Picador Palace of Palms. Tropical Dreams and the Making of Kew Teltscher Kate

Filled with incident, discovery, and revelation, Dutch Light is a vivid account of Christiaan Huygens's remarkable life and career, but it is also nothing less than the story of the birth of modern science as we know it • Europe's greatest scientist during the latter half of the seventeenth century, Christiaan Huygens was a true polymath. A towering figure in the fields of astronomy, optics, mechanics, and mathematics, many of his innovations in methodology, optics and timekeeping remain in use to this day. Among his many achievements, he developed the theory of light travelling as a wave, invented the mechanism for the pendulum clock, and discovered the rings of Saturn - via a telescope that he had also invented • A man of fashion and culture, Christiaan came from a family of multi-talented individuals whose circle included not only leading figures of Dutch society, but also artists and philosophers such as Rembrandt, Locke and Descartes

The magical world of J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts meets the real-world experts of the world-famous Natural History Museum, in an awe-inspiring exhibition devoted to the wonders of nature, science and adventure – and their fictional counterparts from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature is the official book inspired by the spectacular exhibition, shining a light on beasts in all their fantastic forms. Taking inspiration from Newt Scamander, this gorgeous colour gift book invites the whole family to explore the inspiration and links between the magic of J.K. Rowling's creatures and the astonishing real-world wildlife that has roamed the earth, seas and skies of our planet throughout history • Prepare to pore over ancient maps of sea monsters; naturalists' field notes crammed with intricately painted chameleons and caterpillars; and dinosaurs such as the mighty Dracorex Hogwartsia, the 'Dragon King of Hogwarts'

The magical world of J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts meets the real-world experts of the world-famous Natural History Museum, in an awe-inspiring exhibition devoted to the wonders of nature, science and adventure – and their fictional counterparts from Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. A perfect present! • Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature is the official book inspired by the spectacular exhibition, shining a light on beasts in all their fantastic forms. Taking inspiration from Newt Scamander, this gorgeous colour gift book invites the whole family to explore the inspiration and links between the magic of J.K. Rowling's creatures and the astonishing real-world wildlife that has roamed the earth, seas and skies of our planet throughout history

Less than a month after it marched into France in summer 1870, the Prussian army had devastated its opponents, captured Napoleon III and wrecked all assumptions about Europe's pecking order. Other countries looked on in helpless amazement. Pushing aside further French resistance, a new German Empire was proclaimed (as a deliberate humiliation) in the Palace of Versailles, leaving the French to face civil war in Paris, reparations and the loss of Alsace and Lorraine • Bismarck's War tells the story of one of the most shocking reversals of fortune in modern European history. The culmination of a globally violent decade, the Franco-Prussian War was deliberately engineered by Bismarck, both to destroy French power and to unite Germany. It could not have worked better, but it also had lurking inside it the poisonous seeds of all the disasters that would ravage the twentieth century

This first biography of the Kettle's Yard artists reveals the life of a visionary who helped shape twentieth-century British art and explores a thrilling moment in the history of modernism • The lives of Jim Ede and the Kettle's Yard artists represent a thrilling tipping point in twentieth-century modernism: a new guard, a new way of making and seeing, and a new way of living with art. The artists Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Alfred Wallis and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska were not a set like the Bloomsbury Set or Ravilious and his friends. But Jim Ede recognised in each of the artists he championed something common and kindred, some quality of light and life and line • Jim Ede is the figure who unites them. His vision continues to influence the way we understand art and modern living

A bold retelling of economic history reveals the central role of accounting in the rise and fall of nations • In The Reckoning, award-winning historian Jacob Soll shows how the use and misuse of financial bookkeeping has determined the fates of entire societies. Time and again, Soll reveals, good and honest accounting has been a tool to build successful companies, states and empires. Yet when it is neglected or falls into the wrong hands, accounting has contributed to cycles of destruction that continue to this day. Combining rigorous scholarship and fresh storytelling, The Reckoning traces the surprisingly powerful influence of accounting on financial and political stability, from the powerful Medici bank in the 14th century Italy to the 2008 financial crisis

What pushed Blunt, Burgess, Cairncross, Maclean and Philby into Soviet hands? • With access to recently released papers and other neglected documents, this sharp analysis of the intelligence world examines how and why these men and others betrayed their country and what this cost Britain and its allies • Enemies Within is a new history of the influence of Moscow on Britain told through the stories of those who chose to spy for the Soviet Union. It also challenges entrenched assumptions about abused trust, corruption and Establishment cover-ups that began with the Cambridge Five and the disappearance of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean on the night boat to Saint-Malo in 1951 • In a book that is as intellectually thrilling as it is entertaining and illuminating, Richard Davenport-Hines traces the bonds between individuals, networks and organisations over generations to offer a study of character, both individual and institutional

As a young civil servant, Jeremy Heywood's insightful questioning of the status quo pushed him to the centre of political power in this country for more than 25 years • He directly served four Prime Ministers in various roles including as the first and only Permanent Secretary of 10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Secretary and the Head of the Home Civil Service. He was at the centre of every crisis from the early 1990s until 2018 and most of the key meetings. Invariably, when faced with a new policy initiative a Prime Minister's first response would be: 'but what does Jeremy think?' • Jeremy worked up until his death, retiring just a few days before he died from lung cancer in October 2018. This book began as a joint effort between Jeremy and his wife Suzanne - working together in the last months of his life

The people of the first nomadic empire left no written records, but from 200 BC they dominated the heart of Asia for 400 years. They changed the world. The Mongols, today’s descendants of Genghis Khan, see them as ancestors. Their rise cemented Chinese unity and inspired the first Great Wall. Their heirs under Attila the Hun helped destroy the Roman Empire • We don’t know what language they spoke, but they became known as Xiongnu, or Hunnu, a term passed down the centuries and across Eurasia, enduring today in shortened form as ‘Hun’. Outside Asia precious little is known of their rich history, but new evidence reframes our understanding of the indelible mark they left on a vast region stretching from Europe and sweeping right across Central Asia deep into China

In one corner, a godless young warrior, Voltaire’s heralded ‘philosopher-king’, the It Boy of the Enlightenment. In the other, a devout if bad-tempered old composer of ‘outdated’ music, a scorned genius in his last years. The sparks from their brief conflict illuminate a turbulent age • Behind the pomp and flash, Prussia's Frederick the Great was a tormented man, son of an abusive king who forced him to watch as his best friend (probably his lover) was beheaded. In what may have been one of history's crueler practical jokes, Frederick challenged ‘old Bach’ to a musical duel, asking him to improvise a six-part fugue based on an impossibly intricate theme (possibly devised for him by Bach's own son) • Bach left the court fuming, but in a fever of composition, he used the coded, alchemical language of counterpoint to write ‘A Musical Offering’ in response

When Pegasus, the majestic winged-stallion, crashes on to her roof in the middle of a storm that blacks-out New York City, 13-year-old Emily's life becomes that of legend: epic battles with gruesome monsters, desperate chases from a corrupt governmental agency, captivating flights astride the beautiful winged-stallion, and one heroic quest to save Olympus before the Olympic flame burns out

A contemporary story for 9+ readers with a futuristic twist, perfect for fans of Ross Welford • Olive Jones has just inherited her grandmother's memories. But her grandma has left her more than just memories; she's left her a mystery. And now it's up to Olive to solve it • After her grandmother's funeral, Olive learns she has inherited something unexpected: her grandmother's memories • Olive is surprised - her grandmother wasn't a cuddly, affectionate kind of grandmother. Curious about what she might discover, Olive sets out to 'watch' the memories. But before she can, they're stolen right from under her nose. Olive can't understand why anybody would want to steal the memories. As far as she'd known, her grandmother had always lived an utterly ordinary life