Author:Sebastian Faulks,Jamie Glover
In 1942, Charlotte Gray, a young scottish woman, goes to Occupied France on a dual mission: to run an apparently simple errand for a British special oeprations group and to search for her lover, an English airman who has gone missing in action. In the small town of Lavaurette, Sebastian Faulks presents a microcosm of France and its agony in 'the black years'. Here is the full range of collaboration, from the tacit to the enthusistic, as well as examples of extraordinary courage and altruism. Through the local resistance chief Julien, Charlotte meets his father, a Jewish painter whose inspiration has failed him.
In a series of shocking narrative climaxes in which the full extent of French collusion in the Nazi holocaust is delineated, Faulks brings the story to a resolution of redemptive love. In the delicacy of its writing, the intimacy of its characterisation and its powerful narrative scenes of harrowing public events, Charlotte Gray is a worthy successor to Birdsong.
The Forgotten Legion marches again. On an epic scale, Ben Kane vividly captures the heat and the dust, and the despair of the survivors of a defeated Roman army now forced to fight for their savage captors in the barbarous lands of the east. Three men with nothing left to live for but each other and the memories of a life they fear they will never return to. Tarquinius, Romulus and Brennus battle for their very existence in the face of impossible odds while, back in Rome, Romulus's sister Fabiola is threatened by the same political forces that threaten to destroy the Republic. The Silver Eagle is an utterly engrossing combination of historical fact and believable fiction that draws the reader in and holds his interest to the last page.
—— Douglas Jackson, author of CaligulaHistorical fiction has never been more visceral and engaging than Ben Kane's debut novel The Forgotten Legion. Bloody, fast-paced, thrilling . . . what Wilbur Smith did for Egypt, Kane does for ancient Rome. Written in a cinematic style, Kane paints his lost world with such fervency that you'll swear you hear the thunder of the colisseum and the roar of the lions in the pit. Here is a masterful debut that shouldn't be missed!
—— James Rollins, bestselling author of The Last OracleIt is only a matter of time before Grossman is acknowledged as one of the great writers of the 20th century... Life and Fate is a book that demands to be talked about
—— GuardianOne of the finest Russian novels of the 20th century
—— Daily TelegraphWhat better time to read Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman's epic novel about the second world war, to put our current troubles into perspective? Grossman's book, which traces the fate of the family of the brilliant physicist Viktor Shtrum at the time of the Battle of Stalingrad, records how humanity endured the monstrous evils of Nazism and Stalinism, surviving like weeds in the cracks of concrete slabs
—— Financial TimesVasily Grossman is the Tolstoy of the USSR
—— Martin AmisAmong the most damning indictments of the Soviet system ever written
—— Wall Street Journal[An] extraordinarily dark portrait of Soviet society
—— David RemnickNo serious writer of this century has more thoroughly invaded and shaped the public imagination than did Graham Greene
—— The TimesGreene’s classic wartime drama The End of the Affair is no less gripping for its simplicity…this unacceptable love, this devastating outcome.
—— Chris Pavone , Big IssueA brilliantly spare examination of loneliness and the search for forgiveness in an unforgiving world… superbly atmospheric… This is Greene at his most existential and metaphysically dense… It remains an astonishing achievement
—— Douglas Kennedy , Writing MagazineAstounding... This...is the best [Greene novel]...brimming with pain and rage. If you ever have aspirations to write a novel, read Greene. He's the perfect writer's writer
—— Emma Kennedy author of Letters from Brenda , WeekA constantly engaging and witty novel from a tremendously clever writer.
—— TelegraphPlausiby drawn....strong central characters, interesting subplots and well-sketched minor characters.
—— TLSAs idiosyncratic as it is ambitious...given shape and purpose by a true literary craftsman. The book both keeps you reading and makes you think.
—— Sally Cousins , Sunday TelegraphI drank in Nigel Farndale's The Blasphemer in huge lungfuls, and mourned it when it was finished. For anyone who loved Saturday, Atonement or Birdsong, this is the generational novel at its best.
—— Mail on Sunday