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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Adams, Alex White horse When I wake the world is gone. Only fragments remain. And then I remember ... Before: her life may have taken a couple of wrong turns but Zoe is trying to make the best of what she has. A part-time cleaning job to pay for college, a weekly appointment with her therapist to straighten out the problems in her life. The same problems that any thirty-year-old would have. Nothing major. Nothing life-threatening. A few bad dreams, that's all. After: The only thought that remains is survival. Survival in a desolate, post-apocalyptic world. For herself. For her unborn baby. But help is scarce in a world where untold horrors exist around every corner, where food and water are in desperately short supply, and the only chance of happiness is half a world away.

Adams, Poppy Behaviour of Ginny watches & waits for her younger sister to return to the moths crumbling mansion that was once their childhood home. Vivien has not stepped foot in the house since she left, 47 years ago; Ginny, the reclusive lepidopterist, has rarely ventured outside it. The remembrance of their youth, of loss, & of old rivalries plays across Ginny's mind.

Adichie, Half of a yellow This heartbreaking, exquisitely written literary masterpiece is set Large Chimamanda Ngozi sun in Nigeria during the 1960s.This extraordinary novel is about Africa in a wider sense: about moral responsibility, about the end print of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race; and about the ways in which love can complicate all of these things.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Adichie, Thing around From the Orange Prize-winning author, come twelve dazzling Large Chimamanda Ngozi your neck stories in which she turns her penetrating eye on the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Nigeria and the print West. Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow and longing, this collection is a resounding confirmation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's prodigious storytelling powers.

Adiga, Aravind White tiger Meet Balram Halwai, the 'White Tiger': servant, philosopher, entrepreneur and murderer. Born in a backwater village on the River Ganges, the son of a rickshaw-puller, Balram works in a teashop, crushing coal and wiping tables, but nurses a dream of escape. When he learns that a rich village landlord needs a chauffeur, he takes his opportunity, and is soon on his way to Delhi behind the wheel of a Honda. Driven by desire to better himself, he comes to see how the Tiger might escape his cage...

Ahern, Cecelia The gift Step into the magical world of Cecelia Ahern in this heart- warming bestseller. If you could wish for one gift this Christmas, what would it be? Lou Suffern wishes he could be in two places at once. His constant battle with the clock is a sensitive issue with his wife and family. Gabe wishes he was somewhere warm. When Lou invites Gabe, a homeless man who sits outside his office, into the building and into his life, Lou's world is changed beyond all measure...An enchanting and thoughtful Christmas story that speaks to all of us abut the value of time and what is truly important in life.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Alcott, Louisa May Little women Set in a small New England community, 'Little Women' tells of the March family: Marmee looks after her daughters in the absence of her husband, who is serving as an army chaplain in the Civil War, and Meg, Jo Beth, and Amy experience domestic trials and triumphs as they attempt to supplement the family's small income. In the second part of the novel, the girls grow up and fall in love. The novel is highly autobiographical, and in Jo's character Alcott portrays a strong-minded and independent woman, determined to control her own destiny.

Alderman, Naomi Liars go spel Naomi Alderman's "The Liars' Gospel" is the story of a Jewish man, Yehoshuah, who wandered Roman-occupied Judea giving sermons and healing the sick. Now, a year after his death, four people tell their stories. His mother flashes between grief and rage while trouble brews between her village and the occupying soldiers. Iehuda, who was once Yehoshuah's friend, recalls how he came to lose his faith and find a place among the Romans. Caiaphas, the High Priest at the great Temple in Jerusalem, tries to hold the peace between Rome and Judea. Bar-Avo, a rebel, strives to bring that peace tumbling down. "The Liars' Gospel" makes the oldest story entirely new. Viscerally powerful in its depictions of the realities of the period: massacres and riots, animal sacrifice and human betrayal, it finds echoes of the present in the past.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Amis, Kingsley Lucky Jim Jix Dixon has a terrible job at a second-rate university. His life is full of things he could happily do without: the tedious and ridiculous Professor Welch, a neurotic and unstable girlfriend, Margaret, burnt sheets, medieval recorder music and over- enthusiastic students. If he can just deliver a lecture on 'Merrie England', a moderately successful career surely awaits him. But without luck, life is never simple ...

Amis, Martin Pregnant widow Summer 1970 - a long, hot summer. In a castle in Italy, half a Large dozen young lives are afloat on the sea of change, trapped inside the history of the sexual revolution. The girls are acting Print like boys, and the boys are going on acting like boys, and Keith Nearing - twenty years old, a literature student all clogged up with the English novel - is struggling to twist feminism and the rise of women towards his own ends. The sexual revolution may have been a velvet revolution (in at least two senses), but it wasn't bloodless - and now, in the twenty-first century, the year 1970 finally catches up with Keith Nearing. The Pregnant Widow is a comedy of manners and a nightmare, brilliant, haunting and gloriously risqué.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Arthur, Max Dambusters On 16 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster bomber crews gathered at a remote RAF station in Lincolnshire for a mission of extraordinary daring and high risk - a night raid on three crucial and heavily defended dams deep in the German industrial heartland. The raiders would have to fly across occupied Europe at a perilously low level and drop their bombs at a mere 60 feet above the water to destroy the dam walls. Eight planes never returned. Bestselling author Max Arthur has collected together first-hand accounts of the preparation, practise, experimentation and the raid itself, and the sense of emptiness and loss at RAF Scampton when 56 men failed to return. From RAF personnel to German civilians who witnessed the raid, this landmark oral history collection paints a moving and personal picture of one of the most famous operations of the Second World War.

Ashworth, Jenn Kind of intimacy Annie is morbidly obese, lonely and hopeful. She narrates her own increasingly bizarre attempts to ingratiate herself with her new neighbours, learn from past mistakes and achieve a ""certain kind of intimacy"" with the boy next door. Though Annie struggles to repress a murky history of violence, secrets and sexual mishaps her past is never too far behind her, finally shattering her denial in a compelling and bloody climax.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Atkinson, Kate When will there Richard and Judy's Best Read of the Year 2009.The story be good news? unfolds in rural Devon, where six-year-old Joanna Mason witnesses an appalling crime. Thirty years later the man convicted of the crime is released from prison. In Edinburgh, sixteen-year-old Reggie works as a nanny for a G.P. But Dr Hunter has gone missing and Reggie seems to be the only person who is worried. Across town, Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe is also looking for a missing person, unaware that hurtling towards her is an old friend -- Jackson Brodie -- himself on a journey that becomes fatally interrupted.

Atwood, Margaret The blind At the age of 82, Iris still lives in the shadow cast by her younger assassin sister Laura. Now poor and trying to cope with a failing body, Iris reflects on her far from exemplary life, in particular the events surrounding her sister's tragic death. Chief among these was the publication of The Blind Assassin, a novel which earned the dead Laura Chase not only notoriety but also a devoted cult following. By turns lyrical, outrageous, formidable, compelling

and funny, this is a novel filled with deep humour and dark drama. Winner of the Booker Prize 2000.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Austen, Jane Emma Emma is young, rich and independent. She has decided not to get married and instead spends her time organising her acquaintances' love affairs. Her plans for the matrimonial success of her new friend Harriet, however, lead her into complications that ultimately test her own detachment from the world of romance.

Austen, Jane Sense and "Sense and Sensibility" is famously characterised as the story of sensibility two Dashwood sisters who embody the conflict between the oppressive nature of 'civilised' society and the human desire for romantic passion. However, there is far more to this story of two daughters made homeless by the death of their father. Elinor, 19, and Marianne, 17, initially project the opposing roles with Elinor cautious and unassuming about romantic matters, while Marianne is wild and passionate when she falls hopelessly in love with the libertine Mr Willoughby. But the lessons in love and life see the two characters develop and change with sense and sensibility needing to be compromised as a matter of survival.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Baggoley, Martin Murder and crime This fascinating collection of local tales and murder cases from in Lancashire across the county of Lancashire is illustrated with more than 60 archive photographs, reward notices and drawings from the "Illustrated Police News". Covering more than a century of criminal history, this chilling catalogue of murderous misdeeds is sure to horrify and captivate anyone interested in the criminal history of the area.

Bainbridge, Beryl Birthday boys 'The birthday boys' is classic Bainbridge - one of her absolute best. It is a fictional account of Captain Robert Scott's 1910 expedition to Antarctica told from the perspectives of five men on the voyage: Scott; Petty Officer Taff Evans; ship's medic Dr Edward Wilson; Lieutenant Henry Bowers; and Captain Lawrence Oates.

Bainbridge, Beryl Every man for For the four fraught, mysterious days of her doomed maiden himself voyage in 1912, the Titanic sails towards New York, glittering with luxury, freighted with millionaires and hopefuls. In her labyrinthine passageways are played out the last, secret hours of a small group of passengers, their fate sealed in prose of startling, sublime beauty, as Beryl Bainbridge's haunting masterpiece moves inexorably to its known and terrible end.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Ballard, J. G. Cocaine nights Cocaine Nights is an engrossing mystery and unnerving vision of a society enjoying a life of unlimited leisure. When Charles Prentice arrives in Spain to investigate his brother's involvement in the death of five people in a fire in the upmarket coastal resort of Estrella de Mar, he gradually discovers that beneath the civilised, cultured surface of this exclusive enclave for Britain's retired rich there flourishes a secret world of crime, drugs and illicit sex . What starts as an engrossing mystery develops into a mesmerising novel of ideas - a dazzling work of the imagination from one of Britain's most original and controversial novelists.

Banks, Iain Stonemouth Stewart Gilmour is back in Stonemouth. After five years in exile his presence is required at the funeral of patriarch Joe Murston, and even though the last time Stu saw the Murstons he was running for his life, staying away might be even more dangerous than turning up. An estuary town north of Aberdeen, Stonemouth, with its five mile beach, can be beautiful on a sunny day. On a bleak one it can seem to offer little more than seafog, gangsters, cheap drugs and a suspension bridge irresistible to suicides. And although there's supposed to be a temporary truce between Stewart and the town's biggest crime family, it's soon clear that only Stewart is taking this promise of peace seriously. Before long Stu steps back into the minefield of his past to confront his guilt and all that it has lost him, uncovering ever darker stories. Soon his homecoming takes a more lethal turn than even he had anticipated. Tough, funny, fast-paced and touching, Stonemouth cracks open adolescence, love, brotherhood and vengeance in a rite of passage novel like

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word no other.

Banks, Russell Lost memory of Suspended in a strangely modern-day version of limbo, a young skin man must create a life for himself in the wake of incarceration. Known only as the Kid, and on probation after doing time for a liaison with an underage girl, he is shackled to a GPS monitoring device and forbidden to live within 2,500 feet of anywhere children might gather. With nowhere else to go, the Kid takes up residence in a makeshift encampment with other convicted sex offenders. Barely beyond childhood himself, the Kid is in many ways an innocent, trapped by impulses and foolish choices. Enter the Professor, a man who has built his own life on secrets and lies. A university sociologist of enormous size and intellect, he finds in the Kid the perfect subject for his research on homelessness and reoffending sex offenders. The two men forge a tentative partnership. But when the Professor's past resurfaces and threatens to destroy his carefully constructed world, the balance in the two men's relationship shifts. Suddenly, the Kid must reconsider everything he has come to believe, and choose what course of action to take when faced with a new kind of moral decision.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Barclay, Linwood Too close to When the Cutter family's next-door-neighbours, the Langley's, home are gunned down in their house one hot August night, the Cutters' world is turned upside down. That violent death should have come so close to them is shocking enough in suburban Promise Falls, but at least the Cutters can console themselves with the thought that lightning is unlikely to strike twice in the same place. Unless, of course, the killers went to the wrong house...At first the idea seems crazy - but each of the Cutter family has a secret they'd rather keep buried, and the final secret - the secret that could save them or destroy them - is in the one place nobody would ever think of looking...

Barry, Long long way A Long Long Way evokes the camaraderie and humour of Willie and his regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but also the cruelty Sebastian and sadness of war, and the divided loyalties that many Irish soldiers felt. Tracing their experiences through the course of the war, the narrative brilliantly explores and dramatises the events of the Easter Rising within Ireland, and how such a seminal political moment came to affect those boys off fighting for the King of England on foreign fields - the paralysing doubts and divisions it caused them.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Barry, Sebastian Long long way A Long Long Way evokes the camaraderie and humour of Willie and his regiment, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but also the cruelty and sadness of war, and the divided loyalties that many Irish soldiers felt. Tracing their experiences through the course of the war, the narrative brilliantly explores and dramatises the events of the Easter Rising within Ireland, and how such a seminal political moment came to affect those boys off fighting for the King of England on foreign fields - the paralysing doubts and divisions it caused them.

Barry, Sebastian Secret scripture Nearing her one-hundredth birthday, Roseanne McNulty faces an uncertain future, as the Roscommon Regional Mental hospital where she's spent the best part of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to this upheaval, she talks often with her psychiatrist Dr. Grene, and their relationship intensifies and complicates. Told through their respective journals, the story that emerges is at once shocking and deeply beautiful. Refracted through the haze of memory and retelling, Roseanne's story becomes an alternative, secret history of Ireland's changing character and the story of a life blighted by terrible mistreatment and ignorance, and yet marked still by love and passion and hope.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Bateman, Colin Mystery man A superbly gripping and blackly funny mystery by the king of the comic crime caper. He's the Man With No Name and the owner of No Alibis, a mystery bookshop in Belfast. But when a detective agency next door goes bust, the agency's clients start calling into his shop asking him to solve their cases. Alison, the beautiful girl in the jewellery shop across the road, will surely be impressed. Except she's not - because she can see the bigger picture. And when they break into the shuttered shop next door on a dare, they have their answer. Suddenly they're catapulted along a murder trail which leads them from small-time publishing to Nazi concentration camps and serial killers...

Bauer, Belinda Dark side A critically acclaimed thriller – genteel and suspenseful. It is freezing, mid-winter on Exmoor and in a close-knit community where no stranger goes unnoticed, a local woman has been found murdered in her bed. This is local policeman Jonas Holly's first murder investigation. But he is distracted by anonymous letters, accusing him of failing to do his job. Taunted by the killer and sidelined by his abrasive senior detective, Jonas has no choice but to strike out alone on a terrifying hunt ...but who is hunting who?

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Bennett, Alan Uncommon The Uncommon Reader is none other than HM the Queen who reader drifts accidentally into reading when her corgis stray into a mobile library parked at Buckingham Palace. Her reading naturally changes her world view and her relationship with people such as the oleaginous prime minister and his repellent advisers. She comes to question the prescribed order of the world, and loses patience with much that she has to do. In short, her reading is subversive. The consequence is, of course, surprising, mildly shocking and very funny.

Billingham, Mark In the dark A rainy night in London. Shots are fired into a car which swerves on to the pavement, ploughing into a bus stop. It seems that a chilling gang initiation has cost an innocent victim their life. But the reality is far more sinister...One life is wiped out and three more are changed forever: the young man whose finger was on the trigger; an ageing gangster planning a deadly revenge, and the pregnant woman who struggles desperately to uncover the truth. Two weeks away from giving birth, how will she deal with a world where death is an occupational hazard? Secrets are uncovered as fast as bodies, and the story's final twist is as breathtakingly surprising as they come.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Birch, Carol Naming of Eliza This is an extraordinarily haunting novel, inspired by a true story. Quinn In the late 1960s, in the hollow of an ancient oak tree beyond a derelict cottage in Cork, the bones of a three-year-old girl were found. It was thought that they dated back to the time of the great potato famine of the mid 1800s. The bones were discovered by an American woman, who had inherited the cottage which had lain empty and broken for forty years. Local searches reveal that the house had originally belonged to The Quinns. Eliza Quinn was their baby. This is a story that speaks of generations and of landscapes: abandoned villages, famine graves, old potato ridges sinking back into the earth, traces of a population that fell by two and a half million in less than ten years. It is also about hunger, both physical and emotional. But above all, it is the story of the Quinn family. And it is Carol Birch's tour de force.

Bishop, Patrick Follow me home High summer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Two young soldiers, Milo and Zac, are on a mission which could really make their names. Their special duties team is to ambush and capture a notorious Taliban leader. The operation has been meticulously planned and set up. But suddenly - all is chaos. The hunters are now the hunted. To reach safety they must make their way through fifty kilometres of hostile territory, with a Taliban captive and a young, frightened woman in tow. Perilous at every turn, the journey is the biggest test any of them has ever faced, and it will change their lives forever.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Bolton, S. J. Blood harvest Now You See Her...Gillian is haunted by the disappearance of her little girl two years ago. A devastating fire burned down their home, but she remains convinced her daughter survived. Now You Don't...Ten-year-old Tom lives by the town's neglected churchyard. Is he the only one who sees the strange, solitary child playing there? And what is she trying to tell him? Now You Run...There's a new vicar in town - Harry - and he's meeting the locals. But menacing events suggest he isn't welcome. What terrible secret is this town hiding?

Bourne, Sam Righteous man The Number One bestseller. A religious conspiracy thriller like no other. Two murders at opposite ends of America, one in the backstreets of New York City, the other in the backwoods of Montana. A series of killings in every corner of the globe, from the crowded slums of India to the pristine beaches of Cape Town. There can't possibly be a connection. That's the instinct of Will Monroe, a young, British-born reporter for The New York Times -- until the morning his beautiful wife Beth is kidnapped.

Desperate, Will follows a trail that leads to a mysterious sect right on his own doorstep. He will have to break through multiple layers of mysticism and ancient prophecy, unearthing riddles buried deep in the Bible -- until he finds the secret that is said to have animated the world for thousands of years, a secret on which the fate of humanity may depend. But with more murders by the hour, and each clue wrapped in layers of code, time is running out!

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Boyd, William Restless It is 1939. Eva Delectorskaya is a beautiful 28-year-old Russian emigree living in Paris. As war breaks out she is recruited for the British Secret Service by Lucas Romer, a mysterious Englishman, and under his tutelage she learns to become the perfect spy, to mask her emotions and trust no one, including those she loves most. Since the war, Eva has carefully rebuilt her life as a typically English wife and mother. But once a spy, always a spy. Now she must complete one final assignment, and

this time Eva can't do it alone: she needs her daughter's help. Boyne, John Absolutist September 1919: Twenty-years-old Tristan Sadler takes a train Large from London to Norwich to deliver a clutch of letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian's brother Will during print the Great War. They trained together. They fought together. But in 1917, Will laid down his guns on the battlefield and declared himself a conscientious objector, an act which has brought shame and dishonour on the Bancroft family. The letters, however, are not the real reason for Tristan's visit. He holds a secret deep within him. One that he is desperate to unburden himself of to Marian, if he can only find the courage. Whatever happens, this meeting will change his life - forever.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Boyne, John Boy in the Shortlisted for Independent Booksellers' Book of the Year stripped pyjamas Award: Children's Book of the Year 2007 and British Book Awards: WH Smith Children's Book of the Year Award 2007. A story of innocence existing within the most terrible evil, this is the fictional tale of two young boys caught up in events entirely beyond their control.

Boyne, John House of special Russia, 1915: Sixteen year old farmer's son Georgy Jachmenev Large Spoken purpose steps in front of an assassin's bullet intended for a senior member of the Russian Imperial Family and is instantly print word proclaimed a hero. Rewarded with the position of bodyguard to Alexei Romanov, the only son of Tsar Nicholas II, the course of his life is changed for ever. Sixty-five years later, visiting his wife Zoya as she lies in a London hospital, memories of the life they have lived together flood his mind. And with them, the consequences of the brutal fate of the Romanovs which has hung like a shroud over every aspect of their marriage...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Bragg, Melvyn Remember me A passionate but ultimately tragic love affair starts when two students, one French, one English, meet at university at the beginning of the sixties. From its tentative early stages, the relationship develops into a life-changing one, whose profound impact continues to reverberate forty years later. 'Daring and brave...With great skill and stunning insight, Bragg doesn't just tell a very tragic tale, he explores what it really means to love and be loved...eclipses anything Bragg has written before' Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror.

Brockmeier, Kevin Brief history of Laura Byrd is in trouble. Three weeks ago she and her friends the dead found themselves alone in one of the coldest, most remote places on earth. Her friends set out in search of help, and now Laura realises that they are not coming back...The Brief History of the Dead tells a magical story about our lives - about our place in the world, our connections with each other, and what happens to us all after our deaths. It is a story of spellbinding power and imagination, which resonates long after the final page.

Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre Orphaned Jane Eyre grows up in the home of her heartless Aunt, where she endures loneliness and cruelty, and at a charity school with a harsh regime. This troubled childhood strengthens Jane's natural independence and spirit - which prove necessary when she finds a position as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him and live with the consequences, or

follow her convictions, even if it means leaving the man she

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word loves?

Bronte, Emily Wuthering One of the greatest love stories ever told. Cathy and Heathcliff, heights childhood friends, are cruelly separated by class, fate and the actions of others. But uniting them is something even stronger: an all-consuming passion that sweeps away everything that comes between them. Even death!

Brookmyre, Chris Where the bodies Detective Catherine McLeod was always taught that in Glasgow, are buried they don't do whodunit. They do score-settling, vendettas and petty revenge. And however she looks at it, the discovery of a dead drug-dealer in a back alley means she's going to be busy. Meanwhile, aspiring actress Jasmine Sharp is reluctantly - and incompetently - working for her uncle Jim's private investigation business. When Jim goes missing, Jasmine has to take on the investigator mantle for real, and her only lead points to a professional assassin who has been dead for twenty years. Soon Jasmine stumbles into a web of corruption and secrets that leaves her running for her life.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Brooks, Geraldine People of the The new novel from the author of 'March' and 'Year of Wonders' book takes place in the aftermath of the Bosnian War, as a young book conservator arrives in Sarajevo to restore a lost treasure. When Hannah Heath gets a call in the middle of the night in her Sydney home about a precious medieval manuscript which has been recovered from the smouldering ruins of war torn Sarajevo, she knows she is on the brink of the experience of a lifetime. But the trip will also set in motion a series of events that threaten to rock Hannah's orderly life, including her encounter with Ozren Karamen, the young librarian who risked his life to save the book. 'People of the Book' is a gripping and moving novel about war, art, love and survival.

Brunt, Carol Rifka Tell the wolves There's only one person who has ever truly understood I'm home fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that's her uncle, the renowned painter, Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her once inseparable older sister, June can only be herself in Finn's company; he is her godfather, confident, and best friend. So when he dies far too young of a mysterious illness that June's mother can barely bring herself to discuss, June's world is turned upside down. At the funeral, she notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd, and a few days later, June receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn's apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realises she's not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he might just be the one she needs the most. Tell the Wolves I'm Home is a tender story of love lost and found, an

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word unforgettable portrait of the way compassion can make us whole again.

Buckley, Jonathan So he takes the A stunning novel which examines our fears, prejudices and dog desires. On a beach in southern England, a dog returns to its owner with a human hand in its mouth. The hand belongs to a homeless eccentric named Henry, who has been wandering the south-west of England for the last thirty years. As the story of Henry's life becomes clearer, so the life of the narrator becomes more and more complex, in ways he could never have expected. 'So He Takes the Dog' is a detective story like no other.

Burgess, Anthony Clockwork "A Clockwork Orange" is the daring and electrifying book by orange Anthony Burgess that inspired one of the most notorious films ever made, beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range. In this nightmare vision of youth in revolt, fifteen-year-old Alex and his friends set out on a diabolical orgy of robbery, rape, torture and murder. Alex is jailed for his teenage delinquency and the State tries to reform him - but at what cost? Social prophecy? Black comedy? Study of freewill? A "Clockwork Orange" is all of these. It is also a dazzling experiment in language, as Burgess creates a new language - 'nadsat', the teenage slang of a not-too-distant future.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Burnside, John Summer of A terrifying and dream-like new novel from one of our greatest drowning contemporary writers. Set in the white nights of an Arctic summer, the novel has the heightened, hallucinogenic atmosphere of a dream, but culminates in a moment of profound horror. Intensely imagined and exquisitely written, A Summer of Drowning is a play of dark and light, of looking and seeing, that will hold and haunt every reader. Shortlisted for Costa Novel Award 2011.

Butler, John Serendipity In 'Serendipity' a miscellany of sort stories, there is something for everyone. If your taste is humour there are plenty including 'It's No Laughing Matter', 'Stop! ...Don't Go Any Further'. There are slices of real life in 'Arthur', 'Lanky Franky', 'Death of the Hindenburg' and 'My Only Sunshine'. There is satire and irreligious ones - written without any malice. In the animal stories 'The Dog', 'The Gulls' Court' and 'The Camel' I have given myself full rein and enjoyed exercising anthropomorphism. In short 'Serendipity' is the word - take a dip and find your winner. I hope while reading these stories you will be able to share the enjoyment that I felt when writing them.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Byrne, Tanya Heart-shaped A compelling, brutal and heart-breaking story about identity, bruise infamy and revenge, from debut author Tanya Byrne. Shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger 2012. They say I'm evil. The police. The newspapers. The girls from school who sigh on the six o'clock news and say they always knew there was something not quite right about me. And everyone believes it. Including you. But you don't know. You don't know who I used to be. Who I could have been. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever shake off my mistakes or if I'll just carry them around with me forever like a bunch of red balloons. Awaiting trial at Archway Young Offenders Institution, Emily Koll is going to tell her side of the story for the first time. Camilleri, Andrea Paper moon As he gets older, Inspector Montalbano is plagued by existential Large questions. But he doesn't have much time to wax philosophical before the gruesome murder of a man - shot in the face at point- print blank range with his pants down - commands his attention. Add two evasive, beautiful women as prime suspects, dirty cocaine, dead politicians, mysterious computer codes, and a series of threatening letters, and things soon get very complicated at the police headquarters in Vigata.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Capella, Anthony Food of love Laura Patterson is an American exchange student in Rome who, fed up with being inexpertly groped by her young Italian beaus, decides there's only one sure-fire way to find a sensual man: date a chef. Then she meets Tomasso, who's handsome, young - and cooks in the exclusive Templi restaurant. Perfect. Except, unbeknownst to Laura, Tomasso is in fact only a waiter at Templi -- it's his shy friend Bruno who is the chef. A delicious tale of Cyrano de Bergerac-style culinary seduction, but with sensual recipes instead of love poems.

Cartwright, Justin Promise of The Judds, formerly of London N1, now scattered, are about to happiness be thrown together again by the eldest child Juliet's release from prison in New York. The family is devastated by Juliet's conviction for art theft. The nature of this theft and the reasons for it plague all the protagonists. A powerful elegy to the idiocies and intimacies of family love, this is the captivating story of an apparently ordinary English family caught up in uncontrollable events, united again, as much by apprehension as celebration on the return of the prodigal daughter.

Cash, Wiley A land more kind One Sunday nine-year-old Jess Hall watches in horror as his than home autistic brother is smothered during a healing service in the mountains of North Carolina. Wiley Cash uses this haunting image - inspired by a horrific true event - to spin us into a spellbinding, heartbreaking story about cruelty and innocence, and the failure of faith and family to protect a child. This is a novel thick with stories and characters connected by faith, infidelity, and a sense of hope that is both tragic and unforgettable.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Chevallier, Gabriel Fear This is a rediscovered - and controversial - classic of war literature. It is 1915. Jean Dartemont is just a young man. He is not a rebel, but neither is he awed by authority and when he's called up and given only the most rudimentary training, he refuses to follow his platoon. Instead, he is sent to Artois, where he experiences the relentless death and violence of the trenches. His reprieve finally comes when he is wounded, evacuated and hospitalised. The nurses consider it their duty to stimulate the soldiers' fighting spirit, and so ask Jean what he did at the front. His reply? 'I was afraid.' First published in 1930, "Fear" is both graphic and clear-eyed in its depiction of the terrible experiences of soldiers during the First World War.

Child, Lee Kill ing floor Killing Floor presents Jack Reacher for the first time, as the tough ex-military cop of no fixed abode: a righter of wrongs, the perfect action hero. Reacher jumps off a bus and walks fourteen miles down a country road into Margrave, Georgia. An arbitrary decision he's about to regret. Reacher is the only stranger in town on the day they have had their first homicide in thirty years. The cops arrest Reacher and the police chief turns eyewitness to place him at the scene. As nasty secrets leak out, and the body count mounts, one thing is for sure. They picked the wrong guy to take the fall.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Christie, Agatha Murder on the Agatha Christie's most famous murder mystery - Just after Orient Express midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer - in case he

or she decides to strike again.

Coake, Christopher You came back Praised by Nick Hornby and singled out by Granta magazine as one of the best young writers in America, Christopher Coake has written a heart-stopping first novel about love and loss, grieving and belief. Mark Fife thinks he has got over the death of his son Brendan in an accident and the break-up of his marriage. He's in love again, he's successful and he believes he has grieved properly. But when a crazy woman claims Brendan's ghost is back in their old house, and his ex-wife wants so much to

believe her, Mark finds himself desperately trying to cling on to his sanity. And desperately trying to discover where his future lies. 'You Came Back', is a modern ghost story, a Lovely Bones for our time.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Coben, Harlan Hold tight Tia and Mike Baye never imagined they'd become the type of overprotective parents who spy on their kids. But their sixteen- year-old son Adam has been unusually distant lately, and after the suicide of his classmate Spencer, they can't help but worry. They install a sophisticated spy program on Adam's computer, and within days they are jolted by a message from an unknown correspondent addressed to their son: 'Just stay quiet and all safe.' It soon becomes clear that something deep and sinister has infected their community...

Coelho, Paul The alchemist A global phenomenon, The Alchemist has been read and loved by over 62 million readers, topping bestseller lists in 74 countries worldwide - A beautiful parable about learning to listen to your heart, read the omens strewn along the way. The story revolves around Santiago, a young shepherd living in the hills of Andalucía who finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant lands, each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is following the right path: his own. The people he meets along the way, the things he sees and the wisdom he learns are life- changing. The Alchemist is a story with the power to inspire nations and change people's lives.

Coleman, Rebecca Kingdom of 'It's the job of adults to teach teenagers to be responsible. That's childhood what grownups do.' You've fallen for your son's best friend. You are a teacher. You are abusing your power, your responsibility...your student. You know it's wrong. But you cannot stop. I suppose in the beginning it was a love story. 'The danger loomed much larger than I had feared. Not because he might report me. But because he would not.' Controversial,

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word unsettling and fascinating - you won't be able to stop talking about The Kingdom Of Childhood.

Collins, James Love in the air Peter works for a prestigious financial firm on Wall Street, and Holly teaches Latin at a private girls' school - when they sit next to each other on a plane journey, an intoxicating tale of romance, coincidence and thwarted plans starts to unfold. The result is a debut novel that is charming, fresh, clever and beautifully written; a deeply romantic story about the transformative power of love.

Collins, Wilkie Moonstone When Rachel Verinder receives a gift of an astonishing yellow diamond from her bitter old uncle for her eighteenth birthday, she has no idea that the stone brings great danger with it. When the diamond goes missing during the night the ensuing investigations gradually bring to light the sinister history of the jewel and the passions and plots of those close to Rachel.

Collins, Wilkie Woman in white In love with the beautiful heiress Laura Fairlie, the impoverished art teacher Walter Henright finds his romantic designs thwarted by the scheming of the wicked Sir Percival Glyde and his sinister ally Count Fosco. The mystery and intrigue are deepened by the ghostly appearances of a woman in white, harbouring a secret that concerns Sir Percival's past. A tale of love, madness and identity, boasting sublime Gothic settings and pulse-quickening suspense, "The Woman in White" was the first best-selling Victorian sensation novel, sparking off a huge trend in the fiction

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word of the time with its compulsive, fascinating narrative.

Connelly, Michael Brass verdict Defence lawyer Mickey Haller has had some problems but now he's put all that behind him and is ready to resume his career. Then another lawyer, Vincent, dies, and Haller gets an unexpected windfall: he inherits all Vincent's clients - putting his stalled career back on track at a stroke. Not only that, but Vincent had taken on a high profile and potentially lucrative murder case. It'll be a trial that promises big fees and an even bigger place in the media spotlight - and if Mickey can win against the odds, he'd really be back in the big leagues. The only problem is the detective handling the case - a certain Harry Bosch - is convinced the killer must be one of Vincent's clients. Suddenly Mickey is faced with the biggest challenge of his career: how to successfully defend a client who might just be planning to murder him.

Connolly, John Reapers They are the Reapers, the elite among killers. Men so terrifying that their names are mentioned only in whispers. The assassin Louis is one of them. But now Louis, and his partner, Angel, are themselves targets. And there is no shortage of suspects. A wealthy recluse sends them north to a town that no longer exists on a map. There they find themselves trapped, isolated, and at the mercy of a killer feared above all others: the assassin of assassins, Bliss. Thanks to former detective Charlie Parker, help is on its way. But can Angel and Louis stay alive long enough for it to reach them?

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Crow, Matthew My dearest Jonah Introduced via a pen-pal scheme, Verity and Jonah write their lives, hopes and dreams to one another without ever having met. Verity is a fragile beauty. When a dangerous sequence of events is set in motion, she tries to explain to Jonah, what led her to unravel so spectacularly. Jonah has been released after years of imprisonment, and embarks upon the quiet life he's always wanted. But then a dark reminder shatters his world, keen to make history repeat itself. Offering the sole strand of stability in two progressively elaborate lives, they develop a deep and delicate love, a love that becomes clouded and threatened by increasingly dark forces. Cummings, Charles Trinity six The most explosive secret of the Cold War could be exposed: Spoken but the bigger the lie, the more ruthlessly it will be protected! Hard-up Russia expert Dr Sam Gaddis finally has a lead for the word book that could solve all his career problems. But the story of a lifetime becomes an obsession that could kill him. When his source is found dead, Gaddis is alone on the trail of the Cold War's deadliest secret: the undiscovered sixth member of the infamous Cambridge spy ring. Suddenly threatened at every

step and caught between two beautiful women, both with access to crucial evidence, Sam cannot trust anyone. To get his life back, he must chase shadows through Europe's corridors of power.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Davey, Janet By Battersea Anita Mostyn feels the need to take a holiday from her life. As a Bridge child, she was dismissed by her parents in favour of her more confident brothers, and as an adult, her choices are disapproved of - the small art gallery she works for, the friends she makes, the men she sees. On a whim, she takes up an offer to scout for holiday properties in Bulgaria, escaping the impending second wedding of her perfect brother. But as Anita navigates these difficult waters, a horrifying episode in her past - the thing she has really been trying to escape - comes back to haunt her.

Davies, Martin Unicorn Road A young woman leaves her home, summoned to the emperor's court and a husband she barely knows. On the other side of the world, a famous scholar is sent to find and collect the mysterious beasts of legend in the unknown lands of the East. He takes with him an interpreter, Venn, famous for his special gift with language. The two groups of travellers are destined to cross paths, revealing the secret motives and hidden passions of those who are brought together.

Davies, Martin Year after Home of the Danesbury family, Hannesford Court was always Tom's sanctuary. But in the summer of 1914 – in the last weeks before the war- its famous tranquillity was shattered. Now, after five years in uniform, Tom returns to London where he receives an invitation from Margot Stansbury...to spend Christmas at Hannesford Court. Soon he is caught up in a web of secrets and deceptions that he could never have imagined. The more he uncovers the truth behind the fateful events of that summer, the

more he realises that he never really knew Hannesford and its people at all.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word

Davitt, Jacqueline Murder and Illustrated with more than 60 archive images, this collection of crime: Pendle true tales from across the Ribble Valley provides a fascinating and the Ribble record of crime and punishment over the centuries. From Valley terrifying tales of the dark magic of the Pendle Witches, to newspaper reports of petty theft and drunkenness, almost every kind of unlawful activity is included here. Considering the unique circumstances behind each offence, as well as the inevitable consequence of punishment, this book will horrify and captivate anyone interested in the criminal history of the area. Dawkins, Richard God delusion "The God Delusion" caused a sensation when it was published in 2006. Within weeks it became the most hotly debated topic, with Dawkins himself branded as either saint or sinner for presenting his hard-hitting, impassioned rebuttal of religion of all types. Dawkins attacks God in all his forms. He eviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels war, foments bigotry and abuses children. "The God Delusion" is a brilliantly argued, fascinating polemic that will be required reading for anyone interested in this most emotional and important subject. Shortlisted for Independent Booksellers' Book of the Year Award: Adults' Book of the Year 2007 and British Book Awards: Book of the Year 2007.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Day, Sallie Palace of strange Winner of Portico Prize for Literature: Fiction 2008. Blackpool, girls 1959 and the Singleton family are on holiday. For seven-year- old Beth, just out of hospital, this means struggling to fill in her 'I- Spy' book and avoiding her mother Ruth's eagle-eyed supervision. Her sixteen-year-old sister Helen, meanwhile, has befriended a waitress whose fun-loving ways hint at a life beyond Ruth's strict rules. But times are changing. Over the holiday week, all four Singletons must struggle to find their place in a shifting world of promenade amusements, illicit sex and stilted afternoon teas, in this touching and extraordinarily evocative novel.

Dean, Debra Madonnas of A brilliant and moving debut novel about one woman's struggle Leningrad to preserve an artistic heritage from the horrors and destruction of World War II, and the ensuing lifelong memories from this extraordinary experience. In this extraordinary first novel by Debra Dean, the siege of Leningrad by German troops in World War II is echoed by the destructive siege against the mind and memory of an elderly Russian woman. The novel shifts between Marina's experiences at the Hermitage during the siege of Leningrad and her current existence as a very old lady in America whose mind has begun to fray.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Deaver, Jeffrey Broken window He is watching you. He knows you, better than you know yourself. And he is using his knowledge to plan your death. But you are not his only victim. He is also watching your killer. He is about to get away with the perfect murder ...

DeBlasi, Marlena Thousand days in 'A thousand days in Venice' is filled with the foods and flavours Venice of Italy and peppered with recipes and culinary observations. But the main course here is about a woman who falls in love with both a man and a city, and finally finds the home she didn't know she was missing.

Delaney, Joseph Spook's A wonderful and terrifying novel about a young boy training to be apprentice an exorcist. Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant and many apprentices have failed before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the County, the horror begins...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Dickens, Charles Christmas carol Ebenezer Scrooge is unimpressed by Christmas. He has no time for festivities or goodwill toward his fellow men and is only interested in money. Then, on the night of Christmas Eve, his life is changed by a series of ghostly visitations that show him some bitter truths about his choices. "A Christmas Carol" is Dickens' most influential book and a funny, clever and hugely enjoyable story.

Dickens, Charles David When David Copperfield escapes from the cruelty of his Copperfield childhood home, he embarks on a journey to adulthood which will lead him through comedy and tragedy, love and heartbreak and friendship and betrayal. Over the course of his adventures, David meets an array of eccentric characters and learns hard lessons about the world before he finally discovers true happiness.

Dickens, Charles Dombey and son Mr Dombey is a man obsessed with his firm. His son is groomed from birth to take his place within it, despite his visionary eccentricity and declining health. But Dombey also has a daughter, whose unfailing love for her father goes unreturned. When Walter Gay, a young clerk in her father's office, rescues her from a bewildering experience in the streets of London, his unforgettable friends believe he is well on his way to receiving her hand in marriage and inheriting the company. It is to be a very different type of story.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Dickens, Charles Great Young orphan Pip finds his life changed forever when he helps expectations escaped convict Magwitch, and falls impossibly in love with Estella, the beautiful, icy charge of bitter Miss Haversham. Then an anonymous well-wisher gives him money to begin a new life in London. Are these events random? Or does Pip's fate hang on a series of coincidences he could never have expected?

Dickens, Charles Hard times 'Hard Times' is Dickens's shortest novel, and arguably his greatest triumph. Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind, school headmaster and model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils and family with facts, he bans fancy and wonder from any young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman and 'bully of humanity' Mr Bounderby, and his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling and robbery. And, as their

fortunes cross with those of free-spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe and victimized weaver Stephen Blackpool, Gradgrind is eventually forced to recognize the value of the human heart in an age of materialism and machinery.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Dickens, Charles Oliver Twist 'Oliver Twist has asked for more!' Fleeing the workhouse, Oliver finds himself taken under the wing of the Artful Dodger and caught up with a group of pickpockets in London. As he tries to free himself from their clutches he becomes immersed in the seedy underbelly of the Capital, amongst criminals, prostitutes and the homeless. Dickens scathing attack on the cruelness of Victorian Society features some of his most memorable and enduring characters, including innocent Oliver himself, the Artful Dodger, Fagin, Bill Sikes and Nancy.

Dickens, Charles Pickwick papers "The Pickwick Papers" was Dickens' first novel and was a huge success when it was first published. It tells the tale of the irrepressible Mr Pickwick and his fellow Pickwick Club members who travel around the English countryside getting into all kinds of scrapes and adventures. Funny, warm-hearted and full of memorable and engaging characters, this is an enchanting novel that continues to delight readers today.

Dickens, Charles Tale of two cities Lucie Manette has been separated from her father for eighteen years while he languished in Paris' most feared prison, the Bastille. Finally reunited, the Manettes' fortunes become inextricably intertwined with those of two men, the heroic aristocrat Darnay and the dissolute lawyer Carton. Their story, which encompasses violence, revenge, love and redemption, is grippingly played out against the backdrop of the terrifying brutality of the French Revolution.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Donoghue, Emma Room Jack is five. He lives with his Ma. They live in a single, locked room. They don't have the key. Jack and Ma are prisoners. Winner of Channel 4 TV Book Club Best Read 2011 and Galaxy National Book Awards, this book will break your heart. It is a vivid, radiant and beautiful expression of maternal love, both startlingly original and moving.

Donoghue, Emma Sealed letter After a separation of many years, Emily 'Fido' Faithfull bumps into her old friend Helen Codrington on the streets of Victorian London. Much has changed: Helen is more and more unhappy in her marriage to the older Vice-Admiral Codrington, while Fido has become a successful woman of business and a pioneer in the British Women's Movement. But, for all her independence of mind, Fido is too trusting of her once-dear companion and finds herself drawn into aiding Helen's obsessive affair with a young

army officer. Then, when the Vice-Admiral seizes the children and sues for divorce, the women's friendship unravels amid accusations of adultery and counter-accusations of cruelty and attempted rape, as well as a mysterious 'sealed letter' that could destroy more than one life ...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Donovan, Michael Behind closed There's an instinct all investigators share: the lure of the curious. doors We're like collectors rummaging through the shadowy corners of a bric-a-brac shop; we just can't resist intrigue when it pops up. PI Eddie Flynn is having a bad day. When some snot-nosed kid barges in with a story about a missing girl, it doesn't get any better - especially since Rebecca Slater's parents say nothing's wrong. Problem is, the family are telling lies. Before he knows it Flynn's following a trail that leads out of the Slaters' mansion

and straight into the gutter. Down among the rats Rebecca's not the only girl who's missing - and in a game where there's no such thing as coincidence, how long will it be before Flynn disappears too?

Dumas, Alexan dre Count of Monte Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Edmond Dantes Cristo spends fourteen bitter years in a dungeon. When his daring escape plan works he uses all he has learnt during his incarceration to mastermind an elaborate plan of revenge that will bring punishment to those he holds responsible for his fate. No longer the naive sailor who disappeared into the dark fortress all those years ago, he reinvents himself as the charming, mysterious and powerful Count of Monte Cristo.

DuMaurier, Daphne House on the Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend Professor Strand Magnus Lane. During his stay he agrees to serve as a guinea pig for a new drug that Magnus has discovered in his biochemical researches. The effect of this drug is to transport Dick from the house at Kilmarth to the Cornwall of the 14th century. There, in the manor of Tywardreath, the domain of Sir Henry Champernoune, he witnesses intrigue, adultery and

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word murder. As his time travelling increases, Dick resents more and more the days he must spend in the modern world, longing ever more fervently to get back into his world of centuries before ...

Duffy, Carol Ann The world's wife A collection of poems, each of which takes a famous male person or character - Midas, Darwin, Quasimodo, Pontious Pilate, King Kong - and presents their story from the perspective of the lesser-known wife.

Du Maurier, Daphne House on the Dick Young is lent a house in Cornwall by his friend, Professor strand Magnus Lane. During his stay he agrees to serve as a guinea pig for a new drug that Magnus has discovered in his biochemical researches. The effect of this drug is to transport Dick from the house at Kilmarth to the Cornwall of the 14th century. There, in the manor of Tywardreath, the domain of Sir Henry Champernoune, he witnesses intrigue, adultery and murder. As his time travelling increases, Dick resents more and more the days he must spend in the modern world, longing ever more fervently to get back into his world of centuries before ...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Edwards, Kim Memory keeper's It should have been an ordinary birth, the start of an ordinary daughter happy family. But the night Dr David Henry delivers his wife's twins is a night that will haunt five lives for ever. For though David's son is a healthy boy, his daughter has Down's syndrome. And, in a shocking act of betrayal whose consequences only time will reveal, he tells his wife their daughter died while secretly entrusting her care to a nurse. As grief quietly tears apart David's family, so a little girl must make her own way in the world as best she can. Winner of British Book Awards: Sainsbury's Popular Fiction Award 2008.

Egan, Jennifer Look at me Reconstructive facial surgery after a car crash so alters Manhattan model Charlotte that, within the fashion world, where one's look is oneself, she is unrecognizable. Seeking a new image, Charlotte engages in an Internet experiment that may both save and damn her. As her story eerily converges with that of a plain, unhappy teenager - another Charlotte - it raises tantalizing questions about identity and reality in contemporary Western culture. Jennifer Egan's bold, innovative novel, demonstrating her virtuosity at weaving a spellbinding, ambitious tale with language that dazzles, captures the spirit of our times and offers an unsettling glimpse of the future.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Egeland, Tom Relic A golden relic, containing an ancient manuscript that could change the course of history, has been hidden in a monastery. But nobody knows where. One determined man sets out to find this sensational artefact and to trace its origins. His quest takes him via a scientific intelligence organization in London, a Middle Eastern outpost and a Crusaders' castle, as layer by layer he reveals the religious mysteries inside the Shrine of Sacred Secrets. Coined by critics as 'The Norwegian Da Vinci Code', Relic is a masterful concoction of history and intrigue.

Ellory, R. J. Quiet belief in Joseph Vaughan's life has been dogged by tragedy. Growing up angels in the 1950s, he was at the centre of series of killings of young girls in his small rural community. The girls were taken, assaulted and left horribly mutilated. Barely a teenager himself, Joseph becomes determined to try to protect his community and classmates from the predations of the killer. But no one was ever caught. Only after a full ten years did the nightmare end when the one of his neighbours is found hanging from a rope, with articles from the dead girls around him. Thankfully, the killings finally ceased. But the past won't stay buried - for it seems that the real murderer still lives and is killing again. And the secret of his identity lies in Joseph's own history...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Ellory, R. J. Simple act of Washington, embroiled in the mid-term elections, did not want to Spoken violence hear about serial killings. But when the newspapers reported a fourth murder, when they gave the killer a name and details of word his horrendous crimes, there were few people that could ignore it. Detective Robert Miller is assigned to the case, and rapidly uncovers a complication. The victims do not officially exist. Their personal details do not register on any known systems. And as Miller unearths ever more disturbing facts, he starts to face truths so far-removed from his own reality that he begins to fear for his life. Winner of Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2010.

Elton, Ben First casualty Flanders, June 1917: a British officer and celebrated poet, is shot dead, killed not by German fire, but while recuperating from shell shock well behind the lines. A young English soldier is arrested and, although he protests his innocence, charged with his murder. Douglas Kingsley is a conscientious objector, previously a detective with the London police, now imprisoned for his beliefs. He is released and sent to France in order to secure a conviction. Forced to conduct his investigations amidst the hell of The Third Battle of Ypres, Kingsley soon discovers that both the evidence and the witnesses he needs are quite literally disappearing into the mud that surrounds him. Ben Elton's tenth novel is a gut-wrenching historical drama which explores some fundamental questions. What is murder? What is justice in the face of unimaginable daily slaughter? And where is the honour in saving a man from the gallows if he is only to be returned to die in a suicidal battle? As the gap between legally- sanctioned and illegal murder becomes evermore blurred,

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Kingsley quickly learns that the first casualty when war comes is truth.

Eng, Tan Twan Garden of Shortlisted for the man booker prize 2012. Malaya, 1949. After evening mists studying law at Cambridge and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh, herself the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to her sensei and his art while, outside the garden, the threat of murder and kidnapping from the guerrillas of the jungle hinterland increases with each passing day. But the Garden of Evening Mists is also a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? Why is it that Yun Ling's friend and host Magnus Praetorius, seems to almost immune from the depredations of the Communists? What is the legend of 'Yamashita's Gold' and does it have any basis in fact? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Erdich, Louise Painted drum From one of the most gifted bestselling American novelists comes this elegantly crafted novel that explores the strange power that lost children exert on the memories of those they leave behind. Through Faye, we experience her anguished relationship with a local sculptor who also mourns the loss of a daughter, and witness the life Faye has made alone with her mother, in the shadow of her sister's death. Erdrich poetically captures the intricate, transformative rhythms of human grief that these losses create within her characters with grace, wit, captivating prose and surprising beauty.

Fallada, Hans Alone in Berlin It's Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house on Large 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants try to live under Nazi rule in their different ways: the bullying Hitler loyalists the print Persickes, the retired judge Fromm and the unassuming couple Otto and Anna Quangel. Then the Quangels receive the news that their beloved son has been killed fighting in France. Shocked out of their quiet existence, they begin a silent campaign of defiance, and a deadly game of cat and mouse

develops between the Quangels and the ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich. When petty criminals Kluge and Borkhausen also become involved, deception, betrayal and murder ensue, tightening the noose around the Quangels' necks...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Farooki, Roopa Way things look At 23, Asif is less than he wanted to be. His mother's sudden to me death forced him back home to look after his youngest sister, Yasmin, and he leads a frustrating life, ruled by her exacting need for routine. Lila has escaped from home, abandoning Asif to be the sole carer of their difficult sister. She leads a wayward existence, drifting between jobs and men, obsessed with her looks and certain that her value is only skin deep. And then there is Yasmin, who has no idea of the resentment she has caused. Who sees music in colour and remembers that sometimes her head hurts. Who doesn't feel happy, but who knows that she is special. Who has a devastating plan! "The Way Things Look To Me" is an affecting, comically tender portrayal of a family in crisis, caught between duty and love in a tangled relationship both bitter and bittersweet.

Faulks, Sebastian Devil may care Bond is back. With a vengeance. M has summoned agent 007 to Large London. It's the swinging Sixties and a flood of narcotics is pouring into Britain. Sinister industrialist Dr Julius Gorner is print identified as the source and James Bond is dispatched to investigate. The trail takes Bond to Paris and then Persia - where the beautiful and enigmatic twins Scarlett and Poppy lead him to Gorner's secret desert headquarters. Here, Bond uncovers Gorner's cold-blooded plans for world domination.

Only by playing Gorner's twisted game can Bond stop him. Winner of Galaxy British Book Awards: Sainsbury's Popular Fiction Award 2009.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Faulks, Sebastian Engleby Mike Engleby, a working-class boy wins a place at an esteemed English university. But with the disappearance of Jennifer, the undergraduate Engleby admires from afar, the story turns into a mystery of gripping power. Sebastian Faulks's new novel is a bolt from the blue, unlike anything he has ever written before: contemporary, demotic, heart-wrenching - and funny, in the deepest shade of black.

Faulks, Sebastian Fool's alphabet The events of Pietro Russell's life are told in 26 chapters. From A-Z each chapter is set in a different place and reveals a fragment of his story. As his memories flicker back and forth through time in his search for a resolution to the conflicts of his life, his story gradually unfolds...

Faulks, Sebastian Possible life Terrified, a young prisoner in the Second World War closes his eyes and pictures himself going out to bat on a sunlit cricket ground in Hampshire. Across the courtyard in a Victorian workhouse, a father too ashamed to acknowledge his son. A skinny girl steps out of a Chevy with a guitar; her voice sends shivers through the skull. Soldiers and lovers, parents and children, scientists and musicians risk their bodies and hearts in search of connection...some key to understanding what makes us the people we become. Provocative and profound, Sebastian Faulks' dazzling novel journeys across continents and time to explore the chaos created by love, separation and missed

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word opportunities. From the pain and drama of these highly particular lives emerges a mysterious consolation: the chance to feel your heart beat in someone else's life.

Fine, Anne Up on cloud nine Ian's best friend - his next-door neighbour, Stolly, who is like a brother to him - is in hospital. Again. For Stolly has always had accident after accident and, through Ian's memories as he sits and waits for Stolly to wake up, we discover just what a remarkable character Stolly is. And just how funny some of his experiences have been. A moving, powerful and dramatic novel - intelligent, funny and true.

Fitzek, Sebastian Splinter Have you ever done something you wish you could forget? Wracked with grief after an accident killed his wife and unborn child, all Marc Lucas wants is to wipe his memory. Until he returns home one night to find that his key doesn't fit in the lock and his wife is alive, well and pregnant - but claims not to recognise him. Marc is drawn into a nightmare world, one where it's impossible to separate reality from fiction. Is he going mad? Or is there a conspiracy at work - one that could cost him his memory, his sanity...even his life.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Fitzgerald, F. Scott This side of This Side of Paradise tells the story of Amory Blaine as he paradise grows from pampered childhood to young adulthood, and learns to know himself better. As he moves out into the world and tries to find his true direction he falls in love with a succession of beautiful young women. Youthful exuberance and immaturity give way to disillusion and disappointment as Amory confronts the realities of life. The novel's frank description of Amory's love affairs shocked and delighted its first readers. Brilliant and

original in style and structure.

Fletcher, Susan Oystercatchers Moira knows this: that she's been a poor daughter, and a Spoken deceptive wife. But it is as Amy lies half-dying that she sees the real truth: she's been a cruel sister, and it is this cruelty that has word led them both here, to this hospital bed. A novel about trust, loss and loneliness, 'Oystercatchers' is a love story with a profound darkness at its core.

Flynn, Gillian Gone girl 'What are you thinking, Amy?' The question I've asked most often during our marriage, if not out loud, if not to the person who could answer. I suppose these questions storm cloud over every marriage: 'What are you thinking? How are you feeling? Who are you? What have we done to each other? What will we do?' Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife? And what was in that half- wrapped box left so casually on their marital bed? In this novel, marriage truly is the art of war...

Foley, Winifred Full hearts & Winifred Foley grew up in the 1920s, a bright, determined empty bellies miner's daughter - in a world of unspoilt beauty and desperate hardship, in which women were widowed at thirty and children died of starvation. Living hand-to-mouth in a tumbledown cottage in the Forest of Dean, Foley - 'our Poll' - had a loving family and the woods and streams of a forest 'better than heaven' as a playground. But a brother and sister were dead in infancy, bread had to be begged from kindly neighbours and she never had a new pair of shoes or a shop-bought doll. And most terrible of all, at age fourteen, little Poll had to leave for the city, bound for a life in service among London's grey terraces.

Ford, Ford Madox Good soldier 'This is the saddest story I have ever heard.' Wealthy American John Dowell describes in a disarmingly casual, compellingly intimate manner how he and his wife Florence meet an English couple in a German spa resort. They become friends over the years and gradually the history of their relationships and the passions that lie behind the orderly Edwardian facade are unveiled. Dowell is the archetypal 'unreliable narrator', and his casual revelations are both unexpected and explosive. A

masterpiece of early Modernism and a virtuoso performance of literary skill, Ford's 'Tale of Passion' reflects contemporary

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word interests in psychology, sexuality, and the New Woman. Its portrayal of the destruction of a civilized elite anticipates the cataclysm of the First World War, which erupted while Ford was finishing the book.

Forna, Aminatta Memory of lo ve Freetown, Sierra Leone, 1969. On a hot January evening that he will remember for decades, Elias Cole first catches sight of Saffia Kamara, the wife of a charismatic colleague. He is transfixed. Thirty years later, lying in the capital's hospital, he recalls the desire that drove him to acts of betrayal he has tried to justify ever since. Elsewhere in the hospital, Kai, a gifted young surgeon, is desperately trying to forget the pain of a lost love that torments him as much as the mental scars he still bears from the civil war that has left an entire people with terrible secrets to keep. It falls to a British psychologist, Adrian Lockheart, to help the two survivors, but when he too falls in love; past and present collide with devastating consequences. The Memory of Love is a heartbreaking story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Forster, Margaret Diary of an Margaret Forster presents the 'edited' diary of a woman, born in ordinary woman 1901, whose life spans the twentieth century. On the eve of the Great War, Millicent King begins to keep her journal and vividly records the dramas of everyday life in a family touched by war, tragedy, and money troubles. From bohemian London to Rome in the 1920s her story moves on to social work and the build-up to another war, in which she drives ambulances through the

bombed streets of London. Here is twentieth-century woman in close-up coping with the tragedies and upheavals of women's

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word lives from WWI to Greenham Common and beyond. A triumph of resolution and evocation, this is a beautifully observed story of an ordinary woman's life - a narrative where every word rings true.

Forster, Margaret Hidden lives Margaret Forster's grandmother died in 1936, taking many secrets to her grave. The search for answers took Margaret on a journey into her family's past, examining not only her grandmother's life, but also her mother's and her own. The result is both a moving, evocative memoir and a fascinating commentary on how women's lives have changed over the past century.

Fossum, Karin In the darkness Eva is walking by the river one afternoon when a body floats to the surface of the icy water. She tells her daughter to wait patiently while she calls the police, but when she reaches the phone box Eva dials another number altogether. The dead man, Egil, has been missing for months, and it doesn't take long for Inspector Sejer and his team to establish that he was the victim of a very violent killer. But the trail has gone cold. It's as puzzling as another unsolved case on Sejer's desk: the murder of a prostitute who was found dead just before Egil went missing. While Sejer is trying to piece together the fragments of a seemingly impossible case, Eva gets a phone call late one night. A stranger speaks and then swiftly hangs up. Eva looks out into the darkness and listens. All is quiet. Gripping and thought- provoking, "In the Darkness" is Karin Fossum's first novel featuring the iconic Inspector Sejer. The prizewinning series has been published around the world to great acclaim.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word

Frank, Anne Diary of a young In Amsterdam, in the summer of 1942, the Nazis forced girl teenager Anne Frank and her family into hiding. For over two years, they, another family and a German dentist lived in a 'secret annexe', fearing discovery. All that time, Anne kept a diary. An intimate record of tension and struggle, adolescence and confinement, anger and heartbreak.

Frankel, Laurie Goodbye for now Imagine a world in which you never have to say goodbye. A world in which you can talk to your loved ones after they've gone - About the trivial things you used to share About the things you wish you'd said while you still had the chance About how hard it is to adjust to life without them. When Sam Elling invents a computer programme that enables his girlfriend Meredith to do just this, nothing can prepare them for the success and the complications that follow. For every person who wants to say goodbye, there is someone else who can't let go. And when tragedy strikes, they have to find out whether goodbye has to be for ever. Or whether love can take on a life of its own...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Gale, Patrick Notes from an When troubled artist Rachel Kelly dies she leaves behind an Large exhibition extraordinary body of work - but for her family there is a legacy of secrets and painful revelations. To her children she is both print curse and blessing, as they cope with the inheritance of her passions - and demons. Only their father's gift of stillness can withstand Rachel's destructive influence and the suspicion that they all came a poor second to her art. Piecing together the clues of her life - as artist, lover, mother, wife and patient - takes the reader from Cornwall to Canada across a span of forty years. What emerges, is a tender story of enduring love and a portrait of a family coping with the sometimes too dazzling brilliance of a genius.

Gaskell, Elizabeth North and South North and South is a novel about rebellion. Moving from the industrial riots of discontented millworkers through to the unsought passions of a middle-class woman, and from religious crises of conscience to the ethics of naval mutiny, it poses fundamental questions about the nature of social authority and obedience.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Gerrard, Nicci Missing persons When Jonny went missing everything changed. His mother's heart is full of terror and sadness instead of joy. His father's study overflows with newspaper cuttings and profiles on missing people instead of the academic texts that were there before. His sister, once carefree, now carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. His bedroom at home remains untouched and ready for his return. A place is set for him at the table on Christmas day each year. His birthday is always celebrated; his unopened gifts gather dust. The hands on the clock continue to turn and yet Jonny hasn't returned. Where is he?

Gerritson, Tess Keeping the dead He Hides. When an ancient mummy is discovered in the basement of a museum in down-town Boston, excitement starts to mount. Under the glare of media frenzy, the mummy is taken to hospital for a CT scan. Forensic pathologist Maura Isles is also invited to attend. He Kills. As the CT scan proceeds, everyone in the room leans in - and gasps in horror as an image of a bullet is revealed. Maura declares it a possible homicide, and calls in detective Jane Rizzoli. He Keeps. When the preserved body of a second victim is found, and then a third, it becomes clear that taking their lives is not enough for this terrifying killer. And that unless Maura and Jane can find and stop him, he will soon be adding yet another chilling piece to his monstrous collection.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Ghosh, Amitav Sea of poppies At the heart of this epic saga, set just before the Opium Wars, is Spoken an old slaving-ship, The Ibis. Its destiny is a tumultuous voyage across the Indian Ocean, its crew a motley array of sailors and word stowaways, coolies and convicts. The vast sweep of this historical adventure spans the lush poppy fields of the Ganges, the rolling high seas, and the exotic backstreets of China. But it is the panorama of characters, whose diaspora encapsulates the vexed colonial history of the East itself, which makes Sea of Poppies so breathtakingly alive - a masterpiece from one of the world's finest novelists.

Gibbons, S. Cold Comfort When sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at Farm nineteen, she decides her only choice is to descend upon relatives in deepest Sussex. At the aptly named Cold Comfort Farm, she meets the doomed Starkadders: cousin Judith, heaving with remorse for unspoken wickedness; Amos, preaching fire and damnation; their sons, lustful Seth and despairing Reuben; child of nature Elfine; and crazed old Aunt Ada Doom, who has kept to her bedroom for the last twenty years. A hilarious and merciless parody of rural melodramas, "Cold Comfort Farm" (1932) is one of the best-loved comic novels of all time.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Golding, William Lord of the flies A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys' delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive, and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.

Goodwin, Daisy Silver River Daisy was brought up by her respectable father and her meticulous German stepmother and adored her glamorous mother from afar. She made sense of her mother's difference and of her absence through her imaginings about the family's unstable South American history. It was only when Daisy underwent a deep depression following the birth of her own daughter, that she felt the weight of her mother's abandonment and the burden of her family's past take root in her own life.

Grecian, Alex The Yard A gripping debut from Alex Grecian, "The Yard" evokes London in the wake of Jack the Ripper. 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 twelve detectives, battles in vain against the tide of violence and cruelty. When the body of a Yard detective is found in a suitcase, his lips sewn together and his eyes sewn shut, it becomes clear that not even the police are safe from attack. Has the Ripper returned - or is a new killer at large? Walter Day, the squad's newest recruit, is assigned the case and finds a strange ally in the Yard's first forensic

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word pathologist, Dr Bernard Kingsley. Can they find the murderer before it's too late? Or is London at the mercy of a serial killer even deadlier than Jack the Ripper?

Greene, Graham Brighton Rock This title is presented with an introduction by J.M. Coetzee. A gang war is raging through the dark underworld of Brighton. Seventeen-year-old Pinkie, malign and ruthless, has killed a man. Believing he can escape retribution, he is unprepared for the courageous, life-embracing Ida Arnold. Greene's gripping thriller exposes a world of loneliness and fear, of life lived on the 'dangerous edge of things'.

Gregory, Philippa White Queen The White Queen tells the story of a common woman who ascends to royalty by virtue of her beauty, a woman who rises to the demands of her position and fights tenaciously for the success of her family, a woman whose two sons become the central figures in a mystery that has confounded historians for centuries: the Princes in the Tower whose fate remains unknown to this day.

Gremillon, Helene Confidant 'I got a letter one day, a long letter that wasn't signed.' Camille reads this narration of events from pre-war France, certain that it has been sent to her by mistake. Then more letters start to arrive - They tell of a friendship struck up between a young village girl, Annie, and Madame M, a bourgeois lady. To begin with the women simply share a love of art, but when Annie offers to carry a child for her infertile friend, their lives become intimately entwined. The child is born on the eve of the German

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word invasion of France, and the repercussions of her birth are still felt decades later. This powerful first novel by Helene Gremillion is a gripping study of the destruction unleashed, when human desires for love and motherhood turn to obsession.

Grenville, Kate Secret river This story is set in London, 1807. William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable until William makes a mistake, a bad mistake for which he and his family are made to pay dearly. His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. The Thornhills arrive in this harsh and alien land that they cannot understand and which feels like a death sentence. But, among the convicts there is a rumour that freedom can be bought, that 'unclaimed' land up the Hawkesbury offers an opportunity to start afresh, far away from the township of Sydney. When William takes a hundred acres for himself, he is shocked to find Aboriginal people already living on the river. And other recent arrivals - Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan and Mrs. Herring - are finding their own ways to respond to them. Soon Thornhill, a man neither better nor worse than most, has to make the most difficult decision of his life...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Grisham, John Firm Mitch qualified at Harvard, third in his class, and is sought by law firms all over America. The one that gets him is small, but well- respected, and pays him beyond his wildest dreams. But then the nightmares begin - secret files, bugs in the bedroom, colleagues' mysterious deaths and mob money.

Groff, Lauren Arcadia In the fields of western New York State in the 1970s, on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House, a few dozen idealists set out to live off the land. Abe and Hannah's only child, Bit, is born into the commune soon after its creation. He grows up there, becoming deeply attached to Arcadia's way of life and everyone within it, in particular the beautiful but troubled Helle. While Arcadia rises and falls, Bit, too, ages and changes. He needs to find a way to live in the world beyond Arcadia, but can he let go of the past to forge a new start?

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Gro ssmith, George Diary of a nobody 'I fail to see - because I do not happen to be a "Somebody" - why my diary should not be interesting'. Mr. Pooter is a man of modest ambition, content with his clerkly lot. So why is he always in trouble with disagreeable tradesmen, impudent young clerks and wayward friends? And what is he to do about his son Lupin's distinctly unsuitable choice of bride? However hard he tries, life piles its little mishaps on his head - but he's not about to give up.

Gruen, Sarah Water for When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, elephants jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth a second-rate travelling circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. Jacob, a veterinary student who almost earned his degree, is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems un-trainable until he discovers a way to reach her. Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Gudenkauf, Heather One breath away 'He has a gun.' 'Who? Tell me, where are you? Who has a gun?' 'I love you, Mum.'' An ordinary school day in March, snowflakes falling, classroom freezing, kids squealing with delight, locker- doors slamming. Then the shooting started. No-one dared take one breath...He's holding a gun to your child's head. One wrong answer and he says he'll shoot. This morning you waved goodbye to your child. What would you have said if you'd known it might be the last time?

Haddon, Mark Curious incident Christopher is 15 and lives in Swindon with his father. He has of the dog in the Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. He is obsessed with night maths, science and Sherlock Holmes but finds it hard to understand other people. When he discovers a dead dog on a neighbour's lawn he decides to solve the mystery and write a detective thriller about it. As in all good detective stories, however, the more he unearths, the deeper the mystery gets - for both Christopher and the rest of his family.

Hall, Emylia Book of summers Beth Lowe has been sent a parcel. Inside is a letter informing her that her long-estranged mother has died, and a scrapbook Beth has never seen before. Entitled The Book of Summers, it's stuffed with photographs and mementos complied by her mother to record the seven glorious childhood summers Beth spent in rural Hungary. It was a time when she trod the tightrope between separated parents and two very different countries; her bewitching but imperfect Hungarian mother and her gentle, reticent English father; the dazzling house of a Hungarian artist and an empty-feeling cottage in deepest Devon. And it was a

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word time that came to the most brutal of ends the year Beth turned sixteen.

Hall, Sarah Beautiful Uniquely disturbing and deeply erotic, this collection confirms indifference Sarah Hall as one of the greatest writers of her generation. 'The Beautiful Indifference', includes 'Butcher's Perfume', which was short-listed for the BBC National Short Story Prize in 2010.

Hamid, Mohsin Reluctant In the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in the fundamentalist city he loves suddenly overturned, and his budding relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. His own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and perhaps even love.

Han cock, Penny Tideline One winter's afternoon, Sonia opens the door of her beautiful riverside home to fifteen-year-old Jez, the nephew of a family friend. He's come to borrow some music. Sonia invites him in and soon decides that she isn't going to let him leave. As Sonia's desire to keep Jez hidden and protected from the outside world becomes all the more overpowering, she is haunted by memories of an intense teenage relationship, which gradually reveal a terrifying truth. The River House, Sonia's

home since childhood, holds secrets within its walls. And

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word outside, on the shores of the Thames, new ones are coming in on the tide...

Hancock, Sheila Two of us Theirs was a sometimes turbulent, always passionate relationship, and in this remarkable book Sheila describes their love - weathering overwork and the pressures of celebrity, drink and cancer - with honesty and piercing intelligence, and evokes two lives lived to the utmost.

Hannah, Sophie Little face Her husband David was meant to be looking after their two- week-old daughter. But when Alice Fancourt walks into the nursery, her terrifying ordeal begins; for Alice insists the baby in the cot is a stranger she's never seen before. With an increasingly hostile and menacing David swearing she must either be mad or lying, how can Alice make the police believe her before its too late?

Hannah, Sophie Other half lives Ruth Bussey knows what it means to be in the wrong - and to be wronged. She once did something she regrets, and was punished excessively for it. Now Ruth is trying to rebuild her life and has found a love she doesn't believe she deserves. Aidan Seed is a passionate, intense man who has also been damaged by his past. Desperate to connect with the woman he loves, he confides his secret: he killed a woman called Mary Trelease. Through her shock, Ruth recognises the name. And when she's realised why it's familiar, her fear and revulsion deepen. The Mary Trelease that Ruth knows is very much alive...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word

Hardy, Thomas Tess of the Tess is an innocent young girl until the day she goes to visit her D'Urbervilles rich 'relatives', the D'Urbervilles. Her encounter with her manipulative cousin, Alec, leads her onto a path that is beset with suffering and betrayal. When she falls in love with another man, Angel Clare, Tess sees a potential escape from her past, but only if she can tell him her shameful secret..."Gloriously physical, full of passion and irony, humour and tenderness.

Harris, Jane Gillespie and I Back in 1888, the young, art-loving Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when tragedy strikes - leading to a notorious criminal trial - the promise and certainties of this world all too rapidly disintegrate into mystery and deception.

Harris, Joanne A cat, a hat and a Conjured from a wickedly imaginative pen, here is a new piece of string collection of short stories that showcases Joanne Harris' exceptional talent as a teller of tales, a spinner of yarns. Sensuous, mischievous, uproarious and wry, these are tales that combine the everyday with the unexpected and wild fantasy with bittersweet reality.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Harris, Robert Fear index Meet Alex Hoffmann: among the secretive inner circle of the ultra-rich, he is something of a legend. Based in Geneva, he has developed a revolutionary system that has the power to manipulate financial markets. Generating billions of dollars, it is a system that thrives on panic - and feeds on fear. And then, in the early hours of one morning, while he lies asleep, a sinister intruder breaches the elaborate security of his lakeside home. So begins a waking nightmare of paranoia and violence as

Hoffmann attempts - with increasing desperation - to discover who is trying to destroy him - before it's too late...

Harris, Robert Pompeii A sweltering week in late August. Where better to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples? But even as Rome's richest citizens relax in their villas around Pompeii and Herculaneum, there are ominous warnings that something is going wrong. Wells and springs are failing, a man has disappeared, and now the greatest aqueduct in the world - the mighty Aqua Augusta - has suddenly ceased to flow. Through the eyes of four characters - a young engineer, an adolescent girl, a corrupt millionaire and an elderly scientist - Robert Harris brilliantly recreates a luxurious world on the brink of destruction.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Hartley, L. P. Go -between When one long, hot summer, young Leo is staying with a school- friend at Brandham Hall, he begins to act as a messenger between Ted, the farmer, and Marian, the beautiful young woman up at the hall. He becomes drawn deeper and deeper into their dangerous game of deceit and desire, until his role brings him to a shocking and premature revelation. The haunting story of a young boy's awakening into the secrets of the adult world, "The Go-Between" is also an unforgettable evocation of the boundaries of Edwardian society.

Haynes, Elizabeth Revenge of the Elizabeth Haynes' second novel is a taut and gripping murder tide mystery introducing a compelling new heroine, Genevieve - office worker by day and pole dancer by night - who finds herself implicated in a mob underworld of murder, corruption and betrayal. Genevieve has finally escaped the stressful demands of her sales job and achieved her dream: to leave London behind and start a new life aboard a houseboat in Kent. But on the night of her boat-warming party the dream is shattered when a body washes up beside the boat, and Genevieve recognises the victim. As the sanctuary of the boatyard is threatened, and Genevieve's life seems increasingly at risk, the story of how she came to be so out of her depth is unfolded, and Genevieve finds out the real cost of mixing business with pleasure...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Heaney, Seamus New selected An updated selection of all Heaney's books, up to and including poems, 1966- "The Haw Lantern", which was published in 1987. The book also 1987 includes selections from "Stations", prose poems of 1975 which have never appeared except as a pamphlet.

Heller, Joseph Catch 22 Explosive, subversive, wild and funny, 50 years on this novel's strength is undiminished. Reading Joseph Heller's classic satire is nothing less than a rite of passage. Set in the closing months of World War II, this is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. His real problem is not the enemy - it is his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. If Yossarian makes any attempts to excuse himself from the perilous missions then he is caught in Catch-22: if he flies he is crazy, and doesn't have to; but if he doesn't want to he must be sane and has to. That's some catch...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Heller, Peter Dog stars Shorlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award 2013. Hig, bereaved and traumatised after global disaster, has three things to live for - his dog Jasper, his aggressive but helpful neighbour, and his Cessna aeroplane. He's just about surviving, so long as he only takes his beloved plane for short journeys, and saves his remaining fuel. But, just once, he picks up a message from another pilot, and eventually the temptation to find out who else is still alive becomes irresistible. So he takes his plane over the horizon, knowing that he won't have enough fuel to get back. What follows is scarier and more life-affirming than he could have imagined. And his story, THE DOG STARS, is a book unlike any you have ever read.

Heller, Zoe Believers When Audrey makes a devastating discovery about her Large husband, New York radical lawyer Joel Litvinoff, she is forced to re-examine everything she thought she knew about their forty- print year marriage. Joel's children will have to deal with this unsettling secret themselves, but meanwhile, they are trying to cope with their own dilemmas. In the course of battling their own demons and each other, every member of the family is called upon to decide what - if anything - they still believe in.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Heller, Zoe Notes on a When the new teacher first arrives, Barbara immediately senses Spoken scandal that this woman will be different from the rest of her staff-room colleagues. But Barbara is not the only one to feel that Sheba is word special, and before too long Sheba is involved in an illicit affair with a pupil. Barbara finds the relationship abhorrent, of course, but she is the only adult in whom Sheba can properly confide. So when the liaison is found out and Sheba's life falls apart, Barbara is there...

Henry, Veronica Long weekend In a gorgeous quay-side hotel in Cornwall, the long weekend is just beginning ...Claire Marlowe owns 'The Townhouse by the Sea' with Luca, the hotel's charismatic chef. She ensures everything runs smoothly - until an unexpected arrival checks in and turns her whole world upside down. And the rest of the guests arrive with their own baggage. There's a couple looking for distraction from a family tragedy; a man trying to make amends for an affair he bitterly regrets ...and the young woman who thinks the Cornish village might hold the key to her past. Here are affairs of the heart, secrets, lies and scandal - all wrapped up in one long, hot weekend.

Hewson, David Killing Sarah Lund is looking forward to her last day as a detective with the Copenhagen police department before moving to Sweden. But everything changes when nineteen-year-old student, Nanna Birk Larsen, is found raped and brutally murdered in the woods outside the city. Lund's plans to relocate are put on hold as she leads the investigation along with fellow detective Jan Meyer. While Nanna's family struggles to cope with their loss, local politician, Troels Hartmann, is in the middle of an election campaign to become the new mayor of Copenhagen. When

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word links between City Hall and the murder suddenly come to light , the case takes an entirely different turn. Over the course of twenty days, suspect upon suspect emerges as violence and political intrigue cast their shadows over the hunt for the killer. Hickman, Katie Aviary gate Elizabeth Stavely sits in the Bodleian Library, her hands Large trembling as she holds a fragment of parchment, the key to a story untold for four hundred years. Constantinople 1599: the print English merchant Paul Pindar must deliver an extraordinary gift to the Sultan. Grieving for his lost love, drowned in a shipwreck, he hears rumours of a new golden-haired slave in the Sultan's harem. Could this be his Celia?

Hickson, Joanna Agincourt bride The epic story of the queen who founded the Tudor dynasty, told through the eyes of her loyal nursemaid. Perfect for fans of Philipa Gregory. Her beauty fuelled a war. Her courage captured a king. Her passion would launch the Tudor dynasty. When her own first child is tragically still-born, the young Mette is pressed into service as a wet-nurse at the court of the mad king, Charles VI of France. Her young charge is the princess, Catherine de Valois, caught up in the turbulence and chaos of life at court. Mette and the child forge a bond, one that transcends Mette's lowly position. But as Catherine approaches womanhood, her unique position seals her fate as a pawn between two powerful dynasties. Her brother, The Dauphin and the dark and sinister, Duke of Burgundy will both use Catherine to further the cause of France. Catherine is powerless to stop them, but with the French defeat at the Battle of Agincourt, the tables turn and suddenly her currency has never been higher. But can Mette protect

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Catherine from forces at court who seek to harm her or will her loyalty to Catherine place her in even greater danger?

Highsmith, Patricia Talented Mr. Ripley wanted out. He wanted money, success, the good life Ripley and was willing to kill for it... He is struggling to stay one step ahead of his creditors when a chance acquaintance offers him a free trip to Europe. When his new found happiness is threatened, his response is as swift as it is shocking.

Hill, Susan Man in the This is the chilling tale of a painting so terrifying, its secrets will picture haunt those who see it...It is a ghost story by the author of "The Woman in Black". A mysterious depiction of masked revellers at the Venice carnival hangs in the college rooms of Oliver's old professor in Cambridge. On this cold winter's night, an eerie secret is revealed by the ageing don. The dark art of the Venetian scene, instead of imitating life, has the power to entrap it. To stare into the painting is to play dangerously with the unseen demons it hides, and become the victim of its macabre

beauty...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Hislop, Victoria Island On the brink of her own life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London. When Alexis decides to visit Crete, however, Sofia gives her daughter a letter to take to an old friend. Then she finds Fotini, and at last hears the story that Sofia has buried all her life.

Hislop, Victoria Return Beneath the majestic towers of the Alhambra, Granada's cobbled streets resonate with music and secrets. Sonia Cameron knows nothing of the city's shocking past; she is here to dance. But in a quiet cafe, a chance conversation and an intriguing collection of old photographs draw her into the extraordinary tale of Spain's devastating civil war.

Hislop, Victoria Thread Thessaloniki, 1917. As Dimitri Komninos is born, a devastating fire sweeps through the thriving Greek city where Christians, Jews and Muslims live side by side. Five years later, Katerina Sarafoglou's home in Asia Minor is destroyed by the Turkish army. Losing her mother in the chaos, she flees across the sea to an unknown destination in Greece. Soon her life will become entwined with Dimitri's, and with the story of the city itself, as war, fear and persecution begin to divide its people. Thessaloniki, 2007. A young Anglo-Greek hears his grandparents' life story for the first time and realises he has a decision to make. For many decades, they have looked after the memories and treasures of the people who were forced to leave.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Should he become their next custodian and make this city his home?

Holt, Anne 1222 1222 metres above sea level, train 601 from Oslo to Bergen careens off iced rails as the worst snowstorm in Norwegian history gathers force around it. Marooned in the high mountains with night falling and the temperature plummeting, its 269 passengers are forced to abandon their snowbound train and decamp to a centuries-old mountain hotel. They ought to be safe from the storm here, but as dawn breaks one of them will be found dead, murdered. With the storm showing no sign of abating, retired police inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen is asked to investigate. But Hanne has no wish to get involved. She has learned the hard way that truth comes at a price and sometimes that price just isn't worth paying.

Hosseini, Khaled Kit e runner Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father and resolves to win the local kite-fighting tournament, to prove that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan promises to help him - for he always helps Amir - but this is 1970s Afghanistan and Hassan is merely a low-caste servant who is jeered at in the street, although Amir still feels jealous of his natural courage and the place he holds in his father's heart.

But neither of the boys could foresee what would happen to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament, which was to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return, to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Hosseini, Khaled Thousand Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry splendid suns Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.

Howey, Hugh Wool In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies. To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside. Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last. Iggulden, Conn Bones of the hills Genghis Khan, the fatherless boy, exiled from his tribe, whom Large readers have been following in 'Wolf of the Plains' and 'Lords of the Bow', has grown into a great king. This, the third book in the print Conqueror series, is once more an epic story. Genghis Khan is an exhilarating and heroic figure. The sense of his ambition and his power, the relationships with his wives, sons and trusted aides, the sweep of his conquests, is all brought together by masterful storytelling. It is a compelling read.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Indridason, Outrage Reykjavik, Saturday night. He offered her another margarita, Arnaldur and, as he returned from the bar, he carefully slid the pill into her glass. They were getting along fine, and he was sure she would give him no trouble...48 hours later, a young man is found dead in a pool of blood. There is no sign of a break-in at his flat. The victim is found wearing a woman's t-shirt, while a bottle of Rohypnol lies on the table nearby. Detective Elinborg, already struggling to juggle family life and the relentless demands of her job, is assigned the case. But with no immediate leads to the killer, can she piece together details of the victim's secret life and solve a brutal murder?

Ivey, Eowyn Snow child A bewitching tale of heartbreak and hope set in 1920s Alaska, The Snow Child was a bestseller on hardback publication, and went on to establish itself as one of the key literary debuts of 2012, and was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Alaska, the 1920s. Jack and Mabel have staked everything on a fresh start in a remote homestead, but the wilderness is a stark place, and Mabel is haunted by the baby she lost many years before. When a little girl appears mysteriously on their land, each is filled with wonder, but also foreboding: is she what she seems, and can they find room in their hearts for her? Written with the clarity and vividness of the Russian fairy tale from which it takes its inspiration, The Snow Child is an instant classic.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Izner, Claude Strangled in Paris Why would anyone strangle a humble seamstress with no known enemies? When newly-married bookseller Victor Legris is asked to solve the murder of Louise Fontaine in the abattoir district of La Villette, he is initially baffled by the case. But as the investigation progresses, Victor, along with his assistant and brother-in-law Joseph discover that in belle-époque Paris, young girls with no money or background are as ruthlessly preyed on as ever they were.

Jacobson, Howard Mighty Walzer From the beginning, Oliver Walzer is a natural – at ping-pong; he can chop, flick and half-volley like a champion. At sex he is not a natural, but with tuition his game improves. This is the story of coming-of-age in 1950s Manchester. Winner of HH Wingate/Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize 2000. Shortlisted for WH Smith Literary Prize 2000 and WH Smith Annual Literary Award 2000. Jaye, Lola By the time you Rules of the manual: 1.You must only read each new entry on read this your birthday. 2. This is a private manual between you and me. 3. No peeping at the next entry unless it's your birthday! When Lois Bates is handed the manual, she can barely bring herself to read it as the pain of her dad's death is still so raw. Yet soon Kevin's advice is guiding her through every stage of her life – from jobs to first loves and relationships. The manual can never be a substitute for having her dad back, but through his words Lois learns to start living again, and finds that happiness is waiting round the corner ...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Jensen, Carsten We, the drowned Carsten Jensen conjures a wise, humorous, thrilling story of fathers and sons, of the women they love and leave behind, and of the sea's murderous promise. This is a novel destined to take its place among the greatest seafaring literature.

Jonasson, Jonas Hundred -year -old It all starts on the one-hundredth birthday of Allan Karlsson. man who climbed Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, he is waiting out of the window for the party he-never-wanted-anyway to begin. The mayor is and disappeared going to be there. The press is going to be there. But, as it turns out, Allan is not...Slowly but surely Allan climbs out of his bedroom window, into the flowerbed (in his slippers) and makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police. As his escapades unfold, we learn something of Allan's earlier life in which – remarkably – he helped to make the atom bomb, became friends with American presidents, Russian tyrants, and Chinese leaders, and was a participant behind the scenes in many key events of the twentieth century. Already a huge bestseller across Europe, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared is a fun, feel-good book for all ages.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Joyce, Graham Some kind of 'Some kind of fairy tale' is a very English story. A story of woods fairy tale and clearings, a story of folk tales and family histories. It is Christmas afternoon and Peter Martin gets an unexpected phone call from his parents, asking him to come round. It pulls him away from his wife and children and into a bewildering mystery. He arrives at his parents' house and discovers that they have a visitor. His sister Tara. Not so unusual you might think, this is Christmas after all, a time when families get together. But twenty years ago Tara took a walk into the woods and never came back and as the years have gone by with no word from her, the family have, unspoken, assumed that she was dead. Now she's back, tired, dirty, dishevelled, but happy and full of stories about twenty years spent travelling the world, an epic odyssey taken on a whim. But her stories don't quite hang together and once she has cleaned herself up and got some sleep it becomes apparent that the intervening years have been very kind to Tara. She really does look no different from the young women who walked out the door twenty years ago. Peter's parents are just delighted to have their little girl back, but Peter and his best friend Richie, Tara's one time boyfriend, are not so sure. Tara seems happy enough but there is something about her. A haunted, otherworldly quality. Some would say it's as if she's off with the fairies. And as the months go by Peter begins to suspect that the woods around their homes are not finished with Tara and his family...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Kane, Jessica Report It is an early spring evening in 1943 when the air-raid sirens wail Francis out over the East End of London. From every corner of Bethnal Green, people emerge from pubs, cinemas and houses, and set off for the shelter of the tube station. But at the entrance steps, something goes badly wrong, the crowd panics, and 173 people are crushed to death. When an enquiry is called for, it falls to the local magistrate, Laurence Dunne, to find out what happened during those few, fatally confused, minutes. But as Dunne gathers testimony from the guilt-stricken warden of the shelter, the priest struggling to bring comfort to his congregation, and the grieving mother who has lost her youngest daughter, the picture grows ever murkier. The more questions Dunne asks, the more difficult it becomes to disentangle truth from rumour – and to decide just how much truth the damaged community can actually bear. It is only decades later, when the case is re- opened by one of the children who survived, that the facts can finally be brought to light...

Kay, Francesca An equal stillness Jennet Mallow is born in Yorkshire in the 1920s but her interest in art and creativity alienates her from her family. Moving to London in search of a more exciting life, she finds it in the handsome and enigmatic figure of the painter David Heaton. But when she falls pregnant, her parents more or less force the two to marry. In the post-war austerity of the 1940s, the young couple struggles to make ends meet and Jennet finds that her home life is gradually eroding everything she has fought to achieve. Suggesting they move to Spain, there, the bright blue skies, warm air and sunlit beaches give the couple and their children a new lease of life. Jennet begins to paint again and an

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word agent takes an interest in her work. But as Jennet's own career begins to take off, her relationship with David sours and the two enter a destructive spiral with tragic consequences.

Kazantzakis, Nikos Zorba the Greek Set before the start of the First World War, this moving fable sees a young English writer set out to Crete to claim a small inheritance. But when he arrives, he meets Alexis Zorba, a middle-aged Greek man with a zest for life. Zorba has had a family and many lovers, has fought in the Balkan wars, has lived and loved – he is a simple but deep man who lives every moment fully and without shame. As their friendship develops, the Englishman is gradually won over, transformed and inspired along with the reader.

Kelby, N. White truffles in White Truffles in Winter imagines the world of the remarkable winter French chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), who changed how we eat through his legendary restaurants at the Savoy and the Ritz. A man of contradictions – kind yet imperious, food- obsessed yet rarely hungry – Escoffier was also torn between two women: the famous, beautiful, and reckless actress Sarah Bernhardt and his wife, the independent and sublime poet Delphine Daffis, who refused ever to leave Monte Carlo. In the last year of Escoffier's life, in the middle of writing his memoirs, he has returned to Delphine, who requests a dish in her name as he has honoured Bernhardt, Queen Victoria, and many others.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Kelly, Clara O. Flamboya tree When the Japanese invaded Java during World War II, four- year-old Clara Kelly was sent to a women's camp with her mother and two young brothers. Her descriptions of the appalling conditions are countered by the resilience and courage of the internees.

Kennedy, A. L. Day Alfred Day wanted his war. In its turmoil he found his proper purpose as the tail-gunner in a Lancaster bomber; he found the wild, dark fellowship of his crew, and – most extraordinary of all – he found Joyce, a woman to love. But that's all gone now – the war took it away. Maybe it took him, too. Now in 1949, employed as an extra in a war film that echoes his real experience, Day begins to recall what he would rather forget. Winner of Costa Novel Award 2007 and Costa Book of the Year 2007.

Kent, Kathleen Heretic's Martha Carrier was hanged on August 19 th , 1692 in Salem, daughter Massachusetts, unyielding in her refusal to admit to being a witch, going to her death rather than joining the ranks of men and women who confessed and were thereby spared execution. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and wilful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. In this startling novel, she narrates the story of her early life in Andover, near Salem. As Sarah and her brothers are hauled into the prison themselves, the vicious cruelty of the trials is apparent, as the Carrier family, along with other innocents, are starved and deprived of any decency, battling their way through the hysteria with the sheer willpower their mother has taught them.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Kernick, Simon Murder exchange Five grand for a couple of hours work? It seems easy money, but the deal ex-mercenary Max Iversson is chasing has gone disastrously wrong. Two of his friends are dead. And now he wants to find out who's behind their killings. Detective Sergeant John Gallan is also looking for answers. He's investigating the fatal poisoning of a nightclub doorman. But leads are scarce and, when they do appear, so do bodies. What neither man knows is that they are heading towards a devastating confrontation that will see one of them staring down the wrong end of a gun.

Kerouac, Jack On the road "On the Road" swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognized as a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitman than Scott Fitzgerald, and it goes racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance, poignancy and autobiographical passion.

Kerrigan, Kate City of hope An uplifting, inspiring and heart-warming story of a woman truly ahead of her time. Of loves lost and found, of courage and determination. It is the 1930s and when her beloved husband, John, suddenly dies, young Ellie Hogan decides to leave Ireland and return to New York. She hopes that the city's vibrancy will distract her from her grief. But the Depression has rendered the city unrecognisable...gone is the energy and party atmosphere that Ellie once fell in love with, ten years before. Ellie plunges

headfirst into a new life pouring all her passion and energy into

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word running a home and refuge for the homeless. In return they give her the kind of love, support and friendship she needs to try and overcome her grief. Until, one day, someone she thought she'd never see again steps through her door. It seems that even the Atlantic isn't big enough to prevent the tragedies of the past catching up with her ...The heart-rending but inspiring follow-up to TV Book Club bestseller ELLIS ISLAND.

Keyes, Marian Rachel's holiday Meet Rachel Walsh. She has a pair of size 8 feet and such a fondness for recreational drugs that her family has forked out the cash for a spell in Cloisters – Dublin's answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. She's only agreed to her incarceration because she's heard that rehab is wall-to-wall acuzzis, gymnasiums and rock stars going tepid turkey – and it's about time she had a holiday. But what Rachel doesn't count on are the toe-curling

embarrassments heaped on her by family and group therapy, the dearth of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll – and missing Luke, her ex. What kind of a new start in life is this?

Khadivi, Laleh Walking Iran. 1979. The Mullahs have come to power and they want everyone to know. Two young Kurdish brothers, Saladin and Ali, are forced to swear their loyalty to the new regime by taking part in a massacre. In the traumatic aftermath of the killing they flee. For Saladin, the younger, the decision to travel west is exciting; this is the direction of Hollywood, Los Angeles, America. But his euphoria is not enough for the reluctant Ali, who belongs, heart and soul, to the mountain town of his birth. As they cross the treacherous Zagros mountains by foot to Istanbul, to the Azores by freighter and finally as smuggled cargo aboard a plane to Los

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Angeles, Saladin realises that his dream of a better future can only be fulfilled alone. And as he walks along the hot, shimmering beaches of the promised land, unbearably dislocated, Saladin must define who he will become – and who he's always been. Haunting and beautifully-written, The Walking is a story of exodus; of those many people torn between the lure of home and the lure of hope.

Kidd, Sue Monk Secret life of Lily has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother bees when she was four. She not only has her own memory of holding the gun, but her father's account of the event. Now fourteen, she yearns for her mother, and for forgiveness. Living on a peach farm in South Carolina with her father, she has only one friend: Rosaleen, a black servant whose sharp exterior hides a tender heart. South Carolina in the sixties is a place

where segregation is still considered a cause worth fighting for. When racial tension explodes one summer afternoon, and Rosaleen is arrested and beaten, Lily is compelled to act.

Kiefer, Ch ristian Infinite tides Mathematical genius. Brilliant engineer. Revered astronaut. Keith Corcoran is all of these things and more, but his otherworldly talents do nothing to prepare him for the tragedy that befalls his family, or its irrevocable outcomes. After a six- month mission aboard the International Space Station, Keith returns to a house that has already ceased to be a home – emptied entirely of furniture and the people he loves. It is here that Keith tries to make sense of the ghosts, the memories and the feelings that he can barely acknowledge. His experiences in space quickly fade into the distant past. What remain in their

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word wake are endlessly interlocking cul-de-sacs, big box stores and enormous parking lots. Within this seemingly hopeless expanse, an eccentric man from a distant country presents an opportunity for redemption. Their unlikely friendship leads Keith to an understanding of all he has lost, and a sense of how to live under the weight of gravity.

Kingsolver, Barbara Flight behaviour On the Appalachian Mountains above her home, a young mother discovers a beautiful and terrible marvel of nature. As the world around her is suddenly transformed by a seeming miracle, can the old certainties they have lived by for centuries remain unchallenged? "Flight Behaviour" is a captivating, topical and deeply human story touching on class, poverty and climate change. It is Barbara Kingsolver's most accessible novel yet, and explores the truths we live by, and the complexities that lie behind them.

Kingsolver, Barbara Lacuna "The Lacuna" is the heartbreaking story of a man's search for safety, of a man torn between the warm heart of Mexico and the cold embrace of 1950s McCarthyite America. This is a gripping story of identity, loyalty and the devastating power of accusations to destroy innocent people. 'The Lacuna' is as deep and rich as the 'New World'. Winner of Orange Prize for Fiction 2010.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Kress, Nancy After the fall, The year is 2035. After ecological disasters nearly destroyed the before the fall, Earth, 26 survivors – the last of humanity – are trapped by an during the fall alien race in a sterile enclosure known as the Shell. Fifteen- year-old Pete is one of the 'Six', children who were born deformed or sterile and raised in the Shell. As, one by one the survivors grow sick and die, Pete and the Six struggle to put aside their anger at the alien Tesslies in order to find the means to rebuild the earth together. Their only hope lies within brief time-portals into the recent past, where they bring back children to replenish their disappearing gene pool. Meanwhile, in 2013, brilliant mathematician Julie Kahn works with the FBI to solve a series of inexplicable kidnappings. Suddenly her predictive algorithms begin to reveal more than just criminal activity. As she begins to realise her role in the impending catastrophe, simultaneously affecting the Earth and the Shell, Julie closes in on the truth. She and Pete are converging in time upon the future of humanity – a future which might never unfold. Weaving three consecutive time lines to unravel both the mystery of the Earth's destruction and the key to its salvation, this taut adventure offers a topical message with a satisfying twist.

Landvik, L orna Tall pine polka In the small town of Tall Pine, Minnesota, the locals gather for what they call the Tall Pine Polka, an event in which heavenly coffee, good food, and that feeling of being alive among friends inspires both body and soul to dance. Then Hollywood 'discovers' Tall Pine. It seems the sleepy town is the perfect location for a romantic comedy. And Fenny, pounced on like a bone in a yard full of hungry dogs is evidently that rarity in Hollywood: a 'natural'. Lee and Fenny are to find their friendship

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word put to the test as events push their hearts in unexplored directions – where endings really can turn into new beginnings...

Larsson, Stieg Girl who kicked Salander is plotting her revenge - against the man who tried to the hornets nest 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. With the help of journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his researchers at Millennium magazine, Salander must not only prove her innocence, but identify and denounce the corrupt politicians that have allowed the vulnerable to become victims of abuse and violence. Once a victim herself, Salander is now ready to fight back.

Larsson, Stieg Girl with the Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family dragon tattoo gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate. When the pair link Harriet's disappearance to a number of grotesque murders

from forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word

Larsson, Stieg Girl who played Lisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists with fire about to expose the truth about sex trafficking in Sweden are murdered, and Salander's prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society - but no-one can find her. Mikael Blomkvist, editor-in-chief of Millennium, does not believe the police. Using all his magazine staff and resources to prove Salander's innocence, Blomkvist also uncovers her terrible past, spent in criminally corrupt institutions. Yet Salander is more avenging angel than helpless victim. She may be an expert at staying out of sight - but she has ways of tracking down her most elusive enemies.

Lawson, Mary Other side of the Arthur and Jake: brothers, yet worlds apart. Arthur is older, shy, bridge dutiful, and set to inherit his father's farm. Jake is younger and reckless, and dangerous to know. When Laura arrives in their 1930s rural community, an already uneasy relationship is driven to breaking point...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Le Bon, Eva Bring down the Written with sensitivity and compassion, Bring Down the Moon moon straddles the genre of romance and family saga over 50 years. At times romantic, at times tragic It offers an overarching message of hope. The story initially revolves around the doctor's home, the heart of the community in the 60's and sees the joys, adventures and struggles from such a well loved start in life. It becomes an account of the heroine: Fleur's story. It is a story of honesty and veiled truths, with the intensity of emotions as two sisters marry two brothers.

Le Carre, John Mos t wanted man A half-starved young Russian man in a long black overcoat is Large smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash secreted in a purse round his neck. He is a print devout Muslim. Or is he? He says his name is Issa. Annabel, an idealistic young German civil rights lawyer, determines to save Issa from deportation. Soon her client's survival becomes more important to her than her own career. In pursuit of Issa's mysterious past, she confronts the incongruous Tommy Brue, the sixty-year-old scion of Brue Freres, a failing British bank based in Hamburg. A triangle of impossible loves is born. Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the so-called War on Terror, the spies of three nations converge upon the innocents.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Le Carr e, John Tinker Tailor The Circus has already suffered a bad defeat, and the result Soldier Spy was two bullets in a man's back. But a bigger threat still exists. And the legendary George Smiley is recruited to root out a high- level mole of thirty years' standing - though to find him means spying on the spies. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is brilliant and ceaselessly compelling, pitting Smiley against his Cold War rival, Karla, in one of the greatest struggles in all fiction.

Lee, Harper To kill a Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee mockingbird explores the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with both compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, Atticus, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy.

Lehmann, Weather in the Taking up where 'An invitation to the waltz' left off, 'The weather Rosamond streets in the streets' shows us Olivia Curtis ten years older, a failed marriage behind her, thinner, sadder, and apparently not much wiser. A chance encounter on a train with a man who enchanted her as a teenager leads to a forbidden love affair and a new world of secret meetings, brief phone calls and snatched liaisons in anonymous hotel rooms. Years ahead of its time when first published, this subtle and powerful novel shocked even the most stalwart Lehmann fans with its searing honesty and passionate portrayal of clandestine love.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Leimbach, Mark Daniel isn't A powerful novel exploring the effects of autism on a young talking family from the author of the international bestseller 'Dying Young', who has experienced and dealt with the condition within her immediate family. 'Daniel Isn't Talking' is a passionate and darkly humorous novel that explores a mother's determination to help her child. A love story for grown ups, it somehow extends its wisdom far beyond the parameters of disability and into the substance of human nature itself. A tense and moving novel,

that will make you laugh out loud even as it breaks your heart. Leveen, Lois Secrets of Mary Mary Bowser was born a slave. She was freed and educated. Bowser Then she willingly went back into slavery ...As the American Civil War looms, Mary gives up her independence and returns to her home state. There she poses as an illiterate slave in the Confederate White House and spies on President Jefferson Davis. But as the death and destruction of war take their toll, Mary discovers that everything comes at a cost--even freedom. Based on a true story, The Secrets of Mary Bowser is an

extraordinary and inspiring tale of injustice and courage, friendship and conflict--and of one woman willing to sacrifice her own liberty to change the course of history.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Lewis, Susan No child of mine What if you knew a child was in danger - and no one believed you? Alex Lake's day job is all about helping people, especially children. She cares about them passionately and does everything in her power to rescue them from those who mean them harm. When the case of three-year-old Ottilie Wade comes to her attention, Alex feels an overpowering need to make a real difference in the little girl's life, but no one is prepared to believe that Ottilie is in danger. In the end, Alex makes a decision that has consequences that no one, least of all Alex, could have foreseen.

Lewycka, Marina We are all made Georgie Sinclair's life is coming unstuck. Her husband's left her. Large Spoken of glue Her son's obsessed with the End of the World. And now her elderly neighbour Mrs Shapiro has decided they are related. Or print word so the hospital informs her when Mrs Shapiro has an accident and names Georgie next of kin. This, however, is not a case of a quick ward visit: Mrs Shapiro has a large rickety house full of stinky cats that needs looking after that a pair of estate agents seem intent on swindling from her. Plus there are the 'Uselesses' trying to repair it (uselessly). Then there's the social worker who wants to put her in a nursing home. Not to mention some letters that point to a mysterious, painful past. As Georgie tries her best to put Mrs Shapiro's life back together somehow she must stop her own from falling apart...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Leyshon, Nell Colour of milk "The Colour of Milk" is the new novel by Orange longlisted author and playwright Nell Leyshon. The year is eighteen hundred and thirty one when fifteen-year-old Mary begins the difficult task of telling her story. A scrap of a thing with a sharp tongue and hair the colour of milk, Mary leads a harsh life working on her father's farm alongside her three sisters. In the summer she is sent to work for the local vicar's invalid wife, where the reasons why she must record the truth of what happens to her - and the need to record it so urgently - are gradually revealed.

Lupton, Rosamund Afterwards There is a fire and they are in There. They are in there ...Black smoke stains a summer blue sky. A school is on fire. And one mother, Grace, sees the smoke and runs. She knows her teenage daughter Jenny is inside. She runs into the burning building to rescue her. Afterwards, Grace must find the identity of the arsonist and protect her family from the person who's still intent on destroying them. Afterwards, she must fight the limits of her physical strength and discover the limitlessness of love.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word McCarthy, Morgan Other half of me Jonathan and Theo's childhood is one in which money is abundant but nurture is scarce. With a father who died when they were very young and a mother who starts drinking at lunchtime, the brother and sister are largely left to roam around their sprawling estate in rural Wales, looking after only themselves and each other. Until, that is, their grandmother Eve returns to the family home. Eve is a figure who is as enchanting as she is forbidding, and she takes the children under her wing, answering their questions about their family history that have always been ignored. Yet as they grow older, they discover that much of what they've been told is a fiction, and that something very sinister lies in their past.

McCleen, Grace Land of A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK 2013. "My name is decoration Judith McPherson. I am ten years old. On Monday a miracle happened." Judith doesn't have much. The house she shares with her devoutly religious father is full of dusty relics, reminders of the mother Judith never knew. Bullied at school, she finds comfort in creating a miniature world in her bedroom - a world of wonder she calls 'The Land of Decoration'. Perhaps, she thinks, if she makes it snow in The Land of Decoration there will be no school on Monday. Sure enough, when Judith opens her curtains the next day, the world beyond her window has turned white. And that's when her troubles begin.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word McEwan, Ian Atonement On the hottest day of the summer of 1934, thirteen-year-old Large Briony Tallis sees her sister Cecilia strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain in the garden of their country house. print Watching her is Robbie Turner, her childhood friend who, like Cecilia, has recently come down from Cambridge. By the end of that day, the lives of all three will have been changed for ever. Robbie and Cecilia will have crossed a boundary they had not

even imagined at its start, and will have become victims of the younger girl's imagination. Briony will have witnessed mysteries, and committed a crime for which she will spend the rest of her life trying to atone.

McFadyen, Ian Deadly secrets When the eminent mathematician and former government advisor Marcus Ardleigh is found hanged in his home in the sleepy Lancashire village of Moulton Bank, at first it looks to be a simple case of suicide. Very soon, however, Inspector Steve Carmichael begins to suspect that the death is altogether more complicated than it first appears. As his investigations lead him and his team ever deeper into Ardleigh's murky past and into the tortured lives of his lukewarm friends and bitter enemies, dark and dangerous secrets begin to emerge...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word McFadyen, Ian Little white lies When Inspector Steve McNab and his family move from London to the village of Moulton in rural Lancashire they all expect a quieter existence. However, in a matter of days, a woman is murdered in the village, and Steve finds himself in charge of an investigation that casts dark shadows into the village's past. After a second murder is committed, the case becomes increasingly complex and the Met begins to look like the quiet life as Steve finds himself drawn into intrigue, and the investigations begin to overlap with his family life in more ways than one.

McGrath, M. J. Boy in the now When Arctic guide Edie Kiglatuk stumbles across a body abandoned in the Alaskan forest, she little imagines what her discovery will lead her to. With the local police convinced the death is linked to the Dark Believers, a sinister Russian sect, Edie's friends insist she leave the investigation to the proper authorities. But remaining in the area as part of the support team for her ex-husband Sammy's bid to win the famous Iditarod dog sled race, Edie cannot get the image of the frozen corpse out of

her mind. While Sammy travels across some of world's toughest and most deadly terrain, Edie sets off on an investigation which will take her into a dark world of politics, corruption and greed -- as a painful secret in her past finally catches up with her ...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word McKeon, Belinda Solace Mark Casey did not expect to fall in love. But from the minute he saw Joanne Lynch across the garden of a Dublin pub, it seemed that nothing else was possible. But Mark is also drawn back...guiltily...to his family and the land they have farmed for generations, and when he discovers the truth behind a family feud, it threatens to destroy this passionate love affair.

McMahon, Crimson rooms Living at home with her mother, aunt, and grandmother, Evelyn Spoken Katherine is still haunted by the death of her younger brother James in the First World War. She is also determined to make a career for word herself as one of the first female lawyers. So when the doorbell rings late one night and a woman appears, claiming to have mothered James's child, her world is turned upside down. Evelyn distrusts Meredith at first, but also finds that this new arrival challenges her work-obsessed lifestyle. So far her legal career has not set the world alight. But then two cases arise that make Evelyn realise perhaps she can make a difference. The first concerns a woman called Leah Marchant whose children have been taken away from her simply because she is poor. The second, Stephen Wheeler, has been charged with murdering his own wife. It is clear that Wheeler is innocent but he won't talk. In the meantime, Meredith makes an earth-shattering accusation about James - and Evelyn falls in love with a man engaged to be married. With the Wheeler case coming to a head, and her heart in limbo, Evelyn takes matters into her own hands...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word McMahon, Rose of Russia, 1854: the Crimean War grinds on, and as the bitter Katherine Sebastapol winter draws near, the battlefield hospitals fill with dying men. In defiance of Florence Nightingale, Rosa Barr - young, headstrong and beautiful - travels to Balaklava, determined to save as many of the wounded as she can. For Mariella Lingwood, Rosa's cousin, the war is contained within the letters she receives from Henry, her fiancé but when he falls ill and is sent to recuperate in Italy, Mariella decides she must go to him. But upon their arrival at his lodgings, she and her maid make a heartbreaking discovery: Rosa has disappeared. Following the trail of her elusive and captivating cousin, Mariella's epic journey takes her from the domestic restraint of Victorian London to the ravaged landscape of the Crimea and the tragic city of Sebastopol...and into the dark heart of the conflict.

McQueen, Alison Secret children Assam, 1925. James MacDonald is one of the sons of empire who has no yearning for England. Running a tea plantation, he loves India and is reluctant to choose a British bride from the eager crowds sent over. But when he takes a beautiful young Indian woman as his courtesan, he can little imagine what he has begun. So starts the story of Mary and Serafina. Born of two worlds, accepted by neither. Growing up beloved but hidden away, their childhood is one of contradiction. It is only as the shadow of war falls and the turmoil of Indian partition begins, that the girls must face the truth about their parents and begin the search for somewhere to belong. As Serafina and Mary grow into women, they must risk everything and make choices with a legacy that will last a lifetime, and beyond.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Maconie. Stuart Hope and glory Starting with the death of Queen Victoria, to the Battle of the Somme and the General Strike, and on to the docking of the Empire Windrush and Bobby Moore raising the Jules Rimet trophy, Stuart Maconie chooses a defining moment in our nation's story from each decade of the last century and explores its legacy today. Some were glorious days, some were tragic, or even shameful, but each has played its part in making us who we are as a nation. From pop stars to politicians, Suffragettes to punks, this is a journey around Britain in search of who we are. Maconie, Stuart Pies and A Northerner in exile, Stuart Maconie goes on a journey in prejudice search of the North, attempting to discover where the clichés end and the truth begins. He travels from Wigan Pier to Blackpool Tower and Newcastle's Bigg Market to the Lake District to find his own Northern Soul, encountering along the way an exotic cast of chippy Scousers, pie-eating woollybacks, topless Geordies, mad-for-it Mancs, Yorkshire nationalists and brothers in southern exile. The bestselling Pies and Prejudice is a hugely enjoyable journey around the North of England.

Mantell, Hilary Wolf Hall From one of our finest living writers, 'Wolf Hall' is that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion, suffering and courage.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Martin, Andrew Baghdad railway Baghdad 1917. Captain Jim Stringer, invalided from the Western club Front, has been dispatched to investigate what looks like a nasty case of treason. He arrives to find a city on the point of insurrection, his cover apparently blown - and his only contact lying dead with flies in his eyes. As Baghdad swelters in a particularly torrid summer, the heat alone threatens the lives of the British soldiers who occupy the city. The recently ejected Turks are still a danger - and many of the local Arabs are none too friendly either. For Jim, who is not particularly good in warm weather, the situation grows pricklier by the day. Aside from his investigation, he is working on the railways around the city. His boss is the charming, enigmatic Lieutenant-Colonel Shepherd, who presides over the gracious dining society called "The Baghdad Railway Club" - and who may or may not be a Turkish agent. Jim's search for the truth brings him up against murderous violence in a heat-dazed, labyrinthine city where an enemy awaits around every corner.

Martell, Yann Life of Pi One boy, one boat, one tiger ...After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang- utan and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Master s, Stuart Stuart. A life This is the story of a remarkable friendship between a reclusive backwards writer and Stuart Shorter, a homeless, knife-wielding thief. Told backwards - Stuart's idea - it starts with a deeply troubled thirty- two-year-old and ends with a 'happy-go-lucky little boy' of twelve. This brilliant biography, winner of the Guardian First Book Award, presents a humbling portrait of homeless life, and is as extraordinary and unexpected as the man it describes.

Maxwell, William Time will darken The decision to invite his Southern relatives to stay proves a it fateful one for Austin King. By the time they leave, his reputation and his marriage have suffered irreparable damage. Against the perfectly-drawn background of small-town Illinois at the turn of the 20th century, Maxwell once again uncovers the seeds of potential tragedy at the heart of a happily-established family.

Mercier, Pascal Night train to Driven by two chance encounters - with a mysterious Lisbon Portuguese woman in a red coat and with a book he finds hidden in a dusty corner of a second-hand bookshop, the journal of an enigmatic Portuguese aristocrat, Amadeu de Prado, Raimund Gregorius boards the night train to Lisbon on a journey to find out more about Prado, whose words haunt and compel him. Gradually, a picture of an extraordinary man emerges: a difficult, brilliant, charismatic figure, a doctor and a poet, and a

rebel against Salazar's dictatorship. And as Prado's story comes to light so, too, Gregorius himself begins his life anew. Hurtling through the dark, "Night Train to Lisbon" is a rich tale,

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word wonderfully told - propelled by the mystery at its heart.

Meyer, Stephanie Host Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that takes over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading 'soul' who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Miller, Andrew Pure Deep in the heart of Paris, its oldest cemetery is, by 1785, Large overflowing, tainting the very breath of those who live nearby. Into their midst comes Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young, provincial print engineer charged by the king with demolishing it. At first Baratte sees this as a chance to clear the burden of history, a fitting task for a modern man of reason. But before long, he begins to suspect that the destruction of the cemetery might be a prelude to his own. Winner of the 2011 Costa Book of the Year Award.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Miller, Candi Kalahari Passage Orphaned as a young child, Koba, a San bushman, has lived most of her life as the adopted daughter of a white, farming family. But when her love affair with their son, Mannie, is discovered, Koba is forcibly repatriated to the lands of the Kalahari Desert. To survive she must find her nomadic tribe. But will she stay alive long enough to succeed after years of living among whites? When she finds her drought-stricken people, she brings with her the longed-for rain. But even as she's feted for

this 'miracle', tribal tensions boil over as bachelors in the Ju/'hoansi tribe vie for the attention of the young stranger. Meanwhile, Mannie has set out after Koba, hitch-hiking across southern Africa to find her.

Miller, Danny Gi lded edge London 1965 and Vince Treadwell investigates the seemingly unrelated murders of a playboy aristocrat from Belgravia and a young black nurse from the wrong side of town. It takes the detective to the illegal drinking dens of Notting Hill run by the self-styled Black Power leader, Michael X; the nightclubs of Soho owned by the legendary gangster, Billy Hill; and the exclusive gaming tables of the Montcler Club in Berkeley Square, where the blue bloods and power players of England gamble thousands on the turn of a card. But as Vince Treadwell digs deeper he finds himself not only embroiled with a beautiful society girl, Isabel Saxmore-Blaine, but a world of espionage and corruption where the underworld mixes easily with the aristocracy, and no one is innocent.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Mills, Mark Whaleboat House Long Island, 1947, where the men have fished the wild Atlantic waters over the centuries. For Conrad Labarde, recently returned from the Second World War, the nets hold a sinister catch - the body of Lillian Wallace, a beautiful New York socialite. Is it an accident or murder? Police chief Tom Hollis is convinced the roots of the tragedy lie in the twisted histories of local families. But the enigmatic Labarde insists on pursuing his own investigation. It seems the fisherman may have powerful

reasons for wanting answers to the questions surrounding her death. And in this strange place where tradition meets power and riches, the truth is a rare thing indeed!

Mitchell, David Black swan green January, 1982. Thirteen-year-old Jason Taylor - covert stammerer and reluctant poet - anticipates a stultifying year in his backwater English village. But he hasn't reckoned with bullies, simmering family discord, the Falklands War, a threatened gypsy invasion and those mysterious entities known as girls. Charting thirteen months in the black hole between childhood and adolescence, this is a captivating novel, wry, painful and vibrant with the stuff of life.

Mitchell, David Cloud atlas In his extraordinary third novel, David Mitchell erases the boundaries of language, genre and time to offer a meditation on humanity's dangerous will to power, and where it may lead us.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Moffat, G. J. Protection Could you spot a killer? Logan Finch's life depends on his ability to do just that. He's a bodyguard whose clients rely on his talent to head off trouble before it even starts. Now he's got his toughest job yet - protecting American serial killer Chase Black who has been released from prison on a technicality and is in London promoting his memoirs. Colorado Homicide Detective Jake Hunter, the man who put Black in jail, thought that he could spot a killer. Now he's not so sure. And the more he investigates the more he wonders whether a miscarriage of justice really did occur. The trouble is: if Black is innocent the real killer must still be at large. Finch becomes convinced that someone is hunting Black, and as violence erupts on both sides of the Atlantic he finds himself caught between his duty to a client and the instinct to survive the increasingly deranged individual that wants him dead. Protection is a terrifying journey that reveals the true darkness residing in the human heart.

Moggach, Deborah Best exotic Enticed by advertisements for a newly restored palatial hotel and Large Spoken Marigold Hotel filled with visions of a life of leisure, good weather and mango juice in their gin, a group of very different people leave England print word to begin a new life in India. On arrival they are dismayed to find the palace is a shell of its former self, the staff more than a little eccentric, and the days of the Raj long gone. But, as they soon discover, life and love can begin again, even in the most unexpected circumstances.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Monsarrat, Nichol as Cruel sea Based on the author's own vivid experiences, "The Cruel Sea" is the nail-biting story of the crew of HMS Compass Rose, a corvette assigned to protect convoys in World War Two. Packed with tension and vivid descriptions of agonizing U-boat hunts, this tale of the most bitter and chilling campaign of the war tells of ordinary, heroic men who had to face a brutal menace which would strike without warning from the deep...

Moore, Brian Statement Pierre Brossard is on the run. For his life. From a determined squad of unknown hit-men. From his former 'friends'. From his past. Condemned to death in absentia by French courts for crimes against humanity during the war, he has been in hiding for over forty years. Now, perhaps, justice will be done.

Morgentstern, Eric Night circus The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads: Opens at Nightfall Closes at Dawn. As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, all over the tents small lights begin to flicker, as though the entirety of the circus is covered in particularly bright fireflies. When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears. Le Cirque des Reves. The Circus of Dreams. Now the circus is open. Now you may enter.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Moriarty, Laura Rest of her life "The Rest of Her Life" is the story of a family plunged into a crisis that will irrevocably change their lives forever. It's about the true nature of mother-daughter relationships, and about how far you would go to protect everything you hold dear.

Morrison, Toni Beloved It's the mid-1800s. In Kentucky, an era is ending as slavery Large comes under attack from the abolitionists. The worlds of Hale & Paul are to be destroyed in a cataclysm of agony & torment. The print world of Sethe is to turn to violence and death.

Morrissey, Donna Sylvanus now Sylvanus Now is a young man of great charm and strength, most at home when fishing the great Newfoundland fishing banks. He wants Adelaide, a fiery beauty from the next village, but Adelaide swore she would never love a fisherman. She hates the sea, the fish, and the prying eyes of an isolated 1950s community. But as their love for each other grows into marriage, the more they seem linked to the rhythms of the sea -- a sea that takes as well as gives, something that Sylvanus knows all too

well having lost both his brother and father to the depths. Worse is to come. Looming at the edge of the horizon are menacing congregations of giant fishing trawlers that threaten to suck not only fish from the sea but the life from a community.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Murdock, Iris Flight from the Annette runs away from her finishing school but learns more enchanter than she bargained for in the real world beyond; the fierce and melancholy Rosa is torn between two Polish brothers; Peter is obsessed by an indecipherable ancient script. This is a story of a group of people under a spell, and the centre of it all is the mysterious Mischa Fox, the enchanter.

Mutch, Barbara Housemaid's Cathleen Harrington leaves her home in Ireland in 1919 to travel daughter to South Africa and marry the fiancé she has not seen for five years. Isolated and estranged in a harsh landscape, she finds solace in her diary and the friendship of her housemaid's daughter, Ada. Cathleen recognises in her someone she can love and respond to in a way that she cannot with her own husband and daughter. Under Cathleen's tutelage, Ada grows into an accomplished pianist, and a reader who cannot resist turning the pages of the diary, discovering the secrets Cathleen sought to hide. When Ada is compromised and finds she is expecting a mixed-race child, she flees her home, determined to spare Cathleen the knowledge of her betrayal, and the disgrace that would descend upon the family. Scorned within her own community, Ada is forced to carve a life for herself, her child, and her music. But Cathleen still believes in Ada, and risks the constraints of apartheid to search for her and persuade her to return with her daughter. Beyond the cruelty, there is love, hope - and redemption.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Neill, Robert Mist over Pendle Seventeenth century England is a place of superstition and fear. Deep in the Forest of Pendle, people have been dying in mysterious circumstances. The locals' whisper of witchcraft, but Squire Roger Nowell, in charge of investigating the deaths, dismisses the claims as ridiculous. Until a series of hideous desecrations forces Roger and his cousin Margery to look further into the rumours. And what they discover brings them face to face with the horrifying possibility that a coven of witches

is assembling, preparing to unleash a campaign of evil and destruction... Nemirovsky, Irene Suite Francaise Set during the year that France fell to the Nazis, Suite Francaise Large falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion; the second follows the print inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation. Suite Francaise is a novel that teems with wonderful characters struggling with the new regime. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Nesser, Hakan Hour of the wolf In the dead of night, in the pouring rain, a drunk driver smashes his car into a young man. He abandons the body at the side of the road, but the incident will set in motion a chain of events which will change his life forever. Soon Chief Inspector Van Veeteren, now retired from the Maardam police force, will face his greatest trial yet. As someone close to him is inexplicably murdered, Van Veeteren's former colleagues, desperate for answers, struggle to decipher the clues to this appalling crime. But when another body is discovered, it gradually becomes clear that this killer is acting on their own terrifying logic ...

Ngugi, Wa Thiongo Wizard of crows Commencing in 'our times' and set in the 'Free Republic of Aburiria', the novel dramatises with corrosive humour and keenness of observation a battle for control of the souls of the Aburirian people. Fashioning the stories of the powerful and the ordinary into a dazzling mosaic, Ngugi reveals humanity in all its ceaselessly surprising complexity. Informed by richly enigmatic traditional African storytelling, "Wizard of the Crow" is a masterpiece, the crowning achievement in Ngugi wa Thiong'o's career thus far. Nicholls, David One day Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation. Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows? Twenty years, two people, One Day. From the author of the massive bestseller "Starter for ten".

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Nicoll, Andrew If you're reading 'I want people to know how Otto Witte, acrobat of Hamburg, this I'm already became the crowned king of Albania.' Otto Witte is an old man. dead The Allies are raining bombs on his city and, having narrowly escaped death, he has come home to his little caravan to drink what remains of his coffee (dust) and wait for the inevitable. Convinced that he will not see the sunrise, he decides to write the story of his life for the poor soul who finds what's left of him come the morning. And it's quite a story. Years earlier, when he

was in either Buda or Pest, working at the circus, a dear friend brought him the newspaper. Inside was an article about how Albania was looking for a particular Turkish prince, because the country was in need of a new king. This Turkish prince is the image of Otto...A plan is formed; adventure, disaster, love and sheer, unabashed hope await. If You're Reading This, I'm Already Dead is a joy to read; accomplished and full of the warmth, honesty and lightness of touch for which Andrew Nicoll is known and loved.

Nifenegger, Audrey Time traveller's This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met wife when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare's struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable. Winner of Popular Fiction Award 2006.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Nobbs, David Pratt a Manger When pretty young TV researcher Nicky Proctor visits Cafe Henry in London's Soho, Henry Pratt's life changes forever. He becomes an instant star of the TV food quiz, 'A Question of Salt' and before long he is given his own series, 'Hooray, its Henry'. The book of the series reaches Number Two. He's a celebrity. Henry Ezra Pratt has come a long way from his humble beginnings. But, as usual in Henry's life, things begin to go wrong. He incurs the deep hatred of rival celebrity chef Bradley Tompkins, with his bad manners, bad wig and no Michelin stars.

Noble, Elizabeth Girl next door What makes a house a home? For Eve Gallagher, home is miles away in England but she and her husband relocated to an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side. And life isn't remotely coming up roses. What makes a neighbour a friend? Violet has lived in the building for decades but she's always kept herself apart, until Eve's loneliness touches her heart and friendship blossoms. Dreams come true, hearts are broken and no one is left unchanged when the secrets and desires hidden behind closed doors are finally brought into the light.

Nothomb, Amelie Life of hunger In a wistful, clever and unusual novel, Amelie Nothomb casts herself as hunger: hunger for experience, hunger for life, hunger for sweetness and, in what is the book's nucleus, hunger for hunger (the period during which she was afflicted by acute anorexia). Recounting the formative journeys of her youth, from Tokyo to Peking to Paris to New York, "The Life of Hunger" is a brilliant and moving examination of the self, and perhaps Amelie's most mature and moving work to date.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Obama, Barak Dreams from my 'Dreams from my Father' is an unforgettable read. It illuminates father not only Obama's journey, but also our universal desire to understand our history, and what makes us the people we are.

O'Farrell, Maggie Vanishing act of Edinburgh in the 1930s. The Lennox family is having trouble with Esme Lennox its youngest daughter. Esme is outspoken, unconventional, and repeatedly embarrasses them in polite society. Something will have to be done. Years later, a young woman named Iris Lockhart receives a letter informing her that she has a great- aunt in a psychiatric unit who is about to be released. Iris has never heard of Esme Lennox and the one person who should know more, her grandmother Kitty, seems unable to answer Iris's questions. What could Esme have done to warrant a lifetime in an institution? And how is it possible for a person to be so completely erased from a family's history?

O'Hara, John BUtterfield 8 'On this Sunday morning in May, this girl who was later to be the cause of a sensation in New York awoke much too early for her night before'...This particular morning Gloria finds herself alone in a stranger's apartment with nothing but a torn evening dress and her stockings and panties. When she takes a fur coat from the wardrobe to wear home, she sets in train a series of events that will lead to tragedy. A bestseller on its first publication, "BUtterfield 8" is the glittering story of a 1930s glamour girl

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word whose ill-starred entanglement with a respectable married man is set against a backdrop of Manhattan bars and bedrooms.

Ohlsson, Kristina Unwanted In the middle of a rainy Swedish summer, a little girl is abducted from a crowded train. Despite hundreds of potential witnesses, no one noticed when the girl was taken. Her mother, left behind at the previous station, alerted the crew immediately. But as the train pulled into Stockholm Central Station, the girl was nowhere to be seen. To Inspector Alex Recht of the Stockholm police, this looks like a classic custody row. But none of the evidence adds up and young Investigative Analyst Fredrika Bergman is convinced the case is far more complex than her boss is prepared to admit. So when the missing child is found dead in the far north of Sweden, with the word UNWANTED scribbled on her forehead, the rule book is finally thrown out of the window. Now on the trail of a ruthless murderer with a terrifying agenda, will Alex and Fredrika manage to put aside their differences and work together to find the killer, before it's too late? Oksanen, Sofi Purge A haunting, intimate and gripping story of suspicion, betrayal and retribution against a backdrop of Soviet oppression and European war. Deep in an Estonian forest, two women, one young, one old, are hiding. Zara is a prostitute and a murderer, on the run from brutal captors - men who know how to punish a woman. Aliide offers refuge but not safety, and she has her own criminal secrets...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Oldham, Nick Crunch time Willing to do almost anything to escape his humdrum desk job, DCI Henry Christie leaps at the chance to go working undercover again, possibly his last chance ever.. But the last thing Henry needs in this dangerous situation is the appearance of a man bearing a fatal grudge that will jeopardise not only himself, but also his family. As Henry attempts to balance his latest case with his personal life, he finds himself dealing with a series of events which begin to spiral murderously out of his control...

Osborne, Frances Bolter As the First World War ended, Idina Sackville shocked high society by leaving her multimillionaire father to run off to Africa with a near penniless man. An inspiration for Nancy Mitford's character The Bolter, painted by William Orpen, and photographed by Cecil Beaton, Sackville went on to divorce a total of five times, yet died with a picture of her first love by her bed. Now, her great granddaughter Frances Osborne tells the moving tale of betrayal and heartbreak behind Sackville's road to scandal and return, painting a dazzling portrait of high society in the early twentieth century.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Osborne, Frances Park Lane London, 1914. Two young women dream of breaking free from tradition and obligation; they know that suffragettes are on the march and that war looms, but at 35 Park Lane, Lady Masters, head of a dying industrial dynasty, insists that life is about service and duty. Below stairs, housemaid Grace Campbell is struggling. Her family in Carlisle believes she is a high earning secretary, but she has barely managed to get work in service - something she keeps even from her adored brother. Asked to send home more money than she earns, Grace is in trouble. As third housemaid she waits on Miss Beatrice, the youngest daughter of the house, who, fatigued with the social season, is increasingly drawn into Mrs Pankhurst's captivating underground world of militant suffragettes. Soon Bea is playing a dangerous game that will throw her in the path of a man her mother wouldn't let through the front door. Then war comes and it is not just their secrets - now on a collision course - that will change their lives for good. Brilliantly capturing a deeply fascinating period of British life in which the normal boundaries of behaviour were overturned and the social hierarchy could no longer be taken for granted, Park Lane is as gripping and intense as Frances Osborne's number one bestselling The Bolter.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Parks, Adele Whatever it takes Eloise Hamilton is a Londoner born and bred, so it is a momentous day when she reluctantly agrees to uproot to Dartmouth, leaving behind her perfect world so her husband can finally live in his. There are compensations, however. Her mother-in-law Margaret will welcome her with open arms, and besides, she can still rely on best friend Sara to be her lifeline to London. But both Margaret and Sara are facing their own difficulties, and thrust into unexpected turmoil, Eloise finds she is the one holding everything together for her loved ones - and by an ever-weakening thread. As her world implodes with the strain of being responsible for all around her, someone is bound to be overlooked. And the damage might be irreparable...

Parssinen, Keija Ruins of us More than two decades after moving to Saudi Arabia and marrying Abdullah Baylani, Rosalie learns that her husband has married a second wife. The discovery plunges the powerful family into chaos as Rosalie grapples with leaving Saudi Arabia, her life and her family behind. Abdullah and Rosalie's consuming personal entanglements also blind them to the crisis approaching their sixteen-year-old son Faisal, whose deepening resentment towards their lifestyle has led to his involvement with a controversial sheikh. When Faisal makes a choice that could destroy everything his family holds dear, all must confront difficult truths as they fight to preserve what remains of their love.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Paver, Michelle Dark matter Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely and desperate to Large Spoken change his life. So when he's offered the chance to join an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Five men and eight huskies reach the print word remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year. Gruhuken. But the Arctic summer is brief. As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. One by one, his companions are forced to leave. He faces a stark choice. Stay or go. Soon he will reach the point of no return - when the sea will freeze, making escape impossible. And Gruhuken is not uninhabited. Jack is not alone. Something walks there in the dark... Pavone, Chris Expats Kate Moore is an expat mum, newly transplanted from Washington D.C. In the cobblestoned streets of Luxembourg, her days are filled with play dates and coffee mornings, her weekends spent in Paris or skiing in the Alps. Kate is also guarding a secret - one so momentous it could destroy her neat little expat life - and she suspects that another American couple are not who they claim to be; plus her husband is acting suspiciously. As she travels around Europe, she finds herself looking over her shoulder, terrified her past is catching up with her. As Kate begins to dig, to uncover the secrets of those around her, she finds herself buried in layers of deceit so thick they threaten her family, her marriage - and her life.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Penney, Stef Tenderness of 1867 Canada, as winter tightens its grip on the isolated Large wolves settlement of Dove River, a man is brutally murdered and a 17- year old boy disappears. Tracks leaving the dead man's cabin print head north towards the forest and the tundra beyond. In the wake of such violence, people are drawn to the township - journalists, Hudson's Bay Company men, trappers, traders - but do they want to solve the crime or exploit it?

Picoult, Jodi Songs of the Escaping a childhood of abuse by marrying oceanographer humpback whale Oliver Jones, Jane finds herself taking second place to his increasingly successful career. However, when her daughter Rebecca is similarly treated, Jane's dramatic stand takes them all by surprise. Jane and Rebecca set out to drive across America to the sanctuary of the New England apple orchard where Jane's brother Joley works. Oliver, used to tracking male humpback whales across vast oceans, now has the task of tracking his wife across a continent.

Pierre, D. B. C. Vernon God Little Fifteen-year-old Vernon Gregory Little is in trouble, and it has something to do with the recent massacre of 16 students at his high school. Soon, the quirky backwater of Martirio, barbecue capital of Texas, is flooded with wannabe CNN hacks, eager for a scapegoat. Winner of Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2003.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Pilkington, Doris Rabbit -proof In 1931 the authorities seized 14-year-old Molly Craig from her fence desert home in Jigalong, western Australia, with her younger sister Daisy and cousin Gracie. Official policy decreed that the three girls be taken to the Moore River Native Settlement, where they were to be trained as domestic servants. Their trauma was intensified by Moore River's harsh regime and when Molly decided it was time to go home, the only way was to walk. This

is the true story of the girls' 1600 kilometre journey back to Jigalong.

Quick, Matthew Silver linings Pat Peoples knows that life doesn't always go according to plan, playbook but he's determined to get his back on track. After a stint in a psychiatric hospital, Pat is staying with his parents and trying to live according to his new philosophy: get fit, be nice and always look for the silver lining. Most importantly, Pat is determined to be reconciled with his wife Nikki. Pat's parents just want to protect him so he can get back on his feet, but when Pat befriends the mysterious Tiffany, the secrets they've been

keeping from him threaten to come out ...

Rankin, Ian Doors open Mike Mackenzie is a self-made man with too much time on his hands and a bit of the devil in his soul. He is looking for something to liven up the days and settles on a plot to rip-off one of the most high-profile targets in the capital - the National Gallery of Scotland. So, together with two close friends from the art world, he devises a plan to lift some of the most valuable artwork around. But of course, the real trick is to rob the place for all its worth whilst persuading the world that no crime was

ever committed...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Rankin, Nicholas Churchill's By June 1940, most of Europe had fallen to the Nazis and wizards Britain stood alone. To protect itself, the nation fell back on cunning and camouflage. With Winston Churchill in charge, the British bluffed their way out of trouble - lying, pretending and dressing up in order to survive. The British had developed this uncommon talent during the trench and desert fighting of the First World War, when writers and artists created elaborate camouflages and fiendish propaganda. So successful were these deceptions they gave rise to the German belief that they hadn't been beaten fairly - in which case why not 'have a second go'? Above all, Nicholas Rankin reveals the true stories of those brave and creative mavericks who helped win what Churchill called 'The war of the unknown Warriors'. Remarque, M. All quiet on the The story is told by a young 'unknown soldier' in the trenches of Large Western front Flanders during the First World War. Through his eyes we see all the realities of war - under fire, on patrol, waiting in the print trenches, at home on leave, and in hospitals and dressing stations. Although there are vividly described incidents which remain in mind, there is no sense of adventure here, only the feeling of youth betrayed and a deceptively simple indictment of war - of any war - told for a whole generation of victims.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Rhys, Jean Wide Sargasso If Antoinette Cosway, a spirited Creole heiress, could have Sea foreseen the terrible future that awaited her, she would not have married the young Englishman. Initially drawn to her beauty and sensuality, he becomes increasingly frustrated by his inability to reach into her soul. He forces Antoinette to conform to his rigid Victorian ideals, unaware that in taking away her identity; he is destroying a part of himself as well as pushing her towards madness. A powerful and haunting masterpiece set against the lush backdrop of 1830s Jamaica.

Richell, Hannah Secrets of the The Tides are a family with dark secrets. Haunted by the events Spoken tides of one tragic day ten years ago, they are each, in their own way, struggling to move forwards with their lives. Dora, the youngest word daughter, lives in a ramshackle East End warehouse with her artist boyfriend Dan. Dora is doing a good job of skating across the surface of her life - but when she discovers she is pregnant the news leaves her shaken and staring back at the darkness of a long-held guilt. Returning to Clifftops, the rambling family house perched high on the Dorset coastline, Dora must confront her past. As she begins her search for clues surrounding the events of that fateful day, she comes to realise that the path to redemption may rest with her troubled sister, Cassie. If Dora can unlock the secrets Cassie swore she would take to her grave, just maybe she will have a shot at salvation. But can long-held secrets ever really be forgiven? And even if you do manage to forgive and forget, how do you ever allow yourself to truly love

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word again?

Richman, Alyson Lost wife During the last moments of calm in pre-war Prague, Lenka, a young art student, falls in love with Josef. They marry - but soon, like so many others, they are torn apart by the currents of war. In America Josef becomes a successful obstetrician and raises a family, though he never forgets the wife he thinks died in the camps. But in the Nazi ghetto of Terezin - and later in Auschwitz - Lenka has survived, relying on her skills as an artist and the memories of a husband she believes she will never see again.

Now, decades later, an unexpected encounter in New York brings Lenka and Josef back together. From the comfort of life in Prague before the occupation to the horrors of Nazi Europe, The Lost Wife explores the endurance of first love, the resilience of the human spirit and our capacity to remember.

Riley, Lucinda Girl on the cliff Mysteriously drawn to Aurora, Grania discovers that the histories of their families are strangely and deeply entwined...From a bittersweet romance in wartime London to a troubled relationship in contemporary New York, from devotion to a foundling child to forgotten memories of a lost brother, the Ryans and the Lisles, past and present, have been entangled for a century. Ultimately, it will be Aurora whose intuition and remarkable spirit help break the spell and unlock the chains of the past. Haunting, uplifting and deeply moving, Aurora's story tells of the triumph of hope over loss.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Robins on, Gilead In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he Marilynne begins a letter to his young son, a kind of last testament to his remarkable forebears. Winner of Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2005. Orange Prize for Fiction 2006.

Robinson, Peter Watching the Banks is back - and this time he's investigating the murder of dark one of his own. Detective Inspector Bill Quinn is killed by a crossbow in the tranquil grounds of a police rehabilitation centre, and compromising photos are found in his room. DCI Banks, brought in to investigate, is assailed on all sides. By Joanna Passero, the Professional Standards inspector who insists on shadowing the investigation in case of police corruption. By his own conviction that a policeman shouldn't be deemed guilty

without evidence. By Annie Cabbot, back at work after six months' recuperation, and beset by her own doubts and demons. And by an English girl who disappeared in Estonia six years ago, who seems to hold the secret at the heart of this case ...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Rogan, Charlotte Lifeboat I was to stand trial for my life. I was twenty-two years old. I had been married for ten weeks and a widow for six. It is 1914 and Europe is on the brink of war. When a magnificent ocean liner suffers a mysterious explosion en route to New York City, Henry Winter manages to secure a place in a lifeboat for his new wife Grace. But the survivors quickly realize the boat is over capacity and could sink at any moment. For any to live, some must die. Over the course of three perilous weeks, the passengers on the lifeboat plot, scheme, gossip and console one another while sitting inches apart. Their deepest beliefs are tested to the limit as they begin to discover what they will do in order to survive.

Rogers, Jane Testament of If the human race is to survive, it's up to her. Set just a month or Jessie Lamb two in the future, in a world irreparably altered by an act of biological terrorism, The Testament of Jessie Lamb explores a young woman's determination to make her life count for something, as the certainties of her childhood are ripped apart.

Romer, Knud Nothing but fear The Second World War is long over but its legacy continues to tear a town - and a young boy's life - apart. Knud is growing up in Faster, a small Danish town in the 1960s. The war is over but the Germans are still hated and Knud has a German mother. Bullied and persecuted at school, he retreats into the eccentric world of his family's history - but he can't escape the fact that, for him, his parents, and his paternal grandparents, the war is still being fought. Depicting a town and a family devastated by

prejudice, "Nothing But Fear" is written with empathy and venom

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word in equal measure.

Sanchez, Clara Sent of lemon Having left her job and boyfriend, thirty-year-old Sandra decides leaves to stay in a village on the Costa Brava in order to take stock of her life and find a new direction. She befriends Karin and Fredrik, an elderly Norwegian couple, who provide her with stimulating company and take the place of the grandparents she never had. However, when she meets Julian, a former concentration-camp inmate who has just returned to Europe from Argentina, she discovers that all is not what it seems and finds herself involved in a perilous quest for the truth. Winner of Premio Nadal 2010.

Sansom, C. J. Dissolution Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved. But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Sansom, C. J. Revelation Spring, 1543. King Henry VIII is wooing Lady Catherine Parr, whom he wants for his sixth wife. Archbishop Cranmer and the embattled Protestant faction at court are watching keenly, for Lady Catherine is known to have reformist sympathies. Matthew Shardlake, meanwhile, is working on the case of a teenage boy who has been placed in the Bedlam insane asylum, before his terrifying religious mania leads to him being burned as a heretic. When an old friend is horrifically murdered, Shardlake vows to bring the killer to justice.

Sansom, C. J. Winter in Madrid 1940: The Spanish Civil War is over, and Madrid lies ruined, its people starving, while the Germans continue their relentless march through Europe. Britain now stands alone while General Franco considers whether to abandon neutrality and enter the war. Into this uncertain world comes Harry Brett: a traumatised veteran of Dunkirk turned reluctant spy for the British Secret Service. Sent to gain the confidence of old school friend Sandy Forsyth, now a shady Madrid businessman, Harry finds himself involved in a dangerous game -- and surrounded by memories. Meanwhile Sandy's girlfriend, ex-Red Cross nurse Barbara Clare, is engaged on a secret mission of her own -- to find her former lover Bernie Piper, a passionate Communist in the International Brigades, who vanished on the bloody battlefields of the Jarama.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Sasson, Jean Daughters of Maha and Amani, both teenagers, were surrounded by untold Arabia opulence and luxury from the day they were born, but stifled by the unbearably restrictive lifestyle imposed on them, they reacted in equally desperate ways. Their dramatic and shocking stories, together with many more which concern other members of Princess Sultana's huge family, are set against a rich backdrop of Saudi Arabian culture and social mores which she depicts with equal colour and authenticity.

Schine, Cathleen Three A sparkling, and stinging, contemporary adaptation of Sense Weissmanns of and Sensibility. The Weissmann sisters quite unexpectedly find Westport themselves the middle-aged products of a broken home. Dumped by her husband of nearly fifty years and then exiled from their elegant New York apartment by his mistress, Betty is forced to move to a small, run-down Westport, Connecticut, beach cottage. Joining her are Miranda and Annie, who dutifully comes along to keep an eye on her capricious mother and sister. As the sisters mingle with the suburban aristocracy, love starts to blossom for both of them, and they find themselves struggling with the duelling demands of reason and romance.

Schlink, Bernhard Reader For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly, and terribly, it does - Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret.

Schwartz, John Northwest Corner Twelve years after a tragic accident and a cover-up that led to Burnham prison time, Dwight Arno, now fifty, is a man who has started over without exactly moving on. Living alone in California, haunted yet keeping his head down, Dwight manages a sporting goods store and dates a woman to whom he hasn't revealed the truth about his past. Then an unexpected arrival throws his carefully neutralized life into turmoil and exposes all that he's hidden. Sam, Dwight's estranged college-age son, has shown up without warning, fleeing a devastating incident in his own life. In its way, Sam's sense of guilt is as crushing as his father's. Told in the resonant voices of everyday people gripped in the emotional riptide of lived life, "Northwest Corner" is at once tough and heart-lifting, an urgent, powerful story about family bonds that can never be broken and the wayward roads that lead us back to those we love.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Scott, Kim Tha t deadman Throughout Bobby Wabalanginy's young life the ships have dance been arriving, bringing European settlers to the south coast of Western Australia, where Bobby's people, the Noongar people, have always lived. But slowly - by design and by hazard - things begin to change. Not everyone is so pleased with the progress of the white colonists. Livestock mysteriously starts to disappear, crops are destroyed, there are 'accidents' and injuries on both sides. As the Europeans impose ever-stricter rules and regulations in order to keep the peace, Bobby's Elders decide they must respond in kind, and Bobby is forced to take sides, inexorably drawn into a series of events that will forever change the future of his country. That Deadman Dance is haunted by tragedy, as most stories of first contact between European and native peoples are. But through Bobby's life, this novel exuberantly explores a moment in time when things might have been different, when black and white lived together in amazement rather than fear of the other, and when the world suddenly seemed twice as large and twice as promising.

Segal, Francesca Innocents Winner of the Costa first novel award 2012. Longlisted for the women's prize for fiction 2013. What if everything you'd ever wanted was no longer enough? Adam and Rachel are getting married at last. Childhood sweethearts whose lives and families have been intertwined for years; theirs is set to be the wedding of the year. But then Rachel's cousin Ellie makes an unexpected return to the family fold. Beautiful, reckless and troubled, Ellie represents everything that Adam has tried all his life to avoid -

and everything that is missing from his world. As the long- awaited wedding approaches, Adam is torn between duty and

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word temptation, security and freedom, and must make a choice that will break either one heart, or many.

Sem -Sandberg, Emperor of lies In February 1940, the Nazis established what would become the Steve second largest Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Lodz. Its chosen leader: Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, a sixty-three- year-old Jewish businessman and orphanage director, and the elusive, authoritarian power sustaining the ghetto's very existence. From one of Scandinavia's most critically acclaimed and bestselling authors, "The Emperor of Lies" chronicles the tale of Rumkowski's monarchical rule over a quarter of a million Jews. Drawing on the chronicles of life in the Lodz ghetto, Steve Sem-Sandberg captures the full panorama of human resilience, and questions the nature of good and evil.

Setterfield, Diana Thirteenth tale Angelfield House stands abandoned and forgotten. It was once home to the March family - fascinating, manipulative Isabelle, brutal, dangerous Charlie, and the wild, untamed twins, Emmeline and Adeline. But Angelfield House hides a chilling secret which strikes at the very heart of each of them, tearing their lives apart...Now Margaret Lea is investigating Angelfield's past - and the mystery of the March family starts to unravel. What has Angelfield been hiding? What is its connection with the enigmatic writer Vida Winter? And what is the secret that strikes at the heart of Margaret's own, troubled life? As Margaret digs deeper, two parallel stories unfold, and the tale she uncovers sheds a disturbing light on her own life...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Shaffer, M. A. & Guernsey It's 1946 and author Juliet Ashton can't think what to write next. Barrows, A. Literary and Out of the blue, she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams of Potato Peel Pie Guernsey - by chance, he's acquired a book that once belonged Society to her - and, spurred on by their mutual love of reading, they begin a correspondence. When Dawsey reveals that he is a member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, her curiosity is piqued and it's not long before she begins to hear from other members. As letters fly back and forth with stories of life in Guernsey under the German Occupation, Juliet soon realizes that the society is every bit as extraordinary as its name.

Sharp, Zoe Seco nd shot Charlie Fox, ex-Special Forces soldier turned bodyguard, has a new client: a lottery millionairess mother who is looking for protection from a nuisance ex. When Simone decides to escape his unwanted attentions and the scrutiny of the press by going to America, it should make Charlie's job easier, what with the main character she is protecting her from out of the picture. But Charlie has some very bad memories from her last time in the US and from the moment they arrive, Simone seems to undermine all of Charlie's measures for her security.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Sheers, Owen Resistance 1944. After the fall of Russia and the failed D-Day landings, half of Britain is occupied...Young farmer's wife Sarah Lewis wakes to find her husband has disappeared, along with all of the men from her remote Welsh village. A German patrol arrives in the valley, the purpose of their mission a mystery. Sarah begins a faltering acquaintance with the patrol's commanding officer, Albrecht, and it is to her that he reveals the purpose of his mission - to claim an extraordinary medieval art treasure that lies hidden in the valley. But as the pressure of the war beyond presses in on this isolated community, this fragile state of harmony is increasingly threatened.

Shepherd, Lynn Tom -all -alo ne "Tom's-All-Alone" is 'Dickens but darker' - without the comedy, without the caricature, and a style all its own. The novel explores a dark underside of Victorian life that Dickens and Collins hinted at - a world in which young women are sexually abused, unwanted babies summarily disposed of, and those that discover the grim secrets of great men brutally eliminated.

Shreve, Anita Testimony At a New England boarding school, a sex scandal is about to Large Spoken break. Even more shocking than the sexual acts themselves is the fact that they were caught on videotape. A Pandora's box of print word revelations, the tape triggers a chorus of voice -- those of the men, women, teenagers, and parents involved in the scandal -- that details the ways in which lives can be derailed or destroyed in one foolish moment.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Shriver, Lionel We need to talk This title is winner of the Orange Prize for fiction 2005. Two about Kevin years ago, Eva Khatchadourian's son, Kevin, murdered seven of his fellow high-school students, a cafeteria worker, and a popular algebra teacher. Because he was only fifteen at the time of the killings, he received a lenient sentence and is now in a prison for young offenders in upstate New York. Telling the story of Kevin's upbringing, Eva addresses herself to her estranged husband through a series of letters. Fearing that her own shortcomings may have shaped what her son has become, she confesses to a deep, long-standing ambivalence about both motherhood in general and Kevin in particular.

Simons, Jake Pure Disaffected ex-Mossad agent, Uzi, works as a security guard and low-level drug dealer in London. Uzi gets the chance to expose the ruthlessness of his former employers by giving the details of a top-secret assassination operation to WikiLeaks - a story so damaging to the Israeli government that an opposition party is prepared to pay to ensure WikiLeaks gets the scoop. But once it's out there, Uzi will be a marked man ...

Slaughter, Karin Fracture When Atlanta housewife Abigail Campano comes home unexpectedly one afternoon, she walks into a nightmare. There is a broken window, a bloody footprint on the stairs and, most devastating of all, the horrifying sight of her teenage daughter lying dead on the landing, a man standing over her with a bloody knife. The struggle which follows changes Abigail's life forever. When the local police make a misjudgement which not only threatens the investigation but places a young girl's life in danger, the case is handed over to Special Agent Will Trent of

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word the Criminal Apprehension Team - paired with detective Faith Mitchell, a woman who resents him from their first meeting.

Smith, Tim Rob Child 44 In Stalin's Soviet Union, crime does not exist. But still millions live in fear. The mere suspicion of disloyalty to the State, the wrong word at the wrong time, can send an innocent person to his execution. Officer Leo Demidov, an idealistic war hero, believes he's building a perfect society. But after witnessing the interrogation of an innocent man, his loyalty begins to waver, and when ordered to investigate his own wife, Raisa, Leo is forced to choose where his heart truly lies. Then the impossible happens. A murderer is on the loose, killing at will, and every belief Leo has ever held is shattered.

Smith, Zadie White teeth One of the most talked about fictional debuts of recent years, "White Teeth" is a funny, generous, big-hearted novel, adored by critics and readers alike. Dealing - among many other things - with friendship, love, war, three cultures and three families over three generations, one brown mouse, and the tricky way the past has of coming back and biting you on the ankle, it is a life- affirming, riotous must-read of a book.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Solana, Teresa Shortcut to A writer is murdered at the Ritz on the night she wins an paradise important literary prize, battered to death with the trophy she has just won. A satire of the Catalan literary scene dressed up as a hilarious murder mystery.

Staincliffe, Cath Witness Four bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time, witnesses to the shocking shooting of a teenage boy. A moment that changes their lives forever. Ordinary people in an extraordinary situation. Will the witnesses stand firm or be prevented from giving evidence? How will they cope with the emotional trauma of reliving the murder under pitiless cross-examination? This is a compassionate, suspenseful and illuminating story exploring the real human cost of bearing witness.

Steinbeck, John Grapes of wrath John Steinbeck's powerful evocation of the suffering and hardship caused by the Great Depression, and a panoramic vision of the struggle for the American Dream. Shocking and controversial when it was first published in 1939, Steinbeck's Pulitzer prize-winning epic "The Grapes of Wrath" remains his undisputed masterpiece. Set against the background of Dust Bowl Oklahoma and Californian migrant life, it tells of Tom Joad

and his family, who, like thousands of others, are forced to travel west in search of the promised land.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Stephenson, Neal Snow crash The only relief from the sea of logos is within the well-guarded borders of the Burbclaves. Is it any wonder that most sane folks have forsaken the real world and chosen to live in the computer- generated universe of virtual reality? In a major city the size of a dozen Manhattans, is a domain of pleasures limited only by the imagination. But now a strange new computer virus called Snow Crash is striking down hackers everywhere, leaving an unlikely young man as humankind's last best hope.

Stockett, Kathryn Help Jackson, Mississippi, 1962. Where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver...There's Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son's tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and, white Miss Skeeter, home from College, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared. Skeeter, Aibileen and Minny. No one would believe they'd be friends; fewer still would tolerate it. But as each

woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another. Each is in search of a truth. And together they have an extraordinary story to tell...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Sullivan, Jane Little people One day, she will ask me the inevitable question. There is so much to tell, and I am not certain how to tell it. At least I know where to begin. I will remind her that I was young, and had always been told that wanting was nothing but covetousness, a sin before God. I had no idea how dangerous that world would be. It began with a game a gentleman taught me...

Summerscale, Kate Suspicions of Mr. It is a summer's night in 1860. In an elegant detached Georgian Whicher house in the village of Road, Wiltshire, all is quiet. Behind shuttered windows the Kent family lies sound asleep. At some point after midnight a dog barks. The family wakes the next morning to a horrific discovery: an unimaginably gruesome murder has taken place in their home. The household reverberates with shock, not least because the guilty party is surely still among them. Jack Whicher of Scotland Yard, the most celebrated detective of his day, reaches Road Hill House a fortnight later. He faces an unenviable task: to solve a case in which the grieving family are the suspects.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Suzuki, Koji Spiral Pathologist Ando is at a low point in his life. His small son's death from drowning has resulted in the break-up of his marriage and he is suffering from traumatic recurrent nightmares. Work is his only escape, and his depressing world of loneliness and regret is shaken up when an old rival from medical school, Ryuji Takayama, turns up on his slab ready to be dissected. Through Ryuji's bizarre demise Ando learns of a series of mysterious deaths that seem to have been caused by a sinister virus. From beyond the grave Ryuji appears to be leading Ando towards a suspicious videotape - could this hold the answer to the riddle of the strange deaths? Or is it merely the first clue?

Thubron, Colin Shadow of the On buses, donkey carts, trains, jeeps and camels, Colin Silk Road Thubron traces the drifts of the first great trade route out of the heart of China into the mountains of Central Asia, across northern Afghanistan and the plains of Iran into Kurdish Turkey. Covering over 7000 miles in eight months Thurbron recounts his extraordinary adventures.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Tolkien, J. R. R. Hobbit This film tie-in edition features the complete story of Bilbo Baggins' adventures in Middle-earth, with a striking cover image from Peter Jackson's THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY and drawings and maps by J.R.R. Tolkien. Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely travelling further than the pantry of his hobbit-hole in Bag End. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard, Gandalf, and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive on his doorstep one

day to whisk him away on an unexpected journey 'there and back again'. They have a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon...The prelude to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit has sold many millions of copies since its publication in 1937, establishing itself as one of the most beloved and influential books of the twentieth century.

Torday, Paul Legacy of Ed Hartlepool has been living in self-imposed exile for five years, Hartlepool Hall but with a settlement regarding his inheritance looming, he must return to his ancestral seat, Hartlepool Hall. On his return, he discovers that his father has left him, along with the house, a seven million pound tax bill, two massive overdrafts, an 80-year- old butler, and a vast country estate that is creaking at the seams. Not only that, but there is a strange woman in residence - Lady Alice - who seems to have made herself very much at home. With the debts mounting, it seems that Ed's only recourse is to turn to his friend Annabel's new boyfriend, a property developer who plans to turn Hartlepool Hall into luxury flats and a golf course. But can Ed save his inheritance without such a drastic move? And is Lady Alice really the person she claims to

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word be?

Torday, Paul More than you Traumatised by a tour of duty in Iraq, Richard Gaunt returns can say home to his girlfriend with very little of a plan in mind. Finding it difficult to settle into civilian life, he turns to drink and gambling - and is challenged to a bet he cannot resist, all he has to do is walk from London to Oxford in under twelve hours. But what starts as a harmless venture turns into something altogether different when Richard recklessly accepts an unusual request from a stranger ...

Torday, Paul Salmon fishing in With a wickedly wonderful cast of characters - including a the Yemen visionary Sheikh, a weasely spin doctor, Fred's devilish wife and a few thousand transplanted salmon – 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen' is a novel about hypocrisy and bureaucracy, dreams and deniability, and the transforming power of faith and love.

Treadwell, James Advent For centuries it has been locked away Lost beneath the sea Warded from earth, air, water, fire, spirits, thought and sight. But now magic is rising to the world once more. And a boy called Gavin, who thinks only that he is a city kid with parents who hate him, and knows only that he sees things no one else will believe, is boarding a train, alone, to Cornwall. No one will be there to meet him.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Tremain, Rose Colour When Joseph finds gold in the creek, he is seized by a rapturous obsession with the voluptuous riches awaiting him deep in the earth. Abandoning his farm and family, he sets off alone for the new gold-fields over the Southern Alps, a moral wilderness where many others, under the seductive dreams of 'the colour', are violently rushing to their destinies. By turns both moving and terrifying, 'The Colour' is about a quest for the impossible, an attempt to mine the complexities of love and explore the sacrifices to be made in the pursuit of happiness.

Tremain, Rose Music and In the year 1629, a young English lutenist named Peter Claire silence arrives at the Danish Court to join King Christian IV's Royal Orchestra. From the moment when he realises that the musicians perform in a freezing cellar underneath the royal apartments, Peter Claire understands that he's come to a place where the opposing states of light and dark, good and evil, are waging war to the death. Designated the King's 'Angel' because

of his good looks, he finds himself falling in love with the young woman who is the companion of the King's adulterous and estranged wife, Kirsten.

Tremain, Rose Restoration When a twist of fate delivers an ambitious young medical student to the court of King Charles II, he is suddenly thrust into a vibrant world of luxury and opulence. Blessed with a quick wit and sparkling charm, Robert Merivel rises quickly, soon finding favour with the King, and privileged with a position as 'paper groom' to the youngest of the King's mistresses. But by falling in love with her, Merivel transgresses the one rule that will cast him out from his new-found paradise. Shortlisted for the Booker

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Prize.

Trollope, Anthony Barchester In this novel Trollope continues the story of Mr Harding and his Towers daughter Eleanor, adding to his cast of characters that oily symbol of progress Mr Slope, the hen-pecked Dr Proudie, and the amiable and breezy Stanhope family. The central questions of this moral comedy - Who will be warden? Who will be dean? Who will marry Eleanor? - are skilfully handled with that subtlety of ironic observation that has won Trollope such a wide and appreciative readership.

Tsiolkas, Christos Dead Europe In the mountain village in the Balkans where his mother was born, Isaac, a young Australian photographer unearths ancient terrors that have not been laid to rest, and perhaps never can be. Part long-forgotten myth, part meditation on the violence and tragedy of contemporary Europe, Dead Europe is an unsettling story about blood lust and blood revenge; a novel of blazing brilliance from the acclaimed author of 'The Slap'.

Tyler, Anne Beginner's When Dorothy came back from the dead, it seemed to Aaron goodbye that some people simply didn't notice. The accident that killed Dorothy - involving an oak tree, a sun porch and some elusive biscuits - leaves Aaron bereft and the house a wreck. As those around him fuss and flap and bring him casserole after casserole, Aaron ploughs on. But then Dorothy starts to materialize in the oddest places. At first, she only comes for a short while, leaving Aaron longing for more. Gradually she stays for longer, and as they talk, they also bicker and the cracks that were present in their perfectly ordinary marriage start to

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word reappear...

Unsworth, Cathi Weirdo Twenty years ago, a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl named Corrine Woodrow was convicted of murdering one of her classmates. But now new forensic evidence indicates that Corrine didn't act alone, and Sean Ward - a private investigator whose promising career in the Met was cut short by a teenage drug dealer with an automatic weapon - travels to the seaside town of Ernemouth, to try to discover what really happened all those years ago. But he quickly realises that what's ultimately at stake is not Corrine's reputation, but those of the people who ran the place then - and still run it now. In order to get to the truth, he has to take on not just retired Detective Inspector Le Rivett - the man who headed up the original case and wants to keep it firmly closed - but also the mindset of an entire town that has always known how to look after its own.

Varley, Jane Truth about love Sally seems to have everything: a marriage to Edward; a much- Elizabeth loved baby son; and a dream house. Yet beneath an apparently content exterior, Sally struggles with the legacy of Edward's past: his ex-wife, his resentful step-daughter and Edward's mixed feelings about the family he left behind. When Sally discovers the house holds a secret, her need to escape the strains of her marriage leads her on a quest to discover the truth. But can she solve the challenges of the present as well as the past?

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Vickers, Salley Other side of you 'There is no cure for being alive.' Thus speaks Dr David McBride, a psychiatrist for whom death exerts an unusual draw. One day a failed suicide, Elizabeth Cruikshank, is admitted to his hospital. As her story unfolds David finds his own life being touched by her account and a haunting sense that the 'other side' of his elusive patient has a strange resonance for him, too. Set partly in Rome, 'The Other Side of You' explores the theme of redemption through love and art, which has become a hallmark of Salley Vickers's acclaimed work.

Waldman, Amy Submission A jury gathers in Manhattan to select a memorial for the victims of a devastating terrorist attack. Their fraught deliberations complete, the jurors open the envelope containing the anonymous winner's name - and discover he is an American Muslim. Instantly they are cast into roiling debate about the claims of grief, the ambiguities of art, and the meaning of Islam. The memorial's designer is Mohammad Khan, an enigmatic, ambitious architect. His fiercest defender on the jury is its sole widow, the mediagenic Claire Burwell. But when the news of his selection leaks to the press, Claire finds herself under pressure from outraged family members and in collision with hungry journalists, wary activists, opportunistic politicians, fellow jurors, and Khan himself. All will bring the emotional weight of their own histories to bear on the urgent question of how to remember, and understand, a national tragedy.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Walker, Martin Black diamond At the heart of French gastronomy lies the famed black truffle of the Perigord. But France's truffles are being adulterated with cheaper ones from China, and it seems that Chinese organised crime is behind the fraud. In St Denis market, a Vietnamese family has been selling their dishes for years, until their stall is wrecked by attackers who look Chinese. Again it appears that organised crime is behind the outrage, firing the opening shots of a Viet-Chinese triad war.

Waters, Sarah Night watch Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked out streets, illicit liaisons and sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941;'The Night Watch' is the work of a truly brilliant and compelling storyteller. This is the story of four Londoners - three women and a young man with a past, drawn with absolute truth and intimacy. Tender, tragic and beautifully poignant, set against the backdrop of feats of heroism both epic and ordinary, here is a novel of relationships that offers up subtle surprises and twists.

Watson, Christie Tiny sunbirds far Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2011. "Everything away changed after Mama found Father lying on top of another woman." Blessing and her brother Ezikiel adore their larger- than-life father, their glamorous mother and their comfortable life in Lagos. But all that changes when their father leaves them for another woman. Told in Blessing's own beguiling voice, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away shows how some families can survive almost anything. At times hilarious, always poignant, occasionally tragic, it is peopled with characters you will never forget.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Watson, S. J. Before I go to Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you sleep went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love - all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. Welcome to Christine's life.

Way, Camilla Little bird Three identities, no known name, and an obsessed pursuer from the past. It took one second to snatch the child. One silent, unseen moment to pluck her from the world. In a click of a finger, a blink of an eye, she was gone. As if, like a bird, she had just flown away. Kate never speaks about the past, and you would never know at first who she was. But, if you looked closely, you might see how she glances nervously over her shoulder, as if she were being followed. If you paid attention, you might hear how carefully she speaks. And if you were to search, you might find the old newspaper clippings she keeps hidden away. Webb, Katherine Half forgotten 1937. In a village on the Dorset coast, fourteen-year-old Mitzy Large Spoken song Hatcher has endured a wild and lonely upbringing - until the arrival of renowned artist Charles Aubrey, his exotic mistress print word and their daughters, changes everything. Over the next three summers, Mitzy sees a future she had never thought possible, and a powerful love is kindled in her. A love that grows from innocence to obsession; from childish infatuation to something far more complex. Years later, a young man in an art gallery

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word looks at a hastily-drawn portrait and wonders at the intensity of it. The questions he asks lead him to a Dorset village and to the truth about those fevered summers in the 1930s ...

Weir, Alison Innocent traitor Lady Jane Grey was born into times of extreme danger. Child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she was merely a pawn in a dynastic power game with the highest stakes, she lived a life in thrall to political machinations and lethal religious fervour. Jane's astonishing and essentially tragic story was played out during one of the most momentous periods of English history. As a great-niece of Henry VIII, and the cousin of Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I, she grew up to realize that she could never throw off the chains of her destiny. Her honesty, intelligence and strength of character carry the reader through all the vicious twists of Tudor power politics, to her nine-day reign and its unbearably poignant conclusion.

Weller, Lance Wilderness Thirty years ago, Abel Truman found himself on the wrong side in the Battle of the Wilderness, one of the bloodiest clashes of the American Civil War. Its aftermath took him to the edge of the continent, the rugged coast of Washington State, where he has made his home in a driftwood shack with his beloved dog, waiting for the scars of war to heal. Now an old and ailing man, Abel must make one heroic final journey over the snowbound Olympic Mountains. It's a quest he has little hope of completing but must still undertake to settle matters of the heart that predate even the horrors of the war. Hypatia is a slave whose freedom comes at a terrible price, and who finds herself walking unwittingly into the hellish heart of the Wilderness. Ellen is a

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word white woman, married to a black man at a time that is as dangerous as it is unforgiving. And Jane is a young Chinese girl, who is newly, cruelly orphaned, and clinging on to life. Abel's tortured and ultimately redemptive path leads him to each of them as he encounters compassion amid brutality and tenderness within loss.

Welsh, Louise Cutting room Set in contemporary Glasgow, The Cutting Room is narrated by Rilke, one of the most engaging, flawed and hedonistic fictional creation of recent years. When this dissolute and promiscuous auctioneer comes upon a hidden collection of violent, and highly disturbing, erotic photographs, he feels compelled to unearth more about the deceased owner who coveted them. What follows is a compulsive journey of discovery, decadence and

deviousness.

White, Neil Beyond evil There's no way back...DI Sheldon Brown has never recovered from finding the body of Alice Kenyon brutally murdered, naked and abandoned in a pool. And he's never stopped pursuing his main suspect, hell raiser and lottery winner Billy Privett either. So when Billy is found dead and, what's more, viciously dissected, DI Brown's obsession is rekindled. Who killed the notorious millionaire in such a bloodthirsty way? With jaded lawyer Charlie Barker - who desperately needs to pick up the

pieces of his own life - Sheldon will uncover a world of drugs, long-buried secrets and a cult with a deadly conviction to their cause ...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word White, Neil Cold kill "Every breath you take, he'll be watching you!" When Jane Roberts is found dead in a woodland area Detective Sergeant Laura McGanity is first on the scene. The body bears a chilling similarity to a woman-Deborah Corley - murdered three weeks earlier. Both have been stripped, strangled and defiled. When reporter Jack Garrett starts digging for dirt on the notorious Whitcroft estate, he finds himself face-to-face with Jane's father and gangland boss Don who will stop at nothing until justice is done.

White, Neil 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.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word White, Neil Last rites The Lancashire town of Blackley has been rocked by the violent death of Luke Howarth. The fingers of suspicion point towards his girlfriend, Sarah Goode - missing since his murder. Just another crime of passion with a tragic end. Or is it? Reporter Jack Garrett isn't so sure - especially when he's asked by Sarah's distraught parents to find their daughter. Their description of caring schoolteacher Sarah doesn't tally with the media's portrayal of a cold-blooded killer. But as he hunts for Sarah, Jack finds himself immersed in the town's troubled history and discovers that dangerous rituals from the past are impacting on the present. Jack's girlfriend, DC Laura McGanity, in the midst of a tough custody battle, must be content to sit on the sidelines. But she soon finds herself caught up in the investigation, as the mystery surrounding Sarah's disappearance dramatically unravels.

White, Neil Lost souls Sometimes the worst nightmares happen in broad daylight... 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

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word 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 apparent that many people, including his own family, are in danger...

Wilde, Oscar Picture of Dorian Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges Gray his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence.

Wilhide , Elizabeth Ashenden Elizabeth Wilhide's debut novel "Ashenden" traces the history of an English house across two and a half centuries. When Charlie and Ros inherit Ashenden from their aunt Reggie a decision must be made. The beautiful eighteenth-century house, set in acres of English countryside, is in need of serious repair. Do they try to keep it in the family, or will they have to sell? Moving back in time, in an interwoven narrative spanning two and a half centuries, we witness the house from its beginnings through to the present day.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Williams, Kate Becoming Queen Laying bare the passions that swirled around the throne in the eighteenth century, 'Becoming Queen' is an absorbingly dramatic tale of secrets, sexual repression and endless conflict. After her lauded biography of Emma Hamilton, 'England's Mistress', Kate Williams has produced a most original and intimate portrait of Great Britain's longest reigning monarch.

Williams, Kate Pleasures of men It's Spitalfields, 1840. Catherine Sorgeiul lives with her Uncle in a rambling house in London's East End. She has few companions and little to occupy the days beyond her own colourful imagination. But then a murderer strikes, ripping open the chests of young girls and stuffing hair into their mouths to resemble a beak, leading the press to christen him The Man of Crows. And as Catherine hungrily devours the news, she finds she can channel the voices of the dead ...and comes to believe

she will eventually channel The Man of Crows himself. But the murders continue to panic the city and Catherine gradually realizes she is snared in a deadly trap, where nothing is as it first appears ...and lurking behind the lies Catherine has been told are secrets more deadly and devastating than anything her imagination can conjure. With an elegant style and thrilling plot, "The Pleasures of Men" reveals the dark, beating heart of corrupt London during Queen Victoria's reign.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Winman, Kate When God was a Spanning four decades and moving between suburban Essex, Spoken rabbit the wild coast of Cornwall and the streets of New York, this is a story about childhood, eccentricity, the darker side of love and word sex, the pull and power of family ties, loss and life. More than anything, it's a story about love in all its forms.

Winterson, Jeanette Daylight gate Good Friday, 1612. Pendle Hill, Lancashire. A mysterious gathering of thirteen people is interrupted by local magistrate, Roger Nowell. Is this a witches' Sabbat? Two notorious Lancashire witches are already in Lancaster Castle waiting trial. Why is the beautiful and wealthy Alice Nutter defending them? And why is she among the group of thirteen on Pendle Hill? Elsewhere, a starved, abused child lurks. And a Jesuit priest and former Gunpowder plotter, recently returned from France, is widely rumoured to be heading for Lancashire. But who will offer him sanctuary? And how quickly can he be caught? This is the reign of James I, a Protestant King with an obsession: to rid his realm of twin evils, witchcraft and Catholicism, at any price ...

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Wolfe, Tom Electric Kool -Aid "I looked around and people's faces were distorted...lights were acid test flashing everywhere...the screen at the end of the room had three or four different films on it at once, and the strobe light was flashing faster than it had been...the band was playing but I couldn't hear the music...people were dancing...someone came up to me and I shut my eyes and with a machine he projected images on the back of my eye-lids...I sought out a person I trusted and he laughed and told me that the Kool-Aid had been spiked and that I was beginning my first LSD experience..."

Woolf, Virginia Mrs Dalloway's Written in the same period as Mrs Dalloway these seven short party stories show the author's fascination with parties and with all the excitement, the fluctuations of mood and temper and the heightened emotions which surround these social occasions. "Mrs Dalloway's Party" is enchanting piece of work by one of our most acclaimed twentieth century writers.

Yates, Richard Revolutionary Hailed as a masterpiece from the moment of its first publication, Road 'Revolutionary Road' is the story of Frank and April Wheeler, a bright, young couple who are bored by the banalities of suburban life and long to be extraordinary. With heartbreaking compassion and clarity, Richard Yates shows how Frank and April's decision to change their lives for the better leads to betrayal and tragedy.

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word Zimler, Richard Warsaw Its Autumn 1940. The Nazis seal 400,000 Jews inside a small anagrams area of the Polish capital, creating an urban island cut off from the outside world. Erik Cohen, an elderly psychiatrist, is forced to move into a tiny apartment with his niece and his beloved nine-year-old nephew, Adam. One bitterly cold winter's day, Adam goes missing. The next morning, his body is discovered in the barbed wire surrounding the ghetto. The boy's leg has been cut off, and a tiny piece of string has been left in his mouth.

Soon, another body turns up - this time a girl's, and one of her hands has been taken. Evidence begins to point to a Jewish traitor luring children to their death...In this profoundly moving and darkly atmospheric historical thriller, the reader is taken into the most forbidden corners of Nazi-occupied Warsaw - as well as into the most heroic places of the heart.

Zola, Emile Germinal 'Germinal' tells the story of Etienne Lantier, from the illegitimate Macquart branch of the family, who arrives in the mining settlement of Montsou, and witnesses at first hand the appalling conditions in which miners live and work. But this is more than the struggle of labour against capital. It is also the struggle of the hungry against the well-fed, against the passivity and resignation

passed down over generations of starving people, and ultimately against hunger itself, represented by the fantastical devouring monster of the mine, which swallows up men, just as the beast of the modern industrial economy relentlessly swallows up capital. This apparent pessimism about society is offset by the possibility of rebirth and regeneration. For all the inherited misery of the downtrodden, the old order may some day be

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Jacket Cover Author Title Description Large Spoken Print Word overturned.

Zusak, Markus Book thief It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. By her brother's graveside, Liesel Meminger's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found. But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.

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