Showing titles in Historical

H.M.S. Surprise, the third in O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey-Maturin series, follows the variable fortunes of Captain Jack Aubrey's career in Nelson's navy, as he attempts to hold his ground against admirals, colleagues, and the enemy, and accepts a commission to convey a British ambassador to the East Indies. The voyage leads him and his friend Stephen Maturin to the strange sights and smells of the Indian subcontinent, and through the archipelago of Spice Islands where the French have a near-overwhelming local superiority.

Four gripping sci-fi adventures from acclaimed scriptwriter Simon Bovey Simon Bovey is an established writer and director who has penned numerous compelling dramas for BBC Radio. Collected here are four of his sensational sci-fi tales, packed with mystery, suspense and terror... Cold Blood –...

Lubji Hoch escapes from the Nazis, moves to Berlin and changes his name to Richard Armitage. After a successful career in the British Army, he takes over a struggling newspaper and with unrivalled ruthlessness begins building his media empire. Meanwhile, Keith Townsend, the son of a millionaire and Oxford educated, returns to Australia from London to take over his father's newspaper with similar ambitions. As both men move their quest for power to the world stage, they realise they are more than a match for one another's brilliance and ambition.

England, 1685. Decades after the end of the civil war, the country is once again divided when Charles II's illegitimate son, the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, arrives in Dorset to incite rebellion against his Catholic uncle. Armed only with pitchforks, Monmouth's army is quickly defeated by King James II's superior forces and charged with high treason. Those found guilty will be hanged, drawn and quartered. As Dorset braces for carnage, the redoubtable Lady Jayne Harrier and a small group of trusted allies contrive ways to save men from the gallows.

In The Mauritius Command, Captain Jack Aubrey is ashore on half-pay without a command until his friend, occasional intelligence agent Stephen Maturin, arrives with secret orders for Aubrey to take a frigate to the Cape of Good Hope under a Commodore's pennant. But the difficulties of carrying out his orders are compounded by two of his own captains: one a pleasure-seeking dilettante, the other liable to provoke the crew to mutiny.

The Worldwide Number One Bestseller Wilbur Smith returns to Ancient Egypt in a captivating new novel that will transport you to extraordinary times. EGYPT IS UNDER ATTACK. Pharaoh Tamose lies mortally wounded. The ancient city of Luxor is surrounded, All seems lost. Taita prepares for the...

The new Hercule Poirot novel – another brilliant murder mystery that can only be solved by the eponymous Belgian detective and his ‘little grey cells’. Since the publication of her first book in 1920, Agatha Christie wrote 33 novels, two plays and more than 50 short stories featuring...

UNDER THE EAGLE is the gripping first novel in Simon Scarrow's bestselling EAGLES OF THE EMPIRE series. A must read for fans of Bernard Cornwell. It is AD 42, and Quintus Licinius Cato has just arrived in Germany as a new recruit to the Second Legion, the toughest in the Roman army. If adjusting...

Two young girls plot a murder by witchcraft. Soon afterwards, a government clerk dies painfully in mysterious circumstances. His colleague James Marwood is asked to investigate—but the task brings unexpected dangers. Meanwhile, architect Cat Hakesby is working for a merchant who lives on Slaughter Street, where the air smells of blood and a captive Barbary lion prowls the stables. Then a prestigious new commission arrives. Cat must design a Poultry House for the woman that the king loves most in all the world.

London, September 1666. The Great Fire rages through the city, consuming everything in its path. Even the impregnable cathedral of St. Paul's is engulfed in flames and reduced to ruins. Among the crowds watching its destruction is James Marwood, son of a disgraced printer and reluctant government informer. In the aftermath of the fire, a semi-mummified body is discovered in the ashes of St. Paul's, in a tomb that should have been empty. The man's body has been mutilated, and his thumbs have been tied behind his back.

Bloomsbury presents The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton, read by Julian Rhind-Tutt. STUART TURTON'S INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER THE LAST MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD NOW IS OUT NOW ‘If you read one book this year, make sure it’s this one’ Daily Mail CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE TOP RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK FOR SUMMER 2021 ___________________________ 'Immersive' Guardian 'Stunning' Daily Express 'Riveting' Telegraph ___________________________ Victory is close. Vengeance is closer. Rudi Graf used to dream of sending a rocket to the...

England 1616. Robert Belstrang, ex-magistrate bored with country life, comes to London to investigate the strange disappearance of Thomas Jessop, son of a poor Catholic neighbor. He locates the youth in Bedlam asylum, silent and starving himself. When he tries to free Jessop, he is warned off the case by a politic lawyer, Anstis. Soon after, Belstrang finds himself drugged, robbed and falsely imprisoned. Once released Belstrang persists in his investigation, but he is thwarted at every turn: unseen forces are at work who seemingly want Thomas Jessop to die. 

Brought to you by Penguin. THE SIXTH GEORGE SMILEY NOVEL George Smiley, now acting head of the Circus, must rebuild its shattered reputation after one of the biggest betrayals in its history. Using the talents of journalist and occasional spy Jerry Westerby, Smiley launches a risky operation...

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, SET AGAINST CHARLES DICKENS' HOME FOR FALLEN WOMEN 'Absorbing . . . Halls weaves together the elements of her story with great skill' Sunday Times 'Acutely observed and beautifully written' Daily Mail 'Compelling and richly detailed' Good Housekeeping...

England, 1586. Giordano Bruno returns to England to bring shocking new intelligence to Sir Francis Walsingham. A band of Catholic Englishmen are plotting to kill Queen Elizabeth and spring Mary Queen of Scots from prison to take the English throne in her place. Bruno is surprised to find that Walsingham is aware of the plot, led by the young, wealthy noble Anthony Babington and is allowing it to progress. His hope is that Mary will put her support in writing - and condemn herself to a traitor's death.

When MI6 sends Evelyn Ainsworth back to Oslo, no one expects any complications, least of all Evelyn. With her identity locked down and her section classified, both her location and her mission are secure. Or so they thought. After months of inactivity and scattered warnings across Europe, Hitler finally moves, but not in the direction everyone expects. With tensions between England and Norway rising, the Führer seizes the opportunity to send an invasion force north—straight into Norway.

Brought to you by Penguin. Isaac Bell returns for another thrilling mission in a new book from the Grand Master of Adventure, Clive Cussler. Charismatic, handsome, and fiercely loyal, Isaac Bell is a no-nonsense private detective at the Van Dorn Detective Agency. Travelling all over early 20th...

Read by Richard Armitage (The Hobbit, Missing You) Heads You Win is the incredible and thrilling novel by the master storyteller and bestselling author of the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer. Leningrad, Russia, 1968. From an early age it is clear that Alexander Karpenko is...

A dangerous mission is underway in Occupied Rome, right under the noses of the Gestapo. The acclaimed wartime thriller from the award-winning and internationally bestselling author of My Father's House. May 1944. Rome is still ruled by the Gestapo, but the Allies are closing in. As tensions rise...