Here at Quartet Books we’re very excited about the publishing year ahead and have some treats in store for you. From memoirs, fiction, our first children’s book in a while and a collection of interviews for Japanese WW2 Veterans, here’s what Quartet are publishing over the next few months.

February – Released 25 February 2016

Japan’s World War II Legacy – Hiroko Sherwin 

Japan’s wartime experience and its aftermath told through the testimony of war veterans and people whose lives were shaped by the war. 

Hiroko Sherwin was eight when Japan finally surrendered shortly after the dropping of the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. She returns to her homeland to interview an assortment of survivors, to hear their memories of the conflicts and the aftermath. All are harrowing and often painful. More importantly, perhaps, she faces the legacy of post-war Japan’s carefully staged recreation of its militaristic past, the consequences of recovery and the possibility of present generation Japanese politicians keen to play a more aggressive role in the modern world.

“It is one thing to reflect on the dark side of history by myself and quite another to translate the soldiers’ words into English and expose an ugly part of my country’s history to the wider world…”

Non-fiction/Hardback/9780704374027/£20

March – Released 10 March 2016

Doctors Dissected – Jane Haynes and Martin Scurr

This is a ‘story’ book about medicine, body, mind, doctors and caprices of human nature.

 Written by an experienced doctor (Martin Scurr), who has seen every untidy vagary of disease, and a psychotherapist (Jane Haynes), who has listened to personal narratives that rival the visceral emotions of King Lear.

In Doctors Dissected Haynes and Scurr steal behind cultural issues into the heartlands of doctors who are drawn to a life in medicine, and conduct an autopsy as to the consequences of choosing a profession in which the practitioner is constantly being faced with lonely decisions that very often are a matter of life and death.

Non-fiction/Paperback/9780704374058/£14.99

Books released in May 2016

From Banking to the Thorny World of Politics – Shaukat Aziz with Anna Mikhailova

An insider’s account from the heart of the war on terror. 

Shaukat Aziz left behind a thirty-year career as a senior Citibank executive to join a military regime in Pakistan, following a coup in 1999. Two years later, 9/11 made Pakistan a vital strategic ally in the War on Terror. This is an insider’s account of what it was like to hold high office in one of the most challenging parts of the world.

Aziz served as prime minister of Pakistan between 2004 and 2007, following five years as Pakistan’s finance minister and thirty years at Citibank. While in office he steered one of the biggest economic turnarounds in recent history, taking Pakistan from the brink of bankruptcy. In 2001 he was named ‘finance minister of the year’ by Euromoney and The Banker magazines.

Anna Mikhailova is an award-winning journalist and interviewer for The Sunday Times. She has also written for Spectator LIFE and appeared as a guest presenter on ITV.

Memoir/Hardback/9780704373990/£20

From the Ganges to the Thames – Sonia Melchett

Sonia tells of her adventurous life, her family and her extensive travels across the globe; from Syria to Burma and beyond.

This record of her personal history follows her dramatic journey from obscurity as a child of Empire to the considerable glamour of her later years. Sonia’s extraordinary life story is told with a wit and charm that has come to be expected from an acclaimed author and a legendary society hostess.

Her eventful marriage took her from living in a control tower in Norfolk to riches and acclaim as a leading hostess. When her husband died in 1973, she lived alone for ten years in a large house in Chelsea. She worked as a Magistrate, and was on the board of the NSPCC, the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal National Theatre.

Memoir/Hardback/9780704374102/£20

Hungry for Love – Lucy Beresford

A scrumptious celebration of survival for anyone who’s longed for love or felt unworthy of it and shows the importance of self-respect.

 Jax is about to cancel her wedding to Jonty. On the day. By text.

Jax is the daughter of Majella, famous British television chef and author of Food of Love, a best-selling cookery book due for re-issue. But if there’s one thing Jax loathes more than her ex-fiancé, it’s cooking. So when her boss orders her to use the week she’d booked off for her honeymoon to attend a cookery course in Majorca, Jax fears her life cannot get any worse.

When tragedy strikes closer to home, Jax is forced to re-assess her relationship with food. As learning to cook inflames her desires, she must decide whether her plan post-Jonty – to starve herself of men – is such a great idea. Maybe there is a recipe for love out there, after all?

Lucy’s previous book, Invisible Threads, was a Waterstones ‘Best Fiction’ pick.

Fiction/Paperback/9780704374096/£12

Books released in June 2016

The Making of an Immigration  – James Hanratty

A truthful and timely look at the most talked about issue of 2016: the European immigration crisis

This is the fascinating and thought-provoking life story of one of the UK’s most experienced judges, a man who knows the country’s courtrooms – and the realities of the immigration crisis – inside out.

Part memoir, part meditation, in this book Hanratty writes with humility and humour, drawing on the extensive experience he picked up in the corridors of power over a lifetime spent in the justice business. His voice is both personable and profound, funny and affecting, bringing a unique and authoritative insight to the ongoing debate that has divided our politicians and troubled the conscience of the country.

Memoir/Hardback/9780704374126 /£TBC

Victor Grayson – David Clark

From religion to politics, Victor Grayson’s life may have been short but it was certainly action-packed.

From a Life Peer, the author is the leading authority on Victor Grayson’s life and disappearance. First published by Quartet Books in 1985, Victor Grayson: The Man and the Mystery has been fully revised, rewritten and updated, with significant additions and new illustrations – the result of the author’s tireless research over the last 30 years.

First published in 1985, this book is being reprinted in a very different format with significant changes and including new illustrations. There is much new work as a result of research over the intervening 30 years.

Non Fiction/Hardback/9780704374089/£20

There will be more so watch this space! You can Quartet Books Spring to Summer Catalogue 2016

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