September 1919: twenty-one-year-old Tristan Sadler takes a train from London to Norwich to deliver some letters to Marian Bancroft. Tristan fought alongside Marian’s brother Will during the...

These six brilliantly written episodes, brought together in Mary McCarthy's first novel, create a fascinating portrait of a 1930s New York social circle. Based loosely on the author's own life,...

In 'Talking it Over', Gillian and Stuart were married until Oliver - witty, feckless Oliver - stole her away. In 'Love, etc' Man Booker Prize-winning author Julian Barnes revisits Stuart, Gillian...

When 'Cakes and Ale' was first published in 1930 it roused a storm of controversy since many people imagined they recognised portraits of literary figures now no more. It is the novel for which...

Captain John Staple's exploits in the Peninsula had earned him the sobriquet Crazy Jack amongst his fellows in the Dragoon Guards. Now home from Waterloo, life in peacetime is rather dull for the...

‘The lie was tiny and black like a stick of liquorice in her mouth. She didn't like liquorice and she didn't like lying but it was the only way’It is 1975 and nine-year-old Grace believes...

In 'Men at Arms', the first book in the ‘Sword of Honour’ trilogy, we were introduced to Guy Crouchback. Catholic, 35-years-old and divorced, he saw the outbreak of World War Two as the...

Lionel Asbo - a very violent but not very successful young criminal - is going about his morning duties in a London prison when he learns that he has just won £139,999,999.50 on the National...

Fashion-guru Annie's well-dressed world is falling apart - first she's lost her legendary sense of style, and now her daughter Lana seems to have become her worst enemy. Even her...

Five years after the battle of Waterloo, Sharpe's peaceful retirement in Normandy is shattered by a plea for help. An old friend, Don Blas Vivar, is missing in Chile, reported dead at rebel hands...

Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman and Angel: six kids who are pretty normal in most ways – except that they’re 98% human, 2% bird. They grew up in a lab, living like rats in cages, but now...

Adriatic, 1940s... Curtis was the pro. He could steer a sub through a saloon and no one would notice. Duncan was the grumbler, more at home in the Aussie Outback than twenty fathoms under the...

James Bond is targeted for elimination by SMERSH, and the malevolent Colonel Rosa Klebb has set a trap in Istanbul. The bait is the Spektor decoding machine, to be delivered by the irresistible...

When Sylvie Mathieson is found dead in a river, Hugh Wellesley, who had almost forgotten his long ago love affair with Sylvie, stands accused of her murder at a time when his own marriage and...

It’s 1943. When Babs Scott loses her beloved parents in an air raid, she is left homeless and alone. The Land Army offers her a new life away from the bombed streets of Rotherhithe and, despite...