Most Popular Books by Matthew Sweet

"Suppose that everything we think we know about the Victorians is wrong." So begins Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet, a compact and mind-bending whirlwind tour through the soul of the nineteenth century, and a round debunking of our assumptions about it. The Victorians have been victims of the "the enormous condescension of posterity," in the historian E. P. Thompson''s phrase. Locked in the drawing room, theirs was an age when, supposedly, existence was stultifying, dank, and over-furnished, and when behavior conformed so rigorously to proprieties that the repressed results put Freud into business. We think we have the Victorians pegged--as self-righteous, imperialist, racist, materialist, hypocritical and, worst of all, earnest. Oh how wrong we are, argues Matthew Sweet in this highly entertaining, provocative, and illuminating look at our great, and great-great, grandparents. One hundred years after Queen Victoria''s death, Sweet forces us to think again about her century, entombed in our minds by Dickens, the Elephant Man, Sweeney Todd, and by images of unfettered capitalism and grinding poverty. Sweet believes not only that we''re wrong about the Victorians but profoundly indebted to them. In ways we have been slow to acknowledge, their age and our own remain closely intertwined. The Victorians invented the theme park, the shopping mall, the movies, the penny arcade, the roller coaster, the crime novel, and the sensational newspaper story. Sweet also argues that our twenty-first century smugness about how far we have evolved is misplaced. The Victorians were less racist than we are, less religious, less violent, and less intolerant. Far from being an outcast, Oscar Wilde was a fairly typical Victorian man; the love that dared not speak its name was declared itself fairly openly. In 1868 the first international cricket match was played between an English team and an Australian team composed entirely of aborigines. The Victorians loved sensation, novelty, scandal, weekend getaways, and the latest conveniences (by 1869, there were image-capable telegraphs; in 1873 a store had a machine that dispensed milk to after-hours'' shoppers). Does all this sound familiar? As Sweet proves in this fascinating, eye-opening book, the reflection we find in the mirror of the nineteenth century is our own. We inhabit buildings built by the Victorians; some of us use their sewer system and ride on the railways they built. We dismiss them because they are the age against whom we have defined our own. In brilliant style, Inventing the Victorians shows how much we have been missing.

"Stockholm, 1968. A thousand American deserters and draft-resisters are arriving to escape the war in Vietnam. They''re young, they''re radical, and they want to start a revolution. Some of them even want to take the fight to America. The Swedes treat them like pop stars--but the CIA is determined to stop all that. It''s a job for the deep-cover men of Operation Chaos and their allies--agents who know how to infiltrate organizations and destroy them from inside. Within months, the GIs have turned their fire on one another. Then the interrogations begin--to discover who among them has been brainwashed, Manchurian Candidate-style, to assassinate their leaders"--Amazon.com.

‘[A] witty, unusual murder mystery’ SUNDAY TIMES A compelling wartime mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie''s Partners in Crime and Foyle''s War. SUMMER 1944. The tide of war is turning. The Allies are at the gates of Paris. But the Nazis have one last chance of victory – and its success depends on a traitor in the quiet English village of Larkwhistle in the New Forest. When Jill Metcalfe receives the news of her brother Henry’s death from his friend, US Air Force officer Jack Strafford, she learns of more than just his loss – she is recruited to continue his mission. Jack has come to the village in the hope that Henry’s cryptic last words will reveal the identity of the traitor he is hunting. With Jill at his side, they begin to investigate.? ? But someone doesn’t want them looking into what happened to Henry. And when a body is discovered, it seems like there might be more to this little village – and its inhabitants – than first meets the eye.?? ? Will they discover the traitor in their midst, or will the war claim more victims? ??

We’re all stories in the end... In this exciting collection you’ll find all-new stories spinning off from some of your favourite Doctor Who moments across the history of the series. Learn what happened next, what went on before, and what occurred off-screen in an inventive selection of sequels, side-trips, foreshadowings and first-hand accounts – and look forward too, with a brand new adventure for the Thirteenth Doctor. Each story expands in thrilling ways upon aspects of Doctor Who’s enduring legend. With contributions from show luminaries past and present – including Colin Baker, Matthew Waterhouse, Vinay Patel, Joy Wilkinson and Terrance Dicks – The Target Storybook is a once-in-a-lifetime tour around the wonders of the Whoniverse.

Adapted from the major television series created by Mark Gatiss - out now! ''A delicious read'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ READER REVIEW London, 1946. Gabriel Book is an erudite and unconventional London bookseller married to Trottie, the owner of the wallpaper shop next door. He is also a sleuth who uses the chaotic riches of his stock to crack the puzzling cases that come his way. He does not work alone. Book''s shop is a magnet for waifs and strays - some of whom bring mysteries of their own to his door. There''s Nora, sometime bookseller and true crime enthusiast; Dog, connoisseur of ginger biscuits and then Jack, whose arrival at the shop forces Book to confront a loose end from his own past. Clever, endearing and entertaining, Bookish is a warm-hearted and unexpected mystery, about books, murder and the secrets we all keep.

Everything you think you know...is a lie. The Doctor and the Master; their conflict of light and dark has spanned many times and faces across the universe. This collection - of five short stories and a novella - explores the depths of darkness in the Master’s hearts; the arch-schemer’s secrets and sinister ambitions revealed through brand new adventures and encounters. Join six incarnations of evil for undreamed of adventures: a quest to free alien warlords... a dangerous mission to save a vital ally... a meeting with Bram Stoker... a shattering of lives on a distant world... a trial of wits to gain untold power... and drop in on the Master’s latest incarnation during his 77 years of imprisonment on Earth.

A history of British movies which includes the scandals, the suicides, the immolations and the contract killings. It is the product of thousands of conversations with veteran film-makers.

The Ritz, the Savoy, the Dorchester and Claridge''s - during the Second World War they teemed with spies, con-artists, deposed royals and the exiled governments of Europe. Meet the girl from MI5 who had the gravy browning licked from her legs by Dylan Thomas; the barman who was appointed the keeper of Churchill''s private bottle of whisky; the East End Communist who marched with his comrades into the air-raid shelter of the Savoy; the throneless prince born in a suite at Claridge''s declared Yugoslav territory for one night only. Matthew Sweet has interviewed them all for this account of the extraordinary events that unfolded under the reinforced ceilings of London''s grand hotels. Using the memories of first-hand witnesses, the contents of newly declassified government files and a wealth of previously unpublished letters, memoirs and photographs, he has reconstructed a lost world of scandal, intrigue and fortitude.

Penniless virgins. Reckless dukes. Flappers. Airmen. Suffragettes. Barbara Cartland made them fall in love. She wrote 723 books without touching a typewriter: instead, she reclined on her sofa with a Pekinese on her lap - and romantic fiction billowed out of her. This dazzling biography reveals the woman behind the powder and mascara - a clever, socially precarious writer navigating a twentieth-century world of war-damaged men, class conflict and sexual peril. After 49 proposals, she chose the wrong one. What followed was a life stranger than any of her novels. From country house weekends to Fleet Street offices, from Mayfair bedrooms to the divorce court, Matthew Sweet traces Cartland''s extraordinary journey through a century of upheaval. Here are terrorist plots, psychic seances, suppressed scandals, plagiarism battles in the cutthroat world of romance publishing - and a surprising turn as a campaigner for Romany rights. Drawing on unprecedented access to Cartland''s vast archives and firsthand accounts from those who knew her, Sweet delivers a wonderfully entertaining study of class, fame, scandal and self-aggrandisement. Part satire, part biography, part social history, The Great Dictator reveals how a literary legend was made.

Adapted from the major television series created by Mark Gatiss - new season coming soon! London, 1946. Much of the capital, and indeed the country, remains beset by rationing and bomb damage. But for some there are other, more immediate concerns: crimes of a serious and sometimes deadly nature. Inspector Bliss of Bow Street occasionally enlists the services of Gabriel Book, proprietor of Book''s Books: antiquarian and amateur sleuth, whose appetite for mystery is rivalled only by his enthusiasm for rare second-hand volumes. Working alongside Book are his wife and wallpaper shop-owner, Trottie; true crime fanatic Nora; and Jack, who''s surprised to have found a home at Book''s. They are all overseen by Dog, when otherwise unoccupied by his hunt for ginger biscuits. Together, they sell books and solve crimes. But Book has his own personal mystery to solve - one that''s haunted him for over a decade - and with each passing day, he draws closer to the truth. Warm-hearted, witty and perfect for book lovers, Bookish Vol.II is a surprising, entertaining mystery about books, murder and the lengths we''ll go to keep our secrets safe. READERS LOVE BOOKISH ''A delicious read'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''Charming and entertaining'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''An enjoyable and very clever read'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ''So unique and if you are a murder mystery fan give it a go'' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Moving towards mastery. Deciding what you want and discovering how to get it. Confronting human problems like anger, dissatisfaction and anxiety. These are the things that Matthew Sweet has been writing about, every day, since 27th August 2015. And here, collected for the first time, are some of his most impactful and insightful posts. Highlights include:- Why you should do the work and let others take the credit (page 36).- What ejaculation and lifebelts teach us about conquering adversity (page 43).- Musketeers and elves on the dangers of advice (page 115).- The difference between planning and preparation (page 129).- What strong filters are and why they''re critical to your success and sanity (page 176).- What villains know but heroes can only sense (page 217).- How to survive when nobody is watching over you (page 244).In DISCONNECTED, Matthew Sweet shares a curated selection of ideas designed to prod and provoke you into thinking deeper and becoming a better person. If you seek either of those things, DISCONNECTED is the book for you.