A young Iraqi writer sets out to become a Hollywood film-maker, only to end up as a refugee on the streets of Paris, where he beds down in a metro station. Although his dream of making a film about his deaf mute father is never realised, the extraordinary encounters he has with the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Samuel Beckett & a ghost from Pere Lachaise Cemetery transform his own story into a captivating drama more compelling than anything on the big screen. ...

World War II reached into the homes & lives of ordinary people in an unprecedented way. Civilian men, women, & children made up the vast majority of those killed by the war, & the conflict displaced millions more. On Europe`s home fronts, the war brought the German blitzkrieg, followed by long occupations & the racial genocide of the Holocaust. In An Iron Wind, historian Peter Fritzsche draws on diaries, letters, & other first-person accounts to show how civilians in occupied Europe struggled to understand this terrifying chaos. As the Third Reich targeted Europe`s Jews for deportation & death, confusion & mistrust reigned. What were Hitler`s aims? Did Germany`s rapid early victories mark the start of an enduring new era? Was collaboration or resistance the wisest response to occupation? How far should solidarity & empathy extend? & where was God? People tried desperately to answer such questions & make sense of the horrors around them, but the stories they told themselves often justified a selfish indifference to their neighbors` fates. Piecing together the broken words of World War II`s witnesses & victims--probing what they saw & what they failed to see--Fritzsche offers a haunting picture of the most violent conflict in modern history. ...

Scattered in a crescent in the sparkling waters of the Aegean, the islands of the Sporades are known to Greek fishermen as `the gates of the wind`. It was to this unspoilt archipelago that Michael Carroll sailed Astarte, a boat of sleek mahogany with wine-red sails, named after the Phoenician goddess of the moon & the sea. But his dream of travelling where the wind took him, rootless & free, changed when he landed on Skopelos. There, a chance meeting with the charismatic Vangeli led to him buying a piece of land on a remote cove, once the site of an ancient city & the perfect harbour for Astarte. So unfolds the story of Carroll`s growing attachment to Skopelos as he sets down roots & makes it his home. Engaging & vividly-described, ” An Island in Greece” is a sun-drenched tale of a life full of simple pleasures, governed by the seasons, the tides & the wind; the story of a traveller who finally arrived & a unique homage to the island that harboured him. ...

In this book Geert Mak returns to the small Frisian village of his childhood, Jorwert (pop. 330 & falling). It`s a typical European village where the shops are closing down, the few children left will escape to a less arduous life in the city & it`s becoming increasingly isolated. Jowert has more in common with an English village than with Amsterdam, & it`s moving story of neighbours & their efforts to preserve their long established way of life is relevant to the changing face of the countryside everywhere in Europe. ...

In An Island Odyssey, Hamish Haswell-Smith casts off in his forty-one-foot sloop Jandara, armed with his sketch pad & a route map of a journey first taken by Martin Martin in 1703. Haswell-Smith sets sail on a voyage that will take him to fifty-two different islands around the Scottish Coast, from Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde to St. Kilda, Fair Isle & Bass Rock. Filled with natural history, local legend & landscapes & accompanied by the author`s own distinctive sketches & watercolours An Island Odyssey is a delightful way to discover or rediscover the romance, beauty & inescapable magnetism of the Scottish Islands. ...

The Scilly Isles, one of the most remote parts of Engl&, are in crisis. With the small population constantly leaving the islands for the mainl&, those left behind are having to work harder & harder to make a living, & this summer is crunch time for many of them. Nigel Farrell is our guide through a community he has grown to know & love, filming the islanders over the last two years for the popular BBC2 series ` An Island Parish`. He introduces us to Father Guy, the new priest; another newcomer, Heike, the islands` German vet & Plymouth policewoman Nikki, who set some hearts aflutter on her summer placement last year. With a cast of fascinating characters & a beautiful setting, this is the story of the events of summer in an idiosyncratic world that is slipping away. Come August Bank Holiday, how will the islanders have fared? ...

With vivid colors, bold simplicity, & the use of stone, stucco, & tile, the Patmos house of renowned interior designer John Stefanidis is a source of inspiration for homeowners & decorators worldwide. John Stefanidis has created a quintessential island house in Patmos, Greece. Its bold use of Mediterranean colors, natural materials, & crisp, clean lines epitomize this comfortable yet sophisticated style, which is surprisingly easy to evoke at home. Sun-drenched rooms make use of such materials as tile, stone, & stucco. One of the hallmarks of the house is its emphasis on indoor/outdoor living: spaces such as the ”garden rooms” & the ”breakfast terrace” are outside, yet are thought of as parts of the house. The exquisite gardens are further evidence of a style that easily flows from the inside to the outside of this beautiful & inspiring home. In his own words, Stefanidis explains how the house has evolved over many years, reflecting the designer`s love for the isl&, his original use of vibrant color, his eclectic & cosmopolitan aesthetic, & a desire to combine comfort with style. With two hundred vibrant photographs, the book demonstrates how the picturesque scenery of an island retreat & its rich history & culture provide inspiration for present-day living. ...

For centuries following its reestablishment as Constantinople in AD 330, Istanbul served as the capital of three great empires: Roman, Byzantine, & Ottoman. The city`s maze-like streets & high balconies, its steep alleys, flower gardens, & forested hillsides remain soaked in the vestiges of that imperial past, & it is to that past & to Istanbul`s unearthly moods & waters that so many writers & diarists journeyed in search of escape, knowledge, happiness, or sheer wonderment. An Istanbul Anthology takes us on a nostalgic journey through the city with travelers` accounts of the sights, smells, & sounds of Istanbul`s bazaars & coffeehouses, its grand palaces & gardens, crumbling buildings, & ancient churches & mosques, & the waters that so haunt & define it. With writers such as Gustave Flaubert, Pierre Loti, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, & Andre Gide, we discover & rediscover the many delights of this great city of antiquity, meeting point of East & West, & gateway to peoples & civilizations. About the series: The elegant, pocket-sized volumes in the AUC Press Anthology series feature the writings & observations of travel writers & diarists through the centuries. Vivid & evocative travelers` accounts of some of the world`s great cities & regions are enhanced by the exquisite vintage design in small hardback format that make the books ideal gift books as well as perfect travel companions. Designed on cream paper stock & beautifully illustrated with line drawings & archival photographs.” ...

How does an Italian become Italian? Or an Englishman English, for that matter? Are foreigners born, or made? In ” Italian Education, the sequel to his bestselling ” Italian Neighbours”, Tim Parks focuses on his own young children in the small village near Verona where he lives, building a fascinating picture of the contemporary Italian family at school, at home, at work & at play. The result is a delight: at once a family book & a travel book, not quite enamoured with either children or Italy, but always affectionate, always amused & always amusing.” Tim Parks is Italian enough to understand the country, foreign enough to see its peculiarities & talented enough to make them funny without resorting to cliché”
- * Daily Express*
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Sunshine, warmth, lemon blossom... Springtime in glorious Southern Italy can go to your head. Especially if you are escaping an overbearing husb&, the embarrassingly public loss of your company, an interfering mother who still tries to run your life or the pain of a husband`s affair with a girl young enough to be his daughter. As the Italian sun ripens the lemons in the groves that tumble down the hillsides & the Mediterranean dazzles beneath them, assertive Angela, extrovert Sylvie, unconfident Claire & mousy Monica find burgeoning friendship & begin to blossom in quite unexpected ways. Packed with memorable characters
- from the acid-tongued Grand Old Man of Modern Art who lives next door
- to the aspiring gigolo who thinks nothing of a forty year age gap, Maeve Haran`s new novel is a witty & entertaining reminder of why going a little mad in the sun can sometimes be exactly what you need.

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