Ravi Shankar became a household name when the Beatles started promoting his music in 1968, but he was already a prominent figure in the American West Coast scene, with David Crosby of The Byrds pronouncing him one of the finest musicians on the planet. By 1967, when Shankar had settled in California, Indian music was linked with the psychedelic experience, though Ravi denied taking drugs himself and was horrified by a visit to Haight-Ashbury, centre of San Francisco's hippie scene. The Monterey Pop Festival was initially built round Shankar's performance, and although the Festival was ruthlessly taken over and reorganised by The Mamas and the Papas, Ravi's own performance was widely hailed as a profound religious experience. Shankar had the good fortune to be born in Benares, centre of Hindi pilgrimage. His early career was spent on tour as a dancer, including a visit to Weimar Germany as Hitler was rising to power, and he had meetings with Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. But it was his change to concentrate on the sitar that brought him world fame as he introduced audiences to the two key elements of Indian classical music, the raga or melody and the tala, the time or rhythm. Shankar first visited America in 1956, and he moved to California in time for the Summer of Love, performing at Woodstock as well as Monterey. His international fame increased as he became associated with conductors such as Zubin Mehta and Yehudi Menuhin and he was nominated for an Academy Award for the musical score of the film Gandhi. This comprehensive biography by an author who knew him personally includes not only Shankar's career but also his personal life including many love affairs. 658pp, photos in black and white and colour.

By the fearless and funny writer, a novel exploring the underbelly of erotic fulfilment and spiritual yearning. Every two years the international art world descends on Venice for the opening of the Biennale. Among them is Jeff Atman, a jaded journalist whose dedication to the cause of Bellini-fuelled party-going is only intermittently disturbed by the obligation to file a story. He is not expecting to meet the spellbinding Laura who will completely transform his few days in the city. Rejuvenated and ecstatic, their romance blossoms quickly, but is it destined to disappear just as rapidly? Every day thousands of pilgrims head to the banks of the Ganges at Varanasi, the holiest Hindu city in India. Among their number is a narrator who may or may not be the Atman previously seen in Venice. Intending to visit only a few days, he ends up staying for months. In a romance he can only observe, he sees a reflection of the kind of pleasures that, willingly or not, he has renounced. In the process, two ancient and watery cities become versions of each other but could they actually be one and the same story? This story of spiritual yearning reaches its conclusion amidst the ghats of Varanasi. 'Dead-on in evocation of place, longing, and the possibility of neurotic enlightenment.' 'Very funny, full of nerve, gutsy and delicious.' - Michael Ondaatje. Paperback, 305pp.

A poignant testimony to the power of fiction, the New Yorker writer revisits George Eliot's classic which she has read every five years since the age of 17. Published when George Eliot was 51, Middlemarch has at its centre one of literature's most compelling and ill-fated marriages, and some of the most tenderly drawn characters, incorporating their ordinary lives and their most intimate struggles. Mead explores how the ambitions, dreams and attachments of its characters teach us to value the limitations of our everyday lives and she interweaves readings with an investigation into the author's unconventional, inspiring life and Mead's reflection on her own youth, relationships and marriage. A winning blend of personal memoir and literary biography which will send you scampering eagerly back to the classic novel. Luckily we have it in stock in Wordsworth Classic code 23796. Paperback, 304pp.

Western culture has a popular tradition of women who dressed as men and joined the military, often immortalised in books or on stage and screen. Julie Wheelwright soon discovered many of these accounts are highly fictionalised and the real experience of warrior women was frequently one of isolation as they strove to maintain their disguise or, latterly, having to prove their worth against the men in a mixed regiment. 'She brings their temperaments, talents, fancies, and foibles to life.' - Professor Joanna Bourke, Birkbeck, University of London. Sisters in Arms charts the evolution of women in combat, from the Scythian warriors who inspired the Amazonian myth, to the passing soldiers and sailors of the eighteenth century, and on to the re-emergence of women as official members of the armed forces in the twentieth century. The female warrior often endured judgement and poverty and although some managed to fight for a pension, make a living from memoirs or settle back into domestic life, the majority faced hardship, obscurity and worse. Wheelwright uses verifiable official documents, diaries, letters and memoirs from the mid-18th century on as she follows the evolution of women in combat, both clandestine and as recognised soldiers, and shows us shocking parallels between the two experiences, such as the fight for acceptance, for equal pay and against the threat of sexual assault, which both how much and how little things have changed. 16 pages of excellent b/w plates, 320pp.

Shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger 2011, and also for the Man Booker Prize in the same year, this is an intense psychological drama that echoes sophisticated entertainments like Gorky Park and The Talented Mr Ripley. Nick Platt is a British lawyer working in Moscow in the early 2000s, a place where the cascade of oil money, the tightening grip of the government, the jostling of the oligarchs, and the loosening of Soviet social mores have led to a culture where corruption, decadence, violence and betrayal define everyday life. Nick doesn't ask too many questions about the shady deals he's working on and is too busy enjoying the exotic, surreally sinful nightlife Moscow has to offer. One day in the subway he rescues two willowy sisters, Masha and Katya, from a would-be purse snatcher. Soon Nick, the seductive Masha, and the long-limbed Katya are cruising the seamy glamour spots of the city, the electric nightclubs and intimate dachas. Nick begins to feel something for Masha and he is pleased to think is love. Then the sisters ask Nick to help their aged aunt Tatiana find a new apartment. The twists in the story take it far beyond its noirish frame and the sordid and vivid portrayal of Moscow serves as a backdrop for a book that examines the irresistible allure of sin, featuring characters whose hearts are as cold as the Russian winter. Written by the Economist magazine's Moscow correspondent. 273pp, paperback.

"Stories are what connect us, and remind us that hope is always possible" - the words of Heather Morris, bestselling author and extraordinary storyteller of tales about survival, resilience and hope. Working in a public hospital in Melbourne in 2003, she was introduced to Lale Sokolov, an elderly gentleman whose life would be the basis for her novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz which has sold six million copies. This is a companion to that beloved book, a series of accounts from remarkable people she has met, whether that is the section about listening to the wisdom of our elders, to that of Lale, to our children, or to ourselves. Transport yourself with Morris to her gramps' memories, travelling across South Africa with Field Marshal Kitchener as a 16-year-old boy. She shares heartening stories such as one encounter when, at the hospital where she worked, she learned that a teenage boy with a terminal illness had completed every level on his games, so she rang the company who sent a young man - a game designer - to deliver them which ended with the two becoming profound friends. Learn more about Cilka Klein, a figure in Lale Sokolov's history, who Morris then wrote about in her second book: Cilka's Journey, and how Morris sought all the details she could (including her birth record) in the town hall of Sabnov in Slovakia. Glimpse the mind of Ian (Morris' brother) who left the Navy, listening to his gut instinct, and spurned the idea of becoming a local friendly police officer in favour of carving out his own life which included living in several countries, a successful business career and a family. The end of each chapter also includes tips on how readers can be active listeners for different people, whether that is using a physical stimulus, simple questions or the ritual of a cup of tea to encourage elders to open up, or learning that the secret to listening to a child is time, giving them the time to speak so they know how important they are. For the eager reader of Morris' other work, there is also insight into how she constructed Lale's story through the sharing of a table she used when writing Lale's anecdotes up, with columns dedicated to what she did, how she felt, what Lale said and how Lale felt. This is an intimate and touching behind the scenes look at how stories are forged, celebrated and made immortal through sharing them. Signed by the author, black and white illustrations, 314pp.

After the 'unsinkable' RMS Titanic - a White Star liner - struck an iceberg during her maiden voyage over the Atlantic on 14 April 1912, the ship sank with 1,503 people losing their lives. This companion includes fascinating archive illustrations, of which some have not previously been published, and facts about the fateful ship including why it was built and the events which led to the tragedy. Discover how, when Titanic was launched for the first time, an estimated 100,000 gathered at Belfast to see her enter the water and that there were 3,000 tons of coal in readiness for the ship's trial on Monday 1 April with bunkers which would smoulder from then until the hull was submerged in the Atlantic ocean on 13 April. Learn the particulars of the ship itself, including how there were four passenger lifts aboard the ship (some of the first afloat), stained glass in the Smoking Room was used to conceal the uptake to the fourth funnel, which was used as a vent, and the swimming pool was filled with heated salt water and First-Class passengers paid 4s for its use. The book doesn't shy away from the truth, acknowledging that, despite stories of the time, the £1.5 million Titanic travelled at a speed that was insufficient to break the North Atlantic speed record. There are also brilliant photos and images included, from images of the exterior and interior of the ship such as a shot of the framework surrounding the Titanic in the shipway as it was built, a photo of the Titanic in all its glory as the fourth (and last) funnel was erected, and a glimpse into a First Class suite decorated in the Empire style, to photographs of people on the ship, such as film star Dorothy Gibson who was a passenger, Mabel Evina Martin who was the second cashier in the elite restaurant, and the two Marconi operators 'Jack' Phillips, first wireless operator and Harold Bride, the second operator. This is a thorough companion that offers insight and detail into how the ship was built and how it came to sink. 7.3" x 4.9", black and white and colour photos and images, 128pp.

Sub-titled 'Shadow Banks, Ghost Cities, Massive Loans and the End of the Chinese Miracle' this is a penetrating examination of the country's opaque financial system and the complex factors of demographic shifts, urbanisation, industrialisation and over-reliance on debt-fuelled investments. This has brought the county to the brink of crisis. Anchored by stories of China's cities and its people, from factory workers and displaced farmers, to government officials and entrepreneurs, the narrative will take readers inside zombie companies, start-ups and regulatory institutions as McMahon explains how things got so bad, why fixing the problems is so hard, and what the economic outlook means for China and the rest of the world. China was once dominated by four state-owned banks. President Xi Jinping issued an urgent call for reform that gave the country until 2020 to transform its economy, yet the inner workings of its financial system are still very much a mystery to most outsiders. Until this book. Now more than ever, as the country's slowing economy is being felt around the globe, it is essential to understand how China allowed its economy to become so mired in debt. An informed analysis animated by anecdotes and characters, some colourful, some verging on tragic. A most engaging economy lesson. 256pp, large softback.

The award-winning TV adventurer and travel writer's enthralling account of his 5,000 mile expedition around the Arabian Peninsula, from Iraq to Lebanon, in the winter of 2017. He gives a vivid picture of this ancient and beautiful but sad, war-torn and misunderstood region. Following in the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia and Wilfred Thesiger, the book is an insight into Levison Wood's most complex and daring expedition yet - a journey through 13 countries circumnavigating the Arabian Peninsula. Honest, reflective and poignant, it an historical, religious and spiritual journey through some of the most harsh and beautiful environments on earth and exploring the Middle East through the lives, hearts and hopes of its people. Engaging and educational, we see things from a different perspective and the book is at times heart-warming and funny and makes you giggle, and at others you are sad by the weariness of the former paratrooper and major in the army reserves who must be tough as nails. 354pp, paperback, 16 pages of colour photos.

Anyone for cricket and a spot of burglary? An idle conversation on the merits of the glorious game with an old Etonian chum is just the excuse Blotto needs to put himself forward for a cricket tour to foreign climes. So begins the next adventure for our intrepid duo Blotto and Twinks bound for India on a steamer full of young woman desperate to marry well there - only once having encountered the dashing Blotto, a lot of them fancy the idea of getting married before they reach their destination. Unbeknownst to the siblings, also on the ship is the international jewel thief Monsier le Vicomte Xavier Douce, passing himself off as one of Blotto's cricketing entourage. His real mission though is to steal the diamond which adorns the turban the Maharajah of Koorbleimee. The Dowager Duchess has no problems in letting her two children go to the subcontinent since having her beautiful daughter Twinks married off to a massively rich Maharaja offers the Dowager Duchess the prospect of a permanent solution to the cash-draining maintenance of the Tawcester Towers' plumbing. Another good dollop of hair-raising adventure from the aristocratic sleuthing duo. 232pp.