Contemporary Fiction

‘Some of the richest delights in contemporary fiction, as well as some of the best jokes’ – GuardianFrom the prize-winning author of The World and All That It Holds, Aleksandar Hemon, Love and Obstacles is a stunningly original collection of short fiction.The explosive perils of adolescence, a country falling apart, the overwhelming vertigo of striking out abroad: this is life in which love is only one of many obstacles.From Sarajevo to the darkest heart of Africa, deepest Slovenia, and the melting pot of Chicago, this brilliant and restlessly inventive collection is shot through with humour and truth – found in the most surprising of places.‘Infinitely vibrant and alive’ – Financial Times

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'A fictional tour de force which combines erudition with mystery' PD JamesOxford in the 1660s. Sarah Blundy stands accused of the murder of Robert Grove, a fellow of New College.Four witnesses describe the events surrounding his death: Marco da Cola, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; Jack Prescott, the son of a supposed traitor to the Royalist cause, determined to vindicate his father; John Wallis, chief cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles II, a mathematician, theologian and master spy; and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiquary.Each one tells their version of what happened but only one reveals the extraordinary truth. Brilliantly written and utterly convincing, An Instance of the Fingerpost is gripping from the first page to the last.'A novel that combines the simple pleasures of Agatha Christie with the intellectual subtlety of Umberto Eco, don't let it pass by unread.' The Times

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'The first great rock 'n' roll novel in the English language' The Times On Valentine's Day, 1989, Vina Apsara, a famous and much-loved singer, disappears in a devastating earthquake. Her lover, the singer Ormus Cama, cannot accept that he has lost her, and so begins his eternal quest to find her and bring her back. His journey takes him across the globe and through cities pulsating with the power of rock 'n' roll, to Bombay, London and New York. But around the star-crossed lover and his quest, the uncertain world itself is beginning to tremble and break. Cracks and tears are appearing in the very fabric of reality, and exposing the abyss beyond. And Ormus has to confront just how far he is willing to go for love.

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Four young women are brutally attacked in a convent near an all-black town in America in the mid-1970s. The inevitability of this attack, and the attempts to avert it, lie at the heart of Paradise. Spanning the birth of the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, the counter-culture and politics of the late 1970s, deftly manipulating past, present and future, this novel reveals the interior lives of the citizens of the town with astonishing clarity. Starkly evoking the clashes that have bedevilled the American century: between race and racelessness; religion and magic; promiscuity and fidelity; individuality and belonging. ‘When Morrison writes at her best, you can feel the workings of history through her prose’ Hilary Mantel, Spectator‘Morrison almost single-handedly took American fiction forward in the second half of the 20th century, to a place where it could finally embrace the subtleties and contradictions of the great stain of race which has blighted the republic since its inception’ Caryl Phillips, Guardian BY THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF BELOVED Winner of the PEN/Saul Bellow award for achievement in American fiction

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Featuring several mass-murdering authors, two fraternal writers at the head of a football-hooligan ring and a poet who crafts his lines in the air with sky writing, Roberto Bolaño's Nazi Literature in the Americas details the lives of a rich cast of characters from one of the most extraordinary imaginations in world literature. Written with sharp wit and virtuosic flair, this encyclopaedic group of fictional pan-American authors is the terrifyingly humorous and remarkably inventive masterpiece which made Bolaño famous throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

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In The Tie That Binds, his critically acclaimed first novel, Kent Haruf delivers the sweeping tale of eighty-year-old Edith Goodnough. Narrated by her neighbour, Edith's tragedies unfold: a tough childhood, a mother's death, a violence that leaves a father dependent on his children, forever enraged. She is a woman who sacrifices everything in the name of family - until she is forced to reclaim her freedom in one dramatic and unexpected gesture. Breathtaking and truthful, The Tie That Binds is a powerful tribute to the demands of rural life, and to the tenacity of the human spirit.

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J'ailbird has the crackle and snap of Vonnegut's early work - his best since Cat's Cradle. Using the laid-back, ironic voice that has become his stademark, Vonnegut combines fiction and fact to construct an ingenious, wry morality play' - NewsweekVonnegut's riotous urban fairytale about the various fiascos of the Nixon years - a firm fan favouriteWalter J. Starbuck’s life was on the up. With a Harvard education, a job in federal government and then in Nixon’s White House, everything was going great. Only things took a truly spectacular turn for the worse when his involvement in the Watergate scandal landed him in jail.Now, as the brave new world of the 1980s dawns, Starbuck is finally free and on his way back into the world. This is the story of the first twenty-four hours after his release, told with Kurt Vonnegut’s razor-sharp wit and satirical bite.

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With the satirical eye of his science fiction author alter ego Kilgore Trout, the author of Slaughterhouse-Five delivers a classic of modern American literature.Eliot Rosewater, President of the fabulously rich Rosewater Foundation and volunteer firefighter, is tortured by an inheritance he doesn’t feel that he deserves. After (unfortunately) developing a social conscience, he sets out on a drunken tour of America, unravelling a little more at every stop until his path crosses with the science-fiction writer Kilgore Trout. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is one of Kurt Vonnegut’s funniest satires, about the pleasures, pains and perversions of people and money, the obsessions of a famous family and the collective madness of a nation.

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The wonderful fourth outing for Delhi detective Vish Puri ('the Indian Hercule Poirot' Financial Times).When India’s Love Commandos rescue a young woman from a high-caste family who has been forbidden from marrying an untouchable, she looks set to live happily ever after with the man she truly loves. But just hours before the wedding, her boyfriend, Ram, is abducted. Has his would-be father-in-law made good on his promise and done away with him?It falls to Vish Puri to find out. Unfortunately, he’s not having a good month. He can’t locate a haul of stolen jewellery. He’s been pickpocketed. And the only person who can get his wallet back is his interfering Mummy-ji.Things only get worse when he discovers that his arch-rival, Hari Kumar, is also trying to locate the abducted boy – as is a genetics research institute exploiting illiterate villagers.To find Ram first, Puri and his team must travel into the badlands of rural India where the local politics are shaped by millennia-old caste prejudices.'If Mma Ramotswe is an African Marple, Vish Puri is an Indian Poirot'Financial Times'A joy to read'The Times

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**NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX FILM STARRING TOM HOLLAND AND ROBERT PATTINSON**'Some people were born just so they could be buried'In Knockemstiff, Ohio, war veteran Willard can't save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from a slow death by cancer no matter how much sacrificial blood he pours on his 'prayer log'. Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial killers, trawl America's highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. Preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick are running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin, Willard and Charlotte's orphaned son, looking for answers....'Superb' The Times'Terrifying ... an unsettling masterwork' GQ

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SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2016'One of China's greatest living authors and fiercest satirists' GuardianIn the ninety-ninth district of a sprawling labour camp, the Author, Musician, Scholar, Theologian and Technician - and hundreds just like them - are undergoing Re-education, to restore their revolutionary zeal and credentials. In charge of this process is the Child, who delights in draconian rules, monitoring behaviour and confiscating treasured books. But when bad weather arrives, followed by the ‘three bitter years’, the intellectuals are abandoned by the regime and left on their own to survive. Divided into four narratives, The Four Books tells the story of the Great Famine, one of China’s most devastating and controversial periods. WINNER OF THE FRANZ KAFKA PRIZE 2014NOMINATED FOR CZECH AWARD MAGNESIA LITERA 2014HUA ZHONG WORLD CHINESE LITERATURE PRIZE 2013FINALIST FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2013WINNER OF THE HUA ZHONG WORLD CHINESE LITERATURE PRIZE 2013 SHORTLISTED FOR THE INDEPENDENT FOREIGN FICTION PRIZE 2012SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIX FEMINA ETRANGER 2012SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE 2011WINNER OF THE LAO SHE LITERATURE AWARD 2004WINNER OF THE LU XUN AWARD 1997

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'I can’t remember when I read anything that moved me quite this way, besides the work of Toni Morrison.’ Oprah Winfrey'Mathis traces the fates of Hattie’s 12 children and grandchildren over the course of the 20th century . . . [it] is remarkable.' Sunday Times'Ms. Mathis has a gift for imbuing her characters’ stories with an epic dimension that recalls Toni Morrison’s writing.' New York TimesFifteen years old and blazing with the hope of a better life, Hattie Shepherd fled the horror of the American South on a dawn train bound for Philadelphia.Hattie’s is a tale of strength, of resilience and heartbreak that spans six decades. Her American dream is shattered time and again: a husband who lies and cheats and nine children raised in a cramped little house that was only ever supposed to be temporary. She keeps the children alive with sheer will and not an ounce of the affection they crave. She knows they don’t think her a kind woman — but how could they understand that all the love she had was used up in feeding them and clothing them. How do you prepare your children for a world you know is cruel? The lives of this unforgettable family form a searing portrait of twentieth century America. From the revivalist tents of Alabama to Vietnam, to the black middle-class enclave in the heart of the city, to a filthy bar in the ghetto, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is an extraordinary, distinctive novel about the guilt, sacrifice, responsibility and heartbreak that are an intrinsic part of ferocious love.

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THE TIMELESS GOTHIC CLASSIC, based on the real-life Lancashire witch trials_____________________________Seventeenth century England is a place of superstition and fear.Deep in the Forest of Pendle, people have been dying in mysterious circumstances. The locals whisper of witchcraft, but local justice Roger Nowell, in charge of investigating the deaths, dismisses the claims as ridiculous. Margery is a young woman of uncommon intelligence, raised in penury by a strict Puritan family which views her as disobedient and dangerous. Sent away to live with her distant cousin Roger in Pendle, Margery soon becomes Roger's partner in investigation, as a series of hideous desecrations force Roger to look further into the rumours of witchcraft.What they discover brings them face to face with the horrifying possibility that a coven of witches is assembling, preparing to unleash a campaign of evil and destruction..._____________________________Robert Neill's novel is a classic tale of witchcraft set in a wild inaccessible corner of Lancashire and in a time when the ancient fear of demons and witches was still a part of life... and death.

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In the East End, twelve-year-old Tara witnesses her villain of a father almost kill her mother. She forges a determination then and there to change her life. This is the story of three beautiful and talented women. Mabel, whose great love for a gambling man has brought her close to insanity; gentle Amy, who marries a man brutalised by war and failure; and Tara, who is hungry for success and life on her own terms. To have both, she must battle against the legacy these two women have left her, the deep prejudices and dangers of Whitechapel in the 1960s - with its gang leaders, rogues, market traders and dolly birds - and the passionate love she has had since girlhood for the charming wideboy and villain, Harry Collins.

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Camellia Norton is orphaned at fifteen when her mother's body is fished from a river in rural Sussex. And when she discovers a cache of letters amongst her mother's effects she realises that the past she has always been so sure of has been built on a tissue of lies. Devastated, she runs away to London, and loses herself in a metropolis that offers opportunity, temptation and danger, especially to a young girl hungry for love and acceptance. But her past won't stay buried forever, and eventually Camellia begins the long journey towards uncovering the truth about her background, and also, ultimately, about herself.

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The tree is decorated, the cookies are baked, and the presents are wrapped, but the biggest celebration this Christmas is Gaby Summerhill's wedding.Since her husband died three years ago, Gaby's four children have drifted apart, each consumed by the turbulence of their own lives. They haven't celebrated Christmas together since their father's death, but when Gaby announces that she's getting married - and that the groom will remain a secret until the wedding day - she may finally be able to bring them home for the holidays.But the wedding isn't the only surprise - there is one more unexpected gift, and it could change all their lives for ever.With deeply affecting characters and the emotional twists of a James Patterson thriller, The Christmas Wedding is a fresh look at family and the magic of the festive season.

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As mankind faces its deadliest battle, two young women must unite to prevent the forces of evil destroying the world as we know it. But theirs is no ordinary alliance, for these two women live at opposite ends of history, until fate brings them together and their destinies are inextricably intertwined.Leoni, a troubled teen from 21st Century Los Angeles, finds everything she's ever known thrown into disarray when a drug overdose catapults her into a parallel dimension.There she meets Ria, who is also suspended on the edge of time. Ria's world is violent and desolate in a way Leoni has never experienced - but only together can they stop the powerful demon Sulpa, the Eater of Souls.The embodiment of pure evil, Sulpa is preparing to perpetrate one final, horrific act of unspeakable wickedness, after which nothing will be able to stand in the way of his ultimate goal: the annihilation of mankind. Only Leoni and Ria can stop him...

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One of the Guardian's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, an addictive and searingly honest novel about childhood, family and grief.* Karl Ove Knausgaard's dazzling new novel, The Morning Star, is available to pre-order now *Karl Ove Knausgaard writes about his life with painful honesty. He writes about his childhood and teenage years, his infatuation with rock music, his relationship with his loving yet almost invisible mother and his distant and unpredictable father, and his bewilderment and grief on his father's death.When Karl Ove becomes a father himself, he must balance the demands of caring for a young family with his determination to write great literature. Knausgaard has created a universal story of the struggles, great and small, that we all face in our lives. A profound and mesmerizing work, written as if the author's very life were at stake.'A masterpiece... Its depiction of a family's disintegration is one of the most powerful pieces of writing I've read in years' Observer

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'Sleeping is a modern superpower. Stories are old magic.'Whether you find yourself struggling to fall asleep, awake in the middle of the night or simply feeling anxious, the calming bedtime stories in Nothing Much Happens will help ease your mind and lull you into peaceful slumber.As the unnamed, gender-neutral narrators recount their days they evoke the distinct comforts offered by each of the four seasons and gently lead their reader towards sleep. With evocative illustrations throughout, Nothing Much Happens is the ideal accompaniment to your bedtime routine.'A charming collection of short almost-stories intended as an antidote to insomnia and restlessness. [...] Nicolai accomplishes what no other author would want to hear: these stories can put people to sleep.' Publishers Weekly

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The terrifying Hammer novella by Minette Walters, bestselling author of The Sculptress and The Scold's BridleMuna's bedroom is a dark windowless cellar and her activities are confined to cooking and cleaning. She’s grown used to being maltreated by the Songoli family; to being a slave.She’s never been outside, doesn’t know how to read or write, and cannot speak English.At least that’s what the Songolis believe. But Muna is far cleverer - and her plans more terrifying - than the Songolis, or anyone else, can ever imagine ...

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'The familiar characters and Venetian location are described with remarkable freshness and, as always, the edifying result is both amusing and thought-provoking.' Sunday TelegraphA New York Times Bestseller__________________________________Celebrated by The Times as one of the 50 Greatest Crime Writers, Donna Leon brings Venice to life in the twenty-second Brunetti novel of this bestselling series, where our detective must uncover the mystery surrounding a mute man's murder.When making routine enquiries into a possible bribery case that could embarrass the mayor - a humiliation Vice-Questore Patta is very keen to avoid - Commissario Brunetti receives a call from his wife, Paola, who is evidently very upset. The middle-aged deaf mute with the mental age of a child who helped out at the Brunetti's dry cleaners has been found dead - an 'accidental' overdose of his mother's sleeping pills - and Paola is distraught by the news. To the neighbourhood he was just the 'boy' who helped out, but nobody knew much about him - not even his name. That a soul could have lived such a joyless life is too much for Paola to bear, and she asks Guido if he can find out what happened. It is a surprise to Brunetti just how little was known about this man-child - there are no official records to show he even existed. The man's mother is angry and contradictory when questioned about his death, and Brunetti senses that there much more to the story than she is willing to tell. With the help of Inspector Vianello and the ever-resourceful Signorina Elettra, perhaps Brunetti can get to the truth and find some measure of solace.

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Richard Bolitho returns in this captivating page-turner set on the high seas from multi-million copy seller Alexander Kent. Fans of Patrick O'Brian and C.S. Forester will not be disappointed!'One of our foremost writers of naval fiction' - THE SUNDAY TIMES'Good characters, good story, good action.' -- ***** Reader review'Leaves you wanting more' -- ***** Reader review'Every 'Kent' book is a joy to read, immersing you in this bygone era of seafaring.' -- ***** Reader review'Just good nautical escape-ism, with a solid basis in history.' -- ***** Reader review'Band Of Brothers is a classic Kent/Bolitho epic which I hardly put down for days until it was reluctantly finished.' -- ***** Reader review**********************************************************************************1774: The new year seems to offer Richard Bolitho and his friend Martyn Dancer the culmination of a dream. Both have been recommended for promotion, although they have not yet gained the coveted lieutenant's commission.But a routine passage from Plymouth to Guernsey in an untried schooner becomes, for Bolitho, a passage from midshipman to King's officer, tempering the promise of the future with the bitter price of maturity.Will he rise to the occasion?Richard Bolitho's adventures continue in Stand into Danger.

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Published for the first time in the UK, one of Japan's greatest modern female writers In the late nineteenth century, Tomo, the faithful wife of a government official, is sent to Tokyo, where a heartbreaking task is awaiting her. From among hundreds of geishas and daughters offered up for sale by their families she must select a respectable young girl to become her husband’s new lover. Externally calm, but torn apart inside, Tomo dutifully begins the search for an official mistress. The Waiting Years was awarded Japan’s most prestigious literary award, the Noma Prize.

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The novel that set the stage for his modern classic, The Satanic Verses, Shame is Salman Rushdie's unforgettable epic. Omar Khayyam Shakil had three mothers who shared everything. They shared the symptoms of pregnancy; they shared the son that they all claim to have borne on the same night. Raised at their six breasts, Omar's mothers teach him to live a life without shame. And it is training that proves very useful when he leaves his mothers' fortress and makes the fateful mistake of falling in love. For he finds himself an unwitting player in an ongoing duel between the families of two men - one a celebrated wager of war, the other a debauched lover of pleasure - living in a world caught between honour and humiliation, where a moment of shame could prove fatal. 'Shame is every bit as good as Midnight's Children. It is a pitch-black comedy of public life and historical imperatives' The Times

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***Now available to buy: KILL 'EM ALL, the stunning sequel to KILL YOUR FRIENDS***Meet Steven Stelfox. London 1997: New Labour is sweeping into power and Britpop is at its zenith. A&R man Stelfox is slashing and burning his way through the music industry, fuelled by greed and inhuman quantities of cocaine, searching for the next hit record amid a relentless orgy of self-gratification.But as the hits dry up and the industry begins to change, Stelfox must take the notion of cut throat business practices to murderous new levels in a desperate attempt to salvage his career.

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GARY is a sweet and decent man. Only two things would improve his life - having children with his gorgeous wife Pauline, and a lower golf handicap. Both are unlikely.PAULINE is wondering how she ended up living in an ugly little house, driving a second-hand car and making a living dressing up as Tinkerbell. She's planning to leave Gary for a self-made carpet millionaire.FINDLAY, the Carpet King of Scotland, wants to trade in his obese wife for a younger model. But if he goes for a divorce she'll take him to the cleaners. If only there was some way she could be made to disappear...LEE, Gary's luckless brother, has botched one too many drug deals. Local crime overlord Ranta Campbell gives him one more job - one last chance to get it right. Lee's done some bad things - but murder?When Gary gets smashed on the head by a golf ball and miraculously develops an absolutely perfect swing, everyone finds their fates rest on the final day of the Open Championship...

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It is 2001 in New York City, in the lull between the collapse of the dotcom boom and the terrible events of September 11th. Silicon Alley is a ghost town, Web 1.0 is having adolescent angst, Google has yet to IPO, Microsoft is still considered the Evil Empire. There may not be quite as much money around as there was at the height of the tech bubble, but there's no shortage of swindlers looking to grab a piece of what's left.Maxine Tarnow is running a nice little fraud investigation business on the Upper West Side, chasing down different kinds of small-scale con artists. She used to be legally certified but her licence got pulled a while back, which has actually turned out to be a blessing because now she can follow her own code of ethics - carry a Beretta, do business with sleazebags, hack into people's bank accounts - without having too much guilt about any of it. Otherwise, just your average working mum - two boys in elementary school, an off-and-on situation with her sort of semi-ex-husband Horst, life as normal as it ever gets in the neighbourhood - till Maxine starts looking into the finances of a computer-security firm and its billionaire geek CEO, whereupon things begin rapidly to jam onto the subway and head downtown. She soon finds herself mixed up with a drug runner in an art deco motorboat, a professional nose obsessed with Hitler's aftershave, a neoliberal enforcer with footwear issues, plus elements of the Russian mob and various bloggers, hackers, code monkeys and entrepreneurs, some of whom begin to show up mysteriously dead. Foul play, of course.With occasional excursions into the Deep Web and out to Long Island, Thomas Pynchon, channelling his inner Jewish mother, brings us a historical romance of New York in the early days of the Internet, not that distant in calendar time but galactically remote from where we've journeyed to since.Will perpetrators be revealed, forget about brought to justice? Will Maxine have to take the handgun out of her purse? Will she and Horst get back together? Will Jerry Seinfeld make an unscheduled guest appearance? Will accounts secular and karmic be brought into balance?Hey. Who wants to know?

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Classic crime, at its very best.With a new introduction by Gyles Brandreth.The Red House is a country residence far removed from the world of the Hundred Acre Wood but its story has much of the same charm and wit. There is, of course, a murder, and when the local police fail to solve the crime, an amateur sleuth readily steps in. What follows is a delightful whodunnit with humour, excitement and a suitably surprising twist at the end.A. A. Milne loved detective stories and pays homage to Sherlock Holmes in his detective - the clever and charismatic Anthony Gillingham- and his assistant, Bill Beverley. This is classic crime at its very best.'I love his writing' P.G.Wodehouse

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Omertà, the Sicilian code of silence, has been the cornerstone of the Mafia's sense of honour for centuries. Born in the Sicilian hills, omertà carried the Mafia through a hundred years of change, but now at the century's end it is becoming a relic from a bygone age. Honour may be silent - but money talks. New York - a mob boss is assassinated. His nephew Astorre Viola and the head of the city's FBI both launch investigations into the murder. But this time silence spreads like a contagion: the silence of rival gangs, the silence of crooked bankers, even the silence of the courts. The world of the Mafia is riven with greed, and Viola knows that now is the time to claim his destiny...

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Vienna, 1903.An operatic diva, Ida Rosenkrantz, is found dead in her luxurious villa. It appears that she has taken an overdose of morphine, but a broken rib, discovered during autopsy, suggests other and more sinister possibilities. Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt seeks the assistance of his young friend, the psychoanalyst Dr Max Liebermann, and they begin their inquiries at Vienna's majestic opera house, where its director, Gustav Mahler, is struggling to maintain a pure artistic vision while threatened on all sides by pompous bureaucrats, vainglorious singers, and a hostile press. When the demagogue Mayor of Vienna, Karl Lueger, becomes the prime suspect - with an election only months away - the Rosenkrantz case becomes politically explosive. The trail leads Rheinhardt and Liebermann, via a social climbing professor of psychiatry, to the Hofburg palace and the mysterious Lord Marshal's office - a shadowy bureau that deals ruthlessly with enemies of the ageing Emperor Franz Josef.As the investigation proceeds, the investigators are placed in great personal danger, as corruption is exposed at the very highest levels. Meanwhile, Liebermann pursues two private obsessions: a coded message in a piece of piano music, and the alluring Englishwoman, Miss Amelia Lydgate. Romance and high drama collide as the Habsburg Empire teeters on the edge of scandal and ruin.

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Lilian and Alice are the bright young twin daughters of the eccentric Mr Talbot, who resides in a huge mansion stuffed full of fossils, inventions, suits of armour, botanical specimens and other specimens of his sprawling collection of curiosities. When Lilian rebels against Victorian standards of morality she is packed off to India as the bride of a dreary missionary, leaving Alice alone and in danger of falling victim to her father's bizarre and hair-raising schemes. This lively and entertaining novel follows the two girls on their very different paths to freedom and is set against the tumultuous backdrop of the Indian Mutiny.Shortlisted for the Saltire First Book prize, the Scottish Arts Council First Book Award and the Guildford Literary Festival First Book Award.

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SOON TO BE AN ORIGINAL AMAZON PRIME SERIES___________________________________'No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades. The Alex Cross series proves it.' LEE CHILD__________________________________They came for his family. Now Detective Alex Cross is out for vengeance.Cross is met with shocking news that his niece has been brutally murdered. He vows to hunt down the killer, and soon learns that his niece was mixed up in one of Washington's wildest scenes where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in.Cross finds himself confronting some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain - they will do anything to keep their secrets safe. As Cross closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable - a revelation that could rock the entire world.__________________________________'Alex Cross is a legend' HARLAN COBEN'It's no mystery why James Patterson is the world's most popular thriller writer . . . Simply put: nobody does it better.' JEFFERY DEAVER'The master storyteller of our times' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON'Patterson boils a scene down to the single, telling detail, the element that defines a character or moves a plot along. It's what fires off the movie projector in the reader's mind.' MICHAEL CONNELLY'One of the greatest storytellers of all time' PATRICIA CORNWELL'James Patterson is The Boss. End of.' IAN RANKIN

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_________________‘Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.’ AJ PEARCE___________________________Has Laura found her leading man? A wonderfully romantic novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of A Rose Petal Summer, A Vintage Wedding and A Summer at Sea.Falling in love can be all too easy...When the bookshop where Laura works is about to close, she finds herself agreeing to help organise a literary festival.Laura’s initial excitement turns to dread when an innocent mistake leads the festival organisers to believe that Laura is a close friend of Dermot Flynn. An infamous writer at the top of their wish list and a notorious recluse to boot.Always one to rise to a challenge, Laura sets off for Ireland to convince her literary hero to attend the festival.Falling for him was never part of the plan… _______________________________The whole world loves Katie Fforde's work:"Modern-day Austen. Great fun" Red"Top-drawer romantic escapism" Daily Mail"Warm, brilliant and full of love" Heat"Delicious - gorgeous humour and the lightest of touches" Sunday Times"Effortlessly lovable, warm and fun" Closer"Curl up on the sofa with this book and dream... delightful" The Lady"Deliciously enjoyable" Woman and Home"Uplifting and delightful" Hot Brands Cool Places

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_________________'Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.' AJ PEARCE_________________A wonderfully romantic novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of A Rose Petal Summer and A Country Escape.Gina and Sally Makepiece have inherited a stall in the French House, an antiques centre nestled in the heart of the English countryside.Gina is determined to drag the French House and its grumpy owner into the twenty-first century.Bearing all the attributes of a modern-day Mr Rochester, Matthew Ballinger is less than happy with the whirlwind that has arrived on his doorstep.The last thing either of them want is to fall in love.But will a trip to France change their minds?_______________________________The whole world loves Katie Fforde's work:'Modern-day Austen. Great fun' Red'Top-drawer romantic escapism' Daily Mail'Warm, brilliant and full of love' Heat'Delicious - gorgeous humour and the lightest of touches' Sunday Times'Effortlessly lovable, warm and fun' Closer'Curl up on the sofa with this book and dream... delightful' The Lady'Deliciously enjoyable' Woman and Home'Uplifting and delightful' Hot Brands Cool Places

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Things: A Story of the Sixties is the story of a young couple who want to enjoy life, but the only way they know how to do so is through ownership of 'things'. Perec's first novel won the Prix Renaudot and became the cult book for a generation.In A Man Asleep, a young student embarks upon a disturbing and exhaustive pursuit of indifference, following his experience in non-existence with relentless logic.

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A wonderfully romantic novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of A Rose Petal Summer, A Summer at Sea and A Wedding in the Country.'The queen of uplifting, feel good romance' AJ PEARCE'Effortlessly lovable, warm and fun' CLOSER'Katie Fforde is on sparkling form' INDEPENDENT'Top-drawer romantic escapism' DAILY MAIL____________________Who knows what might happen in a summer of love?Sian Bishop has left the hustle and bustle of the city behind and has thrown herself into a new life in the country. With her young son, her picture-postcard garden and her small thriving business, she's happy and very busy. She is not - repeat not - looking for love.And then, one glorious summer evening, Gus Beresford arrives.One-time explorer, full-time heart-breaker, Gus is ridiculously exciting, wonderfully glamorous - and, Sian tells herself, completely wrong for a romantically cautious single woman like her.But she and Gus have met before. And, despite Sian's best intentions, it isn't long before she's falling for him all over again...____________________Everyone loves Katie Fforde's work . . .'Modern-day Austen. Great fun' Red'Warm, brilliant and full of love' Heat'Delicious - gorgeous humour and the lightest of touches' Sunday Times'Effortlessly lovable, warm and fun' Closer'Curl up on the sofa with this book and dream... delightful' The Lady'Deliciously enjoyable' Woman and Home'Uplifting and delightful' Hot Brands Cool Places

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Agent Number 67, nicknamed Pygmy for his diminutive size, arrives in the United States from his totalitarian homeland. An 'exchange student' he is welcomed with open arms by his Midwestern host family. Simpsons-spinoffs, they introduce him into the rituals of postmodern American life, which he views with utter contempt. Along with his fellow operatives, he is planning something big, something truly, truly awful, to bring this big dumb country's fat inhabitants to their knees.

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Ever since Whit and Wisty Allgood were torn from their home and family in the middle of the night, the soldiers of the New Order government have relentlessly tried to capture and execute them for 'collusion, conspiracy, and experimentation with the dark and foul arts'. But this supremely skilled witch and wizard have instead boldly spearheaded the fight against the cruel and brutal regime.The villainous leader of the New Order is just a breath away from the ability to control the forces of nature and to manipulate his citizens on the most profound level imaginable - through their minds. There is only one more thing he needs to triumph in his evil quest: the Gifts of Whit and Wisty Allgood. And he will stop at nothing to seize them.

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The Booker-shortlisted Royal Flying Corps classic, reissued for the 50th Anniversary of its first publicationWith an Introduction by James Holland and an Afterword by Mike Petty"Robinson is probably the best novelist ever to write about fighter combat: surprising, hyper-realistic and very, very dark" Spectator World War One pilots were the knights of the sky, and the press and public idolised them as gallant young heroes. At just twenty-three, Major Stanley Woolley is the old man and commanding officer of Goshawk Squadron. He abhors any notion of chivalry in the clouds and is determined to obliterate the decent, gentlemanly outlook of his young, public school-educated pilots - for their own good. But as the war goes on he is forced to throw greener and greener pilots into the meat grinder. Goshawk Squadron finds its gallows humour and black camaraderie no defence against a Spandau bullet to the back of the head.

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Every summer the four Ryan children play in the ruins of Fernscourt, the once-grand house on the bank of the river.But when the estate is bought by Patrick O'Neill, the wealthy Irish American, his grand plans for its development threaten to shatter the peace. A new luxury hotel promises to breathe new life into the village, and yet it could also spell disaster for the Ryan family.And as old values and traditions begin to crumble away, no-one - not even Patrick - can predict what his big dreams will do to the heart of their quiet village._____________'Wonderfully warm and involving' KATIE FFORDE'If any author can help you survive lockdown, it's Binchy' DAILY MAIL'Firefly Summer is warm, humorous, sad and happy. Reading it is a joy' IRISH INDEPENDENT'I find myself yearning for the rain-soaked watercolour writing of Maeve Binchy' JENNY COLGAN, GUARDIAN Best Comfort Reads'Binchy's novels are never less than entertaining' SUNDAY TIMES'What better books to raise the spirits than the gentle, insightful Irish tales of Maeve Binchy?' HELLO! Magazine_____________Readers love Firefly Summer ...***** 'Maeve Binchy never disappoints. I loved this book.'***** 'Date I finished this book is impossible to say, as I've read it so many times.'***** 'I loved this book! Such a great story!'***** 'Firefly Summer keeps readers engaged with the quotidian but never dull lives of Irish village life.'***** 'This is what good fiction does, gives you a story, draws you in, and won't let go and Binchy is at the height of her powers with this novel.'

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Cassie Wright, porn princess, intends to cap her legendary career by breaking the world record for serial fornication. On camera. With six hundred men. Snuff unfolds from the perspectives of Mr 72, Mr 137 and Mr 600, who await their turn on camera in a very crowded green room...

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'Maeve Binchy has a gimlet eye for the seething cauldron of emotions which lies beneath the surface of everyday life' Irish Independent'An adept storyteller with a sharp eye for social nuances and a pleasing affection for her characters' Sunday Times'Has a lovely warm heart . . . Her prose is magnificently simple and lucid' Evening Standard________________Every Friday without fail, the lilac bus transports the same seven people from the bustle of Dublin to spend the weekend in the quaint village of Rathdoon.Each passenger has their own reason for making the trip. What is Judy hiding? Why is Rupert so unwilling to return home? And why has driver Tom orchestrated the lilac bus's trip in the first place?As friendships are forged and secrets revealed, it soon becomes clear that there's more to these unsuspecting characters than meets the eye . . .________________Readers can't get enough of The Lilac Bus . . .***** 'This was the first Maeve Binchy book I ever read and by far my favourite.'***** 'This is a real 'comfort read' and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this author.'***** 'If you are in need a good story, a kind story, a story with heart and a little intrigue, you won't go wrong with The Lilac Bus.'

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The public pay a price for personal excess in this captivating and dramatic historical novel by multi-million copy and international bestselling author Jean Plaidy. Perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory. 'It's hard to better Jean Plaidy ... both elegant and exciting as she steers a stylish path through the feuding Plantaganets' -- Daily Mirror'Plaidy excels at blending history with romance and drama' -- New York Times'Full-blooded, dramatic, exciting' -- Observer'Fascinating' -- ***** Reader review'Couldn't put it down' -- ***** Reader review'Grabs you from the first page and doesn't let go' -- ***** Reader review'Another first class read from Ms. Plaidy!' -- ***** Reader review**********************************************************************************************************Marguerite, eldest daughter of the Count of Provence, had married a king of France - and now her sister Eleanor is determined to make just as grand a match.Good fortune and wily cunning bring her Henry of England. A good and generous husband but a weak king, he rules a nation that still remembers his cruel and foolish father, King John. As Henry showers gifts on his new bride, his extravagance forces him to levy ever greater taxation on the land, and the spectre of revolt soon looms against him.For Simon de Montfort, the adventurer who will give England its first true parliament, the house of destiny is at hand...

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An extraordinary epic of love, family, and war set in the Basque town of Guernica before, during, and after its destruction by the German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War. In 1935, Miguel Navarro finds himself in conflict with the Spanish Civil Guard and flees the Basque fishing village of Lekeitio to make a new start in Guernica, the centre of Basque culture and tradition. Once there, he finds more than just a new life – he finds someone to live for. Miren Ansotegui is the charismatic and graceful dancer he meets and the two discover a love they believe nothing can destroy . . . Rich in the history of the region, the Red Baron, the Luftwaffe and even Picasso make appearances in Guernica as the fate of the Navarro family is traced through the early decades of the twentieth century. 'A heart-rending yet life-affirming story' Daily Mail

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THE NO. 1 EBOOK BESTSELLERA witty, heartwarming story of love, life and second chances set in the idyllic Cotswolds, from the glorious Jill Mansell.'I completely adored it . . . Brimming with warmth, heart and jolly good fun' Cathy Bramley'An absolute joy from start to finish' Veronica Henry'Jill knocks it right out of the park with this fabulous story of love and friendship' Milly JohnsonOne minute Lou is happily employed, with a perfect flat. The next, her home and job have gone. Suddenly she has to start over.The last thing Lou wants is to move to a tiny Cotswolds village. She certainly doesn't intend to work for curmudgeonly eighty-year-old Edgar Allsopp. But Edgar is about to make her the kind of promise nobody could ignore. In return, she secretly vows to help him fall in love with life again.Foxwell is also home to Remy, whose charm and charisma are proving hard to ignore. But Lou hasn't recovered from the last time she fell for a charmer. She needs a distraction - and luckily one's about to turn up.Secrets never stay hidden for long in Foxwell, nor are promises always kept. And no one could guess what lies ahead . . .Read Jill Mansell's heartwarming new book, THE WEDDING OF THE YEAR, out now! Readers love Promise Me:'Pure escapism . . . A simply gorgeous read that I would highly recommend' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'My book of the year! I really, really loved it' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Another Jill Mansell belter which had me laughing out loud from the first few pages' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'I loved every second I spent reading this book. It is warm, realistic and life affirming' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'A wonderfully uplifting story, with a superb cast of characters who'll stay in your heart after you've turned the final page' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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Each of the judges of the Elysian Prize for literature has a reason for accepting the job. For the chairman, MP Malcolm Craig, it is backbench boredom, media personality Jo Cross is on the hunt for a 'relevant' novel, and Oxbridge academic Vanessa Shaw is determined to discover good writing. But for Penny Feathers of the Foreign Office, it's all just getting in the way of writing her own thriller. Over the next few weeks they must read hundreds of submissions to find the best book of the year, and so the judges spar, cajole and bargain in order that their chosen title gets the recognition it deserves.Meanwhile, a host of authors are desperate for Elysian glory, including brilliant writer and serial heart-breaker Katherine Burns, lovelorn debut novelist Sam Black, and Sonny, convinced that his magnum opus, The Mulberry Elephant, will take the literary world by storm.Lost for Words is razor-sharp and fabulously entertaining. It cuts to the quick of some of the deepest questions about the place of art in our celebrity-obsessed culture, and asks how we can ever hope to recognize real talent when everyone has an agenda.

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