Products
The Planet’s Most Spiritual Places, Quarto Publishing ed Malcolm Croft (HB)
£25.00
This illustrated and deeply insightful guide explores 100 of the most spiritually significant places throughout the world, seeking to understand what it is that defines these sites. Spirituality has a multitude of meanings for the many who seek deeper significance in their lives. From ancient religions with their timeless places of worship to modern, contemporary followers of faith and new age travellers seeking enlightenment and illumination, we are drawn to all kinds of places in the search for profound meaning.
From a Polish Catholic praying in a large cathedral to a Portuguese surfer speechless in wonder at the majesty of the ocean, spirituality knows no bounds. The Planet's Most Spiritual Places brings together all definitions to present some of the most important places of spiritual significance, in stunning and immersive detail. We recognize that one person's spirituality can inspire another no matter their origin, history or nationality. We have included sites of spirituality from all around the world, from the established to the exotic, determining a number of fundamental definitions for our spiritual destinations:
1.Ancient Monuments 2. Places of Worship 3. Natural Wonders 4.Centres of Enlightenment 5. Pilgrimage 6. Living Landmarks
As readers will discover, the complex history of the world often defines where - and how - spirituality can be found.
The Playdate, Clara Dillon ( large paperback Feb 2024)
£13.99
When Sara leaves her high-flying London life to move to Dublin, her only concern is her nine-year-old daughter, Lexie. For Lexie's sake she tries to get to know other mothers at the school gates, but they appear uninterested - particularly their leader, the beautiful and charismatic Vanessa, whose daughter rules the playground. After a simple misunderstanding between Vanessa and Sara, none of the other kids at school want anything to do with Lexie.
Desperate to mend fences, Sara offers to look after Vanessa's daughter one afternoon. But when the playdate ends in catastrophe, Vanessa is convinced that what happened wasn't an accident. With allegations flying in all directions, Sara is forced to ask herself what she has unleashed? And how far a mother will go to protect her daughter?'Engrossing psychological drama ...a real page-turner, with vivid imagery and lots of suspense' Irish Examiner'
The Poetry Pharmacy Forever, William Sieghart ( hardback Sept 2023)
£14.99
The Poetry Pharmacy Forever : New Prescriptions to Soothe, Revive and Inspire
The powerful final instalment in the hugely beloved series. After the tumult of the last years, William Sieghart is back to prescribe the perfect poem for a variety of life's ailments, offering hope and comfort to readers in need. Here, he draws on the emails he received from the public during multiple lockdowns, as well as tried-and-true classics from his in-person pharmacies, to create an essential anthology of poetry for our times. Through his expert curation and insightful commentary, he reminds us of the power of words to help us heal, to reconnect us with the world and to recover what has been lost.
From weathering sorrow and sudden loss, to dealing with environmental despair and burnout, this new selection speaks directly to a society in urgent need of comfort and compassion. Whether you're searching for guidance, hope, or simply a moment of beauty, The Poetry Pharmacy Forever is here to provide solace, joy and inspiration, one verse at a time.
The Poetry Pharmacy, edited by William Sieghart ( clothbound hardback)
£14.99
Not just poems, but words of wisdom and solace for a whole range of spiritual ailments. A lovely thing indeed.
'Truly a marvellous collection ... There is balm for the soul, fire for the belly, a cooling compress for the fevered brow, solace for the wounded, an arm around the lonely shoulder - the whole collection is a matchless compound of hug, tonic and kiss' Stephen FrySometimes only a poem will do. These poetic prescriptions and wise words of advice offer comfort, delight and inspiration for all; a space for reflection, and that precious realization - I'm not the only one who feels like this.
In the years since he first had the idea of prescribing short, powerful poems for all manner of spiritual ailments, William Sieghart has taken his Poetry Pharmacy around the length and breadth of Britain, into the pages of the Guardian, onto BBC Radio 4 and onto the television, honing his prescriptions all the time. This pocket-sized book presents the most essential poems in his dispensary: those which, again and again, have really shown themselves to work. Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even from an excess of ego, there is something here to ease your pain.
New volume available from September 2019 'The Poetry Pharmacy Returns' with new reader chosen options and most popular requests.
The Polite Act of Drowning by Charleen Hurtubise (paperback July 2024)
£9.99
An atmospheric, emotional coming-of-age novel with themes of generational trauma, sexual identity and coping with mental illness at its heart, as well as the silence of women drowning in plain view in their daily lives.
Michigan, 1985. The drowning of a teenage girl causes ripples in the small town of Kettle Lake, though for most the waters settle quickly. For sixteen year old Joanne Kennedy, however, the tragedy dredges up untold secrets and causes her mother to drift farther from reality and her family. When troubled newcomer Lucinda arrives in town, she offers Joanne a chance of real friendship, and together the teenagers push against the boundaries of family, self-image, and their sexuality during the tension of a long, stifling summer. But the undercurrents of past harms continuously threaten to drag Joanne and those around her under...
If you enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owen you will like this.
The Power of Geography : Ten Maps That Reveals the Future of Our World, Tim Marshall ( paperback October 2021)
£9.99
Tim Marshall's global bestseller Prisoners of Geography showed how every nation's choices are limited by mountains, rivers, seas and concrete. Since then, the geography hasn't changed. But the world has.In this revelatory new book, Marshall explores ten regions that are set to shape global politics in a new age of great-power rivalry: Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Greece, Turkey, the Sahel, Ethiopia, Spain and Space. Find out why Europe's next refugee crisis is closer than it thinks as trouble brews in the Sahel; why the Middle East must look beyond oil and sand to secure its future; why the eastern Mediterranean is one of the most volatile flashpoints of the twenty-first century; and why the Earth's atmosphere is set to become the world's next battleground. Delivered with Marshall's trademark wit and insight, this is a lucid and gripping exploration of the power of geography to shape humanity's past, present - and future.
The Premonitions Bureau, Sam Knight ( paperback May 23)
£9.99
The story of a strange experiment - a journey into the oddest corners of 60s Britain and the outer edges of science and reason. Premonitions are impossible. But they come true all the time.You think of a forgotten friend. Out of the blue, they call. But what if you knew that something terrible was going to happen? A sudden flash, the words CHARING CROSS.
Four days later, a packed express train comes off the rails outside the station. What if you could share your vision, and stop that train? Could these forebodings help the world to prevent disasters?In 1966, John Barker, a dynamic psychiatrist working in an outdated British mental hospital, established the Premonitions Bureau to investigate these questions. He would find a network of hundreds of correspondents, from bank clerks to ballet teachers.
Among them were two unnervingly gifted "percipients". Together, the pair predicted plane crashes, assassinations and international incidents, with uncanny accuracy. And then, they informed Barker of their most disturbing premonition: that he was about to die.
The Premonitions Bureau is an enthralling true story, of madness and wonder, science and the supernatural - a journey to the most powerful and unsettling reaches of the human mind.
The Prey, Yrsa Sigurdardottir (paperback May 2024)
£9.99
Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year 2023
Kolbeinn has been called to his old home. The new owners uncovered some photos, and a muddied child's shoe bearing the name 'Salvor'. A name Kolbeinn doesn't recognise. Soon after, he hears news of his mother's deteriorating health. Her carers say she has been asking for her daughter, his sister: Salvor.
THE SECOND TRACKS TWO MISSING COUPLES. Jóhanna is working with the search and rescue team in Höfn to find two couples from Reykjavik. Their phones' last location has been pinpointed to the road leading up into the highlands.
In a harsh winter, the journey is treacherous, and they soon find the first body. More troubling, Johanna senses her team is being tracked through the snow.
A THIRD FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE? Hjörvar works at the Stokksnes Radar Station in the highlands.
He's alone when the phone connected to the gate rings: the first time it's done so since he began working there five months ago. When he answers, he can only hear interference, and what sounds like a child's voice asking for her mother. How are these events connected? And what may be searching for its prey out on the ice?
The Promise, Damon Galgut ( Paperback 3 March 2022)
£9.99
Booker Winner !
Astonishing' Colm Toibin'
The Promise charts the crash and burn of a white South African family, living on a farm outside Pretoria. The Swarts are gathering for Ma's funeral. The younger generation, Anton and Amor, detest everything the family stand for -- not least the failed promise to the Black woman who has worked for them her whole life.
After years of service, Salome was promised her own house, her own land... yet somehow, as each decade passes, that promise remains unfulfilled. The narrator's eye shifts and blinks: moving fluidly between characters, flying into their dreams; deliciously lethal in its observation.
And as the country moves from old deep divisions to its new so-called fairer society, the lost promise of more than just one family hovers behind the novel's title. In this story of a diminished family, sharp and tender emotional truths hit home. Confident, deft and quietly powerful, The Promise is literary fiction at its finest.
The most important book of the last ten years' Edmund White.
The Psychology of Secrets : BY Andrew Gold ( paperback from May 2025)
£10.99
Take a deep dive into the bizarre psychology of secrecy with Andrew Gold, award-winning investigative journalist and host of Heretics.
We all keep secrets. 97 per cent of us are hiding a secret right now, and on average we each hold thirteen at any one time. There’s a one-in-two chance that those secrets involve a breach of trust, a lie or a financial impropriety.
They are the stuff of gossip, of novels and of classic dramas; secrets form a major part of our hidden inner lives. Andrew Gold knows this better than anyone. As a public figure, he has found himself the unwitting recipient of hundreds of strangers' most private revelations.
This set him on a journey to understand this critical part of our societies and lives. Why do we keep secrets? Why are we fascinated by those of others? What happens to our mind when we confess?Drawing from psychology, history, social science, philosophy and personal interviews, The Psychology of Secrets is a rollicking journey through the history of secrecy. --'Andrew Gold is - but should not be - one of our culture’s best kept secrets.
He is a truly edgy journalist, broadcaster and writer' - David Baddiel, bestselling author of The God Desire
note paperback image is similar but cover is red *
The Puzzle Wood, Rosie Andrews ( paperback Feb 2025)
£9.99
In the outstanding new novel from the author of the Sunday Times bestseller The Leviathan, an isolated forest becomes the unsettling, beguiling backdrop to a tale of myths, memory and murder…
Deep in the woods, something is stirring…When Miss Catherine Symonds arrives to take up a position as governess at remote Locksley Abbey in the foothills of the Black Mountains, where England bleeds into Wales, she is apprehensive. It is not the echoing, near empty house with its skeleton staff that frightens her, nor the ancient woods that surround the Abbey or even the dogs that the owner, Sir Rowland, encourages to stalk the grounds, baying for blood. It is Catherine herself who fears scrutiny: her reference and very identity are fraudulent.
She is travelling in disguise to investigate the fate of the last governess at the house, who took her own life out in the woods. For that governess was Catherine’s own sister, but until now she had believed Emily had died many years before, when they were just children.
The Queen of Dirt Island, Donal Ryan (paperback June 23)
£9.99
A number one bestseller from the prizewinning author; a soaring novel about four generations of strong women and fierce love. From the award-winning, Booker longlisted author of the number one bestseller, STRANGE FLOWERS, a searing, jubilant novel about four generations of women and the love and stories that bind them.The Aylward women are mad about each other, but you wouldn't always think it. You'd have to know them to know - in spite of what the neighbours might say about raised voices and dramatic scenes - that their house is a place of peace, filled with love, a refuge from the sadness and cruelty of the world.Their story begins at an end and ends at a beginning. It's a story of terrible betrayals and fierce loyalties, of isolation and togetherness, of transgression, forgiveness, desire, and love. About all the things family can be and all the things it sometimes isn't.
'One of the finest novelists writing today...a haunting, exquisite masterpiece.' RACHEL JOYCE'A generous mosaic of a novel about the staying power of love and pride and history and family' COLUM McCANN' Beautiful, compassionate ... Donal Ryan at his inimitable best.' MAGGIE O'FARRELL
The Quiet Whispers Never Stop, Olivia Fitzsimons ( paperback March 2023)
£8.99
In 1982, Nuala Malin struggles to stay connected, to her husband, to motherhood, to the smallness of her life in the belly of a place that is built on hate and stagnation. Her daughter Sam and baby son PJ keep her tethered to this life she doesn't want. She finds unexpected refuge with a seventeen-year-old boy, but this relationship is only temporary, a sticking plaster on a festering wound.
It cannot last and when her chance to leave Northern Ireland comes, Nuala takes it. In 1994, Sam Malin plans escape. She longs for a life outside her dysfunctional family, far away from the North and all its troubles, free from her quiet brooding father Patsy, who never talks about her mother, Nuala; a woman Sam barely knew, who abandoned them twelve years ago.
She finds solace in music, drugs and her best friend Becca, but most of all in an illicit relationship with a jagged, magnetic older man.
I found this coming of age story powerful, toxic and very very readable - loved the imaginative voice and thoughts of Sam - Linda, BPS
The Rabbit Hutch, Tess Gunty ( Paperback 8 June 2023)
£9.99
The standout literary debut that everyone is talking about*'Inventive, heartbreaking and acutely funny' Guardian ... I really loved the writing style of this one! Linda
Blandine isn't like the other residents of her building. An online obituary writer. A young mother with a dark secret. A woman waging a solo campaign against rodents - neighbours, separated only by the thin walls of a low-cost housing complex in the once bustling industrial centre of Vacca Vale, Indiana. Welcome to the Rabbit Hutch. Ethereally beautiful and formidably intelligent, Blandine shares her flat with three teenage boys she neither likes nor understands, all, like her, now aged out of the state foster care system that has repeatedly failed them, all searching for meaning in their lives.
Set over one sweltering week in July and culminating in a bizarre act of violence that finally changes everything, The Rabbit Hutch is a savagely beautiful and bitingly funny snapshot of contemporary America, a gorgeous and provocative tale of loneliness and longing, entrapment and, ultimately, freedom.
The Rachel Incident, Caroline O’Donogue (paperback June 2024)
£9.99
The Rachel Incident is an all-consuming love story. But it's not the one you're expecting. It's unconventional and messy.
It's young and foolish. It's about losing and finding yourself. But it is always about love.
When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr Byrne, her best friend James helps her devise a plan to seduce him. But what begins as a harmless crush soon pushes their friendship to its limits. Over the course of a year they will find their lives ever more entwined with the Byrnes' and be faced with impossible choices and a lie that can't be taken back...
'A deliciously complicated and very real romance with some refreshing twists. O'Donoghue captures all the intensity of messy young love' MAIL ON SUNDAY
Order now for delivery with paperback publication around 6th June !
The Rainbow Flamingo, Catherine Emmet with Claire Powell ( paperback May 2024)
£7.99
This one young flamingo, Adele was her name, Knew under HER wings something wasn’t the same. Whilst quite unremarkably pink from outside … Inside were some colours she struggled to hide! Adele wants nothing more than to be just like all the other flamingos. But hiding who she really is feels horribly tough.
Can Adele find the courage to celebrate her true colours? Perfect for fans of Perfectly Norman, this thought-provoking and touching story empowers children to embrace their uniqueness and have the courage to stand out. ‘A riotous, dazzling, joy-filled book, brimming with hope and warmth.
The Raptures, Jan Carson ( paperback from Jan 2023)
£9.99
When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences. It is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks' reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.As others fall ill, questions about what - or who - is responsible pitch the village into conflict and fearful disarray. Hannah is haunted by guilt as she remains healthy while her friends are struck down. Isolated and afraid, she prays for help.
Elsewhere in the village, tempers simmer, panic escalates and long-buried secrets threaten to emerge. Bursting with Carson's trademark wit, profound empathy and soaring imagination, The Raptures explores how tragedy can unite a small community - and tear it apart. At its heart is the extraordinary resilience of one young girl.
As the world crumbles around her, she must find the courage to be different in a place where conforming feels like the only option available. Darkly funny, highly inventive and deeply moving, The Raptures is an unmissable novel of 2022.
The Red Bird Sings, Aoife Fitzpatrick ( paperback Feb 2024)
£9.99
West Virginia, 1897. When young Zona Heaster Shue dies only a few months after her wedding, her mother Mary Jane becomes convinced that Zona was murdered - and by none other than her husband, Trout, the handsome blacksmith beloved in their small Southern town. But when Trout is put on trial, no one believes he could have done it, apart from Mary Jane and Zona's best friend Lucy, who was always suspicious of Trout.
As the trial raises to fever pitch and the men of Greenbrier County stand aligned against them, Mary Jane and Lucy must decide whether to reveal Zona's greatest secret in the service of justice. But it's Zona herself, from beyond the grave, who still has one last revelation to make.
'Keeps you turning pages right until the end.
Based on a real-life murder trial in 1897 West Virginia, this dazzling debut arrives with a Southern Gothic slant and a feminist spirit' DAILY MAIL
The Rescue of Ravenwood, Natasha Farrant ( paperback March 2023)
£7.99
From the Costa Award winning author of Voyage of the Sparrowhawk comes an epic adventure with a call to arms: we must fight to save the most treasured things on our planet. On the top of the hill, overlooking the sea, that's where you'll find a magical place . .. To Bea and Raffy, Ravenwood is home. In its own way, the house rescued them, even if it did have a fallen-down tree taking up most of the kitchen.
So the idea that it could be sold. Demolished even. Well, that's unthinkable.
Then again, it's not like the children get a choice. But the truth is, we can all make our own choices, especially if we care enough . .
. A beautiful, soulful, exciting story about holding onto what's precious, and guarding the extraordinary nature that surrounds us.
The Returned, Amanda Cassidy ( paperback Feb 2024)
£9.99
When she re-lives this night, over and over, Nancy will wonder if she’d just gone upstairs a few minutes earlier, what might have been…A devastating fire. A grieving mother.A picture-perfect village full of dark secrets. And now, a son who has seemingly come back from the dead. A detective called back to her hometown, back to the memories she thought she’d left behind…An electrifying novel from a compelling new voice in Irish crime fiction, perfect for fans of Liz Nugent and Claire Mackintosh.
The River Capture, Mary Costello ( paperback 2020)
£8.99
Shortlisted for Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, the Dalkey Literary Awards and the Kerry Group Awards
Luke O'Brien has left Dublin to live a quiet life on the bend of the River Sullane. Alone in his big house, he longs for a return to his family's heyday and turns to books for solace. One morning a young woman arrives at his door, presenting Luke and his family with an almost impossible dilemma.
If you like Claire Keegan, this is another moving and eloquent, dramatic author to watch out for.
The River, Tom Percival ( picture book, March 2022)
£7.99
An exquisite, thought-provoking book to help children understand the idea of ever-changing emotions. Rowan loves the river; it's just like he is. On some days, it's quiet and calm, on others it's light and playful, and then there are the days when it roars along, wild and angry.But when Rowan goes through a particularly difficult winter, the river freezes - just like Rowan. Can Rowan find a way to release his frozen feelings, and allow the river to flow freely once more? The wise and reassuring new picture book from the creator of The Invisible and Ruby's Worry.
The Roads That Lead Us Home, Lynne Kennedy ( paperback July 2024)
£10.99
Amsterdam 1648, Captain Andrew Ross, a young soldier of the Scots Brigade serving in the Dutch Republic falls in love with the beautiful Catharina Meyer, daughter of a rich merchant family of Amsterdam. Newly married Captain Andrew begins to plan a life for himself and his bride in his beloved Scotland but soon the newly weds find themselves caught up in a web of deception and lies which changes the course of their young lives forever.
New England 2016 and Janey McKay leaves New York and makes her way back to her childhood home after the collapse of her marriage. She fills her first long, lonely New England winter by joining the local Historical Society, embarking on a journey of ancestral discovery which takes her back along the ancient roads of Scotland, Ireland and The Netherlands in search of her ancestors. What she discovers challenges everything she thought she knew about her family's past.
The Roasting Tin Around the World (hardback, April 2020)
£20.00
Cook delicious one-tin versions of your favourite recipes from around the world, including fresh vegan and vegetarian ideas, from the bestselling author of The Green Roasting Tin. The Roasting Tin Around the World covers all corners of the globe with brand new recipes. The greatest hits from each region are reworked into quick and easy one-tin meals.The dishes are perfect for weeknight dinners, lunch breaks and family favourites. Rukmini Iyer's vision for the roasting tin series is: 'minimum effort, maximum flavour'. This book really delivers with its bold, punchy and global flavours.
Just chop a few ingredients, pop them into a roasting tin and let the oven do the work. Featuring 75 easy-to-make recipes that make use of your lockdown larder ingredients, The Roasting Tin Around the World is the perfect cook book for vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.
The Robin Who Stole Christmas ( Rachel Morrisroe, Oct 2023)
£7.99
Join Rotten Robin and his gang of feathered friends as they hatch a plan to steal Christmas in this hilariously unconventional festive tale!
A little red robin - who just so happens to be the world's most wanted thief - has a rather unusual plan this festive season. He hates Christmas, and so he's going to STEAL it - baubles, mince pies, Santa, and all!But Rotten Robin hadn't realised the feathers he'd ruffle by taking away the Yuletide celebrations - and when he's forced to give back everything he's stolen, he realises that Christmas might not be that bad after all... This brand new Christmas story from picture book rising star Rachel Morrisroe and illustrator talent Richard Merritt is a unique take on a festive tale, full of humour and heart
The Romantic, William Boyd (paperback July 2023)
£9.99
Soldier. Farmer. Felon.Writer. Father. Lover.
One man, many lives. Born in 1799, Cashel Greville Ross experiences myriad lives: joyous and devastating, years of luck and unexpected loss. Moving from County Cork to London, from Waterloo to Zanzibar, Cashel seeks his fortune across continents in war and in peace.
He faces a terrible moral choice in a village in Sri Lanka as part of the East Indian Army. He enters the world of the Romantic Poets in Pisa. In Ravenna he meets a woman who will live in his heart for the rest of his days.
As he travels the world as a soldier, a farmer, a felon, a writer, a father, a lover, he experiences all the vicissitudes of life and, through the accelerating turbulence of the nineteenth century, he discovers who he truly is. This is the romance of life itself, and the beating heart of The Romantic. From one of Britain's best-loved and bestselling writers comes an intimate yet panoramic novel set across the nineteenth century.
The Safe Keep, Yael Van Der Wouden ( hardback May 2024, paperback from 12 June 2025)
£16.99
Booker Longlisted, and Women's Prize shortlisted !
It's 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is well and truly over. Living alone in her late mother's country home, Isabel's life is as it should be: led by routine and discipline.
But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel's doorstep-as a guest, there to stay for the season... Eva is Isabel's antithesis: sleeps late, wakes late, walks loudly through the house and touches things she shouldn't. In response Isabel develops a fury-fuelled obsession, and when things start disappearing around the house-a spoon, a knife, a bowl-Isabel' suspicions spiral out of control.
In the sweltering peak of summer, Isabel's paranoia gives way to desire - leading to a discovery that unravels all Isabel has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva - nor the house in which they live - are what they seem. 'Surprising, chilling, and electric' Alice Winn, bestselling author of IN MEMORIAM'The Safekeep is a dream of a novel — mesmerizing and shockingly good...
The Saint of Lost Things, Tish Delaney ( paperback April 2023)
£8.99
Lindy Morris is stuck. She lives in rural Ireland, banished to a lonely bungalow by her Granda Morris, with only her Auntie Bell and the TV for company. But one day Lindy realises that life is not quite what she thought it was: her mother's disappearance and her own lost years need to be brought out into the light.Suddenly Lindy is awake, uncovering the very secrets that will release her from her past. Told with devastating wit and poignancy, THE SAINT OF LOST THINGS is the triumphant story of an unlikely heroine as she makes her bid for freedom.
The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudedsey, Sean Lusk ( paperback May 2023)
£9.99
A BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick and Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month, for fans of PANDORA, THE ESSEX SERPENT and THE NIGHT CIRCUS. Longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2023.
Zachary Cloudesley is gifted in a remarkable way. But not all gifts are a blessing...
Leadenhall Street, London, 1754. Raised amongst the cogs and springs of his father's workshop, Zachary Cloudesley has grown up surrounded by strange and enchanting clockwork automata. He is a happy child, beloved by his father Abel and the workmen who help bring his father's creations to life.
He is also the bearer of an extraordinary gift; at the touch of a hand, Zachary can see into the hearts and minds of the people he meets. But then a near-fatal accident will take Zachary away from the workshop and his family. His father will have to make a journey that he will never return from.
And, years later, only Zachary can find out what happened. A beautifully crafted historical mystery of love and hope, and the adventure of finding your place in the world. ------'Packed with intrigue, vividly drawn characters and heartstopping emotion, this beautifully written, ingeniously crafted debut is absolutely enthralling' - Sunday Express'
. . intricately plotted, and peopled with intriguing characters' - Daily MailWhat readers are saying:'an excellent historical, magical realist novel''beautifully written''full of love and humour''original and rich in historical detail''my best book of 2022''totally engrossing .
The Secret Diaries of Charles Igatius Sancho (paperback Oct 2023), by Paterson Joseph
£9.99
For fans of The Miniaturist and The Confessions of Frannie Langton comes this award-winning novel of illuminating historical fiction.
Meet Charles Ignatius Sancho: his extraordinary story, hidden for three hundred years, is about to be told. I had little right to live, born on a slave ship where my parents both died. But I survived, and indeed, you might say I did more...
It's 1746 and Georgian London is not a safe place for a young Black man, especially one who has escaped slavery. After the twinkling lights in the Fleet Street coffee shops are blown out and the great houses have closed their doors for the night, Sancho must dodge slave catchers and worse. The man he hoped would help - a kindly duke who taught him to write - is dying.
Sancho is desperate and utterly alone. So how does Charles Ignatius Sancho meet the King, write and play highly acclaimed music, become the first Black person to vote in Britain and lead the fight to end slavery?It's time for him to tell his story, one that begins on a tempestuous Atlantic Ocean, and ends at the very centre of London life. And through it all, he must ask: born amongst death, how much can you achieve in one short life?
An absolutely thrilling, throat-catching wonder of a historical novel. Hugely recommended.' STEPHEN FRY
The Secret Life of John Le Carre, Adam Sisman ( paperback July 2024)
£10.99
Secrecy came naturally to John le Carre, and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. Nowhere was this more so than in his private life. Apparently content in his marriage, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over four decades.
To keep these relationships secret, he made use of tradecraft that he had learned as a spy: code names and cover stories, cut outs, safe houses and dead letter boxes. Such affairs introduced both jeopardy and excitement into what was otherwise a quiet, ordered life. Le Carre seemed to require the stimulus they provided in order to write, though this meant deceiving those closest to him.
It is no coincidence that betrayal became a recurrent theme in his work. Adam Sisman's definitive biography, published in 2015, revealed much about the elusive spy-turned-novelist; yet le Carre was adamant that some subjects should remain hidden, at least during his lifetime. The Secret Life of John le Carre is the story of what was left out, and offers reflections on the difficult relationship between biographer and subject.
Not merely the conclusive homage to a compulsively fascinating character, but an insightful study into the biographical process itself' Nicholas Shakespeare'Now that he is dead, we can know him better.
The Secret Lives of Numbers, Kitagawa and Revell ( hardback August 2023)
£20.00
The Secret Lives of Numbers : A Global History of Mathematics & its Unsung Trailblazers
by Kate Kitagawa (Author) , Timothy Revell (Author)
Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. But despite its reputation as the study of fundamental truths, the stories we have been told about it are wrong. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, historian Kate Kitagawa and journalist Timothy Revell introduce readers to the mathematical boundary-smashers who have been erased by history because of their race, gender or nationality.
From the brilliant Arabic scholars of the ninth-century House of Wisdom, and the pioneering African American mathematicians of the twentieth century, to the 'lady computers' around the world who revolutionised our knowledge of the night sky, we meet these fascinating trailblazers and see how they contributed to our global knowledge today. Along the way, the mathematics itself is explained extremely clearly, for example, calculus is described using the authors' home baking, as they pose the question: how much cake is in our cake? This revisionist, completely accessible and radically inclusive history of mathematics is as entertaining as it is important.
Paperback END August 2024
The Seventh Son, Sebastian Faulks ( hardback Sept 2023)
£22.00
When a young American academic Talissa Adam offers to carry another woman's child, she has no idea of the life-changing consequences. Behind the doors of the Parn Institute, a billionaire entrepreneur plans to stretch the boundaries of ethics as never before.Through a series of IVF treatments, which they hope to keep secret, they propose an experiment that will upend the human race as we know it. Seth, the baby, is delivered to hopeful parents Mary and Alaric, but when his differences start to mark him out from his peers, he begins to attract unwanted attention. The Seventh Son is a spectacular examination of what it is to be human.
It asks the question: just because you can do something, does it mean you should? Sweeping between New York, London, and the Scottish Highlands, this is an extraordinary novel about unrequited love and unearned power.
The Shadow Rising ( Bk 4, Wheel of Time Series)
£10.99
The fourth novel in the Wheel of Time series - one of the most influential and popular fantasy epics ever published. The Stone of Tear, invulnerable fortress of legend, has fallen. The Children of the Dragon have risen to the call of prophecy and march to the aid of the Light.Callandor, the Sword That Is Not a Sword, is held by Rand al'Thor, the man proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn. But still the shadows lengthen and still the Forsaken grow in strength. If he is to fight them, Rand must master the male half of the True Source, a power corrupted by the Dark One, a power that drives men to madness, a power that may save or damn the world.
'Epic in every sense' Sunday Times
The Silence Factory - Bridget Collins ( Paperback April 2025)
£9.99
In the Factory, the looms clatter all day. Cobwebs found in ancient Mediterranean glades are spun into a precious fabric that silences the world. But what happens to those who fall under its spell? And who is harnessing its power? After all, a world of silence can bring peace, but it can also conceal the deeds of the wicked… The Silence Factory is an enthralling story about complicity, desire and corruption – a novel to lose yourself in.
The Sirens’ Call, by Chris Hayes ( hardback Feb 2025)
£20.00
From the New York Times bestselling author and television and podcast host, a powerful, wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society. We all feel it — the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We bump into the zombies on their phones in the street, and sometimes they’re us.
We stare in pity at the four people at the table in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed utterly: for most of human history, the boundary between public and private has been clear, at least in theory. Now, as Chris Hayes writes, ‘With the help of a few tech firms, we basically tore it down in about a decade.’ Hayes argues that we are in the midst of an epoch-defining transition: attention has become a commodified resource extracted from us, and from which we are increasingly alienated.
Because there is a breaking point. Sirens are designed to compel us, and now they are going off in our bedrooms and kitchens at all hours of the day and night, doing the bidding of vast empires, the most valuable companies in history, built on harvesting human attention. The Sirens’ Call is the big book we all need to wrest back control of our lives, our politics, and our future.
The Skylark’s War, by Hilary McKay ( paperback, 2018)
£7.99
Winner of the Costa Book Award 2018 - Children's category.
The Skylarks' War is a beautiful story following the loves and losses of a family growing up against the harsh backdrop of World War One, from the award-winning Hilary McKay. Clarry and her older brother Peter live for their summers in Cornwall, staying with their grandparents and running free with their charismatic cousin, Rupert. But as they grow older, and the War encroaches ever more on their lives, how will Clarry cope?
I loved this book, it's warm, funny and touching - suits everyone from 8 to 80 I think!
The Slain Birds, Michael Longley ( paperback Sept 2022)
£12.99
Michael Longley's new collection takes its title from Dylan Thomas - 'for the sake of the souls of the slain birds sailing'.The Slain Birds encompasses souls, slayings and many birds, both dead and alive. The first poem laments a tawny owl killed by a car. That owl reappears later in 'Totem', which represents the book itself as 'a star-surrounded totem pole/ With carvings of all the creatures'.
'Slain birds' exemplify our impact on the creatures and the planet. But, in this book's cosmic ecological scheme, birds are predators too, and coronavirus is 'the merlin we cannot see'. Longley's soul-landscape seems increasingly haunted by death, as he revisits the Great War, the Holocaust and Homeric bloodshed, with their implied counterparts today.
Yet his microcosmic Carrigskeewaun remains a precarious 'home' for the human family. It engenders 'Otter-sightings, elvers, leverets, poetry'. Among Longley's images for poetry are crafts that conserve or recycle natural materials: carving, silversmithing, woodturning, embroidery.
This suggests the versatility with which he remakes his own art. Two granddaughters 'weave a web from coloured strings' and hang it up 'to trap a big idea'. The interlacing lyrics of The Slain Birds are such a web.
