Herman Koch, Antoine Laurain, John le Carré and Christy Lefteri
The Dinner - Herman Koch
A summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant. Between mouthfuls of food, the conversation remains a gentle hum. Yet behind the empty words terrible things need to be said and with every forced smile the knives are being sharpened.
The President's Hat - Antoine Laurain
Dining alone in an elegant Parisian brasserie, accountant Daniel Mercier can hardly believe his eyes when President François Mitterand sits down to eat at the table next to him.
But the leader of the French forgets his hat when he leaves. Daniel decides to keep it, and suddenly feels ... different.
A Legacy of Spies - John le Carré
Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London.
The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - John le Carré
Alec Leamas is tired. It's the 1960s, he's been out in the cold for years, spying in the shadow of the Berlin Wall for his British masters. He has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles.
Now Control wants to bring him in at last - but only after one final assignment.
The Beekeeper of Aleppo - Christy Lefteri
Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape.
But what Afra has seen is so terrible she has gone blind, and so they must embark on a perilous journey through Turkey and Greece towards an uncertain future in Britain.