We sat & stared balefully at the walnut buffet. A rich customer had complained it was making strange noises in the night. It was around midnight & we strained our ears to hear hardly daring to breathe. & there it was a kind of crunch crunch crunching sound. John's life as a travelling brocanteur (antiques dealer) in rural France is decidedly less colourful as his unscrupulous yet affable partner in crime Serge Bastarde marries & decamps to Martinique. But like a bad penny Serge returns his personal life in tatters. What follows is a madcap adventure which sees John being coerced into striking deals with the Romanian 'mafia' re-roofing a huge Basque house & getting trapped in a skip in the dead of night while Serge rides an emotional roller coaster. Serge may be as faux as some of his antiques but with John's help he eventually strikes gold in this laugh-out-loud romp. ...

Longlisted for the Booker Prize Deeply humane & acutely truthful Peter Kemp Sunday Times After the upheavals of the Second World War the Richardson family -- Sam Ellen & their young son Joe -- settle back to working-class life in the Cumbrian town of Wigton. Yet for them as for so many life will never be the same again. As the old order begins to be challenged & new vistas open Sam & Ellen forge their future together with differing needs & desires
- & conflicting expectations of Joe who grows up with his own demons to confront. It is as if these were the novels he was always waiting to write... He catches brilliantly the volatility of emotions -- how happiness can curdle anger flare guilt build into terrror. Nicci Gerrard Observer A novel about being alive the kind of slice-of-life novel that everyone feels they have inside them but few could write Brandon Robshaw Independent on Sunday This sequel to The Soldiers Return -- widely acclaimed as Melvyn Braggs best novel -- is every bit as convincing & enjoyable.. . This seems likely to become not only an outstandingly good series but one of the finest & most authentic records of the changes in English society life & manners since the Second World War Allan Massie Scotsman Shot through with blazing integrity & authenticity Val Hennessy Daily Mail
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On a sharp winter's morning a man turns his back on prison. Joseph Scott has served his term. He's lost almost everything: his career as a teacher his wife the future he'd envisaged. All he has left are his three children but he is not allowed anywhere near them. This is the story of Joseph who killed his wife Zoe. Of their three children who witnessed the event. Of Zoe's parents Hannah & Frederick who are bringing up the children & can't forgive or understand Joseph. They slowly adjust to life without Zoe until the day Joseph is released from prison... ...

In the sixth century Celtic Christian monks are thought to have made dangerous & difficult journeys from the west coast of Scotland to seek solitude in Icel&. This evocative pared-down sequence of poems
- the imaginary fragments of a lost manuscript
- tells their remarkable little known story of faith courage & determination. A Song among the Stones was first commissioned by BBC Radio 3s The Verb.

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Lovers are torn apart in World War Two & a mother & daughter separated by guilt & shame in a stunning new novel from the author ...

On 7 July 2005 Julie Nicholsons life was changed forever. Her daughter Jenny was killed on her way to work in the London bombings shaking Julies beliefs. With heartbreaking honesty & integrity Julie tells her story of love tragedy & heartache for the first time. Jenny Nicolson was travelling to work when a bomb exploded at Edgware Road Tube station. Her mother Reverend Julie Nicholson struggled to comprehend the tragedy her sorrow & longing for her daughter turning to rage & anger. Finding herself unable to articulate the three parts of the Eucharist: peace reconciliation & forgiveness because she felt so far from those herself Julie made the difficult decision to resign her role as priest-in-charge of St Aidan with St George Church Bristol unable to reconcile her feelings with her position. She continued working with the church in a youth arts project. ...

When Ellen Carr abandons grey dreary London to become housekeeper at an experimental school in Austria she finds her destiny. Swept into an idyllic world of mountains music eccentric teachers & wayward children Ellen brings order & joy to all around her. But it's the handsome mysterious gardener Marek who intrigues her -- Marek who has a dangerous secret. As Hitler's troops spread across Europe Ellen has promises to keep even if they mean she must sacrifice her future happiness.. . An unforgettable love story from the award-winning author of Journey to the River Sea & The Star of Kazan. ...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION 2012 Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus an awkward young prince has been exiled to the court of King Peleus & his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences Achilles befriends the shamed prince & as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war & medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper
- despite the displeasure of Achilless mother Thetis a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped Achilles must go to war in distant Troy & fulfill his destiny. Torn between love & fear for his friend Patroclus goes with him little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.
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Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus an awkward young prince has been exiled to the court of King Peleus & his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences Achilles befriends the shamed prince & as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war & medicine their bond blossoms into something deeper
- despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped Achilles must go to war in distant Troy & fulfill his destiny. Torn between love & fear for his friend Patroclus goes with him little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.
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The war is ending perhaps ended. For the castle & its occupants the troubles are just beginning. Armed gangs roam a lawless land where each farm & house supports a column of dark smoke. Taking to the roads with the other refugees anonymous in their raggedness seems safer than remaining in the ancient keep. However the lieutenant of an outlaw band has other ideas & the castle becomes the focus for a dangerous game of desire deceit & death. Iain Banks masterly novel reveals his unique ability to combine gripping narrative with a relentlessly voyaging imagination. The narrative technique & sheer brio of A SONG OF STONE reveal a great novelist at the height of his powers. ...