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<b>'The book of the year' <i>SUNDAY TIMES</i><br/>'One of the very best biographies I have ever read' STEPHEN FRY<br/>'A hot thunderstorm of a book' DAVID HARE<br/>'<i>Erotic Vagrancy</i> gave me a week of pure joy' CRAIG BROWN<br/>'Unputdownable' TONY PALMER<br/>'A genius writer' LYNN BARBER<br/>'ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECE . . . ONE OF THE GREAT READING EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE' MARINA HYDE<br/>A TOP 25 BEST BOOK OF 2023 <i>(INDEPENDENT)</i></b><br/><br/>Thirteen years in the writing, Erotic Vagrancy doesn't only surpass every other biography of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton yet to appear, this rich, vital and passionately articulated book, which is as extravagant and wayward as its two subjects, is also about celebrity, creativity, being flawed, being brilliant, sexuality, the intermingling of a low and a highbrow existence, pride, insecurity, attraction and repulsion, and devilry.<br/><br/>We see Taylor the child actress exchanging dogs and horses for husbands. We see Burton emerging from the mists and brimstone of Wales to be the greatest theatrical animal of his generation. The pair come together in Rome during the making of Cleopatra, which gives Lewis the opportunity for a major farcical set-piece. We then enter a world of jewels and private jets, vodka, yachts and furs - the splendid vulgarity of the Sixties, where the narrative of Taylor and Burton becomes a Pop Art story.<br/><br/>Then, inevitably, it all goes wrong, with alcoholism, violence, recrimination and divorce ( twice ) - with Burton, whom Lewis depicts as a Faustus figure, damned by fame, dead at fifty-eight.<br/><br/>Stephen Fry has said, 'It is one of the very best biographies I have ever read. One of the best books about fame, desire, Hollywood and mid-to-late twentieth century culture ever written. Inside which, brilliant, hilarious and sensitive insights on all manner of subjects fizz and froth. Magnificent, terrible, tragic, triumphant.'

<i>"I loved writing, I loved chronicling life and every moment I was cogent, sober, or blitzed, I was forever feeding off my surroundings, making copious notes as ammunition for future compositions. . . . The thing is good, bad or indifferent I never stopped writing, it was as addictive as any drug."</i><br/><br/>This is the memoir music fans have been waiting for. Half of one of the greatest creative partnerships in popular music, Bernie Taupin is the man who wrote the lyrics for Elton John, who conceived the ideas that spawned countless hits, and sold millions and millions of records. Together, they were a duo, a unit, an immovable object. Their extraordinary, half-century-and-counting creative relationship has been chronicled in biopics (like 2019's <i>Rocketman</i>) and even John's own autobiography, <i>Me</i>. But Taupin, a famously private person, has kept his own account of their adventures close to his chest, until now.<br/><br/>Written with honesty and candour,<i> Scatterhot</i> allows the reader to witness events unfolding from Taupin's singular perspective, sometimes front and center, sometimes from the edge, yet always described vibrantly, with an infectious energy that only a vivid songwriter's prose could offer. From his childhood in the East Midlands of England whose imagination was sparked and forever informed by the distinctly American mythopoetics of country music and cowboys, to the glittering, star-studded fishbowl of '70s and '80s Beverly Hills, <i>Scattershot </i>is simultaneously a <i>Tom Jones -</i>like picaresque journey across a landscape of unforgettable characters, as well as a striking, first-hand account of a creative era like no other and one man's experience at the core of it.<br/><br/>An exciting, multi-decade whirlwind, <i>Scattershot</i> whizzes around the world as we ride shotgun with Bernie on his extraordinary life. We visit New York with him and Elton on the cusp of global fame. We spend time with him in Australia almost in residency at an infamous rock 'n' roll hotel in an endless blizzard of drugs. And we spend late, late night hours with John Lennon, with Bob Marley, and hanging with Frank Sinatra. And beyond the world of popular music, we witness memorable encounters with writers like Graham Greene, painters like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, and scores of notable misfits, miscreants, eccentrics, and geniuses, known and unknown. Even if they're not famous in their own right, they are stars on the page, and we discover how they inspired the indelible lyrics to songs such as "Tiny Dancer," "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and The Jets," and so many more.<br/><br/>Unique and utterly compelling, <i>Scattershot</i> will transport the reader across the decades and around the globe, along the way meeting some of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century, and into the vivid imaginings of one of music's most legendary lyricists.

<strong>'Wonderfully evocative, this book transports the reader to the dark underworld of late Elizabethan London. I was gripped from the first page.'</strong> Tracy Borman<br/><br/><strong>'Vividly told, with powerfully drawn characters, this tale of obsession and betrayal set in the dark world of Tudor alchemy will cast its spell over historical fiction fans.'</strong> <em>Heat</em><br/><br/><strong>It is 1597 and Kit Skevy and Mariner Elgin have just robbed the wrong grave.</strong><br/><br/>They are young criminals in the pocket of a gang Lord named Will Twentyman, the Grave Eorl of Southwark. Mariner is the best cutpurse around, a strange Calvinist girl who dresses like a boy and is partner in crime to Kit Skevy, Southwark's best brawler who carries a secret: he cannot feel pain.<br/><br/>When caught out in their unfortunate larceny, Kit is kidnapped by the menacing alchemist Lord Isherwood (a man who will stop at nothing to achieve his hopes for the Red Lion elixir) and his studious son, Lazarus Isherwood, with whom Kit develops a complicated intrigue. When Mariner enlists the help of a competing French alchemist, Lady Elody Blackwater, Mariner and Kit are thrust into the shadowed, political world of Tudor alchemy, testing both their friendship and their lives.<br/><br/><strong>It matters not who you are born to... but where you are made!</strong><br/><br/><strong>'Rich, atmospheric, original...One of my favourite historical novels'</strong> Nat Reeve, <em>Nettleback</em><br/><br/><strong>'An exuberant novel for fans of the gothic and the unlikely'.</strong> <em>The Times</em>

<b>*** THE MOST EAGERLY AWAITED NOVEL OF 2023 ***</b><br/><b><i><br/>Twice upon a time - for that is how some stories should continue </i>. . .</b><br/><br/>Phoebe, an eight-year-old girl, lies comatose following a car accident. She is a body without a spirit, a stolen child. Ceres, her mother, can only sit by her bedside and read aloud to Phoebe the fairy stories she loves in the hope they might summon her back to this world.<br/> But it is hard to keep faith, so very hard.<br/><br/> Now an old house on the hospital grounds, a property connected to a book written by a vanished author, is calling to Ceres. Something wants her to enter, and to journey - to a land coloured by the memories of Ceres's childhood, and the folklore beloved of her father, to a land of witches and dryads, giants and mandrakes; to a land where old enemies are watching, and waiting.<br/><br/> To the Land of Lost Things.<br/><br/><b>For anyone who loved <i>THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS</i> and for all readers who enjoy </b><b>dark, beautifully written fables that explore the heart of the human condition: love, loyalty and sacrifice.</b>

<b>A BBC RADIO 2 BOOKCLUB PICK</b><br/><b><br/>'Engrossing and original, political and unpredictable, <i>The Silence Project </i>will get people talking' Bernardine Evaristo</b><br/><br/><b>Monster. Martyr. Mother.</b><br/><br/>On Emilia Morris's thirteenth birthday, her mother Rachel moves into a tent at the bottom of their garden. From that day on, she never says another word. Inspired by her vow of silence, other women join her and together they build the Community. Eight years later, Rachel and thousands of her followers around the world burn themselves to death.<br/><br/> In the aftermath of what comes to be known as the Event, the Community's global influence quickly grows. As a result, the whole world has an opinion about Rachel - whether they see her as a callous monster or a heroic martyr - but Emilia has never voiced hers publicly. Until now.<br/><br/> When she publishes her own account of her mother's life in a memoir called <i>The Silence Project,</i> Emilia also decides to reveal just how sinister the Community has become. In the process, she steps out of Rachel's shadow once and for all, so that her own voice may finally be heard.<br/><br/>Readers can't stop shouting about <i>The Silence Project</i>:<br/><br/>'A true masterpiece' *****<br/>'One hell of a book!' *****<br/>'Had me hooked' *****<br/>'Red-hot' *****<br/>'I don't think I've ever read a books as quickly' *****<br/>'Gave me the shivers' *****

<b>'An accomplished and memorable debut full of heart and heartbreak - an absolute corker for reading groups!' Ruth Hogan, bestselling author of <i>The Keeper of Lost Things</i></b><br/><br/>Val, a widow living in Weston-super-Mare, spends lonely evenings dressing up as the movie star Elizabeth Taylor. It seems to be a way of coping with the loss and sadness she has experienced in her life. One day, when Val sees a pram left unattended on the seafront, on a whim she kicks off the brake and walks away with it...<br/><br/>Set in the present and the 1970s, BECOMING LIZ TAYLOR is a vivid and touching depiction of love, loss and bereavement - thought-provoking, moving fiction for fans of Rachel Joyce, Emma Healey and Ruth Hogan.

You're nine when you get your first computer. Your favourite thing is a virtual pet website; you spend hours in the chatroom. You don't understand why some of your online friends don't use their real names.<br/><br/>It's not long before you discover porn. You don't know what you're watching, but you do know that you shouldn't tell anybody. Later, older, your first kiss is captured on camera and shared with everyone in your year. It feels like betrayal, but soon it feels normal. Part of the incessant cycle of posting, sharing and liking.<br/><br/>Now, you can't remember a time when you didn't feel hollow inside. Now, you know that something has to change.<br/><br/>Chilling, potent and intensely intimate, <i>This is How You Remember It</i> is at once a cautionary tale, a call to arms and a tender love story. It is about a life lived online, and about finding another way, when it's all you've ever known.