Orion Books

Princess Elisa is a disappointment to her people. Although she bears the Godstone in her navel, a sign that she has been chosen for an act of heroism, they see her as lazy and useless and fat. On her sixteenth birthday, she is bartered off in royal marriage and shipped away to a kingdom in turmoil, where her much-older-and extremely beautiful-husband refuses to acknowledge her as his wife. Devastated, Elisa decides to take charge of her fate and learn what it means to bear the Godstone. As an invading army threatens to destroy her new home, and everyone at court maneuvers to take advantage of the young princess, Elisa becomes convinced that, not only is her own life in danger, the whole world needs saving. But how can a young girl who has never ridden horseback, never played the game of politics, and never attained the love of a man save the world? Elisa cant be sure, but she must try to uncover the Godstone's secret history before the enemy steals the destiny nestled in her core.

Max Frei has discovered that the one place he really fits in is the parallel world of Echo. In our world he's a loser, an insomniac with dubious social skills and an addiction to cigarettes. But in Echo, the reality is far stranger. There he is Sir Max, a superb magician and one of the powerful few chosen to defend the land against all possible enemies. And he's finally happy. But when one of his esteemed Knight colleagues tells Max of a strange dream — one that seems disturbingly familiar to Max — Max realises he will have to investigate. The subsequent series of events will remind our hero — and the people he protects — just how tenuous happiness can be. It could be his most dangerous mission yet, but The Stranger's Magic may win him through.

An elite public school. An outsider. Rumours of a haunting... Fleeing expulsion and the death of a close friend, Andrew Taylor is sent by his father to spend his final year at the prestigious public school Harrow. It is an eccentric place, a rambling ancient building filled with the sons of the rich and famous. Shortly after he arrives, the other pupils notice Andrew's striking resemblance to Lord Byron, a former pupil of Harrow, and Andrew is persuaded to play Byron in the forthcoming school play. This is where his troubles begin. Before long Andrew senses a malevolent presence. His fellow Harrovians joke about 'The Lot Ghost' but when a classmate dies, the haunting becomes all too real. Soon another classmate falls ill and Andrew discovers old letters hidden in a bricked-up basement. Aided by his housemaster Piers Fawkes — a once famous poet turned alcoholic — Andrew realises he must discover the secret history behind the letters to prevent further deaths...

The first volume of Christopher Bigsby's award-winning biography of Arthur Miller was hailed as a masterpiece and the definitive account of Miller's early years. This is the second half of Miller's captivating story, covering his life from 1962 to his death in 2005. In 1962, Miller's legacy was incomplete. Ahead lay eighteen plays, five films, a novella and a handful of stories. On a personal level, 1962 saw the death of his second wife, the iconographic Marilyn Monroe, and his marriage to the photographer Inge Morath who was to transform him as a writer and a person. A visit to Mauthaussen concentration camp and to the Frankfurt trials of Auschwitz-Birkenau guards moved the Holocaust to the centre of his attention and he became a more directly political person. Christopher Bigsby brilliantly and elegantly maps out the journey of Miller's life and work. Shedding new light on Miller's complexities, and revealing unknown facts about his public and private life, Bigsby shares new insights and perspectives crucial to an understanding of one of the world's greatest playwrights.

The final book in Vina Jackson's red-hot romantic trilogy. Summer and Dominik embrace danger, adventure and temptation in New York City as they push their relationship to its limits.

SUMMER OF LIES is a mesmerising collection of stories about love. A conversation between strangers on a long-haul flight will change lives forever; one night in Baden-Baden will threaten to tear a couple apart; a meeting with an ex-lover will give a divorcee a second chance; holiday lovers will struggle in the harsh reality of daily routine... As Schlink's characters navigate their lives, we discover the many faces of love: the small betrayals, hidden truths and abiding affections. In Schlink's trademark spare prose, we come face-to-face with the desires and jealousies that define our daily lives, with the fragility of happiness, and with the abiding possibility of hope. Tender yet unsentimental, achingly personal yet utterly universal, SUMMER OF LIES asks what it means to love, to deceive and ultimately, to be human.

Known as The Ice Queen, Anneliese Zander de St Phalle is one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers. With an empire that stretches across continents, she's a truly global brand, in every sense. Yet despite her success, she's a mystery; a reclusive disciplined perfectionist who rarely grants interviews. She's successful and she's talented, and that's all anyone needs to know. Anneliese never talks about her past — not even to her only daughter, Callan. She's worked hard to leave it all behind her and it's a time and place to which Anneliese will never return. Or so she thinks. Until, at an exclusive New Year's Eve party at her glamorous island hideaway, a woman appears whom Anneliese has done her best to forget. On the cusp of her retirement, at the height of Anneliese' fame, the stranger brings a story that demands to be told. To Anneliese' horror, the past cannot be left behind; it is here, part and parcel of the present, despite everything she's done to forget it...

England, 1937. In the village of Blacknowle on the Dorset coast, fourteen-year-old Mitzy Hatcher has endured a wild and lonely upbringing. Shunned by her neighbours, the arrival of renowned artist Charles Aubrey, along with his exotic mistress and their daughters, is like a breath of fresh air. As Charles's muse, Mitzy develops a deep and abiding bond with the Aubrey household over the course of the following three summers. Gradually, Mitzy begins to perceive a future she had never thought possible, and a powerful love is kindled in her. A love that will grow as she does: from innocence to obsession; from childish infatuation to something far more complex. It will be almost seventy-five years before the consequences of this potent desire are fully played out, as a young man in an art gallery looks at a hastily-drawn portrait and wonders at the intensity of it. The questions he asks will lead him back to Blacknowle, and draw him to the truth about those fevered summers in the 1930s...

New York, January 1896. Arthur Conan Doyle, the renowned creator of Sherlock Holmes, arrives at the Britannic Hotel with his wife, Louisa, ready to begin his first American tour. While he prepares his lectures, Louisa becomes mesmerised by this brash, vibrant, dangerous city, especially when a woman's brutally butchered corpse is found in a Bowery alley and Louisa is convinced from the artist's sketch in the paper that she'd seen the victim at the hotel. Arthur is patronisingly sceptical about her womanly fantasies but when she sprains her ankle and is forced to remain at the hotel while Arthur goes on tour, Louisa cannot resist pursuing her intuitions. And when more bodies start appearing, she's convinced that she holds the key to the killings. With the help of the hotel's hard-bitten detective and an ambitious female news reporter, Louisa starts to piece together a story of madness, murder and depravity — a story that leads inexorably back to the hotel itself, the strange story of its unique construction and a madman who is watching her every move.

Set during World War II in the far south of France, CITADEL is a powerful, action-packed mystery that reveals the secrets of the resistance under Nazi occupation. While war blazed in the trenches at the front, back at home a different battle is waged, full of clandestine bravery, treachery and secrets. And as a cell of Maquis resistance fighters, codenamed CITADEL, fight for everything they hold dear, their struggle will reveal an older, darker combat being fought in the shadows. Combining the rugged action of LABYRINTH with the haunting mystery of SEPULCHRE, CITADEL is a story of daring and courage, of lives risked for beliefs and of astonishing secrets buried in time.

Amidst the fun and festivities of Wild Card Day there is an evil mind lurking, who hopes that the celebrations will go off with more than a band. The streets of New York have erupted in celebration of Wild Card Day — the annual event held every September 15th to remember the dead and cherish the living. It is a day for fire works, street fairs and parades, for political rallies and memorial banquets, for drinking and fighting in the alleys. With each passing year, the festivities become larger and more fevered. And this year — 1986, the fortieth anniversary — promises to be the biggest and best Wild Card Day ever. The media and tourists have discovered the celebration, and taverns and restaurants expect record-setting. But lurking in the background is a twisted genius who cares nothing for the fun and festivity. The Astronomer has only one concern: destruction... Featuring plotlines and writing from George RR Martin, John J. Miller, Lewis Shiner, Melinda Snodgrass and more, this novel wraps up the opening WILD CARDS series, while also setting the stage for future adventures.

Anya Keating loves her job as PA to Macdara Fitzgerald, owner of the stunning Lismore estate and its string of racehorses. Macdara is an indulgent and generous employer and Anya has grown very fond of him. But when he rashly proposes marriage, their friendship — and her position — is threatened, and Anya is torn between her loyalty to Macdara and her feelings for his grandson, handsome horse trainer Fergal. Enter Orla Fitzgerald, Macdara's estranged granddaughter. Orla may have left Lismore a child, but she has returned a sophisticated and beautiful woman. So beautiful, in fact, that most of the men are in thrall to her — and Anya can only watch with growing apprehension as Orla works her magic on Fergal. But Orla may not be the blue-eyed girl people take her for. There are dark undercurrents that run beneath life on the estate. A tragedy lies in Orla's past, and she is determined to claim her birthright, no matter who stands in her way.

1912. Locked in an eerily quiet dining room on the Titanic, a mysterious man tells a young girl his life story as the ship begins to sink. It all starts in Whitechapel, London in 1888... In the small hours of the night in a darkened Whitechapel alley, young Mary Kelly stumbles upon a man who has been seriously injured and is almost unconscious in the gutter. Mary — down on her luck and desperate to survive — steals his bag and runs off into the night. Two days later, an American gentleman wakes in a hospital bed with no memory of who he is or how he got there. He has suffered a serious head injury, and with no one to help him remember who he is he starts to wonder how he will ever find his way home. One terrible truth links these two lost souls in the dark world of Victorian London — a truth that could ruin the name of the most influential man in the land... Back in 1912, as the Titanic begins its final shuddering descent to the bottom of the frozen, black Atlantic, one man is about to reveal the truth behind a series of murders that have hung like a dark fog over London for more than two decades... the identity of Jack the Ripper.

Henry became the unexpected heir to the precarious Tudor throne in 1502, after his elder brother Arthur died. He also inherited both his brother's wardrobe and his wife, the Spanish princess Katherine of Aragon. He became king in April 1509 with many personality traits inherited from his father — the love of magnificence, the rituals of kingship, the excitement of hunting and gambling and the construction of grand new palaces. After those early glory days of feasting, fun and frolic, the continuing lack of a male Tudor heir runs like a thin line of poison through Henry's reign. After he fell in love with Anne Boleyn, he gambled everything on her providing him with a son and heir. From that day forward everything changed. Based on contemporary accounts, Young Henry provides a compelling vision of the splendours, intrigues and tragedies of the royal court, presided over by the ruthless and insecure Henry VIII. With his customary scholarship and narrative verve, Robert Hutchinson provides fresh insights into what drove England's most famous monarch, and how this happy, playful Renaissance prince was transformed into the tyrant of his later years.

Tell you what, Leader, do you want to double your money? Double or quits? Of course double or quits. I'm having lunch at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford tomorrow with my uncle. If you can join us by one o'clock sharp tomorrow, I'll tear up this cheque and write you another for six thousand pounds It is a bet Richard Gaunt cannot resist — all he has to do is walk from London to Oxford in under twelve hours. As an ex-soldier he is up to the challenge. But what starts as a harmless bet turns into something altogether different when Richard is taken hostage by a mysterious stranger, Mr Khan, who makes him a highly unusual proposal. What he offers in return could transform Richard's life. Traumatised by a tour of duty in Iraq, Richard feels he has nothing to lose. The love of his life won't speak to him, he has lost every job he ever had and his friends have vanished. He therefore decides to accept Khan's strange request — never imagining the places it will take him...

My father died eleven years ago. I was only four then. I never thought I'd hear from him again, but now we're writing a book together To Georg Roed, his father is no more than a shadow, a distant memory. But then one day his grandmother discovers some pages stuffed into the lining of an old red pushchair. The pages are a letter to Georg, written just before his father died, and a story, The Orange Girl. But The Orange Girl is no ordinary story — it is a riddle from the past and centres around an incident in his father's youth. One day he boarded a tram and was captivated by a beautiful girl standing in the aisle, clutching a huge paper bag of luscious-looking oranges. Suddenly the tram gave a jolt and he stumbled forward, sending the oranges flying in all directions. The girl simply hopped off the tram leaving Georg's father with arms full of oranges. Now, from beyond the grave, he is asking his son to help him finally solve the puzzle of her identity.

A conversation between strangers on a long-haul flight will change lives for ever; one night in Baden-Baden will threaten to tear a couple apart; a meeting with an ex-lover will give a divorcee a second chance; holiday lovers will struggle in the harsh reality of daily routine... As Schlink's characters navigate their lives, we discover the many faces of love: the small betrayals, hidden truths and abiding affections. In Schlink's trademark spare prose, we come face to face with the desires and jealousies that define our daily lives, with the fragility of happiness and with the abiding possibility of hope. Tender yet unsentimental, achingly personal yet utterly universal, SUMMER LIES asks what it means to love, to deceive and, ultimately, to be human.

THE TWELVE Death-row prisoners with nightmare pasts and no future. THE TWELVE Until they were selected for a secret experiment. THE TWELVE To create something more than human. THE TWELVE Now they are the future and humanity's worst nightmare has begun. THE TWELVE The epic sequel to THE PASSAGE.

Summer. Massachusetts. An old Silver Wraith with a frightening history. A story about one serial killer and his lingering, unfinished business. Anyone could be next. We're going to Christmasland... NOS4R2 is an old-fashioned horror novel in the best sense. Claustrophobic, gripping and terrifying, this is a story that will have you on the edge of the seat while you read, and leaving the lights on while you sleep. With the horrific tale of Charles Manx and his Silver Wraith, Joe Hill has established himself as the premiere horror and supernatural thriller writer of his generation.

Haviland Tuf is an honest space-trader (one of the few), and he likes cats. So how is it that, despite being up against the worst villains in the universe, he has become the proud owner of the last working seedship, pride of Earth's Ecological Engineering Corps? We'll leave that aside for now — just be thankful that the most powerful weapon in space is in good hands, hands which now control cellular material for thousands of outlandish creatures. With his unique equipment and powerful spacecraft, Tuf is set to tackle the myriad problems that human settlers have created during their colonisation of far flung worlds. Hosts of hostile monsters, a population addicted to procreation, a dictator who is willing to unleash plagues to get his own way — and all that stands between the colonists and disaster is Tuf's ingenuity, and his reputation as an honest dealer in a universe of rogues...

A mysterious toymaker who lives as a recluse in an old mansion, surrounded by the mechanical beings he has created... an enigma surrounding strange lights that shine through the mists that envelop the small island on which the old lighthouse stands... a shadowy creature that hides deep in the woods... these are the elements of a mystery that bind will bind 14-year-old Irene to Ismael during one magical summer spent in the Blue Bay. He mother has taken a job as a housekeeper for the toymaker, Lazarus, but his house contains more secrets than Irene and Ishmael have bargained for.

Shannon Fairchild's life has spectacularly derailed. Shelving her PhD to clean the homes of the rich and famous, and spending her evenings in low-rent bars, Shannon rebels against everything her academic family stands for. But when her parents are tortured and murdered, Shannon is consumed by guilt and vows to find out who was responsible. With her mother's enigmatic dying words of Find them and warn them still echoing in her ears, Shannon is left to wonder who she is supposed to warn, and of what? Delving into her parents' past, she discovers a history of radical political activism linking them to a fatal bombing in the 1960s. And still at large are the two masterminds behind the attack, who have been deep underground and evading the FBI ever since. But Shannon is not the only one in pursuit of answers and, after being attacked by someone also determined to track down the notorious fugitives, and interrogated by the FBI, Shannon sets out alone to find the pair. What they reveal leaves her stunned and makes clear that Shannon's past — and future — is irrevocably linked with theirs. And so begins a race against the clock to find her parents' killers — before the killers find her...

Don't all kids think there's a haunted house in their neighbourhood? Can you remember yours? What if, as a child, you knew something bad really had happened in that house? What if you actually saw it? Then you tried to forget it for the next thirty years. And then, one day, you had to go back inside that house? Andrew Pyper's THE GUARDIANS is a ghost story for grown-ups. Prepare to enter the Thurman House on Caledonia Street. You have been warned...

World War Terminus had left the Earth devastated. Through its ruins, bounty hunter Rick Deckard stalked, in search of the renegade replicants who were his prey. When he wasn't 'retiring' them with his laser weapon, he dreamed of owning a live animal — the ultimate status symbol in a world all but bereft of animal life. Then Rick got his chance: the assignment to kill six Nexus-6 targets, for a huge reward. But in Deckard's world things were never that simple, and his assignment quickly turned into a nightmare kaleidoscope of subterfuge and deceit — and the threat of death for the hunter rather than the hunted...