Who was the enigmatic Jean Moulin, a man as skilled in deception as he was in acts of heroism? The memory of this French Resistance hero, who was betrayed to the Gestapo and tortured by Klaus Barbie, the infamous 'Butcher of Lyon', is revered alongside that of other national icons. But Moulin's story is full of unanswered questions and the truth of his life is far more complicated than the legend. Patrick Marnham, winner of the Marsh Prize for biography, thrillingly tells the epic story of France's greatest war hero, bringing to light the shadowy and often deceitful world of the French Resistance, and offers a shocking conclusion to one of the great unsolved mysteries of World War II.

The most popular pilgrimage site in the world That is Lourdes, a small town in the French Pyrenees, where in 1858 Our Lady appeared to the young peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous. Curiosity and fascination grew steadily, a shrine was erected at the grotto where Bernadette experienced these visions, and Lourdes became a worldwide attraction. Today, more than 4 million people visit the shrine each year. Many come out of desperate hope; and countless "miracles" and healings have been claimed by visitors during the past century. What is behind the phenomenal growth of Lourdes? Who are the pilgrims who visit Lourdes in such record numbers? What really happens there? Patrick Marnham had asked himself these very questions many times. Finally, in search of some answers, he joined a pilgrimage from England to Lourdes and his revelations are at once astounding and absorbing. LOURDES: A MODERN PILGRIMAGE is an objective account -- based on his own experience -- of both sides of Lourdes: the town of high prices and low commercialism; and the other Lourdes, the domain of Our Lady, where the tourist industry gives way to Christian prayer and fellowship. He tells what it is like to go on a pilgrimage and how the famous miracle cures and authenticated. He sees both horrors and wonders there, as well as mysteries of faith at work in an age of doubt. For anyone who has been there, or for anyone planning to travel there someday, this book offers a fascinating overview of the paradox that is Lourdes.

‘One of our very best writers on France.’ Antony Beevor After publishing an acclaimed biography of Jean Moulin, leader of the French Resistance, Patrick Marnham received an anonymous letter from a person who claimed to have worked for British Intelligence during the war. The ex-spy praised his book but insisted that he had missed the real ‘treasure’. The letter drew Marnham back to the early 1960s when he had been taught French by a mercurial woman – a former Resistance leader, whose SOE network was broken on the same day that Moulin was captured and who endured eighteen months in Ravensbrück concentration camp. Could these two events have been connected? His anonymous correspondent offered a tantalising set of clues that seemed to implicate Churchill and British Intelligence in the catastrophe. Drawing on a deep knowledge of France and original research in British and French archives, War in the Shadows exposes the ruthless double-dealing of the Allied intelligence services and the Gestapo through one of the darkest periods of the Second World War. It is a story worthy of Le Carré, but with this difference – it is not fiction. ‘A melange of Le Grand Meaulnes and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. It is unforgettable.’ Ferdinand Mount, TLS, Books of the Year ‘A masterly analysis, impeccably presented.’ Allan Mallinson, Spectator ‘Fascinating… Marnham has a vast and scholarly knowledge of this often treacherous world.’ Caroline Moorehead, Literary Review

Wesley published her first novel when she was 70 - and went on to write nine more bestsellers before her death, age 89, in 2002. At the outbreak of WWII, she was 'roped into intelligence', where she worked on breaking codes. This biography deals with her experiences in MI5 and her many wartime love affairs.

The terrifying first use of nuclear weapons over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 was the most controversial act of warfare in history, dramatically ending the Second World War but ushering in the age of mass destruction. Yet it was also the climax of a story that extends beyond Japan and Washington: the culmination of decades of scientific achievement and centuries of colonial exploitation. Snake Dance is the account of a journey that turned into a quest to discover how humanity reaches this point. Patrick Marnham travels from the opulent nineteenth-century palaces of King Leopold II of Belgium, built with riches plundered from the Congo, to the lethally derelict nuclear reactor of modern-day Kinshasa. He follows the shipment of Congolese uranium to the deserts of New Mexico for the Manhattan Projectâe(tm)s secret test detonation. Here he uncovers the legacies of Robert Oppenheimer and Aby Warburg, two âe~mad geniusesâe(tm) who confronted the devastating power of twentieth-century science in very different ways. Both men travelled to New Mexico. Oppenheimer was honoured for buiding a bomb, the ancestor of weapons that have enslaved humanity. Warburg, condemned to obscurity and confined to a mental hospital, regained his sanity by studying the rituals of the Native Americans of the Southwest who, for thousands of years, practiced the ritual of the 'snake dance' in an attempt to harness the power of lightening. And it was in New Mexico, at Los Alamos, that the ultimate act of playing God was realised. The circle is closed in Japan.. Faced with the catastrophe at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in March 2011, scientific man, like the snake dancers, is faced with a power beyond his control. Spanning three continents and the history of civilisation, Snake Dance is at once an intrepid intellectual adventure and a wake-up call for mankind.

Winner of the Marsh Prize for biography and an Edgar Award finalist. "I doubt if there will be a better, or a better written, portrait of Simenon for a long time."--Julian Barnes

“Enthralling and intelligent, a masterly exploration of the sinister labyrinth that was wartime France . . . It is a remarkable book, utterly fascinating.” —Allan Massie Not long after 2:00 p.m. on June 21, 1943, eight men met in secret at a doctor’ s house in Lyon. They represented the warring factions of the French Resistance and had been summoned by General de Gaulle’s new envoy, a man most of them knew simply as “Max.” Minutes after the last man entered the house, the Gestapo broke in, led by Klaus Barbie, the infamous “Butcher of Lyon.” The fate awaiting Barbie’s prisoners was torture, deportation, and death. “Max” was tortured sadistically but never broke: he took his many secrets to his grave. In that moment, the legend of Jean Moulin was born. Who betrayed Jean Moulin? And who was this enigmatic hero, a man as skilled in deception as he was in acts of heroism? After the war, his ashes were transferred to the Panthéon—France’s highest honor—where his memory is revered alongside that of Voltaire and Victor Hugo. But Moulin’s story is full of unanswered questions: the truth of his life is far more complicated than the legend conveniently manufactured by de Gaulle. Resistance and Betrayal tells for the first time in English the epic story of France’s greatest war hero, a Schindler-like character of ambiguous motivation. A winner of the Marsh Prize for biography, praised by Graham Greene and Julian Barnes, Patrick Marnham is a brilliant storyteller with a keen appreciation for the complex maze of moral compromises navigated in times of war. Told with the drama and suspense of the best espionage fiction, Resistance and Betrayal brings to life the dark and duplicitous world of the French Resistance and offers a startling conclusion to one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Second World War. NOTE: This edition does not include photographs.

Road to Kathmandu is the part-factual, part-fictional account of Patrick Marnham's own pilgrimage from Turkey to Nepal in 1968. He travelled over three thousand miles, passing through Ankara to Ararat, Tehran and Mashad, Herat, Kandahar and Kabul, Peshawar, Lahore and Varanasi ... before finally reaching Kathmandu. His journey is a kaleidoscopic blend of tortuous train journeys and lethal truck drives; wild deserts, mountains and isolated villages. His nights were often spent sleeping by the roadside and his days searching for the next ride. Along the way, he met a colourful and eclectic cast of characters.

Chronicles the life of Mexican artist Diego Rivera and discusses the artists who influenced him, his involvement in Communism, his family life, and other related topics.

"So Far from God" is the story of a recent journey that began in Spain and took Patrick Marnham from California through the ruined countries to the south where the word 'America’ was first used. Marnham set out to visit those small countries that lie between them and Mexico -- Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua -- where all the trouble occurs. With humor, compassion, and a mercilessly clear eye he portrays the people and predicaments he encountered on a fascinating and frequently dangerous journey. Marnham’s adventures are judiciously and eloquently seasoned with up-to-the-minute politics and historical background. "So Far from God" is a shrewd and provocative view of the political culture of Central Americans -- and of their fearful yearning attitude toward their northern neighbor. -- From publisher's description.