In 1322 Mandeville left England on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, returning 34 years later claiming to have travelled half-way round the world. His account of this – “The Travels”- was a popular and influential book. Yet in the 19th century scholars discredited it, claiming it was an elaborate fabrication. Milton sifts the facts…

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In 1616, an English adventurer, Nathaniel Courthope, stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission – to persuade the islanders of Run to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg, a fabulously valuable spice in Europe. This infuriated the Dutch, who were determined to control the world’s nutmeg…

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The moving story of a mother and son that touches the deepest concerns about love, art, family, and life Lily Maynard is proud, chilly, difficult, and has become a famous writer at age seventy-two. Now, stricken with Parkinson’s disease and staying with her architect son Alan, Lily must cope with her fading powers as well…

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Moran is an old Republican, a veteran of the Irish Civil War. He is dominated by his daughters who revive the custom of celebrating Monaghan Day. It is through their lives that we discover the story of his life. This book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 1990. The author also wrote The Dark.

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Michael Beard is a Nobel prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. A compulsive womaniser, Beard finds his fifth marriage floundering. But this time it is…

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Saturday, February 15, 2003. Henry Perowne is a contented man – a successful neurosurgeon, the devoted husband of Rosalind, a newspaper lawyer, and proud father of two grown-up children, one a promising poet, the other a talented blues musician. Unusually, he wakes before dawn, drawn to the window of his bedroom and filled with a…

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When teenager Jennifer Maidment’s murdered and mutilated body is discovered, it is clear that there is a dangerous psychopath on the loose. But it’s not long before Tony and DCI Carol Jordan realise it’s just the start of a brutal campaign. Their chameleon-like killer is chatting with them online, pretending to share their interests -…

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Peter Matthiessen’s great American epic-Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man’s River, and Bone by Bone-was conceived as one vast mysterious novel, but because of its length it was originally broken up into three books. In this bold new rendering, Matthiessen has cut nearly a third of the overall text and collapsed the time frame while deepening…

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The classic feminist novel that awakened both men and women, The Women’s Room follows the transformation of Mira Ward and her circle as the women’s movement begins to have an impact on their lives. A biting social commentary on an emotional world gone silently haywire.

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