Giles Foden's Books

The Last King of Scotland

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Nicholas Garrigan has fled his native Scotland, and his parents' expectations, to take a position as a doctor in a remote rural outpost of Central Africa. Shortly after his arrival in Uganda, he is called to the scene of a bizarre car accident: Idi Amin, manically driving his red Maserati down the dirt tracks of Garrigan's small village, has run over a cow. Garrigan binds Amin's sprained wrist and puts the incident behind him, until a letter arrives from the Minister of Health informing him that Amin--in his obsession with all things Scottish--has ap-pointed Garrigan his personal physician. Garrigan is instructed to settle into State House, on the grounds of Amin's residence, immediately. Later, Garrigan will reflect that had he known what awaited him, had he foreseen the terrifying concatenation of events this decision would set in motion, he would have boarded the first plane back to Scotland. He will wonder why it never occurred to him to simply say no. But--flattered, disarmed, and intrigued, if uneasily, by the pros-pect of entering Amin's inner circle--he steps into the role of caring for the man who will turn out to be one of the most brutal dictators of all time. So begins Nick Garrigan's journey into a Con-radian heart of darkness, as his own moral center battles weakly against, and then succumbs to, the dark and irresistible seductions of Idi Amin Dada, whose cruelty and cunning are masked by brilliant rhetoric, hilarious wit, and electrifying personal magnetism. When at last Nick awakens to the horrors of Amin's regime, he must awaken also to his own complicity in it--he cared for Amin, as a doctor and as a friend--and to the knowledge that he is both a traitor to his own country and a prisoner in his new one. By turns comic and chilling, Giles Foden's The Last King of Scotland is a masterful debut from a remarkable talent--a riveting history of "blood, misery and foolishness" that lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned, and a profound meditation on conscience, charisma, and the slow corruption of the human heart.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

350

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307808548

ISBN 13

9780307808547

Turbulence

A novel

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Turbulence

A novel

By: Giles Foden

The D-day landings—the fate of 2.5 million men, three thousand landing craft and the entire future of Europe depend on the right weather conditions on the English Channel on a single day. A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? And what is the relationship between predictability and turbulence, one of the last great mysteries of modern physics? Wallace Ryman has devised a system that comprehends all of this—but he is a reclusive pacifist who stubbornly refuses to divulge his secrets. Henry Meadows, a young math prodigy from the Met Office, is sent to Scotland to uncover Ryman’s system and apply it to the Normandy landings. But turbulence proves more elusive than anyone could have imagined. When Henry meets Gill, Ryman’s beautiful wife, events, like the weather, begin to spiral out of control. From Giles Foden, prizewinning author of The Last King of Scotland, a gripping blend of fact and fiction in a novel about how human beings deal with uncertainty.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

337

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307593657

ISBN 13

9780307593658

Thirst

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Thirst

By: Giles Foden

Every new novel by Giles Foden is something to celebrate - my hand leaps to the shelf' PAUL THEROUX 'The most original and interesting novelist of his generation' ALLAN MASSIE, SCOTSMAN 2039, the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. 160,000 kilometres-square of ocean-crashed desert, littered with bones, shipwrecks and shattered dreams. Cat Brosnan, a young scientist, has just arrived, aiming to track down a much-needed water source believed to lie hidden within this vast and hostile landscape. Six years before, the search for that same fabled aquifer had led Cat's own mother to abandon her daughter in Ireland, never to be heard of again. Now Cat is ready to find out what happened to her mother, to succeed where she failed and finally discover the whereabouts of a freshwater reserve hidden under sand and rock. But she's not the only one looking for the aquifer: mining corporations want it, foreign governments too, never mind all those others who need it just to survive. In a world of sand, sun and water wars, the aquifer begins to seem like a fantasy, Cat's quest for it a mission to find her own true self.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

300

Publisher

Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published Date

ISBN 10

0297868233

ISBN 13

9780297868231

Turbulence

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Turbulence

By: Giles Foden

The D-day landings the fate of 2.5 million men, 3000 landing craft and the entire future of Europe depends on the right weather conditions on the English Channel on a single day. A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? And what is the relationship between predictability and turbulence, one of the last great mysteries of modern physics? Wallace Ryman has devised a system that comprehends all of this but he is a reclusive pacifist who stubbornly refuses to divulge his secrets. Mark Latchford, a young maths prodigy from the Met Office, is sent to Scotland to discover Ryman s system and apply it to the Normandy landings. But turbulence proves more elusive than anyone could have imagined and events, like the weather, begin to spiral out of control.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

353

Published Date

ISBN 10

0571248071

ISBN 13

9780571248070

Zanzibar

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Zanzibar

By: Giles Foden

A fascinating read: Wilbur Smith meets William Boyd in the warm seas and spice-scented air of Zanzibar' New Statesman 'A riveting thriller' Observer The year is 1998. Nick, a marine biologist, is working on coral reef protection off the idyllic island of Zanzibar. While on a trip to mainland Tanzania, he meets Miranda, who works in the US embassy there. As romance blooms, the couple could be forgiven for thinking they are living in paradise - until they find themselves embroiled in a desperate terrorist conspiracy. From the bestselling author of the LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

361

Publisher

Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published Date

ISBN 10

1474624324

ISBN 13

9781474624329

The Last King of Scotland

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Last King of Scotland

By: Giles Foden

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

350

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307808548

ISBN 13

9780307808547

Ladysmith

A Novel

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Ladysmith

A Novel

By: Giles Foden

From the author of the Whitbread Award-winning The Last King of Scotland comes a spellbinding tale of a town under siege in colonial Africa and a young woman who finds love and freedom in the midst of a devastating war. The year is 1899, and the South African town of Ladysmith is surrounded by Boer forces. No one expects the siege to last, but it does, for a harrowing 120 days -- four months of dire emergency: food shortages during which bread is made with laundry detergent and the soldiers' horses are killed to feed the troops; bombings that force the townspeople into tunnels and makeshift shelters. But in the thick of shells and shrapnel, disease and deprivation, one young woman discovers an unexpected freedom: a chance to break old loyalties and establish new loves. Even as the world she knows collapses around her, Bella Kiernan finds the courage to escape from convention, to rebel against the political forces that threaten her homeland and to pursue her life's greatest romance. Based in part on the letters of Foden's great-grandfather, a British trooper, Ladysmith is a magnificent love story, a vivid portrait of the first modern war of the twentieth century and clear confirmation of Giles Foden's standing as one of Britain's most formidably talented young novelists. From the Hardcover edition.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

304

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0375708375

ISBN 13

9780375708374

Britain's Toy Car Wars

The War of Wheels Between Dinky, Corgi and Matchbox

By: Giles Chapman

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Britain's Toy Car Wars

The War of Wheels Between Dinky, Corgi and Matchbox

By: Giles Chapman

For fifty years, Britain made the best toy cars in the world, expertly shrinking every kind of reallife vehicle and producing them in their countless, die-cast millions. Dinky Toys were the 1930s pioneers, then in the 1950s came the pocket-money Matchbox series, followed by Corgi Toys bristling with ingenious features and movie stardust. But who were the driving forces behind this phenomenon? And how did they keep putting the latest, most exciting cars into the palm of your hand year after year? In this illustrated and expanded edition of Britain's Toy Car Wars, Giles Chapman reveals the extraordinary battle to dominate Britain's toy car industry, and the dramas and disasters that finally saw the tiny wheels come off ...

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

234

Publisher

The History Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0750999098

ISBN 13

9780750999090

Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die

How the Allies Won on D-Day

By: Giles Milton

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die

How the Allies Won on D-Day

By: Giles Milton

A ground-breaking account of the first 24 hours of the D-Day invasion told by a symphony of incredible accounts of unknown and unheralded members of the Allied – and Axis – forces. An epic battle that involved 156,000 men, 7,000 ships and 20,000 armoured vehicles, D-Day was, above all, a tale of individual heroics – of men who were driven to keep fighting until the German defences were smashed and the precarious beachheads secured. This authentic human story – Allied, German, French – has never fully been told. Giles Milton’s bold new history narrates the events of June 6th, 1944 through the tales of survivors from all sides: the teenage Allied conscript, the crack German defender, the French resistance fighter. From the military architects at Supreme Headquarters to the young schoolboy in the Wehrmacht’s bunkers, Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die lays bare the absolute terror of those trapped in the front line of Operation Overlord. It also gives voice to those who have hitherto remained unheard – the French butcher’s daughter, the Panzer Commander’s wife, the chauffeur to the General Staff. This vast canvas of human bravado reveals “the longest day” as never before – less as a masterpiece of strategic planning than a day on which thousands of scared young men found themselves staring death in the face. It is drawn in its entirety from the raw, unvarnished experiences of those who were there.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

512

Publisher

Henry Holt and Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

1250134943

ISBN 13

9781250134943

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth

The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth

The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

By: Giles Foden

At the start of World War One, German warships controlled Lake Tanganyika in Central Africa. The British had no naval craft at all upon 'Tanganjikasee', as the Germans called it. This mattered: it was the longest lake in the world and of great strategic advantage. In June 1915, a force of 28 men was despatched from Britain on a vast journey. Their orders were to take control of the lake. To reach it, they had to haul two motorboats with the unlikely names of Mimi and Toutou through the wilds of the Congo. The 28 were a strange bunch -- one was addicted to Worcester sauce, another was a former racing driver -- but the strangest of all of them was their skirt-wearing, tattoo-covered commander, Geoffrey Spicer-Simson. Whatever it took, even if it meant becoming the god of a local tribe, he was determined to cover himself in glory. But the Germans had a surprise in store for Spicer-Simson, in the shape of their secret 'supership' the Graf von Gotzen . . . Unearthing new German and African records, the prize-winning author of The Last King of Scotland retells this most unlikely of true-life tales with his customary narrative energy and style. Fitzcarraldo meets Heart of Darkness, this is rich, vivid and flashmanesque in its appeal - military history at its most absorbing and entertaining

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

291

Publisher

Penguin UK

Published Date

ISBN 10

0141946571

ISBN 13

9780141946573

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

By: Giles Foden

When the First World War breaks out, the British navy is committed to engaging the enemy wherever there is water to float a ship—even if the body of water in question is a remote African lake and the enemy an intimidating fleet of German steamers. The leader of this improbable mission is Geoffrey Spicer-Simson whose navy career thus far had been distinguished by two sinkings. His seemingly impossible charge: to trek overland through the African bush hauling Mimi and Toutou—two forty-foot mahogany gunboats–with a band of cantankerous, insubordinate Scotsmen, Irishmen and Englishmen to defeat the Germans on Lake Tanganyika. With its powerfully evoked landscape, cast of hilariously colorful characters and remarkable story of hubris, ingenuity and perseverance, this incredibly bizarre story–inspiration for the classic film The African Queen–is history at its most entertaining and absorbing.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

274

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307538435

ISBN 13

9780307538437

Bodmin Moor: An archaeological survey: Volume 2

The industrial and post-medieval landscapes

By: Peter Herring,Adam Sharpe,John R. Smith,Colum Giles,Nicholas Johnson

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Bodmin Moor: An archaeological survey: Volume 2

The industrial and post-medieval landscapes

By: Peter Herring,Adam Sharpe,John R. Smith,Colum Giles,Nicholas Johnson

Bodmin Moor is an upland landscape, heavily protected, farmed extensively and with an increasingly light touch, and enjoyed by many as a retreat from busier modern worlds. But it is also a place of industry and the home of busy agricultural communities. Well-preserved remains of streamworking, mining, quarrying, clay working, turf cutting and more intensive farming were subjected to archaeological survey and historical research as part of the wider-ranging survey partly covered in the first volume (on prehistoric and medieval landscapes). Supplementing the survey text are aerial photographs and detailed line drawings, mainly plans and elevations, but also reconstructions of sites and schematic representations of processes as well as large-scale maps of key areas

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

227

Publisher

Liverpool University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1848021380

ISBN 13

9781848021389

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

By: Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika

By: Giles Foden

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

274

Publisher

Vintage

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307538435

ISBN 13

9780307538437

Tide of Fortune

A Family Tale

By: Manubhai Madhvani,Giles Foden

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Tide of Fortune

A Family Tale

By: Manubhai Madhvani,Giles Foden

They were the Rockefellers of Uganda, the most famous Indian business familyin East Africa. The Madhvani family had everything. Then, in 1972, under Idi Amin s militarydictatorship they lost it all. They were thrown out of the country and had their businesses snatchedaway. Tide of Fortune is the enthralling story of Manubhai Madhvani, head of the dynasty, regularlyfeatured on UK rich lists. Madhvani takes us through his childhood in 1940s India to his return toKakira, his thriving sugar factory. He gives us tales of despot Idi Amin, who had him imprisonedin a blood-stained cell on death row. He also talks of his success: business secrets such as theimportance of vertical integration and the value of replicating one s most profitable business.Moving from the sylvan shores of Lake Victoria to war-stricken glass factories in Lebanon, Tide ofFortune is an astonishing account of fortunes made, lost and found again. Narrated with the acuityand foresight of a veteran businessman, it is a riveting read.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

268

Published Date

ISBN 10

8184000790

ISBN 13

9788184000795

According to Arnold

By: Giles Milton

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

According to Arnold

By: Giles Milton

Meet Arnold Trevellyan - charismatic, exuberant and somewhat strange. His love of mushrooms is matched only by a passion for Flora, his wife of twelve years. One day, while searching for mushrooms, Arnold makes a wondrous discovery that will turn his world upside down. He abandons Flora and heads to the South Pacific where he finds himself marrying the queen of the remote tropical island. But all is not as it seems in Arnold's idyllic realm. In a series of cassettes to his oldest friend, he reveals that he is trapped in an international conspiracy in which mushrooms hold the key to life or death. Funny, tragic and intensely moving, According to Arnold is essential reading for all women who think they know their partner - and all men who think the grass is greener elsewhere.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

244

Publisher

Pan

Published Date

ISBN 10

1743030231

ISBN 13

9781743030233

Book's by Giles Foden

The Last King of Scotland

The Last King of Scotland

Turbulence

Turbulence

Thirst

Thirst

Turbulence

Turbulence

Zanzibar

Zanzibar

The Last King of Scotland

The Last King of Scotland

Ladysmith

Ladysmith

Britain's Toy Car Wars

Britain's Toy Car Wars

Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die

Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

Bodmin Moor: An archaeological survey: Volume 2

Bodmin Moor: An archaeological survey: Volume 2

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure

Tide of Fortune

Tide of Fortune

According to Arnold

According to Arnold

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email