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74072 FALL AND RISE OF GORDON COPPINGER by David Nobbs


Traces the career of globally-successful financier and owner of Canary Wharf’s The Coppinger Tower - Sir Gordon Coppinger. Gordon lives an exclusive life filled with fine wines and surrounded by servants and mistresses. But, when revelations about his scandalous relationships and less than honest business practices emerge, the glamorous façade begins to crumble and those around him start to fear the worst. However, much to Gordon’s surprise, all he can feel is relief. 424 pages.


£14.99 NOW £4


74122 CORNER THAT HELD THEM by Sylvia Townsend Warner Small wonder then that the inhabitants of the Benedictine convent of Oby are prey to worldly ambitions, frustrations, pleasures and jealousy. An outbreak of the Black Death, the collapse of the convent spire, and a disappearance are the dramas that strike this cloistered community. The characteristics of Dame Blanch, Dame Lovisa and Dame Lilias are only gradually revealed through their individual stories about theft and blazing spiritual frustration. There are characters like Sir Ralph and Bishop Walter who stand out by force of contrast to the body of nuns. 400 page paperback. £8.99 NOW £4


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74207 A SMALL CIRCUS by Hans Fallada It is summer 1929, and a shabby reporter Tredup leads a precarious existence working for the Pomeranian Chronicle. This is until he takes some photographs that offer the chance to make a fortune. In a local bar the farmers are plotting their revenge on greedy officials. A mysterious travelling salesman from Berlin, Henning, is stirring up trouble and meanwhile the Nazis grow stronger and the Communists fight them in the streets. At the centre of it all the Mayor ‘Fatty’ Garies seeks the easy life even as events spiral out of his control. 578pp in glamorous Penguin hardback. £20 NOW £7


74143 THE RETURN by Walter de la Mare


This darkly thrilling tale tells the story of Lawford, a dull suburban man who accidentally falls asleep on a grave and wakes up possessed by the spirit - and face - of somebody else. Denounced by his family and friends as an impostor, his struggle to free himself of this possession leaves him a thoroughly changed man. How would your wife react if you came home with the face of someone else? Encompasses domestic trauma, unrequited love and philosophical reflection. 298pp in paperback.


£9.99 NOW £4.50 MONSIEUR PAMPLEMOUSSE


The beloved creator of Paddington Bear provides another taste of mystery for crime-solving duo Monsieur Pamplemousse and Pommes Frites.


74133 MEMENTO MORI


by Muriel Spark introduced by A. L Kennedy Dame Lettie Colston is the first of her circle to receive anonymous calls saying ‘Remember you must die’. She does not wish to be reminded, and nor do her family and friends, though they are constantly looking out for signs of decline in others, and change their wills on a weekly basis. As the caller’s activities become more widespread, soon a witch-hunt is in full cry, exposing past and present duplicities, self-deception and blackmail. Nobody is above suspicion and only a few, blessed with a sense of humour and a gift of faith, can guess at the caller’s identity. 226pp, paperback. £8.99 NOW £3.50


74139 SYMPOSIUM


by Muriel Spark introduced by Ian Rankin This is the story of a dinner party, a knot of people with pasts and connections and the prevailing mood is urbane. The wine is poured, the talk continues and all the time the ice on which the guests’ world rests is being thinned from beneath by boiling emotions and ugly motives. Spark handles the tension between formality of expression and the subversiveness of thought elegantly. 147pp in paperback. £8.99 NOW £3


74141 THE COMFORTERS


by Muriel Spark introduced by Ali Smith Caroline Rose is plagued by the tapping of typewriter keys and the strange, detached narration of every thought and action. She has an unusual problem - she is in a novel. Her fellow characters seem deluded - Laurence her former lover, finds diamonds in a loaf of bread. Had his elderly grandmother hidden them there? And Baron Stock, her bookseller friend, believes he is on the trail of England’s leading Satanist. Matchless glittering wit. 188pp, paperback. £8.99 NOW £2.50


74130 LOITERING WITH INTENT by Muriel Spark


Would-be novelist Fleur Talbot takes a job ‘on the grubby edge of the literary world’ as secretary to the pompous, irascible Sir Quentin Oliver, Director of the Autobiographical Association, a group of eccentric egomaniacs at work on their memoirs. When Sir Quentin steals Fleur’s work-in-progress, ‘Warrender Chase’, mayhem ensues as life begins to imitate fiction. The result is dangerous and darkly funny in this delightful moral fable. 172pp, paperback. £8.99 NOW £3.50


73828 WITH ONE LOUSY FREE PACKET OF SEED by Lynne Truss


Osborne Lonsdale, a mysteriously attractive down-at- heel journalist, writes a regular celebrity interview for ‘Come Into the Garden’, an ailing horticultural weekly magazine. This week his ‘Me and My Shed’ column will be based on the charming garden outhouse owned by TV sitcom star Angela Farmer. But unbeknown to Osborne, as he drives down to Devon to interview Angela, the sleepy magazine has been taken over by new management, and his research trip is interrupted by a trainload of anxious hacks from London. 210pp in paperback.


£7.99 NOW £3.50


74842 MONSIEUR PAMPLEMOUSSE ON VACATION by Michael Bond


Monsieur Pamplemousse is looking forward to a well- earned break in the South of France courtesy of his employer. All he has to do is collect a piece of artwork for Le Guide’s Director, but when his contact fails to show, and a dismembered body is washed up outside the hotel, the holiday mood evaporates. As Pamplemousse struggles with the case, and with modern technology, his ever-faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites is on hand offering proof why, during his time with the Paris Sûreté, he was one of their top sniffer dogs. 254pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £4


74840 MONSIEUR PAMPLEMOUSSE AFLOAT by Michael Bond


When the Director of Le Guide offers up a holiday on the Canal de Bourgogne, Monsieur Pamplemousse is unaware that there are strings attached. Things are not quite as peaceful as they seem among the vineyards of Burgundy, and family rivalries and resentments from long past culminate in a series of strange occurrences. Pamplemousse, accompanied of course by his faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites, finds himself caught up in the trouble. Before the holiday is over, the crime-solving duo will have to cope with the perils of portholes, a dead parrot, missing undergarments, the advances of a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, and an assassin disguised as a nun. 254pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £4


74841 MONSIEUR PAMPLEMOUSSE AND


THE MILITANT MIDWIVES by Michael Bond It isn’t everyday that a coffin explodes during a funeral ceremony. Barely escaping with his life, thanks to a warning howl from his faithful bloodhound Pomes Frites, Monsieur Pamplemousse can only wonder who was behind the explosion, and who was responsible for the demise of the coffin’s inhabitant. But then another urgent matter comes to his attention - a terrorist group is planning to poison the food chain. Pamplemousse, Pommes Frites and a rather strange ally must spearhead an élite group to stop the catastrophe. 254pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £4


75041 MONSIEUR PAMPLEMOUSSE: Set of


Three by Michael Bond Buy all three paperbacks and save more. £23.97 NOW £10


74289 GHOST LIGHT by Joseph O’Connor Outspoken and flirtatious, Molly Allgood is a Catholic girl from the slums of Dublin, dreaming of stardom in America. Her lover John Synge is a troubled genius, whose life is hampered by convention and by the austere and God-fearing mother with whom he lives. Their affair, sternly opposed by friends and family is quarrelsome, affectionate and tender. Many years later Molly is an elderly woman, making her way through London’s bomb-scarred streets, alone but for a snowdrift of memories. Her once dazzling career has faded but her unquenchable passion for life has kept her afloat. 246pp, paperback.


£7.99 NOW £2.50


74200 PERLMANN’S SILENCE by Pascal Mercier


In a quiet seaside town near Genoa, experts gather for a linguistics conference. One speaker, Philipp Perlmann, is recently widowed and, struggling to contend with his grief, is unable to write his keynote address. As the hour approaches, an increasingly desperate Perlmann decides to plagiarise the work of Leskov, a Russian colleague who cannot attend, and pass it off as his own. But when he learns that Leskov has arrived unexpectedly in Genoa, Perlmann must protect himself from exposure by constructing a maelstrom of lies and deceit that will push him to the brink of murder. 616pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


74291 HANGING GARDEN by Patrick White This previously unpublished novel from the Nobel Prize- winning author has been transcribed from his handwritten manuscript. This page-turning narrative is about two children who are brought to a wild garden on the shores of Sydney Harbour to shelter from the Second World War. The boy’s mother has died in the Nazi Blitz on London. The girl is the daughter of a Sydney woman and a Communist executed in a Greek Prison. In wartime Australia, these two children form an extraordinary bond as they negotiate the dangers of life as strangers abandoned on the far side of the globe. The novel ends as the news reaches Sydney of victory in Europe and the children have to face up to their inevitable separation. What will happen next? 224pp. £14.99 NOW £3


73139 PARK LANE by Frances Osborne It is 1914 in London. Threats of war loom large, but Lady Masters, head of a dying industrial dynasty, is still insisting that life is about service and duty. Little does she know that her youngest daughter, Beatrice, fatigued by the boredom of the social season, and enjoying a silent rebellion against convention, is drawn to Mrs Pankhurst’s underground world of militant suffragettes. Below stairs, neither Grace’s parents nor her adored brother know that her strong northern accent has prevented her from obtaining a post as a secretary and reduced her to serving as third housemaid in the Masters family. The secrets of Bea and Grace are on a collision course. 336pp.


£14.99 NOW £2.50


73034 TO LOVE AND TO CHERISH by Lyn Andrews


Life in 1920s Liverpool for sisters Gloria and Betty Jenkins is secure and comfortable. As Chief Steward on the SS Amazonia, their father Harry is often away, but Sal is a capable, warm-hearted mother. When Gloria finds romance with the boy next door, her interfering Aunt offers her the opportunity of a lifetime - a trip to New York and everything she desires, including a wealthy husband. Meanwhile Betty chooses a career at sea, leading to personal danger and great opportunities, especially in matters of the heart. 469pp, paperback. £6.99 NOW £2


72006 THE STRANGER’S CHILD by Alan Hollinghurst


In the late summer of 1913, George Sawle brings his Cambridge friend Cecil Valance, a charismatic young poet, to visit his family home. The weekend will link the families forever, but its deepest impact will be on George’s 16 year old sister Daphne. As the decades pass, Daphne and those around her endure startling changes in fortune and circumstance. Reputations rise and fall and the events of that long-ago summer are told and interpreted in different ways by successive generations. 564pp in paperback. £8.99 NOW £2.75


74142 THE QUARRY by Iain Banks 18 year old Kit is weird - big, strange, odd, socially disabled, on a spectrum that stretches from ‘highly gifted’ at one end to ‘nutter’ at the other. At least he knows who his father is - he and Guy live together in a decaying country house on the unstable brink of a vast quarry in the Pennines. Now his mother’s identity is another matter. His father is dying and old friends are gathering for one last time. ‘Uncle’ Paul’s a media lawyer; Rob and Ali are upwardly mobile corporate bunnies; pretty, hopeful Pris is a single mother; Haze is still living up to his drug-inspired name 20 years on, and fierce protective Hol is a gifted if acerbic critic. As young film students they lived with Guy and now they have all come back together because they want something and Kit too has ulterior motives. Before his father dies he wants to know who his mother is and what is on the mysterious tape they are all looking for. 326pp. £18.99 NOW £5


74132 THE MARLOWE PAPERS: A Novel in Verse by Ros Barber


Christopher Marlowe reveals the truth - that his ‘death’ was an elaborate ruse to avoid his prosecution for heresy, that he lived on in lonely exile, pining for his true love from across the Channel, and that he continued to write plays and poetry hiding behind the name of a colourless merchant from Stratford - one William Shakespeare. This extraordinary novel in verse brings the Elizabethan era to vibrant life. A cobbler’s son who rose far in society, a spy in the Queen’s service, Marlowe was always courting trouble. When it caught up with him, he was lucky to escape the hangman. But at what cost? Softback, 446pp. £13.99 NOW £4


74138 REVENGER by Rory Clements We step into the world of intelligencer John Shakespeare (brother of you-know-who) and you put your very life in peril, be it by the blade, the rope or the rack. 1592, England and Spain are at war, yet even a greater threat lies closer to home. Robert Cecil, Elizabeth’s cold but deadly young statesman, summons John Shakespeare - his mission to find vital papers, now in the possession of the Earl of Essex. Essex is the brightest star in the firmament, the Queen’s favourite, but when Shakespeare infiltrates his dissolute world, he discovers not only that the Queen herself is in danger, but that he and his family are also a target. 452pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £4


74341 JEW by D. O. Dodd


The endpapers and illustrations in this haunting novel are by the talented friend of Bibliophile, Claire Weissman Wilks, haunting and perfectly matched to the text. A man regains consciousness to find himself naked in a mass grave. He has no idea who he is. His thought is survival, but in a religious war, survival depends on knowing which side you are on. Donning another man’s military uniform, he drives off and enters a nearby town to discover that the occupying soldiers have been waiting for someone very much like him. Suddenly, he finds himself in power. His first act is to save a woman about to be murdered by soldiers. As it turns out the woman has a history with the man and knows more of him than he knows of himself. 174pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


74334 BROTHERS’ LOT by Kevin Holohan


A comic satire that tells the story of the Brothers of Godly Coercion School for Young Boys of Meagre Means, a dilapidated Dickensian institution run by an assemblage of eccentric, insane and often nasty celibate Brothers. The Brothers hunger for a miracle to move their founder along the path to Sainthood. When a possible miracle


presents itself, they fervently seize on it with the help of the ethically pliant Diocesan Investigator, himself hungry for a miracle to boost his career. It takes an outsider, Finbar Sullivan, a young student newly arrived at the school, to see that the source of the threat may in fact lie inside the school itself. 319pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £2.50


71843 A ROSE FOR VIRTUE by Norah Lofts When her mother marries Napoleon Bonaparte, Hortense Beauharnais finds herself thrust into the turbulent atmosphere of the post-Revolutionary French court, a dangerous world ruled by jealousy and malice. With Bonaparte desperate for an heir and the Empress Josephine seemingly unable to bear children, Hortense is pressed to marry the Emperor’s brother Louis. Browbeaten and mistreated by her new husband, she struggles to maintain equilibrium and dreams of the day when she might be able to marry her true love. First published in 1971, 256pp in new paperback. £7.99 NOW £1.50


MARGARET GEORGE History’s greatest legends


74593 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF HENRY VIII by Margaret George Henry VIII was a charismatic, ardent and brash young lover who married six times. A scholar with a deep love of poetry and music, an energetic hunter who loved the outdoors, a monarch whose lack of male heir haunted him incessantly, and a ruthless leader who would stop at nothing to achieve his


desires, Henry’s monumental decision to split from Rome and the Catholic Church was one that would forever shape the religious and political landscape of Britain. Combining magnificent storytelling with an extraordinary grasp of the pleasures and perils of power, Margaret George delivers a vivid portrait of Henry VIII and Tudor England and the powerhouse of players on its stage - Thomas Cromwell, Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More and Anne Boleyn. It is also a narrative told from an original perspective - the King’s point of view, injecting irreverent comments from Will Somers, Henry’s jester and confidant. A mammoth 932 page paperback. £8.99 NOW £4.50


74599 MARY QUEEN OF


SCOTLAND AND THE ISLES by Margaret George A magnificent recreation of the life of one of history’s greatest legends. Mary, Queen of Scotland, was a woman accused of murdering her husband to marry her lover, who became Queen six days after her birth in 1542, only to be beheaded 40 years later on the orders of her cousin, Elizabeth


I. In this re-enactment, the love affair between Mary and Bothwell is moving and heartbreaking, and their final destinies bring tears to the eyes. Extensively researched with the highest integrity, the book sets a new benchmark for the historical novel. Great value for money, a huge chunky paperback of 870pp. £8.99 NOW £4.50


74597 ELIZABETH I: A


Novel by Margaret George The legendary Elizabeth Tudor, history’s most enigmatic queen, is at the height of her power in 1588. She is the virgin with many suitors, the victor of the Armada who hated war, the jewel- bedecked woman always pinching pennies. Elizabeth’s flame-haired cousin, Lettice Knollys, is her bitter rival. In love with Robert Dudley,


Earl of Leicester, and the mother of the Earl of Essex, the mercurial nobleman who challenged Elizabeth’s throne, Lettice’s life has been intertwined with Elizabeth’s since childhood. Here is a story of two women of fierce intellect and desire, one trying to protect her country and throne, the other trying to regain power and position for her family. Their rivalry involves everyone close to Elizabeth, from the famed courtiers who enriched the crown to the legendary poets and playwrights. For Elizabeth, to be married to her people means she must rule as much with her heart as with her head. Magnificently researched. 671pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £4.50


74600 MEMOIRS OF


CLEOPATRA: A Novel by Margaret George A mesmerising story of power and ambition, of Queen Cleopatra in her own words. The story spans from the young queen’s earliest memories of her father’s tenuous rule, to her own reign over one of the most glittering kingdoms in the world. It is also a tale of passion that begins when the 21 year old


Cleopatra, desperate to return from exile, seeks out the one man who can help her, Julius Caesar. And it does not end until, having survived the assassination of Caesar and the defeat of the second man she loves, Marc Antony, she plots her own death. Another marvellously researched historical novel. A very chunky 1140pp in paperback. £8.99 NOW £4.50


75039 MARGARET GEORGE: Set of Four by Margaret George


Buy all four huge paperbacks and save more. £34.96 NOW £16.25


72794 WHISPERS OF NEMESIS by Anne Zouroudi


The inimitable Greek detective, Hermes Diaktoros, returns in a tale of hubris and Homer, dark coffee and even darker secrets. It is winter in the mountains of northern Greece and, as the snow falls in the tiny village of Vrisi, a coffin is unearthed and broken open. But, to the astonishment of the mourners at the graveside, the remains have been transformed. Hermes, drawn to the mountains by a wish to see an old and dear friend, finds himself embroiled in the mysteries of Vrisi, as well as the enigmatic last will and testament of Greece’s most admired modern poet. 288 paperback pages. Map. £11.99 NOW £2.50


73140 RAVENSCLIFFE by Jane Sanderson Yorkshire, 1904, on Netherwood Common, Russian émigré Anna Rabinovich shows her dear friend Eve Williams a house - a Victorian villa, solidly built from local stone. This is Ravenscliffe, and it is the house Anna wants them to live in. As Anna transforms Ravenscliffe,


Fiction


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