Leningrad, September 1941. Hitler orders the German forces to surround the city at the start of the most dangerous, desperate winter in its history. For two pairs of lovers
- Anna & Andrei, Anna`s novelist father & banned actress Marina
- the siege becomes a battle for survival. They will soon discover what it is like to be so hungry you boil shoe leather to make soup, so cold you burn furniture & books. But this is not just a struggle to exist, it is also a fight to keep the spark of hope alive...” The Siege” is a brilliantly imagined novel of war & the wounds it inflicts on ordinary people`s lives & a profoundly moving celebration of love, life & survival.

...

In the early fifteenth century, as winter falls away, the people of Albania know that their fate is sealed. They have refused to negotiate with the Ottoman Empire, & war is now inevitable. Soon enough dust kicked up by Turkish horses is spotted from a citadel. Brightly coloured banners, hastily constructed minarets & tens of thousands of men fill the plain below. From this moment on, the world is waiting to hear that the fortress has fallen. The Siege tells the enthralling story of the weeks & months that follow
- of the exhilaration & despair of the battlefield, the constantly shifting strategies of war, & those whose lives are held in balance, from the Pasha himself to the technicians, artillerymen, astrologer, blind poet & harem of women that accompany him.
...

Cadiz, 1811. While the city is under siege from the marauding French army, an even greater menace is lurking within the city walls: a serial killer is on the loose, flaying young women to death. Each of these murders takes place near where a French bomb has just fallen. In order to find the murderer, police commissioner Rogelio Tizon begins to perceive the city as a vast chessboard as he tries to predict his unknown opponent`s next deadly move. In the claustrophobic atmosphere of the besieged town, an heiress, an unscrupulous corsair captain, a taxidermist who is also a spy & a hardened soldier begin to cross paths, & behind them all the figure of Tizon is getting closer to deciphering the lethal pattern behind the murders... With all the intrigue & romance of Perez-Reverte`s bestsellers, THE DUMAS CLUB & THE FLANDERS PANEL, THE SIEGE is the story of a city & a people who will never be the same again. ...

This is the history of one of the great battles of the world, written by a private soldier who was an eye-witness. The siege of Malta was a crucial moment in the long struggle between Islam & Christendom for domination of the Mediterranean, fought out by unequal forces on the small island which commands the sea-routes at the centre of that sea. The Knights of St John were a survival from the medieval world, the largest of the surviving crusading orders, & they had been driven out of their base on Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean after a great onslaught by the Turks in 1522. Now, forty-three years later, the Turkish ruler, Suleyman the Magnificent, who had been the victor at Rhodes, was determined to finish them off. He sent out a huge armada, carrying the pick of his army, under two commanders. Against this powerful force, the Knights could only raise a handful of men & mercenaries, & had to depend on the fortifications they had raised in the thirty-five years since they first came to Malta, which bore no comparison to the massive walls & ditches on Rhodes. Francisco Balbi di Correggio was a humble soldier of fortune who enlisted under the charismatic command of the Grand Master of the Order, Jean de la Valette. The extraordinary drama that unfolded after the first appearance of the Turkish fleet in the summer of 1565 is told in his own words, giving equal credit to the courage & leadership of the Knights & the grim determination of the ordinary people of Malta. ...

The consequences of defeat were momentous: the Ottomans lost half their European territories & began the long decline which led to the final collapse of the Empire, & the Hapsburgs turned their attention from France & the Rhine frontier to the rich pickings of the Balkans. The hot September day that witnesses the last great trial of strength between Cross & Crescent opened an epoch in European history that lasted until the cataclysm of the First World War in 1914. ...

This guidebook showcases 32 walks exploring the sierras of Caceres & Badajoz, one of Spain`s least known regions & a gem for walkers & nature lovers. Walks range in length from 6 to 20km are suitable for any reasonably fit walker. They can be done from a number of bases in the area including San Martin de Trevejo, Gata, Hervas, Jerte, Jarandilla de la Vera, Montanchez, Guadalupe, Almoharin, Merida, Alange, Hornachos & Monesterio. Each walk is accompanied by a sketch map & detailed route description, as well as notes on the terrain, refreshments available & access. Background information about the area & the many interesting sites passed along the route combine to give an invaluable guide to an unspoilt & peaceful region. Extremadura is one of the most untouched regions of Spain, a delightful mix of rugged mountain ranges, gently rolling hills, deciduous forests, deep river valleys, olive groves & shady pastures, all criss-crossed by thousands of paths. superb birdlife & a variety of heritage sites, from cave paintings to monasteries, add to this region`s charms. ...

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year: a large, lustrous pearl. Now she has had an intriguing invitation to meet her unknown benefactor & urges Holmes & Watson to accompany her. & in the ensuing investigation which involves a wronged woman, a stolen hoard of Indian treasure, a wooden-legged ruffian, a helpful dog & a love affair even the jaded Holmes is moved to exclaim, Isn`t it gorgeous!` ...

As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year: a large, lustrous pearl. Now she has had an intriguing invitation to meet her unknown benefactor & urges Holmes & Watson to accompany her. & in the ensuing investigation which involves a wronged woman, a stolen hoard of Indian treasure, a wooden-legged ruffian, a helpful dog & a love affair even the jaded Holmes is moved to exclaim, Isn`t it gorgeous!` ...

The Sign of Four is one of Sherlock Holmes`s great adventures, a tale of `an injured lady, half a million in treasure, a black cannibal, & a wooden-legged ruffian`. In the yellow fog of London, a young woman comes to 221b Baker Street with the strange tale of a missing father & the mysterious pearls she is sent anonymously each year. Holmes & Watson are soon swept up in an international puzzle of murder, millions & madness that could cost them their lives ...

Between 1990 & 1994, Colm Toibin made a series of trips through Catholic Europe. His journey led him into close contact with people from all walks of life, from priests to politicians, from the intellectually open to the spiritually bigoted. He then set down his impressions in this beautifully written book, filled with personal detail set within its historical context. ” Colm Toibin writes beautifully in a spare style that allows for plain description, high humour & effects that are carefully toned. He is at once an honest, uncertain pilgrim with a press card & a sense of devilment, & a son on an Oedipal trail”. (” Irish Times”). ”A mixture of autobiography, travelogue & journalism which tantalizes the reader with what it withholds as much as it entertains & instructs with what it describes...” The Sign of the Cross”, like all good writing, is a treat”. (” Independent on Sunday”). ” This book describing Colm Toibin`s journey is written with the novelist`s familiar clarity & wisdom. It is as much a record of the European Catholic psyche in different political climates as it is an introspective pilgrimage to see what stuff Toibin`s own faith is made of”. (” Daily Telegraph”). ...