Macmillan Publishers

Award-winning and critically acclaimed historian Helen Rappaport turns to the tragic story of the daughters of the last Tsar of all the Russias, slaughtered with their parents at Ekaterinburg. On 17 July 1918, four young women walked down twenty-three steps into the cellar of a house in Ekaterinburg. The eldest was twenty-two, the youngest only seventeen. Together with their parents and their thirteen-year-old brother, they were all brutally murdered. Their crime: to be the daughters of the last Tsar and Tsaritsa of All the Russias. Much has been written about Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their tragic fate, as it has about the Russian Revolutions of 1917, but little attention has been paid to the Romanov princesses, who — perhaps inevitably — have been seen as minor players in the drama. In Four Sisters, however, acclaimed biographer Helen Rappaport, puts them centre stage and offers readers the most authoritative account yet of the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Drawing on their own letters and diaries and other hitherto unexamined primary sources, she paints a vivid picture of their lives in the dying days of the Romanov dynasty. We see, almost for the first time, their journey from a childhood of enormous privilege, throughout which they led a very sheltered and largely simple life, to young womanhood — their first romantic crushes, their hopes and dreams, the difficulty of coping with a mother who was a chronic invalid and a haeomophiliac brother, and, latterly, the trauma of the revolution and its terrible consequences. Compellingly readable, meticulously researched and deeply moving, Four Sisters gives these young women a voice, and allows their story to resonate for readers almost a century after their death.

This is the new thriller from the bestselling author Wilbur Smith. When Hector Cross' life is overturned, he immediately recognizes the ruthless hand of an enemy he has faced many times before. A terrorist group has re-emerged — like a deadly scorpion from beneath its rock. Determined to fight back, Hector draws together a team of his most loyal friends from his former life in Cross Bow Security, a company originally contracted to protect his beloved wife, Hazel Bannock, and her company, the Bannock Oil Corp. Together, they travel to the remotest parts of the Middle East, to hunt down those who pursue him and his loved ones. For Hazel and Hector have a child, a precious daughter, who he will go to the ends of the earth to protect. And brutal figures from the Bannock family's past — thought long-gone — are returning, with an agenda so sinister that Hector realizes he is facing a new breed of enemy. One whose shifting attack and dark secrets take Hector to the heart of Africa and to a series of crimes so shocking they demand revenge.

In Rise of the Governor, uber-villain Philip Blake journeyed from his humble beginnings directly into the dark heart of the zombie apocalypse, and became the self-proclaimed leader of a small town called Woodbury. In Book Two, The Road to Woodbury, an innocent traveller named Lilly Caul wound up in the terrifying thrall of Phillip Blake's twisted, violent dictatorship within Woodbury's ever-tightening barricades. In The Fall of the Governor, Part One, classic characters from both the comic and television series, including Rick, Michonne and Glenn, finally made their appearance in the Walking Dead novel series, only to discover that the Governor is a very dangerous enemy. Now, after a pulse-pounding series of events, the Governor and Rick face off one last time, and only one of them will be left standing...

Montalbano opened the door to step out. But Gallo held him back, putting one hand on his arm. 'What's in there, Chief?' 'If it's what I think, it's something so horrific that it'll haunt your dreams for the rest of your life...' When a crazed elderly man and his sister begin firing bullets from their balcony down onto the Vigata street below, Inspector Montalbano finds himself a reluctant television hero. A few days later, when a letter arrives containing a mysterious riddle, the Inspector becomes drawn into a perplexing treasure hunt set by an anonymous challenger. As the hunt intensifies, Montalbano is relieved to be offered the assistance of Arturo Pennisi, a young man eager to witness the detective's investigative skills first hand. Fending off meddling commissioners and his irate girlfriend, Livia, the inspector will follow the treasure hunt's clues and travel from Vigata's teeming streets to its deserted outskirts: where an abandoned house overlooks a seemingly bottomless lake. But when a horrifying crime is committed, the game must surely be laid aside. And it isn't long before Montalbano himself will be in terrible danger...

If journalist Anna had to write up the story of her own life, it wouldn't make for a great headline: Dull Journo Has Dull Boyfriend! The only mystery in Anna's life is that she's never known who her dad is but with her mum refusing to tell her more she's at a dead end. When she accidentally comes across a clue that her father is Italian, it opens up a burning curiosity in Anna. Soon she's cooking Italian food, signing up for an Italian class and even considering dusting off her passport to go and find her dad in person... Sophie is serving gelato to tourists in Italy when she gets the call that her father has had a serious heart attack. In a rush, she grabs her well-worn backpack and heads back to the one place she's been avoiding for so long — home. Living with her mum again while her dad recuperates, and taking a job teaching Italian to make ends meet, Sophie has to face up to the secrets she's kept buried in the past. Catherine has no idea what the future holds. Her children have left for university, her husband has left her for another woman and her bank account is left empty after dedicating her life to raising her family. She needs a job and an identity all of a sudden. At an Italian evening class she makes a start in finding new friends Anna and Sophie. And she's going to need good friends when she discovers her husband's lies run even deeper than his infidelity... As Anna embarks on the trip to Italy that could answer all of her questions, will the truth live up to her dreams?

This is the fourth spellbinding book in the epic Clifton Chronicles series. Be Careful What You Wish For opens with Harry Clifton and his wife Emma rushing to hospital to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been involved in a fatal car accident. But who died, Sebastian or his best friend Bruno? When Ross Buchanan is forced to resign as chairman of the Barrington Shipping Company, Emma Clifton wants to replace him. But Don Pedro Martinez intends to install his puppet, the egregious Major Alex Fisher, in order to destroy the Barrington family firm just as the company plans to build its new luxury liner, the MV Buckingham. Back in London, Harry and Emma's adopted daughter wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art where she falls in love with a fellow student, Clive Bingham, who asks her to marry him. Both families are delighted until Priscilla Bingham, Jessica's future mother-in-law, has a visit from an old friend, Lady Virginia Fenwick, who drops her particular brand of poison into the wedding chalice. Then, without warning, Cedric Hardcastle, a bluff Yorkshireman who no one has come across before, takes his place on the board of Barringtons. This causes an upheaval that none of them could have anticipated, and will change the lives of every member of the Clifton and Barrington families. Hardcastle's first decision is who to support to become the next chairman of the board: Emma Clifton or Major Alex Fisher? And with that decision, the story takes yet another twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

A Quick Read from the number one bestselling writer and author of Kane and Abel. These four short stories from a master storyteller are packed full of twists and turns. In Stuck on You, Jeremy finds out exactly the best way to steal the perfect ring for his fiancee. Albert celebrates his 100th birthday, and is pleased to be sent The Queen's Birthday Telegram. He is, however, confused... In Russia, businessman Richard plots the ideal way to murder his wife. He begins to have a clever idea when his hotel warns him: Don't Drink the Water from the taps. And as Diana, a busy single mother, drives to have dinner with friends, she realises that a black van is following her. Soon terrified for her life, she does whatever it takes to stick to the warning given to drivers: Never Stop on the Motorway... Every reader will have their favourite story — some will make you laugh, others will bring you to tears. And, as always, every one of them will keep you spellbound. Quick Reads is a World Book Day initiative.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the American Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's magnificent historical epic is an unforgettable tale of love and loss, of a nation mortally divided and a people forever changed. Above all, it is the story of beautiful, ruthless Scarlett O'Hara and the dashing soldier of fortune, Rhett Butler.

Two weeks in a remote island villa with America's most dysfunctional family — what could possibly go wrong? The Posts are going on their first family vacation in years, and it's going to be a special one: Jim and Franny are taking their daughter Sylvia, son Bobby and his girlfriend, and Franny's best friend Charles and his husband, all the way to Mallorca for two weeks of the sort of relaxation, culture and cuisine that only Europe can offer. But there are problems. After a transgression with a twenty-three-year-old editorial assistant, Jim has been unceremoniously sacked from his job, and now his and Franny's marriage is on the rocks. Charles and Lawrence are feeling divided over their future, Bobby is mired in debt problems and stuck in a relationship that's pulling in opposite directions and his girlfriend Carmen, super-fit personal trainer and, at forty-something, far too old for Bobby, seems to have realized her mistake. As for Sylvia, she's eighteen, about to go to college, and determined to lose her virginity before she gets there...

'Brilliant' Stylist 'Unforgettable' Easy Living Emma used to have two brothers, but five years ago Kit died and on the day of his funeral Jamie left home and never came back. Their parents never talk about what happened. But now Emma is older she is beginning to ask questions — and she's never given up hope that she will see Jamie again... Told with honesty and warmth, The View on the Way Down is the story of a devastating act of brotherly love that will open your eyes even as it breaks your heart. 'This is a book that leaves you contemplating many things. The complexity of sibling relationships, the hidden contagiousness of mental illness, the long shadows cast by childhood and the pain that is the price of love' Matt Haig, Guardian 'So compassionate, so heartbreaking... the story wouldn't let me go' Shelley Harris 'A wonderfully moving portrayal of love and pain with a mystery right at its heart. I defy anybody to read this book and not be touched in some way' Sally Brampton.

Desperately lonely, sixteen-year-old Monica Kammerle has little idea of what she is getting herself into when she begins an affair with her mother's latest partner; the sophisticated Benjamin Kerran... Months later, when a woman's strangled body is found, the Maardam police must discover who has committed this terrible crime. It isn't long before they realize the perpetrator may have killed before — and is likely to do so again. Meanwhile former Chief Inspector Van Veeteren finds himself drawn into the mystery when a priest, who has learned dreadful secrets, appeals to him for help. But when the priest falls beneath the wheels of a train and the police find more dead-ends than leads, it seems Van Veeteren will have to come up with a new approach to unearth this dark serial killer. Before he chooses his next victim...

Evelyn Thomas's plans for celebrating her twenty-first birthday in Las Vegas were big. Huge. But she sure as hell never meant to wake up on the bathroom floor with a hangover to rival the black plague, a very attractive half-naked tattooed man, and a diamond on her finger large enough to scare King Kong. Now if she could just remember how it all happened. One thing is for certain, being married to rock and roll's favourite son is sure to be a wild ride.

Amy is unflinchingly honest about her limitations. Born with cerebral palsy, she can't walk or talk without help. But trapped inside this uncooperative body lies a brilliant mind and a luminous spirit — a girl capable of truly loving and worthy of being loved in return. Matthew has his own set of challenges — a mind consumed by unwanted repeated thoughts, obsessive rituals and a crippling fear that he can't explain. But underneath all of the anxiety lies a deep seed of hope for someone to come along who believes in him... This is the story of Amy and Matthew. It may not be a fairy tale romance or set in an imagined world far from our own. But the love they share is real. And yes, there's magic in it.

WINNER OF THE DEANSTON SCOTTISH CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD How does a gunman retire? Frank MacLeod was the best at what he does. Thoughtful. Efficient. Ruthless. But is he still the best? A new job. A target. But something is about to go horribly wrong. Someone is going to end up dead. Most gunmen say goodbye to the world with a bang. Frank's still here. He's lasted longer than he should have... The breathtaking, devastating sequel to lauded debut The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, How a Gunman Says Goodbye will plunge the reader back into the Glasgow underworld, where criminal organisations war for prominence and those caught up in events are tested at every turn. The final book in the Glasgow Trilogy The Sudden Arrival of Violence will follow soon... Praise for The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, longlisted for both the CWA John Creasey Dagger for Best Debut Crime Novel of the Year and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year: 'A truly exceptional debut' Paul Bailey, Independent 'Brutal, witty and well-written... a brilliant debut' Sunday Telegraph 'Remarkable...' tartan noir 'will have a new star' Daily Mail 'Mackay ratchets up the tension like a master' Daily Telegraph 'Remarkably original... a wholly believable and unnerving portrait of organised crime.'

Celebrity news reporter and presenter, Tully Hart, has hit rock bottom. Kate Ryan had been her best friend for more than thirty years. They'd lived, laughed, danced and cried together. Kate had been her anchor, and now Tully was cast adrift — not knowing how she was going to survive. Kate's daughter, Marah, was only sixteen years old when her mother died. Consumed with guilt over the fights they'd had during the last months of Kate's life, Marah runs away and becomes a drop-out in society, maintaining no contact with her family. Tully's mother, Cloud, a child of the Sixties, has lived a world of her own dependent on drugs for most of her adult life. She now wants to prove that she can help her daughter. But what will it take for Tully to forgive? And then something momentous happens which causes each one of them to realise what they've done, and what they have become. FLY AWAY is the story of three women who have lost their way and need each other — plus a miracle — to transform their lives.

Carthage, 146 BC. This is the story of Fabius Petronius Secundus — Roman legionary and centurion — and of his general Scipio Aemilianus, and his rise to power: from his first battle against the Macedonians, that seals the fate of Alexander the Great's successors, to total war in North Africa and the Siege of Carthage. Scipio's success brings him admiration and respect, but also attracts greed and jealousy — for the closest allies can become the bitterest of enemies. And then there is the dark horse, Julia, of the Caesar family — in love with Scipio but betrothed to his rival Paullus — who causes a vicious feud. Ultimately for Scipio it will come down to one question: how much is he prepared to sacrifice for his vision of Rome? Inspired by Total War: Rome II, from the bestselling Total War series, Destroy Carthage is the first in an epic series of novels. Not only the tale of one man's fate, it is also a journey to the core of Roman times, through a world of extraordinary military tactics and political intrigue that Rome's warriors and citizens used to cheat death.

One long last summer for Dad Lewis in his beloved town, Holt, Colorado. As old friends pass in and out to voice their farewells and good wishes, Dad's wife and daughter work to make his final days as comfortable as possible, knowing all is tainted by the heart-break of an absent son. Next door, a little girl with a troubled past moves in with her grandmother, and down town another new arrival, the Reverend Rob Lyle, attempts to mend strained relationships of his own. Utterly beautiful, and devastating yet affirming, Benediction explores the pain, the compassion and the humanity of ordinary people.

In the last years of the Forerunner empire, chaos rules. The Flood — a horrifying shape-changing parasite — has arrived in force, aided by unexpected allies. Internal strife within the ecumene has desperately weakened Forerunner defences. Too little, too late, the legal rate of Juridicals is only now investigating possible crimes by the Master Builder and others. Evidence-gathering agents, known collectively as Catalog, have been dispatched to collect testimony from the Librarian and both Didacts: the Ur-Didact, treacherously abandoned in a Flood-infested system, and the Bornstellar Didact, who accompanies the Librarian as she preserves specimens against the dire possibility of Halo extermination. Facing the imminent collapse of their civilization, the Librarian and Ur-Didact reveal what they know about the relationship between the long-vanished Precursors and the Flood. The Precursors created many technological species, including humanity and the Forerunners. But the roots of the Flood may be found in an act of enormous barbarity, carried out beyond our galaxy ten million years before. Because of that barbarism, a greater evil looms. Only the Ur-Didact and the Librarian — husband and wife pushed into desperate conflict — hold the keys to a solution. Facing the consequences of a mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all time — to prevent an insane evil from dominating the entire universe.

When Oscar Amalfitano begins an impulsive affair with one of his students at the University of Barcelona, he has no idea where it will lead. More than his turbulent revolutionary past, or the death of his beautiful wife, the scandalous exposure of this relationship will change him for ever. Forced to flee with his seventeen-year-old daughter, Amalfitano finds himself in Santa Teresa, a sprawling town on the US — Mexico border. Haunted by dark tales of murdered women, this mythical place is populated by mysterious characters. We meet Castillo, who makes his living selling his forgeries of Larry Rivers paintings to wealthy Texans; Pancho Monje, a son born of six generations of foundlings; and Arcimboldi, a magician and writer whose work has been important to Amalfitano for some time, but whose return to prominence is just beginning. Woes of the True Policeman is an exciting, kaleidoscopic novel, lyrical and intense yet darkly humorous. Exploring the limits of memory and the power of art, it returns to the world and characters of Bolano's masterpiece, 2666, and marks the culmination of one of the great careers of world literature.

Alice has just returned to London from months of travelling abroad. She is late to hear the news that her father is dying, and arrives at the family home only just in time to say goodbye. Daniel hasn't had a roof over his head for years, but to him the city of London feels like home in a way that no bricks and mortar ever did. He spends every day searching for his daughter; the daughter he has never met. Until now... Heart-wrenching and life-affirming, this is a unique story of love lost and found, of rootlessness and homecoming and the power of the ties that bind. It is a story for fathers and daughters everywhere.

On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed. As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day. Ken Follett's masterful epic The Pillars of the Earth enchanted millions of readers with its compelling drama of war, passion and family conflict set around the building of a cathedral. Now World Without End takes readers back to medieval Kingsbridge two centuries later, as the men, women and children of the city once again grapple with the devastating sweep of historical change. 'Follett's storytelling skills keep you compulsively turning the pages to the satisfactory ending of good triumphant over evil.'

Alan Saul is now part human and part machine, and our solar system isn't big enough to hold him. He craves the stars, but can't leave yet. His sister Var is trapped on Mars, on the wrong side of a rebellion, and Saul's human side won't let her die. He must leave Argus Station to stage a dangerous rescue — but mutiny is brewing on board, as Saul's robots make his crew feel increasingly redundant. Serene Galahad will do anything to prevent Saul's escape. Earth's ruthless dictator hides her crimes from a cowed populace as she readies new warships for pursuit. She aims to crush her enemy in a terrifying display of interstellar violence. Meanwhile, The Scourge limps back to earth, its crew slaughtered, its mission to annihilate Saul a disaster. There are survivors, but while one seeks Galahad's death, Clay Ruger will negotiate for his life. Events build to a climax as Ruger holds humanity's greatest asset — seeds to rebuild a dying Earth. This stolen Gene Bank data is offered at a price, but what will Galahad pay for humanity's future?

She's trained to kill. He's beaten the best. This time all bets are off. Former Secret Service Agents turned private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, return in their most surprising, personal and dangerous case to date. King and Maxwell encounter teenager Tyler Wingo when he has just received the tragic news that his soldier father has been killed in Afghanistan. But then Tyler receives an email from his father... after his supposed death. Sean and Michelle are hired to solve the mystery, and their investigation leads to deeper, even more troubling questions. Could Tyler's father really still be alive? Was his mission all that it seemed? Has Tyler's life been a lie, and could he be the next target? It's clear that King and Maxwell have stumbled upon something even more sinister when those in power seem intent on removing them at any cost. Determined to help and protect Tyler, their search for the truth takes them on a perilous journey which not only puts their lives at risk but arrives at a frightening conclusion.

This is a major new novel from the universally acclaimed master and PEN/Faulkner winner James Salter. This is a sweeping, seductive love story set in the years after World War II. All That Is explores a life unfolding in a world on the brink of change. The life is that of Philip Bowman and we see his formative experiences as a young naval officer in battles off Okinawa, his postwar career as a book editor in New York, his trips to the great European cities — for publishing parties in London, romantic holidays in Paris. But despite his success, what eludes him is love. His first marriage goes bad, another fails to happen, finally he meets a woman who enthralls him before setting him on a course he could never imagine for himself. James Salter's dazzling, seductive and haunting novel offers a fiercely intimate account of the great shocks and grand pleasures of being alive.