{"title":"Christmas Catalogue","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"9780008335779","title":"Battle of the Arctic : The Maritime Epic of World War Two","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eRussia\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 6 November 2025 by HarperCollins Publishers (William Collins) in the United Kingdom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardback | 816 pages\u003cbr\u003e240 x 159 | 270g\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinston Churchill called it ‘the worst journey in the world’. But was even this telling quote, describing the transportation of military aid to northern Russia during World War II, an understatement?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  As this book’s title – Battle of the Arctic – implies, it tells a unique story. For much of the conflict was complicated by terrific storms, snow, ice, fog, whales, and Arctic mirages, creating an atmosphere similar to Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance, David Crane’s Scott of the Antarctic, and an Arctic version of Robinson Crusoe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e The action unfolded as Allied naval and merchant seamen, airmen, submariners, and intelligence officers delivered on their countries’ promise to take arms to Russia as the Germans hunted them in aircraft, U-boats, and surface fleet spearheaded by Tirpitz and Scharnhorst. When ships were attacked, and went down in seas so cold that a man could die after five minutes of immersion, it triggered events reminiscent of the do-or-die moments during the sinking of the Titanic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Men perished one by one in lifeboats and, as castaways, they died on deserted Arctic islands where they were stalked by polar bears. Frostbitten and wounded survivors ended up in Russian hospitals so primitive that amputations were carried out without anesthetics. Other survivors, while stranded for months in the communist state they were aiding, experienced the murky worlds of the NKVD and the Gulag, as well as famine and prostitution.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Using new material unearthed in American, British, Russian, and German archives, as well as Polish, Dutch, Norwegian, and French sources and a remarkable collection of vivid witness accounts brought together at the passing of the last survivors, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore can at last tell this extraordinary story that oscillates between the sailors’ point of view on the front lines and the controversies that infuriated world leaders.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Darling Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53674862477636,"sku":"9780008335779","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0827\/1265\/8244\/files\/9780008335779.jpg?v=1760353095"},{"product_id":"9781838937973","title":"Lion Hearts : the epic, unmissable new historical adventure from the Sunday Times bestseller","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Jones, Dan\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eHistorical adventure\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 31 July 2025 by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (Head of Zeus -- an Aries Book) in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Essex Dogs' series.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHardback | 384 pages, 2 Maps\u003cbr\u003e157 x 238 x 36 | 566g\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e'Bloody and beguiling' THE TIMES'A salty, action-packed saga' MAIL ON SUNDAYTHE GREATEST FIGHTERS HAVE EVERYTHING TO LOSE1350  Three years on from the Siege of Calais:  The Black Death has wreaked havoc in Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Castilians are moving against England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  The Essex Dogs are no more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  In Winchelsea, the Dogs' former leader Loveday Fitztalbot struggles to keep his tavern afloat in the aftermath of the Death. Nowadays, the battles he fights are ones within his own mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  In Windsor, Romford thrives as a squire at King Edward III’s court, his days as an archer for the Dogs fading into memory. But when an unpaid debt threatens everything he’s built, he must call upon the lessons he learned all those years ago: be cunning. Be ruthless. Be quick.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith England still reeling from the Death and the Castilian threat on the rise, the kingdom's future has never been more uncertain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach had reasons for leaving the Essex Dogs behind. But a life like that isn’t so easily forgotten.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e  And for these men the fighting isn’t over yet… See medieval England brought thrillingly to life by Sunday Times bestselling historian Dan Jones in this epic, action-packed adventure that can be read as part of the Essex Dogs series or as a standalone.  Praise for THE ESSEX DOGS  'Wolves of Winter is a horrible joy to read: horrible because of the vivid, random bloodshed, and a joy because of the easy authenticity of his prose... If you've ever enjoyed a Ridley Scott film, go and buy this book!' ALICE WINN'Dan Jones' fiction rings with the authority of his scholarly history.' PHILIPPA GREGORY'A book that draws you in page by page. The way Dan Jones writes enemies reminds me of Cornwell at his best, turning up tension click by click.' CONN IGGULDEN 'This is the Hundred Years' War as directed by Oliver Stone with a historian's eye for detail.' ELODIE HARPER'Battle-bloody, brutal and perfectly pitched.' 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But along with sadness-obsessed girls and intrusive professors, a dark story plagues their small all-women’s school: the Sylvia Club, a campus legend surrounding the deaths of multiple Sylvia Plath-adoring students, all written off as suicides. Aspiring writer Nikki finds herself drawn to the tragic tales, so much so that dead girls begin to haunt her dark imagination. As she digs deeper, Nikki soon suspects there's much more to the story – a suspicion that will lead to a tragedy of its own, one that will tear her and Sadie apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt’s been nearly twenty years since Sadie last saw her estranged friend. Now, Nikki is dead, and when Sadie ends up pregnant by Nikki’s grieving husband not long after the funeral, she finds herself stepping into her ex-best friend’s seemingly perfect life. But the longer Sadie lives in Nikki’s eerily preserved home, the more she sees her appear and soon, she’s convinced that Nikki is sending her clues from beyond the grave. 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Two families. A secret that changes everything.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e‘Poignant, powerful’ Independent‘Omniscient, sweeping, almost defiantly sentimental’ New York Times‘It’s not just a great Midwestern novel, it’s a great novel, period’ Financial Times‘I’ve been yearning for a novel that connects the American generations who dealt with our two Wars – one of Omaha Beach, the other of the Ia Drang Valley. Buckeye is that book, and it soars’ TOM HANKS‘Funny and tender ...  Patrick Ryan has long been one of my favourite writers’ ANN PATCHETT  ‘I love this novel with my entire heart … Wise and heartbreaking’ ANN NAPOLITANOMay, 1945. As news of the Allied victory in Europe reaches the small town of Bonhomie, Ohio, a woman named Margaret Salt walks into a hardware store and asks the man behind the counter, Cal Jenkins, for a radio. What happens next will change both of their lives forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile the country reconstructs in the post-war boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie – and nothing can remain hidden in a small town. The consequences of that long-ago encounter will intertwine the fates of two families, rippling through the next generation and compelling them to re-examine who they thought they were and what the future might hold. Full of compassion, humour and charm, Buckeye is a dazzling portrait of the human spirit by way of one unforgettable community; the twisted roads we take to achieve forgiveness and redemption; and above all a universal longing for love and connection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Darling Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55576510824772,"sku":"9781526689283","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0827\/1265\/8244\/files\/9781526689283_5fda2b9a-cc70-479c-a669-f939b62fe3a5.jpg?v=1760353449"},{"product_id":"9781836046981","title":"Puzzle Slug and the Intergalactic Poop Robbery","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor: Whatmore, Candice\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003ch4\u003eGeneral fiction (Children's\/YA)\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003ch5\u003ePublished on 11 September 2025 by Usborne Publishing Ltd in the United Kingdom as part of 'the Puzzle Slug' series.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaperback | 176 pages\u003cbr\u003e210 x 151 x 14 | 378g\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/h5\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePuzzle Slug's Planet of Plopalot is under threat from the evil alien Dr Nox! 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Full of riotous comedy, lovable characters and the occasional bottom-blast, this first instalment of Puzzle Slug's adventures will leave you eager to return to Plopalot!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Darling Reads","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55576511283524,"sku":"9781836046981","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0827\/1265\/8244\/files\/9781836046981_9e36ca77-f093-4cd7-8160-d44b13c45595.jpg?v=1760353400"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0827\/1265\/8244\/collections\/Copy_of_Hero_Image_-_Mobile_2_800_x_800_px_2.png?v=1760354876","url":"https:\/\/darlingreadsbooks.com\/collections\/christmas-catalogue.oembed?page=3","provider":"Darling Reads","version":"1.0","type":"link"}