Phoenix

The Shadow of the Wind is a novel about books; about the love of books and of stories, (and is far more accessible than Eco's The Name of the Rose). It is absolutely full of stories itself, with not a single character without one. Not all, of course, are told. For this is the story of Daniel Sempere, a young Spanish boy, growing up in Barcelona...

'Akunin is an outstanding novelist...Fandorin is a beautifully drawn character who more than lives up to comparisons with Hercule Poirot or Sherlock Holmes...The characters are delightful and you can imagine them in a Woody Allen version of an Agatha Christie novel...Akunin's work is gloriously tongue-in-cheek but seriously edge-of-your-seat at the...

The New Testament Gospels, particularly the Acts of the Apostles, are presented as early examples of sophisticated spin.. the book is certainly controversial....

In the overcrowded world and cramped space colonies of the late 21st century, tedium can be endured through the use of the drug Can-D, which enables the user to inhabit a shared illusory world. When industrialist Palmer Eldritch returns from an interstellar trip, he brings with him a new drug, Chew-Z, which is far more potent than Can-D, but...

A new edition of one of the world's most important and influential books The Koran, the holy scripture of Islam, is the record of Muhammad's oral teaching delivered between the years immediately preceding the Hegira in AD 622 and the Prophet's death in AD 632. It has exerted untold influence upon the history of mankind. Apart from its specifically...

The Emperor in Constantinople is hiring mercenaries to repel the infidel. Among them is the ruthless nobleman, Roussel de Balliol and his wife Lady Matilda. His obligations sit lightly upon him; his first priority is to find a fief. Only land will give him the wealth, status and power he desires. It is upon Roger, attached to Roussel's force, that...