The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
A Rare Old Time The Dubliners may warrant a footnote rather than whole chapter in the story of folk music. But, as historians will tell you, footnotes are important. Ged Graham proves an amiable, amusing and avuncular host, as he steers the audience through the...
Simon, A Death in Berlin is the latest in your new series featuring Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke. It's a very pacey and compelling novel. Would you like to start by giving an overview of the plot? I was looking at the underworld in Weimar and Nazi Germany. One of...
Marek, many congratulations on the new book, The Stories Old Towns Tell. Why did you choose the seven cities (Frankfurt; Würzburg; Rothenburg ; Prague; Warsaw; Lublin and Vilnius) – did you use a set of criteria, or was it your own experiences of visiting them? Thank...
Europe’s Old Towns, the historic quarters at the heart of cities across the continent, tell stories about European history that date back to the Middle Ages. Some are epic narratives; some are fairy-tale fantasies. But some of the most powerful stories they tell are...
The music in my ears was Elgar’s Nimrod and Tallis’ Fantasia theme by Vaughan Williams. The sun was absent, hidden behind a cloudy sky as the giant 15 inch naval guns pointed towards the heavens and I arrived in the gardens of the Imperial War Museum. With a sense of...
By the 1980s the conflict in Northern Ireland had become something of a stalemate, to the extent that, according to the government of the day, an ‘Acceptable Level of Violence’ had been achieved. In today’s risk averse world this statement seems horrifying but back...
At the height of the Cold War in 1958, my parents met in Moscow. They were both working at the British Embassy and their rollercoaster romance was complicated by KGB shadows and rarely being totally alone, even in the apartments they called home. My sister and I grew...
The Fires of Gallipoli explores resilience, self-discovery, fortitude and friendship during, and in the aftermath, of the Gallipoli Campaign. This book follows Edward Salter, a shy 25-year-old solicitor whose life is changed by the outbreak of the First World War and...
Bryan Wiles on The Chocolate Suitcase Can you tell us about Bronek and Anna – did they inspire the novel? Although not materially wealthy or with much formal education, Bronek and Anna had an enviable sureness in the values that guided them through life. Rooted in the...
The Polish Odyssey ‘The Chocolate Suitcase’ is a novel, but it is closely based on the personal stories of Anna and Bronek Baranek and their Polish family during the Second World War. Their recollections were surprisingly vivid and agreed with the historical record....
