The Flight Bryan Malessa (Harper Perennial, £7.99)
Set in the final months of the Second World War, this short book tells the story of an ethnic German woman living in East Prussia, who flees the advancing Russians with her children, believing she will be safer in Berlin. One of 12 million refugees on the move, Ida soon discovers that surviving the bleak journey will depend wholly on her strength.
Young Stalin Simon Sebag Montefiore (Phoenix, £9.99)
This Costa biography winner is now out in paperback. It brings psychological insight to the shadowy path of the Georgian cobbler's son to becoming dictator of all Russia. It was Stalin who provided the practical fighting, bombing and robbery skills that allowed the Bolsheviks to seize the Russian empire. The book ends with Trotsky and Stalin in contention for the top slot, and the rest of the story is told in an epilogue, since Stalin's later life was the subject of the author's earlier book Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar.
Shakespeare Bill Bryson (HarperPerennial, £7.99)
Bryson's last book was about Nearly Everything, so Shakespeare is a relatively modest target. The Bard is a notoriously difficult subject for biographers, but Bryson makes a witty stab at unravelling the myths and unknowns.
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