On 16 March 1978, Aldo Moro, former Italian Prime Minister, was ambushed in Rome. Within three minutes the gang killed all five members of his escort and bundled Moro into one of three getaway cars. An hour later the Red Brigades announced that Moro was in their hands; on 18 March they said he would be tried in a 'people's court of justice'. Seven weeks later Moro's body was discovered in the boot of a Renault parked in the crowded centre of Rome. In this book, Leonardo Sciasica, a master ...

The Benedictine whisked a brush of multicoloured feathers over the top of the book, puffed out his plump cheeks like the god of winds in an old nautical map, blew black dust from the leather cover, and, with a shiver of what in the circumstances seemed delicate trepidation, laid the volume open on the table.Palermo, 1783: The barons pursue feuds and petty plotting. Their wives indulge in forbidden French novels. And the porcine abbot Vella, eager to curry favour with Naple...

In the piazza, a man lies dead. No one will say if they witnessed his killing. This presents a challenge to the investigating officer, a man who earnestly believes in the values of a democratic and modern society. Indeed, his enquiries are soon blocked off by a wall of silence and vested interests; he must work against the community to save it and expose the truth.The narrative moves on two levels: that of the investigator, who reveals a chain of savage crimes; and that of the bystanders a...

The expression 'Sicilian uncle' has the same sense in Italian as 'Dutch uncle' does in English, but with sinister overtones of betrayal and inconstancy. The four novellas in Sicilian Uncles, originally published in 1958, are political thrillers of a kind - the first fruits of Sciascia's maturity. In these stories, illusions about ideology and history are lost in mirth, suffering and abandoned innocence. Each novella has its historical moment: the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Spa...

District Attorney Varga is shot dead while picking a sprig of jasmine. Then Judge Sanza is killed. Then Judge Azar. Is this string of murders an individual vendetta or a more sinister plot? The charming Inspector Rogas is determined to find out. The pursuit of truth and justice are Rogas's vocation, but his work is frustrated by a system which defies his understanding. He needs a key, a way in, a map, and he is sure that his chief suspect Cres can provide it...The book, written in ...

Here are some of Sciascia's greatest stories - brief and haunting, the realist tradition at its best. In one tale a couple of men talk, cynically yet earnestly, about the etymology of the word 'mafia' - who they are, and why their interest is so piqued by the word, becomes apparent with frightening clarity. In another story a group of peasants are taken on board ship and promised that they will be put ashore illegally at Trenton, New Jersey; after a long time at sea, their landfall is far ...

Secret deals, powerful men and murder - One Way or Another is a chillingly prophetic work. The Knight and Death features a nameless (and apparently terminally ill) detective investigating the murder of a lawyer believed to have been killed by a mysterious revolutionary group. The detective thinks otherwise and sets out to prove that powerful business interests were involved, with the revolutionary group invented to cover up the real reasons behi...

The ear is the organ of fear. It is a door to that which is not of this world.Leaving behind the dread and decay of the city, Noa and her best friend, Nicole, travel up into the Andes, heading for Solar Noise: an eight-day festival that takes place on the side of a volcano, in the infinite expanse of the p�ramo. A world of mysticism and underground music, in tune with the thunder of the earth and the bellows of the mountains.Noa has been drawn there in search of he...

Renting is a nightmare...Áine should be feeling happy with her life. She’s just moved in with Elliot. Their new flat is in an affluent neighbourhood, surrounded by bakeries, yoga studios and organic vegetable shops. They even have a garden. And yet, from the moment they move in, Áine can't shake the sense that there's something not quite right about the place...It's not just the humourless estate agent and nameless landlord: it's the chill that seeps throug...

'Chillingly original' Max Hastings**'Brilliantly depicts a disastrous failure' Antony Beevor'Witty and elegant . . . Excellent background to today's events' Anne Applebaum'Britain's most forgotten war, brilliantly remembered' Simon Jenkins'Vivid and remarkably timely' Martin SixsmithFrom the bestselling author of Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine**The extraordinary story of the West's inter...

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTIONA dark, magical realist debut family saga that moves through the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, the Cultural Revolution, and the present day to explore the effects of intergenerational trauma, the legacy of colonialism, and the inescapability of fate.Qianze has not seen her father in eleven years, since he walked out of her life the night of her fourteenth birthday and disappeared without ...

The essential new book about Britain’s 'frontierlands', the abandoned and neglected places that provide opportunities for business and communities, and how they can help us face the challenges of climate change.'This is not just a grassroots manual for 21st century survival – groundswelling and prophetic, it could be a startling blueprint for life in the 22nd.' - Tom Nancollas, author of Seashaken Houses'Remarkable, exquisitely rese...