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Struggling to write a novel set in South America, John Hopkins decided to revisit the continent, travelling slowly by train, bus and river boat from Mexico City to Argentina, via Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, savouring every experience along the way. The diary he kept is a vivid, sultry portrait of Latin America, a tequila-soaked chronicle of boredom, solitude and writer’s block, and an angst-ridden account of his troubled love for his travelling companion Madeleine.

Exorcism, the casting out of demons, or ‘deliverance ministry’ (the modern Church of England’s preferred term) is widespread today, with every diocese having a designated member of clergy to advise on the casting out of demons. Francis Young provides a full history of exorcism and its rituals in the Church of England, discusses the Church’s approach to demonology, and reveals how present-day exorcism in Anglicanism is an unlikely anomaly.

Hilde F Johnson, the former UN Special Representative in South Sudan, provides an insider’s account of the years following the country’s declaration of independence in July 2011. From her vantage point in Juba, Johnson witnessed how the seeds of conflict were sown and the rapid escalation of violence into what Desmond Tutu describes in his foreword as ‘an atrocious and senseless civil war’. This in-depth study of the new nation attempts to answer the question: why?

After a brief history of the ‘Viking Age’, which saw the movement of peoples from Scandinavia to the British Isles, Eleanor Parker turns to medieval chronicles and legends about the Vikings or ‘Danes’. Although the medieval narratives often portray the Scandinavians as raiders whose purpose was plunder and destruction, Parker’s close study of the stories reveals other motives – including participation in English politics and the need to settle – and she traces the positive Viking contribution to culture and identity in England.

China is rapidly becoming the most powerful nation on earth, and its leader, Xi Jingping, is enshrined in its constitution – an honour not seen since Chairman Mao. This succinct, accessible primer charts his rise to power and explains his world-view, his plans to eradicate poverty and extend his country’s global reach, his thoughts on China’s Communist legacy – and how far he is prepared to go to defend it.

In 1925, Barry Dierks, a young American architect, and his lover Eric Sawyer bought land at Miramar on the Côte d’Azur and built Le Trident, their home and a spectacular showcase for Barry’s architecture. A year later, Somerset Maugham’s La Mauresque became the first of some 70 houses designed by Dierks for the Riviera’s rich and famous. This biography of Barry and Eric also tells of the glamorous inhabitants of the villas and the lifestyle of Jazz Age Côte d’Azur.

Ancient Greek science and philosophy began in the sixth century BCE in the wealthy city of Miletus in Asia Minor, where Thales and Anaximander proposed theories about the nature of the universe. This sweeping history of the Greek scientific tradition follows the chain of knowledge from these early physicists, through such thinkers as Aristotle and Archimedes, to the twilight of the classical age, the transmission of Greek ideas to the Islamic world and their revival in Europe during the Renaissance.

Francis Young, himself at the forefront of the search to locate the lost coffin of King Edmund, tells the story of the historical search for the real man behind the legendary East Anglian king killed by the Vikings in 869. The book traces Edmund’s progress from martyred king to England’s national saint in medieval times; and describes current research into Edmund’s burial in the abbey at Bury St Edmunds and the present whereabouts of his mortal remains.

Beginning with ‘Florence in a Day’, this guide to the great Renaissance city is arranged in ten walking tours, each with options to visit additional sites if energy permits. Mario Erasmo provides an introduction to the history of the city, and his commentary for each itinerary gives details of the significant works of art to be seen in the museums and galleries, as well as the sculptures, monuments and buildings along the route.

Although best-known for his leadership during the First World War, David Lloyd George (1863–1945) made an enormous contribution to domestic politics both before and after the war, introducing pensions and national insurance during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer, giving women the vote, and signing the Anglo-Irish Treaty. This biography and critical assessment of Lloyd George offers a new perspective on one of the most phenomenally talented – but also flawed – British prime ministers.

As a dictator who came to power before the Second World War and outlasted his allies Hitler and Mussolini by decades, Francisco Franco is central to 20th-century European history, and his ghost still haunts modern Spain. This lucid biography examines the man, the dictator, and the Spain he forged, charting a childhood scarred by his country’s humiliating defeat in the Spanish-American War, and analysing an ideology based on nationalism, military discipline and the Catholic church.

Adele Smith's history celebrates the first 100 years of the society founded by Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1910 and dedicated to 'supporting the Commonwealth through its own social, music, arts and welfare activities'. Foreword by HM the Queen.

As the First World War ground to a close, Ireland's guerilla struggle against British rule escalated into full-scale conflict. British and American correspondents, including G K Chesterton and V S Pritchett, flocked to report the fighting, and were shocked by the methods used by the Black and Tans to suppress the uprising. This ground-breaking study examines the crucial role of the press in the battle for hearts and minds that led to the establishment of the Irish Free State. Slightly off-mint.