Excellent

one of the best... a brave book - Fergusson is prepared to probe beyond the cliche

Crystal-clear writing and first-rate analysis...devastating... this is a stunning book. Meticulously researched and deeply thoughtful, it is explanatory journalism at its best.

...a brave and nuanced re-evaluation of the Taliban

A definitive guide to the people, places and society of her novels

Everything you need to know about Georgette Heyer's historical romance novels ... Accompanied by charming illustrations, this is all you ever wanted to discover about the society and politics of Regency Britain and how it influenced Heyer's work. A great book

Wonderful ... packed with information and fascinating facts about the realm [Georgette Heyer's] characters inhabit ... excellent

Intimate, emotional, often painful but at time uplifting, these stories uncover how the customs of this deeply religious and intensely traditional society can cause real suffering for many women'

This isn't a book for the faint-hearted, but is a chilling yet emotional read for anyone who cares to know about the real plight of Afghani women. A powerful collection of true-life stories compiled over the years (and re-introduced by the author's own experience). Dear Zari takes the blanket off Afghani women, showcasing the bleak reality of their existence

Dear Zari is disquieting but essential reading. Occasionally uplifting, frequently harrowing, and unfailingly candid, it is a must for anyone – male or female – seeking to better understand Afghanistan

A heartbreaking tale of passion, betrayal and an unthinkable decision

A compelling novel of passions and secrets, politics and lies, love and betrayal, savagery and survival

Sweeping historical epic about a daring young woman forced to make a hard choice in Stalinist Russia

Excellent... the historical detail is strong. The characterisation is superb, with Sashenka being especially well drawn. With her unwanted beauty and charisma, her gentle nobility that transcends class or wealth and her earnest ideals which eventually cost her so much. Sashenka commands out total sympathy, and when she is forced apart from her children, the sadness is profound and hard to dispel. A powerful novel... with a heroine who lingers in the mind when the story is finished

Sashenka is grand in scale, rich in historical research, and yet never loses the flow of an addictive, racy, well-wrought plot. It combines a moving, satisfyingly just-neat-enough finale with a warning - that history has an awful habit of repeating itself

An epic novel... The suspense lasts until the final pages. There is no let-up. At the end of the book, you really feel that even though Sashenka is a fictional character, she has become one of the thousands of real people who haunt the Moscow archives that Montefiore knows so well