The night was November 9th 1989, and the Berlin Wall was coming down. For perhaps the first time in a century the world was empathising with the Germans. But then not even the men who gave the orders in east Berlin knew it would happen. The fall of the Berlin Wall was the triumphant vindication of the 'cock-up' theory of history.

At a family picnic, 16-year-old Aksel's wild, beautiful mother is drowned on a drunken swim. His family sinks into isolation and bereavement, but gradually the talented young pianist determines to dedicate his life to his mother's memory by playing the music she loved.

An anthology of stories about childhood. It explores some of the renowned authors' childhood; their tales touching on abuse and rejection, loneliness and love, the joys of friendship and discovery, and the first confused inklings of adolescent love.

Celebrated Angolan musician Faustino Manso has just died, leaving seven wives and eighteen children scattered across southern Africa. His youngest daughter, Laurentina, arrives in Angola from her home in Portugal to trace the story of the father she never knew.

Since the night Inspector Haritos had the brilliant idea to offer his chest as a shield in order to save Elena Kousta from a bullet fired by her stepson, his life has changed radically. Haritos' long convalescence has given his wife the opportunity to take control and, now, subdued and tamed, he witnesses a shocking suicide captured live on TV.

In 1974 the same boy had surfaced in connection with a sudden death in his new home. And then again ten years later, in connection with yet another case: a dramatic double-murder in Sunnfjord. The small boy is now an adult, and on the run in Oslo, determined to take revenge on those responsible for destroying his life.

Spike Lee is probably the most successful African-American film director in the history of American cinema. He has played a major role in highlighting African-American themes and images in mainstream popular films since the 1980s, successfully merging sensitive and sometimes controversial themes with the demands of Hollywood popular cinema.

Every day, from his window, Samuel watches as a woman drops off her two children at the bus stop. He is so fascinated by her that he leaves his camera programmed to take pictures of her picking up the children. Later, when he looks through the pictures, he not only sees his platonic love, but also an unexpected event that has been photographed.

Corinne Hofmann falls in love with a Masai warrior while on holiday with her boyfriend in Kenya. After overcoming all sorts of obstacles, she moves into a tiny shack with him and his mother in his village, and spends four years in Kenya. Slowly but surely the dream starts to crumble until she flees back home with her baby daughter.

When the showgirl Ann Arden meets Billy Grenville, heir of a New York high society family fortune, it turns out to be love at first sight. They get married, but Ann has to face her indomitable mother-in-law Alice, the patrician matriarch who strongly disapproves of the union.

From the relative obscurity of being a world-class 200 metres runner and winner of the Athletics World Championship silver medal in 2007, Jamaican Usain 'Lightning' Bolt has elevated himself to iconic stature with his unbelievable performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This title presents his story.

She wasn't looking for love. But thirty years after he broke her heart, he walked back into her life. Spurred on by the idyll of a first love made good, they reconnect through emails. But love leaves this writer with a nasty case of creative block.

Contains four subtly connected tales, narrated in the same spirit but with the individual styles of the different voices; stories from silent times, when people feared that others might discover what they knew.

A strange nocturnal visitor tiptoes through apartments in Helsinki. Nothing is stolen, nothing is destroyed. At first the police take little notice, and the women themselves began to doubt their own sanity. But evidence accumulates, and the net closes - Tweety, a skilful picker of locks, falls in love with one of his night-time women.

Harriet, a widow from World War I, is on the roof of Coventry Cathedral fire-watching when first the factories and then the church itself are set on fire. In the ensuing chaos she bonds with a young man, very much like the husband she lost, who relies on her to find the way back to his home where he left his mother.

Presents the story of Kim Karlsen and his three buddies, Gunnar, Ola and Seb.

The Painter Peter Wihl is about to turn fifty. His concerns about his forthcoming birthday are rendered meaningless when he discovers that he has an incurable eye condition and will be completely blind within six months. A chance encounter with a classmate leads Peter into a sinister world which will haunt him for as long as he lives.

Fourteen years after fleeing Kenya with her baby daughter, Corinne returned in the summer of 2004 to meet Lketinga and his family again in their village, Barsaloi. This book describes the changes she encountered in the village after all those years.

Edwin is a retired bishop who has lost his faith. Marta, a child of the Warsaw Ghetto, is a controversial anthropologist. Their son, Clement, is a celebrated gay painter traumatized by the death of his twin. Over three remarkable years, the family goes through events that causes it to reassess its deepest values and closest relationships.

Describes Corinne Hofmann's return to Switzerland and the difficulties that faced her there, detailing how she built a new life for herself and her daughter and overcame all obstacles with the same courage and optimism with which she faced the demands of her life in the Kenyan outback.