The Library

City of Fortune
- How Venice Won And Lost A Naval Empire
By Roger Crowley | Published by Faber and Faber

City of Fortune tells the story of the Venetian ascent from lagoon dwellers to the greatest power in the Mediterranean. The path to empire unfolded in a series of extraordinary contests and in the process the city became the richest place on earth, a brilliant mosaic fashioned from what it bought, traded, borrowed and stole. It is an epic 500-year voyage that encompassed crusade and trade, plague, sea battles and colonial adventure. Based on first hand accounts of trade and warfare, seafaring and piracy and the places where Venetians sailed and died, City of Fortune is narrative history at its
finest. Beginning on Ascension Day in the year 1000 and ending with an explosion off the coast of Greece, it will fascinate anyone who loves Venice and the Mediterranean world.

Hitchens Vs Blair: Be it Resolved Religion is a Force For Good in the World
By Rudyard Griffiths | Published by Allen & Unwin

November last year saw two of the most formidable intellects of our time deliberate the highly charged topic of religion in Canada’s premier international debate series - The Munk Debates. Journalist, author and staunch atheist, Christopher Hitchens goes head-to-head on this contentious issue with one of the world’s most openly devout Christian political leaders, former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Being up against such a seasoned and highly qualified debater as Blair - whose training ground was the British Parliament - Hitchens has the ability to maintain the strength of his scepticism.

The Killer Of Little Shepherds
By Douglas Starr | Published by Simon & Schuster

Terrorising the French countryside at the end of the nineteenth century was a serial killer considered by many to be worse than Jack The Ripper. A former soldier turned vagrant, Joseph Vacher was dubbed The Killer of Little Shepherds after going on a murderous spree, which claimed at least 11 victims - most of who were adolescent farm workers. Douglas Starr weaves together magnificently the recount of the infamous case along with what is now considered the foundation of modern forensics, in dramatic and stunning detail.

The Hundred-Foot Journey
By Richard C. Morais | Published by Allen & Unwin

This is a delectable and thrilling novel of devotion to food and family, illustrating the the metaphoric chasm between two rival restaurants’ culture and cuisine, which are in actuality only a mere hundred feet from one another. This book is full of whimsical characters whose high emotions are captured as brilliantly as all the flavours and aromas of the rival kitchens. Hard to believe the author was a former Forbes magazine correspondent.

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