Showing 205–216 of 229 resultsSorted by latest
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£8.99
Keggie Carew grew up in the gravitational field of an unorthodox father who lived on his wits and dazzling charm. As his memory begins to fail, she embarks on a quest to unravel his story and get to know who her father really was. Tom Carew was a left-handed stutterer, a maverick and a law unto himself. As a member of the Jedburghs, an elite SOE unit, he was parachuted behind enemy lines to raise resistance in France, then Burma, in the Second World War. But his wartime exploits are only the start of it, and Keggie soon finds herself in a far more astonishing and consuming place than she had bargained for. ‘Dadland’ is a manhunt. Keggie takes us on a spellbinding journey, in peace and war, into surprising and shady corners of history, her rackety English childhood, the poignant breakdown of her family, the corridors of dementia and beyond.
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£25.00
From the acclaimed author of Former People, a definitive biography of Rasputin, published to coincide with the centenary of his murder.
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£20.00
As one of the world’s most famous children’s writers, Astrid Lindgren championed the qualities of courage, hope, love and resistance; and her preoccupation with these qualities was already in evidence in the diaries she kept during the Second World War. Her diary, published now for the first time in English, provides a fascinating insight into a Europe poisoned by fascism, racism and violence, from the point of view of not only an employee of the Swedish Mail Censorship Office, but also of a wife, mother and budding writer living in a formally neutral country.
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£8.99
The contrasting lives of the Mitford sisters – stylish, scandalous and tragic by turns – hold up a mirror to upper-class life before and after the Second World War.
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£16.99
Keggie Carew grew up in the gravitational field of an unorthodox father who lived on his wits and dazzling charm. As his memory begins to fail, she embarks on a quest to unravel his story and get to know who her father really was. Tom Carew was a left-handed stutterer, a maverick and a law unto himself. As a member of the Jedburghs, an elite SOE unit, he was parachuted behind enemy lines to raise resistance in France, then Burma, in the Second World War. But his wartime exploits are only the start of it, and Keggie soon finds herself in a far more astonishing and consuming place than she had bargained for. ‘Dadland’ is a manhunt. Keggie takes us on a spellbinding journey, in peace and war, into surprising and shady corners of history, her rackety English childhood, the poignant breakdown of her family, the corridors of dementia and beyond.
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£12.99
Like his mother Queen Victoria, Edward VII defined an era. Both reflected the personalties of their central figures: hers grand, imperial and pretty stiff; his no less grand, but much more relaxed and enjoyable. This book conveys Edward’s distinct personality and significant influences. To the despair of his parents, he rebelled as a young man, conducting many affairs and living a life of pleasure. But as king he made a distinct contribution to European diplomacy and – which is little known – to London, laying out the Mall and Admiralty Arch.
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£12.99
In January 1928, Stalin, the ruler of the largest country in the world, boarded a train bound for Siberia where he would embark upon the greatest gamble of his political life. He was about to begin uprooting and collectivization of agriculture and industry across the entire Soviet Union. Millions would die, and many more would suffer. Where did such great, monstrous power come from? The first of three volumes, the product of a decade of intrepid research, this landmark book offers the most convincing explanation yet of Stalin’s power.
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£25.00
The contrasting lives of the Mitford sisters – stylish, scandalous and tragic by turns – hold up a mirror to upper-class life before and after the Second World War.
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£30.00
The Times obituaries have given readers throughout the world an instant picture of a life for over 150 years. This book is a selection of 124 of these pieces, each obituary has been updated and reproduced in their entirety, by Anna Temkin, The Times assistant obituaries editor.
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£7.99
‘The Spy with 29 Names’ is a gripping account of the exploits of Juan Pujol, the most extraordinary double agent of the Second World War, who was awarded both an Iron Cross by Germany and an MBE by Britain. After the Spanish Civil War, determined to fight the spread of totalitarianism, Pujol moved to Lisbon with his wife, persuading the German intelligence services to take him on. But in fact, he was determined all along to work for the British, whom he saw as the exemplar of democracy and freedom. Seeing the impact of the disinformation this Quixotic freelance agent was feeding to the Germans, MI5 brought him to London, where he created a bizarre fictional network of spies – 29 of them – that misled the entire German high command, including Hitler himself.
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£14.99
Archaeologist, spy, Arabist, linguist, author, poet, photographer, mountaineer and nation builder, Gertrude Bell was born in 1868 into a world of privilege and plenty, but she turned her back on all that for her passion for the Arab peoples, becoming the architect of the independent kingdom of Iraq and seeing its first king Faisal safely onto the throne in 1921. ‘Queen of the Desert’ is her story, vividly told and impeccably researched, drawing on Gertrude’s own writings, both published and unpublished.
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£10.99
If Ethelred was notoriously ‘Unready’ and Alfred ‘Great’, King George VI should bear the designation of ‘George the Dutiful’. Throughout his life he dedicated himself to the pursuit of what he thought he ought to be doing rather than what he wanted to do. Inarticulate and loathing any sort of public appearances, he accepted that it was his destiny to figure regularly and conspicuously in the public eye, gritted his teeth, largely conquered his crippling stammer and got on with it. He was not born to be king, but he made an admirable one, and was the figurehead of the nation at the time of its greatest trial, during the Second World War. This is an enjoyable book about him.
