English books

Soraya was just fifteen, a schoolgirl in the coastal town of Sirte, when she was given the honor of presenting a bouquet of flowers to Colonel Gaddafi, “the Guide,” on a visit he was making to her school the following week. This one meeting—a presentation of flowers, a pat on the head from Gaddafi—changed Soraya’s life forever. Soon afterwards, she was summoned to Bab al-Azizia, Gaddafi’s palatial compound near Tripoli, where she joined a number of young women who were violently abused, raped and degraded by Gaddafi. Heartwrenchingly tragic but ultimately redemptive, Soraya’s story is the first one of many that are just now beginning to be heard. But sex and rape remain the highest taboo in Libya, and women like Soraya (whose identity is protected by a pseudonym here) risk being disowned or even killed by their dishonored family members. In Gaddafi’s Harem, an instant bestseller on publication in France, where it has already sold more than 100,000 copies in hardcover, Le Monde special correspondent Annick Cojean gives a voice to Soraya’s story, and supplements her investigation into Gaddafi’s abuses of power through interviews with people who knew Soraya, as well as with other women who were abused by Gaddafi.

The inescapable irony of war is its ability to inspire the finest and most poignant literature. This book gathers together vivid and eloquent rose and poetry from those who, throughout history, have witnessed the intensity of war at first hand. Voices from the Front Line is an anthology of powerful and evocative writings about human conflict, including not only literary giants and charismatic leaders but also civilian journalists and the diaries, letters and songs of ordinary private soldiers. • Lieutenant Kincaid on the violent final moments of Waterloo • General Grant on the Civil War's end at Appomattox • Wilfred Owen on the pity of war • Winston Churchill prepares Britain for World War Two • George Orwell on the shock of being hit by a fascist bullet in the Spanish Civil War • Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Collins rouses his troops with a stirring address in the Kuwaiti desert in 2003

'A master of the genre' The Times Marcus Valerius Aquila has scarcely landed in Britannia when he has to run for his life - condemned to dishonorable death by power-crazed emperor Commodus. The plan is to take a new name, serve in an obscure regiment on Hadrian's Wall and lie low until he can hope for justice. Then a rebel army sweeps down from the wastes north of the Wall, and Marcus has to prove he's hard enough to lead a century in the front line of a brutal, violent war.

An atmospheric and gripping mystery set in Oxford - perfect for fans of MORSE and ENDEAVOUR Lord Saffron, one of the young bloods at Oxford University, is heir to a considerable fortune. But while making a documentary about the exotic lifestyles of the university's over-privileged set, Jemima Shore discovers that this handsome young man, with his lavish dances and sumptuous weekend parties, is not quite what he seems. And when a student is murdered and a series of attempts are made on Saffron's life, Jemima realises that she has started a terrible chain of events..

On 4 November 1979, Iranian militants stormed the US embassy in Tehran and held dozens of Americans hostage. Beneath this crisis another story was known by only a few: six Americans escaped the embassy and hid within the city. Antonio Mendez, a top CIA officer, devised an ingenious yet risky plan to rescue them. Disguising himself as a Hollywood producer, and supported by a cast of CIA operatives, foreign agents and special-effects artists, Mendez travelled to Tehran under the guise of scouting locations for a fake science-fiction film called Argo.

In such stunning novels of crime and character as Die Upon a Kiss, Sold Down the River, and A Free Man of Color, Benjamin January tracked down killers through the sensuous, atmospheric, dangerously beautiful world of Old New Orleans. Now, in this new novel by bestselling author Barbara Hambly, he follows a trail of murder from illicit back alleys to glittering mansions to a dark place where the oldest and deadliest secrets lie buried . . . Wet Grave It&;s 1835 and the relentless glare of the late July sun has slowed New Orleans to a standstill. When Hesione LeGros--once a corsair&;s jeweled mistress, now a raddled hag--is found slashed to death in a shanty on the fringe of New Orleans&;s most lawless quarter, there are few to care. But one of them is Benjamin January, musician and teacher. He well recalls her blazing ebony beauty when she appeared, exquisitely gowned and handy with a stiletto, at a demimonde banquet years ago.

Sam Pargeter and his younger brother and sister have always been poor. But, in their tiny house in the country, with Ma and Pa, they were one big happy family. Until Pa goes off to America to seek their fortune and Ma dies. Then the Pargeter children find themselves whisked off to live with a strange aunt and uncle, and are put to work – just like Oliver Twist in their favourite book. But this is only the start of the twists and turns their lives will take. Sam, Eliza and Alfie make their way all over London and then beyond, in search of their only remaining member of family: a rich grandfather they have never known . .