New Releases by Nicholas Shakespeare

Ex-journalist John Dyer must take on a dangerous political conspiracy in order to bring his friend''s killer to justice in this gripping thriller by an award-winning writer. John Dyer is living a quiet life when he receives a call that changes everything: an old university friend, Lia, has been killed. Decades have passed since his last heartbreaking conversation with her, but Dyer finds himself driven to investigate. What Dyer uncovers puts him in the path of a political conspiracy with one man at its heart. A man who, forty years ago, committed a crime witnessed by just four people. When another of the witnesses dies in suspicious circumstances, Dyer finds his life in danger. To combat the forces arrayed against him, he needs incontrovertible proof—but will he find it in time? As Dyer chases his leads from Tasmania to Argentina and finally to Michigan, where it all began, he unwittingly pits himself against an adversary more powerful than he could have imagined, in a race as heartstopping as tomorrow’s headlines.

A fresh portrait of the man behind James Bond, and his enduring impact, by an award-winning biographer with unprecedented access to the Fleming family papers. Ian Fleming''s greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote. Ian''s childhood with his gifted brother Peter and his extraordinary mother set the pattern for his ambition to be “the complete man,” and he would strive for the means to achieve this “completeness''”all his life. Only a thriller writer for his last twelve years, his dramatic personal life and impressive career in Naval Intelligence put him at the heart of critical moments in world history, while also providing rich inspiration for his fiction. Exceptionally well connected, and widely travelled, from the United States and Soviet Russia to his beloved Jamaica, Ian had access to the most powerful political figures at a time of profound change. Nicholas Shakespeare is one of the most gifted biographers working today. His talent for uncovering material that casts new light on his subjects is fully evident in this masterful, definitive biography. His unprecedented access to the Fleming archive and his nose for a story make this a fresh and eye-opening picture of the man and his famous creation.

London, early May 1940: Britain is on the brink of war and Neville Chamberlain''s government is about to fall. It is hard for us to imagine the Second World War without Winston Churchill taking over at the helm, but this book shows how easily events could have gone in a different direction

When Nicholas Shakespeare stumbled across a box of documents belonging to his late aunt, Priscilla, he was completely unaware of where this discovery would take him and what he would learn about her hidden past. The glamorous, mysterious figure he remembered from his childhood was very different from the morally ambiguous young woman who emerged from the trove of love letters, photographs, and journals, surrounded by suitors and living the dangerous existence of a British woman in a country controlled by the enemy. He had heard rumors that Priscilla had fought in the Resistance, but the truth turned out to be far more complicated. As he investigated his aunt''s life, dark secrets emerged, and Nicholas discovered the answers to the questions over which he''d been puzzling: What caused the breakdown of Priscilla''s marriage to a French aristocrat? Why had she been interned in a prisoner-of-war camp, and how had she escaped? And who was the "Otto" with whom she was having a relationship as Paris was liberated? Piecing together fragments of one woman''s remarkable and tragic life, Priscilla is at once a stunning story of detection, a loving portrait of a flawed woman trying to survive in terrible times, and a spellbinding slice of history.

Bruce Chatwin is one of the most significant British novelists and travel writers of our time. His books have become modern-day classics which defy categorisation, inspired by and reflecting his incredible journeys. Tragically, Chatwin''s compelling narrative voice was cut off just as he had found it. ''Bruce had just begun'' said his friend, Salman Rushdie, ''we saw only the first act''. But Chatwin left behind a wealth of letters and postcards that he wrote, from his first week at school until shortly before his death at the age of forty-eight. Whether typed on Sotheby''s notepaper or hastily scribbled, Chatwin''s correspondence reveals more about himself than he was prepared to expose in his books; his health and finances, his literary ambitions and tastes, his uneasiness about his sexual orientation; above all, his lifelong quest for where to live. Comprising material collected over two decades from hundreds of contacts across five continents, Chatwin''s letters are a valuable and illuminating record of one of the greatest and most enigmatic writers of the twentieth century.

"A story as brooding and insular as the Tasmanian town in which it is set. . . . Expertly crafted, the novel illuminates love''s craggy depths." — Publishers Weekly Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers'' Prize Torn by tragedy from his early life on a remote farm in Tasmania, Alex Dove has returned to the rugged island off Australia''s southern coast years later to start over. A chance encounter with quiet, alluring Merridy Bowman—a young woman caring for her ailing father and similarly haunted by a tangled and catastrophic history—results in marriage, as two damaged souls unite to build a home, family, and livelihood far removed from civilization''s bustle. Soon they are drawn into the unpredictable dynamics of small-town island life—and into the destructive orbit of an unscrupulous real estate agent who maintains a secret hold over both Doves. But when a shipwreck off the shore thrusts a troubled, possibly criminal teenage castaway into their world, Alex and Merridy''s tenuously forged happiness is suddenly at grave risk, as they are forced to confront deeper questions about the true meaning of fulfillment. "Gripping . . . exhilarating . . . cathartic."— The Times "Elegant and enjoyable." — The Spectator "A very good novel indeed." — The Scotsman

From the renowned British author of The Dancer Upstairs comes this "meticulous, lyrical history" of the remote island and his family''s connection to it ( Publishers Weekly). Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "one of the best English novelists of our time," Nicholas Shakespeare decided to move to Tasmania after falling in love with its exceptional beauty. Only later did he discover a cache of letters that revealed a deep and complicated family connection to the island. They were written by an ancestor as corrupt as he was colorful: Anthony Fenn Kemp (1773–1868), the so-called Father of Tasmania. Then Shakespeare discovered more unknown Tasmanian relations: A pair of spinsters who had never left their farm except once, in 1947, to buy shoes. Their journal recounted a saga beginning in Northern England in the 1890s with a dashing but profligate ancestor who ended his life in the Tasmanian bush. In this fascinating history of two turbulent centuries in an apparently idyllic place, Shakespeare weaves the history of the island with multiple narratives, a cast of unlikely characters from Errol Flynn to the King of Iceland, a village full of Chatwins, and a family of Shakespeares. "Tasmania is an enigmatic place and Shakespeare captures it with an appreciative eye." — The Guardian

The award-winning writer of "The Dancer Upstairs" presents this beautifully written, sensitive story that spans the Cold War in 1960s East Germany to the 1980s, about one man''s longing for a love he had the chance to grasp but failed to take.

Award-winning novelist Nicholas Shakespeare has written the definitive biography of one of the most influential literary figures of our time: Bruce Chatwin, whose works strangely compelling combination of research, first-hand experience, myth, and mystification may have been the real substance of his seemingly contradictory life. Chatwin s first book, In Patagonia, became an international bestseller, revived the art of travel writing, and inspired a generation to set out in search of adventure. Chatwin became a celebrity, while remaining a conundrum. With little formal education, he had become a director of Sotheby s. An avid collector, he eschewed material things and revered the nomadic life. Married for twenty-three years, he had male lovers throughout the world. And only at his death did his personal myth fail him. Nicholas Shakespeare, who was given unrestricted access to his papers, spent eight years retracing Chatwin s steps and interviewing the people who knew him. The result is a biography that is at once sympathetic and revelatory. "From the Trade Paperback edition.""

The Peruvian guerilla leader Ezequiel is responsible for tens of thousands of fiendishly cruel murders, yet he consistently eludes capture. But in Agustn Rejas he has an indefatigable pursuer. From secluded city streets to the paths of a mountain village the policeman persists, tracking and anticipating Ezequiel''s every move. Rejas'' only reprieve is his love for his daughter''s beautiful dance teacher--until he begins to pick up unmistakable signals that her circles--and Ezequiel''s--intersect. Based on the extraordinary manhunt for the leader of Peru''s notorious guerilla organization, The Shining Path, The Dancer Upstairs is a story reminiscent of Graham Greene and John LeCarr--tense, intricate, and heartbreaking.

Set in Lisbon, interwoven stories that run the bitter fate of Thomas Wavery, the high flyer, who is on his way to take up his last post as H M Consul General across the straits of Abyla.

De gebeurtenissen in een Peruviaans junglestadje worden becommentarieerd door drie oude mannen op het dorpsplein.