"A fantastically tightly written, read-every-word novel . . . As a psychological thriller, it's as close to wonderful as anything I've recently read" ( The Guardian ).In the winter of 1881, John Stannard, a young architect, is in self-imposed exile in a remote English village, carrying out repairs to the parish church. Arrogant and insensitive to what he considers superstition and sentimental attachment to the past, he soo...

European female-led literature with emphasis on writing of place, particularly Wales. Creative nonfiction, literary essays, fiction, poetry and photography.

Archipelago is one of the most important and influential literary magazines of the lasttwenty years. Running to twelve editions, it was edited by Andrew McNeillie, with theassistance later of James McDonald Lockhart, and began as an attempt to reimagine therelationships between the islands of Ireland and Britain. Archipelago has brought togetherestablished and emerging artists in creative conversations that have transformed the studyof islands, coasts and...

How can you take your writing to the next level? In this follow-up to their acclaimed handbook The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write, Sarah Burton and Jem Poster offer exercises and practical advice designed to set aspiring authors of fiction on their way to creating compelling short stories and novels. Carefully explaining the purpose and value of each exercise and encouraging writers to reflect on what they have learned in tackling each task, this themed collectio...

Have you ever wanted to write a novel or short story but didn't know where to start? If so, this is the book for you. It's the book for anyone, in fact, who wants to write to their full potential. Practical and jargon-free, rejecting prescriptive templates and formulae, it's a storehouse of ideas and advice on a range of relevant subjects, from boosting self-motivation and confidence to approaching agents and publishers. Drawing on the authors' extensive experience as successful writers an...

The Welsh borders, 1870s. On the cusp of adulthood, Eliza Mace is battling for her independence. Stuck in a crumbling manor house on the fringe of a small town, she is thwarted by powers that conspire to protect, control and deceive her. But when her father goes missing in mysterious circumstances, Eliza’s determination to uncover the truth is unstoppable. Joining forces with the charismatic new police constable, Dafydd Pritchard, she sets out to solve the case, but that’s no easy task. He...

Kate Riordan's Firecombe Manor is a dual-narrative tale about two women from different eras united by the secrets hidden within an English mansion.In 1933, naive twenty-two-year-old Alice—pregnant and unmarried—is in disgrace. Her mother banishes her from London to secluded Fiercombe Manor in rural Gloucestershire, where she can hide under the watchful eye of her mother's old friend, the housekeeper Mrs. Jelphs. The manor's owners, the Stantons, live abroa...

Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime’s first book, the first volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.A MAN LAY DEADSir Hubert Handesley's extravagant weekend house-parties are deservedly famous for his exciting Murder Game. But when the lights go up this time, there is a real corpse with a real dagger in the back. All seven suspects have skilful alibis – so Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn has to ...

'Genuine escapism - I couldn't put it down!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Best read on a cold winter night with hot chocolate' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'An instant favourite' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐The rambling house called Thornyhold is like something out of a fairy tale.Left to Gilly Ramsey by the cousin whose occasional visits brightened her childhood, the cottage, set deep i...

The death of a young artist leaves Gently desperately piecing together the portrait of a murderer.When artist Shirley Johnson is murdered and her body dumped outside a provincial police headquarters, Gently is despatched from London to Northshire to take over the investigation. The prime suspect appears to be the woman's husband, a former bomber pilot with a guilty secret, but the other members of the woman's art group also have strong views about her and her controversial final pa...

Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime’s first book, the second volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.DIED IN THE WOOLOne summer evening in 1942 Flossie Rubrick, MP, one of the most formidable women in New Zealand, goes to her husband's wool shed to rehearse a patriotic speech – and disappears. Three weeks later she turns up at an auction – packed inside one of her own bales of wool and very, very dead…

As she sits in her Bloomsbury home, with her two birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance, nearly four decades previously, with Ned Gillespie, a talented artist who never achieved the fame she maintains he deserved.Back in 1888, the young, art-loving, Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. Bu...