By August 1918, the outcome of the Great War was not in doubt: the Allies would win. But what was unclear was how this defeat would play out
- would the Germans hold on, prolonging the fighting deep into 1919, with the loss of hundreds of thousands more young lives, or could the war be won in 1918? In The Last Battle, Peter Hart, author of Gallipoli & The Great War, & oral historian at the Imperial War Museum, brings to life the dramatic final weeks of the war, as men fought to secure victory, with survival seemingly only days, or hours away. Drawing on the experience of both generals & ordinary soldiers, & dwelling with equal weight on strategy, tactics & individual experience, this is a powerful & detailed account of history`s greatest endgame.
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A maid who is unexpectedly bequeathed her wealthy employers` worldly possessions when they flee the country after the Nazi occupation; a loyal bank clerk, who steals a Renaissance portrait of a Spanish noblewoman, & falls into troublesome love with her; a middle-aged travel agent, who is perhaps the least well-travelled man in the city & advises his clients from what he has read in books, anxiously awaiting his looming honeymoon; a widowed villager, whose `magnetic` twelve-year-old daughter witnesses a disturbing event; & a tiny village thrown into civil war by the disappearance of a freshly baked cheesecake. These stories about the tremendous upheaval which results when the ordinary encounters the unexpected are vividly told, with both humour & humanity. This is the first ever English publication of these both literally & metaphorically Bohemian tales, by one of the great overlooked writers of the twentieth century. ...

” The small man standing on the narrow ledge stared fixedly forward with eyes made wide & blank by terror.” At 2pm on a Monday in 1966, Ned Balfour wakes in Corsica beside a beautiful woman. In the same instant, back in London, fellow art dealer & Dachau survivor Sam Weiss falls ten stories to his death. Ned refuses to believe that Sam`s death was intentional, & his investigation thrusts him into the deceit & fraudulence of the art world, where he unmasks more than one respectable face. First published in 1967, this thrilling tale of vertigo, suspicion & infidelity is a long-forgotten classic with an intriguing plot twist. ...

Explosive, dark & tender, The Last Boat Home is a devastating novel about sacrifice, survival & a mother`s love. If you loved The Light Between Oceans or The Snow Child, this is for you. On the wind-swept southern coast of Norway, sixteen-year-old Else is out on the icy sea, dragging her oars through the waves while, above her, storm clouds are gathering. Surrounded by mountains, snow & white-capped water, she looks across the fjord & dreams of another life, of escape & faraway lands. Back on shore, her father sits alone in his boathouse with a jar of homebrew. In the Best Room, her mother covers her bruises & seeks solace in prayer. Each tries to hide the truth from this isolated, God-fearing community they call home. Until one night changes everything. More than thirty years later, the return of an old friend forces Else to relive the events that marked the end of her childhood. Explosive, dark & tender, The Last Boat Home is a devastating novel about sacrifice, survival & a mother`s love. ...

” An ingenious thriller”. (Sunday Times). From the author of The Dante Club. A reclusive writer...A stolen manuscript... An adventure at the ends of the earth. On the island of Samoa, a dying Robert Louis Stevenson labours over a new novel. It is rumoured that this may be the author of Treasure Island`s greatest masterpiece. On the other side of the world this news fires the imaginations of the bookaneers, literary pirates who steal the latest manuscripts by famous writers. Two adversaries set out for the South Pacific: Pen Davenport, a tortured criminal genius haunted by his past & Belial, his nemesis. Both dream of fortune & immortality with what may be their last & most incredible heist. The Last Bookaneer thrillingly depicts the lost world of these doomed outlaws, a tropical island with a violent destiny, a brewing colonial war & a reclusive genius directing events from high in his mountain compound. ...

Yoshiro celebrated his hundredth birthday many years ago, but every morning before work he still goes running in the park with his rent-a-dog. He is one of the many aged-elderly in Japan & he might, he thinks, live forever. Life for Yoshiro isn`t as simple as it used to be. Pollution & natural disasters have scarred the face of the Earth, & even common foods are hard to come by. Still, Yoshiro`s only real worry is the future of his great-grandson Mumei, who, like other children of his generation, was born frail & grey-haired, old before he was ever young. As daily life in Tokyo grows harder, a secretive organisation embarks on an audacious plan to find a cure for the children of Japan
- might Yoshiro`s great-grandson, Mumei, be the key? A dreamlike story of filial love & glimmering hope, The Last Children of Tokyo is a delicate glimpse of our future from one of Japan`s most celebrated writers.
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Percy is a little pigeon, & he`s very hungry. Life on the streets is tough, & every time he tries to get hold of a scrap of food, bigger, beefier birds bat him away. He`s about to give up when someone offers him her very last chip.A moving & uplifting story about struggle against adversity & the kindness of strangers.10% of the profits from the sale of the book go to The Trussell Trust, supporting a network of 435 foodbanks across the UK. ...

” Dear Adolf. Don`t start anything. It`s the Coal Trip.” The dark clouds of war are gathering over Europe yet the inhabitants of the south Wales town of Penddawn have other things on their minds. There`s rugby, of course, & religion, too, not to mention work, or the lack of it. Not to mention the annual trip to Tenby, & a chance to get sand in your shoes, & forget about both poverty & Hitler. But for one small boy the worlds of warfare & welfare mean very little: his mind is crammed full of books & the wonders they contain: he can dream of little else... The Last Coal Trip to Tenby is drenched in the warm sun of nostalgia, a heartwarming tale of abiding friendships, & a portrait of a community that`s as close knit as an old cardigan. It`s a novel written with vim & vigour & oodles of good humour, about a cast of endearing characters who will stay in the mind. ...

This is an autobiography in essays that conjures up a truly unique portrait of a world that is fast disappearing. Christopher Ondaatje is a true child of the British Empire. Born in Ceylon in 1933 & brought up on a tea plantation, he was sent as a teenager to boarding school in Engl&. But soon after Ceylon was granted its independence in 1948, his family found themselves destitute, & the young Ondaatje left school & got a job. From these beginnings there followed a series of commercial triumphs until 1988 when he abruptly abandoned high finance at the peak of his career & reinvented himself as an explorer & an author, focusing mainly on the colonial period. It is the curious encounters behind these often precarious adventures that make up this book. The stories tell of Ondaatje`s childhood days, his early life in Canada, his fascination with inexplicable events & local superstitions, & sometimes perilous travels researching his acclaimed biographies. Illustrated throughout with original images by Ana Maria Pacheco, ” The Last Colonial” lives up to the romance of its tantalizing title. ...

London, 1728. A young, well-dressed man is driven through streets of jeering onlookers to the gallows at Tyburn. They call him a murderer. But Tom Hawkins is innocent & somehow he has to prove it, before the rope squeezes the life out of him. It is, of course, all his own fault. He was happy settling down with Kitty Sparks. He should never have told the most dangerous criminal in London that he was bored & looking for adventure. He should never have offered to help, the king`s mistress. & most of all, he should never have trusted the witty, calculating Queen Caroline. She has promised him a royal pardon if London, 1728. A young, well-dressed man is driven through streets of jeering onlookers to the gallows at Tyburn. They call him a murderer. But Tom Hawkins is innocent & somehow he has to prove it, before the rope squeezes the life out of him. It is, of course, all his own fault. He was happy settling down with Kitty Sparks. He should never have told the most dangerous criminal in London that he was bored & looking for adventure. He should never have offered to help, the king`s mistress. And most of all, he should never have trusted the witty, calculating Queen Caroline. She has promised him a royal pardon if he holds his tongue but then again, there is nothing more silent than a hanged man... ...