{"title":"European history","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"a-woman-in-berlin","title":"A Woman In Berlin","description":"\u003cb\u003e'This is a devastating book. It is matter-of-fact, makes no attempt to score political points, does not attempt to solicit sympathy for its protagonist and yet is among the most chilling indictments of war I have ever read. Everybody, in particular every woman ought to read it' ARUNDHATI ROY \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'One of the most important personal accounts ever written about the effects of war and defeat' ANTONY BEEVOR \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBetween April 20th and June 22nd 1945 the anonymous author of \u003ci\u003eA Woman in Berlin\u003c\/i\u003e wrote about life within the falling city as it was sacked by the Russian Army. Fending off the boredom and deprivation of hiding, the author records her experiences, observations and meditations in this stark and vivid diary. Accounts of the bombing, the rapes, the rationing of food and the overwhelming terror of death are rendered in the dispassionate, though determinedly optimistic prose of a woman fighting for survival amidst the horror and inhumanity of war. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis diary was first published in America in 1954 in an English translation and in Britain in 1955. A German language edition was published five years later in Geneva and was met with tremendous controversy. In 2003, over forty years later, it was republished in Germany to critical acclaim - and more controversy. This diary has been unavailable since the 1960s and this is a new English translation. \u003ci\u003eA Woman in Berlin\u003c\/i\u003e is an astonishing and deeply affecting account.","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":37542694092979,"sku":"9781844087976","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9781844087976-original.jpg?v=1771431993"},{"product_id":"the-secret-life-of-dorothy-soames","title":"The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ch3\u003eThe true story of a foundling.\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'Extraordinary ... A fascinating, moving book: part history of the Foundling Hospital and the development of child psychology, part Cowan's own story, and part that of Cowan's mother' LUCY SCHOLES, \u003ci\u003eTELEGRAPH\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eGrowing up in a wealthy enclave outside San Francisco, Justine Cowan's life seems idyllic. But her mother's unpredictable temper drives Justine from home the moment she is old enough to escape. It is only after her mother dies that she finds herself pulling at the threads of a story half-told - her mother's upbringing in London's Foundling Hospital. Haunted by this secret history, Justine travels across the sea and deep into the past to discover the girl her mother once was.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Here, with the vividness of a true storyteller, she pieces together her mother's childhood alongside the history of the Foundling Hospital: from its idealistic beginnings in the eighteenth century, how it influenced some of England's greatest creative minds - from Handel to Dickens, its shocking approach to childcare and how it survived the Blitz only to close after the Second World War.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e This was the environment that shaped a young girl then known as Dorothy Soames, who was left behind by a mother forced by stigma and shame to give up her child; who withstood years of physical and emotional abuse, dreaming of escape as German bombers circled the skies, unaware all along that her own mother was fighting to get her back.\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Secret Life of Dorothy Soames \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eis a gripping memoir and revelatory investigation into the history of the Foundling Hospital and one girl who grew up in its care - the author's own mother.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ch3\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Life of Dorothy Soames\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e'As a social history of the Foundling Hospital, this is a fascinating read' \u003ci\u003eSUNDAY TIMES\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 'Page-turning and profoundly moving' VIRGINIA NICHOLSON\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Part-memoir, part-detective story, \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Life Of Dorothy Soames \u003c\/i\u003ewill break your heart then piece it back together again\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e... Simultaneously exploring her mother's story of escape and the history of the Foundling Hospital, this is an unforgettable read' \u003ci\u003eSTYLIST\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e 'A gripping true story' CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eORPHAN TRAIN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 'Breathtaking' ADRIENNE BRODEUR, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eWILD GAME\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40710211043507,"sku":"9780349013190","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0511\/3364\/4979\/products\/9780349013190-original.jpg?v=1755317347"},{"product_id":"the-real-bohemians","title":"The Real Bohemians","description":"\u003cb\u003eA beautifully written and fascinating new history of early twentieth century bohemian London, one that places forgotten female voices firmly at its centre\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEarly 20th century bohemian London was supposedly a home for outsiders, but accounts of it have been dominated by a set who were born insiders: the well-connected and wealthy Bloomsbury Group of Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Lytton Strachey. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut we have neglected another Bohemia, that of artists who did not fit that rarefied world - and are now mainly forgotten. And because the occupants of the fringes, and the forgotten, often find their way there because of their sex, this alternative Bohemia is a story of women. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn THE REAL BOHEMIANS, Alicia Foster gives us the stories of fifteen women, well known whilst alive but increasingly lost to us. These were artists, writers and performers who operated as outsiders, but whose work and influence was profound.  Through a series of ten meetings between them, against a backdrop of the haunts of bohemian London - bedsits and flats, Soho and the Café Royal on Piccadilly - these lives and the influence of their work, are unveiled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFeaturing: \u003cbr\u003eKatherine Mansfield * George Banks * Anne Estelle Rice * Jessica Dismorr * Helen Saunders * Katie Gliddon * Dora Carrington * Dolly Henry * Laura Knight * Anna Pavlova * Lydia Lopokova * Iris Tree * Nancy Cunard * Nina Hamnett * Dorelia McNeill","brand":"Virago","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":55648512868728,"sku":"9780349019369","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/store.virago.co.uk\/collections\/european-history.oembed","provider":"Virago Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}