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. ...

Any Parisian will tell you that theirs is the city of romance, light & delicious sweets that are like no others on earth. Take your tastebuds on a tour of Paris in this sumptuous collection of sweet pastries, magnifique desserts & chocolates to die for. Michael Paul`s stunning photography captures the real ambience & joie de vivre of this remarkable city. Saunter past traditional pattiseries, sit with artists sipping chocolat chaud in Montmartre & savour the delights of the local chocolatier. With over 30 classic & modern recipes, from comforting pains au chocolate to irresistible macaroons, Sweet Paris Mini is more than a cook book: it`s a sweettoothed fl neur`s guide to Paris; a city where even the desserts are chic. ...

When Joe tasted a mouthful he was amazed how delicious it was
- a dense taste, better than any pasta he`d eaten before. Food was
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In the summer of 1849, cholera threatens the city & the people of London. The authorities send millions of gallons of sewage cascading into the Thames
- for many Londoners the only source of drinking water. Joshua Jeavons, a young & idealistic engineer, embarks on an obsessive quest to find the cause of the epidemic. As he labours in a fog of incomprehension, his domestic life is troubled by the baffling coldness of his beautiful bride, Isobella. But when she suddenly disappears, his desperate search for her takes him to a netherworld of slum-dwellers, pickpockets & scavengers of subterranean London.
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In 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, Robert Gibbings launched his home-made punt on the River Thames & began a slow journey downstream, armed with a sketchpad & a microscope. From the river`s source at the edge of the Cotswold Hills to the bustle of London`s docks, Sweet Thames Run Softly is a charming, often eccentric, account of an artist-naturalist adrift in English waters. First published as the Battle of Britain raged overhead, this gentle boating tale was an antidote to the anxieties of wartime & became an immediate best-seller. Our new edition

Includes:: the original engravings Robert Gibbings made from his journey.

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Serena Frome, the beautiful daughter of an Anglican bishop, has a brief affair with an older man during her final year at Cambridge, & finds herself being groomed for the intelligence services. The year is 1972. Britain, confronting economic disaster, is being torn apart by industrial unrest & terrorism & faces its fifth state of emergency. The Cold War has entered a moribund phase, but the fight goes on, especially in the cultural sphere. Serena, a compulsive reader of novels, is sent on a 'secret mission' which brings her into the literary world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First she loves his stories, then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life? & who is inventing whom? To answer these questions, Serena must abandon the first rule of espionage
- trust no one. Mc Ewan's mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft & witty story of betrayal & intrigue, love, & the invented self.
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