‘A brilliant and challenging book’ GORDON BROWN From the founder of Britain’s leading antifascist organisation, HOPE not hate, this is an urgent call to resist the forces of extremism on the march in Western societies – and how to go about it. If you’re shocked and disconcerted by the rise of intolerance and hate, you’re not alone. Drawing from 35 years of campaigning and journalism, Nick Lowles shows how anti-immigration, antisemitic and Islamophobic attacks have proliferated in the modern world, and how Britain – with the likes of Tommy Robinson and the growth of Reform UK – has been far from immune from far-right politics. From HOPE not hate’s pioneering campaigns against the BNP in east London to the impact of the ‘manosphere’ and the issues in Netflix's Adolescence; from explorations of the pernicious influence of ‘race science’ and conspiracy theory to the interplay of deprivation and intolerance in Britain’s deindustrialised towns, Lowles entwines his inspirational story with hard-won lessons from decades of activism. His conclusions – which do not shy away from awkward truths for campaigners – suggest practical ways for the far right to be defeated. And he shares powerful examples – from a participant-led youth club in Hull to Syrian refugees connecting with local people over falafel in Bradford – of finding the joy in showing that, hard as it can seem, HOPE can triumph over hate.

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible. Called in to investigate this mystery is Ana Dolabra, an investigator whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol. Din is an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, and act as his superior’s eyes and ears--quite literally, in this case, as among Ana’s quirks are her insistence on wearing a blindfold at all times, and her refusal to step outside the walls of her home. Din is most perplexed by Ana’s ravenous appetite for information and her mind’s frenzied leaps—not to mention her cheerful disregard for propriety and the apparent joy she takes in scandalizing her young counterpart. Yet as the case unfolds and Ana makes one startling deduction after the next, he finds it hard to deny that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective. As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the safety of the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra—and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect. Featuring an unforgettable Holmes-and-Watson style pairing, a gloriously labyrinthine plot, and a haunting and wholly original fantasy world, The Tainted Cup brilliantly reinvents the classic mystery tale.