Marlena de Blasi
The Lady in the Palazzo: At Home in Umbria

With the breathless anticipation that seduced her readers to fall in love with Venice and then Tuscany, Marlena de Blasi now takes us on a new journey as she moves with her husband, Fernando, to Orvieto, a large and ancient city in Italy's Umbria. With neither an edge to a sea nor a face to a foreign land, it's a region less trampled by travellers and, in turn, less accepting of strangers. So de Blasi sets out to establish her niche....

By the author of the bestselling A Thousand Days in Tuscany.

'De Blasi is a skilled, quirky writer; her prose is by turns reserved, rococo, earthy and, abovl all, fresh - Kirkus Reviews

John Francome
Dark Horse

Five years have passed since former jockey Mark Presley chose to stay silent about the hit-and­run accident that left a beautiful young woman dead. But when his wife is killed in an incident with cruel echoes of that earlier tragedy, it seems justice has come calling. The truth is about to come out. Or is it?

'Francome brings authenticity to tales of the horse-racing circuit and, like Dick Francis, goes beyond the thunder of the turf to the skulduggery of the trading ring' - Mail on Sunday

Charlotte Bingham
Goodnight Sweetheart

On the outbreak of the Second World War, Caro, together with her younger sister, her friend Robyn, and the maids, leaves Cheffyns, the idyllic country house where the Garlands have lived for centuries, to help the war effort. In London, Caro and Robyn are joined by Edwina, a beautiful Irish girl. The girls fall in love with a succession of young men, most of whom are fated to die young - even Waiter, the witty, handsome war artist, is soon to be touched by the hand of death. In such an atmosphere of fleeting pleasure, it would seem that the young will never find lasting happiness.