'American literature and the short story might be said to have come of age at about the same time, and this, along with something in the bustling and energetic American temperament, might go some way
The Golden Age of the English short story lies from its first wide acceptance in the middle of the nineteenth century until the middle of the twentieth, a period when there were a great many outlets i
'Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!' The death, quite suddenly, of Sir Charles Baskerville in mysterious circumstances is the trigger for one of the most extraordinary cases eve
'Holmes,' I cried.'Is it really you? Can it indeed be that you are alive? Is it possible that you succeeded in climbing out of that awful abyss?' Missing, presumed dead, for three years, Sherlock Holm
'There should be no combination of events for which the wit of man cannot conceive an explanation.' In this tale drawn from the note books of Dr Watson, the deadly hand of Professor Moriarty once more
Dramatic, compelling and comprehensive - the great cycle of Norse myths are retold for the modern reader in The Penguin Book of Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland. 'Burning ice, biting flame; that
Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged, frustrated college professor. In love with his landlady's twelve-year-old daughter Lolita, he'll do anything to possess her. Unable and unwilling to stop himself, he
Katherine is falling in love, but terrified of screwing it up again and Graciela is determined to prove her critical mother wrong - although she'll have to prove herself right first. Imani's life has
Tells the story of the less-than-successful rival band which the author set up with his brother Ivan in the late 1970s. This title presents the story of friendship, loyalty, rivalry and ambition, read
Nick Lloyd's Hundred Days: The End of the Great War explores the brutal, heroic and extraordinary final days of the First World War. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in November 1918, the guns
When Texas oil baron Charlie King contacts Sam and Remi Fargo he has an unusual request. He hired an investigator - and good friend of the pair - to locate his missing father in the Far East. But now
First published in trade paperback as The Whores' Asylum, The Unpierced Heart is a thrilling, gothic debut by Katy Darby. Oxford, 1887: brilliant medical student Stephen Chapman volunteers at a shelte
* 'Hilariously accurate. The funniest novel about the female mid-life crisis' The Times * Clara Hutt is forty-six years old, and in pretty good nick, considering. She has kick-ass underwear, a large a
Natascha McElhone was away filming in LA, with her two sons and pregnant with her third child when she received news that her beloved husband, Martin, had died suddenly of a heart attack. This title i
1805, and Hornblower is both humbled and honoured in quick succession . . . After near disaster on board a canal barge, Horatio Hornblower is given his first assignment as Captain, taking charge of th
June, 1808 - and off the Coast of Nicaragua Captain Horatio Hornblower has his hands full . . . Now in command of HMS Lydia, a thirty-six-gun frigate, Hornblower has instructions to form an alliance a
It was in the pulp detective magazines of the 1930s that the author's definitive take on the hard-boiled detective story first appeared. This title includes stories that range from the well-thumbed pa
In the Micronesian Islands, a top-secret US undersea lab vanishes... At the same time, off Bermuda, a bathysphere operated by NUMA and overseen by Kurt Austin is attacked and becomes stranded half a m
The author has three children: the two oldest, George and Sam, are autistic; the youngest Jake is not. In this book, she describes the circumstances of their birth, behaviour, diagnosis, treatment - a
Allie Beckstrom knows that there's a price to pay for using magic ...She's suffered her fair share of migraines and gaps in her memory during her time working as a Hound, tracing spells back to their
After a month spent recovering from a vicious fight with a sorcerer, Grave Witch Alex Craft is ready to get back to solving murders by raising the dead. With her love life in turmoil thanks to the dis
When Simon Burns is fired from his job without warning, he takes on the role of stay-at-home dad for his three-year-old son. But his reluctance pushes his already strained marriage to the limit. In th
Jeremy Clarkson gets really riled in Round the Bend. What's it like to drive a car that's actively trying to kill you? This and many other burning questions trouble Jeremy Clarkson as he sets out to e
A collection of author's comic drawings that covers the world's worst comeback lines, the world's worst comeback lines, to brilliant charts and graphs ("Incidence of Lung Cancer in Dragons", "A Sad Cl
The Man with no face is coming... CSI Darby McCormick finds an emaciated, terrified woman hiding in the shadows of a crime scene. A DNA search reveals the woman was abducted five ago and, somehow, she
'Vivid, detailed, colourful ... a first-class history ... all sorts of delights leap out of these pages' Daily Telegraph From the very first 'master of the post' in 1512 to the vast network of today,
Decades ago Massachusetts salesman Ellis Hock spent four years in Africa - and the continent has never left him. So when his wife walks out and his business goes belly up, Ellis turns back to the one
'Poverty is a very exacting teacher and I had been taught well' The post-war urban jungle of the Glasgow tenements was the setting for Molly Weir's childhood. From sharing a pull-out bed in her mother
Rommel? Gunner Who?: A Confrontation in the Desert is volume two of Spike Milligan's outrageous, hilarious, legendary War Memoirs. 'Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on Mental Grounds.
Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall is volume four of Spike Milligan's outrageous, hilarious, legendary War Memoirs. "A voice is calling across the land, "Bombardier Milligan.""Bomb
The Queen and I is the brilliantly funny novel by Sue Townsend, author of the Adrian Mole series. THE MONARCHY HAS BEEN DISMANTLED When a Republican party wins the General Election, their first act in
Number Ten is the brilliantly funny novel by Sue Townsend, author of the Adrian Mole series. Behind the doors of the most famous address in the country, all is not well. Edward Clare was voted into Nu
Sue Townsend, one of Britain's most-loved writers and the creator of the much-loved Adrian Mole series, tells a compassionate and gritty story of love and loss in Ghost Children. 'Gripping and disturb
Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard that Paddy de Courcy was getting married. But for four women in particular, the big news about the charismatic politician is especially momentous
Victorian London is in the grip of a wave of crime and murder, with its citizens no longer able to trust the police to protect them. The newly formed Murder Squad of Scotland Yard, made up of just twe
Following in the tradition of Clive Cussler and Dan Brown comes Atlantis: Revelation, a rip-roaring adventure thriller by Marcus Blake, which takes us on a hunt for the legendary lost city. For millen
In the middle of the Indian Ocean, a NUMA research vessel is taking water samples at sunset, when a crew member spots a sheen of black oil ahead of them. But it is not oil. Like a horde of army ants,
When an archaeologist excavating a top secret historical site realizes the magnitude of his discovery he requests help from treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo. And in rushing to join him, the husband
Walking in the Pyrenees one spring morning the author stumbled upon a magnificent ruined mansion standing on edge of a line of huge cliffs. This title chronicles the original discovery, the attempts t
As Far as I Know is a wonderful new book of poems by Roger McGough, the nation's favourite poet Take comfort from this You have a book in your hand not a loaded gun or a parking fine or an invitation
