The Secret Mandarin

A disgraced woman. A faraway land. A forbidden love… An unforgettable tale set in Victorian London and 1840s China from a shining, young historical talent.

Desperate to shield her from scandal, Mary's brother-in-law, the ambitious botanist Robert Fortune, forces her to accompany him on a mission to China to steal tea plants for the East India Company. But Robert conceals his secret motives - to spy for the British forces, newly victorious in the recent Opium War.

His task is both difficult and dangerous - the British are still regarded as enemies by the Chinese and exporting tea bushes carries the death sentence. In these harsh conditions Mary grieves for her London life and the baby she has been forced to leave behind, while her fury at Robert intensifies.

As their quest becomes increasingly treacherous, Robert and Mary disguise themselves as a mandarin and man-servant. Thousands of miles from everything familiar, Mary revels in her new freedom and the Chinese way of life - and when danger strikes, finds unexpected reserves of courage.

The Secret Mandarin is an unforgettable story of love, fortitude and recklessness - of a strong woman determined to make it in a man's world and a man who will stop at nothing to fulfil his desires.

Fallen Idols

Everyone would kill for their fifteen minutes of fame…

A Premiership footballer is shot dead in cold blood on a busy London street, and a country is gripped by terror. Who is behind this apparently motiveless killing – and who’s next in the firing line?

Jack Garrett is determined to find out. A small-time journalist who's left behind his Lancashire roots for the glitz and glamour – and seediness and squalor – of the capital, he's convinced this is no celebrity stalker.

Aided and abetted by DC Laura McGanity, desperately trying to juggle police life with motherhood and her feelings for Jack, the trail takes them back to Jack's home town of Turner's Fold – and his past.

What's the connection between the recent murder and the death of a young girl 10 years before?

Conspiracy, revenge and the high price of fame all combine in this stunning debut from a dazzling new voice in crime fiction.

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality

For most people, quantum theory is a byword for mysterious, impenetrable science. And yet for many years it was equally baffling for scientists themselves. Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly-written history of this fundamental scientific revolution, and the divisive debate at its heart. For 60 years most physicists believed that quantum theory denied the very existence of reality itself. Yet Kumar shows how the golden age of physics ignited the greatest intellectual debate of the twentieth century. Quantum sets the science in the context of the great upheavals of the modern age. In 1925 the quantum pioneers nearly all hailed from upper-middle-class academic families; most were German; and their average age was 24. But it was their irrational, romantic spirit, formed in reaction to the mechanised slaughter of the First World War that inspired their will to test science to its limits. The essential read for anyone fascinated by this complex and thrilling story and by the band of young men at its heart.

The Borgias

Warlords, Popes, Poisoners – the true story of the Borgias, the first family of the Italian Renaissance.

The name Borgia is synonymous with the corruption, nepotism, and greed that were rife in Renaissance Italy. The powerful, voracious Rodrigo Borgia, better known to history as Pope Alexander VI, was the central figure of the dynasty. Two of his seven papal offspring also rose to power and fame – Lucrezia Borgia, his daughter, whose husband was famously murdered by her brother, and that brother, Cesare, who served as the model for Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince. Notorious for seizing power, wealth, land, and titles through bribery, marriage, and murder, the dynasty’s dramatic rise from its Spanish roots to its occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society forms a gripping tale.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest

Salander is plotting her revenge - against the man who tried to kill her, and against the government institutions that very nearly destroyed her life. But it is not going to be a straightforward campaign. After taking a bullet to the head, Salander is under close supervision in Intensive Care, and is set to face trial for three murders and one attempted murder on her eventual release. In the third volume in the explosive trilogy that has sold more than 60 million copies worldwide, Lisbeth Salander confronts political corruption from her hospital bed while a killer lurks next door.

The Leopard

In the depths of winter, two young women are found dead, both drowned in their own blood. Inspector Harry Hole, deeply traumatised by an investigation that threatened the lives of those he holds most dear, initially wants nothing to do with the case but his instincts take over when a prominent MP is found brutally murdered. The victims appear completely unconnected to one another, but it’s not long before Harry makes a discovery: the women all spent the night in the same isolated mountain hostel. And someone is picking off the guests, one by one...

Mum's the Word

Whoever said life began at 40 was dead right…A riotous romantic comedy about never-ending motherhood, second chances and growing old disgracefully.What do you do when:Mr Could Do Worse dumps you on the very night you think he's going to propose?Your twenty-something son turns up on your doorstep, with a broken heart and dirty washing in tow?You find out you're going to be a granny - at 45?Your son's maybe ex-girlfriend's father starts making wickedly naughty suggestions?Your ex's new bit of stuff wants to become your new best friend?Your 70-year-old father is dating someone young enough to be your sister?You make the same mistakes you made in your twenties two whole decades later?You can't get the one person you want out of your head?You grab the vodka and wonder if you're too old for all this crap…

Second Son (Jack Reacher short story)

Ever wondered what early experiences shaped Reacher's explosive career as butt-kicker supreme, the one-man guided-missile battler for justice? In this original new short story, Lee Child looks back on an incident in his hero Jack Reacher's teenage years as the younger son of a tough career US Marine, on a faraway military base in the Pacific.'The coolest continuing series character now on offer' Stephen King

The Midwife's Confession

I don’t know how to tell you what I did.

Would you read a letter never meant to be opened? Would you want to know secrets never meant to be told?  Or should a woman's mistakes stay buried?  An unfinished letter was hidden amongst Tara and Emerson’s best friend’s things after her suicide. Noelle was the woman they entrusted to deliver their precious babies into the world, a beloved friend. Her suicide shocked them both. But her legacy could destroy them. For her letter reveals a terrible secret that challenges everything they thought they knew. Taking them on a journey that will irrevocably change their own lives – and the life of a desperate stranger – forever.

“A marvellously gifted author. Every book she writes is a gem.”  Literary Times

Breaking the Silence
The Lost Daughter
The Bay at Midnight
Before the Storm
Secrets She Left Behind
The Lies We Told
The Shadow Wife
Keeper of the Light

The Mozart Conspiracy (Ben Hope 2)

An ancient murder…
A clandestine society…
A conspiracy that will end in death…

Former SAS operative Ben Hope is running for his life.

Enlisted by the beautiful Leigh Llewellyn - world famous opera star and Ben's first love - to investigate her brother's mysterious death, Ben finds himself caught up in a centuries-old puzzle.
The official line states that Oliver died whilst investigating Mozart's death, but the facts don't add up. Oliver's research reveals that Mozart, a notable freemason, may have been killed by a shadowy and powerful splinter group of the cult. The only clues lie in an ancient letter, believed to have been written by Mozart himself.

When Leigh and Ben receive video evidence of a ritual sacrifice being performed by hooded men, they realise that the sect is still in existence today…and will stop at nothing to remain a secret.

From the dreaming spires of Oxford to Venice's labyrinthine canals, the majestic architecture of Vienna and Slovenia's snowy mountains, Ben and Leigh must forget the past and race across Europe to uncover the truth behind THE MOZART CONSPIRACY…

An electrifying and utterly gripping must read for fans of Dan Brown, Sam Bourne and Ludlum's Bourne series.

A Girl Like You

"I've discovered the secret to successful singledom. I'm acting like a man. And it's working."

"I've discovered the secret to successful singledom. I'm acting like a man. And it's working."
After breaking up with her boyfriend of, well, forever, Abigail Wood must learn how to be single from scratch. Her dating skills are abysmal, and she ricochets from disaster to disaster – until Robert, one of London's most notorious lotharios, agrees to coach her.
With his advice, she learns to navigate the bastard-infested waters of the bar scene and practices the art of being bulletproof. The new Abigail is cocky, calm, composed…but what happens when she meets her match?
A Girl Like You is the second book from Gemma Burgess. Her first book, The Dating Detox, was published in 2010 to rave reviews: "Laugh out loud funny" Closer magazine. "Smart, plotty and funny… Buy it, read it, love it." The Irish Herald. "For those waiting to option the next Bridget Jones, Gemma Burgess answers back." VF Daily, www.vanityfair.com.

Pandora's Box

Rachel Wetherby’s life has been on hold since the diagnosis of her teenage daughter Shelley with a fatal illness. But when she stumbles upon some objects from her past Rachel unearths secrets and memories best left uncovered.

Rachel Wetherby's life has been on hold since the diagnosis of her teenage daughter Shelley with a debilitating - and fatal - illness.

So when Rachel's mother offloads a box of her old possessions, including a diary, Rachel feels compelled to escape into a past which - on the surface - was care-free. However, opening up the box unearths secrets and memories best left uncovered.

Shelley, meanwhile, is juggling a secret romance with planning her own death. Not for her an undignified and painful end - she'd rather hold her fate in her own hands. Convincing Rachel that she'd like to spend her 15th birthday in Cornwall where she spent so many idyllic childhood summers, she devises her plan.

But nothing is as it seems and heartache and surprises lie in store for both mother and daughter…

A mesmerising and heartbreaking debut from a stunning British talent about impossible choices and the consequences of our actions.

Highly charged and morally complex, this story told from alternate perspectives will captivate fans of Jodi Picoult and The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

The Alchemist's Secret (Ben Hope 1)

Where there’s Hope there’s trouble…

Ben Hope lives on the edge. A former élite member of the SAS, Ben is tortured by a tragedy from his past and now devotes his life to finding kidnapped children.

But when Ben is recruited to locate an ancient manuscript which could save a dying child, he embarks on the deadliest quest of his life.

The document is alleged to contain the formula for the elixir of life, discovered by the brilliant alchemist Fulcanelli decades before. But it soon becomes apparent that others are hunting this most precious of treasures - for far more evil ends.

When the secrets of alchemy hidden within the pages remain impenetrable, Ben teams up with beautiful American scientist Dr Roberta Ryder to crack the code.

It seems that everyone - from the Nazis during WW2 and powerful Catholic organisation Gladius Domini - wants to unearth the secrets of immortality.

The trail leads Ben and Roberta from Paris to the ancient Cathar strongholds of the Languedoc, where an astonishing secret has lain hidden for centuries…

Lost Souls

Sometimes the worst nightmares happen in broad daylight…

An utterly gripping novel for fans of Peter James and Mark Billingham, from a rising star in the crime genre.

A woman is found brutally murdered on a quiet housing estate, her tongue and eyes ritualistically gouged out.

Children are being abducted and then returned to their families days later without a scratch and with no knowledge or where they have been - or with whom.

If DC Laura McGanity thought moving from London to sleepy Lancashire was taking the easy option then she can think again. Already worried about uprooting young son Bobby to follow her reporter boyfriend Jack Garrett back to his hometown, she must quickly get a handle on these mystifying cases terrifying the people of Blackley - without putting the local officers' noses out of joint.

Meanwhile, restless Jack is itching to get back to his writing and the cases provide the perfect opportunity to do so. But as he delves deeper into them, he finds murky connections between the two crimes and skeletons buried in the most unlikely of closets.

Most astonishing of all, he meets a man who 'paints' the future - terrible events come to him in vivid dreams which he then puts onto canvas. This 'precognition' is not so much a gift as a curse and to Jack it becomes terrifyingly that many people, including his own family, are in danger…

Sweet Temptation

Maddie’s getting it from all sides. Her bitchy new boss at the radio station humiliates her live on air about her figure, her glamour-puss mum keeps dropping not-so-subtle hints that Maddie should lose weight and her kids are embarrassed to be seen with her after the disastrous Mums’ race at their school sports day. Something’s got to change… Maddie joins the local weight-watching group expecting more humiliation but instead finds two unlikely allies – bitter divorcee Lauren who, despite running a dating agency, has signed off romance for ever and shy Jess, the beautician, who’s desperate to fit into a size 10 wedding dress for her Big Day.

The Knitting Circle

Come on in and join the knitting circle – it might just save your life…

Spinning yarns, weaving tales, mending lives…

Every Wednesday a group of women gathers at Alice's Sit and Knit. Little do they know that they will learn so much more than patterns…

Grieving Mary needs to fill the empty days after the death of her only child.

Glamorous Scarlet is the life and soul of any party. But beneath her trademark red hair and beaming smile lurks heartache.

Sculptor Lulu seems too cool to live in the suburbs. Why has she fled New York's bright lights?

Model housewife Beth never has a hair out of place. But her perfect world is about to fall apart….

Irish-born Ellen wears the weight of the world on her shoulders but not her heart on her sleeve. What is she hiding?

As the weeks go by, under mysterious Alice's watchful eye, an unlikely friendship forms. Secrets are revealed and pacts made. Then tragedy strikes, and each woman must learn to face her own past in order to move on…

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Harriet Vanger, sixteen years old. Missing, presumed dead, she vanished into thin air. The case is closed, but is the killer still at large?

Tortured by the loss of his niece, Henrik Vanger asks disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist to investigate. But the family's dark secrets are buried deep, and in the shadows lies someone who will do anything to stop them being exposed.

Watching everyone is an unpredictable and dangerous security specialist. Lisbeth Salander – outcast... enigma... avenger...