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Daedalus Books
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Few characters in history are as fascinating or controversial as Nicholas and Alexandra. From their passionate love to their horrifying execution, they are alternately viewed as innocent victims of Bolshevik assassins or blamed for causing the Revolution themselves. Much has already been written about their lives. But acting as a curator of the many conflicting histories, acclaimed author Virginia Rounding offers a different kind of biography, with an intimate look that probes the souls of these unforgettable figures, and tells the story of their passion and its consequences for Russia. Through newly revealed letters and diaries, Rounding explores the Empress' ill health, examines the enigmatic triangular relationship between Nicky, Alix and her confidante Ania Vyrubova, and looks anew at the reasons behind their reliance on the infamous Rasputin. Her conclusions are surprising. With eloquence and compassion, Rounding makes these characters come alive, presenting them in all their complexity and ardour, guiding the reader into their vanished world. |
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In this sweeping history of vodka scion Pyotr Smirnov and his family, distinguished journalist Linda Himelstein plumbs a great riddle of Russian history through the story of a humble serf who rose to create one of the most celebrated business empires the world has ever known. At the center of this vivid narrative, Pyotr Smirnov comes to life as a hero of wonderful complexity — a man of intense ambition and uncanny business sense, a patriarch of a family that would help define Russian society and suffer from the Revolution's aftermath, and a loyalist to a nation that would one day honor him as a treasure of the state. Born in a small village in 1831, Smirnov relied on vodka — a commodity that in many ways defines Russia — to turn a life of scarcity and anonymity into one of immense wealth and international recognition. Starting from the backrooms and side streets of 19th century Moscow, Smirnov exploited a golden age of emancipation and brilliant grassroots marketing strategies to popularize his products and ensconce his brand within the thirsts and imaginations of drinkers around the world. His vodka would be gulped in the taverns of Russia and Europe, praised with accolades at World Fairs, and become a staple on the tables of Tsars. His improbable ascent — set against a sobriety crusade supported by Chekhov and Tolstoy, mounting political uprisings and labor strikes, the eventual monopolization of the vodka trade by the state — would crumble amidst the chaos of the Bolshevik revolution. Only a set of bizarre coincidences — including an incredible prison escape by one of Smirnov's sons in 1919 — would prevent Smirnov's legacy from fading into oblivion. Set against a backdrop of political and ideological currents that would determine the course of global history — from the fall of the Tsars to the rise of Communism, from vodka's popularization by none other than James Bond to Smirnoff's emergence as a multi-billion dollar brand — Smirnov's story of triumph and tragedy is a captivating historical touchstone. The King of Vodka is much more than a biography of an extraordinary man. It is a work of narrative history on an epic scale. |
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The 900-day siege of the Soviet city of Leningrad by the combined forces of the Germans and the Finns is one of the most remarkable, and terrible, events of the Second World War, yet until recently it has not received the attention it deserves it has been overshadowed by other massive confrontations on the Eastern Front, at Stalingrad and Kursk. And rarely has the compelling story of the siege been told through graphic wartime photographs like those that author Nik Cornish has collected for this book. Many of these images have not been published before, and they give an unflinching insight into the reality of the conditions of the siege as it was experienced by the soldiers on each side and by the civilians trapped in the city who were threatened by starvation, disease, shelling and assault. The entire course of the siege is covered, from the encirclement of September 1941, through the successive attempts by the Wehrmacht to break in and the dogged, sometimes desperate defense put up by the Red Army, to the withdrawal of the Germans and the lifting of the siege in January 1944. Nik Cornishs portrait of the ruthless struggle of Hitlers armies to capture the second city of the Soviet Union and the determination and suffering of the defenders will be fascinating reading for everyone who is interested in the war on the Eastern Front. |
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Now in paperback: Alice Sebold's luminous first novel — one of the most celebrated literary debuts of recent seasons — that builds out of a family's grief the most hopeful and joyful of stories. |
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New York Times — bestselling author Lehane delivers an explosive tale of vengeance and redemption in this brilliant sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone — heralding the long-awaited return of beloved private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. |
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A retelling of classic children's tales by The Brothers Grimm, including Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Ashputtel (Cinderella) and Little Red-cap. This interpretation by Carol Ann Duffy seeks to remove the sugariness of contemporary versions and return to the orginal, darker mould. |
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The tales of this book, as Ursula K. Le Guin writes in her introduction, explore or extend the world established by her first four Earthsea novels. Yet each stands on its own. The Finder, a novella set a few hundred years before A Wizard of Earthsea, presents a dark and troubled Archipelago and shows how some of its customs and institutions came to be. The Bones of the Earth features the wizards who taught the wizard who first taught Ged and demonstrates how humility, if great enough, can contend with an earthquake. Darkrose and Diamond is a delightful story of young courtship showing that wizards sometimes pursue alternative careers. On the High Marsh tells of the love of power-and of the power of love. Dragonfly shows how a determined woman can break the glass ceiling of male magedom. Concluding with an account of Earthsea's history, people, languages, literature, and magic, this collection also features two new maps of Earthsea. |
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Kids don t have to wait for geometry class to get the hang of shapes.With Doodles Shapes, they ll learn triangles, circles, rectangles, and squares as they doodle trucks, tents, pizza, balls, trains, and more. Kid swill also learn the meanings of bigger and smaller, thicker and thinner, taller and shorter. They won t even know they are learning as they get to doodle on spaceships, queens, and flowers to learn diamonds, stars, hearts, and shapes of all kinds. Kids don t need a video game to be entertained. They just need doodles. |
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«Time is all around us, and by using doodles as a learning tool, even small children can grasp the concepts of seasons, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds in a simple, step-by-step manner that is as fun as it is educational. It's all here for kids to discover: daytime and nighttime; the months of the year; and the days of the week. Kids can learn all about time by using birthdays, doodling games, and, of course, clock faces. What time is our picnic? What time can we go swimming? What time is dinner? «Doodles Time» provides hours and hours of fun, and helps to teach a complicated subject in a simple manner.» |
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Over five years in the writing, Alice Hoffman's most ambitious and mesmerizing novel ever, a triumph of imagination and research set in ancient Israel. The author of such iconic bestsellers as Illumination Night, Practical Magic, Fortune's Daughter, and Oprah's Book Club selection Here on Earth, Alice Hoffman is one of the most popular and memorable writers of her generation. Now, in The Dovekeepers, Hoffman delivers her most masterful work yet — one that draws on her passion for mythology, magic, and archaeology and her inimitable understanding of women. In 70 CE, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on a mountain in the Judean desert, Masada. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic historical event, Hoffman weaves a spellbinding tale of four extraordinary, 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 never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker's wife, watched the horrifically brutal murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her twin grandsons, rendered mute by their own witness. Aziza is a warrior's daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman, who finds passion with another soldier. Shirah is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege, as the Romans draw near. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets — about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love. |
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Figes reconstructs a heroic and touching love story that occurred in the midst of one of Stalin's most notorious work camps, drawing on personal letters, KGB archives and recent interviews to brilliantly illustrate the broader world in which their story unfolded. |
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Many years ago, the storytellers say, the great King Arthur brought justice to England with the help of his gallant knights of the roundtable. While most of King Arthur's knights freely chose a life of duty, for Sir Balin the Ill-Fated, destiny was foretold in a prophecy. And seriously, ill-fated is right there in his title, so Balin's not surprised when things go sour. Still, no matter how dire the task, a loyal and gallant knight never refuses adventure! Will Sir Balin finally discover his true destiny? And which ill-fated path will he have to choose? Join Balin on this, the noblest quest of all. With black-and-white drawings from acclaimed artist Aaron Renier throughout. |
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Best-selling novelist Robert Crais, a master of crime fiction and creator of the critically acclaimed Elvis Cole and Joe Pike novels, edits this year's must-read mystery stories with a keen eye for thrills and nail-biting suspense. |
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Francis Walsingham was the first spymaster in the modern sense. His methods anticipated those of MI5 and MI6 and even those of the KGB. He maintained a network of spies across Europe, including double-agents at the highest level in Rome and Spain — the sworn enemies of Queen Elizabeth and her Protestant regime. His entrapment of Mary Queen of Scots is a classic intelligence operation that resulted in her execution. As Robert Hutchinson reveals, his cypher expert s ability to intercept other peoples secret messages and his brilliant forged letters made him a fearsome champion of the young Elizabeth. Yet even this machiavellian schemer eventually fell foul of Elizabeth as her confidence grew (and judgment faded). The rise and fall of Sir Francis Walsingham is a Tudor epic, vividly narrated by a historian with unique access to the surviving documentary evidence. |
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All three volumes in the Inkheart trilogy are packaged together in this beautiful box set. Includes Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath. |
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The thirteenth novel in the wonderful No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, from master storyteller Alexander McCall Smith. |
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Sister to Queen Anne Boleyn, she was seduced by two kings and was an intimate player in one of history's most gripping dramas. Yet much of what we know about Mary Boleyn has been fostered through garbled gossip, romantic fiction, and the misconceptions repeated by historians. Now, in her latest book, New York Times bestselling author and noted British historian Alison Weir gives us the first ever full-scale, in-depth biography of Henry VIII's famous mistress, in which Weir explodes much of the mythology that surrounds Mary Boleyn and uncovers the truth about one of the most misunderstood figures of the Tudor age. With the same brand of extensive forensic research she brought to her acclaimed book The Lady in the Tower, Weir facilitates here a new portrayal of her subjects, revealing how Mary was treated by her ambitious family and the likely nature of the relationship between the Boleyn sisters. She also posits new evidence regarding the reputation of Mary's mother, Elizabeth Howard, who was rumored to have been an early mistress of Henry VIII. Weir unravels the truth about Mary's much-vaunted notoriety at the French court and her relations with King Francois I. She offers plausible theories as to what happened to Mary during the undocumented years of her life, and shows that, far from marrying an insignificant and complacent nonentity, she made a brilliant match with a young man who was the King's cousin and a rising star at court. Weir also explores Mary's own position and role at the English court, and how she became Henry VIII's mistress. She tracks the probable course of their affair and investigates Mary's real reputation. With new and compelling evidence, Weir presents the most conclusive answer to date on the paternity of Mary's children, long speculated to have been Henry VIII's progeny. Alison Weir has drawn fascinating information from the original sources of the period to piece together a life steeped in mystery and misfortune, debunking centuries-old myths and disproving accepted assertions, to give us the truth about Mary Boleyn, the so-called great and infamous whore. |
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Did you know that: It's against the law to check into a hotel in London under assumed names for the purpose of lovemaking? Under a statute of Edwards II all whales washed up on the shore belong to the monarch? Under a Tudor law Welshmen are not allowed into the city of Chester after dark? In THE STRANGE LAWS OF OLD ENGLAND, Nigel Cawthorne unearths an extraordinary collection of the most bizarre and arcane laws that have been enacted over the centuries. Some of the laws, incredibly, are still in force. It is still illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour... This elegant and amusing book is perfect for everyone fascinated by the eccentric history of these islands. |
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Vincent van Gogh was a Western painter who lived at the end of the 19th century. His work as an artist continues to inspire today because it is fresh and unique. The paintings van Gogh created are full of movement and life, although the subjects are often simple. This is because the artist tried to paint the energy behind what he was seeing. As a result, people and flowers — even the houses and furniture in his pictures — seem to be alive. In the end, he suffered much loneliness and despair. During his life, his art never sold well and he thought he was a failure. Yet today his work is some of the most famous in the world. |
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The twenty mix-and-match cards in this set present faces drawn in SAMi's signature style. Games played with the cards will not only sharpen a baby's visual skills, but will also lead to imaginative play, talking together, and shared smiles. Tips for parents included. |
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