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31st August: Random Prose Izzat Majeed's Random Prose has made Booktrust's 'Books We Like'. Read the review here. 30th August: Andrew Trimbee Andrew Trimbee's The Inshallah Paper will feature in Swissair's September inflight mag. From the review. 'The Inshallah Paper – which recently received a positive review in the Gulf News of Dubai – reads like a modern episode from A Thousand and One Nights: its pages are filled with intrigue, Look out for it. 27th August: Elizabeth Siddal Jan Marsh's Legend of Elizabeth Siddal has been reviewed by Simon Quicke's Inside Books blog. For the full review, click here. 16th August: Michael Cawood Green For the Sake of Silence author Michael Cawood Green featured in a 'Reading Matters' podcast, recorded for Radio Today last week. To listen again, click here. 12th August: Young Hitler Quartet author Monica Porter has reviewed Claus hant's Young Hitler for the Jewish Chronicle. Read online here. 5th August: Phyllis Bottome The Constant Liberal, Pam Hirsch's biography of Phyllis Bottome, has been reviewed here. 31st July: Nikesh Shukla The author of Coconut Unlimited, Nikesh Shukla, featured in the Guardian Review on Saturday, as part of a front-page piece on the new literary nights sweeping the country. Dazed & Aroused author Gavin James Bower also featured. For the full article, click here. 28th July: Country Life David Elliott's masterful biography of David Wynne, Boy with a Dolphin, has been described by Country Life as 'a lavishly illustrated romp through the life of a larger-than-life figure'. Click here to get hold of the latest issue. 27th July: Alan Wall Alan Wall's poetry features in the latest issue of International Literary Quarterly. Click here to read an excerpt from his poem, 'Doctor Placebo'. 26th July: Paul McGeough Kill Khalid author Paul McGeough has been awarded the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction, as part of the NSW Premier's Literary Awartds 2010. For more, click here. Congratulations to Paul! 19th July: Allan Massie Allan Massie's Death in Bordeaux, which has already been recommended by the Spectator and the Independent, has been reviewed in the Herald in Scotland. Click here for more. 15th July: Death in Bordeaux Allan Massie's latest, Death in Bordeaux, has been reveiwed in the Spectator. Click here for more. 14th July: David Wynne The Mail on Sunday featured David Wynne and Boy with a Dolphin on Sunday. Click here to read the full interview with David online. 7th June: Allan Massie Death in Bordeaux author Allan Massie featured on France24. To watch, click here. His book was also reviewed in the latest issue of Literary Review. 6th June: Coconut Unlimited Nikesh Shukla's Coconut Unlimited, published in October, has been recommended by Canongate's 'Meet at the Gate'. Click here for more. 29th June: Allan Massie Death in Bordeaux by Allan Massie has been reviewed by the Independent. Click here to read it online. 28th June: David Wynne The launch party for Boy with a Dolphin, David Elliott's biography of the artist and sculptor David Wynne, was picked up by BookBrunch. For the full piece - with photos - click here. And for more, click here and here. 25th June: Andrew Trimbee Andrew Trimbee’s The Inshallah Paper has been given a quite extraordinary review in the Gulf News of Dubai – all the more astonishing given the rivalry between Dubai and Bahrain. The book was described as ‘a joy to read’, ‘an endearing look at the region’, and ‘a warm, highly readable account of life in an Arabian Gulf of yore but it still resonates so profoundly in the Gulf of today’. Click here to read the full piece. 24th June: The Constant Liberal Pam Hirsch’s biography of Phyllis Bottom, The Constant Liberal, has been well received by both the TLS and the Spectator. For the reviews, click here and here. 23rd June: Miriam Frank Miriam Frank, who famously translated Hector Tizon’s The Man Who Came to a Village and Fire in Casabindo, is celebrating the publication of her autobiography this month. For more about our Tizon's books, click here and here. And for Miriam’s autobiography, click here. 23rd June: Sweet Seduction Catherine Olsen’s Sweet Seduction and the Third Mermaid was reviewed in the Sunday Times. Click here to subscribe and read the review online. And for Catherine's short story in the Sunday Express, click here. 21st June: Vivian and I Colin Bacon's Vivian and I, due out in July, features in the latest issue of The Chap magazine. To get hold of a copy, click here. 18th June: Terence Rattigan The new production of Terence Rattigan’s 1939 play, After the Dance, has been met with unreserved praise on both sides of the Atlantic. For the Guardian review, click here. And for the New York Times, click here. Accordingly, and in time for the new production, we've reissued Michael Darlow’s biography of the dramatist in paperback. For that, click here. 14th June: Young Hitler Claus Hant’s Young Hitler featured in 3:AM Magazine. Read the full piece here. And for more, click here. 7th June: Dark Knights of the Soul Jeremy Simpson’s answer to Dan Brown, Dark Knights of the Soul, has been reviewed not once but twice this week. Click here for the Fantasy Book Review post, and here for Stuart Allen's review. 2nd June: TAKI Our collection of Taki's Spectator columns from the last ten years, TAKI, features in the latest Finch's Quarterly. In other Taki-related news, the editor of the collection, Charles Glass, has written a piece for Taki's Magazine on France's burqa ban and its threat to liberty. Click here for more. Reasons to Love...Time Out Michael Darlow’s biography of Terence Rattigan, reissued this month, is in the latest issue of Time Out. The book is featured in the 'Reasons to love...' column, on page 112. For more, click here. 1st June: Postcard from Bahrain Andrew Trimbee’s The Inshallah Paper features on the Career Advantage ‘High Society’ blog. 'Andrew tells a fascinating tale of mucking through against the odds (similar to my experience in 1980’s Jeddah), of outrageous characters within both the expatriate and Bahraini communities, and of the life of a pioneering editor as he totters from cocktail party to royal majlis to factories and refineries in the island’s fast-growing industrial sector. What shines through the book is his affection for the civilized nature of Bahraini society.' The piece continues, 'Anyone coming to work in Bahrain would do themselves a favour by buying a book called The Inshallah Paper.' For more, click here. 25th May: Taki Does Vanity Fair Taki Theodoracopulos, author of TAKI and his 'High Life' column in the Spectator, has done Vanity Fair’s 'Proust Questionnaire'. Click here to read it online. 20th May: Two Reviews in the Spectator The Cigarette Book, by Chris Harrald and Fletcher Watkins, and TAKI, the last decade of the magazine’s infamous ‘High Life’ column, both feature in the latest issue of the Spectator. For The Cigarette Book, click here. And for TAKI, click here. 19th May: Dark Knights of the Soul Jeremy Simpson’s Dark Knights of the Soul was reviewed in this month’s Literary Review. Click here for more. 18th May: TAKI Taki Theodoracopulos, author of TAKI as well as the notorious 'High Life' column in the Spectator, featured in Sunday's Independent. For the full feature, click here. And to buy the book, which comprises the last decade of his column, click here. The launch party, which took place at Mayfair club Brooks's, featured in the Evening Standard's 'Londoner's Diary'. Click here for more. 17th May: Monica Porter in the Budapest Times 7th May: Dazed & Aroused and Exclusively Independent Gavin James Bower’s Dazed & Aroused has been selected for the View From Here’s 'Exclusively Independent' campaign, which is designed to promote independent publishers through independent bookshops. For an exclusive and deleted extract from the novel, click here. 5th May: Young Hitler Reviewed Claus Hant’s Young Hitler has been reviewed by Simon Quicke. For the full review, click here. 2nd May: Young Hitler in the Sunday Express Claus Hant’s Young Hitler headlined the review section of the Sunday Express this weekend. Click here for the online version. 30th April: Alan Wall in temporel Sylvie’s Riddle author Alan Wall is in the latest issue of French publication temporel, contributing a selection of poetry as well as his essay on 'Shakespearian Uncertainties'. Click here for more. 30th April: Young Hitler Claus Hant’s Young Hitler has been reviewed by Stuart Allen. For more, click here. 29th April: Claus Hant in the UK The author of Young Hitler, published by Quartet on 26th April, is currently in the UK promoting his non-fiction novelisation of the dictator's early years. For his two BBC radio interviews, click here and here. 26th April: La Comtesse The Blood Countess, by Andrei Codrescu, has been made into a film by Julie Delpy, who stars in the leading role. For our Chairman’s thoughts, and more info on the film as well as the book, click here. And to buy a copy, click here. 23rd April: Tofu Landing Author Interview Evan Maloney, author of Tofu Landing,
was interviewed by literary blog Inside Books. For more, click here. 23rd April: Persephone Books Vanessa Hamman will be reading from
her book, A Rose in
Winter, on Thursday 20th May. Click here for more. 22nd April: Michael Cawood Green The South African writer Michael
Cawood Green has been announced as the recipient of the The book will be available in
hardback in June. Congratulations to Michael. 8th April: For the Sake of Silence
Reviewed Michael Cawood Green’s magnificent
novel For The
Sake of Silence has been reviewed by KZN, the literary tourism site
based in Click here for more. 6th April: Naim Attallah in For the full article, click here. 16th March: Karen Ruimy in the Telegraph 11th March: Gavin James Bower in Rahha
Magazine 5th March: The Constant Liberal at
4th March: Andrew Trimbee in Gulf Air
magazine Buy the book here. 4th March: Kill Khalid 22nd February: The Cigarette Book 12th February: Gavin James Bower in
the Guardian 10th February: Dazed & Aroused
Reviewed Gavin James Bower’s Dazed & Aroused
has been reviewed by Booktrust. Read it here. 9th February: A Few Deeds Short of
a Hero Reviewed The 2010 RAF Nurses’ Association
Magazine reviewed the excellent A Few Deeds Short of a Hero by Robert
Widders. Well done Robert. You can buy the book here. A Few Deeds is published with the support of
combat stress, who will receive royalties from each sale. 8th February: Tofu Landing
Reviewed Evan Maloney’s Tofu Landing has
been reviewed by Bookmunch. The east For the full review, click here. 1st February: Remi Kapo at the Remi Kapo, author of Reap the
Forgotten Harvest, will be debating at the Oxford Literary Festival. Remi will join Laura Fish,
broadcaster and author of Strange Music, and James Walvin, author of
numerous books (most recently A Short History of Slavery) and
co-editor of the journal Slavery and Abolition, to discuss, ‘How has
Slavery Influenced Britain?’ Throughout the period of the
trans-Atlantic slave trade, English and African traders paid little heed to
the consequences of their trafficking. The wounds inflicted by this cruel
industry were deep and often unforeseen. But are the scars still showing?
Have the racial stereotypes springing from the shadow of that era, and
fortified by 19th century social and scientific theory, been appropriately
modernised? Do we remain the heirs of a dark, inadequately examined history?
Our writers probe a sensitive issue. The debate will take part at For more, click here. 26th January: Evan Maloney Interviews
Gavin James Bower Tofu Landing
author Evan Maloney took on Dazed & Aroused author Gavin James Bower, and
there was only one winner. Quartet Books. Read the full interview here. Quartet author’s are no strangers to
nepotism. Here’s
the very same Gavin James Bower reviewing James Palumbo’s TOMAS for 3:AM
Magazine. 26th January: Waiting for Princess
Margaret in The Lady Susan Hill has reviewed Emma Tennant’s Waiting
for Princess Margaret for The Lady, which has been revamped and is due for relaunch
this week. Here’s a sneak preview before the magazine hits the shelves: ‘As a portrait of an era not entirely
gone, a place, the way people had of skating through life only touching the
surface, this is fascinating and at times, very touching.’ 25th January: Evan Maloney in the Tofu Landing
author Evan Maloney is
interviewed in the London Word. To read, click here. 22nd January: The Monica Porter's The Paper Bridge
was reviewed in the Mail on Sunday, and the review is now online here. 19th January: The Argentinian
Virgin Reviewed Jim Williams' The Argentinian Virgin has been reviewed by David
Hebblethwaite, who cited the novel's 'depiction of how love might drive
people to commit desperate acts' as a highlight. For the full review, click here. 14th January: Gavin James Bower Meets
Madame Arcati Dazed & Aroused author Gavin James Bower talked to blogger du jour Madame Arcati about sex, Bret Easton Ellis and his debut novel. To read the full interview, click here. 13th January: The Art of (Self-)
Publicity Tofu Landing author Evan Maloney penned a piece
for Open Magazine on the increasing need for artists to be media
savvy. For more, click here. 8th January: Evan Maloney The author of Tofu Landing, due out in February 2010, appeared
in the London Word as well as the Guardian today, writing about
art, books and love. For more, click here
and here. 5th January: Yorick
Blumenfeld in the TLS Yorick Blumenfeld’s The
Waters of Forgetfulness has been given a terrific review in the TLS.
And in case you haven’t managed to get hold of a copy, here’s Terri Apter’s
full review below: The
Waters of Forgetfulness is a fictional memoir of Augustan When
news arrives that the poet Virgil is seeking a visit to the Underworld,
special arrangements are made to enhance and develop the journey. Blumenfeld
suggests that the magnificent descriptions of the descent into hell in the
Aeneid obscure the poet’s knowledge that his experience was the result of a
hoax. But Virgil too has motives for belief: "It is fortunate I can
weave these mythical settings into my poetry," and he goes on to pursue
the sacred mission entrusted to him during that visit by his father’s soul.
Virgil scents the scam, yet he craves a purpose and personal glory, and so
colludes with hoaxers to make his mission real. Rufus, too, is
"forgetful" of his own knowledge. "Everything is becoming more
unknown to me every day," he reflects, clinging to his belief in the
truth of the myths at the same time he dedicates himself to deceiving others.
This disconnection between knowledge and belief, Blumenfeld suggests, may be
a foundation of our culture. The
Waters of Forgetfulness poses questions about how myths are constructed,
and how those who may ruthlessly maintain cultural deceits are complex
humans, with motives that are likely to include financial self interest, respect
for family traditions, and desire for cultural domination. There are no clear
heroes or villains in this intriguing and original novel; myth making can be
sordid and clichéd and cruel, but it is an enduring social activity.
Blumenfeld reminds us of the precarious balance between cultural belief and
personal knowledge, and suggests that civilizations thrive and decline
according to how well this balance is achieved. 4th January: Emma Tennant Emma Tennant’s Waiting
For Princess Margaret has popped up not once but twice on the
blogosphere in the last week. For more, click here
and here. 3rd January: Andrew
Trimbee Andrew Trimbee, author of The
Inshallah Paper, has featured in the Sunday Sun and the Northern
Echo. To read the full articles, click here
and here. Andrew’s novel was also reviewed in Maktoob. For more, click here. 2nd January: The Climate
Caper Climate blog ‘On Climate’ posted a
piece on The Climate Caper by Garth Paltridge. For more, click here. 27th December: The
Sixth Man James McNeish’s The Sixth Man has made the CIA’s
booklist. For more, click here. 21st December: Bleak
Hotel D. M. Thomas’ Bleak Hotel,
chronicling how his novel The White Hotel never made it onto the
silver screen, was mentioned in Vanity Fair, in connection to the
tragic death of the actress Brittany Murphy. For more, click here. 21st December: Dazed
& Aroused Gavin James Bower’s Dazed
& Aroused has been named by Bookmunch as one of its
favourite debuts of 2009. For more, click here. 20th December: The
Inshallah Paper Reviewed Andrew Trimbee’s The
Inshallah Paper has been reviewed by The National, the English
speaking newspaper of the UAE. To read the review, click here. 17th December: Pregnant
Women Joth Shakerley’s Pregnant
Women is proving quite a hit on the blogosphere. Click here
for more. 16th December: Evan
Maloney Evan Maloney, author of Tofu Landing
(Quartet, Spring 2010), featured in the New York Times today. The author also managed to bag
himself a blogger post for the Guardian. For the NYT, click here. And for the Guardian, click here. 15th December: Naim
Attallah in the Londoner’s Diary Quartet Chairman Naim Attallah’s
brand new blog has again featured in the Evening Standard. For all of you that missed it, click here. And for the Chairman’s blog, click here. 10th December: The
Inshallah Paper Andrew Trimbee’s The
Inshallah Paper featured in the Gulf Daily News. For more, click here. And for Quartet Chairman Naim
Attallah’s post on the book, click here. 9th December: Ian Plimer
in the News With For the Guardian’s bit on all
those hacked emails last week, click here. For the Independent on Sunday’s
take on things, click here. And for the FT, click here. 9th December: Bad
Marriage Reviewed John Tagholm’s Bad Marriage
was reviewed by Bookmunch. To read the review, click here. 8th December: Christmas
Style The
Cigarette Book
and Simon Astaire’s And You Are…?
are both causing quite the stir at the moment. The former is in the latest Time
Out’s Christmas books selection, while the latter features here. Who said Christmas couldn’t be cool? 7th December: Catherine
Olsen on Radio Catherine Olsen, author of Sweet
Seduction and the Third Mermaid, was on the Kathryn Raaker radio show
in For more and to listen, click here. 4th December: Naim
Attallah on BBC Radio 4 Quartet Chairman Naim Attallah was on
Radio 4’s Last Word today, talking about William Miller. To listen back to the show, which is
available until 1st January, click here. 2nd December: Ian Plimer
on the Front Page of the Express Professor Ian Plimer, author of the
highly controversial Heaven and
Earth, was back in the headlines on Wednesday, this time on the cover
of the Daily Express. For more, click here. 29th November: Ian Plimer
in the Daily Mail Professor Ian Plimer, author of Heaven and
Earth, featured in the Daily Mail. Click here
for more. 25th November: William
Miller The much-loved William Miller, one of
the founding father’s of Quartet Books, was remembered in the Guardian
today. Click here for more. And for Quartet Chairman Naim
Attallah’s personal tribute, click here. 22nd November: The The Independent reviewed Monica Porter’s The Paper
Bridge, calling it a ‘fascinating book’. To read the full review, click here. 21st November: Joth
Shakerley in The Sun Last week’s controversial launch
campaign to launch Joth Shakerley’s Pregnant
Women featured in The Sun. To read the piece, click here. 18th November: Pregnant
Women The launch campaign for Pregnant
Women started in spectacular fashion today, with a series of giant
posters being unveiled in the capital. For selected coverage, click here
and here. And for more, click here and here. 17th November: Goose “Do you want to make a lot of money
really easily?” So begins GOO$E, Janna Spark’s new novel about a topic that
has perhaps never seemed more timely. “It’s a story about money and
morality, how need turns to greed and the consequences of compromised
principles,” says Spark, (M.Ed,1979), who obviously had no inkling, when she
began writing the book a few years ago, of what would surface in the current
financial crisis. “I’m fascinated by people’s perceptions, actions and
reactions, and how seemingly honest individuals can outsmart anybody.” Spark has been a published author
since the early 1990s, but GOO$E is her first novel and her first book for
adult readers. Her previous books include a multi-sensory literacy program, a
musical fairytale and a unique anthology to benefit children harmed by war. In addition to writing, Spark is an
educational consultant and child psychologist with a private practice in Of her time at Which is more than you can say for
certain characters nowadays – fictional or otherwise. 17th November: Maryam
Sachs Check out the latest issue of Tatler
for a special feature on Without Saying Goodbye by Maryam Sachs. To buy the book, click here. 16th November: The Monica Porter’s The Paper Bridge
was reviewed in the Daily Mail. For more, click here. 14th November: Waiting
For Princess Margaret Waiting for Princess Margaret was reviewed in the Scotsman. To read the review of Emma Tennant’s
terrific memoir, click here. 13th November: Ian Plimer Ian Plimer’s controversial Heaven and
Earth has garnered a lot of attention since its release earlier this
year, most recently on the BBC’s Today programme yesterday and in the Telegraph
today. To listen to the Today show
again – Professor Plimer features around 2:52:57, give or take – click here. And to read the Telegraph piece,
click here. 11th November: Christmas
Books Nicholas Haslam has picked not one
but two Quartet titles for his Christmas wish list: Without
Saying Goodbye by Maryam Sachs and Emma Tennant’s Waiting
For Princess Margaret. To read the full piece, click here. 10th November: Ian Norrie Legendary bookman Ian Norrie, who
died in September, was remembered in the Telegraph. To read the piece, click here. 9th November: Maryam Sachs
in the FT Without Saying Goodbye has been reviewed by the Financial
Times. The novel, by Maryam Sachs, was lauded as ‘an engaging, promising
debut’. To read the full review, click here. And for more, check out Quartet
Chairman Naim Attallah’s latest blog post here. 5th November: Gavin James
Bower Dazed
& Aroused
author Gavin James Bower was interviewed by Norwegian magazine Natt &
Dag. And, as if that wasn’t enough, the model-turned-author also ended up
on the newly launched FLUX website. To read the Natt & Dag
interview, click here. And for FLUX, click here. 30th October: Andrew
Trimbee in The Sun Andrew Trimbee’s The Inshallah
Paper was reviewed in The Sun last week. Here’s what Natasha
Harding had to say about the book: “This book revels a time and place
that will both shock and delight.” Buy the book here. 27th October: Hardy
Amies: The Englishman’s Suit The
Englishman’s Suit
currently features on the sartorially sumptuous Dapper Kid blog. For more, click here. 24th October: John Tagholm
Interview in the Telegraph John Tagholm, author of Bad Marriage,
was interviewed in the Telegraph for Genevieve Fox’s ‘Book Club’. To read the full piece, click here. 24th October: Vanessa
Hannam in the Daily Mail Vanessa Hannam featured in the Daily
Mail over the weekend, talking about coping with bereavement. For more of the A Rose in
Winter author, click here. 23rd October: Simon
Astaire on Talk Radio Simon Astaire, author of And You Are…?
and Private Privilege, was on Talk Radio Europe. To listen to the show, click here.
21st October: Simon
Astaire on BBC Radio And You Are…? author Simon Astaire was on BBC
Radio Oxford yesterday. To listen to the show, click here. 20th October: Alan Wall in
temporel Alan Wall, author of Sylvie’s
Riddle, features in the current edition of temporel, the
French literary blog. To read the works in both French and
English, click here. 19th October: Dazed
& Aroused Review Now we’re normally quite quick on the
uptake at Quartet – not to mention keen on using words that start with the
letter ‘q’ – but this review from way back in August slipped through the net.
So to speak. But that’s the beauty of the
internet, right? So, to read David Hebblethwaite’s
summery review of Dazed
& Aroused by Gavin
James Bower, as if it had just been written, click here. Just try and ignore the fact that the
weather’s taken a turn for the worse, eh… 15th October: Simon
Astaire in the And You Are…? – the latest novel by Simon Astaire
– was reviewed in the Oxford Times. To read the article, click here. 13th October: Launch for The
The publication party for our new
edition of Monica Porter’s The Paper Bridge, first published
nearly 30 years ago and now re-issued with a new Introduction to celebrate
the anniversary of the collapse of communist Europe, was held at the
Hungarian Cultural Centre in Speeches by the Deputy Hungarian
Ambassador Klara Breuer, as well as the Monica’s website,
(http://monicaporter.co.uk), hosts pictures from the party and a full
description of her fascinating book. As we move towards even greater
integration in the European federal ‘experiment’, The Paper Bridge is
essential reading for understanding of our Hungarian cousins. For more on Monica, click here. 12th October: Simon
Astaire on BBC London Simon Astaire – author of And You Are…?
– was on Vanessa Feltz’s BBC London show on Saturday. You can listen to the show here. 7th October: Gavin James
Bower in The Sun Model-turned-author Gavin James Bower
featured in The Sun, giving a frank insight into what happens behind the
scenes in the Fashion world. To read his ‘Confessions of a Male
Model’, click here. 6th October: Hardy Amies Hardy
Amies: The Englishman’s Suit features in this month’s Esquire. To read the article, and for the
fashion blogger Mr. Gentry’s take on the book, click here
and then here. 6th October: Bad
Marriage Reviewed David Hebblethwaite reviewed John
Tagholm’s Bad Marriage. To read the review, click here. 5th October: In a Naked
Place Selected for the Daily Mail’s October Reading Group Shirley Eskapa’s In a Naked Place
has been picked for the Mail’s ‘You’ reading group in October. To read the full article, click here. 1st October: Gavin James
Bower Interviewed in Who’s Jack Mag Dazed
& Aroused
author Gavin James Bower
features in the latest issue of Who’s Jack Mag, out today. To buy the magazine or read the
interview online, click here. 22nd September: Monica
Porter in the Jewish Chronicle Monica Porter, author of The Paper
Bridge: A Return to Budapest, has written a piece for the Jewish
Chronicle. To read the full article, click here. 15th September: Simon
Astaire’s And You Are…? Reviewed Former celebrity super agent Simon
Astaire’s hilarious depiction of life behind the scenes in To read the review, click here. 14th September: George
Zakhem’s Men Who Dream Can Do Reviewed Al Hayat reviewed George Zakhem’s Men Who
Dream Can Do. (The following is taken from an English translation of
the review, originally published on 14th September 2009.) George’s Zakhem’s Memoir by Susannah Tarbush ‘At book fairs and international
seminars on Arab literature, participants often lament the fact there are so
few memoirs and autobiographies by Arabs available in English. In The few memoirs by Arabs that have
been published in English tend to be by writers, scholars or political
personalities. There are fewer by figures from the world of business. The
publication of “Men Who Can Dream: A Memoir” by prominent Lebanese contractor
and engineer George Zakhem is therefore to be welcomed. Zakhem’s memoir was
published recently by Quartet Books, the London-based publishing company
founded by Palestinian publisher and businessman Naim Attallah. It is an appropriate time for Zakhem
to look back over his career and life. It is only now that Zakhem, who is 74 this
year, is planning for his retirement. His sons Marwan and Salim and his
youngest brother Albert are spearheading the growth of the Zakhem business. Zakhem has led an eventful life. From
his humble beginnings in the village of Deddeh in the Al-Koura district of
North Lebanon, where he was born in 1935, Zakhem and his brothers built up an
engineering and contracting business that has operated in many parts of the
world including the Middle East, Europe, the US and Africa. The business has
been though major challenges and setbacks, as Zakhem describes, but it has
grown to have an annual turnover of hundreds of millions of dollars. At the same time, George has over the
past quarter of a century been a major philanthropist in the field of
Lebanese higher education. He writes: “”By the year 2005, we had contributed
over $18 million to institutions of higher education in Zakhem has written the story of his
life in straightforward prose, with no attempt at a flowery literary style.
Contracting and engineering might be thought of as dry and factual subjects,
and Zakhem gives technical and financial details of the projects he has
undertaken. But he also conveys something of the excitement in bidding for
new contracts, of the fierce competition to win business and of the
personality clashes and feuds that are sometimes seen. The district of origin, Al-Koura, was
notable for two reasons: “First, it boasted the highest percentage of
educated people in Zakhem was born in Deddeh to parents
who had experienced considerable hardship. His father Salim’s father Tannous
had gone out to Zakhem dedicates his book to his
parents Salim and Hanneh, and when he financed the construction of a building
at George Zakhem still has much feeling
for the Al-Koura district, and remembers its hills and olive groves, valleys
and brooks, and the different types of tree. The first English he ever heard
spoken was from Australian soldiers who requisitioned the upper floor of his
family’s house in the Second World War. The Zakhem family is of the Greek
Orthodox faith associated with the George pays tribute to an outstanding
educator of boys in the Koura area, George Ibrahim Abdullah who opened a
school at Bishmizene, 12 kilometres from Deddeh. George and one of his
brothers would walk for two hours there on Mondays with their mother and stay
there with an aunt during the week. When George Ibrahim Abdullah moved and
set up a school the In 1948 George began his secondary
education at There was one Lebanese business
personality above all who was a role model and mentor to George, and that was
the legendary Lebanese MP and contractor Emile Bustani, the founder of the
Contracting and Trading Company (CAT). Whiles studying at AUB George had
summer work experience with CAT in When Zakhem decided to leave CAT in
1962 because he did not feel he was being properly rewarded., Bustani
suggested that he and Zakhem set up a company in which Bustani would be the
“sleeping” partner and Zakhem the active partner. This joint venture undertook several
projects in Bustani was expected by many to
become president of After Bustani’s death Zakhem decided
to liquidate his partnership with CAT and to launch his own business. In
early 1964 he and his brother Abdullah registered Zakhem Engineering in Zakhem gives several dramatic
examples of how politics sometimes disrupted business. In In July 1972 trouble came in “A few years after the In 1975 George was detained by the
police in Abdullah Zakhem’s private jet was
barred when it tried to enter Libyan airspace, and the Libyans forced the
Zakhem’s company to cease operations in In 1975 George Zakhem left Trying to working on government
reconstruction contracts in Zakhem executed five government
projects in Zakhem has been very active in
Lebanese higher education since the early 1980s, as a donor and fundraiser.
He was intimately involved in the transformation of Beirut University College
(BUC) into the Some of Zakhem’s activities in higher
education caused controversy: there was for example widespread opposition to
his pushing for the building of a campus of BUC at He writes of how he was never happy
over MP and publisher Ghassan Tueini’s presidency of the university. Tueini
was furious when Zakhem called in 1993 for his removal, although according to
Zakhem he later cooperated over finding the most suitable person to replace
him. Zakhem had always favoured former foreign minister Elie Salem as
president of the university, a position that To cover its losses in Zakhem’s memoir gives his own
perspective on the events he has been involved in, and others are likely to
have their own version of history. But his memoir is a lively read, and is also
a useful contribution to the social and business history of 7th September: Unperson
Reviewed in the TLS Denis Lehane’s Unperson
was reviewed in the TLS at the end of last month. Here’s what reviewer
George Brock had to say: ‘This sad and angry book is a first
person account of the life of Denis Lehane, once a journalist, now a broken
man. Until 1983 Lehane was a successful newspaper reporter who had made his
name in his native Or so he writes. Even on his own
account, Lehane sees conspiracies when people question his version of events,
is rarely grateful to those who help him, has a history of unfortunate
personal relationships and threatens people. So it is just possible that his
entire account is a paranoid fantasy concocted by a man who once suffered a nervous
breakdown and remains unstable. His book is not helped by a confusing
sequence and an absence of evidence open to cross-checking. Despite all this, I’d judge the
thrust of the story to be right. The reader can only sympathize with Lehane’s
effort, ill and poor as he now is, to leave a mark on the public record. His
tragedy was to be caught on the fringes of a vicious, high-stakes
intelligence war that everyone now wants to forget. He was exactly the kind
of journalist useful to intelligence agencies in operations against the IRA:
the British likely suggested that he be recruited. When Lehane wouldn’t play,
it isn’t clear why the CIA then took the drastic step of spreading rumours
which started the ruin of his career (Lehane’s self-destructive tendencies
did the rest). Over-reaction to a threat to expose the failed recruitment? As
the author and journalist Phillip Knightley says in his sympathetic
introduction, intelligence agencies do smear people and it works. Lehane’s
credibility was undermined. The bleak best outcome would be that
one day the existence of this book may prompt a conscientious historian in
the CIA archives to lay out the facts of a misuse of power with terrible
consequences.’ 7th September: A World
According To Women Reviewed in the Telegraph Saturday’s Telegraph included
a fantastic review for A
World According to Women, Jane McLoughlin’s scathing attack on
unthinking females everywhere. To read the review online, click here. 6th September: Gavin James
Bower in the Sunday Telegraph Gavin James Bower, author of Dazed
& Aroused, features in today’s Sunday Telegraph, writing
about his time as a fashion model for the Stella supplement. To read the full feature online,
click here. 5th September: Young
Hitler Website Launched Claus Hant, author of the
controversial non-fiction novel Young Hitler,
set for release next year, has launched a website. For a comprehensive background on the
novel and the man behind it, including excerpts and expert opinion, click here. 3rd September: Glowing
Endorsement for The Waters of Forgetfulness Terri Apter, of ‘In The Waters of Forgetfulness
Yorick Blumenfeld makes a new and significant contribution to recent texts
about the long-standing consequences of fraud in religious and cultural beliefs.
But this novel takes us far beyond the conspiracies described in The Holy
Blood and The Holy Grail and The DaVinci Code. The novel
poses questions about how myths are constructed, and how those who so
ruthlessly maintain cultural deceits are complex humans, with motives that
range from comfortable self interest to respect for family traditions.
Blumenfeld exposes the all too human tendency to disconnect knowledge from
belief as he shows that those who dedicate their lives to maintaining myths
they know to be false nonetheless have faith in the truth of other myths,
forgetting that these, too, are fabricated. There are no clear heroes or
villains in this subtle novel; those who discover the machinations of deceit
are not the simple honest smart rebels portrayed elsewhere; here they have
political or cultural aims themselves, reasonable aims with which the reader
may have sympathy. In transposing the setting from a Christian society to
Augustan Rome, Blumenfeld engages anew with the question about the Ancient
Romans’ relationship to their Gods and Goddesses. The result has the
after-the-fact obviousness associated with a brilliant idea.’ 2nd September: Sweet
Seduction in the Daily Mail Catherine Olsen’s Sweet
Seduction and the Third Mermaid featured in Richard Kay’s Daily
Mail column. To read the full article, click here
– and scroll to the bottom. 27th August: TOMAS
Extract in the Guardian There’s an extract of James Palumbo’s
TOMAS
in the Guardian. The explosive debut has been shortlisted for the
paper’s ‘Not The Booker Prize’. To read the extract, click here. 25th August: TOMAS
in 3:AM Magazine James Palumbo’s TOMAS was
reviewed in 3:AM Magazine, by none other than Quartet author Gavin
James Bower. We know. Nepotism is rife… You can read the review here. 24th August: TOMAS
Shortlisted for the Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker Prize’ James Palumbo’s explosive debut novel
TOMAS has made the Guardian’s
Booker Prize parody shortlist. To read the latest Books Blog post,
and see the full shortlist, click here. 23rd August: A World
According To Women in the Sunday Times Sunday Times columnist Melanie McDonagh gave a
very knowing nod to Jane McLoughlin’s A
World According To Women, while lauding the most unlikely symbol of
girl power, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. ‘A World According to Women, a
provocative book by Jane McLoughlin, the former Guardian women’s
editor, suggests that women have pretty well inherited the earth but because
we’re in thrall to a particularly emotive brand of popular culture this has
resulted in an anti-rational strain in contemporary politics. In other words,
women tend not to respond to argument because our brains have been
collectively rotted by women’s magazines and babyish television.’ To read the full piece, click here.
21st August: Chelsea Footprints, a Thirties chronicle by Angela
Hughes, was reviewed in International Record Review, July/August 2009
issue. Here’s an excerpt: ‘One reads the book and is reminded
that much which strikes today’s citizen as new is far from it. Promiscuity is
an example ... I have mentioned only a few of the men and women whose
footprints mingled with those of Herbert and Suzanne Hughes. Eyebrows may
rise as one reads other entries in SH’s journal. Today’s prophets of doom may
be interested in this paragraph: “At the recital the following day [December
3rd, 1932] Freddie Gaisberg of HMV told Susie and Herbert that business was
very bad: the slump was making itself felt. ‘I thought you were very busy at
Hayes,’ HH said. ‘Oh yes,’ Gaisberg replied, ‘making our coffins!’” Ten pages
of notes are included, followed by 20 pages of short, biographical facts
about many of the folks who made those footprints. It is a fascinating book.’ 20th August: A World
According To Women in The Spectator Jane McLoughlin’s A
World According To Women was reviewed in The Spectator. To read the full review, click here. 18th August: Dazed
& Aroused Reviewed on 6Music Model-turned-author Gavin James
Bower’s Dazed
& Aroused was reviewed on Cerys Matthews’ 6Music show today. You can listen again to the show here. 10th August: Quartet Sign Young
Hitler Novel Claus Hant’s controversial novel on
the early years of Adolf Hitler will be publisher by Quartet in Spring 2010.
Julian Friedmann, talent agent and blogger, offers an insight into how the
deal came about. To read the post, click here. 4th August: Kill Khalid
Still Dominating the Blogosphere Paul McGeough’s Kill Khalid:
The Failed Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas
featured on a Palestinian blog, posted yesterday. To read the article, click here. 3rd August: Dazed &
Aroused Reviewed in The Independent Gavin James Bower’s razor sharp debut
Dazed
& Aroused is reviewed in The Independent today as ‘The
Monday Book’. To read the review online, click here. 31st July: Maya Angelou
Praises Reap The Forgotten Harvest Reap
the Forgotten Harvest, by Remi Kapo, has received a glowing recommendation from Dr.
Maya Angelou. The acclaimed poet and memoirist had this to say: ‘Reap the Forgotten Harvest
can be read for it is entertainment. It also can be read for its timeliness.
If we are to rid ourselves of the blight of racism and see where we are
going, we need to see where we have all come from, and how we became who and
what we are. This book will help us.’ 31st July: Dazed &
Aroused in the Gavin James Bower’s Dazed
& Aroused featured in the Sheffield Star. The young author went to
university in the To read the full feature, click here. 31st July: James Palumbo
on BBC Radio Two Click here
to listen to James Palumbo, author of TOMAS,
talking to Claudia Winkleman from last week. Available for one day only – so
hurry! 30th July: Josef Herman
Remembered Reviewed in the Jewish Chronicle Josef Herman Remembered, a celebration of the artist’s work
edited by Nini Herman, was reviewed in the Jewish Chronicle. To read the review, click here. 30th July: Gavin James
Bower in 3:AM Magazine Dazed & Aroused author Gavin James Bower was
interviewed by Andrew Gallix, editor
of 3:AM Magazine. For the full interview, click here. 28th July: Gavin James
Bower on BBC Radio Northern author Gavin
James Bower featured on a BBC Radio Lancashire panel show yesterday. To listen to the show, which is
available on BBC iPlayer until Tuesday 4th August, click here. 27th July: Dazed &
Aroused Review in Bookmunch Gavin James Bower’s Dazed
& Aroused was reviewed by the literary blog Bookmunch. For the full review, click here. 23rd July: Kill Khalid
Hits Paul McGeough’s controversial Kill
Khalid was picked up on a French blog. For those fluent in French, click here
to read more. 21st July: Kill Khalid
in The First Post Phillip Knightly has written yet
another fantastic piece on Paul McGeough’s Kill Khalid:
The Failed Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas,
commenting on the British media’s apparent fear of the book and indicting
British journalists for their relative silence. For the full feature, which is on the
front page, click here. 17th July: Gavin James
Bower in 3:AM Gavin James Bower features in the
latest ‘Friday I’m In Love’ in 3:AM Magazine. The author of Dazed
& Aroused, which is published by Quartet Books this week, writes
candidly about his big…ego. For the article, click here. 15th July: Jane McLoughlin
on BBC Radio 4 Jane McLoughlin, author of A World According to Women, featured on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. To listen to the discussion, featuring Jane and activist Julie Bindel, click here. 13th July: James Palumbo
in the Sunday Times and Dazed Digital Author of TOMAS James Palumbo
featured in the Sunday Times yesterday, and Dazed Digital
today. For the Times interview, click
here. And for Dazed, click here. 9th July: Ian Plimer in
the Daily Mail and The Spectator Ian Plimer and his polemic against
the climate change The title also caught Andrew
Alexander’s attention in yesterday’s Daily Mail. For the Mail piece, click here.
And for The Spectator, click here. 7th July: Kill Khalid
in the Telegraph Paul McGeough’s Kill Khalid
has been reviewed in the Telegraph. For the full review, click here. 5th July: Palumbo in the
News James Palumbo, author of TOMAS (published by
Quartet Books this month), featured in not one but two national newspapers
this week – talking about how he kicked the drugs gangs out of his Ministry
of Sound club before building it into a global business empire. For his piece in the Daily Mail,
click here. And for yesterday’s Times,
click here. 3rd July 2009: Kill
Khalid in Literary Review Paul McGeough’s controversial book Kill Khalid:
The Failed Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas
features in the latest Literary
Review. For a PDF of the article, click here. 1st July 2009: Kill
Khalid in Khaleej Times Below is an edited version of Philip
Knightley’s recent article, taken from ONE
MAN’S VIEW How could this be? It has to do with
the story the book tells. In 1997, the Israeli intelligence service Mossad
tried to assassinate the Hamas leader, Khalid Mishal, in broad daylight on
the streets of
30th June 2009: TOMAS
Reviewed by Stephen Fry Click here
for Stephen Fry’s review of James Palumbo’s explosive debut novel TOMAS,
published by Quartet Books in July 2009. 23rd June 2009: Dazed
& Aroused in 3:AM Magazine Gavin James Bower’s razor sharp debut
Dazed
& Aroused is featured in 3:AM Magazine. The young author
shared his ‘Top 5’ tracks from the novel. The cult mag called Dazed &
Aroused ‘a Less Than Zero for the Offbeat Generation’. Click here
for the full interview. And for more on Gavin James Bower,
click here. 16th June 2009: Kill
Khalid Takes Over the World Wide Web Paul McGeough’s controversial Kill Khalid:
The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas
is receiving widespread praise from across the web. Just Google ‘Kill Khalid’
and you’ll be inundated with reviews, comment and features – but because
we’re nice like that, we’ve made things easier by providing a digest of the
very best below. For the New York Post’s take
on things, click here.
And for a review in the Washington Post, click here. For a featured excerpt and podcast in
Vanity Fair, click here. For an Australian perspective, click here. And somewhat closer to home, in the Guardian,
click here. 15th June 2009: TOMAS
Review in Monocle James Palumbo’s explosive debut TOMAS is
reviewed in the latest issue of Monocle. They call it “a savage satire
of the highest calibre”. For more and to get your hands on a
copy of the magazine, go to the Monocle website here. And for more on TOMAS, click here. 12th June 2009: The
Imperium of Steves Hits D.C. Pae, author of The Imperium
of Steves, a dark comedy about a serial killer that’s unlike anything
you’ll have ever read, is featured in an in-depth interview-cum-review here.
Check it out for more on the elusive
author and her fantastic debut. 11th May 2009: Author of By
The Rivers of Babylon Scoops International Media Award Khalid Kishtainy, author of By The
Rivers of Babylon, was presented The International Media Award at a
ceremony organised by the International Council for Press and Broadcasting on
11th May for his life long contribution to Arab journalism and work
for peace. Here’s what Mr. Kishtainy had to say on receiving the award: ‘This is quite a surprise for me. But
as it is, I want to give a warning to the organisers. A few months ago a
foreign businessman asked me on his first visit to |