Transworld Publishers

Merry Gentry is not your average private investigator. Half human, half faerie, she's caught in a struggle that threatens not only her life, but the lives of those she desires and holds dear. Her very existence and her rightful place on the throne of Faerie have long depended on her ability to produce an heir — and now, after many failed attempts, the services of her royal guards have found her pregnant... It is a triumphant moment, but revelation follows revelation: for Merry carries two babies, and she knows they have more than one father... And of course, there are those of her own flesh and blood who want Merry dead, but she is a fighter and wields a wild magic. And this is her world, where the magical and the mortal intertwine, where folklore, fantasy and erotically charged adventure collide...

Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found. Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia's father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are piecing together fragments of the past: fragments that point inexorably to a local man called Nils Kant, known to delight in the pain of others. But Nils Kant died during the 1960s. So who is the stranger seen wandering across the fields as darkness falls? It soon becomes clear that someone wants to stop Julia's search for the truth. And that he's much, much closer than she thinks...

Friday nights. Eleanor had started them, scooping up Paula and Lindsay, both single mothers who looked as though they needed some adult company, and welcoming them to her untidy, comfortable Fulham house where she had lived alone for fifty years. Soon they were joined by others — Blaise, smart, single and successful, her business partner Karen, the breadwinner for a chaotic young family in which her artist husband promised much but did little, and Jules, Lindsay's confused younger sister. A group of women, different in age and circumstances but with the same needs. It was a warm, inclusive sisterhood — until Paula got herself a new man, Jackson, and somehow the Friday nights weren't the same any more...

For Rebecca Bloomwood, life is peachy. She has a job on morning TV, telling people how to manage their money — a subject on which she is an expert. Her bank manager is actually being nice to her, despite being just a tad overdrawn. And the icing on the brioche is that her boyfriend is moving to New York, and has asked her to go with him.

2012. The date is set. Time is running out. The ancient Mayans predicted the End of Days with uncanny precision. But they also provided the key to staving off apocalypse: a flawless sapphire of incomparable beauty carved into the perfect likeness of a human skull. For more than four centuries, the skull, and its legacy of dark intrigue and murder, have been hidden, protected by a code few can break. Now it's about to be found. But can we now uncover the secret that may yet save the world?

I took the skull from its evidence bag and gently set it on the stainless steel table. 'Tell me who you are...' As a favour to a colleague, Dr David Hunter is on the remote Hebridean island of Runa to inspect a grisly discovery. He's familiar with death in all its guises but is shocked by what he finds: a body, incinerated but for the feet and a single hand. It appears to be a textbook case of spontaneous human combustion. The local police are certain it's an accidental death, but Hunter is not convinced. Examining the scorched remains, he finds evidence that this was no accident; this was murder. And as the isolated community considers the enormity of Hunter's findings, a catastrophic storm hits the island. The power goes down, communication with the outside world ceases... and the killing begins in earnest.

'A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores' — From, The Fifth Elephant. 'Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened' — From, Moving Pictures. The Discworld is filled with a vast and diverse population — from witches to vampires and from the fiendish to the foolish, it is a world in which magical books can devour the unsuspecting, and Death can escape to the country for some time off. The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld is a collection of the wittiest, pithiest and wisest quotations from this extraordinary universe, dealing one-by-one with each book in the canon. Guaranteed to transport you back to your favourite or forgotten Discworld moments it is the perfect book for die-hard Pratchett fans, as well as anyone coming to the Discworld for the first time.

The dramatic and definitive account of the sinking of the Belgrano which was one of the most iconic moments of the Falklands war. Rossiter gives us a dramatic retelling of the events that foreshadowed and followed on from this flash point of modern war.

From a novelist known for the complexity of his novels — they are also long — comes an autobiography of compelling simplicity; it is also short. Dedicated to the memory of two wrestling coaches and two writer friends, «The Imaginary Girlfriend» is a lucid portrait of the writers and wrestlers who played a mentor role in John Irving's development as a novelist, a wrestler and a wrestling coach. Moreover, this candid memoir portrays a father's dedication to his children: Irving coached his sons Colin and Brendan to New England championship titles — a championship that, as a competitor, he himself was denied. John Irving began writing and wrestling when he was fourteen. He competed as a wrestler for twenty years, he was certified as a referee for twenty-four and he coached the sport until he was forty-seven. His thirty-three years in wrestling are three times those he spent as a student and a teacher of Creative Writing; yet his concise autobiography details the interrelationship of the disciplines of writing and wrestling — from the days when Irving was a beginner at both pursuits until his fourth wrestling-related surgery at the age of fifty-three. «The Imaginary Girlfriend» is both a work of the utmost literary accomplishment and a paradigm for living.

Amelia Lockwood doesn't mean to sound greedy. With a fabulous career in television, a posh apartment, and four fiercely loyal and wickedly funny friends, she knows she should be counting her lucky stars. But as her thirties tick by at an alarming pace, Amelia is getting anxious about the one thing missing in her otherwise successful life—a husband! If it's not too much to ask the universe, Amelia wants a husband—not a boyfriend, not a lover, not even a mind-bending one-night fling—but a wedding band and the Vera Wang gown of her dreams. When she sees an ad for a night course entitled How to Find a Husband over the Age of Thirty-five, she finally makes up her mind to have it all—an old-fashioned ring on her finger by the end of the year. So after twenty years of going it on her own, Amelia swallows her pride, signs up for dating boot camp, and enlists the help of a professional. Enter Ira Vandergelder—a native New Yorker with a black belt in tongue-fu, a woman who's snappier than a crocodile handbag and more acidic than a chili finger dipped in your eye—who trains the hopelessly romantic Amelia to apply business marketing principles to the world of dating, to become goal-driven and to pursue her dream husband in exactly the same way she'd pursue her dream job. Even if this involves tracking down all the men she's ever loved and lost before. With the constant support and biting commentary of her tight foursome of friends, Amelia revisits her bumpy romantic past—from the first love who dumped her during Live Aid to the most recent ex, officially dubbed he-who's-name-shall-forever-remain-unspoken. As Amelia recognizes that her future happiness can't wait for fate, she has to tackle lesson number one: If you can't learn from your past, how can you expect to move forward? Sharp, witty, and irresistibly funny, Remind Me Again Why I Need a Man cuts to the heart of every single man and woman out there. Claudia Carroll examines the rules of attraction in a sophisticated and refreshing way. This beautifully written novel will have your heart pounding until the final page.

'If you care about something you have to protect it. If you're lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it'. Eleven-year-old Owen Meany, playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire, hits a foul ball and kills his best friend's mother. Owen doesn't believe in accidents; he believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is both extraordinary and terrifying.

This is the first book of «The Belgariad» series. Long ago the evil God Torak sought dominion and drove men and Gods to war. But Belgarath the Sorcerer led men to reclaim the Orb that protected men of the West. So long as it lay at Riva, the prophecy went, the men would be safe.

The phone call came on a hot July day—a day like any other for Marin County mom and freelance writer Tanya Harris. But this call—from Tanya's agent—was anything but ordinary, offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: the chance to write a major Hollywood screenplay, a dream she had put aside long ago to devote her energies to her family. This time, Tanya knows she cannot refuse, even though she's torn about leaving her husband and their daughters. From the moment she steps into her lush bungalow at the fabled Beverly Hills Hotel, Tanya is thrust into an intoxicating new world where she feels reborn—energized by the creativity swirling around her—yet the pull of her family at home is strong. Suddenly she's working alongside A-list actors and a Hollywood legend: Oscar-winning producer Douglas Wayne, a man who always gets what he wants — and who seems to have his sights set on her. Flying home between shoots, struggling to reconnect with a family that seems to need her less and less, Tanya watches helplessly as her old life is pulled out from under her in the most crushing of ways. As her two lives collide, as one award-winning film leads to another, Tanya begins to wonder if she can be a wife, a mother, and a writer at the same time. And just as she confronts the toughest choice she has faced, she is offered another dazzling opportunity—one that could recast her story in an amazing new direction, complete with an ending she never could have written herself. In Bungalow 2, Danielle Steel takes us into a world few ever see—a world of fame and fortune, celebrity and genius — daring to show us the real lives, real dreams, and real struggles hidden beneath the flash and glitter of Hollywood.

Readers worldwide have come to know the work of Stephen Hawking through his phenomenal bestseller A Brief History of Time. Now in his first collection of essays and other pieces — on subjects that range from warmly personal to the wholly scientific Stephen Hawking is revelaed varioulsy as the scientist, the man, the concerned world citizen, and — as always — the rigourous and imaginative thinker. Whether he is remebering his first experience of nursery school; puncturing the arrogance of those who think science can best be understood only by other scientists and should be left to them; exploring the origins and the future of the universe; or reflecting on the phenomenon of A Brief History of Time, Stephen's wit, directness of style and absence of pomp are vital characteristics at all times.

Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough are two of science fiction's favorite authors. Together, they have created the world of Acorna, the unicorn girl. Now, Acorna's children start to have their own adventures. First Warning: Acorna's daughter, Khorii, must contend with an overwhelming legacy to forge a path of her own. A simple journey to visit her relatives turns into a race against time when Khorii comes across a derelict spacecraft drifting in space, its crew dead in their seats. But this gruesome discovery is only a dread harbinger — a deadly plague is spreading across the universe and not even the healing powers of the Linyaari can slow its horrific advance. Khorii, one of the few unaffected by the outbreak, must find a cure before the disease consumes all in its path — including her beloved parents.

Although she has made peace with her Linyaari heritage, Acorna knows that only by returning to the frozen stillness of space will she ever feel truly at home.

At the moment of his supreme triumph, a man of science dodges an assassin's bullet and loses everything that truly matters in his life. Now only a miracle can save Dr. Tom Carter's dying daughter: the blood of salvation shed twenty centuries ago. In the volatile heart of the Middle East, amid the devastating secrets of an ancient brotherhood awaiting a new messiah, Tom Carter must search for answers to the mysteries that have challenged humankind since the death and resurrection of the greatest Healer who every walked the Earth. Because suddenly Carter's life, the life of his little girl, and the fate of the world hang in the balance... After two thousand years, the wait is over...

When two hopelessly mismatched people share a love for art, a passion for each other and a city like Paris, nothing is truly impossible... or is it? Sasha is a traditionalist — now widowed, she knows she was married to the most wonderful man in the world. Liam is an artist, half-in and half-out of a marriage that his own impossibly impulsive behaviour has helped tear apart. But while Sasha has been methodically building her father's Parisian art gallery into an intercontinental success story, Liam has been growing into one of the most original and striking young painters of his time. So while the two are utterly unalike, the miracle of art brings them together. Sasha tries to keep Liam hidden from her grown children and well-heeled clientele as she commutes between New York and Paris. Liam tries to bring out the wild streak that Sasha barely knows she has. Then, a family tragedy suddenly alters Liam's life, forcing a choice and a sacrifice that neither one of them could have expected. Giving up now might just be the most impossible thing of all...

In ancient Rome, parents used to silence misbehaving children with the utterance Hannibal ad portas (Hannibal is at the door). Such was the fear and awe that Hannibal Barca instilled... Told in arcing, epic technicolour, this is the story of one of the ancient world's most remarkable figures and the long, bloody conflict between the two superpowers of the times — the Second Punic War (218-202BC) — that hinged on the genius, the ambition and the personal tragedies of Hannibal Barca of Carthage, whose military prowess became the stuff of legend, and Publius Scipio of Rome. History, of course, tells us the outcome: that Rome would be the victor, surviving to become a colossal imperial power, while Carthage would be all but erased from history. It was, however, a close run thing. And the world might have been a very different place had Hannibal succeeded in thwarting the might of Rome. Pride of Carthage is a sweeping, thrilling story of ancient warfare, of armies traversing frozen snow-covered mountains, of battles won or lost by brilliant generals fighting in ingenious, cunning ways. And it's a story teeming with superbly drawn, memorable characters and players, historical and imagined — from Numidian horsemen and the Roman legions to the slaves and freemen from all corners of the ancient Mediterranean world...

An epic story begins with a young man's avowal: Tell him that one day I shall cut his vile heart out. The speaker is Bane the Bastard, a Wolfshead living outside the law. Born of treachery, his name a curse, he grew up among the warriors of the Rigante. They valued his skills in war, but they feared the violence in his heart.

Set in a country of arbitrary arrests, sudden disappearances and summary executions, Isabel Allende's magical new novel tells of the passionate affair of two people prepared to risk everything for the sake of justice and truth. Irene Beltran, a reporter, comes from a wealthy background; Francisco Leal, a young photographer secretly engaged in undermining the military dictatorship, is strongly attracted by her beauty. It does not matter that Irene's fiance is an army captain: each time Francisco accompanies her on a magazine assignment, he falls more deeply in love with her.When they go to investigate the mysterious case of Evangelina Ranquileo, a girl suffering from spectacular fits which are rumoured to have miraculous powers, the arrival of soldiers adds a sinister aspect to the mystery. And then Evangelina disappears. Irene and Francisco, in trying to trace her and indict the Junta, become engulfed in a vortex of terror and violence.

The doctor was fated to go back to Bombay; he would keep returning again and again — if not forever, at least for as long as there were dwarves in the circus. Born a Parsi in Bombay, sent to university and medical school in Vienna, Dr Farrokh Daruwalla is a Canadian citizen — a 59-year-old orthopaedic surgeon, living in Toronto. Once, twenty years ago, Dr Daruwalla was the examining physician of two murder victims in Goa. Now, two decades later, the doctor will be reacquainted with the murderer...

The Englishman — Paul West is in deep financial merde and has taken on a decidedly dodgy job touring America in a Mini. The Frenchwoman — Alexa, his très Parisienne girlfriend, claims to despise everything American, but ends up getting a little too friendly with the locals for Paul's liking. The American — Jake is a poet whose main aim in life is to sleep with a woman from every country in the world. Preferably in the back of Paul's Mini. As the little car battles from New York to Miami and then heads west, leg room turns out to be the least of Paul's troubles. His work is being sabotaged; his love-life has become a Franco-American war zone; and as Paul knows better than anyone, when you mix love and war — merde happens ...

What happens to us when we die? Oblivion. Or so believes Dr Miles Fleming, a brilliant, young neuroscientist who has developed a device capable of reading human brainwaves. But when his own brother contacts him after being certified dead for six whole minutes, Fleming wonders if he's got it all wrong. His search for the truth uncovers a terrifying religious conspiracy to stage the most ambitious experiment the world has ever seen — to prove beyond doubt the existence of a heaven or a hell. As the world awaits the final judgment, Fleming must confront his own demons to save not only his own soul but that of all humanity. The Lucifer Code pits the faith of religion against the certainty of science in a heart stopping thriller which explores our deepest fears.