Search results for ""Quercus Publishing""

It is with a soft voice, full of menace, that our mother commands us to overthrow our father . . .Richard Lionheart tells the story of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1173, she and three of her sons instigate a rebellion to overthrow the English king, her husband Henry Plantagenet. What prompts this revolt? How does a great queen persuade her children to rise up against their father? And how does a son cope with this crushing conflict of loyalties?Replete with poetry and cruelty, this story takes us to the heart of the relationship between a mother and her favourite son - two individuals sustained by literature, unspoken love, honour and terrible violence.

Read more less

It is with a soft voice, full of menace, that our mother commands us to overthrow our father . . . Richard Lionheart tells the story of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1173, she and three of her sons instigate a rebellion to overthrow the English king, her husband Henry Plantagenet. What prompts this revolt? How does a great queen persuade her children to rise up against their father? And how does a son cope with this crushing conflict of loyalties?Replete with poetry and cruelty, this story takes us to the heart of the relationship between a mother and her favourite son - two individuals sustained by literature, unspoken love, honour and terrible violence.

Read more less

When his beloved only daughter goes missing, millionaire entrepreneur Walter van Dam calls in a team of experts - including free-climbers, a geologist, a parapsychologist, even a medium - to find her . . . for Anna-Lena has disappeared somewhere within a mysterious cave system under the old house the family abandoned years ago. But the rescuers are not the only people on her trail - and there are dangers in the underground labyrinth that no one could ever have foreseen.In a gigantic cavern the team come across a number of strange doors, three of them marked with enigmatic symbols. Anna-Lena must be behind one of them - but time is running out and they need to choose, quickly. Anna-Lena is no longer the only person at risk.They little expect door ? to take them back to the 1940s - but this is not the 1940s they know. In this timeline, Nazi Germany capitulated early, the US has taken control of Europe and is threatening the Russian-led Resistance with a nuclear strike. If the team is to rescue Anna-Lena - and survive themselves - they will have to stop this madness - at all costs!DOORS: THREE DOORS, THREE DIFFERENT ADVENTURES. WHICH DOOR WILL YOU CHOOSE?

Read more less

Renegade sorcerer Raythe Vyre went off the edge of the map, seeking riches and redemption . . . but he has found the impossible: a vanished civilisation - and the threat of eternal damnation!Chasing a dream of wealth and freedom, Raythe Vyre's ragtag caravan of refugees from imperial oppression went off the map, into the frozen wastes of the north. What they found there was beyond all their expectations: Rath Argentium, the legendary city of the long-vanished Aldar, complete with its fabled floating citadel.Even more unexpectedly, they encountered the Tangato, the remnants of the people who served the Aldar, who are shocked to learn that they're not alone in the world - and hostile to Raythe's interlopers.What awaits Raythe's people in the haunted castle that floats above them, the lair of the last Aldar King? Everlasting wealth - or eternal damnation?

Read more less

'Cracking . . . Taut, gripping and beautifully written' Steve Cavanagh'An ending you definitely won't see coming' JP Delaney'Drew me in from the first chapter . . . This should be one of the books of the year' James DelargyDCS Frankie Sheehan is experiencing a crisis of confidence - having become wary of the instincts that have led her face-to-face with a twisted killer and brought those she loves into direct jeopardy.She is summoned to the rural Wicklow mountains, where local mother of two, Debbie Nugent, has been reported missing. A bloody crime scene is discovered at Debbie's home, yet no body. Not only is foul play suspected, but Debbie's daughter, Margot, has been living with the scene for three days.Aware her team cannot convict Margot on appearances alone, Sheehan launches a full investigation into Debbie Nugent's life. And, before long, the discrepancies within Debbie's disappearance suggest that some families are built on dangerous deceptions, with ultimately murderous consequences.'If Looks Could Kill raises the bar once more. Superb plotting, excellent character development and no one does setting better, in my opinion. Clever, stylish, cinematic. And bloody entertaining' Caz Frear'A superior crime thriller filled with fascinating characters and laced with dark wit. The ending was both shocking and satisfying. Highly recommended' Mark Edwards'What an absolute winner of a book. Superbly plotted, with characters I immediately want to hang out with more, and an immensely satisfying yet real conclusion. Five stars from me' Gytha Lodge

Read more less

The third book in the DI Nicholas Lowry series, for fans of Peter James and Stuart Macbride.It's November 1983 in Essex and there are reasons to be cheerful. Uptown Girl is sitting pretty at the top of the charts, Risky Business is raking it in at the box office, and there are now four channels on the telly. However, social tensions are beginning to bubble beneath the surface: Mrs Thatcher has embarked on her second controversial term, and the situation in Northern Ireland is ever-escalating.Yet in the garrison town of Colchester, it's another deadly standoff that is hogging the headlines. The body of a nineteen-year-old Lance Corporal has been discovered on the local High Street, the result of what appears to be a bizarre, chivalrous duel. It seems he was the victim of a doomed army love triangle. As such, the military police are wishing to keep the matter confined within military ranks.This is all just fine, as far as Colchester CID is concerned. They have enough on their plate as is: with DI Nick Lowry in a tailspin following the breakdown of his marriage, WPC Jane Gabriel exasperated by the male-favoured system, Detective Daniel Kenton relying on substance abuse to quieten his demons from his last case; and their boss, DCS Sparks, shortly to become a first-time father at 55.However, it is not long before the blood from the duel runs into civilian police affairs, and the trail presents CID with a local rogues' gallery. A savvy entrepreneur. A wayward skinhead. A member of the landed gentry. And a shadowy Mauritian travel agent with a chilling reputation. Soon, they will discover, a real estate deal, a racist, and the town's Robin Hood pub hold the key to the killing...

Read more less

'Acampora is an original' Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big CityAn electrifying debut novel of two women's friendship, a haunting obsession and twisted ambition, set against the feverish backdrop of contemporary Hollywood.Abby Graven is a dreamer. She dreams her way through her small, lonely life - hiding back at her parents, working at the grocery store. At night, she collects tabloid clippings that taunt her with Elise - her best friend, now Hollywood's hot new starlet.When a school reunion throws Elise in her path, Abby seizes her chance. With feverish certainty, she boards a one-way flight to LA to become Elise's assistant and enters her gauzy realm of film sets and glamorous actors.But behind Elise's glossy magazine veneer, she is drowning in Hollywood's vicious social cycle. Ever the devoted friend, Abby conceals her own burning desire for greatness. For she is smarter than Elise. More talented. A true artist. And as she edges closer to her own ambitions, Abby can see only one way to make her dream come true.Propelled by seductive, unstoppable force, The Paper Wasp slashes through the dark side of Hollywood and the treacherous intimacies of female friendship, pursuing a heroine of blazing artistic vision and blinding drive.

Read more less

A gripping saga about guilt, secrets and an enduring love from a bestselling author. Perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Maggie Hope and Nadine Dorries.Is everyone given a second chance?Ten years after the death of her husband, Faith Norman is surprised to see her brother-in-law, Rob Berkeley, return to their small Durham town.Rob is determined to bring the family business, the foundering steelworks, back to full strength. But for Faith, the resemblance he bears to his brother is a painful reminder of all she has lost.As they get to know each other once more, the likeness gradually becomes more welcome to her healing heart. This may be their one last chance for happiness, but the road is never straight nor smooth...

Read more less

THE NIGHT SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER WILL BE THE ONE SHE CAN'T FORGETWhen Abby's doctor tells her she's two months pregnant she doesn't believe him. She can't be - she hasn't had sex for over a year. But to her astonishment and dismay, multiple tests confirm it's true.Desperately searching for an explanation, Abby recalls New Year's Day - the terrible hangover, the hole in her memory where the night before should have been and the inexplicable sense of unease - and realises that this baby must have been conceived at her best friend Danny's NYE party.Horrified that someone would have taken advantage of her intoxicated state, Abby enlists the help of Danny to find out which of the party guests assaulted her. But, when she starts to receive anonymous messages, it seems that while she has been looking into the father of her baby, someone has been watching her...A gripping psychological thriller, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Lesley Kara*******************************What readers are saying about Karen Cole:'This is one of the best books I've ever read. Gripped me from page one'Sue, Amazon reviewer'If you like Karin Slaughter you will love this!'Cath, Amazon reviewer'Oh my word, what a book!! I thought I knew what happened to Abby but Karen Cole proved me wrong'Adele, Amazon reviewer'Even though my heart was pounding throughout and the whole read gave me spine-chilling Goosebumps, I just couldn't put it down! And that reveal?!? I was constantly guessing throughout and I still didn't see that ending coming even though the clues are there!'Chanel, Amazon reviewer'This book is stunning - I was completely hooked from start to finish'Donna, Amazon reviewer

Read more less

A dark psychological thriller with a killer twist, that has topped the bestseller charts in its native IsraelWinner of the Prix Mystère de la Critique 2021Longlisted for the CWA Dagger for Crime Fiction in Translation 2021*TRANSLATED BY MAN BOOKER WINNER JESSICA COHEN*Three tells the stories of three women: Orna, a divorced single-mother looking for a new relationship; Emilia, a Latvian immigrant on a spiritual search; and Ella, married and mother of three, returning to University to write her thesis. All of them will meet the same man. His name is Gil. He won't tell them the whole truth about himself - but they don't tell him everything either. Tense, twisted and surprising, Three is a daring new form of psychological thriller. It is a declaration of war against the normalisation of death and violence. Slowly but surely, you see the danger each woman walks into. What you won't see is the trap being laid - until it snaps shut.

Read more less

"Lyuba Vinogradova is a historian with a writer's dramatic eye. By personally interviewing many of the Russian women who as teenagers during WW2 took up arms to defend the motherland, her story becomes undeniably poignant and powerful" MARTIN CRUZ SMITH, author of Gorky ParkThe girls came from every corner of the U.S.S.R. They were factory workers, domestic servants, teachers and clerks, and few were older than twenty. Though many had led hard lives before the war, nothing could have prepared them for the brutal facts of their new existence: with their country on its knees, and millions of its men already dead, grievously wounded or in captivity, from 1942 onwards thousands of Soviet women were trained as snipers.Thrown into the midst of some of the fiercest fighting of the Second World War they would soon learn what it was like to spend hour upon hour hunting German soldiers in the bleak expanses of no-man's-land; they would become familiar with the awful power that comes with taking another person's life; and in turn they would discover how it feels to see your closest friends torn away from you by an enemy shell or bullet.In a narrative that travels from the sinister catacombs beneath the Kerch Peninsula to Byelorussia's primeval forests and, finally, to the smoking ruins of the Third Reich, Lyuba Vinogradova recounts the untold stories of these brave young women. Drawing on diaries, letters and interviews with survivors, as well as previously unpublished material from the military archives, she offers a moving and unforgettable record of their experiences: the rigorous training, the squalid living quarters, the blood and chaos of the Eastern Front, and those moments of laughter and happiness that occasionally allowed the girls to forget, for a second or two, their horrifying circumstances. Avenging Angels is a masterful account of an all-too-often overlooked chapter of history, and an unparalleled account of these women's lives.Translated from the Russian by Arch Tait

Read more less

Hollywood lawyer Danny Roth is the victim of a world-class wine heist - and he is devastated. Sam Levitt, former corporate lawyer, wine connoisseur, and expert on cultivated crime, is called in by Roth's insurance company, now saddled with a multi-million-dollar claim. His leads take him first to Bordeaux's magnificent vineyards and then to glorious Provence. Along the way, bien sur, he's joined by a beautiful French colleague, Sophie. In their quest to discover the truth, Sam and Sophie must explore many a chateau and its contents. The unravelling of this ingenious crime is threaded through with Mayle's seductive rendering of France's sensory delights. From the fine wines of Bordeaux to the bouillabaisse of Marseille, this is pure vintage Mayle.

Read more less

"The most fascinating and wonderful book" JAN MORRIS"A restrained, lyrical tour de force" OWEN SHEERSIn the early years of the last century, Rebecca is born into a rural community in the Maesglasau valley in Wales; her family have been working the land for a thousand years, but the changes brought about by modernity threaten the survival of her language, and her family's way of life. Rebecca's reflections on the century are delivered with haunting dignity and a simple intimacy, while her evocation of the changing seasons and a life that is so in tune with its surroundings is rich and poignant. The Life of Rebecca Jones has all the makings of a classic, fixing on a vanishing period of rural history, and the novel's final, unexpected revelation remains unforgettable and utterly moving.

Read more less

Frozen with fear, teenage orphan Catalina Mateo makes a chilling plea to Detective Jonathan Stride. Help find the figure hunting her - a murderer with a blade that bites like the Midwestern winter. Stride's raw instinct is to protect Cat, whose late parents' case still sends a shiver down his spine. But his gut also tells him what he's up against - a cruel killer, whose heart is a frozen void.

Read more less

'Under the bracken, under the soil, under the forest, under the water, the garden's history is there. It needs an ardent lover to find it.' Lotte is in unfamiliar territory. After a divorce and a great deal of soul-searching, she has abandoned her successful career as an architect for a degree in garden history, and uprooted her three children to take a job as head gardener to millionaire Brody Keegan at Maddon Park in Oxfordshire. Brody is as ignorant about gardens as Lotte is knowledgeable, his tastes as loud as hers are quiet. They have little in common except a passion for Maddon Park and a determination to get their own way. As Lotte locks horns with her boss and his spoilt young wife, she finds herself on an emotional roller coaster. She knows what is right for the garden, but - still raw from divorce, anxious about the children and frightened of entanglement - she is less sure of what is right for her.

Read more less

The Third Reich was the name Hitler and the Nazi Party gave to the dictatorship that began in 1933 and ended twelve years later with the utter destruction of Germany and Hitler's suicide. Defined by the messianic, iconic figure of the Führer, the Third Reich was one of the pivotal periods of the modern age. From small beginnings in the 1920s, Hitler's movement came to dominate German society in the 1930s, bringing with it the militarization of German society, the apparatus of state terror and a policy of violent discrimination against political opponents, the so-called 'asocials': gypsies, homosexuals, and, above all, the Jews. The history of the Reich is bound up with territorial aggression, total war and genocide. The end result was the complete defeat of Germany and the annihilation of millions of Europeans, a historical drama without precedent that still lies as a shadow over modern-day Germany. Richard Overy charts the rise and fall of Nazi power in a compelling narrative of the period, amplified by extensive quotations from documents, letters, diaries and oral testimony, and accompanied by many original and striking images of the era. There are also fact boxes which explore many of the important aspects of the Third Reich in greater detail. Authoritative, informative and sumptuously illustrated, written by a scholar steeped in knowledge of the period, The Third Reich brings the bloody realities of war, conquest and genocide vividly to life. It is an ideal book for anyone fascinated by the stormy history of the twentieth century, World War II and the age of dictators.

Read more less

It is 2047: fourteen years since Jacob Gabriel descended into the Mayan netherworld, while his twin brother turned from their chosen path, opting to remain behind. Immanuel Gabriel - still running from the forces that hunt his bloodline - believes his actions proved his role in the Mayan prophecy to be nothing but an ancient myth. Now, though, he will realize his mistake. As the prophecy begins to repeat itself and mankind once again faces annihilation, Immanuel learns there was only ever one person with the power to end the cycle of destruction: himself.

Read more less

Human freedom has one last hope to survive the information revolution in the epic, apocalyptic sequel to the international bestseller Daemon.The Daemon is now firmly in control and moving towards its endgame, using an expanding network of real-world, dispossessed darknet operatives to tear civilization apart and build it anew. As the global economy begins to fail, the world's most powerful organizations - monolithic corporations, complete with armies of their own - prepare to fight their unseen enemy. When a brutal civil war breaks out in the United States, former detective Pete Sebeck, now the Daemon's most powerful though reluctant operative, must lead a small band of enlightened humans to protect the new world order. Amid conflicting loyalties, rapidly diminishing human power and the possibility that anyone can be a daemon operative or a corporate spy, Sebeck knows that he embodies the last hope that freedom can survive the information revolution.

Read more less

In the dark and slimy streets of Wapping a prostitute is beaten half to death, a not uncommon fate in late 18th century London. So begins this gripping tale set in 1798 in the Port of London: a cruel villain holds sway over the underworld. His name is Boylin. His face is scarred by lime and his back by the two hundred lashes he received following a naval court martial. He holds Captain Tom Pascoe responsible for his suffering. They meet again when Pascoe becomes River Surveyor for the newly formed marine police. They've had orders to investigate a sudden fall in government revenue that is affecting the nation's ability to fight the war against Napoleon and stem the rising tide of Irish rebellion. Pascoe knows that Boylin is behind it, but he can't prove anything, yet. THE WATERMEN follows these two adversaries across London as they try to outwit one another. Working alongside Pascoe is Sam Hart, a Jewish immigrant with his own agenda, Pascoe throws the rule-book out the window, scouring East London and the docklands in search of information. But fate takes a cruel twist when the two men find themselves involved with the same woman - there's much more at stake than the fate of the nation.

Read more less

AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER AND WINNER OF THE ICELANDIC LITERATURE PRIZE"The Icelandic Dickens" Irish Examiner"Stefánsson shares the elemental grandeur of Cormac McCarthy" EILEEN BATTERSBY, T.L.S. Supplement"A wonderful, exceptional writer . . . A timeless storyteller" CARSTEN JENSEN"Sometimes, in small places, life becomes bigger" Sometimes a distance from the world's tumult opens our hearts and our dreams. In a village of four hundred souls, the infinite light of an Icelandic summer makes its inhabitants want to explore, and the eternal night of winter lights up the magic of the stars. The village becomes a microcosm of the age-old conflict between human desire and destiny, between the limits of reality and the wings of the imagination. With humour, with poetry, and with a tenderness for human weaknesses, Stefánsson explores the question of why we live at all.Translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton

Read more less

A rediscovered mountaineering classic and the extraordinary true story of a daring escape up Mount Kenya by three prisoners of war.When the clouds covering Mount Kenya part one morning to reveal its towering peaks for the first time, prisoner of war Felice Benuzzi is transfixed. The tedium of camp life is broken by the beginnings of a sudden idea - an outrageous, dangerous, brilliant idea.There are not many people who would break out of a P.O.W. camp, trek for days across perilous terrain before climbing the north face of Mount Kenya with improvised equipment, meagre rations, and with a picture of the mountain on a tin of beef among their more accurate guides. There are probably fewer still who would break back in to the camp on their return.But this is the remarkable story of three such men. No Picnic on Mount Kenya is a powerful testament to the human spirit of revolt and adventure in even the darkest of places."The history of mountaineering can hardly present a parallel to this mad but thrilling escapade" - Saturday Review"A most extraordinary prisoner-of-war and escape story" - New Yorker"A mad venture and a gallant tribute to man's deep yearning for freedom" - Kirkus Reviews"The book crackles with the same dry humour as its title. It contains the prison-yard bartering and candlelight stitching that mark a classic jailbreak yarn; the encounters with wild beasts in Mount Kenya's forest belt are as gripping, and the descriptions of sparkling glaciers as awe-inspiring, as any passage in the great exploration diaries of the early 20th century" - The Economist

Read more less

An early gem from the creator of the Kurt Wallander series, charting the life of a principled man through tragedy, heartbreak, true love and the battle for a nation's soul."A very engaging portrait . . . There is a powerful lack of sentimentality to the telling of the story [and] a lovely and genuinely moving love story at the heart of the book." Liam Heylin, Irish ExaminerAt 3 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon in 1911, Oskar Johansson is caught in a blast in an industrial accident. The local newspaper reports him dead, but they are mistaken.Because Oskar Johansson is a born survivor.Though crippled, Oskar finds the strength to go on living and working. The Rock Blaster charts his long professional life - his hopes and dreams, sorrows and joys. His relationship with the woman whose love saved him, with the labour movement that gave him a cause to believe in, and with his children, who do not share his ideals.Henning Mankell's first published novel is steeped in the burning desire for social justice that informed his bestselling crime novels. Remarkably assured for a debut, it is written with scalpel-like precision, at once poetic and insightful in its depiction of a true working-class hero.Translated from the Swedish by George Goulding

Read more less

The International Bestseller of the Spanish Civil War - Winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction PrizeIn the final moments of the Spanish Civil War, fifty prominent Nationalist prisoners are executed by firing squad. Among them is the writer and fascist Rafael Sanchez Mazas. As the guns fire, he escapes into the forest, and can hear a search party and their dogs hunting him down. The branches move and he finds himself looking into the eyes of a militiaman, and faces death for the second time that day. But the unknown soldier simply turns and walks away. Sanchez Mazas becomes a national hero and the soldier disappears into history. As Cercas sifts the evidence to establish what happened, he realises that the true hero may not be Sanchez Mazas at all, but the soldier who chose not to shoot him. Who was he? Why did he spare him? And might he still be alive?Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean

Read more less

A jewel of modern Norwegian literature now hailed as Lars Saabye Christensen's crowning achievement - an intricate and utterly compelling narrative."With its tonal nuance and quietly amusing melancholy, Echoes of the City confirms him as one of Norway's finest writers" Guardian"[A] profoundly resonant novel" T.L.S.Christensen is one of Scandinavia's finest and most celebrated storytellers, who has devoted the best part of his career to writing about the city of his birth. As Oslo slowly emerges from a period of crippling austerity, Echoes of the City shows how small, almost imperceptible acts of kindness and compassion, and tiny shifts in fortune, can change the lives of many.At the centre of the novel are Maj and Ewald Kristoffersen and their son Jesper, their lives closely entwined and overlapping with their neighbours' on Kirkeveien. When the butcher's son Jostein is knocked down in a traffic accident and loses his hearing, Jesper promises to be his ears in the world. The arrival of a long-awaited telephone is a major event for Maj and Ewald, and meanwhile their neighbour, recently widowed Fru Vik, tentatively takes up with the owner of the bookshop near the cemetery. The bar at Hotel Bristol becomes a meeting place for all of them - for Ewald and his advertising colleagues, for Fru Vik and her suitor, to the piano playing of hapless Enzo Zanetti, an immigrant down on his luck, who enables Jesper to discover his true passion.The minutes of the local Red Cross meetings give an architecture to the narrative of so many lives and tell a story in themselves, bearing witness to the steady recovery of the community. Echoes of the City is a remarkably tender observation of the rhythms and passions of a city, and a particular salute to the resilience of its women. Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett

Read more less

THE NEW AWARD-WINNING INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER BY THE AUTHOR OF THE MOUNTAIN"Can be compared (with no fear of hyperbole) to Stephen King and Jo Nesbø" - Massimo Vincenz, La Repubblica."D'Andrea piles on the action and the atmosphere with the panache of a seasoned writer" Marcel Berlins, The Times.Marlene Wegener is on the run. She has stolen something from her husband, something priceless, irreplaceable.But she doesn't get very far. When her car veers off a bleak midwinter road she takes refuge in the remote home of Simon Keller, a tough mountain man who lives alone with his demons. Here in her high mountain sanctuary, she begins to rekindle a sense of herself: tough, capable, no longer the trophy on a gangster's arm.But Herr Wegener does not know how to forgive, and in his rage he makes a pact with the devil. The Trusted Man. He cannot be called off, he cannot be reasoned with and one way or another he will get the job done.Unless, of course, he's beaten to it . . .Translated from the Italian by Howard Curtis and Katherine Gregor

Read more less

"Immersive, nuanced, impeccably researched" IAN RANKIN"Beautifully written and moving" ALLAN MASSIE"Poignant, nostalgic and redolent of the smell of France" SIMON BRETTFamily history has always been a mystery to Will Latymer. His father flatly refused to talk about it, and with no other relatives to consult, it seems that a mystery it shall always remain. Until of course, Will meets Ghislaine, his beautiful French cousin, in a chance encounter that introduces him to his grandmother, Madeleine, shut away in a quiet Breton manor with her memories and secrets.Before long, Will has been plunged headlong into the life of Madeleine's great love, his longlost grandfather, Henry Latymer. Reading Henry's old letters and diaries for the first time, Will discovers an idealistic young man, full of hopes and optimism - an optimism that will gradually be crushed as the realities of life under the Vichy regime become glaringly clear.But the more Will delves into Madeleine and Henry's past, and into France's troubled history, the darker the secrets he discovers become, and the more he has cause to wonder if sometimes, the past should remain buried.

Read more less

A teenage girl's difficult journey towards adulthood in a time of war."A school story for grownups that is also about our inability or refusal to protect children from history" SARAH MOSS"Of all Szabo's novels, Abigail deserves the widest readership. It's an adventure story, brilliantly written" TIBOR FISCHEROf all her novels, Magda Szabó's Abigail is indeed the most widely read in her native Hungary. Now, fifty years after it was written, it appears for the first time in English, joining Katalin Street and The Door in a loose trilogy about the impact of war on those who have to live with the consequences. It is late 1943 and Hitler, exasperated by the slowness of his Hungarian ally to act on the "Jewish question" and alarmed by the weakness on his southern flank, is preparing to occupy the country. Foreseeing this, and concerned for his daughter's safety, a Budapest father decides to send her to a boarding school away from the capital. A lively, sophisticated, somewhat spoiled teenager, she is not impressed by the reasons she is given, and when the school turns out to be a fiercely Puritanical one in a provincial city a long way from home, she rebels outright. Her superior attitude offends her new classmates and things quickly turn sour.It is the start of a long and bitter learning curve that will open her eyes to her arrogant blindness to other people's true motives and feelings. Exposed for the first time to the realities of life for those less privileged than herself, and increasingly confronted by evidence of the more sinister purposes of the war, she learns lessons about the nature of loyalty, courage, sacrifice and love.Translated from the Hungarian by Len Rix

Read more less

The sequel to the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted The Unseen"A gifted writer, stylish, laconic and imaginative" Paul Owen, TLS"A beautiful sequel to The Unseen, set around the remote & unforgiving island of Barrøy during WWII. A note-perfect combination of taciturnity, austerity, passion and weather. Sublime" - Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry PaulNo-one can be alone on an island . . . But Ingrid is alone on Barrøy, the island that bears her name, while the war of her childhood has been replaced by a new more terrible war and Norway is under the Nazi boot.When the bodies from a bombed troopship begin to wash up on the shore, Ingrid cannot know that one will be alive and warm enough to erase a lifetime of loneliness.She cannot know what she will suffer in protecting her lover from the Germans and their Norwegian collaborators, nor the journey she will face, wrenched from her island once more, to return home.Or that, amid the suffering of war, among refugees fleeing famine and scorched-earth retreats, she will be given a gift whose value is beyond measure.Reviews for The Unseen"Easily among the best books I have ever read" Eileen Battersby, Irish Times"The Unseen is a blunt, brilliant book" Tom Graham, Guardian"The Unseen is a towering achievement that would be a deserved Booker International winner" Charlie Connolly, New EuropeanTranslated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw

Read more less

'A compact and compelling novel by an iconic Norwegian writer...[and] thanks to Don Bartlett and Don Shaw's crisp translation, we see it obliquely' - IndependentSet in Finland in 1939, this is the story of one man who remains in his home town when everyone else has fled, burning down their houses in their wake, before the invading Russians arrive. Timo remains behind because he can't imagine life anywhere else, doing anything else besides felling the trees near his home. This is a novel about belonging - a tale of powerful and forbidden friendships forged during a war, of unexpected bravery and astonishing survival instincts. The Burnt-Out Town of Miracles is not a novel about war, but about the lives of ordinary people dragged into war, each of whom only wants to find the path back home. Roy Jacobsen uses the dramatic natural landscape of light and darkness, fire-blazing heat and life-robbing cold to spectacular effect.

Read more less

A journey along the seemingly endless Russian border - from North Korea in the Far East through Russia's bordering states in Asia and the Caucasus, crossing the Caspian Ocean and the Black Sea along the way."Erika Fatland [is] shaping up to be one of the Nordics' most exciting new travel writers" National Geographic**SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORDS DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020**"A hauntingly lyrical meditation to the contingencies of history" Wall Street Journal"[An] impressive mix of history, reportage and travel memoir" Washington PostThe Border is a book about Russia and Russian history without its author ever entering Russia itself; a book about being the neighbour of that mighty, expanding empire throughout history. It is a chronicle of the colourful, exciting, tragic and often unbelievable histories of these bordering nations, their cultures, their people, their landscapes.Through her last three documentary books - one about terrorism in Beslan, one about the 2011 terror attacks in Norway and one about post-Soviet Central Asia - social anthropologist Erika Fatland has established herself as a sharp observer and an outstanding interviewer at the forefront of Nordic non-fiction.Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson

Read more less

The second of the Black Forest Investigations - "Its plot bristles with invention" Guardian It has been a long dry summer in the Black Forest idyll of Kirchzarten. When the local fire brigade is called to a burning farm shed, a volunteer is killed as a weapons cache beneath it explodes. The small community is shocked to the core. Louise Bonì, back with Freiburg Kripo after a period of withdrawal, is assigned to the task force dealing with the case.The meagre evidence they gather points to a possible connection with German neo-Nazis or illegal arms dealers from the former Yugoslavia, but the appearance of secret service agents marking out the forest suggests more is at stake. Acting as her partner in the case is Thomas Ilic, whose allegiances are as conflicted as Bonì's. Who is in fact working for whom? In the most challenging case of her career - and one that puts her in mortal danger - Bonì must to overcome the ghosts of her past that continue to haunt her. Oliver Bottini is a fresh and exciting voice in the world of crime fiction; the Rhine borderlands of the Black Forest are a perfect setting for his beautifully crafted mysteries.Praise for ZEN AND THE ART OF MURDER - now shortlisted for the CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER: "Surprising and genuinely shocking" Joan Smith, Sunday Times"Gripping" Sebastian Shakespeare, Tatler"An atmospheric, original story that will keep you hooked to the final heart-rending revelations" Crime ReviewTranslated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

Read more less

A CURSED PLACE. A COLD CASE. A KILLER WHO LEFT NO TRACE.The huge International bestseller.Gripping, unputdownable and packed with twists, The Mountain is a thriller that you will never forget."Can be compared (with no fear of hyperbole) to Stephen King and Jo Nesbø" - Massimo Vincenz, La Repubblica.Jeremiah Salinger blames himself. The crash was his fault. He was the only survivor. Now the depression and the nightmares are closing in. Only his daughter Clara can put a smile on his face. But when he takes Clara to the Bletterbach - a canyon in the Dolomites rich in fossil remains - he overhears by chance a conversation that gives his life renewed focus. In 1985 three students were murdered there, their bodies savaged, limbs severed and strewn by a killer who was never found. Salinger, a New Yorker, is far from home, and these Italian mountains, where his wife was born, harbour a close-knit, tight-lipped community whose mistrust of outsiders can turn ugly. All the same, solving this mystery might be the only thing that can keep him sane.Translated from the Italian by Howard Curtis

Read more less

SHE'S RUNNING OUT OF TIME Alex Prévost - kidnapped, beaten, suspended from the ceiling of an abandoned warehouse in a wooden cage - is in no position to bargain. Her abductor's only desire is to watch her die. HE WANTS ONLY ONE THINGApart from a shaky police report, Commandant Camille Verhœven has nothing to go on: no suspect, no leads. If he is to find Alex, he will have to get inside her head. ESCAPE IS JUST THE BEGINNING Resourceful, tough, beautiful, always two steps ahead - Alex will keep Verhœven guessing till the bitter end. And before long, saving her life will be the least of his worries.

Read more less

A modern saga spanning the whole of the 20th century, by one of Iceland's most celebrated writers.At the beginning of this story there is death, and yet it is a celebration of life - the passion between a man and a woman, forbidden love, violence, sorrow, betrayal. Happiness and misfortune are passed down from one generation to the next. The sorrow over what was and what might have been weighs heavily on the characters and at the end of this chain, for now, stands Ari, on his way to his dying father, with a score still to be settled. The raw beauty of life is written into the dramatic Icelandic landscape, and into a society that has undergone great transformation within a century. In language both archaic and lyrical, and yet entirely contemporary and full of humour, Jón Kalman Stefánsson proves himself one of the finest European writers of his generation.A companion volume to Fish Have No Feet (longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2017).Translated from the Icelandic by Philip Roughton

Read more less

A writer discovers a set of notes in his notebook and sets off on a journey through the Paris of his past, in search of the woman he loved forty years previously.Set in the Montparnasse district of Paris, the author, Jean, retraces his nocturnal footsteps around the left bank during France's period of decolonisation during the 1960's. He tries to remember what brought him into contact with a gang that frequented the hotel Unic in the area. His quest through seedy cafés and cheap hotels becomes an enquiry into a woman, Dannie, whom Jean loved and who once tried to admit to a terrible crime. Over the course of several voyages between past and present, we meet various shady characters, and discover that Dannie may have killed "someone". As his memories overlap with the discovery of an old vice squad dossier, Jean reinvestigates the closed case of a crime where he could well be the last remaining witness.Translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti

Read more less

It is the middle of the roaring twenties, and Gittel is living The Hague with her parents, whose blazing rows are the traditional preserve of Sundays and public holidays. What luck, then, that Gittel is Jewish, and must submit to "the double helping of public holidays that is the lot of Jewish families".After every matrimonial slanging match, Gittel's mother runs off to her parents' home in Antwerp - with her daugher in tow. Much to her delight, Gittel makes the acquaintance of the well-to-do Mardell family, who allow her to practise on their Steinway. Gittel feels that she is taken seriously by Mr Mardell, the head of the household, and by thirty-year-old Lucie, whom she adores. When these friendships turn out to be nothing but an illusion, Gittel learns her first lessons about trust and betrayal. Her second comes soon after, when her father, whose talents for business leave much to be desired, attempts to make a quick killing in Berlin on the eve of the Wall Street Crash.Though this intimate portrayal of familial strife is set in the shadow of the Holocaust, Simons says little about the horror that awaits her characters, yet she succeeds in giving the reader the sense that the novel is about more than a young girl's loss of innocence. In a fluid, almost casual style, she has written a masterly and timeless ode to a relatively carefree interlude in a dark and dramatic period.Translated from the Dutch by Liz Waters

Read more less

'David Hair hasn't just broken the mould. He's completely shattered it' - Bibliosanctum One deathless Demon King. Six ghostly queens. And only four twenty-first century young men and women to stand against a centuries-old evil . . . The first in award-winning author David Hair's series The Return of Ravana. Mandore, Rajasthan, 769 AD: the evil sorcerer-king, Ravindra-Raj, has devised a deadly ritual. He and his seven queens will burn on his funeral pyre, and he will rise again with the powers of Ravana, Demon-King of the epic Ramayana. But things go wrong when a court poet rescues the beautiful, spirited Queen Darya, ruining the ritual - and Ravindra's plans. Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 2010: At the site of ancient Mandore, Vikram, Amanjit, Deepika and Rasita meet - and are forced to accept that this is not the first time they have come together to fight the deathless king. Now Ravindra and his ghostly brides are hunting them down. As vicious forces from the past come alive, Vikram needs to unlock truths that have been hidden for centuries, if they are to win this ancient battle . . . for the first and last time. 'Riveting! Like its reincarnated heroes, I was drawn again and again to David Hair's gripping, blood-soaked tale' - Chris Bradford, author of Young Samurai

Read more less

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE STANFORD DOLMAN TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR**Alev Scott's odyssey began when she looked beyond Turkey's borders for contemporary traces of the Ottoman Empire. Their 800-year rule ended a century ago - and yet, travelling through twelve countries from Kosovo to Greece to Palestine, she uncovers a legacy that's vital and relevant; where medieval ethnic diversity meets 21st century nationalism, and displaced people seek new identities.It's a story of surprises. An acolyte of Erdogan in Christian-majority Serbia confirms the wide-reaching appeal of his authoritarian leadership. A Druze warlord explains the secretive religious faction in the heart of the Middle East. The palimpsest-like streets of Jerusalem's Old Town hint at the Ottoman co-existence of Muslims and Jews. And in Turkish Cyprus Alev Scott rediscovers a childhood home. In every community, history is present as a dynamic force.Faced by questions of exile, diaspora and collective memory, Alev Scott searches for answers from the cafes of Beirut to the refugee camps of Lesbos. She uncovers in Erdogan's nouveau-Ottoman Turkey a version of the nostalgic utopias sold to disillusioned voters in Europe and the U.S. And yet - as she relates with compassion, insight and humour - diversity is the enduring, endangered heart of this fascinating region.

Read more less

Swordplay, magic, intrigue and friendships stronger than iron: the first volume in the new swashbuckling fantasy series set in the universe of THE GREATCOATS.Damelas Chademantaigne picked a poor night to flee a judicial duel. He has precious little hope of escaping the wrath of the Vixen, the most feared duellist in the entire city, until he stumbles through the stage doors of the magnificent Operato Belleza and tricks his way into the company of actors. An archaic law provides a temporary respite from his troubles - until one night a ghostly voice in his head causes Damelas to fumble his lines, inadvertently blurting out a dreadful truth: the city''s most legendary hero may actually be a traitor and a brutal murderer. With only the help of his boisterous and lusty friend Bereto, a beautiful assassin whose target may well be Damelas himself, and a company of misfit actors who''d just as soon see him dead, this failed grandson of two Greatcoats must som

Read more less

A World War 2 saga to warm the heart. Three women become friends when working in their local picture house. When life is so tough for everyone, a trip to the pictures is the perfect way to escape, to dream of romance and hope for the good things peace will bring.

Read more less

From the mind of a psychologist comes a chilling domestic thriller that gets under your skin."Creepy, compelling and very well written" Harriet TyceAt first it's the lie that hurts.A voicemail from her husband tells Sara he's arrived at the holiday cabin. Then a call from his friend confirms he never did. She tries to carry on as normal, teasing out her clients' deepest fears, but as the hours stretch out, her own begin to surface. And when the police finally take an interest, they want to know why Sara deleted that voicemail.To get to the root of Sigurd's disappearance, Sara must question everything she knows about her relationship.Could the truth about what happened be inside her head?"A wonderful storyteller" Chris Whitaker "Wonderfully creepy, twisty and compelling" Karen Hamilton"Masterfully paced and hauntingly written" Anna Bailey"Gets under your skin" Jo Spain"I couldn't put it down" Sarah WardTranslated from the Norwegian by Alison McCullough

Read more less

A gripping gangland thriller sees heroine crime boss Kerry Casey in jail - for fans of Kimberley Chambers, Martina Cole and Jessie KeaneKerry Casey is still reeling from the bombshell that her lover, undercover cop Vinny Burns, has gone missing in Spain. She's pregnant with his baby and will do anything to find him. One night, driving along a country road, Kerry and her Uncle Danny are ambushed by gunmen. In the confusion that follows, shots are fired and two men are murdered. Kerry and Danny can only look on as the bodies are dragged from their assailant's car and placed in their own.The police arrive in minutes. With cocaine, dead bodies and guns in the car, it looks like an open-and-shut case.Kerry's been framed. She is forced to wait out her fate inside a women's prison, still not knowing what has happened to Vinnie. On the outside the Casey gang are hunting down the men who did this to her and they will stop at nothing to find them.

Read more less

How do you escape a past you can't remember?'Had me gripped from the start' 5* reader review'An outstanding debut' 5* reader review 'Such a mega page-turner' 5* reader reviewKate Sullivan has a beautiful home, a job she loves and a handsome fiancé: all she'd ever dreamed of since getting sober and painstakingly piecing her life back together.But a chance encounter with her old best friend Becky threatens Kate's newfound and fragile happiness. Kate remembers nothing of their last drunken night out, the night Becky broke off their friendship without warning or explanation.With Becky back in her life, Kate is desperate to make amends for the past. For the closure she craves, Kate needs to know what she did that ruined everything. But what if the truth is worse than Kate could have imagined?'A clever tale of how our demons shape our lives' ALEXANDRA SHULMAN'A cracking debut' IRISH INDEPENDENT'Gut-wrenching and powerful' CHARLOTTE DUCKWORTH'[An] emotional page-turner' WOMAN'S WEEKLY'Beautiful writing and devastating twists' MIRANDA SMITH'A real, clever page-turner. Dare I say addictive' TINA BAKER***Previously published as Closure***

Read more less

"A beguiling read . . . A cold-case whodunnit [and] a Shadow of the Wind-style quest" - John Dugdale, Sunday Times"Bestselling writer Luca D'Andrea has concocted a fearsome witches' brew of myth, memory and mayhem" Sunday Times Crime ClubA haunting thriller drawing on myths, legends and fairy tales, set in a mysterious Italian valley - from Italy's bestselling answer to Stephen King."D'Andrea piles on the action and the atmosphere with the panache of a seasoned writer" Marcel Berlins, The TimesIt begins with a slap in the face.Out walking his St Bernard, Tony Carcano is confronted by a girl on a motorbike who shows him a photograph from his past. Of him posing with the body of a young woman. Smiling."Why were you laughing?"It's not the last Tony sees of Sybille Knapp, an orphan whose mother drowned herself in Kreuzwirt lake in 1999. That was the official verdict. Before long, Tony, a bestselling writer, is turning his imagination to working out what really happened.But Kreuzwirt is a sullen, silent community, loyal to the powerful Perkman family, who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried. And there are other forces at work in this valley. Stories of an ancient evil. Whispers of a figure who stands between this world and the next.The Wanderer sings and his song is the wind.Translated from the Italian by Katherine Gregor

Read more less

THE MIND-BENDING NEW THRILLER FROM THE NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF DEAR CHILD'Hausmann's novel has the feel of a nightmare, unfolding at breakneck speed' SUNDAY TIMESIt's been years since Nadja Kulka was convicted of a cruel crime. After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven - free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss - kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to be able to refuse. The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer . . . Dark secrets past and present collide in this haunting novel of guilt and retribution from the internationally bestselling author of Dear Child.PRAISE FOR ROMY HAUSMANN:'Chilling' People Magazine'[A] tantalizingly disturbing debut . . . As enthralling as it is thought-provoking' New York Times'Hausmann is a force to be reckoned with. You can't stop reading' David Baldacci'Deliciously dark' Alice Feeney'Very compelling' Peter James'Disturbingly good' Lesley Kara

Read more less

A gripping and atmospheric Black Forest Investigation featuring Detective Inspector Louise Bonì."Oliver Bottini is one of the most sophisticated crime writers of modern times" Sunday TimesIn a Berlin hotel a man is beaten up, but it's more than a random assault and the attacker escapes undetected. When the trail leads to Freiburg, Chief Inspector Louise Bonì is sent to investigate. It's a complex case, a professional job. The victim is a secret service informer, the only witness knows more than she's saying, and the intelligence service is hovering in the background, refusing to cooperate. Industrial espionage appears to be at play, focused on the booming solar-energy sector."Taut writing and pacy events" Sunday Times Bonì's investigation is repeatedly obstructed, and again she has to rip up the police handbook in her attempt to find out how the different threads of the web tie together. But by the time she discovers the truth, it's already too late for one of those involved . . ."Bottini is a terrific storyteller" Sunday Express The fifth in the Black Forest Investigations featuring Louise Bonì - by the five-time winner of the German Crime Fiction AwardTranslated from the German by Jamie Bulloch

Read more less

From the Big Bang to the Gaia Mission, this is a very personal history of the universe through the author's favourite 100 stars.Astronomer Florian Freistetter has chosen 100 stars that have almost nothing in common. Some are bright and famous, some shine so feebly you need a huge telescope. There are big stars, small stars, nearby stars and faraway stars. Some died a while ago, others have not even yet come into being. Collectively they tell the story of the whole world, according to Freistetter. There is Algol, for example, the Demon Star, whose strange behaviour has long caused people sleepless nights. And Gamma Draconis, from which we know that the earth rotates around its own axis. There is also the star sequence 61 Cygni, which revealed the size of the cosmos to us.Then there are certain stars used by astronomers to search for extra-terrestrial life, to explore interstellar space travel, or to explain why the dinosaurs became extinct.In 100 short, fascinating and entertaining chapters, Freistetter not only reveals the past and future of the cosmos, but also the story of the people who have tried to understand the world in which we live.

Read more less

A gripping new thriller from the bestselling author of THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB"A classic murder mystery . . . one Holmes himself would have loved to solve" Independent"Fans of dark Swedish crime will love this moody thriller" The Sun"A nerve-racking political thriller with the most exciting detective duo in a long time. Bring on their next case" Romy Hausmann, author of Dear Child"A rich, engrossing novel" Literary Review"Complex and dark" Irish IndependentThe launch of a new series inspired by Sherlock Holmes. A murder investigation brings together two unlikely allies in a race to uncover a shadowy international conspiracy.Professor Hans Rekke: born into a wealthy Stockholm family, world authority on interrogation techniques, capable of vertiginous feats of logic and observation . . . But he might just fall apart when the going gets tough, leading to substance abuse and despair.Micaela Vargas: community police officer, born to Chilean political refugees in a tough suburb, with two brothers on the shady side of the law.Vargas feels she has something to prove. She's tenacious and uncompromising, but she needs Rekke's unique mind to help her solve the case. Rekke has it all - wealth, reputation - but also a tendency to throw it all away. He needs Vargas to help him get back on an even keel so he can focus his mind on finding the killer before they're both silenced for good.Translated from the Swedish by Ian Giles

Read more less