BOOKS: FICTION

Agents' initials follow each client's entry

JUDITH ALLNATT
Judith Allnatt is a teacher who lives in rural Northamptonshire with her young family. She is a published poet and teaches creative writing at the Open University and at Leicester University. She is now at work on her third novel, set during the First World War. Her writing has been compared to that of Rose Tremain, Helen Dunmore and Tim Pears

http://www.judithallnatt.co.uk/

THE POET'S WIFE

It is 1841. Patty is married to John Clare: peasant poet, genius and madman.

Travelling home one day, Patty finds her husband sitting, footsore, at the side of the road, having absconded from a lunatic asylum over eighty miles away. Hopeful that his condition has improved, she takes his hands in delight but he fails to recognize her. She is devastated to discover that he has not returned home to find her, but to search for his childhood sweetheart, Mary Joyce, to whom he believes he is married.

Patty still loves John deeply, but he seems lost to her, obsessed with the idealised image of a woman that she cannot possibly match. Plagued by jealousy, she seeks strength in memories: their whirlwind courtship, the poems John wrote for her, their shared affinity for the land. She must try to heal John's turbulent, unhappy soul and restore him to the man she married. But as John descends further into delusion and his behaviour becomes increasingly volatile, hope seems to be fading. Will she ever be able to conquer her own anger and hurt and reconcile with this man she now barely knows?

THE POET'S WIFE is a novel about the limits of love. Lyrical, absorbing, deeply moving, Judith Allnatt's fine sensibility for human complexity and the natural world are hard to forget.

Praise for THE POET'S WIFE:

"The Poet's Wife is another emotionally intelligent and darinly inventive insight into the workings of a troubled mind".
Pam Norfolk, Lancashire Evening Post

"Clare often pops up in fiction, but it was high time someone rescued his poor wife from footnote-land. Allnatt (herself a poet) gives her an affecting, beautifully written afterlife."
Kate Saunders, The Times

"This is a fascinating, compelling book, written with subtlety and a delicate touch. It is a tender family portrait, weaving together the daily struggle and acute observations of the woman who was married to John Clare and the bewildering effects of madness at a time when mental illness was little understood."
Clare Morrall

UK Publisher: Black Swan, February 2010

A MILE OF RIVER

Shortlisted for the 2008 Portico Prize for Literature and BBC Radio 5 Live Book of the Month

It is 1976 and England is suffocating. The long, dry spring has given way to a summer of severe drought, with standpipes in the streets and a rallying cry to "save water, share a bath!" For the farmers, life has become a daily struggle to make ends meet. The fields are tinder dry, the earth is dusty and scorched and the rivers are drying up to a trickle.

Jess and Tom live on a remote farm in the English countryside with their increasingly difficult and brutal father, Henry. Their mother, Sylvie, walked out years before and Jess is struggling with the role of mother figure to Tom, as well as skivvie and hired hand for her father. Jess just wants to be a normal teenager, to go to dances and kiss boys, to take her exams and dream of a future far away from milking cows and ploughing fields. Daydreaming about her mother's return, Jess discovers Sylvie's old diary and begins to uncover the shocking truth about her disappearance.

As the drought grips ever tighter, as the water level of the river begins to drop, the menace in the air builds until it reaches boiling point, with a confrontation between Jess and her father that has devastating consequences

"A novel of rare insight, exquisitely written. A standing ovation for this debut." Michael Morpurgo

UK Publisher: Doubleday/Black Swan, March 2008

Rights sold: Holland - De Kern

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CAMPBELL ARMSTRONG
Campbell Armstrong was born in Glasgow in 1944. After receiving his BA from the University of Sussex Campbell migrated to the United States where he lived with his wife and children for twenty years initially teaching creative writing and then becoming a full-time novelist. He produced 20 bestselling novels before deciding to return to Europe in 1991. He now lives and writes in the Republic of Ireland.

BUTCHERS
Lou Perlman, officially on sick leave from the Strathclyde Police, has hit the lowest point in his life. Barred from participating in the investigation of the bloody gangland slayings that have shocked Glasgow, and seemingly abandoned by Miriam, the nomadic object of his affection, he's a man without much of a future...Until the day when he decides to clean his long-neglected house and discovers, stuffed between yellowing old newspapers, a decayed human hand in a Ziploc bag...Whose hand is this? And who cut if off? And who put it in Perlman's bedroom? These are questions he alone must answer, and they take him on a baffling quest through the strata of Glasgow society, from slum tenements to casinos to New Age Temples and high-flying criminals and freaks... the answers, when they come, prove to be more troubling than the questions.

UK publisher: Allison & Busby, 2006

Praise for WHITE RAGE:

"Armstrong's skill is not just an eye for a criminally good tale but a passion for the people that will populate it." The Scotsman

"The thinking man's thriller writer ... Armstrong's novels are unusually supple in their writing, elegiac and lyrical...The hard-boiled writing of Chandler and Hammett runs through his work." Sunday Times

Already published: JIG, MAZURKA, MAMBO, AGENTS OF DARKNESS, CONCERT OF GHOSTS, JIGSAW, HEAT, THE SURGEON’S DAUGHTER, BLACKOUT, SILENCER, THE TRADERS WIFE, THE BAD FIRE, THE LAST DARKNESS, WHITE RAGE.

Previous foreign sales in: USA, France, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden, Spain.

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"This book, which is probably her best, comes after a lifetime dedicated to writing. Her prose is like the botanical flower paintings at Kew: 17 washes precede the final glaze."
Jane Gardam, The Spectator

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GEMMA BURGESS
Gemma Burgess grew up in Hong Kong and Australia, and moved to London at 22 to become an advertising copywriter. THE DATING DETOX is her first novel. She lives in Notting Hill and is currently at work on her second novel.

www.gemmaburgess.com

THE DATING DETOX

Dating is a dangerous sport. So after her SIXTH successive failed relationship, romantically-challenged twenty-something Sass decides she’s had enough.

If you can't date anyone nice, don't date anyone at all!

The Dating Detox is born. No men, no break-ups, no problem. The result? Her life – up till now joyfully / traumatically occupied with the Holy Trinity of dates, clothes and vodka – suddenly goes from bumpy to smooth. Chastity rocks! No wonder nuns are always singing. Everything seems to fall at her feet. Especially men.

Will Sass break the rules before the three-month Dating Detox is up? Why does fate keep throwing her in the path of the irritatingly amusing Jake? Will she ever roll the dice and play again? Or is a love-free life too good to risk losing?

For the post-Carrie Bradshaw, post-Bridget Jones, post-credit crunch generation of singles, life isn't beautiful, a bitch, or a beach. It's a party.

Praise for THE DATING DETOX:

"Irish chick-litterateurs had better watch out -- Gemma Burgess is about to eat your cake. Smart, plotty and funny, The Dating Detox is the work of a master. And it's her first book…And before you ask, yes, buy it, read it, love it."
Lucille Redmond, Irish Herald

"A laugh-out-loud funny take on modern dating for lovers of Paige Toon and Adele Parks. Perfect to read while you're detoxing in January!"
Closer Magazine

"Warming, often hilarious... a fantastic and refreshing take on the Chic Lit" BitchBuzz

"It's humourous, it's warm and it's witty... I could have read about Sass all day long...A true must-read"
Chick Lit Reviews

"Quirky, funny and real. The Dating Detox offers a new and refreshing voice, taking 'chic-lit' past Carrie Bradshaw and giving Bridget Jones a wink on the way."
Caroline Smailes

UK Publisher: Avon, December 2009

Foreign Rights Sold: Germany - Blanvalet

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The fifth gripping Felix Castor novel. He's a gumshoe exorcist, trying to deal with the ghosts and other emanations are beginning to infest London like rats coming up out of the sewers. Scary and wryly funny - Neil Gaiman meets Raymond Chandler.

UK Publisher: Little, Brown, September 2009

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
Set in a London where the dead have begun to rise in a variety of terrifying forms, this book introduces the character of Felix Castor, a freelance exorcist literally haunted by his own past failures. This is a dirty job that some people get drawn into out of religious conviction or compassion, but Castor is an exorcist-for-hire, turning a natural gift into a lucrative but very dangerous career. The series sees him go up against an unsettling menagerie of ghosts and demons with the help (if that's the word) of a gorgeous succubus initially summoned from Hell to kill him.

"Carey juggles characters and bits and pieces of plot like a man with a thousand arms, catching each word and positioning it in exactly the right place in this deftly crafted, can't-turn-the-page-fast-enough read." Kirkus – starred review

"Carey is a master plotter. His plots are focused and well planned though with enough clues that you mentally kick yourself when you start to see the connections. It's a great read. You can't help yourself from wanting to know how deep in shit Castor can go before he drowns." Next Read

UK and US Publisher: TimeWarner, April 2006

Previously published: VICIOUS CIRCLE, DEAD MEN'S BOOTS, THICKER THAN WATER.

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GLENN CHANDLER
Glenn Chandler is best known as the creator and writer of the award-winning TAGGART television series which continues to be made and screened world-wide.

UK: Hodder, July 2004

Previously published: SAVAGE TIDE.

Praise for SAVAGE TIDE:

"This book rocks - all the ingredients you'd expect for a top crime story are here" The Daily Record

Ecosse Films have optioned the first book in this series for television and Glenn Chandler is currently working on the adaptation.

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JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES

Originally from Montana, Janet Skeslien Charles divides her time between France and the United States. MOONLIGHT IN ODESSA was inspired by the two years she spent as a Soros Fellow in Odessa, Ukraine. This is her debut novel.

http://www.jskesliencharles.com/

MOONLIGHT IN ODESSA
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian meets Desperate Housewives in this brilliant expose of the booming business of e-mail order brides, an industry where love and marriage collide with sex and commerce.

Odessa, Ukraine is the humour capital of the former Soviet Union. But in an upside down world where waiters earn more than doctors and Odessans depend on the mafia rather than the government for basics like phone service, no one is laughing. After months of job hunting, Daria finds a plum position at a foreign firm. But every plum has a pit. In this case, it's her new boss, Mr. Harmon, who makes it clear that sleeping with him is part of the job description. Daria evades Harmon's advances by recruiting her neighbour, the slippery Olga, to be his mistress. But soon Olga sets her sights on Daria's job.

Daria begins to moonlight as an interpreter at Soviet Unions, a matchmaking agency that organizes social events where lonely American men can meet Odessan women. Her grandmother pushes Daria to marry one of the foreigners, but Daria already has feelings for a local. She must choose between her world and America, between Vlad, a sexy, irresponsible mobster, and Tristan, a teacher nearly twice her age. Daria chooses security and America. Only it's not exactly what she thought it would be...

Praise for MOONLIGHT IN ODESSA:

"..a comically touching travelogue through the international romantic wasteland.." Dave Boling, author of Guernica

"A delightful journey from post-Soviet Ukraine to the world of rural suburban California and a vivid glimpse into the lives of 'email-order' brides." Timothy Ryback, author of Hitler's Private Library

"The teetering dance between humour and heartbreak burns through this tale that takes place at the intersection of love and money, East and West, male and female" Publishers Weekly

UK & US Publisher: Bloomsbury, September 2009 (US); January 2010 (UK)

Foreign rights sold: USA, Serbia, Romania, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Holland, Brazil, Italy

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MIST OVER THE WATER

On the swampy island of Ely, a new Gothic cathedral is being built on the remains of the old Saxon church. Young Lassair is sent to look after her cousin Morcar, who swears he was nearly killed by some mysterious monks. New religion meets the old, folk religion in this fresh and accessible story, the second in this series of historical mystery novels set in 11th century England.

Praise for the first in the series, THE JOYS OF MY LIFE:

"This is a skilfully plotted, delightfully written genre-bender with appealing characters, bold adventure, and dark intrigue. Top-notch!"
Booklist - starred review

"Another winner in Clare's medieval series, thanks to a canny brew of mysticism, romance and adventure" Kirkus

ELIZABETH DARRELL

Elizabeth Darrell, who also writes as Emma Drummond, lives in Bournemouth. She was an army officer before she became a full-time writer, and draws on this experience in this crime series, which has the unusual setting of a British military base in Germany

FRENCH LEAVE

During an intense heatwave, members of the West Wiltshire Regiment are engaged in a demanding military exercise prior to deployment to Afghanistan. At the conclusion of a mock assault on the final day, Private John Smith is missing. Subsequent searches of the vast exercise area fail to find him, and fears grow for his survival in such excessive temperatures without adequate water. While Smith's sergeant is adamant the man has gone AWOL, 26 Section, Special Investigation Branch, receives an anonymous phone call: Don't bother looking for Smith. Someone's finally done him in. Military detectives Max Rydal and Tom Black soon discover Smith was universally despised, which leaves them with an entire platoon of suspects...until Dan Farley, the new Platoon Commander, also goes missing. What is the link between this young lieutenant, and a squaddie who appears to have been in league with a local German crime syndicate? Have they both gone AWOL, or is there something sinister behind their disappearance?

UK: Severn House, July 2009

Already published: UNSUNG HEROES, SCARLET SHADOWS, THE BURNING LAND, THE RICE DRAGON, BEYOND ALL FRONTIERS, FORGET THE GLORY, THE BRIDGE OF A HUNDRED DRAGONS, A CAPTIVE FREEDOM, SOME FAR ELUSIVE DAWN, THAT SWEET AND SAVAGE LAND, A QUESTION OF HONOUR, A DISTANT HERO, AND IN THE MORNING, AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN, WE WILL REMEMBER,SHADOWS OVER THE SUN, RUSSIAN ROULETTE, CHINESE PUZZLE, CZECH MATE, DUTCH COURAGE

Praise for previous Elizabeth Darrell titles:

'Well crafted ...a memorable, full-blooded historical' Publishers Weekly

'Solid writing, authentic detail of military life, plenty of action and a sensible everyman hero make this an enjoyable new entry to this always-reliable series.' Booklist

Previous foreign sales in: USA, Italy, Norway, Poland, France, Russia

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A GENTLEMAN OF FORTUNE

A second novel featuring Dido, set in the style and period of Jane Austen.

Dido is called in to investigate the mysterious disappearance of one of the neighbours - and in doing so, discovers far more about the community than she'd ever dreamed. A fascinating and lively novel.

UK Publisher: Allison & Busby, May 2009

A MOMENT OF SILENCE

A realistic, engrossing mystery novel in the style and period of Jane Austen.

All single women must earn their keep by looking after other members of the family when necessary. Dido's niece Catherine is at the home of her fiancé preparing for the wedding, when he suddenly disappears, having received a mysterious message. Naturally, she's broken-hearted, not sure if he'll ever return, so she calls for her favourite aunt to comfort her. Dido has just arrived at Belsfield Hall when the body of a girl is found within the grounds of the house. The astute Dido must uncover the identity of the dead woman and the cause of her murder before she can attempt to rescue her niece's happiness.

"In [Dido], Anna Dean has created a masterpiece of detection, a Miss Marple-esque character both razor sharp and kindly. A totally enjoyable read, and the beginning of a terrific series." Louise Penny

UK Publisher: Alisson & Busby, June 2008

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BABYLON NIGHTS

Fifteen years ago, Oscar-winning actress Anna Mayhew had the world at her feet. Now she's pushing forty, her younger lover has left her and the parts are drying up. Seriously depressed, Anna spends much of her time thinking up clever ways to kill herself. But when she discovers she has a crazed stalker, Anna decides she might as well let the stalker do it instead - and create enough headlines to propel her name into film immortality? What better way for a star to exit the stage?

Enter David Spandau, who's hired by Anna's sister to protect her. But how do you keep alive a woman who'd prefer to be dead? Despite himself, Spandau finds himself falling for Anna when he accompanies her to the Cannes Film Festival. But Vincent the stalker is also in Cannes, intent on a bloody consummation of their relationship. And Vincent in turn is followed by Special, an opera-loving LA pimp who's trying to recover the $80,000 of mob-owned money Vincent stole from him. So begins a deadly cat-and-mouse game...

UK Publisher: Simon & Schuster, April 2010

Rights sold: USA, Canada, France, Germany

LOSER'S TOWN
Private investigator David Spandau is called to the trailer of a Hollywood star, who's receiving death threats. However, this is nothing unusual for an A-list actor. What makes this different?

It turns out the actor's being blackmailed by B-list gangster Richie Stella, who just wants to make a movie, and you can't make a movie without a star.

While David works on stopping Richie, he's surprised when the lonely Bobby tries to befriend him. Bobby's got everything, except someone who will talk honestly to him.

Potts, an operative for Richie Stella, is saddled with a working partner who’s content as a child with a chainsaw movie or a porn magazine, while Potts has a persistent feeling the sky is about to fall. Falling in love with a woman at a supermarket is the last thing he expects.

Salvatore Locatelli, the man who really owns Los Angeles, has diversified into funding movies. Well, as the head of organised crime there, you invest in the local industry, don't you? But as he says, the movie business makes the cocaine and heroin racket look like child's play.

This delicious novel manages to have both heart and cynicism in equal measure, as well as telling a great story. Daniel has been commissioned for a further book featuring David Spandau, set at the Cannes Film Festival called Babylon Nights. His background as a scriptwriter and film producer bring authenticity and an insider's eye to this book.

"The novel sparkles. If the author continues to create such vivid characters, this series will draw a loyal following." Booklist

"Depp creates characters as memorable as some of Elmore Leonard's. LOSER'S TOWN wins on every count. It's cynical, sexy, funny and suspenseful. All good things." Daily News (New York)

UK Publisher: Simon & Schuster, March 2009

Foreign sales: USA, Canada, France, Hungary, Germany, Russia, Holland

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KATE DUNN

Kate comes from a long line of writers and actors: her grandfather, Hugh Williams, was a celebrated actor and playwright and her uncles are the actor Simon Williams and the poet Hugo Williams. Kate followed her family into the theatre and has performed in repertory and in the West End. She has appeared in television productions including My Brother Jonathon and The Bill. Her career changed with the birth of her son Jack and the publication of her first novel REBECCA'S CHILDREN by Barrie and Jenkins. This was followed by the publication of ALWAYS AND ALWAYS, the Wartime Letters of Hugh and Margaret Williams, edited by Kate, published by John Murray and broadcast on Radio 4. In October 1998 John Murray issued EXIT THROUGH THE FIREPLACE - The Great Days of Rep and the sequel to this, DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET – The Early Days of Live Television, was published in 2003. Kate now broadcasts on Radios Two, Three and Four and is a regular contributor to Front Row. She teaches creative writing at Bristol University and has just finished a novel, THE THINGS YOU DO FOR LOVE, for which she has received a grant from Arts Council England.

Praise for EXIT THROUGH THE FIREPLACE:

"Many of the stories made me laugh out loud." Charles Spencer, The Sunday Telegraph.

Praise for ALWAYS AND ALWAYS:

"Kate Dunn has edited this collection faultlessly. Generally unobtrusive, she is always on hand when needed to guide us." Charles Duff, The Spectator

WHERE WOMEN SING

The first scene – which takes place early in WW2 - is absolutely wonderful and harrowing and draws you into the heart of the novel in the most thrilling way. The two protagonists, Ifor and Ella, are from different social worlds: he is a gardener, she is the mistress of a grand house and of course there can be nothing between them. Yet their story sets the scene for a present-day love affair which is equally unlikely and ultimately equally tragic. The setting is Ella's house in Wales, called Nanagalan which in Welsh means WHERE WOMEN SING, hence the title. Now fallen into disrepair and its once beautiful garden and vineyard long abandoned and overgrown, Ella’s great nephews bring in a disparate group of experts and volunteers to try to restore it to its former glory. But the house has long buried secrets which should not be uncovered…

The obvious comparison for WHERE WOMEN SING is Ian McEwan for the twists in relationships and plot and with Elizabeth Jane Howard for its sweep across generations in a great house.

UK and Foreign Rights available

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SOME OTHER EDEN

Tesco Book Club Book of the Month

A sweeping story of love, betrayal and a mistaken belief in paradise.

Deep in the English countryside, Marshwood has always been much more than just a house. It has been a place to escape to and a trap, the backdrop for elegant parties and a wartime hospital, an idyllic escape from trauma and unhappy marriages. When the roof starts to cave in and the money runs out, eighty-year-old Bella resists the pressure to sell and instead begins to peel back the layers of the past.

As this imposing house gives up its secrets of marriage, war and forbidden love, patterns begin to repeat themselves when Bella's granddaughter's childhood sweetheart returns from the war in Bosnia. Like so many before him, Jack comes seeking solace. But he also wants Isla, who is - who really should be - unavailable to him.

And as all three characters explore whether you can ever truly go back, the past and the present collide with shattering consequences.

Praise for SOME OTHER EDEN:

"A wonderful book, intriguing and compelling, with a memorable cast of characters." Katie Fforde

"An exploration of an early childhood friendship and teenage romance that evokes the feel of endless hot summers and idyllic childhoods. Highly recommened".
Maurice Firman, Tesco Real Reader for South of England

UK Publisher: Transworld, October 2009

DIVING INTO LIGHT

Tesco's book of the month and Waterstones summer promotion

Every summer throughout her childhood, Florence would return to her family home on the west coast of France, where she would be joined by her exotic, hopelessly glamorous cousins and life as she knew it would begin under the benevolent eye of her grandmother Mimi. It was a heady existence of illicit drinking, stolen kisses and the bittersweet pains of first love.

But now Florence is living completely alone with her new baby. Haunted by nightmares, she cannot open the letters from her grandmother accumulating on her mantelpiece. What devastating truth do these letters hold? Why has Florence turned her back on her past? And will she and Mimi ever be able to escape the guilt that is tearing them apart and has shaken their family to its very core?

DIVING INTO LIGHT is steeped in emotion and drama; it’s got the sweep of story and place which one associates with writers like Elizabeth Jane Howard, and the sexiness and humour of Mary Wesley.

UK Publisher: Transworld, July 2008

Foreign sales: Germany, Holland

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NEIL FORSYTH

Neil Forsyth is a freelance journalist who has written for (amongst others) the Scotsman, The Mail on Sunday, Scotland on Sunday, Maxim, Details and Esquire. He has also written two non fiction books OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY, The rise and fall of Britain's Boldest Credit Card Fraudster Elliot Castro which has been optioned for feature film and DELETE THIS AT YOUR PERIL a critically acclaimed hilarious collection of responses to spam emails.

LET THEM COME THROUGH

Twentysomething stage medium Nick Santini finds himself implicated in the death of a young girl, employed as one of the backstage assistants on his latest tour. The death threatens to derail all of Nick and his scuttling manager, Tony's, plans as this tour was intended as a 'comeback' from an earlier almost forgotten scandal which torpedoed Nick's fledgling television career.

Nick finds himself struggling to hold it together mentally and physically as pressure builds from both the sinister and corrupt policeman who is leading the investigation, and a journalist from a local paper, who seems to be delving into events Nick thought were carefully hidden.

In counterpoint to this story, the reader is given glimpses into Nick's childhood and we are exposed to the twisted figure of his father, a man whose warped attitudes have shaped Nick's own outlook on life. The sudden reappearance of his father – uninvited and rightly unloved – only adds to Nick's present day crisis.

Told in a vivid, acerbic first person narrative this is a fascinating exposé of the poisonous, cynical world of professional mediums – the ticks and tricks of the trade, the grubby atmosphere of the hotel rooms in unnamed towns, the backstage bickering – all are captured with Forsyth's mordant wit.

UK publisher: Serpents Tail, July 2009

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JEAN FULLERTON

Jean joined MBA Agents as a client after she won the 2006 Harry Bowling Prize for her novel NO CURE FOR LOVE. She is married to a Cof E vicar and they live in Stratford in East London. Like Harry, Jean is a true cockney and she has worked as a nurse and as a lecturer on health and nursing. She has published romantic novels with E-publisher Triskelion.

A GLIMPSE AT HAPPINESS

When Josie O'Casey returns to London after twelve years in America, she is overjoyed to discover that her childhood sweetheart Patrick Nolan, who she believed to be dead, is alive and well. But Josie's happiness is short-lived – Patrick now belongs to another.

Heartbroken, Josie vows to forget about Patrick and settle back into life in the East End. But the East End that Josie knew as a child is much changed. While Josie can remember only too clearly her poverty-stricken upbringing, her family's social standing has vastly improved since they've been away. And there are some who resent that Josie left behind the slums of London to return as a lady. Torn between two worlds, Josie is still drawn back to her childhood haunts – and to Patrick

When the couple are finally offered a glimmer of hope, their chance at happiness is threatened by the all-powerful Ma Tugman and her criminal empire. Now Josie must decide if she is willing to forsake everything for the man she loves.

Praise for A GLIMPSE AT HAPPINESS:

'I'm certain that Jean Fullerton's second East End saga will delight her growing legion of fans.' Dilly Court.

'Jean has done something very rare with her second book - she has equalled her first effortlessly! A GLIMPSE AT HAPPINESS - a fearless romantic adventure - keeps you on the edge of your seat till the last page is turned. Set in the mean streets of East London her storytelling leaves a potent memory that will be with the reader forever.' Carol Rivers

"The winner of the Harry Bowling award shows much of the master's touch in this heartwarming East End story." Evening Telegraph.

UK Publisher: Orion, November 2009

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lREADING IN BED

Shortlisted for Good Housekeeping 2008 book award; Daily Mail Book of the Month Choice; WH Smith read of the week; included in Waterstoones, Smiths and Borders promotions

Friends since university, with busy working lives now behind them, Dido and Georgia have long been looking forward to books and outings, conversation and carefree days. Alas: life is rarely as one wishes it to be, and both find themselves caught up in wholly unexpected domestic drama. Dido, for the first time, has cause to question her marriage; widowed Georgia is certain her husband will return to her. Meanwhile an eccentric country cousin goes wildly off the rails, children are unhappy in love, and perfect health is all at once in question. Turning to one another should be as natural as breathing but with so much at stake even this old friendship comes under strain. As hatches are battened down, and silence falls, it takes all their loyalty and humour to recover the easy confiding intimacy of the past.

Wry, surprising, moving and uplifting, READING IN BED will delighted anyone who has known the pleasure of turning to a well-loved book, or a true friend.

"Humorous, wryly-observed, she is never less than assured – especially on the small stuff, those moments to pause and ‘drink in being alive."
Daily Mail

"Giving great vividness to their inner lives, Gee unerringly and confidently evokes her characters."
Elizabeth Buchan, The Times

UK publisher: Headline Review July 2007, published in May 2008 in paperback

Previous foreign rights sold: USA, Germany

Previously published: SPRING WILL BE OURS, KEEPING SECRETS, THE LAST GUESTS OF THE SEASON, LETTERS FROM PRAGUE which was serialised on Woman’s Hour, THE HOURS OF THE NIGHT which was awarded the Romantic Novelists Association Novel of the Year in 1997, EARTH AND HEAVEN, THIN AIR, shortlisted for RNA Novel of the Year 2003; THE MYSTERIES OF GLASS (longlisted for the Orange Prize 2005).

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CLIO GRAY
Clio won the 2004 Harry Bowling Prize for her first novel, which was subsequently bought in a two-book deal by Headline. Clio has also written award-winning short stories which have been published in magazines and anthologies. She lives in Scotland where she works as a librarian. In July 2006 Clio Gray won the prestigious Scotsman-Orange short story prize. Her latest novel, THE BROTHERHOOD OF FIVE, is the FOURTH in the acclaimed crime series set in nineteenth-century England, featuring Whilbert Stroop, missing person finder and his unusual family.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF FIVE

IThe Island of Thanet, 1808. One man is pushed into a kiln of molten metal beneath the looming shadow of the Shot Tower, and another is dug up from the sandy bay beyond. Who they were, and why they died so strangely, is no ordinary mystery, and Missing Persons Finder Whilbert Stroop has a hard time finding answers.

On arrival in this marshy, coastal corner of Kent, on the very edge of England, Stroop tries to piece together the puzzle of these deaths, and the significance of the objects each man died trying to protect. It is a conspiracy that began ten years before on the battlefields of Europe, and one that will claim more lives before it is done.

UK: Headline, August 2009

Praise for Clio Gray:

"just as bloody as The Da Vinci Code... however, much better written"
The Scotsman

"Clio Gray is a master of atmosphere and sensuousness. She combines historical realism with the bizarre, whimsy with the macabre. Reading her is like being at a sumptuous feast in a palace, just before it is stormed."
Alan Bissett

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A MADNESS OF ANGELS

"When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford"- Samuel Johnson

In fact, Dr Johnson was only half right. There is in London much more than life - there is power. It ebbs and flows with the rhythms of the city, makes runes from the alignments of ancient streets and hums with the rattle of trains and buses; it waxes and wanes with the patterns of the business day. It is a new kind of magic: urban magic. Enter a London where magicians ride the Last Train, implore favours of The Beggar King and interpret the insane wisdom of The Bag Lady. Enter a London where beings of power soar with the pigeons and scrabble with the rats, and seek insight in the half-whispered madness of the blue electric angels. Enter the London of Matthew Swift, where rival sorcerers, hidden in plain sight, do battle for the very soul of the city ...

UK Publisher: Orbit - Little, Brown, April 2009

THE MADNESS OF ANGELS is now optioned for a feature film.

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SHARON GRIFFITHS

Sharon Griffiths comes from Pembrokeshire, West Wales. She worked for many years at the BBC, before becoming a freelance journalist based in Yorkshire. She writes two columns a week for The Northern Echo in Darlington and two for the Eastern Daily Press in Norwich. She also writes features for national newspapers plus some radio and TV work.

THE LOST GUIDE TO LIFE AND LOVE

A novel about all the good things in life: food, football, long lost cousins, and of course, finding Mr Right.

In a nightclub full of the rich and royal, a top model leaps from a window and lopes off, barefoot, down the street. Tilly Flint, starry-eyed among household-name footballers and their hangers-on, is sole witness to her flight. She has come to the nightclub with her journalist boyfriend, Jake, who is investigating corruption in the Premiership, in particular a lead involving a wealthy, well-connected businessman.

The following week, on a working holiday in the wild landscape of the North Pennines, Tilly and Jake have the last of many arguments and he stomps off, leaving her alone in a remote cottage. Jake is snooping on the top footballers visiting the businessman’s country estate, and Tilly – who writes about food - has set up some stories of her own. A chance encounter with one of the footballers on the moor leads Tilly into the inner sanctum and a taste of their wealthy-beyond-dreams lifestyle. Tempted and repelled at the same time, Tilly is surprised by how easily she seems to fit in that world. But she is preoccupied by a strangely familiar figure in the local pub, and the discovery that she has family in the neighbourhood and in particular a formidable great grandmother whose story has a familiar resonance which is both exciting and disturbing.

Caught in a clash between the old world of solid Victorian morality and the new world of flashy risk-taking, Tilly will learn that past experience has much more value than she ever imagined.

UK Publisher: Avon Books, September 2009

THE ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELLER

If 50 is the new 30, then where does that leave today's 30-year-olds? How would they have coped in a less indulgent age? In 2008, journalists Will and Rose love each other, live together but are still not quite a couple. He thinks she is too independent for commitment. She thinks he is too immature. It would have been very different in the 1950s'

Then Rosie is researching a feature on the 1950s and suddenly finds herself living the story. It's 1953, and she is working on a newspaper: offices full of men and cigarette smoke and women making coffee and writing recipes. What's worse is that Will is there too. But in the 1950s he is known as Billy and has been married since he was 16 and has three children. In the different circumstances of the 1950s, Will/Billy is a family man and devoted father; he grows vegetables and even has a shed. He is, in fact, a grown up.

Rose is desperate for Billy to love her in the 1950s the way Will does in 2008. 1950s Billy is intrigued to have a female colleague as hungry for the big stories as he is, and is clearly very taken with Rosie - but he would never betray his wife and family. Ironically now that she really knows Will and is sure he's the one for her, she can no longer have him. Unless she can get back to 2008.

"A wonderfully warm romantic comedy, whose heroine is transported back to the 50s and finds she rather likes the traditional values of the time. One of the debuts most likely to be an instant hit that I've seen." Bookseller

UK Publisher: Avon Books, July 2008

Foreign sales: Spain, Holland, Germany, Romania

LL

AMBREEN HAMEED
Ambreen Hameed has been a producer/director in British television for fifteen years. Trained as a journalist, Ambreen's career in television began at the BBC on the Asian programme, Network East. She has produced many documentaries mostly on social issues and many concerned with matters of race. She was series producer of the award-winning Channel 4 series Devil's Advocate and two of her London Programmes have been nominated for RTS awards. Her recent projects include Second Chance a peak-time series on school exclusion for Channel 4, and Dispatches.

Ambreen's investigative career and passionately enquiring mind have compelled her to turn her hand to fiction. Her first book is a crossover title is about a schoolgirl who just doesn't fit in. SHRINKING FRANCESCA TIDDLEY is a witty and intelligent plea against institutionalisation and an amazing worm hole ride into the worlds of Einstein and Zeno. It is undergoing a final edit and will be ready at the end of the year. Ambreen is also writing an adult book with her sister about love, betrayal and mass terrorism called UNDYING

SGB

MARK LALBEHARRY

Mark Lalbeharry was joint winner of the Harry Bowling Prize in 2002. He lives and works in London and this is his first novel.

THE SIMIAN CURVE
www.thesimiancurve.com

On a freezing November afternoon, a headless corpse is found in the garage belonging to Thomas Tranmore, a maverick scientist who has worked for the Ministry of Defence. His house has been emptied of all furniture and possessions, his bank account is also empty. He seems to have no family, few friends and colleagues are reticent in talking about him.

DCI Diane Cresson and her team are assigned to the case. They soon discover that some very high-up people seem to know quite a lot about what Tranmore has been up to recently, and don’t necessarily want to share that information. Then another body is found in a nearby lake...

The Symian Curve marks the arrival of a powerful new thriller writer. Already showing the sure touch of a master craftsman, Mark Lalbeharry has created an utterly absorbing and chilling tale of murder and deception

UK Publisher: Robert Hale, December 2006

LL

All Kindan ever wanted to do was become a Harper: singing, playing, and teaching the ballads of Pern. But then he is offered the chance to Impress a fire-lizard and succeeds in Impressing the magnificent bronze, Valla.

At the same hatching he meets Koriana, daughter of Lord Holder Bemin of Fort Hold. She also Impresses, a gold fire-lizard in her case, and there is an instant attraction between her and Kindan. Unfortunately an apprentice harper is not considered a suitable consort for a Fort Holder's daughter and she is swiftly sent home leaving Kindan to wonder about his lifelong goal - where does he belong and would it be possible for him to have more than just the life of a Harper?

As if in response to his worries, suddenly everything starts to go wrong for Kindan, leading to him being blamed for starting a fire which destroys ancient and extremely precious Records. Kindan is banished to Fort Hold in shame and dishonour. Then, as he thinks nothing worse can happen, a terrible plague spreads across Pern, killing nearly everyone infected, as it reaches Fort Hold Kindan finds himself facing an ever greater question - will he or any of his friends survive?

US Publisher: Del Rey, p/b September 2008
UK Publisher: Transworld/Bantam, January 2008

Previously Published: Multiple fantasy series including
THE DRAGON BOOKS, CRYSTAL SINGER BOOKS,
TALENT SERIES,
TOWER AND HIVE SEQUENCE,
CATTENI SEQUENCE, DRAGONS KIN,

Praise for A GIFT OF DRAGONS:
"McCaffrey's legions of fans will warmly welcome this" Booklist

DT

Ava McCarthy

Aiveen is a Dublin-based computer expert who has studied medical physics and worked at the London Stock Exchange.

THE COURIER
Follow up to bestselling thriller, THE INSIDER.

Harry Martinez - computer hacker extraordinaire turned legit with her own security business - seems to attract trouble. Hired to break into the safe of a battered wife, she witnesses a cold-blooded murder. And the killer knows she saw him and knows who she is. The safe yields surprises of its own: a bag of enormous diamonds. Harry hacks into the dead man's computer to discover that he was dealing in diamonds from a South African mine. It appears that miners are smuggling out the rough stones, at huge personal risk from under the noses of the brutal mining regime. But how do the stones get out of South Africa? And why is her own name included in a list alongside those of several racehorses?

The killer strikes again during a crowded race meeting: the victim is the owner of a racehorse whose name was also on the dead man's computer. After Harry narrowly escapes his clutches and in order to placate the suspicious police who are sure she had something to do with the murder, Harry must follow the trail of the diamond smuggling to its source in South Africa and back to the killing. It will lead her from exclusive racecourses in Ireland to the urban sprawl of Cape Town, among the groupies of top horse trainers and the fortress-like quarters of the mining corporation, to a terrifying final confrontation with the people who want her dead.

UK Publisher: HarperCollins, May 2010

THE INSIDER

Four weeks in Heatseekers bestselling chart; Sainsburys Book Club Book of the Month

When €12m shows up in Harry's bank account and someone body-slams her under a train, she figures the two events must be connected. When the connection turns out to be her own father, her life takes a chilling turn.

Based in Dublin, Harry Martinez is a computer hacker turned security professional who gets paid to break the law. Her father, Sal Martinez, charmer, investment banker and high stakes poker player, was once Harry's childhood hero. But he's driven her away with a lifetime of broken promises and now he's in prison. He belongs to an insider trading ring, whose leader is a cold-blooded killer called THE PROPHET. The Prophet reckons the €12m is his, and he'll stop at nothing to get it back. Then one of the insider traders ends up dead and it looks like Harry's next.

The Prophet gives Harry 48 hours to hand over the €12m, but suddenly the money disappears. Can Harry swallow her pride and go to her father for help, or can she find the money herself in the most daring and dangerous computer scam she has yet attempted?

Praise for THE INSIDER:

"an edge-of-your-seat thriller.. Harry Martinez is one of the most likeable heroines I've read in a long time!" Irish Independent

"What a delight this is a book with an impressive grasp of computers and Texas Hold 'Em, not to mention a heroine who can truly root for." Daily Mail

"This is a storming debut thriller with a central character who is a clear-eyed, non-sentimental soul sister of Val McDermid's Kate Brannigan or Sara Paretsky's VI Warshawski." The Irish Times

UK Publisher: HarperCollins, May 2009

Foreign sales: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Holland, Czech Republic, Norway, Taiwan, China, Bulgaria, Russia

LL

Janet Roberts and her brother James are at the mercy of their father's foul mood swings, especially on Wednesdays, when he returns from his third nightshift of the week, angry and red-eyed, looking for trouble. But they can always lose themselves in Janet's stories of ghosts and gypsies, or visit their boozy Aunt Net, who welcomes them with open arms as long as they make a visit to the off licence first. Then, in the course of one summer on their Oxford council estate, everything changes. A young girl is found murdered in the park near their house. James disappears, Aunt Net goes off the rails, and Janet's mother is hospitalised. Janet is left to fight her battles alone, with only her quick wits and vivid imagination to help her through.

UK publisher: Virago, May 2004

Praise for WEDNESDAY'S CHILD:

"A terrific first novel... I found myself reading it compulsively."
Carol Birch

"Any reader will enjoy this book and the way its spare, clear prose gives a window onto another world." The Evening Standard

"In this horribly believable account of a damaged childhood, Janet's resilience rescues us." The Guardian

DR

JAN MINSHULL
Jan lives in the Lake District. This is her first novel.

www.janminshull.co.uk

COAST TO COAST
With her husband nearing retirement and her children grown up and left home, Linda is facing a crossroads in her life. Does she follow her husband around his favourite golf courses, making awkward conversation with the other wives? Does she turn her part-time job into a small business? In a rash moment, she decides to do the famous Coast to Coast walk across the North of England: from the Yorkshire moors to the mountains and lakes of Cumbria: the perfect opportunity to think about everything, and to prove to her doubting family that she can. Tramping through the stunning scenery of the Yorkshire Moors and the Lake District, in rain and shine, Linda enjoys the company of other walkers, especially Nick and his dog. The walk is interspersed with flashbacks to Linda’s life, as a child, as a daughter, as a wife and mother. We learn the true reason that Linda’s marriage feels like a trap are not surprised that Nick is clearly attracted to her.

An entirely satisfying read: the reader feels they have walked with Linda, but without the aching feet and limbs, and as she prepares to return home we are on tenterhooks as to which way her affections will turn...

UK: Transita, May 2006

"A likeable heroine who deals with marital crisis in a novel way. I strongly recommend you make this journey of discovery with her."
Benita Brown, novelist

LL

THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED

Kate Kendall's life is comfortably average: a nice house, two children, a loving husband with a good job... Until one day, on her way back from her first holiday alone in years, she is met at the airport by the police. It seems that her respectable, honest husband has been involved in money-laundering for a prominent businessman. He has also disappeared.

Gradually Kate is forced to confront a new and frightening reality. She must adjust not only to a precarious, hand-to-mouth existence with her children, but also to the idea that what came before was nothing but a lie. How could Felix have abandoned them so brutally? And why?

Praise for THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED:

"A wise, intelligent and surprising novel, in which - as in life - nothing is simple".
Kate Saunders, The Times

"Down at the core, beneath its several layers, The Man Who Disappeared is a well-crafted suspense story... Morrall digs beneath the surface to mine psychological nuggets, some of them gold".
Rachel Hore, The Independent on Sunday

"Superbly imagined, it reads like documentary truth".
Tom Adair, The Scotsman

"...this isn't just a novel with a mystery to be unraveled - it's a novel to savour".
Waterstones Books Quarterly

"An imaginatively written novel with well-drawn and believable characters, it's a compelling read".
Choice Magazine

UK Publisher: Sceptre, February 2010

THE LANGUAGE OF OTHERS

The world is a puzzling, sometimes frightening place for Jessica Fontaine. As a child she only finds contentment in playing the piano and wandering alone in the empty spaces of Audlands Hall, the dilapidated country house where she grows up.

Twenty-five years later, divorced, with her son still living at home, Jessica is still preoccupied by the desire to create space around her. Then her volatile ex-husband reappears, the first of several surprises that both transform Jessica's present and give her a startling new perspective on the past.

The Language of Others tells the absorbing story of a woman who spends much of her life feeling that she is out of step with the real world, until she discovers why. Related with humour and compassion, it offers a fresh,illuminating insight into what it means to be 'normal'.

UK: Sceptre, March 2008

Foreign rights sold: France(Fayard), Holland (Ambo Anthos), Lithuania, Taiwan

"Absorbing and sure-footed... Extremely well written and compulsively readable." Sunday Times

UK: Sceptre, January 2006

Rights sold in: USA, Canada, Germany, Holland, Greece, France, Spain, Taiwan

Praise for ASTONISHING SPLASHES OF COLOUR:

"An extremely good first novel about loss, particularly lost children" The Guardian

"Deceptively simple, subtly observed, with a plot that drags you forward like a strong current." Daily Mail

"A wonderful piece of writing - it is astonishing that she has never been published before" John Carey, Chair of the Man Booker Prize

LL

LISSON GROVE (26th in the Pitt series)

Pitt and his immediate junior, Gower, are witnesses to the violent murder of a known socialist with strong connections to revolutionaries all over Europe. The man is garotted almost in front of them, and in hot blood they chase the murderer, whom they know is a man named Wrexham. First he takes the train to Southampton, goes to the docks and boards the ferry for St. Malo.

They have the opportunity to arrest him on the ferry, but Gower points out that he has strong connections in Europe also, especially France, and they need to know what he plans. From his previous assignments he has learned that Wrexham is a highly dangerous man. If they can follow him, they could learn more.

Meanwhile, Pitt's boss Narraway has a shock when he is sacked from his job. Without Pitt to turn to, he goes to Charlotte – with whom he's secretly in love. She undertakes to help him clear his name and get his job back. But she doesn't realise that Pitt's been decoyed away from where the danger is – and she's right in the firing line.

The previous book in this series, BUCKINGHAM PALACE GARDENS, rose to No. 12 on New York Times bestseller list April 2008, and is nominated for Romantic Times Best Novel 2008 and for an Agatha Award for Best Novel 2009

UK publisher: Headline, August / September 2010

Translation rights: MBA

Praise for LONG SPOON LANE:

"In LONG SPOON LANE Perry presents us with moral and political puzzles that are all too close to our own." Los Angeles Times

"Deeply impressive." The Good Book Guide

The 'Monk' series
An English detective series set in the mid-1800's, and featuring the detective William Monk and ex-nurse Hester Latterly.

EXECUTION DOCK (16th in the Monk series)

In the previous book in this series, Dark Assassin, Monk broke up a particularly nasty paedophile club, based in a boat permanently moored in the Thames. Having thought the case concluded, he's horrified to discover that the roots of this club are even deeper – and lead to the father of Margaret Rathbone, who's married to his close friend, the lawyer Oliver Rathbone. Margaret forces Oliver to defend her father in court, not believing he would be capable of being involved in paedophile activity. It's a severe test of loyalty for them all.

"First rate" New York Times (of Face of a Stranger)

UK publisher: Headline, April 2009

US publisher: Random House

THE SHEEN ON THE SILK

Anne Perry, undisputed ruler of the Victorian mystery novel, now broadens her canvas. THE SHEEN ON THE SILK will be a rich and fascinating stand-alone novel. Three years in the making, this will be Anne's most ambitious book to date.

The gorgeous, cosmopolitan and enlightened city of Byzantium has never recovered from its sack by the Venetians, and now, in 1272, the Emperor must tread a difficult line between resolving religious schism and civil war.

This is the city into which Anna arrives. A handsome woman with an unhappy past, she has just learned that her brother has been imprisoned for murder. Unable to believe that he's guilty, she will stay in Byzantium until she can find out the truth and secure his release.

As the future of Byzantium grows ever darker, Anna struggles to navigate the complex truths of her brother's guilt or innocence, the intrigues of the powerful, long-simmering revenge plots and the even more perilous currents of her heart and her spirit. Only in Byzantium's darkest hour does she discover the truths that will lead to salvation for Byzantium and the soaring path to the forgiveness and love of God.

THE SHEEN ON THE SILK is an epic historical novel with a heart-stopping love story at its core, and a deep spiritual quest.

UK Publisher: Headline, April 2010

Christmas Novellas

Anne's Christmas novellas have proved to be a hit with everyone round the world: the ideal gift for someone you love, or a treat for yourself.

A CHRISTMAS PROMISE

As is the custom with these novellas, Anne features one of the well-known and well-loved characters from either her series about Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, or about Thomas and Hester Monk. This 7th one features Charlotte Pitt's maid Gracie, and describes how they came to meet. Gracie finds a little girl crying in the street, because her father has died and his donkey is missing. Together they piece together how her father was murdered – but will they find Charlie the donkey?

UK Publisher: Headline, November 2009

A CHRISTMAS ODESSEY

A close friend asks Henry Rathbone to find his missing son, who has disappeared among the brothels and opium dens of the West End. Enlisting the help of Squeaky Robinson, and finding further aid in the form of a young barmaid, Henry plumbs the absolute depths of vice and addiction. When he finds the son, he's almost beyond salvation. But in a sublime moment of self-sacrifice, the young man proves to others – and himself – that redemption is always possible.

UK Publisher: Headline, November 2010

World War 1 Series

WE SHALL NOT SLEEP The Final book in the First World War series

October 1918. The war is in its closing stages. Joseph and Matthew are desperate to solve the conspiracy, because they know their arch-enemy will find a way to be involved in the war settlement – to Britain's disadvantage.

Trying to save his skin, the Peacemaker's cousin turns himself in, agreeing to reveal the identity of the mastermind. However, just as he arrives at Joseph's field hospital, hidden among other German defectors, one of the nurses is brutally raped. Of course, everyone wants to believe it’s one of the German prisoners, and no one can leave the hospital until the truth is found. Joseph finally obtains the last pieces of information he needs about the master plot. The man is the German counterpart to the British leader of the conspiracy. Joseph, Judith, and Mason bundle him into an ambulance and drive for all their worth through France, trying to get him to London to alert the Prime Minister to the plot. After a hair-raising journey, they burst into Lloyd George's office and expose the Peacemaker at last. Then silence falls: the guns have stopped. It's the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Book 1: NO GRAVES AS YET (Sept 2003)
Book 2: SHOULDER THE SKY (Sept 04)
Book 3: ANGELS IN THE GLOOM (Sept 05)
Book 4: AT SOME DISPUTED BARRICADE (Sept 06)
Book 5: THEY SHALL NOT SLEEP (Sept 07)

UK publisher: Headline

US publisher: Random House

Praise for NO GRAVES AS YET:

"This absorbing mystery/spy thriller, set in tranquil Cambridge just before the onset of the Great War, marks a powerful start to bestseller Perry's much anticipated new series." Starred review, Publishers Weekly

Previous foreign sales for Anne Perry in: US, Italy, Germany, Japan, Korea, Greece, France, Spain, Netherlands and Portugal,

MD

WHEN SWALLOWS COME AGAIN
IThe new wartime saga from the hugely popular Victor Pemberton is 'History with a heart on its sleeve', (Northern Echo) Mary Trimble doesn't have a penny to her name, and life has been hard since her parents were killed in an air raid two years ago. It's up to her to look after her two young sisters, little brother and elderly granddad. Mary works as an usherette at the Marlborough cinema in the Holloway Road, but her dream is to escape the horrors of London and take her family on a long bus trip to some faraway place on the famous Blue Coach from Victoria Coach Station to Devon. But little does she know her dream will come at a tragic price.....

UK Publisher: Headline, December 2008

DT

STEF PENNEY

THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES
2006 Costa Book of the Year

As winder tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River, a woman steels herself for the journey of a lifetime. A man has been brutally murdered and her seventeen-year-old son has disappeared. The violence has re-opened old wounds and inflamed deep-running tensions in the frontier township – some want to solve the crime; others seek only to exploit it.

To clear her son's name, she has no choice but to follow the tracks leaving the dead man's cabin and head north into the forest and the desolate landscape that lies beyond it.

"A remarkable literary debut - brilliantly assured, subtly written."
The Scotsman

"A fascinating, suspense-filled adventure." Sunday Telegraph

"A suspenseful epic, offering a leitmotif of constant unease - impressive." The Guardian

UK Publisher: Quercus, 2006

Rights sold: USA: Simon Schuster; Canada: Penguin; France: Belfond ; Italy: Einaudi; Germany: Goldmann; Holland: Prometheus; Spain: Salamandra, Spain (Catalan); Portugal: Difel ; Sweden, Norway, Denmark & Finland: Bazar; Czech: BB Art; Hebrew: Book In Attic; Japan: Hayawaka; Greece: Papyros; Estonia: Pegasus; Chinese Complex: Rye Field; Poland: Sonia Draga; Slovenia: Mladinska Knijiga; Romania: Polirom, Croatia: Algoritum; Russia: Inostranka; Serbia: Plato Publishing

DT

THE GOOD PLAIN COOK
Selected for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

It's summer 1936, and the world is on the cusp of change, but there's little sign of this in rural Sussex. So when local girl Kitty Allen answers an advert looking for 'a good plain cook', she has no idea what she's in for. For starters, her employer is an American called Ellen Steinberg who believes in calling the staff by their first names and sunbathing in the nude. Then there's Ellen's eleven-year-old daughter, Geenie, a bright, unhappy little thing, and Mrs Steinberg's gentleman friend, Mr Crane, who's said to be a poet — even though he doesn't have a beard and doesn't seem to write much poetry either. Rich bohemians imagining themselves as communists, Steinberg and Crane see themselves as champions of 'the people' — not that they know the first thing about how the people actually live.

Kitty is in no place to criticise — after all she claimed to be a good plain cook, despite hardly knowing how to boil an egg. Utterly out of her depth, she is relieved to have the gardener, Arthur, to talk to. Otherwise she'd never last a summer in this madhouse. Ellen Steinberg wants life to run as smoothly as the love story she imagines her lover George Crane to be writing. But as Kitty arrives, the dream is on the edge of falling apart.

"Gorgeously written, full of teasing observations about love, class and cookery." The Times

Quote for THE POOLS - "A complex anatomy of a murder, The Pools brilliantly evokes the sickening recognition of a wasteful death. Bethan Roberts is a fearless writer whose first novel raises questions about fate and responsibility that remain with the reader long after the last page has been turned. A compelling debut". Louise Welsh

Rights sold: France: Christian Bourgois, Germany: Kunstmann

UK Publisher: Serpents Tail, July 2008

THE POOLS
Set in an Oxfordshire village, THE POOLS tells the story of the events leading up to the murder of a teenage boy. The novel is told through two voices; that of the boy's father, the unfailingly sensible but sensitive Howard Hall and that of the boy's friend, the deceptively confident but confused young girl Joanna Denton.

The story is broad in scope - covering twenty years of family history, but extremely intimate in its focus. Bethan displays remarkable maturity in her presentation of these lives brimming with domestic and sexual anguish.

UK Publisher: Serpents Tail, 2007

DR

SIMON SCARROW
Until recently, Simon Scarrow taught at a leading Sixth Form College. He has in the past run a Roman History programme taking parties of students to a number of ruins and museums across Britain. Having enjoyed the novels of Forester, Cornwell and O'Brian, and fired by the knowledge gleaned from his exploration of Roman sites, he decided to write what he wanted to read - a military page-turner set during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43AD. He lives in Norwich with his wife and two young sons and now writes full time.

The ninth in Simon's bestselling series about Roman soldiers, this sees Macro and Cato on an eventful trip home after a stint in Middle East. Just as their ship is passing Crete, an earthquake occurs and they're shipwrecked on the island. Local slaves have taken advantage of the chaos to free themselves and kill their masters. Macro and Cato not only have to preserve their own lives, and that of Cato's beloved Julia and the Senator who's travelling with them, but if they can succeed in restoring order, they can return to Rome as heroes. However, the head of the rebellion is a man with a personal reason for wanting Macro and Cato to die, slowly and horribly.

UK Publisher: Headline, August 2009

FIRE AND SWORD

The third of a four-part fictionalised biography of Napoleon and Wellington, this was four weeks on the top 10 Sunday Times bestseller list.

By 1804, Napoleon has established himself as Emperor, and has his sights set on conquering all of Europe. He has established members of his family on the royal thrones of neighbouring countries, but isn't content to give the people of France the period of peace and prosperity that they now demand. The time has come for Arthur Wellesly, Duke of Wellington to stand against Napoleon in the confrontation that lies ahead.

A wonderful, multi-layered introduction to an epic series.

UK: Headline - February 2009

Already published: UNDER THE EAGLE, THE EAGLE’S CONQUEST, WHEN THE EAGLE HUNTS, THE EAGLE AND THE WOLVES, THE EAGLE’S PREY, YOUNG BLOODS, EAGLE'S PROPHECY, CENTURION

Praise for Simon Scarrow:
"A great read, full of excitement - I really don't need this kind of competition." Bernard Cornwell

"An engrossing storyline full of teeth-clenching battles, political machinations, treachery, honour, love and death." Elizabeth Chadwick

Foreign Rights Sold: United States, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Finland, Czech Republic…

www.scarrow.co.uk

MD

MEL STEIN
Mel Stein is a prominent sports lawyer and broadcaster having written many non-fiction books, including a How to guide on becoming a sports agent and the official biographies of clients Paul Gascoigne and Chris Waddle.

FOOTBALL BABYLON

At last...the book that does for the beautiful game what Hotel Babylon did for the hospitality industry!

In over 30 years of operating within the football game, Mel Stein has seen it all. In FOOTBALL BABYLON, his novel, he takes an unflinching look at the typical ups and downs of a newly arrived Premiership club, as it slides inexorably back to the championship the fictional Thamesmead City. Chairmen, managers, players, agents, officials, journalists, television pundits, marketing and public relations even the medical staff and the groundsmen all their deepest secrets are seen through the jaundiced eye of the Club Secretary, our narrator. Authentic glimpses are given into the macho locker-room world of the players, and their legal troubles off the pitch: drink-driving, rape allegations, failed drug tests even a shooting incident that results in serious injury. In FOOTBALL BABYLON, every event described has, at some time, taken place within an English football club. Only the names have been changed...to protect the guilty

UK Publisher: Pennant Books

HAVE LOVE, WILL TRAVEL
Jane Darling works in the tourist office in Edinburgh, helping the lost, the confused and the plain stupid. But she’s the one who needs a map. Her life is going nowhere, she hates Edinburgh, her workmates are a bunch of lunatics, and if anyone asks ‘How long is the Royal Mile?’ one more time, she’ll scream. Then, one day, she finds a diary on a train, containing a photo of a handsome man and the innermost thoughts of someone called Richard Miles. Jane, starved of entertainment and romance, is intrigued, and becomes convinced that he is her ideal man. As she sets off to find him, using the flimsy evidence in the diary, Jane finally gets to embark on an exciting adventure of her own. The question is, will Prince Charming be at the end of the line, or is she heading in the completely wrong direction?

UK Publisher: Black Swan, August 2005

Foreign rights sold: Italy

Praise for HAVE LOVE WILL TRAVEL:

"Punchy, droll and fab" Cosmopolitan

"One to relish" Independent on Sunday


SS

JOHN TAGHOLM

John Tagholm lives in London and has had a successful career as a television producer, editor and director. Unidentifiable Remains is his first novel.

NO IDENTIFIABLE REMAINS

Oliver Dreyfuss seems to have it all: he is a young, handsome and celebrated London restaurateur at the peak of his career and just weeks away from opening his flagship Parisian restaurant La Mission, with the help of his glamorous and wealthy financier wife Sonya.

On Eurostar travelling to a site visit to meet with gamine project manager Karyn Baird, Oliver makes the momentous decision to visit the buffet, just minutes before a lorry carrying aircraft fuel plunges off a bridge, engulfing the central four carriages in a ball of flames. Crawling from the debris and in a state of shock, Oliver walks away from the wreckage towards a nearby village, where he checks into a hotel and holes up, watching the disaster’s aftermath unfold and realizing that going back to his life is not an option…

Unidentifiable Remains is a riveting thriller with a devastating drama at its core, around which is woven a tale of infidelity, bitterness, jealousy and revenge.

UK Publisher: Quartet Books Ltd, September 2008

WHITE STAR

The Lady High Priestess Evelyn, known as Evie to her friends, is a healer, dedicated to using her magic in the service of the goddess to aid others and give strength where it is needed. Orrin Blackheart couldn't be more different. With his black armour, a black name and a blacker reputation, he's been feared and hated in equal parts. So on his defeat and capture in battle, the Goddesses insistence that Evie saves him from a death sentence astonishes them both - as does the growing attraction between them. But in saving Orrin Evie condemns herself to a prohibition on her magic and a penance posting on the edges of the land, while to retain his salvation Orrin must battle a spreading plague across the land. Fate clearly has plans for them both - but to fulfill them, both must survive the perils ahead.

Praise for Beth Vaughan:

"Possibly the best romantic fantasy I have ever read." Anne McCaffrey

"Vaughan is an exceptional new talent." Romantic Times

UK Publisher: Gollancz, May 2009

US Publisher: Penguin

WARPRIZE

WARPRIZE, a first novel, is a classic fantasy and a heart-stopping love story. Lara, the slightly under-used princess of a country ruled by her elder half-brother, is taking an unorthodox role while they’re desperately besieged by a barbarian army. Then the unthinkable happens: they’re conquered, and Lara’s brother gives her as tribute to the victorious foe. Further troubles come as the two cultures attempt to co-exist while the new administration is put into place, and Lara tries to come to terms with being a sacrifice for her people. But worse than that, she only realises that she was involved in a love match at the point where it’s impossible for her to stay there.

WARPRIZE was listed as being number 8 in sales at Walden Bookstores, beating out titles such as The Bourne Legacy, Revenge of the Sith, and Ender's Game.

WARSWORN
Keir and his army are returning to their capitol city, bringing Lara with them. A local village seems to be in rebellion against the new order, but Lara recognises the signals: they are shunning them because there is plague in the village. Ever the healer, Lara lies to Keir about the implications of stopping to help, and forces the army to become involved. Whether or not they all survive, this has very serious implications not just for Lara and Keir’s relationship, but the prospects of the two cultures merging into one.

US Publisher: TOR

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ESTHER VILAR

Esther Vilar was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where her parents had emigrated from pre-war Germany. She has written non-fiction books on religion, intelligence and economics, as well as three novels. Most of her work has been translated into English and many other languages. Esther writes extensively for the theatre where her plays have been performed worldwide.

THE SEVEN FIRES OF MADEMOISELLE

Set in sixties America, this is the story of Carlotta, a tomboyish young girl, the only child of diplomatic parents who spend their lives at parties. She spends her time instead with her stunning French au pair Mademoiselle who longs to find love but is following her own set of rules to discover the real man of her dreams. Imagine Carlotta's surprise when this turns out to be not the stream of wealthy and handsome admirers who are always in hot pursuit but Nick Kowalski, the short fat ugly Chief of the Fire Brigade. There's only one problem, he's just not interested. There's only one answer, Carlotta and Mademoiselle must get his attention by lighting harmless fires all over the city to ignite the flames of passion.....

A warm, funny fairy tale romance which turns our expectations of love delightfully upside down.

UK Publisher: Vintage, August 2009

Film rights in SEVEN FIRES OF MADEMOISELLE have been optioned by Kudos

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REKHA WAHEED

Born and raised in West London and of Bengali origin, Rekha Waheed graduated from SOAS, University of London, with a BSc. and Masters in Economics. She worked in the corporate world as a consultant analyst whilst writing her first novel, THE A-Z GUIDE TO ARRANGED MARRIAGES, which was published in 2003. Rekha Waheed is a regular on BBC Asian Network, women's programs and literary events, often debating social issues affecting British Asians in the west. In 2006, Rekha was listed in Asian Woman as 'a face to watch', and she is described in the current British Bengalis Who's Who as "one of the most talented British Asian writers".

SARIS AND THE CITY

What matters most... career, family, or falling in love?

Ambitious city analyst Yasmin Yusuf had hopes for a traditional 'happily ever after'. But now they've been shattered, there's only once course of action: get smart, sexy and successful.

Throwing herself into her new job restoring the fortunes of a failing lingerie company, Yasmin is soon clashing with snobby fashionistas, her conservative Bengali family and, worst of all, the indomitable Hannah Gibbs-Smythson. Plus she's struggling with her annoying attraction to super-smooth banker Zachary Khan. It looks like the odds are stacked against her. And when you risk everything for success, there's always a chance you could crash and burn...

Love, lingerie and loyalties collide in this fabulously feisty romance from Rekha Waheed.

UK Publisher: Little Black Dress, 15 April 2010

Praise for THE A-Z GUIDE TO ARRANGED MARRIAGES:

"Waheed writes with great flair and style using witty alliteration and expressions which many of today's young generation will be able to relate to. Waheed makes a good contribution to contemporary British Asian literature. It's a SLAAG's life." The Asian News

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GEE WILLIAMS

Born in Wales, Gee Williams now lives in Chester. After working for the BBC for some years, she is now a full-time writer. She has published two collections of short stories, one of which, Blood Etc, was shortlisted for the 2009 Welsh Book of the Year. Gee's first novel, SALVAGE, was originally published in 2007 by Alcemi Press, and is now being reissued by Granta. It was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Award in 2008. She is now at work on her next novel, which is set partly in Oxford, partly in Wales.

BADLUCKVILLE (working title)

Late one September night Sarah Meredith gets a call from Josh Meredith, her ex-husband, about their only child Euwen. She has been staying with her father for the summer in the decaying seaside town of Rhyl, in Wales, where he is a police detective. The girl has disappeared.

At almost 40 and an Oxford academic, Sarah is fighting her own demons which she generally drowns in drink. But she is concerned enough, and just about sober enough, to drive north even though she knows she will receive a cool reception. Eurwen is an unruly fifteen-year-old and has run away before. Josh attempts unconcern- this is a couple who have a bitter past - but Sarah is determined to stay and find her daughter.

Josh uses his position to search. Sarah gradually combs and comes to hate this small alien town. But Sarah is being stalked by a third person: Yori, a young, half-Japanese man who seems to know much too much about both mother and daughter. In fact he has been waiting for her arrival.

Like SALVAGE, Gee's brilliant first novel, BADLUCKVILLE takes you where you least expect. A mystery waiting to be solved – a missing teenager – becomes a story of redemption and renewal – of people and of a sadly neglected town.

SALVAGE
Sometimes the stories we tell ourselves are the ones we most want to hear.

On the brink of scandal, five characters bound by marriage, friendship and lust attempt to rescue what is most important to them. Through their interwoven narratives, Gee Williams deftly explores the dangers of concocting personal fictions. This dark, compelling mystery begins on a desolate stretch of the Welsh coast, when Elly Kent discovers a ring with a finger still attached.

Written in the brilliantly vivid, vernacular prose of everyday life, Salvage is a taut, engrossing study of betrayal, self-justification and the consequences of rewriting the past.

Praise for SALVAGE:

"A controlled and gifted stylist, Williams is inventive and inspiring in her craft." Prof Colin Nicholson, James Tait Black Prize judge

"Williams' writing is offbeat, subtle, haunting, fresh. Once I was introduced to these characters I couldn't get them out of my head." Kate Long, best-selling author of The Badmother's Handbook

"Salvage is the least predictable novel I've read in a long time; subtle, sad, unique and beautifully written." Sally Quilford, The New Writer.

UK Publisher: Granta, August 2009

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Already published: NOAH NOAH; DO WHITE WHALES SING AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD? Winner of the 1997 Portico Prize. THE FALL FROM GRACE OF HARRY ANGEL; DAYS OF GOOD HOPE.

Praise for NOAH,NOAH:

"compelling...his finest work yet, the equal of Graham Swift at his best" Independent

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TRUST ME, I'M A VET

The start of a great new series of romantic contemporary novels, featuring the life of a country vet (and patients).

Maz Harwood is a Londoner through and through, but she’s an experienced vet and loves her patients. So when she agrees to take over a friend’s practice for a few months in the small market town of Talyton in rural Devon, she thinks it will be a doddle. Two months later and one of her patients is dying of peritonitis, her receptionist has walked out and the practice is losing money and clients. She has also had to deal with the hostility of another local vet, a furious old timer who has not taken kindly to the arrival of a rival practice. Matters are complicated by the overwhelming attraction she feels for the other vet's son

TRUST ME I'M A VET has great characters, lots of emotion and drama, human and animal. Think Animal Hospital meets Katie Fforde!

This is the first in a series featuring The Otter House Veterinary.

Praise for TRUST ME, I'M A VET:

"I absolutely loved this – it made me laugh and cry! Such a treat to read." Katie Fforde

UK Publisher: Random House, April 2010

THE BOY NEXT DOOR
Terri Mills is going home to London. With only a battered mini and a bankruptcy order to show for her life in Devon, she's not feeling particularly proud of herself. At least her nine-year-old daughter Sasha sees their trip as an adventure.

Growing up, Terri had two passions: flowers, and the boy next door. What’s more, he was all hers – until her parents upped and moved away and she never heard from him again. Now she is back and happy to be working as a florist again. Until she discovers that her new boss is none other than the boy next door, now all grown up and come home himself.

THE BOY NEXT DOOR is a heartwarming and poignant story of how love can blossom when you least expect it

Praise for Cathy Woodman's previous novels:

"Funny, truthful and original. I loved this book" Jill Mansell

"A cast of diverse characters that grows on you. For a vet, Woodman knows a lot about human nature." Nottingham Evening Post

"A refreshing contemporary romp. It's very astute." Bookseller

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