The place is Dublin. The time is the present. Five characters — two Irish, three from eastern Europe, all seeking success from wildly different starting points — become entangled with one another in a web of politics, property, sex and violence. Chris Binchy's novel is a beautifully observed portrait of a place and a time, and a thrillingly paced story of an unforgettable group of characters brought together by circumstance, ambition and need.

When Tess Durbeyfield is driven by family poverty to claim kinship with the wealthy D'Urbervilles and seek a portion of their family fortune, meeting her 'cousin' Alec proves to be her downfall. A very different man, Angel Clare, seems to offer her love and salvation, but Tess must choose whether to reveal her past or remain silent in the hope of a peaceful future. With its sensitive depiction of the wronged Tess and powerful criticism of social convention, Tess of the D'Urbervilles is one of the most moving and poetic of Hardy's novels.

In the 1920s, the young J. R. Ackerley spent several months in India as the personal secretary to the maharajah of a small Indian principality. In his journals, Ackerley recorded the Maharajah's fantastically eccentric habits and riddling conversations, and the odd shambling day-to-day life of his court. Hindoo Holiday is an intimate and very funny account of an exceedingly strange place, and one of the masterpieces of twentieth-century travel literature.

Eileen Chang is one of the great writers of twentieth-century China, where she enjoys a passionate following both on the mainland and in Taiwan. At the heart of Chang's achievement is her short fiction — tales of love, longing, and the shifting and endlessly treacherous shoals of family life. Written when she was still in her twenties, these extraordinary stories combine an unsettled, probing, utterly contemporary sensibility, keenly alert to sexual politics and psychological ambiguity, with an intense lyricism that echoes the classics of Chinese literature. Love in a Fallen City, the first collection in English of this dazzling body of work, introduces readers to the stark and glamorous vision of a modern master.

In five elegant autobiographical meditations Calvino delves into his past, remembering awkward childhood walks with his father, a lifelong obsession with the cinema and fighting in the Italian Resistance against the Fascists. He also muses on the social contracts, language and sensations associated with emptying the kitchen rubbish and the shape he would, if asked, consider the world. These reflections on the nature of memory itself are engaging, witty, and lit through with Calvino's alchemical brilliance.

It was the war to end all wars, the global struggle that would finally make the world safe for democracy — at any cost. But one American soldier has paid a price beyond measure. And within the disfigured flesh that was once a vision of youth lives a spirit that cannot accept what the world has become. An immediate bestseller upon its first publication in 1939, Trumbo's stark, profoundly troubling masterpiece about the horrors of the First World War brilliantly crystallized the uncompromising brutality of war and became the most influential protest novel of the Vietnam era, as timely as ever.

A couple on an epicurean journey across Mexico are excited by the idea of a particular ingredient, suggested by ancient rituals of human sacrifice. Precariously balanced on his throne, a king is able only to listen to the sounds around him — sure that any deviation from their normal progression would mean the uprising of the conspirators that surround him. And three different men search desperately for the beguiling scents of lost women, from a Count visiting Madame Odile's perfumery, to a London drummer stepping over spent, naked bodies.

Tod Hackett is a brilliant young artist — and a man in danger of losing his heart. Brought to an LA studio as a set-designer, he is soon caught up in a fantasy world where the cult of celebrity rules. But when he becomes besotted by the beautiful Faye, an aspiring actress and occasional call-girl, his dream rapidly becomes a nightmare. For, with little in the way of looks and no money to buy her time, Tod's desperate passion can only lead to frustration, disillusionment and rage.

An ancient artifact is discovered in a dusty antiquities shop in Alexandria, Egypt — the long forgotten trinket soon becomes the center of the most deadly archaeological hunt in history. The 20,000 year-old relic is inscribed with what appears to be the long lost language of Atlantis. Only one man would seem to be able to decode its meaning — the world's foremost linguist, Dr. Thomas Lourdes — but only if he can stay alive long enough! Meanwhile, an earthquake in Cadiz, Spain, uncovers a most unexpected site — one which the Vatican rush to be the first to explore! Perhaps the lost city of Atlantis is finally ready to be found? But is the world ready for her secrets?

Eight hundred years ago a Crusader in the Holy Land discovered a gold box. Under a veil of secrecy it was transported to England and hidden, the clues to its whereabouts embedded in sixteen cryptic lines of verse. For centuries it has been rumoured the treasure was none other than the Ark of the Covenant. When Edie Miller witnesses a brutal murder and the theft of an ancient relic — the Stones of Fire — her life is shattered. The cops are implicated in the murder and Edie is fast running out of places to hide. In a desperate gamble she contacts Caedmon Aisquith, friend of the murder victim and expert in ancient civilisations. Little does she realise, he's also a former MI5 officer and soon finds himself in the crosshairs too. The two join forces, determined to understand why the Stones of Fire, rumoured to be Moses' breastplate, is so crucial. As the layers of deceit peel away, the Ark of the Covenant is revealed to be the true endgame and Edie and Caedmon must follow a trail of puzzles to find it first... before a sinister army of mercenaries uses it to wage war on a terrifying scale. The safety of the world depends upon it.

Lorimer Black — young, good-looking, but with a somewhat troubled expression — does not understand why his world is being torn apart, though he does know that for the most part it is made up of bluster and hypocrisy. His business, trying to keep insurance companies from paying out the money they've promised, is a con game run with the protection of the law. One winter's morning, Lorimer goes to keep a perfectly routine business appointment and finds a hanged man. A bad start to the day, by any standards, and an ominous portent of things to come.

Vatican City, 29 September 1978: the world wakes to the shocking news that Pope John Paul I is dead, just a month after his accession. Thirty years later, in London, young journalist Sarah Monteiro receives a mysterious package. Enclosed is a list of names and a coded message. Moments later a masked assassin attempts to silence her for ever. It seems Sarah holds the key to unveiling a deadly secret — a plot that implicates unscrupulous mercenaries and crooked politicians, and which goes to the very heart of the Vatican. Sarah has no choice but to run, forced into a ruthless game of cat-and-mouse. She can trust no one, especially when her father's name appears on the incriminating list. Sarah finds herself at the centre of a world-wide conspiracy its keepers will stop at nothing to protect.

At M's request, Bond confronts Sir Hugo Drax at the card table, on a mission to teach the millionaire and head of the Moonraker project a lesson he won't forget, and prevent a scandal engulfing Britain's latest defence system. But there is more to the mysterious Drax than simply cheating at cards. And once Bond delves deeper into goings on at the Moonraker base he discovers that both the project and its leader are something other than they pretend to be.

A reticent personnel manager living with his mother, Mr Newman shares the prejudices of his times and of his neighbours — and neither a Hispanic woman abused outside his window nor the persecution of the Jewish store owner he buys his paper from are any of his business. Until Newman begins wearing glasses, and others begin to mistake him for a Jew.

It is 1940 and Mr Graham, a quietly-spoken engineer and arms expert, has just finished high-level talks with the Turkish government. And now somebody wants him dead. The previous night three shots were fired at him as he stepped into his hotel room, so, terrified, he escapes in secret on a passenger steamer from Istanbul. As he journeys home — alongside, among others, an entrancing French dancer, an unkempt trader, a mysterious German doctor and a small, brutal man in a crumpled suit — he enters a nightmarish world where friend and foe are indistinguishable. Graham can try to run, but he may not be able to hide for much longer!

At first the virus wiping out grass and crops is of little concern to John Custance. It has decimated Asia, causing mass starvation and riots, but Europe is safe and a counter-virus is expected any day. Except, it turns out, the governments have been lying to their people. When the deadly disease hits Britain they are left alone, and society starts to descend into barbarism. As John and his family try to make it across country to the safety of his brother's farm in a hidden valley, their humanity is tested to its very limits.

Josef Vadassy, a Hungarian refugee and language teacher living in France, is enjoying his first break for years in a small hotel on the Riviera. But when he takes his holiday photographs to be developed at a local chemists, he suddenly finds himself mistaken for a Gestapo agent and a charge of espionage is levelled at him. To prove himself innocent to the French police, he must discover which one of his fellow guests at his pension is the real spy. As he desperately tries to uncover the true culprit's identity, Vadassy must risk his job, his safety and everything he holds dear.

English crime novelist Charles Latimer is travelling in Istanbul when he makes the acquaintance of Turkish police inspector Colonel Haki. It is from him that he first hears of the mysterious Dimitrios — an infamous master criminal, long wanted by the law, whose body has just been fished out of the Bosphorus. Fascinated by the story, Latimer decides to retrace Dimitrios' steps across Europe to gather material for a new book. But, as he gradually discovers more about his subject's shadowy history, fascination tips over into obsession. And, in entering Dimitrios' criminal underworld, Latimer realizes that his own life may be on the line.

Kenton's career as a journalist depends on his facility with languages, his knowledge of European politics and his quick judgement. Where his judgement sometimes fails him, however, is in his personal life. When he travels to Nuremberg to investigate a story about a top-level meeting of Nazi officials, he inadvertently finds himself on a train bound for Austria after a bad night of gambling. Stranded with no money, Kenton jumps at the chance to earn a fee helping a refugee smuggle securities across the border. Yet he soon discovers that the documents he holds have far more than cash value — and that they could cost him his life!

Francis Kilvert's diary shows a compassionate and thoughtful delight in the people and beautiful surroundings of the English countryside. With good cheer he records his loves (among them poetry and the attentions of pretty girls) and his dislikes (including a distaste for bathing in knickers that leaves more than one beach scandalized), as well as the town folklore and parishioner's stories that his tender interest in others arouses. Heartfelt, humorous and reflective, this is a transportive glimpse of a time gone by. Generations of inhabitants have helped shape the English countryside — but it has profoundly shaped us too. It has provoked a huge variety of responses from artists, writers, musicians and people who live and work on the land — as well as those who are travelling through it.English Journeys celebrates this long tradition with a series of twenty books on all aspects of the countryside, from stargazey pie and country churches, to man's relationship with nature and songs celebrating the patterns of the countryside (as well as ghosts and love-struck soldiers).