Aeschylus

Aesop lived in the early sixth century BC on the island of Samos, which lies off the coast of modern Turkey. He originally came from Thrace which was a separate country in those days, though it now forms part of Greece and Bulgaria. Very little is known about his life except that he worked as a slave on Samos for a master called Iadmon, and that he became a very famous storyteller. He was so famous that almost any fable which could have been told by him became attributed to him.

Aesop

Afsaneh Knight

Afsaneh Moqadam

Afua Hirsch is a writer, filmmaker, and journalist. She is the author of Brit(ish), the Sunday Times bestseller that explores Britishness, identity and belonging, for which she was awarded the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize for Non-Fiction. She co-presented Enslaved, a 6-part series about the transatlantic slave trade with Samuel L Jackson. She is the presenter of the Audible podcast series We Need To Talk About the British Empire, and Africa Rising, an ongoing flagship series about art and culture for the BBC, through her production company Born in Me Productions. She is a longtime columnist for the Guardian and is a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California.

Afua Hirsch

AGAPI STASSINOPOULOS is an author, blogger and international speaker who inspires audiences around the world. She has spoken at many corporations and conferences, such as Nike Women, Starbucks,Time Inc., Virgin, Johnson &amp; Johnson and the American Heart Foundation. She was born in Athens and trained in London at RADA before gaining a Master’s in psychology at the University of Santa Monica. She has collaborated with her sister, Arianna Huffington, to develop talks and seminars, and has worked with the Oprah Winfrey network. She is currently hosting a new podcast series in collaboration with The Huffington Post, entitled ‘Sundays with Agapi’, which includes guided meditations and interviews with prominent guests. She lives in Los Angeles.

Agapi Stassinopoulos

Agatha Christie

Aggie MacKenzie

Aghnia Mardiyah is a London-based Illustrator and Character Designer with a passion for children's books and animation. She is drawn to fun, bright and vibrant colours. When she isn't disappearing under piles of work, she loves to travel! Exploring foreign places, exciting new sights and sensations is what inspires her the most!

Aghnia Mardiyah

Agnes Callard is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Her primary areas of specialization are ancient philosophy and ethics. She has written for The New York Times, New Yorker, Atlantic, Harper’s, Boston Review, and penned a monthly column for the Point. From 2019 to 2020, she held a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for the research that contributes to this book.

Agnes Callard

Agnes Jekyll

Agnes Bertha Marshall (24 August 1855-29 July 1905) was an English culinary entrepreneur who became a leading cookery writer, dubbed the 'Queen of Ices'. Her 1888 cookery book included a recipe for 'cornets with cream', possibly the earliest publication of the edible ice cream cone. Marshall was born in Walthamstow. She wrote four books: Ices Plain and Fancy: The Book of Ices (1885), Mrs A B Marshall's Book of Cookery (1888), Mrs A B Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes (1891) and Fancy Ices (1894).

Agnes Marshall

Agnes Prus

Agri Ismaïl is a Kurdish author based in Sweden who has worked as a corporate lawyer in London, Dubai, and Iraqi Kurdistan. His work has been published in The White Review, The Rumpus, Litro, 3:AM Magazine, and Asymptote amongst other places. His piece 'Haunted Home' won the 2016 Stack award for best non-fiction for The Outpost, runner-up in the Lifted Brow &amp; RMIT non/fictionLab Prize for Experimental Non-Fiction, and he was longlisted for the 2017/2018 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize. Hyper is his first novel.

Agri Ismaïl

Aharon Appelfeld authored more than 45 acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction and received many international awards including the MLA Commonwealth Award, the Independent Foreign Fiction prize, the prix Médicis étranger, the Israel prize, and the Nelly Sachs prize. Born in Czernowitz, Bukovina (now part of Ukraine) in 1932, he survived the Holocaust and passed away in Israel in 2018.

Aharon Appelfeld

Ahmadou Kourouma

Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist and human rights activist based in London. He is the co-founder and director of We Are Not Numbers and a journalist with Palestine Deep Dive. Ahmed holds a degree in English Literature from Al-Azhar university in Gaza, and an MA in International Journalism from Leeds University, where he was a Chevening Scholar. 
 
Pam Bailey is a social-justice activist and journalist based in Washington DC. She lived and worked in the Gaza Strip following the 2008/9 Israeli assault, and co-founded We Are Not Numbers. Today, in addition to her ongoing dedication to the Palestinian cause, she dedicates herself to two nonprofits that advocate for people detained in American prisons -- including one she co-founded in 2020, called More Than Our Crimes.

Ahmed Alnaouq

Ahmed Errachidi

Ahmed Rashid

Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar

Ahron Bregman is the author of four books about Israel and the Arabs: The Fifty Years War (with Jihan el Tahri), Israel's Wars, A History of Israel and Elusive Peace. He teaches at the Department of War Studies, King's College London.

Ahron Bregman

Ai Qing is regarded as one of the finest modern Chinese poets, whose free verse was influential in the development of new poetry in China.

Ai Qing

Ai Weiwei

Aidan Chambers was born in County Durham in 1934. After national service in the Royal Navy he became a teacher and then, for seven years, a monk. His young adult novels have been widely acclaimed, with POSTCARDS FROM NO-MAN'S LAND winning the prestigious Carnegie Medal and the US Michael L Printz Award. With his wife Nancy he ran Signal magazine and he has served as the president of the School Library Association. His devoted services to children's literature were recognised by his receipt of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2002.

Aidan Chambers

Aidan Higgins was born in 1927. Langrishe Go Down, his first novel, won the James Tait Black memorial Prize and the Irish Academy of Letters Award, and was later filmed for television with a screenplay by Harold Pinter. His second novel, Balcony of Europe, was shortlisted for the 1972 Booker Prize. The novel Lions of the Grunewald appeared in 1993 and a collection of shorter fiction, Flotsam and jetsam, in 1996. Donkey's Years and Dog Days were the first two volumes of the Higgins Bestiary which concludes with this volume.

Aidan Higgins

Aidan Mathews

Aidan Potts

Aidan Smith

Aidan Storey

Aidan Trimble is the Chief Instructor to the Federation of Shotokan Karate and a former British, European and World Karate Champion, winning the world title in Tokyo - the home of Karate. Aidan has trained with some of the world's leading teachers of 'traditional' and 'sport' karate and is now an award-winning instructor and teacher who is in demand throughout the world. He can be contacted via www.fsk-karate.com.

Aidan Trimble

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Maggie Bennett

This gripping saga about midwives, on and off duty, is perfect for fans of Call the Midwife, Katie Flynn, Dilly Court and Catherine Cookson. Let much loved author Maggie Bennett take you on a heartfelt and passionate journey with a group of women whose emotions and reactions are ultimately no different from the women they serve... 
 
READERS ARE LOVING NIGHTS ON, NIGHTS OFF 
'Loved this book' -- ***** Reader review 
'Extraordinary' -- ***** Reader review 
'Didn't want to put it down' -- ***** Reader review 
****************************************************************************************** 
SOMETIMES THINGS REALLY ARE A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH... 
 
In the heightened atmosphere of a busy maternity unit, there are inevitable tensions between modern technology and the demands by some mothers for a 'natural childbirth'. For widowed midwife, Shirley Pierce, there is no argument: the safety of the baby is always paramount. Feeling passionate about this, she is never afraid to speak her mind. 
 
Her strongly held views are further deepened when she meets a young man who has been irrevocably brain-damaged since birth - and friendship blossoms into love of a kind. 
 
 Shirley's defiant attitude and her refusal to heed the warnings of her friends lead to her involvement in a horrific tragedy, and she soon discovers that there is a heavy price to be paid for resisting authority...

Nights On, Nights Off

a thrilling saga set in the highly charged world of a busy maternity unit

Marie Joseph

Brief romantic encounters that sparkle with humour and poignancy. 
 
Meet Maggie and Don, the conventional married couple, whose lives are dramatically interrupted by the arrival of Beth, Maggie's beautiful but impulsive friend ... 
 
Anne, the plain and practical secretary who dreams of capturing the heart of dashing Bruce Gordon, the firm's accountant ... 
 
The young man and woman alone in a crowded airport terminal who find brief solace in each other's company ... 
 
Just some of the marvelous characters, young and old, that people this richly observed collection of short stories.

Passing Strangers

and other stories

Fans of Katie Flynn, Rosie Clarke and Catherine Cookson will love this wonderfully enchanting and moving saga by bestselling and prizewinning author Marie Joseph. 
 
'Marie Joseph is an amazing success story' -- Woman's Weekly 
'Marie Joseph has the same rare, magical gift as Catherine Cookson for turning everyday people with everyday lives into the stuff of fascination.' -- Kent Evening Post 
'She is a winner every time she writes' -- Manchester Evening News 
'Marie Joseph's descriptions and turn of phrase are a joy to read...' -- ***** Reader review 
'Loved this story, pure escapism' -- ***** Reader review 
'Compelling and very readable - recommended for an afternoon relaxing read.' -- ***** Reader 
*********************************************************************************** 
 
IN THE FACE OF LONELINESS AND POVERTY, CAN LOVE ENDURE? 
 
It was love that drove Polly to marry Harry Pilgrim. A love, she believed, that would meet every test that life could make. But a girl in love cannot always see what the future will bring ... 
 
 Life has never been easy for her. But just when it seems that the worst must be over, Harry loses his job and is forced to move south to look for work, leaving Polly behind. 
 
Is their love strong enough or could loneliness and poverty drive her into the arms of another man?

Polly Pilgrim

a captivating Lancashire saga of poverty and passion. Perfect to settle down with…

Sheila Walsh

Scarred by her experiences on the battlefront, Aimée Buchanan, a young doctor, has come home to Liverpool. Exhaustion, fever and a tragic love affair leaves her depressed and apathetic - until she meets the Shaw family and sees the plight, firsthand, of destitute families. 
 
Apprenticed to the hateful Mrs Crawley, Matty Shaw dreams of becoming a famous designer until she is unfairly dismissed. But fate takes a hand, and Matty finds herself working as an alteration assistant at Madame Vincent's exclusive French modiste... 
 
In a story that crosses the barriers of class and social prejudice, Shelia Walsh, author of bestselling Until Tomorrow, brings to life her warm and moving novel of two women, both dedicated to their careers - both determined to succeed in a different world.

Remember Me

Anna Cato

Louise Carmichael is the daughter of an English artist and a French emmissary. When she first meets Geoffrey Carmichael she is 19, working for her grandfather in his famous art gallery in Paris and desolate. Geoffrey offers escape - to her father's world and a life of her own, but she could have no idea that life in Oxford would come complete with its own constraints and restrictions. Twenty years later she makes a small bid for freedom and the taste of liberty is a dangerous thing wth unforseen results. . . .

Still Lives

Let bestselling and prizewinning author Marie Joseph sweep you away with this captivating and enthralling saga about poverty, passion and an unquenchable desire for a better life. Fans of Katie Flynn, Rosie Clarke and Catherine Cookson will not be disappointed. 
 
'Marie Joseph is an amazing success story' - WOMAN'S WEEKLY 
 'Another Marie Joseph page-turner' -- ***** Reader review 
'Never ceases to pull at your heartstrings' -- ***** Reader review 
'Marie Joseph's descriptions and turn of phrase are a joy to read...' -- ***** Reader review 
'Compelling and very readable - recommended for an afternoon relaxing read.' -- ***** Reader 
 
********************************************* 
WILL SHE GET THE LIFE AND LOVE SHE'S ALWAYS DREAMED OF? 
 
Lancashire in the 1900s. Clara Haydock has the voice of an angel - but she lives in a time and place of poverty and hardship, where singing is for church and life for getting on with. As she sings hymns on a Sunday morning, she dreams of one day singing on stage, in front of a rapt audience, lost in the music she loves. 
 
Her unbreakable spirit, her passion for music and her will to live a better life make her shine against the bleakness of her life. 
 
Not one to give up on a dream, she knows where her destiny lies ... and she'll do anything to fulfil it...

The Clogger's Child

a wonderfully enchanting and moving Lancashire saga of innocence, suffering and the will to succeed.  Guaranteed to stay with you forever…

With all her signature warmth, wonderful characters and unforgettable drama, escape with bestselling and prizewinning author Marie Joseph and settle down with this unputdownable and unforgettable saga of sisterly love put to the ultimate challenge. Fans of Katie Flynn, Rosie Harris and Catherine Cookson will not be disappointed. 
 
'Marie Joseph is an amazing success story' -- Woman's Weekly 
'She is a winner every time she writes' -- Manchester Evening News 
'I love Marie Joseph books and this one did not disappoint.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Loved this story, pure escapism' -- ***** Reader review 
'Compelling and very readable - recommended for an afternoon relaxing read.' -- ***** Reader 
******************************************************************************************** 
TWO SISTERS - INSEPARABLE AND IMPOSSIBLE TO DIVIDE. UNTIL THEY FALL FOR THE SAME MAN... 
 
It was a small Lancashire town on the eve of the General Strike. A town where the gap between the rich and poor was about to erupt into a bloody field of battle. 
 
 But that is not the only battle in the offing. Libby and Carrie were more than sisters. Mirror images, they were different sides of the same heart, peas in a pod and as close as close could be. Until they both fell in love with Tom... 
 
Is blood really thicker than water?

The Gemini Girls

a heart-warming Northern saga of sibling love and rivalry from bestselling saga author Marie Joseph

A beautiful and touching wartime romance from the pen of bestselling and prizewinning author Marie Joseph. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn, Rosie Clarke and Catherine Cookson 
 
'Marie Joseph is an amazing success story' - WOMAN'S WEEKLY 
'Marie Joseph's descriptions and turn of phrase are a joy to read...' -- ***** Reader review 
'Compelling and very readable - recommended for an afternoon relaxing read.' -- ***** Reader 
'Typical Marie Joseph page turner.' -- ***** Reader review 
 
******************************************************************* 
WILL SHE FIND LOVE WITH THE MAN SHE'S SET HER HEART ON? 
 
Despite the incredible pressure, and the imminent danger, it is Sally Barnes who preoccupies David Turner's thoughts whilst on a bombing mission over Germany. 
 
Deaf since childhood, Sally is young and vulnerable and David wishes he could be with her to protect her from the horrors of war. 
 
 But to Sally, David is just the boy from down the road. It is Lee, the young carefree American airman, who has won her heart. 
 
Will fate be kind and allow her to find happiness amidst the trials and tribulations of a world at war?

The Listening Silence

the uplifting and moving story of the search for love amidst the trials of the Second World War

Patricia Burns

Lose yourself in this heart-warming and captivating saga of love and heartache set in London's East End from much loved author, Patricia Burns. Fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin and Josephine Cox will not be disappointed... 
 
READERS ARE LOVING TRINIDAD STREET! 
'Thoroughly enjoyed it, got carried away with all the different family happenings' -- ***** Reader review 
'Couldn't put this book down' -- ***** Reader review 
'Such a great read' -- ***** Reader review 
 
********************************************************* 
LOVE AND WAR IN LONDON'S EAST END 
 
The Isle of Dogs at the turn of the century was a close-knit community and Trinidad Street was no different. The lives and loves of its residents often intermingled... 
 
When Tom Johnson, a union leader at the docks is sacked, his daughter Ellen has to leave school and forget her dreams of getting an office job. But she can still dream of Harry Turner... 
 
 But Harry, a young lighterman struggling to keep his battered family together, is bewitched by silver-tongued beauty Siobhan O'Donoghue. And Siobhan, ambitious for greater things, will use any weapon to repay the people of Trinidad Street for her disappointments. 
 
 And Gerry Billingham, set on bettering himself in pursuit of a retail empire, will be there to pick up the pieces ... 
 
 Through good times and bad, some will find what they are looking for - and others will realise too late what they have lost.

Trinidad Street

an enchanting and wonderfully warm saga of lives and loves in London’s East End.  Perfect to settle down with!

Katie Fforde

_________________ 
‘Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.’ AJ PEARCE 
_________________ 
A young journalist and her top-secret assignment. An exclusive straight to digital short story from the Sunday Times No. 1 Bestseller. 
 
 
Meet Emily, a young woman who dreams of being a prize-winning investigative journalist. Her first assignment is to a top restaurant where tempestuous chef Theo Milton reigns supreme. Very soon romance starts to sparkle amongs the pots and pans. And Emily finds there's more than cooking on her mind. 
 
Sunday Times bestselling author Katie Fforde is known for her wonderfully romantic stories, delicious heroes, and heroines we can all relate to. In The Undercover Cook her warmth and wit shine through in this enchanting short story. 
 
 
It also gives readers the first chance to read the opening chapter of her captivating new novel, Recipe for Love, out in March.

The Undercover Cook

Joseph

Fans of Katie Flynn, Rosie Clarke and Catherine Cookson will love being transported to another time and place by bestselling and prizewinning author Marie Joseph in this enthralling and heart-warming saga about one woman's desire for a glamourous and romantic life. Will she achieve her dreams? 
 
'Marie Joseph has the same rare, magical gift as Catherine Cookson for turning everyday people with everyday lives into the stuff of fascination' -- Kent Evening Post 
'She is a winner every time she writes' -- Manchester Evening News 
'The perfect cosy read... I have multiple copies of this book and read it every year' -- ***** Reader review 
'Loved this story, pure escapism' -- ***** Reader review 
************************************************************ 
ONE CHANCE ENCOUNTER WILL CHANGE HER LIFE FOREVER... 
 
In a small Lancashire cotton town in the 1930s, Daisy Bell dreams her life away. At twenty-six, still a spinster and heiress to her mother's potato pie shop, she's resigned to a lonely old age. But toiling over the bake-house fire she dreams of a better world - a world of glamour and romance as seen on the silver screen. 
 
 Then she meets Sam a dashing Clark Gable look-alike and chauffeur to a wealthy London businessman - and suddenly her life is changed forever... 
 
Will Sam be the answer to her prayers? 
 
A Better World Than This won the Romantic Novelists' Award. Daisy's story continues in A World Apart.

A Better World Than This

an unmissable and uplifting Lancashire coming of age saga of love and life

Fans of Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin and Josephine Cox will love this wonderfully evocative and enchanting saga set in London's Docklands from much loved author, Patricia Burns. 
 
READERS ARE LOVING CINNAMON ALLEY! 
'Absolutely loved this book and I couldn't put it down really enjoyed it' -- ***** Reader review 
'Keeps you turning the page!' -- ***** Reader review 
'Brilliant read , read it all in one go , could not put it down until I finished it' -- ***** Reader review 
 
**************************************************** 
ONE WOMAN'S WILL TO MAKE SOMETHING OF HER LIFE... 
 
Brought up by her mother and grandmother in London's Docklands, Poppy Powers harbours a secret ambition to become a musician like her father. 
 
Waitressing in the drinking clubs during the terrible Great War is where she first hears ragtime and it is there she falls in love with the exotic American, Scott Warrender. 
 
After tragically losing him she succeeds in forming the first all-female band and flighty, charming Roddy Fitch does his best to make her forget her heartache. . . 
 
From smoky clubs to ocean liners, through the war, the reckless dancing years and the Wall Street Crash, Poppy is determined to succeed. 
 
Only her last ambition remains unfulfilled - to share it with the man she loves.

Cinnamon Alley

an uplifting and heart-warming saga of love and loss that will keep you gripped…

Linda Taylor

Louise isn't sure where her life took the wrong turning, but it's not shaping up as well as she might have hoped. She's just turned thirty-two, her job as a party planner - the latest in a long line of occupations - might kindly be described as not her natural forte, and she watches helplessly as her dynamic elder sister charges up the career path. The only road Louise seems to be on is the one paved with good intentions. 
 
Scatty, disorganised, bad at co-ordinating her wardrobe, Louise resolves that it's time to get it together - even her boyfriend is part-time. But then she discovers she's succeeded at one thing: getting pregnant...

Going Against the Grain

If you like Katie Flynn, Rosie Clarke and Catherine Cookson, you'll love bestselling and prizewinning author Marie Joseph's captivating and ultimately uplifting saga of one woman's attempt to find her place in a man's world... 
 
'Marie Joseph has the same rare, magical gift as Catherine Cookson for turning everyday people with everyday lives into the stuff of fascination.' -- Kent Evening Post 
'She is a winner every time she writes' -- Manchester Evening News 
'Marie Joseph is an amazing success story' - WOMAN'S WEEKLY 
'Loved this story, pure escapism' -- ***** Reader review 
'Compelling and very readable - recommended for an afternoon's relaxing read.' -- ***** Reader 
 
**************************************************************** 
SHE'S ALWAYS BEEN TOLD IT'S A MAN'S WORLD. BUT HER TIME WILL COME... 
 
Lisa Logan was still a girl when she learned that it was a man's world ... A man's world and no place for the weak. 
 
 When her beloved father, Angus - shell-shocked after the Great War - deserts them, she and her mother are left with absolutely nothing. 
 
As her mother fails to cope with this new and harsh reality, Lisa finds an inner strength and swears her revenge. But at what cost?

Lisa Logan

a sweeping and unforgettable saga of desertion and duty, love and loss, set in the heart of Lancashire

When Julia Cole abandoned her safe job and raced up the M40 to read English at Oxford, she didn't give a thought to the future. But now that she's thirty and newly graduated, it's pay-back-time - at least as far as the bank is concerned. With Fleabag, her mad cat, and Maggie, her eternally forty-something friend, providing her only sane company - and her last relationship further in the past than her last pay cheque - she can't help wondering where she's going wrong. 
 
But then Rob walks into the class she teaches - and his alarming brother Leo, a barrister with a penchant for cross-examining, strides into Maggie's party and puts Julia in the stand. Suddenly, Julia's life is hotting up. 
 
But can she take both brothers at face value? Or is she overlooking the obvious? Perhaps Julia should try reading between the lines...

Reading Between the Lines

When the exotic stranger walked into the loveless Clancy household, he brought a gift to innocent seventeen-year-old Annie that neither her five brothers, nor her brutal father, had ever given her ... tenderness. And, like many before her, Annie pays the price for its sweetness. 
 
An outcast from her home and adrift in a harsh world, it would take a long time for Annie to trust a man again ... 
 
Inspired by Marie Joseph's storytelling magic, and set in the wild and sweeping Lancashire countryside, The Travelling Man is another of her gripping, page-turning sagas.

The Travelling Man

Ryan's Bakery is at the hub of Liverpool life in the late thirties: its driving force, Kathleen, who loves her quiet husband, Michael, and her family, and is fiercely ambitious for them all - Rita, soon to be a teacher; stage-stuck Shirely Anne; Chris, a baker like his dad, and carefee young Joey. 
 
Then a late and difficult pregnancy blunts Kathleen's ambition and presents her bright middle daughter, Liz, with a challenge. In meeting it, the enthusiastic sixteen-year-old discovers untapped creative talents, and a dream is born - that one day she will be Elizabeth Ryan, renowned for quality pastries and home-made chocolates. 
 
With her first small success, Liz makes an enemy - Alec Mannings, son of a rival baker. But she also finds an invaluable friend in Fritz Lendl, and Austrian confectioner, driven from his homeland by the Nazis. 
 
When Leigh, the dashing American flyer, first captures Liz's heart, he sees her only as an endearing gutsy kid, and she is enough of a realist to know it. Besides, there is Jimmy, the boy she has promised to marry. But during the Second World War, fate brings them together once more, and Liz is no longer a child. There are agonizing choices to be made, as time and again their love seems destined to be denied - until tomorrow.

Until Tomorrow

From bestselling novelist Marie Joseph - a collection of heartwarming, life-enhancing stories that show her at her very best. 
 
In them Marie Joseph explores the many aspects of love as it was in the sixties and seventies - its nostalgia, tenderness, pitfalls and moments of never-to-be-forgotten happiness.

When Love Was Like That And Other Stories

Gary Kissick

'Her name was Felicia, a name Cullen liked. He wondered as he sipped his beer, what ancestral dance had produced such impish racoon eyes -eyes she was fond of hiding behind oversized sunglasses that only served to emphasise her nose, a perfect minature. And what, he wondered, might be the genealogy of that wickedly sullen mouth?' Cullen Kinnell, precariously employed by a small Catholic college in Honolulu, commits a fatal error. He falls for one of his students -Felicia Mattos. Cullen Kinnell is an intelligent man and old enough to know better than to play with fire. Gary Kissick's witty and richly expressive first novel explores how unsuitable love can cause an eruption of conflicting emotions, from which no one emerges unscathed.

Winter In Volcano

Nick Harkaway

From the author of The Gone-Away World - an exhilarating espionage murder-mystery. 
 
There has been a strange death in the quiet village of Shrewton: old Donny Caspian has lost his head. In the Copper Kettle tea rooms, Tom Rice, a junior nobody from the Treasury, puzzles over the details of the case. He has been sent by his superiors to oversee the investigation, but is he supposed to help or hinder? At the next table, octogenarian superspy Edie Banister nibbles a slice of cake and struggles not to become Miss Marple. But what is the connection between the two? Who killed Donny Caspian, and why? 
 
Taking in Rice's present and Edie's daring past, from duels on shipboard to death in back alleys, 'Edie Investigates' is a superb short story from the incomparable Nick Harkaway. 
 
Also included with this short, the first chapter of Nick Harkaway's long-awaited new novel Angelmaker.

Edie Investigates

A Short Story

Samantha Phillips

Charlotte Christie is under no illusion about her job: at Fitzgerald Denton greed is good and you watch your back. But as she learns to handle the jokes and the backstabbing and prove her worth as a broker. Charlie unearths a scam. Almost untraceable, it could strike a deathblow to Lloyd's of London and bring the government to its knees. By avoiding Charlie, her opponents have made their single mistake. She has one chance to strike back.

Blonde Ambition

James Ellroy

Three of James Ellroy's most gripping crime novels featuring Lieutenant Dudley Smith in one volume. The Big Nowhere: In 1950s LA three men are drawn into the shadow of communist witch hunts and violent killings that force each one to confront his own personal darkness. But none is prepared for the maelstrom that awaits them. LA Confidential: LA Christmas 1951. Six prisoners are beaten senseless in their cells by cops crazed on alcohol. For the three LAD cops involved, it will expose the guilty secrets on which they built their corrupt and voilent careers. White Jazz: LAPD Lieutenant Dave Klein made the mean streets he works on mean. But now the FBI are out to get the cops who murder, bribe and beat to serve their corrupt careers and Klein is hung out as bait. Big fish leap at his throat - racketeers, narcotic kings and scum with skeletons they would kill to keep hidden. Three of the most epic and powerful crime novels ever written, this volume is an explosive journey through the dark side of recent American history, and crime writing at its best.

Dudley Smith Trio

The Big Nowhere, LA Confidential, White Jazz

Tony Warren MBE

The time is the swinging 60s, and with his inimitable warmth, wit and dazzling style, Tony Warren takes us on the trip of a lifetime. From a Manchester unfolding its post-war wings, to the London of Carnaby Street and the King's Road and on to San Francisco, the mecca of Flower Power, we join his unforgettable cast of characters as they journey through all that was good - and bad - about that sparkling decade.

Foot of the Rainbow

Roberta Murphy

In the West End of London in 1913 a multiple murderer prowls the streets. He is nicknamed 'the Gardener' for the ghastly signature of a rose carved into the breast or thigh of his victim. 
 
Each night, the Infamous Princess Marie - the stage name of Mari Prince, magician, illusionist and seductive star at the London Palladium - must make her late way home. 
 
Hurrying through the city's gloomy mantle of fog and shadows, Mari knows it is only a matter of time before she must meet the tormentor of her dreams...

Night Players

Richard Asplin

THE AVERAGE MALE IS 98% CHIMPANZEE... THE OTHER 2% ISN'T SO SMART 
 
As far as science teacher Charlie Ellis's love-life goes, chaos is more than just a theory. Caught giving his fiancée Deborah an out-of-hours practical biology lesson (so to speak) in the staffroom one parents' night, Charlie suddenly finds himself single, unemployed and lost in a thoroughly unscientific world of blind dates, blind lust and blind panic. 
 
If only this relationship stuff wasn't so complicated, if only there was some logic to it - a scientist like Charlie might stand more of a chance. Because Charlie likes things ordered, and, well, scientific... Charlie begins to research this crazy little thing called love and comes up with some very surprising data indeed. Science has some very strict ideas about what men find sexy, what women find sexy and what this whole sexiness thing is for... 
 
But they're just theories, right? You're not supposed to put them into practice. Are you?

T-Shirt and Genes

David Nobbs

Reginald Perrin is driven to desperation by the rat race and the unpunctuality of Britain's trains. As his small eccentricites escalate to the extreme heleaves the unacceptable face of capitalism behind by driving off in a stolen motorised jelly, embarking on his one-man quest to avoid an everyday existence.

From the bestselling author of Going Gently and the hugely successful autobiography I Didn't Get Where I Am Today. 
 
This hilarious episode in the remarkable exploits of Reginald Iolanthe Perrin follows our hero on his most ambitious venture yet. 
 
Setting up a commune strictly for the middle-class and middle-aged, Reggie's therapy centre nurtures its clients, encouraging them to find the love and goodness that lurks deep inside. 
 
And he's gathered together the unlikeliest of staff to help him- including C.J. (for people's work problems), David Harris-Jones (handling their sex problems), plus Tony Webster (culture), his son-in-law Tom (sport) and Doc Morrissey (psychology). 
 
With a team like this, how can the indomitable, unconventional R.I.P. ever fail in his bid to create a Better World?

The Better World Of Reginald Perrin

(Reginald Perrin)

T Warren

From the creator of Coronation Street comes a classic love story 
 
Tony Warren, the man who invented Elsie Tanner and Ena Sharples now introduces a whole new gallery of unforgettable characters in a stunning debut novel. 
 
It is a story - spanning forty years - of a woman, and of a city. It is the story of Sorrel Starkey, destined to become one of the greatest television stars, fated to rise to the heights of fame and fortune, and to do battle with sorrow and humiliation. 
 
It is a story of joy, of hope and of human fallibility. Above all it is a love story you will never forget.

The Lights of Manchester

Maureen Martella

After thirty years of being Annie McHugh, Annie discovers that she is, in fact, someone else. Her beloved and hugely respectable parents forged her birth certificate. 
 
She hires Gerry, a private detective with a strong look of George Clooney, to trace down her real mother. But how is it that when Annie goes to confront her mother in her large mansion in the smart end of Dublin, she ends up working for her instead? 
 
Will Annie reveal the truth to her frosty new employer? Is this the beginning of Annie's new life? And has Annie completely finished with Gerry's services? 
 
Annie has some decisions to make...

Annie's New Life

John Grisham

The laugh out loud adventure of three men from rural Ford County who travel to Memphis to donate blood to an injured friend. The journey, however, takes longer than expected thanks to their inability to continue driving past any liquor store en route. Not to mention the fact that the men have no idea which hospital their friend is in. After a variety of shootings, and a strip club brawl, it seems as though these men will not just be visiting their friend in the hospital. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Ford County.

Blood Drive (Storycuts)

Ruth Rendell

Wexford has a headache: no-one seems to have witnessed the murder, and there is no evidence of any grudges being held against the victim. Nevertheless, the statements of the locals just don't make sense. It is up to Wexford to track down the rat. Whilst he is doing so, a series of hit-and-runs afflict the town centre. Is there a link? 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Blood Lines.

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