The midnight hour approaches in an almost empty all-night diner. Mari sips her coffee & glances up from a book as a young man, a musician, intrudes on her solitude. Both have missed the last train home. Later, Mari is interrupted a second time by a girl from the Alphaville Hotel; a Chinese prostitute has been hurt by a client, the girl has heard Mari speaks fluent Chinese & requests her help. Meanwhile Eri is at home & sleeps a deep, heavy sleep that is `too perfect, too pure` to be normal; pulse & respiration at the lowest required level. She has been in this soporific state for two months; Eri has become the classic myth
- a sleeping beauty. But tonight as the digital clock displays 00:00 a faint electrical crackle is perceptible, a hint of life flickers across the TV screen, though the television`s plug has been pulled. Strange nocturnal happenings, or a trick of the night?
...

In 1762 the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau observed that we are blind half our lives because of what we miss during the night. Yet we fear the dark, & are led to believe that bad things happen during the small hours, especially in cities. This is when insomniacs, psychopaths & photophobics--those who are afraid of the light--roam the streets; the time when `normal` people should be tucked up in their beds. The Elizabethan playwright Thomas Middleton wrote that there should be `no occupation but sleepe, feed, & fart` during night-time hours. Yet there have long been literary walkers, flaneurs, who have wandered the dark streets of their cities to uncover the secrets of the night: from Restif de la Bretonne, in his 1789 Les Nuits de Paris, labelled both eccentric & pornographic--to Charles Dickens, who in his Night Walks (1861) evoked the sleeplessness of `a man who defied the night, with all its sorrowful thoughts`. As cities became lighter, through the advance of technology & commerce, the writer`s fascination in the mystery of the night-time city faded. But some cities, restless metropolises like New York & London, retain their nocturnal allure. Madrid is one such city. In 2016 writer Ben Stubbs was drawn to explore the Spanish capital at night like the flaneurs of the past. He set out when the sun went down to examine the life of the night in this often-maligned city, a place famed for its late hours & exuberant nightlife. Exploring the history of everything from tapas to the new politics of Podemos, he encountered the city`s cultural quirks & clandestine stories while talking to many Madrilenos who are normally denied a voice in the city. As each hour of the night unfolds, Stubbs discovers different layers within Madrid that many visitors do not see as they stick to well-trodden guidebook itineraries. The deepening darkness reveals cross-dressing migrants, people who live at the airport, Muslims celebrating Ramadan, hotel workers hidden in the bowels of the Ritz, all-night taxi drivers, party-goers enjoying their nightly marcha from bar to bar, poodle-blessing priests & locals in the poorer barrios who walk the streets with him to share the experience of a trasnochador--one who lives during the hours of the night. Mixing personal observation with literary & historical references, Stubbs introduces us to a hitherto unknown & fascinating dimension of Madrid. After Dark reveals a multifaceted city, full of surprises & possibilities, & very much awake & alive between dusk & dawn. ...

In this provocative book, renowned public intellectual Ivan Krastev reflects on the future of the European Union-and its potential lack of a future. With far-right nationalist parties on the rise across the continent & the United Kingdom planning for Brexit, the European Union is in disarray & plagued by doubts as never before. Krastev

Includes:: chapters devoted to Europe`s major problems (especially the political destabilization sparked by the more than 1.3 million migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, & South Asia), the spread of right-wing populism (taking into account the election of Donald Trump in the United States), & the thorny issues facing member states on the eastern flank of the EU (including the threat posed by Vladimir Putin`s Russia). He concludes by reflecting on the ominous political, economic, & geopolitical future that would await the continent if the Union itself begins to disintegrate.

...

” Well if you have a big life, a lot of stuff happens. Dad had a big life.`
- Peter Hillary Edmund Hillary is a towering figure
...

Patrick Paniter was James IV's right-hand man, a diplomatic genius who was in charge of the guns at the disastrous battle of Flodden in September 1513 in which the English annihilated the Scots. After the death of his king he is tormented by guilt as he relives the events that led to war. When Louise Brenier, daughter of a rogue sea trader, asks his help in finding out if her brother Benoit was killed in action, it is the least he can do to salve his conscience. Not satisfied with the news he brings, Louise sets off to find out the truth herself, & swiftly falls foul of one of the lawless clans that rule the ungovernable borderlands. After Flodden is a novel about the consequences of the battle of Flodden, as seen through the eyes of several characters who either had a hand in bringing the country to war, or were profoundly affected by the outcome. There have been very few novels about Flodden, despite its significance, and none from this perspective. It's a racy adventure, combining political intrigue & romance, & its readership will be anyone who loves historical fiction, or is interested in the history of Scotland & the turbulent, ungovernable borderlands between Scotland & Engl&. ...

American & British troops are not going to stay in Iraq for ever. But what will happen when they start to leave? In this lucid & enormously readable book, acclaimed analyst Gwynne Dyer predicts that the Middle East will go through the biggest shake-up since the region became part of the Ottoman Empire five centuries ago
- & argues that the rest of the world should stand back & leave them to it. Taking a step back from issues of blame & ideology, Dyer looks at what motivates the key players in the Middle East, from the various Iraqi factions through Iran, Lebanon & Syria to Israel & the Palestinians
- not to mention the United States & the United Kingdom. Along the way, he shatters many myths & identifies the real threats to the status quo
- such as the enormous Iraqi refugee problem, & the demographic & political forces that mean that Israel may be running out of time. Refreshingly direct, entirely non-partisan & frequently disturbing, this is essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of the Middle East & the wider world.


...

Ireland is suffering a crisis of authority. Catholic Church scandals, political corruption, & economic collapse have shaken the Irish people`s faith in their institutions. The nation`s struggle for independence is thrown into doubt. But, as Declan Kiberd argues in this engaging survey of post-war Irish literature, the country`s creative writers have been alert to this reality from the start. He describes the young Samuel Beckett witnessing the burning of Dublin in 1916 & realising that `the birth of a nation might also seal its doom.` Surveying thirty works by modern Irish writers, Kiberd traces the response to the crisis of Irish Statehood in the work of Seamus Heaney, Edna O` Brien, Joseph O` Connor, Tom Murphy, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Derek Mahon & John Banville, among others. Placing these writers at the centre of Ireland`s on-going exploration of the true meaning of freedom, Kiberd shows how Irish artists preserve & extend a humane culture that imagines a renewed, more plural & open nation. Kiberd`s Inventing Irel&, originally published in 1995 is a dazzlingly ambitious critical history of modern Irish literature & the standard work on the Irish Literary Revival. In After Irel&, Kiberd responds to the next generation of Irish writers, in this second renaissance of Irish literature. ...

Two women. Two villages. Different destinies. Odeta`s life has shrunk to a daily round of drudgery, running her father`s grocery store in a remote Albanian village. One day a stranger from Tirana walks into the shop & promises her a new career in London. Odeta`s life is about to change, but not in the way she expected. Journalist Kate lives on a quiet London street & seems to have a perfect life but she worries about her son Ben, who struggles to make friends. Kate blames the internet & disconnects her family from the online world so they can get to know their neighbours. On a visit to her home village in Wales, Kate is forced to confront a secret from her past. But greater danger lies closer to home. Perhaps Kate`s neighbours are not the friendly community they seem. ...

When Nelson Mandela & the African National Congress declared victory over the bitter injustice of apartheid, some thought South Africa`s future was assured. But despite Mandela`s mission of reconciliation, rampant inequality remains; race relations are uneasy, violence is endemic & many in the ANC appear to have lost sight of the liberation ideals. With the election in 2009 of Jacob Zuma, a charismatic populist embroiled in scandal, uncertainty over the trajectory of the nation has only intensified. South Africa now stands at a crossroads, & award-winning journalist Alec Russell draws on his deep knowledge of the country to tell us how it got there & to give us a compelling account, revised & updated for this edition, of the journey from Mandela to Zuma. ...

Jo Stoyle is afraid of death. But Stoyle is also a millionaire, & so he pours his riches into scientific research, desperate to find the secret of immortality. This ruthless quest will enmesh everyone around him in a web of greed, seduction, murder & debasement. Written while he was living in California, this is Huxley`s response to Hollywood`s superficiality & obsession with youth, a powerful cautionary tale which employs all his customary wit & merciless insight. ...