A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, in 1979 and lives in Lagos. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service short story competition, the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship, and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His short story collection, Love is Power, or Something Like That, was published in 2013. In 2014 he was named on the Africa39 list of sub-Saharan African writers under 40. Blackass is his first novel.

A. Igoni Barrett

The short life of A.J.A. Symons (1900-41) was described by his biographer as an intricate and largely harmless confidence trick. His many interests included the collection of musical boxes and rare books as well as the study and practice of forgery; they left him time to edit an anthology of Edwardian verse and compose studies of H.M. Stanley and other notable figures. He is remembered for The Quest for Corvo, one of the most remarkable biographies ever written, and for co-founding the Wine and Food Society.

A. J. A. Symons

A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy novels and is an ambassador for Wattpad, known as @agatharoza. Entwined is her first novel.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A.J. Cronin

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A. T. Emerald lives with her husband and baby daughter in Nottinghamshire. She discovered her love of writing in 2020 and has not shut up about enemies to lovers ever since. She loves iced matcha, torrid love confessions with knives pressed to throats (fictional, of course) and does not accept bills for any therapy her books might incur.

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

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Mitchell Symons

Let Mitchell Symons be your guide into the weird and wonderful world of trivia. 
 
Camels are born without humps. 
 
Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, was scared of mice. 
 
Only 30% of humans can flare their nostrils 
 
A group of twelve or more cows is called a flink 
 
And an elephant produces an eye-wateringly pongy 20 kilos of dung a day!

How Much Poo Does an Elephant Do?

EVER WONDERED . . . 
 
Why we have tonsils? 
 
Is there any cream in cream crackers? 
 
Why is the sea blue? 
 
And if kangaroos keep their babies in their pouches, what happens to all the poo?! 
 
Mitch Symons answers all these crazy questions and plenty more in this wonderfully funny and addictive book for children from 8 to 80! 
 
And yes, eating bogeys is good for you . . . but only your own!

Why Eating Bogeys is Good for You

Anthony Bourke

John Rendall

"Do you hear that, little fellow?" Ace asked the lion cub excitedly. "You're coming with us!" 
 
It's almost Christmas and as two friends search for gifts in London they come across the most unbelievable sight - a lion for sale in the famous store, Harrods. Unable to bear the thought of leaving the little cub, Ace and John take him home and name him Christian. A year of fun and mischief later, Christian has grown up and Ace and John must find him a new home back in his native Africa.

Christian the Lion

Elizabeth Singer Hunt

On the eve of the first manned mission to Mars, a madman has kidnapped the space project's chief engineer. Can Secret Agent Jack Stalwart save the day and keep his cool when he finds out who the missing engineer is?

Jack Stalwart: The Deadly Race to Space

Russia: Book 9

A group of scientists have gone missing in the Arctic - could this be linked to their research into global warming? Jack must face the harsh weather and a very hungry polar bear to find out . . .

Jack Stalwart: The Fight for the Frozen Land

Arctic: Book 12

An ancient stone with the location of Aztec treasure has been stolen from an ailing man's bedside table. Can Secret Agent Jack Stalwart track the thieves and stop them before they plunder Moctezuma's gold?

Jack Stalwart: The Quest for Aztec Gold

Mexico: Book 10

Sacred Japanese treasures are being stolen, and Jack must investigate. Can he defeat the shady geisha Madame Minori and her band of ninja thieves?

Jack Stalwart: The Theft of the Samurai Sword

Japan: Book 11

Bali Rai

Dal, Chris, Abs and Jason have made the squad for the local youth club under-lls football team. And after their first match (not as successful as they'd have liked), they are determined to prove that they've got what it takes to be winners. 
 
The Rushton Reds have lost their first two matches. Missed chances, missed goals - even missed penalties! Their coaches say they need to play more as a team - and they have an idea for a great team-building day. But will it help the Reds hit the back of the net?

Soccer Squad: Missing!

The local youth club are putting an under-elevens squad together - and Dal, Chris, Abs and Jason are determined to be picked.They know they're the best players in their school - but what if that isn't good enough and they don't make the team? Dal knows he'd be gutted if his mates made it and he didn't . . . 
 
Then once the team is picked, they have to do the business on the pitch - go out and win! And their coach has a couple of surprise new players to help the team . . .

Soccer Squad: Starting Eleven

Did you know THAT: 
 
The first ready-to-eat breakfast cereal was Shredded Wheat in 1893 (it beat Kellogg's Corn Flakes by just five years) 
 
Scarlett Johansson, Ashton Kutcher and Simon Cowell all have twin brothers. 
 
Everton were the first British football club to introduce a stripe down the side of their shorts. 
 
The word DUDE was coined by Oscar Wilde and his friends. It is a combination of the words 'duds' and 'attitude'. 
 
Well you do now! Filled with fantastic facts and figures to amaze and intrigue . . . once you start reading you'll be hooked for hours!

How to Avoid a Wombat's Bum

Hilaire Belloc

Quentin Blake

This omnibus of Belloc's stories is a feast of delightful tales told in rhyme - all with a dramatic moral twist in the tail. Are you prone to pulling faces, telling tales or bouts of extravagance? Yes? Then ignore these stories at your peril. If not, you might suffer a fate similar to those described in these cautionary tales.

Cautionary Verses

Roberto Innocenti

Ian McEwan

Rose Blanche was the name of a group of young German citizens who, at their peril, protested against the war. Like them, Rose observes all the changes going on around her which others choose to ignore. She watches as the streets of her small German town fill with soldiers. One day she sees a little boy escaping from the back of a truck, only to be captured by the mayor and shoved back into it. Rose follows the truck to a desolate place out of town, where she discovers many other children, staring hungrily from behind an electric barbed wire fence.  She starts bringing the children food, instinctively sensing the need for secrecy, even with her mother. Until the tide of the war turns and soldiers in different uniforms stream in from the East, and Rose and the imprisoned children disappear for ever . . .

Rose Blanche

Colin Dann

Huru and Kimya have formed a small pride with their friends, Battlescars and Blackmane and six cubs have been added to the pride's number. Attacked by an elephant, Moja, the eldest, is seperated from his family and must now learn to survive on his own. Meanwhile as leaders of the pride, Battlescars and Blackmane - face new challenges to their authority, and the Game Park itself is in peril, when a tremendous fire sweeps across it, killing many of the animals.

Pride Of The Plains

Angela Kanter

Emmy loves ballet but she isn't old enough to dance in her sister Charlotte's class. Then one day when she comes to watch the lesson she can't resist joining in. Before anyone realises, Emmy's doing pli-s at the barre - and she's doing them very well! Most of the class are thrilled by her dancing, but Charlotte isn't quite so comfortable about having a little sister who seems set to steal her limelight. When Emmy is given the coveted role of Spring in the annual show it seems the final straw for Charlotte, but then her teacher helps her to understand that although Emmy is very talented for her age, she can't dance as well as Charlotte, and Charlotte ought to feel proud that Emmy has learnt so much from watching her talented big sister.

My Ballerina Sister

Charlotte is in for a nasty surprise when Emmy makes a new friend, Tom. For Tom's big sister, Icky Nicky, is in Charlotte's ballet class - and they hate each other! But when their sisters' fighting starts to get in the way of Tom and Emmy's friendship, they must find a way of bringing their warring siblings together, and ballet could be just the thing they need. And to Charlotte and Nicky's surprise, they soon find they have a lot more in common than they had realised.

My Ballerina Sister On Stage

Babette Cole

Girls and boys are always curious and sometimes even alarmed by the behaviour of their bodies as they grow up. Puberty being a particularly unsettling time, Babette Cole has made this the subject of the fifth title in her bestselling series of 'family dilemmas'. Who else but Babette would have the temerity to tackle this subject in a picture book and the genius to carry it off! In Hair in Funny Places her artwork is without exaggeration some of the best she has ever done: it is brilliant. The text takes the form of a conversation between a small girl and her teddy bear, and is ingenious and funny. It is the behaviour of Mr and Mrs Hormone (wonderfully depicted) which is responsible for and plays havoc with the physical and emotional states of  girls and boys throughout puberty. This book is bound to be controversial but Babette has never taken the conventional path and her readers love her for her outrageous approach to little mentioned topics.

Hair In Funny Places

Arthur Ransome

'I was wrong,' said Captain Flint. 'He's not mad but bad. It isn't only eggs he wants. He wants to take the credit for it. You're quite right. It's up to us, it's up to the ship, to see he doesn't.'Dick's birdwatching discovery turns the cruise of the Sea Bear into a desperate chase. Not only do the Swallows and Amazons have to prove the facts of the case but they also have to dodge the savage natives and evade the ruthless pursuit of a fanatic egg-collector, determined to kill a pair of rare birds and steal the credit. Fortunately, Nancy has a few plans.

Great Northern?

John Farman

Have you heard about the ghost bus that drives through London? Or seen the vampire who haunts Highgate cemetery? And would you know how to behave if you met a ghost? It's all in John Farman's spooky book of ghosts, poltegeists, vampires and things that go bump in the night! 
 
Open if you dare?

The Short & Bloody History Of Ghosts

Jennifer Curry

If you're someone who thinks the best part of school is going home, then this is the book for you! It's packed with stacks of brilliant rhymes that will keep you entertained for hours on end - in school and out! 
 
From the school swot to school dinners, we've got every subject covered in this bumper book of poetry. Don't go to school without it!

The Complete School Verse

Robert Munsch

Anthony Lewis

A young woman holds her newborn son and sings to him:I'll love you forever.I'll like you for always.As long as I'm livingMy baby you'll be.This is the story of how that little boy goes through life and becomes a man and how his mother's love never wavers. The simple and powerful truth behind LOVE YOU FOREVER will strike a universal chord with parents and children alike - what better way to reassure your child of your love than to share this very special picture book.

Love You Forever

Hugh Lofting

Eight complete stories about the famous Doctor who could talk to the animals. An excellent introduction which highlights all the most memorable incidents: the way he realises his gifts with animals, his meeting with the Pushmi-Pullyu, and how he sets off to sea. His is an entrancing world and the reader is soon involved with all the animal characters, Gub-Gub the pig, Jip the Dog, Too Too the owl. A fine omnibus edition.

Dr Dolittle Stories

Everyone knows the story of Jesus' birth, and everyone knows how he died, right? But what about the bit in between - those formative teenage years? No-one knows if Jesus had crises with spots, girls or parents . . . until now. 
 
John Farman, author of the bestselling The Very Bloody History of Britain, takes a cheeky but affectionate look at those missing years in Jesus' life. You think you've had teenage-type problems to contend with? Wait till you read what Jesus had to go through!

Jesus - The Teenage Years

Gene Zion

Margaret Bloy Graham

Harry and the family have gone to the beach but it's too sunny and he's one hot dog! There's nowhere else for him to get some shade than under a pile of seaweed! The only problem is that now everyone thinks he's a sea monster and he can't find his family. 
 
This is the third classic story from the Harry series and is as fresh and funny as when it was first written.

Harry By The Sea

John Burningham

A classic story celebrating the power of babies... and avocados! 
 
The Hargraves family want their new baby to grow up big and strong. But the puny mite will hardly eat a thing... until Mrs Hargraves finds an avocado in the fruit bowl and the baby gobbles it up. Soon, the baby gets incredible strength, and the strangest things start to happen! 
 
This classic story from the bestselling author and illustrator John Burningham has been delighting families for over 40 years. 
 
“Amusing for adults, impressive for toddlers, good for greengrocers” The Observer 
 
“John Burningham is one of the most outstanding author-illustrators of children’s books today . . .” Twentieth-Century Children’s Writers 
 
John Burningham is the much-loved creator of Mr Gumpy's Outing and Would You Rather.

Avocado Baby

Ruth Thomas

There's been a spate of break-ins lately in the area and everyone in Kate's class is saying that the burglar is Desmond Locke's dad because he's just come out of prison. Everyone, that is, except Kate. She's sure that Mr Locke is innocent and turns to her Secret Seven books for inspiration - they always find the real thief. Kate and Desmond become detectives to find out the truth and prove Desmond's dad is innocent. But the truth isn't always what you would like it to be and Kate is horrified when she discovers who really is... GUILTY.

Guilty!

Everyone thinks Harry looks lovely in his new knitted jacket covered in roses - except Harry! So Harry is on a mission to rid his back of those ridiculous roses...!

No Roses For Harry

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

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