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. ...

On 26th November 2008 the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai is besieged by Pakistani Islamists, armed with explosives & machine guns. For three days, guests & staff of the hotel are trapped as the terrorists run amok. On 29th November commandos launch Operation Black Tornado. The world holds its breath. The Siege is a helter-skelter thriller, threaded with powerful human stories. By turns tragic & heroic, the events are told through a cast of real characters, who were thrown together in the luxurious, century-old Taj: waiters, chefs, captains of industry, hedge funders, celebrities, tourists, policemen, special forces & terrorists. For the first time, this astonishing book takes us through the news footage & into the heart of the hotel. Each hostage has a choice: hide, run or fight. What would you do? ...

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!` ...

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”). ...

Every time we choose a route to work, decide whether to go on a second date, or set aside money for a rainy day, we are making a prediction about the future. Yet from the financial crisis to ecological disasters, we routinely fail to foresee hugely significant events, often at great cost to society. In ” The Signal & the Noise”, the ” New York Times” political forecaster Nate Silver, who accurately predicted the results of every single state in the 2012 US election, reveals how we can all develop better foresight in an uncertain world. From the stock market to the poker table, from earthquakes to the economy, he takes us on an enthralling insider`s tour of the high-stakes world of forecasting, showing how we can use information in a smarter way amid a noise of data
- & make better predictions in our own lives.
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On the 9th of June 1865, Charles Dickens was travelling aboard the Folkestone to London Boat Train with his mistress & her mother, when it derailed while crossing a viaduct near Staplehurst in Kent. The train plunged down a bank into a dry river bed, killing ten passengers, & badly wounding forty. Dickens was profoundly affected by the disaster, & a year later, he published The Signalman, a supremely atmospheric ghost story in which the narrator, while investigating a dank & lonely railway cutting, meets the signalman who works there. His new acquaintance appears to live under the shadow of an unbearable secret, haunted by an apparition whose appearance prefigures terrible rail accidents. Drawing on Dickens own experiences, & introduced by Simon Bradley, author of The Railways, The Signalman is both an important piece of rail history, & a sinister tale which will make you think twice next time you enter the quiet carriage. ...

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN`S PRIZE FOR FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE From the moment Alma Whittaker steps into the world, everything about life intrigues her. Instilled with an unquenchable sense of wonder by her father, a botanical explorer & the richest man in the New World, Alma is raised in a house of luxury & curiosity. It is not long before she becomes a gifted botanist in her own right. But as she flourishes & her research takes her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man she comes to love draws her in the opposite direction
- into the realm of the spiritual, the divine & the magical. The Signature of All Things soars across the globe of the nineteenth century, from London & Peru, to Philadelphia, Tahiti & beyond. Peopled with extraordinary characters along the way, most of all it has an unforgettable heroine in Alma Whittaker.
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Fathi, a writer no longer permitted to write, makes his way through a city churned by parades for an unnamed dictator. It is a day stifled by heat & the noise of the chants, a day of people trampled, & of the brutality & bullying of the party faithful. But Fathi presses treacherously against the crowd, attempting just to visit his mother & his girlfriend. The Silence & the Roar is a personal, urgent, funny & aggrieved novel. It asks what it means to have a conscience, or to laugh, or to endure in a time of the violence, strangeness & roar of tyranny. It is both a true literary achievement & an act of real courage by a brilliant Syrian writer. ...