A Letter of Mary

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

KING, LAURIE R.

Mystery

Harper-Collins, London

'A remarkable feat of scholarship, fairness and readability, full of lively detail with a freshness of style which brings new life to the narrative' Anthony Sampson\nThroughout its turbulent history, South Africa has frequently been the focus of worldwide attention -- usually hostile. Yet prejudice and ignorance about the country are widespread. The evolution of the present-day 'Rainbow Nation' has taken place under conditions of sometimes extreme pressure. Since long before the arrival of the first European settlers in the seventeenth century, the country has been home to a complex and uneasily co-existing blend of races and cultures, and successive waves of immigrants have added to the already volatile mixture. Despite the euphoria which greeted the dismantling of the apartheid system and the election as President of Nelson Mandela in April 1994, South Africa's history, racial mix and recent political upheavals suggest it will not easily free itself from the legacy of its tumultuous past.\nNewly revised and updated, Frank Welsh's vividly written, even-handed and authoritative history casts new light on many of South Africa's most cherished myths. Like his A History of Hong Kong, it will surely come to be regarded as definitive.

A History of South Africa

History

Frank Welsh

Africa

A vivid and superbly written account of the unravelling of one of the great intellectual puzzles, set against the backdop of Europe in the Napoleonic era. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, his troops were astonished to discover ancient temples, tombs and statues, all covered with hieroglyphs -- the last remnants of an unreadable script and a language lost in time. On their return Egyptomania spread rapidly and the quest to decipher hieroglyphs began in earnest. Jean-Francois Champollion was obsessed with ancient languages from a very young age, and once he heard of the unreadable ancient Egyptian text he had found the challenge to which he would dedicate his life: the decipherment of hieroglyphs. Despite poverty he made gradual progress, although he had to fight against jealous enemies, both professional and political, every step of the way -- a dangerous task when in post-Revolutionary France a slip of the tongue could mean ruin, exile or even death. Failure threatened, as he was only one of many attempting to read the hieroglyphs, and his main rival, the English Thomas Young, claimed that decipherment was imminent, but Champollion refused to be distracted and finally, in 1822, he made the decisive breakthrough: he was the first person able to read the ancient Egyptian language in well over a thousand years.

The Keys of Egypt: The Race to Read the Hieroglyphs

Lesley Adkins

Reference

Celebrated Victorian bounder, cad, and lecher, Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., returns to play his (reluctant) part in the Abyssinian War of 1868 in the long-awaited twelfth installment of the critically acclaimed Flashman Papers. Many have marvelled at General Napier's daring 1868 expedition through the treacherous peaks and bottomless chasms of Abyssinia to rescue a small group of British citizens held captive by the mad tyrant Emperor Theodore. But the vital role of Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., in the success of this campaign has hitherto gone unrecorded. Flashman's undeserved reputation for heroism renders him the British Army's candidate of choice when it comes to skulking behind enemy lines in Ali Baba attire. After all, who but the great amorist could contemplate navigating a land populated by hostile tribes and the lovliest (and most savage) women in Africa, from leather-clad nymphs with a penchant for torture to de-ballocking Amazons and a voluptuous barbarian queen with a reputation for throwing disobliging guests to her pet lions?

Flashman On The March

Literature & Fiction

Fraser,George MacDonald

Contemporary

"I THINK ONE OF DADDY'S LITTLE GIRLS KILLED HIM."For the four glamorous daughters of Lord Oswald Balcon, money can buy anything. From Fendi handbags to Ivy League educations, they live in a world of designer labels and unrestricted opulence -- their father's money and aristocratic status, coupled with their dazzling good looks, bought them every opportunity and advantage. They are beautiful, blond, and barely thirty, and the world is their luxury playground.Venetia, the sophisticated interior designer, has booming professional success but is desperate for a child and an escape from a loveless marriage. Camilla, the rising political star, is too brilliant and ambitious for any of her unworthy lovers to handle. Sweet yet savvy Cate is living out her ultimate dream, launching her own magazine, with an all-too-handsome business partner. The baby of the family, Serena, is one of the country's most beautiful actresses, on the cusp of international stardom, but her party-girl lifestyle is bringing about more scandal than success.The girls are the darlings of the London paparazzi, but when Lord Balcon turns up dead, the shadow of suspicion falls on his four daughters. A jealous tyrant, Daddy has tried to bring his daughters down all their lives. These four women -- at the top of their careers in show business, publishing, interior design, and politics -- must face an awful accusation, and each other, as they try to discover the truth that lies beneath the glossy surface of their lives. The facade of the Balcon family hides a web of deceit and betrayal, in which a thirty-year-old secret lurks, threatening to destroy them all.From the sun-drenched beaches of the Caribbean to Manhattan's elite society circuit, from the exclusive fashion houses of Milan to the star-studded streets of Cannes, the Balcon sisters play out their lives in a whirl of glitz and the ultra chic. But as tragedy and danger stalk every one of them, the scene is set for a stunning climax.

DADDY S GIRLS PB

PERRY, Tasmina

Literary

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