This is a heart-rending page turner which sweeps from war-torn Europe to Thailand & back again.. . As a child Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the hothouse of Wharton Park estate where her grandfather tended the exotic flowers. So when a family tragedy strikes Julia returns to the tranquility of Wharton Park & its hothouse. Recently inherited by charismatic Kit Crawford the estate is undergoing renovation. This leads to the discovery of an old diary prompting the pair to seek out Julia's grandmother to learn the truth behind a love affair that almost destroyed Wharton Park. Julia is taken back to the 1940s where the fortunes of young couple Olivia & Harry Crawford will have terrible consequences on generations to come. For as war breaks out Olivia & Harry are cruelly separated... ...

This is a heart-rending page turner which sweeps from war-torn Europe to Thailand & back again.. . As a child Julia Forrester spent many idyllic hours in the hothouse of Wharton Park estate where her grandfather tended the exotic flowers. So when a family tragedy strikes Julia returns to the tranquility of Wharton Park & its hothouse... See Judys Review See Richards Review See Lucinda Riley talk about her book Reading Group Questions Read our exclusive Q&A with Lucinda Riley Write a Review for Room Judys Review This debut novel is a real saga describing the secret history of an ancient Norfolk stately home & the chequered shady pasts of its most recent inhabitants which has led to the gradual decay of the fortunes of the great Wharton Park estate. Our heroine is Julia Forrester a world-acclaimed concert pianist who has just lost her husband & little boy in an horrific car crash. They had been living in France; now she returns to her childhood roots in Norfolk to grieve alone. But once back in close proximity to Wharton Park where her grandfather worked as head gardener she meets Kit Crawford the young man who has inherited the title & the estate. Now forced to sell the grand house & land because the estate is so heavily in debt he renovates the old cottage once lived in by Julias grandparents as a humble place to stay. But there he finds a secret diary; thinking it was written by Julias grandfather he gives it to her. But what is revealed in the diary is earth-shattering. It takes Julia & the reader back in time to the story of Harry & Olivia Crawford a young couple who once seemed so in love but whose marriage was torn apart by the Second World War. Harry its revealed had a secret life in Thailand; & the exotic blooms the rare & delicate orchids for which the Wharton greenhouse is famed & which Julias grandfather devoted his life to nurturing assume a new darker meaning. Richards Review What really fascinates me about this novel is the account of how a standard upper-class English marriage especially one in which property inheritance & the responsibility of looking after an historic estate on which the livelihoods of hundreds of local people depend could be almost instantly shattered by the terrible reality of war. Young Lord Harry Crawford is married to the beautiful Olivia who is expecting his child. But he fin" ...

On a crisp Autumn evening in western Nebraska what started as a group of kids filming their drug-fuelled party ends in an explosive light show leaving the victims apparently electrocuted with odd scorch marks being the only evidence. While Maggie tries to make sense of the different stories sifting through what is real & what is hallucination she realises that the surviving teens are being targeted & systematically eliminated. Meanwhile on the East Coast Army colonel Benjamin Platt is at the scene of a deadly outbreak desperate to identify the pathogen that has infected children at a Virginia elementary school. Despite the miles that separate them the two cases collide as Maggie & Platt uncover secrets that were meant to stay hidden... ...

In the early 20th century in the English-speaking world Arthur Conan Doyle & Harry Houdini were two of the most feted & famous men alive. & their relationship is extraordinary: As strange as it may seem Arthur Conan Doyle the creator of the ultra-rational detective Sherlock Holmes was a believer in Spiritualism. He came to his belief that one could communicate with the dead after his son was killed in World War I & became an expert in the field. Harry Houdini the worlds foremost magician was a friend of Conan Doyles but was sceptical of his belief in the supernatural. Houdini took every opportunity to use his knowledge of illusion to expose psychics who he thought were fakes particularly incensed by their exploitation of grief & insecurity. Based on original research this sensational dual biography of two popular geniuses conjures up the early 20th century & the fame personality & competing beliefs. ...

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the classic detective chiller. It features the worlds greatest detective Sherlock Holmes in his most challenging case. The Baskerville family is haunted by a phantom beast with blazing eyes & dripping jaws" which roams the mist-enshrouded moors around the isolated Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor. Now the hound seems to be stalking young Sir Henry the new master of the Baskerville estate. Is this devilish spectre the manifestation of the family curse? Or is Sir Henry the victim of a vile & scheming murderer? Only Sherlock Holmes can solve this devilish affair. The Valley of Fear is a dark powerful tale which provides the great detective with a most perplexing case & opens with a vile murder. " Lying across his chest was a most curious weapon a shotgun with the barrel sawn off in front of the triggers. It was clear that it had been fired at close range & that he had received the whole charge in the face blowing his head almost to pieces". Sherlock Holmes arch enemy the criminal genius Professor Moriarty is back! But the solution to the riddle found after many surprising twists & high dramas lies far away half across the world in a location known as The Valley of Fear. This is Conan Doyles last Holmes novel & in the opinion of many of his fans it is the best!" ...

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles" gripped readers when it was first serialised & has continued to hold its place in the popular imagination to this day. This " Penguin Classics" edition is edited with an introduction & notes by Christopher Frayling. Could the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville have been caused by the gigantic ghostly hound that is said to have haunted his family for generations? Arch-rationalist Sherlock Holmes characteristically dismisses the theory as nonsense. & immersed in another case he sends Dr Watson to Devon to protect the Baskerville heir & observe the suspects at close h&. With its atmospheric setting on the ancient wild moorland & its savage apparition " The Hound of the Baskervilles" is one of the greatest crime novels ever written. Rationalism is pitted against the supernatural & good against evil as Sherlock Holmes sets out to defeat a foe almost his equal. This edition contains a full chronology of Arthur Conan Doyle's life & works an introduction by renowned horror scholar Professor Christopher Frayling discussing the background to the novel & the legends & events that inspired the story with further reading & explanatory notes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh where he qualified as a doctor but it was his writing which brought him fame with the creation of Sherlock Holmes the first scientific detective. He was also a convert to spiritualism & a social reformer who used his investigative skills to prove the innocence of individuals. If you enjoyed " The Hound of the Baskervilles" you might enjoy Conan Doyle's " The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" & " The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" also available in " Penguin Classics". " Arthur Conan Doyle is unique.. . Personally I would walk a mile in tight boots to read him to the milkman." (Stephen Fry)." ...

The master of deduction Sherlock Holmes & his acolyte Dr Watson are here adapted into graphic novel form
- a refreshing transformation
...

Part of Penguins" beautiful hardback " Clothbound Classics" series designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith these delectable & collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. The terrible spectacle of the beast the fog of the moor the discovery of a body this classic horror story pits detective against dog. When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on the wild Devon moorland with the footprints of a giant hound nearby the blame is placed on a family curse. It is left to Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson to solve the mystery of the legend of the phantom hound before Sir Charles heir comes to an equally gruesome end." ...

Some blame the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville on the legend of a fearsome & ghostly hound that is said to have haunted his Devonshire family for generations. So when the services of famed detective Sherlock Holmes are engaged to ensure the safety of Baskerville heir Sir Henry
- recently arrived from America
- Dr Watson is surprised to find his friend dismissive of the matter. In fact Watson is dispatched alone to accompany Sir Henry to Baskerville Hall in Devon while Holmes deals with another case. Yet Watson finds the wild moors are a far cry from the orderly streets of London & in the cold night a savage & bestial howl may be heard.. .

...

The boy who takes up the spear & shield of Manhood on this day will become the most renowned of all the warriors of Ireland men will follow at his call to the worlds end & his enemies will shudder at the thunder of his chariot wheels. So the prophecy went & as the boy Cuchulain heard it he went forward to claim the weapons of his manhood. This is the story of how he became the greatest of heroes
- the Hound of Ulster.
...