| BOOKS: FICTION | |||
![]() | JUDITH ALLNATT | ||
![]() | A MILE OF RIVER 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 | ||
![]() | CAMPBELL ARMSTRONG | ||
![]() | STEVE AYLETT Steve Aylett was born in 1967. He is the author of eight critically acclaimed novels and two short story collections. His work echoes the best of William Burroughs", Michael Moorcock KARLOFFS CIRCUS Is the fourth in the widely praised Accomplice Series set in the Wonderland of a sick Alice. In this self-contained, less than comfortable city, the surreal and the nightmarish is everyday. This is a world of casual, accepted insanity. It is a world where you might well find an alligator caught in the nerve wires of a creepchannel or run foul of the demon Sweeney, bored with his diet of bland souls. You might even find yourself supporting Doomed Eddie Gallo in the eternal mayoral election race. Join Dietrich Hammerwire, Barny Juno and the rest of the lads on an extraordinary new voyage of the imagination from the author of SLAUGHTERMATIC; one of the most exciting voices in British writing. UK: Orion - April 2004 Already published: ONLY AN ALLIGATOR,THE VELOCITY GOSPEL, DUMMYLAND . ATOM, SHAMANSPACE, THE INFLATABLE VOLUNTEER, SLAUGHTERMATIC, BIGOT HALL and The CRIME STUDIO (all published by Orion) Previous foreign sales in: USA, Czech Republic, Spain, Russia. For CRIME STUDIO Distressingly brilliant The Guardian JP | ||
| The Estate of A.L. BARKER A.L. Barker dissects the unnerving emotions and startling events of everyday life with the sly humour and exquisite feel for language that prompted Auberon Waugh to declare that she writes like an angel and I love her. A.L. Barker had a long, distinguished career as a novelist and writer of short stories. Her first collection, INNOCENTS, won the first Somerset Maughan prize in 1947 and her novel, JOHN BROWNS BODY, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1960. Other novels include THE GOOSEBOY (winner of the Macmillan Silver Pen Award 1988), THE MIDDLING, THE WOMAN WHO TALKED TO HERSELF and her final novel, THE HAUNT. She preferred the form of the short story to the novel, and her collections of short stories include LOST UPON THE ROUNDABOUTS, ANY EXCUSE FOR A PARTY and the semi autobiographical LIFE STORIES. She worked for the BBC until her retirement to her long-time home in Carshalton, Surrey. AL Barker died in February 2002. LL | |||
![]() | SUBMERGED In this, her tenth collection of stories, she unfolds tales of cunning, fancy, and shifting alliances. Here a young boy fosters grand illusions; a wife must face broken promises; a dutiful committee woman meets a sparky old gentleman; a witch is drowned; an intruder insinuates himself into a lonely womans holiday; and commonplace superstition mingles effortlessly with submerged desire. Virago - April, 2002 with a new introduction by Jane Gardam. Praise for her last novel, THE HAUNT: 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 LL | ||
![]() | The Estate of HARRY BOWLING Harry Bowling was aptly named The King of Cockney Sagas. Born and brought up in the East End of London, after working as a driver for the local brewery and later for the local council, he decided to follow his dream of becoming a writer. Headline, which had recently been set up, bought his first book for £1,000. 18 books later and he was a hugely popular, bestselling author until his untimely death from leukaemia in 1999. The secret to his success lay in his unique storytelling gift: stories which include conspiracy, death, violence and gangs as well as the more usual ingredients of sagas: romance and family dramas. Above all he recreated the authentic voices of the East End, the closeknit families, the endurance in the face of poverty and disease and patriotic steadfastness and bravery in the face of the Blitz during the war. Harrys bestselling novels, include THAT SUMMER IN EAGLE STREET, BACKSTREET CHILD and WHEN THE PEDLAR CALLED. Headline has just launched a programme to republish all Harry’s titles in paperback, and so far IRONMONGER’S DAUGHTER and PARAGON PLACE are back in print. In honour of Harrys fantastic support of fellow writers and the book trade, Headline and MBA set up a prize, The Harry Bowling Prize, for unpublished fiction. So far five authors have found publishing success as a result of winning the prize, a fact of which we are sure Harry would be very proud. Since 2006, Headline has started a programme of reissuing Harry Bowling’s novel, with new covers. So far this has included the titles, The Glory and the Shame, That Summer in Eagle Street and The Ironmonger’s Daughter. LL | ||
| MIKE CAREY Mike is a regular writer for both DC and Marvel Comics, the USs two premier comic book publishers. He is best known as the creator of the critically-acclaimed Lucifer series, which features characters from Neil Gaimans genre-defining magnum opus, The Sandman. The movie and television rights to his creator-owned books My Faith in Frankie and Re-Gifters have recently been acquired by AOL/Time Warner. His work has been nominated for five Eisner awards, and he has won both Ninth Arts Lighthouse award (for best new talent) and the UKs National Comics Award (for his work on Hellblazer). As a scriptwriter, he has had two films made, and has just been commissioned for his seventh film script, as well as having written for several television series, ranging from fantasy animation (Meadowlands; Spherics) to soap opera (Night and Day). His erotic ghost story, Frost Flowers, produced by the UKs Hadaly Pictures and starring Margot Stilley (Nine Songs). | |||
![]() | THE DEVIL YOU KNOW Mike has been commissioned by Time Warner to write three books in a projected high-profile series. Set in a London where the dead have begun to rise in a variety of terrifying forms, this series 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 books will see him go up against an unsettling menagerie of ghosts and demons with the help (if thats the word) of a gorgeous succubus initially summoned from Hell to kill him. THE DEVIL YOU KNOW is Ottakar's SF Book of the Month for April Manuscript delivered: April 2005 UK and US rights: TimeWarner | ||
![]() | VICOUS CIRCLE | ||
| GLENN CHANDLER | |||
![]() | DEAD SIGHT Glenn Chandlers second novel of psychological suspense featuring Brightons Detective Inspector Steve Madden is a powerful and all-consuming tale of deadly obsession, lost innocence and brutal murder. Faded psychic Lavinia Roberts stirs Maddens childhood memories when she tells him that one of her clients is about to become a serial killer. But Madden isnt interested in crimes that havent been committed. When Lavinia Roberts herself is struck down, Madden is forced to ask the question: did she foresee her own horrific death? Then the body of a child is found and everything points towards a ritual murder by the same man. Suddenly, Brighton is immersed in a hunt for a serial killer who does not seem to care who his victims are or how he kills them. UK: Hodder, July 2004 Previously published: SAVAGE TIDE. Ecosse Films have optioned the first book in this series for television and Glenn Chandler is currently working on the adaptation. Praise for SAVAGE TIDE... This book rocks all the ingredients youd expect for a top crime story are here The Daily Record DT | ||
| JANET SKESLIEN CHARLES | |||
| MOONLIGHT IN ODESSA To her horror, Daria soon discovers that sex is part of the job description. Appalled at the prospect of being mauled by her lecherous middle-aged boss, but loathe to give up the perks of the job - tasting real coffee and other Western delicacies for the first time, a salary that she and her grandmother can actually live on - Daria decides on the only course of action available: she persuades her best friend to seduce him. This succeeds too well: Daria still loses her job but by this time she is working for Soviet Unions, a dating agency run by a formidable former communist specialising in finding rich American husbands for Ukrainian women. She is also being pursued by the local Mafia Boss, the gorgeous but dangerous Vlad. So she takes the next only sensible course of action available: she marries one of the rich Americans. Her second mistake: her rich American turns out to be a toilet attendant living in a godforsaken corner of California (not a park ranger outside San Francisco, as in his cv). She has exchanged one form of drudgery for another. Can Daria escape, and will she ever find Mr Right? | |||
| ALYS CLARE Alys Clare has lived in Kent since childhood; for the last few years, in the place where the Hawkenlye novels are set, close to the remnants of the great Wealden Forest. She also spends much of the year in an ancient stone cottage in Brittany. She has been a published novelist since 1990 and is a prize-winning short story writer | |||
![]() | GIRL IN A RED TUNIC Richard the Lionheart is still being held hostage after his crusade and his people made paupers by paying the ransom. The Abbess Helewise is struggling to keep the abbey going through a cold, brutal winter fending off starvation of her nuns and the local people. And then a much-loved person returns to her after nearly twenty years in desperate need of help. Her son. He claims his wife is suffering mental torments and his son is mute. But then a man is found strangled, dangling from a tree near the abbey. The next day her son and his family flee. Helewise and a local Knight, Josse d'Acquin, must investigate deep into the past to the time before Helewise took the veil. Was her handsome husband and enigmatic father-in-law all that they seemed? And can she prevent another terrible murder or will the sins of the fathers be laid upon her innocent son? UK: Hodder November 2005 Already published: ASHES OF THE ELEMENTS, THE TAVERN IN THE MORNING, THE CHATTER OF THE MAIDENS, THE FAITHFUL DEAD, A DARK NIGHT HIDDEN, WHITER THAN THE LILY. Praise for Alys Clare… “Proof that a writer of medieval crime fiction can deliver something fresh” The Times Foreign Rights Sold: Russia, Germany, Spain. www.alysclare.com MD
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| ELIZABETH DARRELL | |||
![]() | DUTCH COURAGE Max and Tom have the unenviable job of having to unravel a seemingly successful, happy marriage to get at the truth. | ||
![]() | LEWIS DAVIES Lewis Davies was born in 1968 in Penrhitwtyn. Before becoming a full-time writer he worked for three years on a social programme to integrate the mentally handicapped into the community. He was the winner of the Rhys Davies Award for his short story MR ROOPRATNAS CHOCOLATE, and another of his recent short stories appeared in the best-selling MAGIC anthology. His travel book FREEWAYS was the winner of the John Morgan Writing Award. Also a respected playwright he is currently finishing a new play entitled SPINNING THE ROUND TABLE. Already published: WORK, SEX AND RUGBY, FREEWAYS, TREE OF CROWS, MY PIECE OF HAPPINESS and AS I WAS A BOY FISHING. savour the wry humour and the gentle humanity which suffuse his work sheer quality The Western Mail DR | ||
| GUL Y DAVIS Gul Y Davis was born in 1973. His writing has appeared in various magazines and anthologies. He has won awards from the Royal Literary Fund, The Financial Times and the Koestler Awards Trust. He is currently at work on a new novel. | |||
![]() | A LONE WALK You get out of that chair one more time and youll get an injection and you know what that means. It meant squirming on the floor until the side-effects of the Droperidol wore off, or until Marie came on duty, took pity and injected me with anti-side effect medication. Wils break for freedom from a brutal psychiatric regime confronts him with unexpected choices. Who can he trust? An alluring voice from his childhood dreams? Or a big-hearted nurse who reassures him: Not all of these places are the same? Gul Y Davis nightmarish vision is balanced by wit, tenderness and a passionate sense of humanity. Published 19th October 2000 Tindal Street Press Praise for A LONE WALK... a terrifying story about a persecuted man wrongly imprisoned in a mental hospital. Recalls Franz Kafka at his darkest The Daily Telegraph DT | ||
| JENS DUFFY English-born Fergal is half-Irish and half-German, growing up in the American zone of 1960’s Germany. His family life is a product of WWII. He and his friends have fun playing with live ammo left over from the War, and chatting to American soldiers in tanks. The educational system is even more surreal, and Fergal develops equally unusual coping mechanisms. Jens is a widely-travelled writer with a background in linguistics, translation and fine art. Dividing his time between Germany, France, and England, he has lived in London since 1989. He has recently returned from a three-year stay in Sydney. | |||
| DAMAGE FUN | |||
| ALAN DUNN Alan Dunn lives in Penrith, on the fringes of the Cumbria Lake District. He has worked as a company director, insurance salesman, hospital administrator and work study officer. Alan began writing for science fiction fanzines while he was in his twenties. In 1991 his Ian St James Award-winning short story FRENCH KISSES was published in the anthology MIDNIGHT OIL. A number of his other short stories have also won prizes and are being published. | |||
![]() | STAGE FRIGHT When Billy Oliphant’s drama student daughter asks for his help in the staging of her university’s production of TWELTH NIGHT, he welcomes the opportunity to spend some time with her. Designing the stage lighting is a piece of cake, even if Billy’s feeling his age and a little out of place among the young thespians, in the hallowed halls of academia. The play will be performed in the romantic setting of the cloisters of an old abbey, the only historic building of what is a very modern university. It’s the brainchild of Jonathan Taylor, Kirsty’s keen if somewhat over-familiar English professor. Protective of his daughter, Billy doesn’t warm to the lecherous Taylor, but even he is surprised when after a boozy party with the cast Taylor’s naked dead body is found on the half completed stage. But, as Billy finds himself drawn into a murder investigation, he is also mindful of the fact that, if he is to keep his daughter happy, the show must go on…. UK: Piatkus November, 2006 Already published: PAY BACK, DIE CAST, THE COLLIER AND HIS MISTRESS, THE ENGLISH DANCING MASTER, ICE COLD. Praise for DIE CAST A dark thriller that trumpets an emerging talent Time Out DT | ||
| KATE DUNN ‘Many of the stories made me laugh out loud.’ Charles Spencer, The Sunday Telegraph. | |||
| THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE | |||
| LISA EVANS Lisa has written for several prime-time television series, and is also an award-winning playwright. This is her first novel. | |||
![]() | MY NEW FOUND LAND This is the story of Mary, who lives and works in London, and her three best male friends, who live in New York. She first meets them when newly married to Stephen, and over the course of a few years the four of them come to rely on each other as people to come to for the truth, or for balm for the wounds of life. Mary, in particular, needs to solve the mystery at the heart of her own marriage. Its a warm, very funny, sassy book. MD | ||
![]() | NATASHA FARRANT Natasha is a children's literary scout having previously worked for Orion and HarperCollins. She is married with a young family and lives in London. She spent childhood holidays in La Rochelle in France which features in her first novel. | ||
![]() | DIVING INTO LIGHT | ||
| NEIL FORSYTH | |||
| LET THEM COME THROUGH | |||
![]() | JEAN FULLERTON | ||
| NO CURE FOR LOVE | |||
![]() | SUE GEE Sue Gee is the author of prize-winning short stories, many published in magazines and broadcast on the radio, and of nine novels. She has taught on the BA writing programme at Middlesex University since 1995, and has set up the first MA in Writing in London. She is also reading for an M.Phil in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia. | ||
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![]() | CLIO GRAY
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![]() | ENVOY OF THE BLACK PINE | ||
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‘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.’ | |||
![]() | SHARON GRIFFITHS | ||
![]() | THE ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELLER is her first novel | ||
| ALISON HABENS Alison Habens was born in 1967. She has a first class degree in Drama and Dance, and an MA in English Literature (Critical Theory). She teaches Creative Writing at Portsmouth, combining her part-time post with a novel-writing career and being a wife and mother. She lives in a converted church on the Isle of Wight. | |||
![]() | LIFESTORY Do you believe in soul mates? Stretching across centuries and continents, this is the tale of a couple who are destined to be together...if only they could stop killing each other. Beck is an anxious single mother of one small son, plagued by a sore throat and an irrational dislike of white lilac. Dr Jonathan Comfort treats her first for the throat and then tends to her heart. Beck had forgotten what it was like to fall in love but now she's looking forward to the festive season with her new family. That is until a near-fatal mishap with the Christmas tree lights lands Beck in hospital - and when she wakes up from her coma she can remember more than just tinsel and pine needles. She can remember with incredible clarity and in great detail the sights and sounds of nineteenth century India and a horrific massacre on the Ganges. Worse, she can remember her life as a Hindu warrior who slaughtered English women and children. How did Beck get these memories? Is she mad or have she and Jonathan met before? And if they have, how can she convince him not only to believe her but also to forgive her? Rich, colourful and inventive, Lifestory is a warm and witty novel from a writer of exceptional talent. UK - Allison & Busby 2003 Already published: DREAMHOUSE, FAMILY OUTING Praise for Alison Habens … “A truly astonishing feat of the imagination, supported by a dazzling display of wit and wordplay, will surely be one of the best first novels this year. A writer to watch and cherish” Sunday Times “Exuberant first novel (which includes one of the best descriptions of a student kitchen ever written) - if you don’t last the book, or the party, it could be that you are over 21. The Young Ones meets Lewis Carroll.” The Independent LL
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| GREGORY HALL Gregory Hall took a leap into the unknown when he gave up a successful legal career to become a full-time writer. Fortunately for his wife and young family, the risk paid off when his critically acclaimed debut, THE DARK BACKWARD, was published. He now divides his time between his homes in the West Country and in the South of France. | |||
![]() | A SLEEP AND A FORGETTING Catriona Tarbert, a young lecturer in English at Warbeck College in London, receives a letter from her sister Flora. Although obviously the work of a disturbed mind Flora makes allusions in her letter to their childhood and a dark incident which she can no longer live with. She ends the letter announcing her intention to commit suicide and asks her sister to be the one to discover her body and to break the news to her husband and daughter. Catriona sets out immediately on a frantic drive to her sisters house on the outskirts of Oxford. In her sisters bedroom, there is no body and no sign of anything amiss. Has she changed her mind? By the evening, however, Flora has not come home... UK: HarperCollins April 2003 Previously published: THE DARK BACKWARD, A CEMENT OF BLOOD, MORTAL REMAINS. Previous foreign sales in: US, Germany, Holland. Praise for THE DARK BACKWARD... With its rich atmosphere and finely honed plot THE DARK BACKWARD offers a subtle, cerebral kind of suspense Chicago Tribune DT | ||
| AMBREEN HAMEED | |||
| IAN HARDING Another new recruit is Ian Harding, a first time writer on the basis of CRAKE: a fabulous old fashioned page turning adventure for 8-12 year olds. A ghost story set around a lighthouse where ships have been deliberately wrecked, it also confronts coming to terms with loss and the past. Ian is a teacher by profession and we are very excited at this debut work which is undergoing revisions at present SGB | |||
![]() | PAUL HEINEY Paul is a well-known broadcaster, currently appearing weekly on BBCs Watchdog. Hes had two previous novels published but has been taking a break from fiction over the past few years to complete some non-fiction commissions. | ||
![]() | ANIA AND THE THREE BEARS This is an unusual but moving story. Ania, having run afoul of office politics, is sent on extended leave. Her boss strongly suggests she go to a particular place in Spain, but when she gets there, she finds the town virtually abandoned. Bad weather floods the roads, leaving her isolated in a near-derelict hotel with three brothers. Gradually finding a modus vivendi, she decides the town is as good a place to spend the winter as any other. The older men are friendly, and the odd younger one is a hopeless figure, but harmless too. She doesnt realise at the time that ultimately she will uncover a secret of her past, and have to face her worst fears. | ||
![]() | VICTORIOUS, HAPPY AND GLORIOUS London 2001 the year of the Queens 60th Jubilee. The residents of Londons Holloway Road prepare for a royal walk-about by the Prince of Wales except for Arthur Chase, whose betting shop is a royal-free zone. Arthurs disabled son Gregory is also tidied away out of sight, as he has an obsession with drumming on the pavement outside. His mother died of complications while he was born, as she was delayed getting to hospital when the ambulance was caught in traffic due to a Royal do. Arthur and Gregory have never got over it. However, the death of a paparazzo and the appearance of the mysterious Mrs Mutton effect great changes in Gregorys life. | ||
![]() | THE LAST MAN ACROSS THE ATLANTIC (non-fiction) In 1960, two redoubtable figures, Francis Chichester and Blondie Hasler, raced each other across the Atlantic from Plymouth to New York for a bet. The stake was half a crown. There were no rules other than that they would start at the same time, and have to cross the same finishing line: in between, it was up to them. Mostly importantly, they were to sail alone, unaided. Hasler admitted that this was widely regarded as an insane stunt. They could not have known it at the time, but this odd mix of heroes and dreamers were laying the foundations for the greatest singlehanded yacht race in the world. All who took part in that race, and the subsequent ones which have followed at four-yearly intervals, can call themselves some kind of a hero in this 3,000 mile dash across the North Atlantic which is no easy cruise. Everything is against you. For a start, not only does the prevailing wind tend to blow from precisely the direction in which you want to go, which is towards America, but the Gulf Stream flows against you too. It is like attempting to run up a descending escalator in the face a gale: there will be progress, but it might be slow, uncertain, and tempestuous. Paul completed the race in the summer of 2005, and the account of it will be published at Christmas 2005. UK Publisher: Mainstream MD | ||
| JOANNA HINES Joanna Hines contemporary novels of psychological suspense have won enthusiastic press coverage and many fans. She also writes historical novels. She lives in London. | |||
![]() | ONE MISTAKE | ||
| JOHN HOLE John Hole’s impressive experience in the arts encompasses many successes including: West End theatrical producer; director of two major repertory companies; Arts & Entertainments Organiser for Hammersmith & Fulham; administrator of writers inc and the creator of Crowd Pullers, a street performers’ agency and event management company, to name but a few. As a writer, John wrote THE PIGGYBANK SPREE (a version of a Labiche farce) for the opening season at the new Queens Theatre in Hornchurch and co-wrote PARADISE CIRCUS, which was commissioned to celebrate the centenary of the City of Birmingham. He was also commissioned to co-write FLYING IN THE SUN for the royal opening of the Charles Cryer studio theatre in Carshalton, Surrey. His novels A BEDTIME STORY and THE ULTIMATE APHRODISIAC were published by Hodder & Stoughton in the mid nineties and translated into a number of languages. JUST CROSS YOUR FINGERS AND WISH is his first novel for children SGB | |||
![]() | The Estate of BS JOHNSON An innovative novelist, poet, playwright and film-maker, B S Johnson died at the height of his powers but his work is currently being rediscovered worldwide. Omnibus: Albert Angelo, House Mother Normal & Trawl (3 titles) This collection contains B.S. Johnson's critically acclaimed novels - "Alberto Angelo", "Trawl" and "House Mother Normal - A Geriatric Comedy". UK Publisher: Picador, June 2004 Previous foreign sales in: Denmark, Germany, Holland, Japan, Spain, Czech Republic "A most gifted writer" Samuel Beckett DT | ||
| BRIAN KEANEY Brian was born in London of Irish parents. He has worked for the last 21 years as a childrens and educational writer. He has written thirteen novels for children, which have been translated into six languages, of which the most recent are WHERE MERMAIDS SING and JACOB'S LADDER (Orchard Books). He is Royal Literary Fund fellow at City and Guilds Art School in South London, where he also lives. www.briankeaney.com | |||
![]() | GALLOWGLASS | ||
![]() | THE HAUNTING OF NATHANIEL WOLFE | ||
| 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 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 | ||
| AVRIL LAPPIN A lecturer in English at Liverpool University, Avril Lappin has set her first novel in her home city. | |||
![]() | SHARING CHARLIE | ||
| Aiveen McCarthy | |||
| THE INSIDER | |||
| JENNY McDADE Jenny McDade, a familiar name in children’s television (she created and wrote all 26 eps of SUPERGRAN which won an Emmy) and playwright for Radio 4 has turned her hand writing a dark comic thriller for children called DOMINIK DARKE HAS A REALLY BAD DAY a cross between THE LOVELY BONES and THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME. SGB | |||
| RACHEL ROSE McGRATH Rachel is a recent graduate of theology, whose jobs include working at the Globe Theatre. | |||
![]() | YELLOW ROSES Isabelle is in her early twenties and working in the bar at the Palladium Theatre. One night she goes to the ballet of Wuthering Heights with her family for her mums birthday. Rather than being horribly bored, as she expects, she finds shes incredibly drawn to its power and expressiveness. She finds a mysterious and charismatic young Russian called Pascha to teach her and of course falls in love with him, although hes apparently uninterested in any human relationships. Clearly when he was injured in Russia (which is why he left the country to become a teacher, and isnt principal dancer with the Kirov) he suffered a terrible psychological injury as well. Isabelles out of her depth and loves it but ultimately finds this an enormously strengthening experience, even though she never wins Paschas heart. MD | ||
![]() | ELOISE MILLAR Eloise Millar was born in Oxford and studied English at Cambridge University. She is currently working on her second novel, BLEEDING HEART YARD, which is set in seventeenth-century London. She lives in Oxford. | ||
![]() | WEDNESDAYS CHILD Shortlisted for the Young Minds Award 2004 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 WEDNESDAYS 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.' TES 'In this horribly believable account of a damaged childhood, Janet's resilience rescues us.' Guardian DR | ||
| JAN MINSHULL | |||
![]() | COAST TO COAST
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![]() | SUE MOORCROFT For several years Sue has been established as a successful and prolific writer of short stories. She has had over 100 published in such magazines as Peoples Friend, Womans Weekly and My Weekly. Publication of A PLACE TO CALL HOME, a story written in seven parts especially for serial, began in Peoples Friend in April. Her stories have appeared in two Sexy Shorts anthologies published by Accent Press in aid of breast cancer charities. Sue lives near Peterborough with her husband and two teenage sons. As the daughter of a soldier, she grew up in several countries including Germany and Malta, which is the setting for her first novel UPHILL ALL THE WAY, published by Transita in 2005. www.suemoorcroft.tripod.com | ||
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A contemporary story of betrayal and guilt and how money can make or break family ties. UK publisher: Robert Hale, 2008 | ||
![]() | CLARE MORRALL Clare Morrall shot to fame when her first novel, ASTONISHING SPLASHES OF COLOUR, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2003. Published by the tiny, Birmingham based publisher, Tindal Street Press, after enduring years of rejections by publishers and agents for previous novels, Clares story was a publishing fairytale come true. ASTONISHING SPLASHES OF COLOUR has sold over 100,000 copies since first publication in February 2003 and foreign rights have been sold in nine countries including Germany, US and Italy. Born in Devon, Clare works as a music teacher and lives in Birmingham. She has two grownup daughters. | ||
![]() | THE LANGUAGE OF OTHERS | ||
![]() ![]() | NATURAL FLIGHTS OF THE HUMAN MIND Peter Straker lives alone in a disused lighthouse on the Exmouth coast. He is a man obsessed with numbers: or more particularly one number: 78. In his dreams this number translates into people, of all sorts and shapes and sizes who know and communicate with him. All these people have been dead for 24 years and Straker thinks he killed them. Imogen Doody inherits a cottage in a small village near Strakers lighthouse. This is the first good thing that has happened to Imogen since her shortlived marriage many years ago: her husband Harry went to work as normal one day and never came back. The cottage is extremely neglected and dilapidated; she needs help restoring it. The story of Straker and Doody is truly astounding; from heartbreak and loneliness come recovery, hope and above all an affirmation of the essential goodness of the human spirit. Clare Morralls second novel is destined to achieve the acclaim and popularity of her first. 'A powerful reflection on shame, revenge and the consequences of our actions. Like a latter-day George Eliot...Morrall confirms herself as a writer of real talent’ Daily Mail ‘Clare Morrall is in complete command of her complex material. She maintains the tension throughout the twists and flashbacks in the plot, constantly springing surprises... (a) haunting book.’ TLS UK: Sceptre, January 2006 | ||
![]() | VICTORIA MOSLEY | ||
| NEXT YEAR IN VIETNAM Julian Evans Broadcaster, translator and author | |||
| ANNE PERRY Like reading Thackeray edited by Elmore Leonard. Booklist Intelligently written and historically fascinating. The Wall Street Journal First rate. New York Times Over FIFTEEN MILLION copies of Anne's books have now been sold worldwide, to phenomenal critical and popular acclaim. She is noted for her memorable characters, historical accuracy, and exploration of social and ethical issues, and won an Edgar Award in 2000 for her short story Heroes. She has appeared on several international bestseller lists, including the New York Times (SOUTHAMPTON ROW at No.5) and Livres Hebdo (nearly all of her books appearing in the top 10). The Pitt series Charlotte's upper middle-class family strongly disapproves of her irrepressible frankness as well as her marriage to Pitt, the detective. But her background gives her access to parts of society which Pitt can't gain. The investigation of crime tends to bring to light not only possible clues, but also all sorts of buried little sins and untruths of all the other people involved. A rich portrait of respectable, hypocritical Victorian society, both upstairs and downstairs. | |||
![]() | A CHRISTMAS SECRET | ||
![]() | AFRICA STAIRS (25th in the Pitt series) While Pitt gets a fascinating glimpse of Palace life, he firmly believes in the concept of justice yet now he witnesses people who are able to make their own laws and their own justice. “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 SHIFTING TIDE (14th in the Monk series) UK: Headline US: Ballantine March 2004 Translation rights: MBA Material: Finished book (280 pages) SHIFTING TIDE takes Monk into a new arena Londons docks and the Thames when hes engaged to investigate a murder and robbery on a ship. Its foreign territory to him, and it turns out this is exactly why hes been hired: so he wont get to the truth. Meanwhile Hester and her colleagues in the clinic are looking after a passenger from the ship who was taken ill...and is found to have the telltale signs of the Plague. | ||
![]() | World War 1 Series 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.
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| VICTOR PEMBERTON Victor Pemberton is a successful radio playwright and TV producer, and has worked with some of the great names of entertainment, including Benny Hill and Dodie Smith, had a longstanding correspondence with Stan Laurel and scripted and produced many of the BBCs Dr Who series. In recent years he has worked as a producer for Jim Henson, and set up his own production company, whose first TV documentary won an Emmy Award. | |||
![]() | A LONG WAY HOME | ||
![]() ![]() | STEF PENNEY UK Publisher: Quercus, 2006 | ||
![]() | BETHAN ROBERTS Bethan Roberts was born in Oxford and brought up in nearby Abingdon. She has MAs from Sussex and Chichester Universities and teaches creative writing at Chichester and for the Open University. Roberts was awarded a Jerwood/Arvon Young Writers’ Prize for The Pools. She lives in Brighton. | ||
![]() | THE GOOD PLAIN COOK | ||
![]() | THE POOLS | ||
| CHRISTOPHER RUSSELL Christopher Russell is a critically lauded television scriptwriter. This is his second novel. | |||
![]() | SMUGGLERS He is rescued by Rueben, who lives with his family on the dangerous rocky shore, making a meagre living from fishing and scavenging wrecks. Reuben’s neighbours are shocked: to save someone from drowning is to cheat the sea. Bad luck will surely follow. | ||
| JULIAN SAVARIN Julian Jay Savarin was born in Dominica but educated in Britain. He took a degree in history before serving in the Royal Air Force. He is the best-selling author of many successful techo-thrillers | |||
![]() | WINTER AND THE GENERAL The third book in Savarins Berlin crime series. December. On the snowbound island of Rügen in Germanys far northeast, an old man lies bleeding to death from a wound in his throat, cut in the shape of a jagged cross while a young man watches dispassionately Hauptkommissar Müller gets an anonymous message on his secure phone line, and as he digs deeper into a case where his attentions are definitely not wanted, Müller realizes he is being immersed in a nightmare. It is the nightmare of secrets that lie beneath the slaughterhouse of wartime Stalingrad, revealing an intricate web of betrayal and destabilization of the country he loves. UK Publisher: Severn House October 2003 Praise for A COLD RAIN IN BERLIN Bold, entertaining and engaging full of cinematic potential Publishers Weekly Sales of previous titles: Argentina: Denmark: Finland: Germany: Greece: Holland: Italy: Japan: Norway: Spain:,Sweden: US: Previously published: TROPHY, TARGET DOWN, PALE FLYER, MACALLISTERS RUN, STARFIRE, THE QUEENSLAND FILE, THE AZANIA BETRAYAL, WATERHOLE, WOLFRUN, WINDSHEAR, NAJA, LYNX, HAMMERHEAD, | ||