Historical Fiction Books

Book SynopsisA STUNNING, ATMOSPHERIC NOVEL SET IN 1940S SOUTH OF FRANCE. YOUR PERFECT ESCAPIST READ. 'Perfect. Both gripping and dripping with glamour' RED MAGAZINE ONLINE __________ London 1948: Eve Forrester is trapped in a loveless marriage, in a gloomy house, in a grey suburb. Out of the blue, she receives a solicitor's letter. A wealthy stranger has left her a mystery inheritance but in order to find out more, she must travel to the glittering French Riviera. Eve discovers her legacy is an enchanting villa overlooking the Mediterranean sea and suddenly, life could not be more glamorous. But under the heat of the sun, all is not as it seems. Now, Eve must unlock the story behind her surprise bequest - before things spiral out of control... A Fatal Inheritance is an intoxicating story of glamour, intrigue and desire, set against the razzle-dazzle of the French Riviera. ______________________ 'Utterly tantalising' DINAH JEFFRIES 'GLORIOUS! Hugely enjoyable escapism. I enjoyed it ENORMOUSLY.' MARIAN KEYES What readers are saying about Fatal Inheritance: ***** 'One to savour and enjoy and be utterly immersed in.'***** 'This book captured my attention from the first page.'***** 'A wonderful story of beauty, mystery and finding yourself.' RACHEL RHYS' NEW NOVEL, ISLAND OF SECRETS IS AVAILABLE NOWTrade ReviewRachel Rhys’ atmospheric novel mixes glamour with tantalising intrigue – and a dark hint of dread * Daily Mail *An atmospheric, page-turner * DAILY MIRROR *Deliciously intoxicating * HEAT *Rachel Rhys should be on everyone’s summer reading list * CLARE MACKINTOSH *With a dash of Agatha Christie and a nod to Zelda Fitzgerald, Rachel Rhys' historical mystery is simply gorgeous. The late 1940s Cote d'Azur setting is a character in its own right - one that will have you yearning to sip a gin fizz while watching the sun sink into the Mediterranean * KATE RIORDAN *I am racing though this delicious thriller set on the French Riviera in 1948. Rachel Rhys really is a natural successor to Patricia Highsmith. Out July, put it on preorder now so you don’t forget. * SARRA MANNING *Deadly secrets, dazzling sunshine - utterly seductive. This book is a total joy * LUCY DAWSON *Atmospheric, totally absorbing and joyfully original * JANE FALLON *Utterly enthralling; Rachel Rhys brilliantly evokes the shabby glamour and bruised hearts of the post-war Riviera, where everyone has a secret to hide. I adored it. * JANE CASEY *I absolutely loved this book. All the intrigue of Agatha Christie with the intelligence of Barbara Vine in the most glamorous of settings. Rhys writes like an exotic dream! * LIZ NUGENT *Public service announcement; this book deserves to be massive. Can’t tell you how hard and fast I fell for it. A stunningly beautiful, page turning feast of a novel * COLETTE MCBETH *Who doesn't dream of a letter from a solicitor informing them of something that is in their interest? When Eve sets off for the South of France to discover what lies in wait, she finds filmstars, roues, drunken writers and a disaffected housekeeper - the perfect recipe for a glorious post-war thriller. A wonderful bouillabaisse of glamour, greed, revenge and romance as Eve fights to escape a loveless, bloodless marriage and find her true self. As chic as Chanel with a hint of Christie, A Fatal Inheritance will be on all the best-dressed sun-loungers this summer. * VERONICA HENRY *Rachel Rhys wove a spell over me with this book and whisked me away to the glitz of 1940s French Riviera. Sumptuous and hugely compelling, Rhys is a master of dialogue and observation and her characters crackle with life.Utter bliss. * AMANDA JENNINGS *Fizzing with glamour and secrets, I adored this gorgeous novel. An absolute stunner in every way, it had me captivated from beginning to end * JENNY ASHCROFT *I had to make myself slow down when reading this delicious, thrilling novel, because I didn’t want it to end. If Daphne Du Maurier had been writing about the Cote D’Azur instead of Cornwall, she couldn’t have done it better. Absolutely superb. * CASS GREEN *I raced through this and absolutely love it. What a cleverly woven plot, with intriguing characters and great period atmosphere! It made me want to drop everything and rush out to live there, in a house as similar to Villa la Perle as I can possibly find. * GILL PAUL *This atmospheric and intriguing novel will transport you to a glamorous – and deadly sun-baked world * Irish Times *TOP HOLIDAY READS - A Fatal Inheritance bears all the hallmarks of a golden age mystery as Eve is swept into a glittering world that sees her rubbing shoulders with Hollywood film stars and famous authors ... When events threaten to take a deadly turn, she must race against the clock to uncover the truth. * The Herald *An exquisite and shimmering read. I completely lost myself in Rhys’s lovingly evoked 1940s French Riviera and was gripped by the slow-burn mystery. An essential summer read! * LISA JEWELL *The perfect literary beach-read; both gripping and dripping with glamour. Rachel Rhys is a natural successor to Patricia Highsmith. * Red Online *SUMMER READING PICK -- Nina Pottell * PRIMA *JULY'S BEST NEW BOOKS: A dissatisfied wife receives a mysterious bequest, setting her off on a journey filled with excitement and danger * Stylist *Rachel Rhys really knows how to keep you guessing. As the mystery plays out she throws in a dash of romance to go along with the perfect evocation of the decadent time and place. You need this on your sun lounger this summer. * Sunday People *Amid the sun and glamour, there's skulduggery afoot in this perfect poolside book. * Red Magazine *With dreamlike descriptions of the Cote d'Azur and the dark underworld of those who live there, it is an addictive page-turner. The perfect summer holiday read. * The Lady *[A] high-octane, heart-pounding read. * Good Housekeeping *A transporting golden-age infused mystery caper * Sunday Times *This atmospheric page-turner is filled with intrigue, death-defying encounters, smooth talking charmers and even has a larger-than-life Hollywood movie star .. a fabulous summer read * Daily Express *

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Book Synopsis'The plot of Mad Blood Stirring grows from a kernel of historical truth, but his book dazzles not so much as fact than as fiction...Instructive as well as entertaining'NEW YORK TIMES1815: The war is over but for the inmates at Dartmoor Prison, peace - like home - is still a long way away. On the eve of the year 1815, the captured sailors of the Eagle arrive at Dartmoor prison; bedraggled, exhausted, sustained only by a rumour heard along the way.Joe Hill thought he’d left the conflict behind but it is clear there is a different type of battle here. As he announces the news of the end of the war, the guards bristle and the inmates stir. The powder keg was fixed to blow and Joe has just lit the fuse.Elizabeth Shortland, the Governor’s wife, looks out at the unsettled crowd. The peace means the end is near, that she needn’t be here for ever. But suddenly, she cannot bear the thought of leaving.Inspired by true events, Mad Blood Stirring is a story of hope and freedom, of loss and suffering. It is a story about how sometimes, in our darkest hour, it can be the most unlikely of things that see us through.* 'Wonderful - a story I never heard before, told with style, pace, character, texture, and tension ... bliss.' Lee Child'Bristling with energy, written with passion, Mad Blood Stirring is a joy to read.' John BoyneTrade ReviewWonderful - a story I never heard before, told with style, pace, character, texture, and tension ... bliss. * Lee Child *If you like your historical thrillers dark and emotional, you’ll absolutely love getting swept up in this one -- Sarah Hughes * Heat *Well researched and full of action, Mayo brings a forgotten moment in history to life **** * Sun *Bristling with energy, written with passion, Mad Blood Stirring is a joy to read. * John Boyne *Mad Blood Stirring is an astonishing account of an explosive piece of neglected history. It's a rapid page turner with dark humour, intellectual heft, and a gallery of deeply human characters that shake our spirits. * Sir Kenneth Branagh *

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Book Synopsis'Unforgettable' - ROSAMUND LUPTONVirginia Wrathmell has always known she will meet her death on the marsh.One snowy New Year's Eve, at the age of eighty-six, Virginia feels the time has finally come.New Year's Eve, 1939. Virginia is ten, an orphan arriving to meet her new parents at their mysterious house, Salt Winds. Her new home sits on the edge of a vast marsh, a beautiful but dangerous place. War feels far away out here amongst the birds and shifting sands - until the day a German fighter plane crashes into the marsh. The people at Salt Winds are the only ones to see it.What happens next is something Virginia will regret for the next seventy-five years, and which will change the whole course of her life.Trade ReviewLike Daphne du Maurier…powerfully conjures up a place, a time, and a story that are unforgettable. -- ROSAMUND LUPTONAn atmospheric, beautifully paced novel about sacrifice, the urge to belong and revenge. It's full of well-drawn characters I loved to hate, and those that I didn't want to let go, even after I closed the last page. -- CLAIRE FULLERA beautifully written, atmospheric novel -- reminiscent of Jane Eyre... bewitching and haunting -- EOWYN IVEYMelodic and beautiful * Prima *Really special * Good Housekeeping *

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Book Synopsis'Shimmering, lush...will keep you up all night' - Rene Denfeld, author of THE ENCHANTED'Eerie and addictive' - New York TimesWhen I think of Byrne Hall - which I do more often than I'd like - it's the dead weight of the heatwave that comes back to me, and the smell of things going rotten.Freya Lyell is struggling to move on from her sister Stella's suicide five years ago. Visiting the bewitching Byrne Hall, only a few miles from the scene of the tragedy, she discovers a portrait of Stella - a portrait she had no idea existed, in a house Stella never set foot in. Or so she thought.Driven to find out more about her sister's secrets, Freya is drawn into the world of Byrne Hall and its owners: charismatic artist Cory and his sinister, watchful mother. But as Freya's relationship with Cory crosses the line into obsession, the darkness behind the locked doors of Byrne Hall threatens to spill out.Trade ReviewShimmering, lush, with prose that beats at the heart, The Whispering House will keep you up all night -- Rene Denfeld, author of THE ENCHANTEDEerie and addictive...A chilling, masterly study in all the ways love can lead to misery. Like Wuthering Heights...terrifying yet wholly believable * New York Times *A spellbinding gothic story ...an exquisitely creepy page-turner * Publishers Weekly *A slow-simmering, psychological, gothic novel about grief and longing * Booklist *A gothic romance for the contemporary age * Kirkus Reviews *

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Book Synopsis'I was completely spellbound' - Ruth Hogan, author of The Keeper of Lost Things'Setterfield is a master storyteller' - Madeline Miller, author of Circe Some say the river drowned her... Some say it brought her back to life On a dark midwinter's night in an ancient inn on the Thames, the regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open and in steps an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a child. Hours later, the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? And who does the little girl belong to? An exquisitely crafted historical mystery brimming with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Victorian age.____________________ Praise for Diane Setterfield:'An absolute feast of a book, which will keep you engrossed' RED magazine'Brimming with folklore, intrigue and romance, this is a story to savour' Woman & Home'Once Upon a River continues to demonstrate [Setterfield's] mastery of the Gothic genre in a way that will appeal to modern readers' The IndependentReaders are captivated by Once Upon a River: ***** 'Pure escapism, a beautifully written story.' ***** 'It felt as comforting as the fantastical stories you read as a child yet with a darker edge.' ***** 'I was entranced from the beginning to the end.'Trade ReviewA story, no matter how cleverly it is structured, lives or dies on the vividness of its characters. Setterfield, a true storyteller, makes us care about all her players in this beguiling novel. * The Times *Exploring themes of storytelling, parenthood, science and society on the cusp of change, this is a richly evocative novel. * Observer *Diane Setterfield's debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale, came out in 2006 to wide acclaim. She made her mark by delivering her own take on the classic romantic mystery novel, infused with the spirit of Jane Eyre, Rebecca and The Woman in White. Once Upon a River continues to demonstrate her mastery of the Gothic genre in a way that will appeal to modern readers...Setterfield knows how to make the words sing. It is worth taking a journey down the Thames with her. * Independent *Once Upon a River is magical, in every which way...it's the power of her storytelling that allows readers to suspend disbelief, and draws them through each tangled, dazzling chapter...This riverine novel has the mood and feel of a ghost story told late into the night, and will win over readers who enjoy a touch of age-old enchantment. * Financial Times *I was completely spellbound by this book. Numerous strands of the same story are skilfully woven into a magical web from which I, as a reader, had no desire to escape. Setterfield’s prose is beautiful, dark and eerily atmospheric, and her rich cast of characters convincingly illustrate the best and worst of humanity. Utterly brilliant! -- Ruth Hogan,bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost ThingsOnce Upon a River is one of the most pleasurable and satisfying new books I've read in a long time. Setterfield is a master storyteller, her language flowing with a dark magic very like the river at the heart of her tale: swift and entrancing, profound and beautiful. Give yourself a treat and read it! -- Madeline Miller,Orange Prize-winning author of The Song of Achilles and CirceI so didn't want to leave the world of Once Upon a River but now I have and I'm bereft of the company of country folk and river spirits. This charming story about stories and the mystery of life & death captured my heart. A truly extraordinary book. -- Dinah JefferiesHer characters are so vivid, one feels as though one has met them, spent an evening in their company, telling stories around the hearth...Setterfield is a master storyteller herself, giving us all the depth and plot and richness of the great narrative novelists. This is dazzling, alive, all-consumer writing: one reads each page greedily, the beautiful sentences shining like jewels under the pulling current of the tale itself. * Daily Telegraph *A satisfying, thickly characterised tale that plunges you into an evocatively realised historical setting. You care for its characters. * Sunday Times *A finely drawn cast and bravura storytellling. * Mail on Sunday *

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Book Synopsis'A modern scream of female outrage. A masterpiece' ELIZABETH GILBERT'Astoundingly original . . . belongs on the shelf with your Margaret Atwood' NEW YORK TIMESHaunting, intense and irresistible, The Illness Lesson is an extraordinary debut about women's minds and bodies, and the time-honoured tradition of doubting both.In 1871, at an elite new school designed to shape the minds of young women, the inscrutable and defiant Eliza Bell has been overwhelmed by an inexplicable illness.Before long, the other girls start to succumb to its peculiar symptoms - rashes, tics,night wanderings and fits.As the disease takes hold, teacher Caroline Hood tries desperately to hide her own symptoms, butthe powers-that-be turn to a sinister physician with dubious methods.Does Caroline have the courage to confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities of her worldand protect the young women in her care?'You want to know how horrifying things happened while decent people looked on and did nothing? Read this novel' MARY BETH KEANE'Subtle, clever, suspenseful . . . builds to a shocking climax' DIANE SETTERFIELD'A Sunday Times Book to Read in 2020: A classic ghost story for fans of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Deborah Levy, Jeffrey Eugenides' SUNDAY TIMES STYLETrade ReviewAstoundingly original, this impressive debut belongs on the shelf with your Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler collections. * New York Times *The Illness Lesson is a brilliant, suspenseful, beautifully-executed psychological thriller. With power, subtlety, and keen intelligence, Clare Beams has somehow crafted a tale that feels like both classical ghost story and like a modern (and very timely) scream of female outrage. I stayed up all night to finish reading it, and I can still feel its impact thrumming through my mind and body. A masterpiece. * Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love *‘Subtle, clever, suspenseful . . . builds to a shocking climax’ * Diane Setterfield *Alcott meets Shirley Jackson, with a splash of Margaret Atwood. It’s dark, quirky and even titillating . . . on the edge between realism and ghost story * The Washington Post *A top pick for the coming year . . . this haunting novel blends historical fiction with a timely comment on women’s bodies and minds, and those who think they can control them. Unmissable. * Stylist *

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE CAPITAL CRIME AWARDS MYSTERY BOOK OF THE YEARBeneath the beauty of Havana, she will find a bed of lies...'Transports us to another time and place. I loved it' PRIMA MAGAZINE'Iris is a heroine you'll absolutely root for in this gripping tale of murder, intrigue and romance' RED MAGAZINELondon 1957: Iris Bailey is bored to death of working in the typing pool and living with her parents in Hemel Hempstead. A gifted portraitist with a talent for sketching party guests, she dreams of becoming an artist. So she can't believe her luck when socialite Nell Hardman invites her to Havana to draw at the wedding of her Hollywood director father.Far from home, she quickly realizes the cocktails, tropical scents and azure skies mask a darker reality. As Cuba teeters on the edge of revolution and Iris's heart melts for troubled photographer Joe, she discovers someone in the charismatic Hardman family is hiding a terrible secret. Can she uncover the ugly truth behind the glamour and the dazzle before all their lives are torn apart?______________________________OUTSTANDING PRAISE FOR RACHEL RHYS:'Intoxicating' SANTA MONTEFIORE'Tantalising' DINAH JEFFRIES'Heart-pounding' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING'Transporting' SUNDAY TIMES'A fabulous summer read' DAILY EXPRESSREADERS ADORE RACHEL RHYS:'I absolutely adore Rachel Rhys' books, historical mystery with so much added glitz and glamour''Unputdownable. Wonderful characterization and very well researched''A captivating and fascinating read''Recommended for anyone who loves historical fiction with a bit of mystery and a dash of romance''Oh my goodness, I absolutely adored this book!'Trade ReviewA glamorous cocktail of gangsters and good eggs that shimmers and simmers in the heat of 1950s Havana. Intoxicating and thrilling * VERONICA HENRY *Transports us to another time and place. I loved it! * NINA POTTELL, PRIMA *Iris is a heroine you’ll absolutely root for in this escapist tale of murder, intrigue and romance * SARRA MANNING, RED *Intoxicating as a stiff Mojito * SUNDAY MIRROR *Darkly seductive and laced with intrigue * THE SUN *A vivid historical read * WOMAN'S WEEKLY *A gripping, escapist mystery * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING *Intoxicating * CRIME MONTHLY *A decadent, dangerous story that dazzles as much as it captivates. * CULTUREFLY *Tautly plotted and captivating * TIMES *This is one breathlessly intoxicating mystery * HEAT *Prepare to be spellbound as Rhys stirs together a magical setting with a wonderful heroine to create an addictive murder mystery * i PAPER *Transporting * DAILY EXPRESS, 'Best New Escapist Reads' *

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Book Synopsis1857, India. At nineteen years old, Sita is the shining star of Queen Lakshmi of India's imperial guard, having pledged herself to a life of celibacy in the name of protecting the young ruler. When Sita agrees to train Lakshmi in the art of military combat, a close friendship develops between the two women. But trouble soon threatens - Lakshmi's court is dangerously divided and rumours are rife that the country is at risk. Meanwhile, in London, advisors to Queen Victoria are looking to extend the power of the Commonwealth, and India is coveted as the next jewel in the imperial crown. In the ensuing battle, will the bond between Lakshmi and Sita be broken for ever?Trade ReviewMoran is at her storytelling best in The Last Queen of India, melding fascinating history and imaginative fiction into a beautiful and powerful story of love, loss, heartbreaking choices and breathtaking courage. Immaculately researched and packed with high emotion, high drama and a cast of dynamic characters, this is a wonderful, sweeping story with a compelling sense of time and place that is sure to delight fans of historical fiction * Lancashire Evening Post *

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of Miss Appleby's Academy, comes a gritty saga perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Maggie Hope and Nadine Dorries.Prue's heart beat hard - she had heard of the low seams of the mines of northwest Durham and she had always had a fear of being enclosed. This was her job, she told herself, this was what she had wanted. She must do it. So she picked up her bag and followed them to the cage which carried the miners below ground, praying that the man did not die, that she need not produce some miracle . . . Determined to practise as a doctor, Prue escapes a loveless marriage to journey far from home and join a surgery in Tow Law. But she soon finds that long hours and limited resources are only the beginning - gaining the townspeople's trust will be her greatest challenge of all. From the bestselling author of Miss Appleby's Academy comes the story of Prue Stanhope, young woman doctor to the miners of Tow Law, County Durham.Trade ReviewGill, a born storyteller, is on fine form as she transports us back to an age of poverty and hardship leavened by the warmth, humanity and loyalty of a tight-knit community and the family ties and friendships that bind them together. An enchanting read for all true romantics. * Lancashire Evening Post *

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Book SynopsisFrom the internationally bestselling author of Nefertiti comes a captivating novel about the infamous Mata Hari, exotic dancer, adored courtesan, and, possibly, infamous spy.Paris, 1917. The notorious dancer Mata Hari sits in a cold cell awaiting freedom . . . or death. Alone and despondent, Mata Hari is as confused as the rest of the world about the charges she's been arrested on: treason leading to the deaths of thousands of French soldiers.As Mata Hari waits for her fate to be decided, she relays the story of her life to a reporter who is allowed to visit her in prison. Beginning with her carefree childhood, Mata Hari recounts her father's cruel abandonment of her family as well her calamitous marriage to a military officer. Taken to the island of Java, Mata Hari refuses to be ruled by her abusive husband and instead learns to dance, paving the way to her stardom as Europe's most infamous exotic dancer.From lush Indian temples and glamorous Parisian theatres to stark German barracks in war-torn Europe, Moran brings to vibrant life the famed world of Mata Hari: dancer, courtesan, and possibly, spy.Trade ReviewFilled with fascinating historical details about a subject that is not often portrayed . . . Readers who have enjoyed Moran's previous works will not want to miss this * Library Journal on The Last Queen of India *Beautifully written with captivating characters with whom the readers can admire and identify * Good Book Guide on The Last Queen of India *

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Book SynopsisFive strangers. Five secrets. No refuge. No turning back.In the aftermath of 1066, a Norman army marches through the North of England: burning, killing and laying waste to everything in its path. The Harrowing has begun. As towns and villages fall to the invaders, five travellers fleeing the slaughter are forced to band together for survival. Refugees in their own country, they journey through the wasteland, hoping to find sanctuary with the last stand of the Saxon rebellion. But are they fleeing the Normans or their own troubles?Priest, Lady, Servant, Warrior, Minstrel: each has their own story; each their own sin. As enemies past and present close in, their prior deeds catch up with them and they discover there is no sanctuary from fate.Trade ReviewAction packed, set in a fascinating period * Mail on Sunday on James Aitcheson *Fans of Game of Thrones will find plenty to love in this uncompromising slice of historical fiction * Shortlist on James Aitcheson *Plenty of exciting battles and a protagonist narrator who is a real pleasure to read * Historical Novel Society on James Aitcheson *Vibrant and authentic. Rarely have I been so transported into the world of the medieval knight, and his environs * Ben Kane, author of Eagles of War, on James Aitcheson *Aitcheson neatly mixes action and intrigue in equal measure * BBC History Magazine *

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Book Synopsis'A book with special and dangerous properties' Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of Wolf Hall'Enthralling' M.R. Carey, bestselling author of The Girl With All the Gifts 'An imaginative tour de force' The Times1558: Twelve children, gifted far beyond their years, are banished by their Tudor queen to the town of Rotherweird. Some say they are the golden generation; some say the devil's spawn. But everyone knows they are something to be revered - and feared. Four and a half centuries on, cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I and still bound by its ancient laws, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: nobody, but nobody, studies the town or its history. Then an Outsider arrives, a man of unparallelled wealth and power, enough to buy the whole of Rotherweird - deeply buried secrets and all . . . Welcome to Rotherweird. 'A remarkable achievement' Sunday Independent 'Compelling' GuardianTrade ReviewA history-tragic-comedy all rolled into one, Rotherweird is intricate and crisp, witty and solemn: a book not unlike other books, but with special and dangerous properties. Line by line, silent and adroit, it opens a series of trap-doors in the reader's imagination * Hilary Mantel, two-time Man Booker prize winner *An imaginative tour de force * The Times *Baroque, Byzantine and beautiful - not to mention bold. An enthralling puzzle picture of a book * M R Carey, author of the bestselling The Girl With All The Gifts *Compelling . . . the love child of Gormenghast and Hogwarts * Guardian *Sublime . . . Call me greedy, but I'm already itching to return to Caldecott's universe * The Irish Times *One of this year's most anticipated debut novels * SFX *This novel is a remarkable achievement. It's also extremely funny, in a typically British sort of way . . . a delightful Harry Potter for grown ups * Sunday Independent *Truly, sinisterly magical. 10/10 * Starburst *A great introduction to its strange and mesmerising world, and a feat of imagination, packed with ideas and extraordinary people. It's well worth the visit * SciFiNow *This is a twisty, hilarious, magical story crammed full of intricate characters and nefarious plots * The Little Squid *I LOVED this book. It just did something to me. I was utterly immersed from page one . . . This is a novel of magnificence and detail, of science and nature * Fantastical Library *Assured and ambitious . . . deeply impressive debut * Nick Curtis, Evening Standard on Higher than Babel *Hugely entertaining . . . this novel is a remarkable achievement. It's also extremely funny, in a typically British sort of way * Independent.ie *Vivid and absorbing and grapples with big ideas without being dry, difficult or patronising * Sarah Hemming, Financial Times on Higher than Babel *What an enjoyable read! So vividly written, I could visualise every winding street and twisting chimney of Rotherweird . . . If you like Ben Aaronovitch, Neil Gaiman or Susanna Clarke, this book is for you! * Book Geek Girl *If J. K. Rowling had given Jasper Fforde permission to document a decade of derring-do in Diagon Alley, the result would read rather like Rotherweird * Tor.com *A quirky portal fantasy peppered with singular names . . . Top marks for inventiveness * Speculative Herald *This is an immensely enjoyable, Gothic(ish) / steampunk/ Gormanghast-esque romp with Dickensian overtones. Rotherweird itself is a great imaginative creation . . . A fun, often funny, exciting and highly readable story. Get it now * Blue Balloon *Highly recommended, I think this novel will eventually be viewed as a modern classic * The Eloquent Page *One of the most appealing and fascinating books I've read in some time now. There is darkness and humour here together with invention and originality. For me there are echoes of the work of both Mervyn Peake and Neil Gaiman here * Books and More Books *This is quite possibly the best fantasy novel I have read this year * Silvia Kay on YouTube *The writing is a true pleasure . . . an airy, yet incisive quality; a purposeful dreaminess; images that stick with me, yet prose that does not labor to describe * Strange Horizons *A highly unusual book, a kind of portal fantasy/historical fantasy/contemporary urban fantasy blend. It reminds me most of Robert Holdstock or Charles de Lint, though less ominous in tone than either * The Review Curmudgeon *Unusual, mannered, quirky * Library Thing *A fun blend of absurdist humour, creepy peril and fecund magic to be found here * Press Reader *History, fantasy, tragedy and comedy collide in new and unusual ways, to create a novel that is full of intrigue and mystery * The Book Muse *Rotherweird definitely delivered. The flippant way to describe it would be as a Midsomer Murders episode as told by Jeff VanderMeer with a touch of Agatha Christie. That doesn't do it justice though because joking aside it's a very good book * Stefen’s Books *I loved the blend of past, present and other worlds. I loved the characters, the intricate plotting and the playfulness with words, English and Latin * Boffins Books *A mystical tale of suspense and adventure, mixed in with the macabre and Tudor England. Andrew Caldecott's ability to create and shape worlds and the characters in them, draws the reader into an intense narrative of plot and subtext that keeps you guessing. Enchanting and beautifully written * lifehasafunnywayofsneakinguponyou.wordpress.com *Intricate . . . while the focus might be on the oddball inhabitants, Rotherweird is the true heart and soul of the narrative, a character in its own right * Publishers Weekly *A strange, twisting tale of dark magic and horrible experimentation . . . Caldecott uses parallel storylines and mysterious, absurd twists and turns to entertain, painting a tale of strange stones, a patch of starless sky, tiles that transport to other worlds, and plants with unexpected properties. The characters are vivid and complex and make up the larger character of a town that is coping with a growing menace * Booklist *If you like strange, mysterious fantasy, this is the book for you * Lost in a Good Book *The Rotherweird trilogy is a sprawling absorbing saga that is breathtaking in conceit and accomplishment. Fans of deeply immersive fiction, such as that created by Neal Stephenson, will love losing themselves in this nightmarish vision of a parochial English town * GeekDad *Rotherweird is a great read when you want to break out of the mold and take a step out of time . . . Returning to the citizens of Rotherweird will surely be as wild a ride as the start * Novel Lives *Merrily weird fun * Locus *

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Book SynopsisFor fans of Daisy Styles, a heart-warming wartime saga about a group of women who work in an armaments factory. No matter how hard the times, despite bombing, short rations, cruel men, unwanted pregnancy, through thick and thin friendship will pull you through. Autumn, 1944. Doodlebugs are the latest threat to war-battered southern England. At Priddy's Hard munitions factory though, Em Earle is about to suffer a threat to her livelihood from much nearer home. Local crook Samuel Golden is back and up to his old tricks, trying to find ways to exploit people's hardship for his own gain.As well as Samuel's unwanted attentions, Em has to deal with some huge revelations from within her own family. Her daughter Lizzie is pregnant, and a strange woman has turned up on Em's doorstep claiming to be her sister. Em is excited, but wary - could this woman be too good to be true? Once again it will be up to the girls from the bomb factory to rally round and support one of their own.Trade ReviewA nostalgic story packed with drama, tension, passion and the grim realities of life in wartime England * Lancashire Evening Post *

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Book Synopsis'For Vikings done right, come to Snorri Kristjansson' - Mark Lawrence'Truly entertaining' - Yrsa Sigurðardóttir'A dark mystery in a dark age brought vividly to life' - Robert FabbriEveryone loves a family reunion. 970: For the first time since Helga was adopted, her family will be gathered in one place. But her siblings are coming with darkness in their hearts. Everyone knows their father, the Viking warlord Unnthor Reginsson, has a great chest of gold hidden somewhere on his land - and each of his heirs is determined to find it. Then one morning Helga is awakened by screams. Blood has been shed. Kin has been slain. All the clues point to one person - who cannot possibly be the murderer, at least in Helga's eyes. But if she's going to save an innocent from the axe, she's got to solve the mystery - fast . . . Lies. Manipulation. Murder. There's nothing quite like family . . .Trade ReviewFor lovers of the Vikings TV series and Lindsey Davies alike. Helga Finnsdottir is the Flavia Alba of the Viking world. A dark mystery in a dark age brought vividly to life. I look forward to reading more * Robert Fabbri, author of the bestselling Vespasian series *For Vikings done right, come to Snorri Kristjansson * Mark Lawrence, bestselling author of Red Sister *Truly entertaining: a new and original Viking Noir voice * Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, author of the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series *Kin is well paced and skilfully plotted, with a strong sense of everyday life at the time . . . I suspect this will not be the last Viking noir novel we see * The Times *An exciting new voice. With his Viking mystery, Snorri has created a new and interesting sub-genre of Icelandic noir * Ragnar Jonasson *Praise Odin, it's a terrific mystery! With Viking family values and a sharp-witted heroine, Snorri Kristjansson delivers a first-rate chronicle of intrigue and murder * Stephen Gallagher, bestselling author of Red, Red Robin *An entertaining and claustrophobic tale of familial tension and murder * SciFiNow *Timeless and universal . . . It will be interesting to see where Kristjansson's imagination takes his beguiling heroine next * Starburst *If you're a fan of crime fiction and enjoy a bit of added history, then I would suggest you look no further than Kin. When it comes to murder you want to be kept guessing right up till the last and Kin does that and more * The Eloquent Page *The start of an interesting crime series * Book Worm Mum *The remote setting of Viking village, the historical period and Helga's character are very refreshing * The Book Bag *If the combination of Vikings, mystery and murder sound good, then this is the book for you . . . If you're in a Scandi-noir mood, and willing to leap back through the centuries, then this is a book which will reward a reading; I, for one, look forward to the further adventures of Helga Finnsdottir * Sci-Fi and Fantasy Reviews *I was completely swept away . . . couldn't put it down . . . completely beguiling . . . I would definitely have no hesitation in recommending this and I look forward to seeing where Helga's adventures lead us to next * Lynn's Book Blog *A new style read that is gripping, enjoyable and easily accessible . . . I, for one, look forward to continuing Helga's adventures . . . Kin will appeal to fans of crime, thrillers, mystery and historical fiction and is well worth a read * The Tattooed Book Geek *Well written, descriptive and well-paced and is a very enjoyable read . . . Helga could become an insightful Dark Age sleuth. Well met! Helga Finnsdottir * Mature Times *This series is set to be a huge success not least because its leading lady is one of the smartest and funniest you will encounter * The Madwoman in the Attic *It has been a very long time since I finished a book in a day. But today everything came together, and it also helped that I could not put the book down . . . So if you like crime, read it. If you are a historical fan, read it. If you just like a good story (like we all do!) then well duh, this is a must read. Oh it was just so good! I truly enjoyed this one * Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell *I loved Kin and the ending just made my head spin with its cleverness and impact . . . I can't wait to read even more of Helga Finnsdottir's adventures * A Fantastical Librarian *As I read Kin, I kept thinking of friends and family who I wanted to share it with, fans of murder mysteries, fans of character driven stories, fans of historical fiction. This book would appeal to all of them . . . With such an interesting group of characters, I found myself returning to the book frequently. It was a fun read, and I'd recommend it * Blog in Basket *Viking Crime could very well be my new favourite crime! Plenty of twists and turns which really will keep you guessing. A great read for any crime or historical fiction fan that I would highly recommend * Kelly is Reading *It had everything I look for in a book . . . I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries / crime stories with a sprinkle of Norse mythology and who enjoys reading stories full of flawed characters * Unfiltered Tales *A fantastic introduction . . . An enjoyable read with a good sense of suspense and an intriguing backdrop * The Little Book Owl *Compelling reading * The Gin Book Club *An entertaining tale of family tensions and murder . . . Kristjansson writes vividly (you can feel the heat, smell blood, hear Norse Gods) and with passion * Nordic Noir Blog *A thumbs up from me for the familial conflict, and the generally entertaining conniving women and wonderfully Neanderthal male characters * Raven Crime Reads *This is an extremely well written murder mystery with echoes to Poirot and Sherlock but set within the Viking era . . . I am delighted that there will be another one * Fantasy Guide *A highly readable Viking family murder, with an engaging heroine and convincing historical detail. Recommended * Promoting Crime *Kin is a dark sumptuous, lively tale, which delves beneath the veneer of family blood ties. All families have secrets, betrayals that erupt into arguments and spite. Slights nurtured and fanned until they flare into feuds. Kristjansson weaves a riveting journey as the mystery unfurls with tantalising timing * The Book Bag *A highly readable Viking family murder, with an engaging heroine and convincing historical detail. Recommended * Promoting Crime *I greatly enjoyed the story's compelling blend of historical fiction and crime mystery . . . Helga Finnsdottir was a joy * The BiblioSanctum *

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Book Synopsis'Neil Spring is Agatha Christie meets James Herbert' STEPHEN VOLK A haunting and spooky thriller, with an unforgettable twist! The remote village of Imber - remote, lost and abandoned. The outside world hasn't been let in since soldiers forced the inhabitants out, much to their contempt.But now, a dark secret threatens all who venture near. Everyone is in danger, and only Harry Price can help. Reluctantly reunited with his former assistant Sarah Grey, he must unlock the mystery of Imber, and unsurface the secrets someone thought were long buried. But will Sarah's involvement be the undoing of them both?Trade ReviewSinister ... A real page-turner * Tatler *A tense supernatural page-turner, loaded with atmospheric dread. Perfect for those long autumn nights -- Paul FinchMasterfully mixing history with a damned fine ghost story, The Lost Village contains echoes of James Herbert at his spectral best. Neil Spring has produced another atmospheric read, and his Sarah Grey is a narrator who's hard to forget -- Angela Slatter * author of the World Fantasy Award-winning The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings *There's nothing like a good ghost story, and this supernatural mystery kept me guessing to the last page. Neil Spring is Agatha Christie meets James Herbert * Stephen Volk *With Halloween looming, there's no better time to curl up with something truly spooky - and The Lost Village is certainly that ... [a] sinister tale -- Isabelle Broom * Heat *Chilling... an intelligent ghost story * The Lady *Spooky and tense with a truly horrifying denouement. * Sunday Express, S Magazine *Prepare to be spooked * Candis *Prepare to be pleasantly scared * Metro on The Ghost Hunters *A deft, spooky psychological drama based on a true story * Daily Mail on The Ghost Hunters *Surprising, serpentine and clever * Sunday Times on The Ghost Hunters *Spring's fast-paced and often deliciously creepy novel has an orphaned hero, a spooky, isolated farmhouse and things that go bump in the night . . . highly readable * The Herald on The Watchers *Genuinely spine chilling . . . an excellent blending of fact and fiction * Light Magazine on The Ghost Hunters *Brimming with suspense and ghostly apparitions, Spring's scorching thriller moves at a cracking pace and with a stunning twist in its devil's tail, this is the perfect reading companion for the witching hours of winter. * Lancashire Evening Post *

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Book SynopsisThe second part in an epic historical trilogy - The Estonian answer to Wolf Hall - by the nation's greatest modern writer The year is 1563, and by any account Balthasar Russow can be said to have risen in the world. Fresh from his studies in the German town of Stetten, he has assumed the role as pastor of Tallinn's Holy Ghost Church. Moreover, he is betrothed to a maiden of the town - much to the chagrin of her father, who has no wish to welcome peasant stock to the family when there is no shortage of upstanding young German men - and is poised to begin the chronicle that will ensure his everlasting fame.But tribulations still await the now not-quite-young Pastor - Livonia is still plagued by foreign powers, with Tallinn braced to withstand a prolonged Muscovite siege. And he will discover that marriage is a often a battlefield in itself.Translated from the Estonian by Merike BeecherTrade ReviewHe's a marvellous novelist - his scope and depth make him a world writer - and they should just hurry up and give him the Nobel. -- Doris LessingHe deserved a Nobel prize and would probably have got it had he written in any other language but Estonian. -- Neil Taylor * Guardian. *He's almost alone in writing in the older European tradition of the large-scale historical novel. I'd argue that Kross is heir to the 'great' Russo-European 19th century novelists; his fiction has Tolstoyan sweep. On reading him, moreover, we rediscover that Estonia was always resolutely in Europe and not some obscure outpost this side of the Urals. -- Fiona SampsonNo stranger to oppression himself, Kross writes about it with a poignancy devoid of anger. -- Adam Zamoyski

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Book SynopsisThe first part in an epic historical trilogy - The Estonian answer to Wolf Hall - by the nation's greatest modern writer Jaan Kross's trilogy dramatises the life of the renowned Livonian Chronicler Balthasar Russow, whose greatest work described the effects of the Livonian War on the peasantry of what is now Estonia. Like Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell, Russow is a diamond in the rough, a thoroughly modern man in an Early Modern world, rising from humble origins to greatness through wit and learning alone. As Livonia is used as a political football by the warring powers of Russia, Sweden, Poland and Lithuania, he continues to climb the greasy pole of power and influence. Even as a boy, Russow has the happy knack of being in the right place and saying the right thing at the right time. He is equally at home acting as friend and confidante to his ambitious patron and as champion for his humble rural relatives. Can anything halt his vertiginous rise? Like most young men he is prey to temptations of the flesh . . .Trade ReviewHe's a marvellous novelist - his scope and depth make him a world writer - and they should just hurry up and give him the Nobel -- Doris Lessing.He deserved a Nobel prize and would probably have got it had he written in any other language but Estonian -- Neil Taylor * Guardian. *He's almost alone in writing in the older European tradition of the large-scale historical novel. I'd argue that Kross is heir to the 'great' Russo-European 19th century novelists; his fiction has Tolstoyan sweep. On reading him, moreover, we rediscover that Estonia was always resolutely in Europe and not some obscure outpost this side of the Urals -- Fiona Sampson.No stranger to oppression himself, Kross writes about it with a poignancy devoid of anger -- Adam Zamoyski.

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Book SynopsisWinter, 1939. Edna and Lucy, along with new-born babies Jack and Lily, return to London during the war to a world gone mad. Forced to live underground, sleeping on the dark and dingy platforms of the Underground, they emerge each day to be confronted by bombed-out houses, already picked over by looters, spivs, black market traders and swindlers. When the war ends, Lucy, a bright and ambitious woman, seizes the opportunities that their changed society now offers. Meanwhile, Edna remains rooted in the old beliefs of kinship and community. Struggling to overcome the trauma of five years of conflict and unable to come to terms with her separation from her husband, Edna worries that life will never be the same again. Robbed of their childhood by the war, Jack, Lily and her younger brother George attempt to forge their own definitions of normality. When as a teenager Lily discovers a scrap of paper in the lining of a classy cashmere coat gifted to her from the American Red Cross, she jumps a

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the 2017 Costa First Novel AwardShortlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2018Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2018Longlisted for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical FictionNew Faces of Fiction 2017, ObserverObserver Fiction to look out for in 2017The Irish Times What To Look Out for in 2017 from Independent PublishersJen Campbell’s ‘Most Anticipated Books of 2017’Jean Bookish Thoughts ‘Most Anticipated Releases of 2017’A dark social-realist fairytale, spotlighting the shadowy underside of 1920s EnglandSummer 1923: the modern world. Orphaned Lucy Marsh climbs into the back of an old army truck and is whisked off to the woods north of London – a land haunted by the past, where lost souls and monsters conceal themselves in the trees.In a sunlit clearing she meets the ‘funny men’, a quartet of disfigured ex-soldiers named after Dorothy’s companions in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Here are the loved and the damaged, dark forests and darker histories, and the ever-present risk of discovery and violent retribution. Xan Brooks’ stunning debut is heartbreaking, disturbing and redemptive.Trade ReviewObserver Fiction to look out for in 2017 The Clocks in This House All Tell Different Times (Salt) by Xan Brooks – a fairytale wrapped within a historical novel, it’s as quixotic and dreamlike as Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant. -- Alex Preston, author of In Love and WarThrilling, disturbing and somehow very funny … a bold, ambitious, weird novel with a lot of foliage to get lost in -- Hannah Jane Parkinson * Observer *A book with heart and soul that is original, penetrative and engaging. It should be relished by every discerning reader. -- Jackie Law * Never Imitate *Philly Malicka enjoys a strange fable about drugs. jazz and the scars of the Great War ... The year is 1923 and the trauma of the First World War has left Britain misshapen. Part of society hopes for social change, while others, ossified, look backward. This dark, magical tale explores the chasm between the two, and how a nation ravaged by “the storms of the things they once did, the people they once were” seeks redemption. -- Philly Malicka * The Telegraph *Genuinely amazing: quirky, thought-provoking, a wonderful read. -- Anne GoodwinThe Pink Earl’s stately home, where the clocks all tell different times, may be a relic from a vanished past, but the future is massively present there – and it’s the one we recognise, in which everyone is “embarked on their own adventure” and in which the rhetoric of constant change at one level disguises the perpetuation of entrenched power at another. -- M. John Harrison * The Guardian *This will be familiar to fans of Decline And Fall. But what Evelyn Waugh treated satirically isn’t so funny any more, and this well-written novel is more tender and sad than bitingly hilarious. -- Fanny Blake * Daily Mail *With its finely judged atmosphere of tainted innocence, Brooks’s novel frames the real horrors of post-conflict trauma as episodes of near-fairytale jeopardy: the grown-up terrors in the dark wood and the poisonous intoxications of the great house are trials in which his heroine’s strength of character is forged. As in fairy stories, the happy-ever-after consists of the simplest of fulfilled desires: a home, work, a family: love as ordinary and essential as bread. -- Jane Shilling * Evening Standard *The novel is a rich tapestry that interweaves the social fabric of interwar England with fairy tale touches. Lucy comes to feel that “the world is confusing, but the forest is not”, poignantly conveying the strangeness of the period. The author has a fabulously visual style, and I loved the ensemble of characters - some haunted, some scarred, all of them nimbly conjured by a debut author with considerable talent. -- Joanne Owen * Lovereading *The opening section and the overall premise of Xan Brooks’s debut novel is fascinating. Taken away from the pub she lives in with her grandfather for the afternoon, orphaned Lucy Marsh goes into the woods to meet ‘the funny men’. Alongside four other young people whose life circumstances have left them equally vulnerable, Lucy goes for a picnic with these funny men who she will soon know as The Tin Man, Toto, the Scarecrow, and The Lion. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that there is something sinister about five pre-teen children being taken to the woods to meet with four men who disguise themselves as characters from a children’s classic, but Brooks does a fantastic job of drip-feeding us the necessary information until we come to see the true nature of these interactions and realise that the ‘funny men’ are actually traumatised war veterans no longer comfortable in the real world. * Bookmunch *I don’t know what I was expecting going in to this book, but honestly what I got wasn’t anything like I imagined. Trying to explain what this book was is difficult – because honestly it’s very unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It was absolutely mesmerising, but also quite an uncomfortable read in places, and I really enjoyed it. * Ashleigh’s Bookshelf *Brooks writes stunningly and paints a dark, imaginative picture so vivid I could see it made into a film. -- Caz Roberts * Grazia *Set after the first world war, is a macabre and unsettling tale of a young girl who is made a plaything of the “funny men”, a group of damaged soldiers, so badly injured they have removed themselves from the world completely. The novel has a woozy, tainted fairytale quality – Brooks calls these molten men of his the Tin Man and the Scarecrow – and a heightened aspect, like looking at the world through a cracked magnifying glass. It’s a bizarre, horror-flecked novel, pleasingly distinctive in its oddness. -- Natasha Tripney * Observer *Whilst this is essentially about an alternate coming of age, set at a time when people are trying to adjust and cope post war, there is focus on living to excess, without care for the consequences and how for some, non-conformity is embraced. There is rising tension and dense escalating drama running through the story. There is offset by some limited and subtle dark humour. But in all, people are trying to make sense of the world and deal with the fall out of war. The perspectives of the soldiers with life changing injuries is unforgettable. The characters are strong, bold and intriguing. But ultimately we are all vulnerable, and perhaps there is a deeper thread about how we choose to live despite such vulnerability whilst also being true to ourselves. -- Sara Garland * Nudge Magazine *A stunning, beautifully written debut by Xan Brooks … A masterful first novel. -- Sophie Raworth * Read by Raworth *

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2018How to be a Kosovan Bride opens up something entirely new to the reader: the history, culture and stories of one of the newest countries in the world. It weaves together Albanian folktale, stories of Kosovan experience of the war in 1999 and a look into the lives of modern-day Kosovan women. The dark undercurrent of Albanian blood feuds underpins a story about the impact of war and the way that new life can emerge from darkness.It is characterised by striking imagery and daring form.Trade Review★★★★★ Hamill's writing is nothing short of extraordinary. She writes in a style scarcely encountered in fiction, addressing the reader as ‘you’ throughout the novel, and thus managing to make us feel unnerved that we have not done more to liberate women like the Returned Girl and the Kosovan Wife. This guilt adds to the sympathy we already feel for the protagonists, with their lack of names and characteristics failing to stop us connecting with them. The stories of the recent war are equally harrowing, and once again, the lack of the specific names of those they feature only serves to make them more moving, as we realise they could have been experienced by almost anyone who suffered through the conflict. -- Em Richardson * The Bookbag *How To Be A Kosovan Bride is a good look at a country in conflict and the people on the wrong side of it, as well as a country still coming into its own. It is hard-hitting and very political but the humour and shortness of it balances this out. * The Worm Hole *This subtle exploration of the complexities of life in newly liberated Kosovo is presented in nuanced, engaging prose. A modern history told through its people. An intelligent, rewarding story. * neverimitate *The book has the rhythm of a set of fairy tales, and actually also incorporates a traditional fairy tale within it. It’s sparse, and effectively repetitive delivery is both utterly compelling and powerful. It also made me realise that despite knowing some Albanian refugees back around 2000, I know woefully little about this part of recent history. Altogether a remarkable book. * Desperate Reader *This brief work (published by Norfolk independent Salt) is presented in very short chapters, written in hypnotically lyrical prose and from a number of perspectives, each with an intensity and sense of completeness which meant that I could only digest a couple at a time. The novel bears witness to the scars of brutal conflict and the collision between tradition and new and outside influences, particularly as they affect the lives of women. In the latter respect, the questions it raises are relevant far beyond Kosovo, the experiences of both the Kosovan Bride and the Returned Girl evoking empathy and recognition. The author’s connection with the place and its culture come through vividly and there is an admirable boldness and subtlety to this often traumatic but ultimately life-affirming story, in which little is spelled out. -- Isabel Costello * The Literary Sofa *I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. It is unlike anything I have read before. it introduced me to a country and a people in subtle but complicated ways. It drew me in from the first page but the short interwoven stories gave me breathing and thinking space. The anonymous characters become immediately intriguing and relatable. -- Rebecca Cooper * Goodreads *

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Collyer Bristow Prizes 2019Shortlisted for The Betty Trask Prize and AwardsLonglisted for The Desmond Elliott Prize 2019John is infinite. He can become any book, any combination of words – every thought, act and expression that has ever been, or ever will be, written. Now 800 years old, John wants to tell his story. Looking back over his life, from its beginnings with a medieval anchoress to his current lodgings beside the deathbed of a Cold War spy, John pieces together his tale: the love that held him together and, in particular, the reasons for a murder that took place in Moscow fifty years earlier, which set in train a shattering series of events.Samuel Fisher’s debut, The Chameleon is a love story about books like no other, weaving texts and lives in a family tale that leads the reader on an extraordinary historical journey, a journey of words as much as of places, and a gripping romance.Trade ReviewThe Chameleon could be considered something of a love story, both about books, and between the people that read them. It follows the story of a family through the years, the memories that shaped them, and the impact of past events on their relationship through the years. In the early stages of the novel we meet a man who is approaching the final days of his life, but in this novel a man’s mortality is portrayed from the perspective of someone infinite, someone who has lived for centuries. * The Owl on the Bookshelf *A fantastic new talent (recommended by Eley Williams!) … [a] mesmerising debut novel (and it really is brilliant). * The Book Hive *Over the weekend I read and hugely enjoyed The Chameleon by Samuel Fisher. It is a novel narrated by an 800-year-old shapeshifting book. It can turn into any book it wants to. It tells the story of the people who have owned it down the years. -- Scott PackAs well as being a new novelist, Fisher is also a founder of Peninsula Press, a small independent publisher whose list to date shows a predilection for innovative and experimental voices. It’s a partiality replicated in this wonderful, funny and audacious debut. Who knows what my copy of The Chameleon will turn into while my back is turned but I look forward to discovering whatever voice or artefact Samuel Fisher will throw himself into next. -- John Boyne * The Irish Times *You might expect a debut by a bookseller to be a hymn to the joy of books, but writing from the actual viewpoint of a book (here the narrator, who can transform himself into any combination of words, places himself at the centre of various events over the past 800 years) takes that love to a whole new level. Fisher has so much fun with this tricksy conceit that the very human story he settles on (amid nods to Virginia Woolf, Jorge Luis Borges and Dylan Thomas), of a cold war spy looking back on a life, takes time to hit home. That it eventually does is testament to his infectious enthusiasm for the power of the novel. -- Ben East * The Observer *Be it a love story, a thriller or a work of history, a written account makes those it depicts last forever. Revelling in its own wizardry, The Chameleon weaves a captivatingly reflexive tale around the life-giving possibilities of the printed word … Fisher practices a deft sampling technique, mixing in snippets of literary classics into his tale and reflecting on their relevance. The result is a compelling narrative and a subtle meditation on literary history. * Hackney Citizen *It seems only natural that if a bookseller was going to write a novel, it should be about books. Fortunately that's exactly what Wivenhoe’s Samuel Fisher has done although The Chameleon, which was released by cool indie publishers Salt this week, is a very different kind of book altogether. That’s because Samuel’s main character John can become any book, any combination of words, every though, act and expression that has ever been, or will ever be, written. -- Neil D’Arcy Jones * Colchester Gazette *This is undoubtedly a literary novel about a family and relationships, but also it’s about a love of books and it’s a spy story. It’s not surprising that the author set up a bookshop, you can almost imagine him spending time rooting through the stock and absorbing stories for this novel. -- Paul Burke * Nudge-Book Magazine *The concept of a self-aware book is the kind of literary conceit that, in the wrong hands, could lead to the worst excesses of post-modern fiction. The book does, after all, identify with Borges’ tale of the infinite library as though it’s “an autobiography written by a future version of myself”. Roger’s story, in turn, is essentially quite a slight vignette that would struggle to fill a novel on its own. But by marrying them together, Fisher balances and intermingles the two strands so that they sustain an engrossing, satisfying and quite touching novel. Greater love hath no book than that it would transform itself into a biography of its most cherished owner. -- Alastair Mabbott * The Herald *Writing a book as the Book is no small feat. One would expect it to be formally inventive, rich with the works of others yet boundlessly original – replete with unusual vocabulary and recourse to every image ever written. It is a credit to the author and to Salt Publishing that The Chameleon carries it off with aplomb. -- Venetia Welby * Review 31 *Fisher’s handling of tone, dialogue and prose that allows the story to be the star of the show. The narrative of Roger and Margery’s relationship, and the affect of the wars of the 20th century on multiple generations of their family is compelling and genuinely pulls at the emotions, while the depiction of 1950s Moscow and London creates an atmospheric noir backdrop. The book’s playfulness and wit allow the novel time to breathe and to entertain. Its stylistic peculiarities augment and bring depth to the plot, rather than usurping its role as the main event. -- Robert Greer * London Magazine *Like its namesake, this little book slithers and slips away from categorisation. Refusing to be pinned down, it is uniquely mischievous and marvellous. I’m quite sure Fisher could have made extremely good novels out of any one of its stories in The Chameleon. Instead, he chose to tell them all, and in doing so gave us a masterpiece. -- Elanor Dymott * Judge, The Betty Trask Prize *

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Book SynopsisBroady's major work of fiction, nearly a decade in the writing, explores the origins and development of the Independent Labour Party the working-class political movement founded in Bradford in 1893. Detailing the exploits, fortunes, and relationships of three central characters: passionate Fred Jowett, ruthless Philip Snowden (later, the Labour Party's first chancellor), and the licentious and unforgettable Victor Grayson.Spanning four decades, the novel covers the socialist foment and activism of fin-de-siècle Britain, the impact of the First World War and the changing landscape of the interwar years, as social change points forward to a new politics and the reinvention of Britain, despite fierce resistance from the establishment and its allies. And all punctuated with sex, comrades, hustings, art, dialect and copious points of order.With cameos of every leading socialist of the age, this sweeping generational tale is thrilling, revolutionary, ribald and laugh-out-loud funny.

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Book SynopsisWhat is the difference between friendship and love? Gustav grows up in a small town in Switzerland, where the horrors of the Second World War seem a distant echo. But Gustav's father has mysteriously died, and his adored mother Emilie is strangely cold and indifferent to him. Gustav's life is a lonely one until he meets Anton. An intense lifelong friendship develops but Anton fails to understand how deeply and irrevocably his life and Gustav's are entwined until it is almost too late...'A perfect novel about life's imperfection... Tremain is writing at the height of her inimitable powers...' Kate Kellaway, Observer'Heartbreaking, unsentimental and beautifully written, and it reinforces my opinion that there are few writers out there with the dexterity or emotional intelligence to rival that of the great Rose Tremain.' John Boyne, The Irish TimesTrade ReviewThis is a perfect novel about life's imperfection... Tremain is writing at the height of her inimitable powers... Remarkable and moving novel. -- Kate Kellaway * Observer *The Gustav Sonata is a magnificent novel, heartbreaking, unsentimental and beautifully written, and it reinforces my opinion that there are few writers out there with the dexterity or emotional intelligence to rival that of the great Rose Tremain. -- John Boyne * The Irish Times *Beautifully tender and brilliantly written novel... A tale of the most powerful part of any friendship: love. ***** * Stylist *In The Gustav Sonata, Tremain once again proves herself to be a writer of exceptional talent ... Previous novels like The Road Home have already showcased her staggering sensitivity and capacity for empathy but they're here again, magnificently undiminished. Tremain is a writer who understands every emotion ... and it's ultimately this understanding that has produced another exquisite book -- Matt Cain * i *Tremain has the painterly genius of an Old Master, and she uses it to stunning effect... Glorious. -- Melissa Katsoulis * The Times *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2014In the winter of 1954, in a construction camp in the remote Tasmanian highlands, when Sonja Buloh was three years old and her father was drinking too much, her mother disappeared into a blizzard never to return.Thirty-five years later, Sonja returns to the place of her childhood to visit her drunkard father. The shadows of the past begin to intrude ever more forcefully into the present, changing forever his living death and her ordered life.Trade ReviewEnthralling and powerful * The Times *This is a confident and poignant novel and succeeds in animating a set of people rarely seen in literary fiction * Guardian *A rare and remarkable achievement * Los Angeles Times *Destined to be a classic * Melbourne Herald Sun *The Sound of One Hand Clapping achieves the difficult task of making clear and real the lives of those who normally stay hidden in history. From its wonderfully atmospheric opening to its touching conclusion, this is a heartbreaking story * Literary Review *

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Book Synopsis'A beautiful haunting novel… looking at a familiar London through a frosty, snowy lens. Wonderful' Caryl PhillipsThe London winter of 1947 is as cold as St Petersburg during the Revolution. Albertine, the wife of a British army officer often abroad on covert government business, finds herself increasingly lonely. Eager to distract herself with work, she takes a job as companion to the mysterious 'Monsieur Ka', a Russian émigré. As she is drawn into Ka’s dramatic past, her own life is shaken to its foundations. For in this family of former princes, there are present temptations which could profoundly affect her future.Trade ReviewGoldsworthy is an elegant writer, skilful at building atmosphere. Her fiction-within-fiction device is clever and intriguing ... the novel could hardly seem more of the moment -- Rose Wild * The Times *It often takes an emigre to describe a country most clearly, and Goldsworthy, who was born in Belgrade but has lived in London for 30 years, is proving a most accomplished poet of her adopted city ... A delight -- Claire Allfree * Daily Mail *In all three of her books, Goldsworthy has displayed a gift for creating atmosphere ... One of Goldsworthy’s strengths is the sensitivity with which she portrays the many marriages in the book ... Much of the pleasure of reading this remarkable novel comes from its passionate dedication to the power of stories. -- Lara Feigel * The Guardian *In this subtle, intelligent novel, Albertine's narration of events in 1947, as her own story begins to carry reminders of Tolstoy's, proves poignant and effective -- Nick Rennison * The Sunday Times *A beautiful haunting novel… looking at a familiar London through a frosty, snowy lens. Wonderful -- Caryl Phillips

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Book Synopsis'A heart-breaking love story from a great new voice' SagaAustralia 1945. Until now Kate Dowd has led a sheltered life on her family's sprawling sheep station but, with her father's health in decline, the management of the farm is increasingly falling to her.Kate is rising to the challenge when the arrival of two Italian POW labourers disrupts everything – especially when Kate finds herself drawn to the enigmatic Luca Canali.Then she receives devastating news. The farm is near bankrupt and the bank is set to repossess. Given just eight weeks to pay the debt, Kate is now in a race to save everything she holds dear.Trade ReviewOver the course of one year, Kate finds a strength and defiance she never knew she had in this fascinating debut novel * Red Magazine *A story of survival and forbidden love, this hooks you in from the atmospheric first pages, and will have you rooting for the feisty heroine * Sunday Mirror *A heart-breaking love story from a great new voice -- Sue Price * Saga *A novel about endurance and a stubborn will to survive, it is written with passion and intensity that is hugely attractive -- Elizabeth BuchanThis sweeping epic set in rural New South Wales is about love, family and testing your mettle -- and it's compulsively readable. Just the thing for those lazy summer days * Marie Claire Australia *Full of moral dilemmas, brutality, and humanity, this is a terrific first novel that illuminates and unknown corner, while creating characters who can and cannot change their minds * Frances Fyfield, judging the 2018 McKitterick Prize *An easy-to-read tale of Australian rural life and family drama ... Rhoades paints a vivid picture of the Australian bush, the strict social code, snobbery and racism -- Sue Barraclough * Irish News *Full of fine descriptions and multi-faceted characters, this is a convincing portrayal of life in 1940’s outback Australia and an engaging read * Choice *The descriptions of life on a 1940s Australian sheep station are authentic, as are all the characters that inhabit this often confronting landscape... Its honesty and truth shine through on every page, and it deserves the highest recommendation * Historical Novels Review *Be immersed in the harsh, rugged romance of the Aussie bush, thanks to a wonderful new voice in literary rural fiction * Australian Women's Weekly *

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Book Synopsis'A modern gothic triumph' Max PorterThe Bass Rock has for centuries watched over the lives that pass under its shadow on the Scottish mainland. And across the centuries the fates of three women are linked: to this place, to each other.In the early 1700s, Sarah, accused of being a witch, flees for her life.In the aftermath of the Second World War, Ruth navigates a new house, a new husband and the strange waters of the local community. Six decades later, the house stands empty. Viv, mourning the death of her father, catalogues Ruth's belongings and discovers her place in the past - and perhaps a way forward.Each woman's choices are circumscribed by the men in their lives. But in sisterhood there is the hope of survival and new life...WINNER OF THE STELLA PRIZE_______________PRAISE FOR THE BASS ROCK:'Daring, heartfelt, explosive' Daisy Johnson'A vividly imagined portrait' Sunday Times'Dark, disturbing and very sophisticated' William Boyd 'Wonderfully subtle and magnificently savage' Claire Fuller Trade ReviewLike Ali Smith’s novels crossed with the TV series Fleabag… [The Bass Rock is] a vividly imagined portrait… There’s much to admire in its little miracles of observation… [Evie Wyld] knows how to maintain suspense, what to withhold and when to reveal it — right up to the spine-chilling last line. -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * Sunday Times *A multilayered masterpiece; vivid, chilling, leaping jubilantly through space and time, it’s a jaw dropping novel that confirms Wyld as one of our most gifted young writers. -- Alex Preston * Observer *Wondrous... Expertly chilling... Wyld consistently entertains, juggling the pleasures of several different genres. -- John Williams * New York Times *Searingly controlled…psychologically fearless and…bitterly funny. Wyld is a genius of contrasting voices and revealed connections, while her foreshadowings are so subtle that the book demands – and eminently repays – a second read. -- Justine Jordan * Guardian *A rising star of British fiction… Wyld’s slow, controlled build-up of dread is excellent… Most powerful of all is Wyld’s evocation of a hairs-on-the-neck sense of foreboding when women interact with volatile men. -- Francesca Carington * Sunday Telegraph, *Novel of the Week* *

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Book Synopsis'A sublime reading experience: delicate, restrained, surpassingly intelligent, uncommonly poised and truly beautiful' Zadie Smith**WINNER OF THE BETTY TRASK AWARD 2020**Midhat Kamal - dreamer, romantic, aesthete - leaves Palestine in 1914 to study medicine in France, under the tutelage of Dr Molineu. He falls deeply in love with Jeannette, the doctor's daughter. But Midhat soon discovers that everything is fragile: love turns to loss, friends become enemies and everyone is looking for a place to belong. Through Midhat's eyes we see the tangled politics and personal tragedies of a turbulent era - the Palestinian struggle for independence, the strife of the early twentieth century, and the looming shadow of the Second World War. Lush and immersive, and devastating in its power, The Parisian is an elegant, richly-imagined debut from a dazzling new voice in fiction.*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2020**SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDWARD STANFORD FICTION AWARD 2019*Trade ReviewIsabella Hammad’s remarkably accomplished debut novel very quickly snares the reader’s attention… Hammad is a natural storyteller... The writing is deeply humane, its wide vision combined with poised restraint… A story of cultures in simultaneous conflict and concord, The Parisian teems with riches – love, war, betrayal and madness – and marks the arrival of a bright new talent. * Guardian *Breathtaking… Isabella Hammad establishes herself here as a literary force to be reckoned with. The Parisian is, in many ways, an extraordinary achievement. * Irish Times *A stunning 576-page debut, both a lush rendering of Palestinian life a century ago under the British Mandate and a sumptuous epic about the enduring nature of love… a small, beautiful, human story blazing against the enormity of the sociopolitical one… a novel you sink into. * Vogue *One of the most ambitious first novels to have appeared in years… Written in soulful, searching prose, it’s a jam-packed epic… Hammad is a natural social novelist with an ear for lively dialogue as well as an ability to illuminate psychological interiority… Hammad is a writer of startling talent – and The Parisian has the rhythm of life. * Observer *The Parisian has an up-close immediacy and stylistic panache that are all the more impressive coming from a London-born writer still in her 20s… There are intimidating 19th-century precedents – Tolstoy, Turgenev, Stendhal… Isabella Hammad has crafted an exquisite novel that, like Midhat himself, delves back into the confusing past while remaining wholly anchored in the precarious present. * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisA collected edition of Bruce Chatwin’s acclaimed, captivating novels – On the Black Hill, Utz and The Viceroy of Ouidah – with an introduction by Hanya YanagiharaWhile Bruce Chatwin is best known as a master of travel literature, his three acclaimed novels must not be overlooked. Here we see a writer exploring human life, from its freedoms to its limits, in ever more exhilarating and unexpected ways.In On the Black Hill, twin brothers begin to realise that the world beyond their familiar fields is changing. In Utz, a scholar visits a communist state to meet an eccentric porcelain collector. And in The Viceroy of Ouidah, an ambitious slave trader makes a choice that could threaten his ultimate dream.Trade ReviewOne of the most influential writers of his generation * Daily Telegraph *A story lonely and rich and human... Every time I think of the events towards the ending I get goose bumps again -- Cynan Jones * Guardian on On the Black Hill *Brilliant, startling, marvellous... Once picked up, the book cannot be put down * The Times on The Viceroy of Ouidah *Quite simply dazzling * Observer on The Viceroy of Ouidah *Not a word is wasted in the telling of this tale. Each sentence is fashioned, polished, and put into place with microscopic care * Daily Telegraph on Utz *

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Book SynopsisA heartbreaking story of love, loss and survival following the unforgettable Daniel Pitt. From the multi-million copy bestselling author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin.Returning from life as a fighter pilot in the First World War, Daniel Pitt is struggling to put the trauma of the Western Front behind him.As the 1920s dawn, he and his wife Rosie move to a tea plantation in Ceylon with their small daughter to make a fresh start. Yet navigating their new world could test their marriage to its limits.Back in England, Rosie's sisters are dealing with impossible challenges in their searches for family, purpose and happiness. These are precarious times, and taking unconventional means may be the only way to get what they want. Around them the world changes, and events in Germany take a dark and forbidding turn. And soon there is no going back...For more adventures with flying ace Daniel Pitt, see The Dust That Falls From Dreams and The Autumn of the Ace.Trade ReviewA wonderful… vividly peopled novel… De Bernières is a generous storyteller * Daily Telegraph *This tragicomic romp has a winning glint in its eye, delivering oodles ofDownton-esque entertainment as it portrays a changing Britain poised uneasily on the brink of modernity * Mail on Sunday *Richly enjoyable…it is written with such vitality….I would guess that many readers, once they have launched themselves into it, will read it straight through * Scotsman *

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Book Synopsis'A cracking historical novel – with a twinge of the surreal – about passion and obsession' The TimesSHORLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2018One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock finds one of his captains waiting eagerly on his doorstep. He has sold Jonah’s ship for what appears to be a mermaid.As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlours and brothels, everyone wants to see Mr Hancock’s marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society, where he meets Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on... and a courtesan of great accomplishment. This meeting will steer both their lives onto a dangerous new course.What will be the cost of their ambitions? And will they be able to escape the legendary destructive power a mermaid is said to possess?Trade ReviewA cracking historical novel – with a twinge of the surreal – about passion and obsession, dreams and reality... The story is by turns intriguing, touching, funny, sad and heartwarming. It will make you laugh and it may make you cry. Mostly, though, the cast of endlessly engaging characters will keep you turning the pages until you get to the wholly satisfying ending... The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock is superb. * The Times *From the first page of this dazzling debut novel, you are pitched into a sumptuously detailed adventure set in the bustle and swagger of 18th century London… The result is a wonderfully written and richly descriptive novel, its brilliantly drawn characters driven by heady and dangerous desires.***** * Sunday Express *Roll up, roll up, a true wonder is on display: a mermaid magicked out of words. The author of this debut set in Georgian London gulled me, by the zest of her writing and sustained authorial slight of hand, into forgetting for a second that they do not exist... Imogen Hermes Gowar delights in the feminine fakery of mermaids, but as a writer she is the real deal. -- Hermione Eyre, author of Viper Wine * Guardian *A sumptuous historical novel... It was an absolute pleasure to lose myself in this beautifully written Georgian adventureHotly anticipated... a bold, sumptuous doorstopper... Gowar has created a dazzlingly original novel, full of heady pleasures and shot through with the kind of irreverent humour you might expect to find in Georgian London. She’s succeeded in creating a fully-realised world that you want to get lost in. But what’s most refreshing is that she gives all the best lines to women. * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisIn 1929 young bride Mehar struggles with her family’s expectations whilst seventy years later her great-grandson discovers what her story can teach him about his own path.'A gorgeous, gripping read' Kamila Shamsie'A multi-generational masterpiece' Daily MailMehar, a young bride in rural Punjab, is trying to discover the identity of her new husband. It is 1929, and she and her sisters-in-law - married to three brothers in a single ceremony - spend their days hard at work on the family farm, sequestered from contact with the men. When Mehar develops a theory as to which of them is hers, a passion is ignited that will put more than one life at risk.Spiralling around Mehar's story is that of a young man who in 1999 flees from England to the deserted sun-scorched farm. Can a summer spent learning of love and of his family's past give him the strength for the journey home?Readers love China Room***** 'I didn't want it to end'***** 'What. A. Book.'***** 'Beautifully crafted...a story as old as time'***** 'A novel of thwarted loves'Shortlisted for the 2022 Rathbones Folio PrizeLonglisted for the 2021 Booker Prize'Amazing storytelling...gripping and very moving' BBC Radio 4, Open Book'I'm blown away by it' Tessa Hadley'Moving...fresh and nourishing' The TimesTrade ReviewSunjeev Sahota's writing is the stuff of miracles. Emotional and heartrending, China Room juggles questions of love, debt, and what it means to build a home alongside the history that carries us. China Room is a propulsive dream, intricately wrought, and Sahota is a maestro. -- Bryan Washington, author of LOT and MEMORIALChina Room is a rare novel that makes you pause in its beauty. -- Francesca Carington * Sunday Telegraph, *Novel of the Week* *Sahota is a truly original novelist, his prose sparingly precise in its beauty, steeped in kindness and deep humanity. -- Ruth Scurr * TLS *With poise, restraint and deep intelligence, Sahota feeds us big, difficult themes - segregation and freedom, revolution and empire - in a form that is unsweetened, fresh and nourishing. Surely this, his third novel, will propel him up the shortlists to the prizewinning status he deserves. -- Melissa Katsoulis * The Times, 'This Book Will Win Prizes' *An extraordinarily gifted writer... Sahota's ability to shine a phrase is not bought for the usual steep formalist price, at the expense of simplicity, intimate feeling, and solid representation. He's both camera and painter, in a literary world that often separates those novelistic tasks. -- James Wood * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisDiscover the blistering first novella from the from the Booker-shortlisted author of Eileen and My Year of Rest and Relaxation.They said I've done something wrong?... And they've just left me down here to starve. Haven't had a drop in days more so...Salem, Massachusetts, 1851: McGlue is in the hold, still too drunk to be sure of his name or situation or orientation – he may have killed a man. That man may have been his best friend. Now, McGlue wants one thing and one thing only: a drink. Because for McGlue, insufferable, terrifying memories accompany sobriety. Asail on the high seas of literary tradition, Ottessa Moshfegh gives us an unforgettable blackguard on a knife-sharp voyage through the fogs of recollection.Trade ReviewWonderful * Guardian *Strange and beautiful * LA Times *A gorgeously sordid story of love and murder on the high seas and in reeky corners of mid-nineteenth-century New York and points North. McGlue is a wonderwork of virtuoso prose and truths that will make you squirm and concur -- Gary LutzYou’re in safe, if sticky hands with an Ottessa Moshfegh story… Everything bulges and reeks in this novella, which feels as if it was written in a permanent state of nausea… The plot spins faster than its main character’s head. What elevates this novella are the scalpelsharp observations about McGlue’s nihilism and her prose, which is as distilled as the liquor McGlue necks. It’s a wild ride. -- Fiona Wilson * The Times *Moshfegh is… a superlative short-story writer… McGlue, which owes as much to Cormac McCarthy as it does to Poe or Melville, is an entertaining curio with some lovely baroque flourishes. -- Alasdair Lees * Independent *

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Book SynopsisA brilliant reconstruction of an incredible journey across medieval Europe to Egypt, and an untold story of forbidden love. 'Enthralling... A spectacular tale told with spectacular accomplishment' Sunday Times, Books of the YearIn the small village in Provence where Stefan Hertmans has made his home, people have long spoken of an ancient pogrom and hidden treasure. Then, at the end of the nineteenth century, an extraordinary collection of Jewish documents was found in a synagogue in Cairo. Hertmans has based The Convert on these historical sources, tracing the life of a young Christian noblewoman who abandoned everything for the love of a rabbi's son. In this startlingly contemporary novel, Hertmans follows in her footsteps as the lovers flee through France together, pursued by crusading knights, and recounts her dazzling journey full of love and hardship, courage and hate, as she travels on towards Jerusalem alone.Jewish National Book Awards 2020 FinalistTrade ReviewEnthralling... A spectacular tale told with spectacular accomplishment -- Peter Kemp * Sunday Times, *Books of the Year* *[An] astonishing tale… The main narrative is told in a pressing, insistent present tense and Hertmans conjures up the medieval world with the same sensuous detailing that was so effective in War and Turpentine… tense and compelling… The Covert is…extraordinarily good * Sunday Times *An imaginative flight, full of darkness and light, lively characters, life-altering conflicts, violence and kindness -- Valerie Martin * New York Times *Written in an often breathless, continuous present tense, Hamoutal’s experiences are visualised following Herman’s own groudbreaking researches… David McKay’s translation is as brilliant as it is frequently brutal, and intermittently lyrical * Jewish Chronicle *Nearly a millennium later, Hamoutal has been remembered and honored -- Sam Sacks * Wall Street Journal *

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Book Synopsis**New York Times bestseller** 'One of the most vivid and convincing portraits of contemporary America I've read' Observer When powerful real-estate tycoon Nero Golden immigrates to the States under mysterious circumstances, he and his three adult children assume new identities, taking 'Roman' names, and move into a grand mansion in downtown Manhattan. Arriving shortly after the inauguration of Barack Obama, he and his sons, each extraordinary in his own right, quickly establish themselves at the apex of New York society. The story of the Golden family is told from the point of view of their Manhattanite neighbour and confidant, René, an aspiring filmmaker who finds in the Goldens the perfect subject. René chronicles the undoing of the house of Golden: the high life of money, of art and fashion, a sibling quarrel, an unexpected metamorphosis, the arrival of a beautiful woman, betrayal and murder, and far away, in their abandoned homeland, some decent intelligence work. In a new world order of alternative truths, Salman Rushdie has written the ultimate novel about identity, truth, terror and lies. A brilliant, heart-breaking realist novel that is not only uncannily prescient but shows one of the world's greatest storytellers working at the height of his powers.Trade ReviewIt’s one of the most vivid and convincing portraits of contemporary America I’ve read. -- Alex Preston * Observer, Book of the Year *[A] complex and witty fable … Rushdie has always been an impish myth-manipulator, refusing to accept, as in this novel, that the lives of the emperors can’t be blended with film noir, popular culture and crime caper. On the evidence of The Golden House, he is quite right. -- Alex Clark * Observer *Unruly but exuberant… Much of the success of The Golden House, in fact, lies in its humour and in the vigour of its storytelling… There is a glowing energy to the prose that makes this Rushdie’s most enjoyable, mischievous and American of novels. -- Arifa Akbar * Financial Times *Intelligent and darkly funny...with a raw political edge. -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * The Times *Rushdie writes with a Dickensian exuberance, always full of humour as well as striking scornful, tragic notes. Often he plays the role of satirist. His caricatures and outsize figures are full of life, wickedness and human energy: again, as in Dickens, grounded in a precise social and political scene. -- Jereme Boyd Maunsell * Evening Standard *

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Book Synopsis**LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2018**An elegiac novel set in post-WW2 London about memory, family secrets and lies, from the internationally acclaimed author of The English Patient It is 1945, and London is still reeling from the Blitz. 14-year-old Nathaniel and his sister, Rachel, are apparently abandoned by their parents, left in the care of an enigmatic figure named The Moth. They suspect he might be a criminal, and grow both more convinced and less concerned as they get to know his eccentric crew of friends: men and women all who seem determined to protect Rachel and Nathaniel. But are they really what and who they claim to be? A dozen years later, Nathaniel journeys through recollection, reality and imagination to uncover all he didn’t know or understand in that time, to piece together a story that feels something like the truth. ‘A novel of shadowy brilliance’ The Times ‘Fiction as rich, as beautiful, as melancholy as life itself, written in the visionary language of memory’ Observer ‘Ondaatje brilliantly threads the mysteries and disguises and tangled loyalties and personal yearnings of the secret world... I haven’t read a better novel this year’ TelegraphTrade ReviewOur book of the year – and maybe of Ondaatje's career. * Daily Telegraph **Books of the Year** *Michael Ondaatje’s Warlight is a rare and beautiful thing – a deeply retrospective novel about war secrets that feels neither overstated nor overly ethereal. In sumptuous prose, Ondaatje limns the psyche of a man still trying to make sense of his complicated relationships and the mysteries surrounding his absent parents. One of the most absorbing books I’ve read all year. -- Esi Edugyan * Times Literary Supplement **Books of the Year 2018** *Warlight sucked me in deeper than any novel I can remember… fiction as rich, as beautiful, as melancholy as life itself. -- Alex Preston * Observer *From the very first sentence you’re desperate to find out what happens next… All is slowly, tantalisingly revealed, in flashbacks, fragments, digressions and stories within stories, narrated in majestic Ondaatjean style. -- Ian Sansom * New Statesman *In Warlight we have a writer who knows exactly what he’s doing – and has constructed something of real emotional and psychological heft, delicate melancholy and yet, frequently, page-turning plottiness. I haven’t read a better novel this year. -- Sam Leith * Daily Telegraph *The latest novel from the author of The English Patient is just glorious... rendered with Dickensian verve. My hot tip for the Booker Prize. -- Allison Pearson * Harpers Bazaar *Ondaatje’s first novel in seven years mesmerizes from start to finish. -- Hephzibah Anderson * Mail on Sunday *I spend the months before the publication of a new Michael Ondaatje novel trying to keep my expectations in check, telling myself it's simply unfair to expect as much of any writer as I expect from Ondaatje. Then he pulls off a Warlight, and I'm embarrassed by my own lack of faith... [Warlight] is surprising, delightful, heartbreaking and written as only Ondaatje could write it. -- Kamila Shamsie * Observer *Compulsively and grippingly readable. In fact I read it first at a gallop, enthralled by the image of a city and a world distorted and all but destroyed by war, and then again slowly, determined to savour the details and extract as much as I could from it. Much remained puzzling on this second reading, but two things are clear: Michael Ondaatje is a marvellous writer, and Warlight is a novel which will continue to play in the reader’s imagination. -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *Ondaatje [is] such a thrilling writer… I loved [Warlight]. -- Johanna Thomas-Corr * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisAn odyssey of loss and salvation ranging across four generations of fathers and sons, in the finest tradition of American storytelling.The year is 1966 and a young man named Vollie Frade, almost on a whim, enlists in the United States Marine Corps to fight in Vietnam. Breaking definitively from his rural Iowan parents, Vollie puts in motion a chain of events that sees him go to work for people with intentions he cannot yet grasp. From the Cambodian jungle, to a flophouse in Queens, to a commune in New Mexico, Vollie's path traces a secret history of life on the margins of America, culminating with an inevitable and terrible reckoning.Scibona’s story of a restless soldier pressed into service for a clandestine branch of the US government unfolds against the backdrop of the seismic shifts in global politics of the second half of the twentieth century. Epic in scope but intimate in feeling, this is a deeply immersive read from a rising star of American fiction.Trade ReviewA magnificent counterpoint of four generations of fathers and sons... Like DeLillo in [Underworld], Scibona wreaks an epic from the lives of ordinary, supposedly negligible men. Scibona has built a masterpiece. * New York Times Book Review *[Scibona is] a born novelist: He conveys a world in a detail. Scibona can take us into the broken heart of a child lost in a foreign airport, the shattering chaos of a night assault during the Vietnam War and the quiet intensity of a working-class New York neighborhood... Work like The Volunteer can never be one thing only, upbeat or down. It’s teeming, brilliantly. * The Washington Post *Salvatore Scibona’s exhilarating new novel [is]… a searing record of war and the lies people live by… Despite all the destruction and despair, in this novel hope emerges as the wildest high. * Economist *What perfect pitch, what perfect rhythm. These are sentences that are in love with the world and that make us love the world, too. * The Boston Globe *Scibona is a remarkable writer and The Volunteer is a remarkable book... It is a war story unlike any other war story, a story of fathers and sons, of family (both biological and manufactured) and of generations of betrayal and abandonment... All of it — all of it — is just so ridiculously beautiful. * NPR *

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Book Synopsis‘A gripping espionage thriller’ Observer London, 1941. The city is in blackout and an enemy is hiding in plain sight. Jack Hoste has become entangled in a national treachery. His mission: to locate the most dangerous Nazi agent in the country. He soon receives a promising lead in Amy Strallen, whose life is a world away from the machinations of Nazi sympathisers. But when Hoste pays a visit to Amy’s office, the dangerous game he is playing becomes even more lethal. 'A cracking tale of high-stakes espionage... Intensely atmospheric' Mail on Sunday*Perfect for fans of John Le Carré and Charles Cumming*Trade Review[A] gripping espionage thriller... An addictive cocktail of action, romance and politics. * Observer *Our Friends in Berlin brings to the fore all of Quinn’s talents – gripping storylines, plot twists, thorough research and elegant prose. * The Times *A cracking tale of high-stakes espionage and poignant romance. It's elegantly observed, expertly paced and intensely atmospheric. * Mail on Sunday *Those in search of a smart, tautly rendered, atmospheric beach read should pack a copy now. * Metro *Our Friends in Berlin is an immensely enjoyable Buchanesque adventure... Its descriptions of London under bombardment are vividly sensuous and beautiful… Its characters are intriguing and deftly presented… Most memorably of all, though, the book and its cast are shot through with a persuasive postmodern melancholy, the hard-wired ambivalence that is very much Le Carré rather than Buchan. This sensibility allows the novel to illuminate complex times. * Guardian *Quinn’s gripping plot about spying is matched by the evocatively gloomy atmosphere of wartime London that he conjures up. * The Times *A wartime novel with atmospheric evocations of London in the Blitz -- Sebastian Faulks * Good Housekeeping *Anthony Quinn's Our Friends in Berlin is set in the Blitz, and captures the horror and strange romance of blackouts, near-death experiences and not knowing who to trust. An Atmospheric thriller. * Grazia, This Winter's Must Reads *A tightly woven spy thriller full of narrative hairpin bends and cinematic set pieces, this is so atmospheric you can almost taste the cigarettes -- Claire Allfree * Metro *An eye for a plot, a profound gift for character and a faultless sense of period and place: Anthony Quinn was always going to write first-rate thrillers, and Our Friends in Berlin is pure pleasure. -- David HareThe best spy novel set in wartime London. A masterpiece… Anthony’s book is wonderful. He is a master at creating page-turning tension. Our Friends in Berlin grips the reader from the very first page and won’t let go. Good authors create period authenticity; superb authors add their own creative mood music to that. Anthony Quinn’s Blitz-battered London is more than black out curtains, blast tape and wrecked buildings, it is an eerie setting of Hitchcockian menace. -- Edward Wilson, author of A Very British EndingWild horses could not have spoilt my enjoyment of this pitch-perfect reimagining of British counter-espionage and anti-fascism during the Blitz. I raced through it – twice… to spend more time with Anthony Quinn’s superb characters… [a] classy, entertaining performance. * Tablet *A masterful evocation of wartime London and the plotting of Nazi sympathisers. Quinn’s storytelling is gripping, his writing delightful. An addictive page-turner that expertly combines both love story and thriller. You won’t want it to end. -- David Young, award-winning author of Stasi ChildThis tale of wartime espionage is clever, perceptive and a very good read… Quinn’s vividly imagined portrait is entirely convincing… This story is beautifully written and elaborately plotted… the plaudits are well deserved. * Literary Review *Anthony Quinn writes novels that I live in while reading them. Our Friends in Berlin, set in wartime London, didn't disappoint. * Red *This Month's Best Books* *Quinn paints a gripping picture of a city trying to carry on as normal under extreme circumstances… You’ll find the pages turning faster as you approach the end. -- Pat Carty * Hot Press *I was sucked into this story from the start; something about it kept me in a trance… Excellent. * Evening Standard *An addictive cocktail of action, romance and politics -- Anthony Cummins * Observer *

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Book SynopsisDiscover the enthralling Richard & Judy Book Club pick from international bestseller Joseph O'Connor.'The best novel that I've read in the last twenty years... It's fantastic' RICHARD MADELEY'Breathtaking... A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love' Sadie Jones, Guardian__________London, 1878. Three extraordinary people begin their life together - and the idea for Dracula is born.Fresh from life in Dublin, Bram Stoker - now manager of the Lyceum Theatre - is wrestling with dark demons in a new city, in a new marriage, and with his own literary aspirations. As he walks the streets at night, streets haunted by the Ripper and the gossip which swirls around his friend Oscar Wilde, he finds new inspiration. Soon, the eerie tale of Dracula begins to emerge.But Henry Irving, volcanic leading man and impresario, is determined that nothing will get in the way of Bram's dedication to the Lyceum. And both men are growing ever more enchanted by the beauty and boldness of Ellen Terry, the most celebrated actress of her generation.__________Shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award 2019Winner of the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year'A colourful tale of secret love and public performance...in a romantic, lost London' The Times'Hugely entertaining and atmospheric' DEBORAH MOGGACH'Extraordinary' SEBASTIAN BARRY'A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story' James Naughtie, Radio Times'Fabulous... A truly great book you simply cannot put down' JUDY FINNIGAN'Rich, sad, funny, and a beautiful read. You'll LOVE it' RICHARD MADELEY'Ingenious...hugely impressive and utterly haunting' Sunday Mirror*JOSEPH O'CONNOR'S STUNNING NEW NOVEL, MY FATHER'S HOUSE, IS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW*Trade ReviewDazzling...the panache and subtlety of his prose perfectly match that gusto and creative finesse of the High Victorian world his novel wonderfully evokes * Sunday Times *A novel I'd recommend to anyone: a rollicking and moving story... Delicious and clever late-Victorian gothic -- James Naughtie * Radio Times *An ingenious novel… O’Connor’s work is hugely impressive and utterly haunting * Sunday Mirror *Joseph O’Connor is a very great artist and storyteller. The quotient of enjoyment in his extraordinary new novel is stupendous -- Sebastian BarryA hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly – at times, astonishingly – a story of transience, loss and true loyalty -- Sadie Jones * Guardian *A work of Gothic splendour...O'Connor's writing is always intensely atmospheric. As a romp through Ripper-ravaged London, Shadowplay is mightily entertaining. But as a meditation on hidden sexuality, it is powerful and poignant * Literary Review *A fabulous novel that tells the otherwise largely unknown story of the man behind Gothic horror's most enduring character… The narrative stretches decades, and throbs with theatrical vigour. This is writing at its most immersive, full of Dickensian pulchritude and pathos. It should, and might well, win prizes -- Nick Duerden * i *A rollicking tale… an affecting depiction of artistic and social emancipation… O’Connor’s well-researched theatrical caper offers total immersion in a romantic, lost London... be nourished by a colourful tale of secret love and public performance * The Times *There are few living writers who can take us back in time so assuredly, with such sensual density, through such gorgeous sentences. Joseph O’Connor is a wonder, and Shadowplay is a triumph. -- Peter Carey, twice winner of the Booker PrizeGorgeously dark… Shadowplay is an accomplished, compelling read * Herald *A hugely entertaining and atmospheric novel, one can almost smell the greasepaint -- Deborah MoggachA mesmerising read, meticulously researched, with beautiful prose...O'Connor has the gift of conjuring up any location....Wonderful suspense a la Wilkie Collins * Sunday Independent *Wonderful. The writing is beautiful. -- Derek JacobiThis is a marvellous novel: at once freewheeling, exultant, fully inhabiting the momentary, transitory nature of its world; and intensely aware of the limitations – too frequently self-imposed – of our painfully fleeting lives. * Dublin Review of Books *One of Ireland's finest writers -- John Boyne * Washington Post *Three famous Victorians carry this sparkling historical novel: Sir Henry Irving, the great actor-manager; Ellen Terry, his leading lady; and Bram Stoker, the young Irishman who worked for Irving as a theatre manager before writing Dracula. From their entangled lives Joseph O’Connor weaves a story of love and loyalty, rich in wit and imagination. -- 100 Sizzling Summer Books * Daily Mail *One of the best writers working today -- Alice WalkerIn gorgeous sentences, Joseph O’Connor captures the essence of three very different artistic temperaments in all their nobility and glorious absurdity -- Jake Kerridge * Sunday Express *Joseph O'Connor is the only writer I know who can make you laugh and cry in the same sentence. -- Lawrence NorfolkJoseph O'Connor is the only writer I know who can make you laugh and cry in the same sentence. -- Lawrence NorfolkMagnificent -- John BoyneA virtuoso act of literary ventriloquism. Shadowplay is funny, smart, tender, wise and written with inch-perfect precision -- Colum McCannA thrilling novel, exquisitely contrived to show the characters whose loves and lives inspired Dracula. A great tribute, and a work of art. Deeply affecting. -- Essie FoxAs fascinating and memorable as anything O'Connor has done. The writing, too, as thrilling as ever. A great writer performing Olympian literary storytelling. -- Sir Bob GeldofO’Connor is a true master of historical fiction, able to illuminate a bygone age with skill, wit and imagination -- Max Davidson * Mail on Sunday *A lushly enjoyable pastiche of fin-de-siècle prose, in which Victorian euphemism is an authenticating stamp that double as a source of humour -- Anthony Cummins * Observer *A luminous and masterly depiction of Bram Stoker’s time at the Lyceum, this wonderful book explores the complex nature of love and creativity. Utterly captivating. -- Sophia TobinBeautifully written. O’Connor creates a vivid and vigorous world of his own -- Andrew Taylor * Spectator *Beautifully written and gorgeously atmospheric * Best *A beautifully written masterpiece * SHEmazing! *A vividly written and atmospheric meditation on the creative process -- Elizabeth Buchan * Daily Mail *O’Connor is masterly at evoking the late Victorian era; its train journeys, street scenes, formality and banter… O’Connor is masterly at evoking the late Victorian era; its train journeys, street scenes, formality and banter -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times *Rich and vivid * Daily Telegraph *Joseph O'Connor has written an entertaining novel that combines narrative with transcripts of recordings, diary entries and other notes. It steeps viewers in the theatre of Irving and Terry in the late 1870s and beyond, providing much informative colour at the same time as delving deeply and frankly into a series of relationships that are generally convincing. -- Philip Fisher * British Theatre Guide *O’Connor tells his story in rich and stylish prose * Times Literary Supplement *A rousing story about a remarkable woman * Mail on Sunday, *Summer reads of 2019* *Joseph O’Connor’s vivid descriptive writing evokes Stoker’s memories of the post-famine Ireland of his youth and of Irving’s company’s fraught tours of America… [his] fine writing, his wit and sympathy create a richly enjoyable backdrop for some familiar characters * Tablet, *Novel of the Week* *Enthralling… Brings to teeming life the London of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras * Irish Times *Brilliant... alternately deeply moving and laugh-aloud funny -- Peter Marshall * History Today *O'Connor's gift is to weave whimsical moments in between the complexity of relationships and people... a beautiful story -- Tracey Steel * People's Friend *An ambitious celebration of friendship, theatre and the power of darkness, Shadowplay is chilling and dramatic in equal measure -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail *A wonderfully evocative tale within a tale -- Ben East * Observer *A thrilling novel, exquisitely contrived to show the characters whose loves and lives inspired Dracula. A great tribute, and a work of art. Deeply affecting. -- Essie Fox

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Book SynopsisKaren Russell is the author of six books of fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. Swamplandia! was a New York Times Top Ten Book and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She is a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and the recipient of the 2024 Mary McCarthy Award, the 2023 Bottari Lattes Grinzane Prize, the Shirley Jackson Award, and two National Magazine Awards for Fiction. She was named one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists and selected for the New Yorker's 20 under 40 list. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, son, and daughter.

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Book SynopsisAll that Dora Riley wants is her husband home safe for Christmas… The Nightingale Hospital, London, 1944: With her husband Nick away fighting, Dora struggles to keep the home fires burning and is put in charge of a ward full of German prisoners of war. Can she find it in her heart to care for her enemies? Fellow nurse Kitty thinks she might be falling for a German soldier, whilst Dora’s old friend Helen returns from Europe with a dark secret. Can the women overcome their prejudices and the troubles of their past to do their duty for their country?Trade ReviewThe new Nightingales Christmas novel from the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of Nightingales Under the Mistletoe. Set during the Second World War.All that Dora Riley wants is her husband home safe for Christmas… The Nightingale Hospital, London, 1944: With her husband Nick away fighting, Dora struggles to keep the home fires burning and is put in charge of a ward full of German prisoners of war. Can she find it in her heart to care for her enemies? Fellow nurse Kitty thinks she might be falling for a German soldier, whilst Dora’s old friend Helen returns from Europe with a dark secret. Can the women overcome their prejudices and the troubles of their past to do their duty for their country? * from the publisher's description *A must for fans of Call the Midwife or for anyone who enjoys stories set on the home-front in WW2 * Frost Magazine *Compelling, emotional and as gripping as ever * Bookish Jottings *A lovely page-turner * Prima *

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Book SynopsisTHE NINTH CLIFFEHAVEN NOVEL BY SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR ELLIE DEANAfter the death of her parents in a bombing raid, Mary Jones discovers a secret in the pages of father’s diaries. Her search for the truth brings her to Cliffehaven on the south coast. Here, she finds work at the Kodak factory, sifting through the Airgraphs which are being sent from all over the world by the men and women in the armed forces, and by their loved ones. All the while she longs for news of her own sweetheart, fighting in Europe. With the help of Peggy Reilly and her family at Beach View Boarding House Mary starts to build a new life for herself. But events that happened eighteen years before still echo, and should a promise Peggy made then be broken, it will have a devastating affect not only on Mary, but them all…A fabulous, heart-warming Second World War novel in Ellie Dean's bestselling Cliffehaven series (previously called the Beach View Boarding House series).Trade ReviewTHE NINTH CLIFFEHAVEN NOVEL BY SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR ELLIE DEANAfter the death of her parents in a bombing raid, Mary Jones discovers a secret in the pages of father’s diaries. Her search for the truth brings her to Cliffehaven on the south coast. * From the publisher's description *

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Book SynopsisPreviously published as A Trail of Fire. Includes two never-published-before short stories from the bestselling author of the Outlander series.Featuring all the characters you’ve come to love from the Outlander series, this brilliant collection of short stories throws you into the magical world of Outlander. Includes previously published Virgins, The Space Between, Plague of Zombies, A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows and The Custom of the Army, plus two never seen before works – Besieged and A Fugitive Green.A must-read for all Outlander fans!Trade ReviewPreviously published as A Trail of Fire. Includes two never-published-before short stories from the bestselling author of the Outlander series. A must-read for all Outlander fans! * from the publisher's description *[a] brilliant collection * No.1 Magazine *Based on Diana Gabaldon’s novels, Outlander serves up atmospheric fish out of water fun with lashings of romance. * Daily Star on Sunday *

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Book Synopsis* The fifth novel in the bestselling Outlander series - now a MAJOR TV series *______________1771: the Colony of North Carolina stands in an uneasy balance, with the rich, colonial aristocracy on one side and the struggling pioneers of the backcountry on the other.Between them stands Jamie Fraser, a man of honour, a man of worth. Exiled from his beloved Scotland, he is at last possessed of the land he has longed for. By his side his extraordinary wife, Claire, a woman out of time and out of place, blessed with the uneasy gift of the knowledge of what is to come.In the past, that knowledge has brought both danger and deliverance to Jamie and Claire. Now it could be a flickering torch that will light their way through the perilous years ahead - or might ignite a conflagration that will leave their lives in ashes.______________Readers can't get enough of The Fiery Cross . . .***** 'Love, love, love.'***** 'I absolutely LOVE these books. This installment was no exception.....'***** 'Sigh of contentment: Book Five is one of my favorite installments in one of my all-time favorite series.'***** 'SO. MUCH. AWESOME.'***** 'This is a most excellent novel.'Trade ReviewA story that is both moving and magical * Northern Echo *

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Book SynopsisTHE THIRD NOVEL IN THE BESTSELLING OUTLANDER SERIES, NOW A HIT TV SHOWJamie Fraser is lying on the battlefield of Culloden, where he rises wounded, to face execution or imprisonment. Either prospect pales beside the pain of loss - his wife is gone. Forever.But sometimes forever is shorter than one thinks. In 1746, Claire Fraser made a perilous journey through time, leaving her young husband to die at Culloden, in order to protect their unborn child. In 1968, Claire has just been struck through the heart, discovering that Jamie Fraser didn't die in battle.But where is Jamie now? With the help of her grown daughter, Claire sets out to find the man who was her life - and might be once again.Trade ReviewCompulsively readable... triumphant... a superior writer of histoical romance. * Publishers Weekly *

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