Edward is throwing a dinner party with Binny, his mistress. Aware that she has long been denied those small intimacies that his wife takes for granted - choosing a birthday present for his sister, for example, or sorting his socks - he wants to give her a chance to feel more involved in his life, to socialise with some of his friends (the discreet ones). Things are a little awkward to begin with - a late start and him having to be away by half past ten - but everything seems to be going we...

"A dazzling epic of inventors, wars, arms, and men." – Daniel Mark Epstein, author of The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage"Deeply researched, rich in insight, Gun Barons widens our understanding even as it enchants us with its masterful prose." – Jim Rasenberger, author of Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America"John Bainbridge, Jr. cuts through the myths, romance, and propaganda to del...

Just why do churches put so much energy into repackaging and explaining their holy book in words more people (even their own people) might understand? Many of us don't really want to know who "the wicked" are, or what "sin," "righteousness," "God," or "Lord" might mean, because they are part of a religious world we don't belong to. So what could we possibly have to learn from a text that is baked in that stuff? Much is being rediscovered in contemplative, meditative, and wisdom traditions,...

For the four fraught, mysterious days of her doomed maiden voyage in 1912, the Titanic sails towards New York, glittering with luxury, freighted with millionaires and hopefuls. In her labyrinthine passageways the last, secret hours of a small group of passengers are played out, their fate sealed in prose of startling, sublime beauty, as Beryl Bainbridge's haunting masterpiece moves inexorably to its known and terrible end.