It was on a Sunday night in 1928 that Billy Hopkins made his first appearance. Billy's tenement home on the outskirts of Manchester would be considered a slum today but he lived there happily with his large Catholic family hatching money-making schemes with his many friends. When war came & the Luftwaffe dominated the night sky Billy was evacuated to Blackpool. There he lived on a starvation diet while his own rations went to feed his landlady's children
- 'I might as well be in Strangeways!' But even the cruel blows that were to be dealt to the family on his return to Manchester would not destroy Billy's fighting spirit
- or his sense of humour.

...

A remarkable book by the master. Reading it is a great experience". (Henning Mankell " Daily Telegraph"). An English couple Perry & Gail are taking an off-peak holiday on the Caribbean island of Antigua. By seeming chance they bump into a Russian millionaire called Dima who owns a peninsula & a diamond-encrusted gold watch. He also has a tattoo on his right thumb & wants a game of tennis. What else he wants propels the young lovers on a tortuous journey through Paris to a safe house in the Swiss Alps to the murkiest cloisters of the City of London & its unholy alliance with Britains Intelligence Establishment. " Chilling & astute... In " Our Kind of Traitor" there is not a hair out of place...le Carre has done it again for our nasty new age". (" The Times"). "A compelling tale of deceit dialogue & the authors own despair... This is a story with frenzy at its heart". (James Naughtie " Telegraph"). " John le Carres bullet train of a new thriller is part vintage John le Carre & part Alfred Hitchcock... The authors most thrilling thriller in years". (" The New York Times")." ...

Britain is in the depths of recession. A left-leaning young Oxford academic & his barrister girlfriend take an off-peak holiday on the Caribbean island of Antigua. By seeming chance they bump into a Russian millionaire called Dima who owns a peninsula & a diamond-encrusted gold watch. He also has a tattoo on his right thumb & wants a game of tennis. What else he wants propels the young lovers on a tortuous journey through Paris to a safe house in the Swiss Alps to the murkiest cloisters of the City of London & its unholy alliance with Britain's Intelligence Establishment. ...

Arriving home from a pilgrim voyage Sister Fidelma hears that her faithful Saxon companion Brother Eadulf is under sentence of death for murder. She hastens to the capital of Laigin where he is being held determined to appeal against the sentence. The crime took place at the abbey of Fearna where Fidelma clashes with the sinister Abbess Fainder. The evidence against Eadulf seems overwhelming
- can he actually be guilty? Will Fidelmas emotional involvement blind her in her desperate search for the truth?
...

Lady Rose Summer prides herself on not being a jealous woman
- & she knows her engagement to Captain Harry Cathcart is only a ruse
...

Lizzie Kershaw is an independent spirit; ever since her fathers death she has had to be a survivor. She makes an ill-advised marriage in order to escape her harsh home life. However she quickly discovers that she has married a selfish & violent man. His beatings are ceaseless & she finds herself compelled to run away. With the help of some suffragettes she escapes to Manchester where she finds work in a munitions factory for a while. Sam manages to find her & drags her home. It is only when his violence causes her to lose their unborn baby that Lizzie really finds the strength to make things change & to find happiness with a man who loves her. ...

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS Wormold is a vacuum salesman in a city of power cuts. His adolescent daughter spends his money with a skill that amazes him so when a mysterious Englishman offers him an extra income he's tempted. In return all he has to do is carry out a little espionage & file a few reports. But when his fake reports start coming true things suddenly get more complicated & Havana becomes a threatening place. ...

If you think you know Ireland this book will make you think again. Each year on St Patrick's Day the eighty million people around the world claiming Irish ancestry celebrate their spiritual homel&. Millions more don leprechaun hats & swallow pints of Guinness in an annual global high-fiving of all things Irish. Charlie Connelly was one of them. As a Londoner claiming Irish roots he thought he knew what Ireland was all about. Then when he was least expecting it he went to live there. Our Man In Hibernia follows Charlie's adventures living among the Irish. In an engaging & frequently hilarious tale
- we learn how a tree stump can draw legions of visitors from across the land & why being on a pig's back is a desirable thing
- Charlie contrasts the cliched shamrock-strewn image with the reality of life in modern Irel&.

...

Mary Ann is illegitimate & life in 1905 is hard. It rapidly becomes worse when her new stepfather begins to interfere with her. Sent away at fifteen to bear his child she meets Gabriel Clough who helps her escape to Blackpool after the birth. The Great War brings Mary Ann many new opportunities & brings Gabriel back into her life. But circumstances mean they can never be together. It is not until her mother dies that Mary Ann returns to Lancashire determined to uncover the secrets of her past. Then danger threatens both her & the child she thought shed lost forever.. . Will history repeat itself or will Mary Anns courage win her the happiness she deserves? ...

Our Mutual Friend Dickens last complete novel gives one of his most comprehensive & penetrating accounts of Victorian society. Its vision of a culture stifled by materialistic values emerges not just through its central narratives but through its apparently incidental characters & scenes. The chief of its several plots centres on John Harmon who returns to England as his fathers heir. He is believed drowned under suspicious circumstances
- a situation convenient to his wish for anonymity until he can evaluate Bella Wilfer whom he must marry to secure his inheritance. The story is filled with colourful characters & incidents
- the faded aristocrats & parvenus gathered at the Veneerings dinner table Betty Higden & her terror of the workhouse & the greedy plottings of Silas Wegg.

...