Penguin Random House Group

Book SynopsisHandsome, worldly and intelligent, Solal holds a position of enviable power in 1930s Geneva. But as Under-Secretary-General of the League of Nations, he has become bitterly disillusioned by international affairs and the self-serving people who surround him. His one hope for redemption is through love - and he embarks on the audacious seduction of Ariane, the beautiful, daydreaming wife of a dull-witted, social-climbing employee of the League.In Her Lover, Albert Cohen created a world humming with the many vivid and eccentric voices of its wonderfully observed characters. Brilliantly inventive and baroquely detailed, this magnificent novel is a merciless satire of middle-class manners and ambitions, and of the Byzantine machinations of global politics.

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Book Synopsis''Puts Chandler to shame ... Hughes is the master we keep turning to'' Sara ParetskyAfter the war, cynical veteran Dix Steele has moved to L.A., a city terrified by a strangler preying on young women. Bumping into an old friend, now a detective working on the case, Dix is thrilled by closely following the progress of the police. And meeting his new neighbour, sultry and beautiful actress Laurel Gray, brings even more excitement into his life. But the strangler is still prowling the streets - and Laurel may be in more danger than she realises...In a Lonely Place was adapted for film in 1950, with Humphrey Bogart as Dix Steele.Trade ReviewMy favourite crime writer. Full stop -- Sara Weinman * Los Angeles Review of Books *Dorothy B. Hughes is the unsung godmother of every feisty female investigator who has hit the streets in the last twenty-five years -- Val McDermindDorothy B. Hughes was in a class of her own. To be a female author of hard-boiled fiction back in the 1940s was unusual enough, but to write a first-person narrative from the viewpoint of a male serial killer was breaking new ground by anybody's standards. She marked out this territory years before most other writers even knew it existed. -- Max Decharne, author of Hardboiled Hollywood: The Origins of Great Crime FilmsIf you wake up in the night screaming with terror, don't say we didn't warn you. * New York Times Book Review *Dorothy B. Hughes was in a class of her own. To be a female author of hard-boiled fiction back in the 1940s was unusual enough, but to write a first-person narrative from the viewpoint of a male serial killer was breaking new ground by anybody's standards. She marked out this territory years before most other writers even knew it existed. -- Max Decharne, author of Hardboiled Hollywood: The Origins of Great Crime FilmsAn excellent novel -- David Thomson * Have You Seen...? *A tour de force . . . The structure is flawless, and the scenes of postwar L.A. have an immediacy that puts Chandler to shame. No wonder Hughes is the master we keep turning to. -- Sara Paretsky

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Book SynopsisAn electrifying novel from the Carnegie medal-winning Kevin Brooks. Now a Netflix movie starring Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones).Before the attack, sixteen-year-old Tom Harvey was just an ordinary boy.But now fragments of a shattered iPhone are embedded in his brain and it''s having an extraordinary effect...Because now Tom has powers. The ability to know and see more than he could ever imagine. And with incredible power comes knowledge - and a choice. Seek revenge on the violent gangs that rule his estate and assaulted his friend Lucy, or keep quiet?Tom has control when everything else is out of control. But it''s a dangerous price to pay. And the consequences are terrifying. . .''A compulsive, atmospheric mystery'' Sunday Times''A masterly writer, and this book would put many authors of ''grown up'' detective fiction to shame'' Mail on SundayKevin Brooks is the award-winning author of nine grippiTrade Review[Kevin Brooks'] pacey plots, masterly style and philosophical ideas in novels such as Martyn Pig, Killing God and Black Rabbit Summer have made him a cult among teens. This, though, is the big one. Its power as literature draws on a reality that few adult novelists have the stomach to address. It should be read by everyone. -- Amanda Craig * The Times *Children's Book of the Month: Gripping, streetwise and profound. -- Geraldine Brennan * The Observer *iBoy is a hugely readable revenge fantasy....confoundedly gripping. -- Nick Tucker * Independent on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisJACK FLETCHER IS ON THE RUN. With no sensei to guide him, he has just his wits and his swords...

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Book SynopsisMatched is the first book in an utterly compelling series by Ally Condie.On her seventeenth birthday, Cassia meets her Match. Society dictates he is her perfect partner for life.Except he''s not.In Cassia''s society, Officials decide who people love.How many children they have.Where they work.When they die.But, as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices of her own.And that''s when her whole world begins to unravel . . .''Don''t miss this gripping page turner'' - She''A must read'' - The Sun

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Book SynopsisJack was seven and Chloe was six. Jack liked his sister, but loved to play tricks . . . So begins this rollicking, rhyming tale that celebrates the power of imagination - with a difference! When Chloe''s silvery crayon develops magical powers, it sparks a thrilling chase through a fairytale world - an unbelievable adventure where her drawings spring to life! Can Chloe use all her creativity and inventiveness to rescue her brother and save the day?An adventure from the author of Do Not Enter the Monster Zoo, brought to life by the bestselling illustrator behind The Littlest Bandit and Girls Can Do Anything.

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Book Synopsis''The ultimate traveller guilty pleasure, offering a look inside some of the most compelling cabins around the world'' Lonely Planet Initially created by a group of friends as an online scrapbook, Cabin Porn became a phenomenon following the publication of the first volume of photographs of hand-made homes in breathtaking natural landscapes around the world. This new book - now available as a compact paperback - delves deeper into the best-loved homes featured on the blog over the last ten years, offering close-ups of the stunning architecture and interior design that make them truly remarkable. With more timeless photography and compelling design stories, Cabin Porn: Inside brings fresh inspiration for your quiet place somewhere.Trade ReviewA vision board for those who dream of getting away from it all and experiencing nature first-hand * Apartment Therapy *The ultimate traveller guilty pleasure, offering a look inside some of the most compelling cabins around the world * Lonely Planet *Gorgeous . . . simple-yet-stunning interiors * Herald *

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Book Synopsis*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE**A TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR*''A bona fide historical classic'' Sunday Times''Simply one of the best history books I have ever read'' BBC HistoryIn the frontier town of Springfield in 1651, peculiar things begin to happen. Precious food spoils, livestock ails and property vanishes. People suffer fits and are plagued by strange visions and dreams. Children sicken and die. As tensions rise, rumours spread of witches and heretics, and the community becomes tangled in a web of spite, distrust and denunciation. The finger of suspicion falls on a young couple struggling to make a home and feed their children: Hugh Parsons the irascible brickmaker and his troubled wife, Mary. It will be their downfall.The Ruin of All Witches tells the dark, real-life folktale of witch-hunting iTrade ReviewA bona fide historical classic ... Historical writing of the very highest class, impeccably researched and written with supreme imagination and wisdom. -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *Unforgettable ... Whether you read The Ruin of All Witches for a startling insight into another age, or see its portrait of mob hysteria and witch-hunts as darkly analogous to our own uneasy times, this is one of those rare history books that stays with you and haunts you long after you have turned the last page. Superb. -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *The genius of Gaskill's book lies in his meticulous piecing together of daily life in New England ... Gaskill tells this deeply tragic story with immense empathy and compassion, as well as historical depth. A compelling study that offers a chilling insight into human nature in an age of superstition. -- PD Smith * The Guardian *Breathtaking ... a great story, exquisitely told. I had to reread certain sentences aloud, just to savour their insight and cadence ... This book is history at its illuminative best. -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *The narrative is as compelling as a campfire story ... This is deeply atmospheric writing, carefully sourced ... As with the best history, the lessons of Springfield's past may serve to inform the citizens of a still-divided and conflicted nation. -- Erica Wagner * Financial Times *Evocative right from the start, the reader is drawn in and excited in both body and mind ... It's a feast ... a valuable gift to every reader of history. -- Marion Gibson * BBC History Magazine *A portrait of a community during one of the first Puritan witch panics in the New World - and a timeless study of how paranoia, superstition and social unrest fuel fantasies ... Mr Gaskill's immersive approach brings the fate of his subjects movingly to life. * The Economist *Simply one of the best history books I have ever read ... His deeply imaginative, empathetic and yet empirical exploration of a past moment of crisis is history at its finest. -- Suzannah Lipscomb * BBC History *A rich and beautifully written microhistory ... a work of remarkable historical reconstruction. -- Edward Vallance * Literary Review *Malcolm Gaskill shows us with filmic vividness the daily life of the riven, marginal community of Springfield, where settlers from a far country dwell on the edge of the unknown. The clarity of his thought and his writing, his insight, and the immediacy of the telling, combine to make this the best and most enjoyable kind of history writing. Malcolm Gaskill goes to meet the past on its own terms and in its own place, and the result is thought-provoking and absorbing. -- Hilary MantelA surefooted and gripping narrative ... Gaskill's Springfield joins Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou, Tony Wrigley's Colyton and other places of little intrinsic importance which for one reason or another have been immortalised by modern historiography... There is currently no memorial for Hugh and Mary Parsons in Springfield like those which have been erected in other places where witches were hunted. Perhaps they will get one now. -- Keith Thomas * London Review of Books *Reads with the fluency of a novel ... Crucially, Gaskill writes to make us see the world as those early Puritans saw it; how their own psychological fears, of financial ruin, of neighbours, of Native Americans and the hostile elements, could seed the first accusations of witchcraft. -- Samira Ahmend * The New Humanist *An impressively researched account, bringing to life the fears and preoccupations of obscure and humble people, and setting them in the context of their time and place. -- Richard Francis * The Spectator *Powerfully evocative, a grimly compelling morality tale with more than one unexpected twist ... an outstanding achievement, haunting, revelatory and superbly written - a strong contender for the best history book of 2021. -- Andrew Lynch * Irish Independent *A pulsating history of sorcery and superstition ... an academic feat but reads like a Stephen King thriller - and it's just right for our conspiracy-laden times. -- Robert Epstein * The i *A riveting micro-history, brilliantly set within the broader social and cultural history of witchcraft. Drawing on previously neglected source material, this book is elegantly written and full of intelligent analysis. * Wolfson History Prize 2022 *

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Book SynopsisA BERNARD SAMSON NOVEL''The master of espionage writing at his brilliant best'' Mail on SundayWith the Cold War drawing to a close in the East, Bernard Samson is still haunted by the events that have turned his life upside down over the last ten years. But when he takes a train from Moscow to Berlin, he stumbles across a clue that may lead him to the truth at last - even though, in finding the answers, he could lose everything. Bringing the ''Faith, Hope and Charity'' trilogy, and Bernard Samson''s story, to a stunning conclusion, this final volume brilliantly shows the human cost of the spying game.''The series represents a magnificent achievement in the field of espionage writing and Samson remains one of the great spies'' Irish TimesTrade ReviewHere is the master of espionage writing at his brilliant best. * Mail on Sunday *Deighton's prose is tough, clean and compelling ... storytelling of this high quality will never go out of fashion. * Sunday Express *Like the vintage Bentley, Deighton's prose runs extremely smoothly. * Times Literary Supplement *Deighton's outstanding achievement is the nine-volume series chronicling the life and times of Bernard Samson ... Deighton's Samson trilogies are as much about the elusiveness of human interactions as espionage. Spying is not a secret world sealed off from ordinary life but an extension of the world we all live in. -- John Gray * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisEscape to the ocean with the entrancing, unforgettable winner of the Costa Book of the Year - as read on BBC Radio 4.On a quiet day, near the Caribbean island of Black Conch, a mermaid raises her barnacled head from the flat grey sea. She is attracted by David, a fisherman waiting for a catch, singing to himself with his guitar. Aycayia the mermaid has been living in the vast ocean all alone for centuries.When Aycayia is caught and dragged ashore by American tourists, David rescues her with the aim of putting her back in the ocean. But it is soon clear that the mermaid is already transforming into a woman.This is the story of their love affair, of an island and of the great wide sea.'Mesmerising' Maggie O'Farrell author of The Marriage Portrait 'A unique talent' Bernadine Evaristo author of Girl, Women, Other 'Not your standard mermaid' Margaret Atwood author of The TestamentsVINTAGE EARTH is a series of books that reveals our ever-changing relationship with the environment. These are stories old and young, set in worlds real or imagined, that allow us to explore our connection to the natural world. Transformative, wild, surprising and essential, these novels take on the most urgent story of our times.Trade ReviewBighearted . . . Sentence by sensuous sentence, Roffey builds a verdant, complicated world that it is a pleasure to live inside . . . A fairy tale. But it is a ghost story too * New York Times *[A] beautiful book... Roffey's writing is lyrical and filled with magic, but there is plenty of bittersweet realism to ground it -- Sophie Dahl * Daily Mail *A very beautiful, haunting book * Stage *

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Book SynopsisLift the flaps to find the animals in this eco-friendly board book.Who is hiding behind each flap? This gentle board book with flaps to lift invites you to celebrate our amazing planet and the animals that live on it with your baby. Say hello to a new endangered animal behind each flap, and end by saying ''I love you'' to planet Earth. This chunky book is made from responsibly sourced 100% recycled board and printed with plant-based inks.Illustrated by Lemon Ribbon StudioFrom tummy time to bath time, the bestselling Baby Touch series contains the perfect first books to support key milestones.

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Book SynopsisThe steamy and addictive workplace-enemies-to-lovers, When-Harry-Met-Sally-inspired romance from bestselling author Meghan Quinn''JP IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE'' 5***** Reader Review''OBSESSED'' 5***** Reader Review''A HOT, SWEET AND HILARIOUS ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCE'' 5***** Reader Review_______Am I in love with JP Cane?Ha! He certainly thinks so . . .He''s annoyingly loud, obnoxiously handsome, and having watched When Harry Met Sally is convinced that men and women can''t just be friends.So when we have to fly to San Francisco for work and stay in the same penthouse, I''m happy to prove him wrong.Yet with his continuous flirting and his polished good looks, I''m soon finding it hard to sleep at night.But guess who can control herself? This girl.Because if there is one thing I know for certain, it''s that JP Cane is wrong.Men and women CAN just be friTrade ReviewIn true Meghan Quinn style, this story was an easy read with steamy scenes. Steamy is not even a strong enough word. These scenes were panty-melting hot and I love each one of them...So Not Meant to Be made me blush, smile, laugh, and lose myself in the story -- A Soccer Mom's Book BlogOnce again, I was laughing out loud through this entire book! Meghan is an absolute QUEEN when it comes to writing stories that are not only funny but have a lot of heart in them too -- Elle's Book BlogSo Not Meant To Be can be read as a standalone, but if you haven't read A Not So Meet Cute I highly recommend binging the two books. You won't regret it -- A Novel Glimpse

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Book SynopsisCorey Taylor is an American musician best known as the lead singer of hard rock bands Slipknot and Stone Sour, which together have sold over 10 million records. Taylor has been nominated for 10 Grammies and has won one. He has also written his own monthly column for UK magazine, Rock Sound, since 2001.Trade ReviewWild * NME *One hell of a read * Classic Rock *

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Book SynopsisFor 14 years between 1965 and 1978, Edouard Louis Joseph Merckx simply devoured his rivals, their hopes and their careers. His legacy resides as much in the careers he ruined as the 445 victories; including five Tour de France wins and all the monument races; he amassed in his own right.Trade ReviewThe most accomplished rider that cycling has ever known * Velo *For readers who are after good storytelling it can t be beaten. * Cycling Weekly *The awesome story of an extraordinary athlete. -- Mark CavendishA beautifully written, vivid portrait not just of Merckx, but also his era and his 'victims' * Scotsman *Well written and well researched * Cycling World *

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Book SynopsisSusan Orlean first met John Laroche when visiting Florida to write for the New Yorker about his arrest for stealing rare ghost orchids from a nature reserve. Fascinated both by Laroche and the world she uncovered of orchid collectors and growers, she stayed on, to write this magical exploration of obsession and the strange world both of the orchid obsessives and of Florida, that haunting and weird ''debatable land'' of swamps and condos, retirement communities and real-estate scams. The world of the orchid hunters, breeders and showmen, their rivalries, vendettas and crimes, smuggling, thefts and worse provide the backdrop to a fascinating exploration of one of the byways of human nature, the obsessive world of the collector, and the haunting beauty of the flowers themselves.Trade ReviewLike the orchid, a small thing of grandeur, a passion with a pedigree... The Orchid Thief shows [Orlean's] gifts in full bloom * New York Times Book Review *A lesson in the dark, dangerous, sometimes hilarious nature of obsession...you sometimes don't want to read on, but find you can't help it * USA Today *Irresistable... A brilliantly reported account of an illicit scheme to housebreak Florida's wild and endangered ghost orchid. Its central figure is John Laroche, the 'oddball ultimate' of a subculture whose members are so enthralled by orchids they 'pursue them like lovers * Minneapolis Star Tribute *Fascinating... Tales of theft, hatred, greed, jealousy, madness, and back-stabbing... An engrossing journey * Los Angeles Times *Artful... In Ms. Orlean's skillful handling, her orchid story turns out to be distinctly 'something more.' Orchids, Seminole history, the ecology of the Fakahatchee Strand, the fascination of Florida to con men... All that she writes here fits together because it is grounded in her personal experience... [Her] portrait of her sometimes sad-making orchid thief allows the reader to discover acres of opportunity where intriguing things can be found * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisNick Cook is one of the UK's leading defence analysts. Formerly the Aviation Editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, the world's premier military affairs journal, he has also written for newspapers around the world.He is the author of The Hunt For Zero Point, a non-fiction bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic. He lives in London.Trade ReviewClassic sleuthing journalism - I couldn't put it down * New Scientist *Cook relates his investigations in splendid cloak-and-dagger style with low-lit X-files scenes of secret meetings and nervous witnesses * Guardian *An extraordinary investigation into avaition's greatest mystery * Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisGraham Hancock is the author of the major international bestsellers The Sign and the Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods and Heaven's Mirror. His books have sold more than five million copies worldwide and have been translated into 27 languages. He is an extremely successful investigative journalist, having been Editor of Condé Nast's Traveller magazine and East Africa Correspondent for the Economist. His public lectures and TV appearances, including the three-hour series Quest for the Lost Civilization, have put his religious and historical theories before audiences of tens of millions. He has become recognized as an unconventional thinker who raises legitimate questions about humanity's history, religion and prehistory and offers an increasingly popular challenge to the entrenched views of orthodox scholars.Trade ReviewHighly readable * Times *Hancock's book will probably be as popular as the Raider's film. Added to the Holy Grail excitement of his quest, he has invented a new genre: an intellectual whodunnit by a do-it-yourself sleuth * Guardian *It should cause widespread discussion and it deserves to * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisMarcovaldo is an enchanting collection of twenty stories that are both melancholy and funny, farce and fantasy. Calvino charts the struggles of an Italian peasant to reconcile country habits with urban life, combining comical disasters with a surrealistic view of city life through the eyes of an outsider. As always with Calvino, nothing is quite as it seems.''Delightful and rewarding as always'' Observer''The most magically ingenious of the contemporary Italian novelists'' The TimesTrade ReviewCalvino is surely among the handful of living writers that can be called, without hesitation, great. Each book by Calvino is a completely original conception. Marcovaldo is one of the best works of fiction published * Spectator *The greatest Italian writer of the twentieth century * Guardian *It is the refinement, the oddness and the humour of the thoughts he gets which make Calvino a rare pleasure to read; he is a match for Borges as he stealthily patrols the limits of the unthinkable * New Review *He will continue to glitter, this strange, lonely prospector in the universe of words, well into the next millennium and after, a master in the empire of the imagination * Independent *What is so much admired by the readers of Mr. Calvino's later Invisible Cities was already at work in Marcovaldo and with a more cogent narrative drive... Marcovaldo conveys the sensuous, tangible qualities of life * New York Times *

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Book Synopsis**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE**A powerful, heart-breaking story about tempting fate and living with the consequencesArthur and Jake are brothers yet worlds apart.Arthur is older, shy, dutiful and set to inherit his father''s farm. Jake is younger, handsome and reckless, a dangerous man to know.When Laura arrives in their rural community, the fragile balance of the brothers'' rivalry is pushed to the edge of catastrophe...''An enthralling read, both straightforward and wonderfully intricate'' Guardian''Evokes beautifully the big joys and sorrows of most people, no matter how small their town'' The TimesTrade ReviewA beautiful read, on every level * Independent on Sunday *Like the great 19th-century novelists of provincial life, Mary Lawson is fluent in the desperate intensity of the small, individual dramas of respectable people - and she paints an eloquent picture * Sunday Telegraph *Evokes beautifully the big joys and sorrows of most people, no matter how small their town * The Times *Discreetly powerful * Daily Telegraph *This is a fine book - an enthralling read, both straightforward and wonderfully intricate * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisNancy Friday''s sexually and socially empowering international bestsellers My Secret Garden and Forbidden Flowers revealed that women possess erotic imaginations at least as inventive and powerful as those of men. Women on Top looks at a new generation of women and asks: what are women''s sexual fantasies today? How have they responded to the changes brought about by feminism, and the sexual freedom it provided? In a world wallpapered with erotic images, but which still denies them full sexual freedom, women are more determined than ever that they''ll be ''nice girls'' no longer. Explicit, iconoclastic, often shocking, these erotic stories - angry, lustful, tender and dark - blow apart the old social and sexual taboos. Nothing is forbidden.

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Book SynopsisGraham Greene (Author) Graham Greene was born in 1904. He worked as a journalist and critic, and in 1940 became literary editor of the Spectator. He was later employed by the Foreign Office. As well as his many novels, Graham Greene wrote several collections of short stories, four travel books, six plays, three books of autobiography, two of biography and four books for children. He also wrote hundreds of essays, and film and book reviews. Graham Greene was a member of the Order of Merit and a Companion of Honour. He died in April 1991.Monica Ali (Introducer) Monica Ali was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and grew up in England. She is the author of Untold Story, In The Kitchen and Alentejo Blue. Her Sunday Times bestselling first novel Brick Lane was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the George Orwell Prize for political writing and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and has been made into an acclaimed film. Her latestTrade ReviewSingularly beautiful and moving -- Evelyn WaughOne of the most true and moving novels of my time, in anybody's language * William Faulkner *In a class by himself...the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety -- William GoldingDevastating study of the collision of different kinds of faith, betrayal and commitment * The Times *Greene's novel of illicit love captures perfectly the atmosphere of rainy wartime London - try to read this in one sitting if you can * Express *

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Book SynopsisReichl knows that to be a good critic she has to be anonymous - but her picture is posted in every four-star, low-star kitchen in town and so she embarks on an extraordinary - and hilarious - undercover game of disguise - keeping even her husband and son in the dark.Trade ReviewIf this was just an account of life as a restaurant critic, it would be interesting enough. But Ruth Reichl somehow makes this an investigation into personality. In order not to be recognized when on the job as The New York Times' restaurant reviewer, she adopts a number of disguises and notes the effect this has on her own character and behavior. Oh, and the food: when she writes about what she's eating, I just salivate -- Nigella Lawson * Stylist Magazine *Riotously, effortlessly entertaining - Ruth Reichl is witty, fair-minded, brave and a wonderful writer * New York Times *Fast, funny, always near the knuckle - the best kind of food writing - it makes you hungry * Elisabeth Luard *A pleasure from start to finish * Guardian *Reading Ruth Reichl on food is almost as good as eating it * Washington Post *

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Book Synopsis*** Richard Lloyd Parry is the Winner of the 2018 Rathbones Folio Prize ***In the summer of 2000, Jane Steare received the phone call every mother dreads. Her daughter Lucie Blackman - tall, blonde, and twenty-one years old - had stepped into the vastness of a Tokyo summer and disappeared forever. That winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a desolate seaside cave.Her disappearance was mystifying. Had Lucie been abducted by a religious cult? Who was the mysterious man she had gone to meet? What did her work, as a ''hostess'' in the notorious Roppongi district of Tokyo, really involve? And could Lucie''s fate be linked to the disappearance of another girl some ten years earlier?Over the course of a decade, Richard Lloyd Parry has travelled to four continents to interview those caught up in the story and been given unprecedented access to Lucie''s bitterly divided family to reveal the astonishing truth about Lucie and her fate.Trade ReviewAn extraordinary, compulsive and brilliant book...very, very moving -- David PeaceDifficult to put down... impossible to forget -- Minette WaltersA skilful, definitive history of one of the most notorious crimes of the past decade * Sunday Times *This is In Cold Blood for our times... Everyone who has ever loved someone and held that life dear should read this stunning book, and shiver -- Chris CleaveOpen-minded and sympathetic, despite being driven half mad by the case, Parry, former Asia correspondent for the Independent and The Times, is the best kind of narrator of a tale that isn't just a murder case but a book that sheds light on Japan, on families, on the media, and on the insidious effects of misogyny -- Blake Morrison * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisFans of S. J. Parris, Donna Leon, Steven Saylor and C. J. Sansom will absolutely love this gripping page-turner of a historical mystery from multi-million copy bestselling author Lindsey Davis. Full of twists, turns and tension - you''ll be hooked from page one...''Her research has been assiduous and detailed, her commitment to the subject is impressive, and the background detail is often eye-opening'' -- Hilary Mantel, Observer''One of the best writers in this field'' -- Donna Leon, The Times''Surely the best historical detective in the business'' -- Daily Telegraph''Every book in this series is a delight ... highly recommended'' -- Library Journal''Be careful, if you get the taste for this you''ll end up reading them all... I can think of worse ways to pass the time'' -- ***** Reader review''This series is just SO addictive!'Trade ReviewEvery book in this series is a delight … fans will snap it up, highly recommendedLibrary Journal * Library Journal *Davis is a prolific and popular writer … Her research has been assiduous and detailed, her commitment to the subject is impressive, and the background detail is often eye-opening -- Hilary Mantel * Observer *One of the best of the current writers in this field -- Donna Leon * The Times *Surely the best historical detective in the business -- Mike Ripley * Daily Telegraph *The whole thing is splendid. It has everything: mystery, pace wit, fascinating scholarship … she brings imperial Rome to life -- Ellis Peters

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Book SynopsisWangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya, in 1940. She is the founder of the Green Belt Movement, which, through networks of rural women, has planted over 30 million trees across Kenya since 1977. In 2002, she was elected to Kenya's Parliament in the first free elections in a generation, and served as Deputy Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 in recognition of her campaigns for democracy and environmental reform during the dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi. She died in 2011.Trade ReviewI hope the world will support her vision of hope -- Nelson MandelaFrom one of Africa's most positive and far-sighted thinkers comes a wonderful book combining an elegant critique of Africa's troubled past with a rallying cry for how Africans can use culture, nature and self-belief to reverse their continent's decline. The Challenge for Africa is a milestone in African writing that both educates and inspires -- Tim ButcherPenetrating. . . a 21st century manifesto for Africans, drawing on her own experience as a worldly Kenyan, street-fighting activists, member of parliament and, from 2003-2006, government minister. Her analysis is thorough. She reaches into African history, culture, psychology, contemporary politics and fragile ecosystems * Financial Times *Like a Nelson Mandela or a Mahatma Gandhi, Maathai stands way above most mortals * The Guardian *Wangari Maathai is a prophet for our time -- Alexandra Fuller

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Book Synopsis''Serrailler, Hill''s brilliant detective, is the central character in the great writer''s crime fiction novels'' CAMILLA, DUCHESS OF CORNWALLHow do you catch a killer who doesn''t exist? One snowy night in the cathedral city of Lafferton, an old woman is dragged from her bed and strangled with a length of flex.DCS Simon Serrailler and his team search desperately for clues to her murderer. All they know is that the killer will strike again, and will once more leave the same tell-tale signature.Then they track down a name: Alan Keyes. But Alan Keyes has no birth certificate, no address, no job, no family, no passport, no dental records. Nothing. Their killer does not exist.''As addictive as Rankin'' ScotsmanTrade ReviewNot all great novelists can write crime fiction but when one like Susan Hill does the result is stunningEagerly awaited by all aficionados of crime fictionThe real joy of the Serrailler series is Serrailler himself…rich in incident and intrigue * Express *Arguably one of the UK’s best crime fiction writers * Pride Magazine *Hill is, as ever, a true writer and a true storyteller… Her writing, never fancy or over-elaborate, is sweet and and clear and true, lifting the story above mass-market mass-killer lit * Spectator *

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Sunday Times short story prizeWinner of the Edge Hill short story prizeA kiss that just won''t happen. A disco at the end of the world. A teenage goth on a terror mission. And OAP kiddie-snatchers, and scouse real-ale enthusiasts, and occult weirdness in the backwoods...Dark Lies the Island is a collection of unpredictable stories about love and cruelty, crimes, desperation, and hope from the man Irvine Welsh has described as ''the most arresting and original writer to emerge from these islands in years''. Every page is shot through with the riotous humour, sympathy and blistering language that mark Kevin Barry as a pure entertainer and a unique teller of tales.Trade ReviewStealthy and shimmering * Boston Globe *He writes short stories that will satisfy any reader -- Shane Hegarty * Irish Times *This book of short stories seals Barry's rep as one of the most original voices to emerge from the Emerald Isle in some years. Full of acute observation and sly wit, this collection is the ideal companion to his equally excellent novel, City of Bohane -- Ryan Rushton * Skinny *These darkly comic short stories are beautifully written and the author’s keen appreciation of the vernacular makes the characters leap off the page and thump you in the face -- Ciara Geraghty * Woman's Way *Wonderfully, restlessly alive * The Times *

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Book SynopsisHugh Howey spent eight years living on boats and working as a yacht captain for the rich and famous. It wasn't until the love of his life carried him away from these vagabond ways that he began to pursue literary adventures, rather than literal ones. Hugh wrote and self-published the Wool trilogy, which won rave reviews and praise from readers, and whose three books have gone on to become international bestsellers.Trade ReviewSand immerses you in its grubby post-apocalyptic world … Howey conjures a credible, brutal future. * Financial Times *Hugh Howey can really write. * SFX *In short, Sand will earn Mr Howey another well-deserved million or more. * Daily Sport *This terrifically fresh and well-realised setting provides the background for a richly emotional story about families and communities. * Morning Star *Sand shows the success of Howey’s Wool Trilogy was no fluke. This is a superior SF thriller, both slick and gritty. * Financial Times *

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Book SynopsisYou might find it hard to imagine that those ageing spinsters living quietly in small English towns ever led lives of passion or hardship, that they ever possessed beauty or romantic ideals. This title tells the story of two such old wives, sisters Constance and Sophia, from youth, through marriage, heartbreak, triumphs and disasters, to old age.Trade ReviewBennett's masterpiece... There are few more moving accounts of the effects of time, the passage of history and the slow encroachment of age than this remarkable, epic novel * Guardian *It's not just a wonderful story; it's also an expressionist masterpiece, almost surreal at times. It's also an amazing feat of empathy... It's also very intimate, and highly emotional. In fact, it's the perfect novel -- Deborah Moggach * Independent *Arguably the finest novel written by an Englishman in the 20th century * Daily Telegraph *Arnold Bennett did write one indisputable masterpiece, The Old Wives' Tale, and that is where I recommend you start... Each time I'm in the midst of reading it, I think it the best novel ever written -- Wendy Lesser * New York Times *For Bennett...compassion is not soggy. It involves understanding. The core of his writing is psychological truth, clinically observed, crisply reported * Sunday Times *

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Book Synopsis''A great introduction to a crucial topic'' Bill Gates''Perhaps the most popular book on statistics ever published ... It''s a marvel ... gave me a peek behind the curtain of statistical manipulation, showing me how the swindling was done so that I would not be fooled again'' Tim HarfordIn 1954, Darrell Huff decided enough was enough. Fed up with politicians, advertisers and journalists using statistics to sensationalise, inflate, confuse, oversimplify and - on occasion - downright lie, he decided to shed light on their ill-informed and sneaky ways. How to Lie with Statistics is the result - the definitive and hilarious primer in the ways statistics are used to deceive.With over one and half million copies sold around the world, it has delighted generations of readers with its cheeky takes on the ins and outs of samples, averages, errors, graphs and indexes. And in the modern world of big data and misinformation, Huff remains the perfect guide tTrade ReviewMore relevant than ever . . . a great introduction to the use of statistics -- Bill GatesA hilarious exploration of mathematical mendacity.... Every time you pick it up, what happens? Bang goes another illusion! * New York Times *A pleasantly subversive little book guaranteed to undermine your faith in the almighty statistic * Atlantic *

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Book SynopsisOffers us a glimpse into the life and mind of Medieval England. This is a masterly collection of chivalric romances, moral allegories and low farce.Trade Review

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Book SynopsisContains the descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. This title counts the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red and the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land.

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Book SynopsisLucretius'' poem On the Nature of Things combines a scientific and philosophical treatise with some of the greatest poetry ever written. With intense moral fervour he demonstrates to humanity that in death there is nothing to fear since the soul is mortal, and the world and everything in it is governed by the mechanical laws of nature and not by gods; and that by believing this men can live in peace of mind and happiness. He bases this on the atomic theory expounded by the Greek philosopher Epicurus, and continues with an examination of sensation, sex, cosmology, meteorology, and geology, all of these subjects made more attractive by the poetry with which he illustrates them.Trade ReviewOne of the most extraordinary classical translations of recent times -- Peter Stothard * Times Literary Supplement *A.E. Stallings's brilliant recent translation -- Eric Orrmsby * Wall Street Journal *

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Book SynopsisA complex thriller of ancient and modern betrayal from the author of The English Assassin.

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Book SynopsisDon''t You Have Time to Think? collects the witty, eccentric and moving letters letters of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard P. Feynman. Richard Feynman was no ordinary genius. Brilliant, free-spirited and irreverent, he upset those in authority, gave captivating lectures, wrote equations on napkins in strip joints and touched countless lives everywhere. He also wrote hundreds of letters to friends, family, critics, colleagues and devoted fans around the world. Now these letters have been brought together for the first time. From down-to-earth advice to eager students to discussions of time travel and the atom bomb, and from blunt rebuttals to journalists to poignant exchanges with his first wife as she lay dying, they will introduce you to a unique person whose wisdom and lust for life inspired all those who came into his orbit. ''Nobel-winning physicist, expert bongo-player, safe-cracker and all-round genius, Feynman was, as thi

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Book SynopsisThe Universe Within is a thrilling journey from today all the way back to the Big Bang, which shows the deep connections between the human body and the universe, from Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner FishWhat links the birth of the moon to our body clocks? How did the creation of the Atlantic Ocean affect how we have children? What does the water inside us and on Earth have to do with the deepest stretches of space? Humanity''s status in the cosmos can seem insignificant. Yet, as Neil Shubin shows, the one place where the universe, solar system and planet merge is inside your body. Exploring the smallest atomic structures and vastest reaches of space, Shubin uncovers a sublime truth: that in every one of us lies the most profound story of all - how we and our world came to be.Neil Shubin is a palaeontologist in the great tradition of his mentors, Ernst Mayr and Stephen Jay Gould. He has discovered fossils around the world that have changed the way we tTrade ReviewShubin is not only a distinguished scientist, but a wonderfully lucid and elegant writer; he is an irrepressibly enthusiastic teacher ... a science writer of the first rank -- Oliver SacksGlorious, uplifting ... It tracks the very atoms in our bodies back to the Big Bang, and shows how all the molecules that comprise us have roots in the formation of Earth ... What is special about the book is its sweep, its scope, its panorama * Wall Street Journal *

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Book SynopsisA story of raging egos, brutal power struggles and fraught decision making, from the bestselling author of Liar''s Poker, Michael Lewis.Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood is probably the most brazenly honest and wickedly funny book about parenting ever written.Michael Lewis thought he''d seen it all. He''d worked in the city. He knew how to deal with the worst excesses of human behaviour. He had cojones. Right?Wrong. He was about to become a father: ''If you remembered what new parenthood was actually like you wouldn''t go around lying to people about how wonderful it is, and you certainly wouldn''t ever do it twice.''Here Lewis reveals his own unique take on new-found paternity: from discovering your three-year-old loves swearing to the ethics of taking your offspring gambling at the races, from toilet-training to the inevitable tantrums - of both parent and child - and the gradual realization that, despite everything, he''s becoming hooked: ''I know for a fact that my children are insane. Or, at any rate, I know that if an adult behaved as my children do, he would be institutionalized. Is it possible that they are contagious?''''Lewis is the finest storyteller of our generation'' Malcolm GladwellTrade Review'[Praise for Liar's Poker] As traders would say, this book is a buy' Financial Times '[Praise for Liar's Poker] Wickedly funny' Daily Express '[Praise for Liar's Poker] Read all about it: headlong greed, inarticulate obscenity, Animal House horseplay' Sunday Times '[Praise for Liar's Poker] An amazing book, readable, funny and mind-boggling' Punch

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Book Synopsis''No man is free of his own history'' Hartmann and Fibich came to England on the kindertransport. As orphans of the war they were strangers in a strange land. Together, they survived. And in adulthood they have been unable to separate, sharing a successful business.Yet Hartmann''s carefully polished manners conceal the past he refuses to think about. While Fibich, a mass of fears and neuroses, can do nothing but remember. Together these two men seek to build a future from the shaky foundations of their own pasts . . .''Like Virginia Woolf, Brookner''s aim is not to draw characters in the round, but to reveal psychological reality in the deep'' The TimesTrade ReviewHer technique as a novelist is so sure and so quietly commanding -- Hilary Mantel Guardian Anita Brookner's best novel so far -- Victoria Glendinning She has never written a better novel ... unbearably moving -- Ruth Rendell It is hard to imagine her taut spare prose going out of fashion The Times

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Book SynopsisThe second volume of Waugh''s masterful trilogy, Sword of HonourGuy Crouchback is now attached to a commando unit undergoing training on the Hebridean isle of Mugg, where the whisky flows freely and HM forces have to show respect for the laird. But the comedy of Mugg is followed by the bitterness of Crete.Trade ReviewA maverick historian * The Atlantic *Waugh's unsparing bitterness is one of the things that makes his writing so good * Daily Mail *To know as Waugh knows that there are no more great journeys and possibly no more great vows and still to trouble to write a novel at all exhibits precisely that fine hardness of mind most characteristic of him -- Joan Didion

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Book SynopsisThe tormenting of the body by the troubled mind, hysteria is among the most pervasive of human disorders - yet at the same time it is the most elusive. Freud''s recognition that hysteria stemmed from traumas in the patient''s past transformed the way we think about sexuality. Studies in Hysteria is one of the founding texts of psychoanalysis, revolutionizing our understanding of love, desire and the human psyche.

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Book SynopsisIf one theme unifies the 11 tales collected here, it is that of longing. Written after her return from Kenya and during the dark days of the Nazi occupation, they derive their themes and locales from Isak Dinesen''s childhood in Denmark. Isak Dinesen was the pen-name of Karen Blixen, who was born in Rungsted, Denmark in 1885. After studying art at Copenhagen, Paris and Rome, she married her cousin, Baron Bror Blixen-Finecke, in 1914. Together they went to Kenya to manage a coffee plantation. After their divorce in 1921, she continued to run the plantation until a collapse in the coffee market forced her back to Denmark in 1931.

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Book Synopsis''In general Glory is my happiest thing.'' ''The fun of Glory is . . . to be sought in the echoing and linking of minor events, in back-and-forth switches, which produce an illusion of impetus; in an old daydream directly becoming the blessing of the ball hugged to one''s chest, or in the casual vision of Martin''s mother grieving beyond the time-frame of the novel in an abstraction of the future that the reader can only guess at, even after he has raced through the last seven chapters where a regular madness of structural twists and a masquerade of all characters culminate in a furious finale, although nothing much happens at the very end - just a bird perching on a wicket in the greyness of a wet day'' - Vladimir Nabokov

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Book SynopsisThe successful writer Oki has reached middle age and is filled with regrets. He returns to Kyoto to find Otoko, a young woman with whom he had a terrible affair many years before, and discovers that she is now a painter, living with a younger woman as her lover. Otoko has continued to love Oki and has never forgotten him, but his return unsettles not only her but also her young lover. This is a work of strange beauty, with a tender touch of nostalgia and a heartbreaking sensitivity to those things lost forever.

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Book SynopsisAt Tuppenny-hapenny Cottage in the English countryside, five elderly people live together in rancorous disharmony. Adela Bastable bosses the house, as her brother Bernard passes his days thinking up malicious schemes against the baby-talking Marigold and secret drinker Shorty, while kindly George lies bedridden upstairs. The mismatched quintet keep their spirits alive by bickering and waiting for grandchildren to visit at Christmas. But the festive season does not herald goodwill to all at Tuppenny-hapenny Cottage. Disaster and chaos, it seems, are just around the corner ...Told with Amis''s piercing wit and humanity, Ending Up (1974) is a wickedly funny black comedy of the indignities of old age.

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Book SynopsisThe Penguin English Library Edition of Howards End by E. M. Forster''The poor cannot always reach those whom they want to love, and they can hardly ever escape from those whom they love no longer. We rich can''''Only connect.'' is the idea at the heart of this book, a heartbreaking and provocative tale of three families at the beginning of the twentieth century: the rich Wilcoxes, the gentle, idealistic Schlegels and the lower-middle class Basts. As the Schlegel sisters try desperately to help the Basts and educate the close-minded Wilcoxes, the families are drawn together in love, lies and death. Frequently cited as E. M. Forster''s finest work, Howards End brilliantly explores class warfare, conflict and the English character.The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

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Book SynopsisFrom the king of animal stories for children and one of the national''s most beloved writers, a very funny and heart-warming story. Harry isn''t very pleased when he inherits a parrot from Great-Uncle George, but Maddison is no ordinary parrot. Not only can he talk, but you can have conversations with him and he and Harry quickly become great friends - but then Maddison is stolen ... Will he and Harry ever be reunited?

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