JM Roberts Comprehensive in its scope and brilliantly readable, this is a superb follow-up to the author's bestselling Penguin History of the World. Beginning with prehistory and the early civilizations...

Tony Wright and Matt Carter Published January 1, 1997

RW Hoyle This is the first full account of the Pilgrimage of Grace since 1915. In the autumn and winter of 1536, Henry VIII faced risings first in Lincolnshire, then...

StendhalThe son of a carpenter, Julian Sorel is inspired by the writings of Napoleon to conquer the heights of society. His initial plan to work his way up through the...

Charles Townshend The protracted, terrible fight for independence pitted the Irish against the British and the Irish against other Irish. It was both a physical battle of shocking violence against...

Natalie Zemon Davis The clever peasant Arnaud du Tilh had almost persuaded the learned judges at the Parlement of Toulouse when, on a summer’s day in 1560, a man swaggered...

Ben Riley-Smith 'BRILLIANT' ANDREW MARR'HAD ME OPEN-MOUTHED WITH AMAZEMENT' ED BALLS'ESSENTIAL ' JON SOPEL'A GRIPPINGLY-WRITTEN, DETAILED BOOK THAT ANSWERS SO MANY QUESTIONS' ISABEL HARDMAN'SUPERB' EVAN DAVISThe explosive full story of...

Roberto Bolano New Year’s Eve, 1975: Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, founders of the visceral realist movement in poetry, leave Mexico City in a borrowed white Impala. Their quest: to...

Hella S Haasse Although he bears one of the most notorious names in all of Italy, Giovanni Borgia doesn't know his parentage. Hella Haasse uses the Italian Wars as a...

John Banville In this luminous novel about love, loss, and the unpredictable power of memory, John Banville introduces us to Max Morden, a middle-aged Irishman who has gone back to...

Elaine Sciolino An American Library in Paris "Coups de Coeur" SelectionA Los Angeles Times Bestseller"Elaine Sciolino is a graceful, companionable writer.… [She] has laid one more beautiful and amusing wreath on the...

Primo Levi The Sixth Day and Other Tales is a wonderful collection of short fantasy tales by Primo Levi. These works of supreme imagination demonstrate the breadth of Levi's graceful...