The Good Soldier is a masterpiece of 20th century fiction, an inspiration for many later, distinguished writers, including Graham Greene. Set before the First World War, it tells the tale of two wealthy and sophisticated couples, one English, one American, as they travel, socialise, and take the waters in the spa towns of Europe . They are 'playing the game' in style. That game has begun to unravel, however, and with compelling attention to the comic, as well as the tragic, results the American narrator reveals his growing awareness of the sexual intrigues and emotional betrayals that lie behind its façade. Wordsworth Classics paperback. 192pp.

It is 1921 in Berlin. Luise Schilling lives here in her father's deeply conservative household and longs to tear down the past and build a new future and through much hard work finally realises her dream, being accepted at Weimar's Bauhaus School to study architecture. But upon arriving, rather than the cutting-edge avant-garde school of design she was expecting, she encounters a fractured social world of mystics and formalists, communists and fascists and the line between the rigid past and hopeful future turns out to be a great deal more blurred that she had thought. In her search for community she gets involved with a cult-like spiritualist group, falling in love Jakob, an elusive art student. Luise's great ambitions have little to do with paying homage to great men, but being surrounded by luminaries like Gropius, Kandinsky and Klee with their attendant egos and sycophants, this is not always easy. As her peers retreat into a world of self-regard and jargon, Berlin begins to erupt into street violence and civil unrest and Luise has to decide where she stands: technology or art? Romanticism or avant-garde? Populism or the youth movement? In her search she encounters themes, ideas and utopian visions that still ring true today, a culture war that is still familiar. Not just a beautifully rendered novel, Enzensberger's book is also a history of the Bauhaus, the seminal German Arts and Crafts school founded by Walter Gropius which, though only operational from 1919 to 1933, is considered by many to be the most revolutionary artistic movement of the 20th century. It was shut down by Hitler who considered it a hotbed for fanatical communist ideology, but its traditions endured, particularly in the US, where many of its members fled after its forced closure. 236pp.

A triumph of the imagination in which gods meddle in the fates of men, men play with the fates of gods, and a pretender must be cast down from the throne in this breathtaking fantasy masterpiece. There are echoes of Shakespeare and Le Guin in this one part new history of the world and one part intricate fantasy. A usurper has claimed the throne. Invaders amass at the borders and they have made their alliances with enemy gods. For centuries the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by a god known as the Raven, but in their hour of need, the Raven speaks nothing to its people. It is into this unrest that the warrior Eolo, aide to the true heir to the throne, arrives. In seeking to help his master reclaim his city, Eolo discovers that the Raven's Tower holds a secret. Its foundations conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever. 407pp, paperback, cast of characters and silhouette art.

Britannia, AD 44. The enemy is butchering their supply of convoys, their garrison town is starving and the truce with the locals is uneasy at best. Young Cato, newly promoted, and veteran centurion Macro are ordered to train the Wolves and the Boars, two cohorts of barbarian Britons, and introduce them to the brutal drills of the Roman Imperial Army. Macro is confident they'll win the natives over, but Cato worries about putting weapons into the hands of potential rebels. Ultimately only one thing matters - is there a difference between the enemy at their gates, and the Allies in their own camp? 432pp, with historical note, map and author note. Paperback.

Britannia, AD 43 and this is the second in the popular series. Bleak, rainy and full of vicious savages, Britannia is a land that Cato, solider of the Second Legion, wishes Rome didn't want to conquer. As right-hand man to Centurion Macro, Cato sees the very worst of his native Britons, battling alongside his commander in bloodier combat than he could ever have imagined. But the Britons are fighting back with Roman weapons, which means someone in their own ranks is supplying arms to the enemy. Cato and Macro are about to discover even deadlier adversaries than the British barbarians. Includes map, chart and author note. 434pp, paperback.

The follow-up to the bestselling Harlequin, this is the second instalment in Harlequin. Thomas of Hookton travelled to France as an archer and there discovered a shadowy destiny which linked him to a family of heretical French lords who sought Christendom's greatest relic. Set in 1346, Thomas has survived the Battle of Crécy and is sent back to England charged with finding the Holy Grail. But he is an archer and when chance comes to fight against an army invading northern England, he jumps at the chance. Plunged into the carnage of Neville's Cross, he is oblivious to other enemies who want to destroy him and discovers too late that he is not the only person pursuing the Grail. While King Edward III fights in France, England lies exposed to the threat of invasion and Thomas is back in the north just as the Scots invade on behalf of their French allies. After hunting and wounding him, Thomas's rivals for the Grail turn him into a fugitive. Fleeing England, he travels to Normandy, determined to rescue Will Skeat, his old commander from Harlequin. Finally Thomas leads his enemies back to Brittany where he goes to discover an old love and his pursuers at last trap their reluctant pilgrim. We recall that Thomas's father bequeathed him a mysterious notebook confirming the Grail's existence, and all of Europe wants it. 496pp, paperback.

AD 48 and the friendship between Roman Centurions Cato and Macro is rock solid. Returning to Rome from a harrowing campaign, they are shipwrecked when an earthquake strikes the island of Crete. Struggling ashore they discover panic, devastation and a slave revolt. Led by a gladiator called Ajax, the slaves are driven by a bloodthirsty desire for revenge that renders them almost invincible. Taking control of the shaken men of the local garrison, Cato and Macro must save the province before the rebellion can threaten the Empire itself. With maps and author note, 374pp, paperback.

'A satisfyingly bloodthirsty, bawdy romp... Storming stuff.' - Good Book Guide. Egypt, AD 49. Cato, one of the youngest Prefects of the Roman army, and Centurion Macro have a tough posting - to track down and destroy a gang of former gladiators who have turned to piracy. Driven by vengeance, these hardened brutes have been defiling temples, sinking Roman ships and slaughtering men, women and children. What is worse is that they are doing it all under the name of Macro and Cato in an attempt to stir up a rebellion against the occupying forces, and it's working. If Macro and Cato don't stop the pirates in time it could be the beginning of the end for the Roman Empire. Includes map and author note. 377pp, paperback.

Fans of the bestselling author have enjoyed his move away from Rome to the medieval period and the story of Richard the Lionheart told from the point of view of a young Irish noble, Rufus from Leinster, and now a retired Knight, telling his story 30 years after Richard's death. At the beginning of the book are several well drawn maps of the Angevin Empire and the Kingdom of France in the late 12th century and a list of important characters both historical and fictional. Part one begins AD1179 and the third part AD1187-89, during the reign of Richard's father, the Plantagenet Henry II. Henry is King of England, Wales, Ireland, Normandy, Brittany and Aquitaine. The House of Plantagenet reigns supreme, but there is unrest in Henry's house and his family talks of rebellion. Ferdia, an Irish nobleman taken captive during the conquest of his homeland, saves the life of Richard, the King's son, and in reward for his bravery he is made squire to Richard who is already a renowned warrior. Crossing the English Channel, the two are plunged into a campaign to crush rebels in Aquitaine. The bloody battles and gruelling sieges which followed would earn Richard the legendary name of Lionheart. But Richard's older brother Henry is infuriated by his sibling's newfound fame. Soon it becomes clear that the biggest threat to Richard's life may not be rebel or French armies, but his own family. An epic filled with arrows and spattered with blood. 381pp in new 2020 softback, maps.

It is 1910 and Philadelphia is burning. The last place Spring wants to be is in the rundown, coloured section of a hospital surrounded by the groans of sick people and the ghost of her dead sister. But as her son Edward lays dying, she has no other choice. There are whispers that Edward drove a streetcar into a shop window. Some people think it was an accident, others claim that it was his fault, and the police are certain that he was part of a darker agenda. Is he guilty? Can they find the truth? All Spring knows is that time is running out. She has to tell him the story of how he came to be. With the help of her dead sister, newspaper clippings and reconstructed memories, she must find a way to get through to him, and to shatter the silences that governed her life she will do everything she can to lead him home. This could be her last chance to tell him the story of their family. An unflinching and haunting novel which addresses the legacy of the slave trade, longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2019. 293pp, paperback.