Orlando Figes' The Whisperers" is a groundbreaking account of daily life in the chaotic & paranoid atmosphere of Stalinist Russia. Exploring the inner life of a Russia where everyone was afraid to talk & society spoke in whispers whether to protect friends & family
- or to betray them
- Orlando Figes tells the story of how Russians tried to endure life under Stalin's Terror. Where a junior worker might inform on their superior to get their job; a husband to get rid of a lover; a neighbour out of petty jealousy. Where living a double life became the norm & yet somehow a few defied the state. Those who shaped the political system became very frequently its victims. Those who were its victims were frequently quite blameless. Drawing on hundreds of family archives from across the whole spectrum of Russian society The Whisperers recreates the sort of maze in which Russians found themselves where an unwitting wrong turn could either destroy a family or perversely later save it: a society in which everyone spoke in whispers
- whether to protect themselves their families neighbours or friends
- or to inform on them. " Wonderful.. .an amazing panoramic view.. .I 've rarely read anything like it". (Claire Tomalin). " Awesome.. .one of the most unforgettable books I have ever read. I defy anyone to read it without weeping at its human suffering cruelty & courage". (Simon Sebag Montefiore " Mail on Sunday"). " This is a heart-rending book.. .its importance cannot be overestimated... This book should be made compulsory reading in Russia today". (Antony Beevor author Of " Stalingrad"). "A masterful account of lost & stolen lives". (" Sunday Times"). Orlando Figes is Professor of History at Birkbeck College University of London. He is the author of " Peasant Russia" " Civil War" "A Peoples Tragedy" " Natasha's Dance" & " The Whisperers". He lives in Cambridge & London. His books have been translated into over twenty languages."



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Charlie Parker returns in the chilling new thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of THE LOVERS. The border between Maine & Canada is porous. Anything can be smuggled across it: drugs cash weapons people. Now a group of disenchanted former soldiers has begun its own smuggling operation & what is being moved is infinitely stranger & more terrifying than anyone can imagine. Anyone that is except private detective Charlie Parker who has his own intimate knowledge of the darkness in mens hearts. But the soldiers actions have attracted the attention of the reclusive Herod a man with a taste for the strange. & where Herod goes so too does the shadowy figure that he calls the Captain. To defeat them Parker must form an uneasy alliance with a man he fears more than any other the killer known as the Collector.. . ...

This book features the worldly wise DI Brock & his wry sidekick DS Poole. When Jimmy Spotter Gould is shot dead within seconds of emerging from Londons Stone Mill Prison at the end of an eight-year sentence for armed robbery DCI Brock & DS Poole are faced with yet another baffling crime. As enquiries continue an embezzling solicitors clerk a dodgy undertaker & a dubious motor trader all come into the frame. Added to which a Bosnian doctor & Her Majestys Revenue & Customs also feature in a tale that eventually culminates in the uncovering of a complex smuggling operation & the arrest of the murderers of Spotter Gould & two other players in the scam. ...

A gruesome discovery leads Libertus on a dangerous quest...
- " Wealthy Volus ex-lictor to the Imperial Governor of Gaul
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A short holiday with his mother turns out very differently for Joe than he could have imagined when he left home. Soon he is embroiled in a world of witchcraft a world where the kind & innocent witches of Britain are facing a wicked foe. Can Joe & his young friend Twiggy put an end to the cunning plot or will they like their witchy friends find the baffling mystery too hard to solve? ...

Sometimes the past really does come back to haunt you... The old manor house has stood empty for years left to rot since the last master of the Fenton family died. Until Jess Beddows steps inside & feels she has come home. Against her family's wishes she buys the house promising to bring it back to life. Upstairs in an attic room left untouched for a century or more she finds a journal. It holds the heartbreaking tale of Martha & of the cruel entangled lives of the house's servants & masters nearly two hundred years before. As Jess is drawn into their tragedy the whispers begin. Before long everything she loves will be threatened by violent emotion & long-kept secrets. Can she survive the echoes from the past? ...

At a camp filled with vampires werewolves & fairies Kylie Galen has always struggled to figure out what she is. Now she finally knows the truth
- but shes left with more questions than answers. She doesnt have a clue what her heritage means or how to harness her newfound powers. All she knows is that she needs to sort out her feelings for Derek the sexy half-Fae who just confessed his love & Lucas her werewolf boyfriend who seems more committed to his pack than to their relationship. All the while Kylies dealing with a group of underground rogues who want her dead & a mysterious grandfather who makes it clear he doesnt trust the FRU...or Shadow Falls. Soon Kylie will have to choose: Will she stay with the new family shes formed at Shadow Falls or will she leave with her grandfather & embrace her destiny?
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Whispers in the Graveyard" is a gripping powerful & haunting story. Solomon is bullied by his teachers & feels let down by his parents: his father drinks too much & his mother has left him. His refuge is in the local kirkyard among ancient graves that lie in the shadow of the rowan tree the only thing that grows there. Then workmen uproot the tree & as it decays a strange power is unleashed. Solomon hears whispers & first-grader Amy Miller dreams of a strange lady with an alluring song. Solomon finds out the kirkyard was both the site of a witch hunt & the burial place for small pox victims. Did the witch leave a curse for the miller's descendants? Solomon must uncover the mysteries of the past & save Amy." ...

From the bestselling author of Lady of Hay comes Whispers in the Sand set in richly mysterious Egypt where past & present collide. Recently divorced Anna decides to cheer herself up by retracing a journey her great grandmother made in the nineteenth century: a Nile cruise from Luxor to the Valley of the Kings. Anna carries with her on the voyage two mementoes of her great-grandmother Louisa: an ancient Egyptian scent bottle & the diary of that original Nile cruise which has lain unread for a hundred years. As she follows in Louisas footsteps Anna discovers in the diary the chilling secret of the scent bottle & is pursued by the same terrifying spectres as her great grandmother. ...

For West London girls Sal & Ann Storey 1957 should have been one of the happiest years of their lives. Instead the sisters world is turned upside down when two family tragedies strike in quick succession. Left to run the familys sweetshop with their grandmother Sal discovers she has a flair for business
- but it doesnt make up for everything she & Ann have lost. When Sal meets handsome taxi driver Bob Beck & falls deeply in love it seems that her luck is changing. Bob becomes her one constant as she struggles to keep the business afloat & as Ann finally uncovers the guilty secret shes been carrying for so long; a secret which could have explosive consequences for the sisters. The last thing Sal needs is for Bobs scheming ex-fiancee Kate to reappear in his life
- especially as Kate is preparing to make a stunning revelation; one which could destroy their relationship for good...

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