Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

August in Edinburgh, and thousands of performers of all stripes have flocked to the Fringe Festival. Among them is Charles Paris filling in at the last minute after a student actress breaks a leg and has to drop out. Showcasing an earnest one-man show in a sea of stand-up comics is a bit of a gamble, but at least he's acting, and with a Charles Paris production, what could possibly go wrong?

Jonas Jonasson is back with another irresistible adventure, this time set in nineteenth century Sweden. After his father’s death is caused by the greedy and cunning Count Bielkegren, Algot Olsson is left with nothing to his name, except for a potato field and a homemade still to make liquor...

'This has to be my favourite novel of Portia's!' Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Get lost in this rockstar rom-com from million-copy bestseller Portia MacIntosh. Nicole Wilde’s life is one of sell-out gigs, sleeping on tour buses, and partying with the band all night long. But she’s not in the...

Some people just look destined for great things. And sometimes, life has other ideas. Ever since The Incident, James DeWitt has stayed on the safe side. He likes to know what happens next. Danny Allen is not on the safe side. He is more past the point of no return. But it's funny the way life is...

Curmudgeonly author Ed Reardon is back - the author, pipe smoker, consummate fare dodger and master of the abusive email attempts to survive in a world where the media seems to be run by idiots and lying charlatans. In these six episodes, Ed and Elgar return to London (from their failed jaunt living in a shepherd's hut in the country) destitute and on the lookout for a new roof over their respective heads, where he bumps into Geoff Daytona - a rich, successful entrepreneur and motivational speaker Ed was at school with....

Uncle Fred, or to give him his full title: Fredrick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, fifth Earl of Ickenham, is considered by some as a "splendid gentleman, a sportsman to his fingertips". Mr Twistleton, nephew to Earl, and otherwise known as "Pongo" to his friends, has a differing view. He simply describes his uncle as "being loopy to the tonsils".

On her final shift before forced retirement, nurse Allison is ready to tell her story. But this is no ordinary farewell. As the hospital clock ticks towards midnight, she unravels a web of compassion, calculation, and cold-blooded justice that will make you question everything you know about care, mercy, and survival.

Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown’s schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents – horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th...

Heartbreaking and hilarious in equal measure, this novel by the author of the New York Times bestselling phenomenon A Man Called Ove will charm and delight anyone who has ever had a grandmother. Everyone remembers the smell of their grandmother's house. Everyone remembers the stories their...

The complete BBC radio adaptations of Alexander McCall's bestselling series. Inspired by Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, 44 Scotland Street started life as a serial in The Scotsman. It was a huge hit, and was soon novelised, adapted on stage and dramatised for BBC Radio 4. Collected here are all five radio series, in which we follow the interconnected lives of the residents of adjoining flats in a tenement in Edinburgh's Georgian New Town.

Rudy Sharpe is the irrepressible owner of a tiny, ramshackle record store, stacked from floor to ceiling with piles of vinyl. It’s a place with real soul, where the slogan is ‘If we don't have it – them don't mek it’. Helping out behind the counter is Tasha, Handsworth’s only Black goth girl, while Rudy’s best friend Clifton regularly drops in to talk music, women and rum.

Hamish and Dougal, two elderly Scotsmen played by Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden, have for many years been a popular feature of the hit BBC Radio 4 comedy show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Now they've got their own series, with Mrs Naughtie (Alison Steadman) and a local Laird (Jeremy Hardy), regularly keeping the duo busy. 

All twelve episodes of the BBC Radio 4 sketch show starring Robert Webb and friends Welcome to Concrete Cow, the sketch show where anything is possible. Written by James Cary, who won a Silver Sony Award for Think the Unthinkable, this silly, surreal and ingenious comedy stars one half of...

Brought to you by Penguin. In his most exhilarating novel yet, Britain’s greatest storyteller transports you from the vibrant streets of sixties London to the sun-soaked cobbles of Cadiz and the frosty squares of Warsaw, as an accidental spy is drawn into the shadows of espionage and obsession...

'A moving, unforgettable story about the power we have to change our lives' Alison Espach, New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding People 'I loved every page of this wild, weird, big-hearted book' Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures 'Will...

Michael Young is a brilliant young history student whose life is changed when he meets Leo Zuckerman, an ageing physicist with a theory that can change worlds. Together they realise that they have the power to alter history and eradicate a great evil. But tinkering with time lines is more dangerous than they can imagine, and nothing - past, present or future - will ever be the same again.

‘An immersive and really satisfying mystery’ Faith Martin ‘As an iced drink in a heatwave … These characters and their families feel like old friends. A fantastic addition to the series.’ Fiona Leitch Retired schoolteachers and amateur sleuths Liz, Pat and Thelma have a brand-new...

The complete series 1 and 2 of the smart and surreal sketch comedy from Tom Basden, Stefan Golaszewski, Tim Key and Lloyd Woolf. In this complete collection of BBC Radio 4 series of 'Cowards', a batch of hapless and hopeful nearly-men battle with the challenge of everyday life, doing their very...

In the bar-parlour of the Angler’s Rest, Mr Mulliner tells his amazing tales, which hold the assembled company of Pints of Stout and Whiskies and Splash in the palm of his expressive hand. Here you can discover what happened to The Man Who Gave Up Smoking, share a frisson when the butler delivers Something Squishy on a silver salver (‘your serpent, Sir,’ said the voice of Simmons) – and experience the dreadful Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court.

Samantha thrives under pressure. A high-powered London lawyer, all she can concentrate on is taking the next step in her career; eating, sleeping, seeing friends—even taking a breath—will have to wait. But just when she's about to get everything she has ever wanted, Samantha makes a mistake. A fifty-million-pound, career-destroying mistake. Unable to face the consequences, she does the unimaginable and runs away… Catching the first train she can, she finds herself in the countryside, outside a beautiful grand house.