James MacManus – författare

The dramatic true-life story of George Hogg, a young Oxford graduate who is caught up in the Japanese invasion of China in 1937 and the Chinese Civil war, and who leads a group of Chinese children hundreds of miles across 15,000-foot mountains to safety – only to die tragically in early 1945.The author, James MacManus, was working as a reporter in Shanghai in 1980s when he heard talk of a statue being up in the remote town of Shandon on the Mongolian border in memory of an Englishman called George Hogg. This book is the result of his investigations – and the basis for a major feature film called 'The Children of Huang Shi', directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Jonathan Rhys Myers, to be released in spring 2008.One westerner who lived in China throughout the Cultural Revolution described Hogg as "an outstanding young Englishman who fell in love with foreign people and devoted his life to their betterment. What he did made him deeply and widely loved."MacManus has been back to China to interview the surviving old boys of Hogg's school. Hogg's reputation is kept alive by their loyalty to this day.The dramatic trajectory of Hogg's life took him within a few months from a privileged existence at Oxford to life on the run from Japanese secret police in China.

In nineteenth century Paris, the young bohemian Charles Baudelaire roams the streets. Dressed impeccably - thanks to an inheritance that is quickly vanishing - and lost in the decadences of alcohol and opium, he is about to meet one woman destined to change his life forever: the beautiful Haitian cabaret singer, Jeanne Duval.Inspiring Baudelaire's most infamous poems - leading to the banning of his masterwork, Les Fleurs du Mal, and a scandalous public trial for obscenity - Duval becomes Baudelaire's muse, the catalyst for a legacy spanning centuries. Their volatile and passionate affair explodes through the Parisian literary scene but, as the ever-more fractious world catches up with them, the strength of their love will be tested to the end.Unfolding among the bars and salons during revolutionary times, Black Venus is an intoxicating story of love and betrayal in which drugs, absinthe and lust prove the making, and the destruction, of a great poet.

January, 1941. The Blitz is devastating England. Food supplies are low and tube stations have become bomb shelters. As the U.S. maintains its sceptical isolationist position, Winston Churchill knows that Britain is doomed without the aid of its powerful ally.As bombs rain down over London, a weary Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt's most trusted advisor, is sent to London as his emissary and comes face to face with the Prime Minister himself, as well as a determined female driver who may not be what she seems.A tale of loyalty, love, and the sacrifices made in the name of each, Sleep in Peace Tonight conjures the poignant lives of those who shaped the course of history during Britain's darkest hour

Berlin, 1938. Newly-appointed military attaché Noel Macrae and his wife Primrose arrive at the British Embassy. Prime Minister Chamberlain is intent on placating Nazi Germany, but Macrae is less so. Convinced Hitler can be stopped by other means than appeasement, he soon discovers he is not the only dissenting voice in the Embassy and finds that some senior officers in the German military are prepared to turn against the Fuhrer. Gathering vital intelligence, Macrae is drawn to Kitty Schmidt's Salon (a Nazi bordello) and its enigmatic Jewish hostess Sara Sternschein-a favourite of sadistic Gestapo boss Reinhard Heydrich. Sara is a treasure-trove of knowledge about the Nazi hierarchy in a city of lies, spies and secrets.Does she hold the key to thwarting Hitler or is Macrae just being manipulated by her whilst his wife romantically pursues his most important German military contact, Florian Koenig? As loyalties are stretched to the limit and Europe slides towards another war, could just one act of great courage and sacrifice change everything?

From the fogbound streets of London reeling from the Blitz, Ike and Kay is a thrilling tale of wartime romance, brimming with love, duty, sacrifice and heartbreak, set against the backdrop of the most tumultuous period of the twentieth century.It is 1942, and war-battered London plays host to the imposing figure of General 'Ike' Eisenhower on a vital mission for the US army. Kay Summersby, an ambulance driver who survived the horrors of the Blitz, is chosen to be his aide, a role that will change her life forever.Charmed by Ike's affable and disarming nature - so different from the stiffness of British military convention - she accompanies him during the North African campaign against Rommel and the war in Europe against Nazi Germany. Amid the carnage a secret affair unfolds between the General and Kay but rumours of Ike's infidelity reach across the ocean to Washington - and worse yet, to his wife.In a time where scandal and war threaten to break them apart, can Ike and Kay hold on to their love?

In this heart-warming tale of female empowerment, a young woman comes to terms with the revelation that she may be able to fly. This is an extraordinary novel, exploring one woman's identity whilst posing universal questions: Who is she? Where does she belong? And must she accept her lot, or can she spread her wings and be free at last?