Anthony Whitelands, an English art historian, is invited to Madrid to value the collection of a Spanish duke. At a welcome ...

In 2008 Jason Bell undertook a photo assignment for American Vogue in ` Tea & Sympathy`, an English tea room in the heart of Manhattan. In conversation with the owner, Nicky Perry, he was astonished to discover that over 120, 000 British men & women lived in New York City. As an Englishman, himself living in New York, Jason was inspired by this & decided to investigate further. His latest book An Englishman in New York is the result. The book documents a wide cross-section of English people living in the City. It features cops, taxi drivers, construction workers, divers, helicopter pilots, chefs, burlesque dancers, UN ambassadors & even dog walkers. Jason was also struck by the significant influence that many Brits exercise on New York`s cultural agenda, which led to him to include amongst his subjects: writer, Zo A” Heller; director, Stephen Daldry; artists, Cecily Brown & Bill Jacklin; Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas P Campbell; historian, Simon Schama; actor, Kate Winslet; & the musician, Sting. The book offers an extraordinary insight into the British sub-culture which forms an intrinsic part of everyday life in New York City. As Bell says, ”I went for a walk in Central Park with Sting, for a cup of tea on Kate Winslet`s roof terrace, sat on Zo A” Heller`s stoop & watched Stephen Daldry cycle down 8th Avenue. I was given a private tour of both the Metropolitan Museum & Barneys` shop windows. & amidst all the questions about why people had come here & what they had left behind, I learnt a little bit more about what it means to be English, what it means to be a New Yorker, & where the two intersect.” ...

Peter Mayle, author of A YEAR IN PROVENCE, writes in his Preface to this charming travel memoir: ` Michael Sadler was born in Lewes, a small town in the south of Engl&. This was a geographical accident. He should have emerged from the womb in Paris, looking anxiously about him for a suitable place to have lunch.` He may not have been born there, but Michael Sadler eventually found his spiritual home. AN ENGLISHMAN IN PARIS is his delightful account of his first year in the French capital, describing with alternate affection & bemusement such continental confusions as the etiquette of flower-buying, the role of cricket in French foreplay, & the dangers `black butter` presents not just to one`s cholesterol levels but also to dry-cleaning bills. Beautifully observed & very funny, AN ENGLISHMAN IN PARIS will delight armchair travellers & Francophiles alike. ...

The Parisien now wants to be a paysan, but it`s easier said than done.. . How do you plant leeks in cement-hard French soil, impress Gallic neighbours with your non-existent gardening credentials & survive a seven-hour celebratory communion lunch (followed by dinner)? What skills are required to cope with suicidal French mice (souricide?), resist the advances of an attractive but desperate lady cheese-maker during an English lesson, buy wine from Mr Grump the grower, & -- last but not least -- stoop so low as to snap up the plastic trophy in the annual garden competition? AN ENGLISHMAN A LA CAMPAGNE is a wonderfully warm & witty follow-up to the author`s account of his first year living in Paris. Now broadening his affectionate embrace to include the myriad facets of the French countryside, Sadler makes you laugh, makes you think, & makes you love the place.. .even Donges, which won first prize in his competition for the grottiest village in France. ...

Even as a toddler, Martin Gurdon was obsessed with cars. Before he could read or write he could distinguish a vehicle passing in the street from the purr of its engine. His first car-not strictly legally-was as a fifteen-year-old, parked round the corner from his boarding school, & driven up to London when bunking off. At one time or another he has owned or driven most of the truly dreadful, but often bizarrely loved cars that were produced by British Leyland Corporation, the conglomeration that cemented the death of the indigenous British car industry. Amongst them a succession of Morris Marinas, often kept running by cannibalized wrecks found in junk yards. But he always hankered after that thing of beauty his father once owned, a 1950s Bristol 401. Perhaps only naturally, his ambition was always to become a motoring journalist, despite it seeming questionable anyone would be insane enough to offer him a job. He`s never actually owned a Reliant Robin, but he has almost been killed by one... ...

Some cases aren`t as cold as you`d think Kurt Wallander`s life looks like it has taken a turn for the better when his offer on a new house is accepted, only for him to uncover something unexpected in the garden
- the skeleton of a middle-aged woman. As police officers comb the property, Wallander attempts to get his new life back on course by finding the woman`s killer with the aid of his daughter, Linda. But when another discovery is made in the garden, Wallander is forced to delve further back into the area`s past. A treat for fans & new readers alike, this is a never before published Kurt Wallander novella.
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Brian Keenan went to Beirut in 1985 for a change of scene from his native Belfast. He became headline news when he was kidnapped by fundamentalist Shi`ite militiamen & held in the suburbs of Beirut for the next four & a half years. For much of that time he was shut off from all news & contact with anyone other than his jailers &, later, his fellow hostages, amongst them John Mc Carthy. ...

When the body of a Russian agent is found down a monastery well, Yashim knows exactly who to blame. Fevzi Ahmet Pasha, commander of the Ottoman fleet. Years ago, when Yashim first entered the sultan`s service, Fevzi Ahmet was his mentor. Ruthless, cruel, &
- in Yashim`s eyes
- ultimately ineffective, he is the only man who makes him afraid. & now Yashim must confront the secret that Fevzi Pasha has been keeping all these years, a secret whose roots lie deep in the tortured atmosphere of the sultan`s harem, where normal rules are suspended, & women can simply disappear. Once again, Yashim & his friends encounter treachery & politics, played out against the backdrop of 1840s Istanbul.

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An Expensive Education cuts between the African bush & Harvard
- taking its readers deep inside this iconic university & the inner
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Following `A Change in Climate`, this brilliant novel from the double Man Booker prize-winning author of ` Wolf Hall` is a coming-of-age tale set in Seventies London. It is London, 1970. Carmel Mc Bain, in her first term at university, has cut free of her childhood roots in the north. Among the gossiping, flirtatious girls of Tonbridge Hall, she begins her experiments in life & love. But the year turns. The mini-skirt falls out of style & an era of concealment begins. Carmel`s world darkens, & tragedy waits in the wings. ...