Meik Wiking founded the world's first Happiness Research Institute in 2013, in Copenhagen, Denmark and is a New York Times and Sunday Times Bestselling author. Meik has been called The Indiana Jones of Smiles and probably the World's Happiest Man by The Times. He is the author of four globally bestselling books which have sold over 2 million copies worldwide: The Little Book of Hygge, The Little Book of Lykke, The Art of Making Memories and My Hygge Home.

Meik Wiking

Sue Meikle has always been obsessed with picture books, and after working as an Early Years Specialist for over 25 years, she has read stories to children from Stockport to South Africa. In schools, in early years centres, while on forest school adventures... Sue has even read stories on a travelling play bus! So, perhaps it was always in the stars for Sue to not just read books, but write them, too! When she's not reading or writing stories, Sue can be found walking her dog or chauffeuring her teenagers around the Greater Manchester area (because that’s where they live… in a home that they made from a derelict barn!)

Sue Meikle

David Meikle is a TV scriptwriter and Sunday Times bestselling author. He has written and co-written seven books, including the autobiographies of Charlie Richardson and Bobby Cummines.

David Meikle

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Jilly Cooper

Lysander Hawkley combined breathtaking good looks with the kindest of hearts. He couldn't pass a stray dog, an ill-treated horse or a neglected wife without rushing to the rescue. And with neglected wives the rescue invariably led to ecstatic bonking, which didn't please their erring husbands one bit. 
 
Lysander's mid-life crisis had begun at twenty-two. Reeling from the death of his beautiful mother, he was out of work, drinking too much and desperately in debt. The solution came from Ferdie, his fat, fast-operating friend: if Lysander was so good at making husbands jealous, why shouldn't he get paid for it? 
 
Let loose among the neglected wives of the ritzy county of Rutshire, Lysander causes absolute havoc. But it is only when he meets Rannaldini, Rutshire's King Rat and a temperamental, fiendishly promiscuous international conductor, that the trouble really starts. The only unglamorous woman around Rannaldini is Kitty, his plump young wife who runs his life like clockwork. Soon Lysander is convinced that Kitty must be rescued from Rannaldini at all costs, even if it means enlisting the help of the old blue-eyed havoc maker: Rupert Campbell-Black.

The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous

Paolo Hewitt

Paolo Hewitt has known Paul Weller since they were both teenagers in the depths of Woking, through his ascent to fame with The Jam, the halcyon years of The Style Council and for all of his critically acclaimed solo career. Hewitt has even been the inspiration for some of Weller's songs - and he has extraordinary in-depth knowledge of the inspiration behind the rest. 
 
Once, when Hewitt interviewed Weller for a music magazine, he complained - 'I don't know why people ask me all these questions. All the answers are in my songs.' Largely unnoticed, Weller has used thirty-years of lyrics to explore his personal history and beliefs. Taking as his starting point these lyrics, alongside a lifetime's friendship, Paolo Hewitt shows us the real Paul Weller, the man inside the music.

Paul Weller - The Changing Man

Paul J. Zak

Human beings can be so compassionate. They can also be shockingly cruel. What if there was a master control for human behaviour? Switch it on and people are loving and generous. Switch it off and they revert to violence and greed. Pioneering neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak has discovered just such a master switch: a molecule in the human brain. 
 
Zak’s colleagues call him Dr Love. They also call him the vampire economist. He and his research team have travelled from his laboratory in California to the jungles of Papua new Guinea via a summer garden in Devon, taking blood from people as they attend a wedding, make decisions with money, play football on the field, even jump from an aeroplane. Their experiments to measure a chemical in the bloodstream called oxytocin reveal the answers to those mysteries about why we make the decisions we do: why we are sometimes rational, at other times irrational; why men cheat more than women; how the moral molecule operates in the market place, and most importantly, once we understand the moral molecule, how we can consciously use it to make our lives better.

The Moral Molecule

the new science of what makes us good or evil

Cathy Bramley

Bestseller Wickham Hall was originally published as a four-part serial. This is the complete story in one package. 
 
Seeking: Events Co-ordinator – highly organised, a good communicator with an ability to adapt to the unexpected … 
 
Holly has her life all planned out, she’s pretty sure everything can be confined to a clipboard or a to-do list. A perfect candidate to plan events at Wickham Hall – the beautiful country manor that rests at the heart of the village. Holly has always felt an unusual kinship with the old house. It might just be the place where Holly can uncover the secrets of the past and find out who she truly is. 
 
In the meantime, there’s lots to plan at Wickham Hall; family weddings, summer festivals and Christmas grottos litter the calendar. But life and love can still surprise you… Something Holly learns when sparks fly with her new boss Ben and it seems nothing can extinguish the flames of desire… 
 
Life just isn’t as easy to organise as an event at Wickham Hall (and even those don’t always run smoothly…). Can Holly learn to let go, live in the moment and enjoy the unexpected? 
 
After all, life is what happens when you’re making plans… 
 
A charming and romantic story certain to make you smile - perfect for fans of Carole Matthews, Trisha Ashley and Katie Fforde. 
 
Your favourite authors have loved reading Cathy Bramley: 
‘Engaging characters, a stately home and a sweeping romance. This is delightful!’ Katie Fforde 
‘Delightfully warm with plenty of twists and turns’ Trisha Ashley 
'A witty, laugh-out-loud romantic comedy' Miranda Dickinson

Wickham Hall

A heart-warming, feel-good romance from the Sunday Times bestselling author

Terry Pratchett

Stephen Briggs

A Discworld City Watch series tie-in mapbook with fold-out map. Go beyond the novels to discover more about the fantastically funny and gloriously inventive world of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. 
 
Lose yourself in the glorious technicolour of Ankh-Morpork, mapped in meticulous detail for the very first time. A beautiful gift edition, complete with fold-out map and pull-out information booklet, and a fantastic accompaniment to the novels. 
 
'Tells you the answers to all the questions you had about Ankh Morpork' -- ***** Reader review 
'The whole thing is really charming. Every time you look at it, something new is revealed' -- ***** Reader review 
'A fascinating look into the streets of Terry Pratchett's mind...' -- ***** Reader review 
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'THERE'S A SAYING THAT ALL ROADS LEAD TO ANKH-MORPORK. AND IT'S WRONG. ALL ROADS LEAD AWAY FROM ANKH-MORPORK, BUT SOMETIMES PEOPLE JUST WALK ALONG THE WRONG WAY' from Moving Pictures 
 
Ankh-Morpork! City of One Thousand Surprises (according to the famous publication by the Guild of Merchants)! All human life is there! Although, if it walks down the wrong alley, often quite briefly! 
 
The city celebrated in the bestselling Discworld series by Sir Terry Pratchett has been meticulously mapped for the first time. It's all here - from Unseen University to the Shades, from major landmarks like the Patrician's Palace to little-known, er, nooks like Dwarf Bread Museum in Whirligig Alley. 
 
See the famous streets beaten by Sam Vimes and the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, the cobbles along which so many heroes have walked - in some cases quite hurriedly! As leading Ankh-Morpork entrepreneur C.M.O.T. Dibbler would say, a nip at any price - and that's cutting our own throat. Well, close. 
 
A deluxe and stunning gift edition with pull-out booklet and fold-out map - the ultimate present for every Discworld fan who has ever dreamed of seeing the world of Sir Terry Pratchett come to life...

The Streets Of Ankh-Morpork

the principal city of Sir Terry Pratchett’s much-loved Discworld, mapped for the very first time

Karyn Bosnak

What would you do if you owed $20,000? Would you: 
 
a) Not tell your parents? 
b) Stop colouring your hair, having pedicures and buying Gucci? 
c) Start your own website that asks for money without apology? 
 
If you were Karyn Bosnak, you'd do all three... 
 
In New York for the first time, with the dream job and the smart flat, Karyn starts spending...and spending. But when it all goes horribly wrong, and her credit card balance mounts in a terrifying manner, Karyn knows that she has to take control. She starts her website www.savekaryn.com on which she fearlessly asks for donations to help pay off her debts. The website receives over 2 million hits and has replies from all over the world - some supportive, many abusive. But after four months, Karyn has become a new woman- debt-free, grateful and happy. This is the hilarious and touching true story of how she does it.

Save Karyn

Mary Jane Staples

The house in Caulfield Place, off Browning Street in Walworth, was haunted, or at least that's what the street kids said. So when two men, a woman, and a parrot moved in, everyone was very interested, especially fourteen-year-old Cassie Ford, who was particularly fascinated by the parrot. And it was just about this time that Mr Finch, Chinese Lady's husband, and Boots's stepfather, began to get mysterious telephone calls. Mr Finch had never told the rest of the Adams family - except for Boots - the secrets of his past, or what kind of work he did for the government, and he decided not to tell them about the slightly sinister telephone calls either. It was when he took Chinese Lady on a summer's day jaunt in his Morris motorcar that things began to happen. For, in the Hog's Back Hotel, Chinese Lady went to the cloakroom, and when she came back Mr Finch had vanished. It took all of Boots's ingenuity to discover what had happened, and Cassie's knowledge of the Caulfield Place parrot was to prove a vital clue in unravelling the mystery.

Missing Person

Sterling Seagrave

Be so subtle that you are invisible. Be so mysterious that you are intangible. Then you will control your rivals's fate' 
Sun Tzu, from The Art of War 
 
A community of fifty five million expatriates. Up to two trillion dollars in assets. A highly integrated interconnected network of influence and favour. A firm base on the Pacific Rim. Ambitions to influence the West. Imagine the potential power of such an organisation. You don't have to. This is the Overseas Chinese. 
 
Sterling Seagrave's brilliant new book, Lords of the Rim, uncovers a complex web of operations which already dominates the Far East and which is already making inroads into the West. It is a superbly researched and spectacularly told account of an extraordinary phenomenon, telling just who the Overseas Chinese are and how they became so powerful. Spanning thousands of years it encompasses stories of murder and betrayal, bravery and corruption; of triads, syndicates, kingmakers, merchants, emperors, generals, spies and pirates. 
 
In telling this masterful and entertaining history, Seagrave provides the reader with a cautionary tale: that Chinese strategies so effective for centuries are just as succesful today.

Lords Of The Rim

Anne McCaffrey

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

The Shongili twins, Ronan and Murel, accompany their friend Marmie on her luxury space craft Piaf to rescue their friend Ke-ola's family from an uninhabitable planet. They arrive to find the planet in the midst of a terrible meteor storm and when they go down to the surface find that the survivors have taken refuge under ground. Ronan and Murel change into seal form and find the survivors and their totem animals or aumakua, the giant turtles, or Honu, and the sharks. 
 
Back on Petaybee the twins, in their seal form, escort the Honus to their new home in the middle of the ocean. They also want to warn the otters and seals about the sharks. It is a long journey and Murel falls asleep and gets separated from the rest. She is surrounded by a pod of Orcas who, thinking she is a normal seal, try to eat her. Before they can do so she is caught up in a whirlpool caused by the volcanic activity in the area, as is Ronan, who had swum back to try to rescue her. 
 
They are rescued from the whirlpool by the mysterious deep sea otters and taken into their shielded city on the ocean floor. While their leader, Kushtaka, is talking to them her son Jeel sees the sharks and goes to inspect them, Murel races after him but is too late and Jeel is killed. 
 
Meanwhile Marmie and her crew are arrested on trumped up charges of kidnapping Ke-ola's family and taken to Gwinnett Incarceration Colony, along with most of the survivors they rescued. 
 
When Murel and Ronan return to their family and discover that Marmie has been arrested and the Piaf impounded they realize they need to get off the planet and go to her rescue. While staying with Kushtaka they were told that the deep sea otters were not just otters but beings from outer space who had hidden in the depths of Petaybee's oceans for years. Now that they have been discovered they plan to leave, the twins persuade Kushtaka to take them with her and to help them rescue Marmie.

Maelstrom

Abigail Rosen, nicknamed Appassionata, was the sexiest, most flamboyant violinist in classical music, but she was also the loneliest and the most exploited girl in the world. When a dramatic suicide attempt destroyed her violin career, she set her sights on the male-dominated heights of the conductor's rostrum. 
 
Given the chance to take over the Rutminster Symphony Orchestra, Abby is ecstatic, not realising the RSO is in hock up to its neck and is composed of the wildest bunch of musicians ever to blow a horn or caress a fiddle. Abby finds it increasingly difficult to control her undisciplined rabble and pretend she is not madly attracted to the fatally glamorous horn player, Viking O'Neill, who claims droit de seigneur over every pretty woman joining the orchestra. And then Rannaldini, arch-fiend and international maestro, rolls up with Machiavellian plans of his own to sabotage the RSO. 
 
Effervescent as champagne, Jilly Cooper's novel brings back old favourites like Rupert and Taggie Campbell-Black, but also ends triumphantly with a rampageous orchestral tour of Spain and the high drama of an international piano competition.

Appassionata

A masterpiece of sex and drama from the Sunday Times bestseller Jilly Cooper

The most fun you can have under a Tenor

Acorna's people, the Linyaari, have started to reclaim their homeworld from the ravages of the brutal alien Khleevi. But the expedition has unlocked a larger mystery about the origins of the Linyaari people - one that has led Aari, Acorna's lifemate, into a dangerous journey through time and space. 
 
Now Acorna, joined by Captain Becker, Mac, Nadhari, and RK, sets off on a mission to save her beloved Aari. But a crash landing brings the crew to the exotic jungle world of Makahomia, home of the mysterious Temple Cats. Beautiful and barbaric, Makahomia has been blockaded for years to protect itself - and the Federation. 
 
Racing to save the Temple Cats from a deadly disease, Acorna uncovers a plot to destroy the sacred felines and exploit Makahomia's people, and finds herself leading a small band of rebels determined to stop the conspiracy - a quest that takes them into the hidden sanctuaries of that world. But within one sacred shrine Acorna discovers shocking information that may lead to Aari...or to disaster.

Acorna's Rebels

It is 1953 - Coronation year - and like all of Cockney London the members of the Adams family are looking forward to the celebrations. Chinese Lady, now Lady Finch, worries that her friends will think she is too grand to mingle with them . But her husband has a more pressing worry - the sudden appearance of the lovely but mysterious Katje Galicia, who knows more than she should about his own chequered past. 
 
Young Jimmy Adams, meanwhile, is enjoying working at the family clothing factory, where at the retirement party for two of the oldest employees, Bert and Gertie Roper, he meets their lively granddaughter Clare. Before long he has offered her a job on the switchboard, and has hopes of seeing her after working hours as well. And brave Felicity, blinded in the blitz, thinks she notices a glimmer of light appearing in her dark world - but dare not tell her husband, in case it is just her imagination... 
 
With the young Queen now on the throne, times are changing for the Adams family.

Changing Times

Robert Rankin

Amazing, but true: Brentford Town Council, in an act of supreme public-spiritedness (and a great big wodge of folding stuff from a mysterious benefactor) has agreed to host the next Olympic Games. The plans have been drawn up, contracts, money and promises are changing hands. Norman's designed some stunning kit for the home team, and even the Flying Swan's been threatened with a major refit (gasp!). But something is very wrong...primeval forces are stirring in ancient places...dark magic is afoot in Brentford and someone must save the world from overpowering evil... 
 
...Jim Pooley and John Omally, come on down! 
 
This must be the daring duo's toughest assignment yet. No longer can they weigh up the situation over a pint of large at random moments during the day. No, this time, to save the world as we know it, the lads must contemplate - nay, undertake - the most horrible, the most terrifying, the heretofore untried - REGULAR EMPLOYMENT!!!

The Sprouts Of Wrath

Imogen Edwards-Jones

What makes a restaurant hot? Whose name do you need to drop to get a table? Why is one place booked solid for the next nine months while somewhere equally delicious is as empty and inhospitable as the Gobi desert? 
 
Welcome to the restaurant business, where the hours are punishing, the conditions are brutal and the Chef's Special has been languishing at the back of the fridge for the past three days. 
This is an industry plagued with obsessives. Why else do some chefs drive themselves crazy in pursuit of elusive Michelin stars, when in reality all they're doing is 'making someone else's tea'? 
 
Nothing is left to chance: the lighting, the temperature or even the cut of the salmon fillet. There's even a spot of psychology behind the menu. What do they want you to order? What makes them the most money? And why should you really hold back on those side dishes? 
 
In Restaurant Babylon, Imogen Edwards-Jones and her anonymous industry insider lift the lid on all the tricks of the food trade and what really makes this £90 billion a year industry tick. So please do sit down, pour yourself some heavily marked-up wine and make yourself comfortable (although we'll need that table back by 8.30 sharp).

Restaurant Babylon

Tom Bradby

The brutal murder of Sarah Ford and the disappearance of her six-year-old daughter, Alice, shattered the rural serenity of Julia Havilland's childhood. But these are not the only scars that have resolutely refused to heal. Shortly afterwards, Colonel Mitchell Havilland sacrificed himself on a Falklands hillside in an act of characteristic - but baffling - heroism. When Julia comes home from China fifteen years later, it is to a place of ghosts. 
 
Whilst she awaits the outcome of the enquiry that seems destined to end her short but spectacular career in military intelligence, Julia is drawn back across the landscape of the past, to find that it is not just the tortured image of her much-loved father that returns to haunt her. Everything she has ever believed in and lived for has suddenly been called into question, and unless she confronts her demons, she will not survive. For there have been other deaths, and the dead will not sleep... 
 
At once a race-against-the-clock thriller and a complex psychological drama where the memories of the past conflict with knowledge of the present, The Sleep of the Dead is a stunning read on any level and more than confirms Tom Bradby as one of this country's foremost thriller writers. 
 
Praise for Shadow Dancer: 
 
'Quite exceptional...Tom Bradby succeeds in creating real characters. Far too many novels take refuge in cliché and caricature - Bradby refuses to. The language, the tension, the fear - all are portrayed vividly and correctly...A taut, compelling story of love and torn loyalties' 
Daily Telegraph 
 
'A remarkable first novel...Bradby handles the tension with skill to produce a gripping tale' 
The Times 
 
'The best book on the northern conflict since Harry's Game...An excellent read on any level. It scores heavily as a thriller and as an accurate unblinking look at what is happening right now' 
Irish Independent

The Sleep Of The Dead

John Sweeney

North Korea is like no other tyranny on earth. It is Orwell’s 1984 made reality. 
 
The regime controls the flow of information to its citizens, pouring relentless propaganda through omnipresent loud speakers. Free speech is an illusion: one word out of line and the gulag awaits. State spies are everywhere, ready to punish disloyalty and the slightest sign of discontent. 
 
You must bow to Kim Il Sung, the Eternal Leader and to his son, Generalissimo Kim Jong Il. Worship the dead and then hail the living, the Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un. 
 
North Koreans are told their home is the greatest nation on earth. Big Brother is always watching. 
 
Posing as a university professor, award-winning BBC journalist John Sweeney travelled undercover to gain unprecedented access to the world’s most secret state. Drawing on his own experiences and his extensive interviews with defectors and other key witnesses, North Korea Undercover pulls back the curtain, providing a rare insight into life there today, examining the country’s troubled history and addressing important questions about its uncertain future. 
 
Sweeney’s highly engaging, authoritative account illuminates the dark side of the Hermit Kingdom and challenges the West’s perception of this paranoid nationalist state.

North Korea Undercover

Robert Goddard

'One of the finest crime writers of any generation' Daily Mail 
'He's the high priest of plot ... deftly woven, but also beautifully written ... I loved it' Mel Giedroyc 
_______________________________ 
 
Umiko Wada has recently had quite enough excitement in her life. With her husband recently murdered and a mother who seems to want her married again before his body is cold, she just wants to keep her head down. 
 
As a secretary to a private detective, her life is pleasingly uncomplicated, filled with coffee runs, diary management and paperwork. 
 
That is, until her boss takes on a new case. A case which turns out to be dangerous enough to get him killed. A case which means Wada will have to leave Japan for the first time and travel to London. 
 
Following the only lead she has, Wada quickly realises that being a detective isn't as easy as the television makes out. And that there's a reason why secrets stay buried for a long time. Because people want them to stay secret. And they're prepared to do very bad things to keep them that way... 
 
A pulse-pounding, breathless crime thriller, perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz's Hawthorne series, Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series and LJ Ross's Alexander Gregory thrillers. 
 
The new Umiko Wada novel from Robert Goddard, THE FINE ART OF UNCANNY PREDICTION, is available now. 
_______________________________ 
 
What readers are saying: 
 
'5 stars' 
'Guaranteed and satisfying escapism' 
'Edge-of-the-seat stuff' 
'The master of twists and suspense... sublime'

The Fine Art of Invisible Detection

The thrilling BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick

Young Maisie Gibbs is a conscientious young woman, though life is harder since both her parents passed away. She is relieved when she finds a position as a housemaid in Kensington, under the watchful eyes of the formidable housekeeper, Mrs Carpenter, and she quickly settles in. 
When she meets a handsome young soldier, she is tempted to give him his marching orders. But gradually Corporal Daniel Adams starts to win her over. 
When tragedy strikes the Fairfax household, Maisie is lucky she has Daniel to rely on - a good sign of things to come? 
A delight for fans of the Adams family - the heartwarming story of Daniel and Chinese Lady.

The Soldier's Girl

Excitement is running high in the Adams family. Mr Finch, after a long career in secret government work, is to be knighted - which means that Chinese Lady will become a real 'Lady'! What with having to find a new outfit suitable for the occasion, and worrying about whether she'll have to curtsey to the King, the redoubtable matriarch of the Adams family scarcely knows if she's coming or going. 
 
Her grandson Paul, meanwhile, working for the Young Socialists, is worried at what his fiery colleague Lucy will say if she learns that he has titled connections. And Sammy, trying to rebuild his clothing business after the War, is horrified at the growing fashion for denim jeans, which even the young ladies of the family seem to be wearing. Should he forsake his beliefs that girls should dress like girls and start stocking these objectionable garments? 
 
All differences are resolved, as the great day dawns when the Adams family goes to the Palace for their proudest moment.

Appointment At The Palace

An Adams Family Saga Novel

It is 1946, and with the war at last at an end, members of the Adams family who had been serving with the forces begin to come home. Boots is reunited with Polly and their twins, his son Tim returns to the welcoming arms of Felicity, and with so many others coming back, Chinese Lady finds herself once more the watchful matriarch of the family. But grandson Daniel is still serving in an army unit out in Palestine, where he is caught up in life-threatening circumstances, and his American fiancee, Patsy, counts the days until his return. 
 
Boots, Polly and Mr Finch attend the Nuremberg trials, where they discover the full horrors of the Third Reich and witness Germany's major war criminals being brought to justice. And while the new Labour government struggles with the problems of a country drained by the war, Sammy pursues his business interests with post-war energy and unfailing optimism.

The Homecoming

The Secret WAG

Money, cars, homes, holidays, parties and all the shoes you've ever dreamed of. The life of a footballer's wife or girlfriend must be as glamorous and exciting as her other half, right? But behind the closed doors of the WAG's world, there are all the pressures as well as pleasures of success. So what is it really like? 
 
The Secret WAG lays bare the reality of existence under the celebrity spotlight. It is about fashion and fame, sex and scandal, but, like the bestselling Secret Footballer books, is also an honest appraisal of life on and off the field of play which will change your preconceptions about footballers and their partners. It is sassy, outspoken, funny and above all, written from the heart. Meet The Secret WAG.

I Am The Secret WAG

The true story of my life as an England footballer's wife

The Discworld is undoubtedly Sir Terry Pratchett's most famous creation. A universe teeming with dwarves, trolls, witches, and social and cultural issues that parallel those in our own world, all wrapped up in Pratchett's inimitable comic delivery. This iconic series will make you laugh, then make you think.

The play script adaptation of the classic fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, the first book in the City Watch series, part of the Discworld novels. 
 
'This is one of Pratchett's best books. Hilarious and highly recommended' The Times 
 
‘Possibly the funniest book ever written’ 5-star reader review 
 
'Noble dragons don't have friends. The nearest they can get to the idea is an enemy who is still alive.' 
 
The city of Ankh-Morpork is in turmoil, its citizens revolting. Again. 
 
A shadowy secret brotherhood has summoned a dragon to spread terror throughout the city, intent on overthrowing the Patrician and ruling in his place. Too bad the dragon has ideas of its own ... 
 
It's up to Captain Sam Vimes and the ramshackle Night Watch to stop it. Only problem is, the Watch are more used to dealing with mobs than dragons. 
 
And if they can't bring down this fire-breathing tyrant and reinstate their own, slightly less dangerous one, Ankh-Morpork might be lost. For ever... 
 
Guards! Guards! is the first book in the City Watch series, but you can read the Discworld novels in any order. 
 
Praise for the Discworld series: 
 
'[Pratchett’s] spectacular inventiveness makes the Discworld series one of the perennial joys of modern fiction' Mail on Sunday 
 
‘Pratchett is a master storyteller’ Guardian 
 
'One of our greatest fantasists, and beyond a doubt the funniest' George R.R. Martin 
 
'One of those rare writers who appeals to everyone’ Daily Express 
 
‘One of the most consistently funny writers around’ Ben Aaronovitch 
 
‘Masterful and brilliant’ Fantasy & Science Fiction 
 
‘Pratchett uses his other world to hold up a distorting mirror to our own… he is a satirist of enormous talent ... incredibly funny ... compulsively readable' The Times 
 
‘The best humorous English author since P.G. Wodehouse' The Sunday Telegraph 
 
‘Nothing short of magical’ Chicago Tribune 
 
'Consistently funny, consistently clever and consistently surprising in its twists and turns' SFX 
 
‘[Discworld is] compulsively readable, fantastically inventive, surprisingly serious exploration in story form of just about any aspect of our world…There's never been anything quite like it’ Evening Standard

Guards! Guards!: The Play

David Hand

Why is it that incredibly unlikely phenomena actually happen quite regularly and why should we, in fact, expect such things to happen? Here, in this highly original book - aimed squarely at anyone with an interest in coincidences, probability or gambling - eminent statistician David Hand answers this question by weaving together various strands of probability into a unified explanation, which he calls the improbability principle. 
 
This is a book that will appeal not only to those who love stories about startling coincidences and extraordinarily rare events, but also to those who are interested in how a single bold idea links areas as diverse as gambling, the weather, airline disasters and creative writing as well as the origin of life and even the universe. The Improbability Principle will change your perspective on how the world works – and tell you what the Bible code and Shakespeare have in common, how to win the lottery, why Apple's song shuffling was made less random to seem more random. Oh and why lightning does in fact strike twice...

The Improbability Principle

Why coincidences, miracles and rare events happen all the time

We read him for his exuberant salmagundi of old jokes, myths, urban and otherwise, catchphrases, liberatingly crazy ideas, running gags, recurring characters and locations, unreliable authobiographical anecdotes, and not forgetting the now legendary 'load of old toot'. He becomes funnier the more you read him' Mat Coward, Independent on The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag 
 
Society's plug is about to be pulled, big time. At the stroke of midnight on 31 December 1999, computer systems all over the world will crash and plunge us into chaos. But so what if it's the downfall of civilization? These things happen. We'll just have to take it on the chin. Or at least up the nose. Because rejoice and give thanks, snuff is making a comeback. And who do we thank for this? Who is the man who brings joy to the nostrils of the nation? The tender blender with the blinder grinder? The master blaster with the louder powder? The geezer with the sneezer that's a real crowd pleaser? Mr Doveston, that's who, and this is his story. So forget about impending doom and enter the glamorous world of snuff-snorting. Oh, and don't forget to bring a hanky. Things could get a little messy later. 
 
Robert Rankin's novel gleefully chronicles the collapse of civilisation, as the world slides into chaos with a smile on its face and a finger up its nose. Prophetic vision of an imminent dystopia? Or just the rabid ranting of a snuff-crazed technophobe?

Snuff Fiction

Danielle Steel

It starts on a summer evening, with the kind of magic found only in Paris. Once a year in the City of Light, a lavish dinner takes place outside a spectacular landmark. Selected by secret invitation, the guests arrive dressed in white, and when the night is over, hundreds of white paper lanterns bearing everyone’s fervent wishes are released into the sky. Amid this wondrous White Dinner, a group of close friends stand at the cusp of change. 
 
Jean-Philippe and Valerie are high-flying, successful and devoted to their young family. But a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in China may lead to separation – and temptation. 
 
Bernadetta and Gregorio run an Italian clothing empire in Milan, but Gregorio has a weakness that will ignite a crisis in their company, and their marriage. 
 
Screenwriter Chantal and Indian tech entrepreneur Dharam arrive as friends, but their paths will be set on dramatically different courses before the night ends. 
 
A transformative year of successes and heartbreaks is to come, until the next White Dinner . . . 
 
Danielle Steel is famous for her inspirational stories about family, love and life. Her novels will be enjoyed by readers of Penny Vincenzi, Jodi Picoult and Diane Chamberlain.

Magic

Jimmy Lerner

You are convicts. Your job here is to lie, cheat, steal, extort, get tattoos, take drugs, sell drugs, shank and sock each other. Just don't let us catch you - that's our job. We catch you, you got nothin' coming. 
 
It is your worst nightmare. You wake up naked in an eight-by-ten-foot steel cell designated 'Suicide Watch #3'. The cell is real. Jimmy Lerner, former family man and corporate strategic planner, has become a prison 'fish', or green new arrival. Taken to a penitentiary in the Nevada desert to serve a twelve-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter, this previously nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn ends up sharing a claustrophobic cell with Kansas, a hugely muscled skinhead with a swastika tattooed on his neck and a serious set of issues. 
 
You Got Nothing Coming takes us into a corrupt world powered by violence, drugs, rape, fear and racial hatred. With brash, dark humour Jimmy Lerner tells us how the techniques learnt in management seminars have helped him survive in this hostile environment, and how a lethal act of self-defence landed him in this circle of American prison hell in the first place. Bracingly cynical and perceptive, this terrifying story is all truth.

You Got Nothing Coming

Todd McCaffrey

Kindan is an apprentice harper at the Harper Hall but he is finding the lessons very difficult and although he has his friends, Nonala, Kelsa and Verilan, he also has enemies, such as the bully Vaxoram. Things begin to improve for Kindan when he beats Vaxoram in a duel and Vaxoram becomes first his servant and then gradually his trusted friend. Then Kindan impresses a fire-lizard and becomes the proud owner of the magnicent Valla. At the hatching he meets Koriana, daughter of Lord Holder Bemin of Fort Hold. She also impresses and she and Kindan fall in love, but her parents disapprove and she has to return to Fort Hold. Then a plague begins to spread across Pern, killing nearly everyone infected. Kindan and his friends search the harper records to see if they can find a cure, but all they can find is mention of a similar plague over a hundred Turns past. As the plague gets worse Kindan and Vaxoram are sent to Fort Hold to help tend the sick. Kindan will be reunited with Koriana, but will she be free of the plague, and will he be able to find a cure before more people die?

Dragon Harper

Rich Smith

What started out as an innocent board game inspired Rich Smith to undertake a daring crime spree across the United States - a journey to break the dumbest American laws on the statute books. 
 
In the Land of the Free, it is illegal to: 
 
- Lie down and fall asleep in a cheese factory (South Dakota) 
- Play a trumpet with the intention of luring someone to a store (California) 
- Catch a fish with a lasso (Tennessee) 
 
Rich's first problem was narrowing down the huge choice of laws to just twenty-five. The second was persuading his mate Bateman to come along, to do some of the driving - and possibly provide bail money. The third was finding someone who was willing to help him break his first law: one of San Francisco's oldest statutes, which related to oral sex. No, Bateman couldn't help with that one. 
 
Join Rich as he attempts his one-man crime wave - almost as difficult as a one-man Mexican wave.

You Can Get Arrested For That

Jilly Cooper's most thrilling addition to the Rutshire Chronicles yet! 
 
Sir Robert Rannaldini, the most successful but detested conductor in the world, had two ambitions: to seduce his ravishing nineteen-year-old stepdaughter Tabitha Campbell-Black, and to put his mark on musical history by making the definitive film of Verdi's darkest opera, Don Carlos. 
 
As Rannaldini, his charismatic French director Tristan, and a volatile cast and crew gather at Rannaldini's haunted abbey for filming, it is inevitable that violent feuds, abandoned bonking, temperamental screaming, and devious plotting will ensue. But although everyone wished Rannaldini dead, no one actually thought the Maestro would be murdered. Or that after the dreadful deed some very bizarre things would continue to occur.

Score!

A funny, romantic, suspenseful delight from Jilly Cooper, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Riders

When Masterharper Zist takes over as Harper for Natalon's coal-mining camp, he takes with him his apprentice, the orphaned, mute Pellar, and Pellar's fire-lizard Chitter. Pellar has become a gifted tracker and Zist gives him his own mission - to find out if the recent thefts of coal are the work of the Shunned, criminals condemned to a life of wandering and hardship. Halla is one of the children of the Shunned. Though innocent of their parents' crimes, these children have inherited their cruel punishment. With no shelter when the lethal Thread falls again they will have no protection against it. Life is even tougher for Halla, all her family are dead and she must fend for herself. Yet Halla is kind and gentle, devoted to helping those more helpless than she, unlike Tenim, a fellow child of the Shunned. Tenim is in league with Tarik, a crooked miner from Camp Natalon, who helps him steal coal in exchange for a cut of the profit. But Tenim soon realizes there is a lot more to be made from firestone, the volatile mineral that enables the dragons of Pern to burn Thread out of the sky. Tenim doesn't care what he has to do, or whom he has to kill, in order to corner the market. Cristov is Tarik's son. Dishonored by his father's greed and treachery, he decides he must make amends somehow... even if it means risking his life by mining the volatile firestone, which blows up at contact with the slightest drop of moisture. 
 
When the last remaining firestone mine explodes in flames, a desperate race begins to find a new deposit of the deadly but essential mineral, for without it there can be no defence against Thread. But Tenim has a murderous plan to turn the tragedy to his own advantage, and only Pellar, Halla and Cristov can stop him - and ensure that there will be a future for all on the world of the Dragonriders.

Dragon's Fire

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