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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John Boyne

September 1919: Twenty-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver a clutch of letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian's brother Will during the Great War. They trained together. They fought together. 
 
But in 1917, Will laid down his guns on the battlefield and declared himself a conscientious objector, an act which has brought shame and dishonour on the Bancroft family. 
 
The letters, however, are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He holds a secret deep within him. One that he is desperate to unburden himself of to Marian, if he can only find the courage. Whatever happens, this meeting will change his life – forever.

The Absolutist

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

Andrea Busfield

THE ISLAND IS DIVIDED, BUT ONE MAN'S LOVE WILL NEVER BE COMPROMISED... 
 
Cyprus, 1955 - a guerrilla war is raging and four Greek brothers are growing up to the familiar sounds of exploding bombs and sniper fire. 
 
Determined to avenge the death of his elder brother and to win the heart of his beloved Praxi, young Loukis joins a cell of schoolboy terrorists operating in the mountains. But when his cohorts blow themselves up in a freak accident, he returns home in shock, yearning for the warm embrace of his family - and of his sweetheart. 
 
But his adored Praxi is now married to someone else, and playing at her feet is a young toddler...

Aphrodite's War

Jane Hamilton

Women on the block called Mac's sister Madeline a beauty, a 'real Princess Grace'. But in spite of her height and mature body, to Mac, his sister never looked any different to other children. Until one summer evening in 1960, when his cousin Buddy taunted him with the odd truth of their family: Madeline was not really Mac's sister, but his father's first wife. A terrible accident had left her brain-damaged, with the intellect of a seven-year-old. When his father remarried, Madeline became part of his new family, devotedly cared for by his second wife like one of their own children. 
In 2003, Mac, now a middle-aged doctor, attends the funeral of Buddy's son, killed in Iraq. There, the divisions that drove two branches of their family apart are brought sharply into focus: on one side, belligerently liberal doves, on the other, defiantly patriotic hawks. Also revealed is the impact of Madeline's tragedy on the family, how it has shaped and altered forever the boundaries of love. 
In this moving story that follows one American family over several decades of wars fought on foreign soil, Jane Hamilton, with her usual humour and keen observation of family relationships, deftly explores notions of innocence and experience, loyalty and betrayal, sacrifice and devotion.

When Madeline Was Young

Jo Baker

BY THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF LONGBOURN 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2017 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE 2017 
 
'Skilful . . . daring . . . extraordinary' The Guardian 
 
'A fascinating fictional account of Samuel Beckett's wartime years' IAN RANKIN 
 
'Beautifully written, empathetic and unflinching, it is very, very good' Daily Mail 
 
'Marvellous, spare, moving' FRANCIS SPUFFORD 
 
'Insightful . . . beautifully paced . . . authentic’ The Irish Times 
 
Paris, 1939: The pavement rumbles with the footfall of Nazi soldiers marching along the Champs Elysees. A young writer, recently arrived from Ireland to make his mark, smokes one last cigarette with his lover before the city they know is torn apart. Soon, he will put is own life and those of his loved ones in mortal danger by joining the Resistance... 
 
Spies, artists, deprivation, danger and passion: this is a story of life at the edges of human experience, and of how one man came to translate it all into art. 
 
Sunday Express Book of the Month 
 
Praise for Jo Baker's LONGBOURN: 
'Intoxicating' Guardian 
'Engrossing' Sunday Times 
'Audacious' New York Times

A Country Road, A Tree

Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Memorial Prize for Historical Fiction

'Simply written and highly memorable' Ireland on Sunday 
'A subtle, calculatedly simple and ultimately moving story' Irish Times 
'Stays ahead of its readers before delivering its killer-punch final pages' Independent 
'A small wonder of a book . . . A particular historical moment, one that cannot be told too often' Guardian 
'An extraordinary tale of friendship and the horrors of war...Raw literary talent at its best' Irish Independent 
______________ 
 
What happens when innocence is confronted by monstrous evil? 
 
Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country.All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no-one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas. 
 
Bruno's friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Robert Edric

'Shows once more Edric's unassuming yet remarkable talent for conjuring up the lives of his characters' The Sunday Times 
________ 
 
The Fens, 1954. Many people have lost everything. Others just want the chance to begin again. For Jimmy Devlin, it's a little of both . . . 
 
It has been another tough winter. The floods are worse than anyone can remember and Fenlands are alive with blackmarketeers, vagabonds and chancers, all trying to make their way. 
 
 
Forced from his home by bailiffs, Jimmy has nothing to his name and needs to make a fresh start. But desperate people have a knack of finding trouble and he is no exception. It doesn’t take long before he’s caught in the wrong business with the wrong people and on the wrong side of the law . . . 
 
With his keen eye and trademark candour, Robert Edric explores what a man is capable of doing when he has nothing to lose.

Mercury Falling

Lissa Evans

When Noel Bostock - aged ten, no family - is evacuated from London to escape the Blitz, he winds up in St Albans with Vera Sedge - thiry-six, drowning in debts. Always desperate for money, she's unscrupulous about how she gets it. 
 
The war's thrown up all manner of new opportunities but what Vee needs is a cool head and the ability to make a plan. On her own, she's a disaster. With Noel, she's a team. 
 
Together they cook up an idea. But there are plenty of other people making money out of the war and some of them are dangerous. Noel may have been moved to safety, but he isn't actually safe at all . . . 
 
Longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, 2015

Crooked Heart

‘My book of the year’ Jojo Moyes

Morlancourt, Northern France, 1920 
 
In the aftermath of the world's bloodiest conflict, a small contingent of battle-worn soldiers remains in France. Captain James Reid and his men are tasked with the identification and burial of innumerable corpses as they come to terms with the events of the past four years. 
 
The stark contrast between the realities of burying men in France and the reports of honouring the dead back in Britain is all too clear. But it is only when the daily routine is interrupted by a visit from two women, both seeking solace from their grief, that the men are forced to acknowledge the part they too have played. 
 
With his trademark unerring precision, Robert Edric explores the emotional hinterland which lies behind the work done by the War Graves Commission in the wake of the First World War.

Field Service

Anna Hope

The International prize-winning bestseller and Simon Mayo bookclub pick 
'Powerful and humane' SADIE JONES, bestselling author of The Snakes 
____________ 
Remembrance Day 1920: A wartime secret connects three women's lives: 
 
Hettie whose wounded brother won't speak. 
 
Evelyn who still grieves for her lost lover. 
 
And Ada, who has never received an official letter about her son's death, and is still waiting for him to come home. 
 
As the mystery that binds them begins to unravel, far away, in the fields of France, the Unknown Soldier embarks on his journey home. The mood of the nation is turning towards the future - but can these three women ever let go of the past? 
___________________ 
Readers' love WAKE by Anna Hope: 
 
'Beautifully, written, compelling, very moving' 4 **** 
'Engrossing and illuminating' 5 ***** 
' If you like a relationships novel with war backdrop, hard to find better' 4 **** 
'An amazing achievment' 5 *****

Wake

A heartrending story of three women and the journey of the Unknown Warrior

'A book to be treasured and returned to again and again' The Independent 
'Funny, moving and utterly life-enhancing' Daily Mail 
___ 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR HWA Crown Awards 2021 
 
It's late 1944. Hitler's rockets are slamming down on London with vicious regularity and it's the coldest winter in living memory. Allied victory is on its way, but it's bloody well dragging its feet. 
 
In a large house next to Hampstead Heath, Vee Sedge is just about scraping by, with a herd of lodgers to feed, and her young charge Noel ( almost fifteen ) to clothe and educate. When she witnesses a road accident and finds herself in court, the repercussions are both unexpectedly marvellous and potentially disastrous - disastrous because Vee is not actually the person she's pretending to be, and neither is Noel. 
 
The end of the war won't just mean peace, but discovery... 
 
With caustic wit and artful storytelling, Lissa Evans elegantly summons a time when the world could finally hope to emerge from the chaos of war. 
___ 
 
Readers love V for Victory: 
 
'The characters stay in the memory and heart.' 
'It's pitch perfect - funny, sad, moving, compelling' 
'Full of warmth, wit and wisdom, an absolute joy'

V for Victory

A warm and witty novel by the Sunday Times bestseller

The delightful and moving novel from the Sunday Times bestseller

Peter Gardos

An uplifting true story of finding love after the horrors of war. For fans of THE TATTOIST OF AUSCHWITZ, SCHINDLER'S LIST and THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS 
 
 
'Dramatic, compassionate and deeply moving.' Jennifer Clement, author of award-winning novel PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN 
 
It's 1945, and Miklos is looking for love... 
 
He whistles up a list if 117 Hungarian women from his village, and in his beautiful handwriting, he writes to each of them. 
 
But what's the catch? 
 
Miklos has just emerged from Belsen, and is recovering in a refugee camp in Sweden. He is so weak that he has only six months to live. 
 
But Miklos is not going to allow a small thing like that stand in the way of love... 
 
 
Spoiler Alert: FEVER AT DAWN is inspired by the true story of the author's parents, which may give you an idea of how Miklos' plan unfolds... 
 
 
'A magnificent novel, tonally flawless, its humour defiant in the face of vast tragedy.' Joan London, author of GILGAMESH

Fever at Dawn

The heartbreaking true story of a boy from the concentration camp of Belsen

Nigel Farndale

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD &amp; A RICHARD &amp; JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 
 
He had always been scared of flying. Now, the fear is real. A plane crash. The water is rising over his mouth. In his nostrils. Lungs. As Daniel gasps, he swallows; and punches at his seat-belt. Nancy, the woman he loves, is trapped in her seat. He clambers over her, pushing her face into the headrest. 
It is a reflex, visceral action made without rational thought... 
 
But Daniel Kennedy did it. And already we have judged him from the comfort of our own lives. 
 
Almost a hundred years earlier, Daniel's great-grandfather goes over the top at Passchendaele.A shell explodes, and he wakes up alone and lost in the hell of no-man's-land. Where are the others? Has he been left behind? 
 
And if he doesn't find his unit, is he a deserter? 
 
Love; cowardice; trust; forgiveness.How will any of us behave when we are pushed to extremes? 
 
'A great achievement...To take on the First World War as so very many have done and make it fresh is remarkable.' MELVYN BRAGG 
 
'A book that won't leave your fingernails intact...a terrifically exciting and thought-provoking must-read' DAILY MAIL

The Blasphemer

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD & A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK

Lawrence Wright

A DEADLY VIRUS. QUARANTINE. A WORLD IN LOCKDOWN. THE THRILLER THAT PREDICTED IT ALL. 
 
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 
 
'Flies thrillingly, eerily close to reality' Guardian 
 
'This page-turner... is riveting and spookily anticipates much that has unfolded in reality' Sunday Times 
 
A race-against-time thriller, as one man must find the origin and cure for a new killer virus that has brought the world to its knees. 
 
At an internment camp in Indonesia, forty-seven people are pronounced dead with a mysterious fever. When Dr Henry Parsons - microbiologist and epidemiologist - travels there on behalf of the World Health Organization to investigate, what he finds will soon have staggering repercussions across the globe. 
 
As international tensions rise and governments enforce unprecedented measures, Henry finds himself in a race against time to track the source and find a cure - before it's too late . . . 
 
*** 
WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: 
 
'If you have a desire to really understand what is going on in the world right now, this is a novel that you cannot afford to miss!' 
 
'Well-written and fast-paced. Most of all utterly, scarily, believable.'

The End of October

A page-turning thriller that warned of the risk of a global virus

Danny Scheinmann

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 
A BESTSELLING RICHARD AND JUDY BOOKCLUB PICK 
 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE 
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHOR'S CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 
 
'A lush, romantic novel' Daily Mail 
 
1992: Leo Deakin wakes up in a hospital somewhere in South America, his girlfriend Eleni is dead and Leo doesn't know where he is or how Eleni died. He blames himself for the tragedy and is sucked into a spiral of despair. But Leo is about to discover something which will change his life forever. 
 
1917: Moritz Daniecki is a fugitive from a Siberian POW camp. Seven thousand kilometres over the Russian Steppes separate him from his village and his sweetheart, whose memory has kept him alive through carnage and captivity. The Great War may be over, but Moritz now faces a perilous journey across a continent riven by civil war. When Moritz finally limps back into his village to claim the hand of the woman he left behind, will she still be waiting? 
 
'Special' Sunday Express 
'Tender' Observer 
'Mesmerising' Publishing News

Random Acts Of Heroic Love

The Heartbreaking Richard and Judy Bestseller

Flanders, June 1917: a British officer and celebrated poet, is shot dead, killed not by German fire, but while recuperating from shell shock well behind the lines. A young English soldier is arrested and, although he protests his innocence, charged with his murder. 
 
Douglas Kingsley is a conscientious objector, previously a detective with the London police, now imprisoned for his beliefs. He is released and sent to France in order to secure a conviction. Forced to conduct his investigations amidst the hell of The Third Battle of Ypres, Kingsley soon discovers that both the evidence and the witnesses he needs are quite literally disappearing into the mud that surrounds him. 
 
Ben Elton's tenth novel is a gut-wrenching historical drama which explores some fundamental questions. What is murder? What is justice in the face of unimaginable daily slaughter? And where is the honour in saving a man from the gallows if he is only to be returned to die in a suicidal battle? 
 
As the gap between legally-sanctioned and illegal murder becomes evermore blurred, Kingsley quickly learns that the first casualty when war comes is truth.

The First Casualty

Markus Zusak

'Life affirming, triumphant and tragic . . . masterfully told. . . but also a wonderful page-turner' Guardian 
'Brilliant and hugely ambitious' New York Times 
'Extraordinary' Telegraph 
___ 
HERE IS A SMALL FACT - YOU ARE GOING TO DIE 
 
1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. 
 Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall. 
 
SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION - THIS NOVEL IS NARRATED BY DEATH 
___ 
 
What readers are saying about The Book Thief: 
 
***** 'I loved every page of this book. So many great quotes, observations on humanity and images...I just didn't want it to end. 
***** 'I loved this book. It is not only one of the best I've read this year, it is one of the best I've ever read.' 
***** 'This is the sort of book the restores your faith in humanity and leaves you feeling uplifted, even when it makes you shed a tear.

The Book Thief

TikTok made me buy it! The life-affirming reader favourite

Film tie-in

TikTok made me buy it! The life-affirming international bestseller

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

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