A gripping and unnerving story of a family's secrets and lies, from the bestselling author of 'Notes from an Exhibition'. Julian as a small boy is taken on the perfect Cornish holiday. When glamorous American cousins unexpectedly swell the party, however, emotions run high and events spiral out of control. Though he has been brought up in the forbidding shadow of the prison his father runs, though his parents are neither as normal nor as happy as he supposes, Julian's world view is the sunnily selfish, accepting one of boyhood. It is only when he becomes a man — seemingly at ease with love, with his sexuality, with his ghosts — that the traumatic effects of that distant summer rise up to challenge his defiant assertion that he is happy and always has been.

The superb new psychological thriller from 'Queen of Crime' Val McDermid fuses her trademark plot twists and characterization with one of the most important events in recent UK history — the 1984 Miners' Strike. Twenty-five years ago, the daughter of Scotland's richest man and her baby son were kidnapped and held to ransom. But Catriona Grant ended up dead and little Adam's fate is still unknown. When a new clue is discovered in a deserted Tuscan villa — along with grisly evidence of a recent murder — cold case expert DI Karen Pirie is assigned to follow the trail. She's already working a case from the same year. During the Miners' Strike of 1984, pit worker Mick Prentice vanished. He was presumed to have broken ranks and fled south with other 'scabs'! but Karen finds that the reported events of that night don't add up. Where did he really go? And is there a link to the Grant mystery?

Una novela sobre la sorprendente historia de Brida O'Fern, una de las mas jovenes maestras en la Tradicion de las Hechiceras, donde la magia habla todas las lenguas del corazon del hombre Esta es la historia de Brida, una nina irlandesa, y su sed de conocimiento. Siempre se ha interesado en diversos aspectos de la magia, pero ahora esta en busca de algo mas. Su busqueda la lleva a conocer gente de gran sabiduria, que comienza a ensenarle acerca del mundo espiritual. Conoce a un hombre sabio que le ensena a superar sus miedos y a una mujer que le ensena como danzar al ritmo del mundo y rezarle a la luna. A medida que Brida busca su destino, lucha por encontrar el equilibrio entre sus relaciones y su deseo de convertirse en bruja. Esta fascinante novela incorpora temas que los fanaticos de Paulo Coelho reconoceran y atesoraran — es una historia de amor, pasion, misterio y espiritualidad, del maestro de la ficcion.

Now that Michael has broken things off, Mia can barely get out of bed, and her parents are making her see a therapist. Just when things can't get any worse, Mia uncovers an old family secret that could change the fate of the Renaldos forever.

«One was Johnny — but that's not all, count the others who come to call». When unwelcome visitors come to calkl, our young hero counts to ten — and back again — to get rid of them all.»

A wide-ranging and eclectic collection of short stories on the theme of love in its various forms: romantic, erotic, impossible, undying and exhausted. No other aspect of the human experience regularly inspires such an outpouring of poetry, prose and philosophy as love. From passionate declarations to clinical analysis, writers of every age have been fascinated, tormented and inspired by love. This beautifully produced collection of short stories will combine the best of contemporary and classic fiction on the theme of love, from Catullus to Alice Munro. Edited and introduced by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'Middlesex', this wonderfully heterodox look at love will include, amongst others, 'A Rose for Emily' by William Faulkner, 'The Lady with the Lapdog' by Anton Chekhov and stories by Lorrie Moore, Milan Kundera and Guy de Maupassant.

A gentle and deeply moving story of a young girl and her bear, told with great charm by a master storyteller. High in the mountains, in a tiny village, an abandoned bear cub is adopted by a lonely orphan child. Soon they are inseparable, beloved by the whole village — safe, until the arrival of a glamorous film crew who need a dancing bear!

Available for the first time in one volume, this is the definitive collection of Tolkien's five acclaimed modern classic 'fairie' tales in the vein of 'The Hobbit'. The five tales are written with the same skill, quality and charm that made The Hobbit a classic. Largely overlooked because of their short lengths, they are finally together in a volume which reaffirms Tolkien's place as a master storyteller for readers young and old. Roverandom is a toy dog who, enchanted by a sand sorcerer, gets to explore the world and encounter strange and fabulous creatures. Farmer Giles of Ham is fat and unheroic, but — having unwittingly managed to scare off a short-sighted giant — is called upon to do battle when a dragon comes to town; The Adventures of Tom Bombadil tells in verse of Tom's many adventures with hobbits, princesses, dwarves and trolls; Leaf by Niggle recounts the strange adventures of the painter Niggle who sets out to paint the perfect tree; Smith of Wootton Major journeys to the Land of Faery thanks to the magical ingredients of the Great Cake of the Feast of Good Children.This new collection is fully illustrated throughout by Oscar-winning artist, Alan Lee, who provides a wealth of pencil drawings to bring the stories to life as he did so memorably for The Hobbit and The Children of Hurin. Alan also provides an Afterword, in which he opens the door into illustrating Tolkien's world. World-renowned Tolkien author and expert, Tom Shippey, takes the reader through the hidden links in the tales to Tolkien's Middle-earth in his Introduction, and recounts their history and themes. Lastly, included as an appendix is Tolkien's most famous essay quotations; On Fairy-stories and quotations, in which he brilliantly discusses fairy-stories and their relationship to fantasy. Taken together, this rich collection of new and unknown work from the author of The Children of Hurin will provide the reader with a fascinating journey into lands as wild and strange as Middle-earth.

A brilliant memoir from the celebrated Chilean novelist on friends, family and life in California, her adopted home. Isabel Allende has sold more than 50 million copies of her books worldwide. The most beloved and successful of her books, 'The House of the Spirits', was based on her Chilean childhood, and her autobiographical works include the deeply moving 'Paula' — a family history written at the bedside of her daughter while she lay in a coma — and the fascinating 'My Invented Country', which explored the events of her native Chile where she lived until Pinochet's military coup. Now, in 'The Sum of the Days', we have Isabel describe in an exceptionally vivid, human and deeply personal way her life in California where she has lived for more than 25 years. The first page picks up from where Paula ends — her daughter never did wake up from her coma and died in 1992 — when Allende recounts spreading Paula's ashes in her favourite part of the woods by their home. It is fair to say that Isabel has never recovered from losing her daughter but has managed to survive by keeping her husband, son, grandchildren as well as close friends — kindred spirits — central to her life.' The Sum of the Days', based on Allende's own journals and daily correspondence with her mother in Chile, reveals the author to be a dazzling, generous, warm and hysterically funny matriarch within her swirl of family and friends.

Matthew Hawkwood, ex-soldier turned Bow Street Runner, goes undercover to hunt down smugglers and traitors at the height of the Napoleonic Wars in this thrilling follow-up to Ratcatcher. For a French prisoner of war, there is only one fate worse than the gallows: the hulks. Former man-o'-wars, now converted to prison ships, their fearsome reputation guarantees a sentence served in the most dreadful conditions. Few survive. Escape, it's said, is impossible. Yet reports persist of a sinister smuggling operation within this brutal world — and the Royal Navy is worried enough to send two of its officers to investigate. But when they disappear without trace, the Navy turns in desperation to Bow Street for help. It's time to send in a man as dangerous as the prey. It's time to send in Hawkwood!

Jack Higgins, master of the modern thriller, teams up with Justi Richards, bestselling author of Dr Who, to deliver a pulse-pounding new instalment in the adventures of the teenage Chance twins! This third gripping novel about the adventures of teenage twins Rich and Jade Chance takes the action and adventure to a new calibre — then pulls the trigger! With their secret agent dad in trouble, Jade and Rich are flung into a headlong series of chases, fights and captures that leads them to the arid deserts of the Middle East. There, the pair come up against terrifying new villains and surprising allies as an assassination attempt threatens international relations and a buried secret of the first Gulf War comes explosively to light...

'Last December, a woman entered my apartment who looked exactly like my wife...' Dr Leo Liebenstein is convinced that his wife has disappeared and that she has been replaced by a double. While everyone else may be fooled, Leo knows she cannot be his real wife, and sets off on a quixotic journey to reclaim his lost love. With the help of his psychiatric patient Harvey — who believes himself to be a secret agent who can control the weather — Leo attempts to unravel this mystery. Why has his wife been replaced? What do the secret workings of The Royal Society of Meteorology have to do with it? Who is the enigmatic Dr. Tzvi Gal-Chen, and is he, or maybe his wife, or perhaps even Harvey, at the center of it all? From the streets of New York to the southernmost reaches of Patagonia, Leo's erratic quest ultimately becomes a test of how far he is willing to take his struggle against the uncontested truth he knows to be false. 'Atmospheric Disturbances' is at once a moving love story, a dark comedy, a psychological thriller, and a deeply disturbing portrait of a fracturing mind.In this highly inventive debut, with tremendous compassion and dazzling literary sophistication, Rivka Galchen explores the mysterious nature of human relationships, and how we spend our lives trying to weather the storms of our own making.

A spellbinding, exuberant first novel, set in Malaysia, that introduces us to a prosperous Indian immigrant family, as it slowly peels away its closely guarded secrets. When the family's servant girl, Chellam, is dismissed from the big house for unnamed crimes, it is only the latest in a series of losses that have shaken six-year-old Aasha's life. Her grandmother has passed away under mysterious circumstances and her older sister has disappeared for a new life abroad, with no plans to return. Her parents, meanwhile, seem to be hiding something away — from themselves, and from one another. As the novel tells us the story of the years leading up to these events, we learn what has happened to the hopes and dreams of a family caught up in Malaysia's troubled post-colonial history. What bought the Rajasekharan family to the Big House in Malaysia? What was Chellam's unforgivable crime? Why did the eldest daughter leave the country under strained circumstances? What is Appa — the respectable family patriarch — hiding from his wife and his children? Through this vibrant cast of characters, and through a masterful evocation of the clashes and strains in a country where Malays, Indians and Chinese inhabitants vie for their positions in society, Preeta Samarasan brings us an enthralling saga of one household and the world beyond it.

The new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Straw Men and The Intruders is a heart-stopping tale of secrets, lies and our culpability in our own misfortunes — the bad things in the world and the bad things we do to each other. On a beautiful summer's afternoon four-year-old Scott Henderson walked out onto a jetty over a lake in Black Ridge, Washington State. He never came back. John Henderson's world ended that day, but three years later he's still alive. Living a life, of sorts. Getting by. Until one night he receives an email from a stranger who claims to know what happened to his little boy. Against his better judgement Henderson returns to Black Ridge, unleashing a terrifying sequence of events that threatens to destroy what remains of everything he once held dear. Bad things don't just happen to other people — they're waiting round the corner for you too. And when they start to make their way in through the cracks in your life, you won't know until it's far too late...

«Paulo Coelho is a worldwide phenomenon. At a time when he is coming up to the fantastic achievement of 100 million copies sold worldwide across all his books, his fans will be delighted with the first ever official biography of Paulo, an in-depth look at his life and work, and what makes him the much-loved author he is today. Paulo's first official biographer, Fernando Morais, provides an exhaustive look at Paulo's fascinating and varied life, taking several years to research his subject, and interviewing everyone who knows Paulo. He weaves together the strands of Paulo's life, revealing the man behind the world-famous writer. Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 1947. Before he became internationally known and a worldwide bestseller, he had to overcome many obstacles. As a teenager, he was subjected to the brutality of electric shock treatment in the psychiatric hospital where his parents, who took his rebelliousness as a sign of madness, interned him three times. As a member of the esoteric underworld, he was put in prison for alleged subversive activities against the Brazilian dictatorship and subjected to physical torture. Later, Paulo joined forces with rock star Raul Seixas and together they composed songs that revolutionized Brazilian rock music. Hippie, journalist, rock star, actor, playwright, theatre director and producer of television programs, this whirlwind life came to an end in 1982, during a trip to Europe. In Dachau and later in Amsterdam, Paulo had a mystical meeting with «J», his new mentor, who persuaded him to walk the Road to Santiago de Compostela, a medieval pilgrim's route between France and Spain. In 1986 Paulo walked the Road to Santiago, and it was there that he reconverted to Christianity and found again the faith bequeathed to him by the Jesuit fathers of his school years. He would later describe this experience in his first book, The Pilgrimage. The following year, The Alchemist, established his worldwide reputation. The novel has already achieved the status of a universally admired modern classic. Now, for the first time, discover the true story of the man behind some of the world's most loved books.»

«Bestselling author Josephine Cox brings us a hilarious and entertaining tale for next Christmas! «I'm 36 years of age; handsome and fit. I'm not as tall as I'd like to be, nor am I rippling with chest-muscles. But I reckon I'm a dead ringer for Hugh Grant.» After years spent with 'the dreaded Laura' Ben is finally free! A new divorcee he can't wait to get back in the game and sets about writing a list of all the things he has to do: NOT sign up to the gym. (He's fit enough anyway). Smoke cigars — they're much more sophisticated than cigarettes. NOT contact Laura and that includes hiding in the bushes to spy on her. / Play the field! As Ben enters the world of singledom with his sidekick Dickie Manse (brains-in-his-pants), Ben finds himself on a whole new adventure and has plenty of fun along the way.»

In the coldest winter in living memory, Russia turns off the gas to Britain. The whole world watches and waits as a very cold war returns to Europe once more! Embittered mercenary Alex Devereux has the hopes of Europe resting on his shoulders. Russia is in the hands of fierce dictator Viktor Krymov, and under the secret instructions of the British government, Alex finds himself at the heart of a plot to overthrow him. Alex must head for an isolated Siberian prison camp where Roman Raskolnikov, former Russian football captain and head of the political opposition movement, is being held. Roman is Alex's solitary hope of bringing down the regime, if only he can get to him in time! But soon Alex's path crosses with that of the illustrious Lara Maslova, and Sergey Shaposhnikov, Krymov's drinking buddy and a dangerous man. As they talk about the future of his country Sergey proves he may be a man of hidden depths. Has Alex found a diamond in the rough or are appearances deceiving? Alex must put his courage to the test as he battles against the odds to keep Europe at peace, while the British Government deny all knowledge of him. But he quickly finds that the war isn't so cold anymore, and as things start to hot up, Krymov shows that he has more power at his fingertips than anyone ever imagined!

The fantastic new collection of stories from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Shipping News' and 'Brokeback Mountain'. 'Fine Just The Way It Is' marks Annie Proulx's return to the Wyoming of 'Brokeback Mountain' and the familiar cast of hardy, unsentimental prairie folk. The stories are cast over centuries, and capture the voices and lives of the settlers this sagebrushed and weatherworn country has known, from the native Indian tribes to the modern day ranch owners and politicians, and their cowboy forebears. In 'A Family Man', an old man nearing the end of his life unburdens himself of the weighty family secrets that were his father's unwelcome legacy. 'Them Old Cowboy Songs' follows Archie and Rosie, a young pioneer couple, and their hardships in their attempt to homestead in the exposed wintry expanses of the prairie, and 'Testimony of the Donkey' finds a young international couple, Marc and Caitlin, struggling with much more modern concerns, and confronting uncertainty as their relationship comes to its end. These are stories of desperation and hard times, often marked by an inescapable sadness, set in a landscape both brutal and magnificent.Enlivened by folk tales, flights of fancy, and details of ranch and rural work, they juxtapose Wyoming's traditional character and attitudes — confrontation of tough problems, prejudice, persistence in the face of difficulty — with the more benign values of the new west. These are bold, elegant and memorable pieces, and once more confirm Annie Proulx as one of the most talented, unique short story writers in the language.

The new collection of stories from the Orange Prize-winning author of 'Purple Hibiscus' and 'Half of a Yellow Sun'. The first work from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie since her bestselling, prize-winning and phenomenally successful Richard and Judy pick 'Half of a Yellow Sun'. Told with the vividness and insight that make her novels exceptional, these are stories of universal conflicts — between culture, gender, responsibility and identity. In 'A Private Experience,' a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman whose dignity and faith force her to confront the realities and fears she's been pushing away. In 'Tomorrow Is Too Far,' a woman unlocks the devastating secret that surrounds her brother's death. The young mother at the center of 'Imitation' finds her comfortable life threatened when she learns that her husband back in Lagos has moved his mistress into their home. And the title story depicts the choking loneliness of a Nigerian girl who moves to an America that turns out to be nothing like the country she expected; though falling in love brings her desires nearly within reach, a death in her homeland forces her to re-examine them. Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow and longing, this collection is a resounding confirmation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's prodigious storytelling powers.

The fifth in the bestselling series of psychological thrillers featuring Carson Ryder, the detective with a unique perspective on serial killers — his brother's one. The heat-soaked madness of Alabama's steamy nights are the lifeblood of homicide detective Carson Ryder. His grim past carries a murderous burden that only his laid-back partner Harry Nautilus understands. They are all that stands between the citizens of the city of Mobile and the deranged killers who breed in the swampy heartlands of the Deep South. Now Carson's secret is out — literally. His murderous blood brother Jeremy is at large. And there's a bizarre new case involving an abandoned infant, a murdered S&M-loving televangelist, Neo-Nazis and satantic rituals. The trail leads them to a renowned geneticist and a possible link to the crime of the century!