Category Archives: Travel Guides
In Search of Lost Books: The forgotten stories of eight mythical volumes
They exist as a rumour or a fading memory. They vanished from history leaving scarcely a trace, lost to fire, censorship, theft, war or deliberate destruction, yet those who seek them are convinced they will find them. This is the story of one man`s quest for eight mysterious lost books.Taking us from Florence to Regency
The Beauties: Essential Stories
Without doubt one of the greatest observers of human nature in all its messy complexity, Chekhov`s short stories are exquisite masterpieces in miniature. His work ranged from the light-hearted comic tales of his early years to some of the most achingly profound stories ever composed, and this variety of tone and temper is collected in
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat: and other stories from the North
This exquisite anthology collects together the very best fiction from across the Nordic region. Travelling from cosmopolitan Stockholm to the remote Faroe Islands, and from Denmark to Greenland, this unique and compelling volume displays the thrilling diversity of writing from these northern nations.Selected and introduced by Sjon, The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat includes both notable
Deviation
`Sometimes when you go astray and touch bottom, you finally come out on the other side`Lucie was brought up by bourgeois parents as a passionate young fascist. At the age of eighteen, the headstrong protagonist decides to volunteer in the Nazi labour camps in Germany. Wishing to disprove what she sees as the lies that
Bird Cottage
“Bewitching… will make you want to throw away your Oyster pass and move to a remote cottage” The LadyLen Howard was forty years old when she decided to leave her London life and loves behind, retire to the English countryside and devote the rest of her days to her one true passion: birds.Moving to a
Rasputin and Other Ironies
A new collection of Teffi`s best autobiographical non-fiction writings Ranging from portraits of Rasputin and Lenin to observations on the Russian Revolution, and from profiles of cultural figures to moving domestic scenes, this short collection includes writings by the inimitable Teffi never before published in English. Everything is here – politics, society, art and literature,
The Encounter: Amazon Beaming
1969: Loren McIntyre makes contact with the elusive Mayoruna `cat people` of the Amazon`s Javari Valley. He follows them – into the wild depths of the rainforest. When he realises he is lost, it is already too late. Stranded and helpless, McIntyre must adjust to an alien way of life. Gradually, he finds his perception
The Last Bell
The first ever English collection of stories by Johannes Urzidil – a friend of Kafka and an unjustly overlooked writerA maid who is unexpectedly bequeathed her wealthy employers` worldly possessions when they flee the country after the Nazi occupation; a loyal bank clerk, who steals a Renaissance portrait of a Spanish noblewoman, and falls into
The Hideout
A powerful and moving novel about one man`s final, fatal, heroic act of resistance in Nazi FranceWhen a Czech engineer arrives in Paris in 1939, he cannot know that three years later he will be in hiding, confined to the damp, dark cellar of a French doctor. Alone with his memories, he writes to his
War in Val d`Orcia: An Italian War Diary 1943-1944
The bestselling diaries of WWII in Tuscany, with a new introduction by writer and social historian Virginia Nicholson, and stunning rediscovered photographsAt the height of the Second World War, Italy was being torn apart by German armies, civil war, and the eventual Allied invasion. In a corner of Tuscany, one woman – born in England,
A World Gone Mad: The Diaries of Astrid Lindgren, 1939-45
`A breathtaking read` – Die Welt One of the twentieth century`s greatest children`s writers – and the creator of Pippi Longstocking -reveals her very personal take on the Second World War Before she became internationally known for her children`s books, Astrid Lindgren was an aspiring author living in Stockholm with her family at the outbreak
The Lives of Others: A Screenplay
With a foreword by John le Carre. 1984. East Germany. Captain Gerd Wiesler, a loyal member of the secret police, is assigned to spy on the playwright Georg Dreyman. The flat is bugged, and Wiesler begins to listen in to the daily – and nightly -activities of the playwright and his actress-girlfriend. But when he
In the Restaurant: From Michelin stars to fast food; what eating out tells us about who we are
The restaurant is where we go to celebrate, to experience pleasure, to show off – or, sometimes, just because we`re hungry. But these temples of gastronomy hide countless stories.This is the tale of the restaurant in all its guises, from the first formal establishments in eighteenth-century Paris serving `restorative` bouillon, to today`s new Nordic cuisine,
The Society of the Crossed Keys: Selections from the Writings of Stefan Zweig, Inspirations for the Grand Budapest Hotel
“It`s just a masterpiece. When I read it I thought, how is it that we don`t know about this-how is it that I am the only person I know who`s read this book?” Wes Anderson, on Stefan Zweig`s Beware of Pity Contents: A Conversation with Wes Anderson-Wes Anderson discusses Zweig`s life and work with Zweig
Vertigo
“Do you think it`s possible to live again, Monsieur? …I mean …is it possible to die and then …live again in someone else?” You`re no longer in the police, but when an old friend asks you to look after his wife as a favour, how can you refuse? She`sbeen behaving strangely, mysteriously – but she`s
City of Lions
Lviv, Lwow, Lvov, Lemberg. Known by a variety of names, the City of Lions is now in western Ukraine. Situated in different countries during its history, it is a city located along the fault-lines of Europe`s history. `City of Lions` presents two essays, written more than half a century apart – but united by one
A Simple Story: Dancing for His Life
For four minutes and fifty-two seconds, the night became a thing that he pounded with his fist…This is a true story about a normal man. Every year, at the height of summer, the remote Argentinian village of Laborde holds the prestigious national malambo contest. Little known outside the Argentinian pampas, the malambo is a centuries-old
The Flight
First English translation of this novel by the author of The Spectre of Alexander Wolf While summering on the French Riviera, the young Seryozha secretly becomes the lover of the much older Liza – who is also his father`s mistress. As autumn approaches, they reluctantly part: Liza to return to Paris, Seryozha to take up
How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone
Aleksandar is Comrade-in-Chief of fishing, the best magician in the non-aligned States and painter of unfinished things. He knows the first chapter of Marx`s Das Kapital by heart but spends most of his time playing football in the Bosnian town of Visegrad on the banks of the river Drina. When his grandfather, a master storyteller,
Yevgeny Onegin
Bored and aloof, tired of St Petersburg high society, Yevgeny Onegin goes to live on the country estate he has just inherited from his uncle. There he encounters Tatyana, who becomes hopelessly infatuated with him. From this story Pushkin creates his sublime masterpiece of love, death, duelling, rivalry, identity and the search for happiness; the
