Described as `a metaphysical shocker` at the time of its release, Muriel Sparks` The Driver`s Seat is a taut psychological thriller, published with an introduction by John Lanchester in Penguin Modern Classics. Lise has been driven to distraction by working in the same accountants` office for sixteen years. So she leaves everything behind her, transforms herself into a laughing, garishly-dressed temptress & flies abroad on the holiday of a lifetime. But her search for adventure, sex & new experiences takes on a far darker significance as she heads on a journey of self-destruction. Infinity & eternity attend Lise`s last terrible day in an unnamed southern city, as she meets her fate. One of six novels to be nominated for a ` Lost Man Booker Prize`, The Driver`s Seat was adapted into a 1974 film, Identikit, starring Elizabeth Taylor. Muriel Spark (1918
- 2006) wrote poetry, stories, & biographies as well as a remarkable series of novels, including The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), The Mandelbaum Gate (1965) which received the James Tait Black Prize, & The Public Image (1968) & Loitering with Intent (1981), both of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Spark was awarded the T.S. Eliot Award for poetry in 1992, & the David Cohen Prize for literature in 1997. If you enjoyed The Driver`s Seat, you might like Spark`s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, also available in Penguin Modern Classics. ` An extraordinary tour de force, a crime story turned inside out` David Lodge ` Her spiny & treacherous masterpiece` New Yorker
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On an East Coast isl&, full of tall pine moaning with sea gusts, Delilah moves into a cottage by the shore. The neighbours gossip as they watch her clean, her black hair tied back in a white rubber b&. They don`t like it when she plants a garden out front
- orange red Carpinus caroliniana & silvery blue hosta. Very unusual, they whisper. Across the driveway lives a man who never goes out. Delilah knows he`s watching her too & she likes the look of him, but perhaps life is too complicated already...
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This is the story of a drop of water, told by a science writer & illustrated with remarkable paintings. Meredith Hooper takes us back thousands of years to see where the Earth`s water came from, & how life began in the oceans & later moved onto l&. She describes the water cycle, the relationship between water & living things & between water & erosion. She also discusses important environmental issues & provides a fascinating collection of water facts. ...

` It is time Mick Herron was recognised in his own right as the best thriller writer in Britain today` Sunday Express Old spooks carry the memory of tradecraft in their bones, & when Solomon Dortmund sees an envelope being passed from one pair of hands to another in a Marylebone cafe, he knows he`s witnessed more than an innocent encounter. But in relaying his suspicions to John Bachelor, who babysits retired spies like Solly, he sets in train events which will alter lives. Bachelor himself, a hair`s breadth away from sleeping in his car, is clawing his way back to stability; Hannah Weiss, the double agent whose recruitment was his only success, is starting to enjoy the secrets & lies her role demands; & Lech Wicinski, an Intelligence Service analyst, finds that a simple favour for an old acquaintance might derail his career. Meanwhile, Lady Di Taverner is trying to keep the Service on an even keel, & if that means throwing the odd crew member overboard, well: collateral damage is her speciality.A drop, in spook parlance, is the passing on of secret information. It`s also what happens just before you hit the ground. ...

Jonathan is a private investigator in a decaying eastern European city, consumed by his work & his failing marriage. Approached one day by an elderly couple, he is presented with a faded photograph of their daughter, missing for nearly two decades. Troubled by the image of the little girl, who was the same age when she vanished as his own daughter is now
- he is compelled to find her. But one night, soon after taking on the case, as he walks across the bridge spanning the river that divides the city, he encounters a young woman crouched at the foot of a stone angel
- a woman who suddenly leaps into the icy water below. Without thinking, Jonathan plunges after her, & is soon drawn into her ghostly world of confusion, coincidence & intrigue, & the city he thought he knew turns strange & threatening. Haunting & deeply moving, The Drowned Detective is an intoxicating, atmospheric exploration of relationships, lies & betrayal
- confirming Neil Jordon as a master storyteller & a vital literary voice.


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This quirky guide explains the chemistry & botanical history of over 150 plants, trees, flowers & fruits, showing how they form the bases of our favourite cocktails. Amy Stewart offers gardeners growing tips & provides cocktail enthusiasts with 50 drink recipes, as well as a rounded knowledge of the processes & plants which go into popular concoctions. ...

Amid the worst drought to ravage Australia in a century, it hasn`t rained in small country town Kiewarra for two years. Tensions in the community become unbearable when three members of the Hadler family are brutally murdered. Everyone thinks Luke Hadler, who committed suicide after slaughtering his wife & six-year-old son, is guilty. Policeman Aaron Falk returns to the town of his youth for the funeral of his childhood best friend, & is unwillingly drawn into the investigation. As questions mount & suspicion spreads through the town, Falk is forced to confront the community that rejected him twenty years earlier. Because Falk & Luke Hadler shared a secret, one which Luke`s death threatens to unearth. & as Falk probes deeper into the killings, secrets from his past & why he left home bubble to the surface as he questions the truth of his friend`s crime. ...

Dubliners is a wonderfully engaging & accessible collection of stories by James Joyce, an author famed for being difficult to read. It contains The Dead, made into a memorable film by John Huston. This beautiful new edition has been chosen as the One Book, One City title for Dublin in 2012 & will be heavily promoted with events & advertising as well as in the press. ...

In her relationship with Charles that has survived for more than forty years, Camilla`s story has seen a great many myths. This book is the definitive account. The relationship between Charles, Prince of Wales & Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is one of the most remarkable love stories of the age. It has endured against all the odds, & in the process nearly destroyed the British monarchy. It is a rich & remarkable story that has never been properly told
- indeed, it is one of the most extraordinary, star-crossed love stories of the past fifty years.
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The Duchesses tells the story of the ` Princess Coronation` class of locomotives -the streamlined embodiments of raw, bulked-up muscle & formidable power that any enthusiast will tell you were the finest steam engines in Britain. Conceived of by the London, Midland & Scottish Railway to rival the LNER`s illustrious `A4 Pacifics`, these trains heralded in the last golden age of steam. Designed by the great William Stanier, theirs is a story of grand beginnings, a slow trajectory of decline & a recent, celebrated rebirth. Today, there are two ` Duchesses` still in existence: Duchess of Hamilton & Duchess of Sutherland are now restored to their original streamlined appearance. As The Duchesses` beautiful cover illustration suggests, these Coronation locomotives were beautiful to behold; truly majestic feats of engineering. Andrew Roden`s book tells the story of their time in British Railways service; the class` decommissioning in the 1960s; the extraordinary saga of two trains` unlikely preservation by Billy Butlin at his holiday camps; & their eventual return to steam on the main line. The Duchesses completes a trilogy of railway books from Aurum, joining Mallard
- the story of the world`s fastest steam locomotive
- & Flying Scotsman -that of the world`s most famous.

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