Rosie Thomas
Iris and Ruby

Stiflingly quiet and sad, Iris's beautiful Cairo house is suddenly awoken by the unexpected arrival of her troubled young granddaughter, Ruby. But an unlikely bond develops as Ruby helps to record the fragile Iris's now deteriorating memories of the vibrant life she enjoyed in Cairo during the Second World War; a time when she lost her heart to her one true love - the enigmatic Captain Xan Molyneux - and then lost him to the ravages of the war. With skilfully intertwined narratives, Rosie Thomas has created an atmospheric novel, rich and alive with descriptions of the bustling streets of Cairo and the vast, foreboding desert surrounding it.

Dava Sobel
The Planets

This groundbreaking new work from Dava Sobel, author of the bestselling Longitude, tells ZcnoN the story of each member of our solar family, from myth and history, astrology and science fiction, to the latest data from the modern era's robotic space probes.Whether revealing what hides behind Venus's cocoon of acid clouds, describing Neptune's complex beauty, or capturing first-hand the excitement at the jet Propulsion Laboratory when the first pictures from Cassini at Saturn were recently beamed to Earth, Dava Sobel's unique tour of the Solar System is filled with fascination and beauty. In lyrical prose interspersed with poems byTennyson, Blake and others, The Planets gives a breathtaking, intimate view of those heavenly bodies that have captured the imagination since humanity's first glimpse of the glittering night skies.

The only child of a US naval officer father and a charming mother, Grace Houston is the centre of her parents' universe - until sudden tragedy tears her world apart. Now Grace and her mother, Jackie Lee, must leave the naval base in Virginia and head for ritzy Palm Beach, Florida, to start all over again. It's hard enough being the new girl - but Grace is enrolled at a prestigious private school where what you wear is more important than who you are. Now her own mother is putting pressure on her to do whatever it takes to be accepted by the in-crowd. But Grace just wants to close her eyes and disappear... Soon Jackie Lee marries a sophisticated millionaire,Winston Montgomery - her ticket to high society. But that marriage too is destined to end in tragedy - and it's not long before the young and dashing Kirby Scott works his way into Jackie Lee's life. He's got his eye on her newly-inherited fortune - and something much more precious: her beautiful, innocent daughter....