Other books that might interest you

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  The Middle Sea

  Andrew Wareham

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  Captain Turnhouse RN—Bloody Nick—is still in the Mediterranean, nursing his experimental frigate and enjoying the mixed blessings of being favored by Old Jervie, a hard but just taskmaster. 
   
   
   
  The French are still reeling from the shock of the Battle of the Nile, the Ottoman Empire is hastening into decline, the Spanish are in their customary disarray, and the Barbary Rovers are enjoying a resurgence. The Mediterranean is in a state of chaos—ideal for a predatory young captain, even if at first in an unreliable ship. 
   
   
   
  Bloody Nick makes his somewhat erratic way from the coast off Barcelona to the Siege of Acre and the equally erratic Sidney Smith, touching the shores of Egypt and Malta en route before being brought up short off Venice. In process, he adds a little to his store of prize money and more to his reputation as a wild and often lucky captain. He also discovers there is such a thing as bad luck, that it is possible to take too many chances.

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  My New Year's Eve Among the...

  Grant Allen

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  A great friend of Arthur Conan Doyle his stories are perhaps the equal yet are often neglected.

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  The Girl with the Griffin Bracelet

  Alexander Jovy

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  The lives of most of us are brief flames soon extinguished by the vastness of eternity.
  Yet there are some whose deeds lead to them being remembered forever in the hearts and minds of the future.
  
  This remarkable novel tells the story of a magnificent hero, Cyrus the Great, founder of the Ancient Persian Empire, and the stunning and splendid woman, Roxana, who loved him. The story of their forbidden love reverberates down the ages.
  'The Girl with the Griffin Bracelet' is also a story of ancient Lydia and the fabled city of Babylon, the richest in the world, and of how Cyrus freed forty thousand Jews from their plight as slaves and allowed them to return to their homeland.
  Cyrus and Roxana were visionaries far ahead of their time, founding their empire on the principle of religious tolerance and creating a society where people of different backgrounds and cultures could live together in peace and harmony.

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  Yell Sam If You Still Can - Le...

  Maylis Besserie

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  This novel by Maylis Besserie, the first of her Irish trilogy, shows us Samuel Beckett at the end of his life in 1989, living in Le Tiers-Temps retirement home. It is as if Beckett has come to live in one of his own stage productions, peopled with strange, unhinged individuals, waiting for the end of days.
  Yell, Sam, If You Still Can is filled with voices. From diary notes to clinical reports to daily menus, cool medical voices provide a counterpoint to Beckett himself, who reflects on his increasingly fragile existence. He remains playful, rueful, and aware of the dramatic irony that has brought him to live in the room next door to Winnie, surrounded by grotesques like Hamm or Lucky, abandoned by his wife Suzanne who died before him.
  Besserie delights in Beckett's bilingualism and plays back and forth between the francophone and anglophone properties of language, summoning James Joyce as Beckett reminisces about evenings the two spent together singing, talking and drinking. Largely written in the library of the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Besserie has kept the hum of Irish voices throughout this work.
  Yell, Sam, If You Still Can won the "Goncourt du premier roman", the prestigious French literary prize for first time novelists, just before the country went into lockdown. Besserie is now planning a further two novels that will explore the links between Ireland and France and is touted as the new star of the French literary world.
  
  Financial Times Book of the Year 2022

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  The Kind Redemption

  Alan Maas

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  Eli Kind stood at the edge of Centennial Valley, gazing toward the hills that had shaped his family’s fate. His hands were roughened by work, his mind burdened by questions left unanswered. The mystery of his missing uncle, Ezra, had gnawed at him for years, but now the search was more than just a personal journey—it was a path that would lead him deep into the heart of his family’s legacy. A legacy intertwined with the legend of the Thoen Stone and a secret too powerful to remain buried. 
  Though the Kind and Anderson ranches flourished, the encroaching Gold Rush and the promise of riches had brought more than just miners into the area. The land was filling with men—some seeking fortune, others seeking justice—and more than a few seeking revenge. Eli knew that the answers to his questions were as buried as the treasures of the hills themselves, but he was determined to find them, no matter the cost. 
  In the town of Deadwood, where the echoes of Wild Bill Hickok’s gunshot still lingered in the air, new alliances would be forged, and old ghosts would rise from the shadows. Eli’s search would lead him into the paths of historical figures—Teddy Roosevelt, Seth Bullock, and even the legendary Crazy Horse. Each step brought him closer to the truth, and yet, each turn in the road left him questioning what he believed was real. 
  Was the Kind family bound by fate—or by a curse? 
  The winds of the past were stirring, and the land called to Eli, urging him forward. But with every discovery, the line between friend and foe blurred, and he would soon learn that some truths come with a cost. 
  And sometimes, redemption isn’t just about finding the past—it’s about confronting it.

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  A Murder Most French

  Colleen Cambridge

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  The graceful domes of Sacré Coeur, the imposing cathedral of Notre Dame, the breathtaking Tour Eiffel . . . Paris is overflowing with stunning architecture. Yet for Tabitha Knight, the humble building that houses the Cordon Bleu cooking school, where her friend Julia studies, is just as notable. Tabitha is always happy to sample Julia's latest creation and try to recreate dishes for her Grand-père and Oncle Rafe. 
   
   
   
  The legendary school also holds open demonstrations, where the public can see its master chefs at work. It's a treat for any aspiring cook—until one of the chefs pours himself a glass of wine from a rare vintage bottle—and promptly drops dead in front of Julia, Tabitha, and other assembled guests. It's the first in a frightening string of poisonings that turns grimly personal when cyanide-laced wine is sent to someone very close to Tabitha. 
   
    
   
  What kind of killer chooses such a means of murder, and why? Tabitha and Julia hope to find answers in order to save innocent lives—not to mention a few exquisite vintages—even as their investigation takes them through some of the darkest corners of France's wartime past . . .

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