Author surnames F-J

While her mother is at home giving birth, eleven-year-old Isa must look after her younger siblings, but when her little sister is (read more)

While her mother is at home giving birth, eleven-year-old Isa must look after her younger siblings, but when her little sister is killed in an accident on a trainline she carries the guilt through the rest of her life. As Isa grows up, more tragedy strikes: her mother dies of a broken heart after giving birth to a stillborn son, and her father finds solace in heavy drinking. Though Isa finds satisfaction in domestic service for an aristocratic family in London, when her father returns home from the First World War paralysed and suffering memory loss, she must return home to take care of her family once more.

Yet there is only so much Isa can endure over the years, and discovering her husband's affair is the final straw. Believing she has failed as a sister, a daughter, a wife and a mother, she makes an irrevocable decision...but will she realise in time that her troubled past can also give her the strength to carry on? A tale of family tragedy and the struggle to let go of the past, Her Sister's Gift is a heartbreaking yet ultimately uplifting debut from Sunday Mail Fiction Prize runner-up Isobel Jackson. (hide)

Everyone loves a hero - and the greatest heroes of them all were the ancient Greeks. Stephen Fry's blistering retelling of their (read more)

Everyone loves a hero - and the greatest heroes of them all were the ancient Greeks. Stephen Fry's blistering retelling of their fabulous stories makes this the PERFECT GIFT for young and old alike. Mortals and Monsters.

Quests and Adventures . . .

_________There are Heroes - and then there are Greek Heroes. Few mere mortals have ever embarked on such bold and heart-stirring adventures, overcome myriad monstrous perils, or outwitted scheming vengeful gods, quite as stylishly and triumphantly as Greek heroes. In this companion to his bestselling Mythos, Stephen Fry brilliantly retells these dramatic, funny, tragic and timeless tales. (hide)

Beatrice Desmond, 55, lives on a remote farm nestled in a deep hollow in southern West Virginia. A native of Boston and a graduate (read more)

Beatrice Desmond, 55, lives on a remote farm nestled in a deep hollow in southern West Virginia. A native of Boston and a graduate of an Ivy League college, Beatrice is a fish out of water in Seneca County; although she maintains contact with certain friends and family, too often, Beatrice retreats into her work as a translator and editor, or into the bottle of Jack Daniel's she maintains nearby. Fate finally intervenes, requiring Beatrice to befriend and shelter Clara, an abused teenager, and accept the job of ghostwriting the memoir of her dashing but enigmatic neighbor, Tanner Fordyce.

Gradually, Beatrice finds her resolute independence and crusty reserve soften, her carefully constructed barriers fall, and her guarded and self-protective nature moderates, as she explores the renewed pleasures of emotional involvement. At times sad, at times hilarious, and always quirky, Hillwilla celebrates the glories of nature, the resilience of the human spirit, the healing power derived from genuine connections with others, and the potential for reinventing ourselves--at any age. (hide)

Liverpool 1985 Kathleen, Adam and Jocelyn are three teenage friends who bond over an unconventional nativity play. They all have (read more)

Liverpool 1985 Kathleen, Adam and Jocelyn are three teenage friends who bond over an unconventional nativity play. They all have ambitions, they all have dreams. Adam wants to be a writer, Jocelyn wants to sing and Kathleen - well, she wants to be an embalmer.

London 2015 Kathleen is a borderline alcoholic, Adam is holding on to a shocking secret and Jocelyn is dead. Where did it all go wrong? How did having the world at their feet turn into having the weight of it on their shoulders? Filled with Jonathan Harvey's trademark wit, warmth and outrageous humour, The History of Us is a novel about friendship and secrets, the choices we make and the consequences we face. (hide)

The modern horror story grew and developed across the nineteenth century, embracing categories as diverse as ghost stories, the supernatural (read more)

The modern horror story grew and developed across the nineteenth century, embracing categories as diverse as ghost stories, the supernatural and psychological horror, medical and scientific horrors, colonial horror, and tales of the uncanny and precognition. This anthology brings together twenty-nine of the greatest horror stories of the period, from 1816 to 1912, from the British, Irish, American, and European traditions. It ranges widely across the sub-genres to encompass authors whose terror-inducing powers remain unsurpassed.

The book includes stories by some of the best writers of the century - Hoffmann, Poe, Balzac, Dickens, Hawthorne, Melville, Zola - as well as established genre classics such as M. R. James, Arthur Machen, Bram Stoker, Algernon Blackwood, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and others.

It includes rare and little-known pieces by writers such as William Maginn, Francis Marion Crawford, W. F. Harvey, and William Hope Hodgson, and shows the important role played by periodicals in popularizing the horror story. (hide)

'I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think (read more)

'I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe.

If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.'Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life.Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive.
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Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, Allan Karlsson is waiting for a party he doesn't want to begin. His one-hundredth (read more)

Sitting quietly in his room in an old people's home, Allan Karlsson is waiting for a party he doesn't want to begin. His one-hundredth birthday party to be precise. The Mayor will be there.

The press will be there. But, as it turns out, Allan will not ...Escaping (in his slippers) through his bedroom window, into the flowerbed, Allan makes his getaway. And so begins his picaresque and unlikely journey involving criminals, several murders, a suitcase full of cash, and incompetent police.

As his escapades unfold, Allan's earlier life is revealed. A life in which - remarkably - he played a key role behind the scenes in some of the momentous events of the twentieth century. Translated by Roy Bradbury. (hide)

Get hooked on Heck: the maverick detective who knows no boundaries. A grisly whodunit you won't be able to put down, perfect for (read more)

Get hooked on Heck: the maverick detective who knows no boundaries. A grisly whodunit you won't be able to put down, perfect for fans of Stuart MacBride and TV series 'Luther'. Heck needs to watch his back.

Because someone's watching him...Across the south of England, a series of bizarre but fatal accidents are taking place. So when a local businessman survives a near-drowning but is found burnt alive in his car just weeks later, DS Mark 'Heck' Heckenburg is brought in to investigate. Soon it appears that other recent deaths might be linked: two thieves that were bitten to death by poisonous spiders, and a driver impaled through the chest with scaffolding. (hide)

EVERYONE'S INVITED. EVERYONE'S A SUSPECT. AND EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT IT. `Ripping, riveting' A. J. Finn`Clever, twisty and sleek' (read more)

EVERYONE'S INVITED. EVERYONE'S A SUSPECT. AND EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT IT.

`Ripping, riveting' A. J. Finn`Clever, twisty and sleek' Daily Mail`Unputdownable' John Boyne`Foley is superb' The Times`Chilling' Adele Parks`Terrific, riveting' Dinah Jefferies
In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather for New Year.
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Do not stand at my grave and weep; I am not there. I do not sleep. There is nothing more powerful than a mother's love. Five years (read more)

Do not stand at my grave and weep; I am not there. I do not sleep. There is nothing more powerful than a mother's love.

Five years ago, Molly Gabriel lost her twenty-year-old son, Joey, to a terrible sailing accident. His empty boat was washed ashore on the rocks - but his body was never found. Now, Molly has returned to the sands of Cornwall haunted by his disappearance, unable to accept he is gone. (hide)