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The author of TV Book Club's SPIES OF THE BALKANS returns with a hugely evocative thriller set in wartime Paris. Frederic Stahl, born of Viennese intelligentsia, ran away to sea at the age of seventeen. Embarking in America, his matinee idol looks and Old-World charm took him to Hollywood, and a life of movies and women. But by autumn 1939, the unease in Europe has spread even to Stahl's glamorous enclave. War has been declared, and though bullets and bombs are yet to fly, his decision to shoot a film in Paris seems ill-advised. The Parisians know this is their last spring and a time to be passionate. Soon after his arrival, Stahl is drawn into a clandestine world of foreign correspondents, exiled Spanish republicans and, of course, spies of every sort. For as a celebrity from neutral America - who can travel across the continent freely - Stahl could be very useful indeed ...Returning to the Brasserie Heiniger, and some of the colourful cast from THE WORLD AT NIGHT, this is a headily atmospheric portrait of a continent in the grip of The Phony War.

Senka Skorikov, orphan and urchin, has been abandoned to the murky world of Moscow's gangster district. While picking a pocket or two, he glimpses the most beautiful woman he has ever seen, and joins the gang of her overlord lover, The Prince, so des perate he is to meet her. Senka climbs the criminal ranks, uncovering a stash of precious metal, and gradually capturing the heart of his beloved Death - so named for the life expectancy of her lovers. But as the bandit community balks at his success on both fronts, threats on his life begin to pour in . A dandy and his 'Chinese' sidekick seem to be taking an inordinate interest in Senka's welfare, and it becomes clear that those threatening Senka are linked to a spate of murders, grizzly even b y underworld standards. Fandorin must unweave a tangled web of narcotics, false identities and organised crime - but can he survive an encounter with the ever-alluring Death unscathed? Find out in the darkest Fandorin to date!

Eredeti, könnyen használható, kényelmes nyelvkönyv utazásaihoz. Az ASSIMIL zsebkönyvvel biztonságban érezheti magát, hiszen mindig kéznél vannak a legfontosabb szavak, a hétköznapi társalgás kifejezései és a helyi szokások-szólások. A köznyelv egyedülállóan gazdag szókincsével mind a nehéz, mind pedig a várva várt pillanatokban sem jöhet zavarba. Élvezetes beavatás a nyelvi szerkezetek rejtelmeibe is már az első oldalakon! Az utazáson kívül itthon is kitűnő segítség az eltévedt turisták felkarolásához. Sőt, a nyelvvel való behatóbb ismerkedéshez is kedvet kaphat...

Nelson Mandela has been mythologised as a flawless hero of the liberation struggle. But how exactly did his early life shape the triumphs to come? This book goes behind the myth to find the man who people have forgotten or never knew - Young Mandela, the committed freedom fighter, who left his wife and children behind to go on the run from the police in the early 1960s. But his historic achievements came at a heavy price and David James Smith graphically describes the emotional turmoil Mandela l eft in his wake. After meticulous research, and taking a lead from Mandela's trusted circle, the author discovers much that is new, surprising, and sometimes shocking that will enhance our understanding of the world's elder statesman. For the first t ime, we have evidence of a specific personal motivation for Mandela's fight against apartheid, and this book sheds light on the significant extent to which Mandela relied on white activists - a part of South African history the ANC has ignored or tri ed to bury. Sanctified, lionised, it turns out that Mandela is a human being after all, only too aware of his flaws and shortcomings. With unique access to people and papers, culminating in a meeting with Mandela himself, Smith has written the single most important contribution to our knowledge of this global icon.

PI Gerhard Self is lured out of retirement by a seemingly straightforward assignment: to find the former sleeping partner at Welker &, Welker, a prestigious private bank. But the case soon throws up many more questions than answers, and Self finds himself embroiled in a shady world of money-laundering, mafia and murder...What secrets is the bank's history hiding? Why are the institution's enigmatic masters - Herr Welker and his steely Russian foster brother - trying to ensnare Self in their dangerous game, and just who is the stranger claiming to be Self's long-lost son?

London's East End in the 1950s was a unique place: the struggles of post-war life - bombsites, overcrowded tenements, crime, brothels - bred a culture of tight-knit family communities, larger-than-life characters, and a lively social scene. It was into th

'The pace of this kind of travel has not much changed since Fogg set out in 1872. Trains may be a little faster, but there are certainly no high-speed rail links yet across India, China or the USA. Passenger services have practically disappeared from the world's shipping lanes ... Recourse to air travel, even as a convenient means of escape, was not allowed.' Following the route taken by Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club to circumnavigate the world. The rules were simple, but nothing else about the trip was straightforward... From a tour of Venice on a rubbish barge to ship spotting at the Suez Canal and the bicycle rush hour and snake snacks in China, this is an unparalleled tribute to man's ability to make life difficult for himself.

What does it really mean to be dead? This is the question that vexes Isobel because as far as the outside world is concerned she is dead. The book springs from a case of mistaken identity. Isobel, mother of three adult children and an anthropologist has officially been pronounced dead following a boat accident in a remote part of the Guatemalan jungle. But Isobel is very much alive and is hiding in a remote shack in the jungle. She isn't ready to tell the world she's still alive and she's not sure whether she ever will. The news of her own death is especially ironic because as an anthropologist, she studies death rituals. Serena, Isobel's daughter, studies weather. Her father has some form of Alzheimer's and with her mother now supposedly dead, she is trying to write the family history before it is lost. Above all, she is obsessed with the story of Simon, her father's father who was in a shipwreck and survived three days at sea before being rescued. The story of his life has become a family legend together with the tales her father told about The Battle of Formigues and the story of Li Po. Ever since she was a child, Serena has been tantalised by these stories, always asking questions, turning the 'facts' over in her mind, always trying to piece the 'truth' together. Yet the irony is that she isn't investigating the one story she really should.

George Soros made billions anticipating seismic changes in the financial markets and has used that money to try and change the world. In this book he brings that commitment to the subject that has preoccupied him since 2001: the state of America. He looks at the fatal flaws not merely of the current Administration - with whom his antagonism is well documented - but with the wider American view of the world. The 'stateless statesman', uninhibited by the need to temper his message to suit partisan politics, here delivers his most forceful and penetrating description of how the country that should provide a beacon for good governance around the world has lost direction - such that it believes its own rhetoric and myth-making, in defiance of the facts that will shape all our futures. Soros insists that 'America must undergo a change of heart'. And if we're looking for somewhere to start, he says, America had better begin by renouncing the 'feel-good' misconceptions implicit in the War on Terror.

Hidden in the heart of the old city of Barcelona is the 'cemetery of lost books', a labyrinthine library of obscure and forgotten titles that have long gone out of print. To this library, a man brings his 10-year-old son Daniel one cold morning in 1945. Daniel is allowed to choose one book from the shelves and pulls out 'La Sombra del Viento' by Julian Carax. But as he grows up, several people seem inordinately interested in his find. Then, one night, as he is wandering the old streets once more, Daniel is approached by a figure who reminds him of a character from La Sombra del Viento, a character who turns out to be the devil. This man is tracking down every last copy of Carax's work in order to burn them. What begins as a case of literary curiosity turns into a race to find out the truth behind the life and death of Julian Carax and to save those he left behind. A page-turning exploration of obsession in literature and love, and the places that obsession can lead.

Having risen to the challenge of seas, poles, dhows and deserts, the highest mountains in the world were a natural target for Michael Palin. In a journey rarely, if ever, attempted before, in 6 months of hard travelling Palin takes on the full length of the Himalaya including the Khyber Pass, the hidden valleys of the Hindu Kush, ancient cities like Peshawar and Lahore, the mighty peaks of K2, Annapurna and Everest, the gorges of the Yangtze, the tribal lands of the Indo-Burmese border and the vast Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. Facing altitudes as high as 17,500 feet as well as some of the world's deepest gorges, Palin also passed through political flashpoints like Pakistan's remote north-west frontier, terrorist-torn Kashmir and the mountains of Nagaland, only recently open to visitors. Michael Palin is a fantastic writer and the text reads beautifully, making this a perfect read for the armchair traveller.

The author of A History of God and Islam, Karen Armstrong here turns to a religious figure whose thought is still reverberating throughout the world 2500 years after his death. Yet all that is known about him comes from a collection of ancient writi ngs that fuse history, biography and myth. Armstrong distills from these the key events of Buddha's life: his birth as Siddhatta Gotama in the 5th century BC; his abandonment of his wife and son; his attainment of enlightenment under the Banyan tree; his political influence; the divisions among his followers; and his serene death. Armstrong also introduces the key tenets of Buddhism. "This sterling work by Armstrong is anything but standard fare. Armstrong combines the abilities of storyteller, historian, and interpreter of Buddhist thought to create a work that is both fascinating and informative. What makes this such a strong and engaging work is that she uses her discriminating insight as a historian while recognizing that 'the people of North India were not interested in history in our sense: they were more concerned about the meaning of historical events.' This insight is applied effectively throughout, as Armstrong considers the Buddhist teaching encapsulated in the major events of the Buddha's life. Her explications have great clarity and power, making this work essential reading for those looking for a brief introduction to the Buddha's life and Buddhist thought."Library Journal

The author of A History of God and Islam, Karen Armstrong here turns to a religious figure whose thought is still reverberating throughout the world 2500 years after his death. Yet all that is known about him comes from a collection of ancient writi ngs that fuse history, biography and myth. Armstrong distills from these the key events of Buddha's life: his birth as Siddhatta Gotama in the 5th century BC; his abandonment of his wife and son; his attainment of enlightenment under the Banyan tree; his political influence; the divisions among his followers; and his serene death. Armstrong also introduces the key tenets of Buddhism. "This sterling work by Armstrong is anything but standard fare. Armstrong combines the abilities of storyteller, historian, and interpreter of Buddhist thought to create a work that is both fascinating and informative. What makes this such a strong and engaging work is that she uses her discriminating insight as a historian while recognizing that 'the people of North India were not interested in history in our sense: they were more concerned about the meaning of historical events.' This insight is applied effectively throughout, as Armstrong considers the Buddhist teaching encapsulated in the major events of the Buddha's life. Her explications have great clarity and power, making this work essential reading for those looking for a brief introduction to the Buddha's life and Buddhist thought."Library Journal

Marie Antoinette's dramatic life-story continues to arouse mixed emotions. To many people, she is still 'la reine méchante', whose extravagance and frivolity helped to bring down the French monarchy; her indifference to popular suffering epitomised by the (apocryphal) words: 'let them eat cake'. Others are equally passionate in her defence: to them, she is a victim of misogyny. In this biography Antonia Fraser examines her influence over the king, Louis XVI, the accusations and sexual slurs made against her, her patronage of the arts which enhanced French cultural life, her imprisonment, the death threats made against her, rumours of lesbian affairs, her trial (during which her young son was forced to testify to sexual abuse by his mother) and her eventual execution by guillotine in 1793.

Dian Fossey's classic account of four gorilla families; the basis for the major movie starring Sigourney Weaver For thirteen years Dian Fossey lived and worked with Uncle Bert, Flossie, Beethoven, Pantsy and Digit in the remote rain forests of the vo lcanic Virunga Mountains in Africa, establishing an unprecedented relationship with these shy and affectionate beasts. In her base camp, 10,000 feet above sea-level, she struggled daily with rain, loneliness and the ever-constant threat of poachers w ho slaughtered her beloved gorillas with horrifying ferocity. African adventure, personal quest and scientific study, Gorillas in the Mist is a unique and intimate glimpse into a vanishing world and a vanishing species.