Vintage Publishing

This bold new take on the life and ideas of political philosopher Hannah Arendt explores her lessons for living in an age of uncertainty.

'Compelling and original' OBSERVER

'Invigorating and insightful' FINANCIAL TIMES

Born in the first decade of the last century, Hannah Arendt escaped fascist Europe to make a new life for herself in America, where she became one of the world's most influential - and controversial - public intellectuals.

She wrote about power and terror, exile and love, and above all about freedom. Questioning was her first defence against tyranny. In place of the forces of darkness and insanity, she pitched a politics of plurality, spontaneity, and defiance. Loving the world, Arendt taught, meant finding the courage to protect it.

Written with passion and authority, Lyndsey Stonebridge's We Are Free to Change the World illuminates Arendt's life and work and its urgent dialogue with our troubled present. It calls on each of us to think our way, as Hannah Arendt did - unflinchingly, lovingly, and defiantly - through our own unpredictable times.

After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Tomoko is sent to live for a year with her uncle in the coastal town of Ashiya. It is a year which will change her life.

The 1970s are bringing changes to Japan and her uncle's magnificent colonial mansion opens up a new and unfamiliar world for Tomoko; its sprawling gardens are even home to a pygmy hippo the family keeps as a pet. Tomoko finds her relatives equally exotic and beguiling and her growing friendship with her cousin Mina draws her into an intoxicating world full of secret crushes and elaborate storytelling.

As the two girls share confidences their eyes are opened to the complications of the adult world. Tomoko's understanding of her uncle's mysterious absences, her grandmother's wartime experiences and her aunt's unhappiness will all come into clearer focus as she and Mina build an enduring bond. Rich with the magic and mystery of youth, Mina's Matchbox is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time, and a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse.

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE ADVERSARYLittle Nicolas is a delicate, timid schoolboy, with an excitable, if morbid imagination - the child of an overbearing father.

Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, is the author of several books of poetry, including I Would Steal Horses, Old Shirts & New Skins, First Indian on the Moon and The Summer of Black Widows, and a volume of poetry and prose called The Business of Fancydancing.