

January, 1916, & the rooftops of Leeds creak with the weight of the winter's snows. William Redmond, soon to join the Chapeltown Rifles, wanders with his younger brother Samuel through the old haunts of their childhood
- &, there, at the top of the Moor across which they are forbidden to walk, Samuel, for too long trapped in his brother's shadow, stoves William's head in with a stone. When William wakes, it is a different world through which he walks. His brother has vanished, the town is silent, & not a man among them will give up the secret of where he has gone. On the other side of the water, the fields of France & Belgium are torn apart by war
- &, when William discovers that Samuel has been sent to the war in his stead as punishment for what he did upon the Moor, he resolves to go out there & bring him back, to put right what his family has done wrong. This will not be revenge; this will be forgiveness. & so, with the fresh wound of Samuel's attack still screaming at the back of his head, William ventures into the hell of Flanders
- a mire of death & disease & deserters
- to bring back alive the brother who wanted him dead.



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Not a conventional history book, but a collection of anecdotes & snippets spun together to create a captivating series of tales, this book tells the story of England in a unique way: through its fascinating & colourful inn signs. Expect the unexpected! Read how each sign, a work of art in its own right, represents a small piece of England`s history, its cultural, political & scientific achievements, its heroes & villains, its personalities both real & legendary, & its ancient customs & folklore. (Did you know: the first ”official” inn sign, the White Hart, was the emblem of King Richard II.) Take a random tour of Engl&, through London, the picturesque cathedral cities, old market towns, quaint little villages & places of scenic beauty. Visit its legacy of inns & experience first hand the atmosphere of those special places where history was made. Indeed, every inn sign is a part of the true treasury that is England`s heritage. Enhanced by extracts from favourite poems written over many centuries, The Hart of England is illustrated throughout with photographs of hundreds of signs. A must for everyone who loves England! ...

A powerful & brave YA novel about what prejudice looks like in the 21st century. Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born & raised & her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful & gripping YA novel about one girl`s struggle for justice. Movie rights have been sold to Fox, with Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games) to star. ...

The best-known of Shirley Jackson`s novels, & the inspiration for writers such as Neil Gaiman & Stephen King, The Haunting of Hill House is a chilling story of the power of fear. Four seekers have arrived at the rambling old pile known as Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of psychic phenomena; Theodora, his lovely assistant; Luke, the future inheritor of the estate; & Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman with a dark past. As they begin to cope with horrifying occurrences beyond their control or understanding, they cannot possibly know what lies ahead. For Hill House is gathering its powers
- & soon it will choose one of them to make its own. Adapted into a film, The Haunting, starring Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones & Owen Wilson, The Haunting of Hill House is a powerful work of slow-burning psychological horror.
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Cuba, an island 750 miles long, with a population of about 11 million, lies less than 100 miles off the U.S. coast. Yet the island's influences on America's cultural imagination are extensive & deeply ingrained. In the engaging & wide-ranging Havana Habit, writer & scholar Gustavo Perez Firmat probes the importance of Havana, & of greater Cuba, in the cultural history of the United States. Through books, advertisements, travel guides, films, & music, he demonstrates the influence of the island on almost two centuries of American life. From John Quincy Adams' comparison of Cuba to an apple ready to drop into America's lap, to the latest episodes in the lives of the 'comic comandantes & exotic exiles', & to such notable Cuban exports as the rumba & the mambo, cigars & mojitos, the Cuba that emerges from these pages is a locale that Cubans & Americans have jointly imagined & inhabited. The Havana Habit deftly illustrates what makes Cuba, as Perez Firmat writes, 'so near & yet so foreign'. ...

Throughout the 1950s, as the Cuban people laboured under a violently repressive regime, the Mob-financed revelry in Havana never stopped. Tourists from around the world flooded in to gamble, go to the racetrack, see an elaborate floorshow at the Tropicana, hear some of the hottest music around & perhaps partake in the kinky sexual activities that flourished on the fringe of the most colourful & exciting nightlife scene of the twentieth century. It may have seemed like fun & games, but for the Havana Mob it was a deadly serious business. Led by Meyer Lansky & Lucky Luciano
- & with the full compliance of President Fulgencio Batista
- the Mob set out to create a financial empire that would rival the 'glory days' of Prohibition in the US. For a time, the plan seemed to be succeeding beyond their wildest dreams, but they were sowing the seeds of their own demise. Behind the scenes, Fidel Castro was building opposition to what he portrayed as the debauchery & corruption of capitalism run amok in Havana
- the result was revolution. The Havana Mob captures a unique & exotic chapter not only in the history of organised crime but also in the history of the United States, & for the first time the story is told through interviews & the first-hand accounts of those who were actually there.


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Throughout the 1950s, as the Cuban people laboured under a violently repressive regime, the mob-financed revelry in Havana never stopped. Tourists from around the world flooded in to gamble, go to the racetrack, see an elaborate floorshow at the Tropicana & perhaps partake in the sexual activities that flourished on the fringe of the most colourful nightlife scene of the twentieth century. It may have seemed like fun & games, but for the Havana Mob it was a serious business. Led by Meyer Lansky & Lucky Luciano
- & with the full compliance of President Fulgencio Batista
- the Mob set out to create a financial empire that would rival the `glory days` of Prohibition in the US. For a time, the plan seemed to be a runaway success, but they were sowing the seeds of their own demise. Behind the scenes, Fidel Castro was building opposition to what he portrayed as the debauchery & corruption of capitalism run amok in Havana
- the result was revolution. ” The Havana Mob” captures a unique & exotic chapter not only in the history of organised crime but also in the history of the United States, & the story is told through interviews & the first-hand accounts.


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