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74513 SERPENT OF THE NILE: Women and Dance in the Arab World


by Wendy Buonaventura The women’s solo dance raqs al- sharqi (dance of the east), a variation on the Egyptian baladi, is not strictly Arabic but is found throughout North Africa and the Middle East. The western


fascination with all things oriental began in the mid-19th century, where young men who went on the Grand Tour would seek out the forbidden pleasures of women’s dancing. Painters like Delacroix and Holman Hunt, who visited the eastern Mediterranean, made serious efforts to capture the real thing. The dances of Ouled Nail exerted a special fascination for their extravagant dress, and inevitably these erotic displays raise questions about women’s roles in society and entertainment within Islam. Ruth St. Denis, famous for the rippling movement of her arms in the Cobra dance, achieved celebrity, but although the notorious Mata Hari claimed descent from a temple dancer of the far east, a lack of judgement led to the failure of her career and finally a conviction for spying. In the 21st century Arab dancing is again increasing in popularity. 223pp, softback, colour and archive photos.


£14.99 NOW £6 CRIME


I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.


- Charles Dickens 75104 RED DUSK AND THE


MORROW by Paul Duke Sub-titled Adventures and Investigations in Soviet Russia, Paul Duke was sent into Russia in 1918, shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution, by ‘C’, the mysterious Head of the British Secret Service. His mission was to pull together the British spy networks operating against the new regime. With its spies and diplomats thrown out at


the start of the Red Terror, Britain’s espionage efforts were left to a British businessman with no previous experience as a spy. Duke operated under a variety of covers, the most daring of which was as a member of the Cheka Secret Police. On his return, the government publicised his account of the Bolshevik terror to justify a joint US-UK military attack on Northern Russia. He became the only British secret agent to be knighted for spying and was awarded the Victoria Cross. First published in 1922, this thrilling account of his mission remains a true classic of espionage. 264pp in paperback.


£9.99 NOW £4.50


74704 DEATH AND THE VIRGIN QUEEN: Elizabeth I and the Dark Scandal That Rocked the Throne


by Chris Skidmore Impeccably researched and brilliantly written, here at last is a definitive study of one of history’s most mysterious Whodunits. This riveting volume offers a detailed examination of evidence, both old and - crucially - new, to throws fresh


light on the death of one of the most innocent victims of the Tudor world. On the morning of September 8th 1560, at the isolated manor of Cumnor Place, the body of a young woman was found at the bottom of a staircase, her neck broken. But this was no ordinary death. Amy Robsart was the wife of Elizabeth I’s great favourite Robert Dudley, the man many people believed she would marry if he were only free. Immediately, foul play was suspected, and Elizabeth’s own reputation was in danger of serious damage. It was thought that she could even lose her throne. An inquest was instigated, witnesses called and, ultimately, a verdict of Death By Accident was reached. But the mystery refused to die and continued to cast a long shadow over the Queen’s reign. For well over 500 years, the matter has been argued about, written about, hotly contested. Was Amy murdered in order to facilitate her husband’s affair with Elizabeth, or not? Now, in an impressively vivid re-telling of the whole story, new material is presented, in the form of a previously lost coroner’s report that offers an important revelation about the nature of Amy’s injuries. At last centuries of speculation are put to rest. 430 pages with colour plates, a note on money, list of abbreviations, and four appendices: Coroner’s Report into Amy Robsart’s Death, The Dudley-Blount Letters, Copy of a Letter Written by a Master of Art of Cambridge and The Journall (sic) of Matters of State. 430 page paperback, b/w illus.


$16.99 NOW £5


74887 BILLINGTON: Victorian Executioner


by Alison Bruce This insightful and gripping biography is an exciting addition to any true crime bookshelf. It tells the story of the incredible and rather gruesome Billington family. James was formerly a pub entertainer and then a barber, but he nourished a single-minded determination to secure the post of executioner for


London and the Home Counties. Readers must wonder whether he really felt he was primarily offering a


beneficial service to society and justice, or whether his reasons for wanting the position were far more personal. This compelling book is both a relentlessly grim catalogue of murders and an examination of the men who were expected single-handedly to kill another human being without hesitation or emotion. Could this do other than lead to emotional damage? Three of James’ sons, Thomas, William and John followed in his footsteps and together the family were responsible for a horrifying 235 executions, including those of many notorious murderers in Great Britain between 1884 and 1905. 224 pages illustrated in b/w, with Nigel Preston interview, and three appendices: Execution Ropes, School for Hangmen and Index of Executions.


£18.99 NOW £6 74694 CAPITAL


PUNISHMENT IN BRITAIN by Richard Clark


Capital punishment was once a highly popular form of entertainment for the masses, and the population loved watching a human being choking to death while kicking at the end of a rope. It served as the death penalty for men, woman and children alike and, for centuries, played its part as the ultimate


judicial penalty in Britain. This chilling, and often graphic, new book ‘brings to life’ once more the condemned victims and the methods by which they met their end. The author reveals the many horrific guises of the ultimate punishment, from execution by hanging, drawing and quartering, to other sickening alternatives, including burning, eye gouging, boiling alive, and use of the dreaded Halifax gibbet - precursor to the guillotine. Witches fell to watery graves through violent drowning, whilst condemned women were often pressed slowly to death with weighted stones or iron, which crushed their ribs. Modern developments are also taken into account, with a detailed look at the reduction in the number of executions, 20th century reprieves, vivid descriptions of the death sentences in Britain and their final abolition. 336 repulsive pages illustrated in colour and b/w with list of executions between 1900 and 1964. £19.99 NOW £8.50


73568 MURDER ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS


by Jonathan Goodman Here is the 1923 shooting at the Savoy Hotel in London of Prince Ali Kamel Fahmy Bey at the hands of his wife, and here too is the Crime of the Century, the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby in 1932, which was complicated by the fact that although Bruno Richard Hauptmann was executed for the


crime, the evidence was suspect. If readers want to be really revolted, they can read about Michele de Marco Lupo, a gay man who coaxed other homosexuals to meet with him, then savagely bit them and strangled them. 358 paperback pages, line drawings. £16.95 NOW £3.50


73934 THE BLOODY WHITE BARON by James Palmer


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There have been few characters more sadistic, sinister and deeply demented than Baron Ungern-Sternberg. A violent, anti-Semitic fanatic with a penchant for Eastern mysticism and a hatred of communists, the Baron conquered Mongolia in 1919 with a ragtag force of White Russians, Siberians, Japanese and native Mongolians, and dreamed of assembling a horse-borne army to retake Moscow. Ungern foreshadowed the Nazis in his combination of mysticism and genocidal barbarity. His subjects believed him an incarnate god of war, destined to restore the greatness of the Mongolian Empire. In this saga that ranges from Austria to the Mongolian Steppe, Palmer recounts the crimes and conquests of this monster. 274pp in paperback.


$15.99 NOW £6.50


73507 ONE BLOODY THING AFTER ANOTHER: The World’s Gruesome History by Jacob F. Field


This gruesome history starts with the atrocities of Caligula and Nero, but Britain had its own doughty warrior who fought back against the Romans: Boudicca, who after being flogged and raped by the Roman invaders, took her revenge with a ruthless massacre and torture. The torture continued in the Renaissance with the Spanish Inquisition, the persecution of witches, the Chinese Death of 1,000 Cuts, the conquest of the Incas and the exploits of Ivan the Terrible. 192pp, line drawings.


£9.99 NOW £2.75


72541 SIX: The Real James Bonds 1909- 1939 by Michael Smith


The British Secret Intelligence Service, which would eventually become MI6, was first set up in 1909. Smith tells the complete story of the Service’s founding and early years, and the remarkable men that ran things and often did the actual spying. Following the Romanov’s downfall the SIS also undertook some astonishingly daring missions inside Bolshevik Russia, and there were others to New York and the Middle East. In the 1930s the focus shifted back to Hitler’s Germany. 468pp paperback, b/w photos.


£12.99 NOW £2.75 72359 THE DANGEROUS OTTO KATZ: The


Many Lives of a Soviet Spy by Jonathan Miles Dashing, intelligent and lethal, Otto Katz (1895-1952) was one of the 20th century’s most accomplished spies, the inspiration for Victor Lazlo in Casablanca. Lover of Marlene Dietrich, one of the first to alert the world to the threat of Hitler, infiltrator of England and recruiter of the Cambridge spies, Stalin’s head of operations during the Spanish Civil War and arranger of Trotsky’s assassination, he was also a playboy socialite in Hollywood. Noel Coward was employed by MI6 to attempt to “turn” him after WWII. He was accused of treason, convicted on charges that were patently untrue and hanged in Prague on 3 December 1952. 365pp, photos.


$26 NOW £2.50 FICTION


Live always in the best company when you read.


- Sydney Smith


74579 LADY OF THE RIVERS by Philippa Gregory


The story of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, a woman who navigated a treacherous path through the battle lines in the Wars of the Roses. When she is left a wealthy young widow, Jacquetta returns to England and achieves a place at the very heart of the Lancaster court, though she can sense the danger of their royal York rivals. As she fights for her king and queen,


Jacquetta can see an extraordinary and unexpected future for her daughter Elizabeth - a change of fortune, the throne of England, and the White Rose of York. By the author of ‘The White Queen’, ‘The Red Queen’ and ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’. 443pp in paperback. $16 NOW £5


74688 BEETHOVEN CONFIDENTIAL and BRAHMS


GETS LAID by Ken Russell A companion to Elgar and Delius code 74689, Ken Russell long ago blew apart the notion that classical composers were as solemn in their private lives as in their music. These new novel-biographies are based on the known facts of the great musicians Beethoven (1770- 1827) and Brahms (1833-1937).


The gestation for the first novel Beethoven Confidential included a film script in which Anthony Hopkins was to play the deaf composer. Now the mystery of the identity of Beethoven’s secret love, the ‘Immortal Beloved’ is at long last revealed. Brahms was renowned for beer, beard and belly. The doughty bachelor enjoyed a quiet beer and walks in the Black Forest but was no shrinking violet. He was full of white-hot passion and sensuality and had a complex emotional relationship with Clara, wife of Robert Schumann. Hold on to your hats for the sex romp! 190pp in paperback. £12.95 NOW £6.50


74689 ELGAR: The Erotic Variations and DELIUS: A


Moment with Venus by Ken Russell


Filmmaker Ken Russell made a celebrated BBC Monitor television film on Elgar, the Worcestershire composer. Here is his portrayal as a devoted husband whose career hinges largely on the support of his wife. But here in the novel the man emerges from his Victorian


morality complete with mistresses and muses including his childhood sweetheart and the emancipated headmistress Rosa Burley. The second novel Delius: A Moment with Venus is largely based on the recollections of the composer’s amanuensis, Eric Fenby, who became a friend of the author during the making of the memorable Monitor drama-documentary. Some of the extra-marital material in this novel was unknown to Russell when he made his film, but the baptism of Frederick Delius the Yorkshire man, as ‘Fritz’ is the hilarious starting point for the revelations about the secret life of this cantankerous old Pagan genius. 190pp in paperback.


£12.95 NOW £6.50 75000 THE CAT’S TABLE


by Michael Ondaatje By one of our favourite authors who won the Booker Prize for The English Patient, this novel is set in the early 1950s. An 11 year old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At meal times he is seated at the ‘cat’s table’, as far from the Captain’s Table as can be, with a ragtag group of ‘insignificant’ adults and two other


boys. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another. One man talks with them about jazz and women, another opens the door to the world of literature. The narrator’s elusive, beautiful cousin Emily becomes his confidante and he begins to feel the first stirring of desire. The shadowy Miss Lasqueti is perhaps more than what she seems. Late one night the boys spy on a shackled prisoner and as the narrative moves between the decks a spectacular and magical sea voyage begins. 269 rough cut pages.


$26 NOW £6


74610 CHANGELING by Kenzaburo Oe


When Kogito’s brother-in-law Goro gives him an old-fashioned tape recorder, Kogito has no idea how it will change his life. He calls it Tagame because the headphones look like water-beetles. A box full of tapes accompanies it, and Kogito’s first attempt to listen is on a crowded train, when his fellow- passengers are startled to hear


pornographic dialogue issuing forth. When Kogito returns the tapes, Goro gives him another collection, and this time there is a message from Goro saying that when he is on the Other Side he is not going to stop


Fiction


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communicating with Kogito. He commits suicide immediately afterwards. This extraordinary novel is the story of Kogito’s relationship with Goro, complicated by his wife Chikashi’s equal obsession with her dead brother. Kogito develops ever more sophisticated responses to what Goro seems to be telling him as the experience of Tagame sends them all into a past where key books hold a profound significance, including Maurice Sendak’s Outside Over There and the crucifixion narratives of the Christian Bible. 468pp.


£19.99 NOW £6 74824 ANOTHER VIEW


by Rosamunde Pilcher The bestselling ‘The Shell Seekers’ captured the hearts of all who read it and Rosamunde Pilcher was awarded an OBE for services to literature in 2002. She knows how to tap into the emotional life of her readers and make them care about her characters. You only have one family and for Emma that takes the rather unsatisfactory form of her selfish artist father. Determined to make the best of it, she returns to


Porthkerris to live with him, and finds that being a dutiful daughter brings unexpected benefits. 182pp in paperback.


£7.99 NOW £3


74926 22 BRITANNIA ROAD


by Amanda Hodgkinson ‘A boy must have a father. Soon the past would be behind them and England would be their present. She ran her fingers through Aurek’s cropped hair and he wrapped his arms around her neck. She was on her way to a new life and her one piece of Poland was still with her.’ ‘Housekeeper of housewife?’ the


soldier asks Silvana as she and seven year old Aurek board the ship that will take them to England at the end of World War Two and where her husband Janusz is waiting for them. ‘Survivor’ she answers. Janusz wants them to be a proper English family and is determined to forget the ghosts of war. He pins his hopes for a normal life on a small house 22 Britannia Road with an English garden out back. Having spent the war hiding, Aurek is wild, almost feral, and doesn’t know how to tie his shoelaces or sleep in a bed. Here are the private terrors of two Polish survivors who only want to bury the past in the comforting conformities of English life. 321pp. ONLY £4


74992 ABYSSINIAN PROOF by Jenny White


May 1453 in Constantinople. In the dying days of the Byzantine Empire as the city prepares for a final onslaught by the Ottoman Turks, Isaak Metochites and his family are entrusted with a silver reliquary carved with the figure of a weeping angel and the inscription: ‘Behold the Proof of Chora, Container of the Uncontainable.’ 400 years later magistrate Kamil


Pasha is plagued by thefts of antiquities from mosques and churches and a series of murders in which the bodies bare the same distinctive marks. He is led to a sect descended from Abyssinian slaves living in an abandoned cistern in Istanbul’s gritty underworld. The re-emergence of the forgotten reliquary sets off a brutal race between those sworn to protect it and those who will stop at nothing to gain its explosive secret. 456pp in paperback.


£6.99 NOW £4


74997 BALLAD OF TRENCHMOUTH TAGGART by Glenn Taylor


Meet Early ‘Trenchmouth’ Taggart, a man born and orphaned in 1903, one time inventor, snake handler, cunnilinguist, sniper, woodsman, harmonica man and newspaper man. His is an epic story, a tall tale in the tradition of Mark Twain, chronicling more than 100 years of exile and outrunning trouble. It is


the love song of an outlaw and like the best of ballads, it etches its mark deep upon the memory with a jump-off- the-page character. 310pp in paperback.


£7.99 NOW £4


75003 THE DOVEKEEPERS by Alice Hoffman


An ambitious, multi-part story, richly decorated with details of life 2000 years ago. At that time, 900 Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Alice Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding


tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers. She brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter and Shirah is wise in the ways of magic and medicine. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers and all are keeping their own secrets. 505pp in paperback and the jacket design of the book’s cover is deliberately trimmed.


$16 NOW £6


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