Maeve Binchy
Whitethorn Woods

The once sleepy Irish town of Rossmore is a prosperous place nowadays, so busy that a new bypass has been proposed. The people of Rossmore are divided, particularly since the road will go right through the Whitethorn Woods and the well dedicated to St Ann - a well thought by some to have near spiritual properties. No one is more concerned than the well- meaning curate Father Brian Flynn, who has no idea which faction to support. Surely Neddy Nolan's family should take the compensation being offered for their land? But wasn't Neddy's mother given a cure at the well many years ago? And what about the childless London woman who came to the Whitethorn Woods, begging the Saint for help? Lifelong friends, who first met on an Israeli kibbutz, visit the shrine to sort out their marriages; a wealthy American seeks advice; and a murderess and her mother have both considered consulting the saint...

Martin Davies
The Conjuror's Bird

Despite being the leading expert in his field, Fitz has never really fulfilled his potential, never written the great book on extinct species that everyone expected from him when he was setting out. Suddenly, a figure from those days reappears in his life. The beautiful Gabby wants him to help find something that vanished over two hundred years ago from the , collection of the pioneering naturalist Joseph Banks: a specimen known as The Mysterious Bird of Ulieta. Unsure of the reasons behind this quest, but spurred on to join it by his beguiling lodger Katya, Fitz soon finds that the only way to solve the puzzle of the missing bird is to unravel the mystery of Banks's passionate affair with a young woman, Miss B, who has disappeared from history as effectively as the creature he is hunting.

'Poignant and beguiling Like all the best novels, it left me with a sense of having learned something'- Andrew Taylor

It is a cold night and Sylvie Dugdale is weeping as she walks by the Mersey. A figure approaches and, dodging aside, she finds herself struggling in the river. Constable Brendan O'Hara, just coming off duty, sees the girl's plight and dives in to rescue her. He is dazzled by her beauty but Sylvie's husband is in prison and the closeness that Brendan soon longs for is impossible. Sylvie has to escape from Liverpool so Brendan arranges for her to stay with his cousin Caitlin in Dublin until it is safe to return. There she meets Maeve, the crippled girl from the slums, who will change all their lives when a little girl is lost....