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The 2013 Winners are In!



Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Southern & Mediterranean Europe

• Italy
• Spain
• Portugal
• Greece
• Balkans

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  The Alhambra by Robert Irwin

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Arabist and historian Robert Irwin explorer the exotic history of The Alhambra fort outside Grenada.

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  Sintra: A Glorious Eden by Malcolm Jack

  Price: £35.00    Add to Basket

  A literary and historical background to this royal and very beautiful Portugese coastal city.

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  Italian Hours by Henry James

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  Written between 1872 and 1909, these collected essays inspired by his various Italian travels find James exploring art, religion, politics, as well as the nature of travel itself. Applying his familiar lyrical style to the aesthetic wonders of Venice, Rome, Naples and so on, he fashions a seductive book that will appeal to fans and newcomers alike.

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  The Lost Battles by Jonathan Jones

  Price: £25.00    Add to Basket

  No one has ever documented the bitter relationship between these two masters and Jones, one of the best contemporary art writers and art critic for the Guardian, brings his considerable knowledge, painstaking research and gloriously vivid style to this excellent book.

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  The Dark Heart of Italy by Tobias Jones

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  A hard-hitting exploration of politics and society in contemporary Italy. Jones looks further than the stereotype of Italy as the home of glorious art, exquisite food and Mediterranean passion and finds a complex and corrupt reality.

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  Kosovo: War & Revenge by Tim Judah

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  In addition to his excellent history of the Serbs, Judah has written this formidable account of Kosovo's role in the Balkan conflagration. Even-handed and unflinching throughout, the author offers a particularly vivid explanation of the Kosovo Liberation Army's transformation from band of outcasts to the most powerful political force in the state.

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  The Serbs: History, Myth & the Destruction of Yugoslavia by Tim Judah

  Price: £13.99    Add to Basket

  Judah was Balkans correspondent for the Times and witnessed firsthand much of the turmoil of the early-90s conflict. Here he offers a fine history of the Serbs alongside a gripping personal description of the war, aiming to establish a context for their role in the disintegration of Yugoslavia - a goal he meets admirably. His book on Kosovo is equally good.

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  Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History by Robert D. Kaplan

  Price: £13.99    Add to Basket

  Kaplan's prescient, enthralling and often chilling political travelogue is already a modern classic. This updated edition includes six Balkans opinion pieces written between 1996 and 2000. An essential book for anyone seeking to understand this tumultuous region.

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  The Portuguese: The Land and Its People by Marion Kaplan

  Price: £12.95    Add to Basket

  An invaluable and informative history of Portugal.

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  The Siege of Venice by Jonathan Keates

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  A thrilling history of the epic siege of 1848 in which the Venetians undertook an heroic year-long resistance of the imperialist Habsburg forces. With meticulous detail and great narrative drive Keates renders the ordeal consistently enthralling.

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  On Bullfighting by A.L. Kennedy

  Price: £6.99    Add to Basket

  Respected novelist Kennedy here weaves her own struggle with mortality into a fantastically visceral and insightful exploration of this most controversial of spectacles. By no means a straightforward account of bullfighting, and all the better for that.

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  Manana, Manana: One Mallorcan Summer by Peter Kerr

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  The follow-up to the hugely successful and popular 'Snowball Oranges', 'Manana, Manana' continues the story of the Kerr family from Scotland, settling down to life in the Mediterranean on their orange grove. Highly entertaining.

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  A Basketful of Snowflakes: One Mallorcan Spring by Peter Kerr

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  This is the fourth title in Kerr's chronicles of family life on a Mallorcan orange grove. Kerr continues to delight with his witty and thoughtful observations as family life threatens to disrupt the orange harvesting season.

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  Viva Mallorca!: One Mallorcan Autumn by Peter Kerr

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  'Viva Mallorca!' is the third book detailing Kerr's adventures with his family on an orange grove in Mallorca. While this installment offers nothing new to those who have read the first two books, it is nonetheless a welcome addition, full of Kerr's trademark wit and keen observations.

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  Brunelleschi's Dome: The Story of the Great Cathedral of Florence by Ross King

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  King uncovers deftly and compellingly the extraordinary labour, ingenious design and bitter personal strife that lies behind the facade of one of the world's most startlingly beautiful cathedrals.

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  The Search for Greater Albania by Paulin Kola

  Price: £16.50    Add to Basket

  A fascinating and scholarly work on the complex political and ideological challenges facing Albania in its quest for a coherent national identity.

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  The Basque History of the World by Mark Kurlansky

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Having made his name with the wonderful 'Cod', Kurlansky followed up swiftly with this excellent exploration of Basque history via the characteristics that render the region's people so unique. Laced with humour but muscular in tone, this does not disappoint.

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  In The Shadow of Vesuvius: a Cultural History of Naples by Jordan Lancaster

  Price: £11.99    Add to Basket

  We at Daunt Books Marylebone were very happy to host in October 2008 the launch party for this first-rate cultural history of Italy's darkest and most enigmatic city. Lancaster weaves a sparkling portrait that delves beneath the surface, bringing up all manner of gems.

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  Into the Heart of the Mafia by David Lane

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  This engaging investigation tackles the social and economic pillars that support organised crime throughout the Italian south and Sicily.

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  Pompeii: The Living City by Alex Butterworth & Ray Laurence

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  Magisterial, award-winning portrait of the city during the 25 years leading up to its cataclysmic destruction. Comprehensive, vivid, and splendidly readable.

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  Sea & Sardinia by D.H. Lawrence

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  Lawrence travelled to Sardinia in 1921 and in this account of his trip writes beautifully of the landscape and people he encountered. Ever the polemicist, he braids these descriptive wonders with probings of the wider society in which the roots of communism and fascism were beginning to take hold. Most importantly the novelist was greatly taken with Sardinia, and it is his notes of affection which sound the loudest.

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  Florence, a Delicate Case by David Leavitt

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  Part of Bloomsbury's marvellous 'The Writer & The City' series, Leavitt's fine exploration of expatriate life in Florence is evocative, measured and insightful in the utmost.

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  A Moment of War by Laurie Lee

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  The last in the autobiographical trilogy that Lee began with 'Cider with Rosie', this volume explores the monumental impact of war on the people he meets. Poignant and delightfully written, this is essential reading for anybody with an interest in the Spanish Civil War.

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  As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  A beautifully written account of a year spent in Spain before the outbreak of civil war. Although written 30 years later, the tone is still one of youthful idealism. A wonderful coming-of-age story in one of the most significant periods of modern history.

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  Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi

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  Levi's masterpiece, skilfully translated by Frances Frenaye, recounts his exile in the remote hills of Southern Italy, to which he was banished for his opposition to Mussolini. Capturing exquisitely the stillness and timelessness of peasant life, it is a work of great philosophical power as well as descriptive brilliance.