Half German, half Russian, Hel was raised by a Japanese general and survived Hiroshima to become a mystic, a master of the senses, and the most deadly assassin in the world. Nicholai has left his past behind him to live a life of isolation in a remote mountain fortress, determined to attain a state of effortless perfection known as shibumi. Then Hannah Stern arrives at his door. Hannah needs protection from a sinister organization known as the Mother Company. But, as Hel knows all too well, they are not easy to escape. And now they're coming after him too. The battle lines are drawn: ruthless power and corruption on one side, and on the other...shibumi.
When Tiro, the secretary of a Roman senator, opens the door to a stranger on a cold morning, he sets in motion a chain of events which propels his master into one of the famous courtroom dramas in history. The senator is Cicero, a brilliant young lawyer and spellbinding orator, determined to attain imperium - supreme power in the state.
Struggling manufacturer Robert Moore has introduced labour saving machinery to his Yorkshire mill, arousing a ferment of unemployment and discontent among his workers. Robert considers marriage to the wealthy and independent Shirley Keeldar to solve his financial woes, yet his heart lies with his cousin Caroline.
The concluding part of the Cicero Trilogy that began with Imperium, from the No. 1 bestselling author of Fatherland, An officer and a Spy, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii and The Ghost.
Aged 48, Marcus Cicero, the greatest orator of his time, is to all appearances a broken man. Out of power, exiled to the eastern Mediterranean with his faithful secretary, Tiro, separated from his wife and children, his possessions confiscated, he spends his days tormented by his failure.
But, to quote one of his own famous aphorisms: 'while there's life there's hope'. By promising to support his political enemy, Caesar, he manages to win his return to Italy. Once home, he gradually fights his way back: first in the law courts, then in the senate, and finally by the power of his pen, until at last, for one brief and glorious period, he is once again the dominant figure in Rome.
The long-awaited final volume of Robert Harris's Cicero Trilogy, Dictatorencompasses some of the most epic events in human history: the collapse of the Roman republic, the subsequent civil war, the murder of Pompey and the assassination of Julius Caesar. Its theme, however, is timeless: how is political freedom to be safeguarded against the triple threats of unscrupulous personal ambition, of an electoral system dominated by vested financial interests, and of the corrupting impact of waging ceaseless foreign wars?
But above all, it is the very human figure of Cicero, beset by family problems, which makes the story so compelling: brilliant, flawed, frequently fearful and yet ultimately brave -- a hero for his time, and for ours.
An outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease may have terminated the hunting at the Compton Bobbins' in the Cotswolds, but it has not dampened the Yuletide spirit of the Bright Young Things who find themselves among the oddly assorted guests of the not-so young and quite formidable Lady Maria Bobbin. Hilarious misadventures abound as Lady Bobbin's serenely beautiful daughter, Philadelphia, meets the advances of the very eligible, and equally dull, Lord Lewis and of the charming but penniless Paul Fotheringay, whose terribly serious first novel has, to his dismay, just been hailed by critics as the funniest book of the year. With signature wit and gentle mockery, not to mention her acid malice for the second-rate, Nancy Mitford romps rippingly through the wold and the life of the county set in the cozy English 1930s.
New York pendant les Années Folles. Alors que la prohibition règne, la ville qui ne dort jamais s'appuie désormais sur les hommes de la pègre pour s'approvisionner en alcool. Dans l'obscurité, un bateau chargé de liqueur destinée à ses bars illégaux débarque secrètement un jeune Irlandais qui semble fuir son pays. La même nuit accoste un luxueux yacht ; à son bord, un prince anglais rêve de goûter aux soirées trépidantes de Manhattan. Ce qui lie les deux hommes ? Un club secret, un gangster et un revolver...
The Princes of Prohibition est un récit haletant mettant en scène personnages de fiction et personnalités réelles.
Un dossier culturel en fin d'ouvrage lève le voile sur les événements et les acteurs hauts en couleur qui ont marqué cette période flamboyante et sauvage.
Ahora una serie de Netflix. Nueva edición del gran fenómeno editorial: La catedral del mar , de Ildefonso Falcones, con prólogo del autor. Una catedral construida por el pueblo y para el pueblo en la Barcelona medieval es el escenario de una apasionante historia de intriga, violencia y pasión. Siglo XIV. La ciudad de Barcelona se encuentra en su momento de mayor prosperidad; ha crecido hacia la Ribera, el humilde barrio de los pescadores, cuyos habitantes deciden construir, con el dinero de unos y el esfuerzo de otros, el mayor templo mariano jamás conocido: Santa María de la Mar. Una construcción que es paralela a la azarosa historia de Arnau, un siervo de la tierra que huye de los abusos de su señor feudal y se refugia en Barcelona, donde se convierte en ciudadano y, con ello, en hombre libre. El joven Arnau trabaja como palafrenero, estibador, soldado y cambista. Una vida extenuante, siempre al amparo de la catedral de la mar, que le iba a llevar de la miseria del fugitivo a la nobleza y la riqueza. Pero con esta posición privilegiada también le llega la envidia de sus pares, que urden una sórdida conjura que pone su vida en manos de la Inquisición. La catedral del mar es una trama en la que se entrecruzan lealtad y venganza, traición y amor, guerra y peste, en un mundo marcado por la intolerancia religiosa, la ambición material y la segregación social. Todo ello convierte esta obra no sólo en una novela absorbente, sino también en la más fascinante y ambiciosa recreación de las luces y sombras de la época feudal. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Now a Netflix Series. An unforgettable fresco of a golden age in fourteenth-century Barcelona, Cathedral of the Sea is a thrilling historical novel of friendship and revenge, plague and hope, love and war. Arnau Estanyol arrives in Barcelona to find a city dominated by the construction of the citys great pride--the cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar--and by its shame, the deadly Inquisition. As a young man, Arnau joins the powerful guild of stoneworkers and helps to build the church with his own hands, while his best friend and adopted brother Joanet studies to become a priest. With time, Arnau prospers and falls secretly in love with a forbidden woman. But when he is betrayed and hauled before the Inquisitor, he finds himself face-to-face with Joanet. Will he lose his life just as his beloved Cathedral of the Sea is finally completed, or will his brother save him?
A carefully curated library of the world's greatest literature, Dover Thrift Editions are the most affordable choice for today's readers. The series offers a vast selection of complete and unabridged titles, each a classic work of fiction, nonfiction, poetry or drama. Here is Oscar Wilde's most brilliant tour de force, a witty and buoyant comedy of manners that has delighted millions in countless productions since its first performance in London's St.
James' Theatre on February 14, 1895. The Importance of Being Earnest is celebrated not only for the lighthearted ingenuity of its plot, but for its inspired dialogue, rich with scintillating epigrams still savored by all who enjoy artful conversation. From the play's effervescent beginnings in Algernon Moncrieff's London flat to its hilarious denouement in the drawing room of Jack Worthing's country manor in Hertfordshire, this comic masterpiece keeps audiences breathlessly anticipating a new bon mot or a fresh twist of plot moment to moment.
This finely produced volume is an unabridged, unaltered reprinting of an authoritative early British edition.
They are young, they are ambitious, and they are on a business training seminar on a tropical island when... the phones stop working. The electricity is gone. There is not much food and water. Has some kind of global catastrophe happened, or is this part of the training? And if it isn't an exercise, will anyone escape the island alive?Ruppert Morgan's satire of business and capitalism keeps you laughing as the comedy gets progrssively darker.
Spoletto, 1522. Parce que l'un de ses portraits de la Vierge Marie fait scandale à l'archevêché, le peintre de fresques Spanish John doit fuir pour rester en vie...
Les belles images en noir et blanc d'Alessandro Sanna, et les poèmes érotiques de Roberto Piumini rendent ce livre très intéressant, chaque page est traversé d'un érotisme ironique et raffiné.
Roberto Piumini a écrit de nombreux livres et est l'auteur de scénarios pour le cinéma et de programmes radiophoniques et télévisés. Il a traduit en italien les Sonnets de Shakespeare. Il a publié en France avec Hachette Jeunesse et Gallimard Jeunesse. Alessandro Sanna a illustré beaucoup de livres. En 2007, il illustre un livre "d'art" avec les éditions Corraini et le Centre Pompidou. En 2009, il reçoit le Prix Andersen en 2009 comme meilleur illustrateur. Pour les éditions Nuages, il a illustré le livre Tracce.
Voici un livre particulièrement intéressant pour les amateurs de littérature érotique illustrée.
Histoire de Dame Pak fait partie des premières grandes oeuvres de la littérature romanesque féminine écrites en hangeul (l'écriture coréenne créée au XVIe siècle puis interdite et utilisée essentiellement par les femmes jusqu'à sa réhabilitation au XIXe siècle).
L'histoire met en scène le fils d'un grand lettré, le Kong Li et la fille d'un ermite du nom de Pak, lettré très connu pour sa connaissance du Tao. L'ermite fait part au Kong du souhait qu'il a de voir se conclure un mariage entre leurs enfants. Celui-ci, sensible à l'autorité spirituelle de l'ermite, accepte et le mariage est conclu et célébré. Mais le soir des noces, le jeune époux, effaré par la terrible laideur de sa femme, s'enfuit épouvanté. Dame Pak, seule, triste et négligée, demande à son beau-père de lui faire construire une jolie villa entourée d'un beau jardin. Là, elle se livre tout entière à l'étude des grands textes et approfondit son savoir en toutes choses. Sa grande sagacité va lui permettre de favoriser la réussite de son mari et à trouver des solutions propres à sauver le pays des envahisseurs Hou. Dame Pak se métamorphose alors en une jeune femme d'une beauté exceptionnelle.
Après les deux Croisades contre les Albigeois, celle des barons (1209-1215) et celle du roi de France (1226-1229), Raymond Trencavel, revenant l'été 1240 de Cata logne, entreprend la reconquête de ses possessions, soutenu par la petite noblesse des Corbières, du Minervois et du Lauragais. Petit noble, originaire de Salles en Albigeois, Imbert de Salles, participe à cette révolte. Proscrit, il embrasse la foi des bons hommes pour lesquels Montségur devient le dernier refuge. Il a pour fonction de guider et d'escorter les croyants qui s'y rendent, pour consulter les plus éminents d'entre eux, et s'en retournent.
En 1242, il fait partie du commando qui se rend à Avignonet et y massacre les inquisiteurs. Défenseur de Montségur, de mai 1243 à la reddition du château le 16 mars 1244, en tant que sergent d'armes, il est longuement interrogé par les inquisiteurs et nous laisse ainsi un témoignage capital sur le siège.
