Christopher Wallace - Böcker

Pungent tales of World War Two converge with more distant memories of the Thirty Years War in this powerful, compelling debut novel.The year is 1946. The war is over. A young British army doctor finds himself ordered to investigate a curious plague in a Polish refugee camp. What he finds there is deeply unsettling and harrowing…Meanwhile, a colleague is much more concerned with unravelling uncannily similar events three hundred years old, events twisted by the centuries into their current, misshapen form, as the fairy-story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin…Set in the Borderlands between Germany and Poland, this powerful first novel is reminiscent in mood, complexity and accomplishment of Pat Barker’s World War One trilogy or Sebastian Faulks’ Birdsong.

A dark and clever satire set in Edinburgh from the author of the highly-acclaimed The Pied Piper’s Poison.Mediocre PR consultant Charles Kidd might just have found his meal ticket. With brilliant, charming new client Peter Dexter’s plans for the ultimate fringe spectacular at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, it would appear that Charles finally has the chance to be somebody, to make a splash.But in a city whose murky past is filled with graverobbers, mad, murderous scientists, charlatans and showmen, this particular image consultant would do well to look past the sheen of his new star customer, beyond a polished performance which cloaks a more sinister, manipulative purpose…With consummate skill, Christopher Wallace weaves a tale full of invention, ambiguity, unease and menace.

The third novel from the acclaimed author of The Pied Piper’s Poison and The Resurrection ClubLeaving behind a dowdy northern winter for the warming delights of the French Riviera, Martin and his three student friends soon find their feet, turning a tidy profit as beach-bum salesmen and taking to the joys of life by the Mediterranean with relish. Martin soon gets addicted to those delights, jacks in his degree and goes down deeper into a life less ordinary – scuba-diving, bed-hopping and bar-keeping his way into corners and out again.Out on the high seas, on board the laden ‘Anne’, ship’s surgeon Martin is looking for the fresh start a life on the ocean wave can afford a man with a problematic past. As his captain steers his precious cargo – but not his crew – to safety through a raging, swelling storm and onward to the riches of the uncharted African coast, Martin comes to realize that down deeper lie secrets, desires and freedoms of uncanny power.The laws seem different out on the ocean, criss-crossing the Mediterranean or hugging Africa’s shore, couriering yachts or cocaine, trafficking in spices or more human contraband. Living outside the dry land’s dry laws is liberating, but, as Martin discovers, the lawgivers and the lawkeepers always turn up, looking for their justice.Christopher Wallace, the prize-winning author of The Pied Piper’s Poison and The Resurrection Club, tells an exhilarating pair of stories that reflect off each other like the sun off the sea to illuminate just how a man – with all his principles and compromises, desires and doubts – can find honour and more in piracy.

An exuberant biography of the life of the iconic photographer and naturalist Peter Beard, whose life and work captured the cultural imagination Peter Beard lived an astonishing life. The artist, wildlife photographer, and bon vivant enthralled and inspired both because of his work and his legendary lifestyle. A scion of American industry turned explorer of Africa and environmental advocate, Beard embodied the extremes of 20th century culture: grand adventurer and sexually voracious partier, friend of everyone from the Rolling Stones to Jackie Onassis to Andy Warhol to Karen Blixen. And Beard had a passion—probably more like an obsession—with the faults of the entire human experiment, with the ways in which our consumption of the world’s resources have come to consume us all.Beard’s outsize life and character—his death-defying documentation of the endangered African wildlife, and, closer to home, some of the world’s most beautiful women for a range of fashion magazines—animate this lively but authoritative biography. The journalist Christopher Wallace, long fascinated by Beard’s artistic legacy, adventurous spirit, and hard-partying persona, came to know him well later in Beard’s life. Capturing the varied social and cultural scenes that Beard moved through with glamorous ease over five decades, from Montauk to Nairobi, Wallace also makes a powerful case for the lasting impact of his work.In Twentieth-Century Man, Wallace has rendered this towering figure in all of his contradictions and complexities—a deeply romantic and idiosyncratic personality, beloved by so many, whose sensibilities nonetheless remained firmly rooted in an era characterized by racist and colonialist attitudes. Stirring and visceral, Twentieth-Century Man is the definitive artist biography and portrait of Peter Beard.Based on years of research and personal interviews with the artist, this biography renders the towering figure in all of his contradictions:An Adventurer’s Life: From death-defying encounters with wildlife in the African bush to hard-partying nights at Studio 54, Beard lived at the extremes of his time.The Jet Set: Explore his complex friendships with cultural icons like Andy Warhol, Jackie Onassis, Truman Capote, and The Rolling Stones.A Complicated Legacy: A nuanced look at a man who was both a pioneering environmental advocate and a personality rooted in colonialist attitudes.Obsessive Artistry: A deep dive into the creation of his famous, often blood-splattered, diaries and groundbreaking wildlife photography.