Penang, 1939, sixteen-year-old Philip Hutton is a loner. Half English, half Chinese & feeling neither, he discovers a sense of belonging in an unexpected friendship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat. Philip shows his new friend around his adored island of Penang, & in return Endo trains him in the art & discipline of aikido. But such knowledge comes at a terrible price. The enigmatic Endo is bound by disciplines of his own & when the Japanese invade Malaya, threatening to destroy Philip's family & everything he loves, he realises that his trusted sensei
- to whom he owes absolute loyalty
- has been harbouring a devastating secret. Philip must risk everything in an attempt to save those he has placed in mortal danger & discover who & what he really is. With masterful & gorgeous narrative, replete with exotic & captivating images, sounds & aromas
- of rain swept beaches, magical mountain temples, pungent spice warehouses, opulent colonial ballrooms & fetid & forbidding rainforests
- Tan Twan Eng weaves a haunting & unforgettable story of betrayal, barbaric cruelty, steadfast courage & enduring love.



...

Penang, 1939. Sixteen-year-old Philip Hutton is a loner. Half English, half Chinese & feeling neither, he discovers a sense of belonging in an unexpected friendship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat. Philip shows his new friend around his adored island of Penang, & in return Endo trains him in the art & discipline of aikido. But such knowledge comes at a terrible price. The enigmatic Endo is bound by disciplines of his own & when the Japanese invade Malaya, threatening to destroy Philip`s family & everything he loves, he realises that his trusted sensei
- to whom he owes absolute loyalty
- has been harbouring a devastating secret. Philip must risk everything in an attempt to save those he has placed in mortal danger & discover who & what he really is. With masterful & gorgeous narrative, replete with exotic & captivating images, sounds & aromas
- of rain swept beaches, magical mountain temples, pungent spice warehouses, opulent colonial ballrooms & fetid & forbidding rainforests
- Tan Twan Eng weaves a haunting & unforgettable story of betrayal, barbaric cruelty, steadfast courage & enduring love.



...

Rivers are the theme of this new collection by US publishers Travelers` Tales. Among some of the acclaimed writers that appear in it is Isabel Allende with a piece on the Amazon River, Jan Morris on the Nile, Simon Winchester on the Yangtze. Human life probably developed along the banks of rivers, great civilizations certainly did. Once the easiest way of travelling, today rivers have been displaced by roads & air travel & have nearly disappeared from consciousness in the modern world. These often nostalgic tales help us bring rivers back on the map. ...

We all know eloquence when we hear it. But what exactly is it? & how might we gain more of it for ourselves? This entertaining &, yes, eloquent book illuminates the power of language from a linguistic point of view & provides fascinating insights into the way we use words. David Crystal, a world-renowned expert on the history & usage of the English language, probes the intricate workings of eloquence. His lively analysis encompasses everyday situations (wedding speeches, business presentations, storytelling) as well as the oratory of great public gatherings. Crystal focuses on the here & now of eloquent speaking-from pitch, pace, & prosody to jokes, appropriateness, & how to wield a microphone. He explains what is going on moment by moment & examines each facet of eloquence. He also investigates topics such as the way current technologies help or hinder our verbal powers, the psychological effects of verbal excellence, & why certain places or peoples are thought to be more eloquent than others. In the core analysis of the book, Crystal offers an extended & close dissection of Barack Obama`s electrifying ” Yes we can” speech of 2008, in which the president demonstrated full mastery of virtually every element of eloquence-from the simple use of parallelism & an awareness of what not to say, to his brilliant conclusion constructed around two powerful words: dreams & answers. ...

Gandhi was an icon, but what would he teach us if we knew him as a man? Arun Gandhi reveals his Grandfather`s ten vital & extraordinary lessons, more relevant than ever, in his SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING, The Gift (formerly published as The Gift of Anger)... The moving, often irreverent, story of Arun`s years growing up at the iconic Sevagram ashram provides the setting for the treasured moments spent his grandfather, which are an engaging & often surprising read. These memories give a rare insight into Gandhi the man behind the icon, & reveal the motivations behind his ten inspirational lessons. Arun believes that the violence in the world today makes Gandhi`s teachings more vital than ever, & The Gift places these lessons in a modern context, shedding new light on how Gandhi`s principles can
- & must
- be applied to today`s concerns.` Anger is good. It is an energy that compels us to define what is right & wrong`
- Mahatma Gandhi, to his grandson, Arun


...

Next to the hustle & bustle of London`s St Pancras station, The Gilbert Scott, Marcus Wareing`s latest venture, is one of the hottest restaurants in town. Situated in the recently restored architectural gem that is the Renaissance Hotel, critics & food lovers alike have flocked to this stunning new brasserie & bar. The aim of the menu is simple: to pay tribute to the historic charm of the building with rediscovered & re-imagined traditional British classics. Yorkshire fishcakes, Dorset jugged steak, cock-a-leekie pie, Mrs Beeton`s barbecue chicken, London Pride battered cod, gingerbread pudding, Kendal mint cake choc ices & the best lemon drizzle cake you`ll ever taste are just some of the 130 recipes in the book. With stunning photography throughout, ” The Gilbert Scott Book of British Food” means that you can celebrate these recipes at home, be it for brunch, lunch, a weekend feast, an afternoon baking or a terrific cocktail to ease you into your meal. Above all, it is a glorious tribute to some of Britain`s greatest traditional dishes. ...

` With a sharp eye for detail & a historian`s capacious knowledge, Padraig Rooney has written a superbly amusing guide to all the writers who`ve been drawn to or emerged from Switzerl&. This is a book that should be stuffed into every stocking
- the perfect Christmas gift!` --Edmund White, author of THE FLANEUR In the summer of 1816 paparazzi trained their telescopes on the goings on of poets Byron & Shelley
- & their womenfolk
- across Lake Geneva. Mary Shelley babysat & wrote FRANKENSTEIN. Byron dieted & penned THE PRISONER OF CHILLON. His doctor, Polidori, was dreaming up THE VAMPYRE. Together they put Switzerland on the map. Switzerland has always provided a refuge for writers attracted to it as an escape from world wars, oppression, tuberculosis
- or marriage. While often for Swiss writers from Rousseau to Bouvier the country was like a gilded prison or sanatorium. The Romantics, the utopians (Wells, D. H. Lawrence) & other spiritual seekers (Hesse), viewed Switzerland as a land of milk & honey, as nature`s paradise. In the twentieth century, spying in neutral Switzerl&, spawned espionage & detective fiction from Conan Doyle to Maugham, Fleming, & Le Carre. Padraig Rooney peers through the chalet windows & finds the rooms crammed with curios: lederhosen & Lepidoptera, spas & spies, fool`s gold & numbered accounts. Literary detective work & treasure chest, history & scandal, THE GILDED CHALET will make you strap on your skis & come off-piste to find out the real Swiss story.



...

In the summer of 1816 paparazzi trained their telescopes on Byron & the Shelleys across Lake Geneva. Mary Shelley babysat & wrote Frankenstein. Byron dieted & penned The Prisoner of Chillon. His doctor, Polidori, was dreaming up The Vampyre. Together they put Switzerland on the map. From Rousseau to Nabokov, le Carre to Conan Doyle, Hemingway to Hesse to Highsmith, Switzerland has always provided a refuge for writers as an escape from world wars, oppression, tuberculosis... or marriage. For Swiss writers from the country was like a gilded prison. The Romantics, the utopians & other spiritual seekers viewed Switzerland as a land of milk & honey, as nature`s paradise. In the twentieth century, spying in neutral Switzerland spawned the finest espionage & crime fiction. Part detective work, part treasure chest, The Gilded Chalet takes you on a grand tour of the birthplace of our best-loved stories, revealing how Switzerland became the landscape of our imagination. ...

London 1965, & Vince Treadwell investigates the seemingly unrelated murders of a playboy aristocrat from Belgravia & a young black nurse from the wrong side of town. It takes the detective to the illegal drinking dens of Notting Hill run by the self-styled Black Power leader, Michael X; the nightclubs of Soho owned by the legendary gangster, Billy Hill; & the exclusive gaming tables of the Montcler Club in Berkeley Square, where the blue bloods & power players of England gamble thousands on the turn of a card. But as Vince Treadwell digs deeper he finds himself not only embroiled with a beautiful society girl, Isabel Saxmore-Blaine, but a world of espionage & corruption where the underworld mixes easily with the aristocracy, & no one is innocent. Praise for Kiss Me Quick: A thrilling read. (Buzz Magazine). Dark & involved. (Daily Express). Unmissable. (Best). This unusual & atmospheric crime novel suggests that Danny Miller is a writer to watch. (Good Book Guide)... .one of those books that literally grabs you from page one. (The Week). ...

What if Heat magazine had been around in Georgian England? Many of us think of the ill-behaved celebrity & the tabloid splash as inventions of the modern world, but the antics of Premiership footballers & C-list soap stars are as nothing when set alongside the peccadilloes & hell-raising of 18th-century celebs. The first flowering of the great age of newspapers & caricature gave us boozy Prime Ministers & party leaders who settled their political differences with duels in Hyde Park (when they weren`t gambling, or writing essays about farting); peers of the realm who sat the unburied corpses of their cherished mistresses at their dinner tables; entertainers who rode horses standing upright in the saddle, while wearing a mask of bees; & celebrity courtesans who ate 1, 000-guinea banknotes stuffed into sandwiches, simply to make a point. Before it was dashed from their lips by the Victorian party-poopers, our Georgian forebears drank deep from the cup of life. The Gin Lane Gazette is a compendium of illustrated `best bits` from a fictional newspaper of the latter 1700s. It contains some of the most sensational headlines & true stories of the period. Presided over by inky-fingered hack Mr. Nathaniel Crowquill, the editor & proprietor, its premises are located in Hogarth`s chaotic Gin Lane. Mr Crowquill has devoted fifty years to sniffing out scandal & intrigue. His drunken acolyte, Mr. Jakes, supplies merciless caricatures & engravings for every page. Sports reports, obituaries, fashion news, courtesans of the month, book reviews, & advertisements for bizarre
- & often alarming
- goods, services & entertainments also feature in a riotous melange of metropolitan mayhem.

...