Set in the shimmering landscape of the southern Cevennes, Natalie Young s novel, alternates between the years immediately after the Second World War and the present day to explore a dark family secret and its ripple effect on people s lives.

It is a heartbreaking story of love and ownership, misplaced desire and the damage done when the truth is withheld.

Kate and Stephen Glover in need of a break from their hectic London life go on a winter sabbatical in the secluded French village of Canas.

The slow pace of life there affects them in different ways. While Stephen feels increasingly restless, Kate finds herself drawn to the village and to the beautiful, derelict chateau at its heart.

But soon Kates daily excursions over the chateau wall are spreading rumours among the locals.

What she doesn t know is that the house has a terrible legacy, and her private journey of escape and self-discovery is threatening to reawaken the trauma of a family, broken apart one summer s night more than fifty years before.

Reviews

The past grabs hold and will not let you go in this uncanny and beautiful novel. Strange and delicious in the manner of Rebecca. --Sarah Blake, author of The Postmistress

We All Ran Into the Sunlight is the sort of intricate invention that only a few masters like Ian McEwan or Graham Greene could assemble. This novel will mesmerize you and it will break your heart. --Stefan Merrill Block, author of the Story of Forgetting

How extraordinary is the mind of the writer. Natalie Young has created a near-Gothic story of obsession and desire, set against the background of a sinister chateau, in both postwar and contemporary France. Definitely not for the faint-hearted... A true tour de force. --Mavis Cheek

Sensuously and evocatively detailed, its roots dive deep into the physical and psychological damage inflicted by war --Daily Mail

Ensnares the reader in an eerie web of elusive family secrets in an atmospheric French village --The Times

The chiaroscuro drama of dark and light characterises this novel of the past impinging on the present. --The Guardian

List Price: R130.00
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Beneath the still quiet of rural England as the century turned lay a complex and fatally linked series of destinies.

The mistress of Fiennders Abbey was often pleased to have her corsets loosened by the estate gardener.

Her elder son, Richard, never forgot his true childhood love Mary the daughter of the Fiennders' trusted gamekeeper.

The world was changing: pony, trap and track gave way to motor car and road. Class divisions and prejudices were heightened even as the new century promised to end them.

Here in Fiennders Abbey, the internationally renowned actress and writer Jean Marsh has written an extraordinarily gripping novel of emotional and social upheaval in an apparently timeless community with considerable elegance, thought and wit.

Reviews

'Jean Marsh's treatment of character is warm and her descriptions of period and place enjoyably detailed' The Times

'A very special book' Elizabeth Buchan

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Lynda Graham has been fortunate in life.

She is happily married, with two wonderful children, Ciaran and Katie. She has a beautiful home and garden in one of the most affluent suburbs of Dublin. Her world feels safe and uncomplicated, one she now takes for granted.

That is until Jon, a friend of Ciaran's from university - handsome, charming and clever - inveigles his way into their lives.

There's something about Jon that Lynda finds unnerving - he is almost too perfect. And her instinct is right: Jon's arrival sets in motion a spiral of events that contributes to the gradual disintegration of all she holds dear.

When Jon leaves, his disappearance is even more destructive than his presence. Lynda's quest to track him down reveals unpalatable truths about his past and the reason for his existence in their lives.

Lynda knows that Jon is out there somewhere - watching, waiting, malevolent. And she also knows that she must do whatever it takes to protect the most precious thing she has - her family.

Reviews

'Dunne has a clever knack of turning ordinary lives into compelling fiction' - "Irish Post".

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'There' says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, when she come up out of the water after her baptism.

Just a few short hours later, Alice is dead, shot by her abusive husband who turned the gun on himself soon after.

Tortured by the cryptic finality of that short utterance, Reverend Drew feels his faith in God slipping away as he tries to unearth the truth behind Alice's death.

Only new arrival Heather Laurent - the enigmatic author of wildly successful books about angels - seems able to save him from slipping into the depths of despair.

Heather has her own story. She survived a childhood that culminated in her own parents' murder-suicide, so she identifies deeply with Alice's daughter, Katie, offering herself as a mentor to the girl and a shoulder for Stephen.

But then the state's attorney begins to suspect that Alice's husband may not have killed himself ...and finds out that Alice had secrets only her minister knew.

Related through the eyes of four different narrators, Secrets of Eden is both a haunting thriller and a deeply evocative testament to the inner complexities that mark all of our lives.Once again, Chris Bohjalian has given us a riveting page-turner in which nothing is precisely what it seems.

Reviews

'Terrific.....will knock you off your feet' - Jodi Picoult

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When Marie moves from her family's waxwork museum into the palace of Versailles, her whole life is set to change...

When Marie Tussaud learns the exciting news the royal family will be visiting her famed wax museum, the Salon de Cire, she never dreams that the king's sister will request her presence at Versailles: as a royal tutor in wax sculpting.

As Marie familiarizes herself with Princess Elisabeth and begins to know Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, she witnesses the glamorous life of court, a very different world from her home on the Boulevard du Temple of Paris where bread can only be had on the black market and men sell their teeth to put food on the their tables.

The year is 1788 and men like Desmoulins, Marat, and Robespierre are meeting in the salons of Paris speaking against the monarchy; there's whispered talk of revolution.

Spanning five years from budding revolution to the Reign of Terror, Madame Tussaud brings us into the world of an incredible heroine whose talent for wax moulding saved her life and preserved the faces of a vanished kingdom.

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When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits - the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth - a second-rate travelling circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town.

Jacob, a veterinary student who almost earned his degree, is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie.

It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer.

He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her. Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place.

It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.

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If you loved 'The Kite Runner' and 'A Thousand Splendid Suns', you must read this book!

Mornings in Jenin is a multi-generational story about a Palestinian family.

Forcibly removed from the olive-farming village of Ein Hod by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, the Abulhejos are displaced to live in canvas tents in the Jenin refugee camp.

We follow the Abulhejo family as they live through a half century of violent history. Amidst the loss and fear, hatred and pain, as their tents are replaced by more forebodingly permanent cinderblock huts, there is always the waiting, waiting to return to a lost home.

The novel's voice is that of Amal, the granddaughter of the old village patriarch, a bright, sensitive girl who makes it out of the camps, only to return years later, to marry and bear a child.

Through her eyes, with her evolving vision, we get the story of her brothers, one who is kidnapped to be raised Jewish, one who will end with bombs strapped to his middle.

But of the many interwoven stories, stretching backward and forward in time, none is more important than Amal's own.

Her story is one of love and loss, of childhood and marriage and parenthood, and finally the need to share her history with her daughter, to preserve the greatest love she has.

Set against one of the twentieth century's most intractable political conflicts, Mornings in Jenin is a deeply human novel - a novel of history, identity, friendship, love, terrorism, surrender, courage, and hope.

Its power forces us to take a fresh look at one of the defining conflicts of our lifetimes.

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The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell The Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives.

Occasionally, you will bump into a terrific article where an author talks candidly about the origins of his or her detective, PI, or righter of wrongs. Those experiences leave you hungry for more.

Well, you've been blessed this year. Otto Penzler has assembled a world-class cast of authors and their characters for you to explore from the authors' perspectives.

In many cases, the authors wrote new fictional material featuring their detectives (often in the form of interviews) that is some of the best writing those authors have ever done in my humble opinion.

Read how Lee Child came up with Jack Reacher, how Michael Connelly first starting thinking up Harry Bosch. How the incredible Charlie Parker first came to John Connolly or how characters like Alex Delaware, Lincoln Rhyme, John Rebus, Inspector Morse and many others were formed by there respective authors.

Reviews

If, like me, you devour crime fiction and impatiently wait for the next installment of your favourite detective series, this is the book for you. -
Bookworm79

List Price: R280.00
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Kate McKinnon is thrity-six and mother to five-year-old Toby.

She used to be a restaurant chef but that all stopped when Toby came along. Now she has a small but thriving business catering for private clients, companies and some government departments. Her life is on an even keel.

That is, until she gets a job cooking lunch at the Foreign Office and has her first fateful meeting with Oliver Stapler, Secretary of State.

He's married and a father and totally out of bounds, yet she falls for him. She thinks she hides it well, but there are people who would like to see her fail and to them her feelings are all too transparent.

When someone alters the gutter press, who cares whether Kate's affair with Oliver is true or not? It's a great story and will shift a ton of newspapers - and destroy several lives at the same time.

Reviews

'Prue Leith - brilliant cook and businesswoman - is also a highly accomplished novelist.  This is an engaging and well-crafted tale.' -
Sue MacGregor

'Prue Leith is a wise, warm, wonderful warm and her writing is exactly like her' - Jilly Cooper

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Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother's emotional distance masks an old secret.

Evacuated from London as a thirteen year old girl, Edie's mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe, and taken to live at Millderhurst Castle with the Blythe family.

Fifty years later, Edie too is drawn to Milderhurst and the eccentric Sisters Blythe. Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiance in 1941 plunged her into madness.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother's past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time for someone to find it . . .

Reviews

'A dilapidated castle, aristocratic twins, a troubled sister and a series of dark secrets cast a whispery spell in Morton's third book' --Marie Claire

'An absorbing and haunting read' --Woman & Home

'A bewitching tale of family secrets and betrayal' --Good Housekeeping

'Shades of I Capture the Castle haunt Kate Morton's The Distant Hours as protagonist Edie is drawn into the past.' --InStyle

'Enthralling romantic thriller... will stun readers' --Publishers Weekly

'In this, her third book, Morton writes in her usual engaging style, taking the reader to the heart of the Blythe family, so that from wartime evacuations through to the machinations of modern-day publishing, you live through every twist and turn.' --Waterstones Books Quarterly

List Price: R185.00
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DCI Mark Lapslie suffers from a rare neurological condition that 'cross-wires' his senses.

The sickening clamour of sounds he can taste has smothered his marriage and stifled his career...and it's getting worse.

His colleagues have written him off as a drunk - or worse, a lunatic - and Lapslie has quarantined himself in an isolated Essex cottage, only venturing out at night when peace reigns.

Carl Whittley, 22, stays at home too, caring for his crippled father. He's got his own problems to deal with too: he's just tortured a minor TV celebrity to death and blown an apparently anonymous commuter to pieces.

Tooth & Claw is a visceral thriller that will draw DCI Lapslie into a deadly game where the troubled detective might just discover that his gravest weakness is also his greatest strength.

Reviews

Loved this book highly original idea characters and story line. One of the best crime fiction books of the year. I understand soon to be tunred into a major feature film. - N. Mccrery

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The second book in Philippa's stunning new series, The Cousins War, brings to life the story of Margaret Beaufort, a shadowy and mysterious character in the first book of the series The White Queen - but who now takes centre stage in the bitter struggle of The War of the Roses.

The Red Queen tells the story of the child-bride of Edmund Tudor, who, although widowed in her early teens, uses her determination of character and wily plotting to infiltrate the house of York under the guise of loyal friend and servant, undermine the support for Richard III and ultimately ensure that her only son, Henry Tudor, triumphs as King of England.

Through collaboration with the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret agrees a betrothal between Henry and Elizabeth's daughter, thereby uniting the families and resolving the Cousins War once and for all by founding of the Tudor dynasty.

Reviews

I love historical novels and Phillipa is absolutely great. I dont get much time to read,and yet again i find myself not wanting to stop. You can imagine yourself there, she tells a fantastic tale. Another must have book! - Timothy

It kept me reading page after page so I didn't miss anything.
I am a speed reader so often I don't read every page as I get easily bored with discriptions of people and places but with this book I was drawn into the period of time. Yes, I recommend this book highly. - Deed

List Price: R180.00
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The first book in the series, The White Queen is available at our stores at R80.00.

An unsolved murder. A missing child. A lifetime of deception.

In 1977, pregnant Genevieve Russell disappeared.

Twenty years later, her remains are discovered and Timothy Gleason is charged with murder. But there is no sign of the unborn child.

CeeCee Wilkes knows how Genevieve Russell died, because she was there. And she also knows what happened to the missing infant, because two decades ago she made the devastating choice to raise the baby as her own.

Now Timothy Gleason is facing the death penalty, and she has another choice to make. Tell the truth and destroy her family. Or let an innocent man die to protect a lifetime of lies...

Reviews

I read this book whilst on holiday and took it everywhere with me!!

It's not your typical beach-read but I couldnt put it down. I was hooked from the start. Ceecee is a very complex, but easy to relate to character. If you're in doubt and love a great mystery this is a must read!!! - Purple Rainbow

A gripping and compulsive read. Drama, romance, tragedy and mystery all in one book. Diane Chamberlain writes with emotion and imagination. I found this book impossible to put down and can't wait to read more of her books in the future. - Emma Robinson

List Price: R120.00
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Oprah Winfrey's latestl book club selection is the epic family drama ' Freedom' by Jonathan Franzen.

In his latest novel, Jonathan Franzen returns to fiction with a comic and tragic epic of contemporary love and marriage.

A lavishly entertaining account of a family at war with itself, and a brilliant dissection of the dissatisfactions and disappointments of contemporary American life.

Freedom captures the temptations and burdens of liberty: the thrills of teenage lust, the shaken compromises of middle age, the wages of suburban sprawl, the responsibility of privilege.

Charting the characters' mistakes and joys as they struggle to learn how to live in an ever-changing and confusing world, Freedom is an indelible and deeply moving portrait of our time.

Reviews

"One of those rare books that starts well and then takes off . . . a joy to read . . . With its all-encompassing world, its flawed heroes and its redemptive ending, Freedom has the sweep of a modern Paradise Lost." Economist

'Epic - One of the best books I have ever read' - Oprah Winfrey

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What if you found your soulmate...and then discovered you couldn't lose him?

When Lucy meets Nate aged 18, it is love at first sight.

As far as she's concerned, he's The One. Caught up in the whirlwind of first love, they kiss under the Bridge of Sighs in Venice at sunset and -- according to the legend -- are tied together indefinitely.

But ten years later, they've almost forgotten about each other.

That is, until fate starts to bring them together. Again. And again. And again. It doesn't seem as wonderful as it had before, but if Nate's not The One -- then why on earth is it proving so hard to break up with him?

A funny and magical romantic comedy about what happens when every girl's dream of finding her dream man comes very true indeed...

Reviews

'Fantastically funny' -- Elle

'Sharply written, pacey and funny...pure self-indulgence' -- The Times

'Feel-good fiction full of unexpected twists and turns' -- OK!

'A touching, funny love-story' -- Company 'Always perceptive, often funny, never dull' -- Heat '

'The perfect reading romcom' -- Daily Mail

List Price: R105.00
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'I can imagine you at forty,' she said, a hint of malice in her voice. 'I can picture it right now.' He smiled without opening his eyes. 'Go on then.'

15th July 1988. Emma and Dexter meet for the first time on the night of their graduation.

Tomorrow they must go their separate ways. So where will they be on this one day next year? And the year after that? And every year that follows?

Twenty years, two people, ONE DAY.

Reviews

'It's rare to find a novel which ranges over the recent past with such authority, and even rarer to find one in which the two leading characters are drawn with such solidity, such painful fidelity, to real life that you really do put the book down with the hallucinatory feeling that they've become as well known to you as your closest friends. Hard to imagine anyone encountering characters as well drawn as this and not recognizing the extraordinary talent of the writer who has created them.' -- Jonathan Coe Guardian Books of the Year

'I finished it last night and I'm still quite wobbly and affected by it. It was BRILLIANT... the jealously nearly made me puke. I wish I'd written this book' -- Marian Keyes

'The ultimate zeitgeist love story for anyone who ever wanted someone they couldn't have' -- Adele Parks

'Big, absorbing, smart, fantastically readable ... brilliant on the details of the last couple of decades of British cultural and political life' -- Nick Hornby

'The novel of the year - a brilliantly funny and moving will-they, won't-they romance tracing a relationship on the same day each day for two decades' -- Heat

'It is a cleverly and astutely constructed book - but that is worthy of a mere footnote compared with its emotional impact. I am not ashamed to say that upon finishing it I pressed it to my chest as a big fat tear splashed onto its upturned spine' -- The Times Book Club

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At the dawn of the Roman Empire, when tyranny ruled, a daughter of Egypt and a son of Rome found each other...

Selene's parents are gone, her country has been taken from her and she has been brought to the city of Rome in chains, with only her twin brother, Alexander, to remind her of home and all she once had.

Paraded as captives and brought to live among the ruling family, Selene and her brother attend lessons, learning how to be Roman and where allegiances lie.

Devoting herself to her artistic skill and training as an architect, she tries to make herself useful, in hope of staying alive and being allowed to return to Egypt.

But before long, she is distracted by the young and handsome heir to the empire.

But all is not well in the city and when the elusive 'Red Eagle' starts calling for the end of slavery, causing riots and murder, and the Roman army goes to war, Selene and Alexander, the children of Mark Antony, Rome's lost son and greatest rival, find their lives in grave danger.

Reviews

'Throughout her meticulous research, Moran, a rising star in the world of historical fiction, has drawn a vivid picture of the horrors and glories of life in ancient Rome. This is an intelligent historical novel, which like Moran's previous two titles draws you in from the outset' Daily Express.

Thanks Michelle! You gave me a great time. Hope more will come. This is historic novel writing at its best. - Amelrode

List Price: R130.00
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Russia, 1910.

Young Valentina Ivanova charms St Petersburg's aristocracy with her classic Russian beauty and her talent as a pianist.

She scandalises society when she begins a romance with Jens Friis, a Danish engineer. He brings to her life a passion and an intimacy she has never known.

Unbending in their opposition, her parents push her into a loveless engagement with a Russian count. Valentina struggles for independence and to protect her young sister from the tumult sweeping the city, as Russia is bound for rebellion.

The Tsar, the Duma and the Bolsheviks are at each other's throats. Valentina is forced to make a choice that changes her life for ever ...

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It is summer and a stranger has come to quiet Rathmoye.

He is noticed by Ellie, the young convent girl, who is married to Dillahan, a farmer still mourning his first wife.

Over the long and warm days, Ellie and the stranger form an illicit attachment.

And those in the town can only watch, holding their tongues, as passion, love and fate take their inevitable course.

Reviews:

'Beautiful and entrancing, a love affair captured with compassion and sadness' - The Times

'A great writer, Love and Summers is something timeless' - Sebastian Barry, The Guardian

'Trevor beutifully succeeds in describing the emotionally charged dilemmas that surge in the hearts of the quietest of people' Marie Claire

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Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger.

Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child.

Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi.

She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job.

Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk.

And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women--mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends--view one another.

A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

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Since her divorce a year ago, Kit Hargrove feels she has finally got her life back on track.

Gone is the lonely Wall Street widow she used to be, and in her place is a happier, more fulfilled woman, with a new job she loves - working for uberfamous novelist Robert McClore - a small but cosy new home with her children, andthe beginnings of a tentative friendship with her ex husband.

She even has time for yoga classes with her new best friend Tracy.

The only thing missing is a man. And when Tracy introduces her to Steve - charming, romantic and attentive - Kit wonders if he could be the final piece of the jigsaw.

But Kit doesn't know that Tracy is hiding a secret, one that could destroy their friendship, her happiness with Steve, even her new life.

Torn between suspicion and love, Kit doesn't know which way to turn.

For there are some betrayals that a friendship can't survive....

Review

'A corker of a story, sharply and elegantly told' - Heat

'Sheer, unadulterated light entertainment!sassy, warm and wise' - Glamour

'Compulsively readable' - The Sunday Times

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He changed her life, now he's going to take it.

'While the bath was filling up, my eye fell on the razor in its case. Not the disposable kind, a handmade cutthroat razor.

My heart skipped a beat. Then I shook my head. No. Stick to the plan. There's always next time.'

Leon's partner died in his bath, and although the police report said she committed suicide... she didn't.

When he meets Margot, recently separated and vulnerable, he sees an opportunity. Her life's a mess. Who better to help her put it back together than a man who's recovering from his own girlfriend's tragic demise?

Dragging her into a very intense, sexual relationship, which is one giant power game, Leon moves her into his flat and sets her up with a new career. How could she ever manage without him?

If his ideas go to plan, she'll never need to worry about that.

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Fate takes many forms. When Henry receives a letter from an elderly taxidermist, it poses a puzzle that he cannot resist.

As he is pulled further into the world of this strange and calculating man, Henry becomes increasingly involved with the lives of a donkey and a howler monkey named Beatrice and Virgil and the epic journey they undertake together.

With all the spirit and originality that made Life of Pi so treasured, this brilliant new novel takes the reader on a haunting odyssey.

On the way Martel asks profound questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity.

About the author

Yann Martel was born in Spain in 1963. After studying philosophy at university, he worked at odd jobs and travelled before turning to writing at the age of twenty-six.

He is the author of the internationally acclaimed 2002 Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi, which was translated into thirty-eight languages and spent fifty-seven weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List.

His collection of short stories, The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, and his first novel, Self, both received critical acclaim. Yann Martel lives in Saskatchewan, Canada.

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January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

The society's members are quirky and lovable, their friendships touching and the letters so funny and moving that by the time she's considering a visit to the island we are desperate to go with her.

Reviews

'Charming one to lift even the most cynical of spirits' - THE TIMES

'Thronging with lovable people golden comedy' - THE GUARDIAN

'What a gorgeous book - very touching and funny' - JOANNA LUMLEY

'Delightfully spirited and quirky novel-of-letters You'd have to be pretty hard-hearted not to fall under its spell' - DAILY MAIL BOOKS OF THE YEAR

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The stunning new novel from Lesley.

Will Lotte and Dale ever discovered the truth behind Lotte's stolen past?

Find out in Lesley Pearse's new novel, Stolen.

When a beautiful blonde girl is found half-drowned on a beach, she has no memory of who she is or what horrors have left her there.

But an article about her in a Brighton newspaper rings alarm bells for beautician Dale, who shows the police photographs of Lotte Wainright.

The girls met working on a cruise ship and their friendship blossomed as they sailed the seas of South America, until Lotte fell under the sinister influence of an older American couple.

To her regret, Dale hasn't seen Lotte since leaving the ship months earlier... but the girl on the beach - although badly bruised - is indeed her much missed friend.

Their reunion only marks the beginning of a dangerous tidal wave of secrets, lies and nightmares. Where has Lotte been? Who is the man who seems to want to kill her? And what has become of the baby she's recently given birth to?

Dale and Lotte must dig deep and find the strength to hold on against the odds if they are to rebuild their friendship and survive Lotte's stolen - and deadly - past...

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At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love , Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe - a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met.

Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married. (Both survivors of difficult divorces. Enough said.)

But providence intervened one day in the form of the U.S. government, who - after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing - gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again.

Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving completely into this topic, trying with all her might to discover (through historical research, interviews and much personal reflection) what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is.

The result is Committed - a witty and intelligent contemplation of marriage that debunks myths, unthreads fears and suggests that sometimes even the most romantic of souls must trade in her amorous fantasies for the humbling responsibility of adulthood.

Gilbert's memoir - destined to become a cherished handbook for any thinking person hovering on the verge of marriage - is ultimately a clear-eyed celebration of love, with all the complexity and consequence that real love, in the real world, actually entails.

List Price: R200.00
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Available from Middle January 2010

Backlist titles available

1. Eat, Pray, Love - R108.00
2. Pilgrims - R50.00
3. Stern Men - R50.00
4. Last American Man - R50.00

Oprah has just made her new selection for her book club and it is Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them (winner of the Best First Book, African Region - 2009 Commonwealth Writers' Prize)

These extraordinary stories centre on African conflicts as seen through the eyes of children, and describes their resilience and endurance in heartbreaking detail.

From child trafficking to inter-religious conflicts, Uwem reveals in beautiful prose the resilience and endurance of children faced with the harsh consequences of deprivation and terror.

'Akpan reveals Africa's pain, pity, joy and grace, and comes closer to the truth about modern Africa than the entire outpourings of the Western Mass Media' - GUARDIAN

List Price: R140.00
Our Price: R112.00
You Save: R28.00

Available from October 2009

Follow, Smoky Barrett, Head of the Violent Crimes Unit in Los Angeles, as she is dragged through the dark and terrifying reality of Sarah Kingley. A sixteen year old who has seen the face of death more than once, for someone out there is slowly taking everything she loves way and she is powerless to stop it. As Smoky battles with her own violent past, she tries to unravel the mystery of why one man's murder victim is the one he left alive...

Amy's Comment

A gripping, harrowing read that will leave your heart and hand shaking as you turn the page. Gripping and lyrical right to the last page

Rating *****

Review by Eileen Bulpin

I found the book a very good read and a good book for book clubs.
I would suggest that you read the first Clare Hart novel 'Like Clockworks' first, because the main character started in the first book, continues in the second book.

The first book is set in and about Cape Town, Sea Point area and the second book is set in Nambia, Windhoek.

If you enjoy reading books by international authors like Martina Cole and Kathy Reichs you will love reading Margie Orford. Blood Rose shows some great writing talent and another great kick ass woman character is revisited with delight.

Review by Eileen Bulpin

I had the pleasure of reading this memoir book before it is launched (now available at our store) and I must say that it is a very exciting read. I enjoyed it very much. I found myself laughing, smiling and also having one or two tears.

I could relate to a lot of things in the book, as when my Gran came to South Africa for the first time and how excited we were .Also when we got big boxes of goodies sent by her and my aunt. Getting gifts that nobody else had, made us shake with excitement.

I found it also nice to read about places and things I remember as a child. Walking to old promenade in Muizenberg.  Swimming in the sea and using a beach house box to store our umbrellas and chairs, going for beach picnics.

It made me relate to the authors mother character in the story. Feeling lonely in a country without her sister's and mother being with her. It was a bittersweet memoir to read and I suggest if you enjoy reading books on peoples memories then add this one to your next read.

Review by Eileen Bulpin

I read this book and thought it was a very good read. The book follows the lives of two sisters and how they were their for one another while growing up.

You read about the heart ships they endured during the Apartheid years in South Africa as children.
I found the book to be interesting in how it described places in Cape Town that are no longer there. The book brought a smile to my face while reading. Ideal reading for book clubs.

This best-selling haunting novel is also available in Afrikaans at our store from September 2007 with the title of Morester.

Review by Eileen Bulpin

I found the book to be very interesting in relation to my brother.

He has been in the army and has done his military service, so I found a relation with my brother and the main character on an emotional side.

I also found it sad in how things can shape a persons life with growing up during the time in the book.
It was also very interesting that the author describes not one character but a handful and their lives from World War 2 to the dismantling of Apartheid in the nineties. A book recommended to read.

Review by Staff

This was such an interesting novel.

There is at once a tender presence making you wonder why the characters made the choice they did, and leaving you trying to find out why they have so many secrets.

It's engaging and takes you into the heart of each characters world, making for interesting moments of great reading.

Laura has had quiet a journey. Difficult at times, other times desperate, but she always had faith. Her life though is one that carries many life lessons.

A read definitely recommended, showing that every conversation, every thought, every encounter and every action has a consequence, good or bad.

Cnr Bark and Main Road: Tokai : Cape Town, 8001, South Africa - Opposite Builder's Warehouse.

ON PROMOTION

'past grabs hold and will not let you go' Sarah Blake

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