‘A stunning, ingenious, truly immersive mystery. The Turnglass is a thrilling delight' Chris Whitaker  Stuart Turton meets The Magpie Murders in this immersive and unique story for fans of clever crime fiction. Imagine you’re holding a book in your hands. It’s not just any book though. It’s a tête-bêche novel, beloved of nineteenth-century bookmakers. It’s a book that is two books: two intertwined stories printed back-to-back. Open the book and the first novella begins. It ends at the middle of the book. Then flip the book over, head to tail, and read the second story in the opposite direction. Both covers are front covers; and it can be read in either direction, or in both directions at once, alternating chapters, to fully immerse the reader in it. 1880s England. On the bleak island of Ray, off the Essex coast, an idealistic young doctor, Simeon Lee, is called from London to treat his cousin, Parson Oliver Hawes, who is dying. Parson Hawes, who lives in the only house on the island – Turnglass House – believes he is being poisoned. And he points the finger at his sister-in-law, Florence. Florence was declared insane after killing Oliver’s brother in a jealous rage and is now kept in a glass-walled apartment in Oliver’s library. And the secret to how she came to be there is found in Oliver’s tête-bêche journal, where one side tells a very different story from the other. 1930s California. Celebrated author Oliver Tooke, the son of the state governor, is found dead in his writing hut off the coast of the family residence, Turnglass House. His friend Ken Kourian doesn’t believe that Oliver would take his own life. His investigations lead him to the mysterious kidnapping of Oliver’s brother when they were children, and the subsequent secret incarceration of his mother, Florence, in an asylum. But to discover the truth, Ken must decipher clues hidden in Oliver’s final book, a tête-bêche novel – which is about a young doctor called Simeon Lee . . . 

Stuart Turton meets The Magpie Murders in this immersive and unique story for fans of clever crime fiction.

1880s England. On the bleak island of Ray, off the Essex coast, an idealistic young doctor, Simeon Lee, is called from London to treat his cousin, Parson Oliver Hawes, who is dying. Parson Hawes, who lives in the only house on the island – Turnglass House – believes he is being poisoned. And he points the finger at his sister-in-law, Florence. Florence was declared insane after killing Oliver’s brother in a jealous rage and is now kept in a glass-walled apartment in Oliver’s library. And the secret to how she came to be there is found in Oliver’s tête-bêche journal, where one side tells a very different story from the other.

1930s California. Celebrated author Oliver Tooke, the son of the state governor, is found dead in his writing hut off the coast of the family residence, Turnglass House. His friend Ken Kourian doesn’t believe that Oliver would take his own life. His investigations lead him to the mysterious kidnapping of Oliver’s brother when they were children, and the subsequent secret incarceration of his mother, Florence, in an asylum. But to discover the truth, Ken must decipher clues hidden in Oliver’s final book, a tête-bêche novel – which is about a young doctor called Simeon Lee . . .

In 1914 a train pulled into a provincial British railway station. The porter, a curious chap, asked the regiment of soldiers where they were from. 'Ross-shire,' one called down, but the porter heard 'Russia'. And so began a rumour that led to Germany losing the First World War. Often the history we learn at school is only half the story. We hear of heroic deeds and visionary leaders, but we never hear about the people who turned up late for court and thereby changed the law, or who stood in the wrong queue at university and accidentally won a Nobel Prize. The Great Cat Massacre: A History of Britain in 100 Mistakes demonstrates that the nation is as much a product of error as design. Through chapters on religion, law, culture, war, science and politics, it reveals such things as how an edict from Pope Gregory IX helped spread the Black Death, how the sister of cricketer John Willes invented overarm bowling, and how, had a letter not been lost, Disraeli might never have become prime minister. This book is history told through human failings, schoolboy errors, bad luck and extraordinary consequences; a history of mishearing, misdiagnosis and misinterpretation - a history that you won't find in the textbooks.

THE GRIPPING WWII ESPIONAGE THRILLER ABOUT SURVIVAL, TRUST AND A DEADLY BATTLE FOR THE TRUTH . . . 'Races along, with plenty of surprises' Times February, 1944. A bitter winter grips occupied France, where Marc Reece leads a circuit of British agents risking their lives in order to sabotage the German war effort from within. But Reece has a second mission, secret even from his fellow agents - including Charlotte, the woman with whom he has ill-advisedly fallen in love. He must secure a document identifying a German spy at the heart of British intelligence. The fate of the Allied forces on D-Day is in his hands. But when his circuit is ambushed - with fatal consequences - Reece realizes there may be a traitor in its ranks, putting everything they've been fighting for at risk. Then Charlotte goes missing. Is she in danger, or has Reece been betrayed by the only person he thought he could trust? And with the clock ticking towards D-Day, can he find the truth before it's too late? A gripping and atmospheric thriller inspired by true events, this is the story of a deadly game of espionage, destined to change the course of the most crucial battle in the Second World War. 'Exhaustively researched, superbly realised, The Winter Agent is a superior SOE novel. Gareth Rubin really knows his stuff and it shows on every page' Howard Linskey 'Smart, stylish, meticulously researched. Rich in loyalty and double dealing, captures perfectly the horror and heroism, delivered at a cracking pace' Sun 'Brilliant. Blends meticulously researched history with a plot of double-crossing and deception' Best

'This richly imagined thriller is set in an alternate past . . . Tightly plotted, tense and set in a chillingly plausible world' Sunday Mirror 'A gripping story, with heart' Best thrillers of 2019, Daily Telegraph It's 1952 and Soviet troops control British streets. After the disastrous failure of D-Day, Britain is rescued by Russian and American soldiers. The two superpowers divide the nation between them, a wall running through London like a scar. On the Soviet side of the wall, Jane Cawson suspects her husband, Nick, of secretly seeing his ex-wife, Lorelei, glamorous star of Soviet propaganda films. But before Jane can confront them, Lorelei is murdered. To her horror, Nick is arrested for the killing. Desperate to clear his name, Jane must risk the attention of the brutal secret police in order to discover the truth. Evading them, her search uncovers a trail of corruption - and the higher it leads, the more dangerous it becomes... ___________ 'A gripping and well-imagined yarn' Sun 'A gripping murder mystery set in an alternative 1950s Britain . . . One not to miss' William Ryan, author of The Constant Soldier 'A superb and intelligent piece of alternate history. By turns gripping, terrifying and trenchant, it is a remarkably assured debut' Stav Sherez, author of The Intrusions 'A twisting murder mystery combined with a chillingly plausible alternative history of a divided Cold War London. Brilliant' Mason Cross, bestselling author of The Samaritan 'A brilliantly researched, shockingly plausible thriller' Claire McGowan, author of The Fall 'A tantalising alternative world, and a murder mystery that's sure to appeal to fans of The Man in the High Castle, and Fatherland' David Young, bestselling author of Stasi Child