Search results for ""MACMILLAN""

'Some bright kid's got a gun and 2000 rounds of live ammo. And that gun's no pea-shooter. It'll go through a brick wall at a quarter of a mile.' Chas McGill has the second-best collection of war souvenirs in Garmouth, and he desperately wants it to be the best. When he stumbles across the remains of a German bomber crashed in the woods - its shiny, black machine-gun still intact - he grabs his chance. Soon he's masterminding his own war effort with dangerous and unexpected results . . . The Machine Gunners is Robert Westall's gripping first novel for children set during World War Two and winner of the Carnegie Medal. Now with a brilliant cover look celebrating its fortieth anniversary. Includes a bonus short story - 'The Haunting of Chas McGill' - and an extended biography of the author.

Read more less

‘Makes Game of Thrones look like Jackanory’ Independent on The Traitor The traitor Baru Cormorant is now the cryptarch Agonist – a secret lord of the corrupt empire she’s vowed to destroy. But to gain the power to shatter this Empire of Masks, she’s had to betray everyone she loved. She’s now hunted by a mutinous admiral and haunted by the wound which has split her mind in two. But Baru is still leading her dearest foes on an expedition, to gain the secret of immortality. It’s her best and perhaps only chance to trigger a war – one that would consume the Masquerade. But Baru’s heart is broken, and she fears she can no longer tell justice from revenge . . . or her own desires from the will of the man who remade her. The Monster is a breathtaking epic fantasy (published as The Monster Baru Cormorant in the US). It’s the sequel to The Traitor, Seth Dickinson’s powerful, critically acclaimed debut novel. 'A fascinating tale of political intrigue and national unrest' – Washington Post on The Traitor'Dickinson’s originality and ambition are to be applauded' – Guardian on The Traitor

Read more less

Davey's father has been murdered – and the aftermath is causing her family to fall apart. Tiger Eyes is bestselling author Judy Blume's most powerful, raw and emotional novel. From the author of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.Davey's heartbroken mum plucks them up and takes them to stay with her prim and proper aunt in Los Alamos. She escapes the claustrophobic house by cycling up to the canyon, where she meets a mysterious older boy called Wolf: intense, brooding and also about to lose someone close to him. But falling for someone won't make her dad come back – there are no easy answers when you need to stick your broken family back together . . .

Read more less

The Everywhere Bear has a home on a shelfBut he doesn't spend very much time by himself,For each boy and girl in the class is a friendAnd he goes home with one of them every weekend.The Everywhere Bear has a wonderful time with the children in Class One, but one day he gets more than he bargained for when he falls unnoticed from a backpack and embarks on his own big adventure! He's washed down a drain and whooshed out to sea, rescued by a fishing boat, loaded onto a lorry, carried off by a seagull . . . how will he ever make it back to Class One?The Everywhere Bear is a warm and engaging story from Julia Donaldson and Rebecca Cobb, the creators of The Paper Dolls, which has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide and was shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenway Medal.

Read more less

How far would you go for someone you love?The Lola Quartet: Jack, Daniel, Sasha and Gavin, four talented musicians at the end of their high school careers. On the dream-like night of their last concert, Gavin's girlfriend Anna disappears. Ten years later Gavin sees a photograph of a little girl who looks uncannily like him and who shares Anna's surname, and suddenly he finds himself catapulted back to a secretive past he didn't realize he'd left behind. But that photo has set off a cascade of dangerous consequences and, as one by one the members of the Lola Quartet are reunited, a terrifying story emerges: of innocent mistakes, of secrecy and of a life lived on the run. Filled with love, music and thwarted dreams, Emily St. John Mandel's The Lola Quartet is a thrilling novel about how the errors of the past can threaten the future.

Read more less

A Baby at the Beach Cafe is an engaging short story follow-up to Lucy Diamond's bestselling novel The Beach Cafe.Evie loves running her beach cafe in Cornwall but with a baby on the way, she's been told to put her feet up. Let someone else take over? Not likely. Helen's come to Cornwall to escape the stress of city living. She hopes a seaside life will be the answer to all her dreams. When she sees a job advertised at the cafe it sounds perfect. But the two women clash and sparks fly. . . and then events take a dramatic turn. Can the pair of them put aside their differences in a crisis?

Read more less

Bear and Hare are off on a fishing trip, with nets and rods at the ready. Bear loves fishing! Hare seems more interested in his picnic. But after a long wait, the two adventurers catch more than they expect in this tale of fun, friendship and fishy goings-on.Full of warmth and humour, and starring two loveable characters, Bear and Hare Go Fishing is a beautifully illustrated story from Emily Gravett, the twice winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal. This lovely tale of friendship is sure to delight children and parents alike. In a sturdy board book format, it's perfect for younger readers.Look out for Bear and Hare: Snow! and Where's Bear?

Read more less

'A wonderfully assured and utterly riveting biography that captures not only the much-maligned Machiavelli, but also the spirit of his time and place. A monumental achievement.' – Jessie Childs, author of God's Traitors.‘A notorious fiend’, ‘generally odious’, ‘he seems hideous, and so he is.’ Thanks to the invidious reputation of his most famous work, The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli exerts a unique hold over the popular imagination. But was Machiavelli as sinister as he is often thought to be? Might he not have been an infinitely more sympathetic figure, prone to political missteps, professional failures and personal dramas? Alexander Lee reveals the man behind the myth, following him from cradle to grave, from his father’s penury and the abuse he suffered at a teacher’s hands, to his marriage and his many affairs (with both men and women), to his political triumphs and, ultimately, his fall from grace and exile. In doing so, Lee uncovers hitherto unobserved connections between Machiavelli’s life and thought. He also reveals the world through which Machiavelli moved: from the great halls of Renaissance Florence to the court of the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, from the dungeons of the Stinche prison to the Rucellai gardens, where he would begin work on some of his last great works. As much a portrait of an age as of a uniquely engaging man, Lee’s gripping and definitive biography takes the reader into Machiavelli’s world – and his work – more completely than ever before.

Read more less

The final novel in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove quartet, Streets of Laredo is an exhilarating and achingly poignant tale of heroism and friendship, set in the American West.Captain Woodrow Call, Gus McCrae's old partner, once a youthful Texas Ranger, is now a bounty hunter hired to track down a brutal young Mexican bandit. Riding with Call are an Eastern city slicker, a witless deputy, and one of the last members of the Hat Creek outfit, Pea Eye Parker, now married to Lorena - once Gus's sweetheart. Their long, perilous chase leads them across the last wild stretches of the West into a hellhole known as Crow Town and, finally, deep into the vast, relentless plains of the Texas frontier.

Read more less

Taking you deep into the heart of the American West, Dead Man's Walk is the first book in Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove quartet.These are the wild days when Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call – heroes of Lonesome Dove – first encounter the untamed frontier that will form their characters.Not yet twenty, Gus and Call enlist as Texas Rangers under the command of Caleb Cobb, a capricious outlaw determined to seize Santa Fe from the Mexicans. The two young men experience their first great adventure in the barren, empty landscape of the great plains, in which arbitrary violence is the only law – whether from nature, or from those whose territory they must cross in order to reach New Mexico.Danger, sacrifice and fear test Gus and Call to the limits of endurance, as they seek the strength and courage to survive against almost insurmountable odds in the West of early nineteenth-century America.Continue the series set in the Wild West with Comanche Moon.

Read more less

With an introduction by Eimear McBrideA devastatingly powerful, moving and uplifting memoir - now a classic of its genre - that inspired others to tell their own true life stories.When our stepfather staggered home reeking of whisky, ceramic hit the wall. We got used to the smash and the next-day stain, but eventually the wallpaper began to fade . . .For Andrea Ashworth, home is not a place of comfort and solace, but of violence and fear. Her father died when she was five, leaving her close-knit, loving family to battle with poverty, abuse and the long shadow of depression. But from the ashes of 1970s Manchester and the hardships of her coming-of-age in the late 1980s, Andrea finds the courage to rise . . . Written with eye-opening honesty, rare beauty and intense power, Once in a House on Fire is a ground-breaking memoir, endearing in its humour and compassion, and life-affirming in its portrait of terrible circumstances triumphantly overcome.

Read more less

A fantastic book of really great poems for Reception and Year 1 and 2. It contains poems which cover every form and theme of the Literacy Strategy, an index of poem types, advice for writing poems, advice for reading poems, lots of poetry activities and some workshop ideas and lesson plans.

Read more less

From the bestselling author of the Cazalet Chronicles, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Love All is a heartfelt story of love and adulthood in the 1960s.'Graceful, moving' – Daily ExpressThe late 1960s. For Persephone Plover, the daughter of distant and neglectful parents, the innocent, isolated days of childhood are long past. Now she must deal with the emotions of an adult world.Meanwhile in Melton, in the West Country, Jack Curtis – a self-made millionaire – has employed Persephone's aunt. A garden designer in her sixties, she is to deal with the terraces and glasshouses of the once beautiful local manor house – one that he has acquired at vast expense. He also has plans to start an arts festival, as a means to avoid the loneliness of divorce.Also in Melton are the Musgrove siblings, Thomas and Mary, whose parents originally owned and lived in Melton House. They are still trying to cope with emotional consequences of the tragic death of Thomas's wife, Celia. As is Francis, Celia's brother, who has come to live with them and thereby, perhaps, to find his way through life.As Jack's festival comes together, so shall these disparate souls – their relationships intertwining, and their loves transformed.'Her talent seemed so effervescent, so unstoppable, that there was no predicting where it might take her' – Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall

Read more less

Cormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.

Read more less

Tangled Threads is a gripping romantic saga from Margaret Dickinson.For Eveleen Hardcastle life gets no better than growing up on Pear Tree Farm in the Lincolnshire countryside. Her family works hard for the Dunsmore estate and Eveleen finds it impossible to resist the charms of their employer's son, Stephen Dunsmore. But Jimmy, ever quick to antagonize, ensures that his sister's clandestine trysts do not remain so for long.Mary Hardcastle reacts to the news of her daughter's affair with a shocking ferocity, which seems to be born more of bitterness than maternal protectiveness. But what is it that fuels Mary's resentment towards her daughter? Unable to ignore her own feelings, Eveleen continues to meet Stephen in secret. But deception has a cruel price to pay when her beloved father is found dead from a heart attack. And worse yet, Stephen, far from providing Eveleen with the comfort she craves, deserts her in her hour of need and callously evicts the Hardcastles from the farm.Suddenly homeless, Eveleen is left to take the family reins and she fights to make a new life for her family in Nottinghamshire. And then she makes a stunning discovery about her mother's past which changes all their lives for ever . . .Continue the story of the Hardcastle family with the sequel Twisted Strands.

Read more less

With beautiful cover illustration by Alex T. Smith, creator of the Claude series, Dial a Ghost is a wonderfully spooky young fiction title from the award-winning author of Journey to the River Sea, Eva Ibbotson.'Get me some ghosts,' said Fulton Snodde-Brittle. 'Frightful and dangerous ghosts!'Fulton has gone to the Dial a Ghost agency with an evil plan. He wants to hire some truly terrifying ghosts to scare his nephew Oliver to death. The Shriekers are the most violent and sickening spectres the agency has, but a mix-up means the kind Wilkinson ghosts are sent in their place. Now Oliver has some spooky allies to help him outwit the wicked Snodde-Brittles . . .

Read more less

Fire Storm is the fourth in the Young Sherlock Holmes series in which the iconic detective is reimagined as a brilliant, troubled and engaging teenager – creating unputdownable detective adventures that remain true to the spirit of the original books.Teenage Sherlock has come up against some challenges in his time, but what confronts him now is baffling. His friend and her father have vanished. Their house looks as if nobody has ever lived in it. Sherlock begins to doubt his sanity, until a clever clue points him to Scotland. Following that clue leads him into a mystery that involves kidnapping, bodysnatchers and a man who claims he can raise the dead. Before he knows it, Sherlock is fighting for his life as he begins to work out what has happened to his friends. Will he be fast enough to save them?Sherlock Holmes. Think you know him? Think again.Continue the investigative adventures with Andrew Lane's Snake Bite and Knife Edge.

Read more less

Winner of the August Derleth award, Last Days is a chilling and terrifying novel from master of horror, Adam Nevill.The Temple of the Last Days. The brutal cult with a history of murder, sex and occult dealings destroyed itself during one night of ritualistic violence decades ago. Or so they thought . . . Kyle Freeman is an indie film-maker with no money and few options, so when he lands a commission to make a documentary about The Temple of the Last Days he jumps at the chance. Little does he know that his investigation into the cult's bloody history will lead him into the darkest places he's ever been. As they travel from the London and France to Arizona tracing the path of the cult, uncanny events, out-of-body experiences, ghastly artefacts and visits by the merciless 'old friends' plague Kyle and his one-man crew. They soon discover the power of the cult's terrible legacy, and that it may be too late for them to escape . . .'Taking its cue from real-life cults Last Days is an effectively creepy novel that will leave you sleeping with the lights on.' – SFX'Fast becoming Britain's answer to Stephen King.' – Guardian

Read more less

Some doors are better left closed . . . In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And it has been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever. A young American woman, Apryl, arrives at Barrington House. She's been left an apartment by her mysterious Great Aunt Lillian who died in strange circumstances. Rumours claim Lillian was mad. But her diary suggests she was implicated in a horrific and inexplicable event decades ago. Determined to learn something of this eccentric woman, Apryl begins to unravel the hidden story of Barrington House. She discovers that a transforming, evil force still inhabits the building. And the doorway to Apartment 16 is a gateway to something altogether more terrifying . . .Apartment 16 is another gripping novel full of suspense and horror from Adam Nevill, twice winner of the August Derleth award.

Read more less

The second title in Genevieve Cogman's The Invisible Library series, The Masked City is a wonderful read for all those who enjoyed Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair or Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London.Librarian-spy Irene is working undercover in an alternative London when her assistant Kai goes missing. She discovers he's been kidnapped by the fae faction and the repercussions could be fatal. Not just for Kai, but for whole worlds.Kai's dragon heritage means he has powerful allies, but also powerful enemies in the form of the fae. With this act of aggression, the fae are determined to trigger a war between their people – and the forces of order and chaos themselves.Irene's mission to save Kai and avert Armageddon will take her to a dark, alternate Venice where it's always Carnival. Here Irene will be forced to blackmail, fast talk, and fight. Or face death.The Masked City contains bonus extra content – secrets from the Library!Continue the bookish magic with The Burning Page. Genevieve is also the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Scarlet - which reimagines the tale of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but with vampires, mages and magic . . .

Read more less

Y is for Yesterday is the twenty-fifth and last in the Kinsey Millhone Alphabet mystery series by Sue Grafton.The darkest and most disturbing case report from the files of Kinsey Millhone, Y is for Yesterday begins in 1979, when four teenage boys from an elite private school sexually assault a fourteen-year-old classmate – and film the attack. Not long after, the tape goes missing and the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. In the investigation that follows, one boy turns in evidence for the state and two of his peers are convicted. But the ringleader escapes without a trace.Now, it’s 1989 and one of the perpetrators, Fritz McCabe, has been released from prison. Moody, unrepentant, and angry, he is a virtual prisoner of his ever-watchful parents – until a copy of the missing tape arrives with a ransom demand. That’s when the McCabes call Kinsey Millhone for help. As she is drawn into their family drama, she keeps a watchful eye on Fritz. But he’s not the only one being haunted by the past. A vicious sociopath with a grudge against Millhone may be leaving traces of himself for her to find . . .

Read more less

Shortlisted for the 2016 David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Novel.The third in The Faithful and the Fallen series, Ruin by John Gwynne continues the gripping battle of good vs evil.The Banished Lands are engulfed in war and chaos. The cunning Queen Rhin has conquered the west and High King Nathair has the cauldron, most powerful of the seven treasures. At his back stands the scheming Calidus and a warband of the Kadoshim, dread demons of the Otherworld. They plan to bring Asroth and his host of the Fallen into the world of flesh, but to do so they need the seven treasures. Nathair has been deceived but now he knows the truth. He has choices to make; choices that will determine the fate of the Banished Lands. Elsewhere the flame of resistance is growing – Queen Edana finds allies in the swamps of Ardan. Maquin is loose in Tenebral, hunted by Lykos and his corsairs. Here he will witness the birth of a rebellion in Nathair's own realm. Corban has been swept along by the tide of war. He has suffered, lost loved ones, sought only safety from the darkness. But he will run no more. He has seen the face of evil and he has set his will to fight it. The question is, how? With a disparate band gathered about him – his family, friends, giants, fanatical warriors, an angel and a talking crow – he begins the journey to Drassil, the fabled fortress hidden deep in the heart of Forn Forest. For in Drassil lies the spear of Skald, one of the seven treasures, and here it is prophesied that the Bright Star will stand against the Black Sun.Continue the epic fantasy series with Wrath.

Read more less

Dangerous by Jessie Keane is a deadly story of London's criminal underworld, from the bestselling author of Nameless and the Annie Carter series.Whatever the cost, she would pay it . . . Fifteen-year-old Clara Dolan's world is blown apart following the death of her mother. Battling to keep what remains of her family together, Clara vows to protect her younger siblings, Bernadette and Henry, from danger, whatever the cost. With the arrival of the swinging Sixties, Clara finds herself swept up in London's dark underworld where the glamour of Soho's dazzling nightclubs sits in stark contrast to the terrifying gangland violence that threatens the new life she has worked so hard to build.Sinking further into an existence defined by murder and betrayal, Clara soon realizes that success often comes at a very high price . . .

Read more less

PLAY DIRTY. PLAY TO WIN.From the top ten bestselling author Jessie Keane comes a gripping thriller featuring two women who will do anything to win the man they love.Josh Flynn is the king of the bare-knuckle gypsy fighters. His reputation is un-blemished; his fist a deadly weapon.Claire Milo has always loved Josh, they were destined to be together from the day they met. Two gypsy lovers with their whole lives ahead of them. If only Josh would find a different way of earning a living instead of knocking the living daylights out of another man in the boxing ring. One day, she knew something really bad was going to happen. She could feel it . . . Shauna Everett always wanted what she couldn’t have, and nobody, especially Claire Milo was going to stand in her way. She’s had her eye on Josh Flynn for years and she knew just how to get him. If it meant playing dirty, then so be it. What had she got to lose?In a world ruled by violence, crime and backstreet brawls, only one woman will win in Jessie Keane's Fearless, but how low is she prepared to go to achieve that goal?

Read more less

Few believed Professor Coldwell could communicate with spirits. But in Scotland's oldest university town something has passed from darkness into light. Now, the young are being haunted by night terrors and those who are visited disappear. This is certainly not a place for outsiders, especially at night. So what chance do a rootless musician and burned-out explorer have of surviving their entanglement with an ageless supernatural evil and the ruthless cult that worships it? A chilling occult thriller from award-winning author Adam Nevill, Banquet for the Damned is both a homage to the great age of British ghost stories and a pacey modern tale of Devil worship and witchcraft.

Read more less

Set in Kent Haruf's fictional landscape of Holt County, Colorado, Plainsong is a story of simple lives told with extraordinary empathy. Tom Guthrie is struggling to bring up his two young sons alone. In the same town, school girl Victoria Roubideaux finds herself pregnant and homeless. Whilst Tom’s sons find their way forward without their mother, quiet and gentle Harold and Raymond McPheron agree to take Victoria in, unaware that their lives are about to change forever.A novel of haunting beauty from one of America's greatest writers of our time, Plainsong explores the grace and hope of every human life and mankind’s infinite capacity for love.

Read more less

There are some things which even the closest friendship cannot survive . . . Welcome Home is an enthralling and moving drama from bestselling author Margaret Dickinson, set during the Second World War.Neighbours Edie Kelsey and Lil Horton have been friends for over twenty years, sharing the joys and sorrows of a tough life as the wives of fishermen in Grimsby. So it was no surprise that their children were close and that Edie's son, Frank, and Lil's daughter, Irene, would fall in love and marry at a young age.But the declaration of war in 1939 changed everything. Frank went off to fight, and Irene and baby, Tommy, along with Edie's youngest son are sent to the countryside for safety. With Edie's husband, Archie, fishing the dangerous waters in the North Sea and daughter Beth in London doing 'important war work', Edie's family is torn apart.Friendship sustains Edie and Lil, but tragedy follows and there's also concern that Beth seems to have disappeared. But it is Irene's return, during the VE day celebrations, that sends shock waves through the family and threatens to tear Edie and Lil's friendship apart forever.

Read more less

Kirkus Best SFF Books of 2016'Will keep you turning the pages late at night' – Pierce Brown on The Emperor's BladesDeath is near, armies are gathered and the future rests on a knife-edgeThe Annurian Empire is losing a war on two fronts - and it's unclear who's in command. Adare is stationed in the thick of battle, calling herself Emperor. However, she can't hold back the nomadic Urghul forces forever. She needs her brilliant general, Ran il Tornja, but will he betray her again?Adare's brother Kaden is the true heir, yet he'll accept a republic to save his divided people. And he faces something more terrible than war. He's unmasked Ran il Tornja as a remnant of an ancient race, one that attempted to destroy mankind. The general now plans to finish what they started. Kaden has also discovered that capricious gods walk the earth in human guise - and their agendas may seal the fates of all.'Deeply satisfying' – Kirkus ReviewsThe Last Mortal Bond is the epic conclusion to the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne trilogy by Brian Staveley.

Read more less

Winner of Best Books with Facts in the 2013 Blue Peter awards, voted for by children.This paperback edition includes a link to download a free audio version of the book read by Sir Tony Robinson.In Sir Tony Robinson's Weird World of Wonders World War II, Sir Tony Robinson takes you on a headlong gallop through time, pointing out all the most important, funny, strange, amazing, entertaining, smelly and disgusting bits about World War II! It's history, but not as we know it!Find out everything you need to know in this brilliant, action-packed, fact-filled book, including:- Just how useful mashed potato is- How the Battle of Britain was won- What it takes to be a spy- How D-Day was kept a surpriseFor more World War history facts in this fun series, discover World War I.

Read more less

The fifth volume of memoirs from the author who inspired the BBC and Channel 5 series All Creatures Great and Small. During his decades spent as a country vet in Yorkshire, James Herriot has seen huge advances in medical science, technological leaps, and a world irrevocably changed by war. Yet some things have always stayed the same – gruff farmers, hypochondriac pet owners, and animals that never do quite what you expect them to. From a green young man in his first job in the 1930s, to an experienced veterinary surgeon, married with two children, James has spent his entire career among the people and animals of Darrowby. And there’s nowhere else he’d rather be. Since they were first published, James Herriot’s memoirs have sold millions of copies and entranced generations of animal lovers. Charming, funny and touching, Every Living Thing is a heart-warming story of determination, love and companionship from one of Britain’s best-loved authors.I grew up reading James Herriot's books and I'm delighted that thirty years on, they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then' – Kate Humble

Read more less

The first collection of memoirs from the author who inspired the BBC and Channel 5 series All Creatures Great and Small. This edition contains If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet. Fresh out of Glasgow Veterinary College, to the young James Herriot 1930s Yorkshire seems to offer an idyllic pocket of rural life in a rapidly changing world. But from his erratic new colleagues, brothers Siegfried and Tristan Farnon, to incomprehensible farmers, herds of semi-feral cattle, a pig called Nugent and an overweight Pekingese called Tricki Woo, James finds he is on a learning curve as steep as the hills around him. And when he meets Helen, the beautiful daughter of a local farmer, all the training and experience in the world can’t help him . . . Since they were first published, James Herriot’s memoirs have sold millions of copies and entranced generations of animal lovers. Charming, funny and touching, All Creatures Great and Small is a heart-warming story of determination, love and companionship from one of Britain’s best-loved authors.'I grew up reading James Herriot's books and I'm delighted that thirty years on, they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then' – Kate Humble'Herriot's enchanting tales of life in the Dales are deservedly classics. Full of extraordinary characters, animal and human, the books never fail to delight' – Amanda Owen, bestselling author of The Yorkshire Shepherdess

Read more less

An imprisoned man is certain that his supposed murder victim is very much alive . . . A female driver is pursued relentlessly by a menacing figure in another vehicle . . . A young artist gets the biggest break of her career . . . A restless beauty manages the perfect birthday celebration . . . An escaped Iraqi on Saddam Hussein's death list pays an involuntary visit to his homeland . . . How will they react? How would you? Twelve Red Herrings is the third collection of irresistible short stories from master storyteller, Jeffrey Archer. Cleverly styled, with richly drawn characters and ingeniously plotted story lines, each of the twelve tales ends with a delightfully unexpected turn of events.

Read more less

Even when I was funny, I wasn't this funny'Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors Have you ever embarrassed yourself so badly you thought you'd never get over it? Have you ever wished your family could be just like everyone else's? Have you ever been followed to school by your father's herd of turkeys, mistaken a marriage proposal for an attempted murder or got your arm stuck inside a cow? OK, maybe that's just Jenny Lawson . . . The bestselling memoir from one of America's most outlandishly hilarious writers.

Read more less

Savage giant moles, rail pirates, and explorers abound in China Miéville's thrilling young adult novel, Railsea.On board the moletrain Medes, Sham Yes ap Soorap watches in awe as he witnesses his first moldywarpe hunt. The giant mole bursting from the earth, the harpoonists targeting their prey, the battle resulting in one’s death and the other’s glory – are extraordinary. But no matter how spectacular it is, travelling the endless rails of the railsea, Sham senses that there’s more to life. Even if his captain can think only of her obsessive hunt for one savage mole. When they find a wrecked train, it's a welcome distraction. But the impossible salvage Sham finds there leads to trouble. Soon he's hunted on all sides: by pirates, trainsfolk, monsters and salvage-scrabblers. And it might not be just Sham's life that's about to change. It could be the whole of the railsea.

Read more less

Winner of the Betty Trask Award, Never Mind is the first in Edward St Aubyn's semi-autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels, adapted for TV for Sky Atlantic and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as aristocratic addict, Patrick.At his mother’s family house in the south of France, Patrick Melrose has the run of a magical garden. Bravely imaginative and self-sufficient, five-year-old Patrick encounters the volatile lives of adults with care. His father, David, rules with considered cruelty, and Eleanor, his mother, has retreated into drink. They are expecting guests for dinner. But this afternoon is unlike the chain of summer days before, and the shocking events that precede the guests’ arrival tear Patrick’s world in two.Never Mind was originally published, along with Bad News and Some Hope, as part of a three book omnibus , also called Some Hope.

Read more less

Elegy is the fourth and final part of the dramatic Watersong series, by the bestselling author of the Trylle series, Amanda Hocking.Cursed to be a siren, Gemma’s life is slowly being destroyed. Struggling to move away from the savage darkness she needs to survive, she’s desperate to break the curse that has turned her into a monster and is keeping her from the family – and boy – that she loves. But the alluring yet lethal sirens, Penn, Thea and the newly initiated, Liv have no intention of letting her go. The key to her freedom lies with an ancient scroll and Gemma’s frantic search leads her to someone who might be able to help—the mysterious immortal Diana, who cursed Penn and her sisters thousands of years ago. But Diana will not give up her secrets easily and unless Gemma and her sister Harper can unlock the scroll’s powers then Penn will trap Harper’s boyfriend Daniel and destroy the two sisters for good.

Read more less

One girl and a griffin against an empire: A dying land.The Shima Imperium verges on collapse. Land and sky have been poisoned by clockwork industrialization, the Lotus Guild oppresses the populace and the nation’s Shogun is lost to his thirst for power.An impossible quest.Yukiko and her warrior father are forced to hunt down a griffin at the Shogun’s command. But any fool knows griffins are extinct – and death will be the price of failure.A hidden gift. Disaster strikes and Yukiko is stranded in the wilderness with a fabled griffin, now furious and crippled. Although she hears his thoughts and saved his life, Yukiko knows he’d rather see her dead than help her. And discovery of the talent allowing them to communicate would mean her execution. Yet together, the pair will form an indomitable bond, and rise to challenge an empire.Set in steampunk Japan, Jay Kristoff's Stormdancer is full of mythic creatures, demons and Gods, and a strong female protagonist. Continue the Lotus War Trilogy with Kinslayer and Endsinger.

Read more less