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Foretold by Thunder

Ebook: July 2, 2015
Paperback: July 2, 2015

Foretold by Thunder

E.M. Davey

When journalist Jake Wolsey stumbles upon a declassified file showing Winston Churchill’s interest in the ancient Etruscan civilisation his curiosity brings peril in its wake.

He soon attracts the unlikely attention of alluring archaeologist Florence Chung – and that of MI6. As the two are pursued across Europe and Africa in search of the Etruscans’ sacred text, danger closes in and more questions than answers arise. Are there powers in the sky modern science has yet to understand? Could the ancients predict the future? And what really explains the rise of Rome, that of Nazi Germany, the ebb and flow of history itself?

In a thrilling race against time and enemies known and unknown, Wolsey fears the very survival of the West may depend on his ability to stay one step ahead of his adversaries.

Reviews

  • 'This one unfolds against a broad canvas, the plot expertly controlled, pushing the envelope to the edge and beyond. There's everything I like: action, history, secrets, and conspiracies. You're going to like it too' Steve Berry, author of The Templar Legacy

  • 'A cracking good read... a thriller injected with inside nowse as well as well-placed heart-attack inducing paranoia, appealing to all who like their adrenaline rushes fast, engrossing and, at times, bloody' Bookbag, Top Ten Thrillers of 2015

  • 'Channeling fantasy, science and even the beliefs of an ancient Italian tribe in a Dan Brown-style action adventure' Islington Gazette

  • 'Sensational book. Blew me away. Devoured it in four sittings. Electric paced, action packed, full of fascinating historical facts. Reads like Indiana Jones for the modern age, taking you around the world and back again, dizzy from adventure' Tarn Richardson, author of The Damned

  • 'Comparable to Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Davey's thriller is a fascinating story filled with history's possibility' NewsOK

Effie

Ebook: September 25, 2014
Hardback: October 21, 2010
Paperback: April 26, 2012

Effie

Suzanne Fagence Cooper

The scandalous love triangle at the heart of the Victorian art world. Effie Gray, a Scottish beauty, was the heroine of a great Victorian love story. Married at nineteen to John Ruskin, she found herself trapped in a loveless and unconsummated union. When her husband invited his protégé John Everett Millais away on holiday, she and Millais fell in love. Effie would inspire some of Millais’s most haunting images, and embody Victorian society’s fears about female sexuality.

Effie risked everything by leaving Ruskin. She hoped to find fulfilment as Millais’s wife, becoming a society hostess and manager of his studio, but controversy and tragedy continued to stalk her. Suzanne Fagence Cooper has gained exclusive access to Effie’s family letters and diaries to reveal the reality behind the scandalous love-triangle. She shows the rise and fall of the Pre-Raphaelite circle from a new perspective, through the eyes of a woman who was intimately involved in the private and public lives of its two greatest figures. Effie’s charm and ambition helped to shape the careers of both her husbands. Effie is a compelling portrait of the extraordinary woman behind some of the most famous Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

Reviews

  • 'Effie Gray's story is extraordinary and Cooper feasts upon it with appetite... I cannot recommend Fagence Cooper's biography of Effie Gray more highly to anyone with a heart, a liking for a good read and an interest in things Victorian' Henrietta Garnett, Literary Review

  • 'This is an exceptional book about an exceptional trio and the exceptional families that formed them' The Scotsman

  • 'A joy to read - a wonderful, rich book' Emma Thompson

  • 'At last Effie Millais has been given her voice and it is marvelous one. Effie emerges as a courageous, intelligent, resourceful, woman who refused to go quietly. In unsettling Victorian society, she left the door ajar for generations of women. Suzanne Fagence Cooper elegantly brings to life the glittering world of Victorian art and the socially complicated one of a woman who wed the two cultural giants of the age and not only survived, but thrived! Effie's story is a haunting one. I couldn't put it down' Linda Lear, author of Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

Ebook: April 25, 2013
Hardback: May 22, 2014
Paperback: May 23, 2013

A Very Short Tour of the Mind

Michael Corballis

Leading us through cognitive theory, neuroscience and Darwinian evolution with his trademark wit and wisdom, Michael Corballis explains what we know and don’t know about our minds. How do we know if we’re really the top dogs in brain power? Does our creativity stem solely from the right brain? From language to standing upright, composing music to lying, he uncovers our most common misconceptions and the fascinating habits and abilities that make us human.

Reviews

  • 'In A Very Short Tour of the Mind, Michael Corballis addresses some of the most basic questions about the mind, illuminating how the structure of the brain and its evolution over the ages shape how we think. His prose is witty, free of jargon, easily accessible to the general reader and a pleasure to read' Albert S. Bregman, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, McGill University

  • 'We're fortunate to have Corballis as our learned and charming guide on this all-too-short tour of the human mind' Steven Pinker

  • 'A wonderful, witty and lovely read. Corballis's writing kept me smiling all the way through' Maryse Lassonde, Canada Research Chair in Developmental Neuropsychology, University of Montreal

Black Venus

Ebook: February 27, 2014
Hardback: February 27, 2014
Paperback: February 27, 2014

Black Venus

James MacManus

Category: Historical Fiction,

In nineteenth century Paris, the young bohemian Charles Baudelaire roams the streets. Dressed impeccably – thanks to an inheritance that is quickly vanishing – and lost in the decadences of alcohol and opium, he is about to meet one woman destined to change his life forever: the beautiful Haitian cabaret singer, Jeanne Duval.

Inspiring Baudelaire’s most infamous poems – leading to the banning of his masterwork, Les Fleurs du Mal, and a scandalous public trial for obscenity – Duval becomes Baudelaire’s muse, the catalyst for a legacy spanning centuries. Their volatile and passionate affair explodes through the Parisian literary scene but, as the ever-more fractious world catches up with them, the strength of their love will be tested to the end.

Unfolding among the bars and salons during revolutionary times, Black Venus is an intoxicating story of love and betrayal in which drugs, absinthe and lust prove the making, and the destruction, of a great poet.

Reviews

  • 'James MacManus’s Black Venus is a vivid re-creation of bohemian Paris in the middle of the 19th century... an engrossing, moving portrait of doomed love and genius' Sunday Times

  • 'A vivid portrait of Paris during a turbulent period in its history, as well as an insightful exploration of the often self-destructive nature of genius' Mail Online

  • 'This novel is a vivid recreation of a lost world; the Paris of La Bohème and George Du Maurier’s Trilby, all cafés, ateliers and wild romance' The Times

  • 'Black Venus is atmospheric and dramatic, with vivid period detail and, at its heart, doomed lovers who can neither live together nor be apart' TLS

  • 'Poet Charles Baudelaire falls in love with cabaret singer Jeanne Duval, inspiring him to write Les Fleurs du Mal, for which he is tried for obscenity. The ensuing drama is vividly recreated' Vogue

  • ‘Although Jeanne disdained Baudelaire’s work, she would be his muse throughout their complex and tempestuous affair. The novel explores their relationship and casts an interesting light on his much-maligned muse’ Choice Magazine

  • 'Beautifully capturing bohemian Paris in the late nineteenth century… MacManus… creates a gritty and engrossing world in this beautifully crafted narrative, which will leave readers swooning – and reaching for their favourite recording of La Bohème' Booklist (Starred Review)

  • 'A beautiful and gripping novel. A world that will entice you in and keep you reading until the end' Kate Williams author of The Pleasures of Men

  • ‘Mixing fact and fiction, MacManus takes us on an exhilarating journey through the political, artistic and social changes of 19th century Paris whilst delivering a compelling and sympathetic re-telling of one of history’s most notorious love affairs' Lancashire Evening Post

Traversa

Ebook: October 2, 2012
Hardback: October 4, 2007
Paperback: July 3, 2008

Traversa

Fran Sandham

Category: Memoir & Biography,

A fascinating account of the hardships and hilarity Fran Sandham experienced during his epic solo journey on foot across Africa, from the Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean through Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania.

Inspired by the legendary crossings of the great explorers, Sandham left the daily grind of London to undertake an extraordinary adventure. Traversa describes his brushes with danger in the form of lions and snakes, land mines and bandits, his 2-month battle with a syphilitic donkey, malaria and the everyday troubles that arise when walking across Africa.

Underpinned with stories of the great explorers themselves – Livingstone, Stanley and Galton among others – Traversa is written proof of Sandham’s grit, determination and sheer obsession with Africa.

Reviews

  • 'A fresh and hugely amusing perspective... a heartwarming reflection of Africa's people and places' Metro

  • 'A likeable and self-deprecating narrator... I found myself increasingly gripped' Observer

  • 'An honest and hugely amusing account... Sandham's love for Africa is contagious' South African Magazine

  • 'Classical account of one man's struggle to test himself against Nature... Hope we shall hear more of his travels' The Daily Telegraph

  • 'Frank and uplifting, a well-written account' Wanderlust

  • 'This is real old school adventure... Great stuff' Adventure Travel

  • 'Writes with down-to-earth glee of the personalities, hardships, pleasures and idiocy of a solo walk' Longitude Longitude

  • 'Warm and entertaining... It is his enthusiasm for adventure and the variety of human life that makes Traversa so memorable' New Statesman

Beta Male

Ebook: January 12, 2011
Paperback: May 17, 2012

Beta Male

Iain Hollingshead

Sam Hunt is a confused modern male in his very late twenties. A work-shy, commitment-phobic would-be actor, he is beginning to worry that turning thirty might just be the last straw. Flatmate Alan, the sensible one, has just been proposed to by his girlfriend Jess, with his femme fatale boss looking on with a saucy gleam in her eye. Newly-dumped Ed spends his time tearfully watching ‘Sex and the City’ in a pile of his ex-girlfriend’s pyjamas and plotting his revenge.

Meanwhile unemployed doctor Matt embarks on a dubious bet with Sam to see who can be the first to ensnare a rich wife and enjoy a life of leisure… Are your carefree twenties a retreating memory? Are your friends discussing children and fixed-rate mortgages while you clutch your Xbox, sobbing? You’re not the only one. Beta Male is a riotously funny and painfully honest chronicle about friendship, masculinity, marriage and the beginning of adulthood.

Reviews

  • 'Sharp. Exceptionally observant and consistently amusing' Independent on Sunday

Flirting with French

Ebook: April 9, 2015
Paperback: April 9, 2015

Flirting with French

William Alexander

Category: Memoir & Biography,

William Alexander is not just a Francophile, he wants to be French. It’s not enough to explore the country, to enjoy the food and revel in the ambiance, he wants to feel French from the inside. Among the things that stand in his way is the fact that he can’t actually speak the language.

Setting out to conquer the language he loves (but which, amusingly, does not seem to love him back), Alexander devotes himself to learning French, going beyond grammar lessons and memory techniques to delve into the history of the language, the science of linguistics, and the art of translation. Along the way, during his travels in France or following his passion at home, he discovers that not learning a language may be its own reward.

Reviews

  • 'He throws himself into learning to speak French with Gérard Depardieu-like gusto...  the appeal of Flirting With French is in the author's amiable dunderheadedness as he delves into the culture, with all its confounding contradictions' New York Times Book Review

  • 'Hilarious and touching, all the way to the surprise ending. In this "travelogue" about learning French, William Alexander proves that learning a new language is an adventure of its own - with all the unexpected obstacles, surprising breakthroughs and moments of sublime pleasure traveling brings' Julie Barlow, co-author of Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong

  • 'A light-hearted and humorous read. Anyone who has struggled to get to grips with becoming fluent in French will relate to this book. A recommended buy' Complete France

  • 'His quixotic resolve to transcend his inherent competence recalls the participatory journalism of George Plimpton, the lanky patrician whose unlikely stints in football and boxing lent nobility to failure. Like Plimpton, Mr. Alexander presents himself as an apprentice, but the reader quickly discovers he is also a master teacher' Wall Street Journal 

  • 'I could so relate to William Alexander's insecurities-and ecstasies-while pursuing his major crush: France and her seductive language. Reading Flirting with French motivates me to continue courting the language, no matter how often I'm stood up mid-sentence!' Kristin Espinasse founder of French-Word-A-Day.com

  • 'Funny, informative, well-written, Flirting with French is a delightful and courageous tale and a romping good read. Voila!Mark Greenside, author of I'll Never Be French

  • 'Beyond just being a fun way to escape to France via the author's entertaining adventures, Flirting with French gives us an incredible amount of detail about the history and origin of the French language' Belle Provence Travels

Going Solo

Ebook: January 31, 2013
Hardback: January 31, 2013
Paperback: January 31, 2013

Going Solo

Eric Klinenberg

In 1950, only 22% of adults were single. Today, more than 50% of adults are. Though conventional wisdom tells us that living by oneself leads to loneliness and isolation, most solo dwellers – compared with their married counterparts – are more likely to eat out and exercise, sign up for art and music classes, attend public events and lectures, and volunteer.

Drawing on over three hundred in-depth interviews with men and women of all ages and from across every class, Eric Klinenberg reaches some startling conclusions about the seismic impact solo living is having on our culture, business and politics.

Reviews

  • 'Trailblazing' Vanity Fair

  • 'Klinenberg fleshes out [his] subjects with expertise and devotion' New York Times

  • 'A book so important that it is likely to become both a popular read and a social science classic This book really will change the lives of people who live solo, and everyone else - thorough, balanced, and persuasive' Psychology Today

Gravity

Ebook: October 25, 2012
Hardback: October 25, 2012
Paperback: October 24, 2013

Gravity

Brian Clegg

Category: Popular Science,

How did we come to understand the force that binds the universe together? In Gravity, Brian Clegg offers a succinct history of gravity from the perspectives of great thinkers including Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Einstein and today’s leading scientists. He explores theories of general relativity, quantum mechanics and our attempts to link the two, as well as time travel, black holes, string theory and why gravity only works at the speed of light.

Gravity is anything but simple, but Brian Clegg has written the most accessible book yet on the subject – the perfect introduction to a complicated theory.

Reviews

  • 'Clegg's skills never flag, and his account remains lucid and free of jargon, bad jokes, and math phobia' Kirkus Reviews

  • 'With this book in hand, we have all we need to set off on our next flight with our eyes open to the sheer wonder of what is involved' Alain de Botton, Inflight Science

  • 'Clegg’s accessible presentation offers insight into everything from Aristotelian science to black holes and string theory as it reveals the complexities and surprises of a familiar force that continues to surprise scientists' Publishers Weekly

Houdini & Conan Doyle

Ebook: November 15, 2011
Hardback: October 25, 2012
Paperback: October 20, 2011

Houdini & Conan Doyle

Christopher Sandford

Category: Memoir & Biography,

In the early 20th century, in the English-speaking world, Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini were two of the most feted and famous men alive. And their relationship is extraordinary: As strange as it may seem Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the ultra-rational detective Sherlock Holmes, was a believer in Spiritualism. He came to his belief, that one could communicate with the dead, after his son was killed in World War I, and became an expert in the field.

Harry Houdini, the world’s foremost magician, was a friend of Conan Doyle’s, but was sceptical of his belief in the supernatural. Houdini took every opportunity to use his knowledge of illusion to expose psychics who he thought were fakes, particularly incensed by their exploitation of grief and insecurity. Based on original research, this sensational dual biography of two popular geniuses conjures up the early 20th century and the fame, personality and competing beliefs.

Reviews

  • 'A magnificently rich tale' Guardian

  • 'Astonishing... two great men who went from friendship to enmity in a battle over the after-life' Express

  • 'This is a fascinating journey into a pair of extraordinary lives' We Love This Book

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