Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Purple Hibiscus

When Nigeria begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili's father, involved in mysterious ways with the unfolding political crisis, sends Kambili and her brother away to their aunt's. Here she discovers love and a life - dangerous and heathen - beyond the confines of her father's authority.

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Half of a yellow sun

Set in Nigeria during the 1960s, this novel contains three main characters who get swept up in the violence during these turbulent years. It is about Africa, about the end of colonialism, about class and race, and the ways in which love can complicate these things.

 Ali, Monica. In the Kitchen

This novel opens with a mysterious death in the cellars of a smart, cosmopolitan hotel and over the course of the ensuing pages, peels back the layers of polyglot London to reveal the melting pot which exists below.

 Alison, Rosie. The very thought of you

England, 31st August 1939: the world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated to a large Yorkshire estate opened up to evacuees by a childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unravelling relationship

Barclay, Linwood. Fear the worst

The worst day of Tim Blake's life started out with him making breakfast for his 17 year-old daughter Sydney. Syd was staying with him while she worked a summer job. When she goes missing, Tim doesn't need to simply track her down - he needs to know who she really was.

“An American action blockbuster", “A light read but good fun”

Barry, Sebastian. The secret scripture

Nearing her 100th birthday, Roseanne faces an uncertain future, as the mental hospital where she's spent the best part of her adult life prepares for closure. Over the weeks leading up to this upheaval, she talks often with her psychiatrist Dr Grene. This relationship intensifies as he mourns the death of his wife.

Bragg, Melvyn. Soldier's return

When Sam Richardson returns from World War II to Wigton in Cumbria, he finds little has changed, as far as his own limited prospects go. In his absence, though, his young family has changed immensely, and Sam struggles to adjust to life in peacetime.

Capella, Anthony. The food of love

Laura Patterson is an American exchange student in Rome, who, fed up with being inexpertly groped by her young Italian beaus, decides there's only one sure fire way to find a sensual man: date a chef. She meets Tomasso who pretends to be a chef, however he is only a waiter.

Chevalier, Tracy. Remarkable creatures

In the year of the 150th anniversary of Origin of Species, set in a town where Jane Austen was a frequent visitor, Tracy Chevalier once again shows her uncanny sense for the topical.

Cezair-Thompson, Margaret. The pirate's daughter

 An 'adventure story' about the extraordinary meeting of two worlds -1940s Hollywood, and    the tropical paradise of Jamaica. The Pirate's Daughter is the novel that has everything:  passion, intrigue, drama and suspense, rumours of ghosts and buried treasure, 1940s decadence, the struggle for independence, the birth of dancehall and the reggae scene

Coelho, Paulo. The alchemist

Santiago, a young shepherd living in the hills of Andalucia, feels that there is more to life than his humble home and his flock. One day he finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant lands, each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is following the right path: his own. The people he meets along the way, the things he sees and the wisdom he learns are life-changing. With Paulo Coelho's visionary blend of spirituality, magical realism and folklore, The Alchemist is a story with the power to inspire nations and change people's lives.

De Waal, Edmund. The Hare with Amber Eyes

264 wood and ivory carvings of animals, plants and people, none of them larger than a matchbox; apprentice potter Edmund de Waal was entranced by the collection when he first encountered it in the Tokyo apartment of his great uncle Iggie. When he inherited them, he discovered that they unlocked a story larger than he could have imagined.

Deaver, Jeffrey. Roadside crosses

A highway patrol trooper notices something strange on the side of the road: a homemade cross, fashioned as a memorial. Except the date being 'remembered' is the following day - the day the police find a kidnapped teenage girl in the trunk of a car, left for dead.

Dickens, Charles. Hard Times

'Hard Times' is Dickens's portrait of a Lancashire mill town in the 1840s. Through the characters of Gradgrind & Bounderby he examines the ethos of 19th century industrialization which allows human beings to be enslaved to machines.

Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist

The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked readers when it was first published. Dickens's tale of childhood innocence beset by evil depicts the dark criminal underworld of a London peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes and the prostitute Nancy.

Dickens, Charles. Our mutual friend

John Harmon returns to England after years in exile to claim his inheritance: a great fortune and a beautiful young woman to whom he is betrothed, but has never met. When Harmon's body is pulled out of the Thames, all of London is fascinated by the mystery of the murdered man and his unclaimed riches. Scavengers, social-climbers, lawyers and teachers, a money-lender and a dolls-dressmaker, men and women both honest and villainous, will all become embroiled in this tale of love and obsession, death and rebirth.

Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again... Working as a lady's companion, the heroine of REBECCA learns her place. Her future looks bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Max de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding housekeeper, Mrs Danvers... Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman.

Edwards, Kim. The Memory's Keeper Daughter

It's 1964 and Dr David Henry finds himself delivering his wife's twins. Relieved, he sees that his son is born healthy, but recognises the signs of Down's syndrome in his daughter's face. In a split-second decision that will haunt their family forever, he asks the nurse to take his daughter away.

Faulks, Sebastian. Birdsong

This is the story of Stephen who arrives in Amiens in 1910. His life goes through a series of traumatic experiences, from the clandestine love affair that tears apart the family with whom he lives, to the unprecedented experience of the war itself.

Fletcher, Susan. Eve Green

With the death of a mother and the abduction of a young girl, Susan Fletcher has written a vividly beautiful novel about the innocence and terror of childhood.

Foreman, Amanda. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire

Sex, intrigue and adultery in the world of high politics and huge wealth in late eighteenth-century England. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was one of the most flamboyant and influential women of the eighteenth century.

The great-great-great-great aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, she was variously a compulsive gambler, a political savante and operator of the highest order, a drug addict, an adulteress and the darling of the common people.

Forster, Margaret. Isa & May

The curiously named Isamay, a would-be academic, is trying to write a coherent thesis about grandmothers in history from Sarah Bernhardt and George Sand to the matriarchal Queen Victoria and other influential grannies while constantly ambushed by the secrets her own family has been keeping.

An only child, she is named after her grandmothers, Isa and May, who were there at her birth and who have formed and influenced her in very different ways.

Gale, Patrick. Notes from an exhibition

When troubled artist Rachel Kelly dies painting obsessively in her attic studio in Penzance, her saintly husband and adult children have more than the usual mess to clear up. She leaves behind an extraordinary and acclaimed body of work - but she also leaves a legacy of secrets and emotional damage that will take months to unravel.

"Interesting, with an unusual narrative structure", "An exploration of the effects of mental health issues on family”

Gaskell, Elizabeth. North and South

When her father leaves the Church, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her home in Hampshire to move with her family to the North of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice.

"It has everything; love, dilemma, good storyline, even murder (manslaughter?)”

Guterson, David. Snow falling on Cedars

Heavy snow falls on San Piedro and impedes the progress of Kabuo Miyomoto's trial. Hatsue, Kabuo's wife and Ishmael, a journalist on the case, find themselves reckoning with the past and their lost love.

Guy, John. A daughter's love

This book will break open a secret. It is a gripping tale of love, loyalty and domestic happiness that came to be overwhelmed by the forces of ambition, deceit and treachery, from the award-winning author of 'My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary, Queen of Scots'.

Hagen, George. The laments

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP meets AMERICAN BEAUTY in this widely acclaimed dazzling first novel, a tragi-comedy about family life, love and identity that spans several decades and three continents.

Heller, Zoe. Notes on a scandal

'Notes on a Scandal' is a sinister lesson in keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer. When Sheba Hart is discovered having an affair with a pupil, her colleague, Barbara Covett, becomes her chief defender. But all is not as it first seems and Sheba soon discovers that a friend can be as treacherous as any lover.

Hislop, Victoria. The Island

On the brink of her own life-changing decision, Alexis Fielding longs to find out about her mother's past. But Sofia has never spoken of it. All she admits to is growing up in a small Cretan village before moving to London.

Hosseini, Khaled. A thousand splendid suns

Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry the troubled and bitter Rasheed, who is thirty years her senior. Nearly two decades later, in a climate of growing unrest, tragedy strikes fifteen-year-old Laila, who must leave her home and join Mariam's unhappy household. Laila and Mariam are to find consolation in each other, their friendship to grow as deep as the bond between sisters, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter.

Hosseini, Khaled. The kite runner

A story of fathers and sons, friendship and betrayal, and the casualties of fate 1970s Afghanistan: Twelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the local kite-fighting tournament and his loyal friend Hassan promises to help him. But neither of the boys can foresee what will happen to Hassan that afternoon, an event that is to shatter their lives. After the Russians invade and the family is forced to flee to America, Amir realises that one day he must return to an Afghanistan under Taliban rule to find the one thing that his new world cannot grant him: redemption.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. The remains of the day

In the summer of 1956, Stevens, the ageing butler of Darlington Hall, embarks on a leisurely holiday that will take him deep into the English countryside and into his past . . . A haunting tale of lost causes and lost love, The Remains of the Day, winner of the Booker Prize, contains Ishiguro's now celebrated evocation of life between the wars in a Great English House - within its walls can be heard ever more distinct echoes of the violent upheavals spreading across Europe.

Jacobson, Howard. The Finkler question

Julian Treslove, a professionally unspectacular former BBC radio producer, and Sam Finkler, a popular Jewish philosopher, writer and television personality, are old school friends.

Despite very different lives, they've never quite lost touch with each other - or with their former teacher, Libor Sevcik. Both Libor and Finkler are recently widowed, and together with Treslove they share a sweetly painful evening revisiting a time before they had loved and lost. It is that very evening, when Treslove hesitates a moment as he walks home, that he is attacked - and his whole sense of who and what he is slowly and ineluctably changes.

James, Peter. Dead tomorrow

The body of a teenager dredged from the seabed off the coast of Sussex, is found to be missing its vital organs. Soon two more young bodies are found. Detective Superintendent Roy Grace investigates.

Jones, Lloyd. Mister Pip

On a remote South Pacific island, threatened by uprising, Matilda and her classmates find their lives surprisingly intertwined with those of a boy called Pip, and a man named Mr Dickens.

Juska, Jane. Round heeled woman

'Round-heeled' is an old-fashioned term for a promiscuous woman of easy virtue. It is a surprising way for a respectable English teacher of a certain age, with a passion for the novels of Anthony Trollope, to describe herself, but then that's just the first of many surprises in this funny, poignant memoir.

Kelman, Stephen. Pigeon English

With equal fascination for the local gang - the Dell Farm Crew - and the pigeon who visits his balcony, 11-year-old Harri absorbs the many strange elements of his new life in England. But when a boy is knifed to death and a police appeal for witnesses draws only silence, Harri decides to start a murder investigation of his own.

Kidd, Sue Monk. The secret life of bees

Lily has grown up believing she accidentally killed her mother when she was four. She not only has her own memory of holding the gun, but her father's account of the event. Now 14, she yearns for her mother, and for forgiveness.

Kingsolver, Barbara. The Lacuna

Mexico, 1935. Harrison Shepherd is working in the household of Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo. When exiled Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky arrives, Shepherd throws in his lot with art and the revolution.

"It would be a desert island book." "Beautifully written", "I didn't want it to finish", "I particularly enjoyed the political bits” ”Wonderful description of Mexico""Far too long and wordy" "It took a long time to get into"

Koomson, Dorothy. My best friend's girl

What would you do for the friend who broke your heart? Best friends Kamryn and Adele thought nothing could come between them, until Adele slept with Kamryn's fiance, Nate. Worse still, she got pregnant and had his child. When Kamryn discovered the truth about their betrayal she vowed never to see any of them again.

Last, Nella. Nella Last’s War: the Second World War Diaries of ‘Housewife, 49’

In September 1939, housewife and mother Nella Last began a diary whose entries, in their regularity, length and quality, have created a record of the Second World War which is powerful, fascinating and unique.

Levy, Andrea. Small Island

Returning to England after the war Gilbert Joseph is treated very differently now that he is no longer in an RAF uniform. Joined by his wife Hortense, he rekindles a friendship with Queenie who takes in Jamaican lodgers. Can their dreams of a better life in England overcome the prejudice they face?

Locke, Attica. Black water rising

On a dark night in Houston, Jay Porter hears a scream. Saving a woman from drowning in the bayou, he opens a Pandora's box. An activist in his youth, now a lawyer and expectant father, this small act of heroism becomes a threat to his work, his family and even his life, yet he can't walk away from the corruption he glimpses.

Lovric, Michelle. The Book of Human Skin

13 May, 1784, Venice: Minguillo Fasan, heir to the decaying, gothic Palazzo Espagnol, is born. Yet Minguillo is no ordinary child: he is strange, devious and all those who come near him are fearful. Twelve years later Minguillo is faced with an unexpected threat to his inheritance: a newborn sister, Marcella. His untempered jealousy will condemn his sister to a series of fates as a cripple, a madwoman and a nun. But in his insatiable quest to destroy her, he may have underestimated his sister's ferocious determination, and her unlikely allies who will go to extraordinary lengths to save her.

Matar, Hisham. Anatomy of a disappearance

In Egypt, Nuri, a teenage boy, falls in love with Mona - the woman his father will marry. Consumed with longing, Nuri wants to get his father out of the way - to take his place in Mona's heart. But when his father disappears, Nuri regrets what he wished for. Alone, he and Mona search desperately for the man they both love. Only for Nuri to discover a silence he cannot break and unimaginable secrets his father never wanted him to know.

McCarthy, Cormac. The road

A father and his young son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. They have nothing but a pistol to defend themselves against the men that stalk the road.

McCarthy, Pete. The road to McCarthy

Setting off from Ireland, Pete McCarthy takes us on a journey around the weird and wonderful Irish communities of the world.

McDermid, Val. The wire in the blood

Taut, suspenseful and ferociously readable thriller featuring psychological profiler Dr Tony Hill, hero of the hugely successful television series 'The Wire in the Blood’. Young girls are disappearing around the country, and there is nothing to connect them to one another, let alone the killer whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind. Nobody gets inside the messy heads of serial killers like Dr Tony Hill.

McEwan, Ian. Saturday

'Saturday' is a novel set within a single day in February 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man, but what troubles him is the state of the world. Following a minor car accident, Perowne is brought into contact with a small-time thug called Miller. This meeting has savage consequences.

McGrath, Melanie. Hopping

For more than a century, hopping was the main event in the East End calendar - an annual expedition of over 200,000 East Enders out to the Kentish countryside to look for casual work picking hops and stripping bines. Aunt Daisy was one of those day trippers. For her, the train ride from London Bridge to Faversham was a kind of magic that she always passed in a rush of sensation.

“Absolutely loved it”

"Very well researched”, “Good, but fragmented; it didn't hang together"

Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall

Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust & need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolsey's clerk, & later his successor.

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. Love in the times of cholera

An old man and his childhood sweetheart are united for the first time resulting in the consummation of an amor interruptus that spans half a century. This uplifting love story is set on the Colombian coast in the early 20th century. This edition ties-in to the long-awaited film adaptation.

Moore, Lorrie. A gate at the stairs

With America gearing up for war in the Middle East, Tassie Keltjin, a 'half-Jewish' farmer's daughter from the plains of the Midwest, has come to university - escaping her provincial home to encounter a world of culture and politics. As her past becomes increasingly alien to her, Tassie realises she is becoming a stranger to herself.

Moore, Wendy. Wedlock

WEDLOCK is the remarkable story of the Countess of Strathmore and her marriage to Andrew Robinson Stoney. Mary Eleanor Bowes was one of Britain's richest young heiresses. She married the Count of Strathmore who died young, and pregnant with her lover's child, Mary became engaged to George Gray. Then in swooped Andrew Robinson Stoney. Mary was bowled over and married him within the week. But nothing was as it seemed...

Nemirovsky, Irene. Suite Francaise

'Suite Francaise' is a lost masterpiece written in World War II France, telling the spellbinding story of a group of characters living under Nazi occupation.

Niffenegger, Audrey. Her fearful symmetry

Julia and Valentina Poole are identical twins who have no interest in college, jobs or anything outside their cosy suburban home. But everything changes when they receive notice that an aunt whom they didn't know existed has died and left them her flat in an apartment block overlooking Highgate Cemetery in London

North, Freya. Secrets

They drive each other crazy. And they both have something to hide. But we all have our secrets. It's just some are bigger than others. Joe has a beautiful house, a great job, no commitments - and he likes it like that. All he needs is a quiet house-sitter for his rambling old place by the sea. When Tess turns up on his doorstep, he's not sure she's right for the job. Where has she come from in such a hurry? Her past is a blank and she's something of an enigma

O'Connor, Joseph. Star of the sea

During winter 1847, the Star of the Sea sets sail from Ireland for New York. Among the refugees are a maidservant, bankrupt Lord Merridith, an aspiring novelist and a maker of revolutionary ballads. Each is connected more deeply than they know. But a killer is stalking the decks, hungry for vengeance.

O’Farrell, Maggie. The vanishing act of Esme Lennox

Set between the 1930s and the present, Maggie O'Farrell's novel is the story of Esme, a woman edited out of her family's history, and of the secrets that come to light when, 60 years later, she is released from care, and a young woman, Iris, discovers the great aunt she never knew she had. The mystery that unfolds is the heartbreaking tale of two sisters in colonial India and 1930s Edinburgh - of the loneliness that binds them together and the rivalries that drive them apart, and lead one of them to a shocking betrayal - but above all it is the story of Esme, a fiercely intelligent, unconventional young woman, and of the terrible price she is made to pay for her family's unhappiness.

Pears, Iain.  An instance of the fingerpost

Set in the 1660s, this novel focuses on the death of Robert Grove, fellow of New College. There are four witnesses, each of whom discusses their perception of events; a Venetian Catholic, possible inventor of the blood transfusion; a Royalist traitor's son; the chief cartographer to Cromwell and Charles II; and Oxford antiquary, Anthony Wood. Only one is a reliable witness.

Pearse, Lesley. Stolen

When a beautiful blonde girl is found half-drowned on a beach, she has no memory of who she is or what horrors have left her there. But an article about her in a Brighton newspaper rings alarm bells for beautician Dale, who shows the police photographs of Lotte Wainright.

Picoult, Jodi. My sister's keeper

The only reason Anna was born was to donate her cord blood cells to her older sister. By the age of 13, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions and injections so that her sister Kate can fight the leukemia that has plagued her since she was a child. Now Anna wants control over her own body.

Quinn, Karen. The ivy chronicles

Having lost her Wall Street job, her husband & her Park Avenue apartment in one afternoon, Ivy Ames emerges broken but unbowed. The newly-single mother-of-two picks herself up, dusts herself down & reinvents herself as a private school admissions advisor whose well-heeled clients will do anything to get their children into A-list schools.

Roffey, Monique. White woman on the green bicycle

This novel tells how when George and Sabine Harwood arrive in Trinidad from England George instantly takes to their new life but Sabine feels isolated, heat-fatigued, and ill at ease with the racial segregation and the imminent dawning of a new era. George eventually finds out that Sabine has been keeping secrets from him.

Schlink, Bernhard. The Reader

For 15-year-old Michael Berg, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. The woman in question is Hanna, and before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems. Years later, as a law student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to realize that the person in the dock is Hanna. The woman he had loved is a criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. But then suddenly, and terribly, it does - Hanna is not only obliged to answer for a horrible crime, she is also desperately concealing an even deeper secret.

Seierstad, Asne. The bookseller of Kabul

In the spring of 2002, journalist Asne Seierstad went to Afghanistan to live with a family for several months.

Here she reveals her experiences, telling the story of Sultan Khan - who defied the authorities for 20 years to supply books to the people of Kabul - and his family.

Shaffer, Mary Ann. The Guernsey literary potato peel pie society

It's January, 1946, and writer Juliet Ashton sits at her desk, vainly seeking a subject for her next book. Out of the blue, she receives a letter from one Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - by chance, he's acquired a secondhand book that once belonged to Juliet - and, spurred on by their mutual love of Charles Lamb, they begin a correspondence.

"Very well researched",  "Clever to write the story just using letters". "Slightly too many people introduced at the beginning”. “Don’t be put off by the unusual letter format of this novel as you would be missing out on a moving and yet humorous story”.

Sherwood, Ben. The life and death of Charlie St Cloud

When he was a boy, Charlie St. Cloud almost perished in a car crash that killed his little brother, Sam. Years later, Charlie is still trying to atone for his loss. It is only when he meets Tess Carroll, a captivating, adventurous yachtswoman, that he is faced with a choice - between life and death, holding on and letting go.

Shields, Carol. Larry's party

The Orange Prize-winning novel of Larry Weller, a man who discovers the passion of his life in the ordered riotousness of Hampton Court's Maze.

A detailed look at the ordinary life of Larry Weller between 1977 and 1997 follows the floral designer as he deals with the rapidly changing world and two marriages and two divorces along the way.

Shriver, Lionel. We need to talk about Kevin

Who is to blame for teenage atrocity? Narrator Eva Khatchadourian's son, Kevin, murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker, and the much-loved teacher who tried to befriend him. This novel is an examination of the effect tragedy has on a town, a marriage and a family.

Smith, Alexander McCall. The No1 ladies detective agency

Wayward daughters. Missing Husbands. Philandering partners. Curious conmen. If you've got a problem, and no one else can help you, then pay a visit to Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's only - and finest - female private detective. Her methods may not be conventional, and her manner not exactly Miss Marple, but she's got warmth, wit and canny intuition on her side, not to mention Mr J. L. B. Matekoni, the charming proprietor of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors.

Stockett, Kathryn. The Help

Aibileen is a black maid, raising her 17th white child, but with a bitter heart after the death of her son. Minny is the sassiest woman in Mississippi. Skeeter is a white woman with a degree but no ring on her finger. Seemingly as different as can be, these women will come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk.

"Excellent", "well observed", "A good contrast between humour and pathos", "A skilful mix of characters" and "I loved the build up of tension".

Summerscale, Kate. The suspicions of Mr Whicher or The murder at Road Hill House

A true story that inspired a generation of writers such as Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and Arthur Conan Doyle, this has all the hallmarks of the classic murder mystery - a body; a detective; a country house steeped in secrets. In The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Kate Summerscale untangles the facts behind this notorious case, bringing it back to vivid, extraordinary life

.

Tearne, Roma. Bone China

An epic novel of love, loss and a family uprooted, set in the contrasting landscapes of war-torn Sri Lanka and immigrant London.

 Toibin, Colm. Brooklyn

In a small town in the south-east of Ireland in the 1950s, Eilis Lacey is among many of her generation who cannot find work at home. So when she is offered a job in America, she leaves her family to start a new life in Brooklyn, New York.

“A beautiful book, simply written.” “I got into the heart and soul of the characters”

Tomalin, Claire. Mrs Jordan's profession

Recounting the story of Dora Jordan, whose fame was almost extinguished by its own brilliance, Claire Tomalin looks at the life of this great comic actress of the late 18th-century stage with perception and animation.

Torday, Paul. Salmon fishing in the Yemen

This is the story of Dr Alfred Jones, a fisheries scientist - for whom diary-notable events include the acquisition of a new electric toothbrush and getting his article on caddis fly larvae published in 'Trout and Salmon' - who finds himself reluctantly involved in a project to bring salmon fishing to the Highlands of the Yemen - a project that will change his life, and the course of British political history forever.

Tremain, Rose. The road home

Lev is on his way to Britain to seek work, so that he can send money back to Eastern Europe to support his mother and little daughter. Readers will become totally involved with his story, as he struggles with the mysterious rituals of 'Englishness', and the fashions and fads of the London scene. We see the road Lev travels through Lev's eyes, and we share his dilemmas: the intimacy of his friendships, old and new; his joys and sufferings; his aspirations and his hopes of finding his way home, wherever home may be.

Verghese, Abraham. Cutting for stone

Marion and Shiva Stone, born in a mission hospital in Ethiopia in the 1950s, are twin sons of an illicit union between an Indian nun and British doctor. Bound by birth but with widely different temperaments they grow up together, in a country on the brink of revolution, until a betrayal splits them apart. But fate has not finished with them they will be brought together once more, in the sterile surroundings of a hospital theatre.

“An exuberant and colourful story”. “Interesting characters that just came to life”.

Waters, Sarah. Fingersmith

Set in 1860s London, this is the story of Susan, a pickpocket who is persuaded to pose as a lady's maid and infiltrate the house of a young heiress. This novel explores the nature of identity and what people do with disguise.

“Unsatisfactory ending”

 “Gripping story”, “Wonderful characters”

Waters, Sarah. The Little Stranger

In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life?

Wolstencroft, David. Good News, Bad News

Meet Charlie. An everyday bloke. Good news is, he has a job. Bad news is, it's in a photo kiosk.  He whiles away the hours with his rather eccentric colleague George.  But appearances can be deceptive.
You see, there is one line of work where taking the world at face value can be very foolish indeed. Where trusting someone -- anyone -- is the most dangerous thing you can ever do. The truth is, Charlie and George have not been very honest with each other. The truth is, this isn't their number one career choice.  Their real jobs are a hell of a lot more dangerous. its time to come clean. But the truth could very well kill them.

Woolf, Virginia. Mrs Dalloway

This novel explores the hidden springs of thought and action in one day of a woman's life. Virginia Woolf is direct and vivid in her account of the details of Clarissa Dalloway's preparation for a party.

Zafon, Carlos Ruiz. The Angel’s Game

In an old mansion in the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martin, an aspiring writer, receives a mysterious letter from a French editor, promising literary stardom if he will fulfil just one task. But the character is not all that he seems, and soon David has entered into a pact that will lead him to question everything he values.

“It is quite a complex book – partly because it covers so many genres. It is mystery, crime, romance and humour, with a good sprinkling of supernatural!”

“A real page-turner and would highly recommend it”