ROBERT EDRIC: IN ZODIAC LIGHT ~ It is December 1922, and the aftershocks of the First World War continue to make themselves felt. Ex-soldier, poet and composer, Ivor Gurney, suffering from increasingly frequent and deepening bouts of paranoid schizophrenia is transferred to the City of London Mental Hospital, Dartford. Neglected by the military and by his own family, and abandoned by all but a notable handful of his friends, Gurney begins a descent into the madness and oblivion which he believes has long been waiting to claim him.Yet following his arrival at Dartford, there are still those who continue to believe in Gurney's capabilities - in his 'wayward genius'. For a brief period, it seems that he might find some calm and ease in his life, and thus achieve the status so many consider him capable of achieving. But few of those now responsible for Gurney realise the consequences of their hopefulness. They have no real idea of what he had endured on the Western Front during almost three years of military service and the effects it had on his mind.

DAVID ANTHONY DURHAM: ACACIA ~ "Book One: The War with the Mein": Presiding over Acacia, an empire named after the idyllic island from which he rules, Leodan Akaran has inherited a peace and prosperity won long ago by his ancestors. He's an intelligent man, a widower who dotes on his four children, and it is this devotion that obliges him to hide a terrible secret from them - that Acacia's wealth is founded on the trafficking of drugs and human lives. A man of integrity, he determines to end this vile trade. But powerful forces stand in his way. Then an assassin, sent by the Mein - a race exiled long ago to an ice-locked stronghold in the frozen north - strikes, and the Mein unleash surprise attacks against their old oppressor. Mortally wounded, Leodan puts into play a plan to enable his children to escape, to survive and to fulfil their destinies. And so begins an epic quest - to avenge a father's death and restore an empire, this time on the basis of universal freedom.In "Acacia", the bestselling author of "Hannibal: Pride of Carthage" recounts a thrilling, engrossing and wonderfully imagined story of treachery and revenge, heroism and betrayal, of wrongs righted and redemption found.

JOHAN THEORIN: ECHOES FROM THE DEAD ~ Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found. Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia's father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are piecing together fragments of the past: fragments that point inexorably to a local man called Nils Kant, known to delight in the pain of others. But Nils Kant died during the 1960s. So who is the stranger seen wandering across the fields as darkness falls? It soon becomes clear that someone wants to stop Julia's search for the truth. And that he's much, much closer than she thinks.

JUDY ASTLEY: OTHER PEOPLE'S HUSBANDS ~ Sara's mother told her that she shouldn't marry Conrad - that the twenty-five-year age gap between them would tell in the end. The end is now (apparently) approaching fast. Conrad, a famous painter, has decided that it would be good to die before he gets seriously old and so spends his time sorting out his chaotic life. Sara, teaching art at a local college, finds that she has plenty of male company - other people's husbands, ones she tells Conrad all about, who are just good friends to her. But there's one she, somehow, doesn't get round to mentioning...

 

JIM CARTWRIGHT: SUPERMARKET SUPERMODEL ~ Sitting among the rows of tills in Supersafe supermarket in the North of England, the fortunes of a young checkout girl are on the brink of change ...Joan on Cigs and Sweets reads all the horoscopes in all the papers first thing. She knows everyone's zodiac sign, so if she thinks there's something you should know she'll stop and whisper your stars in your ear as she passes your till. This morning she stopped at me. 'Change. Be prepared for it. Good fortune brought by someone dark' I said, 'I wish.' She just nodded sagely and moved on. Maureen from behind said, 'Probably means when Sunbed Ida brings the change bags round.'A bittersweet story of a young Northern checkout girl's rise to fame, "Supermarket Supermodel" is prize-winning playwright Jim Cartwright's first foray into novel-writing. Bearing the hallmarks of his best loved plays, "The Rise and Fall of Little Voice" and "Road", this tale is an intoxicating mix of the dirty and the surreal, replete with assorted derelicts, drunks and fuck-ups, comic twists, and camp humour. Brimming with cracking original Cartwright dialogue, this rollicking debut will delight his fans in all four corners of the world.

DOUGLAS JACKSON: CALIGULA ~ Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, the third Roman Emperor, is better known by another name: Caligula, a name synonymous with decadence, cruelty and madness. His reign was marked by excess, huge building projects, the largest gladiatorial battles Rome was ever to see - men and animals killed in their hundreds - conspiracies, assassination attempts and sexual scandal. Rufus as a young slave grows up far from the corruption of the imperial court. His master is a trainer of animals for the gladiatorial arena. Rufus discovers that he has a natural ability with animals, a talent for controlling and schooling them. It is at the arenas that Rufus meets his great friend Cupido, one of Rome's greatest gladiators. It is his growing reputation as an animal trainer and his friendship with Cupido that attracts the cruel gaze of the Emperor.Caligula wants a keeper for the imperial elephant and Rufus is bought from his master and taken to the imperial palace. Life here is dictated by Caligula's ever shifting moods. Caligula is as generous as he is cruel, he is a megalomaniac who declares himself a living god and simultaneously lives in constant fear of the plots against his life.

MIKE ROSSITER: TARGET BASRA ~ March 2003: while the terrible 'shock and awe' was going on in Baghdad, Royal Navy Marines from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Ocean were given the job of 'kicking the door down'. At zero hour on March 19 members of 40 Commando, steaming a few miles off the Iraqi coastline, boarded helicopters, their faces blackened and their throats dry at the thought of what lay ahead. They were to be the first troops on the ground in Iraq and were tasked with forcing an entry into the country, to storm the Al Faw peninsula, secure the crucial oil terminals and open a gateway for ground troops in the advance on the city of Basra. It was the first British amphibious landing since the recovery of the Falkland Islands. Within minutes of landing contact was made with the enemy and the darkness was split by gun flashes and explosions.40 Commando won a swift and early victory taking over 200 soldiers prisoner. But now it was essential that the British Marines were reinforced against an Iraqi counteroffensive. Plans to fly in 42 Commando by the US Marine Corps were abandoned when a huge sandstorm brought down a helicopter. There was to be no reinforcements for 40 Commando that night. Tanks were observed setting out from Basra and ship-born Lynx helicopters were sent to attack them. With a foothold now in the country the fight was on to capture the port of Umm Qasr, guarded by the elite Republican Guard, so that humanitarian supplies and reinforcements could reach the land forces now crossing the border from Kuwait.What followed was some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict that lead the British Marines to the city limits of Basra. Written with the co-operation of Rear Admiral David Snelson and the Marines of 40 Commando, "Target Basra", is the definitive and action-packed account of one of the most dramatic, and militarily significant actions of the recent Iraq War.

RON HASLAM: ROCKET MEN ~ The Haslam family is motorbike royalty. 'Rocket' Ron Haslam, one of ten brothers and sisters from a Derbyshire mining town, started racing on the professional circuit in 1972 at the age of 15 and developed into one of the finest, and fastest, racers the UK has ever seen. Winner of three World titles and four British championships, as well as a record six Macau GPs, he rode in more than 100 Grands Prix. Despite tragically losing two of his brothers, Phil and Terry, in motorbike accidents, Haslam kept on riding in his chosen sport, setting speed records wherever he went, with his most recent outing being on a Ducati 998 at the Race of the Year at Mallory Park in October 2004.His son, Leon, the 'Pocket Rocket', is following in his father's extremely speedy footsteps. A national Motorcross champion and national Scooter champion at the age of just 14, he became the youngest ever rider to compete in the 500cc World Championship and is now one of Britain's top racers. He was placed second in the British Superbike Championship in 2006, missing out on the title only on the very last race weekend, and was voted MCN's Man of the Year and Riders' Rider of the Year.Now 24, he starts the 2008 BSB season as favorite as part of the Honda team for whom his father Ron raced GPs back in the 1980s.This is the extraordinary story of a father and a son who are addicted to motorbikes and to a lifetime of fearless racing, with all the thrills and spills, miraculous escapes and multiple broken bones that involves. Both colorful characters, their story takes us all the way from the 1970s to today and is full of hilarious high-octane derring-do, a cast of characters including legends like Fast Freddie Spencer and Barry Sheene, and nothing less than terrifying but exhilarating adventure.

SIMON KERNICK: DEADLINE ~ 'We've got your daughter.' It's evening, you're back late from work - and the house is in darkness. You step inside, and the phone rings. You answer it - and your world turns upside down. Your fourteen-year-old daughter's been taken, and her kidnappers demand half a million pounds in cash. They give you 48 hours to raise the money, and warn you that if you call the police, she'll die. Trying desperately to remain calm, you realise that your husband - the man you married only two years previously - is also missing. But he can't be involved in your daughter's abduction. Or can he? As your nightmare begins, you can be certain of only two things: that you will do anything to get your daughter back alive - and that time is running out ...

ANNE MCCAFFREY & ELIZABETH ANN SCARBOROUGH: ACORNA'S CHILDREN THIRD WATCH ~ Khorii, the rebellious daughter of the near-mythic Acorna and her lifemate, Aari, has followed in Acorna's footsteps leading their people from danger, but the pressure to succeed and fulfill a legacy is tremendous. For the deadly foe that has ravaged the known worlds and weakened even her famous parents has launched its final assault, and only Khorii and her newly discovered sister, Ariin, are able to stop the brutal attack. But success is elusive, and fragile, and even time itself may not be enough to help their desperate quest to save their family...much less the universe.

 

VIKAS SWARUP: SIX SUSPECTS ~ There's a caste system even in murder. Seven years ago, Vivek 'Vicky' Rai, the playboy son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh, murdered Ruby Gill at a trendy restaurant in New Delhi simply because she refused to serve him a drink. Now Vicky Rai is dead, killed at his farmhouse at a party he had thrown to celebrate his acquittal. The police search each and every guest. Six of them are discovered with guns in their possession. In this elaborate murder mystery we join Arun Advani, India's best-known investigative journalist, as the lives of these six suspects unravel before our eyes: a corrupt bureaucrat; an American tourist; a stone-age tribesman; a Bollywood sex symbol; a mobile phone thief; and an ambitious politician. Each is equally likely to have pulled the trigger. Inspired by actual events, Vikas Swarup's eagerly awaited second novel is both a riveting page turner and an insightful peek into the heart and soul of contemporary India.

JENNI MURRAY: MEMOIRS OF A NOT SO DUTIFUL DAUGHTER ~ 'I feel I'm beginning a love letter. I'm saying things I could not have expressed even a year ago because there was a barrier between us. It collapses today in hospital when I hold my mother's hand and stroke her hair, and she says. 'Do you love me? I've often wondered.' So begins Jenni Murray's memoir as she visits her mother in hospital. She is not, she acknowledges, the only woman to have had a difficult relationship with her parent, yet family history and the times in which they lived seemed to mitigate any chance of a true reconciliation between them.With the benefits of the Women's Movement behind her, and the chance to go to university and have a career, Jenni broke free from her mother's constraints, but never from her influence. Determined to go her own way, she has always felt a sense of guilt: she has been a 'not so dutiful daughter'. And then, after she began her memoir, Jenni's life took a distinctly downward turn. Her mother and father died within six months of each other, and she found that she had breast cancer.

DANIELLE STEEL: ROGUE ~ For Maxine Williams, being married to Blake had been an amazing adventure. Brilliant, charismatic, and wholly unpredictable, Blake Williams made millions and grabbed headlines as a dot-com entrepreneur. His only shortcoming was as a husband first his work, and then his never-ending quest for fun kept him constantly on the move, far away from Maxine and his family. For five years, Blake and Maxine have worked out an odd but amicable divorce, with shared homes, a summer yacht, and three children they both adore. Blake gets to keep his globe-trotting lifestyle - dating a succession of beautiful, famous and very young women - while Maxine raises their kids in Manhattan and pursues her passion, working as a psychiatrist, a world-renowned expert on childhood trauma. Then, everything changes ...For Maxine, it starts when she falls in love with Dr. Charles West, a man who is everything Blake is not - mature, grounded, and present.For Blake, it begins when a devastating earthquake strikes near one of his palatial foreign homes, and he sees hundreds of orphaned children in need of shelter.Now, Blake wants Maxine in his life again - as a partner in a humanitarian project that could change countless lives. For Maxine, the choice is clear. But Blake's sudden transformation - from carefree playboy to compassionate, responsible grownup - raises questions she's never managed to answer ...and some she's afraid to ask. After all, Maxine is on the cusp of a new life and almost certain that Blake Williams, a.k.a. the Rogue, is a man of capable doing anything - except change ...Or is he? An unforgettable story of two people pursuing happiness from opposite directions, "Rogue" is a journey of choices, second chances, and the amazing opportunities that come together - just when life seems to be falling apart.

LAURA MARNEY: MY BEST FRIEND HAS ISSUES ~ What did I know about life, a wee heifer like me, a twenty two year old no mates stay at home from the rump end of Cubernauld? What did I even know about sex, never mind drugs, or violence, or murder? Alison, an innocent Scottish girl, moves to Barcelona and meets Chloe, a not so innocent American heiress. Chloe as well as introducing Alison to a multitude of sins, teaches her new friend about the sweet taste of revenge. Throwing off her Presbyterian morality (and hopefully her embarrassing virginity), Alison begins a sex and drugs romp through the gothic streets of Bacelona, while sending vengeful postcards home...Dear Lisa and Lauren, Chloe and I on beach with beautiful Latino boys, wow! Need to buy new clothes, size twelve way too big now! Suppose you'll be watching Emmerdale. Hope cystitis not causing you too much agony. Alison xxx.

ERIC WEINER: THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS ~ What makes a nation happy? Is one country's sense of happiness the same as another's? In the last two decades, psychologists and economists have learned a lot about who's happy and who isn't. The Dutch are, the Romanians aren't, and Americans are somewhere in between...After years of going to the world's least happy countries, Eric Weiner, a veteran foreign correspondent, decided to travel and evaluate each country's different sense of happiness and discover the nation that seemed happiest of all. He discovers the relationship between money and happiness in tiny and extremely wealthy Qatar (and it's not a good one). He goes to Thailand, and finds that not thinking is a contented way of life. He goes to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and discovers they have an official policy of Gross National Happiness! He asks himself why the British don't do happiness?In Weiner's quest to find the world's happiest places, he eats rotten Icelandic shark, meditates in Bangalore, visits strip clubs in Bangkok and drinks himself into a stupor in Reykjavik. Full of inspired moments, "The Geography of Bliss" accomplishes a feat few travel books dare and even fewer achieve: to make you happier.

T J ENGLISH: THE WESTIES ~ Even among the Mob, the Westies were feared. Out of a partnership between two sadistic thugs - James Coonan and Mickey Featherstone - the gang dominated the decaying slice of New York City's West Side known as Hell's Kitchen in the 1970s and '80s. Excelling in extortion, numbers running, loansharking and drug-peddling, they became the most notorious gang in the history of organized crime. The then prosecutor Rudolf Giuliani called them 'the most savage organisation in the long history of New York street gangs'. Upping the ante on brutality and depravity, their speciality when it came to punishment and killings was dismemberment. Their reign lasted almost twenty - their end would come as their own violent natures got the best of them and precipitated a downfall as infamous as their rise. This revised and updated edition, brings the story of the Westies up to date with 'where are they now' snapshots of the men - and women - of the Westies.

JAMES BECKER: THE FIRST APOSTLE ~ An Englishwoman is found dead in a house near Rome, her neck broken. Her distraught husband enlists the help of his closest friend, policeman Chris Bronson, who discovers an ancient inscription on a slab of stone above their fireplace. It translates as 'Here Lie the Liars.' But who are the liars? And what is it they are lying to protect? Pursued across Europe, Bronson and his ex-wife uncover a trail of clues that lead them back to the shadowy beginnings of Christianity; to an ancient code inscribed upon a stone; to a chalice decorated with mysterious symbols. And to a deadly conspiracy which - if revealed - will rock the foundations of our modern world.

 

DIANA PRESTON: CLEOPATRA AND ANTONY ~ In 44 bc, Julius Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March. His mistress, Cleopatra of Egypt, fled back to Alexandria with their little son. Mark Antony, Caesar's friend and henchman, who, according to some accounts, was already besotted by the beautiful Cleopatra, took up her son's case before the Senate. But they refused to recognize him as one of Caesar's heirs. Civil war broke out, and after the defeat of Caesar's murderers, Antony took control over the East. Summoned to his headquarters in present-day Turkey, Cleopatra made her entry at dusk on a scented, candlelit barge: and so began one of the greatest love stories of all time - an eleven-year love affair that created the ancient world's most famous celebrity couple. The affair became all-consuming and fired the lovers with the ambition to create a new order. Had they succeeded, our world today might have been very different.Filled with murder, intrigue, civil war and great battles, the tragedy of Cleopatra and Antony has fascinated the world for two millennia, and has been depicted by everyone from Chaucer and Shakespeare to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in the iconic 1960s film. Now Diana Preston has gone back to the original sources and delved into the real history behind the propaganda and the myth, to breathe new life into this epic love story.