The inspiration behind the South Bank Centres year-long festival of 20th century music Alex Rosss masterpiece is a sweeping musical history from pre-war Vienna to the Velvet Underground. The landscape of twentieth-century classical music is a wild one: this was a period in which music fragmented into apparently divergent strands each influenced by its own composers performers & musical innovations. In this comprehensive tour Alex Ross music critic for the New Yorker explores the people & places that shaped musical development: Adams to Zweig Brahms to Bjork pre-First World War Vienna to Nixon in China. Winner of the Guardian First Book Award this unique portrait of an exceptional era weaves together art politics & cultural history to show how twentieth-century classical music was both a symptom & a source of immense social change. ...

Thirty years of celebrating the comic genius of Douglas Adams... If you've done six impossible things this morning why not round it off with breakfast at Milliways the Restaurant at the end of the Universe? Which is exactly what the crew of the Heart of Gold plan to do. There's just the small matter of escaping the Vogons avoiding being taken to the most totally evil world in the Galaxy & teaching a space ship how to make a proper cup of tea. & did anyone actually make a reservation? Volume Two in the Trilogy of Five ...

With a wide selection of restaurants including AA Rosette winners this is the perfect gift for all food lovers. You will enjoy a delicious menu of dishes specially selected to give you an all round experience of a cuisine or cooking style. You can choose to try something completely new sample a modern twist on an old favourite or just enjoy a delicious meal out together. You will either be served signature dishes that represent the character of the restaurant or a tantalising set tasting menu of around five to six courses per person depending on which venue is chosen. Each taster menu serving will usually be a smaller size portion to enable you to enjoy more courses. The dishes will be served in succession so you are able to take your time appreciating the different flavours. ...

It is 1939. Eva Delectorskaya is a beautiful 28-year-old Russian emigree living in Paris. As war breaks out she is recruited for the British Secret Service by Lucas Romer a mysterious Englishman & under his tutelage she learns to become the perfect spy to mask her emotions & trust no one including those she loves most. Since the war Eva has carefully rebuilt her life as a typically English wife & mother. But once a spy always a spy. Now she must complete one final assignment & this time Eva can't do it alone: she needs her daughter's help. ...

It is 1939. Eva Delectorskaya is a beautiful 28-year-old Russian emigree living in Paris. As war breaks out she is recruited for the British Secret Service by Lucas Romer a mysterious Englishman & under his tutelage she learns to become the perfect spy to mask her emotions & trust no one including those she loves most. Since the war Eva has carefully rebuilt her life as a typically English wife & mother. But once a spy always a spy. Now she must complete one final assignment & this time Eva cant do it alone: she needs her daughters help. ...

Over the past 250 years of momentous change & dramatic upheaval China has proved itself to be a Restless Empire". Tracing Chinas course from the eighteenth-century Qing Dynasty to todays Peoples Republic " Restless Empire" shows how the countrys worldview has evolved. It explains how Chinese attitudes have been determined by both receptiveness & resistance to outside influence & presents the preoccupations that have set its foreign-relations agenda. Within two decades China is likely to depose the United States as the worlds largest economy. By then the country expects to have eradicated poverty among its population of more than one & a half billion & established itself as the worlds technological powerhouse. Meanwhile some
- especially its neighbours
- are afraid that China will strengthen its military might in order to bend others to its will. A new form of Chinese nationalism is rising. Many Chinese are angry about perceived past injustices & fear a loss of identity to commercial forces & foreign influences. So will Chinas attraction to world society dwindle or will China continue to engage? Will it attempt to recreate a Sino-centric international order in Eastern Asia or pursue a more harmonious diplomatic route? & can it overcome its lack of democracy & transparency or are these characteristics hard-wired into the Chinese system? Whatever the case we ignore Chinas international history at our peril. " Restless Empire" is a magisterial & indispensible history of the most important state in world affairs today."

...

It sends a shiver down Detective Superintendent Alan Markby's spine when he hears that a rambler has stumbled on human bones in Stovey Woods in the heart of the Cotswolds. Twenty-two years ago as a fresh-faced young inspector he had a rare failure in the hunt for a brutal serial rapist preying on local women. After the third rape the attacker went to ground never to be heard of again. Now with a new investigation prompted by the grisly remains the trail could be warm once more. But almost at once Markby is confronted with another body & a thoroughly up-to-date murder. Could the two be connected? It seems that some of the village residents would be just as happy to let sleeping dogs lie & secrets
- both old & new
- stay hidden...

...

Olivia Coulson is pretty & determined enough to attract any man's eye. George Chilton-Brookes heir to the Cropton estate is visibly enchanted by her while handsome gentleman farmer Kit Fernley is also drawn to her looks & vivacity. Olivia wavers between her two suitors eventually inclining towards the wealth & social position that marriage to George will bring
- only to find that he has turned his attention elsewhere. So she marries Kit: handsome attentive loving...and in her eyes second best. Unable to forgive her fickle lover for his rejection of her Olivia sets out to make George sorry he ever slighted her; becoming so intent on settling old scores that she is barely aware of the deadly danger her husband faces. Challenged by his father to undertake a long & perilous sea journey to the Arctic wastes Kit accepts comforted by thoughts of his wife awaiting his return & oblivious of the lengths to which Olivia will go to achieve her revenge.
...

England in 1912 still bears itself with Edwardian confidence but strikes protests & public violence reveal the fault lines as society evolves under the spur of new ideas & technology. Among the many branches of the Morland family Jessie & violet childhood friends learn to cope with the surprises of marriage & motherhood & their different strata of society. Jack disappointed in love loses himself in designing aircraft & training airmen for the newly formed flying corps. & Anne exhausted by the Suffragette struggle seeks comfort in her friendship with an unconventional young woman. The Titanic tragedy shakes the confidence of a people used to conquering nature with engineering; & all the while the troubled nations of Europe edge closer to a war no-one wants but which seems inevitable. ...

When a twist of fate delivers an ambitious young medical student to the court of King Charles II he is suddenly thrust into a vibrant world of luxury & opulence. Blessed with a quick wit & sparkling charm Robert Merivel rises quickly soon finding favour with the King & privileged with a position as paper groom to the youngest of the Kings mistresses. But by falling in love with her Merivel transgresses the one rule that will cast him out from his new-found paradise. Determined to be restored to the Kings grace Merivel begins a journey of self-knowledge & soon discovers that the Kings pleasure is equally matched by his wrath... ...