Read Piers P. Livres

"Piers Paul Read is one of England's most accomplished novelists, and Scarpia is among his finest novels." --The Wall Street Journal It is the late eighteenth century and Sicilian nobleman Vitellio Scarpia finds himself penniless and in disgrace on the streets of Rome. After leaving his home in pursuit of a military career, his fiery passion has seen him expelled from the Spanish royal guard and left to seek his fortune in Italy; a fortune inseparably bound to the Pope, whose rule is put in question by the French Revolution. Scarpia enrolls in the papal army and is soon taken up by a countess eager to have a handsome young officer at her side. She introduces Scarpia into Roman society, and he is both enthralled and agitated by its mix of religiosity, sophistication, decadence, and intrigue. Then, on a mission to Venice, he meets the gifted, beautiful singer Floria Tosca. And as the armies of revolutionary France advance into Italy, and war and revolution engulf the whole peninsula, these two lives become entwined. Steeped in factual detail and exploring the lives--part historical, part fictional--of figures from Puccini's famous opera Tosca, Scarpia shines a light into dusty corridors of history and dark corners of the human soul.

A compelling, new and highly accessible account of one of the most high- profile and influential miscarriages of justice in French history: The Dreyfus Affair

On Thursday August 8, 1963, fifteen masked men stopped the night train from Glasgow to London and robbed it of GBP2,500,000 (the equivalent of GBP41 million today). It was called the crime of the century, and the thieves were relentlessly pursued by Scotland Yard until half the gang were behind bars serving huge prison terms.

The Death of a Pope is a powerful novel by the acclaimed British writer Piers Paul Read. Juan Uriarte, a handsome and outspoken Spanish ex-priest, seems to be the model of nonviolence and compassion for the poor and downtrodden. So why is he on trial, accused of terrorist activities? His worldwide Catholic charitable outreach program is suspected of being a front for radicals. The trial is covered by Kate Ramsay, a young British reporter, who sets out to undercover the truth about Uriarte and his work. She travels with him to Africa to see his work first hand but soon finds herself attracted to him. Meanwhile an international conspiracy is growing, one that reaches into the Vatican itself. When the death of Pope John Paul II brings the conclave that will elect Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI, a terrorist plot involving blackmail, subterfuge, and mass murder begins to fall into place… a plot that could spell disaster for the Catholic Church and the world. Piers Paul Read's powerful tale combines vivid characters, high drama, love, betrayal, faith, and redemption in a story of intrigue, of church espionage, and an attempt to destroy the longest continuous government in the world - the Papacy. The Death of a Pope races toward an unexpected and unforgettable conclusion.

The dramatic, ultimately tragic history of the Knights Templar, the largest and most powerful military order of the Crusades. schovat popis