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The Messenger of Measham Hall

messenger of measham hall cover
messenger of measham hall cover

Ebook: June 29, 2023
Paperback: June 29, 2023

The Messenger of Measham Hall

Anna Abney

Category: Historical Fiction,

For Nicholas Hawthorne, the Catholic heir to Measham Hall in Derbyshire, subterfuge is part of everyday life. But there are deeper and darker secrets even than his family’s outlawed religion: why is his father, Sir William, so reclusive? What became of his mother, and his aunt Alethea? And who fatally betrayed his cousin Matthew?

Nicholas is determined to find out, but as England slides towards invasion by the Protestant forces of Prince William of Orange, he becomes entangled in conspiracies within King James’s court – and soon learns that both truth and love come at a high price.

Reviews

  • ‘A great yarn. Recommended!' Leonora Nattrass, author of Blue Water

  • ‘Is there anything better than realising a book you adored has a sequel? Immersive, with a cracking plot, The Messenger of Measham Hall draws you in as hero Nicholas seeks answers to questions too dangerous to ask. Full of intrigue and tension, roll on the next instalment!’ Lianne Dillsworth, author of Theatre of Marvels

  • 'A gripping mystery full of intrigue with wonderful well researched historical detail. A real page turner with a brilliant twist!' Clare Marchant, author of The Mapmaker's Daughter

  • ‘A thrilling adventure exploring complex themes of loyalty, faith and gender. Both a tender coming-of-age story and a tense spy thriller, nothing and no one is as it seems in the mysterious world of Measham Hall’ Miranda Malins, author of The Rebel Daughter

  • ‘Beautifully crafted: a portal to the past that feels instantly and entirely real’ A. J. West, author of The Spirit Engineer

  • ‘Political subterfuge and family secrets entwine in this tale of historical intrigue. Meticulously researched and alive with intricate period details to savour, I raced through it’ Lucy Ribchester, author of The Amber Shadows

  • 'The history is absolutely right, and so is the mystery: every reader is pretty well guaranteed at least two jaw-dropping moments' Ronald Hutton, Professor of History at the University of Bristol

David Bowie Made Me Gay

Ebook: September 7, 2017
Hardback: September 7, 2017
Paperback: March 16, 2023

David Bowie Made Me Gay

Darryl W. Bullock

Category: History,

‘Lovingly detailed and exhaustively researched – easily the most readable and comprehensive guide I’ve seen to this fascinating hidden history’ Tom Robinson, musician, broadcaster and long-time LGBT rights activist

From Sia to Elton John, Dusty Springfield to Little Richard, LGBT voices have changed the course of modern music. But in a world before they gained understanding and a place in the mainstream, how did the queer musicians of yesteryear fight to build foundations for those who came after?

Pulling back the curtain on the colourful world that shaped our musical and cultural landscape, Darryl W. Bullock reveals the inspiring and often heartbreaking stories of internationally renowned stars, as well as lesser-known names, who have led the revolution from all corners of the globe. David Bowie Made Me Gay is a treasure trove of moving and provocative stories that emphasise the right to be heard and the need to keep up the fight for equality in the spotlight.

Reviews

  • ‘Lovingly detailed and exhaustively researched – easily the most readable and comprehensive guide I've seen to this fascinating hidden history’ Tom Robinson, musician, broadcaster and long-time LGBT rights activist

  • ‘An excellent book’ GayStarNews

  • 'Darryl W. Bullock leaves no stone unturned in his analysis of this crucial part of LGBT culture' Men 24 Magazine

  • 'A thorough and enjoyable tour through LGBT history that underlines how important music is to us, and how important we are to music' Rod Thomas, Bright Light Bright Light

  • 'An important volume. One that deserves to be read. One that deserves to be taught’ New York Journal of Books

The Ten Thousand Things

Ebook: April 24, 2014
Hardback: February 26, 2015
Paperback: March 16, 2023

The Ten Thousand Things

John Spurling

Category: Historical Fiction,

In the turbulent final years of the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Meng is a minor bureaucrat in the government of the Mongol conquerors. He is also an extraordinarily gifted artist whose paintings capture the infinite expanse of China’s natural beauty. But an empire in turmoil is not a place or time for sitting still. On his journeys across the realm, Wang encounters fellow master painters, a fierce female warrior known as the White Tigress who recruits him as a military strategist, and an unprepossessing young Buddhist monk who rises from beggary to extraordinary heights.

John Spurling’s award-winning The Ten Thousand Things seamlessly fuses the epic and the intimate with the precision and depth that the real-life Wang Meng brought to his art.

Reviews

  • 'Spellbinding... The Ten Thousand Things has the sort of sensual prose that makes the reader purr with delight and is surely destined to be one of the books of the year' Daily Mail

  • 'In this immersive tale of a landscape artist's life, written with restrained lyricism, John Spurling has also given us an entertaining and insightful study about the art of nature, and the nature of art' Tan Twan Eng, author of The Garden of Evening Mists

  • 'A truly remarkable achievement... Dramatic, absorbing, tender and profound... extraordinary and wonderful' Miranda Seymour, author of Noble Endeavours and In My Father's House

  • 'An enormous pleasure from start to finish' Rachel Billington, author of Maria and Emma and Knightley

  • 'This is an extraordinary novel. Spurling brings together his strengths as a dramatist, an art critic and a novelist. It is an impressive combination that gives a tone of authenticity to his absorbing story and adds to its enjoyment. I look forward to the film' Michael Holroyd, author of A Book of Secrets

  • 'I was amazed by The Ten Thousand Things, and by John Spurling's powerful imagination - with ten thousand details, he has brought the ancient Chinese artist Wang Meng to life in beautiful prose' Xinran, author of Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother

  • 'Wang Meng is one of the most fascinating figures in Chinese history. In this lucid and brilliant novel, John Spurling uses him as a key character to recreate the end of an empire. A vivid evocation of a turbulent era with echoes of debates today about loyalty, choices and artistic integrity' Rana Mitter, author of Forgotten Ally

Tiger Woman

Ebook: July 17, 2014
Paperback: March 16, 2023

Tiger Woman

Betty May

Category: Memoir & Biography,

Dancer, singer, gang member, cocaine addict and artist’s favourite: Betty May – aka the Tiger Woman – was a woman like no other.

Born into abject poverty in Limehouse, Betty May used her striking looks and fierce street nous to become an unlikely bohemian celebrity sensation between the wars. A model and muse for artists and writers including Augustus John, Jacob Epstein, Jacob Kramer and David Garnett, May elbowed her way to the top of London’s social scene in a succession of outrageous and dramatic fights, flights, marriages and misadventures that also took her to France, Italy, Canada and the USA.

Tiger Woman is her incredible story in her own words, as vivid and extraordinary as the day it was first told.

Through Two Doors at Once

Ebook: January 23, 2020
Paperback: March 16, 2023

Through Two Doors at Once

Anil Ananthaswamy

Category: Popular Science,

The clearest, most accessible explanation yet of the amazing world of quantum mechanics.

How can matter behave both like a particle and a wave? Does a particle exist before we look at it or does the very act of looking bring it into reality? Is there a place where the quantum world ends and our perceivable world begins?

Many of science’s greatest minds – including Thomas Young, Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman – have grappled with the questions embodied in the simple yet elusive ‘double-slit’ experiment in order to understand the fabric of our universe. With his extraordinary gift for making the complicated comprehensible, Anil Ananthaswamy travels around the world and through history, down to the smallest scales of physical reality we have yet fathomed, to reveal the answers.

Reviews

  • 'A fascinating read and a must for anyone who would like to find out the latest experimental advances made in this most fundamental of quantum experiments' Physics World

  • ‘Offers beginners the tools they need to seriously engage with the philosophical questions that likely drew them to quantum mechanics’ Science

  • ‘Cleverly comes at quantum physics from a different direction... An excellent addition to the “Quantum physics for the rest of us” shelf’ Brian Clegg

  • ‘Simply an outstanding exploration of the double slit experiment and what makes it so weird’ Forbes

Black Butterflies

black butterflies cover
black butterflies cover

Ebook: May 5, 2022
Hardback: May 5, 2022
Paperback: April 20, 2023

Black Butterflies

Priscilla Morris

Category: Historical Fiction,

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AUTHORS’ CLUB BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILBUR SMITH PRIZE 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NOTA BENE PRIZE 2023

––––––––––––

Sarajevo, spring 1992. Each night, nationalist gangs erect barricades, splitting the diverse city into ethnic enclaves; each morning, the residents – whether Muslim, Croat or Serb – push the makeshift barriers aside.

When violence finally spills over, Zora, an artist and teacher, sends her husband and elderly mother to safety with her daughter in England. Reluctant to believe that hostilities will last more than a handful of weeks, she stays behind while the city falls under siege. As the assault deepens and everything they love is laid to waste, black ashes floating over the rooftops, Zora and her friends are forced to rebuild themselves, over and over. Theirs is a breathtaking story of disintegration, resilience and hope.

Reviews

  • 'Feels totally authentic… Along with human kindness, there is a quiet emphasis on the power of art: Zora’s paintings, like the existence of this book, are testimony to the way that wars come and go but art goes on forever’ The Sunday Times

  • 'A lyrical, devastating and timely love letter to war-torn Sarajevo... There are moments of shocking brutality set against others of unexpected beauty and resilience. Exquisitely crafted, it pulses with tension: we couldn’t stop turning the pages' Rachel Joyce, Guardian

  • 'A gripping, heartbreaking yet hopeful tale of human resilience, compassion, and the haunting devastations of war. A book that will stay with you for a long time' Cecile Pin, author of Wandering Souls

  • 'An intensely evocative and deeply moving debut – I held my breath as I read’ Ruth Gilligan, RSL Ondaatje Prize-winning author of The Butchers

  • ‘Beautifully written and hauntingly evocative, Black Butterflies distils into a single consciousness a nation’s violent trauma and an artist’s sense of hope. Priscilla Morris has crafted a rich and highly accomplished debut’ Sam Byers, author of Perfidious Albion

  • ‘In this compelling and convincing debut novel, Morris brilliantly evokes a world slipping, day by day, under the surface of the opaque waters of war. Dark and yet starkly beautiful, Black Butterflies is a narrative of how violence scars the soul of a city and its inhabitants. It is at once a testament to the victims and survivors of the Siege of Sarajevo, to the power of art and to Morris's skills as a storyteller, all the more keenly felt for the subtlety with which they are deployed’ Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness

  • ‘Black Butterflies is incredible, a must-read. There are few novels that stay with you after the final page is read, but this is one. Brutal yet also uplifting, immersive and real, it shows what the human spirit is capable of' Karen Angelico, author of Everything We Are

  • ‘An astonishingly good debut, chronicling one of the darkest times in global history. It reads so authentically that I might assume it was a book in translation, albeit by an excellent translator. Like food and fuel in the Siege of Sarajevo, no word is wasted. Zora’s story broke my heart, and I hope it will open the hearts of all those who read it to refugees, at a time when history is destined to repeat itself’ Liz Nugent, author of Our Little Cruelties

  • ‘Black Butterflies is an elegy to the vibrant and inclusive society... This novel comes at an apt time, not just because it marks the thirtieth anniversary of the beginning of the Siege of Sarajevo, but because it testifies to the ease and speed with which things can fall apart’ Kevin Sullivan, author of The Longest Winter

  • 'This is a dark novel, but one that wrests beauty and hope out of suffering. It is a work of literature that transforms horror and violence into a life force' New York Times

Hester

Hester
Hester

Ebook: October 6, 2022
Hardback: October 6, 2022
Paperback: May 4, 2023

Hester

Laurie Lico Albanese

Category: Historical Fiction,

A dazzlingly inventive tale of troubled legacies, desire and unsung power, inspired by The Scarlet Letter.

Glasgow, 1829: Isobel, a young seamstress, and her husband Edward set sail for New England, in flight from his mounting debts and addictions. But, arriving in Salem, Massachusetts, Edward soon takes off again, and Isobel finds herself penniless and alone.

Then she meets Nathaniel, a fledgling writer, and the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows during the Salem witch trials – while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. Nathaniel and Isobel grow ever closer. Together, they are dark storyteller and muse; enchanter and enchanted. But which is which?

Reviews

  • 'Like the greatest historical fiction, Hester makes you believe utterly' Gillian Flynn, international bestselling author of Gone Girl

  • ‘Full of lush and colourful prose, Hester proves that a woman will do whatever she must to prosper, even when she is left with nothing but courage – and a few secrets of her own’ Sarah Penner, bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary

  • ‘A masterpiece that should be required reading alongside Hawthorne’s classic tale of adultery. Enthralling, ambitious and a total knockout’ Fiona Davis, bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue

  • ‘A luminous blend of fiction and truth, Hester weaves a spellbinding tapestry of Salem history as it has never been told before’ Afia Atakora, author of Conjure Women

The Nordic Theory of Everything

Ebook: October 27, 2017
Hardback: October 19, 2017
Paperback: March 16, 2023

The Nordic Theory of Everything

Anu Partanen

Category: Memoir & Biography,

An optimistic account of how the Nordic countries can teach us to live easier, healthier, happier lives.

From childcare to healthcare to provision for the elderly and the homeless, the Nordic countries are world leaders in organising society – no wonder Finland has been ranked among the happiest places on the planet.

In The Nordic Theory of Everything, Finnish journalist and US immigrant Anu Partanen sets out to understand why America – and much of the Western world – suffers from such stark inequality and struggling social services. Filled with fascinating insights, advice and practical solutions, she makes a convincing argument that we can rebuild society, rekindle optimism and become more autonomous citizens by following in the footsteps of our neighbours to the North.

Reviews

  • 'Partanen is a careful, judicious writer' New York Times

  • 'A passionate and intelligent argument' Publishers Weekly

  • 'An earnest, well-written work worth heeding' Kirkus

  • 'An engaging fusion of reportage and memoir' O, the Oprah Magazine

  • 'A book you desperately need to add to your to-read pile' Gizmodo

  • 'Partanen’s sensible book should be required reading' Foreign Affairs

  • 'A must-read' New York Post

My Life in France

Ebook: March 12, 2009
Paperback: November 3, 2022

My Life in France

Julia Child, Olivia Potts

Category: Memoir & Biography,

When Julia Child arrived in Paris in 1948, ‘a six-foot-two-inch, thirty-six-year-old, rather loud and unserious Californian’, she barely spoke a word of French and didn’t know the first thing about cooking.

As she fell in love with French culture – buying food at local markets, sampling the local bistros, and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu – her life began to change forever. We follow her extraordinary transformation from kitchen ingénue to internationally renowned (and internationally loved) expert in French cuisine.

Bursting with Child’s adventurous and humorous spirit, My Life in France captures post-war Paris with wonderful vividness and charm.

Reviews

  • 'Child's exuberant, affectionate and boundlessly charming account... chronicles, in mouth-watering detail, the meals and the food markets that sparked her interest in French cooking, and her growing appreciation of all things French' New York Times

  • 'Luscious… The large-as-life presence of Julia Child looms on every page' Washington Times

  • 'Whether you have seen [Julie & Julia] or not, you must read this charming, eccentric memoir from Julia Child, a towering figure in the world of cookery' Independent on Sunday

The Spirit Engineer

the spirit engineer cover
the spirit engineer cover

Ebook: October 7, 2021
Hardback: October 7, 2021
Paperback: July 21, 2022

The Spirit Engineer

A. J. West

Category: Historical Fiction,

‘A fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deception, and power’ DERREN BROWN

Belfast, 1914. Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism, attending séances in the hope they might reach their departed loved ones.

William Jackson Crawford is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sitting around the circle, voices come to him – seemingly from beyond the veil – placing doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen’s parlour tricks gone too far?

Based on the true story of Professor William Jackson Crawford and famed medium Kathleen Goligher, and with a cast of characters including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, The Spirit Engineer conjures a haunted, twisted tale of power, paranoia and one ultimate, inescapable truth…

Reviews

  • 'A fiendishly clever tale of ambition, deception, and power' Derren Brown

  • 'Is Goligher a fraud? Is Crawford himself a reliable narrator?... West answers these questions with ingenuity and invention' The Sunday Times

  • ‘I adored this book. Haunting, witty and deeply moving, The Spirit Engineer is surely set to become a gothic classic. I was instantly drawn into the mystery and swept along by the shocking twists and turns. A beautifully written novel’ Jodie Whittaker

  • ‘A.J. West has history at his fingertips and writes brilliantly - so clever it makes your head spin! The Spirit Engineer is a work of true invention and drama that moves at a cracking pace from the very first page and keeps you guessing. A compelling and daring book’ Jeremy Vine

  • 'Such a deliciously creepy, unsettling read… a melancholic gothic triumph. Gave me all the same feelings as one of my most favourite books ever, Frankenstein' Jennifer Saint, bestselling author of Ariadne

  • 'Based on an absolutely astonishing true story, it kept me guessing right till the end' Frances Quinn, author of The Smallest Man

  • ‘Set in a historical moment where science and spiritualism meet, The Spirit Engineer is an ingeniously plotted debut novel’ Sarah Burton, author of The Strange Adventures of H

  • ‘With a skilful misdirection that any Edwardian spirit medium would be proud to demonstrate, A.J. West soon turns the screw in this fascinating novel… Obsession builds until the stunning climax of the final shocking séance and its awful repercussions. Was William rights to be convinced? Did he prove ghosts exist?’ Essie Fox, bestselling author of The Fascination

  • 'It’s clever, it’s quirky, highly entertaining, but carries a chill as cold as the grave' Annie Garthwaite, author of Cecily

  • ‘A marvellous and menacing gothic chiller, filled with secrets and soaked in atmosphere, in which the ghouls and fiends are not of the other world, but this one...’ Neil Blackmore, author of The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle

  • 'Dark, powerful and twisting – The Spirit Engineer will leave you wondering what is real and what is illusion' W. C. Ryan, author of A House of Ghosts

  • 'A delight of a debut, an atmospheric and entirely gripping chiller that calls to mind the best of M.R. James and E.F. Benson, without in any way paling in comparison' Billy O'Callaghan, author of Life Sentences

  • 'Gripping from the outset – A.J West immerses readers in the spiritualism of 1914 Belfast with great skill. A wonderful debut' Sam Hurcom, author of Letters from the Dead

  • ‘A spooky tale of frustrated ambition, hidden loyalties, and desperation, told with wit, charm and devastating twists. A gothic novel that also manages to make you laugh, even if you shouldn't’ Jonathan Harvey, playwright

  • ‘A gripping, gothic story anchored in the political and spiritual chaos of Edwardian Belfast. Part horror, part history, The Spirit Engineer is a chilling and thought-provoking tale of exploitation, faith, deception, fraud, séances, hubris, and prejudice… accomplished and page-turning. Fans of Penny Dreadful and The Nevers will love it’ Gareth Russell, historian and author of The Ship of Dreams

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