John Murray Press strana 2 z 17

Betsy Cornwell left home with her baby on his first birthday, checking into a hotel under a false name so her husband could not track them down. Over the long months of housing insecurity that followed, bouncing around cheap motel rooms and friend's couches, Betsy's determination to offer her son something she'd never had - a safe, stable home - took on the force of obsession. In The Old Knitting Factory, Cornwell invites readers to join her on the path that led out of her violent marriage and into renovating a run-down house on a lake in rural Ireland, transforming a largely abandoned and abused vacation house into a family home and childcare-inclusive arts retreat space for other single parents. Along the way, she creates community and finds family wherever she goes - even when she has to build it herself, brick by brick. Mixing Maid's gripping portrait of single motherhood's precarity with The Salt Path's wild, romantic sense of place - in this case among rural Ireland's cool mists, nubbly Aran yarns, and whispering turf fires - The Old Knitting Factory invites readers to experience the magic of found family and new beginnings.

'This bracing tour d'horizon of the once and future world order, although aimed at the informed layman, is well worth reading . . . Simms has done much to rescue the reputation of geopolitical writing, often the preserve of the charlatan, the witless pundit and the video gamer. His newest work is no exception' THE TIMES'Timely . . . thought-provoking' FINANCIAL TIMES'Cuts through the noise to give the reader geopolitical clarity'TIM MARSHALL'Shines powerful light on the state of contemporary geopolitics . . . Profound'ANDREW ROBERTS'Wide-ranging and provocative'FIONA HILL'Simms is one of the most knowledgeable and formidable analysts of how the Great Powers will shape the new order'RANA MITTERFrom an acclaimed historian, a sweeping study of the past, present, and future of the Great Powers, revealing the new rules of global leadership. From the dawn of the modern era to the end of the Cold War, global history was defined by rivalries between great powers. In the West, this meant the struggle for supremacy in Europe and the Americas, while in the East, it encompassed those vying for control over the successor states to Genghis Khan's empire. Between 1989 and the year 2000, great power rivalry temporarily gave way to globalization, with liberal democracy on the march and national chauvinism seemingly in retreat. But events of the past decade have made one thing abundantly clear: the great powers are back. In The Return of the Great Powers, renowned historian Brendan Simms offers a new history of the rise, fall, and return of the Great Powers in our time. He shows that over the past ten years or so, the major global actors have already resumed making decisions based on geopolitical rather than global economic considerations. Delivering a clear-eyed reckoning with today's most pressing geopolitical issues, from the Ukraine war to the future of American dominance, The Return of the Great Powers insists that we can only understand the future of the great powers by looking to the history that forged them.

'A lush and sensory novel . . .This is a story that lingers' - Emma Pei Yin, author of When Sleeping Women Wake 'Feast held me in its thrall from the first page and never let go . . . an immersive, enthralling, extraordinary piece of historical fiction' - Rachel Blackmore, author of Costanza In the soot-streaked alleys of 19th-century London, Minha is a girl unlike any other - born with an extraordinary gift: an overwhelming, all-consuming sense of taste. Desperate to escape a life of poverty, she crosses the sea to France, chasing the shimmer of a better future. At Château de Bellefalaise, a grand estate with fairytale turrets perched above a sleepy village, Minha's talent is discovered when she detects poison in a dish about to be served to the château's master, Duc Nicolas. For the first time in her life, her strange ability becomes her salvation - and her curse. Appointed the Duc's personal poison-taster, she is confined to her tasting room and forced to live in the chateau's shadows. With each dish, she enters a world of glittering porcelain and gilded secrets, where danger simmers beneath every course... But when she loses her miraculous gift and suspicion coils through the corridors, Minha must confront a terrifying truth: without her gift, who is she - and what remains of the life she's fought so hard to buil? east is a sumptuous historical novel brimming with intrigue and sensory wonder - a dark fairytale for readers who love Jessie Burton, Elizabeth Macneal and Bridget Collins. 'A beautiful book, vivid and delicious and alive . . . I loved it' - Alex Hay, author of The Housekeepers'Feast is a tasty read, a fantastic novel filled with glorious detail and deliciously vivid story-telling . . . I highly recommend it' - Salena Godden, author of Mrs Death Misses Death 'A novel to savour, bursting with rich delights' - Laura Wilkinson, author of Redemption Song 'Sensuous and richly imagined' - Beth Miller, author of The Missing Letters of Mrs Bright'Where Perfume traced the pursuit of power, Feast examines a life of resistance' - Mark A. Radcliffe, author of Three Gifts'Kurtz is the real deal - an absolute original' - Mick Jackson, author of The Underground Man'A novel that truly captures the senses . . . Perfect for readers who love atmospheric historical fiction' - Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City

'I recommend our diplomats and ministers read this book: it will provide them with an intellectual backbone. On the big calls [Bootle] has a spectacularly good record.' - The Sunday Times'Bootle is right on every count.' - The GuardianThe Extensively Revised 5th Edition of this Highly Acclaimed Book for the 10th Anniversary of the Brexit VoteEurope is facing an existential challenge - with a spiralling political, economic and security crisis, amidst geopolitical fracturing on a global scale. The threats facing Europe could hardly be more serious as we live through the most dangerous time in decades. Political turmoil in France and Germany - two of Europe's largest economies - have only heightened Europe's economic problems in the face of intensifying competition with the US, and the volatility of the Russia-Ukraine war. Against this backdrop, The Trouble with Europe delivers a timely, extensive assessment of where Europe stands - and where it may be heading next. In this newly updated edition, leading economist and Telegraph columnist Roger Bootle, who has long maintained that the EU isn't working, argues that it must reform if it is to thrive. Published to mark ten years since the UK's Brexit referendum, the book provides a clear-eyed evaluation of Brexit's gains and losses, asking why the benefits have fallen short of expectations and where real opportunities still lie. Bootle combines sharp economic analysis with political insight, examining the EU's history, purpose and structural flaws. He explores the future of the Euro, the economic pressures facing member states, and the growing tensions between national sovereignty and deeper integration as many European leaders are being forced to choose between climate, economic and foreign policy goals. With coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war and its implications for the EU, and the tensions in Poland and Hungary, this edition brings the debate fully up to date. Crucially, the book looks forward. Can the EU reform itself? Is 'more Europe' the answer? What are the consequences of an EU break up? And could a looser, concentric-circle model offer a new path, including a role for the U? rovocative, authoritative and essential reading, The Trouble with Europe is indispensable for anyone who wants to understand Europe's future - and Britain's place within it.

Nothing, on earth or below it, freezes faster than the worthless heart. Before she was a hideous monster, the queen of the underworld was simply Hel. But cast as a girl out of lofty Asgard, realm of the gods, by Odin the Allfather, Hel's fate as the terrible goddess of death is sealed. Half beauty, half crone, she has reigned for aeons in the starless darkness of Niflheim, grimly welcoming the most pitiful of death's travellers to her ice-locked prison. Until one day a memory shifts, and she is forced to seek out the sun in Midgard, where humans have made their home. Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Helen Firth makes the impulsive decision to return to Orkney after forty years to make peace with her past. Under the wintering solstice sun, she reconnects with the ungainly but affable Thorfinn Coffin, who helps her address the real reason she has returned to the islands: to die. As Helen draws closer to death and ever closer to Thorfinn, Hel in turn is intrigued by Helen. She, too, has a past to confront and a lesson to learn: that perhaps who she thinks she is isn't who she is really meant to be. A powerful reimagining of the Norse myth of Hel, The Shapeshifter's Daughter celebrates the joy of reclaiming our stories.

'Bold, vital and urgent . . . Blows the old parochial Western accounts clean away' SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB'Refreshing and astutely judged . . . immensely enjoyable' JONATHAN PHILLIPSA spectacular new panoramic history of the Crusades. From their foundation in 1097 to Saladin's conquest of Jerusalem almost a century later, the Crusader States transformed the Middle Eastern world. In an era shaped by many conflicts, this was not simply a war between Christianity and Islam, but an epic contest among multiple rival empires, dynasties and cultures. The Crusader Storm unfolds through a kaleidoscope of perspectives: a Byzantine renegade, a crusader princess, a Turkish matriarch, a young Arab nobleman, a Syriac archbishop, Saladin's leading commander and the vizier of Egypt. Between them, information, technologies and ideas - as well as weapons - crossed borders at astonishing speed as their societies fought, allied and traded. Their entangled fates reshaped not only the Middle East, but the medieval world itself. Drawing on sources from Arabic, Greek, Syriac, Armenian, Latin and Hebrew traditions, Nicholas Morton's enthralling panorama transforms our understanding of the Crusades - revealing them not as a single clash of faiths, but as a dynamic era of war, commerce, innovation and exchange that defined the course of history.

'Brilliant, unpredictable and endlessly fascinating' IAN MORTIMER'I love this book' TRACY BORMAN'Gunn and Gromelski cast a brilliant light into a lost world' SUSAN BRIGDENA unique new window onto Tudor life, told through ordinary people's untimely deaths. How did ordinary people live in Tudor England? This unique history unearths the ways they died to find out. Uncovering thousands of coroners' reports, An Accidental History of Tudor England explores the history of everyday life, and everyday death, in a world far from the intrigues of Hampton Court Palace, Shakespeare's plots and the Spanish Armada. Here, farming, building and travel were dangerous. Fruit trees killed more people than guns, and sheep killed about the same number as coalmines. Men stabbed themselves playing football and women drowned in hundreds fetching water. Going to church had its dangers, especially when it came to bell-ringing, archery practice was perilous and haystacks claimed numerous victims. Restless animals roamed the roads which contained some potholes so deep men could drown, and drown they did. From bear attacks in north Oxford to a bowls-on-ice-incident on the Thames, this book uses a remarkable trove of sources and stories to put common folk back into the big picture of Tudor England, bringing the reality of their world to life as never before.

After successful ad exec Alan Anderson bombs the biggest pitch of his career, he has an epiphany. His entire career has been about making people buy stuff that they don't need so they feel perpetually unsatisfied and less-than. After a lifetime of striving for capitalism, Alan is opting out. He retires to the ridiculously extravagant playhouse in his family's suburban Connecticut garden (a classic example of something the Andersons didn't need), gives up showering, shoe-wearing, and purchases of all kinds. He might even read a book! This is all very upsetting for his wife Vivian, who is on the verge of being accepted into the insanely elite Queen's Anne Club - guaranteed to make all her insecurities disappear and her children popular. But maybe everyone will want to buy what Alan's not selling? And, in losing his ambition, might he find what we're all looking for? For anyone who has ever cared more about how it looked than how it felt, ALAN OPTS OUT is a hilarious take on consumerism, capitalism and wellness.

'A gripping tale of late-stage capitalism, wellness and the compromises we all make to fit in' Stylist 'Bitingly funny' Mail on Sunday'The eat-the-rich farce we need, from one of our funniest writers' Lit Hub 'Sly, propulsive and painfully hilarious family drama' Caro Claire Burke, author of YESTERYEAR'Chicken-soup for the late capitalist soul' Steven Rowley, NYT bestselling author of LILY AND THE OCTOPUS'Vivid, lacerating and funny' Carl Hiaasen, author of FEVER BEACH'Witty, sharp, and tender, Alan Opts Out skewers late-stage capitalism and material ambition while keeping human hearts - a family of them - at its center' Rachel Khong, author of REAL AMERICANS'A smart, funny, and all-too-timely tale of Americans on the edge of collapse . . . Maum delivers wry humor without sacrificing compassion' Elizabeth Gilbert'A brilliant, hilarious referendum on the American obsession with more' Nathan Hill, author of THE NIXAfter successful ad exec Alan Anderson bombs the biggest pitch of his career, he has an epiphany. His entire career has been about making people buy stuff that they don't need so they feel perpetually unsatisfied and less-than. After a lifetime of striving for capitalism, Alan is opting out. He retires to the ridiculously extravagant playhouse in his family's suburban Connecticut garden (a classic example of something the Andersons didn't need), gives up showering, shoe-wearing, and purchases of all kinds. He might even read a book! This is all very upsetting for his wife Vivian, who is on the verge of being accepted into the insanely elite Queen's Anne Club - guaranteed to make all her insecurities disappear and her children popular. But maybe everyone will want to buy what Alan's not selling? And, in losing his ambition, might he find what we're all looking for? For anyone who has ever cared more about how it looked than how it felt, ALAN OPTS OUT is a hilarious take on consumerism, capitalism and wellness.

?🔥👑THE SEARING ROMANTIC FANTASY PHENOMENON CONTINUES ?🔥👑Revenge is a fire that burns bright in the epic finale of the Celtic-inspired romantasy duology that began with A Fate Forged in Fire, an instant Sunday Times bestseller🔥Aemyra Daercathian is a queen on the run. Having failed to take Aird Lasair and been betrayed by her husband - whom she had grown to trust and was beginning to fall for during her time in captivity - Aemyra is forced to retreat with a raging desire for revenge. She vows to defeat the Covenanters and fulfil a sacred promise to kill Fiorean. But no one can know the truth. Although Aemyra has a fierce dragon and a large army of Duileach fighting by her side, she has lost what's most important - her fire magic. Haunted by her love for her enemy and unsure if she is even Goddess-blessed anymore, Aemyra must make a new kind of alliance, one that could mean winning back her territory. At a cost to her heart . . . From the ashes, Aemyra must emerge as a new kind of queen. Will she be the dawn for her people or the fire that burns everything to the ground?🔥👑🔥'The dragons? Epic. The men? Kneeling before their fiery queen, where they belong' - S. A. MacLean, bestselling author of The Phoenix Keeper'The perfect mix of female rage, revolution and a love strong enough to burn down a world - and remake it anew' - Holly Race, bestselling author of Six Wild Crowns'Deftly weaves political machinations, romance and truly epic battles on dragon-back' - Brigitte Knightley, bestselling author of The Irresistible Urge to Fall for your Enemy'A thrilling conclusion to this epic duology that is sure to leave hearts racing (for more reasons than one!)' - Rosie Hewlett, bestselling author of Medea? READERS ARE OBSESSED ?'Burns bright from the very first page''Everything I wanted from a finale and more''The female rage here is unmatched''THE dragon scene had me like 👀👀👀''The most perfect, fiery conclusion . . . please can we get more duologies in this world?!''Completely feral. Next. Level'?🔥TROPES?🔥Lovers to enemies to . . .?Only one dragonFemale rageDagger-to-throatScottish folkloreElemental magicPolitical intrigue

'A fever dream of a novel. Fuelled by sapphic femgore, it's sick and sultry, and a deeply beguiling masterclass in the perverse; I couldn't put it down!' Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb'Devilishly addictive and delightfully gory from an exciting new voice in literary horror. Northanger Abbey meets Saltburn' Christine Anne Foley, author of BodiesScullery drudge Ann longs to become a lady's maid. Ann can't quite remember how or when she arrived at the grand Ropner Hall, but she loathes spending her days toiling in the dank kitchen. When a chance meeting with Ropner's Lady Charlotte leads to the opportunity to become her personal maid, Ann is convinced she has finally escaped her own version of hell. But has she? As Ann's new life above stairs takes a sinister twist, will it turn out that the terrors lurking up there are worse than the devils she knows belo? essie Elland's deeply visceral debut is a dark and twisted tale of ambition and desire. Are you brave enough to enter Ropner Hall?'Disgustingly beautiful and sharp with shame. The Ladie Upstairs is an addictive, feverish and strangling read' Charlotte Paradise, author of Overspill'Beautiful prose, unforgettable characters, and a strange, twisty, dreamlike plot' Lauren Wilson, author of The Goldens

'BURN THIS!' Why did so many letters between Lady Frances and Lady Betty Balfour begin this way? What did they have to hide? Alike in so many ways - political, passionate, argumentative and deeply intelligent. It's no surprise that once Frances and Betty became sisters-in-law, they became close friends. There was just one problem. Frances was in love with Betty's husband. Their unconventional solution they found was an 'experiment in living', a ménage a quatre. Setting up homes on the same street, they shared everything: money, meals, governesses, and husbands. When Susan Pedersen discovered their amazing cache of letters, she was spellbound. 'We tend to see elite women of this era romantically - we wonder whom they will marry and track that marriage plot - but we don't always follow them into their marriages, as they struggle to live consequential lives. Marriage isn't the end of women's lives. It can be, as it was for Frances and Betty, the catalyst to political activism.'Her book follows their extraordinary friendship as both women seized every freedom afforded to them by the changing times, leaving their drawing rooms for the streets and the soapbox, joining the fight for the women's vote. This is the untold story of two women - radicals, rivals, sisters - who carved a path together through an elite male world, sharing their ideals, their heartbreaks, and most of all, their secrets.

"A beautiful, sensitive book about the most important issues we face in life." -Emily Esfahani Smith, author of The Power of MeaningIn 'But Are You Alive?', entrepreneur and teacher Eloise Skinner explores lessons learned from a decade spent pursuing depth, purpose and meaning, including from her training in a monastic community and in the field of existential therapy. Working through practical exercises, principles and tools, Eloise shares wisdom and actionable advice from a variety of traditions and perspectives, all with the intention of helping the reader find a sense of deeper 'aliveness' in daily life.

'Discover the secret to thriving in old age' Telegraph'In front of me is an adventure with old age as my companion, my shadow and confederate, maybe my friend.'Old age is a country, and we need to learn to walk through it. And that's just what Roger Clough, former Professor of Social Care, lifelong hill walker, and current resident of 'Oldenland' spends his time doing. Where he used to study the terrain of ageing like a scientist, now he understands it as a farmer might, walking its contours every day from his retirement village in the Peak District, while still negotiating the physical peaks and troughs of the area. Whilst there are a lot of books that cover the topic of 'how to have a good death', there is little that offers us advice on the time period that comes before that. How do we learn to actually be old? How do we spend our later years in a meaningful way that makes sense of who we've been and who we are now? Not in blithely positive denial in the face of our physical and cognitive decline, or overtaken with regret of a life that's running down the clock, but empowered to not lose who we are; to say 'I am still me'. And, if we have not yet arrived at its borders, how can we better understand those who live there, and better prepare ourselves for a future when we will become citizens to? ritten over 25 years and innumerable journeys, Oldenland is a unique and moving companion to the experiences of old age, and how to make it count. 'Profound and reflective . . . a truly valuable addition to the conversation about ageing in our greying society' Country Squire'Courageous, beautiful and very moving' Jamie Jauncey, author of Don Roberto

MORNING, AFTERNOON, NIGHT. THE MOTHERS ARE ALWAYS WATCHING . . . 'Original, dark, clever and compelling' Mary Ann Sieghart, author of The Authority Gap'This is a compelling and terrifying novel whose alternative history engages chillingly with current possibilities. No one writes children better than Chidgey. She exactly gets their experimental cruelty and related innocence as they attempt to piece their world together' Elizabeth Cook, author of LuxEngland, 1979. Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents of a secluded New Forest home, part of the government's Sycamore Scheme. Every day, the triplets do their chores, play their games and take their medicine, under the watchful eyes of three mothers: Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night. Their nightmares are recorded in The Book of Dreams. Their lessons are taken from The Book of Knowledge. And their sins are reported in The Book of Guilt. All the boys want is to be sent to the Big House in Margate, where they imagine a life of sun, sea and fairground rides. But, as the government looks to shut down the Sycamore Homes, the triplets begin to question everything they have been told. Gradually surrendering its dark secrets, The Book of Guilt is a profoundly unnerving exploration of belonging in a world where some lives are valued less than others.

The definitive history of the sixteenth-century uprising that revolutionized Europe. The German Peasants' War was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. In 1524 and 1525, it swept across Germany with astonishing speed as thousands of people massed in armed bands to demand a new and more egalitarian order. The peasants took control of vast areas of southern and middle Germany, torching and plundering the monasteries, convents, and castles that stood in their way. But they would prove no match for the forces of the lords, who put down the revolt by slaying somewhere between seventy and a hundred thousand peasants in just over two months. In Summer of Fire and Blood, the first history of the German Peasants' War in a generation, leading historian Lyndal Roper uncovers the far-reaching ramifications of this doomed rebellion. Though the victors portrayed the uprising as naive and chaotic, Roper's deeply researched account reveals instead a coherent mass movement inspired by the radical principles of the Protestant Reformation. Told through the voices of and beliefs of the people themselves, this is the thrilling, tragic story of the peasants' fight to change the world.