W.F. Howes Large Print New Releases Brochure April-June 2015

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April – June 2015

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New Releases

in ng r ci e p du rg tro la In ght i pl

Large Print

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W. F. H O W E S

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Introducing

LAMPLIGHT LARGE PRINT

Are you making the most of loyalty rewards?

Save 20% on titles by authors featured in this quarter’s standing order plans, including Mark Billingham

A new imprint for Large Print dedicated to traditional tastes; with genres such as sagas, mysteries and historical fiction – featuring bestselling authors such as Nora Roberts, Kate Mosse, Victoria Hislop and Sheila Hancock.

Sign up now for our L A M P L IG H T Standing Order P l ans and S AV E 2 0 %

Please contact your area representative: call us on 01664 423000 or email info@wfhowes.co.uk, Simply quote ‘REWARDS’ when placing your order.

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C o n t e n t s

Dear Librarian, This quarter we are thrilled to launch our Lamplight imprint in Large Print, devoted to traditional reading tastes such as sagas, mysteries and historical fiction. Available as a Standing Order Plan from this quarter, our first collection features bestselling authors including Nora Roberts, Kate Mosse and award-winning actress Sheila Hancock.

As well as new imprints, our existing collections are going from strength to strength. This quarter we have thrillers from Jeffrey Deaver and Mark Billingham, as well as Ali Smith’s multi award-winning novel How to be Both, and Dylan Thomas Prize winner To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris. Also included is Travelling to Infinity by Jane Hawking, the true story behind Oscar-winning film The Theory of Everything.

Page 4-19 CLIPPER

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In addition, we also launch Center Point Westerns this quarter, with the genre in popular demand. From the USA, Center Point are specialists in the Western genre. All of these titles and more are available to you as Standing Order Plans with 20% off, exclusively from W.F. Howes.

Clipper Large Print Fiction Titles April – June 2015

Clipper Large Print Non Fiction Titles April – June 2015

Enjoy the new brochure and please get in touch with your feedback!

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Best wishes,

The Editor

Lamplight Large Print Titles April – June 2015 Page 23-26

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Centerpoint Western Titles April – June 2015

Order form and standing orders centre spread 3

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The Skin Collector Jeffery Deaver

Research Philip Kerr

Moon Over Soho Ben Aaronovitch

978 1 47129 476 1 – 512pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 475 4 – 432pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 481 5 – 432pp – £19.50

Master of suspense and number one bestselling author Jeffery Deaver returns with the eleventh exhilarating novel in the Lincoln Rhyme series…

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opycat, or revenge? They have never seen a murder like it.

A talented tattoo artist is using poison instead of ink. His victim is a young woman. And on her skin he’s left a message: ‘the second.’ Drafted in to investigate, NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme and his associate Amelia Sachs find the scene has been scrubbed of evidence. All except for one trace - a scrap of paper that connects this case with one they will never forget. And like the ‘Bone Collector’ before him, Rhyme and Sachs find themselves pitted against a twisted serial killer…

‘The most creative, skilled and intriguing thriller writer in the world.’ DAILY TELEGRAPH ‘The pace is terrific, the suspense inexorable, and there is an excellent climax. If you want thrills, Deaver is your man.’ GUARDIAN

Large Print New Releases

“Bestselling novelist John Houston’s wife found murdered in their luxury apartment in Monaco…”

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ouston is the richest writer in the world, publishing many bestsellers a year - so many that he can’t possibly write them himself. He has a team that feeds off his talent – ghost writers, agents, publishers. So when he decides to take a year out to write something of quality, a novel that will win prizes and critical acclaim, a lot of people stand to lose their livelihoods. Now Houston, the prime suspect in his wife’s murder, has disappeared.

The scenario reads like the plot of one of Houston’s million-copyselling thrillers...

Philip Kerr is the author of nine acclaimed Bernie Gunther novels. If The Dead Rise Not won the 2009 CWA Ellis Peters Award for Best Historical Crime Novel.

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Peter Grant is not just a lowly detective Constable, he’s also apprenticed to the last wizard in Britain: policing will never be the same again!

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was my dad’s vinyl-wallah: I changed his records while he lounged around drinking tea, and that’s how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And it’s why, when Dr Walid called me to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune it was playing.

Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant, had apparently dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig in Soho. He wasn’t the first. No one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned legwork, starting in Soho.

‘Told in a narrative voice that seasons laconic humour with a dash of cynicism, the novel is fascinated with the geography and history of London.’

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

April 2015

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Half a King Joe Abercrombie

Some Veil Did Fall Kirsty Ferry

Suspicion Joseph Finder

978 1 47129 478 5 – 320pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 482 2 – 416pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 485 3 – 448pp – £19.50

A classic coming-of-age tale set in a vivid and richlyimagined world from Sunday Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie.

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rince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted.

But first he must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the shattered sea itself. Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.

Even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi’s path may end as it began – in twists, traps and tragedy…

‘Abercrombie writes fantasy like no one else.’

GUARDIAN ‘A fast-paced tale of betrayal and revenge that grabbed me from page one and refused to let go.’

GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

Large Print New Releases

What if you recalled memories from a life that wasn’t yours, from a life before?

His nightmare began with a quick handshake and a friendly smile...

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hen Becky steps into Jonathon’s atmospheric photography studio in Whitby, she is simply a freelance journalist in search of a story. But as soon as she puts on the beautiful Victorian dress and poses for a photograph, she becomes somebody quite different… Becky is overcome with visions and flashbacks from a life that isn’t her own - disturbing and filled with fear. As she and Jon begin to unravel the mystery behind her strange experiences, the natural affinity that they have for each other continues to grow and leads them to question - have they met somewhere before?

Perhaps not just in this life but in another?

Kirsty Ferry won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 and has had articles and short stories published.

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anny Goodman would do anything for his teenage daughter Abby. But Danny is broke, and he can no longer afford the school she adores. The only person he can borrow money from is Thomas Galvin, Abby’s best friend’s father and a well-known millionaire. But on the day he takes the loan, the authorities turn up at his door. Galvin is a wanted criminal - and this is their chance to bring him down. Now Danny has a choice. Face prison for accepting dirty money, or go undercover in a dangerous sting operation to betray his new best friend...

‘I’m looking forward to reading Suspicion by Joseph Finder, a thriller writer of the highest caliber.’

JACKIE COLLINS ‘The narrative is light, the observation acute and the plot is jaw-clenching. A great summer read.’

THE TIMES

April 2015

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The Blazing World Siri Hustvedt

Summer of the Dead Julia Keller

Quiet Dell Jayne Anne Phillips

978 1 47129 483 9 – 544pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 484 6 – 512pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 480 8 – 576pp – £19.50

A polyphonic tour de force from the internationally acclaimed author that was nominated for the Man Booker Prize.

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rtist Harriet Burden, furious at the lack of recognition she has received from the New York art establishment, embarks on an experiment: she hides her identity behind three male fronts who exhibit her work as their own. And yet, even after she has unmasked herself, there are those who refuse to believe she is the woman behind the men. The story unfolds through extracts from Burden’s notebooks, as well as testimonies and one thing is clear: Burden’s involvement with the last of her ‘masks’ turned into a dangerous psychological game that ended with his bizarre death.

‘This novel is a puzzle, a mystery, a dance, filled with intrigue, a truly wonderful intellectual work that makes you think and laugh and tickles the brain.’ DAILY MAIL ‘The Blazing World is a dazzling novel, the kind that makes you cry (or nearly cry) as well as think.’

SUNDAY TIMES

Large Print New Releases

The third in Julia Keller’s brilliant Bell Elkins series.

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he first death came unexpectedly. An old man attacked outside his home, his murder a shock to the town. Then the second death came and with it - fear. For Raythune County’s prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins, the killings in Acker’s Gap are all she can think about. Everything - the oppressive summer heat, her absent daughter, her troublesome sister - fade into the background as she tries to work out who could be responsible.

As the tension escalates and suspects begin to emerge, Bell comes head-to-head with a killer bent on destroying all those who stand in their way...

A chilling novel based on a real life multiple murder by a con-man who preyed on widows – a story that has haunted Jayne Anne Phillips since childhood.

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‘A rare talent and a must read.’ KARIN SLAUGHTER

n Chicago in 1931, Asta Eicher, a widow with three children, is lonely and pressed for money after the sudden death of her husband. She begins to receive seductive letters from a elegant man named Harry Powers, who promises to marry and care for her and her children. Asta agrees to go with him to West Virginia to see his house there, and then to bring her children. Weeks later, all are dead. Emily Thornhill, a journalist, covers the case and becomes deeply invested in understanding what happened to this beautiful family, and determined to make sure that Powers is convicted.

‘Be careful opening this book because once you do you won’t be able to close it. A killer novel.’

TOM FRANKLIN

‘Phillips offers […] a heroine who lights up the dark places and gives us hope in our humanity.’

STEPHEN KING ‘An extraordinary book – the best she has written.’

OBSERVER

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April 2015

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The Two Week Wait Sarah Rayner

The Awakening of Miss Prim Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera

978 1 47129 477 8 – 448pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 486 0 – 384pp – £19.50

The Final Testimony of Raphael Ignatius Phoenix Paul Sussman 978 1 47129 479 2 – 496pp – £19.50

What if the thing you most longed for was resting on a two week wait?

A delightful tale of literature, philosophy and the search for happiness.

‘My name is Raphael Ignatius Phoenix and I am a hundred years old – or will be in ten days’ time, when I kill myself…’

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rudencia Prim is a young woman of intelligence and achievement, with a deep knowledge of literature and several letters after her name. But when she accepts the post of private librarian in the village of San Ireneo de Arnois, she is unprepared for what she encounters there. Her employer, a book-loving intellectual, is dashing yet contrarian, always ready with a critique of her cherished Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott. Prudencia hoped for friendship in San Ireneo but she didn’t suspect that she might find love - nor that the course of her new life would offer challenge and heartache as well as joy, discovery and fireside debate.

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‘A book that gives you a warm glow and lets you escape. […] A thought-provoking read full of beauty and the simplicity of everyday life.’

THE LADY MAGAZINE

‘The things that made (Sussman) such a distinctive writer - his boundless imagination (and) his love of the bizarre.’ MAIL ON SUNDAY

fter a health scare, Brighton-based Lou is forced to confront the fact that her time to have a baby is running out. She can’t imagine a future without children, but her partner doesn’t seem to feel the same way, and she’s not sure whether she could go it alone. Meanwhile, up in Yorkshire, Cath is longing to start a family with her husband, Rich. No one would be happier to have a child than Rich, but Cath is infertile. Could these strangers help one another out? The Two Week Wait is a memorable, moving pageturner about two very different women, each yearning to create a family of her own.

‘Sarah Rayner explores an emotive subject with great sensitivity.’ SUNDAY EXPRESS ‘A topical subject treated with insightfulness and care that makes for a wholly absorbing story with a touching ending that’ll prompt a tear or two.’

EASY LIVING

Large Print New Releases

‘An exquisitely delicate, distinctive and inspiring story that will leave your heart undone, open to the beauty of the little things in life.’ ELLE MAGAZINE 7

aphael Ignatius Phoenix has had enough. Born at the beginning of the 20th century, he is determined to take his own life as the old millennium ends and the new one begins. But before he ends it all, he wants to put the record straight, and that includes making sense of his own long life. He decides to write it all down and, eschewing the more usual method of pen and paper, begins to record his story on the walls of the isolated castle that is his final home. Raphael remembers the multitude of experiences, the myriad encounters and of course, the ten murders he committed along the way…

‘Sussman’s first written and last published novel has shades of Vonnegut, Donleavy and Golding’s Pincher Martin. Loved it.’ JONATHAN GRIMWOOD, author of The Last Banquet.

April 2015

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The Bones Beneath Mark Billingham

It Started With Paris Cathy Kelly

Doctor January Rhoda Baxter

978 1 47129 445 7 – 480pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 446 4 – 560pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 452 5 – 304pp – £19.50

Tom Thorne returns in this utterly gripping, brilliantly plotted thriller…

Sunday Times bestseller Cathy Kelly returns with a funny, emotional, heart-warming new novel.

If you keep looking back, you might miss what’s standing right in front of you …

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om Thorne is back in charge - but there’s a terrifying price to pay. Stuart Nicklin, the most dangerous psychopath he has ever put behind bars, promises to reveal the whereabouts of a body he buried twenty-five years before - but only if Thorne agrees to escort him. Unable to refuse, Thorne gathers a team and travels to a remote Welsh island. Thorne is determined to get the job done and return home before Nicklin can outwit them. Nicklin knows this island well and has had time to plan ahead. New bodies are added to the old, and Thorne finds himself facing the toughest decision he has ever had to make...

‘Brilliantly evoking the spooky island atmosphere, the tension of this macabre thriller is lightened by humour and believable characters.’ SUNDAY MIRROR

t the top of the Eiffel Tower, a young man proposes to his girlfriend. In that second, everything changes, not just for the happy couple, but for the family and friends awaiting their return in Ireland... Leila’s been nursing a broken heart since her husband upped and left her, but she’s determined to put on a brave face for the bride. Vonnie, a widow and exceptional cake-maker, is just daring to let love back into her life, although someone seems determined to stop it. Grace finds the impending wedding of her son means that she’s spending more time with her ex-husband.

‘By the end of Kelly’s novels, I always feel I’ve made new friends. As warm-hearted and wise as ever.’

WOMAN & HOME

ix months after a painful break-up from Gordon, Beth’s getting her life back on track. She’s even beginning to see Hibs, her lab partner, as more than just a lousy lothario in a lab-coat and goggles. So when Gordon arrives back from America without warning, expecting to be welcomed back into Beth’s arms, she’s totally thrown. She quickly begins to see that Gordon isn’t the man she thought he was… Hibs has always held a candle for Beth, but he can only wait so long for her to realise there’s more to life than being patronised and bullied by the one who’s meant to love and protect her.

‘Strong plotting and an all-too-plausible villain reveal just how good Billingham is, and confirm Thorne as a memorable, flawed hero.’ DAILY MAIL

Large Print New Releases

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May 2015

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The Well Catherine Chanter

Follow Me Follow You Laura E. James

Five Days Left Julie Lawson Timmer

978 1 47129 454 9 – 512pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 451 8 – 400pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 455 6 – 448pp – £19.50

‘One night is enough to swallow a lifetime of lives.’

You save me and I’ll save you…

A heart-breaking and uplifting read about the ultimate life choice.

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hen Ruth Ardingly and her family first drive up from London in their grime-encrusted car and view The Well, they are enchanted by a jewel of a place, a farm that appears to offer everything the family are searching for. But The Well’s unique glory comes at a terrible price. The locals suspect foul play in its verdant fields and drooping fruit trees, and Ruth becomes increasingly isolated as she struggles to explain why her land flourishes whilst her neighbours’ produce withers and dies. As The Well envelops them, Ruth’s paradise becomes a prison, Mark’s dream becomes a recurring nightmare and Lucien’s playground, a grave.

‘The Well has the pulse of a thriller combined with a futuristic evocation of a Big Brother society.’

ALLISON PEARSON

Large Print New Releases

ictoria Noble has pulled the plug on romance. As director of the number one social networking site, EweSpeak, and being single mother to four-year-old Seth, she wrestles with the worklife balance. Enter Chris Frampton, Hollywood action hero and Victoria’s first love. His return from LA has sparked media attention and with secrets threatening to fuel the fire, he’s desperate to escape. But finding a way forward is never simple.

Although his connection with Victoria has lasted the test of time, has he been adrift too long to know how to move on? With the risk of them breaking, will either follow their heart?

Laura E. James is a graduate of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme, a member of her local writing group, Off The Cuff, and one eighth of The Romaniacs.

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ara is a successful lawyer and a devoted wife and mother.

Struggling with a devastating illness, she has set herself five days to make the hardest decision, for the sake of her family. Scott lives a thousand miles away and is a foster parent to a troubled eight-year-old. Scott is facing his own five day countdown until his beloved foster son is returned to his biological mother. Mara and Scott connect through an online forum and find a friendship to help guide them through the most difficult and momentous week of their lives.

‘Combines tension, humour and a life-affirming poignancy.’ SUNDAY MIRROR ‘Unique, gripping, and viscerally moving.’

JODI PICOULT

May 2015

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First Impressions Charlie Lovett

The Lie Of You Jane Lythell

Spare Brides Adele Parks

978 1 47129 447 1 – 512pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 450 1 – 368pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 449 5 – 560pp – £19.50

A novel about old books, young love and Jane Austen.

One woman’s fear is another woman’s weapon...

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‘’When I look back on my relationship with Kathy I marvel at how naive she was; how little she knew. But then, she always thought she had everything - the job, the baby, the friends… and him.

She thought she was safe. She thought that nothing could touch her perfect world… She should never have trusted me.’’ A woman sets out to destroy a female colleague in this chilling psychological thriller.

ook lover and Jane Austen enthusiast Sophie Collingwood has barely started her new job at an antiquarian bookshop in London when two different customers request a copy of the same obscure publication: the second edition of Little Book of Allegories by Richard Mansfield. Their enquiry draws Sophie into a web of mystery surrounding the true authorship of Pride and Prejudice, with ultimately dangerous consequences... Sophie’s quest, which also sees her dealing with several love interests on the way, explores love in all its forms – as well as the joys of a life lived in books.

‘An inventive tale with elements of romance and suspense, wrapped around a bookish mystery that will please lovers of old libraries and Austen fans.’

DEBORAH HARKNESS

Large Print New Releases

‘Pumps up suspense like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. […]

Delivered in a sharp, pragmatic style that is gripping and readable, but behind the adventure the plot hints at a bigger, more complex questions about our society.’ THE SCOTSMAN ‘Fascinating (and) clever, […] the author’s real skill is her ability to invent memorable original characters. A thrilling read.’ DAILY MAIL

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Sunday Times bestseller Adele Parks turns her laser-sharp perception and empathy to a forgotten generation of women.

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he 1920’s: A time of hope, promise and parties, but not all the men came home after the war. Meet the spare brides young, gorgeous and unexpectedly alone. Ava relishes the freedom of being single whilst Sarah fears no one can replace her hero husband. Beatrice finds it hard to shine next to her dazzling friends and Lydia is married, rich and privileged - so isn’t she one of the lucky ones? Then a chance encounter changes everything – the angry, damaged and dangerously attractive, Edgar Trent is an irresistible temptation, and the old rules no longer apply...

‘Here are some seriously fab frocks in Adele Parks’ latest novel. Dramatic and swooningly romantic, this is historical fiction with real heart.’ MARIE CLAIRE ‘You’ll love the drama, the gorgeous dresses, grand houses and, in particular, the handsome but damaged love interest.’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

May 2015

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White Fire Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

War at the Edge of the World Ian Ross

How To Be Both Ali Smith

978 1 47129 448 8 – 544pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 453 2 – 448pp – £19.50

978 1 47128 793 0 – 352pp – £19.50

From the authors of internationally bestselling thrillers comes another spine-tingling tale…

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olorado, 1876: At a remote mining camp high in the Rocky Mountains, eleven silver miners are killed, their bodies horribly mutilated, flesh devoured. Bear attack? Not everyone thinks so. 136 years later, the cemetery where the miners were buried is being cleared for new development. Forensic pathologist Corrie Swanson has arranged to study the bones. What she discovers will expose a conspiracy that’s as lethal today as it was a century ago. As the winter snows fall, Corrie’s life depends on unravelling a dark secret, the key to which may just lie in a lost Sherlock Holmes story, a tale allegedly so horrifying that its author never dared publish it…

‘A collision between past and present that will leave you breathless.’ LEE CHILD

The epic first instalment in a sequence of novels set at the end of the Roman Empire, during the reign of the Emperor Constantine.

Shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2014 - passionate, compassionate, vitally inventive and scrupulously playful, Ali Smith’s novels are like nothing else.

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Ian Ross has been researching and writing about the later Roman world and its army for over a decade.

‘Smith can make anything happen, which is why she is one of our most exciting writers today.’

DAILY TELEGRAPH

enturion Aurelius Castus - once a soldier in the elite legions of the Danuge - believes his glory days are over, as he finds himself in Britain, battling to protect an empire in decline. When the king of the Picts dies, Castus is selected to lead the Roman envoy sent to negotiate with the barbarians beyond Hadrian’s Wall. Here he will face a supreme challenge in a mission that will test his honour. As he struggles to avert disaster and keep his promise to a woman he has sworn to help, Castus discovers that nothings about this doomed enterprise was ever what it seemed.

‘I take my hat off to Ali Smith. Her writing lifts the soul.’ EVENING STANDARD

‘White hot bestselling suspense. Simply brilliant!’

LISA GARDNER

Large Print New Releases

ow to be both is a novel all about art’s versatility. Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, it’s a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There’s a renaissance artist of the 1460s. There’s the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real - and all life’s givens get given a second chance.

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May 2015

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The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy Rachel Joyce 978 1 47129 595 9 – 384pp – £19.50

From the author of the worldwide bestseller, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, comes an exquisite, funny and heartrending parallel story.

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hen Queenie Hennessy discovers that Harold Fry is walking the length of England to save her and all she has to do is wait, she is shocked. Her note had explained she was dying. How can she wait? A new volunteer at the hospice suggests that Queenie should write again, only this time she must tell Harold everything. In confessing to secrets she has hidden for twenty years, she will find atonement for the past. Queenie thought her first letter would be the end of the story. She was wrong. It was the beginning.

‘Touching […] a quiet, gentle, moving novel. Joyce’s writing has a simplicity that sings and she captures hope best of all.’ THE OBSERVER ‘If you loved The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, you’ll be thrilled with this sequel.’ THE SUN

Large Print New Releases

Abattoir Blues Peter Robinson

The Dolls House M. J. Arlidge

978 1 47129 594 2 –512pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 602 4 – 384pp – £19.50

Bank is back – and the hunt is on.

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hen two boys vanish under mysterious circumstances, the local community is filled with unease. Then a bloodstain is discovered in a disused World War Two hangar nearby, and a caravan belonging to one of the boys is burned to the ground.

Assigned to the case, DCI Banks and his team are baffled by the mystery laid out before them. But when a motor accident throws up a gruesome discovery, the investigation spins into a higher gear.

As Banks and his team struggle desperately to find the missing key to the puzzle, they find themselves in a race against time where it’s their turn to become the prey.

‘Peter Robinson deserves a place near, perhaps even at the top of the British crime writers’ league.’

THE TIMES ‘It’s neither the setting nor even the characters that makes Robinson’s work so satisfying, but the plotting of Swiss-watch precision.’ INDEPENDENT 12

The Doll’s House is the new twisting and terrifying thriller in the Detective Inspector Helen Grace series from M.J. Arlidge.

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woman wakes up and opens her eyes. She knows immediately that she’s not in the bed she went to sleep in.

It’s just the beginning of her nightmare. Across town, a child discovers a woman’s body buried on the beach. Then another female victim is found. Yet neither friends nor family had even reported either woman missing. How could their killer be getting away with murder? For Detective Inspector Helen Grace, she’s searching for a monster who’s not just twisted, but also clever and careful. Helen begins to realise that time might be running out for someone who is still alive...

‘DI Helen Grace is a genuinely fresh heroine […] Arlidge weaves together a tapestry that chills to the bone.’

DAILY MAIL ‘Helen Grace. […] Determined, tough and damaged, she must unravel a terrifying riddle of a killer kidnapping victims in pairs. Mesmerizing!’ LISA GARDNER

June 2015

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The Honours Tim Clare

Your Beautiful Lies Louise Douglas

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour Joshua Ferris

978 1 47129 596 6 – 512pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 618 5 – 384pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 597 3 – 512pp – £19.50

Northern Lights meets Neil Gaiman in this box of delights…

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t is 1935 and war is looming in Great Britain. Alderberen Hall is a sprawling country estate shadowed by suspicion and paranoia.

Thirteen-year-old Delphine Venner is determined to uncover the secrets of the elite society that has taken in her mother and unstable father. As she explores the house and discovers the secret network of hidden passages that thread through the estate, Delphine uncovers a world more dark and dangerous than she ever imagined. With the help of head gamekeeper Mr Garforth, Delphine must learn the bloody lessons of war and find the soldier in herself in time to battle the deadly forces amassing in the woods.

Praise for the author: ‘Tim Clare writes with a poet’s eye and a thriller writer’s pace that held me spell bound till the last page.’ CHRIS RIDDELL ‘Astutely brilliant. It is rare to find such a riveting, fantastical, adventure matched by such poetic flair.

A rich, gripping delight.’ MATT HAIG

Large Print New Releases

A stunning novel about the scars betrayal can leave behind, and the lengths we’ll go to conceal them...

Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2014 and Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014.

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nnie Howarth is living a restless life in a restless town. It’s 1984 and for a mining community in South Yorkshire, the strikes mean tensions are high. Then a murdered girl is found on the moors and anxiety levels are pushed to breaking point.

Married to the Chief of Police, Annie should feel safe. But Annie is keeping her own secrets. Ten years ago the man she loved was ripped from her life in a scandal and now his return will put her family, her marriage, even her life, at risk.

An atmospheric and suspenseful novel you’ll find impossible to put down - perfect for fans of C.L. Taylor and Lucie Whitehouse.

‘Your Beautiful Lies […] kept me guessing until the last few pages and the explosive ending took my breath away.’ C.L. TAYLOR, author of The Accident.

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aul O’Rourke - dentist extraordinaire, reluctant New Yorker, avowed atheist, disaffected Red Sox fan, and a connoisseur of the afternoon mochaccino - is a man out of touch with modern life. While his dental practice occupies his days, his nights are filled with darker thoughts, as he alternately marvels at and rails against the optimism of the rest of humanity. So it goes, until someone begins to impersonate Paul online. What began as an outrageous violation of privacy soon becomes something far more soulfrightening: the possibility that the virtual ‘Paul’ might be a better version of the man in the flesh…

‘Joshua Ferris has proved his astonishing ability to spin gold from ordinary air. […] As brave and adept as any writer out there.’ NEW YORK TIMES ‘Enormously impressive: profoundly and humanely engaged with the mysteries of belief and disbelief […] dismayingly funny in the way that only really serious books can be.’ GUARDIAN

June 2015

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Master of War – Defiant Unto Death David Gilman 978 1 47129 600 0 – 448pp – £19.50

The field of battle is not only arena in which Blackstone will have to fight for his life...

T

he Black Prince has launched a devastating raid deep into France, laying waste to everything in his path. In response, the French have mustered an army that outnumbers the English forces 10 to 1 and are determined to drive their hated foe from the land after years of bloody conquest. Sir Thomas Blackstone, the British archer knighted on the field of Crecy, has used the intervening years to forge his own war band and has hacked out his own fiefdom in central France. He knows the English are outnumbered, outmaneuvered and exhausted... but that will not stop him from fighting his way to one of history’s greatest military victories.

David Gilman had a varied career including firefighter, soldier and marketing manager, before turning to writing full time. He is an award-winning author and screenwriter.

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Not Quite Nice Celia Imrie

Taken For Dead Graham Masterton

978 1 47129 599 7 – 464pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 598 0 – 576pp – £19.50

A gloriously funny and charming debut novel about the joys and challenges of living abroad from one of the nation’s best-loved actresses.

T

heresa is desperate for a change. Forced into early retirement, she sells her house and moves to the picture-perfect town of Bellevue-sur-Mer. The village sparkles like a diamond on the French Mediterranean coast. It is also home to the odd rock icon and Hollywood movie star and as Theresa soon discovers; a closeknit set of foreigners. As Theresa settles into seaside life she embraces her new-found friendships and freedom. However, life is never quite as simple as it seems and as skeletons start to fall out of several closets, Theresa begins to wonder if life on the French Riviera is quite as nice as it first appeared!

It is a sunny Saturday in county Cork…

A

n Irish wedding is in full swing. Drunk uncles are toasting the bride. The Ceilidh band have played for hours. But the cutting of the cake will bring the wedding to a horrifying end. For there, grinning gruesomely up from the bottom tier, is the severed head of the local baker. Katie Maguire, of the Irish Garda, does not have any leads - until another local businessman goes missing in horrific circumstances. The murders appear to link to The Kings of Erin, a terrifying gang of torturers and extortionists. But these are dangerous men. And they will stop at nothing to throw Katie off the trail.

‘One of the most original and frightening storytellers of our time.’ PETER JAMES

‘Utterly delicious in every way.’ JOANNA LUMLEY ‘A warm, light-hearted, fast-paced tale that fans of Peter Mayle will enjoy.’ JOANNE HARRIS

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June 2015

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The Secrets Sisters Keep Sinead Moriarty

The Age of Magic Ben Okri

Frozen Grave Lee Weeks

978 1 47129 601 7 – 448pp – £19.50

97 81 47129 603 1 – 176pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 624 6 – 496pp – £19.50

The Secrets Sisters Keep is the story of three sisters, three life-altering problems and one eternal truth.

Nobody knows you quite like a sister!

T

he Devlin sisters rely on each other - but some things are just too painful to share, even when your sisters are your best friends. Mum-of-four Julie thought that if her family had more money, life would be easier. Lawyer Louise is used to having life go exactly as she wants it to. So accepting that she cannot control everything in her world is beyond her. Former model Sophie can just about cope with getting older - that’s until her ex-husband finds a younger model. All three women think that some battles are best fought alone. Maybe they need to think again...

Praise for the author: ‘Sinead Moriarty can bring readers from hilarity to heartbreak with great deftness.’ SUNDAY INDEPENDENT ‘One of the brightest voices in modern women’s fiction.’ BELLA

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The Age of Magic has begun. Unveil your eyes.

E

ight weary film-makers, travelling from Paris to Basel, arrive at a small Swiss hotel on the shores of a luminous lake. Above them, strewn with lights that twinkle in the darkness, looms the towering Rigi mountain. Over the course of three days and two nights, the travelers will find themselves drawn in to the mystery of the mountain reflected in the lake. One by one, they will be disturbed, enlightened, and transformed, each in a different way. An intoxicating and dreamlike tale unfolds. Allow yourself to be transformed.

‘Okri is incapable of writing a boring sentence.’

INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

A serial killer with a cold heart. A race against time to save the next victim…

T

he first body is found in London’s East End - a middle-aged woman, brutally murdered. The second body turns up in a disused quarry, attracting the attention of DI Carter and DC Willis.

They had just interviewed the dead man about his links to the first crime - somebody wanted to stop him talking. Then the third body is found and it becomes clear a serial killer is on the loose.

From the author of the bestselling Dead of Winter and Cold As Ice comes a page-turning new thriller that will have you hooked from start to finish.

‘This novel offers the reader not just a story, but a series of intriguing revelations on the mysterious blurring of the lines between life and death, illusion and reality, good and evil.’ DAILY MAIL

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June 2015

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Charlie Chaplin Peter Ackroyd

Disobeying Hitler Randall Hansen

Killers of the King Charles Spencer

978 1 47129 489 1 – 368pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 488 4 – 496pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 487 7 – 448pp – £19.50

A fresh look at Chaplin from the masterful Peter Ackroyd.

H

e was the very first icon of the silver screen and is one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood, even a hundred years after his first film. But what of the man behind the moustache? The director holding the camera as well as acting in front of it? Peter Ackroyd’s new biography turns the spotlight on Chaplin’s life as well as his work, from his humble theatrical beginnings in music halls to winning an honorary Academy Award.

Everything is here, from the glamour of his golden age to the murky scandals of the 1940s and eventual exile to Switzerland.

‘Ackroyd brings a novelist’s as well as a biographer’s eye to the story of a man who “seemed to epitomise the human condition itself, flawed and frail and funny.”’

INDEPENDENT ‘Compact, engrossing, intelligent.’ SUNDAY TIMES

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An intriguing account of German resistance in the last year of WWII.

Charles Spencer tells the shocking stories and fascinating fates of the men who signed Charles I’s death warrant.

I

n the last months of the war, Hitler ordered the poisoning, blocking and wrecking of all ports across Europe. He ordered the destruction of all industries, railroads, bridges, utilities supplies, archives and museums in Europe and the destruction of the most beautiful city in the world – Paris. Thanks to the determination and bravery of a few, including those who paid with their lives, Hitler’s orders were often disobeyed. The result was a profound and lasting effect on the war and its aftermath. In this fascinating and gripping book, Randall Hansen explores the extraordinary phenomenon of disobedience and its consequences.

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anuary, 1649: After seven years of fighting in the bloodiest war in Britain’s history, Parliament now faced a problem: what to do with a defeated king, a king who refused to surrender? Parliamentarians resolved to do the unthinkable, to disregard the Divine Right of Kings and hold Charles I to account for the appalling slaughter endured by his people… On an icy winter’s day on a scaffold outside Whitehall, the King of England was executed. Charles Spencer explores this violent clash of ideals through the individuals whose fates were determined by that one, momentous decision.

These are the shocking stories of the men who dared to kill a king.

Randall Hansen is a political scientist and historian at the University of Toronto. His fields of research are migration and citizenship, eugenics and population policy and the effect of war on civilian populations.

‘The virtues of a thriller and of scholarship are potently combined.’ TOM HOLLAND

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‘Very good. Dense and well-researched […] the stories are extraordinary. Spine-tingling detail.’

THE TIMES

April 2015

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Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary Anita Anand 978 1 47129 456 3 – 544pp – £19.50

Travelling to Infinity Jane Hawking

The enthralling story of an extraordinary woman and her part in the defining moments of recent British Indian history.

A major motion picture, The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and Felicity Jones as his wife, Jane.

I

n 1876 Sophia Duleep Singh was born into royalty. Her father, Maharajah Duleep Singh, was heir to the Kingdom of the Sikhs, a realm that stretched from the Kashmir to the cities of Lahore and Peshawar. It was a territory irresistible to the British, who plundered everything. Exiled to England, the dispossessed Maharajah transformed his estate at Elveden in Suffolk into a Moghul palace. Sophia, god-daughter of Queen Victoria, was raised a genteel aristocratic Englishwoman. Sophia transcended her heritage to devote herself to battling injustice and inequality.

Her causes were the struggle for Indian independence, the fate of the Lascars, the welfare of Indian soldiers in the First World War – and the fight for female suffrage.

‘A wonderful debut, written with real spirit and gusto.

Anita Anand has produced a winner.’

WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

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Triumph: Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics Jeremy Schaap 978 1 47129 458 7 – 320pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 457 0 – 560pp – £19.50

I

n this compelling memoir from Stephen Hawking’s first wife, Jane Hawking, relates the inside story of their extraordinary marriage. As Stephen’s academic renown soared, his body was collapsing under the assaults of motor neurone disease, and Jane’s candid account of trying to balance his 24-hour care with the needs of their growing family will be inspirational to anyone dealing with family illness. The inner-strength of the author, and the self-evident character and achievements of her husband, make for an incredible tale that is always presented with unflinching honesty… In this exceptionally open, moving and often funny memoir, Jane Hawking confronts the acutely complicated and painful dilemmas of her first marriage.

The remarkable story of one of the most iconic clashes in sports and world history.

I

n 1936, against a backdrop of swastikas flying and storm troopers goose-stepping, an African-American athlete won a staggering four Olympic gold medals. Jesse Owens, the son of sharecroppers, had single-handedly crushed Hitler’s myth of Aryan supremacy. The story of Jesse Owens at the 1936 games is that of a high-profile athlete giving a performance that transcends sports. But it is also the intimate and complex tale of the courage of one remarkable man. This is the incredible true story of the moment a black athlete beat Hitler at his own games.

‘Schaap leaves readers with a vivid portrait not just of Owens but of ‘30s Germany and America.’

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

‘Jane writes about her former husband with tenderness, respect and protectiveness.’

SUNDAY EXPRESS ‘A great read.’ DAILY MAIL 21

May 2015

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Walking Home: My Family and Other Rambles Clare Balding 978 1 47129 607 9 – 368pp – £19.50

The Italians John Hooper

Harry’s Last Stand Harry Leslie Smith

978 1 47129 606 2 – 416pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 605 5 – 176pp – £19.50

Clare Balding’s brilliant new book of very British adventures.

Italy is a country of endless paradox and seemingly unanswerable riddles.

A lyrical invective that shows what the past can teach us and how the future is ours for the taking.

I

J

I

n the Balding family, walking just took too long - Clare galloped through the countryside and she galloped through life. Then, starting out in her broadcasting career, she was asked to present a series of walks with interesting people. Some fifteen hundred miles of footpaths later, she’s discovered the true glories of Britain and caught the walking bug. Now she wants to get her whole family hooked, by taking them on the 71-mile footpath that runs past their home on the Hampshire Downs. Along the way there are charming diversions and life-changing rambles, including her take on the 2012 Olympics. This is Clare’s story of walking home.

‘Who needs politicians agonising about national and regional identities? Clare Balding has effortlessly encapsulated all we love best about Britain.’ TELEGRAPH ‘Even the most reluctant of walkers will be tempted to don wellies after reading Clare’s wonderful descriptions.’

EXPRESS

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ohn Hooper’s marvellously entertaining and perceptive new book is the ideal companion for anyone seeking to understand contemporary Italy and the unique character of the Italians.

Looking at the facts that lie behind - and often belie - the stereotypes, his revealing book sheds new light on many aspects of Italian life: football and Freemasonry, sex, symbolism and the reason why Italian has twelve words for a coat hanger, yet none for a hangover.

‘What’s not to love? A thoroughly researched, wellwritten, ageless narrative of a fascinating people.’

KIRKUS ‘John Hooper gets under the skin of a fascinating people in a remarkable and compelling way.’

BILL EMMOTT

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n November 2013, 91-year-old Yorkshireman, RAF veteran and ex-carpet salesman Harry Leslie Smith’s Guardian article, ‘This year, I will wear a poppy for the last time’ – was shared over 80,000 times on Facebook, starting a huge debate about the state of society.

Now he brings his unique perspective to bear on NHS cutbacks, benefits policy, political corruption, food poverty, the cost of education and much more. From the deprivation of 1930s Barnsley and the terror of war to the creation of our welfare state, Harry has experienced how a great civilisation can rise from the rubble.

But at the end of his life, he fears how easily it is being eroded.

‘A kind of epic poem, one that […] should be required reading for every MP, peer, councillor, civil servant and commentator.’ GUARDIAN

June 2015

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The English Girl Margaret Leroy

The Hundred-Foot Journey Richard C. Morais

Vanessa and her Sister Priya Parmar

978 1 47129 492 1 – 320pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 491 4 – 544pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 493 8 – 496pp – £19.50

A breath-taking historical novel set in 1930s Vienna, about an ordinary girl living in extraordinary times.

Now a major motion picture starring Helen Mirren and Om Puri.

A compelling and dazzling story of art, love and the betrayal of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf.

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T

he Hundred-foot Journey is the story of Hassan Haji, a boy from Mumbai who embarks, along with his boisterous family, on a picaresque journey first to London and then across Europe, before they ultimately open a restaurant opposite a famous chef, Madame Mallory, in the remote French village of Lumière. A culinary war ensues, pitting Hassan’s Mumbai-toughened father against the imperious Michelin-starred cordon bleu, until Madame Mallory realises that Hassan is a cook with natural talents far superior to her own… Hassan’s charming account lays bare the inner workings of the elite world of French haute cuisine, and provides a life-affirming and poignant coming-of-age tale.

L

hen seventeen-year-old Stella Whittaker is offered the chance to study at the Academy of Music in Vienna it’s a dream-come-true. Seduced by the elegant beauty of the city, Stella explores the magnificent palaces, gardens and fashionable coffee houses, and after a chance meeting in an art gallery, falls in love with Harri Reznik, a young Jewish doctor. But as the threat of war casts a dark shadow over Europe, Stella soon discovers that both the household where she lives and the city she has come to call home are not as welcoming as they once seemed…

‘Gripping and heart-warming; you won’t want to put it down.’ IRISH TATLER ‘Margaret Leroy writes with candour and intelligence, capturing the menace of suddenly finding that the world may not be at all as you’ve thought it.’

HELEN DUNMORE

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‘A culinary ‘journey’ from Mumbai to Paris.’

THE INDEPENDENT ‘Morais’ research into both French and Indian cultures and cuisines […] has clearly been rigorous, making for a vivacious backdrop to an engaging tale of love and loss.’ TIME OUT 23

ondon, 1905: The city is alight with change and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. There they bring together a circle of brilliant, artistic friends who will come to be known as the legendary Bloomsbury Group. At the centre of the charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter and Virginia, the writer. But each member of the group will go on to earn fame and success. Together, this sparkling coterie of artists and intellectuals throw away convention and embrace the wild freedom of being in London.

‘Vanessa and her Sister is an account of my grandmother’s early life, told with faith, elegance and an almost uncanny insight into the subject.’

VIRGINIA NICHOLSON, Granddaughter of Vanessa Bell.

April 2015

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The Collector Nora Roberts

My Husband Next Door Catherine Alliott

Fool’s Gold Zana Bell

978 1 47129 490 7 – 592pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 462 4 – 544pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 460 0 – 368pp – £19.50

The thrilling new novel of love, murder and suspense from Nora Roberts - the world’s greatest storyteller.

Step into Alliott country with the fabulously funny and wonderfully heart-warming story.

L

W

ila Emerson is fascinated by other people’s lives. As a housesitter, she loves looking after the glamorous, sophisticated homes she could never afford herself. And as a writer, she enjoys watching the world go by, dreaming up stories for the people she sees from her window. But then one day she witnesses something only too real - the brutal and shocking murder of a young woman living across the street in New York. And now, because of what she saw, Lila’s own life is in immediate danger from an audacious, single-minded assassin who kills for profit and for pleasure.

Praise for the author: ‘I love Nora Roberts.’

STEPHEN KING ‘The most successful novelist on planet Earth.’

WASHINGTON POST

hen Ella married the handsome, celebrated artist Sebastian Montclair at just nineteen she was madly in love. Now, those blissful years of marriage have turned into the very definition of an unconventional set-up. Sebastian resides in an outhouse across the lawn from Ella’s ramshackle farmhouse. With a home crowded by hostile teenage children, gender-confused chickens and an ex-husband living under her nose, Ella finds comfort in the company of the very charming gardener, Ludo. Then out of the blue Sebastian decides to move on, catching Ella horribly unawares. How much longer can she hide from what really destroyed her marriage… and the secret she continues to keep?

‘Another huge treat from Catherine Alliott. It’s hilarious yet poignant, with wonderful characters, including all the animals! I lapped up every page.’

SOPHIE KINSELLA

Love – is it worth its weight in gold?

I

t’s 1866 and the gold rush is on. Left to fend for herself in the wilds of New Zealand’s west coast, Lady Guinevere Stanhope is determined to do whatever it takes to rescue her ancestral home and restore her father’s good name. Forced out of his native Ireland, Quinn O’Donnell dreams of striking gold. His fiercely held prejudices make him loath to help any English person, let alone a lady as haughty and obstinate as Guinevere. But when a flash flood hits, Quinn is compelled to rescue her, and their paths become entwined in this unchartered new world.

Zana Bell grew up in Harare, Zimbabwe and studied English Literature at the University of Cape Town. She began writing, just for the fun of seeing whether she could actually complete a novel and immediately became hooked.

‘An entertaining read that’s as light as the summer breeze.’ DAILY EXPRESS

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April - May 2015

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The Sunrise Victoria Hislop

The Taxidermist’s Daughter Kate Mosse

That Summer in Ischia Penny Feeny

978 1 47129 459 4 – 512pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 461 7 – 384pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 608 6 – 416pp – £19.50

The new novel from million-copy bestselling author Victoria Hislop.

I

n the summer of 1972, Famagusta in Cyprus is the most desirable resort in the Mediterranean, a city bathed in the glow of good fortune. But beneath the city’s façade of glamour and success, tension is building. When a Greek coup plunges the island into chaos, Cyprus faces a disastrous conflict. Turkey invades to protect the Turkish Cypriot minority and Famagusta is shelled.

Forty thousand people seize their most precious possessions and flee from the advancing soldiers. In the deserted city, just two families remain. This is their story.

‘One of the best things about this novel is the way Hislop depicts the growing teamwork, love, respect, and trust which two families of opposite persuasions manage to establish.’ INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY ‘An imaginative tour de force, and a great read.’

DAILY MAIL

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The enthralling new novel from bestselling author, Kate Mosse.

A vivid and evocative tale of secrets, love and families.

S

I

ussex, 1912: In a churchyard, villagers gather on the night when the ghosts of those who will die in the coming year are thought to walk. Here, superstitions still hold sway. Standing alone is the taxidermist’s daughter. The bell begins to toll and all eyes are fixed on the church. As the last notes fade into the dark, a woman lies dead. Why is the incident causing Constantia’s memories to surface from her own vanished years? And what is the secret that lies at the heart of Blackthorn House, hidden among the bell jars of her father’s workshop?

‘The Taxidermist’s Daughter is amazing - atmospheric, gripping […] I can’t put it down.’ MARIAN KEYES ‘Against this lyrical background her complex plot moves at rocket speed. Unputdownable, romantic, this is sure to be a bestseller.’ THE TIMES

25

n her early years, Allie and her mother Helena were always on the move - relationships never lasted and old friends slipped away. But when Allie inherits Helena’s childhood home, she sees snatches of her mother’s tormented past. Determined to find out what keeps driving her mother away, Allie follows a lead to the island of Ischia. She is drawn into a community that still remembers the dramatic events of 1979, when a young boy was kidnapped and an English au pair took the blame. As clues to a decades-old mystery slowly rise to the surface, can Allie discover what really happened that summer in Ischia?

‘Sun-drenched, dark and intriguing. I loved the way she painted Italy.’ KATE LONG ‘A delightful holiday read.’ DAILY MAIL

May – June 2015

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Cover Your Eyes Adèle Geras

The Grand Duchess of Nowhere Laurie Graham

Miss Carter’s War Sheila Hancock

978 1 47129 609 3 – 448pp – £19.50

978 1 47129 610 9 – 464pp – £19.50

978 1 47128 288 1 – 384pp – £19.50

Eva Conway has spent a lifetime hiding from a ghost in the mirror…

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ow widowed, she lives with her family in Salix House, the home she’s owned and loved for forty years. When the family announces it’s time to sell, Eva is deeply reluctant. The house contains memories and secrets that are part of her. Megan is a fashion journalist working in London who interviewed Eva for a magazine. Torn apart by the brutal end of a love affair, Megan is drawn back to Salix House and Eva. Decades apart in age, the two women share a bond. Both are hiding something, but perhaps together they can confront their fears, their past pain and their uncertain futures…

Adèle Geras is the author of many acclaimed stories for children as well as five adult novels, including: Facing the Light, Hester’s Story, Made in Heaven and A Hidden Life.

‘Geras makes a superb comeback with this tale of female friendship set in the fashion world. [...] An intriguing tale.’ THE LADY

Large Print New Releases

Perhaps there is one great love in everyone’s life…

The story of a remarkable woman.

F

I

or Princess Victoria Melita, known as Ducky, her great love was a Romanov, a member of the doomed Russian monarchy. As an adult, Ducky is confined in an unhappy marriage.

Desperate for a new life, she begins to look for something more – the adventure leading her far beyond England’s bounds, from Malta to the French Rivera, Finland and St Petersburg. As Russia unravels in 1917 and the Romanov dynasty falls, Ducky - now reunited with her Romanov love - is right at the heart of it. The life of her family in danger, she must act bravely to stand a chance of escape.

‘A fascinating glimpse into a vanished world.’

SUNDAY TIMES ‘I loved this book and didn’t want to reach the end.’

DAILY MAIL

26

t is 1948 and the young and beautiful Marguerite Carter has lost her parents and survived a terrifying war, working for the SOE behind enemy lines. She returns to England to be one of the first women to receive a degree from the University of Cambridge.

Now she pins back her unruly auburn curls, draws a pencil seam up her legs, ties the laces on her sensible black shoes and sets out towards her future as an English teacher in a girls’ grammar school. For Miss Carter has a mission to fight social injustice, to prevent war and to educate her girls.

‘Engaging from the start, this is a novel of love, loss, politics, history and most importantly the power of friendship. A rich and absorbing story you won’t want to put down.’ DAILY EXPRESS ‘There is more than a touch of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie about the book. Carter is an original and convincing character and Hancock would be perfect for the part in a film of the book.’ DAILY MAIL

June 2015

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The Leather Burners Bliss Lomax

Courage Stout William MacLeod Raine

Two-Gun Law Clifton Adams

978 1 62899 354 7 – 296pp – £19.50

978 1 62899 353 0 – 320pp – £19.50

978 1 62899 356 1 – 264pp – £19.50

They may be wild, reckless and downright ornery, but they will get the job done.

It will take a man of courage stout to stand between the two sides if a bloodbath is to be avoided - a man like Neal MacGowan.

S

ix months of rustling was taking its toll on Jim Goodnight and the other ranchers in the Tuscarora Cattlemen’s Association.

That’s why he sent a telegram to devil-may-care Rainbow Ripley and his grumbling sidekick, Grumpy Gibbs, the best range detectives the country had ever seen. When Ripley and Gibbs arrive in Crazy Horse, Nevada, they are approached by Dan Slack, with an offer to pay twice what the cattlemen were paying if they would work for him guarding the railroad spur to the Buckskin Mine. To the cattlemen’s dismay, the detectives agree to take Slack’s offer…

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eal MacGowan, owner of the K-B Ranch, sees good on each side of the struggle between the big cattlemen and the little fellows who sometimes put their branding irons on the wrong beef. He refuses to join the Cattleman’s Association when they bring in ‘cattle detectives’ because juries won’t bring a guilty verdict against their friends. Within two months, two rustlers had been killed with notes pinned to their chests reading ‘Cow Thieves Beware.’ When MacGowan’s neighbour, Stuart Lane, meets the same fate, MacGowan is determined to solve the murder. When his investigation endangers the murdered man’s daughter, he rides into Rustlers’ Gap to bring the murderer to justice.

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Tomorrow they would both be in town, but one of them wouldn’t be there for long…

F

or the last three years of the Civil War, Jeff Denfield and Phil Carney had fought side by side for the Southern cause. Now the war was over and Phil invited Jeff to come home to Texas with him, rather than returning to being a riverboat gambler.

When they arrive in Texas, Jeff discovers Phil had other reasons besides friendship for inviting Jeff to Texas. Before leaving for the war, Phil had lost his ranch in a poker game to Jim McCain, who he was sure had cheated. Knowing Jeff was a gambler, he hoped Jeff would win the ranch back for him.

April 2015

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Richard Lamb Richard S. Wheeler

Mountain Made Max Brand

Wyoming Trails Lauran Paine

978 1 62899 355 4 – 256pp – £19.50

978 1 62899 352 3 – 320pp – £19.50

978 1 62899 385 1 – 256pp – £19.50

A thrilling story of strategy and nerve as an old man refuses to willingly lead his kin to be sacrificed on the altar of ambition.

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t had been over forty years since Richard Lamb left the privileged life in Massachusetts for the rugged wholesome ways of Montana. He built up a thriving trading post - an isolated fort that he shared with his Indian wife and their grown daughters. In 1877, this idyllic existence was threatened when the U. S. Army, under the direction of Captain Joseph Partridge, came to enforce an order to place all Indians on a reservation. Lamb’s family was Blackfeet; they were not hostile, a threat to no one. But to Captain Partridge, they were Indians - plain and simple. To Lamb, they were family.

Large Print New Releases

Glanvil has another fight to win…

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insor Glanvil pays court to Louise Carney, heiress to a fortune, and she agrees to marry him. The marriage is opposed by big Jack Rutledge, a jealous rival and formidable foe, so Glanvil and Louise plan to be married in a sequestered valley by a local clergyman. Rutledge and his supporters, learning of the plan, arrive in the valley ahead of the two and seize Glanvil. Glanvil is beaten mercilessly and Rutledge decides to prevent him from marrying any woman by disfiguring him permanently. Although Glanvil has been seriously weakened, he manages to get access to firearms and breaks in on the gang, shooting Rutledge…

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These are men who will use guns to get what they want, and they are willing to shoot from ambush.

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hanley, who prefers to be called Shan, is an ex-soldier who served during the Civil War and has a land grant for two square miles in Wyoming Territory. On a stage to Tico, the town nearest his ranch, he meets Sarahlee Gordon. The attraction between the two becomes obvious on the stage and grows after they arrive. Things are looking good for Shan, but then he meets the Blessing brothers, his neighbours to the north, who have been using his land as free graze land and don’t want him there…

April - May 2015

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Willow Basin Peter Dawson

Gunsmoke on the Rio Grande Bradford Scott

The Range Hawk Arthur Henry Gooden

978 1 62899 386 8 – 304pp – £19.50

978 1 62899 389 9 – 224pp – £19.50

978 1 62899 462 9 – 296pp – £19.50

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alph Frazer of the Bar Z has control of the local sheriff in Posse of Outlawed Men. The scheme seems unstoppable until Montana Pierce sets himself in opposition to Frazer. Rust Off a Tin Star concerns Yace Metten, a long-time town marshal in Salt Springs whose authority has been questioned in recent years. In Nester Payoff, thirteen-year-old Andy Overton seeks to put an end to Brad Irick for killing Andy’s father. In Amateur Gun Guard, Dave Winlay wins a boy from Big Ed in a poker game. Steve Lord meets Nora Kinney on the stage to Summit in Dead Man’s Assay.

In Willow Basin, Jim Roday returns to town after learning he’s been accused of murder.

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The wittiest man in the whole Southwest, with the fastest gun hand.

Setting the stage for crooks, con artists and a barrage of smoking guns…

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alt Slade was known as El Halcon, The Hawk. He was a legendary figure whose exploits, some of them apparently questionable, were talked about with awe, anger and respect throughout Texas. He kept his role as a Texas Ranger a secret from most because people would share information with El Halcon, while they would never open up to a ranger. This was why Captain McNelty sent him to Laredo in response to a letter from Texas-Mexicans. It was a mighty dangerous gunsmoke riddle that Ranger Walt Slade had been detailed to solve… if he could live that long.

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hen Jack Fielding, owner of the JF Ranch, found old Mark Severn, owner of the Bar 7, on the lonesome trail through Topaz Canyon, dying from a bullet wound, he knew there was going to be trouble on the Chuckwalla Range. Rustlers had been running off cattle, and Mark was going to do something about it.

As he lay dying, Mark made two requests: that Jack take over operation of the Bar 7, and that Jack find Mary Cameron, the granddaughter Mark had never met – and turn over his empire to her. If Mary can’t be located, the Bar 7 will go to Jack.

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Medicine Road Will Henry

Riders of the Buffalo Grass Bliss Lomax

Cimarron Blood William A. Luckey

978 1 62899 463 6 – 344pp – £19.50

978 1 62899 464 3 – 288pp – £19.50

978 1 62899 465 0 – 264pp – £19.50

he Denver & Pacific track layers dodged snipers’ bullets daily.

The camp was hit by one night raid after another. Dynamite took its deadly toll. Summoned into action, range detectives Rainbow Ripley and Grumpy Gibbs found out early on that Ben Slade and his gunmen were at the core of these attacks. But Slade was only earning his pay at the one trade he’d ever learned. Who was supplying the cash? One thing was certain: Slade was following somebody’s orders – and it was up to Rainbow and Grumpy to find the ringleader.

ext to getting into trouble, horses are what Blue Mitchell does best. So here he is again, sore and half-healed, yet willing to ride north in the harsh cold of winter to take the sting out of a good-blooded stock. But the raw-boned cowboy soon finds there’s more going on at the Broken S Ranch along the Cimarron than breaking horses. Land feuds and a failed mine have made Albert Buckminster murderous with rage – and if Blue gets in his way, it makes no difference to him. It’s a good thing Blue Mitchell is no stranger to trouble, because he’s about to step into a viper’s nest of it!

Medicine Road – A western story duo. n Medicine Road, Jesse Callahan was raised by the Miniconjou Sioux. He now transports guns and powder for Jim Bridger, who has a string of trading posts in southern Wyoming Territory.

Orphans of the North is a story in which you will meet no purely instinctive, so-called dumb animals, but only those sensitive wilderness folk who are able, in their mysterious unknown ways, to think and to feel and to communicate with one another, very much as you and I. The hero of the story is Awklet, a young moose calf orphaned when his mother is killed by a wolf pack.

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W. F. H O W E S p res ents

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BEN A ARONO VITCH

CLIPPER

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C OM IN G S OON TO

LARGE PRINT

The gripping first novel in a new crime series from the author of the Bernie Gunther series.

The unputdownable new novel from bestseller Amanda Prowse, author of four novels including the bestselling What Have I Done?

Stephen Fry invites readers to take a glimpse at his life story in the unputdownable More Fool Me.

W. F. Howes Ltd, Unit 4, Rearsby Business Park, Gaddesby Lane, Rearsby, Leicester, LE7 4YH Tel: 01664 423000 • Email: info@wfhowes.co.uk • www.wfhowes.co.uk

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