'A hell of a tale and Jonathan Beckman gives it all the verve and swagger it deserves . . . I read it with fascination, delight and frequent snorts of incredulity' The SpectatorOn 5 September 1785, a trial began in Paris that would divide the country, captivate Europe and send the French monarchy tumbling down the slope towards the Revolution. Cardinal Louis de Rohan, scion of one of the most ancient and distinguished families in France, stood accused of f...

**DISCOVER THE GRIPPING NO. 1 BESTSELLER BEHIND THE AWARD WINNING HBO SENSATION STARRING REESE WITHERSPOON, NICOLE KIDMAN & MERYL STREEPA New York Times 'Best Thrillers of the 21st Century'****The long-awaited sequel, Big Little Truths, is available to pre-order now**________Perfect families, perfect houses, perfect lives.Three mothers, Jane, Madeline and Celeste appear to have it all, until they find ou...

THE RUNAWAY GLOBAL BESTSELLER'Gripping, enthralling - a top-notch thriller and a compulsive read.' SJ Watson, bestselling author of BEFORE I GO TO SLEEPRachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess and Jason', she calls them. Their life - as...

Now a major TV series Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2012 Winner of the 2012 Costa Book of the Year Shortlisted for the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction‘Simply exceptional…I envy anyone who hasn’t yet read it’ Daily Mail‘A gripping story of tumbling fury and terror’ Independent on SundayWith this historic win for Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel becomes the first British author and the first woman to be aw...

'Seek and ye shall find.'With these words echoing in his head, eminent Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed with no recollection of where he is or how he got there. Nor can he explain the origin of the macabre object that is found hidden in his belongings.A threat to his life will propel him and a young doctor, Sienna Brooks, into a breakneck chase across the city of Florence. Only Langdon's knowledge of hidden passageways and ancient secrets...

The reign of Elizabeth I - a Golden Age? Try asking her subjects...Elizabethans did all they could to survive in an age of sin and bling, of beddings and beheadings, galleons and guns. Explorers set sail for new worlds, risking everything to bring back slaves, gold and the priceless potato. Elizabeth lined her coffers while her subjects lived in squalor with hunger, violence and misery as bedfellows. Shakespeare shone and yet the beggars, doxies and thieves scraped and cheated to s...

The bestselling social history of Victorian domestic life, told through the letters, diaries, journals and novels of 19th-century men and women.Some images were unavailable for this electronic edition.The Victorian age is both recent and unimaginably distant. In the most prosperous and technologically advanced nation in the world, people carried slops up and down stairs; buried meat in fresh earth to prevent mould forming; wrung sheets out in boiling water with their bare h...

It took Henry VIII twenty-eight years, three wives, and a break with Rome before he secured a legitimate male heir. Yet he already had a son – the illegitimate Henry Fitzroy. Fitzroy was born in 1519 after the King's affair with Elizabeth Blount. He was the only illegitimate offspring ever acknowledged by Henry VIII, and Cardinal Wolsey was even one of his godparents. So just how close did he come to being Henry IX?

By the early 17th century the Scientific Revolution was well under way. Philosophers and scientists were throwing off the yoke of ancient authority to peer at nature and the cosmos through microscopes and telescopes.In October 1632, in the small town of Delft in the Dutch Republic, two geniuses were born who would bring about a seismic shift in the idea of what it meant to see the world. One was Johannes Vermeer, whose experiments with lenses and a camera obscura taught him how we ...

A #1 New York Times Bestseller, Louise Penny's The Long Way Home is an intriguing Chief Inspector Gamache Novel.Happily retired in the village of Three Pines, Armand Gamache, former Chief Inspector of Homicide with the Sûreté du Québec, has found a peace he'd only imagined possible. On warm summer mornings he sits on a bench holding a small book, The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. "There is a balm in Gilead," his neighbor Clara Morro...

In "The History of London," Walter Besant presents a comprehensive and engaging narrative that weaves together the city's rich tapestry of events, figures, and transformations from its ancient roots to the dawn of the 20th century. Besant employs a blend of meticulous research and vivid storytelling, capturing the essence of London's diverse culture and its pivotal role in shaping English history. His attention to detail and his ability to convey the spirit of the city provide readers with...

"Consistently pulse-raising. . .an exhilarating ride. . .Personal wrests back the sheer gusto of the earlier novels; it's the best Reacher adventure in some considerable time." (Independent)Jack Reacher walks alone.Once a go-to hard man in the US military police, now he's a drifter of no fixed abode. But the army tracks him down. Because someone has taken a long-range shot at the French president.Only one man could ...