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Shroud (Cleave Trilogy #2)
by John Banville‘Shroud will not be easily surpassed for its combination of wit, moral complexity and compassion. It is hard to see what more a novel could do’ Irish TimesDark secrets and reality unravel in Shroud, the second of John Banville's three novels to feature Cass Cleave, alongside Eclipse and Ancient Light. Axel Vander, distinguished intellectual and elderly academic, is not the man he seems. When a letter arrives out of the blue, threatening to unveil his secrets – and carefully concealed identity – Vander travels to Turin to meet its author. There, muddled by age and alcohol, unable always to distinguish fact from fiction, Vander comes face to face with the woman who has the knowledge to unmask him, Cass Cleave. However, her sense of reality is as unreliable as his, and the two are quickly drawn together, their relationship dark, disturbed and doomed to disaster from its very start.
Heart's Blood
by Juliet MarillierWhistling Tor is a place of secrets, a mysterious, wooded hill housing the crumbling fortress of a chieftain whose name is spoken throughout the district in tones of revulsion and bitterness. A curse lies over Anluan’s family and his people; those woods hold a perilous force whose every whisper threatens doom. For young scribe Caitrin it is a safe haven. This place where nobody else is prepared to go seems exactly what she needs, for Caitrin is fleeing her own demons. As Caitrin comes to know Anluan and his home in more depth she realizes that it is only through her love and determination that the curse can be broken and Anluan and his people set free.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang #1)
by Frank Cottrell BoycePacked with fun illustrations by Joe Berger, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again is the hilarious sequel to Ian Fleming's much loved children's classic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, the author of the Carnegie Medal-winning Millions.When the Tooting family find a vast abandoned engine and fit it to their camper van, they have no idea of the adventure that lies ahead. The engine used to belong to an extraordinary flying car - and it wants to be back on the road again . . . fast! The Tootings can haul on the steering wheel and pull the handbrake as hard as they like, but their camper van now has a mind of her own. It's not long before they're hurtling along on a turbocharged chase as Chitty tracks down her long-lost bodywork. But there are sinister forces at work too. When it comes to a car as special as Chitty, everybody wants a piece of her . . .
Abandon (The Abandon Trilogy #1)
by Meg CabotLast year, Pierce died – just for a moment. And when she was in the space between life and death, she met John. Tall dark and terrifying, it's his job to usher souls from one realm to the next. There's a fierce attraction between them, which Pierce carries back into our world. But she knows that if she allows herself to fall for John she will be doomed to a life of shadows and loneliness in the Underworld. When things get dangerous for her, her only hope is to do exactly what John says. Can she trust a guy who lives for the dead?Inspired by Greek myth, Abandon is the first in a darkly romantic trilogy from Meg Cabot, creator of The Princess Diaries.
Glow (Sky Chasers #1)
by Amy Kathleen RyanSixteen years ago, Waverly and Kieran were the first children born in space. Now a perfect couple, they are the pride and joy of the whole spaceship. They represent the future. The ship is their entire world. They have never seen a stranger before. Old Earth is crumbling, and the crew is hoping to reach (and colonise) New Earth within fifty years. Along with their allies on the second spaceship - who set off a year before them and whom they have never met. One day, Kieran proposes to Waverly. That same morning, the 'allies' attack - and Kieran and Waverly are separated in the cruellest way possible. Will they ever see each other again?
An Act of Treason (Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Swanson series #4)
by Jack CoughlinMarine sniper Kyle Swanson and his beautiful girlfriend, CIA agent Lauren Carson, are on a mission in Pakistan when their world is turned inside out. Kyle is captured and thrown in prison. Lauren is accused of being a double agent. The one person they can trust to help is the man who sent them on the black operation - Jim Hall, a legendary CIA agent, Kyle's sniper mentor, and Lauren's boss and former lover.But Hall has gone rogue. He is selling America's innermost secrets to a ruthless Pakistani warlord who wants to mould al- Qaeda into a legitimate political party, and secure a nuclear arsenal. For Jim Hall, his former protégé Swanson is the final obstacle.Caught in the sights of a man he once idolized, and who taught him how to shoot, Swanson must prevent a global disaster - from the streets of Washington to the Bavarian Alps, the two snipers stalk each other in a deadly hunt that has only one possible outcome.
Carnival for the Dead (Nic Costa #10)
by David HewsonCarnival for the Dead is a suspenseful spin-off from the Nic Costa series, David Hewson's detective novels of love and death in Italy.In Venice the past was more reticent. Beyond the tourist sights, San Marco and the Rialto, it lurked in the shadows, seeping out of the cracked stones like blood from ancient wounds, as if death itself was one more sly performance captured beneath the bright all-seeing light of the lagoon. It’s February, and Carnival time in Venice. Forensic pathologist Teresa Lupo visits the city to investigate the mysterious disappearance of her beloved bohemian Aunt Sofia. But from the moment she is greeted off the vaporetto by a masked man dressed in the costume of The Plague Doctor, Teresa starts to suspect that all is not well. The puzzle deepens when a letter reveals a piece of fiction in which both Sofia and Teresa appear. Even more strange, are the links to the past which gradually begin to surface. Are the messages being sent by Sofia herself? Her abductor? Or a third party seeking to help her unravel the mystery? The revelation is as surprising and shocking as Sofia’s fate. And Teresa herself comes to depend upon the unravelling of a mystery wrapped deep inside the art and culture of Venice itself.
The Wedding Writer
by Susan SchneiderWedding writers face particular challenges, envy being one of them, especially if the writer happens to be single, as Lucky is. Who are all these smug people, thinking life is just one great big happily ever after? Does anyone truly believe in fairytales any more? It’s a different kind of ‘big day’ at Your Wedding magazine. Lucky Quinn – once a lowly wedding writer – is thrust into the spotlight as Editor-in-Chief on the same day that two of the magazine’s major competitors fold. Things are looking worse for sacked former-editor Grace Ralston, who has been at the helm of Your Wedding from day one, and is now facing a lonely, uncertain and unemployed future. Meanwhile Lucky must face the confusion and disappointment of her new staff, who are struggling with their own professional and personal issues in the wake of Grace’s departure. For better or for worse, each woman confronts her past and deals with her hectic present in this tale of women, work and the world of weddings.
Unsuitable Men: An uplifting romantic comedy from a top ten author
by Pippa WrightUnsuitable Men is a hilarious romantic comedy from Pippa Wright, author of Lizzy Harrison Loses Control and The Foster Husband.After eleven years of coupled-up domesticity, Rory Carmichael is single for the first time in her adult life. Even she would admit that her ex-boyfriend Martin wasn’t the most exciting man in the world – let’s face it, his idea of a rocking night was one spent updating his Excel spreadsheets – but Rory could rely on him and, having watched her mother rack up four turbulent marriages, that’s what matters. But when she discovers that her supposedly reliable Mr Right is a distinctly unreliable cheater, she’s forced to consider the possibility that everything she knows about relationships is wrong. In an effort to reinvigorate both her love life and her lacklustre career at posh magazine Country House, she sets herself a mission to date as many unsuitable men as possible. Toyboys. Sugar daddies. Fauxmosexuals. Maybe the bad boys she’s never dated can show her what she’s been missing in life. But if Mr Right can turn out to be so wrong, maybe one of her Mr Wrongs will turn out to be just right . . .
A Way in the World: A Sequence (Vintage International)
by Sir V. S. NaipaulA Way in the World is a vastly innovative novel exploring vastly innovative novel explores colonial inheritance through a series of narratives that span continents, swing back and forth between past and present and delve into both autobiography and fiction. V. S. Naipaul offers a personal choice of examples of Spanish and British imperial history in the Caribbean, including an imagined vision of Raleigh’s last expedition and an introduction to Francisco de Miranda, a would-be liberator and precursor to Bolívar, which are placed within a context of echoing modernity and framed by two more personal, heavily autobiographical sections sketching the narrator – an eloquent yet humble man of Indian descent who grew up in Trinidad but spent much of his adult life in England and Africa. Meditative and dramatic, these historical reconstructions, imbued with Naipaul’s acute perception, drawn with his deft and sensitive touch, and told in his beautifully wrought prose, are transmuted into an astonishing novel exploring the profound and mysterious effect of history on the individual.
Half a Life: A Novel (Vintage International)
by Sir V. S. NaipaulIn Half a Life we are introduced to the compelling figure of Willie Chandran. Springing from the unhappy union of a low-caste mother and a father constantly at odds with life, Willie is naively eager to find something that will place him both in and apart from the world. Drawn to England, and to the immigrant and bohemian communities of post-war London, it is only in his first experience of love that he finally senses the possibility of fulfilment. In its humorous and sensitive vision of the half-lives quietly lived out at the centre of our world, V.S. Naipaul’s graceful novel brings its own unique illumination to essential aspects of our shared history. ‘Parts are as sly and funny as anything Naipaul has written. Nobody who enjoys seeing English beautifully controlled should miss this novel’ John Carey, Sunday Times
Miguel Street (Vintage International)
by Sir V. S. NaipaulMiguel Street, V. S. Naipaul’s first written work of fiction, is set in a derelict corner of Port of Spain, Trinidad, during World War Two and is narrated by an unnamed, precociously observant neighbourhood boy. We are introduced to a galaxy of characters, from Popo the carpenter, who neglects his livelihood to build ‘the wild thing without a name’, to Man-man, who goes from running for public office to staging his own crucifixion, and the dreaded Big-Foot, the bully with glass tear ducts. As well as the lovely Mrs Hereira, in thrall to her monstrous husband. V. S. Naipaul writes with prescient wisdom and crackling wit about the lives and legends that make up Miguel Street: a living theatre, a world in microcosm, a cacophony of sights, sounds and smells – all seen through the eyes of a fatherless boy. The language, the idioms and the observations are priceless and timeless and Miguel Street overflows with life on every page. This is an astonishing novel about hope, despair, poverty and laughter; and an enchanting and exuberant tribute to V. S. Naipaul’s childhood home.
The Reef
by Mark Charan NewtonHas-jahn: a continent of exotic cultures, cities and long-forgotten technology. Two members of a race once thought extinct wash up on the shores near the city of Escha. In their possession is a call for help from a human living on the little-known tropical island of Arya, where their race is being murdered. A crew of freelance explorers, led by the charismatic Santiago DeBrelt, travels to discover the mystery behind the killings. However, Santiago's controversial nature leads to him being accompanied by government agents — who wish to explore Arya and find out why Eschan naval vessels have disappeared in the seas surrounding it. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Rhoam, a city in central Has-jahn, a band of terrorists are embarking upon an epic journey to the very same waters. Still angry from an old war with Escha, they've gathered explosives and weapons, and will allow nothing to interfere with their quest for a phenomenal revenge. But secret pasts are revealed and soon all eyes turn to the coral reef off the coast of Arya. With echoes of Joseph Conrad and China Miéville, Mark Charan Newton's first book The Reef is a modern fantasy journey with original creatures and peoples, a story of relationships foundering on tropical sands and in dark waters.
Astray
by Emma DonoghueWith the turn of each page, the characters that roam across these pages go astray. They are emigrants, runaways, drifters; gold miners and counterfeiters, attorneys and slaves. They cross borders of race, law, sex, and sanity. They travel for love or money, under duress or incognito. This fascinating collection from Emma Donoghue, author of the internationally bestselling Room, is a sequence of fourteen fact-inspired fictions about travels to, in and from North America, Astray offers a past in scattered pieces, a surprising and moving history for restless times.
The Sealed Letter
by Emma Donoghue'The Sealed Letter is a page-turner with a jaw-dropping ending' Stylist Helen Codrington is unhappily married. Emily 'Fido' Faithfull hasn't seen her once-dear friend for years. Suddenly, after bumping into Helen on the streets of Victorian London, Fido finds herself reluctantly helping Helen to have an affair with a young army officer. The women's friendship quickly unravels amid courtroom accusations of adultery, counter-accusations of cruelty and attempted rape, and the appearance of a mysterious 'sealed letter' that could destroy more than one life . . . Based on a real-life scandal that gripped England in 1864, Emma Donoghue's The Sealed Letter is a delicious tale of secrets, betrayal, and forbidden love.
Nefertiti in the Flak Tower: Poems
by Clive JamesClive James’ power as a poet has increased year by year, and there has been no stronger evidence for this than Nefertiti in the Flak Tower. Here, his polymathic learning and technical virtuosity are worn more lightly than ever; the effect is merely to produce a deep sense of trust into which the reader gratefully sinks, knowing they are in the presence of a master. The most obvious token of that mastery is the book’s breathtaking range of theme: there are moving elegies, a meditation on the later Yeats, a Hollywood Iliad, odes to rare orchids, wartime typewriters and sharks – as well as a poem on the fate of Queen Nefertiti in Nazi Germany. But despite the dizzying variety, James’ poetic intention becomes increasingly clear: what marks this collection out is his intensified concentration on the individual poem as self-contained universe. Poetry is a practice he compares (in ‘Numismatics’) to striking new coin; and Nefertiti in the Flak Tower is a treasure-chest of one-off marvels, with each poem a twin-sided, perfect human balance of the unashamedly joyous and the deadly serious, ‘whose play of light pays tribute to the dark’.
The Mystic Masseur: The Mystic Masseur (Caribbean Writers Ser.)
by Sir V. S. NaipaulThe Mystic Masseur, V. S. Naipaul’s first published novel, is the story of the rise and rise of Ganesh, from failed primary school teacher and struggling masseur to author, revered mystic and MBE – a journey equally memorable for its hilarity as its bewildering success. An unforgettable cast of characters witness this meteoric ascent: Ganesh’s father-in-law, Ramlogan, whose shop gave the impression that ‘every morning someone went over everything in it – scales, Ramlogan, and all – with a greased rag’; his aunt, the Great Belcher, with her troubling wind; his wife Leela, and her fondness for putting a punctuation mark after every word. Soon, Ganesh’s small hut is filled with books (1,500, as his wife will attest), and his trousers and shirt disappear to be replaced by more suitable attire for a proper mystic. As ‘The Woman Who Couldn’t Eat’ and ‘Lover Boy’, the man who fell in love with his bicycle, line up to be cured, it looks like the mystic masseur is surely destined for greatness. In one of the author’s finest comic creations we see the immense sensitivity, humour and endlessly inventive imagination that have become the hallmarks of V. S. Naipaul’s genius.
The Nightwatchman's Occurrence Book: and Other Comic Inventions (Vintage International)
by Sir V. S. NaipaulWith a preface by the author. V. S. Naipaul’s legendary command of broad comedy and acute social observation is on abundant display in these classic works of fiction – two novels and a collection of stories – that capture the rhythms of life in the Caribbean and England with impressive subtlety and humour. The Suffrage of Elvira is Naipaul’s hilarious take on an electoral campaign in the back country of Trinidad, where the candidates’ tactics include blatant vote-buying and supernatural sabotage. The eponymous protagonist of Mr Stone and the Knights Companion is an ageing Englishman of ponderously regular habits whose life is thrown into upheaval by a sudden marriage and an unanticipated professional advancement. And the stories in A Flag on the Island take us from a Chinese bakery in Trinidad – whose black proprietor faces bankruptcy until he takes a Chinese name – to a rooming house in London, where the genteel landlady plays a nasty Darwinian game with her budgerigars. Unfailingly stylish, filled with intelligence and feeling, The Nightwatchman's Occurrence Book is the work of a writer who can do just about anything that can be done with language. ‘V. S. Naipaul has a substantial claim as a comic writer . . . This humour, conducted throughout with the utmost stylistic quietude, is completely original’ Kingsley Amis, Spectator
The Other Country
by Carol Ann DuffyThe Other Country was Carol Ann Duffy’s third collection, and as with her later books, takes its readers on journeys that seem initially similar – but soon prove anything but. This book leads our imagination to places our minds could not have suspected were there, or would not have dared to go alone. Some of its voices are disarmingly direct, while others blur the lines between fantasy and reality, confession and self-delusion, forcing us to re-examine everything we thought we knew about some of our most basic human drives and emotions. Deeply intelligent, unflinchingly honest, with a deftness of touch and tone, and openness all the more moving for its lack of sentimentality, The Other Country is as remarkable a collection today as it was on its first publication.
PICADOR SHOTS - 'Death of the Pugilist, or The Famous Battle of Jacob Burke and Blindman McGraw' (Picador Shots)
by Daniel MasonDeath of the Pugilist, or The Famous Battle of Jacob Burke & Blindman McGraw Rising from a childhood of rough dockside brawls, a young bare-knuckle fighter faces off against a legendary behemoth. The Ecstasy of Alfred Russel Wallace In the jungles of the Malay Archipelago, a botanist is struck by an epiphany that will change not only his own life, but the course of science.
Rise of the Governor: The Walking Dead (The Walking Dead #1)
by Jay Bonansinga Robert KirkmanThe world has gone to hell - and that story starts here. Philip Blake’s life has been turned upside down. In less than seventy-two hours, an inexplicable event has resulted in people everywhere . . . turning. Now the walking dead roam the streets, massacring the living, and it seems that nowhere is safe. Escaping his small town, Philip has just one focus in life – to protect his young daughter Penny. And he’ll do whatever it takes to ensure she survives. With his two old high-school friends and his brother Brian, Philip decides to aim for Atlanta. It’s said refugee centres are being set up there. But between them and safety stand the walking dead – and they must, somehow, pass through them to reach salvation. The Walking Dead novels are based on the award-winning graphic novels created by Robert Kirkman, which also inspired the TV series. This is fast-paced, action-packed storytelling about the lengths some people will go to survive. This book features new characters, new storylines and the same in-depth character-based plotting that has made the long-running television series such an success.
PICADOR SHOTS - 'The Then Wives' (Picador Shots)
by Sylvia BrownriggThe Then Wives A husband remembers a party many years – and at least one wife – ago. A Dictionary of Betrayal Entries on the theme of love, loss, party etiquette and sleeping with other people’s partners.
PICADOR SHOTS - 'The Unrequited' (Picador Shots)
by Niall WilliamsIn June, 2006, Picador launch Picador Shots, a new series of pocket-sized books priced at £1. The Shots aim to promote the short story as well as the work of some Picador's greatest authors. They will be contemporarily packaged but ultimately disposable books that are the ideal literary alternative to a magazine. The Unrequited by Niall Williams is to be one of the first. 'The Unrequited' opens with the arrival in Oslo of Raphael Newell, a Dublin accountant. Someone who has always previously lived on the margins of life, Ray has come to Norway find the married woman he has fallen in love with. Rejuevnated and invigorated by the experience of being in love, Ray sees the world differently; everything and everyone around him is transformed, and he feels for the first time that he has really come alive. Recounting the couple's first meeting alongside Ray's Norwegian quest, The Unrequited is both love story and fable, both a story for our times and -- in the themes of love, life and loss it explores -- one that is timeless; a story for all ages, in all senses of the word.
One Man's Meat: The Year of Short Stories
by Jeffrey ArcherOne Man's Meat is part of The Year of Short Stories and is one of several digital shorts released to celebrate the publication of Jeffrey Archer’s magnificent seventh collection, Tell Tale.Taken from Jeffrey Archer's third collection of short stories, Twelve Red Herrings, comes One Man's Meat, an irresistible, witty and ingenious short read.When Michael Whitaker spots the stunning Anna Townsend on the steps of the theatre, he decides he will do whatever it takes to get to know her. Finding a way to get a ticket for the seat next to her, he then invites her to a drink at the interval. By the end of the play, Michael asks her to accompany him to dinner. But what will her answer be?What follows are four different endings . . . choose just one, or – if choosing to read all four – they can be read in the following order: Rare, Burnt, Overdone, and À Point . . .Be sure to look out for more from The Year of Short Stories collection, including The Endgame and No Room at the Inn.
No Room at the Inn: The Year of Short Stories
by Jeffrey ArcherNo Room at the Inn is part of The Year of Short Stories and is one of several digital shorts released to celebrate the publication of Jeffrey Archer’s magnificent seventh collection, Tell Tale.Taken from Jeffrey Archer's sixth collection of short stories, And Thereby Hangs a Tale, comes No Room at the Inn, an irresistible, witty and ingenious short read.Richard has spent an idyllic month in Italy, soaking up the sun and the rich culture – even though his girlfriend decided at the last minute not to accompany him. Finding himself in the beautiful historic town of Monterchi, he spends his last few euros on a simple yet delicious meal. He is recommended the Albergo Piero for his stay that night. When he is told they have no rooms, the beautiful receptionist tells him to wait a moment – there might just be a room after all . . .Be sure to look out for more from The Year of Short Stories collection, including The Endgame and In the Eye of the Beholder.