Al Rodin is a writer and illustrator from London. He studied children's book illustration at Cambridge School of Art and received the 2019 Sebastian Walker Prize. Al enjoys working with a wide variety of materials including acrylic, watercolour and collage. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries around Europe and Asia, and he was selected for lllustrators' Exhibition at the Bologna Children's Book Fair in 2019. Little Echo is his first book.

Al Rodin

Al Smith

Alain Gheerbrant

Alain de Botton is the bestselling author of fifteen books, including The School of Life: An Emotional Education, How Proust Can Change Your Life, The Consolations of Philosophy, The Art of Travel and The Course of Love. He is the founder of The School of Life (theschooloflife.com).

Alain de Botton

Alaina Urquhart is the science-loving co-host of the chart-topping show Morbid: A True Crime Podcast. As an autopsy technician by trade, she offers a unique perspective from deep inside the morgue. Alaina hails from Boston, where she lives with her wonderful husband, John, their three amazing daughters, and a ghost Puggle named Bailey. She is about 75 percent coffee, and truly believes she and Agent Clarice Starling could be friends. 
 
Before writing her first psychological horror novel, she received degrees in criminal justice, psychology, and biology. When she isn't hosting Morbid, she hosts the Parcast original show Crime Countdown, and a horror movie podcast called Scream!. Her days are usually spent either recording or eviscerating. The way she sees it, when she hangs up her microphone for the day, it's time to let the dead speak.

Alaina Urquhart

Alaine Hood

Alan Alda

Born in London in 1939, Alan Ayckbourn is one of  the world's most popular and prolific playwrights. He has written 74  full length plays and more than 20 other revues and plays for children.  He is also an acclaimed director. Alan Ayckbourn was awarded a CBE in  1987. Ten years later to the day, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II  'for services to the theatre.'

Alan Ayckbourn

Alan Baker

Alan Barker

Alan Beattie

Alan Bennett's television series Talking Heads has become a modern-day classic, as have many of his works for the stage, including Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, The Madness of George III (together with the Oscar-nominated screenplay The Madness of King George) and an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows. The History Boys won the Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards for Best Play, The Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and the South Bank Award.

Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett is one of Britain's best-loved and most highly acclaimed writers. He has written widely for radio, television and theatre. His latest play, The History Boys, won several awards, including Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best Play and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. It also won six Tony Awards, including Best Play, following an extremely successful transfer to Broadway. In 2006 Bennett was named Author of the Year at the British Book Awards for Untold Stories, his collection of memoirs and diaries.

Alan Bishop

ALAN BOOTH was born in London in 1946 and travelled to Japan in 1970 to study Noh theatre. He stayed, working as a writer and film critic, until his untimely death in 1993.

Alan Booth

Alan Brazil is a Scottish broadcasting legend and former football player, most notably for Ipswich Town, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and internationally for Scotland. He played as a forward before being forced to retire due to a recurring back injury. 
 
After retirement, Alan moved into media presentation, initially on television, before a career in radio where for many years he has presented the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show on TalkSPORT.

Alan Brazil

Alan Bullock

Alan Carr is one of Britain's most successful and treasured comedians. His unique humour and effortless stage presence have earned him a catalogue of awards including Best Chat Show host at the publicly voted for 2015 National Television Awards, winner of the 2013 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance and 2013 British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. In previous years he has garnered a clutch of awards, from the 2012 National Television Award for Best Talk Show and the 2012 Loaded LAFTA Award for Best Stand-up to the 2010 TV Choice Awards for Best Entertainment Show. There were also nominations for Best New British Comedy &amp; Best Comedy Entertainment Personality at the 2009 British Comedy Awards. 
 
The success of the first series of his own chat show, 'Alan Carr: Chatty Man', in the summer of 2009, led to Channel 4 commissioning 16 further series' as well as numerous Christmas Specials and New Year Specstaculars. In September 2013, the 100th episode aired with A-list guests Justin Timberlake and Rihanna. Guests from past series include: Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Cameron Diaz, Vin Diesel, Adele, Grace Jones, Naomi Campbell, Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Robin Williams, David Walliams, Mariah Carey, Russell Brand, Samuel L Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Robbie Williams, Bette Midler, Sharon Osbourne, One Direction, Gok Wan and Miranda Hart. 
 
The DVD of Alan's 2007 debut stand-up show, 'Tooth Fairy Live' topped the HMV charts and was a Christmas 2007 top seller. 
 
His best-selling debut autobiography 'Look Who It Is' was published in September 2008 by HarperCollins. 
 
In 2011, Alan travelled the country with his second live tour. 'Spexy Beast Live' was a 33-date arena tour and culminated in the successful DVD of the same name. 
 
Throughout 2015, Alan hit the road once again and performed at over 150 sold-out theatre's across the UK and Ireland with his 'Yap, Yap, Yap!' live show. His third stand up DVD 'Alan Carr - Yap Yap Yap! Live' was released by Universal Pictures (UK) in November 2016. 
 
2016 has also seen Alan go global with international performances of his Yap Yap Yap! live show throughout Scandinavia, Montreal (at the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival) and can currently be seen on tour this summer in New Zealand and Australia this summer, with two shows at the iconic Sydney Opera House. 
 
Alan also hosts Channel 4's flagship fundraising show 'Stand Up To Cancer' which in 2014 went on to raise an amazing £14 million for Cancer Research. Alan returns once again to host 'Stand Up To Cancer' on Channel 4 this October. 
 
Alanatomy: The Inside Story is Alan's second memoir, and will be published by Penguin in October 2016.

Alan Carr

Alan Clark

Alan Clements

Alan Connor has been the question editor for BBC2's Only Connect and Richard Osman's House of Games. He is the author of books for Pointless and The Traitors and is the puzzle consultant for the BBC1 drama Ludwig. He writes puzzles for various newspapers and has written for Charlie Brooker series and Have I Got News for You. His favourite quiz question is: What word was intentionally omitted from the screenplay of The Godfather?

Alan Connor

Alan Connor is the author of Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword ("witty, charming, encyclopaedic and highly readable" - Spectator) and The Joy of Quiz ("An absolute delight" - Mail on Sunday). He has made quizzes for various TV shows and newspapers and written comedy including BBC Film's The Rack Pack, A Young Doctor's Notebook (Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe) and Have I Got News For You.

Alan Cowell

Alan Curtis

Alan Cutler

Alan Davies

Alan Dean Foster

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Johan Theorin

FROM THE WINNER OF THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER 2010 FOR THE DARKEST ROOM 
 
'A compelling and scary psychological thriller' - Sunday Mirror 
 
Who amongst us can really say they’re sane? 
 
Jan has just started working at the Dell nursery. But this is no normal nursery. It’s linked to a high-security asylum by a dimly-lit underground tunnel, which is used for the children to visit their parents. Who are some of the most dangerous psychopaths in the country. 
 
And Jan has complicated reasons for being here. There’s something he’s not telling people about his past. And there’s someone in the asylum who he really wants to see . . .

The Asylum

Afsaneh Knight

Do you ever wonder where your life is going? 
You are not alone. 
 
Story (that’s his name) can feel a middle-youth crisis coming on. He’s got a great job, a great flat and great mates: 
Mac, who is obsessed with biscuits; 
JP, who never says anything if it’s nice; 
Cannie, whose only admirer is the bird that lives outside her window; 
and 
Vincent, who has finally proposed to his girlfriend after nineteen years. 
 
But alongside the drinks and the kicks, what has any of them actually done? And why is time passing like sand in a sieve? 
 
Is it possible to turn life around? Life is just life, right? And change is a gasping and slippery fish. . .

The Sunshine Years

John Boyne

1867. On a dark and chilling night Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor. 
 
It is the start of a journey into a world of abandoned children, unexplained occurrences and terrifying experiences which Eliza will have to overcome if she is to survive the secrets that lie within Gaudlin’s walls…

This House is Haunted

Edward Stourton

The mountain paths are as treacherous as they are steep – the more so in the dark and in winter. Even for the fit the journey is a formidable challenge. Hundreds of those who climbed through the Pyrenees during the Second World War were malnourished and exhausted after weeks on the run hiding in barns and attics. Many never even reached the Spanish border. 
 
Today their bravery and endurance is commemorated each July by a trek along the Chemin de la Liberté – the toughest and most dangerous of wartime routes. From his fellow pilgrims Edward Stourton uncovers stories of midnight scrambles across rooftops and drops from speeding trains; burning Lancasters, doomed love affairs, horrific murder and astonishing heroism. 
 
The lives of the men, women and children who were drawn by the war to the Pyrenees often read as breathtakingly exciting adventure, but they were led against a background of intense fear, mounting persecution and appalling risk. Drawing on interviews with the few remaining survivors and the families of those who were there, Edward Stourton’s vivid history of this little-known aspect of the Second World War is shocking, dramatic and intensely moving.

Cruel Crossing

Escaping Hitler Across the Pyrenees

Rachel Joyce

'Tense and engrossing... readers who loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will not be disappointed.' - Sunday Times 
 
'An instant classic.' - Daily Express 
 
'You will end up grinning dippily and recommending this wild, searching book to everyone you know.' - The Times 
 
'Brilliantly realized... a powerful study of grief, loss, guilt, depression, mental illness - and ultimately the power of love - which grips the reader on every page.' - Daily Mail 
 
Summer, 1972: Two seconds have been added to the Atomic clock so as to counteract the irregularities in the Earth's rate of rotation. Eleven-year-old Byron has been told this but still struggles to understand. What might it mean? In the claustrophobic heat, he and his friend begin ‘Operation Perfect’, a hapless mission to rescue Byron’s mother from impending crisis. 
 
Winter, present day: As frost creeps across the moor, Jim cleans tables in the local café, a solitary figure struggling with OCD. His job is a relief from the rituals that govern his nights. 
 
Little would seem to connect them except that two seconds can change everything. 
If your world can be shattered in an instant, might time also put things right? 
 
RACHEL JOYCE'S MOST RECENT NOVEL - THE HOMEMADE GOD - IS OUT NOW FROM DOUBLEDAY

Perfect

From the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The compelling and emotional Sunday Times bestseller

Robert Edric

April 1945. While the Allied Forces administer the killing blow to Nazi Germany, at home London’s teeming underworld of black marketeers, pimps, prostitutes, conmen and thieves prepare for the coming peace. But the man the newspapers call the English Monster, the self-procaimed Antichrist, Aleister Crowley, is making preparations for the future too: for his immortality. 
 
For Crowley’s plan to work, he has to depend upon one of London’s Most Wanted, ambitious gangland boss Tommy Fowler, who, presiding over a crumbling empire, can still get you anything you want - for a price. 
 
And what Crowley wants is a young man, Peter Tait, in Pentonville Prison under sentence of death for murder. Convinced of his innocence but unable to prove it, his only chance of survival lies in the hands of one detective struggling against the odds to win a desperate appeal that has little chance of success. 
 
The Monster’s Lament is an extraordinary journey through a ruined landscape towards an ending more terrible and all-consuming than any of its participants can have imagined. When you’re used to fighting monsters abroad, it is easy to overlook the monsters closer to home…

The Monster's Lament

Nigel Farndale

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From the Costa Prize shortlisted author of The Blasphemer, a novel of survival, redemption and forbidden love from World War II to today's Afghanistan. 
 
1939: In a hotel room overlooking Piccadilly Circus, two young men are arrested. Charles is court-martialled for ‘conduct unbecoming’; Anselm is deported home to Germany for ‘re-education’ in a brutal labour camp. Separated by the outbreak of war, and a social order that rejects their love, they must each make a difficult choice, and then live with the consequences. 
 
 2012: Edward, a diplomat held hostage for eleven years in an Afghan cave, returns to London to find his wife is dead, and in her place is an unnerving double – his daughter, now grown up. Numb with grief, he attempts to re-build his life and answer the questions that are troubling him. Was his wife’s death an accident? Who paid his ransom? And how was his release linked to Charles, his father? 
 
 As dark and nuanced as it is powerful and moving, The Road Between Us is a novel about survival, redemption and forbidden love. Its moral complexities will haunt the reader for days after the final page has been turned.

The Road Between Us

Joanne Harris

An enthralling and enchanting collection of short stories from the bestselling author of Chocolat and The Strawberry Thief... Perfect for fans of Kate Atkinson and Kate Mosse as well as readers of Eve Chase and Stacey Halls. 
 
'A vibrant tombola of stories...' -- Time Out 
'Strongly plotted and written in registers that are variously comical, sad and surreal...' - Independent 
 'A jewel of a book' -- ***** Reader review 
 'Sublime and touching' -- ***** Reader review 
'Unputdownable' -- ***** Reader review 
'Compelling - you can lose yourself one story at a time' -- ***** Reader review 
************************************************************************** 
Stories are like Russian dolls; open them up, and in each one you'll find another story. 
 
Come to the house where it is Christmas all year round; meet the ghost who lives on a Twitter timeline; be spooked by a newborn baby created with sugar, spice and lashings of cake. 
 
Conjured from a wickedly imaginative pen, here is a new collection of short stories that showcases Joanne Harris's exceptional talent as a teller of tales, a spinner of yarns. 
 
Sensuous, mischievous, uproarious and wry, here are tales that combine the everyday with the unexpected; wild fantasy with bittersweet reality.

A Cat, a Hat, and a Piece of String

a spellbinding collection of unforgettable short stories from Joanne Harris, the bestselling author of Chocolat

Curtis Sittenfeld

BY THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF RODHAM and AMERICAN WIFE 
'A work of psychological genius' OBSERVER 
_______________________________- 
 
Identical twins, Kate and Violet are about as unlike as two peas from the same pod can be. Except in one respect - they share a hidden gift. But after Kate inadvertently reveals their secret when they are thirteen years old, their lives are set on diverging paths. 
 
Twenty years later Kate, a devoted wife and mother, has settled down in the suburbs to raise her two young children. Violet is single, and lives a much more flamboyant and eccentric life. Then one day Violet ignites a media storm by predicting a major earthquake in the St Louis area where they live. 
 
As the day Violet has announced for the earthquake draws nearer, Kate must attempt to repair her fraught relationship with her sister, and to face truths about herself she has long tried to deny.

Sisterland

The striking Sunday Times bestseller

Leif G W Persson

Described by his creator as 'short, fat and primitive', Evert Bäckström is a rather unique homicide detective but he is undeniably the real deal with it comes to modern policing. 
 
This series is blackly comic, thrillingly compelling and utterly real.

Winner of the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel 2014 
 
In the middle of an unusually hot Swedish summer, a young woman studying at the Vaxjo Police Academy is brutally murdered. Police Inspector Evert Bäckström is unwillingly drafted in from Stockholm to head up the investigation. 
 
Egotistical, vain and utterly prejudiced against everything, Bäckström is a man who has no sense of duty or responsibilty, thinks everyone with the exception of himself is an imbecile and is only really capable of warm feelings towards his pet goldfish and the nearest bottle of liquor. If they are to solve the case, his long suffering team must work around him, following the scant few leads which remain after Bäckström's intransigence has let the trail go cold. 
 
Blackly comic, thrillingly compelling and utterly real, Linda, As in the Linda Murder is the novel which introduces the reader to the modern masterpiece that is Evert Bäckström, a man described by his creator as 'short, fat and primitive'. He is, without doubt, the real deal when it comes to modern policing.

Linda, As in the Linda Murder

Bäckström 1

Chetan Bhagat

A comedy of romance and crossed lines 
 
Six friends are selling home appliances to the US from a call centre in India. Each one has an issue with love. Call agent Sam works right beside the girl who's just dumped him. He's dating someone he can't stand, just to get over her. 
 
Esha is just short of becoming a model. Two inches, to be precise. 
 
Vroom wants to change the world. 
 
Radikha's trying to manage her mother-in-law, and hold down her job. 
 
Tonight is Thanksgiving in America, and customers are queueing up to complain about white goods going wrong. On this night of a thousand phone calls, when life couldn't look more dismal, one unique caller gets on the line. And that call is going to change everything ... 
 
A romantic comedy of six friends kicking against the system, against their boss, and against each other. Something's got to give ...

One Night At The Call Centre

Kathleen Grissom

‘You must not become too friendly with them,’ she said. ‘They are not the same as us.’ 
‘How?’ I asked. ‘How are they not the same?’ 
 
When seven-year-old Irish orphan Lavinia is transported to Virginia to work in the kitchen of a wealthy plantation owner, she is absorbed into the life of the kitchen house and becomes part of the family of black slaves whose fates are tied to the plantation. 
 
But Lavinia’s skin will always set her apart, whether she wishes it or not. And as she grows older, she will be torn between the life that awaits her as a white woman and the people she knows as kin… 
 
A compelling, powerful and poignant coming-of-age story about the fragility of family,and where love and loyalty prevail.

The Kitchen House

Ben Elton

Berlin 1920 
 
Two babies are born. 
Two brothers. United and indivisible, sharing everything. Twins in all but blood. 
 
As Germany marches into its Nazi Armageddon, the ties of family, friendship and love are tested to the very limits of endurance. And the brothers are faced with an unimaginable choice....Which one of them will survive? 
 
Ben Elton's most personal novel to date,Two Brothers transports the reader to the time of history's darkest hour.

Two Brothers

Louise Douglas

'An edge-of-your-seat read . . . Dark and brooding' The Lady 
'Enthralling and unnervingly absorbing . . . our top holiday recommendation' Heat 
 
__ 
 
 
She thought she'd left the past behind. Now it's coming to find her. 
 
Hannah Brown never thought she'd have a best friend like Ellen Brecht. Ellen is everything she isn't - beautiful, daring, glamorous and fierce. Growing up together in rural Cornwall, life seems perfect. But their idyllic childhood is shattered by obsession, betrayal and, ultimately, tragedy. 
 
Hannah has tried for twenty years to forget what happened during that terrible summer. Then, one ordinary morning at work, she glimpses a woman who is identical to Ellen. Can it really be her? And has Ellen returned to forgive her - or to punish her? 
 
The thrilling novel from the bestselling author of The Secret by the Lake and The House by the Sea, winner of The Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award. 
 
__ 
 
 
Readers are captivated by In Her Shadow: 
 
***** 'Full of intrigue and twists. It kept me gripped to the end.' 
***** 'I finished the story feeling a bit breathless and as though I'd lived a whole other life.' 
***** 'Beautifully written . . . wonderfully descriptive, I could actually smell the sea and imagine myself on the beach.'

In Her Shadow

A dark and thrilling read from the Richard & Judy bestseller

R J Palacio

'My name is August. 
I won't describe to you what I look like. 
Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.' 
 
Ten-year-old August Pullman wants to be ordinary. He does ordinary things. He eats ice-cream. He plays on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. 
 
But Auggie is far from ordinary. Born with a terrible facial abnormality, he has been home-schooled by his parents his entire life, in an attempt to protect him from the cruelty of the outside world. Now, Auggie's parents are sending him to a real school. Can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all? 
 
Narrated by Auggie and the people around him whose lives he touches, Wonder is a frank, funny, astonishingly moving debut to be read in one sitting, pass on to others, and remember long after the final page.

Wonder

Adult edition

Catherine Ryan Hyde

Fans of Jodi Picoult, Mitch Albom and Alice Sebold will love this truly captivating story, written with such depth of emotion and full of both heartbreak and hope by Richard &amp; Judy bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde. 
 
'A work of art...enchanting' -- San Francisco Chronicle 
'Surprisingly wonderful' -- Mirror 
'Well written and compelling' -- ***** Reader review 
'I could not put it down. Absolutely loved it' -- ***** Reader review 
'Absolutely wonderful' -- ***** Reader review 
'Loved it - and I want more...!' -- ***** Reader review 
*********************************************************************** 
 
ONE SUMMER - ONE LIFE CHANGING JOURNEY... 
 
Carly and her little sister Jen are walking. Something terrible has happened. Something that has left Carly in charge, her faith in humanity shattered. She knows they need help but she is terrified of her sister being taken away from her. All they have is each other. 
 
Carly wants them to find their way back to the last person she knew she could trust - their stepfather. But Jen holds a secret about him which, if she's telling the truth, will put them both at far more risk than they could imagine...

Walk Me Home

a moving, engrossing and ultimately inspiring novel about the search to belong from Richard & Judy bestseller Catherine Ryan Hyde

Sean Moncrieff

Dublin was mucky and vulgar. Like a tourist who gets drunk and wakes up with a huge tattoo. 
 
This is what it's like for you: your name is Simon Dillon. You're 35. You're a failure. Too hungover to go to work, too lazy to get a new job, too keen to blame everyone else: your mad father, your estranged wife, your so-called friends. Blame them. Blame Dublin. 
 
You'd rather do a few lines of coke, but there's a beautiful French woman you can't remember meeting, cops banging on the door asking about a dead woman you don't know, Russian gangsters asking questions you can't answer. Murders all over the city; bombs in O'Connell Street. 
 
And it's got nothing to do with you. Except that it's all your fault. 
 
A needle-sharp, funny and scathing thriller, set in a Dublin most people don't read about - the real one.

Dublin

Tamar Cohen

By the popular author of WHEN SHE WAS BAD and THE BROKEN: At the funeral of your husband of twenty years, you don't expect to meet his other wife. Recommended for fans of LIANE MORIARTY 
 
 
'Dark, clever and utterly addictive' - Lisa Jewell, author of I FOUND YOU 
, 
Imagine: You've been happily married for 28 years. You have three children, a lovely house and a husband who travels a lot. Even after all this time, you still love each other. 
 
One day you get a call that turns your world upside down: your husband is dead. You are devastated. You go to the funeral... And come face to face with his other widow. 
 
Another wife, another family. It can’t be true. You are his only wife. She is just an upstart. She can't be his widow, too. Or can she?

The War of the Wives

Morten Ramsland

Naughty Boys.Dirty Secrets.Mad Dogs. 
In the Eriksson family, childhood is a shocking experience, full of crude and disturbing rites of passage. It all started with Askild 'the Crackpot', chased by bloodhounds on a German plain after escaping from a Nazi concentration camp.His son, Niels 'Jug Ears' Junior, is born in an outhouse, and wins respect by kicking other boys in the balls. 
And his son, Asger 'the Liar', collects stories about his shipwrecked family which are always exciting though not entirely true. He is haunted by the time he spent hidden in the space under the stairs with his fat aunt, aka 'the Little Bitch'. Unable to banish Doghead, a horror from his childhood, to the shadow realm, he reveals the very bad deeds children can do - to push his family story forward, past a point of no return. 
Doghead is a richly imaginative farcical tragedy; a witty saga of three generations of wild Eriksson men. It touches on chilling themes - concentration camps, child abuse, alcoholism, rape - yet warmly celebrates the stories that hold families together.

Doghead

Matt Beaumont

Out of the ashes of doomed ad agency Miller Shanks has risen Meerkat 360, a very 21st century workplace. Staff include David Crutton, an MD with the worst email signature in history; Milton Keane, a definitely-straight PA with a yearning for reality tv fame; Liam O'Keefe, a creative with an online gambling addiction who may be linked with the contents of the stationery cupboard appearing on eBay; and Harvey Harvey, a creative who politely replies to pornographic spam and who might just have met his future wife online - a rich Nigerian princess in deep trouble... 
 
Told entirely via emails, texts, webchat and blogs, the long-awaited follow up to E is a hilariously funny insight into the hearts, minds and inboxes of the world's most engagingly dysfunctional ad agency.

E Squared

Heleen Van Royen

I have a husband, we have two children and we own our house. I am in good health and so are they, our lives are good; we have everything we need. Sometimes I look at them and wait, in vain, to be moved, as a mother should when watching her own family. Why do I no longer feel anything? 
 
Julia is thirty-six years old. At first sight she has it all, but actually she feels miserable. Trapped in the monotony of daily family life and fed up with her passionless marriage, Julia wants out. Escape. For once not to be a good mother, a good wife, a good daughter. For the first time in her life she does something completely irresponsible: she leaves her family behind and heads off into the sun. 
 
When Julia finally meets someone who makes her realize what she's been missing all her life, she is forced to reconcile with her past and confront the crucial question: does she dare to go home?

Escape

Paula Wall

'Some women barter their bodies like whores with wedding bands. Some use sex like a sword. But some women can touch a man and heal like Jesus. The man who sees sunrise from a Belle woman's bed will swear he's been born again.' 
 
So begins Paula Wall's funny, poignant, and sexy novel, THE ROCK ORCHARD. Musette Belle could lay her hand on a baby's heart and see his life as he'd already lived it. Even in death, she continues to shock the good citizens of Leaper's Fork, Tennessee and her descendents are doing their best to carry on her legacy. Angela Belle, a haunting and beautiful siren, lures every man she meets into greatness, while her illegitimate and very independent daughter, Dixie, serves tea and vanilla wafers to the statue of the Confederate soldier she believes is her father. But when Charlotte Belle, a woman who would rather spend a night with Jack Daniels than any man she knows, seduces a stranger in the cemetery, it not only transforms the two people involved, but the entire town. 
 
A truly unique love story, THE ROCK ORCHARD is about the strength of community, the might of God, and the ultimate power of extraordinary women.

The Rock Orchard

Antonio Hill

'Evokes the master of Barcelona-set narrative, Carlos Ruiz Zafon' Independent 
 
When the death of a young witness in a case of human trafficking and voodoo provokes the normally calm Inspector Salgado to beat someone up, he is swiftly removed from the project. Instead, he is sent to investigate a teenager's fall to his death in one of Barcelona's uptown areas. 
As Salgado begins to uncover the inconvenient truths behind the city's most powerful families, two seemingly unsolvable cases are set to implode under the hot Barcelona sun.

The Summer of Dead Toys

John Irving

A compelling novel of desire, secrecy, and sexual identity, In One Person is a story of unfulfilled love — tormented, funny, and affecting — and an impassioned embrace of our sexual differences. Billy, the bisexual narrator and main character, tells the tragicomic story (lasting more than half a century) of his life as a ‘sexual suspect’, a phrase first used by John Irving in 1978 — in his landmark novel of ‘terminal cases’, The World According to Garp. 
 
His most political novel since The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving’s In One Person is a poignant tribute to Billy’s friends and lovers — a theatrical cast of characters who defy category and convention. Not least, In One Person is an intimate and unforgettable portrait of the solitariness of a bisexual man who is dedicated to making himself ‘worthwhile’.

In One Person

Khaled Khalifa

1980s Syria, our young narrator is living a secluded life behind the veil in the vast and perfumed house of her grandparents in Aleppo. Her three aunts, Maryam the pious one; Safaa, the liberal; and the free-spirited Marwa, bring her up with the aid of their ever-devoted blind servant. 
 
Soon the high walls of the family home are unable to protect her from the social and political changes outside. Witnessing the crackdowns of the ruling dictatorship against Muslims, she is filled with hatred for her oppressors, and becomes increasingly fundamentalist. In the footsteps of her beloved uncle Bakr, she takes on the party, launching herself into a fight for her religion, her country, and ultimately, her own future. 
 
On a backdrop of real-life events that occurred during the Syrian regime’s ruthless suppression of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s, IN PRAISE OF HATRED is a stirring, sensual story. Its elegant use of traditional, layered storytelling is a powerful echo of the modern-day tragedy that is now taking place in the Middle East.

In Praise of Hatred

Adam Johnson

The award-winning and New York Times bestselling novel: a dark and witty story of the rise of a young orphan in the surreal and tyrannical regime of North Korea. 
 
'You know you are in the hands of someone who can tell a story. Fantastic' ZADIE SMITH 
'A stunning feat of imagination' STEPHEN KING 
 
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST 
 
------ 
 
Young Pak Jun Do is convinced he is special. He knows he must be the unique son of the master of the orphanage, and definitely not some kid dumped by his parents. Surely it was obvious from the way his father singled him out for regular beating? 
 
He finds his calling when he is picked as a spy and kidnapper for his nation, the glorious Democratic Republic of North Korea. 
 
He knows he must find his true love, Sun Moon, the greatest opera star who ever lived, before it’s too late. 
 
He knows he’s not like the other prisoners in the camp. 
 
He’s going to get out soon. 
 
Isn't he? 
 
This hilarious, dark literary epic of a young boy's rise in North Korea from orphan to high-ranking officer won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the National Book Award. 
Adam Johnson is working on a new work of fiction. 
 
'An addictive novel of daring ingenuity' DAVID MITCHELL 
'Excavates the very meaning of life' NEW YORK TIMES

The Orphan Master's Son

Frank Schaeffer

Calvin Becker's strict fundamentalist upbringing means he's never seen a film, watched television or danced. He even has to hide his five second-hand copies of Mad magazine in the attic. 
Now he and his family - his embarrassingly devout missionary parents and his sisters, the tyrannical 18 year-old Janet and the angelic Rachael - are on their modest annual skiing holiday in Switzerland. For the Beckers, the Hotel Riffelberg had always provided a safe haven from the jazz-loving sinners who congregate further down the mountain in Zermatt, but this is 1966, the year of peace, love and the Beatles, and the world is changing. As is the irrepressible Calvin... 
In his innocent 14 year-old body the hormones are raging, awakening a volcanic sexual 
curiosity and he willingly succumbs to the ample charms of Eva, the young waitress who introduces him to ecstasies beyond his wildest dreams. But then Calvin's mother catches him supposedly in the act and things start to go awry, triggering a climactic end to his childhood (and the family holiday).

Zermatt

Joanna Trollope

Fans of Erica James, Elizabeth Noble and Amanda Prowse will devour this gripping novel by multi-million copy bestselling author Joanna Trollope which lays bare the snags and frustrations of family life and the dangerous pressure points in relationships. Guaranteed to keep you hooked... 
 
'Written with all Trollope's customary skill and panache, this is an absorbing look at the modern military wife who no longer automatically follows the drum' -- Daily Mail 
'The Soldier's Wife is a cracking read and has clearly been thoroughly researched. All the little details which animate a novel ring true... compassionate, humourous and topical' - Spectator 
'Another great page turner from Joanna Trollope, one of her best' -- ***** Reader review 
'My only criticism - it was too short - I didn't want it to end!' -- ***** Reader review 
'Hard to put down' -- ***** Reader review 
'I couldn't put the book down!' -- ***** Reader review 
 
************************************************************** 
DOES MARRYING A SOLDIER ALWAYS HAVE TO MEAN YOU ARE NOT MARRYING A MAN, BUT A REGIMENT? 
 
The soldiers are coming home - after six months in Afghanistan. Surely being reunited with their wives and girlfriends and families will be heaven, after the hell they have been through. 
 
When Dan Riley returns to his adored wife, Alexa, and their children, his Army life still comes first. Alexa thought she was prepared to help him, and the whole family, to make the transition to normal life again - but no-one had told her how lonely and near impossible the task would be...

The Soldier's Wife

the captivating and heart-wrenching story of a marriage put to the test from one of Britain’s best loved authors, Joanna Trollope

Judy Astley

If you like Carole Matthews and Milly Johnson, you'll love Judy's delightful and funny novel about changing your luck once and for all . . . 
 
Viola hasn't had much luck with men. Her first husband, Marco, companion of her youth and father of her only child, left her when he realised he was gay. Her second, Rhys, ended his high-octane, fame-filled life by driving his Porsche into a wall. No wonder her family always believes she needs Looking After, and her friends think she really shouldn't be allowed out on her own... 
 
Which is why, at the age of thirty-five, she finds herself shamefully back at home, living with Mum. 
 
Viola knows she has to take charge; she needs to get a life, and fast. With a stroppy teenage daughter, a demanding mother, and siblings who want to control her life for her, where is she going to turn? 
 
Readers love Judy Astley: 
"Warm, funny and unerringly true to life" Katie Fforde 
"Irresistible" Daily Mail 
"An enjoyable light read" Sunday Mirror

I Should Be So Lucky

an uplifting and hilarious novel from the ever astute Astley

'Powerful' Guardian 
 
'Haunting' Independent 
 
How close can you get to the truth...before you become the target? 
 
Jerry Morner lives quietly in a cabin by the old quarry, hurting no one. Or that’s what he wants people to believe. It takes one spark and a can of petrol to expose the truth. 
 
The fire is deadly. Not for Jerry, but for the two strangers found burnt to death inside. 
 
His son starts to search for answers. But he soon realises that some secrets are better left to the dead.

The Quarry

Oland Quartet series 3

Dread Pirate Fleur

Dream Master

Drenai Novels

DropZone

Duggee's Little Library

Dungeon Crawler Carl Series

Duty Calls

A gripping three-part series based on real historical events. Three Roman legions massacred. Three Imperial Eagles lost. One man vies for revenge.

Eagles of Rome

For thirty years, the O’Donnels have ruled the East End, but there’s a price to pay for this power, and it’s usually in blood.

Eastend Trilogy

Easterleigh Hall

Eat Around Italy

Eat Around Spain

Eat Right For Blood Type

Ebb and Flo

Ed Reardon's Week

Elemental Emergence

Elfies Spellbook

Eliot Biographies

Emma Trilogy

Emma and James

Empire of Salt

In the Swedish town of Engelsfors, a mysterious forcedraws seven teenagers together. They are the Chosen Ones, and they have been chosen to drive back the demons that threaten to overwhelm the world

Engelsfors Trilogy

England's Medieval Queens

English Heritage

Erica Martin Thriller

Eternal Ones

Eve of Man Trilogy

Everyman's Library Barbreck

Everyman's Children's Classics has more than 50 titles in print. It offers the finest editions currently available of the world's greatest children's books in handsome, full cloth hardcover bindings. 
 
The library brings back into print major illustrators such as Ivan Bilibin, Kate Greenaway, Arthur Rackham, Nicolas Bentley, Walter Crane, Aubrey Beardsley, Edward Ardizzone, W.Heath Robinson and Mervyn Peake.

Everyman's Library CHILDREN'S CLASSICS

The finest editions available of the world's greatest classics from Homer to Achebe, Tolstoy to Ishiguro, Proust to Pullman, printed on a fine acid-free, cream-wove paper that will not discolour with age, with sewn, full cloth bindings and silk ribbon markers, and at remarkably low prices. All books include substantial introductions by major scholars and contemporary writers, and comparative chronologies of literary and historical context.

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