Britain and Ireland's Best Wild Places 500 Ways to Walk in the Wild by Christopher Somerville. A criss-crossing survey of Britain's untamed natural riches Christopher Somerville embarks on a colossal tour of Britain, spanning the length and breadth of the country in a quest to track down its extreme, wondrous and unadorned places. From Somerset's 4,000-year-old forgotten Great Road to Devil's Beef-Tub in Dumfriesshire to Lancashire's scarcely seen Natterjack Toad and Pendle Witches, Britain's Best Wild Places holds the key to unlocking some of the countryside's most enchanting, sublime or thrilling treasures, whether they be a long or short journey away. As well as providing detailed directions, this is a book packed with thoughts and information on the history, wildlife and impact of every place.

Lewis Carroll in Numberland - His Fantastical Mathematical Logical Life by Robin Wilson. A celebration of one of the nineteenth century's most gifted minds His writings have inspired and entertained generation after generation of readers, but only now are the lesser-celebrated achievements of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson — better known as Lewis Carroll — finally brought to light by highly acclaimed author and mathematician Robin Wilson. Lewis Carroll in Numberland explores the full gamut of the workings of the singular imagination that created Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. For many years, as lecturer in mathematics at Christ Church College, Oxford, Dodgson published extensively in the traditional fields of geometry, logic and algebra. His mathematical achievements, however, were not confined to the purely academic: from the study of voting patterns to the design of tennis tournaments and the prolific creation of imaginative, mathematical recreational puzzles, Dodgson made many contributions to British society that are explored in this absorbing book.

The Lodger - Shakespeare on Silver Street by Charles Nicholl. A dazzling new book from one of Britain's most celebrated and bestselling non-fiction authors, Charles Nicholl. In 1612 Shakespeare gave evidence at the Court of Requests in Westminster – it is the only occasion his spoken words are recorded. The case seems routine – a dispute over an unpaid marriage-dowry – but it opens up an unexpected window into the dramatist's famously obscure life-story. Charles Nicholl applies a powerful biographical magnifying glass to this fascinating episode in Shakespeare's life. Marshalling evidence from a wide variety of sources, including previously unknown documentary material on the Mountjoys, he conjures up a detailed and compelling description of the circumstances in which Shakespeare lived and worked, and in which he wrote such plays as Othello, Measure for Measure and King Lear.

Three Victories and a Defeat - The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714—1783 by Brendan Simms. A rich, vivid history of the rise and fall of the first British Empire and the European alliances that supported it. This highly original, extremely enjoyable book tells the story of Britain’s extraordinary scramble to world power in the eighteenth century and how, through hubris and incompetence, it lost almost everything it had gained.
‘Studded with brilliant vignettes and arresting insights, Simms’s marvellous narrative presents an original and provocative account not only of the rise and decline of British eighteenth-century imperial power, but also of the processes that formed the modern global system’ Christopher Clark, author of Iron Kingdom

The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire - The Demise of a Superpower, 1944-47 by Peter Clarke. 'Peter Clarke's marvellous new book tells us the story of the individuals and forces which shaped our world' Margaret MacMillan, author of Peacemakers. Peter Clarke’s book is the first to analyse in detail the losing hand that Britain was dealt in the last year of the war, and then to see how that hand was played over the next two years by Churchill’s successors. It makes superb use of the copious letters and diaries now available of the major participants and many involved observers to show how decisions were taken and received. Not least, it analyses dispassionately the role of the USA: how Roosevelt and his successors were determined that Britain must be sustained both during the war and after, but that the British Empire must not. The book thus also describes the short pivotal period when American influence finally took over from the British in world politics.

Two Lives of Charlemagne - The Life of Charlemagne; Charlemagne by Einhard; Notker. Two fascinating biographical accounts of the great medieval ruler, translated by David Ganz and Lewis Thorpe. Einhard's Life of Charlemagne is an absorbing chronicle of one of the most powerful and dynamic of all medieval rulers, written by a close friend and adviser. In elegant prose it describes Charlemagne's personal life, details his achievements in reviving learning and the arts, recounts his military successes, and depicts one of the defining moments in European history: Charlemagne's coronation as emperor in Rome on Christmas Day 800. By contrast, Notker's account, written some decades after Charlemagne's death, is a collection of anecdotes rather than a presentation of historical facts. In these stories, which merge into fiction, Charlemagne is already half way to becoming the legendary figure of later medieval epics.

The Secret Friend by Chris Mooney. 'Chris Mooney is a wonderful writer' Michael Connelly. When Harvard student Emma Hale disappears, her father — one of Boston's most powerful men — believes she has been kidnapped. Months pass and the trail goes cold but then her body is found floating in the Charles River . . . A year later, Judith Chen, another student, disappears. Like Emma, she is soon found in the river. Dead.CSI Darby McCormick is assigned to the case and uncovers a key piece of overlooked evidence, one that brings her into contact with Malcolm Fletcher . . . a former profiler with strange black eyes who is now on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Is Fletcher working for Emma's father? And what connects the two dead girls? Fletcher, it seems, not only knows the answers but also the identity of the killer. When a third student goes missing, Darby is led into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse with the former profiler and stumbles across deadly secrets that need to stay buried . . . forever.

Gypsy by Lesley Pearse. Another surefire Top 5 bestseller from Lesley Pearse, one of our best loved novelists. When teenagers Beth and Sam Bolton are orphaned, their baby sister is taken into a new home and they decide to set sail for a new life too ... in America. On board the steamer to New York, Beth and Sam meet charismatic gambler, Theo, and quick-witted Londoner Jack and the four band together to seek their fortunes.Beth has always dreamed of playing her fiddle to large audiences ... and finds herself doing so in the saloons, where she is a huge success and lovingly nicknamed Gypsy by her fans. But the foursome fall foul of local gangsters and flee to Canada, as word gets out that gold has been found in the Klondike. They embark on a dangerous and epic journey to reach the Yukon valley, trailing across snowy mountains and treacherous rapids. Who will break first? Theo, the handome yet greedy bounder? Dreamy Sam, so easily influenced by money? Practical Jack, a man devoted to his friends? Or Beth, the woman with the gypsy in her soul, who cares more for music than gold? She's a born survivor ... but is that enough to see her through the peril and heartache to return to England and her long-lost sister?

Wife In The North by Judith O'Reilly. One wife, mother and blogger's determined attempts to make some friends, find a decent cup of coffee and build a new life in the North. When Judith O'Reilly left hectic London to raise her brood in rural Northumberland, something had to fill the gap of working too hard and bustling around town. Within weeks her daily blog, www.wifeinthenorth.com, had won fans on both sides of the Atlantic with its humorous tales of unexpected encounters and poignant musings on homesickness and readjustment. 'Wifey' has swapped her café lattes for pease pudding and lifelong friends for new neighbours ranging from evangelical Christians to sheep farmers. She's faced the issues that modern mothers contend with — juggling career and family, caring for young children and elderly parents, choosing between healthy countryside and vibrant town life — and seen a tidal wave of agonizing trials, surreal tribulations and unexpected delights. Come December 2007, she and her husband will have a decision to make. Will they be settled by the Aga waiting for Father Christmas, or will the boxes be packed for an escape back to London?

The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson. What would we do if we found a new world? An interplanetary love story; a traveller's tale; a hymn to the beauty of the earth: The Stone Gods is Jeanette Winterson at her brilliant best.

 

 

 

The Anti-Social Behaviour of Horace Rumpole by John Mortimer. ASBOs may be the pride and joy of New Labour, but they don't cut much ice with Horace Rumpole. John Mortimer's delightful new Rumpole novel sees the magician of the Old Bailey at his implacable best as he takes on an apparently hopeless murder case, and defends our ancient freedoms when threatened with a personal ASBO . . .

 

 

Spook Country by William Gibson. Thrilling, sharp, edgy and utterly original — William Gibson invites you to take a trip to Spook Country. Tito and Alejandro's Aunt Jauna had all the skills that were needed in Cuba — a thousand tricks of the forger's art.  But now the boys are in New York, and it's a new world.  Soon they're dealing with a mysterious American who can speak Russian and who seems to be on the trail of something big, something political. Trouble is, as the Cubans find to their cost, he's competing with a few other parties, too. Praise for Pattern Recognition: 'A big novel, full of bold ideas. Races along like an expert thriller' GQ 'Elegant, entrancing. Gibson’s most complex, mature gloss on the artist’s relationship to our ever more commercialized globe' New York Times 'The best for ages from the godfather of cyberpunk' FHM 'Part-detective story, part-cultural snapshot . . . all bound by Gibson’s pin-sharp prose' Arena 'More insight, wit and sheer style than any of his contemporaries' Charles Shaar Murray, Independent

Tribe - Adventures in a Changing World by Bruce Parry. Over several years, Bruce Parry spent a month living with fifteen different tribes. The result is an insight into wildly differing cultures that are vibrant, hospitable and full of spirit. Based on the hugely successful BBC2 series.

 

 

 

Rudolf Nureyev - The Life by Julie Kavanagh. The authorized biography of the superstar of 20th century ballet. From his birth on a train at the height of Stalin's Terrors, to the drama of his defection to the West, Nureyev's life tells a thrilling story. This definitive account, drawing for the first time on Nureyev's private papers and the memories of his intimate friends, reveals the secrets and well as the genius of this extraordinary man. 'Magnificent?comprehensive and compulsively readable' Simon Callow,The Guardian 'The definitive biography, a gripping account of an extraordinary life' Lynn BarberTelegraph 'She writes with flair and abundance' The Sunday Times 'Undoubtedly the definitive biography. Rudolf Nureyev, superstar, emerges in all his terribly flawed glory' Sunday Telegraph

The Jewel of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker. New to Classics, to be published in time for Halloween. A spine-chilling novel from the master of the macabre, Bram Stoker. The Jewel of the Seven Stars deals with ghosts, the underworld, mysterious figures and bodies coming back to life. A must for anyone who loves Dracula and Dracula's Guest. Abraham 'Bram' Stoker (1847-1912) was best known for his vampire novel Dracula(1897). His other works include The Mystery of the Sea (1902), The Jewel of the Seven Stars (1903), The Man (1905) and The Lair of the White Worm (1911).

 

Islam and the Crusades - The Writings of Usama Ibn Munqidh by Usama ibn Munqidh. This will sit alongside our new edition of Chronicles of the Crusades by Joinville and Villehardouin. The volume comprises a lightly annotated translation of two key medieval Arabic texts that bear directly on the Crusades and Crusader society and the Muslim experience of them. Usama ibn Munqidh was born on 4 July, 1095 in northern Syria. In the last decades of his life he concentrated on writing, collecting his scattered poems into a much-praised Diwan, but specialising in topical anthologies of poetry and prose like The Book of the Staff or Kernels of Refinement. Usama's last patron was the mighty sultan Saladin, to whom he intended his most famous work, the Book of Contemplation. He died in Damascus in 1188.

Warrior of Rome I: Fire in the East by Harry Sidebottom. The first instalment in an immense trilogy, spanning the decline of the Roman Empire. AD 225 — the Roman Imperium is stretched to breaking point, its authority and might challenged throughout the territories and along every border. Yet the most lethal threat lurks far to the east in Persia, where the massing forces of the Sassanid Empire loom with fiery menace. The far flung and isolated citadel of Arête faces out across the wasteland, awaiting the inevitable invasion. One man is sent to marshall the defences of this lonely city — one man to shore up the crumbling walls of a once indomitable symbol of Roman power — a man whose name itself means war, a man called Ballista. Alone, Ballista is called to muster the forces and find the courage to stand first and to stand hard against the greatest enemy ever to confront the Imperium. And so unfolds an epic drama — a story of empire, of heroes, of treachery, of courage, and most of all, a story of brutal, bloody warfare.

Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman. The chilling new thriller from the New York Times No.1 bestselling author. A young woman who disappeared into the inky black night? A retired schoolteacher stabbed to death in broad daylight?Two women butchered in a small-town beauty parlor? Three baffling murder cases, linked only by a perplexing lack of motive... Until LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware are called to the scene of a bizarre 'crime'. A stolen car has been anonymously returned to its owner, undamaged and unblemished – except for a tiny, solitary bloodstain. This miniscule clue is enough to set the pair on a hunt for a multiple killer. However this killer proves to be a fleeting shape-shifter, defying identification - and to unmask him, Alex and Milo will have to confront the true face of murderous compulsion?

Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo. A dazzling imaginative reversal of the slave trade, in which the Africans are the masters and the Europeans the slaves. Doris Scagglethorpe was playing with her sisters when she was snatched away from her home and sold into slavery. Now grown up, Doris has a chance to escape, to return home and perhaps find her family. Betrayed, she loses her privileged position in her master's home, and is sent to his sugar plantation, where she understands for the first time the enormity and cruelty of the slave trade. Interspersed with Doris's experiences in the New World, we learn of her own history: of her lost children, lost lover and lost family, and of her first, terrifying voyage across the Atlantic. Written with Bernardine Evaristo's customary wit and zeal, Blonde Roots is at once a free-wheeling comic fantasy, a tragic family saga and a testament to the strength of the human spirit.

What is the What by Dave Eggers. 'It is impossible to read this book and not be humbled, enlightened, transformed' Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner. The life story of Sudanese refugee Valentino Achek Deng, as told by Dave Eggers in this breathtaking novel, is an unforgettable tale of tragedy and triumph.

 

 

 

Obsession by Jonathan Kellerman. The latest New York Times bestseller from the 'master of the psychological thriller'. Just before she died, Patty Bigelow confessed to having killed a man. Now her niece Tanya is obsessed with finding out the truth about her aunt's crime — and she needs Alex Delaware's help . . .

 

 

 

The Secret Servant by Daniel Silva. 'Nerve-searing and painfully brilliant' Patricia Cornwell. The next gripping instalment in the internationally bestselling series featuring art-restorer, assassin and spy, Gabriel Allon.

 

 

 

The Invisible Cure - Africa, the West and the Fight against AIDS by Helen Epstein. 'Her subject — it soon becomes clear — is not just the nature of one virus, but of humankind' Philip Gourevitch. Impassioned, lively and beautifully written, Helen Epstein's provocative investigation reveals the truth behind why AIDS has such a stranglehold on Africa, and what can be done to fight it.

 

 

 

A Voyage Round John Mortimer by Valerie Grove. A riveting account of the great barrister, playwright and novelist. For the first time, a biographer has had full access to Mortimer, his circle of friends and colleagues, and their diaries and letters.

 

 

 

 

Gangs by Ross Kemp. The former EastEnders hard man journeys into the dark heart of some of the most notorious gangs on earth. Ross Kemp infiltrates groups of criminals to discover who they are, what makes them tick and what the law is doing to curb their criminal activity.