At the heart of Joseph Heller's bestselling novel, first published in 1961, is a satirical indicement of military madness and stupidity, and the desire of the ordinary man to survive it. It is a tale of the dangerously sane Captain Yossarian, who spends his time in Italy plotting to survive.

For Penelope, wife of Odysseus, maintaining a kingdom while her husband was off fighting the Trojan war was not a simple business. Already aggrieved that he had been lured away due to the shocking behaviour of her beautiful cousin Helen, Penelope must bring up her wayward son, face down scandalous rumours and keep over a hundred lustful, greedy and...

Jojo Harvey is a literary agent whose star is on the rise. In love with both her married boss and her burgeoning career, not much distracts her. Until she finds herself representing two women who used to be best friends. Used to be...

From the cruel irony of A Member of the Family to the fateful echoes of The Go-Away Bird and the unexpectedly sinister The Girl I Left Behind Me, in settings that range from South Africa to the Portobello Road, Muriel Spark coolly probes the idiosyncrasies that lurk beneath the veneer of human respectability, displaying the acerbic wit and wisdom t...

1950s Liverpool. In the tight-knit community of the Four Streets, two girls are growing up. One is motherless and hated by the cold woman determined to take her dead mother's place. The other is hiding a dreadful secret which she dare not tell to anyone. The people of Four Streets laugh, grieve and hope together. But what can they do when a betraya...

Willow and Holly are identical twins. They're alike in every way, except one-Willow is afraid on the inside. For a long time Willow has felt separated from Holly by one terrible moment in time-a moment that meant Willow's life was never the same again. And when the past catches up with her, Willow realises it's finally time for her to face her fear...

Ellen Trawton is running away from it all-literally. She's getting married to a man she doesn't love, her job is depressing and her mother is getting on her nerves. So she escapes to the one place she knows her mother won't follow her-her aunt's house in rural Ireland. Once there, she uncovers a dark family secret-and a future she never knew she mi...

Bestselling children's book writer Angelica is amused and flattered at the attention of Jack, the owner of a vineyard in South Africa, whom she meets at a dinner party. With his easy charm and reputation as a ladies' man, Jack makes her feel good about herself-surely it can't do any harm to indulge in a mild email flirtation?

Santa Montefiore's involving and dramatic novel The Butterfly Box opens in Vina del Mar, Chile, in the sweltering Summer of 1982. Frederica Campione adores her father. When he gives her a magical box from Peru she believes he will always be there for her. Yet, when her parents' marriage falls apart, she is forced to move to Cornwall with her mother...

For thirty years, Area X has remained behind its border- an environmental disaster zone. Eleven expeditions have been sent in to investigate; all with terrible consequences. Annihilation is the story of the twelfth expedition. Their mission: to take samples and expand their understanding of Area X. But an inexplicable moaning calls in the distance,...

Max Flynn, undercover agent, has the unenviable job of spying on his own side. When to kill, who to kill, whether to kill are all questions which have to be answered. But why does an innocuous airline ticket No. 14B matter so much? Who has gone to the trouble of committing suicide? The murky world of counter espionage leaves no room for errors and...

A vicious robbery at a secluded Brighton mansion leaves its elderly occupant dying, and millions of pounds' worth of valuables stolen. But, as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace rapidly learns, there is one priceless item of sentimental value that the old woman's powerful family cherish above all else. And they are fully prepared to take the law in...

Moments of change, chance encounters, twists of fate that create a new way of thinking or being: the stories in Dear Life build to form a radiant, indelible portrait of just how dangerous and strange ordinary life can be. The collection includes four powerful pieces, 'Autobiographical in Feeling', set during the time of Munro's own childhood, in th...

Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She sometimes thinks her daughter Helen is a total stranger. But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, Maud will get to the bottom of it. A debut novel...

Sue Townsend, creator of the much-loved Adrian Mole series, tells a compassionate and gritty story of love and loss in Ghost Children. Seventeen years ago Angela Carr aborted an unwanted child. The child's father, Christopher Moore, was devastated by the loss and retreated from the world. However, when he makes a horrifying discovery on the heath,...

If you had the chance to make a fresh start, what would you keep from your old life? What would you give away? Gina is starting her life again, after a difficult few years she'd rather forget. But the belongings she's treasured for so long just don't seem to fit who she is now. So Gina makes a resolution. She'll keep just a hundred items-the rest c...

The collection begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In Third Floor Ri...

Loopy follows an unnamed man who is struggling to grow up and move beyond the confines of his mother's home. Indifferent to his fianc‚e and bored with his 9 to 5 job, his only outlet is with his local drama group. Following a performance as the wolf in Red Riding Hood, he gradually becomes obsessed with his wolf alter-ego, spending more and m...

Gabrielle is sitting in an apartment in Manhattan, watching the clock. Her daughter has been kidnapped, she's shot and killed a man, and is trying to negotiate with the kidnapper. He wants the October List, and he wants money. The doorbell rings...That is the end of Gabrielle's story, and the first chapter of the novel. The next chapter is the scen...

Before she soared to massive popularity with her bestselling True Blood novels, Charlaine Harris launched her career with this critically acclaimed mystery. Catherine Linton has returned to her hometown of Lowfield, Mississippi, unconvinced that the death of her parents in a car crash six months earlier was an accident. And her suspicions are confi...

Miles Flint is a low-level operative in the world of espionage, with a watching brief that satisfies him perfectly; he's not a man who craves more active duty. But IRA bombs are wreaking havoc on the British mainland, and Miles finds himself with all kinds of problems. He is sent to Belfast, where he finds that his job is much more than merely watc...