All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye
Barcode # 043326
All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye belongs to the half of Broodmare's work less concerned with the state of the Scottish nation and more with what happens when ironically ordinary Scots are dumped into the middle of Hollywood plots. Here, we have, on the one hand, an international trouble-shooting organization most of whose agents are on the run from some sort of trouble themselves, and, on the other, a forty-something grandmother aware that life has passed her by and was not meant to. When someone tries to kidnap her grand-daughter, she responds with inventive viciousness; told to save her family by making a South of France rendezvous, she steals passports, cars and tickets as if she has always been doing it. Recruited merely as an expert on a missing bowfin who happens to be her son, Jane demonstrates that the quiet desperation of ordinary life is the best training a super agent could have...This is Broodmare at his most slyly subversive and viscerally exciting, a daydream which never quite becomes preposterous.
At a time like this
Barcode # 042942
Four women, Claire, Maura, Maggie and Georgic, gather to celebrate 25 years of friendship. A quarter of a century of intimacies shared, betrayals survived, and differences reconciled.
A bad bride's tale
Barcode # 042964
This is the second novel from Polly Williams, author of 'The Rise and fall of a Yummy Mummy'. 'A Bad Bride's Tale' is the story of two women who think they're ready to settle down - but have they found the right man?
The bad quarto
Barcode # 043343
Another foolhardy Cambridge college-climber has died attempting Harding's Folly. This time its John Talent ire, one of the brightest young dons at St Acanthi’s, and the verdict is accident, compounded by idiocy. But Imogene Quay - her name rhymes with 'why' - can't help wondering how such a clever young man died so stupidly. And when a wildly eccentric production of "Hamlet" is interrupted by a murder accusation, Imogene has to look into it, uncovering more crime than she expected.
Before I Die
Barcode # 042974
Tessa has just a few months to live. Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It's her 'To Do Before I Die list'. And number one is sex. Released from the constraints of 'normal' life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up. Tessa's feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa's time finally runs out. "BEFORE I DIE" is a brilliantly-crafted novel, heartbreaking yet astonishingly life-affirming. It will take you to the very edge.
The blue door
Barcode # 042963
'The Blue Door' is built around one of the oldest questions in storytelling: What if?
Bury her deep
Barcode # 042962
'Bury Her Deep' is set in Scotland shortly after the Great War and features Dandy Glider, an upper-class amateur sleuth. The first Dandy Glider book, 'After the Armistice Ball', was nominated for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger of 2005.
The Carhullan army
Barcode # 042961
The state of the nation has changed. With much of the country now underwater, assets and weapons seized by the government - itself run by the sinister 'Authority' - and war raging in South America and China, life in Britain is unrecognizable.
Chasing dreams
Barcode # 042967
Growing up in a small town, Sandy Paul dreams of something better. When she lands a job with one of London's leading theatrical agencies her dreams appear to be coming true, particularly when she meets Michael McCann, her handsome and dynamic boss.
The chocolate lovers' diet
Barcode # 042946
Join Lucy and her fellow chocolate lovers, autumn, Nadia and Chantal, once again as they exchange gossip and sort out each other's lives in their favorite retreat, Chocolate Heaven
Contract: murder for money, the dead wants their due
Barcode # 042973
Michael Point doesn't seem anything special. He dresses conservatively, is thoughtful, methodical and well spoken. He also happens to kill people for money. He does it quietly, efficiently and professionally. But not in London, never in London, that's where he lives. You see for Michael, Its All about the Money. But things are just about to go pear shaped for him. His hits start to come back to life and trying to kill him. That makes things messy, very messy, and Michael doesn't know if his conscience has started caving in under all the pressure and he's going mad, or if maybe he's just become some sort of divine agent in a cosmic battle between good and evil for the soul of the entire universe. Maybe!.
Coward on the beach
Barcode # 042952
Meet reluctant hero Dick Coward, an ordinary chap in extraordinary circumstances. World War II’s answer to Flash man, only much more honorable - Dick's a coward by name but not by nature - our hero has the uncanny knack of being in just the right place at just the wrong time
Dead men's boots
Barcode # 042959
Before he died, Felix Castor's fellow exorcist John Gittings made several calls asking for help. If Castor had answered them, John might still be alive. So when a smooth-talking lawyer comes out of nowhere to claim the remains, Castor owes it to John's unhappy ghost and even unhappy widow to help out
Death in disguise
Barcode # 043372
The Golden Wind horse, as the manor house has recently been christened by the villagers, is home to a bunch of New Age oddballs. When one of them is killed, then another, Chief Inspector Barnaby encounters some bizarre suspects.
Death message
Barcode # 042947
The first message sent to Tom Thorne's mobile was just a picture - the blurred image of a man's face, but Thorne has seen enough dead bodies in his time to know that the man was no longer alive. But who was he? Who sent the photograph? And why?
Death of a Hollow Man
Barcode # 043371
A visit to the amateur dramatic society's production of Amadeus is not DCI Barnaby's idea of an evening's entertainment. But his professional skills are required when the scene takes a particularly gruesome turn.
Diary of a hapless househusband
Barcode # 042954
When father-of-two Sam loses his job, he reluctantly agrees to stay at home while his wife returns to work. Secretly thinking this whole parenthood thing a breeze of leisurely jaunts to the park, reading the paper while the children play quietly and occasionally attending a civilized play date or two, Sam quickly realizes just what exactly it means to be a stay-at-home parent. Inevitably, domestic mayhem ensues. Just trying to get dressed in the morning and out of the house without going to A&E is a feat in and of itself, as is managing the children's complicated play-date schedule while fending off the unwelcome advances of Jodhpur Mum at the Ann Summers party. He spends his nights devising a foolproof 72-step Childcare Programme, which doesn't seem remotely up to the task. Desperate to get himself out of the house and into the working world again, he seizes upon a variety of mad schemes, but just as things look like they're beginning to fall into place for him, he makes a surprising discovery.
The Dragon's Tail
Barcode # 042941
Harry Airton, a Scottish fisherman, has China in his blood. A chance encounter with a spook during the Korean War gives him the opportunity to return to the land of his birth and serve his government at the same time. They hatch a long-term plan to create the perfect spy: a triple agent with a cover that can't be broken, because it's genuine. What Harry doesn't realize is that if he is setting the perfect trap, the Communist Chinese may also be finding the perfect bait. And that as the Cold War escalates and China marches towards Cultural Revolution and the end of the twentieth-century, the fates of two people who love each other are entirely unimportant!
The dreaming void
Barcode # 042958
The Void is slowly consuming the other stars of the galactic core - one day it will have devoured the entire galaxy. It's AD4000, and a human has started to dream of the wonderful existence of The Void. He has a following of millions of believers who now wish to travel to there to live the life they have been shown.
Edward Trencome's nose: a novel of history, dark intrigue and cheese
Barcode # 043383
Edward Trencom has bumbled through life, relying on his trusty nose to turn the family cheese shop into the most celebrated forager in England. His world is turned upside down when he discovers that nine previous generations of his family have come to their end because of their noses.
Every Breath You Take
Barcode # 042385
A stranger stalks the streets of Houghton le spring. Salina, the daughter of Detective Lorraine's partner, DS Luke Daniels, is attacked. A body of a young woman is found with her heart cut out, and in its place - a single white rose. Soon the White Rose Killer steps up his campaign. Is DI Hunt imagining it, or does he have a message for her?
The Extra Large Medium
Barcode # 043385
Faith
Barcode # 043402
It is 1995, Scotland. The prison of Corn ton Vale. Laura Brannigan is in jail for a murder she claims she didn't commit. For two years she's been battling for justice - insisting the police made a terrible mistake; pleading that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie. With her spirits at their lowest ebb, she's resigned to her miserable fate - until, out of the blue, a letter is delivered to the prison. At the sight of the letter's handwriting, Laura's heart lurches - taking her back to a different, happier time and memory of an old love...1972 was the year Laura met Stuart and experienced her first summer of love. It was a heady time as she'd only recently been able to stop running. For Laura had always been a survivor: leaving an abusive home at fifteen and then life on her own - until she met Jackie. She and Jackie became best friends, swore they'd be sisters for ever. So what went wrong in the intervening years? And why is Stuart writing to Laura now? Does he have faith in her innocence? And can he help free Laura from prison - and her past?
The Family Tree
Barcode # 043328
At a finger buffet held at 24 Beech Drive on the day of Charles and Diana's wedding, Rebecca Monroe's mother locked herself in the bathroom and never came out. Was it because her squiggly chocolate log collapsed? Because Rebecca's grandmother married her first cousin? Or can we never know why we do what we do?
Far from the madding crowd
Barcode # 043395
Independent and spirited Bathsheba Everdene has come to Weather bury to take up her position as a farmer on the largest estate in the area. Her bold presence draws three very different suitors: the gentleman-farmer bold wood, soldier-seducer Sergeant Troy and the devoted shepherd Gabriel Oak. Each, in contrasting ways, unsettles her decisions and complicates her life, and tragedy ensues, threatening the stability of the whole community. The first of his works set in Wessex, Hardy's novel of swift passion and slow courtship is imbued with his evocative descriptions of rural life and landscapes, and with unflinching honesty about sexual relationships.
Fatal attraction
Barcode # 043344
Barcode # 043345
When Rose sees Joe in an Oxford bar, for her it is instant infatuation. He is everything she could ever want. In her mind, at least, they are ideally matched and a burning desire for him takes hold. Fate, however, has other plans and Joe has no intention of settling down.
Going under
Barcode # 043400
The future looks bleak for Aidan Walsh. He stands to lose his job as the last major employer in a dead-end Welsh town prepares to close its factory and relocate to India. Then Aidan hatches a startling plan. He buries himself alive in a coffin in his back garden; announcing that he's not coming back up until everyone's job is saved. Can one desperate man with nothing but a crazy idea take on a multi-national?
Great expectations
Barcode # 043369
Great Expectations charts the progress of Pip from childhood through often painful experiences to adulthood, as he moves from the Kent marshes to busy, commercial London, encountering a variety of extraordinary characters ranging from Magwitch, the escaped convict, to Miss Hamish, locked up with her unhappy past and living with her ward, the arrogant, beautiful Estella. In this compelling story, Dickens shows the dangers of being driven by a desire for wealth and social status. Pip must establish his own sense of self against the plans which others seem to have for him, and thus discover a firm set of values and priorities. Whether such values will allow one to prosper in the complex world of early Victorian England is, however, the major question posed by Great Expectations, one of Dickens's most fascinating and disturbing novels. A chance encounters with and escaped convict and an unexpected summons from the mysterious Miss Hamish change the life of orphan Pip. A large gift of money from an unknown benefactor gives him 'great expectations' of becoming a gentleman and winning the hand of the beautiful Estella. But the past holds many strange secrets that will cloud his hopes of happiness...
Hazel
Barcode # 043386
Sweet but dull - that's how life has always been for Hazel Louise Mull-Dare. But on the day of the Epsom Derby - June 4th, 1913 - everything changes. A woman in a dark coat steps out in front of the King's horse, dying days later from her injuries. Who was she and why did she do it? Hazel is determined to find out.
Heaven sent
Barcode # 042955
Clammier has a problem - she's had almost as many jobs as she's had birthdays and her love life is on the critical list. But with the big 3-0 looming she's determined to transform herself from unemployed singleton to loved-up success.
Hidden
Barcode # 042966
A trail of blood winding through a squalid flat in Margate leads DCI Dave Go forth to the body of Jacqui Jennings, her skull smashed with a chisel. For Dave it is just the start of a long and puzzling case.
The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy
Barcode # 042762
One Thursday lunchtime Earth is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this is already more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun. And the Galaxy is a very, very large and startling place indeed ...THE HITCH HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY became a massive cult success when it was first published and continues to sell all over the world. It introduced such memorable characters as Arthur Dent, Marvin the Paranoid Android, Zaphod Beeblebrox and, of course, the Vegans, and remains one of the funniest, most irreverent and entertaining novels ever.
Holly's inbox
Barcode # 042965
Ever wanted to root around in someone else's inbox? 'Holly's Inbox' enabled readers to do just that. They logged on in droves to read the daily emails of Holly Dedham, a fictional receptionist at an Investment Bank in the City. This book will tell Holly's full story, as well as reveal extra material never published on the site.
Hot Blood
Barcode # 043342
Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is used to putting his life on the line. It goes with the turf when you're an undercover cop. Now working for the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Shepherd is pitting his wits against the toughest criminals in the country. But when the man who once saved his life is kidnapped in the badlands of Iraq, thrown into a basement and threatened with execution, Shepherd has to decide whether his loyalties lie with his country, his career, or his friend. Shepherd and his former SAS colleagues realise that the hostage has been abandoned by the Government and that officially nothing is being done to rescue him. And with the execution deadline only days away, Shepherd knows that the only way to stop his friend being murdered is to put himself in the firing line in the most dangerous city in the world - Baghdad.
Jane Eyre
Barcode # 043392
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 Thorn field 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 loves? A novel of intense power and intrigue, "Jane Eyre" (1847) dazzled and shocked readers with its passionate depiction of a woman's search for equality and freedom.
The Jennifer Morgue
Barcode # 042960
Bob Howard must save the world from eldritch horrors, codenamed Jennifer Morgue. Bob's current mission is to stop the evil Ellis billing ton from achieving world domination, but he must overcome obstacles including the Grave dust device, which permits communication with the dead.
Kidnapped
Barcode # 042992
'Kidnapped' is an adventure story in which the tensions run deep, not only between pursuer and the pursued, but in ancient misunderstandings between the two heroes: Whig and Jacobite; Lowland rationalist and romantic Highlander. This edition has a new foreword by well-known Scottish novelist Alasdair Gray.
Kill clock
Barcode # 042968
Pearce's ex-girlfriend is back and she needs 20 grand before midnight. Or she's dead. She doesn't have the money and nor does Pearce, and time is running out fast.
The Killings at Badger's drift
Barcode # 043370
Badger's Drift is a tranquil English village, home to Miss Emily Simpson, a kindly, well-liked spinster. When she is murdered, Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby is called in to investigate, and soon uncovers a dark side to Badger's Drift.
King Solomon's Mines
Barcode # 043399
Three men trek to the remote African interior in search of a lost friend - and reach, at the end of a perilous journey, an unknown land cut off from the world, where terrible dangers threaten anyone who ventures near the spectacular diamond mines of King Solomon...
Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book
Barcode # 043511
This is a reproduction of the diary of Lady Angelica Cottingham, which features pressed garden fairies. Or rather the psychic images of the fairies, who quickly turned it into a game, where they leapt between the closing pages in an effort to outdo each other to produce the most outrageous poses. The book claims to be the facsimile edition of the notebook of Lady Cottington who, it is said, took the infamous photograph of a group of fairies that was authenticated by Conan Doyle, but later discredited. She was determined to prove the existence of fairies and began to capture them between the pages of her notebook, in which she had previously pressed wild flowers. This is a record of the fairies she caught, and of the disruptive influence they had on her otherwise sheltered life.
The last breath
Barcode # 042970
Paddy Meehan is devastated when former boyfriend Terry Patterson is found murdered. As she begins her investigation into his death, she realizes that if the secret he was about to expose was worth killing for, she is next in line. ; Glasgow, 1990. Paddy Meehan is home alone when there's a knock at the door. It's the police and they have bad news. Former boyfriend Terry Patterson's naked body has been found in a ditch. He's been tortured, hooded, then shot through the head: all hallmarks of an IRA assassination. Paddy is devastated: Terry was her first lover; the sort of journalist she's always aspired to be. But why have the police come to her? Although she and Terry have had an on/off affair since they first worked together in the 1980s, she hasn't seen him for over a year. She is therefore horrified to find that not only has Terry named her next of kin, but he has left her a huge Georgian house in Artier and several suitcases full of notes. What was Terry trying to tell her? As Paddy begins her investigation into his death, she realizes that if the secret he was about to expose was worth killing for, she is next in line.
Light
Barcode # 043401
This book is from the acclaimed author of "Voyageurs" and "The Sea Road". It will appeal to readers of historical fiction and fans of Elephantine. The author has published eight novels and is firmly established as a writer of superb historical fiction. May, 1831, and on a tiny island off the Isle of Man, a lighthouse provides a harsh living for an unusual family. Lucy and Diva, husbandless and with three children between them, watch over the ancient light on Ellen Bride. Meanwhile the Scottish engineer, Robert Stevenson, is modernizing the nation's lighthouses, and Ellen Bride - and the future of the family - are under threat. When two surveyors arrive to assess the light, tension escalates to danger point.
The lost world and other thrilling tales
Barcode # 043028
In a tradition that stretches from Gulliver's Travels to King Solomon's Mines and Jurassic Park, 'The Lost World' is a story of civilized man's encounter with alternative races or species; in this case, Indians, ape-men, and dinosaurs. 'The Lost World' was the first of Conan Doyle's stories to feature the adventurer, Professor Challenger. Challenger and his team are re-united in 'The Poison Belt', where the world is engulfed by lethal gas. These gripping Challenger stories appear here with two other fantasies: 'The Terror of Blue John Gap', and 'The Horror of the Heights'.
The Love Academy
Barcode # 042440
Do you have enough romance in your life? Journalist Kirsty Bailey would have to answer no. She has a boyfriend. But then just as she's on the verge of settling for a swoon-free existence, Kristy’s magazine sends her to a majestic Venetian palazzo to attend the much gossiped-about Love Academy... Her undercover mission?
Minaret
Barcode # 043335
This title takes a look at the life of an orthodox Muslim woman in London.
The moment you were gone
Barcode # 042969
Murder in mind
Barcode # 042957
Jamie Mullin is the prime suspect when his girlfriend is found murdered. Protesting his innocence, he soon spirals into a breakdown, fuelled by frustration, self-pity and drink. It is left to his friend, Matt Shepherd, to fight his corner. Can he find the truth behind what appears to be a motiveless murder? ; Sophie Bradford was pretty, blonde and an accomplished flirt. When her body is found dumped in a ditch on a lonely road, Jamie Mullin is the prime suspect. He was her latest boyfriend and they'd had a very public row just before she disappeared. Jamie protests his innocence but soon spirals into a breakdown fuelled by frustration, self-pity and drink, and it is left to his friend, Matt Shepherd, to fight his corner. Can he find the truth behind what appears to be a motiveless murder? But Matt begins to uncover some dark secrets - secrets that someone will kill to protect - and he soon learns that loyalty at all costs carries a lethal price.
Naked to the hangman
Barcode # 042951
As a young police officer in Palestine during the closing months of the Mandate - the cradle of Middle Eastern terrorism - Richard Thorn hill saw and did things which still haunt his dreams and make him fear for his sanity. Is he himself a killer?
Natural history
Barcode # 042956
Strange things are happening in Monkey land, the ailing Devonshire sanctuary that Patrick and his zoologist wife, Jane, took on in a bid to save their marriage. Then, one night something happens that is so shocking, so deplorable, that it rips apart everything that Patrick has ever held to be true…
No more angels’ stories
Barcode # 042950
The stories in 'No More Angels' capture the idiosyncrasies of modern life. A widower struggles to keep his family on the tracks after the death of his young wife, a schoolboy counts down the days, hours, minutes to a friend's party, and a house tour is conducted with the unspoken stench of apprenticed hanging in the air.
A pair of silver wings
Barcode #042948
At the school where Edward Ender by taught for over 40 years, there were few who knew he'd been a successful fighter pilot during the war. In 1995, Britain is celebrating the anniversary of the end of the war, and Edward finds himself forced to confront the tragedy he suffered during those years.
Pride and prejudice
Barcode # 043394
Elizabeth Ben net is the perfect Austen heroine: intelligent, generous, sensible, and incapable of jealousy or any other major sin. That makes her sound like an insufferable goody-goody, but the truth is she's a completely hip character who, if provoked, is not above skewering her antagonist with a piece of her exceptionally sharp, yet always polite, 18th-century wit. The real point of the book though, the critical question which will keep you fixated throughout, is: will Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy hook up? Read this genuine all-time classic and discover the answer while enjoying a story that has charmed generation after generation.
The Quest
Barcode # 043331
'The Quest' is an epic adventure set in ancient Egypt. Following on from 'River God', 'The Seventh Scroll' and 'Warlock', this novel continues the story of the Warlock, Taiga, wise in the lore of the ancient gods and a master of magic and the supernatural.
Real
Barcode # 043329
Sally McGinley, 29, is a playwright who has watched her university friends achieves success in film and theatre while her career is diminishing. Greg Burns, 44, is an actor on the slide - television success in a vet drama six years ago is a distant memory, and his twelve-year relationship with Caroline and his ten-year-old daughter has hit hard and frustrating times. When Sally is commissioned to write a new play for top director Freddie Zamora in the West End and Greg is cast as the male lead, both of them seize the opportunity to enliven their professional lives. Greg moves to London and they begin an affair which at first seems just the kind of reckless, sexual adventure they'd craved; until, disbelievingly, Sally announces she is pregnant and they are both forced to make decisions that catapult them into recognition of just what real life entails.
The Red Dahlia
Barcode # 043340
Detective Anna Travis is working on a murder case that has created media frenzy. The victim, Louise Penal, a 24-year-old girl, was last seen in a London night club. Her body was found dumped by the River Thames. Anna must summon all her strength and guile to hunt down this sadistic killer.
The sea lady: a late romance
Barcode # 042945
Second time lucky
Barcode # 042944
Once Bridgewater House was the home of Lord Permian - now the Lord lives in one of the apartments, like the newly-divorced mother-of-the-three, the legendary screen goddess of the 40s and the American PhD student. Over an eventful summer their children, a burglar, a dog, a cleaner and one ghost will transform the residents' lives.
The Second Wife
Barcode # 042953
Disliked by her new family, sidelined at family gatherings and now a mother of twins herself, Mindy is struggling with disappointment and a crisis of identity. But the biggest obstacle of all is Rose - her husband's ex-wife.
Secret diary of a demented housewife
Barcode # 042977
When Susie's maiden aunt gives her a housekeeping journal, she expects Susie to use it for jotting down nutritious recipes and planning household budgets. But Susie has more important things on her mind ...like how to keep sane while trying to control a four-year-old diva who thinks she's Judy Garland, as well as a thrill-seeking toddler with a death wish, and, not to mention managing a demanding husband who expects a home-cooked meal at least once a fortnight and inconsiderate parents who seem to think luxury spa breaks are more important than spending time with their grandchildren. On top of that, there's the small matter of the Lone Father at the children's play group who is clearly smitten and Susie's passing interest in Posh'n'Becks, Wayne'n'Colleen, Brad'n'Jen'n'Angelina ...Susie's journal chronicles a hectic year in the life of a stay at home mother, whose one ambition is to possess an outfit that is free of snot stains.
Sleep with me
Barcode # 043333
Richard and Leila’s child is conceived in a moment of giggling chaos as they dress for a Christmas party. When they arrive, rudely late and still glowing, they barely register a slight, drab woman in the hall. Sylvie. As their baby grows, so too does the presence of that barely noticeable figure. Slowly Richard finds himself seduced by Sylvie's subtle, almost imperceptible charm. As he grows more ambivalent about the approaching birth of his child, Leila finds herself haunted by painful secrets of her past. And Sylvie seems to be nowhere, yet everywhere. She's as invisible as she wants to be, and that is the source of her power. Beware of mice. How far can you trust even those you love? A story of compulsion, desire, darkness and betrayal, Sleep with Me moves towards a breathtaking climax. It confirms Joanna Briscoe as a major literary talent.
The Tale of the children of Huron
Barcode # 043332
The Children of Huron is full of magical Tonkin trademarks you'd expect, elves, eagles, dwarves, rampaging orcas, swords that glow and fire breathing dragons, not to mention epic battles between good and evil, rich landscapes, lifelong friendships and forbidden love, this book will appeal to Middle Earth fanatics and families alike.
Tom Boler
Barcode # 043374
Nine-year-old Tom Boler comes back from school one day to find his mother gone. What happens next is his story - told in his naive, trusting, baffled voice - as he negotiates a new, perilous, adult world. He is visited by Uncle Dustman, who stores the rubbish bags he collects in Tom's house, while watching donkey-porn on the video; he is adopted briefly by Primal Spatula, a posh dipsomaniac, and has a run-in with bad boys in the park and a corpse in a burgled house, before being retrieved by the mysterious Boxford. Boxy is black and gay and claims he's been told to look after Tom. He lives with Rosy, who is also black, and also a man, but who dresses as a woman. 'I'm Rosy,' he says, 'I'm your new mum.' Then Tom's real adventures begin. One of the funniest and most original stylists to have emerged in British fiction during the past decade, Daren King looks obliquely at the inner-city world of ecstasy, sexual promiscuity and sexual confusion, class conflict and poverty - all through the wide-open eyes of nine-year-old Tom: very innocent, but very eager to try it all.
Unforgiving
Barcode # 042949
Sammy has an idyllic boyhood in Limas sol with his glamorous, hippy parents and his sister. They live a sixty, loaches lifestyle - Sammy's earliest memories are of visitors sleeping outside under the stars, smoking joints and getting drunk on rum and cocktails. Then, overnight, his life is changed by two tragedies that will remain intertwined in his mind for ever. He is forced to leave Limas sol and is sent to an austere English boarding school. There Sammy meets Rajah, a young, diligent scholar from the West Indies. The two form an unlikely friendship - Rajah tempers the rebellious streak that the damaged Sammy has developed and, in years to come, that friendship will once more dramatically alter the course of Sammy's life as he is eventually forced to face the demons that have led him to his self imposed exile.
Waiting for the end of the world
Barcode # 043384
It's a difficult time for William Douglas - he's given up smoking. To make matters worse, a touch of blackmail persuades him into doing a job for his old adversary James Han bury. Nothing complicated - all he has to do is keep an eye on Dr Vertigo, the leader of a lunatic fringe survival group, The Sealed Servants of the Apocalypses. But he has hardly started when the barman who tried to warn him off is murdered. Suddenly - coincidentally? - Zelda appears from Douglas’s murky past. Zelda is big, black and very beautiful. Just as suddenly she is kidnapped from his flat. Douglas’s natural desire to rescue her plunges him into a maelstrom of criminal activities. And then there's Malcolm - an aficionado of Sprouts, a convicted drug-dealer, a man with the moral code of a large and violent toddler. Fortunately, on the whole, he thinks of Douglas as a friend. The shadow of James Han buries hangs over everything. Like truth itself, Han bury is rarely pure and never simple.
Where have all the boys gone?
Barcode # 043381
Where have all the men gone? Faced with 25,000 more women than men in London, and gleeful media reports that it's statistically more likely for single women to be murdered than get married, Katie has reached an all-time low. But all is not lost.
With a Narrow Blade
Barcode # 042943
An elderly lady is stabbed to death in her own home; the house doesn't appear to have been robbed and Floe Jenkins was well liked. Also, she only had weeks to live. Why kill a dying woman? This is going to be a difficult one for DI Hillary Greene to solve. Will this be DI Hillary Greene's first failure on a murder case?
Wuthering Heights
Barcode # 043393
This new edition of Emily Bronte’s classic 1847 novel uses the authoritative Clarendon text. Patsy Stone man’s introduction considers the bewildering variety of critical interpretation to which the novel has been subject, as well as offering some provocative new insights for the modern reader. Synopsis In a house haunted by memories, the past is everywhere! As darkness falls, a man caught in a snowstorm is forced to shelter at the strange, grim house Wuthering Heights. It is a place he will never forget. There he will come to learn the story of Cathy: how she was forced to choose between her well-meaning husband and the dangerous man she had loved since she was young. How her choice led to betrayal and terrible revenge - and continues to torment those in the present. How love can transgress authority, convention, even death. And how desire can kill.
|
