Showing results by publisher "Orion Publishing Group" in All Categories

One seagull and four pieces of bread decide the course of one person's life. But is the rest just coincidence? A new novel from Costa Award shortlisted author J. W. Ironmonger. Have you ever experienced a coincidence that seems too strange to be true? And is there such a thing as fate? The Coincidence Authority is a novel about love in a random universe, about two lost souls each with a quest to understand the secret patterns of their lives.

How do you know where you belong? In June 1988, Elizabeth Kelly's parents think she belongs at home in Ireland. Her boyfriend is certain of it. Unwilling to settle down just yet, she decides to spend the summer in Boston with her college friends. But the next four months change all of them, especially Elizabeth. Quiet and dutiful at home, she surprises herself and everyone else by falling for Danny Esposito, a restless charmer with a troublesome family.

Ex-FBI Agent Brigid Quinn thinks she has a second chance at life. After too many years spent in the company of evil, she's quit the Feds and is working out what normal is meant to feel like. She's swapped serial killers, stakeouts and interrogation for a husband, friends and free time. But when you've walked in darkness for so long, can you stand the light? When a local teenager dies in a tragic drowning accident, the community thinks Brigid might be able to help comfort the family.

England, 1538. The nation is reeling after the ruthless dissolution of the monasteries by King Henry VIII. Cast out of Dartford Priory, Joanna Stafford - feisty, courageous, but scarred by her recent encounter with rebellion at court - is trying to live a quiet life with her five-year-old charge, Arthur. But family connections draw her dangerously close to a treasonous plot and, repelled by violence and the whispered conspiracies around her, Joanna seeks a life with a man who loves her.

One evening in Washington, DC, several high-ranking members of government disappear in a mass kidnapping. Among the kidnapped is Nick Rendel, a computer software coding expert in charge of drone programming and strategy. He is the victim with the most dangerous knowledge, including confidential passwords and codes that are used to program the drones. If these are revealed, his kidnappers could reprogram the drones to strike targets within the United States.

Violet Parry is living the quintessential life of luxury in the Hollywood Hills with David, her rock-and-roll manager husband, and her darling toddler, Dot. She has the perfect life - but she's deeply unhappy. David expects the world of Violet but gives little of himself in return. When she meets Teddy, a roguish small-time bass player, Violet comes alive, and soon she's risking everything for the chance to find herself again.

At the beginning of the Second World War, medical experts predicted epidemics of physical and mental illness on the home front. Rationing would decimate the nation's health, they warned; drugs, blood and medical resources would be in short supply; air raid shelters and evacuation would spread diseases; and the psychological effects of bombing raids would leave mental hospitals overflowing. Yet, astonishingly, Britain ended the war in better health than ever before.

Inspector Christian Tell and his team are called to the scene of a double murder. University lecturer Anne-Marie Karpov lies dead in her home, alongside her student and lover, Henrik. The crime appears straightforward: Henrik's girlfriend, Rebecca, a woman in therapy for her violent jealousy, had been spotted outside Karpov's flat, and her fingerprints are found on the door.

Kenstibec was genetically engineered to build a new world, but the apocalypse forced a career change. These days he drives a taxi instead. A fast-paced, droll and disturbing novel, Barricade is a savage road trip across the dystopian landscape of post-apocalypse Britain; narrated by the cold-blooded yet magnetic antihero, Kenstibec. Kenstibec is a member of the "Ficial" race, a breed of merciless super-humans.

Eleven days in the life of a mother as she tries to navigate herself and her family through the aftershocks of a scandal. Six years ago, aged 15, Rosalind's daughter, Stephanie, ran away with teacher Nathan Temperley, triggering a media frenzy and resulting in Temperley's arrest and imprisonment. Although the family - Rosalind; her husband, Dan; Stephanie; and son Freddy - don't talk about what happened, their lives have been shaped by it and everything that came after.

Most of us have plans. Somewhere to go if something awful happens. Pilgrim Jones doesn't. She looks up at a departures board and takes the first flight. She alights on the edge of Africa. Over confessions and strong gin, she's lured into a world of mercenaries and philanthropists, delusional heroes and witchdoctors in polyester suits. But what about the beating absence, the thing she's done?

Lady Bette, the 14-year-old heiress to the vast Northumberland estates, becomes the victim of a plot by her grandmother, the Countess Howard, to marry her to the dissident fortune-hunter Thomas Thynn, a man three times her age with an evil reputation. Revolted by her new husband, Lady Bette flees to Holland. Within weeks, Thynn is gunned down in the street by three hired assassins. Who is behind the contract killing? Is it the Swedish Count Coningsmark, young and glamorous with blond hair down to his waist?

A panoramic debut about love and loss, The Breaking of Eggs announces a major new talent. Change is in the air in a shabby apartment in the 19th arrondissment in Paris. One unremarkable day Madame Lefèvre invites Feliks to call her Sandrine. As his indomitable landlady's manners have been as unvarying as her dresses for the last 36 years, this feels significant to Feliks. And it is.

Having penned his memoir, bestselling author and TV favourite Keith Lemon has turned his attention to children's books... Yes, you read that correctly. May we introduce Beaver and Elephant - an unlikely pairing but the best of friends! This first book, containing three short stories, brings Keith's distinctive style to the page and follows the adventures of the bossy Beaver and the bumbling but loveable Elephant - whether they are shopping for shoes, splashing around in the sea on holiday or getting into the Christmas spirit.

A laugh-out-loud funny parenting guide from the Honest Toddler, the Internet's most infamous tot, whose unchecked sense of entitlement and undeniable charm on the Honest Toddler blog and on Twitter @HonestToddler have captivated hundreds of thousands of fans online. Are you a confused parent to a toddler? Are you constantly disappointing the small child in your life? This book can help you become a better servant/parent to the toddler at the heart of your world.

A brilliantly engaging guide to the reproductive habits of creatures great and small. Narrated by the author, Dr. Carin Bondar. In The Nature of Sex, 'biologist with a twist' Carin Bondar presents the fascinating diversity of the reproductive habits of the animal kingdom and, through approachable explanations and humorous examples, succeeds in making an eternally popular subject into a book of international appeal.

While held in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison, Azar gives birth to a baby girl whom she fears she cannot keep. Arash, a fellow revolutionary, makes his daughter a bracelet of date stones, knowing it will be all she has to remember him by. Leila has to choose between fleeing Iran with her lover or staying to care for the children of her imprisoned sisters. And Forugh must grow up in the shadow of her parent's deaths. Courageous, heart-wrenching and beautifully written, Children of the Jacaranda Tree is a novel about family, sacrifice, and the search for a better world.

Facing challenges in your relationships, career, health or well-being? Worried important life goals seem to be slipping away? Whether you're faced with day-to-day nervous energy or experiencing a more crippling sensation of anxiety-induced panic attacks, sometimes life can test your nerves and stress levels. But there is a simple and effective way to facing your fears - both real and imagined threats, and making sure that you can bounce back from them stronger than ever before and go on to achieve your goals and lead a happier, more fulfilled life.

A young soldier, a captive princess, witches, wolves and Death walk hand in hand in Costa Award winner Sally Gardner's exquisitely written new novel inspired by the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, The Tinderbox. Otto Hundebiss is tired of war, but when he defies Death he walks a dangerous path. A half beast half man gives him shoes and dice which will lead him deep into a web of dark magic and mystery. He meets the beautiful Safire - pure of heart and spirit, the scheming Mistress Jabber and the terrifying Lady of the Nail.

Who is the real Sophie Stark? The Life and Death of Sophie Stark is the story of an enigmatic film director, told by the six people who loved her most. Brilliant, infuriating, all-seeing and unknowable, Sophie Stark makes films said to be more like life than life itself. But her genius comes at a terrible cost: to her husband, to the brother she left behind, and to an actress who knows too much.