Giles Foden

The reluctant personal physician to Idi Amin, Scottish civil servant Nicholas Garrigan, is drawn despite himself to the charismatic but brutal dictator, until a plot against Amin awakens him to the unspeakable horror and cruelty of the regime

The Last King of Scotland

The year is 1899, and Boer forces have surrounded the small South African town. As shells and shrapnel rain down, British soldiers and townsfolk dig themselves in. Waiting for rescue, they try to keep up their spirits with parties and cricket matches. But General Buller's relief column can't break through. All that comes is danger, disease and starvation. Foden's spellbinding narrative introduces a cast of characters ranging from Irish Republican renegades to London literary editors to some of the most famous faces of the twentieth century. And at the centre is young Bella Kiernan, for whom the long siege represents an unexpected freedom: a chance to break old loyalties and establish new loves. Inspired by the letters of the author's great-grandfather, a British trooper, this is a powerful fictional recreation of the first modern war. With its internment camps, war-correspondents and cine-cameras, the siege and its aftermath sowed the seeds of conflicts to come.

Ladysmith

A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? And what is the relationship between predictability and turbulence, one of the last great mysteries of modern physics?

A Novel of the Atmosphere

Turbulence

It is 1996. Manu, a 19-year-old cowherd living on the slopes of Congo's fiercest volcano, must flee from a complex war. Taken to Uganda by a hard-drinking Texan, he is offered a chance to join an anarchic group of mercenary pilots or 'freight dogs'. Soon Manu is seeing his vast country from above and falling in love with flying - but trouble follows closely behind, no matter how fast he flies. When the past erupts back into this life, Manu is forced to leave behind the African sky for the chilly embrace of northern Europe. Will Manu be able to reinvent himself again? Can he set down the freight which has weighed on his life for so long? And is Belgian volcanologist Anke Desseaux the answer to his problems or simply another one of them?

Freight Dogs

A collection of the very best of The Guardian in reportage and feature writing, quips, quotes and photographs from the past century.

The Guardian Century

'Each flick of the page suggests the tick of a countdown' New York Times Books Review 'Artfully well-orchestrated' Sunday Times 'Splendidly tense' Los Angeles Times The D-day landings - the fate of millions of men and the entire future of Europe depends on the right weather conditions on the English Channel on a single morning. A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? Will Wallace Ryman, reclusive pacifist and renowned forecaster, divulge his secrets to the team? Can Henry Meadows, a young maths prodigy, save the day? Or will turbulence prove even more elusive than imagined and events, like the weather, begin to spiral out of control? FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

At the start of the First World War, German warships controlled Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa. In June 1915, a force of 28 men was despatched from Britain on a vast journey to take control of the lake. Giles Foden retells this story.

The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth

The reluctant personal physician to Idi Amin, Scottish civil servant Nicholas Garrigan is drawn despite himself to the charismatic but brutal dictator, until a plot against Amin awakens him to the unspeakable horror and cruelty of the regime. A first novel. 15,000 first printing. First serial, The Paris Review.

From the author of the Whitbread Award-winning The Last King of Scotland comes a spellbinding tale of a town under siege in colonial Africa and a young woman who finds love and freedom in the midst of a devastating war. The year is 1899, and the South African town of Ladysmith is surrounded by Boer forces. No one expects the siege to last, but it does, for a harrowing 120 days -- four months of dire emergency: food shortages during which bread is made with laundry detergent and the soldiers' horses are killed to feed the troops; bombings that force the townspeople into tunnels and makeshift shelters. But in the thick of shells and shrapnel, disease and deprivation, one young woman discovers an unexpected freedom: a chance to break old loyalties and establish new loves. Even as the world she knows collapses around her, Bella Kiernan finds the courage to escape from convention, to rebel against the political forces that threaten her homeland and to pursue her life's greatest romance. Based in part on the letters of Foden's great-grandfather, a British trooper, Ladysmith is a magnificent love story, a vivid portrait of the first modern war of the twentieth century and clear confirmation of Giles Foden's standing as one of Britain's most formidably talented young novelists. From the Hardcover edition.

A Novel

This is an essential companion for young writers facing the long period of apprenticeship that lies ahead of them, with over 50 pieces by writers connected with Britain's most famous creative writing course, full of practical advice and fascinating anecdotes by and about figures such as Angus Wilson and Ian McEwan.

40 Years of Creative Writing at UEA

Body of Work

At the start of World War One, German warships controlled Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa. The British had no naval craft at all upon 'Tanganjikasee', as the Germans called it. This mattered: it was the longest lake in the world and of great strategic advantage. In June 1915, a force of 28 men was despatched from Britain on a vast journey. Their orders were to take control of the lake. To reach it, they had to haul two motorboats with the unlikely names of Mimi and Toutou through the wilds of the Congo. The 28 were a strange bunch -- one was addicted to Worcester sauce, another was a former racing driver -- but the strangest of all of them was their skirt-wearing, tattoo-covered commander, Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. Whatever it took, even if it meant becoming the god of a local tribe, he was determined to cover himself in glory. But the Germans had a surprise in store for Spicer-Simson, in the shape of their secret 'supership' the Graf von Gotzen . . . Unearthing new German and African records, the prize-winning author of The Last King of Scotland retells this most unlikely of true-life tales with his customary narrative energy and style. Fitzcarraldo meets Heart of Darkness, this is rich, vivid and flashmanesque in its appeal - military history at its most absorbing and entertaining

'A fascinating read: Wilbur Smith meets William Boyd in the warm seas and spice-scented air of Zanzibar' New Statesman 'A riveting thriller' Observer The year is 1998. Nick, a marine biologist, is working on coral reef protection off the idyllic island of Zanzibar. While on a trip to mainland Tanzania, he meets Miranda, who works in the US embassy there. As romance blooms, the couple could be forgiven for thinking they are living in paradise - until they find themselves embroiled in a desperate terrorist conspiracy. From the bestselling author of the LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Zanzibar

Ulrich Blumenbach

Roman

Sansibar

1996: in a Ugandan dive bar, the 'freight dogs' gather. An anarchic group of mercenary pilots from Texas, Russia, Kenya and Belgium who transport weapons between warring African nations, without allegiance. And tonight they have a new recruit - Manu, a 19-year-old cowherd fleeing Congo's bloody war. Taken in by this band of unlikely brothers, he's soon seeing his vast country from above and falling in love with flying. But no matter how fast he flies, trouble follows closely behind. And when the past erupts back into this new life, Manu is forced to leave behind African skies for the chilly embrace of northern Europe. Will Manu be able to reinvent himself yet again? And is Belgian volcanologist Anke Desseaux the answer to his problems - or simply another one of them? From the writer of The Last King of Scotland comes an unforgettable story of survival - about how to live and love after trauma, set against a backdrop of world-shaking conflict.

When the First World War breaks out, the British navy is committed to engaging the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship—even if the body of water in question is a remote African lake and the enemy an intimidating fleet of German steamers. The leader of this improbable mission is Geoffrey Spicer-Simson whose navy career thus far had been distinguished by two sinkings. His seemingly impossible charge: to trek overland through the African bush hauling Mimi and Toutou—two forty-foot mahogany gunboats–with a band of cantankerous, insubordinate Scotsmen, Irishmen and Englishmen to defeat the Germans on Lake Tanganyika. With its powerfully evoked landscape, cast of hilariously colorful characters and remarkable story of hubris, ingenuity and perseverance, this incredibly bizarre story–inspiration for the classic film The African Queen–is history at its most entertaining and absorbing.

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

Paul Theroux

Kamila Shamsie

Wojciech Orlinski

Zoe Gilbert

Grazyna Plebanek

Jan Krasnowolski

Dr Richard Niland

Sarah Schofield

Jacek Dukaj

Farah Ahamed

Prof Robert Hampson

Agnieszka Dale

SJ Bradley 

A merchant sailor works for a decade, captaining a yacht up and down the coasts of Malaysia, in the hope that his crooked employer will stay true to a promise... Years after a pandemic sweeps across Europe, wiping out its all-white population, a pilgrim returns to his Polish birthplace in search of the only other non-white kid he knew at school... An inscrutable hotelier loses his composure when a secret passage is discovered in his hotel, leading to a mysterious room and a previously hidden existence... Born in what is now Ukraine to Polish parents, naturalised as a British citizen, and schooled on the high seas of international commerce, Joseph Conrad was a true citizen of the world. His novels bore witness to the dehumanising repercussions of empire, explored a world in which state-sponsored terrorism ruined individuals' lives, and pioneered complex narrative structures and subjective points-of-view in what was to become the first wave of literary modernism. To mark his 160th birthday, 14 authors and critics from Britain, Poland and elsewhere have come together to celebrate his legacy with new pieces of fiction and non-fiction. Conrad felt that the writer's task was to offer 'that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask.' In an age of increasing isolationism, these celebrations remind you of the value of such glimpses.

Giles Foden

Books

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