The gripping story of a world – and a family – at war. The Rowlands, powerful and rich, are at the centre of British high society, but they are blind to the changes that the Great War will bring. For the younger Rowlands, the excitement of war becomes a bloody reality in the mud-filled trenches of Flanders. For the older generation left at home, they must learn to swim with the new tide or face total ruin. But this isn't just a war for the upper classes. The Strattons, who have worked in t...

When William Savage brings his new bride back to Madhya, the Indian town that he governs for the Honourable East India Company, his greatest fear is his ability to satisfy his young wife and live up to her father's expectations. But on their first night in Madhya, William witnesses a terrible mass murder, which will lead him into the darkest depths of human nature. Finding the murderers is now his highest priority, but without the support of his superiors, there is little officially that h...

1918 dawns desolate over the fields of Flanders. Decimated by the worst war the world has ever seen, neither British nor German troops can break the deadlock of the trenches. After four years of murderous stalemate, peace seems buried for ever. But finally, one by one, the guns fall silent...By the Green of the Spring relives the last terrible months of the Great War and the uneasy, exhausted peace which followed it. From the North-West Frontier to the war in France and th...

January 1 1916: Europe is bleeding to death as the corpses rot from Poland to Gallipoli in the cruel grip of the Great War...Heart of War follows the fate and fortunes of the Rowland family and those people bound up in their lives: the Cate squirearchy, the Strattons who manage the Rowland owned factory, and the humble, multi-talented Gorse family. In this all-consuming conflict, not a single family will remain untouched. With Quentin and Boy Rowland fighting in the trench...

Magnificent novel of Empire and its aftermathFirst published in 1954 in the wake of the partition of India, John Masters' great novel Bhowani Junction has increased in stature over the years. Standing between E.M. Forster's A Passage to India and the widely acclaimed works of such writers as Paul Scott and Salman Rushdie, Bhowani Junction is both a richly intriguing novel and a superb evocation of the tensions and conflicts at the birth of modern India.

Growing human cancer cells in primary culture requires patience, intuition, care and experience. This is one of the few areas where the wrinkled senior scientist can be more productive than the bright young post-doc. There are few mechanical aids, no automated procedures, and kits are unheard-of. There is no right way to do it and every tumour is different. But this book will make it easier! Chapter 1 on characterization is essential reading. Much published work is useless because of the f...

Bhowani Junction is set in the wake of the partition of India, as the British prepare to withdraw from the newly independent country. Evoking the tensions and conflicts that accompanied the birth of modern India, the characters struggle to find their place in the new India that is emerging. In the last hectic days of the British Raj, Victoria has to choose between marrying a British Army officer or a Sikh, Ranjit, as she struggles to find her place in the new, ind...

Around a low-burning fire in a jungle clearing, a small group of late travelers huddles: a merchant, a Sikh with his son, a farmer. Silently, two men, flanking one of the travelers, crouch forward. A dirty cloth flashes momentarily and jerks around the traveler's neck. One of the men tugs the cloth, the other forces the traveler's head over to one side. Thuggee death has struck; Kali is assuaged.

World War II has finally played itself out, and the British are leaving India. Through this vortex is spun a fictional plot of terror and politics that illustrates all-too-well the curse that still plagues India today. You can almost smell the mixture of dust, oil, and human sweat as the train pulls into Bhowani Junction.

Giacomo Casanova’s reputation rests largely on his obsession with women, but he was much more than the great eighteenth-century lover. Lawyer, mathematician, poet, translator, and librarian who was fluent in several languages, he was described by one contemporary as “the most civilized man in Europe.” That he was also a con man, cabalist, spy, revenge-taker, and experienced prisoner only enhances his appeal as one who personified the extreme social and moral contradictions of the time....

An 18-part serialisation of John Masters' chronicles of the Savage family, spanning the years 1825-1946 and set against the backdrop of British rule in IndiaBased on the hugely popular novels of John Masters, this landmark BBC Radio adaptation charts the history of the British in India through the perspective of one family over several generations. Ranging over more than 120 years, these thrilling tales of love, murder and espionage take us from the expansion of th...

Starting in November 2013 in a forest in Rwanda, where a modest spring spouts a trickle of clear, cold water, Levison Wood set forth on foot, aiming to become the first person to walk the entire length of the Nile. He followed the river for nine months, over 4,000 miles, through six nations—Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, the Republic of Sudan, and Egypt—to the Mediterranean coast.Like his predecessors, Wood camped in the wild, foraged for food, and trudged through rainfores...