Norman is the clever one of a close-knit Jewish family in the East End of London. Infant prodigy; brilliant barrister; the apple of his parents' eyes . . . until at forty-one he becomes a drug addict, confined to his bedroom, at the mercy of his hallucinations and paranoia.For Norman, his committal to a mental hospital represents the ultimate act of betrayal. For Rbbi Zweck, Norman's father, his son's deterioration is a bitter reminder of his own guilt and failure. Only Bella, the ...

Madame Sousatzka is a gifted piano teacher who specializes in child prodigies and hosts her lessons in the dilapidated London home she shares with three other eccentrics: a 'countess' in retirement, a gay osteopath, and a 'woman-of-the-evening'. Madame Sousatzka's newest student is an astonishing talent, and in her hands, the new boy will blossom into musical genius. But the public cannot hear him yet: until his debut he belongs to Sousatzka and her bizarre hot- house tenants. One day he w...

Sir Alfred Dreyfus is in jail, innocent of the charges against him, guilty of a lifetime of denial.Headmaster of one of Britain's most prestigious schools, knighted for his services to education, he has built a distinguished career whilst carefully concealing his Jewish roots. When he is falsely imprisoned for a horrific crime, he realises it is not just his enemies who have difficulty with his identity.

Amy Evans retained all her life the squat nose of her childhood, stubbed on to her face like a plasticine afterthought, a chin too long for any practical purpose, and eyes so close together that it seemed the sole function of the bridge of her nose was too keep them apart. For comfort she would go down to the beach, where the breeze from the sea blew into her face her share of the beauty to which her brother had so liberally helped himself. The gulls would wait for her to leave, no matter ...

'Miss Hawkins looked at her watch. It was two-thirty. If everything went according to schedule, she could safely reckon to be dead by six o'clock.'But by the day's end, events have taken a dramatic turn and Miss Hawkins is sentenced to live. Forcibly retired, she is presented by her colleagues with a five-year diary.Programmed since childhood to total obedience, Miss Hawkins slavishly follows her dairy's commands until the impossible happens – she meets a man. As a last rep...

The killer's modus operandi is the same in each instance: strangulation, always with a guitar string, pulled tight from behind until life is taken. And though the murders are happening up and down the country, there is one other similarity that Inspector Wilkins can't help noticing. Each and every victim is a psychotherapist...Donald Dorricks is on a mission. Nine shrinks to go and his crusade is complete. Yet, even after giving himself up and confessing to the killings, he still p...

George Verrey Smith, a suburban teacher, is bored. Bored with his wife, his life, his job. He endures each bleak day with his joyless wife named Joy. The only bright spot in George's life is Sunday. On Sunday George looks his best. On Sunday George dresses up. On Sunday, George becomes Emily.Adorned in his wife's discarded dresses, a blond wig and a slathering of make-up, George feels at ease in drag. It is during a stint as 'Emily' that one of George's colleagues is murdered. Geor...

**#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The “mercilessly entertaining” (Vanity Fair) instant classic “about the nature of identity and the terrible secrets that can survive and thrive in even the most intimate relationships” (Lev Grossman, Time “One of the Best Books of the Decade”)—now featuring never-before-published deleted scenesTHE NEW YORK TIMES’S BEST THRILLER OF THE CENTURY • ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ...

'Terrific – when better novels of suspense are written, lead me to them' P. G. WodehouseMaking a threadbare living flying charter cargos of dubious legitimacy around the Mediterranean, Jack Clay's ambition of starting his own chartering company remains a distant dream.All this changes in Athens when Clay bumps into an old wartime buddy helping the former Nawab of Tungabhadra recover his stolen fortune. Clay joins the hunt, but he is not the only one looking; there are many ...

Loretta Lawson, a feminist professor visiting Paris to deliver a paper on the oppressive nature of masculine grammatical forms, stumbles across the murder of an Oxford don.But when the body disappears, she returns to England without alerting the French police, but is resolved to solve the mystery from across the Channel.The BBC adaptation of A Masculine Ending, starring Bill Nighy and Imelda Staunton, premiered in 1992.'I love Loretta' - P.D. James'Ms. Smith...

Nancy Drew fans will fall for the first title in Leslie Margolis's pitch-perfect middle-grade series, The Maggie Brooklyn Mysteries.Dogs are disappearing in her neighborhood, and Maggie Brooklyn Sinclair knows all about it. After all, she has a semi-secret after-school gig as a professional (ok, amateur) dog-walker. Maggie hates to see a pup in trouble, so she's even willing to help her ex-best friend Ivy recover her rescue-dog, Kermit. Kermit's being held for rans...

'You can sit back and have the time of your life reading A Gate at the Stairs.' Observer'The most irresistible contemporary American writer.' New York Times Book Review'One of the funniest writers alive' Dave Eggers'Hilarious and distressing, entertaining and wise' Roddy Doyle'Moore's a writer you don't quit.' GuardianWith America quietly gearing up for war in the Middle East, twenty-year-old Tassie Kel...