'Fascinating and insightful . . . lifts the curtain to reveal the inner workings of international cricket. A must-read for any cricketer, coach or fan' Eoin Morgan'This path-breaking book should be compulsory reading for commentators and captains - and all cricket fans' Mervyn King'Clever and original but also wise' Ed SmithHow valuable is winning the toss? And how should captains use it to their advantage? Why ...

'Engaging and enjoyable . . . as probing and as penetrative as a Jimmy Anderson opening spell . . . This is no ordinary novel by no ordinary novelist' Sunday Times'A fine addition to the painfully thin oeuvre of modern fictional works about cricket' Mike Atherton, The Times'Outstanding' Mail on Sunday'If all you know is cricket, then cricket will break you . . .'It is the ...

The Times Best Sports Books 2021 - 'the sporting nerd's book of the year''Fascinating and insightful . . . lifts the curtain to reveal the inner workings of international cricket. A must-read for any cricketer, coach or fan' Eoin Morgan'This path-breaking book should be compulsory reading for commentators and captains - and all cricket fans' Mervyn King'Clever and original but also wise' Ed Smith

*******A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK &**SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER"Felix White's beautifully, elegantly and passionately written book reminds me why I love cricket so much. And reading, come to that." - Stephen Fry"The love of cricket is both communal and individual. Felix has a wonderful knack of evoking both in a book full of life, joy and resilience." - Gideon Haigh"Whether you love cricket or are ...

Bloomsbury presents The Art of Batting written and read by Jarrod Kimber'a wonderful tale' – David ‘Bumble’ Lloyd'one of cricket’s most distinctive writers' – Andy ZaltzmanCOLOURFUL CRICKET HISTORY MEETS EXPERT ANALYSIS IN THIS RICHLY RESEARCHED EXPLORATION OF THE ART OF BATTING.Most batters just do their best, yet the top players create art. It is physically impossible to face an 80mph delivery and...

*******A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK &**SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER"Felix White's beautifully, elegantly and passionately written book reminds me why I love cricket so much. And reading, come to that." - Stephen Fry"The love of cricket is both communal and individual. Felix has a wonderful knack of evoking both in a book full of life, joy and resilience." - Gideon Haigh"Whether you love cricket or are ...

Bint Allah knows herself only as the Daughter of God. Born in a stifling male-dominated state, ruled by the Imam and his coterie of ministers, she dreams of one day reaching the top of a distant hill visible through the bars of the orphanage window.But Bint Allah's ambitions do not escape the attention of the Imam, who never feels secure no matter how well he protects himself. When the Imam falsely accuses Bint Allah of adultery and sentences her to death by stoning, he is not prep...

The 1400-year-old schism between Sunnis and Shi`is has rarely been as toxic as it is today, feeding wars and communal strife in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan and many other countries, with tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran escalating. In this richly layered and engrossing account, John McHugo reveals how this great divide occurred. Charting the story of Islam from the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad to the present day, he describes the conflicts that raged over the succes...

President Bliss is handling a tricky situation with customary brio, but after months of ceaseless rain the city is sinking under the floods. The rich are safe on high ground, but the poor are getting damper in their packed tower blocks, and the fanatical 'Last Days' sect is recruiting thousands. When at last the sun breaks through the clouds Lottie heads off to the opera, husband Harold listens to jazz and their ditsy teenage daughter Lola fights capitalism by bunking off school. Shirley t...

A unique and extraordinary collection, Desert Songs of the Night presents some of the finest poetry and prose by Arab writers, from the Arab East to Andalusia, over the last 1,500 years. From the mystical imagery of the Qur'an and the colourful stories of The Thousand and One Nights, to the powerful verses of longing of Mahmoud Darwish and Nazik al-Mala'ika, this captivating collection includes translated excerpts of works by the major authors of the period, as well as by lesser known writ...

This page-turner with a difference by multimillion copy bestselling author Paul Sussman is a must-read for anyone looking for something original.'More than lives up to its promise... it's the first novel Sussman ever wrote, yet the things that made him such a distinctive writer - his boundless imagination, his love of the bizarre, his ability to keep a complex plot bowling along - are already firmly in place. The book is as darkly funny as it is or...

These are the Faroe Islands as they were some fifty years ago: sea-washed and remote, with one generation still tied to the sea for sustenance, and a younger generation turning towards commerce and clerical work in the towns. At the post-hunt whale-meat auction, the normally cautious Ketil enthusiastically bids for more meat than he can afford. Thus in his seventieth year, Ketil and his wife, along with their youngest son, struggle to repay their debt. They scavenge for driftwood and stran...