Nicholas Shakespeare Books

This biography offers a fresh portrait of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, revealing his enduring impact on culture. Award-winning biographer Nicholas Shakespeare, with unprecedented access to the Fleming family papers, explores how Bond's representation of masculinity, the British psyche, and global politics has evolved over time, paralleling interpretations of Fleming's own life. Fleming's childhood with his gifted brother Peter and extraordinary mother shaped his ambition to be 'the complete man,' a goal he pursued throughout his life. Although he was a thriller writer for only his last twelve years, his dramatic personal life and career in Naval Intelligence placed him at pivotal moments in history, providing rich inspiration for his fiction. Exceptionally well-connected and widely traveled—from the U.S. and Soviet Russia to his beloved Jamaica—Fleming interacted with powerful political figures during a time of profound change. Shakespeare's talent for uncovering new insights into his subjects shines through in this definitive biography, making it an eye-opening exploration of both Fleming and his iconic creation.

London, May 1940. Britain is under threat of invasion and Neville Chamberlain's government is about to fall. It is hard for us to imagine the Second World War without Winston Churchill taking the helm, but in Six Minutes in May Nicholas Shakespeare shows how easily events could have gone in a different direction. It took just six minutes for MPs to cast the votes that brought down Chamberlain. Shakespeare moves from Britain's disastrous battle in Norway, for which many blamed Churchill, on to the dramatic developments in Westminster that led to Churchill becoming Prime Minister. Uncovering fascinating new research and delving into the key players' backgrounds, Shakespeare gives us a new perspective on this critical moment in our history.

Bruce Chatwin's death in 1989 brought a meteoric career to an abrupt end, since he burst onto the literary scene in 1977 with his first book, In Patagonia.'A magnificent work of empathy and detection'Colin Thubron, Sunday Times'Utterly compelling'Philip Marsden, Mail on Sunday'A fascinating account of the man behind the myth'Ian Thomson, Guardian schovat popis

The Peruvian guerilla leader Ezequiel is responsible for tens of thousands of fiendishly cruel murders, yet he consistently eludes capture. But in Agustn Rejas he has an indefatigable pursuer. From secluded city streets to the paths of a mountain village the policeman persists, tracking and anticipating Ezequiel's every move. Rejas' only reprieve is his love for his daughter's beautiful dance teacher--until he begins to pick up unmistakable signals that her circles--and Ezequiel's--intersect. Based on the extraordinary manhunt for the leader of Peru's notorious guerilla organization, The Shining Path, The Dancer Upstairs is a story reminiscent of Graham Greene and John LeCarr--tense, intricate, and heartbreaking.

Florentino Ariza has never forgotten his first love. He has waited nearly a lifetime in silence, since his beloved Fermina married another man. No woman can replace her in his heart. But now her husband is dead. Finally - after fifty-one years, nine months and four days - Florentino has another chance to declare his eternal passion and win her back. Will love that has survived half a century remain unrequited?

A young Englishman visits Cold War Leipzig with a group of students and, during his brief excursion behind the Iron Curtain, falls for an East German girl who is only just beginning to wake up to the way her society is governed. Her situation touches him, but he is too frightened to help. He spends the next 17 years pretending to himself that he is not in love until one day, with Germany now united, he decides to go back and look for her. But who was she, how will his actions have affected her and how will he find her? All he knows of her identity is the nickname he gave to her- Snowleg. Nicholas Shakespeare's first novel since THE DANCER UPSTAIRS is a powerful love story that explores the close, fraught relationship between England and Germany, between a man who grows up believing himself to be a chivalrous English public- schoolboy and a woman who tries to live loyally under a regime where every move is not only recorded, but where a person's scent may be secretly bottled, labeled and stored away until such time as she needs to be traced.

Andy Larkham is late. He is due at the funeral of his favourite school teacher. It's especially hard for Andy - stuck in a dead-end job, terminally short of cash and with a fiancee who is about to ditch him. When the funeral leads to unexpected consequences, Andy has to ask himself: how far will he go to change his life?

Thomas Wavery is the new Consul General at Abyla on the tip of North Africa. A career diplomat, Wavery was once a high flyer, but an affair with a younger woman has dashed his dreams of ambassadorship. He arrives in Abyla with his wife suing for divorce, his passport stolen by a Gibraltarian ape and precious little enthusiasm for the task ahead. His one hope of redemption is a visit from his new love.

Nicholas Shakespeare uncovers a box of documents from his enigmatic late aunt, Priscilla, leading him to a profound exploration of her hidden past. This captivating narrative blends detection and history, presenting a poignant portrait of a flawed woman navigating through challenging times.

Following the death of his parents in a car crash, eleven-year-old Alex Dove is torn from his life on a remote farm in Tasmania and sent to school in England. Twelve years on, he must return to Australia to deal with his inheritance. But the timeless beauty of the land and his encounter with a young woman, whose own life has been marked by tragedy, persuade him to stay. They marry, and he finds himself drawn into the eccentric, often hilarious dynamics of island life. Longing for children, the couple open their home to a disquieting guest, a teenage castaway, whose presence on the farm begins to unravel their tenuously forged happiness, while at the same time offering the prospect of a much greater fulfilment. Secrets of the Sea is Nicholas Shakespeare's finest novel to date.

'A remarkable contemporary thriller - with shades of Graham Greene and Le Carre about it - but also a profound and compelling investigation of a hugely complex human predicament. Brilliantly observed, captivatingly written, grippingly narrated - a triumph' William Boyd When John Dyer returns to Oxford from Brazil with his young son, he doesn't expect to find them both in danger. Every day is the same. He drops Leandro at his smart prep school and walks to the library to research his new book. His time living on the edge as a foreign correspondent in Rio is over. But the rainy streets of this English city turn out to be just as treacherous as those he used to walk in the favelas. Leandro's schoolmates are the children of influential people, among them an international banker, a Russian oligarch, an American CIA operative and a British spook. As they congregate round the sports field for the weekly football matches, the network of alliances and covert interests that spreads between these power brokers soon becomes clear to Dyer,. But it is a chance conversation with an Iranian nuclear scientist, Rustum Marvar, father of a friend of Leandro, that sets him onto a truly precarious path. When Marvar and his son disappear, several sinister factions seem acutely interested in Marvar's groundbreaking research at the Physics Faculty, and what he might have told Dyer about it, given Dyer was the last person to see Marvar alive.

In an unusually rich, daringly graphic novel of love and terror, one of England's finest young talents returns to the setting of his award-winning novel, The Vision of Elena Silves--a country not unlike Peru--to tell the story of Agustin Rejas and his manhunt for the terrorist rebel leader, Ezequiel.

Im fernen Europa tobt der Erste Weltkrieg, als im australischen Hinterland am Neujahrstag 1915 die Bewohner von Broken Hill unbeschwert zu ihrem traditionellen Picknick vor den Toren der Stadt aufbrechen. Sie ahnen nicht, dass an diesem Tag die angestaute Wut zweier indischer Einwanderer hervorbrechen und ihre Welt in eine Tragödie stürzen wird. Nicholas Shakespeare macht deutlich, was es heißt, fremd in einer anderen Kultur zu sein, und wie Missachtung und Ausgrenzung - vor hundert Jahren wie heute - den Weg zum Fundamentalismus ebnen. Ein Roman, der mehr erklärt als jeder Leitartikel.

Auf verschiedenen, sich durchdringenden Zeit- und Handlungsebenen spielt dieser Roman aus dem Peru von gestern und heute. Geschildert werden die dort herrschenden politischen Zustände, die nicht zuletzt durch die gewaltätigen Aktivitäten der Untergrundorganisation "Leuchtender Pfad" gekennzeichnet sind. Im Mittelpunkt der Handlung steht die schöne Elena Silves, die aufgrund einer religiösen Vision seit 18 Jahren in einem Kloster festgehalten wird, während der Geliebte als Mitglied des "Leuchtenden Pfades" der Verfolgung durch die Polizei ausgesetzt ist. Eine Geschichte von Gewalt und grenzenloser Liebe.

Krimibestenliste Juni und Juli 2020 --- „Absolut packend.“ William Boyd --- „Ein Polit-Thriller auf der Höhe der Zeit. Und ein philosophisch gewichtiger Roman.“ Thomas Wörtche, Deutschlandfunk Kultur Was tust du, wenn du allein die Zukunft der Welt in den Händen hältst? Marvar, iranischer Atomphysiker am Oxforder Clarendon Labor, hat den Algorithmus für die perfekte Kernfusion gefunden. Ein Wissen, das in den richtigen Händen ein Segen, in den falschen ein Fluch ist. Schließlich könnte man damit sämtliche Energieprobleme der Welt lösen oder eine Waffe von größtmöglicher Vernichtungskraft bauen. Dann verschwindet Marvar plötzlich, nicht ohne zuvor seinem Freund Dyer, einem Journalisten, die Formel zu vermachen. Bald darauf gerät Dyer ins Visier unterschiedlichster Gestalten. Der britische Geheimdienst, Bankiers und Ölmanager mit Kreml-Verbindung – sie alle interessieren sich für ihn. Ein riskantes Versteckspiel beginnt.

Mit „In Tasmanien“ verwandelt Nicholas Shakespeare die Erkundung einer Landschaft und ihrer Geschichte in ein literarisches Ereignis. Im Mittelpunkt stehen die abenteuerlichen Leben zweier ungleicher Partner: Anthony Fenn Kemp, der 1804 an der Ostküste Tasmaniens, damals Van-Diemens-Land, unter den Blicken der Aborigines an Land watet. Kemp, Sohn eines bekannten Wein- und Tabakhändlers, hat sein Erbe in London verprasst und sich in die britische Strafkolonie nach Australien abgesetzt. Sein Schwager William Potter, der in England bleibt, ist der vorsichtige Buchhalter der gemeinsamen Firma Potter & Kemp und steht im krassen Gegensatz zu Kemp, der als „Vater Tasmaniens“ die Insel befehligt, zwielichtige Geschäfte macht und sich Geld schicken lässt. Kemp, der sich als „George Washington von Van-Diemens-Land“ feiern ließ, war nicht nur einer der ersten Kolonisten, sondern auch ein direkter Vorfahr von Nicholas Shakespeare und gilt in dessen Familie als das wahrscheinlich schwärzeste Schaf. Indem Shakespeare die Abenteuer seiner Vorfahren erzählt, beleuchtet er zugleich die raue Geschichte einer Insel, die einst als britischer Kerker diente und heute ein beliebtes Reiseziel ist.

Eine Sammlung großartig verdichteter Miniaturromane. Sie spielen in Indien oder Argentinien, in Australien oder Bolivien, führen ins südliche Afrika, nach Singapur und Paris. Aber es sind nicht nur die geographischen Orte, die Nicholas Shakespeare auslotet. Er erzählt von mutigen, eigenwilligen Menschen, die vom Leben herausgefordert, überrascht und zu ungewöhnlichen Schritten angespornt werden. - „Acht Goldstücke reinsten, kühnsten Geschichtenerzählens“ (The Telegraph)

De liefdesgeschiedenis van een guerillastrijder en een vroom katholiek meisje in de jaren '70 in een stadje in Peru.