Transworld Publishers

A day like any other for security chief Tracy Waterhouse, until she makes a purchase she hadn't bargained for. One moment of madness is all it takes for Tracy's humdrum world to be turned upside down, the tedium of everyday life replaced by fear and danger at every turn. Witnesses to Tracy's Faustian exchange in the Merrion Centre in Leeds are Tilly, an elderly actress teetering on the brink of her own disaster, and Jackson Brodie who has returned to his home county in search of someone else's roots. All three characters learn that the past is never history and that no good deed goes unpunished. Kate Atkinson dovetails and counterpoints her plots with Dickensian brilliance in a tale peopled with unlikely heroes and villains. Started Early, Took My Dog is freighted with wit, wisdom and a fierce moral intelligence. It confirms Kate Atkinson's position as one of the great writers of our time.

What if teleportation was really possible? Englishman Richie Fisher is about to find out… Richie and his wife Clara have won a weekend in New York in a newspaper competition. While Clara is off blowing their spending money, Richie wanders aimlessly, chewing on a veggie-burger, ending up in a gift-shop where he finds himself standing in front of an instant transporter machine. It looks nothing like the open-plan teleporter on Captain Kirk’s Starship Enterprise; in fact, it seems more like a glorified microwave oven.Richie places his burger inside, hits the return key on the linked-up computer — and the burger disappears. But if he can teleport a half-eaten veggie-burger, what else could you do with the machine? For criminals, the possibilities are endless. Who could catch you if you beamed drugs into nostrils a hundred miles away? And how much would illegal immigrants pay to be teleported into the rich host country of their choice? Richie buys a teleporter and takes it back to England, where the chaos begins...

A gripping psychological thriller played out in cyberspace, from the bestselling author of Chocolat and The Lollipop Shoes. Once there was a widow with three sons, and their names were Black, Brown and Blue. Black was the eldest; moody and aggressive. Brown was the middle child, timid and dull. But Blue was his mother's favourite. And he was a murderer. Blueyedboy is the brilliant new novel from Joanne Harris: a dark and intricately plotted tale of a poisonously dysfunctional family, a blind child prodigy, and a serial murderer who is not who he seems. Told through posts on badguysrock@webjournal.com, this is a thriller that makes creative use of all the disguise, deception and mind games that are offered by playing out one's life on the internet.

Two sisters, two very different lives... Victoria — a chubby little girl with blond hair, blue eyes and ordinary looks — has spent her whole life being second best to her perfect younger sister Gracie, being told that she is a disappointment to her parents, and unable to win their approval. While waging a ceaseless war against her weight, enduring her father's belittling comments about her appearance and seeing her academic achievements go unacknowledged, she knows that she has to get as far away from home as possible. Home is Los Angeles, where beauty and appearance are all. She moves to New York City, where she finds a job she loves — as a high school teacher — amongst the sleek and slinky of Manhattan. Her lifeline to her family is through Gracie — they couldn't be more different, but they love each other unconditionally. Victoria finds her own life in New York, while her battle with her weight continues. And then a chance encounter starts an incredible chain of events. But can Victoria really leave behind all the hurt, neglect and loss that she has tried to forget and step into a new and fulfilling future? And whatever the scales tell her, she is determined to cherish who she is.

In At Home, Bill Bryson applies the same irrepressible curiosity, irresistible wit, stylish prose and masterful storytelling that made A Short History of Nearly Everything one of the most lauded books of the last decade, and delivers one of the most entertaining and illuminating books ever written about the history of the way we live. Bill Bryson was struck one day by the thought that we devote a lot more time to studying the battles and wars of history than to considering what history really consists of: centuries of people quietly going about their daily business — eating, sleeping and merely endeavouring to get more comfortable. And that most of the key discoveries for humankind can be found in the very fabric of the houses in which we live.This inspired him to start a journey around his own house, an old rectory in Norfolk, wandering from room to room considering how the ordinary things in life came to be. Along the way he did a prodigious amount of research on the history of anything and everything, from architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the spice trade to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets; and on the brilliant, creative and often eccentric minds behind them. And he discovered that, although there may seem to be nothing as unremarkable as our domestic lives, there is a huge amount of history, interest and excitement — and even a little danger — lurking in the corners of every home.

The cocaine industry is worth billions of dollars a year to the drug cartels who spread their evil seed across Western society. Its usage causes incalculable misery, poverty and death. Slowly, gradually, inexorably it is spreading... it is a blight which must be stopped. One man, Paul Devereaux, intellectual, dedicated, utterly ruthless and ex-CIA special ops, is given what seems like an impossible...

Becky Brandon (née Bloomwood) thought motherhood would be a breeze and that having a daughter was a dream come true — a shopping friend for life! But it's trickier than she thought — two-year-old Minnie has a quite different approach to shopping. She can create havoc everywhere from Harrods to Harvey Nicks to her own christening. She hires taxis at random, her favourite word is 'Mine', and she's even started bidding for designer bags on ebay. On top of everything else, there's a big financial crisis. People are having to Cut Back — including all of Becky's personal shopping clients — and she and Luke are still living with Becky's Mum and Dad. To cheer everyone up, Becky decides to throw a surprise birthday party — on a budget — but then things become really complicated. Who will end up on the naughty step, who will get a gold star and will Becky's secret wishes come true?

The Cop Detective Sergeant Brant is tough and uncompromising, as sleazy and ruthless as the villains he's out to get. While his violent methods may be questionable, Brant always gets results. The Killer: a psychopath has started a killing spree across London. Calling himself 'The Blitz', his weapon of choice is a workman's hammer. And his victims are all cops. The Target: the police squad are desperate to catch the killer before he catches up with them. And Brant is top of his list...

This devastating and inspiring book, by one of the world's leading economic thinkers, lays out not only the course of the financial crisis which began in 2007, but its underlying causes, and shows why much more radical reforms are needed than are currently being contemplated if we are to avoid similar 'systemic' crises in the future. It shows why the bailout has been only marginally effective and how it could have been much more so, and outlines the enormous opportunity — not yet taken — to design a new global financial architecture. It is highly critical of many of the actions not only of George Bush's administration, but also of Barack Obama's. It shows why the bulk of the cost of recovery should be borne by those in the financial sector — not just for reasons of natural justice, but for compelling economic reasons also. More than any of this, it reminds readers to think constantly about what economies are for, and the human purposes they serve. Freefall is an instant classic, combining an enthralling whodunit account of the current crisis with a bracing discussion of the broader economic issues at stake.

'One night when she was four and sleeping in the bottom bunk of her bunk bed, Ruth Cole awoke to the sound of lovemaking — it was coming from her parents' bedroom'. This is the story of Ruth Cole. It is told in three parts: on Long Island, in the summer of 1958, when she is only four; in 1990, when she is an unmarried woman whose personal life is not nearly as successful as her literary career; and, in the autumn of 1995, when Ruth Cole is a forty-one-year-old widow and mother. She's also about to fall in love for the first time...

Following a week in the life of a busy wedding planner, and based entirely on true but anonymous stories, «Wedding Babylon» takes you to the heart of an industry where emotions run high, money flows like champagne and GBP3,000 cakes are made of polystyrene. Why are weddings so expensive? What makes us spend a year's wages on one Big Day? And just how Big does your Day actually have to be? Hilarious, shocking and full of jaw-dropping true tales of wedding days from hell, here is definitive proof that, sadly, the course of true love never did run entirely smooth...

In rural Devon, six-year-old Joanna Mason witnesses an appalling crime. Thirty years later the man convicted of the crime is released from prison. In Edinburgh, sixteen-year-old Reggie works as a nanny for a G.P. But Dr. Hunter has gone missing and Reggie seems to be the only person who is worried. Across town, Detective Chief Inspector Louise Monroe is also looking for a missing person, unaware that hurtling towards her is an old friend — Jackson Brodie — himself on a journey that becomes fatally interrupted.

Koom Valley? That was where the trolls ambushed the dwarfs, or the dwarfs ambushed the trolls. It was far away. It was a long time ago. But if he doesn't solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office. With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him. Oh... and at six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read 'Where's My Cow?', with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do.

Cambridge is sweltering, during an unusually hot summer. To Jackson Brodie, former police inspector turned private investigator, the world consists of one accounting sheet — Lost on the left, Found on the right — and the two never seem to balance. Jackson has never felt at home in Cambridge, and has a failed marriage to prove it. Surrounded by death, intrigue and misfortune, his own life haunted by a family tragedy, he attempts to unravel three disparate case histories and begins to realise that in spite of apparent diversity, everything is connected...

Eragon battles on behalf of the Varden while Galbatorix ruthlessly attempts to crush and twist him to his own purposes. Rich with a thoughtful examination of Eragon`s maturing psyche, this book explores how Eragon must come to terms with his role as a leader and the moral obligations that weigh heavily upon his young shoulders as a Dragon Rider. Repackaged to appeal to an adult market.

Presents an insightful biography of Barack Obama, the President of the United States. This title covers his presidential campaign and shows how he learned his political skills in his early career, which led him from his university lecturer`s office in Iowa, to his nomination as a Democratic candidate, and finally to the Oval Office in Washington.

Amidst the massacre he helped bring about, Carnelian is now desperate to find a way to avoid more carnage. His spurned lover Osidian—seeking revenge and determined to win back his stolen throne—has deliberately stoked the wrath of the Masters who rule the world from its center, Osrakum. Osidian's actions threaten to overturn the repressive order of the Commonwealth, and Carnelian soon learns that he and those he loves are inextricably enmeshed in the terrible power game of the Masters. If he is to survive, he has no choice but to stand with Osidian in defiance of the invincible power of the Masters. In his struggle, Carnelian will unleash apocalyptic forces that will bring his world to a reckoning none could have foreseen, though it has been simmering for 4,000 years.

It`s New York, 1926. Rocco Campobello, the great tenor collapses on stage. He emerges from this brush with death a changed man: a fallen, but enlightened colossus, casting off the mantle of celebrity, he embarks on a journey into his dark and sinister past which takes him back to his impoverished early life and to the city that made him: Naples.

January 1972: the tiny outpost of British Honduras is threatened with imminent invasion by battle-hardened, US-trained Guatemalan paratroops. Britain's response must be immediate and decisive. But there is only one deterrent the government can offer: HMS Ark Royal, once the Navy's most powerful warship, now a white elephant on the verge of being scrapped. To save the small colony, she must launch a pair of Buccaneer fighter bombers on an unprecedented long-range mission. But first the old carrier must make a high-speed, 1,500 mile dash across the Atlantic towards the Gulf of Mexico. The odds of arriving in time are very slim indeed...Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts and previously unseen, classified documents, Rowland White has pieced together one of the most audacious and thrilling missions of post-war British military history.

The Love Story. The marriage of Barack and Michelle stands as one of the great personal and political partnerships, and by the time he was sworn in, Barack and Michelle Obama were indisputably the First Couple not only of America but of the world. Yet, incredibly, the true nature of that relationship has remained a mystery. Until now. Christopher Andersen draws on those who know the Obamas best to examine in detail the unique partnership and the grace, courage and humour that defines it. An inspiring, sympathetic and compelling look at two remarkable individuals, Barack and Michelle, is above all else, a revealing, stirring love story!

At St Jude's School for Girls, four friends are facing very different problems ...Can Gina still be happy with her boyfriend when there's such an exciting new guy on the scene? How will Amy survive when her rich dad's money disappears? What can tomboy Niffy do to make herself gorgeous? And why is Min spending so much time in the study and missing all the fun? Sounds like all the St Jude's friends need to get in touch with their inner Rebel Girl!

Using the Imperial War Museum's vast archive of personal diaries, this remarkable anthology examines the stories of ordinary men and women who fought, and in some cases died, on the front line and home front during the Second World War. The Words of War features diverse first-hand accounts from individuals who took part in the key campaigns of the war. In the words of the young officer facing defeat and capture at Dunkirk, the pilot officer losing friends and comrades during the Battle of Britain, the Land Girl dealing with a new life in the countryside, the Royal Naval seaman fighting the weather in the Russian convoys, the infantryman about to hit the beaches on D-Day, the bomb aimer aboard an Avro Lancaster as it heads towards another German target, the soldier fighting in the Far East against the Japanese, and many others, this unique publication vividly documents the harsh realities of day-to-day life during the conflict. With each diary entry placed in context within a historical narrative that weaves together the complete story for the reader, The Words of War provides a poignant and emotional insight into the human cost of war, while shedding new light on this unforgettable period in history.

An enthralling, glamorous novel of two women, three men, and a gambling empire. From Las Vegas to Dubai, from Shanghai to London, the fatal pull of the gambling world stretches. Savannah, pleasure-loving It Girl, wants to prove herself to her powerful, ruthless father Michael Hudson — until a terrible tragedy forces her to re-think her life Lois, an ex-cop from the wrong side of the tracks, is now running the gambling business of Michael's greatest rival, Roberto Enzo — and torn between the glamour and wealth of the casinos and the needs of her vulnerable young daughter. Both women have to confront their pasts, discover new loves, and find out the really important things in life before the greed and corruption of their worlds consume them.

In this wonderfully written memoir of Jacqueline Wilson’s life as a teenager, stories about family problems, first love, school life and friends build up a fascinating picture of a real teenager and her inner life. She uses extracts from her real diary to cover issues as diverse as how she created beehive hairdos to her troubled school life.