A classic spy novel and a work of enormous power and artistry. On holiday in Mykonos, Charlie wants only sunny days and a brief escape from England's bourgeois dreariness. Then a handsome stranger lures the aspiring actress away from her pals, but his intentions are far from romantic. Joseph is an Israeli Intelligence Officer, and Charlie has been wooed to flush out the leader of a Palestinian terrorist group responsible for a string of deadly bombings. Still uncertain of her own allegiances, Charlie debuts in the role of a lifetime as a double agent in the 'Theatre of the real.' Haunting and deeply atmospheric, the novel is a powerful examination of morality and justice. 534pp, Penguin paperback. Remainder mark.

Award-winning US bestselling writer presents a suspenseful, alternating narrative that travels back and forth between the present and Abby's tortured childhood in an eerie complex thriller about a newlywed wife haunted by her secret, traumatic past. As a child, Abby had the same recurring nightmare night after night in which she wandered through a field full of human skulls and bones. Now an adult, she thinks she has outgrown her demons, but the evening before her wedding the terrible dream returns and forces her to confront the dark secrets from her past that she has kept from her new husband, Willem. Less than 24 hours after exchanging vows, Abby steps out into traffic. As his wife lies in her hospital bed, sleeping in fits and starts, Willem tries to determine whether this is an absentminded accident, or a premeditated plunge. He quickly discovers a mysterious set of clues about what his wife might be hiding. Why is there a rash-like red mark circling her wrist? What does she dream about that causes her to scream and awaken? Slowly Abby begins to open up to her husband revealing the story of a terrified mother, a jealous, drug-addled father, and a daughter's harrowing captivity. Stylistically dashing as we expect from this superb writer. 216pp, non-mint.

The award-winning US novelist follows Casey in the last days of a long youth, a time when every element of her life comes to a crisis. Written with her trademark humour, heart and intelligence, the novel explores the artistic passion, ambition and the terrifying and exhilarating leap between the end of one phase of life and the beginning of another. Blindsided by her mother's sudden death and wrecked by a recent love affair, Casey Peabody has arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the summer of 1997 without a plan. Her mail consists of wedding invitations and final notices from debt collectors. A former child golf prodigy, she now waits tables in Harvard Square and rents a tiny, mouldy room at the side of a garage where she works on the novel she has been writing for six years. At the age of 31, Casey is still clutching onto something nearly all her old friends have let go of - the determination to live a creative life. When she falls for two very different men at the same time, her world fractures even more. Her fight to fulfil her ambitions and balance the conflicting demands of art and life is challenged in ways that push her to the brink. It is a moving story of grief and recovery, funny and immensely clever, emotionally rare and strong. 324pp.

How far would he go? And how far did I want him to? You can rid yourself of the wolf at the door, but what do you do when the wolf is in your bed? Two identical twin sisters, one a sexually repressed defence attorney, the other a former libertine now living a respectable life in suburbia, are about to have their darkest secrets revealed to the men in their lives and to themselves. As one sister prepares for the toughest trial of her career and the other faces a stalker who knows details of her life that even her husband doesn't, the sisters both find themselves pushed to the edge and confronted by discoveries about their husbands that shock and disturb them. The novel is an intense, psychologically penetrating tale of fears and fantasies, the desires that drive us, and how far men will go for the women they love. Elissa Wald is a veteran of what vanilla reviewers call 'the S/M scene' and she brings new meaning to the term 'literary submission.' A good erotic read, 218pp in paperback.

Told backwards - Stuart's idea - the novel starts with a deeply troubled 32 year old stepping out in front of the 11.15 train from London to King's Lynn, and ends up with a 'happy-go-lucky' little boy of 12. Compelling, humane and funny, it is as extraordinary and unexpected as the life it describes. Stuart: A Life Backwards expanded the possibilities of what a biography could be - the stories it could tell, and how it could tell them. It is about a remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer ('a middle-class scum ponce, if you want to be honest about it, Alexander'), and Stuart Shorter, a thief, hostage-taker, psycho and street raconteur. An unforgettably moving prize winning novel, 294pp, illus. and in the collectable 4th Estate Matchbook Classics wraparound paperback edition.

Romance, quirky humour and animals, here is a charming festive story full of quirky characters and it's often laugh-out-loud funny. Publisher's Weekly: 'Ornery llamas, attack sheep and a wealth of colourful country characters (including a spectacular hairdresser-to-the-stars who coifs alpacas in his down time) electrify Matthews's charming tale...perfect for lovers of small-town romance.' Owner Molly Baker is organising a festive fundraiser, but with an anti-social sheep, awkward alpacas and a seriously sequined Santa Claus to assemble, she is feeling overwhelmed and in desperate need of some Christmas spirit. Despite the chaos of the farm interfering with her event planning, Molly is looking forward to a family Christmas, hopeful that the holidays will bring the family together, but Shelby it seems has ideas of his own. As the fundraiser draws near, the team are working hard to pull off a spectacular festive fete, and make sure the animals and humans remain on their best behaviour. 401pp, paperback.

In her taut and mesmerising follow up to Tangerine, Mangan plunges us into another exotic and bewitchingly rendered local, this time Venice off-season, moody and damp, where well known novelist Frankie Croy has gone to escape dark memories. Instead, a surprise entanglement with a mysterious young woman sets Frankie on edge, threatening to unravel her already precarious mental state. Working to leave the previous year behind, another novel published to little success, a scathing review she can't quite manage to forget and most of all the real reason behind her self-imposed exile from London - the incident at the Savoy. Frankie attempts to return to the page, ignoring the strained relationship with her best friend, the urgent phone calls from her editor, and the growing fear that the end of her career is imminent. Then Gilly appears, eager to befriend her favourite author, but Frankie wonders just how much of what Gilly tells her is the truth. The novel is set against the catastrophic 1966 flooding of Venice. 374pp in large softback with fairly large print.

A gripping thriller set in the Derbyshire Peak District by the award-winning author of the Sal Kilkenny private eye series. This novel is about family and betrayal, injustice and violence, fear and love, resilience, kindness and hope. A missing schoolgirl, a middle-aged recluse, an exploited teenager - lives thrown into chaos and set on collision course, with the police in hot pursuit. Scarlett is dancing in the school talent show tomorrow. Nana who Scarlett lives with since Mum died, reckons she will be on Strictly at this rate, except Scarlett doesn't make it home from school. She's abducted by a man she never imagined she'd see again, a man on the police's most wanted list. Her dad. Ron had made a living as a house and pet sitter since quitting his career on the front line in the fire service. He's currently looking after a place deep in the Derbyshire Peaks. The solitude suits him, and managing animals is so much simpler than coping with other people. Dylan is a 'cuckoo', dealing drugs on the county line, picking out people who daren't say no, keeping his head down, one step ahead of the law. So far. But now everything's falling apart. DS Laura O'Neil is running on empty after nights dealing with her teething toddler, but Laura is driving the hunt for Scarlett and knows that every minute counts. PC Ahmed Ali discovers a seriously injured man in a drug den and chases his suspected attacker across the hills. The novel is a race against time, played out in the brooding wilderness, limestone gorges and gritstone edges of the Peaks. 263pp in large softback with fairly large print.

In a Soviet prison camp near Murmansk is an old man, bowed but not broken, identified only by a number. Were his name known his fellow inmates would kill him, for this old man is Stepan Povin, former KGB General, now disgraced but kept alive for the sake of the secret that he has retained through two years of interrogation. His secret is the final link in a chain, the completion of which would make his former masters very happy indeed - a secret which draws British Intelligence ever closer to the camp in the Arctic Circle. For fans of the genre and authors such as John le Carré and Robert Harris, the novel offers great insight into the USSR and we are delighted to have this 2022 reprint of the 1985 original. 378pp, paperback.

You will be hooked from the first page of this cracking spy thriller which is complicated, fast paced and full of believable characters. Speedbird 117 takes off like any other flight from Heathrow. It will never reach its destination. The cause? Taher, a ruthless terrorist with a score to settle. With the Secret Service on red alert, senior analyst Stephen Holm is given an ultimatum - find Taher and confiscate his devastating surface-to-air missiles, or witness his nation's descent into disaster. Rebecca da Silva meanwhile accepts a seemingly routine job in the Philippines for a wealthy businessman. Little does she know that this will set a course in motion that she is unable to stop, that leads inevitably to Taher. 'The plot could be straight out of a James Bond film, revolving around the Security Services the way it does.' - Diane Harris, Reader. 388pp, paperback.