In the wake of an earthquake, the water level of an Icelandic lake drops suddenly, revealing the skeleton of a man half-buried in its sandy bed. It is clear immediately that it has been there for many years. There is a large hole in the skull. Yet more mysteriously, a heavy communication device is attached to it, possibly some sort of radio transmitter, bearing inscriptions in Russian.

The police are called in & Erlendur, Elinborg & Sigurdur Oli begin their investigation, which gradually leads them back to the time of the Cold War when bright, left-wing students would be sent from Iceland to study in the

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If the story that struck the Grand Banks off Newfoundland in October 1991 was The Perfect Storm, the fire that destroyed London in September 1666 was The Perfect Fire.

A fire needs only three things: a spark to ignite it, & the fuel & oxygen to feed it. In 1666, a ten-month drought had turned London into a tinderbox. The older parts of the city were almost entirely composed of wood-frame buildings & shanties. The riverside wharves were stack with wood, coal, oil, tallow, hemp, pitch, brandy, & almost very other combustible material known to seventeenth century man. On 2 September 1666, London ignited. Over the next five days the gale blew without interruption & the resulting firestorm destroyed the whole city.

THE DREADFUL JUDGEMENT tells the true, human story of the Great Fire of London through the eyes of the individuals caught up in it. It is a historical story combining modern knowledge of the physics of fire, forensics & arson investigation with the moving eye-witness accounts to produce a searing depiction of the terrible reality of the Great Fire of London & its impact on those who lived through it.



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On a narrow cobbled street in a northern mill town young Harry Bernstein & his family face a daily struggle to make ends meet. This is the true story of those harsh years, overshadowed by the First World War.

Amidst the hardship & suffering, Harry

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On a narrow cobbled street in a northern mill town young Harry Bernstein & his family face a daily struggle to make ends meet. This is the true story of those harsh years, overshadowed by the First World War.

Amidst the hardship & suffering, Harry

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Set in Provence at three different critical moments of Western Civilisation
- the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century,
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Monsieur Claude Reynaud is known throughout France for his talent for making fabulous clothes. The most elegant women in Paris regularly make the pilgrimage to the cobbled village of Senlis to be charmed by the tailor in the cluttered studio by the century-old apple tree. Claude can take a measurement at a glance, stores everything in his head, & fashions each dress by h&. &, despite his ex-wife ...

Monsieur Claude Reynaud is known throughout France for his talent for making fabulous clothes. The most elegant women in Paris regularly undertake the pilgrimage to the cobbled village of Senlis to be charmed by the tailor in his cluttered studio by the century-old apple tree. Claude can take a measurement at a glance, stores everything in his head, & fashions each dress by h&. &, despite his ex-wife ...

Liverpool, 1958, & German refugee & inventor Ernst Frager is in search of a sense of belonging. What he finds is an unusual nightclub on the Mersyside docks, & Miranda: hat-check girl, aspiring jazz singer & daughter of West Indian immigrants. Their doomed love affair will have repercussions for the children waiting for Ernst back in London, but also for the daughter Miranda gives birth to. Almost half a century later, Jade finds herself grappling with the very questions that drove her father into the arms of her mother, & realising that a successful career cannot define an identity; nor can you separate your existence from all the many other stories connected to it.. .

Like the jazz that snakes its way though this beautiful novel, The Drift Latitudes is about how we improvise our lives & the chances we take. From the Nubian boy who flees the tedium of home to find the bright lights of New York's jazz scene, to Ernst's daughter Rachel who turns her back on Europe & follows her husband to the Sudan, it is about the movement of people around our globe & the interdependence of our dreams. Awash with memorable characters, filled with unputdownable stories, this is a brilliantly intricate novel that lingers in the mind long after its final note.

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On his deathbed, Alex Roy's father dropped tantalizing hints about the notorious Cannonball Run of the 1970s, the utterly illegal high-speed non-stop races from New York to LA. Inspired by his father's dying words, & against the advice of his friends, Roy enters this mysterious world
- trying both to find himself, & to locate ' The Driver'
- the anonymous organizer of the world

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