Julian Barnes
Nothing to be Frightened of

Julian Barnes' new book is, among many things, a family memoir, an exchange with his brother (a philosopher), a meditation on mortality and the fear of death, a celebration of art, an argument with and about God, and a homage to the French writer Jules Renard. Though he warns us that 'this is not my autobiography', the result is a tour of the mind of one of our most brilliant writers. When Angela Carter reviewed Barnes' first novel, Metro/and, she praised the mature way he wrote about death. Now, nearly thirty years later, he returns to the subject in a wise, funny and constantly surprising book, which defies category and classification.

Melvyn Bragg
Remeber Me . . .

A passionate but ultimately tragic love affair starts when two students ­one French, one English - meet at university at the beginning of the sixties. From its tentative, unpromising early stages. the relationship develops into a life-changing one, whose profound impact continues to reverberate forty years later. Remember Me ... takes one of the oldest stories in the world and gives it renewed, visceral force. Here are characters brought to vivid life, with empathy and insight into the workings of the heart and mind. And here, captured in intimate detail, are the emotions that bind two people together and the subtle shifts in thought and feeling that can prise them apart. A novel of great emotional intensity, which leaves an unforgettable impression.

From the creator of Paul Temple. What links a secret formula for a new alloy, a short-sighted maker of model ships, international bargaining, a secret agent dying in an hotel and a Russian ship wrecked off the Yorkshire coast? Welcome to the world of Tim Frazer, the easygoing structural engineer who gets involved with a secret government department and, to his surprise. finds himself recruited as an undercover agent.