Funny, moving and sharply observed, these stories are confirmation of Boyd's status as one of English fiction's finest writers. Here are twenty-four gripping tales told in bold, distinct voices from Brazil to Africa and from Nice to Hollywood. This eclectic collection by the acclaimed author of Restless and Brazzaville Beach is a must-read for any...

They set a Slamhound on Turner's trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the colour of his hair.When the Maas Biolabs and Hosaka zaibatsus fight it out for world domination, computer cowboys like Turner and Count Zero are just foot soldiers in the great game: useful but ultimately expendable.When Turner wakes up in Mexico - in a new bo...

From the winner of the Blue Peter Best Story Book Award, the third instalment of Podkin's epic battle against the Gorm.The bard looks up at the three figures. They have black hooded cloaks and long robes. From the holes in their masks, three pairs of eyes watch him: cold, calm, emotionless. 'Yes,' says the bard. 'They're bonedancers. You don't need...

Brought to you by Ladybird.Winner of The FutureBook of the Year Award 2019 and shortlisted for the Best Children's Audiobook at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020.Meet our fearless adventurers Cassandra, Otto and Missy AKA the smartest raven in the universe as they set out on their next action-packed Ladybird Audio Adventure!On this adventure,...

Brought to you by Ladybird.Winner of The FutureBook of the Year Award 2019 and shortlisted for the Best Children's Audiobook at the New York Festival Radio Awards 2020.Meet our fearless adventurers Cassandra, Otto and Missy AKA the smartest raven in the universe as they set out on their next action-packed Ladybird Audio Adventure!On this adventure,...

It's every parent's worst nightmare. But there's no waking up from this . . . On board a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, Kimberly wakes to discover that her two-year-old son Robert has vanished from the cabin overnight. She and her husband Jason vow to do whatever it takes to bring Robert home. But he is never found. Forty years later, their ther...

The howling doesn't stop after the full moon. My first term of university: bad grades and worse sex. After losing my sister/best friend Grace and spending my teenage years suffering for it, I thought academia could be my saviour. So, I buried my head in as many books as I could find. But it turns out you can't just turn the page on years of guilt....

When homicide Detective Kit McKittrick and psychologist Sam Reeves discover a mutilated body in the desert outside San Diego, any number of people could be on their suspect list. The murder victim, local Councillor Brooks Munro, was a hated figure. Following the killer's trail, it becomes clear that those who abducted Brooks - and his prized Ferrar...

Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun with a stranger. She deserves one night for herself, doesn't she? Zeke is looking for love. But for one night with a woman like Lexi, he'll break his rules . . . Sparks fly at the pub, one passionate kiss leads to another and they end up stumbling home to the marina together. The next morning, hungover an...

Detective Chief Inspector Tony McLean is called to investigate a break-in at Drake BioTech, a trendsetting Edinburgh start-up. It's well below McLean's pay grade, but given the extensive political connections of its eccentric owner Nathaniel Drake, he doesn't have a choice. Even if nothing appears to have been stolen. A missing person case turns co...

The Earth colony of Landin has been stranded on Werel for ten years - and each of Werel's years is over 60 terrestrial years! After so long an exile, the lonely and dwindling human settlement is beginning to feel the strain. Every winter—a season that lasts a decade and a half - the Earthmen have neighbours: the humanoid hilfs, a nomadic peop...

From invasion to liberation, September 1939 to April 1945, as Renee was marched from ghetto to camp, there was one constant. One hand that clutched hers - her mother's. Every day for nearly six years, mother and daughter were bound together in hell. From Auschwitz-Birkenau to Bergen-Belsen, they were a powerful source of solace and hope for one ano...

Raised in a Greek legion, Phaidros has been taught to follow his commander's orders at all costs. But when he rescues a baby from a fire at Thebes' palace, he defies those orders and keeps the blue-eyed boy's existence a secret. Years later, after a strange encounter that led to the death of his battalion, Phaidros has become a training master for...

The Darke family and their associates are under attack. Ruby's burlesque club has been razed to the ground. Her son Kit's closest associate, Rob Hinton, is dead. And when Ruby's lover, gangland boss Thomas Knox, is blown to pieces by a car bomb, everyone suspects a rival gang. But is that the truth? As Kit and Ruby trawl the mean streets of London...

ELPHIE: A WICKED CHILDHOOD is the captivating coming-of-age story of the most iconic witch ever to grace our screens and bookshelves. Young Elphaba is destined to be a witch, she bears the markings from childhood. But what happened before her powers took hold? Elphie is a girl like any other and no other. Nothing like her parents - one beautiful, t...

Earth, like the rest of the Known Worlds, has fallen to the Shing. Scattered here and there, small groups of humans live in a state of semi-barbarism. They have lost the skills, science and knowledge that had been Earth's in the golden age of the League of Worlds, and whenever a colony of humans tries to rekindle the embers of a half-forgotten tech...

In 1943, German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered that an orchestra should be formed among the female prisoners. Almost fifty women and girls from eleven nations were assembled to play marching music to other inmates - forced labourers who left each morning and returned, exhausted and often broken, at the end of the day - and give...

It is a June morning in Milan when Sandro abandons his flat, his job and the increasingly unfulfilled promises of a hostile city to return to his hometown of Rimini. His mother, Caterina, has been dead for a few years, but his father - headstrong, taciturn Nando - soldiers on in the same house of Sandro's youth. The two men could not be more differ...

Clementine Clark isn't looking for love. She's a talented singer, but she's set her dreams of stardom - and romance - aside to care for her ailing mother. And then her best friend calls her with a life-changing opportunity: join Irish megastar Halloran on his first US tour as a backing vocalist. Clementine wants to reject the offer, but the pay wou...

1999. A group of archaeologists are excavating a Bronze Age burial site in the grounds of Trusloe Hall, a minor stately home in Wiltshire. Excited that their dig is being filmed for a TV documentary, the group are camping onsite and having the time of their lives. In the blink of an eye, one of the party disappears: a young woman called Nazma Kirma...

Meet Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh: three very different women from Belfast, but all mothers to eighteen-year-old boys. Gorgeous Frankie, now married to a wealthy, older man, grew up in care. Miriam has recently lost her beloved husband Kahlil in ambiguous circumstances. Bronagh, the CEO of a children's services charity, loves celebrity and prestige....