'Zanzibar . . . The name itself, languid and conspiratorial, was a kind of illusion. It seemed to speak of the heart's desire, of that yearning for paradise which is itself a sign we are fallen - that we are in the dirty realm of history, of actuality, of fact.'The year is 1998. Nick Karolides is a marine biologist working on coral reef protection off Zanzibar - the East African island of slaves, sultans and spices that for centuries has signified both the exotic and the malevolent. On a trip to the Tanzanian capital of Dar-es-Salaam he meets Miranda Powers, an American who works in the US embassy there. Together they find themselves embroiled in a terrorist conspiracy, one with which CIA veteran Jack Queller has an ancient connection.In Zanzibar, Giles Foden draws on current events in order to create a contemporary historical novel of dazzling virtuosity. Both an investigation of the idea of paradise and a powerfully dramatic political...

What would it be like to become Idi Amin's personal physician? Giles Foden's bestselling thriller is the story of a young Scottish doctor drawn into the heart of the Ugandan dictator's surreal and brutal regime. Privy to Amin's thoughts and ambitions, he is both fascinated and appalled. As Uganda plunges into civil chaos he realises action is imperative - but which way should he jump?

The D-day landings - the fate of 2.5 million men, 3000 landing craft and the entire future of Europe depends on the right weather conditions on the English Channel on a single day. A team of Allied scientists is charged with agreeing on an accurate forecast five days in advance. But is it even possible to predict the weather so far ahead? And what is the relationship between predictability and turbulence, one of the last great mysteries of modern physics? Wallace Ryman has devised a system that comprehends all of this - but he is a reclusive pacifist who stubbornly refuses to divulge his secrets. Henry Meadows, a young maths prodigy from the Met Office, is sent to Scotland to discover Ryman's system and apply it to the Normandy landings. But turbulence proves more elusive than anyone could have imagined and events, like the weather, begin to spiral out of control.