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Manga

This manga version of King Lear is set during the era of the Last of the Mohicans - circa 1759, during a crucial time of invasion and displacement along the American frontier. Lear is a venerated Mohican chieftain entering his final days. His elder daughters, Regan and Goneril - the evil pairing - are the more Westernised; Cordelia, with the looks of an Indian princess, is the traditionalist. In this unique interpretation of Shakespeare's tragic tale, a mountaintop snowstorm makes for a dramatic backdrop where savage torture and plentiful scalpings make for bloody action.

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Non-Fiction

100 Symbols That Changed The World looks at the genesis and adoption of the world’s most recognizable symbols.

Universal symbols have been used as a form of communication from the Bronze Age, when the dynasties of ancient Egypt began the evolution of the thousand characters used in Egyptian hieroglyphics. In pre-Columbian America the Mayan civilization set out on a similar course, using pictures as a narrative text.

With the adoption of written languages, symbols have come to represent an illustrated shorthand. The dollar sign in America evolved from colonists’ trade with the Spanish, and the widespread acceptance of Spanish currency in deals. Merchants’ clerks would shorten the repeated entry of “pesos” in their accounts ledgers, which needed to be written with a ‘p’ and an ‘s’. A single letter ‘s’ with the vertical stroke of the ‘p’ was much quicker. Historically correct dollar signs have a single stroke through the ‘S’.

Symbols are also used to impart quick, recognizable safety advice. The radio activity symbol was designed in Berkley in 1946 to warn of the dangers of radioactive substances – and following the widespread use of gas masks in WWII, the trefoil symbol echoed the shape of the mask.

There are many symbols of affiliation, not only to religious groups, but support of political causes or even brand loyalty. Symbols are used for identification, military markings and recognition of compatibility. They allow users to convey a large amount of information in a short space, such as the iconography of maps or an electrical circuit diagram. Symbols are an essential part of the architecture of mathematics.

And in the case of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics – the first Games to be held in an Asian country – symbols allowed the organizers to create event signage that wouldn’t be lost in translation. The set of Olympic sports pictograms for the Games was a novel solution, and one that was added to in Mexico and Munich.

Organized chronologically, 100 Symbols That Changed The World looks at the genesis and adoption of the world’s most recognizable symbols.

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Gothic Fiction

The perfect gothic, dark tale to curl up with this winter

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'Laura Purcell, a skilful purveyor of gothic tales, has created another darkly twisting narrative in The Whispering Muse' Sunday Times

'Spooky, atmospheric, brilliant... I think I love it the best out of all Laura's books. Watch out for it - but beware...' Bridget Collins, author of number one bestseller, The Binding

'Deliciously creepy, riveting and full of heart with compelling characters and brilliant twists ... glitteringly dark and mesmerising' Jennifer Saint, Sunday Times bestselling author of Ariadne and Elektra
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Be careful what you wish for... it may just come true.

At The Mercury Theatre in London's West End, rumours are circulating of a curse.

It is said that the lead actress Lilith has made a pact with Melpomene, the tragic muse of Greek mythology, to become the greatest actress to ever grace the stage. Suspicious of Lilith, the jealous wife of the theatre owner sends dresser Jenny to spy on her, and desperate for the money to help her family, Jenny agrees.

What Jenny finds is a woman as astonishing in her performance as she is provocative in nature. On stage, it's as though Lilith is possessed by the characters she plays, yet off stage she is as tragic as the Muse who inspires her, and Jenny, sorry for her, befriends the troubled actress. But when strange events begin to take place around the theatre, Jenny wonders if the rumours are true, and fears that when the Muse comes calling for payment, the cost will be too high.
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'Gloriously gothic' Erin Kelly
'Immersive' Beth Underdown
'Fantastic' Rebecca Netley
'Darkly seductive and artfully realised' Susan Stokes-Chapman

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Fantasy

'A magnificent, sweeping epic' JENNIFER SAINT, Sunday Times-bestselling author of ARIADNE
'Shannon is simply a master of the genre' C. S. PACAT, New York Times-bestselling author of DARK RISE
'A tremendous triumph' LONDON SHAH, award-winning author of the LIGHT OF THE ABYSS series

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A return to the world of Samantha Shannon's Sunday Times and New York Times-bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree


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Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

Intricate and epic, A Day of Fallen Night sweeps readers back to the world of A Priory of the Orange Tree, showing us a course of events that shaped it for generations to come.

**Chosen as a book of 2023 by the Metro, Cosmopolitan, Nerd Daily, PinkNews and Waterstones**


 

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Thriller

Video games have never been more murderous.

Veronica wakes up trapped with four strangers in a sprawling manor house in a snow storm with a dead body, a mystery right out of an Agatha Christie novel. It feels so real - but it isn't. This is VR and this is THE Game; a rumoured Easter Egg hidden in other VR games that draws you into a competition for a prize beyond your wildest dreams. And there's no escaping the VR world until the Game is won.

But while Veronica and her fellow players are trying to figure out the puzzle, something is not right in the VR world. Blackouts, glitches, NPCs acting strange, and a mysterious figure haunting their footsteps. Then when a player dies, and also dies in real life, all hell breaks loose.

Without warning, the game Veronica thought she was playing gets overshadowed by a much darker, and much more real, mystery: who is killing us?'

It may not be a game Veronica wanted to play, but it's one that she has to win - or die trying.

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Historical Fiction

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

The story of a mother's quest to find her children against all odds, set against the epic backdrop of the sinking of the legendary Titanic.

'Smashing . . . I was hooked on page one and literally could not put it down. I loved all that she wrote about the true story behind this thrilling tale' 
JOANNA LUMLEY

Nice, France, 1911: After three years of marriage, young seamstress Marcela Caretto has finally had enough. Her husband, Michael, an ambitious tailor, has become cruel and controlling and she determines to get a divorce.

But while awaiting the judges' decision on the custody of their two small boys, Michael receives news that changes everything.

Meanwhile fun-loving New York socialite Margaret Hays is touring Europe with some friends. Restless, she resolves to head home aboard the most celebrated steamer in the world – RMS Titanic.

As the ship sets sail for America, carrying two infants bearing false names, the paths of Marcela, Michael and Margaret cross - and nothing will ever be the same again.

From the Sunday Times-bestselling author, Celia Imrie, Orphans of the Storm dives into the waters of the past to unearth a sweeping, epic tale of the sinking of the Titanic that radiates with humanity and hums with life.

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'Gripping . . . An epic adventure' ROSIE GOODWIN

'A gripping read' 
DAILY MIRROR, Summer reads

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Non-Fiction

What can a diseased brain tell us about being human, living our own lives better and helping those with dementia get the best from theirs?

When Wendy Mitchell was diagnosed with young-onset dementia at the age of fifty-eight, her brain was overwhelmed with images of the last stages of the disease -- those familiar tropes, shortcuts and clichés that we are fed by the media, or even our own health professionals. But her diagnosis far from represented the end of her life. Instead, it was the start of a very different one.

Wise, practical and life affirming, What I Wish People Knew About Dementia combines anecdotes, research and Wendy Mitchell's own brilliant wit and wisdom to tell readers exactly what she wishes they knew about dementia.

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Epistolary Novel

The beloved, life-affirming international bestseller which has sold over 5 million copies worldwide - now a major film starring Lily James, Matthew Goode, Jessica Brown Findlay, Tom Courtenay and Penelope Wilton To give them hope she must tell their story It's 1946. The war is over, and Juliet Ashton has writer's block. But when she receives a letter from Dawsey Adams of Guernsey - a total stranger living halfway across the Channel, who has come across her name written in a second hand book - she enters into a correspondence with him, and in time with all the members of the extraordinary Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Through their letters, the society tell Juliet about life on the island, their love of books - and the long shadow cast by their time living under German occupation. Drawn into their irresistible world, Juliet sets sail for the island, changing her life forever.

Discover our

Author of the month

tracy_author

Tracy King

“Books saved me. As a child, buying a new book to own forever was the rarest of treats, but as I became a teenager it was a lifeline. I escaped to worlds far beyond my own small one, fed my starving imagination, and books showed me that change is possible. I dreamed that one day I would write my own, but did not know how someone like me could ever go about that. 

My memoir LEARNING TO THINK is the story of how a little girl escaped a maze of poverty and trauma and learned to think for herself. It’s also about the life-changing influence of books, and how a chance encounter in a bookstore lit up an entirely new path. But mostly it’s about hope, knowledge, and love.”

 – TRACY KING
When you have nothing you cling to whatever gives you hope… 

Debut Novel

Educated meets Lowborn in this stunning coming-of-age story.

 'Impossible not to read in one sitting.' 
                      - Stylist, Best books for 2024
 ‘Compelling and courageous . . . it will leave every reader wiser and stronger.’ 
                     - DAISY BUCHANAN
 ‘Fantastic – could have been me, could have been you, could have been anyone, so we all cheer for Tracy King’s brave escape’ 
                     - LEE CHILD 
 ‘You won’t often read a book so driven by raw emotion’ 
                     - HH WENDY JOSEPH KC 
 ‘Tracy King battled against all the odds to become a brilliant science advocate and a fantastic writer too’ 
                     - KONNIE HUQ
 ‘Confronts the narratives we all tell ourselves in order to live’ 
                     - HELEN LEWIS

SeRIES WE LOVE

9781408855911
Children's Fantasy
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Epic Fantasy
9780261103252_6b880bc2-421e-40af-a84f-2bc56c4bd8f9
Epic Fantasy
9781250773012_4e116599-6116-48a3-964b-cf193070a8c0
Science Fiction
9781784751371_818d6b6f-3784-41ba-bffa-92a5931041c7
Historical Romance
9781510108899_e2f7b59f-33f8-4c61-9ff7-e672a7a84ca3
Fantasy
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