Shipwrecked off the coast of Trinidad, Robinson Crusoe - a young man with a thirst for adventure - finds himself washed up on a remote tropical island with nothing but a few tools and animals for company. Cast away for thirty years, he must battle cannibals, mutineers and the elements in a tale so convincing that many readers at the time believed it to be non-fiction. A true page-turner, Robinson Crusoe is one of the most enduring novels in the English language and its unique blend of extraordinary realism and brilliant drama continues to delight readers the world over. This Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe features illustrations by the celebrated Victorian caricaturist George Cruikshank, and an afterword by writer and journalist Ned Halley. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Conn Iggulden has called it 'a masterpiece' while The Times has hailed it 'a gorgeous, rich retelling of the Arthurian tale' . . . The legions of Rome are a fading memory. Enemies stalk the fringes of Britain. And Uther Pendragon is dying. Into this fractured and uncertain world the boy is cast, a refugee from fire, murder and betrayal. An outsider whose only companions are a hateful hawk and memories of the lost. Yet he is gifted, and under the watchful eyes of Merlin and the Lady Nimue he will hone his talents and begin his journey to manhood. He will meet Guinevere, a wild, proud and beautiful girl, herself outcast because of her gift. And he will be dazzled by Arthur, a warrior who carries the hopes of a people like fire in the dark. But these are times of struggle and blood, when even friendship and love seem doomed to fail. The gods are vanishing beyond the reach of dreams. Treachery and jealousy rule men's hearts and the fate of Britain itself rests on a sword's edge. But the young renegade who left his home in Benoic with just a hunting bird and dreams of revenge is now a lord of war. He is a man loved and hated, admired and feared. A man forsaken but not forgotten. He is Lancelot. Set in a 5th century Britain besieged by invading bands of Saxons and Franks, Irish and Picts, Giles Kristian's epic new novel tells - in Lancelot's own words - the story of the most revered yet reviled of all Arthur's knights, the warrior who fought at his lord's side - yet stole his wife. This is the story of the of one of the great figures of British myth and legend - a story ready to be re-imagined for our times.

From New York Times bestselling author Margaret George, Emperor Nero: The Splendour Before The Dark is the stunning conclusion to Emperor Nero's story that began in The Confessions of Young Nero. With the beautiful and cunning Poppaea at his side, Nero Augustus commands the Roman Empire, ushering in an unprecedented era of artistic and cultural splendour. Although he has yet to produce an heir, his power is absolute. But in the tenth year of his reign, a terrifying prophecy comes to pass and a fire engulfs Rome, reducing entire swaths of the city to rubble. Rumours of Nero's complicity in the blaze start to sow unrest among the populace - and the politicians . . . For better or worse, Nero knows that his fate is now tied to Rome's - and he vows to rebuild it as a city that will stun the world. But there are those who find his rampant quest for glory dangerous. Throughout the empire, false friends and spies conspire against him, not understanding what drives him to undertake the impossible. Nero will either survive and be the first in his family to escape the web of betrayals that is the Roman court, or be ensnared and remembered as the last radiance of the greatest dynasty the world had ever known.

Sunday Post's best reads of the year, 2018 Rome, AD 63. Vespasian has been made Governor of Africa. Nero, Rome's increasingly unpredictable Emperor, orders him to journey with his most trusted men to a far-flung empire in Africa to free 500 Roman citizens who have been enslaved by a desert kingdom. Vespasian arrives at the city to negotiate their emancipation, hoping to return to Rome a hero and find himself back in favour with Nero. But when Vespasian reaches the city, he discovers a slave population on the edge of revolt. With no army to keep the population in check, it isn't long before tensions spill over into bloody chaos. Vespasian must escape the city with all 500 Roman citizens and make their way across a barren desert, battling thirst and exhaustion, with a hoard of rebels at their backs. It's a desperate race for survival, with twists and turns aplenty. Meanwhile, back in Rome, Nero's extravagance goes unchecked. All of Rome's elite fear for their lives as Nero's closest allies run amok. Can anyone stop the Emperor before Rome devours itself? And if Nero is to be toppled, who will be the one to put his head in the lion's mouth? ______________________________________________ Don't miss Robert Fabbri's epic new series Alexander's Legacy

'Lindsey Davis has seen off all her competitors to become the unassailable market leader in the 'crime in Ancient Rome' genre . . . Davis's squalid, vibrant Rome is as pleasurable as ever' - Guardian 'For fans of crime fiction set in the ancient world, this one is not to be missed' - Booklist Private investigator Flavia Albia is always drawn to an intriguing puzzle - even if it is put to her by her new husband's hostile ex-wife. On the Quirinal Hill, a young girl named Clodia has died, apparently poisoned with a love potion. Only one person could have supplied such a thing: a local witch who goes by the name of Pandora, whose trade in herbal beauty products is hiding something far more sinister. The supposedly sweet air of the Quirinal is masking the stench of loose morality, casual betrayal and even gangland conflict and, when a friend of her own is murdered, Albia determines to expose as much of this local sickness as she can - beginning with the truth about Clodia's death. **************** Praise for Lindsey Davis and the Flavia Albia series 'Davis's prose is a lively joy, and Flavia's Rome is sinister and gloriously real' The Times on Sunday 'Davis's books crackle with wit and knowledge . . . She has the happy knack of making the reader feel entirely immersed in Rome'

What if Baker Street's most gifted resident wasn't called Sherlock Holmes?An evil stalks London, blown in from the tropics. Stories of cursed giant rats and malign spirits haunt the garrets of Limehouse. A group of merchants are, one by one, dying. The elementary choice to investigate these mysterious deaths is, of course, Holmes and Dr Watson. Yet the unique gifts of their housekeeper, Mrs Hudson, and her orphaned assistant Flotsam, will be needed to solve the case. Can she do it all under the nose of Sherlock himself? From the coal fire at Baker Street to the smog of Whitechapel and the jungles of Sumatra, from snake bites in grand hotels to midnight carriage chases at the docks, it's time for Mrs Hudson to step out of the shadows. Playfully breaking with convention, Martin Davies brings a fresh twist to classic Victorian mystery. Martin Davies grew up in north-west England. All his writing is done in cafes, on buses or on trains, and all his first drafts are written in longhand. He has travelled widely, including in the Middle East, India and Sicily. In addition to the Holmes & Hudson Mysteries, he is the author of four other novels, including The Conjurer's Bird, which sold over 150,000 copies and was selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club and Havana Sleeping, which was shortlisted for the 2015 CWA Historical Dagger award. He works as a consultant in the broadcasting industry.

'PERSEPHONE is another shining milepost for Captain Thomas Kydd and his creator, Julian Stockwin' - Quarterdeck November 1807. Captain Sir Thomas Kydd must sail to Lisbon to aid the Portuguese Royal Family's evacuation in the face of Napoleon's ruthless advance through Iberia. In the chaos of the threatened city an old passion is reawakened when he meets Persephone Lockwood, a beautiful and determined admiral's daughter from his past. But the Royal Family's destination is Brazil, Perspehone's England, and it seems Kydd's chance has gone again. Only later he discovers Persephone has another suitor - and that, if he wants to win her hand, he must enter the highest echelons of London society. Mixing with aristocracy and royalty brings other responsibilities. The Prince of Wales asks him to take temporary command of the Royal Yacht. Sailing to Yarmouth, Kydd realises they are being stalked by French privateers. The terrible threat of a prince of the blood being captured sees Kydd call on daring seamanship of the highest order. *************** What readers are saying about PERSEPHONE 'Very much recommended, for this is an absolutely astonishing naval story by this author, and that's why I like to say: "Sail On, Thomas Kydd"!' - 5 stars 'A masterly piece of writing!' - 5 stars 'End one and start another - they're addictive' - 5 stars 'Read it - that's all I'll say' - 5 stars 'Still excellent, still gripping' - 5 stars

The rivalries and hatred that have existed for centuries are coming to an end. Highlanders and LowIanders are drawing closer together, forming combined divisions in the British Army and fighting for a common cause. Andrew Griffin is a descendant of Rob Roy MacGregor; fighting and gambling are in his blood, but he also has an inbred feeling for the poetry and music of Scotland, and on the bagpipes he stands unequalled.

The French Revolution is in full swing and the aristocracy are being sent to the guillotine in their hundreds. In the shadows, English dandy Sir Peter Blakeney – working under his alter ego, the Scarlet Pimpernel – is breaking the condemned out of prison and leaving his distinctive calling card, a picture of a red flower, to torment the French authorities. A master of disguise, infamous escape artist and flamboyant swordsman, his identity is such a closely guarded secret that even his wife is in the dark. But, with enemy agents on close his tail, his failure to trust her might be his undoing.

The very first hero with a secret identity, the Scarlet Pimpernel is a worthy precursor to Zorro and Batman. His daring antics (and undeniable flair) are just as delightful today as they were a century ago.

Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector’s Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector’s Library are books to love and treasure.

From National Book Award-winning writer James Carroll comes a novel of the timeless love story of Peter Abelard and Héloïse, and its impact on a modern priest and a Holocaust survivor seeking sanctuary in Manhattan.

Father Michael Kavanagh is shocked when he sees a friend from his seminary days at the altar of his humble parish in upper Manhattan—a friend who was forced to leave under scandalous circumstances. Compelled to reconsider the past, Father Kavanagh wanders into the medieval haven of the Cloisters and stumbles into a conversation with a lovely and intriguing docent, Rachel Vedette.

Having survived the Holocaust and escaped to America, Rachel remains obsessed with her late father’s greatest scholarly achievement: a study demonstrating the relationship between the famously discredited monk Peter Abelard and Jewish scholars. Feeling an odd connection with Father Kavanagh, Rachel shares with him the work that cost her father his life.

At the center of these interrelated stories is the classic romance between the great philosopher Abelard and his intellectual equal, Héloïse. For Rachel, Abelard is the key to understanding her people’s place in history. And for Father Kavanagh, the controversial theologian may be a doorway to understanding the life he himself might have had outside the Church.

A touching tale of determination, female friendship and love against all odds. Inspired by a true story, The Prisoner of Thiago is a gripping historical novel that lays bare the unimaginable suffering and fear endured by the Moriscos of Spain during the sixteenth century. At the heart of the novel is Zaira, a spirited Morisco girl, who refuses to yield to her Catholic oppressors. Separated from her family and imprisoned in the palace of a fanatical bishop, Zaira must summon all of her courage to endure the horrors and hardships to come. The novel was inspired by a unique collection of Andalusian manuscript documents dating from 1490 to 1580, which chart the plight of a Morisco family as their property was expropriated, their rights curtailed and their lives torn apart during one of the worst pogroms the world has ever seen.

Nico and Maria, Maltese brother and sister, are separated when young Nico is abducted by Moorish slavers. Taken to Algiers to be the personal slave of a wealthy merchant, he becomes a pawn in household politics and sets out to escape. Extraordinary events lead him to the court of Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottomans. Stranded alone on Malta, Maria must learn to survive helped only by a group of Jewish refugees. A sweeping historical epic set against the backdrop of the desperate conflict between Christian Europe and the Islamic Ottoman Empire, The Sword and the Scimitar vividly portrays an irresistible and fast-moving world of adventure, war, treachery and love.

'Tension surges through A Sea of Gold . . . In this rousing yarn, Stockwin again raises naval fiction to a new level' - Quarterdeck 'Stockwin has surpassed himself with A Sea of Gold . . . a fine, fully favoured vintage yarn' - Warships 1809. After his heroic actions during the retreat to Corunna, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is the toast of London society. Here he falls in with the legendary frigate captain, Lord Thomas Cochrane. So begins a relationship, professional and personal, that will be unlike any that Kydd has known: a relationship that will lead him, almost simultaneously, to first glory, then ruin. The French fleet is massing in the Basque Roads in a near impregnatable position. The Admiralty orders Cochrane to command an attack, to the chagrin of more senior officers who object to being overlooked and Cochrane's reputation for daring. Cochrane insists that his new friend, Kydd, is in the forefront of the assault armada, a motley collection of rocket, bomb and fire ships that will set the anchorage ablaze - this despite Kydd's almost pathological fear of fire. The fallout from what follows will see Kydd financially ruined, with only his former shipmates, his oldest friend of all, Nicholas Renzi, and the whisper of hidden Spanish treasure promising the sea of gold that he needs to save himself. ******************** Praise for Julian Stockwin's Kydd series 'Paints a vivid picture of life aboard the mighty ship-of-the-line' Daily Express 'This heady adventure blends fact and fiction in rich, authoritative detail' Nautical Magazine 'Fans of fast-paced adventure will get their fill with this book' Historical Naval Society 'In Stockwin's hands the sea story will continue to entrance readers across the world' - Guardian

Bridging the gap between 'Game of Thrones' and Bernard Cornwell comes the second chapter in James Wilde's epic adventure of betrayal, battle and bloodshed . . . It is AD 367, and Roman Britain has fallen to the vast barbarian horde which has invaded from the north. Towns burn, the land is ravaged and the few survivors flee. The army of Rome - once the most effective fighting force in the world - has been broken, its spirit lost and its remaining troops shattered. Yet for all the darkness, there is hope. And it rests with one man. His name is Lucanus who they call the Wolf. He is a warrior, and he wears the ancient crown of the great war leader, Pendragon, and he wields a sword bestowed upon him by the druids. With a small band of trusted followers, Lucanus ventures south to Londinium where he hopes to bring together an army and make a defiant stand against the invader. But within the walls of that great city there are others waiting on his arrival - hidden enemies who want more than anything to possess the great secret that has been entrusted to his care. To seize it would give them power beyond imagining. To protect it will require bravery and sacrifice beyond measure. And to lose it would mean the end of everything worth fighting for. Before Camelot. Before Excalibur. Before all you know of King Arthur. Here is the beginning of that legend . . .

A fierce and heart-breaking historical debut, perfect for fans of The Light Between Oceans and based on the incredible true story of convict Mary Bryant. Highway robber Convict Runaway Mother Jenny Trelawney is no ordinary thief. Forced by poverty to live in the Devon forest, she becomes a successful highway woman - until her luck runs out. Transported to Australia, pregnant and alone, Jenny must face harsh challenges in an unforgiving land. When famine hits the new colony, Jenny becomes convinced that those she most cares about will not survive. She becomes the leader in a grand plot of escape. Setting sail in a small open boat on an unknown ocean, she will do anything for freedom, but at what cost?