Marble Hill Publishers – förlag

Ireland 1925. Nine-year-old Philip Kinsella lives with his parents, eccentric uncles, terrifying grandmother and an alcoholic butler in the imposing castle of Lissanore. The Kinsellas are one of the oldest noble families in Ireland, descended from Gaelic kings and 'Wild Geese' Jacobite exiles who served in the Austrian army. An unexpected visitor arrives from Spain with her daughter Constanza. Philip, whose romantic imagination is governed by stories of derring-do, pledges himself to be her knight, a promise that will dominate his life.  Philip’s youthful existence is enlivened by the powerful presence of another visitor, his cousin, Nicholas Kinsella, a dashing cavalry officer from the Austrian branch of the family who becomes a major influence in his life. The story moves from Lissanore to boarding school in England, where Philip acquires a group of lifelong friends and from which he emerges as an idealistic young man eager for adventure.A Fateful Promise is the first part in a major literary undertaking, covering eighty dramatic years of European history. It is a vivid evocation of a distant world that Gerald Warner brings alive in all its brilliance and compelling detail.Gripping, humorous and richly entertaining, this novel is a remarkable work of imagination. There is more to come. Book Two in the Kinsella Chronicles,  The Cross of Burgundy, takes Philip to the Spanish Civil War, when savage conflict engulfs Constanza’s homeland.

December 1916. A young English woman crosses a North Sea patrolled by German submarines on the first stage of her lengthy journey to the Southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don where she is engaged as a tutor to the teenage daughter of a prosperous industrialist. Within three months the Russian Revolution explodes, and she is caught up in chaotic and bloody months of violence.Rhoda Power's remarkable record describes with an extraordinary cool eye - and often humorous ear - her growing sense of insecurity and powerlessness as the conventions and divisions of the social order are swept aside in a tumultuous outpouring of repressed resentment, prejudice, vengeful lawlessness, terror and murder. The shell fire and machine-gun bullets of the Battle of Rostov become the soundtrack of her daily life. Death is all around. And the Germans are advancing.Originally published in 1919 as Under Cossack and Bolshevik Rhoda Power's account of an ordered existence degenerating into battles raging in the streets around her and of her perilous escape is a neglected classic of outstanding "on the ground " reporting of events at a time when morality and justice no longer exist. Her words bring home the courage of a remarkable woman; although written over 100 years ago, they have a remarkable contemporary resonance and relevance in today's turbulent world of conflict.

The once great Bunbrook Hall is a school on the slide. Questions are being asked. Why is its aloof owner, Marmaduke Bunbrook, in such a rush to sell it? Where did that whale come from? How soon will school inspectors be coming to close the school down on health and safety grounds?Or can the experienced, loyal and gin-loving headmaster, Bertram W. B. Quelk MA, stop the rot and lead Bunbrook Hall through its darkest hour?This is a truly hilarious and hugely original account of the struggles of a grand old school on its uppers, just as its mortal rival Puckminton House, led by the smuggest and oiliest headmaster in the land, effortlessly goes from strength to strength.Early readings of this book have been accompanied by continuous howls of laughter. Will you be able to open it and keep a straight face?

Ireland, 1925. Nine-year-old Philip Kinsella lives with his parents, eccentric uncles, terrifying grandmother and an alcoholic butler in the imposing castle of Lissanore. An unexpected visitor arrives from Spain with her daughter Constanza. Philip makes her a promise that will dominate his life.The story moves from Lissanore to boarding school in England, where Philip acquires a group of lifelong friends, and from which he emerges as an idealistic young man eager for adventure, among them the dashing adventurer, Nicholas Kinsella.Gripping, humorous and richly entertaining, this novel is a remarkable work of imagination.Ireland 1925. Nine-year-old Philip Kinsella lives with his parents, eccentric uncles, terrifying grandmother and an alcoholic butler in the imposing castle of Lissanore. The Kinsellas are one of the oldest noble families in Ireland, descended from Gaelic kings and 'Wild Geese' Jacobite exiles who served in the Austrian army. An unexpected visitor arrives from Spain with her daughter Constanza. Philip, whose romantic imagination is governed by stories of derring-do, pledges himself to be her knight, a promise that will dominate his life.  Philip’s youthful existence is enlivened by the powerful presence of another visitor, his cousin, Nicholas Kinsella, a dashing cavalry officer from the Austrian branch of the family who becomes a major influence in his life. The story moves from Lissanore to boarding school in England, where Philip acquires a group of lifelong friends and from which he emerges as an idealistic young man eager for adventure.A Fateful Promise is the first part in a major literary undertaking, covering eighty dramatic years of European history. It is a vivid evocation of a distant world that Gerald Warner brings alive in all its brilliance and compelling detail.Gripping, humorous and richly entertaining, this novel is a remarkable work of imagination. There is more to come. Book Two in the Kinsella Chronicles,  The Cross of Burgundy, takes Philip to the Spanish Civil War, when savage conflict engulfs Constanza’s homeland.

Would you risk your life to go into a war zone to help someone you didn’t know?Will Blackburn did. On the day Russia invaded Ukraine Will was selling software and living quietly in Poland. 24 hours later Ukrainian refugees arrived in his home town. Software sales suddenly seemed irrelevant. He dug out his old Army Reserve kit and appealed to other veterans to do the same - all to be donated to Ukraine.The response was remarkable. A friend’s garage became the depot. A Polish removal company provided the transport. The heroic drivers of Fundacja Igora Tracza drove the donations into the heart of the Donbas.They took Will with them.Bullets fly and shells explode. But this is not a report from the battle front. It is Will’s account of the trips he has made into the war zone. He sees the terrible damage done by the Russians as they destroy towns and villages, killing and maiming civilians. The heroes of these journeys are the drivers who risk their lives on every convoy and the beleaguered citizens of Ukraine who are bravely trying to get on with their lives.

"One of the most despicable scandals ever enacted in an English household."In the 1880s, Lord Chief Justice Coleridge was the senior and deeply respected 'celebrity' judge in the land. After the premature death of his adored wife, his unmarried daughter Mildred, in her early thirties, was expected to serve as his housekeeper, hostess and companion. But Mildred wanted to marry Charles Warren Adams, the irascible secretary of the `Victoria Street 'anti-vivisection' Society for which Mildred worked. After much-disputed accounts of an incident 'in a darkened room,' Lord Coleridge forbade the two to meet. And so began the scandal that intrigued London society for years.The dispute ended in libel proceedings that revealed every squalid detail of the Chief Justice's tyranny over his daughter, and ended in total public humiliation of Lord Coleridge who became a defendant in his own court, when he was cross-examined by his would-be son-in-law. Such a situation is entirely without precedent in English legal history. Worse was to follow - the threat of breach of promise action as Lord Coleridge tried to end his infatuation for a younger woman with whom he had conducted an affair on a steamship returning from America. A second marriage was the solution.Tom Hughes has written the first full-length account of a scandal that enthralled Britain for more than a decade. Based on Lord Coleridge's personal family papers, this compelling and brilliantly told story of social attitudes and behaviour that are beyond anything we can imagine today provides fascinating insights into 'a family which has gone to ruin itself.'

Lagos 1977, the eve of FESTAC, Nigeria’s great celebration of African culture and arts. The body of a young man, Marcus Diello, is found. He has been brutally murdered.Cyril, a police inspector dealing with his first murder case in the capital since arriving from Benin, faces pressures from his bosses who want the murder swept under the carpet - and from Marcus’s friends and colleagues who demand explanations. Why was an innocent life taken? Was it a ritual murder or robbery?On the back of Lagos buses, it says: “God’s judgement, no appeal - no telephone to heaven.” With help from Marcus’s three friends and a young Englishman with his own secrets, Cyril is caught up in a world of power politics, gun-running, antiquities smuggling and African nationalism as he attempts to discover why an innocent man bled to death on a Lagos pavement in the early hours of the morning.

All Change is a true insider's story of turbulent times in the the media in the second half of the 20th century when Clive Bradley worked at the heart of broadcasting, newspapers, book publishing and politics.His fascinating memoir takes us back to the 60s and the pioneering years of political broadcasting when he ran the television side of Harold Wilson's successful election campaign. In the 70s he worked in newspapers as the historic domination by trades unions and press barons was replaced by new technology and new ownership. Then, in the late 70s, he took on the role of Chief Executive of the Publishers Association. Clive's determination and tireless energy helped to steer these industries through seismic legal, economic and technological change, often in the face of the wilfulness of flamboyant media egos.As he lobbied government, regulators, and the EU, his memoir is filled with absorbing pen portraits of the diverse characters he worked with: David Astor, Tony Benn, Robert Maxwell, Rupert Murdoch, Arnold Goodman, Paul Hamlyn and many more as he brings alive the personalities that shaped the decades of his long and distinguished career.This intriguing and important memoir is informed by a deep commitment to the industries he served, creating a fascinating record of triumph and turmoil. It is also a moving personal story of a gay man finding his identity during an era in an era of great social change.

This book is a journey of discovery as Matthew Mills Stevenson, affectionately known as the Cycling Historian, investigates the people, the places and the poetry that define how we remember the First World War.Stevenson's reading, begun by the fireplace in the darkness of a Swiss winter, hinted at the extraordinary network of friendship that connected so many of the writers of that time. Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves served in the same regiment. Wilfred Owen spent time with Sassoon recuperating in Craiglockhart, a Scottish hospital. Winston Churchill shared friendships with T. E. Lawrence, Sassoon, Thomas Hardy and Erskine Childers. John Buchan, author of Greenmantle, admired Lawrence. And a constant presence in their lives is Churchill's private secretary, Edward Marsh. When spring came Stevenson decided that these men would only come alive for him if he visited the places where they had lived or fought in the war. So, with his faithful folding Brompton bicycle, he set off to unlock a literary puzzle.

Richard Charkin’s experience as a publisher is unique among his generation. Over the past half century he has been (at different times) a scientific and medical publisher, a journal publisher, a digital publisher and a general publisher. He has worked for family-owned, publicly-owned, university-owned companies and start-ups. In this memoir he uses his unrivalled experience to illustrate the profound changes that have affected the identity and practices but not the purpose of publishing.Of course there are stories about well-known personalities he has encountered in his career - Madonna, Jeffrey Archer, Robert Maxwell, Paul Hamlyn, Mohammed Al-Fayed and many more. But his primary purpose is to provide an insider’s account of the social, technological, commercial and geographical developments as seen through the eyes of a gifted all-round publisher who has made a very significant contribution to the profession.This is an insider’s account of the last fifty years of the publishing industry: the essential guide for writers, readers, students of publishing, and book industry professionals including librarians, booksellers, literary agents, printers, copyright lawyers, digital experts.

Into this personal account, Oldham weaves a brilliant historical reconstruction of life in a cultured and prosperous Berlin - until the darkening shadows of Hitler's anti-semitic laws steadily reduced the freedoms that he enjoyed and threatened his very existence.Why? Alexander's family was Jewish by birth but generations before, had converted to Lutheranism, an act which was to provide no defence in Hitler's Germany.Writing, remarkably, without animosity, Alexander Oldham combines the warmth of his childhood and his intriguing family life with a meticulous and historical exploration of the brutal political processes that forced him, aged twelve, to flee his Berlin childhood to take on a new identity and make a new life in Britain.

Mills Stevenson visits Pretoria in South Africa where in 1899 the young journalist Churchill was imprisoned and then escaped from Boer captivity. He walks the battlefields of Gallipoli in Turkey and looks out on the Dardanelles to ponder why Churchill’s bold military strategy failed. He rides his bicycle along the Western Front of World War I to visit Ploegsteert in Belgium, where Churchill commanded a battalion of the Scots Fusiliers. He visits Chartwell where Churchill spent the years out of office in the 1930s, warning the world of the dangers to come from Hitler and Fascism. He travels to Yalta (yes, on his bicycle) to write about Churchill’s 1945 meetings with Joseph Stalin and Franklin Roosevelt, to evaluate his leadership during the Second World War.

Many studies have covered aspects of military intelligence available to Britain and her allies during the Second World War. This distinguished book provides a succinct and authoritative survey of the vital role Ultra played in achieving final victory.,When war began Britain was as ill-prepared in intelligence as armaments. Civilian scientists had discovered the principle of radar in the mid-1930s, but everything had to be learned from scratch in the heat of emergency. First signs of improvement came in mid-1941, when Ultra targeted naval vessels and bomber aircraft onto so many of Rommel's supply ships that the Africa Corps almost withered on the vine. From then on intelligence played an increasingly indispensable part in final victory. Ultra won the Battle of the Atlantic, driving U-boats back to coastal waters by June 1943. Ultra confirmed the whereabouts of the German tanks as Montgomery planned the breakthrough to Alamein. Only 'Bomber' Harris refused to give intelligence the credit it deserved; on the basis of new evidence this fascinating book strongly reinforces criticism this costly mistake.

To rise from humble beginnings in the Potteries to become a hugely successful barrister involved in many high profile cases would be enough to satisfy the ambitions of many. But Bob Alexander's life took him from the law to be chairman of the Takeover Panel and the NatWest Bank at a critical time when the impact of 'Big Bang' demanded huge changes from many staid financial institutions. Add to that his passion for cricket which led to him being elected chairman of the MCC, and his chairmanship of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and his elevation to the peerage, and you have the extraordinarily full life of a man who rose to the very top of the British establishment.What distinguishes these memoirs from many is the candour with which Lord Alexander describes his wealth of experiences. His accounts of his famous cases - GCHQ, Ken Livingstone, 'Spycatcher,' the Summerfields Fire, Jeffrey Archer - are masterpieces of clarity and concision. But he is never afraid to express his opinions of people and events - and this is particularly so when he describes his efforts to reform the NatWest Bank. His account will surely be of great value to financial historians for years to come.Behind this remarkable success there is a continuing modesty and an openness to argument and opinion, characteristics that made him such a revered and popular figure in so many different worlds. Lord Alexander, who died in 2005 before he was able to complete his memoir, has left us a vivid and revealing personal account of a brilliant career. His wisdom, kindness and mastery of the law touched the lives of so many.

Can history repeat itself? Geoffrey Cox's remarkable account of the Winter War, Stalin's ill-judged invasion of Finland in 1939, has striking similarities with Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.

In 1921, at the height of his literary fame, author Hugh Walpole founded the Society of Bookmen, designed as a club for publishers, booksellers and literary agents to meet regularly to eat together and share industry knowledge. Now, a hundred years and a name change later, the Society continues to attract new members and be a place to find new connections and ideas. Would Walpole recognise the Society in the twenty-first century? Experience the British book trade over several decades as Vassilopoulos takes you on a journey through the archives, bringing forward information that has never before been in the public eye. Come and spend an evening with the book industry over 100 years of change, adaptation, and bookish conversation, leading right up until the present day. Includes interviews with members including Toby Faber, Bill Samuel (the nephew of Christina Foyle), Jo Howard and Vivienne Wordley. An Evening with the Book Society is of interest to those working in the book trade, those who want to know more about how the industry works and also those interested in its history.

When Robin Lustig’s mother died in 2013, he found himself drawn back into the tangled history of his German-Jewish family -- a story of survival, exile, death and endurance. And the Cello Came Too is both a personal memoir and a family chronicle, spanning centuries of Jewish life in Europe, its near-destruction under the Nazis and its slow rebirth in the years after the Second World War.At its heart is the award-winning journalist and broadcaster’s father, Fritz Lustig, a refugee from Berlin whose cello accompanied him through upheaval, war and a new life in Britain. From Enlightenment rabbis and pioneering journalists to the ‘Three Old Ladies’ who helped to shape his childhood, Lustig pieces together a sweeping narrative from letters, memoirs, and memory.This is a history not just of persecution but also of resilience and continuity -- of lives rebuilt, music played, and stories reclaimed. Moving, intimate, and meticulously researched, And the Cello Came Too shows how one family’s journey can illuminate the universal struggle to survive, remember, and belong.

We call ourselves a nation of dog lovers but every year thousands of dogs are abandoned by their owners. Thanks to the dedication of people like Clarissa Baldwin, former CEO of Dogs Trust, and the carers, vets and other professional staff at the Trust's re-homing centres, homeless dogs are cared for and found new homes where they can live happy lives.Clarissa's story is one of hope and determination and daily success. She has fund-raised millions from generous donors to improve and expand the homes where abandoned dogs can be cared for. She has publicised the Dogs Trust with her memorable line, "A dog is not just for Christmas" and successfully campaigned for changes in the legislation to improve the lives of dogs. Without her inspiring dedication many thousands of dogs would not have been given a second chance. This is the story of Blossom, Teddy, Footie and Freddy and many others that were found lost and confused and were restored to life by the dedicated care of Dogs Trust staff. The joy of this book is that upsetting beginnings can lead to happy endings.