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  The Last Lion - A tale of change...

  Vicente Blasco Ibáñez

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  Vicente Blasco Ibáñez was born in Valencia, Spain on 29th January 1867.  
   
  At university, he studied law and graduated in 1888 but never felt the urgency to practice - he was more interested in politics, journalism, literature and women.   
   
  Politically he was a militant Republican partisan and, in his youth, founded a newspaper, El Pueblo (The People). The newspaper was taken to court many times and he made many enemies. In one incident he was shot and almost killed. In 1896, Ibáñez was arrested and sentenced to a few months in prison. 
   
  Despite this colourful background he found time to write novels. His first published work was ‘La Araña Negra’ (The Black Spider) in 1892, a work that he later repudiated although at the time it was a useful vehicle for him to express his anti-clerical views. 
   
  In 1894, he published ‘Arroz y Tartana’ (Airs and Graces), about a late 19th Century widow in Valencia trying to keep up appearances in order to marry her daughters well.   
   
  Ibáñez’s next sequence of books studied rural life in the farmlands of Valencia and failed to gain much of an audience.   
   
  His writing now took on a new direction with its now familiar sensational and melodramatic themes in 1908 with ‘Sangre y Arena’ (Blood and Sand), which follows the career of Juan Gallardo from his poor beginnings as a child in Seville, to his rise to becoming a famous matador in Madrid 
   
  However, his greatest success was ‘Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) in 1916, which tells a tangled tale of the French and German sons-in-law of an Argentinian land-owner who find themselves fighting on opposite sides in the First World War.  It was a literary and commercial sensation and became the best-selling book of 1919.  It also propelled Rudolph Valentino to stardom in the 1921 film. 
   
  Ironically his fame in the English-speaking world has come not as a novelist but as the stories behind some of Hollywood’s greatest silent movies. 
   
  Vicente Blasco Ibáñez died in Menton, France on January 28th, 1928, the day before his 61st birthday.

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  The Marriage Season - A...

  Jane Dunn

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  'Brilliant, sparkling and very clever' Elizabeth Buchan  
  ‘It’s not a fair world I’m afraid. Beauty or fortune carries the day. You have the beauty and I the fortune, so there’s every chance we’ll succeed’ 
  In Regency England, marriage is everything. For young widow Sybella Lovatt, the time has come to find a suitable husband for her sister and ward Lucie. Male suitors are scarce near their Wiltshire estate, so the sisters resolve to head to London in time for the Season to begin. 
  Once ensconced at the Mayfair home of Lady Godley, Lucie’s godmother, the whirl of balls, parties and promenades can begin. But the job of finding a husband is fraught with rules and tradition. Jostling for attention are the two lords – the charming and irresistible Freddie Lynwood and the preternaturally handsome Valentine Ravenell, their enigmatic neighbour from Shotten Hall, Mr Brabazon, and the dangerous libertine Lord Rockliffe, with whom the brooding Brabazon is locked in deadly rivalry. 
  Against the backdrop of glamorous Regency England, Sybella must settle Lucie’s future, protect her own reputation, and resist the disreputable rakes determined to seduce the beautiful widow. As the Season ends, will the sisters have found the rarest of things – a suitable marriage with a love story to match? 
  Sunday Times bestselling author Jane Dunn brings the Regency period irresistibly to life in a page-turning novel packed with surprising revelations, which all comes wittily, gloriously, good in the end. Perfect for fans of Gill Hornby, Janice Hadlow, Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer and anyone with a Bridgerton-shaped hole in their lives. 
  Praise for Jane Dunn: 
  'Jane Dunn’s The Marriage Season gives all the immersive pleasure of Georgette Heyer’s brilliantly confected Regency novels, in a sublime alternative world of joy. Bridgerton look out!' Melanie Reid, The Times 
  ‘Outstanding, perceptive and delightfully readable’ Sunday Times Books of the Year 
  ‘Jane Dunn has written a splendid piece of popular history with the ready-pen of a highly skilled writer, endowed with remarkable insight’ Roy Strong, Daily Mail 
  ‘Jane Dunn is one of our best biographers’ Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times 
  'What a joy! I fell in love with the characters immediately, the storyline was brilliant, the descriptions of clothing, fashion and scene setting for that era were excellent' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review 
  'Beautifully written by the inimitable Jane Dunn.Her characters are so appealing you will not want to leave them. One of those books that you never want to end' ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review 
  ‘Absolutely brilliant book. Easy, interesting and certainly a page-turner. Enjoyed reading this book so much’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review 
  ‘One of the best books I have ever read. I have always been interested in this period of history and felt that this book and the way Dunn writes helps to bring history alive. Once I started reading I could not stop’ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review

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  The Top 10 Short Stories – The...

  James Joyce, D H Lawrence,...

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  Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart.  A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere. 
   
  In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?  
   
  The theme itself will form the boundaries for our stories which range from well-known classics, newly told, to stories that modern times have overlooked but perfectly exemplify the theme.  Throughout the volume our authors whether of instant recognition or new to you are all leviathans of literature. 
   
  Some you may disagree with but they will get you thinking; about our choices and about those you would have made.  If this volume takes you on a path to discover more of these miniature masterpieces then we have all gained something. 
   
  In this tumultuous century world wars will shatter all of Europe and Britain will finally be forcible divorced from Catholic Ireland.  Revolution and economic disaster are followed by a society that appears more equal, growing in confidence and its authors use every morsel of debate to create excellent literary works.  
   
  1 - The Top 10 - The British & Irish Men - The 20th Century - An Introduction 
  2 - The Dead - Part 1 by James Joyce 
  3 - The Dead - Part 2 by James Joyce 
  4 - The Rocking Horse Winner by D H Lawrence 
  5 - The Interlopers by Saki the pseudonym for H H Munro 
  6 - The Informer by Joseph Conrad 
  7 - Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad by M R James 
  8 - The Salvation of a Forsythe - Part 1 by John Galsworthy 
  9 - The Salvation of a Forsythe - Part 2 by John Galsworthy 
  10 - August Heat by W F Harvey 
  11 - The Matador of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett 
  12 - The Kit Bag by Algernon Blackwood 
  13 - The Burial of the Rats by Bram Stoker

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  The Game Of Logic

  Lewis Carroll

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  The Game of Logic is a book written by Lewis Carroll, published in 1886. In addition to his well-known children's literature, Carroll was an academic mathematician who worked in mathematical logic. The book describes, in an informal and playful style, the use of a board game to represent logical propositions and inferences. Carroll incorporated the game into a longer and more formal introductory logic textbook titled Symbolic Logic, published in 1897. The books are sometimes reprinted in a single volume.

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  The Game Changer

  Embassie Susberry

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  Sometimes making history means breaking some rules… 
  Don't miss the powerful new historical fiction novel Inspired by the incredible true story of Althea Gibson, the first Black athlete to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. 
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  New York, 1950. Ambitious journalist Hettie Carlin is desperate for a scoop that will make her career. When she's tasked with investigating the rise of Althea Gibson – the tennis world’s newest star – there are just two problems: Hettie knows nothing about tennis. Plus, her and Althea have history – and it’s not pretty. 
  Hettie must convince Althea to talk to her again, and it won’t be an easy feat. But, as Althea’s star rises, she faces media bias, prejudice and discrimination head-on – and Althea soon realises she may just need Hettie, too, in order to tell her own story on her own terms. 
  When Althea becomes an unexpected civil rights icon, the pair hold the potential to change history. If they can work together, they may just help revolutionize more than just sport once and for all… 
  This is a gripping historical fiction novel about bravery, hard work, the quest for success and two women's stand against prejudice in all its forms, perfect for fans of Kate Quinn, Sadeqa Johnson and Dolen Perkins-Valdez. 
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  Readers LOVE The Game Changer! 
  'I absolutely raced through this book!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  'Embassie Susberry is a master storyteller who brings real people's stories back to life!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  'I'm not a fan of tennis but I was absolutely fascinated!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  'Extremely engaging with excellent historical context' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  'A fitting tribute to a strong woman!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 
  Althea Gibson, an African American, defies the odds in the 20th century, post-World War II era, rising to the top of the tennis world. Her journey, intertwined with Hettie's, is a powerful narrative of resilience and defiance against prejudice. 
  For fans of Rachel Wesson (Light Rises), Imogen Matthews (The Wartime Nurse), Catherine Law (The Artist's Daughter), Catherine Hokin (What Only We Know), and Marion Kummerow (Three Children in Danger). 
  HarperCollins 2024

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  Hidden Hart

  Emily Royal

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  A lasting friendship, a dream sacrificed, a life destroyed. 
   
   
   
  Major Devon Hart, the ultimate rake, had women flocking to his bed, until a street brawl four years ago left him scarred, inside and out. His once-handsome face now damaged beyond recognition, he remains hidden, except at night, when he dispenses his own brand of justice on the streets of London. He has nothing to live for except his friendship with Colonel Fossett, who saved his life, and his love for Lady Atalanta Grey, a woman he can only hope to admire from afar. 
   
   
   
  Lady Atalanta longs to be loved for something other than her wealth and beauty. Her life holds no excitement, until the night she's set upon by thieves. The masked stranger who comes to her aid stirs delicious passions with tender words and scorching kisses, but he disappears before she can identify him. 
   
   
   
  Devon believes that Atalanta could never love the scarred, bitter man he's become. But when Fossett asks for Devon's help in wooing her, Devon must choose between sacrificing his dream of happiness, or betraying the man to whom he owes everything. 
   
   
   
  When a man has little to live for, will he sacrifice his dreams for the sake of a friend? 
   
   
   
  Contains mature themes.

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