Leith’s history of childhood reading was an absolute joy to read, perfectly (re-)capturing the alchemy of childhood reading, in a way that was both personal and universal. The prose was a joy from start to finish; simultaneously scholarly and accessible, revealing and yet familiar. A delightful book that made me want to immediately revisit those beloved books of my own younger years.
*A Sunday Times, Irish Times, Financial Times, Independent, Daily Mail, TLS, Economist, Prospect, Evening Standard and New Statesman Book of the Year 2024*
Can you remember the first time you fell in love with a book?
The stories we read as children matter. The best ones are indelible in our memories; reaching far beyond our childhoods, they are a window into our deepest hopes, joys and anxieties. They reveal our past - collective and individual, remembered and imagined - and invite us to dream up different futures.
In a pioneering history of the children's literary canon, The Haunted Wood reveals…
A fascinating story, and completely unknown to this reader, but one that will make me appreciate Handel’s Messiah a great deal more whenever I hear it next. King transformed what could have been a straightforward musical history into something far more ambitious: a sweeping exploration of faith, empire, and the power of art to transcend its origins.
Every Valley is a glittering narrative history of intertwined lives that tells the story behind one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, Handel's Messiah.
'A delicious history of music, power, love, genius, royalty and adventure. Unforgettable.' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
London - Dublin, 1741-42. An actress mired in scandal plans her escape from an abusive husband. A penniless sea captain sets out to rescue the city's abandoned infants. An African Muslim and former captive in the colonies becomes a celebrity. A grieving political dissident seeks release from his torment. And a great composer to kings - George Frideric Handel…
I know Hamnet was praised and won prizes upon publication, but it often takes me a few years to catch up with contemporary fiction, but I’m glad I at last got around to reading this wonderful novel. O’Farrell is a master of plot and structure, and the language gorgeously woven, making real much around sixteenth century domestic life. Utterly absorbing.
WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER 2021 'Richly sensuous... something special' The Sunday Times 'A thing of shimmering wonder' David Mitchell
TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.
On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?
Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London.
A fascinating study of the British Empire’s Middle Eastern intelligence section during the First World War, drawing on government files and secret publications.
In the midst of the First World War, an extra- ordinary intelligence unit operated from Cairo’s Savoy Hotel, combining the skills of archaeologists, academics and soldiers to revolutionise how Britain gathered information and shaped events in the Middle East. Overshadowed by Lawrence of Arabia, the Arab Bureau’s true significance has remained hidden in plain sight ever since.
This study uncovers the Arab Bureau’s remarkable story through newly discovered Arabic documents and previously overlooked archives.
Gearon’s compelling narrative reveals how this unique organisation navigated the complexities of Arab politics, tribal rivalries and Ottoman intelligence, while developing techniques that resonate with today’s challenges in intelligence-gathering. Essential reading for anyone interested in intelligence history, the Middle East or how innovation occurs in wartime, this book transforms our understanding of a crucial moment in world history.
