GREAT READS FROM TOP NAMES FROM AS LITTLE AS 50p! www.bibliophilebooks.com


74997 BALLAD OF TRENCHMOUTH TAGGART by Glenn Taylor


Meet Early ‘Trenchmouth’ Taggart, a man born and orphaned in 1903, one time inventor, snake handler, cunnilinguist, sniper, woodsman, harmonica man and newspaper man. His is an epic story, a tall tale in the tradition of Mark Twain, chronicling more than 100 years of exile and outrunning trouble. It is


the love song of an outlaw and like the best of ballads, it etches its mark deep upon the memory with a jump-off- the-page character. 310pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


75000 THE CAT’S TABLE by Michael Ondaatje This novel is set in the early 1950s. An 11 year old boy in Colombo boards a ship bound for England. At meal times he is seated at the ‘cat’s table’, as far from the Captain’s Table as can be, with a ragtag group of ‘insignificant’ adults and two other boys. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, the boys tumble from one adventure to another. One man talks with them about jazz and women, another opens the door to the world of literature. The narrator’s elusive, beautiful cousin Emily becomes his confidante and he begins to feel the first stirring of desire. Late one night the boys spy on a shackled prisoner and as the narrative moves between the decks a spectacular and magical sea voyage begins. 269 rough cut pages. $26 NOW £6


74563 STARSHINE


by John Wilcox 1914. As British forces are desperately attempting to hold off the German invasion of France, Jim Hickman and Bertie Murphy are plunged into this nightmare. Loyal friends since childhood, they have done everything together from falling in love with the same girl to enlisting when the war began. But while Jim receives honour after


honour, Bertie struggles to deal with the mindless slaughter around him. Back in Birmingham, their beloved Polly must find a way to choose between the two men. 445pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £2.75


75003 THE DOVEKEEPERS by Alice Hoffman 900 Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Alice Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers. She brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter and Shirah is wise in the ways of magic and medicine. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers and all are keeping their own secrets. 505pp in paperback. Cover is deliberately trimmed. $16 NOW £5.50


74559 PURPLE SHROUD by Stella Duffy


Once, Theodora was little more than a slave, the daughter of a bear- keeper, running barefoot through the streets of Constantinople. Now she is Theou doron, ‘the Gift of God’, Empress of Byzantine Rome and the most powerful woman in the world. She rules alongside her husband, the Emperor Justinian, a true love match in a world of political marriages. From the catastrophic and terrifying


riots that burn through the city, to vengeful enemies at the palace who will never accept her, to plagues, plots and murder, Theodora learns what it truly means to be Empress. The drama spans over 20 years. 390pp, map.


£16.99 NOW £4


75110 EMPEROR OF LIES by Steven Sem-Sandberg


In February 1940, the Nazis established what would become the second largest Jewish ghetto in the Poland, in the city of Lodz. A wire fence was built around the Old City, completely separating Jewish families, some quarter of a million, from the rest of the population, and the fence was patrolled by police ordered to shoot on sight should anyone attempt to escape. The ghetto’s chosen leader was Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, a 63 year old Jewish businessman ‘King Chaim’. He sought to transform it into a productive industrial complex, forcing adults and children to work punishing hours in workshops to provide supplies for the German military. Was Rumkowski a ruthless opportunist, an accessory to the Nazi regime or was he a pragmatic strategist who managed to save Jewish lives through collaboration? The author’s extraordinary novel draws on genuine chronicles of life in the Lodz ghetto and is regarded as one of the greatest Holocaust novels. A massive page turner which will be bound to leave a strong impact on you. 664pp with glossary. Paperback. £14.99 NOW £5


74493 IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT by Helen Simpson


This fifth collection of 15 short stories are wickedly funny and painfully true and proved very popular when read on BBC Radio Four. A young woman’s diary records a blackly farcical escape attempt involving flamenco, murder and wild picnics. Two students fall in love then almost talk themselves out of it in an argument about the end of the world. A heartfelt anti-cancer spell is cast in the desire to protect a friend. 132pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £2.50


69979 EINSTEIN GIRL by Philip Sington


Two months before Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, a beautiful young woman is found naked and near death in the woods outside Berlin. When she emerges from a coma, she can remember nothing, not even her own name. The only clue to her identity is a handbill found nearby, advertising a public lecture by Albert Einstein. Psychiatrist


Martin Kirsch little knows that this will be his last case. Searching for the truth about his celebrated patient, his finds professional fascination turning to love. His investigations lead him to a remote corner of Serbia via a psychiatric hospital in Zurich. There the inheritor of Einstein’s genius, his youngest son Eduard, is writing a book that will destroy his illustrious father and, in the process, change the world. Intricately researched, the novel culminates in a quantum twist. 391pp in large softback.


£12.99 NOW £3


72948 A WARTIME NURSE by Maggie Hope Against the odds, miner’s daughter Theda Wearmouth succeeds in gaining a nursing place at Newcastle Hospital. By the time war breaks out she is newly qualified and working in a children’s ward, a role she adores. She also finds herself being courted by a young soldier. Only her dreams of becoming Mrs Alan Price are shattered when he is killed in action before he can make good on his promise to marry her. Broken-hearted, Theda finds herself re-assigned to a special unit of the hospital dealing with German prisoners of war. 404pp, paperback.


£5.99 NOW £3


74567 VALENTINE GREY by Sandi Toksvig


The eponymous heroine of the novel was born in Assam in north- east India and enjoyed a carefree childhood. This is abruptly curtailed by the death of her father, and in 1897 she arrives in damp, cold London. She finds the skirts, petticoats, stays and corsets of Victorian society unbearable, but one thing makes life enjoyable - her unconventional and homosexual


cousin Reggie. Reggie and his lover Frank enjoy an adventurous if clandestine life, one in which they are happy to include Valentine, and she learns all sorts of things a young lady should not. But then comes the Boer War, and Reggie’s father volunteers him - but it will not be Reggie on the boat to Cape Town. Valentine seizes her chance. She heads off for the adventure of war. 341pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


74284 BOOKS BURN BADLY by Manuel Rivas On the eve of the Spanish Civil War, some Fascists start to burn books in a Galician town square. People ask themselves what to add or rescue, half enjoying it as well as trying to recall old titles from the travelling library that used to visit the Galician coast. Curtis the boxer, also known as Hercules, remembers the books he has helped to transport for the library. Olinda, the match girl, sees visions in the water of the river while washing clothes, and when her partner, the bagpiper Polka, is deported, Olinda in desperation becomes a political activist. In a dreamlike atmosphere the novel moves back and forward in time, referencing the work of the 19th century missionary George Borrow whose bibles have a longevity that symbolises what the Fascists are attempting to destroy. 545pp, paperback. £8.99 NOW £2.50


74167 FEVER HILL by Michelle Paver Set in Jamaica 1903 this stand-alone novel is part of the Eden trilogy. Sophie Munroe, clever, passionate and incapable of fitting in, returns to her childhood home of Eden, the hauntingly beautiful plantation where she grew up and which is nearly bankrupt. Her own inheritance, the old house at Fever Hill, is slipping into ruin. Her sister Madeleine is hiding something, but what? What could be so wrong that she cannot tell Sophie? Even her childhood hero Ben Kelly is avoiding her, for Ben has troubles of his own as he struggles to forget an appalling childhood in the London slums. 445pp, paperback. £6.99 NOW £2


73965 IT ENDS WITH REVELATIONS by Dodie Smith


During a summer festival in an English spa town, Miles Quentin, a distinguished actor, and his devoted wife Jill become friendly with the local MP Geoffrey Thornton and his young daughters Robin and Kit. All of these attractive, intelligent and busy people initially seem untroubled, but the surface of their lives conceals problems which come to light after the Quentins return to their London theatre world and the Thorntons to their Westminster home. This sets the scene for an unconventional love story in which loyalty may prove more important than love. 280pp in paperback reprint of the 1967 original. £7.99 NOW £3.50


74487 HAVISHAM by Ronald Frame The story of Miss Havisham in Dickens’s Great Expectations, jilted at the altar, wearing her bridal dress for ever and teaching her young ward Estella to break men’s hearts, has passed into popular mythology. Here novelist Ronald Frame skilfully retells the story from the brewery heiress Catherine Havisham’s point of view, starting with a sickening accident in which a man is injured and Catherine befriends his daughter Sally. As Catherine rises in the social world, she joins the circle of Lady Chadwyck, attending balls and taking part in tableaux vivants. In the background are Catherine’s profligate brother Arthur, a drunken thief, and the charming William, irresistible to women. A mysterious stranger, Charles Compeyson, enters Catherine’s life and soon they are engaged to be married. He knows everything about Catherine, but how? 361pp. £16.99 NOW £3.50


74579 LADY OF THE RIVERS by Philippa Gregory


The story of Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford, a woman who navigated a treacherous path through the battle lines in the Wars of the Roses. When she is left a wealthy young widow, Jacquetta returns to England and achieves a place at the very heart of the Lancaster court, though she can sense the danger of their royal York rivals. As she fights for her king and queen,


Jacquetta can see an extraordinary and unexpected future for her daughter Elizabeth - a change of fortune, the throne of England, and the White Rose of York. 443pp, paperback. $16 NOW £4.50


73478 THE VIRGIN’S LOVER


by Philippa Gregory


In the autumn of 1558, church bells across England ring out the news - Elizabeth is queen. One woman hears them with dread - Amy Dudley, wife of Sir Robert, who knows that with Elizabeth on the throne he will return to the glamorous Tudor court. The triumphant peal of bells summons


her husband once more to power, and to the passionate young queen. Robert is sure that he can be by his Elizabeth’s side, and as queen and courtier fall in love, Dudley begins to contemplate the impossible - setting aside his lovely wife to marry the young Elizabeth. 485pp, paperback. £7.99 NOW £3.50


57471 A DARK MOON RAGING


(UNJACKETED) by Aileen Armitage Based on a true story. Constance and William Lumb are two lonely children, neglected in their Victorian nursery while the dramas of life, death and madness swirl around their family like the smoke from the mill chimneys nearby. They cling together and swear a pact in blood that they will forever share their hopes and fears and sins. Then their little half-brother is mysteriously killed and a shadow of guilt falls over their family. The two remain silent about the tragedy throughout the years, until Constance finally decides to seek peace as a nun. But then the moment comes when the truth must be told, and the darkness may turn to light. 254pp. £6.95 NOW 50p


66180 COMPLETE RICHARD HANNAY


STORIES by John Buchan *BESTSELLER* Major General Sir Richard Hannay is the fictional secret agent created by writer and diplomat John Buchan, who was himself an Intelligence officer. In Greenmantle, he undertakes a vital mission to prevent jihad in the Islamic Near East. Mr Standfast, set in the decisive months of 1917-18, is the novel in which Hannay finally falls in love. In The Three Hostages, he finds himself unravelling a kidnapping mystery with his wife’s help. In the last adventure, The Island of Sheep, he is called upon to honour an old oath. 992 paperback pages. Great value. ONLY £2


73446 LITTLE VILLAGE SCHOOL by Gervase Phinn A Barton-in-the-Dale novel. Elisabeth Devine causes quite a stir on her arrival in the village. No one can understand why the head of a big inner city school would want to come to sleepy little Barton-in-the-Dale, to a primary with more problems than school dinners. And that is not even counting the challenges the mysterious Elisabeth will herself face - a bitter former head teacher, a grumpy caretaker and a duplicitous Chair of governors, and then there is the gossip. 392pp, paperback.


£7.99 NOW £4


74555 HARRIET SAID... by Beryl Bainbridge A girl returns from boarding school to her sleepy Merseyside hometown and waits to be reunited with her friend Harriet, chief architect of all their past mischief. She roams along the shoreline and through woods still pitted with wartime trenches and encounters ‘the Tsar’, almost old, unhappily married, both dangerously fascinating and repulsive. Pretty, malevolent Harriet arrives, and over the course of the long holidays draws her friend into a scheme to beguile then humiliate the Tsar, with disastrous, shocking consequences. A gripping portrayal of adolescent transgression. 174 page paperback.


£8.99 NOW £3.50


74570 A WEEKEND WITH CLAUDE by Beryl Bainbridge


Told through the fractured narratives of Claude, Lily, Shebah and Norman, this is Beryl Bainbridge’s first novel about a darkly comic weekend of friendship and failure. A snapshot shows a group of friends lounging in the sunshine on a weekend in the country at the invitation of Claude and his wife Julia. The girl at the centre is dreamy Lily whose latest failed love affair forms the purpose of the weekend as her friends set out to help her ensnare an unwitting father for her unborn child. Next to her is Norman, a Marxist romantic, hell bent on seducing his milk-white hostess. Behind them is old, persecuted Shebah and, slightly apart, the young man on whom all hopes are pinned, pleasant, unassuming Edward. 148pp in paperback. £8.99 NOW £3.50


74930 EARTHSEA: A Wizard of


Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin Ged was the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea. But he was once called Sparrowhawk, a reckless youth, hungry for power and knowledge who tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death’s threshold to restore the balance. 251pp in paperback. Remainder mark. $8.99 NOW £3.50


GARDENING


To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.


- Helen Keller 75555 HILLIER


GARDENER’S GUIDE: Shrubs by Andrew McIndoe Published by David & Charles in association with the top class company of Hillier with whom they have worked since 1973, that is when this book was first published and it has been the standard book on the subject and continuously in


print since then. We have the glossy softback current edition from 2005. Shrubs are the basic building blocks of any garden, providing a huge palette of shapes, colours and textures. They can be quiet backdrops to the seasonal colour at the front of the border or can themselves provide the colour and depth that makes the best garden great places to be in and view from the house at any time of the year. Since shrubs are permanent and long lasting, choosing, planting and managing them is not something to leave to trial and error. Evergreens that colour in autumn, the spectacular colours of mop head hydrangeas, dripping magnolias, salvia, hebe, the gently swaying deep red Acer, and mixing and matching shrubs with purplish-red foliage for different effects. Grouped by seasons, effect, situations like damp sites and clay soil and with plenty on roses, walls and fences, hedges and screens, pots and containers too. 192 very large pages in softback, spectacular colour photos throughout. £14.99 NOW £6


75577 GARDENER’S FACT


FILE by Noël Kingsbury The Gardener’s Fact File is not just another gardening book. It is totally different. To start with, strategy pages guide you through all stages of garden planning, design, planting and maintenance, and point to the right questions to ask yourself to come up with your


own solutions. Then directories give comprehensive advice on choosing and maintaining materials and features. The project pages use step-by-step photos to demonstrate essential construction and planting techniques. Add to this the notebook pages, which are interactive, allowing you to fill in and build up your own personal fact file. They provide a much-needed place to plan your own special garden, and space to record inspirations and decisions. There are, of course, tips galore. You are not just left on your own. For instance, the section on planning your barbecue has space for site measurements, tools and materials required, suppliers, with a useful page of graph paper to facilitate measuring. There are chapters on seating, wildlife, entertaining, using containers - the list is endless. 176 pages bound in a sturdy ring file, with handy zip pocket for further notes and elasticated bookmark, photographed in glowing colour.


$25 NOW £3.50 74165 THE FAMILY


by Kay Brellend Tilly and the rest of the Keiver clan are


knuckling down to life in one of the most villainous streets in London, but their world is rocked to its core when someone they thought was dead, Jimmy Wild, small-time crook and big-time bully, turns up. Jimmy brings his beautiful stepdaughter Faye, and his


SALE HALF OF HALF


downtrodden wife Edie to live on the street, and while they do their best to scratch out a living, Jimmy barely lifts a finger to help. For his sons, Robert and Steven, it was hard enough coming to terms with the death of their mother, and now their good-for- nothing father has come crawling back. Set in 1927. 370pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £2


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74499 MR PHILLIPS by John Lanchester One warm July morning Mr Phillips climbs out of bed, leaving Mrs Phillips dozing. He prepares for his commute into the city, but this is no ordinary Monday. It is a day on which Mr Phillips will chat with a pornographer, stalk a TV mini-celebrity, have lunch with an aspiring record mogul, and get caught up in a bank robbery. So why is Mr Phillips, a cautious middle-aged accountant, not at work? An ironic and innocent comedy, astoundingly intelligent, the novel has an easy way with the comic problems of philosophy. 247pp in paperback.


£7.99 NOW £2.50


52778 DRACULA’S GUEST AND OTHER STORIES by Bram Stoker


In this rich collection of 13 macabre tales, Bram Stoker, creator of the Gothic masterpiece ‘Dracula’ presents us with a weird and chilling variety of unsettling stories. You will encounter the devilishly dangerous haunted room in ‘The Judge’s House’, the fatalistic tragedy in ‘The Burial of the Rats’, the terror of revenge from beyond the grave in ‘The Secret of Growing Gold’ and the surprising twist in the tail in ‘The Gypsy’s Prophecy’, amongst other strange and frightening episodes. 224 page paperback. ONLY £3


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