On a sweltering day in July, 1878 the men of the 42nd Royal Highlanders
- the Black Watch
- waded ashore at Larnaca Bay to

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Sentaro has failed: he has a criminal record, drinks too much, & hasn`t managed to fulfil his dream of becoming a writer. Instead, he works in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days listlessly filling the pastries. Until one day an elderly, handicapped woman enters the shop. Tokue makes the best bean paste imaginable, & begins to teach Sentaro her art. But as their friendship flourishes, societal prejudices become impossible to escape, in this quietly devastating novel about the burden of the past & the redemptive power of friendship. ...

Amory Clay`s first memory is of her father doing a handstand
- but it is his absences that she chiefly remembers. Her Uncle Greville,
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Set in post-war Switzerl&, Fleur Jaeggy`s novel begins simply & innocently enough: ` At fourteen I was a boarder in a school in the Appenzell`. But there is nothing truly simple or innocent here. With the offhanded knowingness of a remorseless young Eve, the narrator describes life as a captive of the school & her designs to win the affections of the seemingly perfect new girl, Frederique. As she broods over her schemes as well as on the nature of control & madness, the novel gathers a suspended, unsettling energy. ...

When a wealthy client visits Mathilde`s dressmaking shop, she finds herself drawn into the only surviving circle of luxury ...

At the age of twenty-six Matthew Fort first visited the Italian island of Sicily. He & his brother arrived in 1973 expecting sun, sea & good food, but they were totally unprepared for the lifelong effect of this most extraordinary of Mediterranean islands. Thirty years later, older & a bit wiser
- but no less greedy
- Matthew finally returns. Travelling around the island on his scooter, Monica, he samples almond ice cream on the spectacular coast & intoxicating mouthfuls of sausage stew in olive groves, & goes fishing for anchovies beneath a star-scattered sky. Matthew is drawn once again to the intensity of life in Sicily, its dramatic landscape & traditions, & discovers how the island`s vibrant food culture is intertwined with its often turbulent past.

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Joseph O` Connor`s love affair with all things American led to an extraordinary tour of the United States to visit the nine different towns called Dublin, as well as some of the great cities & tiny hamlets in between. Along the way he wittily deconstructs the legends of a whole pantheon of Irish American heroes, from John F. Kennedy to Billy the Kid, & takes a quick detour to finally answer that most important question: was Elvis really Irish? The result is a hilarious, poignant & unforgettable book that celebrates the breathtaking diversity of the Irish influence on America & actually manages to find a town called Dublin, somewhere on the planet, that doesn`t have one single pub within its limits... ...

WINNER OF THE RICHARD & JUDY SEARCH FOR A BESTSELLER COMPETITION`A blistering debut from a major new voice. I couldn`t put it down. authentic, compelling, unflinching & tender & written with real verve & assurance` ERIN KELLY` An astonishingly confident & individual voice` ANN CLEEVESWHAT I THOUGHT I KNEWIn 1998, Maryanne Doyle disappeared & Dad knew something about it? Maryanne Doyle was never seen again. WHAT I ACTUALLY KNOW In 1998, Dad lied about knowing Maryanne Doyle. Alice Lapaine has been found strangled near Dad`s pub. Dad was in the local area for both Maryanne Doyle`s disappearance & Alice Lapaine`s murder
- FACTConnection? Trust cuts both ways... what do you do when it`s gone? FOR FANS OF ERIN KELLY & BELINDA BAUER, GET READY FOR THE SUSPENSE NOVEL OF THE YEAR.`A killer premise. An original voice. An utterly compelling story that will keep you up all night` FIONA CUMMINS, author of Rattle` Impossible to put down` ALEX GRAY` The best debut I`ve read in a very long time` WILLIAM RYAN`A perfect storm of a crime novel... one of the best novels in this genre` LIZ LOVES BOOKS
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Spanning almost a hundred years, this rich & evocative true story recounts the lives of three generations of remarkable Chinese women. Their extraordinary journey takes us from the brutal poverty of village life in mainland China, to newly prosperous 1930s Hong Kong & finally to the UK. Their lives were as dramatic as the times they lived through. A love of food & a talent for cooking pulled each generation through the most devastating of upheavals. Helen Tse's grandmother, Lily Kwok, was forced to work as an amah after the violent murder of her father. Crossing the ocean from Hong Kong in the 1950s, Lily honed her famous chicken curry recipe. Eventually she opened one of Manchester's earliest Chinese restaurants where her daughter, Mabel, worked from the tender age of nine. But gambling & the Triads were pervasive in the Chinese immigrant community, & they tragically lost the restaurant. It was up to Helen & her sisters, the third generation of these exceptional women, to re-establish their grandmother's dream. Sweet Mandarin shows how the most important inheritance is wisdom, & how recipes
- passed down the female line
- can be the most valuable heirloom.

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Superintendent Lascano is drawn into a war between the Buenos Aires Chief of Police & the Apostles, drug-dealing cops who want to control the city. When the Chief of Police is murdered Lascano becomes the Apostles` next target. His only way out of the country is to retrieve the loot from a bungled bank robbery. Mallo paints a scathing portrait of Argentina where the Junta`s generals are paraded in court in civilian clothes, treated like mere petty thieves. The mothers & grandmothers of The Plaza de Mayo A” see the people who have stolen their children go unpunished; corruption & violence continue to rule. But at the centre of the novel is a touching portrayal of two broken men, a cop & a robber, whose humanity is sorely tested by the times & events racking this proud country. ...