Attending your best friend’s wedding should be a piece of (wedding) cake, but not for bestselling mystery author Eleanor Dash. Because murder seems to follow her every time she goes on holiday – and is her uninvited plus-one to this special occasion . . .

Eleanor’s best friend, Emma, is starring in a movie alongside her co-star and fiancé, Fred. As filming wraps, they invite the whole cast and crew to their wedding at nearby Catalina Island.

There may be a storm headed their way – because of course there is – but nothing will stop their nuptials. That is until Emma receives a note that says: Someone is going to die at the wedding.

Eleanor is practically a professional detective at this point, and she’ll do everything she can to uncover the murderer. But will this be a destination wedding to die for in more ways than one?

What would you do to inherit a million dollars? Would you be willing to change your life? Jason Stevens is about to find out. Red Stevens has died, and the older members of his family receive their millions with greedy anticipation. But a different fate awaits young Jason, whom his great-uncle Stevens believed might be the last vestige of hope in the family. "Although to date your life seems to be a sorry excuse for anything I would call promising, there does seem to be a spark of something in you that I hope we can fan into a flame. For that reason, I am not making you an instant millionaire." What Stevens does give Jason leads to The Ultimate Gift. Young and old will take this timeless tale to heart.

All over the world, people sleep blissfully in Traumbett beds. These marvellous feats of German engineering have successfully cornered the mattress market everywhere. Everywhere, except Sweden and owner Konrad Kaltenbacher Jr is desperate to expand there.

With Konrad Jr’s sights set firmly on stylish Stockholm, Julia Bäck, district councillor of the small, decaying town of Halstaholm, has plans of her own. Seeing an opportunity to attract 800 new jobs, Julia jumps into spearheading a persuasive campaign to win the contract. A roundabout is hastily renamed in honour of Angela Merkel; a German school is quickly established under the leadership of a ten-year-old boy and three elderly pensioners; and the town swimming pool is rapidly transformed into a beerhouse – it had been empty for years anyway!

Julia’s get-up-and-go impresses the German boss … but has she made herself a tricky bed to lie in?

With an Introduction and Notes by Keith Wren, University of Kent at Canterbury. The story of Edmund Dantes, self-styled Count of Monte Cristo, is told with consummate skill. The victim of a miscarriage of justice, Dantes is fired by a desire for retribution and empowered by a stroke of providence. In his campaign of vengeance, he becomes an anonymous agent of fate. The sensational narrative of intrigue, betrayal, escape, and triumphant revenge moves at a cracking pace. Dumas' novel presents a powerful conflict between good and evil embodied in an epic saga of rich diversity that is complicated by the hero's ultimate discomfort with the hubristic implication of his own actions. Our edition is based on the most popular and enduring translation first published by Chapman and Hall in 1846. The name of the translator was never revealed.

Little Women is one of the best-loved children's stories of all time, based on the author's own youthful experiences. It describes the family of the four March sisters living in a small New England community. Meg, the eldest, is pretty and wishes to be a lady; Jo, at fifteen is ungainly and unconventional with an ambition to be an author; Beth is a delicate child of thirteen with a taste for music and Amy is a blonde beauty of twelve. The story of their domestic adventures, their attempts to increase the family income, their friendship with the neighbouring Laurence family, and their later love affairs remains as fresh and beguiling as ever.

Esther Nacht is born in Vienna in 1905. Her father dies on board a ship from Bremerhaven to Portland, Maine, and anti-Semites murder her mother in Portland. In the orphanage at St. Cloud’s, it’s clear to Dr Larch, the physician and director of the orphanage, that the abandoned child not only knows she’s Jewish, but she’s familiar with the biblical Queen Esther she was named for. Dr Larch knows it won’t be easy to find a Jewish family to adopt Esther; he doubts he’ll find any family to adopt her.

When Esther is fourteen, soon to become a ward of the state, Dr. Larch meets the Winslows, a philanthropic family with a history of providing for unadopted orphans. The Winslows aren’t Jewish, but they detest anti-Semitism and similar prejudice. Esther’s gratitude to the Winslows is unending. As she retraces her steps to her birth city, Esther keeps loving and protecting the Winslows – even in Vienna.

The final chapter of this historical novel is set in Jerusalem in 1981, when Esther is seventy-six.

Pride and Prejudice, which opens with one of the most famous sentences in English Literature, is an ironic novel of manners. In it the garrulous and empty-headed Mrs Bennet has only one aim - that of finding a good match for each of her five daughters. In this she is mocked by her cynical and indolent husband. With its wit, its social precision and, above all, its irresistible heroine, Pride and Prejudice has proved one of the most enduringly popular novels in the English language.

Pride and Prejudice, which opens with one of the most famous sentences in English Literature, is an ironic novel of manners. In it the garrulous and empty-headed Mrs Bennet has only one aim - that of finding a good match for each of her five daughters. In this she is mocked by her cynical and indolent husband. With its wit, its social precision and, above all, its irresistible heroine, Pride and Prejudice has proved one of the most enduringly popular novels in the English language.

In a near-future Kolkata, Ma, her two-year-old daughter, and her elderly father are just days from leaving the collapsing city behind to join Ma’s husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After procuring long-awaited visas from the consulate, they pack their bags for the flight to America. But in the morning they awaken to discover that Ma’s purse, containing their treasured immigration documents, has been stolen.

Set over the course of one week, A Guardian and a Thief tells two stories: the story of Ma’s frantic search for the thief while keeping hunger at bay during a worsening food shortage; and the story of Boomba, the thief, whose desperation to care for his family drives him to commit a series of escalating crimes whose consequences he cannot fathom. With stunning control and command, Megha Majumdar paints a kaleidoscopic portrait of two families, each operating from a place of ferocious love and undefeated hope, each discovering how far they will go to secure their children’s future as they stave off encroaching catastrophe.

The chilling new Scandinavian thriller from a New York Times bestselling author, perfect for fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo. Praise for Max Seeck: 'Finland's answer to Jo Nesbo' Sunday Times 'Relentlessly tense' Wall Street Journal 'One of the best books I have read. Ever' Emilie Schepp ___________ Are you ready for the darkest case of Jessica Niemi's career? A young woman's corpse washes up on a near-frozen beach. Then, two famous Instagram influencers go missing. All three have ties to a cult, famous for their cruel and violent worship. But before Jessica can save the girls, an old enemy emerges and threatens to destroy her. Soon, she is hunting for much more than just the truth . . . ___________ Praise for The Witch Hunter: 'Short, sharp, present-tense chapters add to its relentless tension and a resolution as bleak as anything Poe might have conjured' - Wall St Journal 'If you only read one Nordic noir novel this autumn, make it The Witch Hunter' - Culture Fly '[A] riveting, multi-layered debut, blending masterful police procedural with a chilling exploration of the occult' - Sara Blaedel #1 International Bestselling Author 'One of the best books I have read. Ever' - Emelie Schepp, author of Slowly We Die 'Exceptional story, exceptional characters, exceptional writing, and shocking twists - exceptional everything' - Chris Mooney, author of Blood World 'A disturbing tale of murder and madness' - Kirkus Reviews 'A rich, intensely suspenseful thriller' - Booklist Starred Review 'A riveting procedural with a deliciously creepy undertone' - Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Having grown up in the long shadow of the Korean War, Yewon is stuck in her small village.

She dreams of a hotel, where there are infinite keys to infinite rooms - and a quiet terror she is desperate to escape.

But when her little brother is conscripted into the South Korean army, Yewon's dreams start to seep into her reality, and she is forced to confront the unsettling truth about her country...

Stylish, visceral and haunting, The Invisible Hotel is an unforgettable literary horror about the human consequences of war, and the toll of being born into a conflict that shows no signs of stopping.

An immensely powerful epic of colonialism, set in 18th-century Greenland, about the great forces of nature, the meeting of cultures and fathers and sons. 1728: The doomed Danish King Fredrik IV sends a governor to Greenland to establish a colony, in the hopes of exploiting the country's allegedly vast natural resources. A few merchants, a barber-surgeon, two trainee priests, a blacksmith, some carpenters and soldiers and a dozen hastily married couples go with him. The missionary priest Hans Egede has already been in Greenland for several years when the new colonists arrive. He has established a mission there, but the converts are few. Among those most hostile Egede is the shaman Aappaluttoq, whose own son was taken by the priest and raised in the Christian faith as his own. Thus the great rift between two men, and two ways of life, is born. The newly arrived couples - composed of men and women plucked from prison - quickly sink into a life of almost complete dissolution, and soon unsanitary conditions, illness and death bring the colony to its knees. Through the starvation and the epidemics that beset the colony, Egede remains steadfast in his determination - willing to sacrifice even those he loves for the sake of his mission. Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken, Kim Leine's The Colony of Good Hope explores what happens when two cultures confront one another. In a distant colony, under the harshest conditions, the overwhelming forces of nature meet the vices of man.

When art-thief and gambler Jim Markham falls foul of Satan, he must undergo the ordeal of the seven footprints in order to avoid slavery or death. If he fails he will be forced to carry out Satan's demonic bidding for the next year of his life.

'There he lay looking as if youth had been half-renewed, for the white hair and moustache were changed to dark iron-grey, the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed ruby-red underneath; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood, which trickled from the corners of the mouth and ran over the chin and neck. Even the deep, burning eyes seemed set amongst the swollen flesh, for the lids and pouches underneath were bloated. It seemed as if the whole awful creature were simply gorged with blood; he lay like a filthy leech, exhausted with his repletion.'

Thus Bram Stoker, one of the greatest exponents of the supernatural narrative, describes the demonic subject of his chilling masterpiece Dracula, a truly iconic and unsettling tale of vampirism.

Jane Austen, one of the nation's most beloved authors, whose face adorns our currency, surely needs no introduction, but while many are familiar with her groundbreaking novels, few have come across her short burlesque work The History of England. Billed a history 'from the reign of Henry IV to Charles I by a partial, prejudiced and ignorant historian', The History of England pokes fun at the overly verbose and grand histories of Austen's day. Written when she was just fifteen, this is a comic tour de force that shows Austen's wit developing into the satirical prowess she is remembered for.

Published during the heyday of fascism in Europe, It Can't Happen Here is a chilling cautionary tale by one of the greatest American writers of the twentieth century, which is still startlingly relevant almost a century later. Charting the rise to power of Berzelius 'Buzz' Windrip, who whips his supporters into a frenzy while promising drastic reform under a banner of patriotism and traditional values, It Can't Happen Here decries the tactics used by politicians to mobilise voters, and exposes the danger of authoritarianism arising from populist platforms, and the chaos such regimes can leave in their wake.

Die duiwel is hierdie jaar los by die klooster van die heilige sint William, Beskermheilige van die Metaversum. Dapper de Wet, roosteler, gourmand en deurwinterde loodswaaier, word teen sy sin deur die Departement afgevaardig om vas te stel wat aan die gang is.

Die klooster, geleë in wat eens die vrugbare mieliedriehoek in die Vrystaat was, bied jaarliks ’n Passiespel aan waarop hulle alle hoop vestig vir oorlewing. Maar JC van Schouwenburg, wat die hoofrol vertolk, het onverklaarbaar verdwyn en Dapper is desperaat om hom
op te spoor. Die moederowerste is ontwykend, die personeel onbehulpsaam en Broeder P, die newelagtige leier van die klooster, is ontoeganklik.

Om sy lewe verder te kompliseer moet Dapper boonop chaperone speel vir ’n beeldskone onderwyser wat met ernstige vraagstukke worstel en vir wie hy gevoelens ontwikkel het wat dreig om sy ewewig te laat kantel.

’n Verbeeldingryke, onthutsende roman wat die leser sal wegvoer na ’n ander – dog totaal geloofwaardige! – wêreld.

Acclaimed Italian author Donatella Di Pietrantonio’s best-selling novel to date, The Brittle Age is a powerful mother and daughter story and a profound exploration of human fragility and the haunting shadows of the past

In the 1990s, deep in the Maiella mountains of Central Italy, a brutal crime shatters the peace of the local community. Two young women are murdered, a third left for dead. Lucia is twenty years old back, and the only survivor is her best friend.   

Now, Lucia is a physiotherapist, separating from her husband, her daughter Amanda studying in Milan.  When the pandemic forces Amanda to return to the family’s home near Pescara, Lucia’s memories are reawakened, and with them the impact of past trauma. 

Set against the backdrop of the rugged Apennine mountains, this gripping psychological family drama weaves Lucia and Amanda’s personal struggles with the mystery of the tragedy that marked their familial land decades earlier.  

Inspired by true events, The Brittle Age is a tale of individual resilience, and a commentary on the indelible impact of historical events on personal lives and the broader community. 

For Kahlil Gibran, re-telling the story of Jesus had been the ambition of a life time. He had known it from childhood, when as a poor boy in the Middle-East, he'd been taught by a priest reading the bible with him. Now, in his maturity - and a successful writer in the USA - he wanted tell the story as no one had told it before. With 'Jesus, the Son of Man', (1928) he did just that; set alongside Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, here is 'The Gospel according to Gibran.' Gibran's approach is to allow the reader to see Jesus through the eyes of a large and disparate group of people. Some of these characters will be familiar: amongst others, we hear from Peter; Mary his mother; Luke; Pontius Pilate, Thomas and Mary Magdalene. But many other characters are new, created by Gibran, including a Jerusalem cobbler, an old Greek shepherd - and the mother of Judas. 'My son was a good man and upright,' she tells us. 'He was tender and kind to me, and he loved his kin and his countrymen.' What connects these people is the fact that they all have an opinion about Jesus; though no two opinions are the same. 'The Galilean was a conjuror, and a deceiver,' says a young priest. But then a woman caught in adultery experienced him in a different way. 'When Jesus didn't judge me, I became a woman without a tainted memory, and I was free and my head was no longer bowed.' Not all the women like him, however. A widow in Cana, whose son is a follower, remains furious: 'That man is evil! For what good man would separate a son from his mother?' While a lawyer has mixed feelings: 'I admired him more as a man than as a leader. He preached something beyond my liking; perhaps beyond my reason.' A philosopher is in awe, however: 'His senses were continually made new; and the world to him was always a new world.' With each fresh voice, a different aspect of Jesus' character is explored; and a different reaction named. Gibran concludes by reminding us that all the characters and attitudes presented in the story live on in the world today, with nothing different now from then. The Logician is clear in his distrust: 'Behold a man disorderly, against all order; a mendicant opposed to all possessions; a drunkard who would only make merry with rogues and castaways.' But for Gibran himself, whose Lebanese roots placed him close to the original steps of the Galilean, Jesus is worth rather more; and is present still: 'But Master, Sky-heart, knight of our fairer dream, You do still tread this way. No bows nor spears shall stray your steps; You walk through all our arrows. You smile down upon us, And though you are the youngest of us all, You father us all. Poet, Singer, Great Heart! May our God bless your name.'