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Last Dance in Havana: Escape to Cuba with the perfect holiday read!
by Rosanna LeyFrom the #1 Kindle Bestseller comes an exotic tale of love, family and friendship.'The perfect holiday companion' - Heat'The ultimate feel-good read' - Candis'Sun-soaked escapism' - Best**********Cuba, 1958Elisa is only sixteen years old when she meets Duardo and she knows he's the love of her life from the moment they first dance the rumba together in downtown Havana. But Duardo is a rebel, determined to fight in Castro's army, and Elisa is forced to leave behind her homeland and rebuild her life in distant England. But how can she stop longing for the warmth of Havana, when the music of the rumba still calls to her?England, 2012Grace has a troubled relationship with her father, whom she blames for her beloved mother's untimely death. And this year more than ever she could do with a shoulder to cry on - Grace's career is in flux, she isn't sure she wants the baby her husband is so desperate to have and, worst of all, she's begun to develop feelings for their best friend Theo. Theo is a Cuban born magician but even he can't make Grace's problems disappear. Is the passion Grace feels for Theo enough to risk her family's happiness?********SEE WHAT EVERYONE IS SAYING ABOUT ROSANNA LEY:'An impeccably researched and deftly written narrative that kept me hooked until the end' - Kathryn Hughes, bestselling author of The Letter 'Loved it from start to finish. A brilliant holiday read' - Amazon reviewer 'Perfect for fans of Santa Montefiore, Victoria Hislop and Leah Fleming' - Candis 'On so many levels a fantastic read' - Amazon reviewer'A fascinating story with engaging themes' - Dinah Jefferies, bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife 'Warm, enthralling, one of my favourite authors' - Amazon reviewer
Last Dance in Havana: Escape to Cuba with the perfect holiday read!
by Rosanna LeyCuba, 1958. Elisa is only sixteen years old when she meets Duardo and she knows he's the love of her life from the moment they first dance the rumba together in downtown Havana. But Duardo is a rebel, determined to fight in Castro's army, and Elisa is forced to leave behind her homeland and rebuild her life in distant England. But how can she stop longing for the warmth of Havana, when the music of the rumba still calls to her?England, 2012. Grace has a troubled relationship with her father, whom she blames for her beloved mother's untimely death. And this year more than ever she could do with a shoulderto cry on - Grace's career is in flux, she isn't sure she wants the baby her husband is so desperate to have and, worst of all, she's begun to develop feelings for their best friend Theo. Theo is a Cuban born magician but even he can't make Grace's problems disappear. Is the passion Grace feels for Theo enough to risk her family's happiness?From bestselling author Rosanna Ley comes an exotic tale of love, family and friendship set between England and Cuba.(P)2016 WF Howes Ltd
Last Dance on Holladay Street
by Elisa CarboneThe year is 1878, and 13-year-old Eva has lost all the family she’s ever known. Eva feels like an orphan—but she’s not. Sadie Lewis, the woman who gave her up at birth, is alive and well in Denver. And Eva sets out to find her, carrying only an address on a slip of paper. But Denver holds more surprises than Eva can bear. When she reaches 518 Holladay Street, she discovers Sadie Lewis’s shocking secret—a secret that lands Eva in a house of ill repute, forced to dance with strangers for her keep. But Eva knows in her bones that she’s free—and that she’s got to escape. In a novel that pulses with the sights, sounds, and wild dangers of the frontier West, Elisa Carbone explores the many faces that family, and freedom, can take. From the Hardcover edition.
Last Dance on the Starlight Pier: A Novel
by Sarah BirdSet during the Great Depression, Sarah Bird's Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a novel about one woman—and a nation—struggling to be reborn from the ashes.July 3. 1932. Shivering and in shock, Evie Grace Devlin watches the Starlite Palace burn into the sea and wonders how she became a person who would cause a man to kill himself. She’d come to Galveston to escape a dark past in vaudeville and become a good person, a nurse. When that dream is cruelly thwarted, Evie is swept into the alien world of dance marathons. All that she has been denied—a family, a purpose, even love—waits for her there in the place she dreads most: the spotlight.Last Dance on the Starlight Pier is a sweeping novel that brings to spectacular life the enthralling worlds of both dance marathons and the family-run empire of vice that was Galveston in the Thirties. Unforgettable characters tell a story that is still deeply resonant today as America learns what Evie learns, that there truly isn’t anything this country can’t do when we do it together. That indomitable spirit powers a story that is a testament to the deep well of resilience in us all that allows us to not only survive the hardest of hard times, but to find joy, friends, and even family, in them.
Last Days in Babylon: The History of a Family, The Story of a Nation
by Marina BenjaminMarina Benjamin grew up in London feeling estranged from her family's exotic Middle Eastern ways. She refused to speak the Arabic her mother and grandmother spoke at home. She rejected the peculiar food they ate in favor of hamburgers and beer. But when Benjamin had her own child a few years ago, she realized that she was losing her link to the past. In Last Days in Babylon, Benjamin delves into the story of her family's life among the Jews of Iraq in the first half of the twentieth century. When Iraq gained independence in 1932, Jews were the largest and most prosperous ethnic group in Baghdad. They dominated trade and finance, hobnobbed with Iraqi dignitaries, and lived in grandiose villas on the banks of the Tigris. Just twenty years later the community had been utterly ravaged, its members effectively expelled from the country by a hostile Iraqi government. Benjamin's grandmother Regina Sehayek lived through it all. Born in 1905, when Baghdad was still under Ottoman control, her childhood was a virtual idyll. This privileged existence was barely touched when the British marched into Iraq. But with the rise of Arab nationalism and the first stirrings of anti-Zionism, Regina, then a young mother, began to have dark premonitions of what was to come. By the time Iraq was galvanized by war, revolution, and regicide, Regina was already gone, her hair-raising escape a tragic exodus from a land she loved -- and a permanent departure from the husband whose gentle guiding hand had made her the woman she was. Benjamin's keen ear and fluid writing bring to life Regina's Baghdad, both good and bad. More than a stirring story of survival, Last Days in Babylon is a bittersweet portrait of Old World Baghdad and its colorful Jewish community, whose roots predate the birth of Islam by a thousand years and whose culture did much to make Iraq the peaceful desert paradise that has since become a distant memory. In 2004 Benjamin visited Baghdad for the first time, searching for the remains of its once vital Jewish community. What she discovered will haunt anyone who seeks to understand a country that continues to command the world's attention, just as it did when Regina Sehayek proudly walked through Baghdad's streets. By turns moving and funny, Last Days in Babylon is an adventure story, a riveting history, and a timely reminder that behind today's headlines are real people whose lives are caught -- too often tragically -- in the crossfire of misunderstanding, age-old prejudice, and geopolitical ambition.
Last Days in Old Europe: Trieste '79, Vienna '85, Prague '89
by Richard BassettSelected as a Book of the Year in the TLS and SpectatorThe final decade of the Cold War, through the eyes of a laconic and elegant observerIn 1979 Richard Bassett set out on a series of adventures and encounters in central Europe which allowed him to savour the last embers of the cosmopolitan old Hapsburg lands and gave him a ringside seat at the fall of another ancien regime, that of communist rule. From Trieste to Prague and Vienna to Warsaw, fading aristocrats, charming gangsters, fractious diplomats and glamorous informants provided him with an unexpected counterpoint to the austerities of life along the Iron Curtain, first as a professional musician and then as a foreign correspondent.The book shows us familiar events and places from unusual vantage points: dilapidated mansions and boarding-houses, train carriages and cafes, where the game of espionage between east and west is often set. There are unexpected encounters with Shirley Temple, Fitzroy Maclean, Lech Walesa and the last Empress of Austria. Bassett finds himself at the funeral of King Nicola of Montenegro in Cetinje, plays bridge with the last man alive to have been decorated by the Austrian Emperor Franz-Josef and watches the KGB representative in Prague bestowing the last rites on the Soviet empire in Europe.Music and painting, architecture and landscape, food and wine, friendship and history run through the book. The author is lucky, observant and leans romantically towards the values of an older age. He brilliantly conjures the time, the people he meets, and Mitteleuropa in one of the pivotal decades of its history.
Last Days of Summer
by Steve Kluger"May 15, 1940 Dear Mr. Banks: I am a 12-year-old boy and I am dying from malaria. Please hit a home run for me because I don't think I will be around much longer. Your friend, -Joey Margolis... Dear Kid: Last week it was the plague. Now it's malaria. What do I look - stupid to you? You're lucky I don't send somebody over there to tap you on the conk. I am enclosing 1 last picture. Do not write to me again. -Chase Banks... Dear Charlie: Nobody asked for your damn picture. I never even heard of you before. And you can forget about the home run too. The only reason I needed one was because the bullies who keep beating me up somehow thought you were my best friend and the homer was supposed to keep them from slugging me anymore. Thanks for nothing. PS Can I go on a road trip with you? Your arch enemy, -Joey Nargolis... Dear Joey: "Somehow" they thought I was your best friend? Where did they hear that from? A Nazi spy? J. Herbert Hoover? Franklin Delano Biscuithead? And didn't I tell you not to write to me anymore? Go bug DiMaggio. Charlie P.S. And just because there's a spot open for a bat boy this summer doesn't mean your going to get it. Even if we ARE chips off the same block.
Last Days of Summer Updated Ed: A Novel
by Steve KlugerA contemporary American classic—a poignant and hilarious tale of baseball, hero worship, eccentric behavior, and unlikely friendshipLast Days of Summer is the story of Joey Margolis, neighborhood punching bag, growing up goofy and mostly fatherless in Brooklyn in the early 1940s. A boy looking for a hero, Joey decides to latch on to Charlie Banks, the all-star third basemen for the New York Giants. But Joey's chosen champion doesn't exactly welcome the extreme attention of a persistent young fan with an overactive imagination. Then again, this strange, needy kid might be exactly what Banks needs.
Last Days of Theresienstadt (George L. Mosse Series in Modern European Cultural and Intellectual History)
by Eva Noack-MosseIn February of 1945, during the final months of the Third Reich, Eva Noack-Mosse was deported to the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt. A trained journalist and expert typist, she was put to work in the Central Evidence office of the camp, compiling endless lists—inmates arriving, inmates deported, possessions confiscated from inmates, and all the obsessive details required by the SS. With access to camp records, she also recorded statistics and her own observations in a secret diary. Noack-Mosse's aim in documenting the horrors of daily life within Theresienstadt was to ensure that such a catastrophe could never be repeated. She also gathered from surviving inmates information about earlier events within the walled fortress, witnessed the defeat and departure of the Nazis, saw the arrival of the International Red Cross and the Soviet Army takeover of the camp and town, assisted in administration of the camp's closure, and aided displaced persons in discovering the fates of their family and friends. After the war ended, and she returned home, Noack-Mosse cross-referenced her data with that of others to provide evidence of Nazi crimes. At least 35,000 people died at Theresienstadt and another 90,000 were sent on to death camps.
Last Days of the Civil War
by Bruce CattonFrom the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning history A Stillness at Appomattox, an electrifying account of the end of the Civil War--Grant and Lee's final maneuvers as four years of internecine conflict inched to a close."The end of the war was like the beginning, with the army marching down the open road under the spring sky." Here is the triumphant close of Bruce Catton's history of the Army of the Potomac, the major Union army that fought and ultimately won the war. In the spring of 1865, the war was in its endgame, as Grant broke through the defenses at Petersburg and chased Lee's army for the final clash. Meanwhile, Lee had one final option open to him: escape to North Carolina and join up with General Joe Johnston or otherwise accept defeat. Here are the war's final days and minutes, the race to the finish of America's bloodiest years.
Last Days of the Concorde: The Crash of Flight 4590 and the End of Supersonic Passenger Travel (Air Disasters #3)
by Samme ChittumThe gripping true tale of a devastating plane crash, the investigation into its causes, and the race to prevent similar disasters in the future.On July 25, 2000, a Concorde, the world's fastest passenger plane, was taking off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris when it suddenly burst into flames. An airliner capable of flying at more than twice the speed of sound, the Concorde had completed 25 years of successful flights, whisking wealthy passengers--from diplomats to rock stars to corporate titans--between continents on brief and glamorous flights. Yet on this fateful day, the chartered Concorde jet, en route to America, crashed and killed all 109 passengers and crew onboard and four people on the ground. Urgent questions immediately arose as investigators scrambled to discover what had gone wrong. What caused the fire? Could it have been prevented? And, most urgently, was the Concorde safe to fly? Last Days of the Concorde addresses these issues and many more, offering a fascinating insider's look at the dramatic disaster, the hunt for clues, and the systemic overhauls that followed the crash.
Last Days of the Luftwaffe: German Luftwaffe Combat Units, 1944–1945
by Manfred GriehlDrawn from newly-available historical archives, this German air force history is “packed with many fascinating revelations.” (IPMS/USA)The end of the Second World War in Europe was an epoch of complete social, cultural and technological upheaval. In the realm of military and aviation history this period was revolutionary. The eclipse of the piston-engine, and the introduction of electronic detection equipment, rockets and airborne weapons in previously unknown quantities changed the face of the air war and paved the way for post-war developments in aviation technology.Many details of this crucial phase of the war remained hidden for many years in top-secret files, but in this fascinating new history Manfred Griehl makes use of recently declassified sources, alongside his own vast collection of photographs, to provide a fresh look at the story of the Luftwaffe. Among the many aspects he covers are the new models of Bf 109 and Fw 190; the Me 262 jet plane; the establishment of He 162 squadrons; Stukas and Fw 190 fighter-bomber operations on the Eastern Front; Me 262 Blitzbombers in the West, the recruitment of 1928-born Hitler Youth into the two hundred glider schools; the increasing importance of remote-controlled air-to-air rockets; and the development of heavy bombs, remote-controlled bombs, atom bombs and Germany’s chemical and bacteriological arsenal. Brimming with intriguing discoveries, such as the existence of the real-life Luftwaffe kamikaze squadron, this meticulously researched and fully illustrated book will be of interest to historians and enthusiasts alike.
Last Days of the Reich: The Diary of Count Folke Bernadotte
by Folke BernadotteCount Folke Bernadotte was one of those rare figures in war ' a man trusted by both sides alike. Shortly before the war ended, Bernadotte was the leader of a rescue operation to transfer western European inmates to Swedish hospitals in the so-called 'White Buses'. This work through the Swedish Red Cross involved mercy missions to Germany and it was through this link that Bernadotte came into touch with prominent Nazi leaders in the 1940s. During the last months of the war, Bernadotte was introduced to Heinrich Himmler ' one of the most sinister men of the Third Reich. Bernadotte was asked by Himmler to approach the Allies with the proposal of a complete surrender to Britain and the US ' providing Germany could continue to fight the Soviet Union. The offer was passed to Winston Churchill and Harry Truman, but rejected. The course of these negotiations is narrated in this book with a simple, compelling clarity and thrilling immediacy. This new edition of Bernadotte's memoir includes a Preface by his two sons, and an Introduction by a leading Swedish author discussing Count Bernadotte's wartime record and his post-war assassination.
Last Descendants: An Assassin's Creed Novel Series (Last Descendants: An Assassin's Creed Series #1)
by Matthew J. KirbyAn all-new series based on the hit Ubisoft(R) video game franchise "Assassin's Creed." Part historical fiction, part tie-in, this novel creates an all-new narrative fans of the video games will love.Nothing in Owen's life has been right since his father died in prison, accused of a crime Owen is certain he didn't commit. Monroe, the IT guy at school, might finally bring Owen the means to clear his father's name by letting him use an Animus-a device that lets users explore genetic memories buried within their own DNA. During a simulation, Owen comes uncovers the existence of a powerful relic long considered a legend-the Trident of Eden. Now two secret organizations will stop at nothing to take possession of this artifact-the Brotherhood of Assassins and the Templar Order. It becomes clear the only way to save himself is to find the Trident first.Under the guidance of Monroe, Owen and a group of other teenagers go into a memory they all share within their DNA: the 1863 Draft Riots in New York City. Owen and his companions will find themselves tested on the violent streets of New York, and their experiences in the past will have far-reaching consequences in the present.
Last Duke Standing: A Historical Romance (A Royal Match #1)
by Julia LondonFans of Bridgerton will love the this sparkling, witty, and sexy new series from New York Times bestselling author Julia London! With a young future queen in the market for a husband, and the charming—and opinionated—Scottish lord tasked to introduce her to the ton&’s most eligible bachelors.Charming. Cheeky. Cunning.When Crown Princess Justine of Wesloria is sent to England to learn the ropes of royalty, she falls under the tutelage of none other than Queen Victoria herself. Justine&’s also in the market for a proper husband—one fit to marry the future queen of Wesloria.Because he knows simply everyone, William, Lord Douglas (the notoriously rakish heir to the Duke of Hamilton seat in Scotland, and decidedly not husband material), is on hand as an escort of sorts. William has been recruited to keep an eye on the royal matchmaker for the Weslorian prime minister, tasked to ensure the princess is matched with a man of quality…and one who will be sympathetic to the prime minister&’s views.As William and Justine are forced to scrutinize an endless parade of England&’s best bachelors, they become friends. But when the crowd of potential grooms is steadily culled, what if William is the last bachelor standing?
Last Flag Down
by Ron Powers John BaldwinAs the Confederacy felt itself slipping beneath the Union juggernaut in late 1864, the South launched a desperate counteroffensive to shatter the U. S. economy and force a standoff. Its secret weapon? A state-of-the-art raiding ship whose mission was to prowl the world’s oceans and sink the U. S. merchant fleet. The raider’s name was Shenandoah, and her executive officer was Conway Whittle, a twenty-four-year-old warrior who might have stepped from the pages of Arthurian legend. Whittle would share command with a dark and brooding veteran of the seas, Capt. James Waddell, and together with a crew of strays, misfits, and strangers, they would spend nearly a year sailing two-thirds of the way around the globe, destroying dozens of Union ships and taking more than a thousand prisoners, all while continually dodging the enemy. Then, in August of 1865, a British ship revealed the shocking truth to the men of Shenandoah: The war had been over for months, and they were now being hunted as pirates. What ensued was an incredible 15,000-mile journey to the one place the crew hoped to find sanctuary, only to discover that their fate would depend on how they answered a single question. Wondrously evocative and filled with drama and poignancy,Last Flag Downis a riveting story of courage, nobility, and rare comradeship forged in the quest to achieve the impossible.
Last Flag Flying: A Novel
by Darryl PonicsánNow a major movie starring Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne, directed by Richard Linklater!Darryl Ponicsan's debut novel The Last Detail was named one of the best of the year and widely acclaimed, catapulting him to fame when it was first published. The story of two career sailors assigned to escort a young seaman from Norfolk to the naval prison in Portsmouth, New Hampshire—and of the mayhem that ensues—was made into an award-winning movie starring Jack Nicholson. Last Flag Flying, set thirty-four years after the events of The Last Detail, brings together the same beloved characters—Billy Bad-Ass Buddusky, Mule Mulhall, and Meadows—to reprise the same journey but under very different circumstances. Now middle-aged, Meadows seeks out his former captors in their civilian lives to help him bury his son, a Marine killed in Iraq, in Arlington National Cemetery. When he learns that the authorities have told him a lie about the circumstances of his son's death, he decides, with the help of the two others, to transport him home to Portsmouth. And so begins the journey, centered around a solemn mission but, as in the first book, a protest against injustice and celebration of life too, at once irreverent, funny, profane, and deeply moving.Last Flag Flying is now a major movie from Amazon Studios, directed by Richard Linklater and starring Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, and Laurence Fishburne.
Last Flight
by Kristen Mai GiangA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard On April 24, 1975 the last flight out of Saigon, Vietnam carried over 400 people to the United States, six days before Saigon’s surrender to the North Vietnamese Army. Kristen Giang was a little girl, on that flight with family, and here in this story she shares all the emotions of the decision to flee from the perspective of someone eight years old; Playing a game of space-explorers to protect herself and her sister’s eyes from tear gas; sneaking a stuffed animal into the family’s overstuffed suitcase for comfort. Dow Phumiruk’s tender illustrations let anyone feel the excitement and the ultimate hopefulness of this amazing true story. P R A I S E "Deeply touching… A tender and powerful portrait of a harrowing, historic event." —Booklist "Mai Giang’s sensory-filled prose gently and evocatively communicates a personal wartime story. Phumiruk’s clean, soft illustrations, done in Photoshop and pencil, bring to life a gamut of emotions…A moving and illuminating story of family, war, courage, and newfound home." —Kirkus "Giang’s affecting, powerful recounting of her family’s escape from Saigon in 1975 renders a largely unexplored moment in history intimate and urgent." —BCCB
Last Flight From Saigon [Illustrated Edition] (USAF Southeast Asia Monograph Series #4)
by Lt.-Col. A. J. C. LavalleIllustrated with over 30 maps, diagrams and photosThe Southeast Asia Monograph Series is designed and dedicated to telling the story of USAF's participation in the Vietnam War. This monograph, the sixth in the Series, adds another exciting chapter to our continuing effort to bring forth and highlight the dedication, courage, and professionalism of the U.S. airman in combat. The primary intent of this series is to emphasize and dramatize the human aspects of this long and frustrating struggle, straying somewhat away from the cold hard statistics of "tons of bombs dropped" and "structures destroyed," etc., frequently the headliners in historical presentations."Last Flight From Saigon" is an exciting and moving account of how all our Services, as well as several civilian agencies, pulled together to pull-off the largest aerial evacuation in history-what many have referred to as a modern day Dunkirk. The three authors, intimately involved with the evacuation from beginning to end, have carefully pieced together an amazing story of courage, determination and American ingenuity. Above all, it's a story about saving lives; one that is seldom told in times of war. All too often, critics of armed conflict make their targets out to be something less than human, bent on death and destruction. One need only study the enormity of the effort and cost that went into the "evacuation of Saigon," and the resultant thousands of lives that were saved, to realize that the American fighting man is just as capable, and more eager, to save lives than he is in having to wage war.
Last Flight From Singapore [Illustrated Edition]
by Flt. Lt. Arthur G. Donahue DFCIncludes 20 illustrations.Arthur "Art" Gerald Donahue, a native of Minnesota, bravely entered the fray of the Second World War as volunteer pilot in the Royal Air Force by falsely claiming to be a Canadian in 1940. He was already an experienced pilot before he took off in his Spitfire in 64 Squadron based at RAF Kenley, and then 71 Squadron. His experiences and victories during the Battle of Britain are recounted in his first book "Yankee In A Spitfire" but suffice it to say he flew with great skill and courage as one of the "Few". After a period of brief leave in America he was transferred to the Far East with 258 Squadron, a part of the belated effort to reinforce Singapore. In this book he recounts his adventures in the air over Singapore and Sumatra in the chaotic fighting that saw the British troops routed by a brilliant offensive by the Japanese. Surviving the overwhelming odds in the air, the author managed to escape back to England via India; but was listed as missing in action in 1942."Donahue makes no attempt either to dramatize or underplay his experiences. He tells them in a simple, unvarnished manner, much as if he were sitting down with some friends back home. The result is pretty close to what the real thing must have been."--New York Times
Last Flight of the Luftwaffe
by Adrian WeirThe account of one of the most extraordinary stories to come from the closing days of the Second World War.Desperate times drive determined men to desperate measures. In April 1945, their cause already clearly lost, an ill-assorted, ill-equipped group of Luftwaffe crew decided on one final 'death or glory' kamikaze mission - their trage an incoming USAAF Eighth Air Force bomber formation, their only weapons their aircraft.Adrian Weir has researched this remarkable flight to retell it minute by minute: a hopeless gesture of immense courage, thrilling as the reader flies in the cockpit with the German pilots towards the unstoppable aircarft of the Mighty Eighth. Including accounts from the survivors of the mission, this is one of the most extraordinary stories to come from the closing days of the Second World War.
Last Flight of the Luftwaffe: The Suicide Attack On The Eigth Air Force, 7 April 1945 (Sven Hassel War Classics)
by Adrian WeirThe account of one of the most extraordinary stories to come from the closing days of the Second World War.Desperate times drive determined men to desperate measures. In April 1945, their cause already clearly lost, an ill-assorted, ill-equipped group of Luftwaffe crew decided on one final 'death or glory' kamikaze mission - their trage an incoming USAAF Eighth Air Force bomber formation, their only weapons their aircraft.Adrian Weir has researched this remarkable flight to retell it minute by minute: a hopeless gesture of immense courage, thrilling as the reader flies in the cockpit with the German pilots towards the unstoppable aircarft of the Mighty Eighth. Including accounts from the survivors of the mission, this is one of the most extraordinary stories to come from the closing days of the Second World War.
Last Friends (Old Filth Trilogy #3)
by Jane Gardam“The satisfying conclusion to Gardam’s Old Filth trilogy offers exquisite prose, wry humor, and keen insights into aging and death” (The New Yorker).While Old Filth introduced readers to Sir Edward Feathers, his dreadful childhood, and his decades-long marriage, The Man in the Wooden Hat was his wife Betty’s story. Last Friends is Terence Veneering’s turn. His beginnings were not those of the usual establishment grandee. Filth’s hated rival in court and in love is the son of a Russian acrobat marooned in the English midlands and a local girl. He escapes the war and later emerges in the Far East as a man of panache and fame. The Bar treats his success with suspicion: Where did this handsome, brilliant Slav come from? This exquisite story of Veneering, Filth, and their circle tells a bittersweet tale of friendship and grace and of the disappointments and consolations of age. They are all, finally, each other’s last friend as this magnificent series ends with the deep and abiding satisfaction that only great literature provides.“[Gardam’s] prose sparkles with wit, compassion and humor. She keeps us entertained, and she keeps us guessing. Be thankful for her books. Be thankful for this trilogy, which is ultimately an elegy, created with deep affection.” —The Washington Post“Restores us to an era rich in spectacle and bristling with insinuation and intrigue. Vivid, spacious, superbly witty, and refreshingly brisk . . . the story (and the author) will endure.” —The Boston Globe“All three Gardam books are beautifully written but it’s a pleasure to note that Last Friends is the most enjoyable, the funniest and the most touching.” —National Post
Last Gentleman Standing
by Jane Ashford"Jane Ashford's characters are true to their times, yet they radiate the freshness of today."—Historical Novel Reviews A fun, witty Regency romance from bestselling author Jane Ashford. Young heiress Lady Elisabeth Elham has no need for marriage, but warding off London's most charming suitors is easier said than done. Miss Elisabeth Elham is an unlikely heiress. She never knew the curmudgeonly uncle who died suddenly and left her a fortune. She's proud, outspoken and independent—a definite challenge for London's fortune hunting suitors.As various determined gentlemen vie for her attention at balls, routs, picnics and parties, Elisabeth finds herself embroiled with a charming rake, a mysterious nabob, and an elegant neighbor. This would all be great fun, if only she wasn't so fascinated by the one man in London who's not trying to woo her...Originally titled Bluestocking, this story has been unavailable for over 25 years.
Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War
by Lynne OlsonA groundbreaking account of how Britain became the base of operations for the exiled leaders of Europe in their desperate struggle to reclaim their continent from Hitler, from the New York Times bestselling author of Citizens of London and Those Angry Days When the Nazi blitzkrieg rolled over continental Europe in the early days of World War II, the city of London became a refuge for the governments and armed forces of six occupied nations who escaped there to continue the fight. So, too, did General Charles de Gaulle, the self-appointed representative of free France. As the only European democracy still holding out against Hitler, Britain became known to occupied countries as “Last Hope Island.” Getting there, one young emigré declared, was “like getting to heaven.” In this epic, character-driven narrative, acclaimed historian Lynne Olson takes us back to those perilous days when the British and their European guests joined forces to combat the mightiest military force in history. Here we meet the courageous King Haakon of Norway, whose distinctive “H7” monogram became a symbol of his country’s resistance to Nazi rule, and his fiery Dutch counterpart, Queen Wilhelmina, whose antifascist radio broadcasts rallied the spirits of her defeated people. Here, too, is the Earl of Suffolk, a swashbuckling British aristocrat whose rescue of two nuclear physicists from France helped make the Manhattan Project possible. Last Hope Island also recounts some of the Europeans’ heretofore unsung exploits that helped tilt the balance against the Axis: the crucial efforts of Polish pilots during the Battle of Britain; the vital role played by French and Polish code breakers in cracking the Germans’ reputedly indecipherable Enigma code; and the flood of top-secret intelligence about German operations—gathered by spies throughout occupied Europe—that helped ensure the success of the 1944 Allied invasion. A fascinating companion to Citizens of London, Olson’s bestselling chronicle of the Anglo-American alliance, Last Hope Island recalls with vivid humanity that brief moment in time when the peoples of Europe stood together in their effort to roll back the tide of conquest and restore order to a broken continent.Advance praise for Last Hope Island“A rip-roaring saga of hairbreadth escape, espionage, and resistance during World War II, Lynne Olson’s Last Hope Island salvages the forgotten stories of a collection of heroic souls from seven countries overrun by Hitler who find refuge in Churchill’s London and then seek payback in ways large and small. In thrilling fashion, Olson shows us that hell hath no fury like a small country scorned.”—Erik Larson, New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake “Lynne Olson is a master storyteller, and she brings her great gifts to this riveting narrative of the resistance to Hitler’s war machine. You will be thrilled and moved—and enraged, saddened, and shocked—by the courage and steadfastness, human waste and stupidity, carelessness and nobility, of an epic struggle. Last Hope Island is a smashing good tale.”—Evan Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Being Nixon “A powerful and surprising account of how figures from Nazi-occupied Europe found Great Britain an essential shield and sword in the struggle against Hitler. This is a wonderful work of history, told in Olson’s trademark style.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of American Lion