Greece

Can an island in the sun provide the second chance Sara needs? A warm and uplifting novel about love, friendship and new beginnings on the beautiful Greek island of Santaniki. Sara Loveday flees home and crisis to the beautiful island of Santaniki. Here, amid olive groves and whitewashed stone villas, where dark cypress trees step down to a cobalt blue sea, Sara vows to change her life. Spotting a gap in the local tourist market, she sets up a wedding plan business, specialising in 'second time around' couples. For her first big wedding, she borrows the olive garden of a local artists' retreat, but almost at once things begin to go wrong. To make matters worse, a stranger from Sara's past arrives on the island, spreading vicious lies. Can her business survive? And what will happen with the gorgeous new man who she's begun to love? This is a gorgeous, warm-hearted and uplifting novel conjuring the local colour, traditions and close bonds of island life.

Their revolution would ignite a continent... An epic novel set during one of the most savage and dramatic moments in European history. Greece, 1824In the wild south, the people of the Mani have risen up against four hundred years of Ottoman rule. But initial triumph leads to bitter feuding among the Greek victors and the Sultan sends his vassal, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, to invade. Burning everything in his path, he is on the point of victory. Only the intervention of the Great Powers of France, Russia and Britain can save Greece. Hara, young daughter of a Maniot chief, is the fearless symbol of her people's spirit. When she rescues Greek Prince Tzanis from a shipwreck, on his way to deliver secret gold for the revolution, they fall in love but are forced apart by events. Yet a shared resolve to wreak vengeance on Turkish rule unites them again, and their heroism and sacrifice will ultimately inspire an unlikely band of men and women to join them in rescuing Greece. Will their plan to involve the Great Powers succeed before Greece is destroyed by fire?'Wonderful history, adventure and a heart-breaking love story are brought thrillingly to life' - Kate Mosse

Take a journey to a vanished world with the ADVENTURES IN TIME series - stories so exciting you won't believe they're all true 'His mind was clear. It was time to go east. Time to march into Asia, to confront the Persians and to meet his destiny...'Alexander has one, wild dream: to rule the world. And with his childhood friends and his beloved horse Bucephalas, he sets out from his home in Ancient Greece to do just that. With historian Dominic Sandbrook as our guide, join Alexander on his incredible journey through the deserts of Egypt and over the snow-capped mountains of Persia all the way to India, defeating all who stand in his way. For anything is possible with the help of the gods... The Adventures in Time series brings the past alive for twenty-first century children. These stories are every bit as exciting as those of Harry Potter or Matilda Wormwood. The only difference is they actually happened...

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'It is thrifty to prepare today for the wants of tomorrow.' Living in Ancient Greece in the 5th Century BC, Aesop was said to be a slave and story-teller. His much-loved, enduring fables are revered the world over and remain popular as moral tales for children. With infamous vignettes, such as the race between the hare and the tortoise, the vain jackdaw, and the wolf in sheep's clothing, the themes of the fables remain as fresh today as when they were first told and give an insight into the Ancient Greek world.

The original Aesop Fables, introduced by award-winning author Marcus Sedgwick. Over two hundred familiar tales from 'Look Before You Leap' and 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' to much less familiar tales, each with its own sharply pointed moral. Puffin Classics come with additional end material including author profile, things to think about and do, a glossary, and more.

The ultimate historical adventure novel: the life of Alexander the Great in a single, epic volume. To many he was a god. To others he was a monster.

The truth is even more extraordinary. As a boy, Alexander dreamed of matching the heroic feats of Achilles. At eighteen he led the Macedonian cavalry to a stunning victory against the Greeks.

By twenty-five he had crushed the Persians in three monumental battles and was the master of the greatest empire the world had ever seen. Men began to call him a god. But behind the legend was another, more complex story.

Narrated by his boyhood friend Ptolemy, this is the story of Alexander as you have never heard it before: raw, intimate, thrilling - a story of extraordinary daring and unimaginable endurance; of wanton destruction and murderous intrigue - the epic tragedy of a man who aimed to be more than human.

Nikos Kazantzakis is no stranger to the heroes of Greek antiquity. In this historical novel based on the life of Alexander the Great, Kazantzakis has drawn on both the rich tradition of Greek legend and the documented manuscripts from the archives of history to recreate an Alexander in all his many-faceted images—Alexander the god; Alexander the descendant of Heracles performing the twelve labors; Alexander the mystic, the daring visionary destined to carry out a divine mission; Alexander the flesh-and-blood mortal who, on occasion, is not above the common soldier’s brawling and drinking.

From the dawn of history come two epic tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, that introduce us to the first great heroes in Western literature. These monumental epic poems, ascribed to Homer, were composed nearly three thousand years ago, but they continue to captivate modern audiences with imagery, insights and adventures that bring to life an ancient world at once familiar and foreign to us. What are the themes of these works, and what is the story behind their creation? What can we learn about the historical past from lyrical masterpieces that mix myth and legend with actual events? Find out what modern archaeology can tell us about the mighty Mycenaean civilisation, the Bronze Age power that Homer immortalised – looking backwards in time 500 years – with uncanny accuracy in his poems. A great conflict, a fabled journey, a wide-ranging warrior empire and a world-renowned poet: this is the story of the Homeric epics and the world they encapsulate.

"While it is common practice in contemporary theatre to re-contextualize a piece of work, the riskier--and Slavoj Zizek would argue more faithful--approach might be to change the actual story itself. Zizek's Antigone not only re-positions Antigone as a revolutionary political figure, it alters the narrative of the play itself. As Zizek puts it himself in the introduction to the play, 'Only one thing is sure: sticking to the traditional letter is the safest way to betray the spirit of the classic'. Philosophers have long been preoccupied with Antigone--Kierkegaard, Hegel, Plato and Judith Butler to name but a few--but never before has a philosopher had the audacity to throw fidelity to the wind and re-write one of the most classic plays in the history of theatre. This lack of fidelity is, of course, precisely the point: not only is this a fascinating new play in its own right, it is a political work calling into question our ideas of reverence to the canon, fidelity to the text and the notion of what 'faithfulness' might really mean. A brilliantly funny, moving and political play for those who are interested in reading and watching Antigone in a new way. "--

Filled with passionate speeches and sensitive probing of moral and philosophical issues, this powerful and often-performed Greek drama reveals the grim fate that befalls the children of Oedipus. Footnotes.