It's Christmas and snow is falling over Red Forest. Isobel is nine years old; she is running with her father and sister, trying to escape the gunfire tearing through the trees. Civil war is erupting and the family is right in the middle of the battlefield.With nowhere else to go, they have to somehow make it out of the forest. But can they all make it out alive?Safe Haven is a short companion piece to the novel The Running Game. Set two decades earlier, this is the story of...

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was born on August 28th, 1814, at 45 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, into a literary family with Huguenot, Irish and English rootsThe children were tutored but, according to his brother William, the tutor taught them little if anything. Le Fanu was eager to learn and used his father's library to educate himself about the world. He was a creative child and by fifteen had taken to writing poetry.Accepted into Trinity College, Dublin to study law ...

In the English language ‘bittersweet’ is that most pivotal of words. The mixture of sadness and happiness that suggest both but often bringing us smartly to earth, smack dab in-between them both, with little of either.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Love. Perhaps the one word solution for everything. An emotion, a state of mind that we strive for, search for. A wondrous force that binds, inspires, and a force that can spin out of control; unbalanced and fragile. Love reflects, changes and embraces us all.In this series we explore the many facets of love through literary talents that span both time and country. Love is good. It’s positive, a source of joy, nourishment and all over goodness. But sometimes other more malevolent f...

An author’s talents may seem obvious and indisputable as they move words and ideas into gathered phrases and stories.But where do these ideas and stories come from? A lonely thought that suddenly gathers form? An inspiration from a Muse? A suggestion from an everyday event?Perhaps in the case of their darker, more malevolent stories, other forces are at work. They help to nourish single words into sentences and paragraphs that ease themselves from the shadows and are sudden...

Real Madrid versus Barcelona is regarded by many as the most captivating fixture in world football. But it is not only the on-pitch battles that have forged their rivalry. From General Franco and bloody civil war to the Catalan city of Barcelona's lukewarm reaction to Spain's recent World Cup and European Championship triumphs, bitterness is never far from the surface.In El Clásico, Richard Fitzpatrick charts the key political and historical flashpoints between the two clu...

City of Dragons is the third book in a trilogy set in a fantasy world where dragons have returned to the sky. We follow a young elf woman named Willowtide as her journey goes through its most intense period. Her relationship with Archer is growing ever closer, and blossoming into love. Archer is a young human warrior who saved her when she was banished from her people. Their fates have become more and more entwined, and now their quest is becoming one.Their quest is to defeat the T...

The first chronicle of Stalin's inner political and social circle—from a leading Soviet historianStalin was the unchallenged dictator of the Soviet Union for so long that most historians have dismissed the officials surrounding him as mere yes-men and political window dressing. On Stalin's Team overturns this view, revealing that behind Stalin was a group of loyal men who formed a remarkably effective team with him from the late 1920s until his death in 19...

KatyaMy mission was simple.Infiltrate the Russian Bratva.Expose the criminal empire.Walk away.Falling for my brooding, ridiculously attractive mafia boss was never part of the plan.Now every lie I tell protects him instead of my mission...and if he discovers the truth, I'll lose far more than my career.DimitriFor years I was the man everyone feared.Now I'm just a father trying to give my son the peaceful life I never h...

The rules of communication are radically different than ever before. Standing out and being counted is no longer just an advantage. It is a necessity. You are your own brand and, unless you learn how to shine, you'll be left behind. Whether you are looking to get a promotion, become a better leader, master public speaking, build your business, sell more, improve your love life, social life or even your networking skills, you need to be more effective at engaging people – you need to be mor...

Addictive, dreamy and contemporary YA romance at its very best! Perfect for fans of Jenny Han, Carley Fortune and Emily HenryGwen Castle's Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, is slumming it as a yard boy on her idyllic island this summer. He's a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of local fishermen and cleaners. But then Gwen learns something new. Something unexpected. Sparks fly and secret histories unravel in a gorgeous, r...