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The 2013 Winners are In!



Daunt Books Children's Short Story Competition 2013

Western Europe

• France
• Benelux
• Germany
• Austria
• Switzerland

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  To Lose a Battle by Alistair Horne

  Price: £14.99    Add to Basket

  The final in Horne's trilogy on German-Franco relations from the 1870s, it is a gripping account of Germany's extraordinary occupation of France. Within just six weeks the French were on their knees and Horne accurately recounts their perfectly planned and executed assault in the face of a total lack of preparation on the side of the Allied forces.

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  The Frock-Coated Communist by Tristram Hunt

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  A thorough, readable biography from the bourgeois German childhood to the study of working conditions in England during the industrial revolution, and the writing of the Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx.

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  Paris: The Secret History by Andrew Hussey

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Less secret than anecdotal, this is the history of Paris told through the ordinary people that lived it, and wildly enjoyable for that. Hussey eschews measured historical and political fact - for which see Colin Jones's rival volume - in favour of sensuous storytelling. The tabloid, then, to Jones's broadsheet.

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  Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory by Lisa Jardine

  Price: £16.99    Add to Basket

  This gloriously presented and enthusiastically praised book offers a powerful reassessment of 17th century Anglo-Dutch relations, suggesting that the coronation of William of Orange was inevitable long before the conflict that ultimately prompted it. An enlivening study of cultural exchange.

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  Hamburg by Matthew Jefferies

  Price: £12.00    Add to Basket

  A thorough history of the city, ideal for the inquisitive visitor, that examines the strong cultural and commercial influence of this busy metropolis and its population.

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  Napoleon by Paul Johnson

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  This succinct and pacy volume serves as a perfect introduction to the life of the great French leader. With unsentimental verve Johnson depicts the grim reality and of his rule as well as its legacy.

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  Paris: Biography of a City by Colin Jones

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  A strong, balanced and admirably complete history of the city, from Roman times to the present. Scholarly yet accessible, Jones delivers the formal depth that Andrew Hussey withholds.

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  A Chateau of One's Own by Sam Juneau

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  An entertaining, lively account of one couple's relocation to the Loire Valley.

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  Russian Disco: Tales of Everyday Lunacy on the Streets of Berlin by Wladimir Kaminer

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  Kaminer's portrait of Berlin life takes the form of fantasically droll, acutely observed true stories inspired by the characters he has encountered since his move from Moscow. Most enjoyable.

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  Six Armies in Normandy by John Keegan

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  A fascinating account of the gruelling and oft-forgotten three months of fighting from D-day until the final liberation of Paris, told from the perspective of six different armies.

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  Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings by Amy Kelly

  Price: £14.95    Add to Basket

  A rigorous and more scholarly history of the legendary Queen than Alison Weir's, where the author is determind to identify between fact and myth.

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  The Luck of the Devil: Operation Valkyrie by Ian Kershaw

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  This manageable excerpt from Kershaw's formidable Hitler biography charts the July 1944 plot by a group of senior German officers to kill the Fuhrer and redeem the reputation of their nation. An extraordinary story, expertly told.

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  The End: Hitler's Germany 1944-45 by Ian Kershaw

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  A masterly attempt to explain why Nazi Germany continued to fight to total self-destruction. As the Allies closed in, Hitler went to extraordinary efforts to mobilize his troops and perpetuate a system of terror. In the end, the regime had to be stamped out town by town with a brutality almost without precedent.

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  Wine and War by Donald & Petie Kladstrup

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  An enjoyable history of the wine business during the German occupation of France. Although the Germans engaged wine producers across the country to provide wine for Germany, Donald and Petie Kladstrup record the sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic cases of resistance.

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  The Scum of the Earth by Arthur Koestler

  Price: £12.99    Add to Basket

  Koestler's gripping story of his internment by the French government at the start of the Second World War and his desperate attempts to elude the Gestapo after German invasion. A beautifully written account, which combines a classic story of detention with an excellent representation of the fall of France.

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  Ajax, the Dutch, the War: Football in Europe During WWII by Simon Kuper

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  An intriguing and beguiling account of the Second World War as experienced by the players, official and fans of Dutch football club Ajax. Much more than a football book, Kuper offers a new interpretation of occupied Europe.

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  Montaillou by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  Using the interrogation notes of Bishop Fournier's thirteenth century Inquisition against Catharism, Ladurie gives us a unique and staggering glimpse of medieval peasant life in a Pyrenean village.

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  Why Mahler? by Norman Lebrecht

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Fifty years ago, Mahler's work was little-known outside specialist circles. Today, his music is widely used in Hollywood films and on state occassions. Lebrecht's book is ablaze with admiration for this fascinating individual, whose life was beset by personal challenges. A gripping insight.

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  Handel's Bestiary: In Search of Animals in Handel's Operas by Donna Leon

  Price: £16.99    Add to Basket

  A fascinating and deeply enjoyable foray into folklore, medieval bestiaries and Handel’s arias from the author of the enormously popular Commissario Brunetti detective novels. Twelve essays trace the evolution of mankind’s knowledge of the animals Handel references in his arias. Leon’s first work of non-fiction is a feast for the senses; beautifully written, sumptuously illustrated by Michael Sowa and accompanied by a CD of arias recorded by Il Complesso Barocco. An ideal gift.

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  From The Camargue to the Alps: A Walk Across France in Hannibal's Footsteps by Bernard Levin

  Price: £8.99    Add to Basket

  Late distinguished journalist Levin undertook in his fifties to walk from Arles, across the Alps via the Rhone Valley, to Italy. His account of the often arduous trip is shot through with great wit and passion. Fusing light personal anecdote with substantial knowledge of the regions through which he passes, Levin creates a travelogue that is both informative and highly enjoyable.

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  Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris by A.J. Liebling

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  Born in 1904, Liebling made his name in the esteemed pages of 'The New Yorker'. He wrote memorably on many subjects but his greatest passion was food, and in this magnificent memoir, introduced exquisitely by James Salter, he recalls the year in 1920s Paris when he received his gastronomic education. Stands neatly and proudly between Hemingway's 'A Moveable Feast' and Julia Child's 'My Life in France' on any good bookshelf.

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  Peacemakers, Six Months that Changed the World by Margaret Macmillan

  Price: £10.99    Add to Basket

  This acclaimed history of the 1919 Paris peace conference provides a detailed account of the causes behind the turbulent aftermath of the Great War in Europe, and the global ramifications that culminated in WW2.

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  Amsterdam by Geert Mak

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  Erudite yet utterly accessible, Mak is a marvellous writer, here weaving the fascinating history of Amsterdam with anecdote and personal reflection, painting a vivid portrait of the city and its characters that will seduce visitors old and new.

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  In Europe by Geert Mak

  Price: £9.99    Add to Basket

  Written by a Dutch historian, this exhaustible history of 20th century Europe is refreshingly free of Anglocentrism. Based on a year he spent travelling through Europe, it is also engaging, well-researched and very informing.

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  A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

  Price: £7.99    Add to Basket

  The absolute classic of relocation writing and one that inspired a hundered imitations, Mayle's beguiling and much-loved book paints an idyllic portrait of ex-pat life in the Luberon, though one that is not without its hilarious scrapes.