Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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Emma Hornby

**Don't miss Emma Hornby's gripping new wartime saga, A DAUGHTER'S WAR - out now** 
 
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The bestselling debut saga novel of 2017. 
 
Powerful, absorbing storytelling that fans of sagas by Dilly Court, Rosie Goodwin and Maggie Hope will adore. 
 
Sally Swann thought life couldn't get much worse. Then a single coin changed hands. 
 
A dismal cottage in the heart of Bolton, Lancashire, has been Sally's prison since Joseph Goden 'bought' her from the workhouse as his wife. A drunkard and bully, Joseph rules her with a rod of iron, using fists and threats to keep her in check. 
 
When Sally gives birth, however, she knows she must do anything to save her child from her husband's clutches. She manages to escape, and taking her baby, flees for the belching chimneys of Manchester, in search of her only relative. 
 
But with the threat of discovery by Joseph, who will stop at nothing to find her, Sally must fight with every ounce of strength she has to protect herself and her son, and finally be with the man who truly loves her. For a fresh start does not come without a price . . . 
 
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Readers love Emma Hornby: 
 
'Similar to Rosie Goodwin and Dilly Court, Emma Hornby tells a brilliant story that will keep you guessing with twists and turns. Pure talent.' 
 
'Emma Hornby's books just keep getting better and better. Honest, gritty, lovely characters.' 
 
'Keep writing Emma, you are very talented and can't wait for your next book. I've read them all.' 
 
'Emma is a wonderful storyteller and I can't wait for the next one!' 
 
'Thank you again Emma Hornby for a captivating read' 
 
'Another beautifully written story by Emma Hornby'

A Shilling for a Wife

Guy Burt

Matthew and Sophie enjoyed what seemed to be an idyllic childhood existence.Free from parental restrictions, they played together in the old barn and in the woods and fields around, as well as in the disused quarry where they hunted for fossils and where Sophie kept all her secrets.There were just the two of them, for their mother carried on her own, mysterious, life and their baby brother did not live long enough to intrude. 
 
Mattie hero-worshipped his all-knowing elder sister, and believed that their childhood would go on for ever.But Sophie was growing up, and the secret elements in her life would affect Mattie in shocking and unforeseen ways as his childish terrors became an all-too dreadful reality.For Mattie, too, had his secrets...

Sophie

Val Wood

For Amelia and her brothers and sisters, the grim past which their mother Emily had endured seemed very far away. As pretty as a picture, and now learning to be a teacher in York, Amelia looked forward with pleasure to becoming acquainted with the young men clamouring to get to know her, and especially the two gentlemen who had come all the way from Australia to meet her family. Ralph Hawkins, bringing with him his friend Jack - a handsome half-aboriginal Australian who was determined to make a good living for himself - arrived in Hull looking for his roots. He found Amelia, whose tangled family history was inextricably bound up with his. 
 
Ralph Hawkins's whole world had been turned upside down when he learned that he had been adopted by the couple he had always called his parents. In his quest to find his real mother, he uncovered some cruel and unpleasant truths, before at last realising where his true destiny lay.

Going Home

Charlotte Bingham

A riveting story of love and loss set in wartime Britain from the million copy and Sunday Times bestselling author Charlotte Bingham, perfect for fans of Louise Douglas and Dinah Jefferies. 
 
'One of Britain's most bankable novelists.' THE DAILY EXPRESS 
 
'A rip-roaring combination of high romance and breathless excitement' MAIL ON SUNDAY 
 
'Compelling.' WOMAN & HOME 
 
 
AS WAR BREAKS OUT, THE LIVES AND FORTUNES OF FOUR GIRLS WILL BE CHANGED FOREVER... 
 
Marjorie, left at a boarding school by her emigrating mother; plain Poppy, pushed into marriage with a mean-spirited aristocrat; Kate, despised by her father, but determined to prove herself; and man-mad Lily, who turns out to be the bravest of them all. 
 
That all of them are chosen to work undercover for the espionage unit at a beautiful stately home is a surprise, not least to them. At Eden Park they meet four unusual young men - Eugene, the feckless Irishman; Robert, Kate's brother; and Scott, the undisputed favourite of the unit. Only Jack Ward, the mysterious spymaster, manages to remain aloof as he guides their destinies. 
 
They will look back on this time as having felt more alive than ever before...

Daughters Of Eden

(The Eden series: 1): a captivating novel of friendship and fortitude set at the height of WW2 from bestselling author Charlotte Bingham

Janet Haslam

Rachel Cooper's father kept his family in a state of terrified subservience. When he died - apoplectic with rage at having been crossed, at last, by his son - Rachel was left to care for her helpless mother and difficult young sister. Raped by a local youth whose love she thought she had gained, she gave birth in secret to a daughter who had to be given away for adoption. 
 
Hating and mistrusting all men, Rachel's only friend was Polly, the local wise woman whose support and counsel was to bring her through the worst of times. She managed to develop a successful career and to win the love of a good, kindly man, but her sufferings were not yet over. At last, with courage and the will to survive, Rachel found true fulfillment and reconciliation with the daughter she thought she had lost forever.

Rachel's Daughter

Marcia Willett

Nest and Mina still live at Ottercombe, their beautiful old rambling childhood home in the depths of Devon. They came to the house before the war, when as small children they played with their sisters and brothers in the gardens and the woods and the nearby beach while their mother read them stories and their father visited at weekends. It was, in retrospect, an idyllic time, when tragedy seemed far distant. Now they welcome their children and grandchildren , and especially young Lyddie, their niece, who lives in Cornwall with her handsome husband Liam. 
 
But when their sister Georgie, now somewhat frail and forgetful, comes to stay with them, aspects of their past start to revisit them. For Georgie knows all their secrets, secrets which she wants to share... 
 
A glorious novel about half-forgotten memories and childhood secrets in the tradition of Rosamunde Pilcher, and perfect for fans of Victoria Hislop, Erica James and Santa Montefiore

The Children's Hour

Tom Bradby

Cairo, June 1942. A city blistering under the lash of a relentless summer and panicked by the implacable advance of Hitler's most talented general, Erwin Rommel. It is the worst possible time and place for the body of a senior British officer to be found in a rubbish bin, bathed in blood. 
 
His murder has been made to look like a political assassination by local extremists opposed to British rule, but former New York cop Joe Quinn isn't buying that. He senses more fundamental human emotions at play. For Quinn, it's like old times, a reminder of his past. One he doesn't want to revisit. Thrown out of the New York Police Department as a liability after the tragic death of his son, he probably shouldn't be a cop any longer, but maybe he's just what this case needs. 
 
The investigation leads him through the underbelly of an exotic, violent and seedy city to the heart of the Cairo's high command and the possibility that a highly placed spy is feeding the allies' most sensitive secrets to Rommel, waiting out in the desert. 
 
Only one woman has seen the killer - an American named Amy White. The trouble is Joe Quinn's already falling for her and if he doesn't stop the spy soon, then not just Amy, but everything else he holds dear is certain to be brutally eliminated ...

The God Of Chaos

Sally Stewart

1919 - when Phoebe Maynard - after her mother had died - found the old journal in the attic it reminded her of several things -of her early childhood growing up in Spain, of her father's distress whenever she spoke of that country, and of her mother's long years of fretful ill-health once they had returned to their Oxfordshire manor house.Phoebe, and her sister, Lydia, had never understood why the 'land of nightingales' was such an emotive subject within the family, but when their father died it suddenly became clear.His will revealed that Phoebe and Lydia had a Spanish half-brother - Juan Rodriguez. 
 
It seemed that Juan was as shocked as they were by his foreign connections and was determined to have nothing to do with his English relatives - but the blood-tie was there. 
 
As Phoebe and Lydia finally found a happiness of their own in England, the past constantly intruded on their tranquil lives.It was when young Holly, Phoebe's orphaned niece-by-marriage, came onto the scene that the two worlds met and exploded into an emotional turmoil that was to be made even more violent as Holly and Juan found themselves caught up in the turbulence of the Spanish Civil War.

The Land Of Nightingales

James Rushton dominated both his thriving wine business and large family with all the style of an old autocrat.It was part of his plans that Jane, his only daughter - already thirty-one and likely to become a spinster if she wasn't careful - should marry her cousin William, not a love-match exactly, but highly convenient for the family. 
 
But Jane, slight, plain, quiet, wanted more than William's obedient acquiescence, for she had loved her careless handsome cousin for a long time.On the point of settling for the little she could have, she discovered a shameless betrayal.Humiliated, not really wanted at home, she took the most daring decision of her life - to go and live and work in Italy. 
 
It was to be the beginning of a long, passionate, and overwhelming involvement with the Buonaventura family, aristocratic, and torn apart by the strife of Mussolini's new Italy.To Jane, Ottavio Buonaventura and his family were a fascinating challenge.And the impoverished aristocrats at Castagnolo were to discover that the quiet Englishwoman was to revolutionise their lives.

A Rose For Every Month

Lucy Fitzgerald

Oonagh, Rose and Teresa really only took one thing seriously - having fun.At school they had enjoyed upsetting the nuns by deliberately sticking up for abortion, homosexuals, and Sinead O'Connor, and wearing their school skirts either too long or too short.Big time girls in the small town of Ballycanty, they relieved the monotony of their lives by repeating gossip, and when there wasn't any, by making it up.And when one of them heard that someone in town had an unmentionable disease, well, it was too much of a temptation not to embroider the story a little, just to make it more exciting. 
 
It was Teresa on whom the gossip would backfire.And when her fast-living sister turned up from England amidst a positive welter of rumours, Teresa found life exploding round her.Suddenly 'having fun' was no longer enough and as sadness touched her life for the first time she grew increasingly disturbed - about her friends, sex, the Church, and indeed her whole life.At the end of that burning summer, Teresa faced up to some painful decisions and decided that things must change.

Liar Birds

'Long-shanks Gertie' the village children called her, chasing her all the way to school. It was because she was different, with her long legs and long dark hair and clean pinafore. And, as the daughter of the land-agent on Providence, she accepted that she didn't belong anywhere - not part of the village, and not part of the Squire's family at the Big House. 
 
But she was fascinated by Squire Wyndham's family - Louise, the arrogant daughter of the house who never missed an opportunity of snubbing her. James, who was handsome and wonderful and charming - and who was one day to break her heart. And William, the heir, quiet, bookish, and almost as much as misfit as she was. But above all there was Lady Hester. It was Lady Hester who saw something in Gertrude that no one else had perceived - a quality of strength and endurance that would serve the family well. 
 
Between them Lady Hester and Gertrude Hoskins were to be the salvation of Providence.

The Women Of Providence

It was a terrible tragedy which first brought Rosy Smith to Derwent House, the grand home of John Hardaker and his wife Dorothy.The loss of one of their twin baby sons in a mysterious accident meant that Dorothy no longer found herself capable of caring for the surviving twin, Nicky - so Rosy, only sixteen but full of love for the helpless child, had to step into the breach. As the years went by and Dorothy became less and less able to deal with life, Rosy's mother Nell, the housekeeper, watched with trepidation as John Hardaker's interest in his young nanny became noticeably warmer. 
 
In time, Rosy became the mistress of Derwent House, but her new position brought her, not the happiness she longed for, but unexpected misery and yet more tragedy.The old family house was to see many changes and revelations before Rosy could at last find contentment.

Rosy Smith

Young Janey Rowland lived in Linden Mews, in the flat over the garage. She was the housekeeper's daughter, the chauffeur's daughter, and even though she was a bright and sensitive child, she had been taught to know her place when it came to going round to the big house - the Marchant house - in Linden Square. 
 
But the two families - on the surface separated by a gulf of birth, wealth and breeding - were deeply involved and reliant on each other. Old secrets, old emotions, seethed beneath the respectable facade they preserved between them. And then the war came. 
 
As the barriers between the Marchants and the Rowlands began to crumble, so Jane - quiet, beautiful, and with a great capacity for love - began to become more and more the hub of the wealthy Marchant family, the one on whom they all depended, the one who had to unravel and solve the emotional disasters left over from the past.

Echoes In The Square

When Lavinia St Clyst married Julian Bossiney at St George's, Hanover Square, it was a marriage of convenience on both sides.Julian was linked at last to the real, the old aristocracy, and Lavinia, tolerated as a poor relation of the wealthy St Clyst family, could finally free herself from living on her uncle's charity and have a home of her own.It was at the fashionable wedding reception that - too late - she met the man she should have married - Jonathan Bossiney, her husband's brother. 
 
As she began her new life in the beautiful old stone house standing high on the Cornish cliffs, so she determined that the unspoken love between her and Jonathan would remain secret and unfulfilled.For her children, Tristram and Jennifer, things would be different.There would be no obstacles to their love.But as the years passed, so the family pattern was repeated, of lovers divided by class, by wealth, by the very passion and wildness of their Cornish blood.It was not until the third generation that at last the cruel divisions were healed, and Lavinia also found her abiding happiness.

The Snows Of Springtime

They were all there for different reasons - a broken romance, a destroyed career, a sudden loss, a secret life still to be acknowledged. All of them were hoping that the uplifting beauty of the Cornish countryside would bring them the peace for which they desperately longed. 
 
At the strange and lovely stone house on the edge of Bodmin Moor, cherished illusions are shattered, secrets are uncovered, and each of them discovers that in order to move forward they have to confront their pasts . . . 
 
A glorious and heartwarming novel of families, tragedy and renewal - perfect for fans of Erica James, Victoria Hislop and Santa Montefiore 
 
Praise for Marcia Willett: 
'A genuine voice of our times' The Times 
'Riveting, moving and utterly feel-good' Daily Mail

Echoes Of The Dance

Gertrude Wyndham had come to Providence as a young bride and had somehow fused an ill-knit family together and made the beautiful old house a place of refuge and healing. And then the war came. 
 
Her daughter Sybil never returned from France. Defying all convention she went to live with Henri Blanchard, twenty years older than herself, a man who, for years, had been in love with her mother. 
 
Ned Wyndham, the beloved son and heir of Providence, returned from the trenches a shell-shocked ghost locked into his own private hell. Only at Providence did he appear to return to some kind of tranquillity - and now it seemed as though the house must be sold, for the war had devastated the fortunes of the Wyndhams as well as Ned's sanity. 
 
It was Lucy who was to save their home. Frank Thornley, son of a wealthy Birmingham factory owner, desperately loved the third child of Providence. If she married him, the house and the family would be saved. And so Lucy, young, warm, vibrant, married Frank whom she did not love, and hoped that, in time, Providence would make everything come right for all of them.

The Bird Of Happiness

Lee Child

In this ebook short story, also available in the new, complete Jack Reacher short story collection No Middle Name, #1 Sunday Times bestselling author Lee Child goes back to 1989, when Jack Reacher is serving as an officer in the military police. 
A young lieutenant colonel, in a stylish handmade uniform, roars through the damp woods of Georgia in her new silver Porsche - until she meets a very tall soldier with a broken-down car. 
What could connect a cold-blooded off-post shooting with Reacher, his elder brother Joe, and a secretive unit of pointy-heads from the Pentagon? 
 
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Don't miss Reacher's newest adventure, no.26, Better off Dead! ***COMING SOON and AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW***

Small Wars

(The new Jack Reacher short story)

Pip Granger

A wonderfully warm and charming London saga, set in the Soho of the 1950s. If you like Donna Douglas and Nancy Revell, you'll love this! 
 
"She brings the East End to life..." - Barbara Windsor 
"A poignant story with a strong authentic backdrop..."-Woman &amp; Home 
"I enjoyed this book so much and would recommend it to anyone..." -- ***** Reader review 
"Great fun to read, amusing..." -- ***** Reader review 
 
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WINNER OF THE HARRY BOWLING PRIZE FOR FICTION. 
 
WHAT IF EVERYTHING YOU KNEW COULD BE TAKEN FROM YOU IN A FLASH? 
 
Rosie has always lived with her eagle-eyed Auntie Maggie and Uncle Bert in their café in Soho, often visited by her mother - the mysterious, and often drunk, Perfumed Lady. Yet, her mother's family - landed gentry who hail from a country estate near Bath - are desperate to get their hands on Sophie and will stop at nothing - even kidnap- to get her... 
 
Will Rosie have to leave the Soho and the neighbours she knows and loves - Great Aunt Dodie, Madame Zelda and Paulette, Sharky, Maltese Joe and the Campini Family who run the delicatessen in Old Compton Street - for good? 
 
Rosie's story continues in The Widow Ginger.

Not All Tarts Are Apple

A perfectly feel-good comic saga from the East End

Susan Sallis

The wonderful and heart-warming story of the Rising Family starts here in A Scattering of Daisies. Multi-million copy seller and Sunday Times bestselling author Susan Sallis expertly transports us back in time to the turn of the twentieth century and immerses us in the lives, loves and fluctuating fortunes of a family we'll never forget. Fans of Rosamunde Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and Fiona Valpy will not be disappointed. 
 
READERS ARE LOVING A SCATTERING OF DAISIES! 
'I have read this book so many times over the years, I just LOVE it!' -- ***** Reader review 
'An amazing inter-generational story that I kept reading way too fast' -- ***** Reader review 
'Excellent read, very enjoyable.' -- ***** Reader review 
'Loved this book [...], well written and down to earth. Just the way I like it!' -- ***** Reader review 
 
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ARE DREAMS AND DETERMINATION ENOUGH TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE? 
 
Will Rising had dragged himself from humble beginnings to his own small tailoring business in Gloucester - and on the way he'd fallen violently in love with Florence - who was refined, delicate, and wanting something better for her children. 
 
March was the eldest girl - the least loved: plain, unattractive and, with the best will in the world, the household drudge. Yet, as strange, intelligent and unhappy as she was, March had inherited some of her mother's dreams and she was determined to break out of the round of poverty and hard work, to find wealth, and love, and happiness. 
 
Did she have it in her to achieve her desires? And what could the future possibly hold in store? 
 
A Scattering of Daisies is the first book in the Rising Family sequence and is followed by The Daffodils of Newent, Bluebell Windows and Rosemary for Remembrance.

A Scattering Of Daisies

(The Rising Family Book 1)

Wayne Johnston

Wayne Johnston is Canada's Roddy Doyle" Anne-Marie McDonald, author of Fall Down on Your Knees 
 
Young Draper Doyle Ryan lives in a most peculiar household. His relations, proudly eccentric and passionately Catholic, run a rather shabby newspaper, a funeral home, a convent and an orphanage. When they're not attending wakes or going to confession, they're watching Hockey Night in Canada, cheering for their beloved -- and Catholic -- Montreal Canadiens in their never-ending jousts with the Protestant Toronto Maple Leafs. 
 
A bewildered Draper Doyle tries to make sense of all this. But he's plagued by the first stirrings of his own budding sexuality. Then there are the sudden ghostly appearances of his recently deceased father. What is the secret behind that death, he wonders. And will the Habs beat the Leafs and win the Stanley Cup? 
 
Canadian reviews: 
"An authentic comic genius" Montreal Gazette 
"An absolute stunner -- achingly funny, needle sharp and packing an unexpected wallop . . . The literary equivalent of a small-budget movie masterpiece with heart, soul and brains" Time Out

The Divine Ryans

Serge Joncour

Winner of the Prix Roman France Télévisions 
 
On a hot and lazy sun-drenched afternoon, when one affluent family are at their most docile, most vulnerable, most ripe for the picking, a handsome stranger unexpectedly turns up, and lingers poolside. A master of the art of deception, Boris introduces himself as an old school friend of Philip, the feckless brother. No matter that Philip has been unreachable for days and yet to arrive for the summer holiday, Boris is welcomed with open arms. 
 
As the island's spectacular Bastille Day fireworks celebration looks ever nearer, and Philip's arrival feels increasingly imminent, Boris is embraced wholeheartedly into the family fold. No one seems to notice as he carefully exerts a powerful and sinister influence over them all...

Elvi Rhodes

In 'Summer Promise', Linda, recently divorced and in need of a break, decides to take her two children on a fortnight's holiday in France, renting a house from a friend of a friend. However when she arrives at the house, she finds a man already there, claiming to be the owner. It emerges that this man, Graham, is the ex-husband of the woman who suggested the idea to Linda, and that she had forgotten to inform her that the situation had changed and that Graham now owns the house outright. He makes it clear to Linda that they can't possibly stay there as he is busy with work and it would be an inconvenience. But as Linda frantically tries to find a hotel, her youngest child James falls ill with chicken pox. Graham relents, and agrees to let them stay in the house, packing his bags to move out for two weeks. But as he is leaving, they both realise that perhaps this situation could work out for both of them after all... 
 
In 'A Gull Named Helen', when little Daniel clams up following the death of his grandmother, everyone thinks a school trip to the seaside will be just what he needs. In the lighthouse where they are staying, Daniel is offered the little room right at the very top of the tower, while the other children must sleep in the basement. Watching from his bedroom window, Daniel becomes mesmerised by the seagulls circling overhead. As he spends the next few days feeding them scraps of bread, he forms a bond with one bird in particular, who he decides is called Helen - the same name as his grandmother. But little does he know that what he learns from these birds could help him for years to come. 
 
In 'Children on the Shore', Claire Foster has been used to living her own life, her own way. Her daughter lives abroad with her own family. Claire was widowed years ago. So when she takes a temporary job as a secretary at a hospital, she is startled to find herself beginning a relationship with one of the doctors. Meanwhile, her daughter begins writing to her frequently, begging her to move closer to them so that she can be a part of her grandchildren's lives. And then she is offered a new job, working for an author, which would reduce her free time dramatically. Which path - if any - should she choose? 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, these three short stories were previously published in the collection 'Summer Promise and Other Stories'.

Summer Promise/A Gull Named Helen/Children on the Shore (Storycuts)

Su Tong

Tan Feng was my one and only friend in Sichuan. He was the same age as me: about eight or nine. Tan Feng's family lived next door to us, and their other kids were all girls, so you can imagine how they spoiled their only boy. They really adored him, but they didn't know what he got up to. Tan Feng stole things. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Madwoman on the Bridge.

Thieves (Storycuts)

Jilly Cooper

Two fabulous Christmas short stories by the inimitable Jilly Cooper! 
 
In 'Christmas Stocking', unlucky-in-love Caroline is facing possibly the most miserable Christmas of her life. She can't quite see how she'll cope with the season of goodwill to all men - particularly holed up on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors with her boisterous family. And things get a whole lot more complicated when her brother arrives with a deliciously dishevelled friend in tow, Jamie . . . 
 
In 'Sister to the Bride' Helen finds herself in the wedding from hell. The groom's family are constantly sneering at her, her bridesmaid's dress is frightful, and she just can't shake off the unwanted attentions of ginger chinless wonder Tubby Langley. But then Helen meets the devastating David. Dare she risk her fragile heart once again?

Christmas Stocking/Sister To The Bride (Storycuts)

Patricia Burns

They were the talented ones - young, fresh, arrogant, with a bright golden world swinging ahead of them. Then came that terrible, traumatic summer, their last summer together, the summer that had savagely thrust them into the adult world. 
 
Jill - the leader, brilliant, ambitious. She made it to the top but never recovered from that nightmare summer. 
 
Carol - lovely, languid, destined to be a great artist until her own sexuality destroyed her dreams. 
 
Penny - determined to drag herself from a council estate and a scrounging father to the glittering world of the stage. 
 
Andrea - loyal, obedient, self-effacing - and dazzled to be part of the clever set. She never realized her life was a lie. 
 
They never really knew the truth about that summer - just that it had changed their lives.

With A Little Help From My Friends

Robert Edric

Late summer 1946: the Wash on the Fenland coast. Into a suspicious and isolated community comes James Mercer, until recently a serving captain in the Engineers, who is now employed in the demolition of redundant gun platforms. A relationship grows between Mercer and the wife and daughter of a soldier who is soon expected home - though he is returning not from active service but from a sentence in military gaol, and his arrival is awaited with anxiety. 
 
Mercer also befriends Mathias, a German prisoner of war engaged in similar work who has no wish to be repatriated; and Jacob, a Jew, former glassmaker and camp survivor, of whose devastated journey to this isolated place Mercer gradually learns. He learns, too, of the bond between the German and the Jew and is drawn further into their history as the ex-soldier finally returns and begins to re-establish his overbearing authority. 
 
In a place where nothing has changed for decades, the agents of destruction and renewal are at work and everyone begins to search for his or her piece of solid ground. As the summer dies, animosities flare, prejudices and enmities are burnished and the six main characters circle each other like the combatants they believe themselves to be - each man or woman constrained by an intractable moral code, the loss of which is unthinkable. And Mercer finds himself caught in the centre as events quicken to their violent and unexpected conclusion. 
 
In his powerful new novel, Edric captures with breathtaking economy the sense of portent and uncertainty shared by a community in the aftermath of conflict - a community for which peacetime is hardly any different to wartime.

Peacetime

Kate Hope Day

A young, ambitious female astronaut's life is upended by a fiery love affair that threatens the rescue of a lost crew in this brilliantly imagined novel in the tradition of Station Eleven and The Martian. 
 
'Feminist and thrilling. I highly recommend this novel' ANN NAPOLITANO, author of Dear Edward 
'Enthralling' COURTNEY SUMMERS, author of Sadie 
 
June is a brilliant but difficult girl with a gift for mechanical invention, who leaves home to begin a grueling astronaut training program. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station, but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle's fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was twelve years old, and while the rest of the world has forgotten them, June alone has evidence that makes her believe the crew is still alive. 
 
She seeks out James, her uncle's former protégée, also brilliant, also difficult, who has been trying to discover why Inquiry's fuel cells failed. James and June forge an intense intellectual bond that becomes an electric attraction. But the love that develops between them as they work to solve the fuel cell's fatal flaw threatens to destroy everything they've worked so hard to create--and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive. 
 
Equal parts gripping narrative of scientific discovery and charged love story, In the Quick is an exploration of the strengths and limits of human ability in the face of hardship and the costs of human ingenuity. At its beating heart are June and James, whose love for each other is eclipsed only by their drive to conquer the challenges of space travel.

In the Quick

M C Scott

With the Dumnonii defeat of the Second Legion the Celtic victory is complete. But Hywell, Cunomar and Valerius must still find the lost Eagle of the Second and prevent Rome from attempting another attack. To prevent further conflict the Emperor Nero must be overthrown and replaced by someone of their choosing. 
 
Part of the Storycuts series.

The Last Roman in Britain (Storycuts)

William Kowalski

Eddie's Bastard spins the warm, endearing tale of William Amos Mann IV and of the inhabitants of his eponymous small upstate New York town, Mannville. 
 
Related in flashback by the adult Billy, the story begins with him being deposited as an infant on the doorstep of his grandfather's home in a simple wicker basket with a plain two-word message pinned to his shawl reading 'Eddie's Bastard'. Eddie had been killed in Vietnam three months earlier - his father, Thomas Mann Jnr, had given up on life, having lost his only son and, he thought, his only heir. But now, suddenly, Thomas has a grandson and an heir - if not to the once-vast Mann fortune (for Thomas had recklessly squandered that in a foolhardy enterprise just after his heroic return from WWII), then at least to the long legacy of the Mann family stories, stretching back to the Civil War. 
 
Eddie's Bastard is filled with episodes of madcap adventure and resonates with the power of lifelong friendship. By turns hilarious, thrilling and heart-breaking, here is a début that stays in the mind long after the reading is over.

Eddie's Bastard

Gareth Creer

Artie lives in Slipp - a tawdry, urban setting, a mixture of big estates and what's left of the old town. When his father died, he inherited the family fishmongers on the High Street. He could have hauled himself out of Slipp, gone to college, were it not for looking after his mum. Artie is a good-looking guy. He's married to the gorgeous, middle-class, university-educated Madelaine, who he's known since school. She is confident and independent and works in the theatre. 
 
There are two big estates in Slipp at war with each other, and tensions rise as Artie gets caught up in a ugly brawl in a pub leaves the brother of one of Slipp's hard men maimed, setting off a grim and threatening chain of events. 
 
Artie's main obsession of late is that his wife is having an affair. For some time he has been collecting evidence to trap her. He rifles her handbag, looking for telephone numbers, unfamiliar names, he inspects her underwear for signs of illicit sex, and tries to second-guess what she might be doing to cover her tracks. Gradually a picture of his paranoia begins to emerge, but equally Madelaine's behaviour is questionable. 
 
When Artie becomes convinced that Madelaine's affair is with the local property developer, who wants Artie out of the shop, he takes matters into his own hands and as the tension of these two parallel obsessions tightens, Artie brings about his own, dramatic resolutions. 
 
'Shocking and grimly funny... This is a book soaked in disquieting atmosphere and threaded with thrillerish tension. It is erotic; brutal in its portrayal of urban squalor and poverty; sparky and pacey. A sharp novel with a vivid contemporary feel' Lesley Glaister

Skin And Bone

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