Bøker utgitt av Swift Press

'In her debut novel, a historian of Vichy France tackles her family's real-life collaboration during the Second World War . . . The result is at once a ghost story, a tale of amour fou, a settling of accounts, and, one senses, a deeply personal act of expiation' - New YorkerIn a grand Paris apartment, a young girl attends gatherings regularly organized by her mother. The women talk about beauty secrets and gossip, but the mood grows dark when the past, notably World War II, comes under coded discussion in hushed tones. Years later, the silent witness to these sessions has become a prominent historian, and with this chilling autobiographical novel she sets out to unmask enigmatic figures in and around her family. Why, she seeks to understand, did the narrator's relatives zealously collaborate with the Nazi occupiers of France, even remaining for decades afterward obsessive devotees of that evil lost cause?

'Allows us to understand the profound, and often profoundly beneficial, impact of Christianity' Anthony SeldonChristianity in England is in decline. Congregations are dwindling and ever fewer young people believe. Should we merely shrug our shoulders and accept this as inevitable and even healthy, or is something important being lost?Bijan Omrani argues that this decline is the most momentous change to occur in English history. He shows how a religion that has been part of our national story for over 1700 years was instrumental in the creation and development of the English nation, its codes of law and morality, and its structures of government and kingship. He demonstrates its profound cultural impact, in areas ranging from architecture and literature to our very landscape and the structure of our everyday life and language. Its influence, he contends, has been enormous, largely benign, and shouldn't be lightly abandoned. Ending with a rousing call to retain Christianity, rightly understood, as a way of dealing with both the eternal questions of the human condition, as well as the malaises of modernity, this is an erudite and tender tribute to our Christian history and heritage.

In post-war Oxford, secrets lie behind every door. In 1947, with rationing still biting and the black market thriving, university don C.S. 'Jack' Lewis finds himself pulled into a mystery straight from one of his friend Dorothy Sayers' novels. Susan Temple, his brightest student, has been hidden away at Rake Hall - a hostel for unmarried, outcast mothers. But beneath the respectable façade, something sinister festers. With no experience beyond catching the occasional student plagiarist, Lewis is hardly a detective. Yet, his curiosity piqued and his moral compass tugged - and alongside Susan's friend Lucy, the daughter of a college servant - he delves into the unsavoury secrets of Oxford's underbelly...In The Mystery at Rake Hall, Maureen Paton - whose mother lived at the real-life Rake Hall while pregnant with Maureen - brilliantly recreates a post-war Oxford world, as well as imagining an alternative life for one of its most famous residents.

What does it mean to be a lesbian now? Has the quest for lesbian liberation stalled, and if so, why?Part-autobiography, part frontline reportage and part cultural commentary, Julie Bindel examines what defines lesbian culture, love, friendship and happiness today. She distinguishes the particular challenges facing lesbians from the very different experiences of gay men, and asks: why do lesbians so often seem to face particular hostility? Comparing past attitudes to today, she argues that lesbians continue to suffer from bigotry and discrimination because sexism and enforced gendered roles are still left unchallenged. She explores why many of the biggest assaults on lesbian freedom and wellbeing around the world now come, not just from conservatives, but also from so-called progressives, who are often antagonistic to lesbians organising and socialising autonomously. Rooted in her own remarkable story, this personal and passionate book is a testament as much to the peculiar joy of being a lesbian as much to the obstacles to lesbian flourishing. It is a much-needed contribution to the debate in the era of progressive misogyny and gender theory.

Ludovic Mohamed Zahed is an Imam and Koranic scholar. He is also gay. In this memoir, he explains the journey he has taken to be both the founder of a mosque in Paris and to be openly gay, after a troubled childhood in Algeria in poverty and living with an aggressive and often violent father. He explains how a journey to Mecca brought him back to a deeper understanding of his Muslim faith and how there is nothing in the Koran that condemns sexual, racial, gender or political diversity.

David Lloyd George is at Chequers for the weekend with his mistress Frances Stevenson, fretting about the fact that his involvement in selling public honours is about to be revealed by one Victor Grayson. Victor is a bisexual hedonist and former firebrand Socialist MP turned secret service informant. Intent on rebuilding his profile as the leader of the revolutionary Left, he doesn't know exactly how much of a hornet's nest he's stirred up. Doesn't know that this is, in fact, his last day. No one really knows what happened to Victor Grayson - he vanished one night in late September 1920, having threatened to reveal all he knew about the prime minister's involvement in selling honours. Was he murdered by the British government? By enemies in the Socialist movement (who he had betrayed in the war)? Did he fall in the Thames drunk? Did he vanish to save his own life, and become an antiques dealer in Kent?Whatever the truth, Green Ink imagines what might have been with brio, humour and humanity; and is a reminder that the past was once as alive as we are today.

Tribalism is our most misunderstood buzzword. We've all heard pundits bemoan its rise, and it's been blamed for everything from political polarization to workplace discrimination. But as acclaimed cultural psychologist and Columbia professor Michael Morris argues, our tribal instincts are humanity's secret weapon. Ours is the only species that lives in tribes: groups glued together by their distinctive cultures that can grow to a scale far beyond clans and bands. Morris argues that our psychology is wired by evolution in three distinctive ways. First, the peer instinct to conform to what most people do. Second, the hero instinct to give to the group and emulate the most respected. And third, the ancestor instinct to follow the ways of prior generations. These tribal instincts enable us to share knowledge and goals and work as a team to transmit the accumulated pool of cultural knowledge onward to the next generation. Countries, churches, political parties, and companies are tribes, and tribal instincts explain our loyalties to them and the hidden ways that they affect our thoughts, actions, and identities. Rather than deriding tribal impulses for their irrationality, we can recognize them as powerful levers that elevate performance, heal rifts, and set off shockwaves of cultural change. Weaving together deep research, current and historical events, and stories from business and politics, Morris cuts across conventional wisdom to completely reframe how we think about our tribes. Bracing and hopeful, Tribal unlocks the deepest secrets of our psychology and gives us the tools to manage our misunderstood superpower.

'A brilliant resource for navigating the teen years' Stella O'MalleyTeenagers: The Evidence Base deftly summarises decades of research and expert knowledge to offer parents and other interested adults a roadmap to adolescence. It weaves together insights from social and experimental psychology, neuroscience, family systems and adolescent development, among other fields, to equip readers with a clear understanding of what it means to be a teenager today, how they develop, the hazard points and opportunities, and how best to support them as they navigate their labyrinthine and very personal route to adulthood. This practical, engaging guide is an essential purchase for any adult wanting to understand the turbulence, creativity and brilliance of the teenage years.

In 2019, the English Premier League introduced the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), a way of using technology to review and correct the on-field referee's decisions. It's been a disaster: players hate it, managers hate it, pundits line up to pour scorn on its decisions, and fans have coined the chant 'it's not football any more' to describe its effect on the game. Almost every other sport in the world has managed to integrate technology into its decision-making process. Why is football failing so badly? Is it a special case, or have the game's authorities got something wrong? And what does the controversy about VAR tell us about the nature of authority, rationality and technology in the 21st century?

Ireland, under both the Irish Free State and after full independence, has now had just over 100 years of autonomous national political leadership. This book, based on Iain Dale's blockbuster podcast, tells the story of Irish politics over the past century by examining the lives and actions of each Irish Taoiseach, from W.T. Cosgrave to Micheál Martin. 15 leading Irish historians, journalists and politicians write essays on each of these figures, showing in the process how Ireland developed from a poor ex-colony to a successful, modern country at the heart of the European Union. In the process, the contributors examine the importance of topics such as the power of the Roman Catholic Church, changing social mores, Ireland's relationship with the UK, and its economic development. This is a must read for anyone interested in Irish politics at a time of potential far-reaching change for the republic.

The ex-politician and bestselling author Alan Johnson, who was a Labour cabinet minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, takes on the life and premierships of Harold Wilson.