Leo Tolstoy`s epic Russian classic, retold in just 64 pages. First published in 1869, this novel is one of the most famous books in the world, & this simple but atmospheric retelling now makes it accessible for young readers. Set in Russia following the French invasion of Russia in 1812, as the Tsarist regime is succeeded by the Napoleonic era. ...

THE ACCLAIMED TRANSLATION BY RICHARD PEVEAR & LARISSA VOLOKHONSKY. ” If you`ve never read it, now is the moment. This translation will show that you don`t read War & Peace, you live it”. (The Times). From sophisticated Moscow soirees to breathless troika rides through the snow, from the bloody front line at Austerlitz to a wife`s death in childbirth, Tolstoy conjures a broad panorama of rich, messy, beautiful & debased human life. We follow the fates of open-hearted, impulsive Pierre Bezukhov, his melancholy friend Prince Andrei & the enchanting Natasha Rostov, as history & fiction are combined in one of the wisest & most enthralling novels ever written. ”A joy to read... The sense of actually being in the skin of these people is phenomenally, brilliantly rendered by this translation”. (Simon Schama). The Vintage Classic Russians Series: Published for the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, these are must-have, beautifully designed editions of six epic masterpieces that have survived controversy, censorship & suppression to influence decades of thought & artistic expression. ...

In 1862 Sonya Tolstoy married the greatest author the world has ever known. For forty-eight years they shared their lives in an enmeshed union that was both passionate & combative. Sixteen years younger than her husb&, Sonya bore him thirteen children & worked for years as his copyist, rewriting countless drafts of his timeless novels. Both were mercurial & personalities &, towards the end & exhausted, Tolstoy deserted her. In War & Peace & Sonya, Judith Armstrong tells Sonya`s own story, exploring the couple`s devotion & ambivalence to one another, their immense passion for great literature & the creative process, & showing us just how remarkably true to life fiction can be ...

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Caucasus was wracked by ethnic & separatist violence as the peoples of the region struggled for self-determination. Vicken Cheterian, who spent many years as a reporter & analyst covering the region`s conflicts, asks why nationalism emerged as a dominant political current, & why, of the many nationalist movements that emerged, some led to violence while others did not. He explains also why minority rebellions were victorious against larger armies, in mountainous Karabakh, Abkhazia, & in the first war of Chechnya, & discusses the ongoing instability & armed resistance in the North Caucasus. He concludes his book by examining chapters the great power competition between Russia, the US, & the EU over the oil & gas resources of the Caspian region. ...

A smoke bomb went off. Then shots were fired from buildings overlooking the square... The camera had a BBC News sign on it. Someone cried out from the crowd: ` You are the world, you are the world, you have to tell what they are doing to our people.` From Vietnam to Iraq, Martin Bell has seen how war has changed over the last fifty years, neither fought nor reported the way it used to be. Truth is degraded in the name of balance & good taste, reports are delivered from the sidelines, & social media, with rumours & unverifiable videos, has ushered in a post-truth world. As modern news increasingly seeks to entertain first & inform second, the man in the white suit provides a moving account of all he has witnessed throughout his career & issues an impassioned call to put the substance back into reporting. ...

Emmanuel Jal was seven years old when he became a soldier & went into battle with the rebel army in Sudan`s bloody civil war. Believing he was being sent to school, Emmanuel trekked his way to a refugee camp in Ethiopia where he became one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. After nearly five years of fighting, Emmanuel was smuggled into Kenya by Emma Mc Cune, a British aid worker, & finally began to have a childhood & an education. When Emma died tragically, Emmanuel struggled to find purpose in life but eventually
- through the power of prayer & music
- he succeeded. From child soldier, to refugee, to rap star, War Child is one boy`s incredible story of survival & triumph.

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` That time is upon us. I can feel it coming. That evil barbarian will not be satisfied until he has engulfed the whole world in war & death. I fear for us all.` In a triumphant return to his much-loved Courtney series, Wilbur Smith introduces us to the bravest new member of the famed family, Saffron Courtney. Saffron grows up on a sprawling Kenyan estate, under the watchful eye of her father, prominent businessman & distinguished war veteran Leon Courtney. Her childhood is idyllic, until a family tragedy forces her to grow up much faster than necessary. As she grows into a spirited teenager, her thirst for knowledge & adventure leads her to Engl&, where she finds herself inevitably drawn into the heart of the gathering storm in the lead up to World War II. Gerhard von Meerbach is the privileged & idealistic younger brother of Konrad von Meerbach, heir to an industrial fortune, & vocal supporter of the Nazi Party. Gerhard struggles to stay true to his principles in an increasingly cruel world. His friendship with a Jewish man places him in danger, & forces him to take a stand against the forces of evil that have overtaken his country & his family. But, unknown to him, he is caught in a trap that could cost him everything he holds dear. As the Second World War looms over them all, Saffron & Gerhard`s worlds will collide
- but will there be more to unite them than tear them apart? A love story in the time of heroes, War Cry is the latest breath-taking episode in Wilbur Smith`s epic account of one beloved family.
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` That time is upon us. I can feel it coming. That evil barbarian will not be satisfied until he has engulfed the whole world in war & death. I fear for us all.` In a triumphant return to his much-loved Courtney series, Wilbur Smith introduces us to the bravest new member of the famed family, Saffron Courtney. Saffron grows up on a sprawling Kenyan estate, under the watchful eye of her father, prominent businessman & distinguished war veteran Leon Courtney. Her childhood is idyllic, until a family tragedy forces her to grow up much faster than necessary. As she grows into a spirited teenager, her thirst for knowledge & adventure leads her to Engl&, where she finds herself inevitably drawn into the heart of the gathering storm in the lead up to World War II. Gerhard von Meerbach is the privileged & idealistic younger brother of Konrad von Meerbach, heir to an industrial fortune, & vocal supporter of the Nazi Party. Gerhard struggles to stay true to his principles in an increasingly cruel world. His friendship with a Jewish man places him in danger, & forces him to take a stand against the forces of evil that have overtaken his country & his family. But, unknown to him, he is caught in a trap that could cost him everything he holds dear. As the Second World War looms over them all, Saffron & Gerhard`s worlds will collide
- but will there be more to unite them than tear them apart?A love story in the time of heroes, War Cry is the latest breath-taking episode in Wilbur Smith`s epic account of one beloved family.
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The classic children`s book about the first world war & the Christmas Day cease-fire football match in no-mans-l&. * A special lavish new edition of a modern classic
- winner of the Smarties Grand Prize * Contains a special new introduction from michael Foreman, additional new illustrations & 4 pages of extra background material on the First World War & football during the war. * An informative & heartfelt story of the first world war & the famous Christmas cease-fire & football match in no-man`s-land * Beautifully illustrated & reproduced using Michael Foreman`s original watercolour paintings ”A masterpiece”
- The Times Literary Supplement ” The work of a major children`s author at his peak”
- The Daily Telegraph ” An unforgettable experience”
- The Guardian Approx. 2, 500 words Age range: 7+



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A journey through the most unlikely of gardens: the oases of peace people create in the midst of war In this millennium, we have become war weary. From Afghanistan to Iraq, from Ukraine to South Sudan & Syria, from Kashmir to the West Bank, conflict is as contagious & poisonous as Japanese knotweed. Living through it are people just like us with ordinary jobs, ordinary pressures & ordinary lives. Against a new landscape of horror & violence it is up to them to maintain a modicum of normality & colour. For some, gardening is the way to achieve this. Working in the world`s most dangerous war zones, freelance war correspondent & photographer Lally Snow has often chanced across a very moving sight, a testimony to the triumph of the human spirit in adversity, a celebration of hope & beauty: a war garden. In Kabul, the royal gardens are tended by a centenarian gardener, though the king is long gone; in Camp Bastion, bored soldiers improvise tiny gardens to give themselves a moment`s peace; on both sides of the dividing line in Jerusalem families tend groves of olives & raise beautiful plants from the unforgiving, disputed landscape; in Ukraine, families tend their gardens in the middle of a surreal, frozen war. War Gardens is a surprising, tragic & beautiful journey through the darkest places of the modern world, revealing the ways people make time & space for themselves & for nature even in the middle of destruction. Illustrated with Lally Snow`s own award-winning photography, this is a book to treasure. ...