Geert Mak spent the year 1999 criss-crossing the continent, tracing the history of Europe from Verdun to Berlin, St Petersburg to Auschwitz, Kiev to Srebrenica. He set off in search of evidence and witnesses, looking to define the condition of Europe at the verge of a new millennium.The result is mesmerising: Mak's rare double talent as a sharp-eyed journalist and a hugely imaginative historian makes In Europe a dazzling account of that journey, full of diaries, newspaper ...

THE MILLION-COPY BESTSELLER THAT'S GOT EVERYONE TALKING...A summer's evening in Amsterdam and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant. Between mouthfuls of food and over the delicate scraping of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of politeness - the banality of work, the triviality of holidays. But the empty words hide a terrible conflict and, with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened...Each couple has a f...

Istanbul's Galata Bridge has spanned the Golden Horn since the sixth century AD, connecting the old city with the more Western districts to the north. But the bridge is a city in itself, peopled by merchants and petty thieves, tourists and fishermen, and at the same time a microcosmic reflection of Turkey as the link between Asia and Europe.Geert Mak introduces us to the cigarette vendors and the best pickpockets in Europe, to the pride of the cobbler and the tea-seller's homesickn...

The darkly beautiful novelistic memoir of a childhood spent in the shadow of a domineering, abusive father This is a story she never wanted to tell, but in the end she had no choice. When her older sister dies at the age of sixty-nine, it brings back a past the author thought she had left behind. Incensed, she delves back into her childhood, recreating the abusive world that she grew up in, ruled over by her tyrannical father, The Minotaur. In a narrative by turns shockingly dark and stran...

The Dutch bestsellerNominated for Le Prix Nicolas Bouvier'A masterclass in storytelling, exploring who we are and where we came from' Danielle Clode'Gripping and brilliantly told, We Hominids deftly blends personal experience with a journalist's eye for a remarkable story' Mark McKennaWHO ARE WE? WHY ARE WE DIFFERENT FROM ANIMALS? WHAT MAKES US HUMAN?In this...

' "When you touch a Lipizzaner, you're touching history," Westerman was once told. His elegant book offers fascinating proof' Financial TimesFrank Westerman explores the history of Lipizzaners, an extraordinary troop of pedigree horses bred as personal mounts for the Emperor of Austria-Hungary. Following the bloodlines of the stud book, he reconstructs the story of four generations of imperial steed as they survive the fall of the Habsburg Empire, two world wars and the in...

Twenty-three-year-old Frits—office worker, daydreamer, teller of inappropriate jokes— finds life absurd and inexplicable. He lives with his parents, who drive him mad. He has terrible, disturbing dreams of death and destruction. Sometimes he talks to a toy rabbit. Darkly funny and mesmerising, The Evenings takes the tiny, quotidian triumphs and heartbreaks of our everyday lives and turns them into a work of brilliant wit and profound beauty.

'An absolute page-turner' Mail on SundayDear Mr. M,I'd like to start by telling you that I'm doing better now. I do so because you probably have no idea that I was ever doing worse. Much worse, in fact, but I'll get to that later on.Mr. M is being watched. As a famous writer, he is no stranger to the limelight, although interest in his work has been dwindling of late. His print runs are smaller than they used to be, as are...

What happens to the father of a thirteen-year-old son when he discovers that he has been infertile all his life?On his quest to discover the biological father of his son, Armin Minderhout takes the listener on an extraordinary journey. From the day he first met the love of his life, Monika, to the moment, only five years later, when he loses her to a fatal illness; from the tortuous and hilarious moments of adult relationship to the intimate, tender rapport with th...

Mars beckons, aliens arrive, strange machines alter everyday life, and humanity discovers that the universe rarely behaves as expected. 1950s Science Fiction 13 brings together 27 vintage stories from a decade overflowing with imaginative adventures, surprising ideas, and writers willing to carry their readers almost anywhere.Philip José Farmer joins the collection with The Wounded, while Robert Sheckley delivers his distinctive brand of science fiction in...

Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2021'Herman Koch has made a career from saying the apparently unsayable.' - Financial TimesWhen Robert Walter, the popular mayor of Amsterdam, sees his wife toss her head back with laughter while chatting to one of his aldermen at a New Year's reception, he immediately suspects she is cheating on him. Though happily married, he has always wondered why Sylvia, born and raised in a distant cou...

In January 1935, Rob leaves Holland for Cape Town, a young man thirsting for adventure and wanting above all to leave his family's suffocating hold on him behind. After a brutal stint in the diamond mines, he sails to Java to join the Dutch forces in their last stand against the invading Japanese. Here he finds Guus, a fellow countryman and the best friend he will ever have.Elegant, painterly and poetic, Man on the Move is an unforgettable portrait of friendship, and the heart-wren...