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In the beach resort of Sukhumi, once the destination of every fashionable Russian but now wracked by civil war, Wendell plays hangman with a secret policeman. In the capital Tbilisi -- ensconced in Levan's Magic Room or lounging in the steam baths -- she hears about the latest duel or kidnapping. 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General Kamel Sachet was a decorated hero of the long Iran-Iraq war and a favourite of Saddam Hussein's. He was also a devoted family man; his sons and daughters revered him, depended on him and suffered for him. In the end they would also grieve for him, when Sachet realized, too late, the degree to which he was a participant in the terror regime that had strangled his country and suffocated its people.  In The Weight of a Mustard Seed, Wendell Steavenson pieces together the stories of Kamel Sachet, his wife, his sons and daughters, his friends and neighbours under Saddam's long and gruelling tyranny. 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Stories I Stole relates her time there in twenty vodka-fuelled episodes drawn from all over the country - tales of love, friendship and power cuts, of duelling (Georgian style), of horse races in the mountains, wars and refugees, broken hearts, fixed elections, drinking sessions and a room containing a thousand roses.  'A young Kapuscinski with a literary future ahead of her...an immensely talented writer' Neal Ascherson, Observer  'A joyous, perceptive and haunting debut which fizzes - and sears - like rough new wine' Rory MacLean, Sunday Times  'Lyrical, poetic and sassy by turns; when she retells Georgian people's stories, you hear real voices' Vanora Bennett, The Times  'I couldn't possibly over praise the beautiful writing' Sunday Tribune  'A sparkling, poetical hymn to the most romantic and dangerous land in the world.' Simon Sebag-Montefiore, author of Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin  'Lively, atmospheric, honest, perceptive; a terrific account of Georgia's post-Soviet mess from a fresh and intelligent new writer' Anna Reid, author of Borderland","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49537330905361,"sku":"GOR001759479","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50103028416785,"sku":"GOR001478343","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50190499119377,"sku":"CIN1843541122G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50285878968593,"sku":"CIN1843541122VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51142774358289,"sku":"GOR007332444","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1843541122.jpg?v=1773312261"},{"product_id":"circling-the-square-book-wendell-steavenson-9781783782345","title":"Circling the Square","description":"In January 2011, as the crowds gathered to protest Mubarak's three decades of rule in Egypt, Wendell Steavenson went to Cairo to cover the story.  But the revolution defied historical precedent, and it defied the templates of storytelling.  There was no single villain, no lone hero, no neat conclusion that wouldn't be overturned the next day. Tahrir Square  changed its moods like the weather; fickle, violent, hopeful, carnival.   As she walks among the tents and the tanks, falling into conversation, sharing cigarettes and cold soda, Steavenson tells the story of a seismic historical moment as it is experienced by ordinary citizens.  Here, we meet a young man from the slums with his homemade pistol; a seasoned observer who gives up on analysis; a leader who doesn't want to lead thrust uncomfortably into the spotlight; a Muslim Brotherhood politician trying to smooth over a restless parliament; and a military intelligence officer convinced that only the army can save Egypt.  Steavenson captures the cacophony of dizzying events as protests and elections ebbed and flowed around the revolution, tipping it towards democracy and then back into the military's hands. Mixing reportage and travelogue, Circling the Square shows how the particular and the personal can illuminate more universal questions: what does democracy mean?  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A proud man, father and soldier struggles to protect himself, and his family, from tyranny.  LONGLISTED FOR DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2010  In The Weight of a Mustard Seed, Wendell Steavenson tells the true story of General Kamel Sachet, a decorated hero of the long Iran-Iraq war and a favourite of Saddam Hussein's. As Steavenson reveals the emotional and psychological scars the Sachet family suffer as a result of decades spent living with war and repression, she reaches towards the heart of a previously unspoken story of Iraq: a once prosperous nation, reduced by Hussein's megalomania and paranoia to bankruptcy, corruption and impotence. The result is an intimate, startling and gripping account of the slow destruction of Sachet, his family and his country. 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Simon Sebag-Montefiore, author of Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin 'Lively, atmospheric, honest, perceptive; a terrific account of Georgia's post-Soviet mess from a fresh and intelligent new writer' Anna Reid, author of Borderland  Fed up with working for Time magazine in London, Steavenson moved to Georgia on a whim. 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