Ever since he first saw her, Frederick Clegg has been obsessed with Miranda Grey. The repressed, introverted butterfly collector admires the beautiful, privileged art student from afar until he wins the Lottery and buys a remote country house, planning to bring her there as his "guest". Having abducted and imprisoned her in the cellar, he soon finds this reality is far from his fantasy and their tense, claustrophobic relationship leads to a devastating climax.

Drawing on 30 years of scholarship, this is a unique, richly illustrated history of the Ancient Assyrian Army and Empire. For the greater part of the period from the end of the 10th century to the 7th century BC, the Ancient Near East was dominated by the dynamic military power of Assyria. This book examines the empire that is now acknowledged as the first 'world' empire, and thus progenitor of all others. Fully illustrated in colour throughout, with photographs of artefacts, drawings and maps, it focuses on the Assyrian Army, the instrument that secured such immense conquests, now regarded by historians as being the most effective of pre-classical times. It was not only responsible for the creation of history's first independent cavalry arm, but also for the development of siege weapons later used by both Greece and Rome. There is a great deal of visual evidence showing how this army evolved over three centuries. During the rediscovery and excavation of the Assyrian civilisation in the mid-19th century, many wall reliefs and artefacts were recovered, and the enormous amount of research carried out by Assyriologists since that time has revealed the immense impact of the Assyrian Empire on history. Such has been the scale of archaeological discovery in more recent years that it is now possible to give the actual names of chariot/cavalry unit commanders. Drawing on this rich scholarship, and utilising the fantastic collections of museums around the world, Mark Healy presents a unique new history of this fascinating army and empire.

The Soviet T-34 was the most produced tank of the Second World War and its revolutionary sloping armour became a major influence on future tank design. With its combination of heavy firepower, mobility and protection, the T-34 gave the Red Army a war-winning weapon with which to break the German Army on the Eastern Front. A mainstay of the Soviet armoured divisions, it was widely exported after the war and in 2017 it remains in frontline service with many third world countries. Author Mark Healy combines a detailed technical examination of the T-34 with its legendary combat history.

In July 1943, Hitler launched Operation Zitadelle, the last German offensive on the Eastern Front. It was an attempt to shorten the German lines by eliminating the Kursk salient – created after their defeat at Stalingrad – and was designed to result in the encirclement of the Red Army. In reality, the German tanks came up against impenetrable Russian defences: minefields, artillery and anti-tank emplacements, spread through lines 250km deep and manned by Russian troops whose actions often verged on the suicidal. The greatest tank battle in history, Kursk assured the Nazis’ defeat and was ‘the swan song of the German tank arm’. Involving over 9,000 tanks, 5,000 aircraft, 35,000 guns and mortars, 2.7 million troops and 230,000 casualties, the Battle of Kursk was a conflict whose scale and barbarity eclipsed all other clashes in Europe. This book gives a clear, concise account of those dramatic days in 1943, supported by a timeline of events and orders of battle, and illustrated with over fifty photographs.

Based on the chassis of the Panzer III tank, the Second World War German Sturmgeschutz series of assault guns was a successful and cost-effective range of armoured fighting vehicles. Originally intended as a mobile assault weapon for infantry support, the StuG was constantly modified and saw extensive use on all battlefronts as an assault gun and tank destroyer. Author Mark Healy examines the development, construction and fighting qualities of the StuG, including insights into what it was like to operate and maintain. His centrepiece is a surviving StuG III at the Tank Museum, Bovington, and he also draws on a range of documentary and photographic information sources in Germany, the USA and France.

Regarded by many as one of the greatest tanks ever built, the German Panther is probably the finest medium tank of the Second World War. Some 7,000 were made, combining firepower, armour protection and mobility that was unmatched by any other tank of the period. On the Eastern Front it was the primary nemesis of the Russian T-34 tank in the last two years of the war. Ironically, the Panther's genesis lay in the need for the Germans to come up with a new tank design after the T-34 had rendered the Panzer III obsolete almost overnight after Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. The Panther made its combat debut in Russia at the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 and all major German tank development after this point was influenced by the design features of the T-34. Soviet tank crews were not alone in recognising the Panther as a deadly adversary. The Allied armies in Europe encountered it during the Normandy campaign in 1944 and considered the Panther to be the most formidable German armoured fighting vehicle in Europe through to 1945. Such was the effectiveness of the Panther that the French Army used it for a period after the Second World War as it rebuilt its own armoured force.

In the summer of 1943 the German army stood poised for a major offensive. The attack was aimed at the Kursk salient, which the Germans intended to isolate, trapping large numbers of Russian troops and paving the way for the decisive campaign to knock the Soviet Union out of the war. By the time of the attack, the Russians had turned the salient into a mass of defensive positions. In the following decisive clash, the Soviets bled Germany's vital Panzer forces white and finally took the initiative. The counter-offensive which followed began an advance that would end in the ruins of Berlin.