{"title":"Books by Charles King","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781529942873","title":"Every Valley","description":"Every Valley is a glittering narrative history of intertwined lives that tells the story behind one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, Handel's Messiah.   ‘A delicious history of music, power, love, genius, royalty and adventure. Unforgettable.’ SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORELondon - Dublin, 1741-42.   An actress mired in scandal plans her escape from an abusive husband.   A penniless sea captain sets out to rescue the city’s abandoned infants.   An African Muslim and former captive in the colonies becomes a celebrity.   A grieving political dissident seeks release from his torment.   And a great composer to kings – George Frideric Handel – now ill and straining to keep an audience’s attention, faces a decision that will secure his place in history.   This is the extraordinary story of Handel's Messiah.   ‘A mesmerizing journey through one of the most fascinating and creative moments in human history’ AMANDA FOREMAN‘Riveting’ The Times Book of the Week'Fascinating . . . cinematic . . . truly informative, imaginative and engaging' Financial Times'An absolute delight' PETER FRANKOPAN","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55896447451509,"sku":"9781529942873","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781529942873_48f51538-4fe8-43cb-897c-79854daa800b.jpg?v=1786023782"},{"product_id":"9780393342369","title":"Odessa – Genius and Death in a City of Dreams","description":"From Alexander Pushkin and Isaac Babel to Zionist renegade Vladimir Jabotinsky and filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, an astonishing cast of geniuses helped shape Odessa, a legendary haven of cosmopolitan freedom on the Black Sea. Drawing on a wealth of original sources and offering the first detailed account of the destruction of the city's Jewish community during the Second World War, Charles King's Odessa is both history and elegy—a vivid chronicle of a multicultural city and its remarkable resilience over the past two centuries.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56288130498933,"sku":"9780393342369","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780393342369_34b0c18a-c687-4686-833a-2ee77c6f37e1.jpg?v=1786013424"},{"product_id":"9780393351866","title":"Midnight at the Pera Palace – The Birth of Modern Istanbul","description":"When the Ottoman Empire collapsed, so many spies mingled in the lobby of Istanbul’s Pera Palace Hotel that the manager put up a sign asking them to relinquish seats to paying guests.   As the multi-ethnic empire became a Turkish republic, Russian émigrés sold family heirlooms, an African American impresario founded a jazz club and Miss Turkey became the first Muslim beauty queen. Turkey’s president Kemal Atatürk, Muslim feminist Halide Edip, the exiled Leon Trotsky and the future Pope John XXIII fought for new visions of human freedom. During the Second World War, German intellectuals ran from the Nazis while Jewish activists spirited refugees out of occupied Europe. This pioneering portrait of urban reinvention re-creates an era when an ancient city became a global crossroads—a moment when Europe’s closest Muslim metropolis became its vital port of refuge.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56288433340789,"sku":"9780393351866","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780393351866_d4dd9b1f-aa6e-446e-a4e4-5ca9588fef92.jpg?v=1786013476"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-charles-king.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}