Taking the trial of former Prime Minister, Giulio Andreotti, for alleged Mafia involvement as a starting point, Peter Robb uses history, painting, literature & food to shed some light on this beautiful island's notorious reputation. One of the great charms of Robb's book is his evident delight in southern Italy, particularly its food, which is recorded with such intensity of memory that one can almost taste it ...

Peter Robb`s journey into the dark heart of Sicily uses history, painting, literature & food to shed light on southern Italy`s legacy of political corruption & violent crime. Taking the trial of seven-times Prime Minister, Giulio Andreotti, for alleged Mafia involvement as its starting point, Midnight in Sicily combines a searching investigation with an exuberant, sensual appreciation of this beautiful & bewildering isl&. ...

St Petersburg, 1911: Inna Feldman has fled the pogroms of her native Kiev to take refuge with distant relatives in Russia's capital city. Welcomed into the flamboyant Leman family, she is apprenticed into their violin-making workshop. With her looks & talents, she feels instantly at home in their bohemian circle of friends. But revolution is in the air &, as society begins to fracture, she is forced to choose between her heart & her head. She loves her brooding cousin, Yasha, but he is wild, destructive & bent on revolution; Horace Wallich, the Englishman who works for Faberge, is older & promises security & respectability. As the revolution descends into anarchy & blood-letting, a commission to repair a priceless Stradivarius violin offers Inna a means of escape. But will man will she choose to take with her? & is it already too late? ...

Set in St Petersburg during the Russian Revolution, a sweeping novel of love & loss as one woman fights for her own personal survival
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In 1933, Victor Serge was arrested by Stalin`s police, interrogated, & held in solitary confinement for more than eighty days. Released, he spent two years in exile in remote Orenburg. These experiences were the inspiration for Midnight in the Century, Serge`s searching novel about revolutionaries living in the shadow of Stalin`s betrayal of the revolution. Among the exiles gathered in the town of Chenor, or Black-Waters, are the granite-faced Old Bolshevik Ryzhik, stoic yet gentle Varvara, & Rodion, a young, self-educated worker who is trying to make sense of the world & history. They struggle in the unlikely company of Russian Orthodox Old Believers who are also suffering for their faith. Against unbelievable odds, the young Rodion will escape captivity & find a new life in the wild. Surviving the dark winter night of the soul, he rediscovers the only real, & most radical, form of resistance: hope. ...

Born at the stroke of midnight at the exact moment of India`s independence, Saleem Sinai is a special child. However, this coincidence of birth has consequences he is not prepared for: telepathic powers connect him with 1, 000 other `midnight`s children` all of whom are endowed with unusual gifts. Inextricably linked to his nation, Saleem`s story is a whirlwind of disasters & triumphs that mirrors the course of modern India at its most impossible & glorious. ...

“ Midnight’s Children” is another standout work from Salman Rushdie, that although isn’t nearly of the infamy or fame (delete where applicable) as “ The Satanic Verses”, is very much just as superb. Born at the stroke of midnight at the exact moment of India’s independence, Saleem Sinai is a special child. However, this coincidence of birth has consequences he is not prepared for: telepathic powers connect him with 1, 000 other ‘midnight’s children’ all of whom are endowed with unusual gifts. Inextricably linked to his nation, Saleem’s story is a whirlwind of disasters & triumphs that mirrors the course of modern India at its most impossible & glorious. ...

An epic narrative history that compares & contrasts the fortunes of all the countries that make up South Asia. If British India had not been partitioned in 1947, its population would today be the world`s largest. At c 1.5 billion, Midnight`s Descendants (the offspring of those affected by `the midnight hour` Partition) already outnumber Europeans & Chinese; & they are growing faster than either. They comprise all the peoples of what is now called ` South Asia` (the preferred term for the partitioned subcontinent of modern India, Pakistan & Bangladesh, plus Nepal & Sri Lanka). ` Midnight`s Descendants` is the first history of the region as a whole. Correlating & contrasting the fortunes of all the constituent nations over the last six decades affords unique insights into what is hailed as one of the world`s most dynamic regions. John Keay is an expert on the region & the book will be the first account to incorporate the rich story of South Asia`s transnational, or `diasporic`, peoples
- from the overlooked narratives of the subcontinent to the rise of India as a global force, ` Midnight`s Descendants` will be expansive & tumultuous in the great tradition of India`s narrative epics.
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An epic narrative history that compares & contrasts the fortunes of all the countries that make up South Asia. If British India had not been partitioned in 1947, its population would today be the world`s largest. At c 1.5 billion, Midnight`s Descendants (the offspring of those affected by `the midnight hour` Partition) already outnumber Europeans & Chinese; & they are growing faster than either. They comprise all the peoples of what is now called ` South Asia` (the preferred term for the partitioned subcontinent of modern India, Pakistan & Bangladesh, plus Nepal & Sri Lanka). ` Midnight`s Descendants` is the first history of the region as a whole. Correlating & contrasting the fortunes of all the constituent nations over the last six decades affords unique insights into what is hailed as one of the world`s most dynamic regions. John Keay is an expert on the region & the book will be the first account to incorporate the rich story of South Asia`s transnational, or `diasporic`, peoples
- from the overlooked narratives of the subcontinent to the rise of India as a global force, ` Midnight`s Descendants` will be expansive & tumultuous in the great tradition of India`s narrative epics.
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The Wordsworth Classics' Shakespeare Series, with Romeo & Juliet, Henry V & The Merchant of Venice as its inaugural volumes, presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeare's works. The textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal. Its lyricism, comedy (both broad & subtle) & magical transformations have long made A Midsummer Night's Dream one of the most popular of Shakespeare's works. The supernatural & the mundane, the illusory & the substantial, are all shimmeringly blended. Love is treated as tragic, poignant, absurd & farcical. ' Lord, what fools these mortals be!', jeers Robin Goodfellow; but the joke may be on him & on his master Oberon when Bottom the weaver, his head transformed into that of an ass, is embraced by the voluptuously amorous Titania. Recent stage-productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream have emphasised the enchanting, spectacular, ambiguous & erotically joyous aspects of this magical drama which culminates in a multiple celebration of marriage. ...