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10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World
  • Author(s): Elif Shafak
  • Location(s): Istanbul (Constantinople)
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): Modern

‘Haunting, moving, beautifully written – and based by an extraordinary cast of characters who capture the diversity of modern Turkey. A masterpiece’ Peter Frankopan ‘In the first minute following her death, Tequila Leila’s consciousness began to ebb, slowly and...

300 Days of Sun

300 Days of Sun
  • Author(s): Deborah Lawrenson
  • Location(s): Faro, Lisbon, The Algarve
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): Contemporary

Combining the atmosphere of Jess Walters Beautiful Ruins with the intriguing historical backstory of Christina Baker Kline s The Orphan Train, Deborah Lawrenson s mesmerizing novel transports readers to a sunny Portuguese town with a shadowy past where two...

8.55 to Baghdad

8.55 to Baghdad
  • Author(s): Andrew Eames
  • Location(s): Europe, Iraq, Middle East
  • Genre(s): Travelogue
  • Era(s): 2000s

Travel journalist Andrew Eames was in the ancient Syrian city of Aleppo when he met an elderly lady who had known Agatha Christie. Fascinated by the exotic history of this quintessentially English crime writer, he decided to retrace the...

A Blonde Bengali Wife

A Blonde Bengali Wife
  • Author(s): Anne Hamilton
  • Location(s): Bangladesh
  • Genre(s): Travelogue
  • Era(s): Modern

They all said that Bangladesh would be an experience… For Anne Hamilton, a three-month winter programme of travel and “cultural exchange” in a country where the English language, fair hair, and a rice allergy are all extremely rare was...

A Brief Affair

A Brief Affair
  • Author(s): Margaret Leroy
  • Location(s): London
  • Genre(s): Fiction, Historical
  • Era(s): Second World War

The cups and saucers on the dresser begin to rattle faintly, as though a tremulous hand is holding them. The water in the washing-up bowl shivers all over its surface. There’s a distant droning, something at first more felt...

A Conference in Stockholm

A Conference in Stockholm
  • Author(s): Kathy Harter
  • Location(s): Stockholm, Eastern Europe, New York City (NYC), Oxford, Washington DC
  • Genre(s): Mystery, Thriller
  • Era(s): Contemporary

A noted climate activist is about to name names at a symposium in Stockholm. CIA agents Joshua Daine and Valerie Rhodes are sent on a simple retrieval mission to pick up classified information. She is kidnapped, he is shot,...

A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome

A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome
  • Author(s): Alberto Angela
  • Location(s): Rome
  • Genre(s): Fiction, Historical
  • Era(s): 115AD

The year is 115 AD and Imperial Rome is at the height of its power. The reader wakes in a rich patrician home and discovers frescoes, opulent furnishings and richly appointed boudoirs. Strolling through the splendours of the Roman...

A Devil Comes to Town

A Devil Comes to Town
  • Author(s): Paolo Maurensig
  • Location(s): Swiss Alps
  • Genre(s): Gothic, Suspense
  • Era(s): Modern

Wild rabies runs rampant through the woods. The foxes are gaining ground, boldly making their way into the village. In Dichtersruhe, an insular yet charming haven stifled by the Swiss mountains, these omens go unnoticed by all but the...

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding
  • Author(s): Jackie Copleton
  • Location(s): Nagasaki, United States (USA)
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): Modern looking back

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016 Amaterasu Takahashi has spent her life grieving for her daughter Yuko and grandson Hideo, who were victims of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. Now a widow living...

A Dragon Apparent: Travels in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

A Dragon Apparent: Travels in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
  • Author(s): Norman Lewis
  • Location(s): Cambodia, Indochina, Laos
  • Genre(s): Travelogue
  • Era(s): 1950s

This book is set in French Indo-China as the Viet Minh are embarking on the guerrilla war against their colonial oppressors. Lewis travels around the area and recounts his experiences in a tender, insighful and well written way.

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