Search results for ""MACMILLAN""

Winner of the August Derleth award and the Arthur C. Clarke Award, Perdido Street Station is an imaginative urban fantasy thriller, and the first of China Miéville's novels set in the world of Bas-Lag.The metropolis of New Crobuzon sprawls at the centre of its own bewildering world. Humans and mutants linger in the gloom beneath its chimneys, where the rivers are sluggish with unnatural effluent, and factories and foundries pound into the night. For more than a thousand years, the parliament and its brutal militia have ruled over a vast array of workers and artists, spies, magicians, junkies and whores. Now a stranger has come, with a pocketful of gold and an impossible demand, and inadvertently something unthinkable is released. Soon the city is gripped by an alien terror – and the fate of millions depends on a clutch of outcasts on the run from lawmakers and crime-lords alike.The urban nightscape becomes a hunting ground as battles rage in the shadows of bizarre buildings. And a reckoning is due at the city's heart, in the vast edifice of Perdido Street Station. It is too late to escape.

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Winner of the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, China Miéville's astonishing Embassytown is an intelligent and immersive exploration of language in an alien world.Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe. Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the natives, the enigmatic Hosts - who cannot lie. Only a tiny cadre of unique human Ambassadors can speak Language, and connect the two communities. But an unimaginable new arrival has come to Embassytown. And when this Ambassador speaks, everything changes. Catastrophe looms. Avice knows the only hope is for her to speak directly to the alien Hosts. And that is impossible.

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Graham Robb's The Ancient Paths will change the way you see European civilization.Inspired by a chance discovery, Robb became fascinated with the world of the Celts: their gods, their art, and, most of all, their sophisticated knowledge of science. His investigations gradually revealed something extraordinary: a lost map, of an empire constructed with precision and beauty across vast tracts of Europe. The map had been forgotten for almost two millennia and its implications were astonishing.Minutely researched and rich in revelations, The Ancient Paths brings to life centuries of our distant history and reinterprets pre-Roman Europe. Told with all of Robb's grace and verve, it is a dazzling, unforgettable book.

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Falling Man begins on September 11, in the smoke and ash of the burning towers. In the days and the years following, we trace the aftermath of this global tremor in the private lives of a few reticulated individuals. Theirs are lives choreographed by loss, by grief and by the enormous force of history. From these intimate portraits, Don DeLillo shifts to an extrapolated vision: he charts the way the events have reconfigured our emotional landscape, our memory and our perception of the world.Falling Man is an unforgettable novel, at once cathartic and beautiful and heartbreaking.

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'Seeing Voices is both a history of the deaf and an account of the development of an extraordinary and expressive language' – Evening Standard Imaginative and insightful, Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks offers a way into a world that is, for many people, alien and unfamiliar – for to be profoundly deaf is not just to live in a world of silence, but also to live in a world where the visual is paramount. In this remarkable book, Sacks explores the consequences of this, including the different ways in which the deaf and the hearing impaired learn to categorize their respective worlds – and how they convey and communicate those experiences to others.

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Eric Packer is a twenty-eight-year-old multi-billionaire asset manager. We join him on what will become a particularly eventful April day in turn-of-the-twenty-first-century Manhattan. He's on a personal odyssey, to get a haircut. Sitting in his stretch limousine as it moves across town, he finds the city at a virtual standstill because the President is visiting, a rapper's funeral is proceeding, and a violent protest is being staged in Times Square by anti-globalist groups. Most worryingly, Eric's bodyguards are concerned that he may be a target . . . An electrifying study in affectlessness, infused with deep cynicism and measured detachment; a harsh indictment of the life-denying tendencies of capitalism; as brutal a dissection of the American dream as Wolfe's Bonfire or Ellis's Psycho, Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis is a caustic prophecy all too quickly realized.

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A Richard and Judy Book Club selection.The Summer of the Bear is a beautiful story of a family recovering from loss on a remote Scottish island, from Bella Pollen, author of Hunting Unicorns.In the summer of 1979, a tamed grizzly bear is tempted by the lure of freedom and the wild open sea . . . Meanwhile, the sudden death of British diplomat Nicky Fleming has left his wife closed down with shock. Relocated from Cold-War-riven Germany to a remote Hebridean island, Letty Fleming is haunted by the unthinkable – was it an accident, murder or suicide? And how can she ever begin to explain to her three children that their father may have betrayed his country? Struggling to find solace in a place she loves, Letty begins to unravel the mystery of Nicky's death, but her determination to protect the children from the truth blinds her to the demons they are already battling. As the family’s secrets threaten to tear them apart, it is only the strange but brilliant Jamie who manages to hold on to the one thing he knows for sure: his father has promised to return, and Nicky Fleming was a man who never broke a promise . . .

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At once a vivid, haunting reimagining of 1950s Britain, a gripping, humane spy thriller and a poignant love story, with Dominion C. J. Sansom once again asserts himself as the master of the historical novel.1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House. Defiance, though, is growing. In Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle for ever. Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secretly acting as a spy for the Resistance, is given the mission to rescue his old friend Frank and get him out of the country. Before long he, together with a disparate group of Resistance activists, will find themselves fugitives in the midst of London's Great Smog; as David's wife Sarah finds herself drawn into a world more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. And hard on their heels is Gestapo Sturmbannfuhrer Gunther Hoth, brilliant, implacable hunter of men . . .'An absorbing, thoughtful, spy-politico thriller set in the fog-ridden London of 1952 . . . Part adventure, part espionage, all encompassed by terrific atmosphere and a well-argued “it might have been”. – The Times

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

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A Swedish crime writer as thrilling as Mankell, a detective as compelling as Wallander . . . Håkan Nesser's third title in the Van Veeteren series is the dark and compelling The Return.An unmissable hospital appointment is looming for Inspector Van Veeteren when a corpse is found rolled in a rotting carpet by a young child playing in a local beauty spot. Missing head and limbs, the torso is too badly decomposed for forensic identification – bar one crucial detail . . . Circumstantial evidence soon points to a local man, a double murderer who disappeared nine months before, shortly after being released on parole; a local hero turned monster after being convicted of killing two women over a span of three decades. Recuperating after an operation, Van Veeteren is nevertheless directing investigations from his hospital bed, for he is convinced that only the innocence of this new victim can be the motive for his murder. But the two women have been dead for long enough for any evidence to have died with them . . . And is he simply on the wrong track completely?The Return is followed by the fourth title in the series, Woman with Birthmark.

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In Love in a Dark Time, Colm Tóibín looks at the life and work of some of the greatest and most influential artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His subjects range from figures such as Oscar Wilde, born in the 1850s, to Pedro Almodóvar, born nearly a hundred years later. Tóibín studies how a changing world impacted on the lives of people who, on the whole, kept their homosexuality hidden, and reveals that the laws of desire changed everything for them, both in their private lives and in the spirit of their work.

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As a boy, Charlie St Cloud narrowly survived a car crash that killed Sam, his little brother. Years later, still unable to recover from his loss, Charlie has taken a job tending to the lawns and monuments in the New England cemetery where Sam is buried. When he meets Tess Carroll, a captivating, adventurous woman in training for a solo sailing trip around the globe, they discover a beautiful and uncommon connection that, after a violent storm at sea, eventually forces them to choose between death and life, past and present, holding on and letting go. The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud is a romantic and uplifting novel about second chances and the liberating power of love.

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Few poets now writing share Porter’s sense of the big picture, his ability to read the small event against the waxings and wanings of culture and empire. Whether these poems look at Europe through the strata of its Golden Ages, revisit the Australia of his childhood or turn their surreal wit to the quieter domestic landscape, together they amount to a sustained meditation on the spirit that bears comparison with the late poems of Wallace Stevens. Magisterial in its perspective and possessed of a rare intellectual sanity, Max is Missing is Porter’s most charged and direct work since The Cost of Seriousness.

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Slipstream brilliantly illuminates the literary world of the latter half of the 20th century, as well as giving a highly personal insight into the life of Elizabeth Jane Howard, one of our most beloved British writers.'This is a brave, absorbing and vulnerable book' – GuardianElizabeth looks back over the course of her eventful life, providing a story of as full of love, passion and betrayal as her novels.Born in London in 1923, she was privately educated at home, moving on to short-lived careers as an actress and model, before writing her first acclaimed novel, The Beautiful Visit, in 1950. She has written many highly regarded novels, including Falling and After Julius. Her Cazalet Chronicles have become established as modern classics and were adapted for a major BBC television series and for BBC Radio 4.She has been married three times – firstly to Peter Scott, the naturalist and son of Captain Scott, and most famously and tempestuously to Kingsley Amis. It was Amis' son by another marriage, Martin, to whom she introduced the works of Jane Austen and ensured that he received the education that would be the grounding of his own literary career. Her closest friends have included some of the greatest writers and thinkers of the day: Laurie Lee, Arthur Koestler and Cecil Day-Lewis, among others.In this memoir, Elizabeth Jane Howard lays bare the slipstream of experience that has comprised her life – in the process, revealing her incredible adventures, wisdom and resilience.'Her talent seemed so effervescent, so unstoppable, that there was no predicting where it might take her' – Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall

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Winner of the Booker Prize in 1985, Keri Hulme's The Bone People is the story of Kerewin, a despairing part-Maori artist who is convinced that her solitary life is the only way to face the world.'In this novel, New Zealand's people, its heritage and landscape are conjured up with uncanny poetry and perceptiveness' – Sunday TimesKerewin's cocoon is rudely blown away by the sudden arrival during a rainstorm of Simon, a mute six-year-old whose past seems to hold some terrible trauma. In his wake comes his foster-father Joe, a Maori factory worker with a nasty temper.The narrative unravels to reveal the truths that lie behind these three characters, and in so doing displays itself as a huge, ambitious work that tackles the clash between Maori and European characters in beautiful prose of a heartrending poignancy.

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It is no understatement to say that Billy Collins has found poetry a whole new audience across the English-speaking world. No poet writing today insists on such open, direct and courteous engagement with the reader, and no poet has shown the common experience to be such an astonishing and singular one. Collins’ gift is to make the reader believe that everything is unfolding in real time and in living speech; his poetry always has the sheen and vibrancy of the present moment. While Ballistics addresses the most grave and serious of subjects - death and love, solitude and aging - Collins’ light touch and lighter spirit never desert him. Even in his darkest verses, Collins never fails to remind us of the sheer miracle, comedy and strangeness of our simply being here. ‘The teasing, buoyant images in Ballistics are firmly anchored in visions of too-quiet mornings, droplets of water, cold marble and bare light bulbs. But he now writes, more simply and assuredly than he used to, about the flights of imagination that keep melancholy at bay . . . Ballistics glows with the confidence of a writer fully aware of his work’s power to delight’ New York Times

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Moving beyond travelogue, V. S. Naipaul's The Masque of Africa considers the effects of belief (in indigenous animisms, the foreign religions of Christianity and Islam, the cults of leaders and mythical history) upon the progress of African civilization. Beginning in Uganda, at the centre of the continent, Naipaul’s journey takes in Ghana and Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, and ends, as the country does, in South Africa. Focusing upon the theme of belief – though sometimes the political or economical realities are so overwhelming that they have to be taken into account – Naipaul examines the fragile but enduring quality of the old world of magic. To witness the ubiquity of such ancient ritual, to be given some idea of its power, was to be taken far back to the beginning of things. To reach that beginning was the purpose of this book. ‘The quality of Naipaul’s writing – simple, concise, engaging – rarely varies . . . Above all, Naipaul’s latest African journey is eyewitness reporting at its best’ Time

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Shortlisted for the 2020 Joyce Carol Oates Prize'Part mystery, part war story, part romance, The Winter Soldier is a dream of a novel' - Anthony Doerr, author of All The Light We Cannot See.From the bestselling author of The Piano Tuner, comes Daniel Mason's The Winter Soldier, a story of love and medicine through the devastation of the First World War.Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War I explodes across Europe. Enraptured by romantic tales of battlefield surgery, he enlists, only to find himself posted to a remote field-hospital ravaged by typhus. Supplies have all but run out, the other doctors have fled, and only a single nurse remains, from whom he must learn a brutal, makeshift medicine.Then one day, an unconscious soldier is brought in from the snow, his uniform stuffed with strange drawings. He seems beyond rescue, until Lucius makes a fateful decision that will change the course of his life. From the gilded ballrooms of Imperial Vienna to the frozen forests of the Eastern Front, The Winter Soldier is the story of finding love in the sweeping tides of history, and of the mistakes we make and the precious opportunities to atone.

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As hilarious as it is perturbing, Jon Ronson's second collection of Guardian journalism, What I Do, is a treat for everyone who has ever suspected themselves to be at the mercy of forces they can barely comprehend.In part one, read about the time Jon inadvertently made a lewd gesture to a passing fourteen-year-old girl late at night in the lobby of a country-house hotel. And about his burgeoning obsession with a new neighbour who refused to ask him what he did for a living, despite Jon's constant dropping of intriguing hints. And about the embarrassment of being caught recycling small talk at a party. In part two, read some of Jon's longer stories, which explore manifestations of insanity in the wider world: the tiny town of North Pole, Alaska, where it's Christmas 365 days of the year; behind the scenes at Deal or No Deal, which Jon likens to a cult with Noel Edmonds as its high priest; a meeting with TV hypnotist Paul McKenna, who has joined forces with a self-help guru who once stood trial for murder – but can they cure Jon of his one big phobia?

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Peter Godwin, an award-winning writer, is on assignment in Zululand when he is summoned by his mother to Zimbabwe, his birthplace. His father is seriously ill; she fears he is dying. Godwin finds his country, once a post-colonial success story, descending into a vortex of violence and racial hatred. His father recovers, but over the next few years Godwin travels regularly between his family life in Manhattan and the increasing chaos of Zimbabwe, with its rampant inflation and land seizures making famine a very real prospect. It is against this backdrop that Godwin discovers a fifty-year-old family secret, one which changes everything he thought he knew about his father, and his own place in the world. Peter Godwin’s book combines vivid reportage, moving personal stories and revealing memoir, and traces his family’s quest to belong in hostile lands - a quest that spans three continents and half a century. ‘Heartbreaking . . . Godwin plainly l

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Introducing Miss Ottoline Brown, an exceptionally inquisitive Mistress of Disguise, and her partner in crime, Mr Munroe. Ottoline and the Yellow Cat is a quirky mystery-adventure from Chris Riddell, author of the award-winning Goth Girl books. No puzzle is ever too tricky for the two of them to solve . . .Ottoline lives in a stylish apartment in Big City with a small hairy creature called Mr Munroe. Together they look after the Brown family's eclectic collections - and dabble in a spot of detective work. So they are the first to the scene of the crime when a string of high-society dog-nappings and jewel thefts hits Big City.Ottoline (who luckily has a diploma from the Who-R-U Academy of Disguise) and Mr Munroe go undercover – and expose an ingenious scam masterminded by furry feline crook, the Yellow Cat . . .Winner of the Nestle Prize, and crammed with black-and-white illustrations, Ottoline and the Yellow Cat is perfect for young and reluctant readers.Though they can be enjoyed in any order, continue the adventures of Ottoline and Mr Munroe with Ottoline Goes to School.

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No one knows a city like the people who live there – so who better to relate the history of Paris than its inhabitants through the ages? Taking us from 1750 to the new millennium, Graham Robb's Parisians is at once a book to read from cover to cover, to lose yourself in, to dip in and out of at leisure, and a book to return to again and again – rather like the city itself, in fact.For this collection of true stories the City of Paris awarded Graham the Medal of the City of Paris. 'Quirky, amused and très British' Julian Barnes, author of The Sense of an Ending.

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Step inside The Magic Cottage, another chilling classic from the Master of Horror James Herbert.A cottage was found in the heart of the forest. It was charming, maybe a little run-down, but so peaceful – a magical haven for creativity and love. But the cottage had an alternative side – the bad magic. What happened there was horrendous beyond belief . . .

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Introducing Quirke: a pathologist uncovering darkness in 1950s Dublin. Christine Falls is the first in the enthralling literary crime series from John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black. Now major TV series: Quirke, starring Gabriel Byrne and Michael Gambon.‘His control and pacing cannot be faulted, and the final outcome is almost unbearably moving’ – Michael Dibdin, GuardianQuirke’s pathology department, set deep beneath the city, is his own gloomy realm: always quiet, always night, and always under his control. Until, late one evening, he stumbles across a body that should not be there – and his brother-in-law falsifying the corpse’s cause of death.This is the first time Quirke has encountered Christine Falls, but the investigation he opens into her life and death uncovers a dark secret at the heart of Dublin’s high Catholic network. A secret with the power to shake his own family and everything he holds dear.‘Succeeds sensationally . . . An absorbing plot, beguiling characters and evocative settings’ – Marcel Berlins, The Times‘A gripping, beautifully crafted thriller . . . A one sitting-read, an all-night enticement’ – ScotsmanContinue the spellbinding crime series with The Silver Swan.

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The battle of iSandlwana was the single most destructive incident in the 150-year history of the British colonisation of South Africa. In one bloody day over 800 British troops, 500 of their allies and at least 2000 Zulus were killed in a staggering defeat for the British empire. The consequences of the battle echoed brutally across the following decades as Britain took ruthless revenge on the Zulu people. In Zulu Rising Ian Knight shows that the brutality of the battle was the result of an inevitable clash between two aggressive warrior traditions. For the first time he gives full weight to the Zulu experience and explores the reality of the fighting through the eyes of men who took part on both sides, looking into the human heart of this savage conflict. Based on new research, including previously unpublished material, Zulu oral history, and new archaeological evidence from the battlefield, this is the definitive account of a battle that has shaped the political fortunes of the Zulu people to this day.

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Ronnie Wood is one of rock’s true originals. This is his story, in his own words, about his life, loves, family, friends, music, art and survival against the odds. It’s a roller-coaster ride of unbelievable highs and unimaginable lows, From a small boy growing up on a working class council estate not far from Heathrow Airport who wanted to play music and paint - the first generation of his "water gypsy" family to be born on dry land - to becoming one of the most famous musicians in the world, Ronnie Wood toured the world with his Rolling Stone bandmates - Mick, Keith, Charlie and, for a while, Bill. And the five of them have, arguably, been seen in person by more people on this planet than anyone else in the history of mankind. But as mayhem and hysteria invariably followed on Ronnie's adventure through the excesses of rock ‘n roll, the drugs got harder and his relationships - especially with Mick, Keith, various women and his family - became increasingly more complex. This is Ronnie the husband, father, grandfather and rock star the way you have never seen any rock star before. RONNIE is an up-front and personal look at life as a Rolling Stone, from the inside, and at the Stones as the rest of the world has never seen them. After RONNIE, drugs, sex and rock ‘n roll will never be the same again.

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Gemma longs for her lost mother, taking comfort from the cuttings in her scrapbook; pictures of mothers who loved their children come what may. Mike is new to the area; a boy with a terrible secret to hide. A secret about his missing mother. Gemma and Mike - two kids hurt by their past and now inextricably linked. Their effect on each other's lives will be explosive.

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In this freshly revised edition of his classic biography, bestselling author J Randy Taraborrelli takes Frank Sinatra's vast audience where it has never been before: deep inside the private life and affairs of this complex, emotional man. The reality of the Sinatra story is all here - rife with sex, danger, inspiration and show-business politics. The author provides astonishing details of Sinatra's many tempestious romances, including those with with Ava Gardner, Mia Farrow, Juliet Prowse and Marilyn Monroe. The reader will learn about his romantic, platonic, and at times even volatile relationship with Elizabeth Taylor; the sad and touching story of Sinatra's relationship with Nancy Reagan; the long-term feud between Frank and his daughter Nancy and how his loss of memory in his final years affected his performance. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with Sinatra's closest friends and associates, and on scores of legal documents, the author explains Frank Sinatra's often tortured but always rewarding life and career in a balanced, informed and honest manner.

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In these extraordinary tales about ordinary people from ordinary places, Tim Winton describes turnings of all kinds: second thoughts, changes of heart, nasty surprises, slow awakenings, abrupt transitions. The seventeen stories overlap to paint a convincing and cohesive picture of a world where people struggle against the terrible weight of their past and challenge the lives they have made for themselves.In The Turning Tim Winton gives us seventeen exquisite overlapping tales of second thoughts and mid-life regret – extraordinary stories of ordinary people from ordinary places. Here are turnings of all kinds – changes of heart, nasty surprises, slow awakenings, sudden detours – where people struggle against the terrible weight of the past and challenge the lives they’ve made for themselves.

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Richard English's brilliant new book, now available in paperback, is a compelling narrative history of Irish nationalism, in which events are not merely recounted but analysed. Full of rich detail, drawn from years of original research and also from the extensive specialist literature on the subject, it offers explanations of why Irish nationalists have believed and acted as they have, why their ideas and strategies have changed over time, and what effect Irish nationalism has had in shaping modern Ireland. It takes us from the Ulster Plantation to Home Rule, from the Famine of 1847 to the Hunger Strikes of the 1970s, from Parnell to Pearse, from Wolfe Tone to Gerry Adams, from the bitter struggle of the Civil War to the uneasy peace of the early twenty-first century. Is it imaginable that Ireland might – as some have suggested – be about to enter a post-nationalist period? Or will Irish nationalism remain a defining force on the island in future years? 'a courageous and successful attempt to synthesise the entire story between two covers for the neophyte and for the exhausted specialist alike' Tom Garvin, Irish Times

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From the author of The World and All That It Holds, Aleksandar Hemon's stunning debut The Question of Bruno is a collection of beautifully told yet polically-charged short fiction.In this elegy for the vanished Yugoslavia, Hemon's stories journey through the intertwined history of a family and a nation, writing in prose of unparalleled daring, invention and wit.This collection features the novella Blind Jozef & Dead Souls, as a young immigrant to the United States watches while his homeland of Sarajevo falls to a violent siege.‘Like Nabokov, Hemon writes with the startling peeled vision of the outsider, weighing words as if for the first time; he shares with Kundera an ability to find grace and humour in the bleakest of circumstances’ – Observer

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Love is not easy, especially if you find the woman of your dreams and then lose her – as Philip Griffin and his son Stephen each discover in turn. Stephen is just a boy when his mother and sister are killed in a car crash, and his father never recovers from the accident: he wasn’t involved but is consumed by grief, his only desire to be reunited with his wife. Before that happens, though, Philip wants to ensure the happiness of his son, Stephen – now a grown man. ‘As it is in Heaven, Niall Williams’ tale of love and tragedy, will leave you in tears’ Tatler ‘A bitter-sweet novel about passionate love giving way to commitment, grief to a sort of healing’ Irish Times ‘A tender and sober novel with a faith in romance that is absolute’ Daily Express ‘Delicious coincidence and tragedy, as extraordinary lives unravel and intertwine’ Guardian

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The most important critical work for decades' Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times In the brilliantly engaging style that characterised The Genius of Shakespeare, Jonathan Bate has written a series of compelling pieces on the link between literature and the environment and why poetry matters in the new millennium. In fascinating detail, Bate explains how words like 'culture' and 'environment' have evolved since the writing of Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy and the Romantics to the present day. 'Bate presents his case with an emotional conviction which is almost impossible to resist' The Times 'Anyone familiar with Bate's The Genius of Shakespeare will know how winningly he marries erudition to liveliness' John Coldstream, Daily Telegraph 'I came away from the book deeply grateful for its impassioned song' Adam Thorpe, Sunday Telegraph

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Kevin Toolis investigated the lives of men and women who, for the twenty-five years of the IRA's war with Britain formed the backbone of its effort. Each chapter explores a world in which history and the republican (and loyalist) interpretation of it dominate lives and deaths. Rebel Hearts does not seek to explain the roots of the conflict in Northern Ireland in a direct historical narrative form, but constructs, and reconstructs, its history through a series of connected and highly detailed individual portraits.The book is now updated with two long new chapters on all the latest developments.'One of the strengths of Kevin Toolis's compelling, chilling, coldly brilliant book is that it reawakens the mind to the reality of why they took place ... easily the best book I have read on the Troubles' John Sweeney, Literary Review 'An honest and important book, essential for anyone who wants to assess what has been happening for the past twenty-five years in 'Northern Ireland' and what is likely to happen next' Robert Kee, Irish Times

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From the private papers of Mark Twain and Mozart to those of Robert Browning and Nelson, Love Letters of Great Men collects together some of the most romantic letters in history. For some of these great men, love is a ‘delicious poison’ (William Congreve); for others, ‘a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music’ (Charles Darwin). Love can scorch like the heat of the sun (Henry VIII), or penetrate the depths of one’s heart like a cooling rain (Flaubert). Every shade of love is here, from the exquisite eloquence of Oscar Wilde and the simple devotion of Robert Browning, to the wonderfully modern misery of the Roman Pliny the Younger, losing himself in work to forget how much he misses his beloved wife, Calpurnia. Taken together, these Love Letters of Great Men show that perhaps men haven’t changed so very much over the last 2,000 years; passion, jealousy, hope and longing are all represented here – as is the simple pleasure of sending a letter to, and receiving one from, the person you love most.

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At night, when we are feeling tired and ready for bed, owls are just waking up. But one curious little owl decides to stay awake all day, instead of all night, and discovers a world bursting with colour! Yet when the night-time comes around again, the stars above her head are still the most beautiful of all.WOW! Said the Owl is an engaging book about colours from Tim Hopgood, the winner of the Best Emerging Illustrator, Booktrust Early Years Award.

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*Instant New York Times Bestseller**Instant USA Today Bestseller**Instant #1 Indie Bestseller*From Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue comes One Last Stop, a big-hearted romantic comedy that will stop you in your tracks. . .Moving to New York City is supposed to prove cynical twenty-three-year-old August right: magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist.But then, she meets this gorgeous girl on the train.Jane. Dazzling, charming, mysterious, impossible Jane. Jane with her rough edges and swoopy hair and soft smile.August’s subway crush becomes the best part of her day, but pretty soon she discovers there’s one big problem: Jane is displaced in time from the 1970s, and August is going to have to use everything she tried to leave in her own past to help Jane. Maybe it’s time to start believing in some things after all . . .'A dazzling romance, filled with plenty of humor and heart.' - Time Magazine, 'The 21 Most Anticipated Books of the year''Dreamy, other worldly, smart, swoony, thoughtful, hilarious - all in all, exactly what you'd expect from Casey McQuiston!' - Jasmine Guillory, author of The Proposal

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The Cat Who Caught a Killer by L T Shearer is a charming cosy crime read, set in West London, for fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club and S. J. Bennett’s The Windsor Knot.'Charming and original. This book is the cat’s whiskers' – Anthony Horowitz, author of The Twist of a KnifeMeet Conrad. Conrad is a cat. You’ve never met a detective like him before.Neither has Lulu Lewis, until he walks into her life one summer’s day. Mourning the recent death of her husband, the former police detective had expected a gentle retirement, quietly enjoying life on her new canal boat, The Lark, and visiting her mother-in-law in a nearby care home.But when her mother-in-law dies suddenly in suspicious circumstances, Lulu senses foul play and resolves to find out what really happened. And a remarkable cat named Conrad will be with her every step of the way . . .Readers are loving Conrad the cat detective . . .Five Star Reader Reviews:'This was such a charming tale and a genuine mystery that had me glued to my e-reader from start to finish''I absolutely loved this book! Conrad was a wonderful character who I would love to encounter again''I just loved Conrad the talking cat who really is the star of this gentle murder mystery story'

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In Politics, Carol Ann Duffy, one of the English language’s best-loved living poets presents from her own archives, in chronological order, her favourites among her poems on the theme of politics and protest, drawing on work written over four decades. Duffy also adds to the selection her poem written for Danny Boyle’s Pages of the Sea memorial for The Great War. It makes for a sequence that is searching, memorializing, healing.

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Ceremonial murder has returned to Florence. Only two men can end the destruction. Featuring Officer Cesare Aldo, Ritual of Fire is an atmospheric historical thriller by D. V. Bishop, set in Renaissance Italy.'Fast becoming a serious rival to C. J. Sansom and S. J. Parris' – Historical Novel SocietyFlorence. Summer, 1538.A night patrol finds a wealthy merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main square. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way. Does this new killing mean his fanatical disciples are reviving the monk’s regime of holy terror?Cesare Aldo is busy hunting thieves in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the killing. When another merchant is burned alive in public, the rich start fleeing to their country estates. But the Tuscan hills can also be dangerous.Growing religious fervour and a scorching heatwave drives the city ever closer to madness. Meanwhile, someone is stalking those powerful men who forged lifelong bonds in the dark days of Savonarola.Unless Aldo and Strocchi work together, all of Florence will be consumed by an inferno of death and destruction . . .'Religion and lust? Money and politics? It's all here, combined into a murderous brew' - Andrew Taylor, bestselling author of The Royal SecretRitual of Fire is the third Cesare Aldo mystery, preceded by City of Vengeance and The Darkest Sin. The series continues with A Divine Fury.The Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger Winning Author

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The first in the Echoes of the Fall series, The Tiger and the Wolf is an epic fantasy novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and British Fantasy Award for Best Novel.‘One of the most interesting and accomplished writers in speculative fiction’ – Christopher PaoliniIn the bleak northern crown of the world, war is coming . . .Maniye’s father is the Wolf clan’s chieftain, but she’s an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan’s animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail to drag them back for retribution.The Wolf chieftain plots to rule the north, and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes. However, other tribes also prepare for strife. Strangers from the far south appear too, seeking allies in their own conflict. It’s a season for omens as priests foresee danger and a darkness falling across the land. Some say a great war is coming, overshadowing even Wolf ambitions. A time of testing and broken laws is near – but what spark will set the world ablaze?Continue this sweeping coming-of-age fantasy with The Bear and the Serpent.

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Guns of the Dawn is a pacey, gripping fantasy of war and magic, from Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author, Adrian Tchaikovsky.‘One of the best books I've ever read’ – Peter Newman, author of The VagrantThe first casualty of war is truth . . .First, Denland’s revolutionaries assassinated their king, launching a wave of bloodshed after generations of peace. Next they clashed with Lascanne, their royalist neighbour, pitching war-machines against warlocks in a fiercely fought conflict.Genteel Emily Marshwic watched as the hostilities stole her family’s young men. But then came the call for yet more Lascanne soldiers in a ravaged kingdom with none left to give. Emily must join the ranks of conscripted women and march toward the front lines.With barely enough training to hold a musket, Emily braves the savage reality of warfare. But she begins to doubt her country's cause, and those doubts become critical. For her choices will determine her own future and that of two nations locked in battle.‘An engrossing story, beautifully told’ – SFX‘Moving, gripping and wonderfully paced’ – The Bookbag

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'Ruthlessly efficient, entertainment. Pedigree fun' - The TimesDiscover the darkness that lurks around every corner in the latest instalment of the award-winning Grace series, now a major ITV series.A ruthless crime. A race against time.In the dead of night, a farmer hears a suspicious noise. It’s everyone’s worst nightmare: a break-in. When he confronts the intruders, he has no idea that just minutes later he will be left lying in a pool of blood. But the chilling truth lies not in the act itself, but what the perpetrators were willing to kill for.At the scene of the crime, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace senses something amiss. This is no mere botched robbery; it’s the tip of the iceberg of a nationwide crime epidemic. Ruthless gangs, operating with military precision, have discovered a new black market flourishing in the shadows – an unthinkable source of wealth even more profitable than drugs.Grace’s investigation into this deadly trade pits him against some of the most ruthless people he has ever encountered; people who will kill anyone who gets in their way, because where there is greed, there is murder.The clock is ticking, and the stakes have never been higher. Out of his element, and out of time, can Roy Grace put a stop to these criminal masterminds before more innocent lives are lost?‘Peter James is one of the best British crime writers, and therefore one of the best in the world.’ - LEE CHILD, author of The Jack Reacher series‘The master of the craft’ - DAILY EXPRESS

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Chanda and the Devious Doubt is an exciting adventure that will help children to overcome their doubts!From Tom Percival, the creator of Silas and the Marvellous Misfits – a Marcus Rashford Book Club Choice! – and Ruby's Worry, comes the second title in the action packed Dream Defenders series (previously published as A Case of the Jitters).Erika has an amazing secret. She’s a member of the Dream Defenders – a top-secret organization that will banish your worries while you sleep!When Erika gets an emergency call from the team, she dives into the dream world and meets Chanda – Chanda is struggling with her confidence and a terrifying Doubt is attacking her dream!Can the Dream Defenders help Chanda believe in herself and banish her Doubts, before they take over completely?Discover more incredible Dream Defenders adventures in Erika and the Angermare and Silas and the Marvellous Misfits.

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From international poetry sensation Nikita Gill comes her highly anticipated YA debut These Are the Words: an empowering, feminist and beautifully illustrated poetry collection exploring all the things Nikita wished someone had told her when she was younger.Reclaim your agency. Discover your power. Find the words.Taking you on a journey through the seasons of the soul, in this collection Nikita gives you the words to help heal from your first breakup, to celebrate finding your family, to understand first love, to express your anger and your joy, to fight for what you believe in and to help you break some rules to be your truest self.Gorgeously illustrated throughout by Nikita herself and featuring seasonal astrological poetry, this collection is an achingly beautiful, stunningly warm and fearless expression of truth from one of the most influential and well-known voices in modern poetry.REMINDER FOR HEALINGYou do not owe anyone your forgiveness.The trees do not apologize to the wind that uproots them.The rocks do not apologize to the erosion by the sea.The stars do not apologize to the universewhen they are writhing and dying out.And you are not obligated to forgive anyonebut yourself.

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The enchanting festive poem from Carol Ann Duffy, former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, and adorned with sumptuous illustrations by artist Margaux Carpentier, Christmas Eve at The Moon Under Water is the perfect festive gift for the poetry lover in your life.All the lights were on at The Moon Under Waterand the landlord, an Owl, was slowly pulling a pintto test his ale. Toothsome. It was Christmas Eveand the fire in the ancient grate gargled its flames...A horse walks into a bar. A hedgehog plays the piano. An owl mulls a flagon of wine. On Christmas Eve at The Moon Under Water, anything is possible, so when the landlord announces a festive prize for the best performance of the night, all and sundry pile into the pub, eager for a chance at victory.In Christmas Eve at The Moon Under Water all the old rivalries of the natural world are suspended for one miraculous night, as man stands shoulder to shoulder with animal, and predator and prey add warble and wail to the Yuletide chorus.

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‘A beautiful, playful, intriguing book.’ Nina StibbeEvery time you draw a card, you open up possibilities. What will appear and what will you see? What lessons could the cards offer up? What aspects of yourself might they reveal?Discover the tarot with Wild Card, a friendly, funny and straightforward guide to the seventy-eight cards, their stories and meanings.At its heart, the tarot is a storytelling device, a deck of symbols and narratives that can spark conversations, inspire ideas, and reveal new perspectives. And you don't need to be psychic to use it: it is a practice that is open to everyone. In this beautifully illustrated guide, tarot readers Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt introduce each of the cards, drawing on literature, pop culture, and their own experiences, and encourage you to add your voice to this centuries-old tradition. Whether you are learning to read for yourself and others, refreshing your knowledge, or just curious, Wild Card will show you how the tarot can add a little bit of magic to your life.

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