Matthew Kneale

On the first morning of Romes Covid-19 lockdown Matthew Kneale felt an urge to connect with friends and acquaintances and began writing an email, describing where he was, what was happening and what it felt like, and sent it to everyone he could think of. He was soon composing daily reports as he tried to comprehend a period of time, when everyones lives suddenly changed and Italy struggled against an epidemic, that was so strange, so troubling and so fascinating that he found it impossible to think about anything else. Having lived in Rome for eighteen years, Matthew has grown to know the capital and its citizens well and this collection of brilliant diary pieces connects what he has learned about the city with this extraordinary, anxious moment, revealing the Romans through the intense prism of the coronavirus crisis.

In the summer of 1849, cholera threatens the city and the people of London. The authorities send millions of gallons of sewage cascading into the Thames - for many Londoners the only source of drinking water. Joshua Jeavons, a young and idealistic engineer, embarks on an obsessive quest to find the cause of the epidemic. As he labours in a fog of incomprehension, his domestic life is troubled by the baffling coldness of his beautiful bride, Isobella. But when she suddenly disappears, his desperate search for her takes him to a netherworld of slum-dwellers, pickpockets and scavengers of subterranean London.

A fascinating history of the city of Rome, seen through the eyes of its most significant sackings, from the Gauls to the Nazis and everything in between.No city on earth has preserved its past as has Rome. Visitors stand on bridges that were crossed by Julius Caesar and Cicero, walk around temples visited by Roman emperors, and step into churches that have hardly changed since popes celebrated mass in them sixteen centuries ago.These architectural survivals are all the more remarkable considering the violent disasters that have struck the city. Afflicted by earthquakes, floods, fires and plagues, it has most of all been repeatedly ravaged by roving armies. Rome: A History in Seven Sackings examines the most important of these attacks and reveals, with fascinating insight, how they transformed the city - and not always for the worse.From the Gauls to the Nazis, Kneale vividly recounts those threatening the city, while drawing an intense and vibrant portrait of the city and its inhabitants, both before and after being attacked. In these troubled times when our cities can seem fragile, Rome''s history offers a picture that is both shocking and also reassuring. Like the Neapolitans from Norman Lewis''s Naples 44, Romans have repeatedly shrugged off catastrophes and made their city anew.A meticulously researched, magical and novel blend of travelogue, social and cultural history, Rome: A History in Seven Sackings is part celebration of the fierce courage, panache and vitality of the Roman people, and part passionate love letter to Rome. This is a popular history of the famous, incomparable city like no other.

It is 1857 and the Reverend Geoffrey Wilson has set out for Tasmania, hoping to find the true site of the Garden of Eden. But the journey is turning out to be less than straightforward - dissent is growing between him and sinister racial-theorist Dr Potter, and, unknown to both, the ship they have hurriedly chartered is in fact a Manx smuggling vessel, fleeing British customs. In Tasmania the aboriginal people have been fighting a desperate battle against British invaders, and, as the passengers will discover, the island is now far from being an earthly paradise …

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Waterstones Book of the Month, 2018 Nominated for the 2017 Pen Hessell-TiltmanDaily Telegraphs Best History Books of 2017 Sunday Times Best History Books of 2017A sweeping history of the city of Rome, seen through the eyes of its most significant sackings, from the Gauls to the Nazis and everything in between.No city on earth has preserved its past as Rome has. Visitors can cross bridges that were crossed by Cicero and Julius Caesar, explore temples visited by Roman emperors, and step into churches that have hardly changed since popes celebrated mass in them sixteen centuries ago.These architectural survivals are all the more remarkable considering the many disasters that have struck the city. Rome has been afflicted by earthquakes, floods, fires and plagues, but most of all it has been repeatedly ravaged by roving armies. From the Gauls to the Nazis, Matthew Kneale tells the stories behind the seven most important of these attacks and reveals, with fascinating insight, how they transformed the city - and not always for the worse. Using this entirely new approach to Romes past he unveils how it became the city it is today.A meticulously researched, magical blend of travelogue, social and cultural history, Rome: A History in Seven Sackings is a celebration of the fierce courage, panache and vitality of the Roman people. Most of all, it is a passionate love letter to this incomparable city.A masterpiece of pacing and suspenseSunday TimesFascinating... A delightThe TimesBook of the Week

Former cinema camera director Julius Sewell journeys across Europe with his family to his sisters wedding in Rome. But this will be an unusual road trip. For one thing, Julius has been in an institution and has only just been released to travel. And then there is his family. This is Easter 1934 and Julius stepfather and mother are keen members of Oswald Mosleys new party, the British Union of Fascists. One of Julius half-sisters is in studying in Munich, where she dreams of meeting meet her idol, Adolf Hitler. Another half-sister is a member of the British Communist Party, and is determined to wreck the approaching wedding, because the groom is a rising figure in Italys Fascist regime. As the family motors south, to Paris, across Nazi Germany - taking in a bus tour to Dachau concentration camp - and through Mussolinis Italy to Rome, gathering relatives and a stray dog along the way, Julius mental stability will be put sorely to the test, as will be the sanity of his relatives.

A The Times and Sunday Times Book of the YearAn enthralling and wonderfully vivid novel from a master storyteller Joseph OConnorKneales medieval world is animated with a refreshing lightness of touchSunday Telegraph1289. A rich farmer fears hell go to hell for cheating his neighbours. His wife wants pilgrim badges to sew into her hat and show off at church. A poor, ragged villager is convinced his beloved cat is suffering in the fires of purgatory and must be rescued. A mother believes her sons dangerous illness is punishment for her own adultery and seeks forgiveness so he may be cured. A landlord is in trouble with the church after he punched an abbot on the nose. A sexually driven noblewoman seeks a divorce so she can marry her new young beau.These are among a ragtag band of pilgrims that sets off on the tough and dangerous journey from England to Rome, where they hope all their troubles and their prayers will be answered. Some in the group, however, have their own secret reasons for going. Others, while they might aspire to piety, succumb all too often to the sins of the flesh. A riveting, sweeping novel of medieval society and historic Englishness, Pilgrims illuminates the fallibility of humans, the absurdities and consolations of belief, and the very real violence at the heart of religious fervour.

Nine-year-old Lawrence is the man in his family. He watches protectively over his mother and his wilful little sister Jemima. He is the one who keeps things in order, especially when, quite suddenly, his mother decides the three of them must leave their life in England behind. Their destination is Rome, where she lived when she was young, and as they drive through the night in a car filled to bursting, the excitement takes them back to those happier days. For Lawrence, fascinated by stories of popes and emperors, Rome is an adventure. Though short of money, and passed from one to another of his mother's old friends, it seems that little by little their new life is beginning to take shape. But the mystery that brought them to Italy will not quite leave them in peace. "When We Were Romans" is a haunting psychological novel, another masterful work from the author of the prize-winning English Passengers .Powerfully evoking the feelings of childhood - the triumphs, the jealousies, the fears, the possessions, the love - it is most of all the story of Lawrence, of how, with a wisdom well in advance of his years, he strives to keep his family together, as everything he understands is turned upside down

Esta novela tiene todo para interesar, divertir y descubrir la historia a sus lectores. A través de una cuidada caracterización de personajes (un ingenio colono, un indígena atormentado por su identidad, un ruin capitan de barco, un cientifico racista...) y un paisaje exotico, el autor plantea temas como el choque cultural o la busqueda de la propia identidad.Con esta novela el autor ha recibido el premio Whitebread a la mejor novela, ademas de quedar finalista en el premio Booker y ademas ha obtenido el premio John Lewellyn en 1992 y el premio Somerset Maugham en 1997.

The author of the award-winning novel "English Passengers" takes readers around the world in 12 deftly crafted stories that illuminate the uncertainties of life at home and abroad.

Nenhuma cidade da Terra preservou tão bem seu passado quanto Roma. Visitantes podem atravessar pontes antes cruzadas por Cícero e Júlio César, explorar templos ocupados pelos imperadores romanos e en

La más completa y exhaustiva historia de la fe. ¿Qué llevó al hombre prehistórico, refugiado en la oscuridad de las cavernas, a apelar al reino de los espíritus? ¿Por qué calaron las creencias y creamos el cielo y el infierno, el pecado y la redencion y, sobre todo, los dioses? La religion refleja nuestras mas altas esperanzas y nuestros peores temores. Independientemente de que creamos en ella o que, al igual que Matthew Kneale, poseamos la perspectiva de un no creyente que admira la capacidad del hombre para crear e imaginar, no cabe duda de que ha dado forma al mundo en que vivimos. A medida que han cambiado nuestros sueños y pesadillas tambien lo han hecho nuestras creencias. De los chamanes a los sacerdotes aztecas, de los budistas a los cristianos, los dioses que creamos han evolucionado y mutado con nosotros. La fe ha sido la mas epica labor de invencion del hombre. Se ha convertido en nuestra mas intima compañera y ha seguido a la humanidad a lo largo de los continentes y a traves de las epocas. Esta es su historia.

La más completa y exhaustiva historia de la fe. ¿Qué llevó al hombre prehistórico, refugiado en la oscuridad de las cavernas, a apelar al reino de los espíritus? ¿Por qué calaron las creencias y creamos el cielo y el infierno, el pecado y la redencion y, sobre todo, los dioses?La religion refleja nuestras mas altas esperanzas y nuestros peores temores. Independientemente de que creamos en ella o que, al igual que Matthew Kneale, poseamos la perspectiva de un no creyente que admira la capacidad del hombre para crear e imaginar, no cabe duda de que ha dado forma al mundo en que vivimos.A medida que han cambiado nuestros sueños y pesadillas tambien lo han hecho nuestras creencias. De los chamanes a los sacerdotes aztecas, de los budistas a los cristianos, los dioses que creamos han evolucionado y mutado con nosotros. La fe ha sido la mas epica labor de invencion del hombre. Se ha convertido en nuestra mas intima compañera y ha seguido a la humanidad a lo largo de los continentes y a traves de las epocas. Esta es su historia.