The greatest deception of the Second World War – and possibly in the whole of military history – took place in April 1943 when a body was found floating in the sea off the Spanish coast. The documents found on him would eventually find their way to Hitler's desk and send German troops hurtling in the wrong direction. The dead man convinced the Axis powers that the Allies were about to attack Greece and not the real target, Sicily. The course of the war was changed....

Duff Cooper's classic biography charts the remarkable progress of Talleyrand; a silver-tongued master diplomat, infamous turncoat, peacekeeper and libertine. Talleyrand held high office in five successive regimes from France's Ancient Regime, into the Revolution of 1789, Robespierre's Terror, Napoleon's epic wars, and on through restored kings to more revolution. Duff Cooper brings Talleyrand vividly to life and paints an exhilarating picture of this tumultuous period in European history

First published in 1950, Operation Heartbreak tells the fictional story of Wilie Marygton, a career soldier who was too young for WWI and too old for WWII. Born into a military family, Willie's one goal in life is to take part in a battle, so he is exhilarated when he receives his commission, and is scheduled to leave for the Western Front on November 9, 1918. However, news of the Armistice changes his orders, and he instead spends the next 20 years in various posts in India and Africa, wh...

'Not a word is wasted in this gem of a 1950 novel, inspired by the secret wartime plan' The TimesA moving reimagining of the man at the heart of Operation MincemeatWilliam Maryngton has just one dream: to fight for his country, as his late father did. Devoted and honourable, he knows no fear – yet somehow, he always misses the battle; too young for the First World War, too old for the Second. Operation Heartbreak follows W...

A perfectly told tale of defeat and glory—and a paean to gallantry in the face of the absurd—inspired by a real-life secret mission during World War II.Orphaned in the first months of World War One, when his father is killed in action, Willie Maryington dreams only of joining the same cavalry regiment and going to the front. The Armistice dashes seventeen-year-old Willie’s plans, but not his dreams of glory, and he makes the regiment the center of his adult existence. Yet, as the y...

Unique in his own age and a phenomenon in any, Charles-Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand, was a statesman of outstanding ability and extraordinary contradictions. He was a world-class rogue who held high office in five successive regimes. A well-known opportunist and a notorious bribe taker, Talleyrand's gifts to France arguably outvalued the vast personal fortune he amassed in her service. Once a supporter of the Revolution, after the fall of the monarchy, he fled to England and then to the U...

Originally published in 1935, this is the first volume of the autobiography of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (1861-1928), who commanded the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of WWI. He was commander during the Battle of the Somme, the Third Battle of Ypres, and the Hundred Days Offensive, which led to the armistice of 11 November 1918.Written with access to Earl Haig's fulsome dairies that he kept throughout the First World War...

Originally published in 1935, this is the first volume of the autobiography of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (1861-1928), who commanded the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of WWI. He was commander during the Battle of the Somme, the Third Battle of Ypres, and the Hundred Days Offensive, which led to the armistice of 11 November 1918.Written with access to Earl Haig's fulsome dairies that he kept throughout the First World War...

Unique in his own age and a phenomenon in any, Charles-Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand, was a statesman of outstanding ability and extraordinary contradictions. He was a world-class rogue who held high office in five successive regimes. A well-known opportunist and a notorious bribe taker, Talleyrand's gifts to France arguably outvalued the vast personal fortune he amassed in her service. Once a supporter of the Revolution, after the fall of the monarchy, he fled to England and then to the U...

This is the story of Madame de's earrings. It is a story of jewellery, of love, of denial, of society that has the simplicity of a fairy tale and the elegance of an eighteenth century roman-à-clef. The most famous work by Louise de Vilmorin, this novella became The Earrings of Madame de, a 1952 Max Ophüls film.

Tough guy Jack Ryan goes looking for a missing lowlife and finds himself in a whole lot of trouble…Motor city process server and ex-thug Jack Ryan is very good at finding people – especially people who don’t want to be found. now he’s being offered large bucks to locate a lost lowlife named Robert Leary, aka Bobby Lear. But this hunt is leading Ryan back into very bad company – and into beds where he doesn’t belong. Then suddenly he’s on someone’s hitlist for some ...

'An outstanding dual biography... Dinshaw’s book is profoundly entertaining, startling in its depth, and a necessary cautionary tale about the human cost of political division' Daily***Telegraph***Two old friends end up on opposite sides of the English Civil War, in this dazzling history from the acclaimed author of Outlandish KnightAt the Inns of Court, the intellectual, literary, and social heart of early 17th century Lo...