British Violence

From a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian: a searing study of the British Empire that probes the country's pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century and traces how these practices were exported, modified, and institutionalized in colonies around the globe Sprawling across a...

A big novel about a small town... When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor...

A stand-alone mystery featuring DCI Peter Hatherall. It's hard to defend yourself when you have memory lapses, and everyone thinks you are crazy. Journalist, Megan Roach, is given a story by an old man in a nursing home that could make her famous. When her carefully constructed life starts to unravel, she is forced to confront her childhood demons and the possibility she could be a murderer. DCI Peter Hatherall uncovers a conspiracy that confronts his own beliefs and goes far deeper than Megan Roach imagined. But can he believe anything she says?

A provocative, immersive medieval novel starring one of literature’s most unforgettable characters in her own words—Chaucer’s bold and libidinous Wife of Bath. “So damned readable and fun…This is the story of a woman fighting for her rights; it breaches the walls of history.”--The...

Brought to you by Penguin. From the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian: a searing study of the British Empire that interrogates the pervasive use of violence throughout the twentieth century and traces how these practices were exported, modified, and institutionalized in colonies around the globe...

Community police officer Keya Varma takes up a dead man’s cause when a journalist who swore the wrong man was sent to prison is found murdered in a quiet Cotswold wood. With her cafe thriving and a new boss who relishes red tape more than results, Keya is ordered to stick to her rural beat. But an orange lily lies on the victim’s lap, and those with long memories recall an identical murder forty years ago. And when village rumours of buried treasure among the trees prove true, Keya must work out how it all fits together. Can Keya finish what the journalist started, free an innocent man,...

When Ugandan President Idi Amin expelled the country's entire Asian population in 1972, more than 28,000 people from Britain's former colony arrived on airstrips around the country and began building new lives - but their incredible stories remained largely hidden. Fifty years later, first and...

The Child Taker In a chilling tale drawn from the haunting realities of high-profile child abductions, The Child Taker immerses readers in a desperate race against time. Five-year-old twins vanish from their tent in the serene Lake District, thrusting their family into a nightmare and sparking a frenetic hunt for a sinister paedophile ring. With police protocol dictating that 60% of abducted children are murdered within the first four hours—an hour they refer to as the "golden hour"—every second counts. As the investigation intensifies, the clock ticks mercilessly, plunging detectives ...

A hidden letter. A stolen legacy. A truth buried for eighty years. Eleanor "Ellie" Hargreaves knows that every scratch on a piece of furniture tells a story. As a master restorer in the heart of the Cotswolds, she’s used to uncovering the past. But when she finds a secret compartment in a Victorian writing desk, she discovers a story that was never meant to be told: a desperate plea from 1938 and a prayer plate stolen during the darkest days of the Holocaust. When the desk—and the priceless collection it belongs to—vanishes the morning after its delivery, the police look at the ...

When uprisings against colonial rule broke out across the world after 1945, Britain responded with overwhelming and brutal force. Although this period has conventionally been dubbed "postwar," it was punctuated by a succession of hard-fought, long-running conflicts that were geographically diffuse, morally ambiguous, and impervious to neat endings or declarations of victory. Age of Emergency traces facts and feelings about violence as torture, summary executions, collective punishments, and other ruthless methods were employed in "states of emergency."

By the age of five, Naz Shah was used to the sight of her father beating her mother. At six, her father left the family for a teenage neighbour. At twelve, she was sent to Pakistan for protection from her mother's new abuser, only to be forced into marriage at the age of fifteen. Within a couple...

Edinburgh, 1885. Botanical illustrator Mildred Crane has built her life on observation. The precise curve of a petal. The subtle shift of colour at its edge. The quiet truth that reveals itself only to those patient enough to look closely. Plants, she has always believed, are far more honest than people. So when she accepts a private commission at Blackwood House—a secluded estate perched above the Firth of Forth—she expects solitude, rare orchids, and the comforting discipline of her craft. Instead, she finds a household steeped in tension. A reclusive lord guarding a fading legacy. A ...

Fierce and unapologetic, Spoilt Creatures is an intoxicating debut that pulls back the skin of the patriarchy and examines the female rage that lies beneath. They thought they knew everything about us. The kind of women we were. When Iris—newly single and living at home with her mother—meets...

Katie Kovacs is a mother haunted by a missing child. Heather Parnell is a nun with a deadly secret. Still grieving the unsolved disappearance of her son, Katie is terrified someone is watching her. Already anxious she’s losing her grip on reality, she meets Heather who killed three elderly people in the 1970s. Katie’s obsession with Heather’s crimes leads her to ghostwrite the grisly memoir. As Katie delves into Heather’s shocking past, she wonders whether she is uncovering the truth – or is she falling into the same horrifying darkness that destroyed Heather’s life? Now that ...

With the death toll at the Phoenix Festival rising, Jesse is one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately he can’t see things that way. As soon as he regains consciousness, there’s only one thing on his mind – REVENGE. He enlists Danny’s help to find the men who killed his girlfriend and intends to deliver justice in the old-fashioned way. Danny goes along with him, but only on the condition that Jesse doesn’t get his hands dirty when they’re on the job. Unfortunately for Danny, even the best made plans can go awry. The explosive and final instalment of the Jesse Garon series.

The brightest smiles can hide the darkest secrets… When a beloved celebrity vanishes near the tranquil shores of Brambleton Lake, whispers of scandal ripple through the small town. Aurora Kensington’s dazzling charm and picture-perfect life once filled magazine covers and society pages, but behind the sparkle, not everything was as flawless as it appeared. Her sudden disappearance leaves behind a trail of questions—and a town desperate for answers. Chief Jed Collins turns to amateur sleuth Sophie Trent for help, knowing her sharp intuition has cracked impossible cases before. But in ...

Explore the gripping geopolitical history of a fractured subcontinent forever changed by violent mass migration. Perfect for a thought-provoking morning commute, this sobering narrative bridges the gap between distant political decisions and the lived realities of ordinary citizens. Immerse...

In his latest book, bestselling author Cass Pennant takes an engaging and unparalleled look at some of the most volatile and violent scenes of fans following their football clubs to have unfolded over the past five decades, and examines the lengths to which many will go to put one over their...

Join a new kind of vampire hunter—former gangster Freddie Burns—as he fights for his place, for his family, and for the hell of it in London’s gritty magical underworld. Mostly for the hell of it, to be honest. Freddie Burns just wants ten pints, a spot of football violence, and to take...

When you read this book, you will think you know every twist in the tale. Maria is on trial for attempted murder. She has confessed to the crime and wanted her husband dead. Lottie is on the jury, trying to decide her fate. She embarks on an illicit affair with a stranger, and her husband can...