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The rooms we live in are always more than just four walls. As we decorate these spaces and fill them with objects and friends, they shape our lives and become the backdrop to our sense of self. One day, the houses will be gone, but even then, traces of the stories and the memories they contained will remain. Edward Hollis takes us to the sites of five great spaces now lost to history and pieces together the fragments he finds there to re-create their vanished chambers. From Rome’s Palatine to the old Palace of Westminster and the Petit Trianon at Versailles and from the sets of the MGM studios in Hollywood to the pavilions of the Crystal Palace and his own grandmother’s sitting room, this is a treasure trove of forgotten places and the people who, for a short time, made them their home. -
Even if the six daughters of the charming, eccentric David, Lord Redesdale and his wife Sydney - born between 1904 and 1920 - had been quite ordinary, they were born into one of the most traumatic centuries of British history. The status to which they were born would have made interesting reading on its own, but Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Decca and Debo - known as the mad, mad Mitfords - were far from ordinary. The true story behind the gaiety and frivolity of the six Mitford daughters is as sensational as a novel. Nancy: her bright social existence masked a doomed obsessional love, which soured her success; Pam: a countrywoman married to one of the finest brains in Europe; Diana: an iconic beauty, married, and at 22, fell in love with Oswald Moseley, leader of the British fascists; Unity: she was romantically in love with Hitler and became a member of his inner circle before shooting herself in the temple when World War II was declared; Jessica: the family rebel, who declared herself a Communist in the schoolroom; and Debo: she became the Duchess of Devonshire. The author was given exclusive access to the Mitford archives. Illustrated with black and white photographs. -
Three centuries ago, most wealth was stored and exchanged as gold and silver coins. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, John Law stepped onto the world's stage: striking, charismatic and a mathematical genius. He developed the idea that if money were lent in the form of paper, properly backed up by proper assets, then the same money could be lent several times over. Despite opposition, he won royal backing to set up the first French bank to issue paper currency. Epic drama followed as he turned the financial world topsy turvy. A philanderer, a gambler and a murderer - the man who gave us paper money. -
If Moses really existed, he would be arguably history's most influential figure, the founder of the great monotheistic religions of the modern world. But was he a real person and, if so, when did he live? This is a journey into biblical times, using archaeological evidence as well as a new reading of the Old Testament to recreate early Hebrew history. Phillips shows how much of the Old Testament can be corroborated, from the conquest of Canaan to the seven plagues of Israel. But above all, he uncovers the identity of Moses, unpicking the confused chronology of Exodus to reveal that Moses was not one but two men, living at different times - a Hebrew priest called Kamose who first discovered God and an Egyptian prince called Tuthmose who led the Israelites out of slavery. And he locates one of the most holy places in the world, the Mountain of God, which is not today's Mount Sinai but another, more ancient religious site. Illustrated with black and white photographs. -
Originally published in 1883, La Meslee saw what Australian and English eyes missed or merely took for granted about the new colony. Melbourne Cup Day; a politician's maiden speech; a coach journey along what is now the Hume Highway; the meeting of two French Counts in Townsville - all these events and more are brought to life again, presenting a fascinating picture of a developing society full of vitality and brash self-confidence. Illustrated with beautiful black and white sketches.
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Anthony Trollope's claim that Aussies were great boasters and blowers was refuted by the author in 1883: "Ah, dear Mr. Trollope! Let them have their say. They are not so far wrong after all, for no country in the world, not even in America in proportion to its population, can show such astonishing progress...in the last quarter of a century...They are a young people with the faults of youth..." Originally published in 1883, La Meslee saw what Australian and English eyes missed or merely took for granted about the new colony. Melbourne Cup Day; a politician's maiden speech; a coach journey along what is now the Hume Highway; the meeting of two French Counts in Townsville - all these events and more are brought to life again, presenting a fascinating picture of a developing society full of vitality and brash self-confidence. Illustrated with beautiful black and white sketches. -
A new class of LAPD recruits are about to start their training on the streets of Los Angeles. But time is no friend to these particular new centurions. The Los Angeles 'hoods are burning with rage, a training ground no longer - the streets are a killing ground. Serge Duran, Gus Plebesly, and Roy Fehler are classmates at the police academy and take to the streets after graduation. But will being police officers be as they thought? Follow their lives for five years, starting from their police academy days and into the Watts riots of 1965. Duran struggles with his Mexican heritage. Plebesly deals with being a coward. And Fehler's somewhat of a blusterer - until something changes his point of view. The author is a former police officer. -
Moving into an unfurnished house, John uses the ads in newsagents' windows to buy things like a bed and a settee. On impulse, one day, he replies to an advert for a psychic masseur named Lucy, who tells him some home truths as he sits on her settee in his underpants. So begins a year of self-discovery and an obsession with newsagents' windows, taking John to a shoe-exhibition, an Ayckbourn play, to a wrestling match. He becomes the owner of a man's entire video collection, a clapped-out Ford Escort - and discovers a community of a bygone age. Looking to improve his German, he meets a pretty German girl named Leni... -
Carol Gino spent sixteen years of her life as a nurse. When her marriage fell apart she had two kids to support and a life to piece back together. She trained to be a nurse. The stark realities of the hospital ward had little to do with the image of soothing angels of mercy presented in magazines and movies. It was back breaking work always in the presence of death and disease and heart breaking conflict between the demands of home and a growing commitment to help and healing. A novelised autobiography.
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