Showing results by publisher "W. F. Howes Ltd" in All Categories

City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring Perfection and Correctness to an imperfect world. As their legions scour the world of superstition with the bright flame of reason, so they deliver a mountain of ragged, holed and scorched flesh to the field hospital tents just behind the frontline. Which is where Yasnic, one-time priest, healer and rebel, finds himself. Reprieved from the gallows and sent to war clutching a box of orphan Gods, he has been sequestered to a particularity unorthodox medical unit.

June the first, a bright summer's evening, a Monday.... And into the busy, bustling homes at 66 Star Street slips, unseen, a mysterious visitor. As the couples, flatmates and repentant singletons of No. 66 fall in and out of love, clutch at and drop secrets, laugh, cry and simply try to live, no one suspects the visitor patiently waiting in the wings. For soon, as the light slowly fades to dark, everything is going to change....

The Girl of Sugar Beach is the most watched documentary in television history - a riveting, true-life mystery that unfolds over 12 weeks and centres on a fascinating question: Did Grace Sebold murder her boyfriend, Julian, while on a spring break vacation, or is she a victim of circumstance and poor police work?

Somewhere in the dim void between the departure from Britain of the Roman legions at the start of the fifth century and the days of the venerable Bede, the kingdoms of Early Medieval Britain were formed. But by whom? And out of what? Max Adams scrutinises the narrative handed down to us by later historians and chronicles, stripping away the most lurid nonsense about Arthur and synthesising the research of the last 40 years to tease out strands of reality from myth.

Jane Bell had dreamt of playing in the casinos of Monte Carlo, but in her punk phase she got herself pregnant, and now she’s 46. She's a grandmother, her dreams as dry as the dust her Dyson sucks up from her hall carpet. Then her son, Ross, a researcher working for an arms manufacturer, is forced to disappear and to part with the secrets of his research. Jane will finally get the adventure she’s always wanted but at a price....

Yeongdo, Korea - 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a 15-year-old girl. The couple have one child: their beloved daughter, Sunja. When Sunja falls pregnant by a married yakuza, the family face ruin. But then, Isak, a Christian minister, offers her a chance of salvation: a new life in Japan as his wife. Following a man she barely knows to a hostile country in which she has no friends and no home, and whose language she cannot speak, Sunja's salvation is just the beginning of her story.

Alex is trying to get his life back on track. But Scorpia has returned, and when you’re the world’s most successful spy, the only way out is to face your enemies. Alex’s final mission will be the deadliest of all.

Liverpool, 1946: the blackout blinds may be coming down, but one family is about to face devastating misfortune. Dora Evans is finally marrying the love of her life, and her dreams of opening a dressmaking business look as if they might come true. With twin daughters on the way, Dora has everything she's ever wanted. But then tragedy strikes: one of Dora's babies dies in infancy, and a catastrophic fire changes their lives forever. Can Dora save herself, her marriage and her daughter?

Rory Stewart's sparsely poetic and highly acclaimed account of his walk across Afghanistan in January 2002 has been hailed as a modern classic of travel writing. Traveling entirely on foot and following the inaccessible mountainous route, Stewart was nearly defeated by the hostile conditions. With the help of an unexpected companion and the generosity of the people he met on the way, however, he survived to report back on a region closed to the world by twenty-four years of war.

When dorky, unpopular 11-yr-old Otis wakes up in the morning at a sleepover birthday party, he's in for a shock. At the marquee where the sleepover took place, it's a scene of carnage and mayhem: there's a donkey drinking at the chocolate fountain, a huge inflatable helium sausage looms above, doves everywhere, one of the kids has a tattoo, and there's a suitcase of bratwurst on the floor! But what's weirdest of all, neither Otis nor the other kids can remember what happened!

All the ton agree: there is no one quite like Hyacinth Bridgerton. Fiendishly smart, devilishly outspoken and - according to some, particularly Gareth St. Clair - probably best in small doses. But there's something about her - something charming and vexing - that grabs one and won't quite let go. Gareth and Hyacinth cross paths at the annual - and annually discordant - Smythe-Smith musicale. To Hyacinth, Gareth's every word seems a dare, and she offers to help him out with a knotty inheritance problem he's facing.

After the notorious 'Middle Street Massacre' of 1951, when the majority of Brighton's criminals wiped one another out in a vicious battle as the local police force enjoyed a brief stop en route for an ice cream, Inspector Steine rather enjoys life as a policeman. No criminals, no crime, no stress. He just wishes Sergeant Brunswick would stop insisting that perhaps not every criminal was wiped out that fateful day. So it's really rather annoying when an ambitious - not to mention irritating - new Constable shows up to work and starts investigating a series of burglaries.

Loki has made a fair few enemies during his time in Asgard. Too many to count and certainly too many to remember. When the elf, Vinir beams Loki aboard his chariot and challenges him to a magical duel, Loki hasn't got a clue why. Sweet talking his way out of a fight by pointing out there's little honor in dueling someone who can't remember how they wronged you, and even less in picking on a child, Loki is returned safely to school. That is until Vinir shows up in child form, as resolute as ever about seeking that duel... and vengeance.

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, he finds that he is compelled to confront Angela about the past. As they start seeing each other again, can they avoid past mistakes? And will their future together be eclipsed by the mistakes of yesterday?

Adrian Mole is 34 and three quarters, almost officially middle-aged, when Mr. Blair tells Parliament that Weapons of Mass Destruction can be deployed in 45 minutes and can reach Cyprus. Adrian is worried that he might not get a refund on his holiday. But that's not all that is bothering him. There's his odd girlfriend Marigold who has become distressingly New Age. And his son Glenn who is in Deepcut Barracks. Would Mr. Blair have been quite so keen if it had been his son manning a roadblock?

As well as Lisa, we meet Hester, Julia, Helen, Caroline and a host of other devastating girls, falling in and out of love, finding and losing (and often finding again sometimes in the most unexpected places) the men of their dreams. Lisa & Co is a sparkling collection of love stories that are both moving and funny and could have been written only by the unique Jilly Cooper.

One thing unites the wealthy Farthing family and hardworking Dilly Carey - Olivia, the daughter Dilly gave to the Farthings years before. Dilly is still living with the consequences when unmarried Olivia arrives on her doorstep, with a baby girl in tow, begging for help. Olivia has a secret she only feels safe telling Dilly. Sworn to secrecy, Dilly agrees to help. She will find a way for Olivia to keep her daughter without revealing the true circumstances of her birth.

The follow-up to the best-selling Heresy sees the return of Giordano Bruno, religious exile and renegade monk…Autumn, 1583. As an astrological phenomenon heralds the dawn of a new age and Mary Stuart’s supporters scheme to usurp Elizabeth, a young maid is murdered, occult symbols carved into her flesh. Giordano Bruno is called on to use his cunning to infiltrate the plotters and find evidence against them. In fear for his life, Bruno discovers that the young woman’s murder could point to an even more sinister truth…

When Kate is dumped on her best friend's wedding day, she realises she's now homeless as well as jobless. She decides to take a job on a remote Scottish island. Her grouchy new boss, Roddy, is unimpressed with her and makes it clear she's got a lot to prove. Island life has no room for secrets, and Roddy's trying to keep something quiet. When his ex appears back on the island, tensions rise. What is Fiona planning - and can she be stopped before it's too late?

Dottie and Mary forged a friendship over a bag of penny sweets when they were eight years old. They've shared everything together since then. Now, at seventeen, they're both shopgirls working at Woolworths. As they go out in the world in pursuit of love and happiness and life becomes more complicated, the simplicity of their childhood dissolves. The heady excitement of first love will consume them both, but the pain of unintentional betrayal will test their friendship.