This sumptuous gift set collects together hardback editions of the three most recently published tales of Middle-earth - The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin - and presents them in a matching slipcase decorated with the stunning artwork of the books' artist, Alan Lee. THE CHILDREN OF HURIN Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwells in the vast fortress of Angband in the North; and within the shadow of the fear of Angband, and the war waged by Morgoth against the Elves, the fates of Turin and his sister will be tragically entwined. Their brief and passionate lives are dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bears them as the children of Hurin, the man who dared defy him to his face. Against them Morgoth sends his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire, in an attempt to fulfil his curse and destroy the children of Hurin. BEREN AND LUTHIEN Deeply opposed to the marriage of Beren, a mortal man, to his daughter Luthien, the great Elvish lord, Thingol, imposes an impossible task that Beren must perform before they might wed. Undaunted by Lord Thingol's challenge, Beren and Luthien embark on the supremely heroic attempt to rob Morgoth, the greatest of all evil beings, of a Silmaril, one of the hallowed jewels that adorn the Black Enemy's crown. THE FALL OF GONDOLIN Central to the enmity of two of the greatest powers in the world - Morgoth and Ulmo - is the Elvish city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor largely refuse to support Ulmo. Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Turin, the instrument of Ulmo's designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out on the fearful journey to Gondolin, where he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon's daughter, and their son is Earendel, whose birth and profound importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo. Then Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs.

Dan Sleigh’s latest work is once more an historical novel. While Eilande was published in English set at the beginning of the Western presence in the Cape, Afstande is much closer to the foundations of Western civilisation itself. It is based on the Anabasis of the Greek soldier and writer Xenophon, in which he reported on what has been described as one of the great adventures in human history. This “adventure”, which began in 401 BC, was nothing less than one of the clearest examples of human hardship and endurance. The adventurers were an army of ten thousand Greek mercenaries who were hired by a Persian prince to overthrow his brother, the king of the mighty Persian Empire.

He ingeniously introduced another main character besides Xenophon, namely the Jewish eunuch Nagri, who was hailed as a prophet in Babylon, where the Israelites were in exile at the time. In Sleigh’s version the prisoner, Nagri, is used by Xenophon to compile the Anabasis from his cryptic notes. Afstande is therefore an intertwinement of the stories of two writers, namely the soldier-writer and the writer-prophet.

Apart from being a grueling, authentic portrayal of one of the most remarkable military adventures in history, Sleigh’s novel is a representation of man’s search for identity and stability in a fast-changing, turbulent and unforgiving time. He shows how religion and ideology paradoxically guide and complicate this search. Through his two writer characters, their alliance and the friction between them, he also investigates the passion, desires, conflicts, but above all the emotion that underlies being a writer. In this way Sleigh transforms antique material into something absolutely contemporary and he achieves what all great writers achieve, and that is to confirm the permanence of that which is universally human.

Terwyl voorberei word vir die partytjie wat hy gereel het om sy oogappel-jongste, Tirza, se laaste skooldag te vier, leer die leser gaandeweg dat alles nie pluis is in Jurgen Hofmeester se skynbare rykmansbestaan nie, en dat Hofmeester eintlik verbete vasklou aan die laaste bietjie wat hy nog van sy skyngeluk oorhet.

A stunning, standalone romantic fantasy filled with dangerous secrets, forbidden magic, and passion, of a young ruler who fights to protect her kingdom, from bestselling author Sue Lynn Tan and set in the breathtaking world of Daughter of the Moon Goddess.

What the gods did not give us, I would take

As the heir to Tianxia, Liyen knows she must ascend the throne and renew her kingdom’s pledge to serve the immortals who once protected them from a vicious enemy. But when she is poisoned, Liyen’s grandfather steals an enchanted lotus to save her life. Enraged at his betrayal, the immortal queen commands the powerful God of War to attack Tianxia.

Upon her grandfather’s death, Liyen ascends a precarious throne, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them—one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for.

But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal… even if it means losing her heart.

A rural English family endures as the Great War ends--and more storm clouds loom--in this saga from the New York Times-bestselling author of the Avenue novels. Through hard work and love of the land, Boer War vet Paul Craddock has transformed the sprawling West Country estate of Shallowford. With his wife and three children he enjoys a peaceful country life. But war has begun its inevitable march across England, and this remote corner of Devon cannot escape its cruel destruction. Young farmers of the village--barely men when they enlist--are dying in the field or coming home to a way of life that is rapidly disappearing. Yet as the Great War ends and another threatens to erupt, Craddock's faith and the strength he derives from his family will sustain him and his beloved village through trying, tumultuous times. Filled with vivid imagery and timeless emotion, this is the unforgettable story of a farming family and a vanishing way of life. Post of Honour is the second novel in R. F. Delderfield's A Horseman Riding By saga, which begins with Long Summer Day and continues with The Green Gauntlet.

This BookTok hit follows the events of Spark of the Everflame with Diem Bellator facing a coming war, dangerous enemies around every corner, and a battle for her heart—now in a collectible hardcover edition featuring gorgeous full-color endpapers, an exclusive designed hardcover case, and a never-before-seen bonus chapter.

The threat of war has arrived at Diem’s doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by bargaining with the people she hates most: the royal family of House Corbois.

But as she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes good and evil aren’t as black and white as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.

With her mother still missing, the secrets she left behind can no longer be ignored—and neither can the Guardians and their demands. Caught between an old flame and a sizzling new spark, Diem must confront the truth about who she is and what she wants before time runs out.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King's beloved novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption - the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award-nominee The Shawshank Redemption - about an unjustly imprisoned convict who seeks a strangely satisfying revenge, is now available for the first time as a standalone book.

A mesmerizing tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is one of Stephen King's most beloved and iconic stories, and it helped make Castle Rock a place readers would return to over and over again. Suspenseful, mysterious, and heart-wrenching, this iconic King novella, populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, is about a fiercely compelling convict named Andy Dufresne who is seeking his ultimate revenge.

Originally published in 1982 in the collection Different Seasons (alongside "The Body," "Apt Pupil," and "The Breathing Method"), it was made into the film The Shawshank Redemption in 1994. Starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, this modern classic was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, is one of the most beloved films of all time and is IMDb's top-rated movie of all time.

A battle lost. A daring escape. A long walk into obscurity. The ultimate failure.... In the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Culloden, a lonely figure takes flight with a small band of companions through the islands and mountains of the Hebrides. His name is Charles Edward Stuart: better known today as Bonnie Prince Charlie. He had come to the country to take the throne. Now he is leaving in exile and abject defeat. In prose that is by turns poetic, comic, macabre, haunting and humane, multi- award-winning author Alan Warner traces the frantic last journey through Scotland of a man who history will come to define for his failure.